The website of Alex Kinch, live from London
Archive for July, 2007
Japan gets a 3D mobile handset
Jul 31st
Link: 3D handset hits streets of Japan | Reg Hardware
Just when you thought mobile phone evolution was slowing down on the design/cosmetic front, check out this little beauty from NEC.
Just launched in Japan on the NTT DoCoMo network, the N704iu handset is not only the world’s slimmest clamshell (measuring 10cm x 5cm x 1cm), but also has.. get this.. a 3D fascia.
If you’re old enough to remember the days of polarised glasses being given away with the Radio Times and coming out of the cinema slightly disappointed that Jaws didn’t actually eat the noisy popcorn-munching person in the row behind you, you’ll be forgiven for thinking this is just a passing fad that’s come back to haunt us. And maybe it is – having not actually 
seen the handset in real life it’s difficult to gauge exactly what’s so ‘stereoscopic’ about it.
Needless to say, the specs are impressive. Standby time weighs in at 690 hours, talk time of about 200 minutes and continuous video calling time of 135 minutes (which begs the question – has anyone ever managed a video call longer than about 2-3 minutes without getting bored of the novelty?)
The price is yet to be confirmed, and no word yet whether it’ll be available outside the Japan anytime soon. However when you’re next in Japan and have a spare five minutes to kill in a mobile phone store, you might just find yourself entranced by this little beauty.
Housing tenants get text reminders
Jul 31st
Link: Housing Excellence – Text messaging service for Haringey repairs#
17,000 housing tenants in Haringey, London now have the option of receiving repair appointment confirmations by SMS.
The service, called ‘C u l8er Repair Service’, aims to reduce missed appointments by not only immediately confirming a booking, but also sending a follow-up reminder message 24 hours before the contractor is due to visit. The service will also provide details of a changed appointment.
According to Homes for Haringey, around 4,000 appointments are missed annually, at a cost of around £80k to the organisation. They are aiming to reduce this by at least 25% within the next year using SMS.
Mike Jones, chair, Homes for Haringey said: “We’re always listening to our tenants. This free reminder service is the result of tenant feedback which highlighted the need to confirm when contractors are actually arriving to do their repairs.”
Vringo raise $12m in funding
Jul 31st
Video ringtone sharing pioneers Vringo has announced the closing of a $12m funding round, led by private equity firm Warburg Pincus.
The Jerusalem-based company provides users with the ability to share video ringtones each time they make a phone call. The application brings ringtones to life by integrating video clips, avatars, animation, greeting cards or photos whenever users make or receive calls.
“Vringo set out with an ambitious goal to make video ringtone sharing finally work,” said Jon Medved, the founder and CEO of Vringo. “We are delighted to be working with Warburg Pincus, a firm that shares our vision and recognizes the enormous consumer potential in sharing video ringtones. Their extraordinary track record, truly global reach, corporate relationships and strategic insight will bring huge value to Vringo as it grows.”
The Vringo service, currently in public beta, will soon be available on a wide set of mobile handsets including devices made by Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson and Samsung. The company are planning to use some of their $12m pot of cash to formally launch the product and expand global partnerships with leading mobile carriers and content providers.
My Mobile Vault giving away 1000 free accounts
Jul 31st
Brand new mobile phone back-up service My Mobile Vault have just launched a beta test of their service – and are giving away free lifetime accounts to the first 1,000 people to respond.
The My Mobile Vault back-up service works on hundreds of different mobile phone models across hundreds of GSM networks. My Mobile Vault works by sending the phone-specific synchronisation settings to the subscriber’s handset. My Mobile Vault provides easy-to-use instructions on how to back-up the phone. Phone-specific settings enable the phone to send the contact list and appointments to a secure server over the air via GPRS.
eMusic goes mobile with AT&T
Jul 31st
US mobile network AT&T (formerly known as Cingular, and then AT&T before that, and then something else before that) have launched a new mobile music service with eMusic, the world’s largest online retailer of independent music.
The service, imaginatively titled ‘eMusic Mobile‘, will give AT&T’s customers the ability to preview and purchase music via their wireless devices from a catalog of 2.7 million songs.
Songs purchased from eMusic Mobile are immediately sent to the user’s wireless handset, and a duplicate copy is available for download to the user’s PC at no charge. AT&T customers can subscribe to download five tracks a month for $7.49, and additional packages of five songs are available for the same price whenever desired.
“eMusic Mobile is not your typical over-the-air service,” said Mark Collins, vice president of Consumer Data Services for AT&T’s wireless unit. “This service, which is as unique as the independent artists found in the eMusic catalog, differentiates itself from the competition through its ease of use, subscription pricing model and the ability to play these tracks in any MP3 player.”
Fraudsters target mobile users in Jakarta
Jul 31st
Link: The Jakarta Post – Government campaign against prize fraud
In Jakarta, it appears the classic Nigerian-style 419 fraud is moving onto mobiles. The best way to combat the problem, it appears, is not only to ignore the text, but also to shout at no-one in particular if you get one.
Ati, a resident of Manggarai, South Jakarta, said she once received a text message from someone claiming to be from a major cell phone provider asking her to transfer some money.
“Learning from the experience of my relative, who was a victim of such fraud, I didn’t buy it. Instead of transferring some money to him, I yelled, calling him a robber,” she said.
Airtel deploy BubbleTALK voice SMS
Jul 31st
Link: webitpr | India’s Largest Service Provider, Airtel, Deploys BubbleTALK ‘Voice SMS’ over Fixed Line
India’s largest telco Airtel has teamed up with voice SMS pioneer Bubble Motion to deploy voice SMS to fixed line and mobile customers.
To use the service, the customer dials * followed by the mobile number of the customer they wish to send the Voice SMS to. The recipient then receives an SMS alert on his mobile phone, notifying them that they have a new Bubble message. The recipient then retrieves the Voice SMS by dialing *0* from their mobile.
Sunil Coushik, President and Co-Founder of Bubble Motion said: ‘Airtel has become the number one service provider in India on the back of service innovations, which have successfully captured the imagination of India’s wired and wireless customers. By deploying the best Voice SMS solution on the market, Airtel is staying one step ahead of its competition.”
O2 customers send 7.10bn texts a year
Jul 31st
Link: 160Characters Association
The latest results SMS volumes grew by 15% year on year to 7.10 billion messages across the O2 group as revealed in the 2007 second quarter results.
Peter Erskine, Chairman & Chief Executive of Telefónica O2 Europe, said that ‘Against the backdrop of highly competitive European markets, O2 has built on its robust start to the year, adding 534,000 mobile customers in the second quarter, taking the total mobile customer base to 36.4 million, 8.4% higher than last year”.
Americans charged $1000 per MB for text
Jul 31st
Link: You might be paying $1,000 per MB for SMS at mobilejones
We all know that mobile operators use SMS as a cash cow, and printer ink costs more per drop than melted gold. After some research and a bit of number crunching, mobilejones has very kindly worked out how much US carriers charge per megabyte for texting.
It gets a little complicated as the figures are worked out for normal texts, those from bundles, and domestic vs international – but needless to say it’s a lot of dosh. If you’re curious about how it pans out, check out the original article.
In case you’re interested, the average UK cost per megabyte of SMS data is about £700. Which is nice.
50% of European calls via mobiles by 2008
Jul 31st
Link: Half of European calls to be mobile by 2008 | The Register
Telecom and IT consultants Analysys are predicting half of all phone calls made in Europe will be made on our mobiles by 2008.
According to their report, Finland is the most mobile-using nation in Europe, with 74.6% of all phone calls made on the go during 2006. In Germany, 24.3% of all calls originated on mobile networks during the same period.
However, there’s a twist. This increase is not due to us making more calls on our mobiles – instead we’re relying on traditional fixed lines less. Good news for the mobile networks, but not so great for the traditional telcos.
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