The website of Alex Kinch, live from London
Archive for June, 2009
New Nokia N97 firmware lands tomorrow
Jun 30th
Whilst it only seems like yesterday the long-awaited Nokia N97 hit the streets, Nokia have not been sitting on their laurels – and have announced a new version of firmware will start rolling out tomorrow.
According to Engadget Mobile and Nokia Experts, news of the update was tweeted by Nokia Conversations: “Official: N97 SW 1.1 (11.x.021) to be released to first variants on July 1st 2009″.
A list of fixes and changes in the new software – and a list of exactly which models are the ‘first variants’ – haven’t been released yet. However it’s hoped this will be an over-the-air (OTA) update as opposed to faffing around with the Nokia Software Updater (still a rather large pain in the arse for Mac users like myself).
Vodafone and 3 cited in T-Mobile UK takeover dance
Jun 29th
It’s been another weekend of rumours over the future of T-Mobile UK – with reports that Vodafone and 3′s parent company might team up to launch a bid for the troubled UK mobile division of Deutsche Telekom.
The Financial Times claims that the Newbury-based operator has been sniffing around its rival, said to be worth between €3bn and €4bn – and may be considering teaming up with Hutchinson Whampoa – the parent company of 3 – to launch a bid.
Even if Vodafone went it alone, the combination the two operators in the UK market would give a market share of 40%, according to the BBC. Such a large chunk of subscribers would certainly ring alarm bells with the UK Competition Commission and the higher powers of the EU in Brussels – although the BBC says it’s not uncommon for operators to have such dominance in other European countries such as France and Spain.
Vodafone are not the first operator to be linked with a bid for T-Mobile. Previous rumours of interest by Orange were vehemently denied a few weeks ago after a reported rebuffal by Deutsche Telekom, plus there’s still the distinct possibility of a ‘mega-operator’ plan involving 3, Skype and T-Mobile – which I exclusively wrote about back in May.
Whatever the outcome, one fact remains – being a mobile operator is no longer the equivalent to having a licence to print money. Vodafone are currently going through a £1bn cost cutting plan after it recently announced a 53.5% fall in annual pre-tax profits from £9bn to £4.2bn, and Deutsche Telekom recently wrote off €1.8 billion on T-Mobile UK.
15% discount on next week’s Global Messaging Congress 2009
Jun 17th
With less than a week remaining before the 2009 Global Messaging Congress, time is running out for you to register your attendance. Want a 15% discount? read on..
The event – to be held on on June 23rd and 24th at the Queen Elizabeth Conference Centre in London – features an operator-led speaker line-up including:
- Mike Short, Vice-President – Research and Development, O2 and President, Mobile Data Association
- John Eccleston, Head of Communication Services, 3 UK
- Hans Paulsen. CCO, Uganda Telecom, Uganda
- Burak Ertas, Head, Consumer Services Division, Turkcell, Turkey
- Alessio Derme, Senior Product Manager, Marketing Consumer, Telecom Italia Mobile, Italy
- Olivier Laury, Director of i-mode and Content, Bouygues Telecom, France
- Karl-Johan Nybell, Director, Product Management and New Markets, Tele2, Sweden
- Axel Diehl, Head of Community Messaging, T-Mobile International
With the focus on how to increase messaging ARPUs the operator case studies will provide critical facts and figures on successful revenue-generating strategies. Sound interesting? The full brochure is here: http://roaming.msgfocus.com/c/1bjPZGl74uhXlxzw
I’ll be there on the Tuesday and bringing you coverage from the conference. If you’d like to join me, it’s not too late – and to make it even more worthwhile we’ve negotiated a last minute discount deal with the organisers. To register just visit www.globalmessagingcongress.com, email mubenah.khan@informa.com, or simply call +44 (0) 207 017 5506 remembering to quote CU1179/MIR for an exclusive 15% discount off the registration fee!
Volunteers wanted, must be willing to lock up their old mobile
Jun 17th
Are you fed up with your old mobile? Willing to swap it for a shiny new handsets for a few weeks? We’ve three brand new 3 handsets, three cages, and are looking for three volunteers willing to lock up their old mobile and try 3 and Skype for a fortnight.
Here’s the deal. We’ve teamed up with the guys at 3mobilebuzz to promote free Skype calling on 3. The challenge? 3 want to lock up your mobile, and replace it with a model that’s a little more ’3′ (yes I know, terrible pun).
We’ve got an INQ1, Sony Ericsson C510, and a Nokia E63 – all with a 3 SIM card and free calls for you to try for a couple of weeks. There’s also a cute little ‘phone cell’ (again, another terrible pun) for you to lock up your old handset.
The catch? There isn’t one really – all we ask in return is you take care of the handset, don’t flush it down the toilet, and bring it back in a couple of weeks. Oh, and we want to know how you got on, so we’ll be asking to write a little piece about how you found your two weeks with your new handset, free Skype calling and 3 in general.
Interested? Drop a comment on this post telling us what your current mobile is, and which phone you’d like to try, and we’ll pick three lucky people and sort the rest.
Update: Just a small note to apologise to Lloyd at the Tuttle Club, where I was planning to give out the handsets. Lloyd has quite rightly pointed out that commercial organisations wishing to do promotional work at Tuttle need to agree it with him before hand, and pay a sponsorship fee. As I just happened to be there for something else on Friday morning, it sort of made sense. Neither myself or anyone associated with this blog have received any renumeration for this promotion from 3, 3mobilebuzz, or their associated companies – and we aren’t being paid for it. However I understand there are firm procedures in place, and apologise if anyone thought I was trying to circumvent them.
If you’re interested in a handset, add your comment and we’ll get in touch to get an address of where we can post it to.
Facebook mobile access in NZ rockets 700% in five months
Jun 17th
Mobile usage of Facebook in New Zealand has risen 700% since January 2009 according to figures released by Telecom New Zealand (Telecom), operators of the country’s second largest mobile network XT.
In a New Zealand first, Telecom customers with Facebook accounts can now also sign up to receive text notifications directly to their mobile phones from Facebook. Notifications include new messages, friends’ status updates or friend requests. Users can also update their status, search for phone numbers, or upload photos and videos from their mobile phone.
The Facebook notifications’ text is easy to set up online or simply by texting ‘f’ to 3223.
“Almost 2,500 Telecom customers are using Facebook messaging each day since the launch of XT, showing just how much social networking is in demand with our customers” says Liz Wilson, Telecom Head of Mobile Marketing.
“With New Zealand’s Twitter penetration of six percent, the highest in the world, we are going to where customers are online and making it easier for them to connect.”
Those using Twitter on mobiles can receive friends’ tweets, tweet their own message, and send and receive direct messages via a text message. This service is easy to set up by texting to 8987, with the ability to choose which friends’ updates are received and to turn off updates for selected periods of time (see www.telecom.co.nz/twitter for more information).
Home femtocells to generate annual revenue of $9bn by 2014
Jun 17th
Femtocell usage at home is set to grow over the next few years, with a new study from Juniper Research claiming such usage will generate in excess of $9bn per annum by 2014.
The Femtocells research found that Femtocell access points will increase to multi million unit quantities over the next two to three years. With continued growth in the developed nations in North America, the Far East and China and Western Europe, these regions together will account for 90% of service revenues by 2014.
The Femtocell industry has seen landmark developments recently in areas such as interference management, architecture and business case. Report author Howard Wilcox explained: “3G femtocells are now positioned for the mass market in developed nations. Femtocells are a winning strategy for mobile operators. Not only do they fix patchy in-building coverage, they spell the chance to reduce churn, reduce backhaul costs and acquire new revenues”.
Further findings from the Juniper Research Femtocell report include:
- Multimillion dollar revenue opportunities for vendors and mobile operators alike as early as 2010/11
- After trials in many developed nations, the next stage for mobile operators is to transition to commercial service with convincing, branded consumer service propositions
With the femtocell market poised for takeoff, the Juniper report features a scenario based forecasting approach, which evaluates the impact of different rates of femtocell penetration rates and service package traction on the opportunities for access points and service revenues.
The report contains three comprehensive six year forecasting suites cover all the key market parameters including standalone and integrated access points, subscriber numbers, and service revenues for each of four types of service package.
3G Femtocell whitepaper and further details of the study, ‘3G Femtocells and Beyond: Opportunities & Service Scenarios in the Home 2009 – 2014’ can be freely downloaded from the Juniper Research website – www.juniperresearch.com
Telstra and SpinVox win ‘Business Service Innovation’ award in Oz
Jun 17th
Australian telco Telstra’s Voice2Text – powered by SpinVox – has won the ‘Business Service Innovation’ category at the Global Telecoms Business Innovations Awards overnight.
The service – similar to other SpinVox-powered voicemail to SMS services, was originally launched in November 2007 to Telstra’s business customers – and later extended in February 2009 to all Telstra mobile customers.
Speaking at the event, Holly Kramer, Group Managing Director, Telstra Product Management, said the Award was further endorsement of Telstra’s industry leading people, services and partnerships.
“This award recognises our innovative people, investments in technology and partnerships with companies like SpinVox,” she said.
“Telstra’s Voice2Text™ service helps customers better manage their communications by ensuring they never miss an important or urgent message, by letting them read voice messages as well as listen to them.
“We have found that our customers are embracing new ways of communicating where the solution adds flexibility and convenience to their lives and saves them valuable time,” Ms Kramer said.
“Congratulations to the SpinVox and Telstra teams in the UK and Australia, whose efforts across time zones and continents made this win possible. Thanks also to the GTB team and judges who decided that our innovation was worthy of the award,” said SpinVox co-founder and chief strategy and marketing officer, Daniel Doulton. “Winning this for our first implementation in Australia is an incredible launch pad for SpinVox, and paves the way for further expansion in the Asia-Pacific region,”
Organiser of the Awards, Alan Burkitt-Gray, editor, Global Telecoms Business, said: “This project stood out, even though the competition was strong, and it just had to be one of the winners. Well done to all involved.”
WeROK adds free mobile games to mobile/web converged services application
Jun 16th
WeROK, the advertising-funded, free to download and free to use mobile/web converged services application, launched last month by ROK Entertainment Group and Wi-Fi mapping company WeFI, has added free mobile games to its roster of web-enabled mobile services.
In addition to free mobile TV streamed on demand via Wi-Fi and free email, WeROK users are now able, in what ROK believes to be a first for the mobile entertainment industry, to download a selection of high quality games to play on their mobile phone free of charge, over Wi-Fi, via the internet.
WeROK, compatible with Nokia S60 devices, is free to download at www.werok.net and is free to use. WeROK automatically scans for the Wi-Fi hotspots and logs onto the strongest free-access hotspot within range, enabling the user to utilise a variety of web-enabled services contained within the application such as free Mobile TV, free mobile email and low-cost text services.
WeROK’s suite of mobile games has been sourced from leading rich-media ad-network innerActive, providing a non-intrusive manner of in-game ad serving. The ads are retrieved via Wi-Fi and may be targeted based on player demographics, location and contextual awareness to each game.
“We have already seen a fantastic level of interest in WeROK driven, largely, by our free Mobile TV service” said Jonathan Kendrick, Chairman and CEO of rok “and we are confident the addition of free mobile games – in what we understand is a worlds first in mobile entertainment – will serve to further boost the popularity of WeROK globally”.
WeROK is connected to WeFi’s globally-mapped database of more than 24 million Wi-Fi hotspots, and locates the best free Wi-Fi connection automatically.We
Shoppers vote for Tesco Mobile as the number one network
Jun 16th
Tesco Mobile has once again proved that it puts customers first by beating all other leading networks to scoop the top position in the prestigious mobile satisfaction survey from Which? Magazine for the fourth year in a row.
The authoritative survey of over 5,000 people found that Tesco Mobile was the favourite mobile operator for Pay as you go, with customers nominating the network for services including its wide handset range, affordable tariffs and exceptional customer service.
Tesco Mobile’s handsets were also applauded with the Nokia 2610 highlighted as ‘cheapest best buy’ and the Nokia 5310 as ‘best buy under £80′.
Tesco Mobile’s Pay as you go tariff which rewards customers with free triple credit, was also given a special mention by Which?, who called it the ‘best top-up incentive’, beating other mobile networks’ top up bonuses for value.
The Which? report is backed up by other recent mobile surveys including the 2009 Aura Mobile Customer Survey which selected Tesco Mobile as the top operator for customer satisfaction.
Lance Batchelor, Chief Executive Officer of Tesco Mobile and Tesco Telecoms said:
“This is a powerful endorsement for our brand and we are delighted that Which? members have voted for Tesco Mobile.
“Customer service is crucially important to mobile users who will often select their operator on the experience they have had. It’s great news for us that consumers have chosen Tesco Mobile over the other networks for four years in a row and shows that people are prepared to shop around to get the very best in customer care.
Telsis Unveils Natural Language Bridge to Volume Advanced SMS Services
Jun 16th
Inventive SMS infrastructure and services vendor Telsis today unveils a solution that lets phone users discover and configure advanced SMS applications simply by sending colloquial text questions and commands.
The system, already supporting six languages with more under development, aims to make application selection and use simple and trouble-free – a critical factor if subscribers are to drive volumes and revenues through heavy usage.
For example, a phone user simply sends ‘in meeting,’ or ‘holiday’ to set up an appropriate automatic Out of Office response to incoming messages. They receive an instant response by text confirming that their account has been configured as instructed.
The simple elegance of the Telsis solution contrasts sharply with less advanced alternative systems which typically use complicated menu trees, require specific syntax to be used and which risk leading users to dismiss new applications as a waste of time.
Telsis was first earlier this year with a complete four-tier model for the creation, delivery and life-cycle management of advanced SMS services. Operators can select from a menu of pre-loaded applications, then go on to use the platform to develop and deploy fully custom new applications in days, rather than the industry norm of months.
“The natural language front-end makes the power of our advanced SMS services easily discoverable, easily controllable by subscribers,” says Telsis chairman and founder Jeff Wilson. “It’s a bridge which carries users over their discovery and first use attempts, ensuring a positive experience that turns experimenters with a new service into satisfied habitual long-term users.
“In turn it minimizes intervention and help desk costs for operators, strengthening still further the already compelling advanced services business case. For us it’s been a natural progression. Our same core text recognition technology is already well proven in customer care and reward programmes at operators in Europe.”
Telsis (www.telsis.com) products are in use with major mobile and fixed network operators worldwide. The company has an extensive range of carrier-grade infrastructure solutions including SMS Routing and IN voice platforms, as well as media gateways for NGN and VoIP support. Telsis has a long history of enabling operators to benefit from the introduction of innovative value added services, and is now leading the industry in defining a new global standard for SMS service usability and customer experience.
Recent Comments