- Week summary
- General wireless data market related news
- Carriers news
- Wireless data related middleware vendors news
- Terminal development for mobile data
- Vendors of software for client wireless devices news
- Application outsourcing and hosting news
- News about financing for wireless data businesses
- News about trade shows and conferences
| * - 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 |
- Web site mdog.com
claims that its' transcoding capabilities allow to blog directly on all major blogging sites from any mainstream mobile phone browser. Will be interesting to really test - Livejournal is included.
- It's now possible to use Yahoo! local search for in-car real-time navigation.
- CES is on next week - check a generic list of exhibitor profiles to get a rough understanding of what will be on offer. John Dvorak though thinks that noting substantially new will be announced. I hope that he's wrong.
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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.
| Forrester Research: US Consumers Are Ready For Mobile Marketing Original news source |
| Although 79 percent of consumers find the idea of mobile ads annoying, early efforts at mobile marketing have revealed that consumers will happily engage in campaigns as long as marketers deliver valuable information or content. According to a new report released by Forrester Research, Inc., a growing number of consumers are shifting from voice-only mobile services to other activities, creating a viable audience for mobile marketing. Thirty-five percent of US households that own a mobile phone currently engage in text messaging and 11 percent access the mobile Internet. To combat preconditioned skepticism, marketers must recognize that mobile marketing is about offering value, not interrupting consumers with unmoving and irrelevant ads. |
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This section lists news about innovative and competitive usage of wireless data by network carriers.
| Sprint Nextel and Nokia in WiMAX pact Original news source |
| Sprint Nextel announced that Nokia has been named a key infrastructure and consumer electronic device provider for its 4G WiMAX next generation mobility network. Nokia joins Intel, Samsung and Motorola in creating the advanced network infrastructure and access devices which will be designed to allow consumers, businesses and governments to experience high bandwidth mobile Internet connectivity at access speeds significantly higher than today's wireless networks beginning late 2007. |
| China Mobile, Google Launch Cooperation Original news source |
| China Mobile, the world’s largest mobile telecommunications carrier, and Google, the world’s largest search engine, announced today a cooperation to provide mobile and Internet search services in China. Together, they will provide Chinese Mobile users with world-class, high-quality mobile search products and services that will make it easier than ever before to find relevant content on the cellular phone. Google will provide its world class search engine technology to China Mobile to enable "mobile search" on China Mobile’s Monternet WAP portal, and China Mobile users will be able to easily search Monternet and its vast content, including sports and entertainment news, ringtones, games, images, videos and novels. Users will be able to access the service via a search box or search link on Monternet’s homepage, or through a dedicated mobile search homepage on Monternet. The first-phase service has been partially put into trial operation in December, 2006 and will be launched broadly in the early part of 2007. |
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This section lists breaking news from companies which provide middleware used by carriers and software developers to offer access to diversified corporate data.
| NDS Announces New Mobile Offerings, PC-TV Solutions, Home Networking Capabilities And Gaming Technologies At CES Original news source |
| NDS, provider of technology solutions for digital pay-TV, announced a number of new solutions to protect broadcast content over a variety of networks and devices. With announcements that include secure video delivery across WiFi hotspots, applications that turn PCs into TVs, and a new generation of interactive gaming for the set-top box platform, NDS is introducing technologies at CES that re-define television delivery for both consumers and broadcasters. Highlights of the announcements include a partnership with MobiTV to demonstrate the first-ever secure delivery of Mobile WiMAX TV to Ultra Mobile PCs. |
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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.
| DSP Group To Demonstrate WiFi Phone & Personal Communicator Platforms Original news source |
| DSP Group, Inc., specialist in developing and providing chip-set solutions for residential wireless connectivity, announced the availability of its new product demonstrations at the upcoming Consumer Electronic Show (CES) in Las Vegas including WiFi multimedia enabled dual band 802.11a/b/g solution supporting the following functionalities: Voice over WiFi, Music streaming and Photo sharing from Home Entertainment Center according to DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) standard, Instant Messaging (support for Skype, Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo!, ICQ, and GoogleTalk) as well as Internet Radio streaming. All of these features are running under Linux OS, with advanced MMI applications. |
| AnyDATA Corporation Launches Smallest CDMA Wireless GPS Personal Locating Device Original news source |
| AnyDATA Corporation has launched its newest product, the AGT-100D, a CDMA wireless GPS personal location device. The AGT-100D can be tracked using any existing Internet-based web application that currently uses assisted-GPS (AGPS) services for tracking. AGPS service is the same service used today for E911 location of cell phones by CDMA carriers, but now is commercially available for personal location devices. The AGT-100D is one of the first CDMA data devices to use the AGPS services for personal asset tracking.
Because of the low price and very small size of the AGT-100D, it can be used as a personal asset tag for locating people as well as valuable personal assets which may become mobile. |
| SpectraLink Unveils Its Next Generation Wi-Fi Telephones Original news source |
| SpectraLink Corp., specialist in workplace wireless telephony, announced its next-generation Wi-Fi telephony handsets, the NetLink 8000 Series Wireless Telephones. The new NetLink 8000 Series handsets are the first commercially available enterprise-grade handsets to support the IEEE 802.11a, b and g radio standards, allowing businesses to choose the most appropriate Wi-Fi implementation for application segmentation, interference mitigation and user density.
The NetLink 8000 Series Wireless Telephones enhance SpectraLink's Wi-Fi telephony platform with the industry's longest talk times and added durability and resilience for improved reliability in all types of enterprise environments. Additional enhancements include a slim, lightweight design and a larger display screen. Two models are available: the basic NetLink 8020 Wireless Telephone, and the enhanced NetLink 8030 Wireless Telephone supporting SpectraLink's exclusive integrated push-to-talk (PTT) capabilities, now enhanced with 24 PTT channels plus a unique priority channel for emergency broadcast applications. |
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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.).
| Kodiak Networks Announces Licensing Agreement with Research in Motion for Push-To-Talk on Blackberry Original news source |
| Kodiak Networks announced that it has signed a global licensing agreement with Research In Motion (RIM) to feature a series of integrated mobile applications including Push-to-Talk (PTT) on BlackBerry handsets. Kodiak's applications target business and leisure users and are featured on the BlackBerry Pearl available from Cingular Wireless. The licensing agreement allows RIM to integrate a Java version of the Kodiak handset client with BlackBerry handsets and enables joint development and marketing efforts. |
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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.
| * Blogging Goes Completely Mobile Original news source |
| mdog.com has freed blogging from the computer and carrier/application limitations, transforming it into a truly spontaneous, real-time mobile activity. Thanks to mdog.com's new Mobile Blogging Portal bloggers can post and read blog entries, upload photos and respond to comments to any blog from any web-enabled mobile device such as a Blackberry, Treo, Windows Mobile, Sidekick, higher-end Nokia and Motorola Q.
Users can simply point their mobile browser to mdog.com, select "Blogs", and enter the blog's full internet address. Any mobile user can post, upload photos or read blogs on mdog.com, no matter what device, service provider or blog platform he or she uses. Through this portal, blogs on all major blog services (including Blogger, Wordpress, Typepad, Xanga, Blogs.com, AOL Blogs, and Livejournal) are perfectly formatted for any Web-enabled mobile device. |
| * Dash Navigation to Add Yahoo! Local Search Capabilities to the Car Original news source |
| Dash Navigation Inc. announced that it is teaming up with Yahoo! Inc. , allowing Dash Express users to search Yahoo! Local for nearby products, services or businesses from their cars -- a GPS industry first.
With Yahoo! Local and Dash Express, local search in the car is becoming a simple and easy-to-use reality. When a user enters their search term into their Dash Express, the device wirelessly begins a Yahoo! Local search on the web. Within seconds, the results are formatted into address cards and presented to the user as a simple listing of nearby businesses. With the press of a button on the device, the Dash user is routed to their desired destination. |
| MapQuest Enhances Wireless Offerings Original news source |
| MapQuest announced MapQuest Mobile v2.5, offering a range of new features, including access to MapQuest's 15 million points of interest, multipoint routing, walking directions, customized routing options, and coverage in Canada. MapQuest Mobile, the #1 revenue generating downloadable application in the US1, is available in the US through 12 wireless carriers, and on 250 mobile phones.
In addition, MapQuest Navigator -- the GPS-enabled application featuring text and audio turn-by-turn directions -- is now available from Sprint on Sprint and Nextel BlackBerry devices. The downloadable application features an in-car navigation-like system with a moving, full color map display while letting consumers receive phone calls.
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| Online Resources Launches Mobile Banking And Bill Payment Solution Original news source |
| Online Resources Corp., provider of Web-based financial services, announced the launch of its mobile banking and bill payment service, a hosted application that enables financial institutions to provide their consumers with a full range of online services via mobile phones and other wireless devices.
Available through a partnership with Access Softek, Inc., a global developer of technology software, the mobile banking and payment service is an OFX-based software application that works with all major U.S. wireless networks. The service provides immediate access to approximately 70 percent of today’s mobile phone devices, with near-ubiquitous access expected in the next several years as consumer mobile devices are upgraded. The service is fully integrated with Online Resources payments and security technology, providing consumers the ability to view their accounts, pay bills, transfer funds and receive messages from their financial institutions. In pilot with select financial institution clients since July 2006, the service is now available to Online Resources’ OFX-enabled clients. Each client launch of the mobile service is supported with the company’s ICM Marketing services, including targeted in-session messaging, demos and other instructional information embedded in the application. After registering online, consumers simply download the software application via their wireless device. |
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This section lists news about new financing opportunities for and in the wireless data industry.
| AT&T and BellSouth Join to Create a Premier Global Communications Company Original news source |
| AT&T Inc. closed its acquisition of BellSouth Corporation, creating a premier global communications company committed to driving convergence, continued innovation, and competition in the communications and entertainment market.
The transaction consolidates ownership and management of Cingular Wireless, the nation's leading provider of wireless voice and data services, and YELLOWPAGES.COM, a leading Internet Yellow Pages and local search site. |
| Invensense Closes Its Second Round Of Funding Of $11 Million Original news source |
| InvenSense, provider of integrated motion sensing solutions for mobile and consumer applications, announced it has secured $11 million in Series B funding. The infusion will finance the company’s high-volume production ramp for its popular integrated dual-axis gyroscope and will fund the completion of new product development for the handset market. QUALCOMM Ventures participated in the round, along with existing investors Artiman Ventures and Partech International, who fully participated in the round. The new round of funding is the next step in the company’s strategy to pursue new market opportunities for integrated motion sensing in consumer electronics, including gaming and mobile handsets. |
| Breakpoint has merged with MNI Original news source |
| Good results of Breakpoint,
rapidly growing developer and publisher of entertainment software for wireless devices,
and its promising perspectives for the future have been now supported by the telecom industry investor. MNI,
leading Polish media and telecom group,
has purchased 57% of Breakpoint shares for the amount of 4,66 mln PLN (1,2 mln EUR), financed from MNI own resources.
By merging with Breakpoint, MNI implements its strategy of offering complete and advanced services for media and telecommunication market. In the group Breakpoint is going to maintain its well-known brand and the independence of creating and promoting new IPs; the management also keep the positions. The 2007 investments are going to be placed in development of sales and marketing, as well as in acquiring 1-2 licenses for new games. |
| Amdocs Agrees to Acquire SigValue Technologies Original news source |
| Amdocs, provider of software and services to enable integrated customer
management and the intentional customer experience, announced it
has signed an agreement to acquire SigValue Technologies, Inc. (SigValue),
a provider of an integrated billing, customer care, and service control
platform designed for service providers in high-growth emerging markets
around the world. Amdocs currently owns 14% of SigValue's outstanding
capital stock. Under the terms of the agreement, Amdocs will acquire all of
SigValue's remaining share capital for approximately $54 million in cash,
net of cash on hand. |
| NextWave Wireless to Aquire GO Networks Original news source |
| NextWave Wireless Inc. announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire GO Networks Inc., a privately-held company headquartered in Mountain View, CA with research and development facilities in Tel Aviv, Israel. GO Networks develops advanced mobile Wi-Fi network solutions for service providers looking to deploy campus and municipal Wi-Fi systems with carrier-class quality, coverage, capacity and performance.
GO Networks’ Metro Broadband Wireless (MBW) system is a highly-scalable Wi-Fi network solution optimized to deliver cost-effective, next-generation mobile data, voice, and multimedia services. Utilizing xRF technology, a proprietary adaptive beamforming antenna engine, and an innovative, self-organizing and multi-frequency mesh architecture, GO’s MBW solution is designed to deliver exceptional network performance and operating economics. |
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This section lists the trade shows and conferences which are relevant to wireless data from either participation or exhibiting point of view.
| * John Dvorak's Second Opinion: Lots of buzz, but little new coming from CES show Original news source |
| With upwards of 300,000 showgoers and probably 5,000-10,000 credentialed media, the public will be subjected to endless whizbang gizmo stories all next week on local and national TV and radio outlets.
And there should be plenty to cover with an estimated 2700 exhibitors covering 1.7 million square feet of exhibit space.
If I were you I'd take a week's vacation. I wish I could. |
| * 2007 International CES Exhibitor Profiles Original news source |
| The 2007 International CES (Consumer Electronics Show) takes place Jan. 8 – 11 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas Hilton, and The Sands Expo and Convention Center/The Venetian in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Here are profiles from 2007 International CES exhibitors. Business Wire is the official news wire for 2007 International CES. News releases, advisories, photos, and online press kits are available on the official 2007 International CES: Exhibitor News page (hosted by Business Wire and Virtual Press Office). Breaking news releases and photos are also available at Tradeshownews.com, Business Wire's trade show, conference, and event news resource. |
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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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