AT&T’s Media Mall 2.0 Coming Soon

Highlighting its commitment to bring the universe of mobile applications and content to consumers, AT&T unveiled plans for a redesigned MEdia Mall, the company’s one-stop shopping destination for mobile content. Since launching on AT&T mobile handsets in December 2004, millions of customers have visited MEdia Mall to load up on ringtones, games, videos and other applications — generating more than $1 billion dollars in sales and helping spawn a wave of innovation among an ever-growing mobile developer community.

AT&T’s MEdia Mall 2.0 is designed to be the ultimate source for personalizing your AT&T wireless phone. Like its predecessor, MEdia Mall 2.0 will feature more than 90,000 choices from more than 115 different content providers, including the new top-selling game, Guitar Hero 3. MEdia Mall 2.0 shoppers are just a click away from even more content with millions of additional full track songs, available from Napster Mobile and eMusic. From the "Ringtones" page, customers can click on the "Full Track Music" link to shop for music from capable handsets.

The storefront will be expanded on an ongoing basis, giving more developers an opportunity to reach the 70.1 million customers of America’s leading provider of wireless services.

The grand opening of MEdia Mall 2.0, powered by software developer UIEvolution, is slated for next month on AT&T capable handsets, but the company is currently giving customers an opportunity to preview MEdia Mall 2.0 with an online mock-up of the mobile storefront at www.att.com/mediamall2.

One of the cool new features of the enhanced MEdia Mall 2.0 is the ability to preview ringtones on a handset before you purchase it — a capability that was previously only available from AT&T’s Web site. Because more than 90 percent of AT&T customers purchase their mobile content directly from their phones, having the ability to "try before you buy" is a more friendly way to shop.

"We want to make MEdia Mall 2.0 the one-stop shop for customers who want to explore the universe of mobile content and applications" said Mark Collins, vice president of Consumer Data for AT&T’s wireless unit. "By remodeling our mobile storefront, we’re giving customers more choices and helping developers reach an ever-growing number of mobile consumers"

AT&T works with developers to create unique versions of applications and content that work with AT&T’s wide variety of devices. Counted individually, including multiple versions of the same application designed for different devices, there are nearly 10 million pieces of mobile content and applications available on MEdia Mall.

In addition to previewing ringtones, customers will also be able to view screenshots of games and graphics before purchasing. The new and improved MEdia Mall 2.0 also offers customer purchase recommendations, providing a well-rounded customer experience.

MySpace Mobile Now Accessible to Sprint Customers

MySpace and Sprint announced the launch of MySpace Mobile on all Web-enabled Sprint phones. The launch marks the first free direct access to the new MySpace Mobile website on a U.S. wireless carrier, allowing Sprint data subscribers a fast track to their MySpace profiles on their phones.

As part of MySpace’s ongoing effort to offer users a rich and meaningful mobile experience on the go, MySpace has partnered with Sprint to provide customers direct access to MySpace Mobile’s innovative tool set, including the ability to edit MySpace profiles, view and add friends, post blogs and bulletins, send and receive MySpace messages, and much more – all from their Sprint phone.

This announcement also marks the official launch of MySpace’s Mobile website, available via any mobile device at (http://m.myspace.com). The new version of MySpace Mobile features a rich graphical design, a revamped email interface and other new features. The site, previously in beta, has seen more than one million unique visitors per day since its release in September.

“Mobile is the next generation of social networking,” said Brandon Lucas, senior director of mobile business development for MySpace. “Our partnership with Sprint makes it easier and faster for customers to get the most out of MySpace when they’re on the go.”

To access MySpace Mobile on Sprint, customers now can simply open the Web on their phone, select Messaging and click on the MySpace Mobile link to get instant access to their profile.

“Bringing popular social networking communities to Sprint phones allows Sprint customers to keep up with their busy social lives whenever and wherever they want to,” said Kevin Packingham, vice president of wireless product management for Sprint. “Sprint is excited to be working with the leading social networking site to meet our customers’ desire for fast, easy mobile access to their MySpace profiles.”

The rich feature set for MySpace Mobile on Sprint phones includes:

MySpace Mobile on Sprint complements the leading social networking site’s current mobile offerings, which include mobile alerts and premium applications on devices offered in the U.S. by Sprint and other carriers.

In December, Sprint and Fox Interactive Media (FIM) first announced plans for all of FIM’s mobile sites to be distributed to Sprint subscribers in an on-portal experience. Sprint and FIM have worked closely over the past several years to deliver the Web’s most dynamic content to mobile consumers. Currently, Sprint distributes content from all of FIM’s leading sites, including FOXSports.com, IGN, Photobucket and the network of MyFOX local sites.

Unlimited mobile Web use, including the new MySpace Mobile, is included at no additional charge in Sprint’s new $99 Simply Everything plan, which features unlimited calling, messaging and data. For Sprint customers on other calling plans, data packs included unlimited mobile Web use start at $15 per month. Casual usage charges apply to mobile Web use for customers without a data pack.

ABI Research Finds Carriers Losing Control Over Mobile Content

A recent consumer survey conducted by ABI Research shows that today’s mobile phone owners use a mix of mobile content obtained from the Web, from their personal collections, and from their wireless carriers. As an example, today’s mobile consumer is more likely to watch a video from YouTube on his or her phone than a video from the carrier’s own service, but is more than twice as likely to get ringtones from the carrier than from any other source.

“Perhaps more with the mobile phone than any other consumer electronics device, content is obtained from a variety of sources,” says research director Michael Wolf. “This shows that despite the strong control most carriers retain over the network, their control over the mobile content ecosystem remains limited. The consumer will see more and more options for obtaining rich media in the future.”

The 14% of respondents who said they use their phone to watch video was split nearly evenly between those who watch video from websites such as YouTube (35%), from their own carrier’s video offering (31%), and from video they sideload onto their mobile devices (28%). Music was also mixed: the leading source of music files on a mobile phone was ripped CDs and sideloading onto the phone (48% of mobile-music listening respondents), while over one third of music-listening respondents (35%) purchased music through their carriers. Lastly, pre-loaded content such as games were some of the most popular forms, as six in ten mobile gamers said they only play the games that came with the phone.

“As the mobile phone grows from being a voice-centric device to a multidimensional communication and entertainment device, content channels will continue to multiply,” adds Wolf. “We expect to see increased content acquisition directly to the phone from the Web. And despite a loosening of control over content delivery to consumers, we believe the carriers will ultimately benefit as they open up their networks and handset platforms and look into taking advantage of increased advertising-supported content delivery.”

HTC Announces Availability of the HTC Shift in the United States

HTC announced the nationwide availability of the HTC Shift. Harnessing the power of Windows Vista and Microsoft Origami Experience 2.0, the HTC Shift blends advanced wireless connectivity with a sleek design that is half the size and a fraction of the weight of a standard notebook. Operating on the Sprint Mobile Broadband Network, the HTC Shift can leverage always-connected CDMA-EVDO connectivity and features true push email with up to three days of battery life. Today, Sprint covers more square miles, cities, and airports with mobile broadband than any other carrier, offering the nation’s largest mobile broadband network to HTC Shift users.

“For the first time, customers can experience an extremely small, touch-optimized PC with high speed cellular connectivity and push email. The result is an unmatched mobile computing experience,” said Jason Mackenzie, vice president of HTC America. “We are pleased to meet our customers’ growing mobility needs by bringing this state-of-the-art product to the United States.”

Device Features

The HTC Shift features the power and connectivity the travelling, busy professional needs. This is the first device to feature HTC's innovative new SnapVUE™ technology. SnapVUE provides instant access to emails, calendar, SMS messages and contacts, without the need to fully boot up the device, which helps conserve power and extend battery life. Also a great multimedia companion, the HTC Shift utilizes Windows Media Player 11 to provide easy access to music, videos and photos. Other features include:

• 
  7" touch sensitive 'slide-n-tilt' screen
  
• 
  Windows Vista Business edition
  
• 
  40-gigabyte hard drive
  
• 
  Light weight of 1.8 pounds
  
• 
  802.11 b/g Wi-Fi connectivity
  
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  High-speed data connectivity with CDMA-EVDO service through Sprint
  
• 
  Bluetooth® 2.0
  
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  Windows Media Player 11 to provide easy access to music, videos and
  photos.
  

Pricing and Availability

The HTC Shift is available for pre-order in the United States for an approximate retail price of $1,499 and will begin shipping on Monday, March 24.

New IBM Software Brings Web 2.0 to Mobile Phones

IBM announced today that the Lotus Expeditor software platform is extending desktop computing and Web 2.0 capabilities to mobile phones.

For the first time, mobile phone users will be able to run several desktop-style applications like social networking, mashups and other consumer or business applications simultaneously on a variety of mobile phones. The technology will be demonstrated at the EclipseCon conference in Santa Clara, Calif., this week.

The new version of IBM Lotus Expeditor 6.1.2 software enables mobile application developers to create new applications and services that combine information from
different sources. Key to Lotus Expeditor technology is the use of the Eclipse embedded Rich Client Platform (eRCP) application model, which allows applications to be created to span desktop and mobile devices.

"People want to be productive anywhere, anytime," said Alistair Rennie, vice president, Development, IBM Lotus Software. "IBM Lotus Expeditor enables faster delivery of a new generation of Web 2.0 applications to mobile phones. Already supporting Lotus Notes and Lotus Sametime, Expeditor has a proven track record as a platform for innovative
applications."

Social Networking describes people connecting with others on-line through messaging, blogging and discussion groups using a business service like IBM Lotus Connections or consumer communities such as Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn. An example of a mashup is a Web-based view that includes directions to a beach, weather conditions there and a list of restaurants with reviews, all integrated from different sources. Lotus Expeditor software enables social networking and mashups to be further integratedinto routine tasks like vacation planning, for one example. By mashing up regional information about sightseeing hot spots with local travel information sources that can be instantly contacted through social networking capabilities, a vacationer can gain immediate insight into interesting side trips in the middle of a vacation.

Ericsson brings Napster Mobile for O2 UK

Ericsson and Napster, announce the largest European hosting contract for Napster Mobile, with O2 UK.

O2 UK's customers will be able to search, browse, preview and purchase full-length tracks from Napster's immense catalog of over 5 million tracks and play them on their mobile handsets and PCs.

The Napster Mobile service contains several sophisticated features, including a recommendation engine that makes content recommendations based upon each consumer's musical taste, and dual delivery, a feature that sends a copy of the content purchased on the handset to the customer's PC.

Under the hosting agreement Ericsson's responsibilities include systems integration, operations, maintenance and content management of the Napster Mobile service for O2 UK. Hosting is a part of Ericsson's Managed Services offering. It is a business model that ensures easy and cost-efficient launches of end user appealing services.

"This is another great example of our strategy of creating deep level partnerships with the best companies in the world to deliver compelling services to our customers," says Sally Cowdry, Marketing Director, O2 UK. "Working with the right partners at O2 UK is crucial to our success and we have joined forces with a leader in this space to bring our customers a high quality, great value service with the widest choice of songs available on mobile."

"We're extremely excited to be partnering with O2 UK on the launch of Napster Mobile," says Brad Duea, president of Napster. "We look forward to delivering a superior mobile music experience to O2 UK's customers, along with the largest mobile music catalog available. It's the perfect extension of Napster's online service in the UK."

Ged Doherty, Chairman, Sony BMG Music Entertainment UK and Ireland says: "Napster pioneered subscription services in the online world. We are delighted to support them as they move into the mobile space with O2 - another brand making a considerable impact on the music landscape."

"We're happy to see this second launch of Napster Mobile in the O2 group, following that of O2 Ireland in 2006. Music is an important area for telecom operators and we believe that O2 UK's subscribers will find this a very attractive service. Napster Mobile combines the strength of Ericsson's multimedia offering and hosted services capabilities. Combining the two enables us to provide a very attractive offering for operators to launch to their end-users." said Jacqueline Hey, Managing Director, Ericsson UK.

Alltel Wireless Launches the Exclusive Glimmer by LG

Touch Screen Phone Combines Music and Media with Form and Function

Alltel Wireless and LG announced that the highly anticipated GlimmerTM by LG will be exclusively available in Alltel retail stores and online at shopalltel.com beginning tomorrow, March 13. With a slide-out keypad and touch-screen interface, the LG Glimmer incorporates traditional phone functions with the latest multimedia features.
The LG Glimmer is loaded with a 2 MP camera with video capabilities, an MP3 player with customizable equalizer, an expandable memory slot and is GPS capable. This slick phone is rich with several of Alltel’s Axcess applications including Alltel Navigation, Axcess Search, CityID and Axcess TV. In addition, users can listen to their favorite music while utilizing other multimedia features on the phone, such as taking photos, recording video or sending text messages. The Glimmer also features 3D graphics support and 128MB of internal memory.
“With touch-screen phones revolutionizing wireless, the LG Glimmer from Alltel has an innovative new touch interface while offering the convenience of a slide-out physical keypad,” states Brian Ullem, vice president of device strategy for Alltel Wireless. “Its large display and multimedia capabilities allow our customers to access and manage their video and music with a simple touch.”
“Consumers will appreciate the durable metal body of this elegant, user-friendly mobile phone,” said Ehtisham Rabbani, vice president of product strategy & marketing at LG Mobile Phones. “With its slim form factor and large sliding touch screen the Glimmer by LG is another example of forward-thinking technology and design.”
Alltel Wireless is offering the Glimmer by LG for $249.99 after a $100 mail-in-rebate. This discounted price is available to new customers who sign-up for a two-year service agreement and to existing eligible customers on qualifying rate plans. All Alltel customers who purchase the LG Glimmer and are on a qualifying rate plan are able to receive “My Circle,” Alltel’s exclusive calling feature allowing customers to receive unlimited calling to any five, 10 or 20 numbers, any network. In addition, Alltel was the first to offer Anytime Plan Changes, giving customers the flexibility to change their calling plans at any time, without extending their current contract.
The LG Glimmer also supports Alltel’s new service, Axcess Voice2TXT. The service, which is available on any Alltel Wireless SMS text message capable phone, quickly converts incoming voicemails to text messages in the customer’s inbox and also allows customers to store and forward converted voicemails as regular text messages.

Asia-Pacific Braces for Mobile TV Fever

The Asia-Pacific mobile video services market is expected to see huge growth potential as mobile operators continue to spend millions on developing innovative services and content to arrest the declining average revenue per user (ARPU). Mobile TV, essentially an extension of mobile video services, in particular is seen as a new killer application that could potentially bring alternative source of revenues for carriers.
New analysis from global growth consulting company, Frost & Sullivan, Asia Pacific Tunes Up for Mobile TV, finds that the mobile video services market - covering 12 Asia-Pacific countries ex-Japan - earned revenues of over US$440 million in 2007 and estimates this to reach US$1.88 billion by end-2013, at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 27.4 percent (2007-2013).
While South Korea (which accounted for 87 percent or US$383.7 million of the revenues in 2007) will remain as the biggest market for mobile video in Asia-Pacific (outside of Japan), other potential leading markets include Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Australia and New Zealand.
“Amid the growing interest in triple-play and mobile advertising, mobile TV has been the buzzword in the Asia-Pacific mobile and wireless market,” notes Frost & Sullivan industry analyst Shaker Amin. “The recent spate of trials and the commercial launches of broadcast networks in Japan and South Korea indicate that the mobile TV fever could well catch on throughout the Asia-Pacific region.”
Two of the regions most mature mobile markets, South Korea and Japan, have introduced mobile TV broadcast services (ahead of the other Asia-Pacific countries) built on homegrown standards. South Korea spearheaded the DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting) standards, launching S-DMB (Satellite Digital Multimedia Broadcasting) and T-DMB (Terrestrial Digital Multimedia Broadcasting) in 2005. While Japan launched ISDBT (Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting - Terrestrial), or 1-seg, in 2006.
South Korea is expected to hit mass adoption in mobile video services between 2008 and 2010, when the rest of Asia-Pacific joins the commercial broadcast TV service bandwagon.
Other markets that have commercially launched DVB-H mobile TV broadcast services include Vietnam’s VMC (Vietnam Multimedia Corporation) in September 2006, and Philippines’ Smart Communications in February 2007.
In the rest of the Asia-Pacific markets, digital video broadcast-handheld (DVB-H) and MediaFLO remain most commonly selected for trials. In China, T-DMB (a different version from South Korea’s) and CMMB (China Multimedia Mobile Broadcasting), both homegrown standards, are being deliberated for the country’s national mobile TV broadcast standard.
Pricing however remains the biggest hurdle to a wider uptake of mobile video and TV services. In 2007, the total mobile ARPU in Asia-Pacific stood at US$16.8 (including Japan), largely due to the region’s lower disposal income.
Furthermore, mobile TV broadcast service (multicast) requires compatible handsets, which are not widely available throughout Asia-Pacific as yet. In markets where an impending launch is expected, mobile handset manufacturers are still in the midst of finalizing handset requirements with the major mobile operators.
“In most markets, mobile video service becomes especially expensive when a user exceeds the stipulated amount of data in a ‘flat-rate’ plan,” says Amin. “Considering that this is a major restraint to greater uptake, mobile operators could follow the example of South Korean operators who have implemented an ‘eat-all-you-can’ flat-rate for data charges to encourage adoption.”

Funambol Does Mobile Social Networking

New Code Sniper Projects Encourage Community to Write Apps that Sync Contacts, Events and Photos and Between Mobile Phones and Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Plaxo and other Social Networks

Funambol, the leading provider of Mobile 2.0 messaging software powered by open source, today announced new Code Sniper projects to encourage its global community of mobile open source developers to write apps that sync content between mobile phones and social networks.
Code Sniper is Funambol's community program that rewards developers with monetary bounties to work on open source projects that benefit mobile users around the globe. This new slate of Code Sniper projects ranges from syncing pictures of friends on social networks to the address book on a mobile phone, to making it easy to invite your mobile contacts to join your
favorite social network. All of the apps developed as part of Code Sniper are made freely available under standard open source licensing.
"Funambol has always been about delivering cool new mobile open source services, apps and data to the broadest array of mobile phones for free or low cost, and these Code Sniper social networking projects are no exception," said Fabrizio Capobianco, CEO of Funambol. "There's a tremendous amount of content on social networks that users would like to access on their cell phones, and these projects enable this. I personally can't wait to use some of these new mobile social networking apps."

iPhone SDK Downloads Top 100,000

Apple announced that more than 100,000 iPhone developers have downloaded the beta iPhone Software Development Kit in the first four days since its launch on March 6. The iPhone SDK provides developers with the same rich set of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and tools that Apple uses to create its native applications for iPhone and iPod touch.
"Developer reaction to the iPhone SDK has been incredible with more than 100,000 downloads in the first four days," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "Also, over one million people have watched the launch video on Apple.com, further demonstrating the incredible interest developers have in creating applications for the iPhone."
Apple also previewed the new App Store, a breakthrough way for developers to wirelessly deliver their applications to every iPhone and iPod touch user. Developers set the price for their applications -- including free -- and retain 70 percent of all sales revenues.
Leading developers such as AOL, Electronic Arts, Epocrates, salesforce.com and Sega have already demonstrated amazing applications using the SDK, and developer response continues to be phenomenal with more developers embracing the platform.
"The iPhone SDK gives us the tools we need to create powerful iPhone applications and is an important part of our overall mobile strategy," said Rick Jensen, senior vice president, Small Business Group at Intuit. "We're excited that the iPhone expands the ways our customers can solve key financial tasks wherever they might be."
"We're very excited about Apple's new SDK and reaching every iPhone user through the new App Store," said Scott Rubin, vice president, Sales and Marketing, Namco Networks. "We can't wait to show off great new versions of arcade classics like PAC-MAN and Galaga that use the revolutionary features of the iPhone and iPod touch."
"Apple's tools have provided our development team the flexibility to make the SuitePhone application richer and deeper," said Luke Braud, vice president, Software Development, NetSuite. "NetSuite is excited at the opportunity to give every iPhone customer access to their critical business data anytime, anywhere."
"Apple's become an important mobile game platform with the iPhone SDK," said Jason Kapalka, co-founder and Chief Creative Officer, PopCap. "The new SDK gives us the tools to innovate and reinvent games like Bejeweled, Zuma and Peggle. With the new App Store we can reach every iPhone and iPod touch user on the planet."
"Seventy percent of the retail price is hands-down the best deal out there in mobile. It's simple and motivating for developers," said Wayne B. Yurtin, president and CEO, Rocket Mobile, Inc. "We can't wait to get our first iPhone applications on the revolutionary App Store."
"Six Apart pioneered the mobile blogging experience with an iPhone-optimized blog service," said Chris Alden, CEO, Six Apart. "We're taking it to the next level with our native iPhone application for TypePad that's already in development."
"The iPhone is the mobile platform game developers have been dreaming of," said Scott Zerby, vice president, THQ Wireless. "We're looking at how we can use the iPhone's innovative user interface to create new game experiences for our big brand entertainment partners that consumers love."