The website of Alex Kinch, live from London
Posts tagged Hot
EXCLUSIVE: ROK launches mobile conferencing beta
Sep 18th
ROK Entertainment Group, the specialist mobile technology and applications developer, today announced ROK Talk, its new and wholly unique mobile conference-calling application, with an invitation for 500 people worldwide to join a BETA trial.
ROK Talk enables simple and affordable group calling, all managed directly from the user’s mobile phone. In just a few seconds, subscribers an instantly create or schedule conference calls with up to 30 people simultaneously using the familiar ‘contacts’ list already on their handset.
The ROK Talk solution manages invitations and introductions on the users behalf, and even allows in-call control of the conference directly from the handset – a first in the industry. Call costs are substantially lower than traditional conferencing solutions – and far more immediately actionable – making the product attractive for personal use. It’s free to receive a ROK Talk call too.
“ROK Talk connects families and other social groups as easily as it connects a businessman with his colleagues around the world. This is our first step into giving businesses and the socially networked generation the tools they need to communicate more effectively, and we believe that there is massive potential here to not only revolutionise group calling, but to make it as seamless and ultimately as ubiquitous as person-to-person calling is now.” said Lawrence Alexander, CEO of ROK.
If you’re interested in joining the free trial of ROK Talk – you;ll need a Symbian 3rd Edition device such as the Nokia N73, E65, E61, E61i – you can register at www.roktalk.com.
ROK launches ‘iPod killer’ mobile music service
Jul 25th
Mobile entertainment company ROK have just unveiled their brand new ‘iPod killer’ mobile music service – ROK Media Store.
The service is a free web-based application which lets you upload your music collection to your PC and transfer – or ‘sideload’ it – to your mobile phones memory card. In addition, you can also purchase music and video content online from a shop on the website.
“More than 100 million iPods have been sold worldwide in the past five years, which clearly shows the enormous demand for music on the move” said Laurence Alexander, CEO of ROK . “Mobile entertainment is a proven market which stretches back more than 25 years from the days of the Sony Walkman, but when you look at the far bigger scale of the mobile phone market, with 3 billion handsets in use, being upgraded at the rate of 1 billion new handsets every year, ROK Media Store is designed to allow millions more people the opportunity, right now, to upload, manage and listen to music on their mobiles, in the same way those with an iPod have been able to do.”
“Most handsets are now sold with a removable memory card and while the cost of memory cards has fallen considerable in the past year or so, their capacity is increasing all the time” added Alexander “so we see people building a library of memory cards containing their favourite music, managed via Media Store.”
ROK believes Media Store is an “iPod killer” not because it competes with the iPod as another device like Microsoft’s Zune, but because it offers a real and viable alternative designed for a device you already own – your mobile phone.
“We’re not aiming to kill the iPod by simply offering yet another iPod-type device” said Alexander “we’re offering an easy-to-use and free-to-use, mass-market alternative to having to buy an iPod.”
ROK intend to monetise Media Store through a combination of online advertising and through offering people the chance to purchase additional content via the website for side-loading to their mobile phones, in a similar manner as iTunes.
Something red hot in mobile music brewing
Jul 24th
There’s a really hot announcement in the field of mobile music brewing. It’s so hot, in fact, it’s got potential to completely kill off a certain device that we all know and love, and totally change the whole entertainment arena.
I should be able to spill the beans tomorrow - in the meantime keep watching this space..
BREAKING NEWS: Truphone win against T-Mobile
Jul 16th
Link: Truphone press office
Literally just popped into my inbox, is the news that Truphone have won their court injunction against T-Mobile. The judge in the case has instructed T-Mobile to stop blocking calls to Truphone.
An electronic version of the judgement is expected tomorrow – in the meantime you can read the Truphone blog entry for more details.
Congratulations to James Tagg and all at Truphone!
3G iPhone to launch on Voda and T-Mob today, apparently
Jul 2nd
Link: Euro iPhone launch will reveal 3G handset for Vodafone, T-Mobile | Reg Hardware
I like rumours and gossip. They keep the industry interesting – although they don’t always come true.
Veteran tech and mobile journo Guy Kewney has reported that Apple are about to announce the launch of the European version of the iPhone. It’ll be 3G, available from the Carphone Warehouse, and hooks into deals with operators T-Mobile and Vodafone.
The announcement is due today, so watch this space.
MusicStation launch unlimited mobile music service
Jun 14th
Link: MusicStation…the future of mobile music!
Omnifone have today launched a brand new all-you-can-eat mobile music service, called MusicStation. In an attempt to steal some of the thunder from iTunes and the forthcoming iPhone, MusicStation allows mobile phone users to gain unlimited access to full music tracks on industry-standard mobiles for a small weekly fee.
They’ve got a stackload of licensing deals too, including Universal Music Group, SONY BMG, EMI Music, Warner Music International and many major independent labels such as Beggars Group, Vital:PIAS Digital and leading global mobile distributor VidZone Digital Media. This’ll mean that you’re not just limited to a handful of artists, or only have access to unsigned bands. We’re talking major artists here, and songs you’ve definitely heard of.
Rob Lewis, CEO of Omnifone, said: “MusicStation’s launch today heralds the beginning of the next generation of mobile music. Hundreds of millions of mobile phone subscribers worldwide will soon gain the ultimate music freedom – the ability to download and play unlimited amounts of music, wherever they are, through a fantastic easy-to-use digital music experience, which works on almost any phone. Consumers will have the ability to legally access, download and enjoy an unlimited amount of music, from an international and localised music catalogue, supported by the whole music industry, all for a small weekly fee. MusicStation users can download music, wherever they are, at any time and with no charge for data.”
The first network to offer Omnifone services to their customers is Sweden’s Telenor, with handsets pre-installed with MusicStation hitting stores in the country today. As well as Sweden, Omnifone confirms it has now entered into partnerships with 30 mobile operators with networks in the following territories: Australia, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey and the UK.
Leaked Apple iPhone training manual
Jun 12th
Link: Mac Rumors: iPhone Details from AT&T’s Sales Training Workbook
Apple news website Mac Rumours has got hold of a copy of the full iPhone Training manual provided to AT&T employees – and a quick scan through reveals some interesting details about Apple’s new long awaited product.
Here’s some interesting highlights:
- No MMS messaging support for photos or videos
- SMS messages can be threaded, conversation style
- You can sync it with your iTunes as if it was an iPod
- Doesn’t support mobile TV or streaming video
- Email support for POP3, IMAP, and Yahoo! Push Mail
- GPS is not part of the iPhone feature set
Plenty more info – and scans from the manual – here.
nuTsie launches iTunes on your mobile service
Jun 5th
Link: nuTsie
Now this *is* cool. Been itching to post about this since the press release came in yesterday, but it was embargoed until Tuesday.. and now that it is indeed Tuesday, let me spill the beans..
Built on top of Meledeo’s mobile streaming technology, nuTsie allows you to get your whole iTunes library on your mobile. No faffing around with syncing, splashing out on a huge memory card, or downloading tracks to your mobile. All you have to do is visit the nuTsie site, upload your iTunes library, get a link sent by text to your mobile and off you go.
Another cool feature is you can share playlists with your mates. You don’t have to have your PC running all the time either to get to your tunes from your phone, which is quite neat.
Will try and do a full review later in the week.. in the meantime give it a go for yourself, and let me know what you think!
Jajah get funding from T-Mobile owner
May 29th
Link: BBC NEWS | Business | Deutsche Telekom backs VoIP firm
Deutsche Telekom is backing the internet telephone company Jajah, becoming the first major phone company to support such technology.
T-Online Venture Fund chairman Andreas Kindt said in a company statement: “By investing in companies like Jajah, we will be able to continue to bring users around the world the innovative solutions they are looking for.”
Curious and curiouser. So on one hand you’ve got Vodafone and Orange, in the ‘VOIP is bad for business as people won’t use our network to make voice calls, so let’s block it every way we can’ camp - and on the other T-Mobile’s parent company who’ve just pumped a load of cash into a VOIP related company.
This one will be interesting to watch…
Fring adds Twitter support
May 18th
Link: fring » Twitter inside!
I’ve been waxing lyrically about Fring to my mates after finding it a couple of weeks ago. If you don’t know about Fring, go to their website and check it out – or alternatively wait a day or two longer til I get my arse in gear and finish off the review I’ve been slaving over for this very blog 
Anyway, some great news – Fring have just added Twitter support. This means I can use just one application for Twitter, MSN, Skype, SIP, and Google Talk. If you’ve already got Fring, you don’t have to upgrade the software – just go to Settings > Configure Services and scroll down, where you should see Twitter.
Fring have even made a nice video and put it on their blog to show you how to add Twitter.
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