- Week summary
- General wireless data market related news
- Carriers news
- Terminal development for mobile data
- Vendors of software for client wireless devices news
- Mobile application related news
- Application outsourcing and hosting news
- News about financing for wireless data businesses
| * - Star sign marks especially important (from the editor's point of view) news items and is also a link to the next important news item. |
Week summary |
- Mobile VOIP is predicted to be huge - driven by client availability on consumer devices such as iPod or Nokia 770 and supported by Skype infrastructure.
- Thin Windows-based smartphone from Motorola is finally here.
- Nokia is more into open source. Boingo also opens its' Wi-Fi finder client.
- That move will probably result in Boingo being available on Palm OS as promised long time ago. Meanwhile first (again promised long time ago) VoIP client is finally available for Palm.
- J2ME application for GPS navigation with online maps is now available in US.
- And money are being really pushed into mobile applications.
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This section lists all breaking wireless data related news that do not belong to any particular section (or should belong to multiple) as well as to general reviews of interest.
| Dotmobi Registration Begins Original news source |
| dotMobi, the first and only Internet address created for mobile phones, announced the successful start of mobile domain registration today. During Sunrise Registration, May 22-29, members of mobile industry associations have an opportunity to register their trademark names as a .mobi mobile domain. Trademark holders may register their trademarks as .mobi names starting June 12 and individual users may start filing for registration starting August 28. |
| * ON World: One Hundred Million Mobile VOIP Users in 2011 Original news source |
| As more consumers carry their iPods with them everywhere, they are hoping Apple will add WiFi and VOIP for the killer converged mobile entertainment device, according to a new study from ON World. The PC industry will ship more than two times as many mobile VOIP devices per year as the Telecom industry in 2011. WiFi enabled mobile entertainment devices will make up 36 percent of all mobile VOIP devices sold in 2011. This will be driven by the popularity of Apple’s iPod as well as products such as Nokia’s Internet Tablet 2006 bundled with GoogleTalk.
These Mobile VOIP devices need infrastructure and Skype provides this with its 100 million PCs using their peer-to-peer telecommunications platform.
ON World predicts that by 2011 Skype will have 25 percent of the world’s VOIP users and $1.2 billion in voice service revenues. |
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This section lists news about innovative and competitive usage of wireless data by network carriers.
| IXI Mobile Brings Ogo to Latin America
Original news source |
| IXI Mobile, Inc., developer of the Ogo family of mobile messaging solutions for the mass market, and ANCEL, the leading mobile operator in Uruguay, announced that they have joined forces on Ogo’s first Latin American launch, in Uruguay, where it is expected to be available in the second quarter of 2006.
The first Latin American version of the Ogo includes the following services: POP3 and IMAP4 email, MSN Hotmail and MSN Messenger, GSM voice, gaming, and SMS. All required back-end services are hosted by IXI Mobile, enabling seamless integration with the mobile carriers’ networks. |
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This section lists breaking news from companies which manufacture actual end user wireless devices (phones, pagers, PDAs etc.), as well as other information relevant to such companies.
| * Motorola Announces MOTO Q Original news source |
| Motorola, Inc. and Verizon Wireless announced that the highly anticipated Moto Q will be available starting on May 31. The Moto Q is exclusively available through Verizon Wireless. Moto Q’s style and phone-first mantra is built upon the design revolution created by the Motorola RAZR. The Moto Q – which runs Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 software - delivers an uncompromising mobile experience in an all-in-one handheld device that combines the reliability of a great phone, personal productivity capabilities, powerful enterprise connectivity and entertainment in a thin and stylish form factor. The Moto Q will redefine what customers expect from a QWERTY handheld. |
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This section lists breaking news from companies which provide client software that runs in end user wireless devices (phones, pagers, PDAs etc.).
| * Nokia releases 'Web Browser for S60' engine code to open source community Original news source |
| Nokia announced the release to the global open source software community of the source code for S60 WebKit, the engine for its leading-edge Web Browser for S60, marking a turning point in the drive toward an open code base for web browsers used on mobile devices.
Nokia's contribution of the S60 WebKit source code, with key mobility enhancements that make WebKit easier to port to different mobile platforms, will enable reduced fragmentation in the next generation of mobile browsers, simplifying content development for the mobile web and accelerating adoption of mobile browsing by millions of smartphone users worldwide.
The web browser source code released by Nokia comes under the terms of the open source BSD License, a highly permissive software license with few requirements that is one of the most popular licenses among free software developers worldwide. |
| * Boingo's New Open Source Toolkit Enables Public Wi-Fi on Handsets and Other Mobile Devices Original news source |
| Boingo Wireless announced the Boingo Embedded Wi-Fi Toolkit, an open source software package that enables developers to integrate Wi-Fi connection management to any Wi-Fi hot spot – including the more than 45,000 public hot spots that are part of the Boingo Roaming System – into small form factor devices such as dual-mode phones, VoIP handsets, mobile gaming consoles and other portable devices.
The Boingo Embedded Wi-Fi Toolkit and supporting documentation are now available on SourceForge.net in BREW, Linux, Windows Mobile 2003 and Windows Mobile 5 versions. Additional documentation and test tools are available at the Boingo Embedded website. |
| * MantraGroup releases VoIP solution for Palm OS Original news source |
| MantraGroup Inc., a provider of mobile software solutions, has announced mobiVoIP, the first VoIP solution targeted for Palm OS Devices. mobiVoIP requires the Palm device to be able to connect to the Internet through Bluetooth, WiFi (802.11), or EVDO. It allows the user to place telephone calls directly from the PDA thus expanding PDA’s capabilities to be used as a converged device.
mobiVoIP is offered as a monthly service with various calling plans designed for North America and other countries. |
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This section lists news that describe innovative and competitive implementation of wireless data applications.
| Gracenote and Sony Ericsson Partner to Provide Mobile Music Identification on Global Line of Walkman Phones Original news source |
Gracenote and Sony Ericsson Mobile Communication announced a global partnership to enable music identification across Sony Ericsson's Walkman phones worldwide. Gracenote's Mobile MusicID service is powering TrackID, a premier feature for Sony Ericsson, on one of the most popular lines of phones tailored for digital music. The service will enable Walkman handsets access to Gracenote's Global Media Database to identify for the first time songs being played on the phones' built-in FM tuner or anywhere within the proximity of the phones, such as in a club or a restaurant.
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This section lists news about outsourcing/hosting of mobile corporate/enterprise applications by e.g. software developers, network carriers, and consulting companies. News about mobile access to portals are also included here.
| * Rand McNally Turns Mobile Phones Into Portable GPS Navigation Systems Original news source |
| Motorists who don't want to buy
pricey in-car navigation systems now have an inexpensive alternative. Rand
McNally, provider of America's most trusted maps and directions,
introduced Rand McNally MONA (Mobile Navigator), a mobile phone-based
navigation system that puts reliable directions at drivers' fingertips.
A downloadable J2ME application with a low monthly fee of $9.99, Rand
McNally MONA turns a GPS wireless phone into a portable turn-by-turn, voice-guided navigation
device. The easy- to-use wireless service requires no additional contracts
or equipment. |
| ShoZu Drives Mobile Media into New Territory Original news source |
| First there were podcasts and videocasts. Now come ZuCasts -- a free digital media delivery service for mobile phones from ShoZu. Photos, video clips and a variety of other professional and user-generated content can be delivered directly to the cellphone on a regular basis without any manual intervention or download downtime. Your preferred media comes to you automatically, simplifying your mobile life as well as feeding your appetite for everything from the ordinary to the oddball.
ShoZu's patented data replication technology enables files to be downloaded invisibly in the background without the need to open a mobile phone browser, wait for pages to load, interrupt phone calls, start over in the event of a dropped connection, or sync to a PC. Just click on the ShoZu icon on your handset, and the latest ZuCasts will be waiting. The free-to-download ShoZu application also continues to offer one-click sharing of images captured on camera phones. That part of the service enables users to send images to a wide range of online image sharing, social networking, blog and citizen-contributed photojournalism sites quickly, easily and at a higher resolution than any alternative method. Users can also exchange comments about those images from their phones without waiting to get to their PCs. |
| Navio Systems Unveils Next Generation “Rights-Based” Commerce Platform for Web and Mobile Content Original news source |
| Navio Systems, Inc., provider of rights-based commerce solutions, announced the general availability of AV Commerce 2.0, the latest release of its award-winning platform for content distribution. Because Navio’s breakthrough “Rights over IP” (RoIP) technology uniquely enables distributed transactions and device independence, content owners can publish digital content once, and distribute it direct-to-consumers wherever they are --online at digital music stores and fan sites, on-the-go through mobile devices, over authorized peer-to-peer networks, or at retail point-of-sale. AV Commerce 2.0 enhancements include a new user interface, expanded storefront types, new content management services, new distribution options such as enhanced PIN support and mobile campaign support and management, and enhanced reporting. |
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This section lists news about new financing opportunities for and in the wireless data industry.
| * Rutberg: Wireless Firms Ring Up More VC Bucks Original news source |
| Of the $543 million in venture capital investment dollars received by digital media companies during April, a whopping $303 million went to wireless-related businesses, according to San Francisco-based research firm Rutberg & Co. Rutberg says 40 companies announced new VC funding last month; and 11 of those are making a business of technology related to mobile end points. |
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A recommended introductory reading that may be helpful in understanding the scope of this publication is the Wireless Data Forum's Wireless Data Primer.
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