Clash of the Titans!

A new study of the digital music download market from Portio Research predicts a healthy future for the music business.

The report highlights the many opportunities that music offers for some of the world's largest and most successful brands, from device and handset vendors like Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Apple, software companies such as Microsoft, mobile network operators, advertisers and of course the digital rights owners themselves coming together.

Niche markets for this will be Japan and South Korea, Western Europe, North America, Mexico, Brazil, South Africa, Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Russia.

Source:Cellular news

Skype for mobile phones

At the CES conference in Las Vegas, Skype and Nokia announced a collaboration to develop a new mobile Skype experience on the Nokia N800 Internet Tablet. The Nokia N800's small size and wireless connectivity frees Skype users from their desktop, allowing Skype conversations to take place anywhere, as long as there is an available wireless Internet connection.

The first implementation on the Nokia N800 is expected to be made available for download by the end of first half of 2007.

Source: Cellular news

What next after SYMBIAN & Windows mobile??

LINUX! There’s a new excitement in the open source world. And all that buzz is about whether 2007 will be the year of the Linux-based mobile phone. NEC and Panasonic are said to be collaborating to bring out Linux-based 3G phones this year. And TurboLinux is said to have brought out a Linux operating system for mobile phones.

Linux is an Unix-like operating system. Its source code is available freely and was created as an alternative to proprietary Unix and Microsoft operating systems. It’s now taken on the form of a major movement and even has IT giants such as IBM, Hewlett Packard, Oracle, and many, many others offering support to this huge worldwide community.

Source:iSource updates

Mobile VAS a billion dollar industry by 2007

The Mobile Value Added Services Report of the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and the IMRB International has revealed that the industry is poised to touch a whopping Rs. 4,560 crore by the end of this year. The current industry size is Rs. 2,850 crore.

With mobile phone penetration growing in leaps and bounds, mobile value added services (MVAS) is bound to become a huge business. Frequent upgrading of handsets by subscribers will only give it a further push.

Source: iSource Updates

Phone as Credit card

Have you ever imagined paying for music or dinner or movie tickets through your mobile phone? If yes, your dream comes true. Paymate has tied up with Citibank to offer the service to the bank’s account holders and credit card customers.

If you are a Citibank customer, register with Paymate and get a PIN, which acts as your password. When you transact, you give your mobile number to the merchant establishment. The merchant will send you an SMS, asking for payment. You forward that SMS to Paymate, along with your PIN.

Once Paymate clears the transaction, it will send the confirmation to the merchant establishment. All this happens instantly and the only cost you incur is that of the SMS you send to Paymate.

Source: iSource updates

Apple phone

Research study from the Toronto-based Solutions Research Group shows that an iPod phone has the potential to be a big hit with consumers.

An iPod phone would have the potential to increase Apple's customer footprint substantially. Currently just over 20% of Americans 12+ (about 50 million) own an Apple product - within 18 months of the introduction of a new iPod phone, Apple's footprint can increase to over 30% according to forecasts based on the study.


Who would buy an iPod phone?

• 53% of likely buyers are women and 47% are men.
• The average age of likely buyers is 35, with 40% over the age of 40.
• Sprint/NexTel and T-Mobile customers are more enthusiastic than average.
• Potential buyers are above average music and movie downloaders, suggesting significant incremental revenue opportunities - for example, 29% of likely iPod phone buyers paid for music in the past month from a site such as iTunes or Napster compared to an average of 12% of the US online population.

In the research, the iPod image and user experience was a big plus driving appeal. The biggest barrier to an iPod phone was the impact on battery life if used as a phone and an entertainment device. Clearly, the rumored two-battery design would go a long way in addressing this significant perceived limitation.

Source: Cellular news

Telescopes for mobilephones

The handset accessories firm, Brando has developed a "telescope" for some Nokia handsets, which the company says offers a 6x zoom facility for the camera phone. The design does need the back of the handset to be replaced - to provide a securing mechanism for the telescope - so is currently only available for the Nokia 6230, 6230i and the 6680 handsets.

http://mobile.brando.com.hk/MobilePhoneTelescope.php

Source:Cellular news