The website of Alex Kinch, live from London
Archive for October, 2009
12 megapixel Sony Ericsson Satio arrives on 3
Oct 31st
12 MegaPixels is a lot – it doesn’t seem that long ago we were all foaming at the mouth over the Nokia N95 and its then ‘revolutionary’ 5MP camera (with the rather gorgeous Carl Zeiss optics). Only a few years on, and Sony Ericsson’s 12MP Satio is hitting the UK, and is available on 3 from today.
For ‘just £30 a month’ (their words, not mine!) on a Mix and Match 300 minutes or texts 18-month contract, plus a fiver a month for ‘unlimited’ internet, the phone won’t cost you a penny upfront. If you’d prefer it on pay as you go, however, you’ll have to stump up a rather eye-watering £399.99.
So what can 3 tell us about the Satio? Well it’s a Sony Ericsson phone with a 12MP camera. And, er, yes. It’s also apparently got an ‘impressive touch screen’. And that’s where the press release drifts off to wax lyrically about 3′s network and services, sort of forgetting most people would probably interested in what the phone actually does. So, I’ll leave you to visit http://threestore.three.co.uk/sonyericsson.aspx – the Satio is on that page – and you can find out yourself.
Bemoko brings the Doha Tribeca Film Festival to mobile phones
Oct 29th
UK-based mobile web experts, bemoko Ltd, have used the bemokoLive mobile development platform to create the mobile website for this year’s Doha Tribeca Film Festival (DTFF) which begins today.
Optimised to work with any mobile phone, the Doha Tribeca Film Festival mobile website will be live for the duration of the event and for 12 months afterwards. Mat Diss, founder of bemoko said: “;From the mobile website you can watch trailers for films on your phone, find out where and when films are being screened and create your own personalised festival agenda. Content is taken from the DTFF blog, twitter stream and flickr feeds, enabling visitors to keep up to date with all the latest news and reviews, wherever they are.”
The site was created using bemokoLive, a unique development platform that lets web designers create mobile sites quickly and easily using standard XHTML. Because bemokoLive recognises the characteristics of a phone visiting a web site, the site will display on any mobile phone regardless of operating system or screen size. This removes the need to write mobile sites for each type of phone, meaning mobile websites can be live for a fraction of the time and cost of traditional methods of creating sites for mobile.
As VIP guests at DTFF will be receiving iPod Touch devices which link to the mobile website, bemoko has used the powerful features of the bemokoLive platform to easily create a feature-rich version of the mobile site for iPhone and iPod touch users without having to write the entire site again for the iPhone. Special features for the iPhone version of the site include ‘Apple style’ sliding page transitions, film trailer carousels and touch sensitive maps with pinch zoom and touch scrolling.
DTFF Executive Director Amanda Palmer said, “The website is a great tool for visitors to take part in cultural exchanges of ideas and to engage with groundbreaking filmmakers. To be able to do this from any mobile phone is a huge advantage to our many visitors who will come from all over the World.”
Mat Diss continued: “The Doha Tribeca Film Festival has recognised the power of the mobile Internet as a tool that should be accessible to everyone, regardless of which make or model of phone they have. bemokoLive means that visitors can experience a multimedia experience on their phone that compliments the event.”
-ends-
About Doha Tribeca Film Festival
From October 29 to November 1, 2009, filmmakers and shakers from around the world will be welcomed to the stunning festival hub, at the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA). In this launch year, DTFF is curating a program slate of 30 feature films, highlighting internationally acclaimed Arab films, plus the best of Hollywood, Bollywood, family films, documentaries, animation and world cinema.
DTFF is a unique partnership between Qatar Museum Authority (QMA) and New York’s Tribeca Film Festival. On QMA’s side is Chair, Her Excellency Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, QMA’s CEO Abdulla Al Najjar and DTFF Executive Director Amanda Palmer. On Tribeca’s side, are the festival founders, acclaimed Hollywood producer Jane Rosenthal, entrepreneur Craig Hatkoff, and actor, Robert De Niro.
Visit http://dtff.bemoko.com
Samsung and Handmark Announce New Global Venture Fund Driving Innovation in Mobile Game Development for Samsung Application Store
Oct 27th
Samsung Electronics, a leader in consumer electronics and information technology, and Handmark®, a world-leading creator and distributor of mobile applications and services, today announced the launch of a new Global Venture Fund to invest in companies and/or individuals with innovative, market-changing game ideas for next generation Samsung mobile phones. Companies and/or individuals selected will receive up to $250,000 each to fund the development of winning ideas.
The fund will be managed by Handmark out of its Kansas City and London offices in partnership with Samsung Electronics. The companies are searching for games that best showcase Samsung mobile phones and the advanced features they offer. Both current and new content ideas are encouraged, taking timing and cost into consideration.
“We know there’s a wealth of great ideas out there waiting to be discovered,” said Chris Barnett, senior vice president of Global Sales and Strategic Partnerships for Handmark. “This is a fantastic opportunity for anyone, including big brands, mobile developers or any individual with a unique, creative idea to make it a reality.”
“Samsung recognizes the importance of content and applications for today’s mobile phone users,” said Ho Soo Lee, executive vice president for Samsung Electronics’ Media Solution Center. “We are pleased to broaden our partnership with Handmark to help lead the Global Venture Fund, using their expertise to support us capturing great ideas and raise the standard of mobile innovation.”
In addition to funding those selected, Handmark will also provide assistance with development, testing and certification, as well as distribution of the application through the Samsung Application Store.
To submit a proposal or for more information, visit www.handmark.com/company/samsungfund. The deadline for entries is November 20, 2009 at 5 PM CT.
New SMS alert service for football fans integrates web flexibility and management options
Oct 27th
SMS news alert service matchalert launched today, aimed at those dedicated football fans who want to keep up with their team when they’re out and about but have so far been frustrated by SMS services that are inflexible, unmanageable, or simply too expensive.
matchalert’s advantage is that it combines the convenience of SMS alerts with the flexibility and sophistication of web-based subscription management. In a ‘first’ for football SMS alert services, users can customise their alerts via the matchalert website, as well as stopping the service altogether via the usual ‘stop’ text message.
SMS alert services have, historically, been very blunt tools, says Hreinn Gústavsson, CEO of Stokkur Software, the Icelandic company responsible for matchalert.
“SMS alerts have been very ‘binary’, either ‘on’ or ‘off’ – so customers were either getting SMS news alerts or they weren’t. They weren’t able to customise the content or frequency, or they needed to keep very careful track of exactly which services they’d subscribed to. And, on the occasions when people made mistakes with SMS services, or forgot they were signing up to continuous messages and ended up with a large bill, the whole concept took a lot of flak, as it did with the Crazy Frog ringtone mess,” he said.
“matchalert is different; our users can manage all their alerts from our website, making it user-friendly and flexible. Better still, more people using smartphones and flat-rate data tariffs can browse to our site from their mobile handset to adjust their service settings.”
“SMS is still a great way for everyone to receive alerts, but it’s never been a good mechanism for users to manage their alert service. matchalert brings the two worlds together, and we think we’re the first service to do that,” he added.
Users of the matchalert service can choose from a range of options, including:
• to receive only the final score, resulting in a cheaper service (only one SMS per game)
• to subscribe to a whole league, meaning that with one click the user will receive notifications of all goals and/or final scores from that league
• to follow a wide range of leagues and teams, including the Barclays Premiership, the UEFA Champions League and the Europa League. Subscription to a particular team means the user receives alerts for that team across all competitions
Each SMS alert costs a user 25 pence, plus standard network charges. Users are limited to receiving a maximum of 18 text messages per week. SMS delivery is provided by mkodo.
Enterprise search goes mobile
Oct 27th
A new way to search for data held on your company computers when you are on the road has been launched by UK specialist search company, Simplexo. The solution – Simplexo Mobile – has been developed to enable anyone working out of the office to access vital corporate documentation and databases via their mobile devices in a safe and secure way.
Searching more than one information source can be time-consuming, especially when you’re on the road. Results have to be manually collected, compared, and de-duplicated before full and accurate findings are available. Now, Simplexo Mobile does the work for you.
Simplexo Mobile – available now for the iPhone and any Windows Mobile 6 device, and on the Blackberry platform within 30 days – can simultaneously search across all enterprise environments including SharePoint, live and archived email, word processing documents, images, spreadsheets, databases, applications such as CRM and SAP, and more. It then delivers one consolidated list of de-duplicated search results securely to your mobile device.
Alistair Handyside, CEO, Simplexo, stated: “Now, even when you’re out of the office you can still search all your data. With instant access to enterprise-wide information, you can make fast decisions with confidence, and ensure impeccable service levels for your customers.”
“Furthermore, Simplexo Mobile will not compromise your corporate security policies,” he added. “This is the only mobile search application available today that does not rely on a Web interface. This is a dedicated application, which means that once the search is complete, information is scrubbed from the memory of the device so there is no chance of data theft if that device is lost or stolen.”
In common with the company’s flagship product Simplexo Enterprise, Simplexo Mobile eliminates individual searches on multiple data sources. It delivers the up-to-date information you need, on demand and in real time, without unwanted results that waste time and valuable resource when you’re on the road.
Simplexo Mobile summary
• Enables enterprise-wide information retrieval via mobile devices
• Saves time: eliminates individual searches on multiple data sources
• Improves accuracy: returns live, up-to-date information in real time
• Maintains security: designed to MoD security levels (AES 256)
• Very simple to use: single-click searching
‘Half a billion vs 50m’: Ideaworks Labs blows open the wider smartphone market for mobile application developers
Oct 27th
Currently it is prohibitively expensive for independent developers to create and port mobile applications across a wide range of handsets. Developers therefore target only a few devices, seriously limiting their opportunity for revenue. Today, most choose Apple’s iPhone as it has a high market share, a solid SDK and an attractive business model, provided the developer can ensure that their product does not get lost in the daunting catalogue size. However the market for mobile applications is much bigger than just the iPhone. What developers need is a cost-effective way of creating applications for the wide array of operating systems (OSes) and devices.
To solve this problem, Ideaworks Labs is now licensing its cross-platform Airplay SDK, enabling indie developers to deploy applications across hundreds of smartphones and featurephones at an affordable licensing cost. Airplay SDK 4.0 allows them to compile their application once to native CPU instructions, then deploy with a single click to all iPhone, Android, Symbian, Windows Mobile and BREW devices. Airplay takes care of the vagaries of the various underlying OSes so that developers need not be steeped in detail; it also deals with handset differences such as screen size and input type, again simplifying the task for the developer.
Indie developers can now multiply their addressable market by over 10 times, from 50m Apple devices to the installed base of over half a billion smartphones and featurephones globally, as Airplay SDK slashes the costs of porting and testing almost to zero. By reducing such costs, more budget can be poured into development of better user experiences and sharper marketing, again increasing the developer’s revenue opportunity.
“Airplay SDK has been a bit of an industry secret for some time”, explains Alex Caccia, CEO Ideaworks Labs, “as we’ve licensed it to some of the largest mobile games publishers worldwide. With the addition of native support for Android, a sophisticated UI framework, GPS, HTTP and more, Airplay SDK 4.0 is now an extremely powerful development solution for all types of rich mobile applications. We’re hugely excited to be able to offer Airplay SDK 4.0 at an affordable price to all developers, and look forward to seeing great applications from the iPhone and other app stores making more money for their creators by migrating to Android, Symbian, BREW and other platforms.
“Airplay SDK helps solve the fragmentation problem for developers by focusing on the core commonality between all devices – ARM® CPUs”, said Ian Drew, EVP of Marketing at ARM. “We invested in Ideaworks Labs earlier this year to help them prepare for launching Airplay SDK 4.0, and are greatly excited by the prospect of opening up huge numbers of ARM technology-based devices to apps developers for the first time”.
José Carlos López, Technical Director at Virtway Software, said “Several months ago we made the decision to adopt Airplay SDK for the development of a next-generation social networking application for ICYOU, initially targeted at iPhone. We were amazed to see that, with a single click and without even recompiling the application, we were able to generate an Android build that runs beautifully on multiple devices. For zero additional cost, we can now target all Android devices, and that will certainly open up a huge additional market for our application
“;We chose the Airplay SDK for our first iPhone title ‘Backbreaker’ due to its support for standard C++ libraries, which enabled us to easily port our animation engine ‘morpheme’ to the platform”;, added Torsten Reil, CEO at NaturalMotion. “;This also allowed us to use assets straight from the PS3/360 version for the game, which played a major factor in the commercial success (#1 app) of the title.”;
Developers with annual revenues of less than $50,000 can use Airplay SDK for iPhone development absolutely free, or deploy to all platforms at a cost of $99 per seat per year. Those with an annual turnover between $50,000 and $1m pay $999 per seat per year, and receive an increased level of support. For organisations earning over $1m annually, a per-application fee is payable, available on request.
All developers can register and download a full free evaluation of Airplay SDK 4.0 by visiting www.airplaysdk.com.
David Hasselhoff Launches New iPhone App, Gives Hoffalicious Advice
Oct 27th
Following his hit TV series Meet The Hasselhoffs, one of the world’s most popular television icons is set to make headlines again with the launch of his own iPhone app.
David Hasselhoff, who is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as “The Most Watched TV Star in the World”, promises to answer all of life’s questions with his official iPhone app Ask The Hoff (iTunes Store), which is now available in the iTunes App Store.
The app was created by Hasselhoff’s company Hoffstuff Productions and Never Odd Or Even LLP, a UK-based mobile development agency.
According to the app, scientists have downloaded Hoff’s brain into the iPhone. After the user asks a question and shakes the phone, an animated version of the Hoff replies with one of a number of pre-recorded responses, voiced by Hasselhoff himself.
“I know there are moments when everyone faces major decisions in life and need advice from an expert,”said Hasselhoff, “so as the proud owner of not one but two iPhones (I like to be able to make two phone calls at once!), I’m very pleased to announce the launch of my very own iPhone app.”
“It’s silly and it’s fun, but it’s the only way to make important decisions at home and at work,” commented Paul Smith, creative partner at Never Odd Or Even LLP. “This iPhone app gives iPhone and iPod owners the chance to receive guidance from their favourite bouffant haired Trans Am driving lifeguard.”
Over 50 million iPhones have been sold worldwide since its launch in 2007. Both Orange and Vodafone recently announced they will be selling the iPhone in the UK alongside current suppliers O2, further increasing the handset’s market share in the UK.
Ask The Hoff is available worldwide in the iTunes App Store for 59p/99¢.
Intec Launches Enhanced Roaming Solution
Oct 27th
Intec, a global provider of business support systems (BSS) solutions, has announced the availability of its new Roaming Solution, designed to help remove the complexity from inter-operator roaming revenue settlement, allowing operators to focus on increasing their own roaming revenues while maintaining complete customer and roaming partner satisfaction. The solution is fully compliant with GSM TAP standards as well as supporting the CDMA CIBER protocol, enabling operators to process traffic as quickly and efficiently as possible, regardless of the type of network they operate.
Based on and as a complement to Intec’s market-leading interconnect and mediation products, the Intec Roaming revenue management and settlement solution allows operators to be less reliant on third-party data clearing houses, thereby further boosting cashflow and financial transparency. By bringing control of the roaming settlement processes in-house, operators can integrate roaming as part of a broader wholesale management strategy. For a group of operators within a parent company, the solution can also function as a group-wide clearing house, providing clear economies of scale and simplified roaming business processes. For existing Intec wholesale business customers, Intec Roaming provides a clear and cost-effective path to taking charge of all aspects of their roaming operations.
“Our new Roaming Solution enables customers to react faster to industry changes and reduce overall costs associated with roaming traffic,” explained Simon Pincus, Intec VP of Product Management. “By helping our customers improve their competitive performance, including a shorter-time-to-market launch for new products, they can concentrate more effectively on their most valuable customers, their high ARPU users.”
“As a solution compliant with the policies established by the GSM Association, Intec Roaming provides Vivo with the agility required in a competitive environment, enabling us to close roaming agreements in flexible ways and improve revenue through this type of traffic,” said Leo Petersen, Vivo Director of Interconnection and Roaming. “From a security perspective, the solution is robust, relying on the NRTRDE, HUR and Points of Control modules, thereby guaranteeing successful roaming transactions, while alerting us to possible cases of fraud and preventing revenue loss. The solution is easy-to-use and easy to learn, enabling Vivo to provide it more broadly internally.”
Among many key features of Intec’s Roaming Solution is support for the GSM Association-defined ‘Rejects and Returns Procedure’ (RAP). RAP provides operators with a mechanism to handle erroneous TAP files and call event records, resulting in fewer TAP files and records reaching any inter-operator dispute process. This improves inter-operator invoicing and settlement and cuts operating costs.
The solution also supports the new requirements for near real-time roaming data exchange (NRTRDE), which is crucial to minimize potential revenue loss associated with pre-paid roaming. End-to-end support for the roaming business process is underpinned by Intec’s proven, high performance and scalable architecture, providing the user with a robust platform for future growth and change.
Intec’s Roaming Solutions is now available; for more information please contact info@intecbilling.com
Ofcom grants Freedom4 licence variation for mobility
Oct 22nd
Freedom4, the joint investment between Daisy Group plc and Intel Capital, has been granted a licence variation by Ofcom that enables it to offer mobile wireless broadband services to its customers using its nationwide 3.6GHz spectrum.
Freedom4 has already achieved the world’s first seamless mobile WiMAX handover between base stations operating at two frequencies (2.5GHz and 3.6GHz) and architected a high capacity core network, capable of delivering wholesale services. This variation gives Freedom4 the technical and regulatory flexibility to satisfy demand for fixed and mobile internet connectivity, higher bandwidth per user and the provision of broadband in areas where existing infrastructure is either weak or lacks resilience.
Mike Read; Freedom4 CEO states, “The Company now has both the spectrum position and technical capability to implement a network and services platform ideally suited to compete in the rapidly expanding market for fixed and mobile broadband wireless access.”
The latest Digital Britain publication by the UK Government (BIS) acknowledges that WiMAX is the only 4G wireless technology commercially available today and that it is being deployed across the globe.
Ashish Patel; Managing Director Intel Capital EMEA states, “The Government’s decision highlights the contributions WiMAX can make to the digital economy and Intel is actively supporting these efforts as a member of its Digital Participation Consortium.”
Freedom4 owns the largest contiguous block of 4G compatible spectrum currently issued in the UK, together with national spectrum at both 4GHz and 28GHz ideal for delivering wireless backhaul. Freedom4 has integrated world leading wireless network equipment and has both fixed and mobile devices to connect to its network including the world’s only quad band WiMAX dongle.
Matthew Riley; Daisy Group plc CEO adds, “The assets and capabilities now within Freedom4, together with the Government’s Digital Britain activities present a great opportunity to address the fast growing market for wireless broadband.”
The company is in a state of readiness for build-out, having architected and integrated all necessary network equipment for operation.
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