Study: Cell service costs more in US

Six consumer-oriented organizations answered a forceful "yes" in a July federal filing with the Federal Communications Commission. Backing their assertions is an international study concluding Americans pay the world's highest cell phone rates. And a U.S. senator is examining whether text messaging is priced out of line.
U.S. residents pay the world's highest rate — about $53.30 per month — for a "medium-use package" including 780 minutes of outgoing voice calls, 600 text messages and eight multi-media messages per year, says an August report by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
In contrast, Finns, Swedes and the Dutch pay $11 to $12 per month for the same plan, according to the report, which covers 26 countries.
Americans also pay the most — about $22.50 a month — for what the group termed a "low-use package" including 360 minutes of outgoing voice calls, 396 text messages and eight multimedia messages per year. That compares with $4.16 a month in the least expensive country, Denmark, with Finland, Sweden and Norway just slightly more expensive.
But the OECD's data is misleading, said the Cellular Telephone Industry Association, the official voice of the cellular-service companies.

Via MSN
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Nokia Unveils N97 3G HSDPA Mobile Phone

Nokia unveiled the Nokia N97, the world's most advanced mobile computer, which will transform the way people connect to the Internet and to each other.

After the iPhone shakened up the cellphone market, celllphone manufacturers are desperately trying to create an iPhone killer.

Nokia too announced the Nokia N97 to compete in this space and here are the features:

* 3.5″ Wide Screen (16:9)
* Symbian
* WiFi and HSDPA
* A-GPS
* 3.5 mm standard headphone jack.
* MicroSD slot.
* 5 Megapixel Camera with Carl Zeiss lens.
* 32GB onboard memory, expandable to 48 MB.

Unlike the iPhone, Nokia is following a lot of standards, which is plus. Read more!

Nokia Going for Linux Instead of Android

After unveiling the very impressive N97, Nokia Vice President of markets units, Ukko Lappalainen, made several comments that brought to our attention the fact that the Finnish manufacturer was thinking of using the Linux OS for its more expensive, upcoming smartphones.

“In the longer perspective, Linux will become a serious alternative for our high-end phones,” said Lappalainen in what can only be deemed his most relevant statement in this sense.

Such a development may become a reality also because of the fact that Google has now developed a Linux-based Android platform. This may be one of the solutions that Nokia will be employing, although more realistic is the theory that the world's biggest mobile phone maker could be developing its own Linux system for its smartphones. This theory rings true mainly because the potential clients of this kind of smartphones are very demanding, their needs being a bit special, so it’s understandable if Nokia didn't want to take too many risks in this respect.

Also, the Linux maemo operating system found on the niche line of Internet tablets has been performing quite well, and is seemingly in conformity with the demands of Nokia's presidents in all aspects. As Lappalinen stated, “I don’t see anything in Android which would make it better than Linux maemo.”

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Caller ID-Spoofing Service In UK shuttered After Five Days

Spookcall, the UK's first caller ID-spoofing service available to the general public, has decided to close less than one week after launch.
Spookcall allowed anyone to impersonate any other phone number on a call recipient's caller ID display. Spookcall also offered customers the ability to disguise their voice using software. It cost £5 for every 10 minutes of faked calling.



It's thought such trickery is currently legal in the UK. The Liberal Democrats have called on regulators to act however, claiming the availablity of such services in the UK could make it even easier to fleece the public and invade privacy.

Caller ID spoofing services have been available in the US for several years.Spookcall brought the controversial practice to the UK with the tagline "be anyone you want to be".

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Cisco, Intel And Others Join To Form WiMAX Patent Pool

Six WiMAX firms have teamed together to create the Open Patent Alliance, a group that's goal is to jointly license WiMAX patents so they can keep royalty rates in check and make the technology more affordable. The companies involved in the formation of the OPA include Cisco Systems, Intel Corp., Alcatel-Lucent, Clearwire, Sprint and Samsung.
the OPA members made it clear that companies that join the group don't relinquish their patents. The IPR remains with the owners and they are free to use them. Instead the group will work to make it easier for others to license those patents.


In addition, the OPA referred to itself as a "patent pool" and said that it is very different from the WiMAX Forum, an organization with a goal of promoting interoperability and collaboration among its members.

However, several well-known WiMax providers are not on the list, including Motorola Inc., which is providing equipment for a field test of mobile WiMax services in Chicago as part of the Xohm initiative spearheaded by Sprint. Other companies which are interested in WiMAX, which are not yet a part of this pool are Motorola, Qualcomm and Nokia.


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Nokia Launches Mobile Wallet Phone

Handset giant Nokia introduced the Nokia 6212 classic, a new 3G handset featuring integrated Near Field Communication (NFC) technologies enabling users to share content and access services as well as conduct payments and ticketing transactions.

According to Nokia, travel tickets may be charged over the air, eliminating waits at service counters--users can securely store their credit card info on the 6212 classic and access accounts directly from the handset. A single tap on an NFC-enabled tag also enables users to receive new content like weblinks, audio files or contact data--they may also activate profiles and open applications including FM radio or web browsing. Photos and videos may be easily shared by tapping another NFC-capable phone and pairing with a Bluetooth NFC-enabled device. The Nokia 6212 classic is expected to start shipping in the third quarter in selected European and Asian markets. Read more!

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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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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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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