The website of Alex Kinch, live from London
Posts tagged CTIA
A little bit more info on Zer01
Apr 4th
Zer01, the curious ‘MVNO-but-not-an-MVNO’ mobile VOIP operator, officially launched it’s services at CTIA this week. Whilst we still don’t know a huge amount of info about the company and it’s promised services, CNET reporter Kent German managed to glean a bit more from CEO Benjamin Piilani.
For those of you curious about the technical aspects of the service and the business model, the following snippets from the interview might be helpful.
First on my list was to ask how the carrier isn’t a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO), even though it depends on major wireless carriers to operate its services. As Piilani explained it, while MVNOs buy capacity from a carrier and resell it later, Zer01 has its own IP backbone and only uses carrier networks to interconnect or roam. I buy that, but Zer01 is more interesting for what it promises.
All Zer01 services operate as data, which means that you won’t be interacting with a standard cellular network. Also, each Zer01 device gets a fixed IP address and it opens a separate VPN session to the company’s servers when placing calls or using data.
Partner carriers will get a share of Zer01′s revenues, though Piilani declined to give details on the carriers and the revenue split. Zer01′s services will work across the entire GSM spectrum including GPRS, EDGE, UMTS and HSDPA.
Opera Software sign first US carrier deal
Apr 2nd
Virgin Shuttle handset with Opera Mini browser
As expected, Opera Software have inked a deal with Virgin Mobile USA to bring their mini browser to US customers handsets.
And that’s about it. Not exactly the world’s most ground-breaking deal – Opera Mini is already available for free download, plus Virgin Mobile isn’t exactly the biggest player in the US – but as it’s CTIA this week someone could fart on their mobile and we’d end up seeing a tide of PR about it.
Sarcasm and cynicism aside, congrats to the guys at Opera. They’re a lovely bunch of people – I spent a rather enjoyable 20 minutes with their Product Manager, Consumer Products over the weekend discussing how to make a curry whilst at BarCamp London.
Anyway, back to the story. “This partnership is a great way for Opera to reach Virgin Mobile USA’s large customer base in the United States,” said Opera CEO Jon S. von Tetzchner. “It demonstrates that Virgin Mobile USA recognizes Opera as a valuable service for its customers, who will now be able to enjoy Opera Mini’s speed and amazing feature set while browsing on the go.”
“We are excited to continue growing our relationship with Opera and to give our prepaid customers the choice of using Opera Mini for their browsing needs,” said Doug Britt, Vice President, Mobile Data Services at Virgin Mobile USA. “Increasingly, our customers expect complete Internet browsing from their phone, and Opera Mini delivers the mobile browsing experience our customers demand.”
The Opera Mini build for Virgin Mobile USA will support both English and Spanish language support, the first such offering from a U.S. carrier and Opera. The Opera Mini application will be available to Virgin Mobile USA prepaid customers at standard data prices.
Zer01 to launch on July 1
Apr 2nd
Remember my post the other day about mobile-VOIP-over-data (and definitely not an MVNO, so they say) Zer01? I was hoping for something to come out of CTIA a little more concrete – perhaps even a demo I could talk about.
Alas, no. Whilst that hasn’t quite happened yet, they have set a launch date for their service. The ‘True’ $69.99/month unlimited voice and data mobile plan will be available to Windows Mobile 6 smartphone users from July 1 2009, with BlackBerry, Android, and iPhone smartphone platforms “within months.”
I’ve asked someone who’s attending CTIA to go have a nose at their stand and see if he can get some answers from the company – so hopefully some more news soon. In the meantime, I’ll leave the more technical of you to ponder the subject of codecs, bitrates, theoretical maximum data capacity of a cell, latency, codecs, and other such fun subjects that have got me curious about Zer01.
via Mobile VoIP provider Zer01 Mobile to launch $69.99 unlimited service on July 1.
Microsoft to demo app store at CTIA
Apr 1st
Windows Marketplace for Mobile - Applications List
Things seem to come in two’s lately – hot on the heels of RIM’s launch of the BlackBerry app store, Microsoft have done a bit of a ‘me too’ press blitz to remind everyone they’ve got something similar in the pipeline.
Although Windows Marketplace for Mobile won’t hit the streets until later this year, that’s not going to stop Microsoft’s Robbie Bach discussing their plans for the store and demonstrating how it’ll all work at CTIA on Thursday.
via Microsoft to take mobile Marketplace for test drive | CTIA show – CNET Reviews.
VP of CTIA dies during show
Apr 1st
Amongst all the news and noise coming out the CTIA show in Las Vegas comes this sad snippet. According to Gearlog, Mark Desautels – Vice President of the CTIA – died of an apparent heart attaack on Monday afternoon whilst at the show itself.
Desautels had been with the CTIA since 1998, after serving as the president and CEO of the Wireless Data Forum and the assistant to the director at the Office of Intergovernmental Relations, Congressional Budget Office.
Official Skype iPhone client could be here within days
Mar 27th
Skype for iPhone to Be Released as Early as Next Week.
Om Malik claims he has information from ‘a tipster – a reliable one’ that Skype are about to announce an official client for the iPhone. It could come as early as next week – perhaps at CTIA in Las Vegas, that starts on Wednesday.
My old friends at Truphone already support Skype, amongst other IM services – and Fring has had Skype support for what seems like ages.
Of course there’s many questions: Will Skype push out the third party players? Will the carriers try to block it? The only true ‘Skype-friendly’ carrier in the UK at the moment seems to be 3 – although they don’t offer the iPhone as O2 already has that gig (and will do for a while to come – exclusivity and all that). Also, will they wait until iPhone software v3.0 to support incoming calls (via the new push functionality) or dip a toe in the water with outgoing only?
It’ll be interesting to see how this one pans out.
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