"Cellfish Media, a mobile content provider, released 'Add-to-Phone' yesterday. This free application is embedded in websites and allows users to download content from the web to their phones with one click of the mouse. Content can be sent to mobile phones as a download or as a stream.
Add-to-Phone works on any carrier in 100 countries and can be used on any WAP-enabled phone. Nothing has to be preinstalled on the handset. A site visitor only has to enter a mobile phone number and a SMS message is sent with a link to the content or news feed, which is formatted and rendered on-the-fly to fit the user’s specific device."
Gemalto wins SIM-based mobile banking deal in Colombia.
"The system enables mobile subscribers to remotely bank, access banking services, transfer money, check their account balance, recharge mobile pre-paid, and pay bills via their cell phones.
The system includes a software application stored in the SIM card, a server and software that interprets the messages that are exchanged between the banks and the SIM. The messages are encrypted in the SIM chip and decrypted at the banks’ server, which translates the messages to a specific format."
The system includes a software application stored in the SIM card, a server and software that interprets the messages that are exchanged between the banks and the SIM. The messages are encrypted in the SIM chip and decrypted at the banks’ server, which translates the messages to a specific format."
With Google’s my location, who needs a GPS?
"Despite all the hoopla around location-based services, the fact of the matter is that a mere 15 percent of handsets have a built-in Global Positioning System. Given Google’s recent wireless push, one shouldn’t be surprised that Google is releasing an updated version of its Google Maps for Mobile application, which comes with a new service that gives you rudimentary location information without needing a built-in GPS. This new feature is called My Location and is still in the beta phase of its lifecycle. The service will work wherever Google Maps for Mobile is currently available — the U.S., UK, Europe and parts of Asia, for instance."
Red Bend Software named FOTA [client] market leader by Ovum.
"Red Bend Software... today announced that Ovum, a leading independent market research firm, has named Red Bend the FOTA market share leader, powering 49% of all new FOTA-enabled mobile phones."
Verizon Wireless opens up its network. Who's next?
"Verizon Wireless is opening up its cellular network to any device or application that meets the 'minimal technical standard' to run on its network. That means pretty much any CDMA device or application, even ones that are not officially offered by Verizon. The devices and apps will have to be tested and certified in a new $20 million Verizon lab being set up for that purpose, but by early next year if you don’t like the phones that Verizon sells, you will be able to bring your own unlocked CDMA phone to the network—maybe one you bought from Sprint or overseas."
Top Ten: Emerging markets carriers.
"The table below shows the Top 10 emerging markets carriers by revenues (converted into U.S. dollars) for the six months to September 30...
* China Mobile
* América Móvil
* China Telecom
* China Unicom
* MTN
* Saudi Telecom
* Mobile TeleSystems (MTS)
* Telkom South Africa
* VimpelCom
* Bharti Airtel"
* China Mobile
* América Móvil
* China Telecom
* China Unicom
* MTN
* Saudi Telecom
* Mobile TeleSystems (MTS)
* Telkom South Africa
* VimpelCom
* Bharti Airtel"
The significance of Google’s Android.
"All-in-all, Android seems to be the only non-proprietary operating system with a strong chance of wider commercial adoption. Motorola is losing interest in LiMo (it committed to Qtopia APIs, whereas LiMo supports rival GTK). The LiPS forum doesn’t really have a route to market, apart from Chinese ODMs, and is a partial OS. All other mobile Linux operating systems are either in alpha stage (Celunite, ALP, A la Mobile), not shrink-wrapped (Greensuite), or not backed by a big services firm (Purple Labs). Symbian is Nokia’s shop, given that a tiny proportion (volume-wise and model-wise) of Symbian handsets are non-Nokia. And Windows Mobile is for enterprise segments only (at least up to version 6). Plus Android ticks several boxes of OEM checklists including control, time-to-market and cost."
Symantec offers security software for smartphones.
"Norton Smartphone Security, which shares a common name with Symantec's line of popular desktop antivirus products, combines Norton AntiVirus technology, a firewall, and anti-spam for messages sent via the Short Message Service, or SMS. The software is compatible with smartphones that run the Windows Mobile and the Symbian operating systems...
Symantec isn't the only desktop security provider realizing the huge potential to offer similar products to mobile users. McAfee this week announced that its VirusScan Mobile software is now available for download on its Web site. The mobile security software protects against threats that originate from e-mail, instant messages, and multimedia downloads. But VirusScan Mobile currently only supports mobile devices that run the Windows Mobile 5 Smartphone and the Windows Mobile 6 Standard Edition."
Symantec isn't the only desktop security provider realizing the huge potential to offer similar products to mobile users. McAfee this week announced that its VirusScan Mobile software is now available for download on its Web site. The mobile security software protects against threats that originate from e-mail, instant messages, and multimedia downloads. But VirusScan Mobile currently only supports mobile devices that run the Windows Mobile 5 Smartphone and the Windows Mobile 6 Standard Edition."
Tim Berners-Lee warns of ‘Walled Gardens’ for mobile internet.
"'An open platform means using standards,' Berners-Lee told his audience. 'The mobile internet must use the same standards as the Internet. When you erect a wall around the garden, we know now all the flowers bloom outside the wall, not inside.'"
The Google set-top box (think Android for TV).
Erick Schonfeld at TechCrunch writes: "Deep in the Googleplex there is an engineering team thinking about how to extend Google’s reach into your TV. Its work goes way beyond the Google TV ads currently being tested by EchoStar (and targeted with help from Nielsen). It even goes way beyond the development of a Google set-top box, which has been hinted at in the past. In fact, Google may very well want to do to the set-top box what it is trying to do to the mobile phone with its Android operating system—create an open-source hardware platform and attract developers to build applications on top of it. At least that is the unconfirmed rumor I’ve heard from two knowledgeable industry sources."
Bharti Airtel partners with Mformation.
"Mformation Technologies Inc. announced that Bharti Airtel, the fastest-growing mobile operator in India, will use Mformation's technology as the core platform for enabling the seamless delivery of new data services and managing the mobile devices of its more than 48 million mobile subscribers."
Funambol to sync with Google's Android.
"Mobile 2.0 messaging software provider Funambol this week announced plans to start an open source project that would result in a messaging and sync client for Google's Android mobile-phone software development platform.
Funambol's client for Android phones will work in conjunction with Funambol's free Web portal to wirelessly sync Personal Information Manager data, such as contacts appointments, and tasks, and e-mail systems such as Gmail, Yahoo Mail, AOL, Microsoft Outlook, and others. It also will allow users to wirelessly migrate PIM data from other phones and the Web to their Android phones."
Funambol's client for Android phones will work in conjunction with Funambol's free Web portal to wirelessly sync Personal Information Manager data, such as contacts appointments, and tasks, and e-mail systems such as Gmail, Yahoo Mail, AOL, Microsoft Outlook, and others. It also will allow users to wirelessly migrate PIM data from other phones and the Web to their Android phones."
Self-help for cellphones.
"While large wireless carriers pour hundreds of millions of dollars into answering their subscribers' needs and solving their problems, companies like LogMeIn Inc., which allows problem smartphones to be taken over remotely by technology professionals, and SNAPin Software Inc., which automates most of the common customer complaints, are finding an opening...
For the cellphone industry, costs from customer complaints can add up quickly. On average, a customer will call four or five times a year, at a cost of $12 a call, according to Roger Entner, head of the communications practice for IAG Research.
Paying $48 to $60 a subscriber for customer care is a significant cost for major players, and Mr. Entner says customer care is among a carrier's top three expenses."
For the cellphone industry, costs from customer complaints can add up quickly. On average, a customer will call four or five times a year, at a cost of $12 a call, according to Roger Entner, head of the communications practice for IAG Research.
Paying $48 to $60 a subscriber for customer care is a significant cost for major players, and Mr. Entner says customer care is among a carrier's top three expenses."
Alltel Wireless to launch parental controls application.
"Alltel Wireless has partnered up with Bytemobile to create the Alltel Parental Controls application, which will be available free of charge beginning in February 2008. This application will allow parents to filter inappropriate sites that may contain pornography, gambling, weapons or violence. This service will be available to both pre-paid and post-paid accounts."
Red Bend advances into the domestic Japanese M2M market.
"In order to strengthen Red Bend's position in the M2M market, the company has joined the M2M Consortium (organizer: Acca Networks) in Japan. At the M2M Consortium, a diverse variety of businesses, such as operators, machine and device manufacturers, engineering companies, software vendors and integrators, come together to share information and to ensure mutual connectivity between machines and networks. Keeping tabs on the state of the market, the Consortium seeks concrete solutions to issues in need of them, and continues to promote M2M technologies and development of the M2M market.
Kazuhiro Abe, President of Red Bend Software Japan, said, 'M2M is a strategic market for Red Bend. We intend to leverage the adoption by Sharp as an opportunity to further expand our position in the domestic industrial handheld terminal market as well as other M2M applications.'"
Kazuhiro Abe, President of Red Bend Software Japan, said, 'M2M is a strategic market for Red Bend. We intend to leverage the adoption by Sharp as an opportunity to further expand our position in the domestic industrial handheld terminal market as well as other M2M applications.'"
Microsoft to buy mobile music company Musiwave.
"Musiwave allows mobile operators to offer self-branded music applications, including full song-over-the-air downloads, ringtones, and ring-back tones. Operators including O2, Vodafone, T-Mobile, Orange, Telus, Telefonica, and Virgin Mobile are among Musiwave's customers... Microsoft would acquire Musiwave from Openwave, which bought the company in 2005 for more than $121 million."
YouTube - Android Demo.
"Sergey Brin and Steve Horowitz discuss the availability of the SDK, that it will be open source in the future, and demo applications on the Android platform."
Mformation plans partnerships for security.
"Mobile device management developer Mformation Technologies will in the coming months announce partnerships with encryption, VPN, and anti-virus vendors to offer updates and management of their software clients from its server...
Given its background as a vendor of technology to carriers, it is no surprise that Mformation sees even enterprise MDM as something to be delivered by them as a service. Other vendors, such as HP with its Bitfone acquisition and now Microsoft with its recently launched MDM server, see a market for technology sold directly into the corporate end user for a DIY approach.
As for its expanding ambitions in terms of what it can manage, Mformation's thinking resonates with what other players such as BigFix and Lumension (formerly PatchLink) have been doing for some time."
Given its background as a vendor of technology to carriers, it is no surprise that Mformation sees even enterprise MDM as something to be delivered by them as a service. Other vendors, such as HP with its Bitfone acquisition and now Microsoft with its recently launched MDM server, see a market for technology sold directly into the corporate end user for a DIY approach.
As for its expanding ambitions in terms of what it can manage, Mformation's thinking resonates with what other players such as BigFix and Lumension (formerly PatchLink) have been doing for some time."
Mobile operators failing corporate customers.
"Demand for feaures such as VoIP and sales force automation on mobile devices is creating a major support headache for IT departments, according to a survey released by Coleman Parkes, on behalf of Mformation. Despite the rapid spread of these applications, the survey found that mobile operators weren’t helping to relieve any pressure off the IT department.
Roughly two-thirds of businesses would happily ditch their network providers if they could find a supplier that provided mobile device management services to help them support their applications."
Roughly two-thirds of businesses would happily ditch their network providers if they could find a supplier that provided mobile device management services to help them support their applications."
The next IT challenge: Mobile device management.
"Desktop phones will be replaced by mobile phones; the economic and convenience factors here will become obvious if they're not already... So one handset, working across multiple networks, accessing corporate IT services, anytime, anywhere, and centrally provisioned, managed, and secured. That's where we're headed, and sooner than most people think."
Teaching people to use their feature-rich phones.
"Now, as cell phones and other mobile gadgets become increasingly complex and loaded with features, entrepreneurs are finding similar opportunities in the mobile field. New Zealand’s Mobile Mentor provides hourlong one-on-one sessions as well as group training on how to use the rising number of features bundled with mobile devices. Plus, it conducts courses for phone-industry sales personnel on how to explain a mobile gadget’s advantages to customers."
Trend Micro updates mobile security platform.
"Trend Micro yesterday announced the latest version of its enterprise mobile device security platform Mobile Security 5.0.
The new software, which will launch in December, has new data encryption and authentication capabilities. If a device is lost or stolen, data on the phone is encrypted unless it is unlocked with a password. And data on devices that do not comply with policies can be wiped out by administrators, Trend Micro said.
Mobile Security 5.0 also has new anti-malware features that block viruses, worms, Trojans and SMS text message spam. It also boasts built-in firewall and an intrusion detection system that Trend Mobile said protects against hackers, intrusions and denial-of-service attacks."
The new software, which will launch in December, has new data encryption and authentication capabilities. If a device is lost or stolen, data on the phone is encrypted unless it is unlocked with a password. And data on devices that do not comply with policies can be wiped out by administrators, Trend Micro said.
Mobile Security 5.0 also has new anti-malware features that block viruses, worms, Trojans and SMS text message spam. It also boasts built-in firewall and an intrusion detection system that Trend Mobile said protects against hackers, intrusions and denial-of-service attacks."
VisionMobile: The user side of mobile software management.
"Mobile software management (MSM) is a new wave of technologies that allow the handset software to be turned from a monolith into soft clay. MSM technologies treat the software as malleable from the design stage and embedding on the device, to configuring at the point of sale, installing features post-sale and prolonging its use until the handset is ‘retired’.
From a technical perspective MSM enables the management (deployment, installation, activation, update, de-activation and removal) of software components (applications, handset features and their dependencies) on any device, throughout the software lifecycle (from architectural design, to manufacturing and post sale).
The umbrella of MSM technologies encompasses firmware over-the-air (FOTA), user interface management and enterprise device management, (traditionally applications considered within the scope of mobile device management, MDM) and extends into software variant development, service lifecycle management, feature customization and dependency management. The next diagram [here] shows the taxonomy of technologies under the umbrella of MSM and the relationship with mobile device management."
From a technical perspective MSM enables the management (deployment, installation, activation, update, de-activation and removal) of software components (applications, handset features and their dependencies) on any device, throughout the software lifecycle (from architectural design, to manufacturing and post sale).
The umbrella of MSM technologies encompasses firmware over-the-air (FOTA), user interface management and enterprise device management, (traditionally applications considered within the scope of mobile device management, MDM) and extends into software variant development, service lifecycle management, feature customization and dependency management. The next diagram [here] shows the taxonomy of technologies under the umbrella of MSM and the relationship with mobile device management."
Google unveils "Android" mobile phone platform.
"It’s official: Google (GOOG) has targeted the mobile phone sector. The company is unveiling a Linux-based mobile phone platform called Android though the new Open Handset Alliance, a group which includes 34 partners."
related: Has Google Swiped Jobs’ Reality Distortion Field?
"So what’s really going on here? If anything, it looks like Google’s borrowed Steve Jobs’ reality distortion field. All of this is a PR and media manipulation masterstroke. Obviously since they’ve created the 'Open Handset Alliance', other handsets that don’t come out of it must be closed, right? It’s a story the press is running with... A person with no outside knowledge of the mobile industry would read that and think that it’s essentially impossible to access anything other than carrier-approved services or install third-party applications on phones. That, of course, is far from true, and it remains to be seen what Android will do that will offer any improvements over existing smartphone OS like Symbian and Windows Mobile, or even over good ol’ Java."
related: Google’s Android: boring, exciting or breakthrough?
related: Google's Android: The Greatest Vaporware Smartphone Ever
related: Has Google Swiped Jobs’ Reality Distortion Field?
"So what’s really going on here? If anything, it looks like Google’s borrowed Steve Jobs’ reality distortion field. All of this is a PR and media manipulation masterstroke. Obviously since they’ve created the 'Open Handset Alliance', other handsets that don’t come out of it must be closed, right? It’s a story the press is running with... A person with no outside knowledge of the mobile industry would read that and think that it’s essentially impossible to access anything other than carrier-approved services or install third-party applications on phones. That, of course, is far from true, and it remains to be seen what Android will do that will offer any improvements over existing smartphone OS like Symbian and Windows Mobile, or even over good ol’ Java."
related: Google’s Android: boring, exciting or breakthrough?
related: Google's Android: The Greatest Vaporware Smartphone Ever
Synchronica gets IMAP assets with GoodServer buy.
"Mobile synchronization and device management developer Synchronica has secured control of key intellectual property in the IMAP email standard with the acquisition for just under $1m of GoodServer, an ISV with licensees including Nokia and Cisco."
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