A T-Mobile advert, which is promoting the new MyTouch3g has inadvertently boosted sales to a popular, but year old iPhone app.
Israeli iPhone developers ApParty we’re major beneficiaries, seeing takings spike completely out of the blue. The increase was later linked to the T-Mobile ad, which features several ‘celebrities” playing around with various apps on the phone. When it’s passed to comedian Dana Carvey, he writes “call me” with a steam like app.
The app originally took off upon release in December 2008, with over 200,000 copies sold. Overtime sales leveled out to around 250, until a few weeks ago they sales quadrupled (x4). Evidently, the ad stuck a chord with iPhone and touch users, who seemingly jumped on the app store to download a similar app. The exact reason may be purely a sort “yeah, we already have that” move, or perhaps users totally forgot about steamy apps in the first place.
These days, you will see that most businessmen would use BlackBerry mobile phones. The reason for this is that they find this mobile phone very much helpful for their business. This mobile phone has been made in order to receive BlackBerry emails. In this way, they will not miss out on any client emails since they will be receiving the mails on their phones.
BlackBerry email is being received to the mobile phone because it has the capability to synchronize the mails received from the email account directly to phone. This means that there is no need for clients to check on the website anymore just to access the email.
So why are the businessmen configuring their Blackberry phones to receive BlackBerry email? This is because it is now very convenient for them to check the contents of their emails on the mobile phone especially when it has attachments from the employees or clients.
And with the applications such as viewers are already available on these types of mobile phones. In this way, any types of files that are attached on the mail can be downloaded and viewed on the computer whatever the file type is.
With this new technology, it will now be possible for businessmen to view files such as the spreadsheets sent to them or even slideshow presentation. Because of this, they can monitor and check the sales’ status even if they are out of the office.
People who own Blackberry phones are also getting the features of receiving Blackberry email due to its easy to set up feature. All you need to have is your email address and the relevant information of your email account. After this account creation setup in your mobile phone, then you are ready to receive and create Blackberry Email.
But you may check with your wireless carrier if BlackBerry email will have a charge or not. You may also ask them for any data access charges if you will be setting up BlackBerry email on your BlackBerry phone so you will be ready with possible charges on your next bill.
So in business, BlackBerry phone and BlackBerry email are the ones that will help businessmen to monitor all aspects of their business. These are their clients that will send them email deals, sales inventories and reports that are coming from their own companies.
Japanese tech giant Toshiba plans to sell a portable fuel-cell that can recharge mobile phones and other digital gadgets on the move, starting next week.
The company said palm-sized fuel-cell, called Dynario, generates electricity through a chemical reaction -- injecting methanol with oxygen -- to recharge mobile devices in a few seconds through a USB cable.
Consumers buy refill cartridge, each generating enough power to charge two handsets.
The company has been researching fuel-cell technology since the 1990s but postponed commercialization until now.
Toshiba said the Dynario fuel-cell will sell through its direct-order Web site at a price of $325, with each set of five fuel cartridges costing $35.
More than a quarter of iPhones sold in the US have been "unlocked" to work on network providers other than Apple's exclusive partner AT&T, a study says.
One million iPhones, or 27% of those sold last year, have been adapted to work on other networks, said Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi.
Apple recently admitted that the number of unlocked iPhones was "significant".
The iPhone, which was launched last summer, is tied to a single phone network in each country it is on sale.
While AT&T is Apple's chosen partner in the US, in the UK the iPhone is only officially available through O2, while in Germany it is tied to T-Mobile.
'Lost revenue'
Mr Sacconaghi said the high number of unlocked iPhones in the US would be a concern for Apple, as it receives a percentage of AT&T's contract fees from iPhone users.
He estimates that if Apple sells 10 million iPhones in the US by the end of 2008, but 30% of them have been unlocked to work with other phone networks, Apple will lose $500m (£251m) in revenues.
Apple and AT&T have declined to comment on the detail of the report.
Last month Vodafone failed in the German courts to get T-Mobile's exclusivity deal over the iPhone overturned.
Vodafone has reached an agreement to sell Apple's popular iPhone in the UK.
The announcement follows news that network operator Orange had secured a similar agreement with Apple.
The deals mark an end to the exclusive UK arrangement between O2 and the US technology firm, which has been in place since 2007.
Vodafone says users can register an interest online, with the handsets becoming available to customers from early 2010. Orange said its customers would be able to buy the phone "later this year" but did not specify a date or pricing.
Vodafone is one of the biggest mobile operators in the world with an estimated 300 million customers world wide, making it the second largest carrier after China Mobile.
The agreement sees both Orange and Vodafone selling both the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS.
A spokesperson for Vodafone said the firm was "delighted" at securing an agreement with Apple and that the phone was going to be primarily for existing Vodafone customers.
This is a different model from that adopted by O2, which used the iPhone as an incentive to attract new customers. Exclusivity
O2 has offered the handset in the UK since its launch in 2007. In February, it said it had sold more than one million of the handsets.
The launch of the latest iPhone 3GS in June significantly boosted sales, with many stores running out of stock.
The phone has also allowed the firm to win subscribers from other networks, according to analysts.
Dave McQueen, principal analyst at Informa Telecoms and Media told BBC News said that the smartphones - which have the ability to surf the web and send e-mail - has put a burden on the O2 network.
"IPhone users to tend to use data quite extensively - perhaps more than anticipated," he said.
O2 will continue to sell the handset in Britain, alongside iPhone rival the Palm Pre.
The Palm phone, described by some as an "iPhone killer", will be available exclusively to O2 from 16 October.
O2 said that it always knew that its exclusive deal was for "a limited period of time".
In countries where exclusive deals still persist, such as the US, some customers choose to "unlock" their phones using third party software so they work on an unlicensed network.
However, Apple has warned that the practice can cause "irreparable" damage to a handset and has engaged in a game of cat-and-mouse, releasing periodic software updates which prevent unlocked phones from working correctly.
iPhone users love their phone but the battery can be a disappointment at times. An effective solution can be a wireless charger and that is exactly what GEAR4 has to offer for the iPhone 3G and 3GS users. The product uses inductive charging that directly transfers the charge to the battery. Dubbed the PowerPad this product will hit Europe in November and can also be ordered through the GEAR4 website. The news is that this product will cost £79.99 which is a tad expensive but we can ignore it for the sheer utility of the product is appreciable.
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Saturday, October 17, 2009
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Telenor Pakistan and Tameer Microfinance Bank yesterday announced the launch of ‘easypaisa’, described as ‘a uniquely convenient and safe way for the people of Pakistan to carry out financial transactions.’ This is the latest chapter in Telenor’s strategy to offer financial services in Pakistan, which began in November 2008 with the purchase of a 51% stake in Tameer Microfinance Bank for USD$12.5 million.
It will be exciting to track the progress of easypaisa in the months to come, but even from day one the service sparks conversation as the model looks more like Grameenphone’s Billpay service available in Bangladesh and less like other mobile money launches that have made headlines in 2009 from the likes of Zain, MTN and Vodafone.
Here are three main ways that Easypaisa differs from others:
1. Primary Focus on Bill Payments
Telenor has focused their consumer messaging on one specific service - bill payments. It’s been publicly acknowledged that money transfer (which was a lead offering from Vodafone, Zain and MTN in their markets) and other services are on the roadmap, but it’s clear that the initial value proposition will seek to address the inconvenience and security issues associated with current options for paying bills. In a country where just 12% of the adult population is formally served with financial services, the potential to add and promote subsequent offerings is immense.
2. Agent Network Designed to Service Customers of Any Mobile Network
Telenor and Tameer Microfinance Bank have created a network of more than 2,000 easypaisa shops at which bill payments can be made. easypaisa is unique in that customers do not need to have a mobile account with Telenor (or even a mobile phone) to pay their bill at an easypaisa shop - they simply present their cash and bill to a representative who completes the payment on a mobile phone (it’s worth noting that the mobile can be used to find out the outstanding account balance of a bill via SMS). The decision to enable anybody to pay their bills at easypaisa shops could stem from the mobile market share structure in Pakistan. Mobile penetration is approximately 56% and the market is fragmented. Three players (Telenor, Ufone, and Warid Telecom) each have roughly 12% market share, while Mobilink (Orascom) has 17%. Thus, restricting access to easypaisa agents would have significantly reduced the addressable market. Additionally, it could be a strategically advantageous to enable customers of all utility companies regardless of network to use easypaisa agents for bill payments as a means to offering them other services at a later stage.
3. Method of Transaction
In the Zap, M-PESA and MTN Mobile Money models, end customers conduct transactions on their own mobile phones and must be comfortable with the idea of storing value on their handset. In the case of easypaisa, it is the agent who actually completes transactions on the mobile phone at this stage. However, in Bangladesh Telenor does enable Grameenphone end customers to make payments from their mobile phones.
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Other ways that this model is unique? Share them below.
The speciality of Sony Ericsson K330 Mobile Phone is its vibrant features that attract all. This mobile phone weighs 75grams and has dimensions of 100 x 45 x 12mms. All the images are displayed on its 1.7 inches TFT display having a resolution of 128 x 160 pixels and 655K colours. The phone comes with Gold on Black and Green on Black enclosures.
This mobile phone has an internal memory of 10 MB. We can store about 1000 entries in its phone book; the unit supports photo call function. It also stores about 30 received, dialled and missed calls each in the call record. Its inbuilt camera is a VGA camera of resolution 0.3 mega pixels that captures videos at a resolution of 640 x 480 pixels. The WAP 2.0 browser helps in accessing GPRS services. In addition to this, the phone also offers wireless connectivity by Bluetooth facility. Messages can be sent using the SMS and MMS facilities. One of the specialities of this phone is that, it supports dual bands having operating frequencies of 900 and 1800 Hz.
Both MP3 and AAC formats are supported by the media player of the phone. Ringtones are supported in polyphonic, MP3 and AAC formats. FM radio and speaker phone are additional features of this mobile phone. Java games, Health Mate calorie counter, Animated wallpaper, Personal organiser functions, Vibration alert, Clock, Alarm, Calculator, Calendar, Voice memo, Torch and Image viewer are some other applications included in this mobile phone. Sony Ericsson K330 Camera Mobile Phone operates on a Li-Po 770 mAh battery which offers 300 hours of standby time and 7hours of talktime. All these provided features make this mobile phone more appealing to the consumers.
Nokia’s so keen to shovel Nokia Maps into any half decent phone it fires out these days, that it’s easy to forget that it makes handsets dedicated to mobile mapping too. The Nokia 6710 Navigator is the third in the series, but with so many smartphones now packing satnav as standard, can this focused phone beat down the competition? Read our full Nokia 6710 Navigator review now and we’ll let you know.
Unlike the iPhone, the Nokia 6710 Navigator doesn’t require any pricey extras to get you from A to B in your motor. Crack open the box and you’ll find a charger for the car, as well as a suction pad for slapping the cell on your windscreen. That immediately gives it the jump on Apple’s effort, especially since the TomTom Car Kit for iPhone costs a massive £100, even without the app thrown in.
And the good times certainly don’t end there. The Nokia 6710 Navigator has a button made just for starting up the Maps software. Tap it and you’ll find it loads up quick sharp, with very little lag. It locks onto your position in mere seconds, so you can get navigating without wafting your phone in the air for a signal. Oh how things have changed since the days of the original N95.
Samsung announced in China the Samsung YP-CM3 portable TV/media player that comes with built-in tuner for CMMB, China’s mobile TV standard. The CM3 features a 3-inch 400×240 16 million color LCD display for you to enjoy mobile TV and media playback.
Samsung CM3 supports most media formats, including RM/RMVB, DivX, MP3, WMV and included FM tuner, voice recorder, e-book reader. The player will be available in Pink and Black.
Also introduced is Samsung’s YP-R0 portable media player that comes with a similar design as devices above. It has a 2.6-inch LCD display and lacks CMMB support.
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Tuesday, October 13, 2009
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LG unveils a new smartphone running "Windows Mobile 6.5", a new comer in the LG's Windows Phones range. Here are the details and specs.
LG GM750 with Windows Mobile 6.5, "iPhone like design"
3G is not reinventing the wheel : they applied the successful recipie of Appl's iphone to this new smartphone's design : the LG GM750 obviously adopts an iPhone design. Even though Windows Mobile 6.5 will definitely be an efficient operating software, LG has added its own software layer to the msartphone, mainly to allow it to be operating through its touch-screen interface, the "S-Class 3D". The LG GM750 is said to be very well built but… on an iphone like design which we may dislike or be tired of.
LG GM750, high-end features
As the most of the latest windows phones announced, the LG GM750 is rather well equipped and benefits of a comprehensive technological bundle. It is 3G+ / HSDPA compliant, gets wifi and bluetooth, offers a 5 megapixels camera with autofocus and a nice 3" screen with a resolution of 240 x 400 pixels. In addition to that, the GM750 embeds a radio tuner (FM RDS) and a storage space of 300 MB in its internal memory which can be upgraded thanks to the microSDHC slot.
LG launches in India the GM200 candy-bar style mobile phone with 2.1-channel speaker system including dual side speakers and a active subwoofer. Dolby Mobile is included to deliver “clear, crisp and well-balanced sound”.
LG GM200 gets a 2-inch color LCD display, a 2 Megapixel camera with video recording, built-in media player, FM tuner, Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP and a microSD card slot.
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Saturday, October 10, 2009
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Every year, cell phone companies bring out their new models of the wireless phones into the market. With more features and better designs, the companies compete with each other to create a bigger impact on the cell phone users. Now cell phones have such features, that a whole computer, instant messenger, camera, radio, and so many other cool things are all present in a small package that you can carry around with you wherever you go. So those people, who love to get their hands on the latest models of cell phones, then do check out these three really awesome new cell phones that have been introduced in 2009. Grab one before everyone has it! RIM Blackberry Curve 8900
The latest model of the Curve, the RIM Blackberry Curve 8900 is a sleeker, more improved version of the other Curves. Equipped with a 3.2 megapixel camera, a full HTML web browser, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth, the Curve 8900 is a great phone for Blackberry users. Despite the fact that it lacks 3G support, the Curve 8900 does offer a faster and smoother performance. The phone offers Wi-Fi with UMA support, so users will be delighted to know that they can make unlimited phone calls over a Wi-Fi network. The display has improved in this version as well, making it very sharp; taking pictures is a joy with this cell phone! Do go out and take a look at this fine phone that is a great asset to mobile professionals as well as anyone with a liking for high-tech cell phones.
LG enV Touch
A great phone with TWO displays! Probably the thing that fascinated me the most about this cell phone were the two amazing display screens, and the perfectly sensitive touch-screen. Another cell phone with a full HTML web browser, this phone allows users to browse the net with such ease because of the size of its screen. The enV Touch is a successor to the LG Voyager VX10000 and after two years, the enV Touch sure has made us proud by the improvements in the features, performance, and design. The cell phone is equipped with a 3.2 megapixel camera, a QWERTY keyboard, and other features such as where you can fit in your own headphones into the 3.5 mm headset jack, and the EV-DO Rev. A, allows you to browse the web faster. However, the only drawback of this cell phone is the lack of Wi-Fi technology. But all in all, the LG enV Touch is a great successor to the Voyager. Samsung Memoir
The Samsung Memoir is a great camera phone, and actually looks like a camera in first glance. Taking pictures and uploading them directly onto photo-sharing sites is a joy, as this phone makes it so easy. The TouchWiz interface makes browsing the web and navigation within the phone a breeze. The cell phone is equipped with an 8-megapixel camera, and a full HTML web browser. Users can directly upload photos on to sites like Flickr and Photobucket without any hindrances. This Samsung Cellular Phone also features T-Mobile’s 3G network, a music player, and more. The Samsung Memoir is a great phone for people who love to immortalize memories by taking pictures. The camera is definitely comparable to normal cameras any day. Definitely worth the price for such a sleek design and excellent features!
I've finally gotten my hands on the Motorola DEXT though only for a few minutes. I've thoroughly wanted this to be my first Android phone but after a few minutes with it, well, here's what I think.
Design
The Motorola DEXT is a bit too chunky for me, it's even bulkier than the HTC Dream. I have two Motorola phones which are more than 2 years old and aside from some paint peelings and scratches here in there, I'm glad to report that those two mobile phones are still complete, intact and pretty much useable. That's why I'm a bit surprised with the build quality of the Motorola DEXT. The slider mechanism is a bit wobbly and I'm worried that over time, it might come off. I think there are some other reviews which says that their Motorola DEXT suffers from the same problems so I was surprised that it wasn't isolated with the units they were testing.
The Motorola DEXT has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard which even though the buttons are somewhat cramped, still manages to be quite useable.
User Interface
I was pretty excited about the Motorola Blur. I was hoping it could match the HTC Sense. However, I was disappointed that all the Motorola Blur really is is widgets for your social network contacts. Now for those addicted to Facebook and Twitter, this is good news but for those who, like me, only uses Facebook to play games, well, then the Motorola Blur UI is pretty much useless. However, screen responsiveness is really top notch. Everything is snappy and yes, very much comparable with the iPhone. Although the Motorola DEXT has a capacitive screen, it doesn't offer multi-touch which is really a bummer. The UI also lags a bit when multiple applications are open.
The Motorola DEXT's UI is limited to the homescreen which means you get Android on everything else. Now there's really not much problem with that except that I hoped Motorola would do some more with the UI, like add their own icons perhaps, kinda like what Samsung does with their WinMo phones.
Messaging
The Motorola DEXT is a message-centric mobile phone. Your Facebook, Twitter contacts can be linked with the messaging feature so you can choose whether you want to Tweet your contacts or just send them a text message. This is good advantage again, for those whose life revolves around social networking, and those with unlimited data plans.
Web Browser
Browsing on the Motorola DEXT is quite good and pretty fast. I haven't quite browsed that much Android mobile phones so I was surprised that browsing on the Motorola DEXT is almost comparable with iPhone's Safari. Of course, it doesn't have flash support which is too bad.
Audio quality
I've always found that Motorola makes phones with great speakers, I mean, they're the pioneer for surround sound on mobile phones, right? My aging Motorola V6 Maxx still trumps some of Samsung's latest mobile phones when it comes to audio quality, speaker-wise. The same is true for the Motorola DEXT. Audio quality through the speakers is pretty good, better than some Samsung mobile phones. The music player is standard on all Android phones and you can view your Album Art for all your music.
Conclusion
After being silent for these past few months, you'd expect that the Motorola DEXT would put Motorola back in the game, right? Well, for those into social networking, this is definitely a must-have mobile phone. The Motorola Blur UI makes social networking a breeze. You'll also get a nice web browser and pretty decent music playback. I'm just a bit torn with the MotoBlur. Obviously, those who are addicted to social networking are mostly tweeners but you can't really expect them to shell out £35 a month for the next two years to get the Motorola DEXT for free or around £450 for an unlocked version, only business users can afford that kind of dough. So putting MotoBlur on a smartphone is not really that great of an idea. Still, it's an Android phone with a physical QWERTY keyboard, a good option other than the aging HTC Dream which is currently the only Android mobile phone with a physical keyboard in the market, until the LG GW620 shows up in the next month of course.
I’m not one to disagree with competition in any given market as you the readers should know, in fact I actually think competition should be there to create a buzz. An interesting point however is along the lines of “the iPhone killer”, a statement that is often branded on new phones just before release that just aren’t ever going to be the next big thing.
Now it pains me to say this because I love Apple don’t get me wrong, but with the iPhone I wont purchase one simply because they are too expensive in my opinion. And I don’t want to disappoint anyone, but if your sat there reading rumors that an iPhone price war might go ahead because the iPhone has just received wider distribution, it’s very unlikely to happen because sharp drops in price would lead to the operators making next to no money on the handset.
Due to this it was back to the drawing board for me, as i attempted to write a list about why the iPhone is so popular and why it’s rival phones just aren’t cutting it right now. My conclusion was that the iPhone is actually too good if that makes sense, as the feature rich phone is practically the only phone in the last few years that was totally brand new and brought something dazzling to the market. You just don’t see anything new nowadays. Sure you see new handsets from mobile giants that make you believe they could be the next big thing in rumors, but then you see it and have a play with it and you realise that it’s just the same old phone you’ve had for the last 10 years with a major facelift.
This begs the question about the iPhone….why is it so popular and what did Apple do to make it so good? Well in truth, Apple invested a lot of money in the iPhone design which could of been a disaster but it turns out they found something innovative. Anybody who has been on an iPhone will know that it can still do the things any normal phone can do such as txt, ring people and access the internet but it’s in the design where it stands out. No menu as such, 3G, the App Store, an iPod and the iTunes Store are just a handful of things that make the iPhone unique.
I believe this is where Mobile Giants such as Nokia, Blackberry and Samsung are going wrong in the release of their new phones. None of these “iPhone killers” have got enough to excite consumers and make a difference in the market as the companies have not invested as much time and effort as Apple did in bringing out the iPhone. I think this is where the problems lie for Apple’s opposition.
What do you think? Do you think Apple did start a new era of handsets with the iPhone or do you think Apple were just lucky at the time? We’d love to hear your opinion!
Two new BlackBerry handsets are about to be released – BlackBerry Storm 2 and Bold 2. There still isn’t anything official on these phones, but the Internet rumor mill is beginning to lean towards “coming soon”.
We’ve seen photos of BlackBerry Storm 2 and you can also find some videos, which demonstrate its amazing touchscreen powered by piezo-magic. The omens of its imminent coming are a spy-ninja style blurry Verizon training video and a Vodafone display snapped at the Carphone Warehouse. The rumor says that in the box is BlackBerry OS 5.0 and 16GB microSD card (plus 2GB internal).
The BlackBerry Bold 2 (its code name’s Onyx) trades the traditional trackball for a touchpad and offers 3G, GPS and Wi-Fi. It has some really nice looks too. According to Engadget Bold 2 will be officialy annonced on October 21st. However, prices, plans, and the release date are still a mystery.
In spite of common perception, Windows Mobile could take second place in the smartphone market in as little as four years, an iSuppli study predicted today. Analysts estimate that the phones shipped will triple from 27.7 million by the end of this year to 67.9 million in 2013, or enough to give it 15.3 percent of the industry behind Nokia's predicted 47.6 percent. Microsoft is expected to slip to third this year but to recover over time.
The return to form is founded in a belief that Microsoft has the "major cards" needed to have a successful mobile platform. Windows Mobile is already well established with carrier support and a substantial app library, while it now also has an app store (Windows Marketplace for Mobile).
Its age is considered a problem, as its interface is harder to use than an iPhone's and doesn't support the capacitive touchscreens needed for multi-touch and other more intuitive finger input. However, senior analyst Tina Teng believes the launch of Windows Mobile 7 in 2010 will render Microsoft "much more competitive" precisely because it should solve both of these problems. She also dismisses the losses of Motorola and Palm as clients for Windows Mobile, saying that neither were significant enough to make an impact while the recent addition of LG will be much more important. Windows Mobile has more licenses than anyone with 14 versus Symbian's 10.
The study doesn't address Nokia's own falling market share or outside factors, such as the maturation of younger platforms like Android and iPhone. Android has often been cited as the most direct competitor to Windows Mobile as it can be licensed by nearly any developer but is significantly less expensive to license and develop than Windows Mobile.
RIM Blackberry Curve 8900
Samsung Memoir
