Mobile Content Usage is Higher in Developing Countries

According to a "Global Mobile Mindset Audit" study, mobile users in third world countries express a stronger desire for content and advanced features. U.S. users lag most behind other countries in terms of accessing the Web, or wanting access, using cellular phones.

The new mobile power user is really in emerging markets. There is a population in these markets that is interested in using and willing to pay for advanced services.

What can be the reason for this? Is it the infra structure, financial status or people's interest??? Click to find out

Concept stores

Mobile phone companies are breaking away from the 'box-selling' approach and shifting gears to 'concept' or 'experience' stores. Companies such as Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Motorola have recently set up such concept stores in the country, which allow consumers to "interact" with the phones and accessories and even personalize. They offer a total brand experience through live demonstrations by trained personnel who also offer advice on mobile phone related queries.

Few weeks ago, Motorola set up its Motostore - exclusive Motorola experience stores - in Mumbai and Bangalore.

The Motostore, which displays the entire range of phone and accessories, has different sections such as the bluetooth zone, the music zone and a section for entertainment and personalisation of phones- for ring tones, screen savers and etching/tattooing.

Source: The Hindu

Mobile Web 2.0

Reasearch by global consultancy Arthur D. Little shows that Telecoms companies are failing to make the most out of the online information-sharing services of "Web 2.0"

The key drivers of today's internet growth are the users, who through web 2.0 can now create and distribute content instantaneously and globally. In order to harness and monetise Web 2.0 the Telcos will have to rapidly address the needs of this community.

The telecoms industry is now faced with the dilemma of whether to collaborate or compete with the newly emerged web 2.0 leaders and face the long haul choice of building competing communities or take the reduced margin implied from partnerships with existing players.

Many organisations have already chosen the latter, demonstrated by Vodafone's partnership with MySpace and 3's X-series portfolio deals including Skype, Google and YouTube.

Source: Cellular News

Are Cell phones for messaging/chatting?

A recent survey from the world’s most technologically savvy country Japan is an indication that we Indians are eons behind in the kind of usage we put our snazzy handsets to.

According to survey, an average Japanese uses the cellphone more to download music, indulge in online shopping, book tickets for operas and films and confirm reservations at restaurants, rather than just “keep in touch” through SMS or indulge in plain simple mobile talk.

Japan has more than 100 million cellphone subscribers in a population of 127 million. Bulk users in Japan are in the 20 to 40 age group, of which 16% spend 3-5 hours a day on their mobiles, 9% of them use their phones for 5- 10 hours and 4% go even beyond 10 hours.

Source: Mint

Map-Search by Microsoft

Sophisticated mobile phones are becoming a popular device to search for maps, directions and other local information. The new Web service “Map Search” is one of over 40 new technologies and ideas displayed by Microsoft Corp. at its research department's annual TechFest fair on Tuesday.

With Map-Search technology, just snap a picture of a nearby building, send off the photo to a database and soon you'll get back a map and information about where you are.

Source: HT

Yahoo! Go for Windows Mobile

Yahoo announced "Yahoo! Go for Mobile 2.0" on Windows Mobile powered devices, for USA subscribers.

Key features-

• Search reinvented for mobile consumers
  
• Be local, no matter where you are- Interactive maps feature the ability to search directly for businesses, get driving directions and real time traffic updates.
• Rich, highly personalizable content from millions of sources- Consumers can customize to receive content from the millions of sources on the Web that publish in RSS.
• Photo sharing keeps consumers connected to their community- The Flickr widget integrates one of the Web's most innovative and prolific photo-sharing communities, making it easy to upload and manage images from their camera phone.
  
• Streamlined e-mail keeps consumers in sync- The E-mail widget allows consumers to quickly respond to, delete or compose new messages or view attachments with a single click, all automatically synchronized with their Yahoo! Mail account in real time.

Source: Cellular news

Mobile @ 1k

Spice Mobile is all set to launch handsets priced at Rs 1,000. Handsets will be retailed through kiosks at railway stations across the country.

Source: iSource

Cheaper ISD calls

Hutch launched Home Calling Cards (HCC), enabling Indians travelling abroad to make calls at almost 90% discounted rates as compared to roaming charges.

The service does not require a Hutch cellular subscription. HCC customers will be able to make international calls from about 95 countries by accessing a toll free number. They will have to authenticate their account by using an identification number on the cards.

Source: iSource

Hutch bills in Malayalam

Hutch has introduced billing services in Malayalam in Kerala.The company has also launched similar services in nine other languages.

A Hutch statement stated customers could call the helpline number and request for bills in Malayalam. Customers can receive their bills in Malayalam from the next billing cycle onwards.

Source: iSource

Bluetooth watches from FOSSIL

Fossil tied up with Sony Ericsson to launch the Fossil Bluetooth watches and re-designed it as the MBW-100. These watches have the ability to control the cellphone’s music player from the buttons on the side (play, pause, next track). The watch is sleek and comes in silver and jet black. With the MBW-100 you can accept incoming calls and control the MP3 playback features of your Sony Ericsson Bluetooth equipped mobile phone.

Source: The Asian Age

3 million Airtel subscribers!

Airtel has crossed the 3 million mobile customer base in Delhi. Airtel plans to increase cell sites by over 30% in the next fiscal from the current 2300.

Source: ET

Roamware launches International Voice SMS

Roamware, global roaming and mobile connectivity provider, launched its first international voice short message service (SMS) in partnership with the Philippines-based wireless services provider Smart Communications. The service is targeted at Filipions working away from their country.

Smart subscribers will need to send a voice SMS by calling a short code and leaving a voice message and the recipient’s international number. An SMS notification is then sent to the recipient containing a number, which the recipient calls to listen to the message.

Source: Business-standard

Nokia moving in Mobile adverising arena

Nokia gets into mobile advertising market, with the launch of two services- Nokia Ad service & Nokia Advertising connector.

Nokia Ad Service is a fully managed service for advertisers to conduct targeted advertising on mobile services and applications. The service consists of a group of mobile publishers forming a mobile ad network and a platform to deploy, manage and optimize mobile advertising campaigns.

Nokia Advertising Connector, a private label service for third party Publishers and Advertising Aggregators that want to extend to relevant mobile advertising. It operates as an intelligent switch, selecting between text, visual, audio and video ads - depending on the user's context - and feeding the ad to the device. Nokia Advertising Connector enables delivery of targeted ads to mobile devices. The service supports CPA (cost per action) model.

Source: Cellular news

16% increase in mobile phone sales in Latin America

Mobile phones sales in Latin American rose 16% in 2006 to 118mn units compared to 2005. For the fourth quarter, sales totaled 34.5mn units, up 13.5%.

Worldwide sales reached 991mn units in 2006, a 21.3% increase from 2005. Nokia continued to lead the industry with a 34% market share globally compared to 32.5% the previous year.

Source: Cellular news

Booming Mobile Gaming market

Mobile-phone gaming revenues are set to explode over the rest of this decade and beyond. According to Juniper Research, the mobile-gaming market is likely to increase from about $3 billion today to nearly $17.6 billion by 2011. But despite that robust growth, the industry will need to overcome technical and pricing is sues if it is ever to become a mass market.

While videogame consoles sell in their millions and tend to be used more by kids and men in their 20s, mobile phones provide publishers with an opportunity to reach a far broader demographic.

Source: iSource

Beaming ADs to cellphone

Bad news for people getting bothered by unwanted mobile ADs.Billboards now being able to beam video advertisements directly to passing cellphones.

If you are walking past these billboards will receive a message on your phone asking if you wish to accept the advert. If SMS ‘Yes’, you can receive movies, animations, music or still images further promoting the advertised product.

Source: iSource

Phone tapping Norms by DoT

Officers at the rank of joint secretary in the Centre can authorise orders for tapping of telephones "in unavoidable circumstances", according to the new telephone tapping guidelines that came into effect on Friday.

According to the guidelines, only the Union home secretary at the central level and secretary, in charge of the home department at the state level can issue directions for interception of any message.

"In unavoidable circumstances, such order may be made by an officer, not below the rank of joint secretary at the centre, who has been duly authorised by Union home secretary or the state home secretary," the notification said.

The direction for interception would remain in force, unless revoked earlier, for not more than 60 days from the date of issuing. These directions can be renewed, but cannot remain in force beyond 180 days.

Source: iSource

Future of LBS!

Consumers are prepared to pay more for a phone with navigation, which would make it different from other new mobile services such as TV. There is a boom in the number of portable navigation devices being bought, with 9.9 million sold globally in the first nine months of 2006, more than twice the number in the first nine months of 2005, and they pay between 300-500 euros.

Nokia's plans are to give away maps and local searches and charge users extra for city guides and navigational services. Nokia hopes that by adding new features to its phones it will be able to control the decline in handset prices.

Source: WSJ

Pet Cemetry gets mobilized

Valley Pet Cemetery and Crematory, of Williamsport, Maryland mobilized its operations of pet crematories.

The software applications(for mobiles) converts manual processes and record-keeping functions to an automated system to improve its internal productivity and further increase the satisfaction of customers.

Source: Moblog

B700- Linux powered Smartphone

Features:

• 2 megapixel camera
• 2.4 inch QVGA screen
• full QWERTY keyboard
• Quad-band GSM/Edge enabled device
• Bluetooth
  
• USB connectivity

Source: Weblog

SMS the Skype way

Skype with Tyntec launched a new feature 'Skype SMS'. It allow users to SMS messages directly from their computers to mobile phones anywhere in the world.

TynTec says that it guarantees that Skype users' SMS messages are delivered within 15 seconds, maintaining the near-real-time level of communications that Skype users expect.

Source: Cellular News

VAS tariffs remains uneffected

Value-added service (VAS) providers will not hike tariffs for mobile content like ringtones and downloads despite the Government bringing them under the service tax net. Mobile content providers would absorb the impact of the service tax and would continue with the tariffs being offered currently.

The mobile VAS industry could be worth nearly Rs 4,500 crore by the end of 2007, compared to its current size of Rs 2,850 crore, according to the Internet And Mobile Association of India (IAMAI).

Source: Cellular News