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Mobile Industry Review
Deaf Welsh loving Police SMS service
Oct 31st
Link: New police text scheme is a big hit – Blaenau Gwent – South Wales Valleys – News – icWales
DEAF and hard of hearing people have declared Gwent Police’s new text messaging service an outstanding success.
The initiative, enabling those who face difficulties in contacting police with a phone call to access help via a mobile phone text message, was launched in April this year. Since then approximately 100 residents have signed up to the service.
OK so 100 people isn’t exactly a massive success, but it’s a start – especially for an area of low population density.
Cops use Bluetooth to appeal for witnesses
Oct 29th
Link: BBC NEWS | England | Merseyside | Mobile appeal for Rhys witnesses
Police investigating the killing of 11-year-old Rhys Jones are sending issuing appeals directly to mobile phones in a bid for more information.
Detectives are using a device that can send messages to Bluetooth enabled phones in Croxteth within a 100m radius of the transmitter.
ROK launch rival to Texperts and AQA
Oct 29th
Mobile technology and entertainment company ROK have just announced they’re behind the ‘Ask Terry’ Q&A text service service launched today on UK sports radio station TalkSPORT.
Commenting on the initiative, Laurence Alexander, CEO of ROK said “TalkSPORT is the perfect medium for reaching keen sports fans who find themselves with a burning question that needs answering.
“Our answers to questions asked have a real, live, human interface – most often with a lot of humour involved – and in most cases we are able to reply within 10 minutes”.
Listeners are invited to text ‘Terry’ to 81089 with any question they need answering and they will receive a personalised ‘human’ answer from ROK’s panel of experts via SMS. Questions cost £1.00 each.
“We think our audience will love the talkSPORT Ask Terry service” said Kevin Bird Commercial Director of talkSPORT Radio “and will help put an end to those arguments sports fans have, for example, over who scored the winner in the 1972 Cup Final.”
According to ROK, Terry is a ‘bloke in a dressing gown in the attic with a load of encyclopedias’. The company claims the UK SMS Q&A market is growing rapidly – with an estimated 1-2 million questions being asked every month. It’s a sector already served well by companies such as Texperts (formerly 82ASK) and AQA – and although this latest venture is aimed at sports fans, ROK say they’ll answer any question on any subject.
Incidently, Allan Clarke of Leeds scored the only goal in the 1972 Cup Final, against Arsenal, with a powerful header from 15 yards out in the 53rd minute.
Another survey says no to phones on planes
Oct 29th
Link: Majority Do Not Want Mobile Phones on Planes – Survey
Following on from news that the Telegraph’s campaign to ban mobiles on flights has reached 4,000 signatories, travel website TripAdvisor has carried out a worldwide survey and come to a very similar conclusion – phones on planes are bad bad bad..
According to a survey of travel trends by the website, TripAdvisor – some 78 percent of travelers believe that mobile phones should not be allowed on flights. TripAdvisor said that it surveyed more than 2,500 travelers from around the world for its annual trends report.
“The major trends we’re observing are that travelers value cleanliness above all else and are becoming more environmentally conscious,” said Michele Perry, director of communications for TripAdvisor. “Based on TripAdvisor’s TravelCast, the top emerging world destination is Jerba, Tunisia, and Thailand is the hottest country, featuring two destinations in the world’s top ten.”
Misread text causes mass police response
Oct 29th
Link: SMS confusion leads to hold-up false alarm | Herald Sun
A WOMAN sparked a frantic police response in central Brisbane today after misreading a text message from her boyfriend about a possible armed hold-up. However, a police spokeswoman said the incident was a false alarm and the result of a “miscommunication”.
She said a man had made verbal threats over the phone to the company, and one of its employees sent a text message about the incident to his girlfriend. However, the girlfriend “read it the wrong way” and told police there was an armed hold-up at the business.
Skype launch mobile with 3
Oct 29th
Although not officially unveiled until later today, we’ve got all the details of the new Skype mobile – launched in conjunction with mobile operator 3. Ewan will be at the press launch later, so expect pictures soon!
The 3 Skypephone is a fully-featured 3G Internet phone with Skype built-in. In addition to Skype calls the phone makes conventional calls and can be used to access 3′s broad range of other internet services.
The handset was developed by Skype and 3 in partnership with Qualcomm, using Qualcomm’s BREW platform to enable Skype to work with core handset features such as address book and messaging. It’s got 3G, a 2-megapixel camera, mp3 player, mobile TV and internet access.
According to the information available, it’s a “small and shiny” handset, weighing in at a tiny 86 grams, and comes in black or white, with a blue or pink trim. Standby time is 320 hours, with a talk time of 270 minutes or 170 minutes of video calling. The screen is a 176 x 220 2.0″ QCIF 262K colour display, and the handset itself has 16MB of external memory plus room for up to 1GB of microSD memory card (it comes with a 256M card as standard).
Price-wise, the 3 Skypephone will be available from 3Stores or on the web from 2nd November, at £49.99 on pay-as-you-go or free with a contract. You get free Skype to Skype calls included (as expected) as long as you’re on a contract or you top up your credit monthly.
More news as it comes in..
Facebook in hot water for ‘dirty texts’
Oct 29th
Link: Facebook sued for mis-sending dirty texts | The Register
News in from the legal trigger-happy land of the free (via The Register) – Facebook is being sued by an Indiana woman for sending ‘adult content’ via text.
Earlier this week, an Indiana mommy named Lindsey Abrams filed a federal class action suit against the Microsoft-propped social networking site. She’s claiming that it sends thousands of unauthorized text messages to innocent bystanders across the country – and that many of these messages contain “adult content”.
The whole thing seems to come down to a single problem: number recycling. Facebook allows you to sign up with your mobile to receive text alerts when people send you messages, and charges you for each message received. So far, so good. The problem is that they have no idea if you’re still using that number – so it’s possible that, due to the mobile operators number recycling policy, you can end up with the number of someone already registered on Facebook when you take out a new contract.
El Reg cites Santa Clara University law professor and tech law blogger Eric Goldman, who reckons the action will be dismissed under the US Communications Decency Act.
“[The act] states that websites are not liable for what their users say or do,” he told the The Reg. “User provide the telephone numbers. Users provide the messages being sent. And Facebook just forwards them. It may be annoying to get a message that isn’t directed to you, but Facebook isn’t to blame – just you can’t blame the telephone company when someone makes a crank call.”
Carphone launch yet another MVNO
Oct 24th
Link: BBC NEWS | Business | Carphone enters Vodafone tie-up
Just when you thought it was safe to venture out onto the High Street.. Carphone Warehouse (who neither sell carphones nor demand customers visit their warehouse) have just launched yet another MVNO.
According to the BBC, this one is going to be called Talkmobile, and will run alongside their existing Fresh and TalkTalk Mobile services. This time they’ve partnered with Vodafone – the previous two efforts have been with T-Mobile.
The service will apparently be a post-pay (contract) service, based around a nine month tie-in.
Details are sketchy at the moment, but Carphone have made it clear they’ll continue not to offer Vodafone deals in their stores.
End2End buys Terraplay
Oct 24th
End2End, the leading provider of managed service solutions for mobile data, today announced its acquisition of Terraplay, the leading provider of connected-gaming services. The deal substantiates End2End’s position at the forefront of developments in the mobile gaming space and allows End2End to offer operators market leading solutions in connected and multiplayer gaming, a fully managed mobile gaming offering, in addition to its full mobile content delivery platform.
Terraplay is a world leader in connected mobile gaming and has been an innovator in developing solutions which allow operators and games publishers to connect their mobile gaming communities. The company’s expertise ranges from community tools to multiplayer functionality, in-game micro billing and in-game advertising, with many leading publishers among the customers that have already adopted Terraplay’s technology.
The acquisition of Terraplay will see End2End become a world-leading mobile gaming specialist, with a wealth of experience in delivering outsourced solutions for mobile data. End2End is now perfectly placed to help operators increase revenues by effectively managing their mobile gaming offerings.
Bernadette Lyons, Managing Director at End2End commented: ‘We expect connected gaming to be major factor in the dramatic growth of the mobile gaming market and Terraplay are the best in the business. Connected gaming can transform the experience for the gamer, with features such as multiplayer, competitions and buddy lists, but it can also have a major impact on operators, creating opportunities for flexible business models such as pay-per-play, rental and advertising.”
‘By combining Terraplay’s expertise in connected gaming with End2End’s experience in mobile content delivery, we believe we have created an incredibly valuable and unique proposition for operators,” said Sven Hålling, CEO of Terraplay. ‘It is an exciting deal which will allow the company to offer innovative new solutions and a market leading connected gaming experience.”
End2End’s customer base now includes all the major mobile carriers, including Vodafone, T-Mobile, 3, Orange and O2, and with the mobile gaming market expected to grow from $3 billion at the end of 2006 to $17.5 billion by the end of 2011, the opportunity for those operators is clear. As advancements in technology create an influx of new handsets with improved game graphics and functionality, connected gaming is expected to play a major part as the market grows.
Ends
Sybase 365 launches new MMS content delivery gateway
Oct 24th
Mobile messaging specialists Sybase 365 have launched their new MMS content delivery gateway – enabling content providers, marketers, and media companies to deliver MMS content directly to consumers’ handsets, globally, with a single connection.
“MMS is, and will continue to be, the most viable method for delivering rich media,” said Marty Beard, President of Sybase 365. “Mobile campaigns are becoming an increasingly important part of companies’ communication and advertising strategies, and multimedia messages are exceptionally effective because of their ability to engage the recipient in interactive campaigns.”
MMS 365 runs on the Sybase 365 operator-grade network, ensuring successful delivery of complex content, management of high traffic volumes, and seamless delivery to consumers’ handsets via its connections to more than 700 global operators. One connection to MMS 365 provides direct content delivery to millions of subscribers, eliminating the need for content providers to manage separate, time-consuming negotiations and connections to individual operators.
MMS 365 supports all popular types of rich content including photos, graphics, audio, video, alerts, ringtones, and wallpaper allowing content providers to use the most effective method to communicate a campaign to subscribers.
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