A new startup called Webaroo allows you to search the web from your laptop or handheld, without actually connecting to the Internet. Amazing, don’t you think?
While biggies like Google, Yahoo and MSN are busy sweating it out to get people online, this Bellevue-based startup fills in the gap for those who are not yet online.
Fancy a mobile phone that is a doctor, an interpreter and enables two-way video communication. Even as we wait for 3G mobile phones to take off that kind of vision would indeed seem too farfetched.
But mobile-users in Japan and Korea could get their x-ray images examined by their doctor and feedback available on a mobile phone by about 2010. That’s when 4G (fourth generation) mobile services will take off.
The new applications — like healthcare on the move — will be on 4G as it will enable ultra high-speed data transfers at over 100 megabits per second. Nokia has come up with a 4G mobile phone design where you will actually wear the phone as a wristband. The wrist phone can work independently as a phone or work with a bluetooth style headpiece.
The wrist piece could be used to pay metro fare, compare prices of holiday packages, make a call or just pay for a movie ticket. On the other hand, Samsung wants to use 4G phones as interpreters and portable doctors.
Source: ET
Amsterdam, The Netherlands - Nokia and Yahoo! today extended their partnership to offer Yahoo! branded services including Yahoo! Mail and Messenger on Nokia's wide range of mobile phones operating on the Series 40 platform. Yahoo! services will initially be available on the newly announced Nokia 6300, the Nokia 5300 XpressMusic and the Nokia 5200. Moving forward these services and the ability to synchronise Yahoo! contacts, tasks and calendar on the PC and phone will be added to an even wider range of Nokia's Series 40 devices.
"Since the Series 40 platform was introduced in 2002, Nokia has sold more than 400 million mobile phones which operate using the platform," says Kai Oistamo, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Mobile Phones, Nokia. "In addition to the millions of users who can add Yahoo! services to their S60 smartphone, today's announcement empowers tens of millions of people with the ability to enjoy their favourite Yahoo! services on an even broader ranges of Nokia devices."
Source: Nokia press
A new research report from the wireless analyst firm Berg Insight forecasts that 60 percent of WCDMA handset shipped worldwide will have integrated GPS / Galileo receivers by 2010. Satellite positioning technology enables delivery of location based services such as personal navigation on mobile phones. Another significant benefit is the ability to position mobile emergency calls with high accuracy.
Source: 3G.co.uk
…will store your latte preferences and order it for you when you walk up to a coffee stand (which it’s also located for you), says Nokia CTO Tero Ojanpera. And all this by 2010, too.
Heady stuff. Didn’t realize that device convergence would usurp the latte-ordering function of human beings, too.
Source: Feedblitz
With the objective of enhancing the stock market skills for its subscribers, Reliance Communications has announced the commercial launch of ‘Stock Mania’. On downloading this application the user is provided with a virtual fund of Rs 10 lakh as part of the registration. With this virtual fund, the player can start trading in stocks and monitor the portfolio on a real-time basis, without having any financial investments or implications.
Source: The Financial Express
Telecom players push mobile Internet to stay abreast with times, and push up their revenue ratings. Indian carriers saw an addition of 6.7 million new users in the month of October. With 136.22 million users, the mobile subscriber base is six times the number of people in India who have a desktop computer. Clearly, anything to do with mobiles is a killer application.
Indian telecom players are fast realising the need to push mobile Internet to salvage their ARPUs (average revenue per users).
Early this month, domestic telecom player, Hutch, joined hands with MSN to enable mobile search, and now Bharti Airtel and Google have come together to empower mobile search for its subscribers.
Source: iSource updates
Bharti Airtel is betting big on value-added services (VAS) to achieve its target of becoming the most admired brand in the country by 2010. It has now decided to launch one new VAS application every month for the next two years. Bharti’s partnership with Google to facilitate Google search on Airtel mobiles is also part of this strategy.
Source: iSource updates
Global mobility leader Nokia and national broadcaster Doordarshan will launch a pilot project in India for mobile TV. The technology known as DVB-H broadcast mobile TV will be based on Nokia’s open standard-based DVB-H solution. The Nokia mobile broadcast solution will be delivered to Doordarshan via SHAF Broadcast in early 2007.
During the trial, Doordarshan will test the reception quality of the broadcast coverage and explore the options of supporting different service schemes such as advertising and interactive services. The pilot project will also enable Doordarshan to gauge consumer expectations. Mobile TV broadcasting allows the users to watch their favourite TV programmes.
The service works by receiving a digital TV broadcast signal optimised for mobile devices from the air in much the same way as TVs at home do. Broadcast mobile TV is not the same as a streaming video service over 3G or GPRS where each recipient gets a separate copy of the programme stream. Rather, one simultaneous TV stream can be received at any time by any number of users
Source: iSource updates
The Noida-Greater Noida Expressway is as much a motorist’s delight as a nightmare. The speed the 23 km-long smooth road allows is also responsible for a large number of accidents. Addressing the problem, the city administrators are constantly evolving ways towards making the highway safe, secure as well as a convenient road network.
Giving shape to the first phase of a plan outlined several months ago, six telephone booths have been contracted for between the Noida Authority (NA) as well as the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) to ensure trouble-free driving on the expressway. Three each of these emergency telephones have been installed on either side of the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway. Explains Mukesh Mandal, general manager, Noida Telecom, "These phones which can be operated by pushing a button available in the booth will be linked directly to the police control room as well as patrol cars for immediate action in case of emergencies." Continues a senior officer of NA, "The idea is to provide the road-user with a certain measure of safety and security. The telephone booths will aid the commuters in seeking immediate police, medical or fire assistance in case of an emergency."
Source: iSource updates
Airtel subscribers in India will now be able to enjoy the benefits of Google's search engine on their Airtel Live web portal. Bharti Airtel and Google have announced a strategic partnership that will allow Airtel to bring Google search to the Airtel Live mobile WAP portal.
The service will be available for users who have GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) connection free of cost. But there will be charges for downloading any content.
"Mobile users in India today outnumber PC (personal computer) users in a ratio of 6:1, hence, this is going to have tremendous impact," Manoj Kohli, president, Bharti Airtel Ltd, told a press conference on Thursday here.
Google will also be using the platform to place Mobile Ads based on search items, which will be displayed alongside search results.
Source: iSource updates
Handset giant Motorola Inc is betting on widening its market share in India by improving distribution, getting into bundling arrangements and broadening its financing deals, officials said on Tuesday.
Demand for handsets is soaring in India, the world's fastest-growing wireless services market, which added as many as 6.7 million new mobile services users in October.
"Market places like India are great volume opportunities," Allen Burnes, corporate vice president for Motorola's mobile devices business in high growth markets, told the media in an interview.
"There is massive industrial growth happening, and the burgeoning youth segment has disposable incomes never seen before." Motorola ranks second behind Nokia, as it does globally, in the booming Indian market, where huge demand is coming from rural areas and smaller towns. Mobile penetration is still only 13 per cent in a population of over a billion people.
Motorola has tied up with top five Indian carriers such as Bharti Airtel Ltd, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and Hutchison Essar Ltd to offer handsets to customers.
Source: ISource updates
Mumbai ranks second only to London when it comes to forgetful travellers. In the past six months Mumbaites have forgotten a staggering 32,970 mobile phones, 349 laptops and 349 USB sticks/thumb drives in taxis. These are just the ones that have been reported as lost.
A survey of taxi drivers from 11 major cities across the world conducted by Pointsec Mobile Technologies reveals that thousands of mobile phones, hand-held devices, laptops and USB sticks are forgotten in taxis every day. The city is not alone when it comes to forgetful travellers.
The story of lost and forgotten mobiles echoes around the world with the same fate afflicting London, Sydney, Stockholm, San Francisco, Washington, Helsinki, Frankfurt, Munich, Berlin and Oslo. Of all cities, London emerges at the top with the most forgetful population, losing 54,872 mobile phones.
In case of handheld devices such as pocket PCs being lost, London (4,718) ranked highest once again, followed by Washington (2,260), Munich (1902) and Berlin (1125). The number of lost laptops was also the highest in London (3,179) with Munich in the second place (355) followed by Mumbai in the third spot (349).
Source:ISource updates
The mobile phone gamers surveyed frequently play mobile games with the vast majority (80%) playing at least once a week and 34% playing every day. The average length of a session is 28 minutes with India (39 minutes), United States (31 minutes) and Thailand (29 minutes) playing longer than average.
Mobile phone games are played on the move (61%) almost as much as they are played at home (62%). Also, mobile phone gamers are making the most of their idle time with 56% preferring to play while waiting.
The survey was conducted by Nielsen Entertainment, and saw 1,800 people surveyed in 6 countries.
"These research results further validate that consumers are looking to the next generation of mobile gaming to meet their gaming needs," says Jaakko Kaidesoja, director, games, multimedia, Nokia. "Consumers are demanding great graphics, great content and great game play and we have listened. Next year, we intend to deliver superior mobile gaming experiences which will include great looking, involved and connected games that are easy to find, manage and play."
Source: mobile-weblog
The Nokia 6290 is designed to meet the needs of the hectic professional looking to balance a hectic business and social calendar. With a number of practical new features, multiple alarms and handy Quick Cover access keys which enable instant access to a wide range of the device's useful features, including an interactive world travel application, consumers can use their mobile for many things. With constant connectivity via 3G technology, the Nokia 6290 ensures productivity remains a priority, providing email access, as well as connections to favourite websites. The Nokia 6290's mobile search application ensures the leading search engines and location-specific services are only the touch of a button away.
While the Nokia 6290 has been designed to help people manage time and improve productivity, this smartphone will be best appreciated for its simplicity. An ergonomic keypad, fast access keys and intuitive menu structure make getting started simpler than ever. The Nokia 6290 also offers a Setup Wizard to guide users through the process of establishing their specific email, MMS functions as well as operator-specific settings.
The Nokia 6290 combines the collective power of S60 3rd Edition and 3G in an easy-to-use, attractively designed package.
The suite of standard features includes:- 2 megapixel camera with 4X digital zoom - 2.2" QVGA 16M colour internal screen- Rich email functionality which supports attachments such as PPT, PDF, Word and Excel.- MP3 music player with excellent stereo surround sound- Two way video calling
The Nokia 6290 is Nokia's first mid-range smartphone to offer S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 1. Announced at the Symbian Smartphone Show in October, S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 1 opens up a world of possibilities, highlighted by an enhanced single browser that supports both full Web and mobile optimized content. There is also available a wide variety of add-on applications that can turn the phone into a highly personalized, versatile device. The applications range from games and entertainment to powerful business and navigation applications.
The Nokia 6290 phone has a talk-time of up to 3.5 hours and a standby battery time of up to 10 days.
Source: www.3g.co.uk
Preference for Mobile Data Services
Ranking
1 Text messaging
2 Email
3 MMS
4 Alerts via SMS/MMS
5 Instant messaging
6 Web browsing and searching
7 Location-based services
8 Mobile radio
9 Financial transactions
10 Downloading content
11 Mobile TV
12 Video calling
13 Video sharing
14 Gambling
Europe Spain : Multimedia messaging (MMS) has become a popular service among mobile phone users worldwide and mobile email may have even greater potential, according to a major consumer survey commissioned by the GSM Association, the global trade association for mobile phone operators.
More than 40% of the 3,061 consumers surveyed by Circle Research in Europe, North America and Asia regard MMS, which allows mobile phone users to swap pictures, music and video, as an indispensable service, while 38% see mobile email in the same light. When asked which mobile data services they prefer, the respondents ranked text messaging (SMS) first, followed by email and MMS ranked third.
“This comprehensive survey shows that there is considerable appetite for rich messaging services that broaden the range of communications options open to mobile phone users,” said Bill Gajda, Chief Marketing Officer of the GSMA. “After a slow start, MMS has gained a loyal following, while mobile email is clearly emerging as a must-have service for many people.”Mobile email has become an increasingly popular service among business people, in particular, thanks to technology that pushes the messages to users’ handsets mimicking the experience offered by text messaging. First launched in 2002, MMS has been gaining in popularity as handset displays have improved and mobile operators have signed interoperability agreements enabling the exchange of messages across networks.
The survey uncovered some significant regional differences. North American respondents ranked mobile email as the service they most prefer, ahead of text messaging and mobile instant messaging. In Europe and Asia, text-messaging scored highest, followed by mobile email and MMS.
Source:www.3g.co.uk
Sony Ericsson ranks highest in satisfying customers who have owned their current mobile phone for less than two years, according to a J.D. Power and Associates report. The study measures customers’ satisfaction with their wireless handsets based on five key performance factors. In order of importance, these are: physical design (24%); operation (22%); features (20%); handset durability (19%); and battery function (15%).
The study also found that the average reported purchase price for a wireless handset has increased for the first time in two years. The average purchase price cited by users for a mobile phone is USD 94 - up USD 8 from the first volume of the study in 2006, which was released in May-and marks the highest average price paid for a phone since 1994, when phones averaged USD 99.
Sony Ericsson receives the highest ratings from customers in handset durability, and also performs particularly well in features and battery functionality. LG, Sanyo and Motorola, respectively, follow
Sony Ericsson in the overall rankings.“Sony Ericsson has come a long way in enhancing overall customer satisfaction, as efforts to improve their product lineup have really paid off,” said Kirk Parsons, senior director of wireless services at J.D. Power and Associates.
“New model offerings and a general improvement in overall reliability have enhanced the user’s experiences and elevated the brand to the top of the rankings. In fact, Sony Ericsson has recorded the most improvement of any brand included in the past three study reporting periods starting in 2005.”
The increase in the average purchase price can be partially attributed to the recent surge in popularity of thin phones, such as the Motorola RAZR, and music-enabled handsets, both of which typically have higher price points when first offered. The average reported purchase price for wireless handsets owned for less than six months is USD 102, much higher than the average price paid (USD 89) for the same ownership period last year.
“As more services are added to mobile phones-particularly MP3 downloading or streaming video-we should continue to see the wireless handset price point rise,” said Parsons.
“For example, the incidence of sending or messaging video and picture content has increased 50 percent between 2005 and 2006. However, as mobile phones become more complicated, satisfaction can increase if it becomes easier for customers to learn how to operate specific product and service offerings. This can also promote future purchases of value-added products and accessories.”
The study also finds several key wireless handset usage patterns:The average replacement cycle for a typical handset is 16.6 months-a notable decrease from 18 months in 2005.
Handset features that are used most frequently include: the speakerphone (32%); camera capabilities (27%); services to send/receive short messages (25%); and gaming (16%).
More than one-half of all current wireless users compared other handset brands before selecting their current wireless phone. Those customers who compare phones during the selection process are more likely to be satisfied overall with their current handset than those who do not.
Volume 2 of the 2006 U.S. Wireless Mobile Phone Evaluation Study is based on experiences reported by 21,679 wireless users who have owned their current mobile phone for less than two years. The results are from the two most recent study reporting waves, which were conducted in April and July 2006.
Overall Wireless Mobile Phone Rankings (Based on a 1,000-point scale)
Sony Ericsson 745
LG 735Sanyo 733
Motorola 732
Industry Average 726
Samsung 725
Nokia 713
Kyocera 711
UTStarcom (Audiovox) 707
Source: www.mobilemonday.net
According to a poll by the magazine Mobile, more than three quarters of Motorola mobile phone users would not buy another Motorola handset because they are too difficult to use.
"In the survey of 55 Motorola customers, 78% said they wouldn't buy a Motorola handset again, with the majority citing problems with usability. The figure was slightly higher among first-time Motorola users. As many as 85% of the 48 first-time Motorola users in the poll want to switch to another manufacturer."
"The sample survey was dominated by RAZR owners, who made up almost half of all those asked. The survey revealed that 80% of RAZR users wanted to jump ship to another manufacturer with their next purchase."
Source: www.GUUUI.com
