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.
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
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.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Internet Service, GPS Driving Chinese Smartphone Market
The smartphone is evolving to become a mobile Internet device, with cellular voice communication just one function of the converged appliance, and Chinese consumers are responding to its capabilities, reports In-Stat. The Chinese smartphone market grew by 37.7% in 2007, with total shipments of 14.4 million. The introduction of feature-rich mobile Internet service and GPS-based services will fuel the market over the next several years.
A recent report by the high-tech market research firm found the following:
* Revolutionary UI and UE, enabled by touchscreen and 3D sensor technologies, will be widely used in the next generation of smartphones.
* Smartphone shipments in China are expected to hit 33 million in 2012.
* The GPS-enabled Smartphone is in its infancy, but will have an increasing impact on the Smartphone market during the forecast period.
Sprint Launches Revolutionary $99.99 “Simply EverythingSM” Plan
OVERLAND PARK, Kan.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In an industry-defining move, Sprint today announced it will launch a domestic unlimited pricing plan that gives customers unlimited voice, data, text, e-mail, Web-surfing, Sprint TVSM, Sprint Music, GPS Navigation, Direct Connect® and Group Connect® for $99.99 a month. The new pricing plan is available to existing and new customers beginning tomorrow.
“This is a bold, unprecedented move,” said Dan Hesse, president and CEO, Sprint Nextel. “Wireless today is about much more than just voice. It is about data services – texting, email, video, pictures, music, navigation, surfing the Web and more. Customers want these applications, but without complexity and without having to worry about their bill. The $99.99 Simply Everything plan delivers it all right to the palm of their hand now.
“Today’s handsets are powerful data devices. Each day they get better, faster and easier to use with more intuitive user interface designs and full Internet access. Our high-speed networks were built with this in mind and it’s where we believe the battleground lies – offering fast access to the best content and data services. We are removing the barriers for customers to feel free to use all of the features of their phones.”
The $99.99 Simply Everything plan is available to customers on both Sprint’s CDMA and iDEN networks. Existing Sprint customers can switch to the Simply Everything plan without extending their current contract either by contacting Sprint customer service or by stopping by any participating Sprint retail location. New line activations require a two-year agreement.
For families, Simply Everything includes an incremental $5 discount for each incremental line, up to five lines on the same bill. For example, two lines would amount to $194.98 ($99.99 + $94.99); a third line would cost an additional $89.99. This is in sharp contrast to the multi-line unlimited rates offered by some competitors. The Sprint plan offers significant savings the more lines a customer adds.
The move to unlimited pricing that includes data signifies a turning point for the wireless industry. Nationally accepted measures of voice quality now show very little, if any, difference among the top wireless providers.
“All major carriers have good voice networks,” Hesse said. “Our network is about more than voice and more than just being the largest wireless data network. It is about allowing customers to connect with people, information and entertainment. It is about simplicity, usability and real value. The $99.99 Simply Everything plan eliminates overage surprises and provides a worry-free environment.
“Our investments in innovation and speed are becoming the new areas of differentiation. These are the areas where we perform best and where we can deliver a wireless advantage for our customers.”
Britannica Reference Work Available for iPhone
CHICAGO, IL--(Marketwire - February 27, 2008) - If you're thinking of getting an iPhone but just haven't done it, you now have another reason to cave in and join the wireless elite: Encyclopaedia Britannica. An extensive encyclopedia from the editors of the famous reference work is now available on Apple's über-smartphone.
Thanks to an application created by Britannica's engineers, anyone with an iPhone can access tens of thousands of articles covering all subjects at http://i.eb.com/. The application boasts a look and feel tailored to the iPhone, with full-text searching, thousands of high-resolution thumbnails that expand to full-size images, and page layouts optimized for cell phone bandwidth. It's fully searchable and hot-linked, similar to Britannica's Web editions. It also works for the iPod Touch.
"It's been live for about two weeks, and I can't get enough of it," said Chicago-based executive Dan Smith, a self-described iPhone junkie. "It's fast, easy to use and the articles look stunning."
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Resco Releases Resco MobileBusiness Toolkit for Microsoft Visual Studio 2008
Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 add-on for mobile application developers.
Bratislava, Slovakia (PRWEB) February 27, 2008 -- Resco, a supplier of advanced developer tools and components for mobile devices, today announced availability of Resco MobileBusiness Toolkit, a Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 add-on for mobile application developers, especially Sales Force Automation/Field Service application creators and Enterprise Resource Planning/Customer Relationship Management integrators. The resulting mobile application can be run on rich variety of Windows Mobile-based Smart phones.
“We understand that developer companies tend to use suitable software components to speed up the development and thus reduce the costs,” said Radomír Vozár, director of Resco, Enterprise Solutions. “By releasing Resco MobileBusiness Toolkit we provide the developer community a well-documented solution dedicated for mobile business application development which can be easily customized using the features of Microsoft Visual Studio 2008.”
The whole solution consists of:
- MobileForms Toolkit – set of versatile Visual Studio 2008 controls for the Microsoft .NET Framework designed specifically for mobile devices.
- MobileBusiness Controls – set of Visual Studio2008 user controls that demonstrate how to solve typical problems that developers of mobile business applications run into. MobileBusiness Controls are provided with the Microsoft Visual C# source code.
- MobileBusiness Forms – set of forms which serve as a container for MobileBusiness Controls as well as other components which all together create MobileBusiness mobile application. MobileBusiness Forms are provided with the Visual C# source code.
Mobile Gaming to Grow as Gamers Move to Newer Channels
“Lack of competition has left most carrier decks with an uninspired user interface and poor merchandising environment, which contributed to the recent market stagnation,” said Yuanzhe (Michael) Cai, Director of Broadband and Gaming, Parks Associates. “Off-deck marketing and distribution, combined with new business models such as mobile game advertising, episodic content delivery, and micro-payments, will rekindle industry growth.”
Parks Associates reports that many market forces are driving off-deck distribution of mobile content and services, including the growing influence of established media companies, experiments with alternative distribution channels and advertising models, and recent efforts to open carriers’ walled gardens, including the Open Handset Alliance and Nokia’s Ovi services.
“Many mobile game publishers are working on off-deck initiatives,” Cai said. “Even carriers like AT&T are building business-to-business platforms to allow game publishers to market and distribute games directly to mobile gamers.”
The New Frontier: Portable and Mobile Gaming studies market trends in mobile and portable gaming, examines new business models, and profiles more than 30 companies.
Vodafone UK Sat Nav Powered by Telmap Available for Consumers
Vodafone UK extends its Sat Nav service to mass market consumer mobile devices LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Vodafone UK and Telmap, the world leader in advanced mobile mapping and navigation solutions, are today introducing Vodafone Sat Nav– an operator branded mobile navigation solution available for the UK consumer market.
The launch of Vodafone Sat Nav for consumers, powered by Telmap, is the first operator-branded mobile navigation service aimed at consumers in the UK. The solution has already been successfully launched into the enterprise market, where it is available on a number of devices.
Vodafone Sat Nav provides users with a complete mobile navigation experience, including both in-car and pedestrian navigation. Featuring 3D maps that enhance the navigation experience, up-to-date maps and directions it also gives the customer instant access to live traffic alerts and millions of points-of-interest such as hotels, restaurants, shopping and attractions.
“Following the success of Vodafone Sat Nav with our business customers, we know that consumers too want Sat Nav on their mobile phones,” says Ian Shepherd, consumer business director, of Vodafone UK. “By partnering with Telmap, Vodafone UK customers can now benefit from advanced Satellite Navigation on a range of handsets. We will continue to deliver location, navigation and mapping solutions that will appeal to all customers regardless of the type of mobile device they use.”
“This consumer launch further strengthens the partnership between Telmap and Vodafone UK and allows us to build on the success we have achieved with Vodafone Sat Nav in the enterprise market,” says Oren Nissim, CEO, Telmap. “As the first operator-branded mobile navigation service for UK consumers, this launch marks a significant milestone for both Telmap and the industry in bringing a fully featured Sat Nav experience to the mass-market mobile phone.”
Vodafone Sat Nav is available on a variety of consumer mobile devices; launching initially on three of Vodafone UK’s GPS embedded handsets – Nokia N95, Nokia N95 8GB and Nokia 6110 as well as the new BlackBerry® Pearl™ 8110 smartphone. The subscription to the service costs £5 per month with the first month free. When using the service data charges apply. Customers can purchase the service from any Vodafone retail stores, through telesales or directly from Vodafone live! Customers who purchase the BlackBerry Pearl 8110 will get 12 months Sat Nav included.
The solution has already been successfully launched into the enterprise market, where it is available on a number of devices including the BlackBerry® Curve™ 8310, Vodafone UK’s fastest selling BlackBerry smartphone ever, and the BlackBerry Pearl 8110.
MELODIS Corporation Launches midomi mobile
SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Pioneering search and sound recognition company MELODIS Corporation today announced the launch of midomi mobile, its music search application for mobile devices. midomi mobile allows users to search for music by singing, humming or even whistling into their mobile devices. The application accesses midomi’s online user-generated database of songs and uses MELODIS’ patented Multimodal Adaptive Recognition System (MARS) to identify what users are searching for.
The midomi song database has become the largest user-generated repository of its kind since its launch in January 2007. The free, membership-based midomi community is also a vibrant social-networking destination on the Web — providing a forum for amateur and professional musicians, talent seekers, and music lovers around the world to discover and be discovered.
Available for download free of cost at mobile.midomi.com, midomi mobile offers users a wide range of functionality. Having found a song using midomi mobile, users can play back the snippet from the rendition that matched their query or listen to other members’ renditions that helped identify the song. midomi mobile also enables users to search for music videos playable on mobile devices through services such as YouTube. And, users can connect to midomi’s social network through midomi mobile to access member profiles, recordings, playlists, and more.
The company will soon offer additional functionality for midomi mobile users. Future releases will allow users to identify original music content, such as music broadcast through the radio. Users will also be able to search for music by speaking out the song title or artist’s name, or by typing it without having to know the exact spelling.
The initial release of midomi mobile is designed for mobile phones using the Symbian OS and the popular S60 platform. MELODIS plans to release support for additional platforms such as the S40 Java platform in the near future.
“An increasing number of music-enabled handsets are sold each year, and we aim to make midomi mobile available on all of these handsets. With the exciting functionality we’re continuing to develop for midomi mobile, it will become the ultimate music search tool for the mobile market,” says Keyvan Mohajer, CEO, MELODIS Corporation.
The commercial potential of midomi is growing rapidly, according to Mohajer: “Both at the website and on midomi mobile, we’re providing advertising opportunities that are easily and quickly accessible for viewers and advertisers alike. This is allowing us to continue growing the services we can offer to our users and partners.”
