MUMBAI, India (AP) - Virgin Mobile launched new services in India Sunday, targeting the youth market in one of the world's fastest growing regions, the company said. Virgin Group Chairman Richard Branson said the British company would offer music, entertainment and news on India's film industry, sports and stock markets to about 400 million young
Indians in the 15 to 30-year-old age group. The British billionaire said his company would launch Virgin Mobile handset services through Tata Teleservices Ltd, a top Indian mobile operator, in 50 cities initially, expanding to more than 1,000 cities by December.«India looks very, very promising. We need only a small percentage of the market to do well,» Branson told reporters at a news conference.Branson said the size of India's youth market was staggering. «It's six times the size of the U.K.'s population and we are bound to have lots of fun here,» he said. Branson did not divulge financial details, but said he hoped to attract a customer base of 5 million subscribers . India is a key mobile phone market, adding more than 6 million new connections every month with its economy growing at more than 8 percent annually.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Virgin Mobile launches in India, targets youth market
Weekly Recap
Completion of Core Mobile NFC Standard to Spark New Services
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Gartner Says Worldwide Mobile Phone Sales Increased 16 Per Cent in 2007
Egham, UK— Worldwide sales of mobile phones to end users surpassed 1.15 billion units in 2007, a 16 per cent increase from 2006 sales of 990.9 million, according to Gartner, Inc. Mobile phone sales at the end of the year were consistent with the yearly trend, as fourth quarter sales reached 330 million units.“Emerging markets, especially China and India, provided much of the growth as many people bought their first phone,” said Carolina Milanesi, research director for mobile devices at Gartner, based in Egham, UK. “In mature markets, such as Japan and Western Europe, consumers’ appetite for feature-laden phones was met with new models packed with TV tuners, global positioning satellite (GPS) functions, touch screens and high-resolution cameras.”“After another strong year, we expect the growth in sales of mobile devices to end users will decelerate in 2008 and fall to about 10 per cent growth as mature markets become more saturated,” added Ms Milanesi. “However, the global mobile devices market will remain relatively immune to a recession in the US and Western European economies as the majority of growth in 2008 will come from emerging markets. The mature Western Europe and North America markets are driven by operator contract terms and replacement cycles and will account for just 30 per cent of the global mobile devices market in 2008.
2007 Sales /Market Share (%)
Nokia
435,453.1 / 37.8
Motorola
164,307.0 / 14.3
Samsung
154,540.7 / 13.4
Sony Ericsson
101,358.4 / 8.8
LG
78,576.3 /6.8
Others
218,604.3 / 18.9
TOTAL
1,152,839.8 / 100.0
Nokia achieved its long-term target of 40 per cent market share in the fourth quarter of 2007 when it sold slightly more than 133 million phones across the world. Despite some component shortages, Nokia increased its market share sequentially in all regions except North America, which remains a challenging market for the vendor. In emerging markets, products such as the 1110, the 1600 and the 2630 were in demand by consumers, while in mature markets such as Western Europe high-end phones like the N95, N82 and N73 were sought-after devices. In 2008, Nokia will need to continue to improve its portfolio, offering not only more applications and functions, but also novel designs and improved user interfaces.
In the fourth quarter of 2007, Samsung maintained second position, and although its market share slipped slightly, the gap widened between it and third-placed Motorola. Its success relied on its Ultra and Ultra II family of products. In 2008, Samsung needs to diversify its portfolio further with more form factors and colours so that single products stand out from the overall line-up.The problems that beset Motorola in the third quarter of 2007 continued through the fourth quarter, and it recorded sales of 39 million phones across the world, taking 11.9 per cent of the market. It retained second place in terms of annual sales to end users in 2007, largely thanks to the inventory it disposed of in the first half of the year. Nevertheless, the extent of Motorola's troubles can be seen in the 9.7 percentage-points market-share drop in its fourth quarter of 2007 result from the same period in 2006.Sony Ericsson ended 2007 with another positive performance, growing its market share on a quarterly basis to 9.0 per cent from 8.7 per cent. Its Cyber-shot and Walkman products, such as the K850i, K610i, W910i, K550i and W300i, remained popular among consumers around the world. As Sony Ericsson widens its reach, adding features such as Wi-Fi and GPS, as well as more low-tier products, it will stay competitive in the coming quarters.LG’s mobile phone sales totalled 23.5 million units in the fourth quarter of 2007, maintaining its 7.1 per cent market share despite the increase of more than three million in sales volumes. The success of the Viewty, the Venus and the Voyager helped LG gain brand awareness across the world as well as improve its margins. Ms Milanesi commented: “In 2008, LG will need to continue strengthening its high-end portfolio for mature markets as well as its mid tier. In the low tier, LG will increasingly be challenged by vendors such as ZTE, which has already been eroding its market share in key markets such as India.”The market saw three new entrants into the top ten in the fourth quarter of 2007. These vendors included Research In Motion (RIM), ZTE and Apple. “On one hand, we have aggressive pricing and a focus on emerging markets (ZTE), and on the other, RIM with targeted functions and Apple with brand and design,” said Ms Milanesi.“Phone manufacturers need to continuously adapt their portfolios to respond to operators' demands for open platforms, lower pricing and more personalisation,” recommended Ms Milanesi. “They should also try to meet consumers' desires for fashionable, easy-to-use phones.”
Disney begins mobile service in Japan
TOKYO (AFP) — Disney launched a mobile phone service in Japan on Saturday in cooperation with Softbank Corp, entering the tough Japanese cellular phone market following its withdrawal from the the United States.Walt Disney Japan, the local unit of Walt Disney Co., released three types of mobiles, made by Sharp, all covered with silhouette patterns of Mickey Mouse.
Disney has become Japan's first so-called mobile virtual network operator (MVNO). A Walt Disney Japan official said the firm was confident of success here as Disney already had a strong following in Japan, where Tokyo Disneyland receives tens of millions of visitors every year.
Disney had already been a major content provider for mobile phones in Japan, the official said, adding that its tie-up with Softbank would also help bolster profitability of the service, named "Disney Mobile".
950 Million Users Will Access Social Networking Sites via Mobile Devices, says Pyramid Research
Today's active social networking members represent more than one-third of the total worldwide Internet user base, for a figure of 530 million members worldwide. Looking ahead, Pyramid Research expects social networking sites to gain prominence as sites add increased functionality and more people are introduced to them by friends and acquaintances. By the end of 2012, there will be 950 million users accessing social networking sites via their mobile devices.
As social networking develops as an industry, mobility will play a vital role in shaping the future. There are strong forces bringing SNS and mobility together including the industry-wide trend toward presence and personalization. For social networking sites, the ability of members to access the sites from anywhere will enhance the utility of the sites and thus the advertising revenue that the sites can generate.
For mobile operators, SNS could greatly increase mobile data usage, which has so far been lackluster in most markets, and open the door to new revenue streams from subscription fees or advertising. To that end, a broad range of handset suppliers, network equipment providers, and software developers have been making progress in addressing technical obstacles to mobile social networking -- such as the need for bandwidth, devices and browsers.
O2 sells iPhone in Ireland
Once activated, users can easily sync all of their phone numbers and other contact information, calendars, email accounts, web browser bookmarks, music, photos, podcasts and TV shows just like they do when they sync their iPods with iTunes.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Research and Markets: In 2008 It Is Predicted That Over 2 Trillion Text Messages Will Be Sent Worldwide and This Number Continues To Grow
Business Wire - Research and Markets has announced the addition of 2008 Global Mobile -- Data and Content Markets to their offering.
Key highlights:
-- In the wake of the popularity of HSDPA, currently over 25 HSUPA networks have been commercially launched in 20 countries around the world.
-- Today more than 40 mobile operators worldwide are developing mobile IM services for personal use and in late 2007 personal mobile IM became available in Asia.
-- In 2008 it is predicted over 2 trillion text messages will be sent worldwide and this number continues to grow.
-- The USA is planning the most significant upgrade to its GPS system since its launch. GPS III satellites are expected to have 500 times the transmitter power of the current system.
-- In 2008 mobile TV/video is commercially available in some markets and there will be further launches and trials taking place in all regions of the world.
-- The introduction of smaller and more flexible chipset modules will reduce the size of the RFID readers and bring overall costs down.
-- Operators around the world are contemplating and deploying IMS; a mobile platform that makes seamless communications possible between fixed and mobile networks. Initially attitudes towards IMS were overly positive, but the hype is now settling with operators taking a more realistic and cautious approach.
-- In 2008 around 70% of GPRS operators have committed to deploying EDGE in their networks worldwide.
-- The US mobile data sector continued to enjoy strong growth (at around 60%) in 2007.
-- Mobile operators in Eastern Europe are slowly focusing on mobile data, particularly in countries where prospects for revenue growth from saturated voice markets are slim and the number of deployed WCDMA/HSDPA networks is on the rise, a tribute to the technology's maturity and its dominance of the 3G technology market.
New Mobile Services from Clear Channel Interact Will Transform Outdoor Advertising
LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Clear Channel Outdoor UK is launching a suite of ground-breaking mobile services which will enable clients and agencies to interact directly with consumers through the outdoor medium. The new services, branded Clear Channel Interact, will allow consumers to opt-in to find out more information about an advertiser, download mobile vouchers for special offers, access mobile websites or find the nearest store, gym, cinema or other desired location.
The number of adult mobile phone owners in the UK has reached 88%, according to the Mobile Data Association, while Clear Channel Outdoor’s 70,000 outdoor advertising opportunities reach 84% of the population every week*. Advertisers will now be able to book outdoor advertising campaigns that include a call to action for consumers to use their mobiles and text a Clear Channel operated shortcode number which provides access to a world of bespoke mobile information, selected by the advertiser.
These services will include: Find out more, Mobile voucher, Mobile website, Find my nearest, Consumer feedback, Voting service, Text messaging, Voice messaging, Picture messaging and Directory listings.
The Mobile voucher service, for example, will allow an advertiser to send vouchers direct to a mobile handset which can be redeemed directly in-store or by entering a unique code online.
The Find my nearest service can be used to drive footfall and facilitate the call to action of a particular campaign. Clear Channel Interact will be able to triangulate a consumer’s location and search its database for the nearest locations according to keyword. The matching destinations, for example retail outlets, gyms or cinemas, can then be sent to the user’s handset including addresses, telephone numbers and maps.
All of these services will be supported by a back-end system that will provide tracking and data profiling facilities for advertisers, in accordance with the Data Protection Act, further enhancing the accountability of specific campaigns, and the outdoor medium as a whole.
Priceline.com Launches New Mobile Services For Travelers
NORWALK, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Priceline.com® (Nasdaq: PCLN) announced today the launch of a suite of mobile services that enable travelers with Web-enabled wireless devices to search hotel inventories, pricing and availability in real-time, book rooms, check the status of their flights, and see recommended restaurants and local attraction reviews from Zagat Survey, LLC.
“We believe these enhancements make priceline.com one of the leading wireless services providers in the online travel space,” said priceline.com’s Chief Marketing Officer Brett Keller. “Many priceline.com customers are last-minute travelers who need the ability to check live hotel inventories, book their rooms in real-time and check their flight status while on the road. In addition, Zagat Survey’s restaurant and attractions reviews provide unique, valuable content that can’t be found on any other major online travel service.”
Travelers can access priceline.com’s mobile services in two ways. When accessed through a Web-enabled wireless device, www.priceline.com will automatically route visitors to the special wireless home page. Travelers can also access priceline.com’s mobile services, by wireless device or computer, by visiting www.priceline.mobi.
Priceline’s mobile features include:
- Search Hotels. Allows customers to search live, real-time hotel inventories and pricing by city and date. Once the desired hotel is located, customers can click on a link to be connected to Priceline’s telephone booking service for hotels.
- Book Travel. Provides an easy connection to Priceline’s telephone booking services for hotel rooms, air & hotel vacation packages and cruises.
- Flight Status. Automatically connects to the mobile flight status pages for American, Northwest, United and US Airways. Provides links that customers can use to dial flight status phone numbers for most major domestic and international airlines.
- Zagat-Rated Restaurants. Allows visitors to view highlights of Zagat-Rated restaurants by city. Each restaurant is accompanied by address, phone number, average price and Zagat’s signature numerical rating of its Food, Décor and Service.
- Zagat-Rated Attractions. Allows visitors to view highlights of Zagat-Rated attractions by city. Each attraction is accompanied by address, telephone number, cost (if any), and Zagat’s signature numerical rating of its Appeal, Facilities and Service.
- Customer Help. Provides e-mail and telephone links to Priceline customer service for hotels, vacation packages and cruises.
- Download Goodies. Offers downloadable ringtones and wireless device wallpaper from priceline.com’s current Negotiator TV commercials, starring William Shatner.