- 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 |
- More Skype-capable stand-alone phones - now from Linksys and with iPhone brand.
- A lot of innovations from Samsung - a phone with mouse-like control, a promise of built-in Opera browser for future phone models and a phone that supports real-time traffic service via T-DMB broadcasts.
- MySpace goes mobile on big scale.
- Nokia's NFC division turns into a separate company.
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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.
| Social Communities Go Mobile: ABI Research Forecasts 174 Million Members by 2011 Original news source |
| A new ABI Research Brief has found that “mobile social communities” currently count nearly 50 million members worldwide, a number that is expected to reach 174 million in 2011. The brisk pace of mobile social community growth means opportunities for new entrants hoping to join the established players such as SMS.ac, AirG, and Jumbuck that provide the technology and marketing behind leading mobile communities. Opportunities to monetize mobile social communities fall into several main categories. Mobile operators profit from the data usage that underpins all mobile community activities they carry, and in some cases from monthly subscription fees as well. Companies can sponsor special interest communities that relate directly to their brands or services. |
| Informa Telecoms & Media: Music still dominates mobile entertainment market, but TV revenues set to grow by over 1000% Original news source |
| The mobile entertainment market will more than double over the next five years reaching US$38.1 billion in 2011, according to Informa Telecoms & Media, publisher of the new report, "Mobile Entertainment". The market was responsible for US$18.8 billion in revenues worldwide in 2006.
Music and images dominate the market accounting for 64% of revenues in 2006. But while mobile music will continue to grow, the market for wallpapers, avatars and other images will shrink. By 2011, images will have fallen to fourth place, behind mobile games and video. Mobile games and mobile video, which together represent only one-quarter of mobile entertainment revenues in 2006, will account for close to half of the mobile entertainment market's growth over five years' time. |
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This section lists news about innovative and competitive usage of wireless data by network carriers.
| IDEA Cellular Launches New Mass-Market Mobile Email Service Original news source |
| Critical Path, Inc., provider of messaging software and services, announced that IDEA Cellular Ltd., a leading GSM operator in India with more than 12 million subscribers and a network footprint that reaches nearly half of India's population, has launched Easy Mail -- a new mass-market mobile email service, powered by Critical Path's Memova Mobile technology. The new push email service is simple to use and works on any GRPS-enabled handset. Memova Mobile pushes messages from existing email accounts to everyday mobile phones. As a result, smart phones and/or specialized client software are not required to use IDEA's Easy Mail service, making it particularly attractive to consumers and small business users with standard mobile phones. Designed for the mass market, the service offers a number of easy-to-use features. For example, since consumers do not necessarily want to receive all of their email on their phone, personalization features enable users to control which messages they receive. Additionally, users can send and receive emails with multimedia content, including pictures, video and audio. |
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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.
| * Linksys Announces iPhone Family Of Voice Over IP Solutions Original news source |
| Linksys, a Division of Cisco Systems, Inc., and the recognized leading global manufacturer of voice, wireless, and networking hardware for home, Small Office/Home Office (SOHO) and small business user, unveiled its iPhone family of Voice over IP (VoIP) solutions. The iPhone family of handheld devices harnesses the power of the Internet to enhance voice communications, integrate compelling information services, and deliver access to multimedia. In short, Linksys iPhones voice solutions and products give consumers the ability to do more with their phone than talk. Voice applications are at the core of the iPhone family. However, with iPhone handheld devices, consumers can do more than just dial a phone number and wait to see if someone answers on the other end. Products in the iPhone product line integrate popular communication clients, like Skype and Yahoo! Messenger with Voice, to help enable real-time presence features that can allow consumers to see when their friends and family are online and ready to receive a call. With products in the iPhone family, callers can toggle between the free VoIP calling options available from Skype or Yahoo! and traditional landline service with the click of a button. |
| New Products with Option’s HSDPA Wireless Module Inside Original news source |
| Option N.V., the wireless technology company, congratulates Samsung and SK Telecom on the launch of two new mobile products, the Notebook Q40 and the Ultra-Mobile PC (UMPC) Q1, in the Korean market. Option’s HSDPA embedded Wireless Modules enables both devices to access SK Telecom’s advanced mobile network empowering users of the stylishly designed Q40 and Q1 to view, listen, play, chat, download, e-mail, connect to the corporate network and work anytime, anywhere. |
| Danger and T-Mobile launch Sidekick 3 Original news source |
| Danger, Inc. announced the launch of the T-Mobile Sidekick 3 with T-Mobile U.K. and Germany.The new device is currently available for purchase and is offered with the web'n'walk tariff for about $15 per month in addition to a voice plan.Unlike any other consumer mobile device on the market, Danger-powered devices offer a complete set of applications that are powered by the company's back-end service. The Danger service compresses and optimizes data before delivering it to the device. The actual devices are specifically designed by Danger's OEM partners to bring the software experience to life, featuring a multi-tasking OS that provides an addictive end-user experience. |
| * Samsung Launches ‘Optical Joystick’ Phone Original news source |
| Samsung 's latest ‘Optical Joystick' Phone (Model: SCH-V960 ) is suited with the latest technology that may revolutionize the way users interact with the menu and user interface of mobile handsets. Users utilize the optical joystick key by placing their finger and moving a cursor to navigate through the menu, similar to a cursor of a mouse on a PC .
Optical sensors will read and react to users' finger movement, thus breaking down the traditional four-way menu navigation and providing 360 degrees of freedom. The familiarity and free movement of the V960's Optica l Joystick will result in quick and hassle-free menu navigation. Users can point the cursor and click directly on icons on MyScreen, similar interface to that on a PC environment, and gain direct access to frequently used menus such as photo album, messaging, and music menu. Users can also use the Optical Joystick to easily scroll through the play list while listening to their music. Through an illumination sensor, the Samsung V960 also includes a 'Smart Lighting' feature that automatically controls the brightness of the LCD screen and keypad. By using the 'Smart Lighting' feature, users are protected from eye strain and will minimize power consumption for increased efficiency. In addition, the V960 also supports a 2 megapixel camera, GPS and Bluetooth function. |
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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.).
| * Samsung Launches a Phone Supporting Real-Time Traffic Service Via T-DMB Original news source |
| Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. launches a terrestrial Digital Media Broadcasting phone (Model: SPH-B5800) that supports Transport Protocol Experts Group (TPEG) feature. TPEG feature is a transportation information service based on terrestrial DMB data broadcasting. Personal Media Players or navigation devices that support the TPEG service have been released in the past, but SPH-B5800 is the first mobile phone to support the TPEG service.
The Samsung SPH-B5800 provides users with traffic information updated every five minutes, as well as information about famous local restaurants and travel guides via terrestrial DMB channels. Existing Global Positioning Systems(GPS) are limited to guiding drivers on a specific route using an embedded map, but Samsung's B5800 shows current traffic conditions as “cleared”, “sluggish” or “congested,” and guides drivers with the optimal route to their destinations. Users can also compare routes that reflect traffic conditions. Moreover, unlike GPS in the past, there is no longer a need to access servers: Traffic information received via terrestrial broadcasting can be used to determine routes. The B5800 supports a feature that allows users to view all channel lists while viewing DMB programs and thus, enables users to easily browse and find desired programs. The B8500 will be released in Korea this month and the price is around $600. A subscription to a telematics service is required to use the TPEG service.
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| * Opera partners with Samsung to license Opera Mobile for future handsets Original news source |
| Opera Software announced Samsung Electronics has signed an agreement with Opera Software to deliver Opera Mobile on Samsung mobile handsets.
Opera Mobile is Opera Software's standards-compliant Web browser for advanced mobile phones. The browser uses Opera's Small Screen Rendering technology to reformat Web pages for viewing on a small screen and allows users to navigate Web pages with intuitive vertical scrolling. |
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This section lists news that describe innovative and competitive implementation of wireless data applications.
| 'On The Go Banking' now Available for Online Customers Through Wachovia Mobile Original news source |
| Wachovia Mobile - first phase of Wachovia wireless retail banking—is now available. The innovative service gives Online Banking customers the ability to access account information through Internet-enabled wireless devices like PDAs and cell phones. With the launch of Wachovia Mobile, Online Banking customers can view and monitor account activity,
check account balances and tTransfer funds between eligible accounts. The initial phase of Wachovia Mobile is available to customers who have devices using Windows Mobile 5 with Pocket Internet Explorer. Wachovia is working to make Wachovia Mobile available to customers with devices using other operating systems. Wachovia Mobile offers the same level of security as Wachovia Online Banking.
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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.
| mywaves launches 10,000 channel mobile video service Original news source |
| mywaves, a new mobile video company that delivers Web video entertainment directly to consumers' cell phones, unveiled its 10,000 channel mobile video service. Through a major new software release rolled out today, mywaves can now deliver the broadest offering of on-demand content directly to the mobile phone, ranging from sources like CNN to popular Web videos such as "Ask a Ninja," as well as personal videos.
The mywaves service, which is free to consumers, works globally across all 3G carriers and most video-capable mobile phones. The company launched a beta version of their service (limited to 500 channels) in October this year. Since then, more than 20,000 users a week in 85 countries have been signing up to enjoy what's playing on mywaves. And today, the mywaves channel lineup increases to thousands by leveraging its patent- pending Web-based video syndication technology. The new capability allows mywaves to mobilize all Web entertainment, delivering thousands of channel choices to the mobile consumer. |
| * MySpace Launches Its Largest Mobile Initiative In Partnership With Cingular Wireless Original news source |
| MySpace.com, lifestyle portal, and Cingular Wireless announced an exclusive partnership to offer enhanced MySpace functionality to all Cingular customers via their mobile phones. The landmark deal marks MySpace's largest-scale mobile partnership and gives Cingular's customers exclusive access to MySpace Mobile's rich tool set including the ability to edit MySpace profiles, view and add friends, post photos and blogs, send and receive MySpace messages, and much more -- all from the mobile phone. |
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This section lists news about new financing opportunities for and in the wireless data industry.
| * Joint venture foundation of Giesecke & Devrient and Nokia completed Original news source |
| Giesecke & Devrient (G&D) and Nokia announced the completion of a global joint venture. The name of the company is Venyon, and it is 57 percent owned by G&D and 43 percent owned by Nokia.
Venyon prepares the way for mobile operators, transport operators, retailers, banks, credit card companies, and providers of digital services and media worldwide to offer their services and applications to consumers' Near Field Communication (NFC) enabled mobile devices. With the company's Secure Chip Management services, consumer applications, such as credit cards or transport tickets can be securely and easily downloaded via a mobile operator's network to those devices.
The Venyon headquarters are located in Helsinki, Finland and another office in Munich, Germany is already established. Further locations are planned to be opened in Dallas, U.S. and Singapore. |
| Birdstep Technology signs agreement to acquire Aramova Original news source |
| Birdstep has entered into a heads of agreement to acquire Aramova Incorporated. The acquisition further reinforces Birdstep's market position as a seamless connectivity and mobility client software provider by adding stronger relationships with European operators. The acquisition also strengthens Birdstep's US presence by adding Aramova's client software development organisation in San Francisco, California and new product lines that will expand and compliment it's market leading wireless product portfolio. The transaction is expected to close in January 2006. |
| Glenayre Technologies Announces Signing of Agreement for the Sale of Messaging Business Original news source |
| Glenayre Technologies, Inc., a global provider of entertainment products and services through Entertainment
Distribution Company, LLC and worldwide messaging solutions through Glenayre
Messaging, announced that it has entered into a definitive asset purchase agreement for
the sale of its Messaging business for $25 million in cash to IP Unity. IP Unity is a provider of
carrier-grade media servers, application servers and real-time multimedia applications over IP,
TDM and enterprise networks. The transaction, which is subject to certain customary conditions
to closing, is expected to close within the next 30 days. |
| IDT Forms Mobile Unit Original news source |
| IDT Capital announced the formation of the IDT Internet Mobile Group. Coinciding with its formation, the IDT Internet Mobile Group also announced the acquisition of Norway-based Zedge.net. IDT Capital is a subsidiary of IDT Corporation, an international telecom and technology company.
The new division will be responsible for the acquisition, development and incubation of Internet and mobile content.
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| Glu Mobile Announces Filing of Registration Statement for Proposed Initial Public Offering Original news source |
| Glu Mobile Inc., a global publisher of mobile games, announced the filing of a registration statement relating to a proposed initial public offering of shares of its common stock.
Goldman, Sachs & Co. will act as the sole book-running manager for the offering, with Lehman Brothers Inc. acting as co-lead manager, and Banc of America Securities LLC and Needham & Company, LLC acting as co-managers. The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the offering have not yet been determined. The offering will only be made by means of a prospectus. |
| HP Brings Mobile Device Management to Enterprise Customers with Acquisition of Bitfone Original news source |
| HP announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to purchase Bitfone Corp., a privately held global software and services company that develops software solutions for mobile device management for the wireless industry.
The acquisition is part of HP's strategy to grow its mobile enterprise business. Acquiring Bitfone will strengthen HP's ability to provide customers with a flexible, modular approach to building a mobile infrastructure by allowing them to choose what they need to meet their business needs.
Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The transaction is subject to certain closing conditions and is expected to be completed by February 2007.
Following completion, Bitfone will be integrated into the Handheld Business Unit of HP's Personal Systems Group. |
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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.
A glossary of wireless industry terms and acronyms can be found at the Wireless Week site.
Disclaimer: The information presented is personal opinion of Leonid Iakovlev (the editor) and does not necessarily represent the opinion of any company with which he may be affiliated or of any referred third party. All information in this report is NOT guaranteed to be accurate. The information and links were however verified at the time this text was created. Editor does not take responsibility for any actions you may take based on the information you find here. Editor accepts no liability to any party for loss or damage caused by errors or omissions or by statements of any kind in this publication, whether such errors result from accident, negligence, or any other cause. Editor assumes no liability for incidental or consequential damages arising from the use of information in this publication. Editor provides no warranties regarding the information contained in this publication, whether expressed, implied, or statutory, including implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Editor also does not assume any liability for links from this publication to publications from other companies, organizations, or individuals. Editor does not imply endorsement of any specific company, organization, or individual through offering links to this content. All information provided within this publication is subject to change at any time and is provided for informational purposes only by the editor. All products and company names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
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