UK: Mobile Number Porting With In Two Hours

The UK's telecoms regulator, Ofcom has issued new rules making it easier for consumers to keep their mobile number when they switch providers. Under the new rules, consumers will be able to receive calls using their existing number within 2 hours of moving to a new mobile network. Previously the processing time was 5 days.



The move follows Ofcom's earlier decision to reduce mobile number porting lead times from 5 days to 2 days from 1 April 2008. Two hour transfers for mobile numbers must now be implemented by 1 September 2009.

In addition, industry will be obliged to ensure that the new porting process includes the necessary levels of protection for consumers.


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CDG And 3GPP2 Published Ultra Mobile Broadband(UMB) Spec

The CDMA Development Group (CDG) and the Third Generation Partnership Project 2 (3GPP2) published the Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB) air interface specification, which is often referred to as a 4G technology, in September.

The publication of this specification marks the world’s first IP-based mobile broadband standard to enable peak download data rates of 288 Mbps in a 20 MHz bandwidth, while preserving large economies of scope and scale.

The spec claims that UMB is the first IP-based mobile broadband standard to enable peak download data rates of 288 Mbps in a 20 MHz bandwidth, while preserving large economies of scope and scale. UMB is the latest family member of CDMA2000 technologies and allows the transfer of native IP at speeds that are orders of magnitudes higher than technologies commercially available today, according to the standards groups. UMB is an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) standard. UMB is expected to seamlessly integrate with CDMA2000 and EV-DO.

Here are a few of the specs:
* High-Speed Data: Peak download and upload speeds of 288 Mbps and 75 Mbps, respectively.
* Increased Data Capacity: Ability to deliver both high-capacity voice and broadband data events in mobile environments at excess of 300 km/hr.
* Low Latency: An average latency of 14.3 msec over-the-air with minimal jitter.
* Increased VoIP Capacity: Up to 1000 simultaneous VoIP users within a single sector.

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Some facts and figures about SMS

* The first text message was sent in December 1992, and SMS was launched commercially for the first time in 1995
* 1998 - Interconnect between UK Operators O2, Orange, Vodafone and T-Mobile
* The first recorded monthly text message total was 5.4 million in April 1998
* August 2001 was the first month in which over one billion messages were sent in the UK
* December 2002 - 1 billion SMS per day were exchanged globally
* The MDA has forecast that 36.5 billion messages will be sent throughout the UK during 2006, with an average of 100 million messages being sent per day



* 65 million UK subscribers were registered as active on UK networks as of the end of December 2005 of which over 70% send text messages
* 95% of 16-24 year olds use text messaging regularly, each sending an average of 100 texts per month
* On New Year's Day 2003, the number of text messages sent in one day topped one hundred million for the first time
* On New Year's Day 2006, the highest daily total ever recorded by the Mobile Data Association was reached, when 165 million messages were sent
* Annual SMS totals: 1999 - 1 billion; 2000 - 6.2 billion; 2001 - 12.2 billion; 2002 - 16.8 billion; 2003 - 20.5 billion; 2004 - 26 billion; 2005 - 32 billion
* Britons sent 120 million text messages on Valentine's Day 2006, compared to the estimated 12 million cards sent.
* On average, 4.1 million messages are sent every hour in Britain.
* 72% of women v 70 % of men text regularly (source - ICM Research)
* More women than men use picture messaging, while men are bigger users of the mobile internet (WAP) (source - Enpocket)
* The peak hours for texting are between 10.30pm and 11.00pm
* There is a huge range of services that can send you text updates e.g. Movie reviews, bank balances, sports, and weather.
* The Rt. Hon. Tony Blair MP became the first UK Prime Minister to use text message technology to talk directly to the people on 25th November 2004, answering questions submitted in advance by text message from members of the public as well as in real-time in a mobile phone chat-room, transmitted live from No.10 Downing Street.

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Google Launches Adsense For Mobile

Google has launched Adsense for mobile. Adsense is an advertising program that contextually targets advertisements to website content.
Like Google's other AdSense products, mobile text ads run on an auction model. The system automatically reviews the content of publishers’ mobile websites and delivers text ads that are relevant to the websites’ audience and content. Publishers earn money whenever mobile users click on the ads.

If you have a website optimized for mobile browsers, or are interested in creating one, you can start monetizing your mobile site by accessing a growing number of our mobile advertisers.
When you add the new AdSense for mobile code to your site, we'll display relevant ads using the same targeting technology that you are familiar with for existing AdSense products.

AdSense for Mobile will be available in the following countries: US, England, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Ireland, Russia, Netherlands, Australia, India, China, and Japan (available in the coming weeks). Read more!

Chinese Airline Offers InFlight Mobile Service

China's Shenzhen Airlines has fitted its planes with communications technology that will allow passengers to use their mobile phones to make voice calls and send e-mail and SMS messages during flights.

The OnAir service is set to be installed across Shenzhen Airlines' full fleet of Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 aircraft by mid-2009. Three "demonstrator" aircraft are also being readied for the Beijing Olympic Games in August 2008.

OnAir said its equipment will be retrospectively fitted on Shenzhen's existing aircraft and line-fitted on new aircraft. The service is aimed at passengers with smart phones or basic handsets.

The deal with Shenzhen is the third such agreement OnAir has secured that covers an airline's whole fleet, following a pact signed last summer with low-cost carrier Ryanair and an agreement in June this year with AirAsia. The Ryanair in-flight communications service is due to go live by the end of this year, according to an OnAir spokesman, and the AirAsia service is slated to launch in early 2009.

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YouTube Goes Mobile

User submitted video aggregator YouTube has launched its mobile version. So, the YouTube video fans can take their favorite portal along with them where ever they go.
This portal is available at m.youtube.com. Currently the new YouTube Mobile offers only a small selection of video clips, with categories including Featured, Recently Added, Most Viewed, Top Rated, Top Favorites, Entertainment and People. Video files are streamed rather than downloaded.
But as the video straming is bandwidth hungry, users with low bandwidth plans may not experience good quality.
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WiBree Forum Merges With Bluetooth SIG

Bluetooth SIG, the consortium behind the Bluetooth wireless standard announced Tuesday that the Wibree Forum, the group specifying the Nokia developed ultra low power wireless technology, will be merged with the Bluetooth SIG.

The technology, called Wibree, opens up the possibility of a host of small wearable gadgets, like watches, heart rate monitors, pedometers and pill boxes that communicate with Bluetooth-equipped cell phones or computers. A watch could display the user's incoming text messages, for instance, or an action figure toy could sense the presence of other toys.

“By including or referencing other wireless technologies like ultra wideband for high speed applications, near field communication (NFC) for association and now Wibree for ultra low power applications under the well-established Bluetooth profiles, we are opening up a host of new applications and functionality while keeping the user experience consistent,” said Michael Foley, Ph.D., executive director, Bluetooth SIG. “Our members have been asking for an ultra low power Bluetooth solution. With Nokia’s innovative development and contribution to the Bluetooth specification with Wibree, we will be able to deliver this in approximately one year.”

Wibree has a lower data rate and much lower power consumption than Bluetooth, which is in widespread use as the interface between cell phones and wireless headsets. That means smaller batteries that don't have to be charged often, unlike Bluetooth headsets.

“The development work for Wibree began when we discovered a series of interesting new use scenarios that no current local connectivity solution was addressing. Now we are happy new market opportunities and space to innovate for the industry,” said Jarkko Sairanen, Vice President of Corporate Strategy for Nokia. “Including Wibree within an existing forum will ensure interoperability and its wide and fast adoption. The Bluetooth SIG is the optimal new home for Wibree.”

The decision by the Bluetooth SIG to embrace Wibree validates Nokia's technology, but it also means the Finnish company is giving away the results of a multiyear development effort as Wibree will now be licensed royalty-free.
Certainly this sounds like a good move for the gadget users, lets wait for a while and see how it goes further.
Leave a comment about your opinion..
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Apple To Allow External Applications On iPhone

Recently speaking at Apple's annual developers' conference in San Francisco, Chief Executive Steve Jobs said Apple would let outside developers create applications for the iPhone by tapping Safari, softening the company's previous position that the device would not support other software due to security concerns.

Addressing concerns that the iPhone would not support programs not created by Apple, Jobs said independent developers could write application software for Safari, which is included in the multimedia device.

"It's an innovative new way to create apps for mobile devices ... and it gives us tremendous capability, more than has ever been in a mobile device," Jobs said.

This is a good news for Apple’s enthusiastic development community.

ThinkEquity analyst Jonathan Hoopes said developers writing applications to run on Safari could have their software run on either a Mac or Windows-based computer. "That same app should be able to run on the iPhone," he said.

At the same conference Jobs announced the beta of Safari for Windows based PCs, which is avilable for only Mac systems until now.
Safari for Windows can be downloaded from Apple's website.

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Virgin Mobile USA expands mobile search

Virgin Mobile USA announced an agreement with mobile search technology provider JumpTap to extend the MVNO's WAP-based local search services, enabling subscribers to seek specific search terms by zip code as well as city and state. According to Virgin Mobile, the new capabilities also enable search for local maps and directions to and from destinations. Virgin Mobile introduced JumpTap's white-label search engine in February, allowing for on- and off-deck mobile content discovery via both sponsored and organic links.

"Local search provides our customers with quick and easy access to information right from their cell phones," said Virgin Mobile USA's vice president of mobile data services Dominick Tolli in a prepared statement. "By simply typing in a zip code, they can find restaurants, stores, maps and directions while they're out and about. Our customers no longer need to scramble to get to their computers for this type of local search information."

For more on the Virgin Mobile/JumpTap partnership:
- read this release

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New Wireless Internet Technology Based Protocol Developed For LBS

T. John Kim, a professor of urban and regional planning at the University of Illinois
along with U. of I. postdoctoral fellow Sung-Gheel Jang, developed the protocol for the international standard for Geographic Information Systems, described by the U. of I. professor as “the backbone” of LBS. Earlier this year, the standard created by Kim and Jang was adopted and published by the International Organization for Standardization as ISO 19134.

Kim said LBS, introduced on cell phones in Korea and Japan, and just becoming available in the U.S., function through a combination of GIS; information, positioning, and Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) technologies; and the Internet.

“LBS combine hardware devices, wireless communication networks, geographic information and software applications that provide location-related guidance for customers,” Kim said. “It differs from mobile position determination systems such as Global Positioning Systems (GPS) in that Location Based Services provide much broader, application-oriented location services.”

While cars or hand-held electronic devices equipped with GPS may be useful when trying to get from one place to another, LBS go beyond providing routes and directions, functioning much the same way as a hotel concierge.

“For instance,” Kim said, “if it’s my wife’s birthday, and on my way home from the office I need to pick up a birthday cake and a dozen roses, I would want to know not only where is the nearest bakery and floral shop, but where is the cheapest – or the right – place to find these things that I want.”

The technology can be adapted for a wide range of other functions, he said, ranging from relaying locations of people requiring emergency assistance to first responders to providing alerts about traffic congestion.

Kim said the “proactive” decision by the research and standards communities and consumer-products manufacturers to come together and establish an industry standard for LBS before the market is flooded with devices offering concierge services is somewhat unusual, but highly practical.

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Nokia Introduces S60 Widgets

Nokia announced that it will include widget support in S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2, which means that users will be able to further personalize their mobile Internet experience and customize which content appears on their handsets, such as live weather updates.

This opens up exciting possibilities for Web developers to create innovative applications and services for mobile devices. Web technologies help and promote the rapid development of applications for mobile. Developers can now leverage the same skills, technologies, and tools used for creating Web pages to develop widgets for mobile devices.

S60 on Symbian OS, will be complemented with Web Run-Time, a Web application development environment, enabling the development of widgets and integrated Web applications for mobile devices with familiar standards-based Web technologies, such as Ajax, JavaScript, CSS and HTML.

S60, the popular smartphone platform is the first to add the full HTML browsing experience to millions of S60 mobile devices is now also the first mobile phone platform to give a this functionality which allows the developers to create new innovative widgets and also migrate existing widgets from the desktop to S60 with minimal effort.

"Mobility will change the Internet as people are able to access and create information specific to place, time and context," said Tero Ojanperä, Chief Technology Officer, Nokia. "Widgets are an important milestone in this development. Introducing widget support for S60, much of the innovation seen on the Internet today is being brought to the mobile space for the benefit of the millions of S60 mobile device users".

Press Release

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Nokia, Samsung to Cooperate on For Mobile TV Interoperability

Handset makers Samsung and Nokia announced their plans to collaborate on mobile TV interoperability among their respective DVB-H-enabled devices and the open standards-based Nokia network services system. Samsung and Nokia will work together to develop open OMA BCAST standard-based solutions targeted for operators deploying multi-vendor mobile TV services and trials.
The deployment of mobile TV services will offer new business opportunities for companies across the value chain, including content and broadcast companies, mobile service providers, infrastructure and handset manufacturers, and technology providers. The availability of interoperable DVB-H enabled devices and services is a key factor in further opening up the market.

Nokia warmly welcomes the collaboration in accelerating the adoption of DVB-H based mobile TV services to the market. We see that the OMA BCAST standard is essential in launching mobile TV services on a global scale," says Harri Mannisto, Director, Multimedia, Nokia. "Further, the well-defined service and content protection profiles within the OMA BCAST standard such as the already now available OMA DRM, provides the ideal path towards standardized solutions enabling a coherent and open market for successful worldwide mobile TV deployments."

Within DVB-H technology, Samsung has already commercialized handsets based on the CBMS OSF standard, and will develop the OMA BCAST standard-based mobile TV handset," said Samsung senior VP Kwang Suk Hyun in a prepared statement. "Its inclusion in our product portfolios will enhance our customers' flexibility in choosing suitable standards based on their business models."

DVB-H is an effective technology for deploying broadcast mobile TV among the many digital technologies available to deliver mobile TV services. DVB-H technology offers high service level quality, low battery consumption and offers the end-user the ability to simultaneously receive broadcasts while using other mobile services such as telephony and internet access on their device.

In parallel to supporting mobile operators launching mobile TV services based on existing technologies in their networks, Samsung and Nokia are both active in ongoing standardization and technology development to optimize the broadcast mobile TV experience. The companies will work on interoperability efforts using the open OMA standard while continuing to participate in industry-wide interoperability efforts within the related standardization bodies.

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Palm Announces New Linux Based Mobile Platform

Treo-maker Palm's CEO Ed Colligan officially announced that it will deliver a new Linux and open source based mobile computing platform combined with Palm OS Garnet technology on new products later this year.

Colligan said that the company has been working on this new OS for several years and it has no plans to license it out to other handset makers. Palm still plans to use Garnet OS (Palm OS) and Windows Mobile in its Treo line of phones, but it plans to use its right to the Garnet OS (Palm OS) source code to evolve the current Palm OS into the just announced Linux-based one, which is also rumored to make use of Opera's mobile browser.

Colligan highlighted and stressed a few points about the new platform. He continually stressed the importance of the user experience citing the ability to have an instant on, highly portable device with great battery life. Other highlights included greater hardware flexibility and the ability to handle simultaneous voice and data, two key ares which have hampered the traditional Palm OS in recent years.

The Analyst presentation concluded without any technical or developer details revealed about the new Linux based platform. Many questions remain to be answered as to what the official name will be, what Linux technologies are included, how Palm OS Garnet compatibility will be handled and what the development environment will be composed of. Colligan ended the Q&A session stating that the Linux based platform will be a integral "core technology" for Palm for the foreseeable future.

But certainly it is a good move by Palm and let wait and watch for the progress.

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Google Launches 800GOOG411 - A Voice Search Service

Google launched a new product called Goog-411 into Google Labs - a free telephone based information service that could replace toll 411 calls. This is a free voice-based directory search service that can recognize speech and read results over the phone or return them in an SMS.

This new service can be accessed by dialing 1-800-GOOG-411. The service is completely automated and there is no way to talk to a human for additional or clarifying information. You tell it your city and state, and then ask for a specific business or business category. In my tests the product was excellent. Although the voice recognition was only working at about 70% efficiency, I just said “back” and retried when it didn’t understand what I said. Results are spoken back or text messaged back to you, and you are automatically put through to the phone number requested.

GOOG-411 is using Google’s normal local business information available on Google Maps and elsewhere. Businesses that want to add or correct data can do so here.

The product competes head on with Jingle Networks, which has taken 6% market share in the U.S. 411 business over the last year. AT&T is also experimenting with free 411 calls. None of these products come anywhere close to as good as TellMe’s rich client business information tool for mobile phones, but few phones support TellMe at this time (TellMe was recently acquired by Microsoft).
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Digg for Mobile DiggRiver is Updated

Digg has updated the mobile version which is called DiggRiver is updated. Though DiggRiver is online for quite sometime, it was passive. You could read whatever is there on the home page but you couldn't digg your favorites.
With this update you could do that also. The diggriver is very conveniently designed for access from the limited size mobile displays. The stories are easy to read and the digg buttons placed on the left side of the story are very easy to use.

The about page on diggriver says:

"This site is a streamlined version of Digg, a community-driven news site where users submit the stories and vote for what they like best. Whether on the train, in line at the grocery store, or in a boring meeting, you can now read the news on your Palm mobile device, Blackberry, or Web-enabled smart phone.

We've added the ability for previously registered users to Digg stories and will continue to add more features in the future. If you don't have a Digg account, go to digg.com to register using a desktop Web browser.

Note that sites we link to may not be optimized for mobile browsers."

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Study: Consumers still wary of mobile ads

A new study from Forrester Research poses the titular question "Is the U.S. Ready for Mobile Marketing?" and while the results indicate the answer is a tentative "Yes," 79 percent of the sample group finds the idea of handset marketing annoying and only 3 percent say they trust ads delivered via mobile device.
"We've grown up with this view of the TV commercial interrupting our favorite program," Forrester analyst and report co-author Christine Spivey Overby said in an interview with AdAge. "There's this ad-equals-interruption mindset that we have, and when you think about something as personal as the mobile phone that you hold in your hand and carry in your pocket, the idea of a marketer interrupting you while you have the phone, that's an idea that consumers hate." According to the Forrester report, text messaging coupons and short codes remain the most consumer-friendly mode of mobile advertising, but are also far less immersive than ad-sponsored games and other more interactive content. Forrester's basic recommendations to mobile marketers: Keep the message brief and measure consumer response, target campaigns to the demographics most likely to respond, and adopt a mindset of value.

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EU Commissioner Calls For DVB-H Mobile TV Standard

The European Commission is urging the European telecommunications industry to accelerate its mobile TV efforts, calling for action to determine a single broadcasting technology standard. "I'm not very impressed with the progress the industry and governments in Europe have made so far," European Commissioner for Information Society and Media Viviane Reding told Dow Jones Newswires. "The time for decisions is now--otherwise mobile TV will miss the boat to the European soccer championships in 2008." Reding said she considers the DVB-H standard the front-running broadcasting technology option.

Despite ongoing hiccups, the European Commission remains bullish on mobile TV--according to its most recent estimates, mobile TV services will generate €11.4 billion in global revenue by 2009, buoyed by an international market of 50 million video-enabled handsets.

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Yahoo! expands oneSearch service to the Mobile Web in the U.S

Yahoo announced the expansion of its new oneSearch service beyond its Go for Mobile 2.0 platform onto the mobile web. According to Yahoo, the move makes oneSearch accessible on more than 85 percent of the U.S. handset population. "Yahoo oneSearch has already started to change the mobile search game by fundamentally improving the way consumers' access and use the Internet on their mobile phones," said Yahoo senior vice president of connected life Marco Boerries in a prepared statement. "Consumers that have tried oneSearch love it, telling us it's easier and more helpful than any other mobile search services they've used. We are delivering the results consumers want with just one search, not a list of Web links."
Yahoo added it plans to roll out oneSearch in additional global markets and languages in the months ahead.

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Nokia announces platforms to connect advertisers and media publishers with mobile

Nokia announced two mobile advertising services. Nokia Ad Service is a fully managed service for advertisers to conduct targeted advertising on mobile services and applications. Nokia Ad Service consists of a group of mobile publishers forming a mobile ad network and a platform to deploy, manage and optimize mobile advertising campaigns. Nokia also introduced Nokia Advertising Connector, a private label service for third party Publishers and Advertising Aggregators that want to extend to relevant mobile advertising.
According to Nokia, Nokia Advertising Connector operates as an intelligent switch, selecting between text, visual, audio and video ads - depending on the user's context - and feeding the ad to the device.
The Nokia Ad Service is designed to support and manage the complete ad campaign lifecycle, including planning, deploying and reporting. According to Nokia, the service targets advertisers launching global mobile campaigns, agencies expanding into mobile advertising alongside traditional media initiatives, and publishers exploring new business models and larger consumer audiences.
Nokia Ad Service is now available in Europe and will roll out globally in the second half of 2007. "Mobile advertising is becoming an increasingly attractive channel for brands," said director of Nokia Ad Service Tom Henriksson in a prepared statement. "We have completed a number of pilot campaigns with advertisers and mobile publishers for testing the Nokia ad serving technology and consumer experience. The feedback has been very positive from all parties."

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NXP Introduces Nexperia Cellular Linux System for 3G Handsets

NXP, the newly independent semiconductor company founded by Philips, announced the availability of the Linux open source operating system for its 3G mobile phone system solution. Working in collaboration with Purple Labs, a French design company offering fully integrated solutions for mobile communication products, NXP has launched the Nexperia(TM) cellular system solution 7210 with Linux for 3G handsets. Not having the additional cost and complexity of integrating a dedicated application processor, manufacturers will be able to enjoy the time-to-market advantages of using a high level operating system. Operators will also be able to provide a stable and powerful, yet cost effective platform to offer new connected services.

The NXP Nexperia cellular system solution 7210 is a powerful dual-mode UMTS multimedia platform running on a single-core ARM9 for the 3G mobile feature-phone market. By offering a Linux-based platform on a single core, the Nexperia cellular system solution 7210 gives greater flexibility, allowing easy development and upgrades. The choice of offering an open source operating system gives this flexibility without increase of cost.

"Linux is gaining ground in the mobile-handset space due to the benefits it brings to manufacturers and operators and eventually also to the end consumers," said Michel Windal, marketing director, Mobile & Personal Business Unit, NXP Semiconductors. "Linux motivates developers to generate and share new vibrant media applications such as games, advanced music players and intuitive TV-on-mobile, offering greater benefits to the end user and allowing for differentiation for both manufacturers and operators."

"The Open Source platform supports interoperability across the various brands of handset devices," said Dennis O’Donovan, managing director, Purple Labs, "Linux lends itself well to modular design by offering OEMs a flexible and powerful operating system, resulting in the easier development of new applications. Today’s end-users demand feature-rich, compact and cost competitive handsets, but will not compromise on core features such as low-power consumption and high performance, and the Nexperia cellular system solution 7210 with Linux easily enables manufacturers to meet these needs."

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ITU to make WiMAX a 3G standard

According to the WiMAX Forum's white paper "WiMAX and IMT-2000" , there is a good chance that the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) will allow mobile WiMAX to be included in its range of 3G technologies, collectively known as IMT-2000.
Such a move would bring considerable benefits by allowing WiMAX to operate in globally allocated frequency bands, allow it to be used to complement other 3G technologies, enable global roaming and reduce equipment costs.

The White Paper says: "including IP-OFDMA (mobile WiMAX) within the IMT-2000 family of radio transmission technologies will put mobile WiMAX on a comparable worldwide footing with EV-DO, HSPA, and other recent and planned enhancements to 3G technology. This will offer operators an additional migration path to consider as they strive to add network capabilities to support a larger suite of value-added broadband services."

According to WiMAX Day, "The exact technology that is being considered for inclusion in IMT is 'IP-OFDMA'. This is an acronym for Internet Protocol - Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access used by the IEEE 802.16e mobility standard, which is otherwise commonly referred to as WiMAX."

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MMA: Consumers more open to participating in mobile marketing campaigns

The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) (www.mmaglobal.com) today reported key findings of its annual attitude and usage study on mobile marketing effectiveness. The study, conducted with global market research firm Synovate, measures both the perceptions and usage for wireless and text messaging, as well as overall receptiveness and participation in mobile marketing initiatives. More than 1,800 consumers between the ages of 13 and 65 were queried, with results indicating that mobile consumers are more educated about the features and functionality of their devices and are engaging more frequently in mobile marketing campaigns.

The study also revealed that the youth market reported the highest rate of interest and usage, ranging from 30 to 40 percent.

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Wireless trend: Consumers have not reaped the expected benefits of cellphone 'number portability'

According to a report from Analysys Research, there are few countries where more than 10 percent of mobile phone subscribers have taken advantage of number portability, which refers to the rule that a customer can take a phone number to another carrier should he or she switch carriers. In Britain and Italy, just under 10 percent of mobile users took advantage of number portability. France and Germany's figure was so small its percentage was negligible. The U.S. saw about 5 percent of mobile users taking their numbers to a new operator. The curve-breaker of the 25 countries surveyed was (surprise, surprise) Finland, which saw 55 percent of mobile users transferring their numbers to a new carrier during the four years since portability first became available.

Number portability has not ushered in a new paradigm of radically improved mobile services or customer care as the hype machine predicted so many years ago. Here's a new topic to chew on: So, when do we do away with these numbers altogether?

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One of Four Handsets Shipped in 2011 Will Cost Less Than $20, Says ABI Research

According to a new report from ABI, the global market for ultra low cost handsets (ULCH) under $20 will see more than 330 million units shipped in 2011. Additionally, ABI predicts that 50 percent of these handsets will be shipped in the emerging markets of Asia Pacific, while the other half will be shipped to Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and Eastern Europe. India will prove to be the biggest ULCH market during the next five years, growing from 9 million handsets last year to more than 116 million by 2011.

While recent quarterly results from major handset makers like Nokia and Motorola have shown declining profits because of the emerging ultra-low cost handset market, ABI predicts declining ARPUs for mobile carriers in emerging markets as well. The average ULCH user has a monthly spending limit of between $2 and $5.

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US Carrier price changes on handsets

As is typical for the post-holiday season, U.S. carriers, including T-Mobile, Alltel, Boost Mobile and Cingular Wireless are reconfiguring their pricing strategies for handsets. T-Mobile reduced its Samsung t609 from $50 to "free" and the carrier-branded Sidekick 3 from $250 to $200. It also raised the prices of the t619 from "free" to $40, the t629 from $100 to $450 and the Motorola V195 from $20 to $30. The T-Mobile Dash also crept up to $200 from $150.

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Apple Reinvents the Phone With iPhone

After months of rumors and speculation, Apple finally unveiled its iPhone hybrid device during CEO Steve Jobs' keynote appearance at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The reality of the iPhone matches closely with the conjecture that anticipated the announcement: It is a quad-band GSM mobile phone, a widescreen iPod music/video player and Internet communications device all in one, complete with the function-over-form user interface hallmarks that are Apple's signature. As expected, Cingular Wireless will serve as Apple's exclusive carrier partner, and both Apple and Cingular stores will carry the iPhone when it reaches the U.S. market in June 2007; the 4GB model will retail for $499, while the 8GB model will carry a price tag of $599.

From a content standpoint, the most compelling iPhone news is unofficial--by spotlighting the Beatles' "Lovely Rita" during the CES iPhone demo, Jobs implicitly acknowledged that Apple finally secured digital distribution rights to the Fab Four's back catalog. No official announcement on a licensing deal was forthcoming, but music biz insiders confirm an agreement is in place. The two entities already share a long history, most of it tempestuous: Branding conflicts have kept Jobs' Apple in legal battle with the Beatles' Apple Corps for two decades, culminating in mid-2006 when a British judge ruled that iTunes did not violate a 1991 agreement stipulating the Apple Computer could continue doing business under the Apple name as long as the technology maker steered clear of the music industry. Interestingly, Jobs announced Tuesday that his company was officially updating its name from Apple Computer to Apple Inc., although it's unclear what if anything the change portends in regards to its relationship with Apple Corps.


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Ringback tones on the rise

Ringback tones continue to gain traction even as the U.S. ringtone market plateaus, according to new figures from M:Metrics.

The market research firm found that the popularity of ringback tones—music clips that a caller hears instead of a traditional ring before the person being called answers the phone—more than tripled last year, exploding from 2.4 million subscribers in January to nearly 8 million subscribers in November. The application continued to gain ground in Europe, as well, growing at a rate of roughly 150 percent in Germany and the United Kingdom during the year.

Meanwhile, ringtones remain popular, if not as lucrative. Nearly 7 percent of all U.S. wireless subscribers have made their own ringtones, M:Metrics found, as the percentage of users purchasing ringtones slipped from 10 percent of wireless consumers to less than 9 percent.

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Cellphone Video Gets On the Beam

Cellular carriers and other technology companies have come up with numerous ways to deliver video and even live TV to cellphones over wireless networks in recent years. So far, the results have been a limited success.

Samsung Electronics announced the development of a new mobile television standard that essentially enables portable devices to receive digital signals from local TV broadcasters. Developed by the South Korean company's Samsung Information Systems America subsidiary, the technology--dubbed Advanced-Vestigial Side-Band--does not rely on wireless network bandwidth, effectively freeing capacity for other data-heavy mobile content services.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the technology operates via existing television infrastructures, including spectrum and transmitting towers, enabling broadcasters to sidestep investments in separate network buildouts or carrier partnerships. The Samsung service does require broadcasters to transmit separate signals to mobile handsets and related devices outfitted with Samsung chipsets, but the company said that hurdle is already being addressed. Among the business models Samsung is reportedly exploring is an ad-supported free service as well as a more traditional premium service.

Samsung will demonstrate the standard for the first time at next week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, employing content contributed by Sinclair Broadcasting Group. Sinclair, which operates 58 local stations across the U.S., is currently trialing Advanced-Vestigial Side-Band services in the Baltimore, Buffalo and Las Vegas markets.

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Manufacturers sued over Bluetooth wireless technology

A foundation named the Washington Research Institute (WRI) has filed a lawsuit against Matsushita, Samsung and Nokia, alleging that Bluetooth technology infringes on its patented work carried out at the University of Washington. WRI filed the suit in December and seeks unspecified damages. The WRI's lawyer, Michael Lisa claimed that the foundation "will not refuse reasonable settlements, but if we don't get an offer to do so, we are going to trial." The lawsuit claims that computers, mobile phones and headsets made by the three companies violate four patents held by WRI. Each of the defendants use chipsets made by U.K. firm CSR, which WRI claims has not licensed the technology.
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