Standard for secure mobile payments coming.

"The mobile phone industry has moved forward in its efforts to agree to a global standard for delivering secure services such as credit-card payments on handheld devices."

Enterprise mobility is nascent reality.

"From 2008-2013, Forrester is predicting that enterprise mobility plans will finally take off and result in wireless technologies finding their way into the hands of a wider majority of workers.

'It will still be a long time before mobility is such an expectation that the perception is every worker needs to have it,' Lopez said. 'Companies are finally beginning to consider new wireless technologies when there isn't a hard business case to be made for it, but the landscape is so fragmented that enterprise-wide deployment is a ways off.'"

SNAPin, chosen by FierceWireless as a Top Wireless Company 2007.

"SNAPin's software is embedded or ported OTA to a handset and can be toggled on or off, but when activated a customer can check his or her account status in real-time since it links directly to a carrier’s back office. Also, if someone is having trouble with a phone, SNAPin's troubleshooting software comes into play when a subscriber dials customer service: The software immediately runs diagnostics on the phone and updates its firmware with a patch if need be. If the problem cannot be solved automatically, SNAPin's software sends a report to the carrier's customer service and routes the call to the call center saving all parties the hassle of trying to explain the issue."

Related: "And the 2007 Fierce 15 winners are...
* Ecrio
* Gogomo
* Integrated Mobile
* Interop Technologies
* iSkoot
* JumpTap
* Metrico Wireless
* Millennial Media
* Neonode
* Obopay
* Omnilink Systems
* SNAPin
* Sonopia
* TeleNav
* Tensorcomm"

New attack puts routers, cell phones at risk.

"A security researcher at Juniper Networks has developed a new form of attack that can be used to run unauthorized software on a wide range of computing devices, including routers and mobile phones... Jack's null pointer exploit is effective on the Arm and xScale processors that are widely used in embedded devices, but it does not work on Intel architecture processors used by PCs."

HTC to ship Google handsets by year-end.

"High Tech Computer (HTC) is now manufacturing Google handsets with shipments officially commencing at the end of 2007, according to handset component makers. The makers also said the shipment volume will reach as high as one million units."

HP swims upstream on mobile device management.

"Hewlett-Packard is going in the opposite direction from most of the players in the mobile device management (MDM) space, planning to launch a platform to sell directly into the enterprise market rather than indirectly via carriers... IBM appears to have killed off its WEDM product in this category and is rumored to have been sniffing round Bitfone when HP came along, a story Wang declined to comment on. InnoPath and mFormation could certainly become attraction acquisition targets over the next year or two."

AsiaInfo to develop MDM system for China Mobile (using Bitfone).

"AsiaInfo Holdings... a leading provider of telecom software solutions and IT security products and services, today announced it has signed a contract with China Mobile to develop its national mobile device management platform... AsiaInfo will provide system integration services as well as billing, network management, and analysis software. AsiaInfo is also a major contributor to China Mobile's DM specification. The system will integrate some core device management functions of Bitfone's SmartDM software."

Motorola's mobile smell-o-phone.

"Mobile phone manufacturer Motorola wants to make using your phone a more fragrant experience."

iPhone delays Apple OS.

"Apple fans will have to wait four extra months for the commercial launch of a much anticipated product: OS X. Apple needed to dedicate some engineers and quality testers from its OS X team to its iPhone project, which shows how crucial Apple views its mobile phone project."

Sun quietly buys SavaJe.

"SavaJe launched in 2001 with support from many leading European carriers like T-Mobile and Orange, both of which invested in the company. SavaJe boldly proclaimed back then that a Java-based OS would catapult it ahead of such leading OS makers as Symbian and Microsoft. SavaJe, however, never made good on the promise and has had trouble getting many of its products into the hands of end-users. Sun can certainly help in that regard, but how it plans to integrate SavaJe remains something of a mystery."

The headaches of being a handset OEM.

"So where should we look for the next wave of differentiation? Undoubtedly OEMs will continue improving handset segmentation and user-centered design. However, I would argue that the next differentiating characteristics in mobile handsets will be delivery of True Personalization and the ability to cater to Multi-Sided Markets."

Pantech regroups after a too-close focus on design.

"BusinessWeek reports on the revival efforts of Korean cellphone manufacturer Pantech after seeing no returns from their 3-year hardcore focus on design."

Enterprise Skype on the horizon? Yes!

"One of Skype’s PR contacts emailed us to confirm that what the bloggers are reporting is true, there is an enterprise version in the works and Skype is seeking early adopter users."

Nearly half of customer problems relate to handset configuration.

"A new study from WDSGlobal has found that up to 47% of all technical support calls taken by mobile operators relate solely to handset configuration... Based on research conducted across seven European call centre operations, WDSGlobal also discovered that without automated configuration services (which allow the support agent to remotely send configuration settings over-the-air (OTA) to the handset), such calls can take up to 17 minutes to diagnose and fix. This is almost twice as long as the average duration of a technical support call. However, where OTA services were available, the call handling time dropped to just four minutes, making it one of the fastest fixes...

Top Five Technical Support Enquiries
* 47% Handset / Service configuration (WAP, email, MMS etc)
* 25% PC to Mobile modem connectivity
* 12% PIM synchronization
* 8% Application usability issues
* 8% PDA to Mobile connectivity (modem and synchronization)"

Smart SMS releases mobile Visa debit card.

"New subscribers just need to have a mobile phone and a U.S. address. The company cites a recent figure from the U.S. Treasury Department to validate its value proposition: 70 million Americans lack access to banking services."

DoCoMo Intel dual-OS handsets for enterprise use.

"NTT DoCoMo and Intel are working on an architecture for dual-OS handsets for corporate users... it could allow phones which use Symbian or Linux as the 'Operator OS', with a separate and switchable domain for an 'Enterprise OS' for Windows Mobile, using virtualisation technology in the hardware."

Palm takes a turn toward Linux.

"Palm is releasing a new operating system later this year... Palm is not moving toward windows, but turning on its blinker and making a right lane merge with Linux. More technically speaking, it will 'combine aspects of Palm OS Garnet and a Linux core' as Palm Info Center writes. The shift was seen as a necessary move to provide a better user experience with a phone that can support instant booting, instant application switching, and better battery life at a lower cost. The new setup will also run Opera as the browser of choice. Despite the announcement, Palm will continue to also support Windows Mobile phones."

Japan's KDDI to launch American MVNO.

"Japanese operator KDDI announced it will launch an MVNO in the US as it looks outside the mature Japanese mobile market for new sources of growth. Sadly for gadget fans, though, it will just use rebadged handsets from vendors like Sanyo and LG from Sprint, the company whose network KDDI will use... the venture doesn't sound all that interesting, as KDDI plans to just target Japanese consumers living in America."

Bye bye browser.

"The discontinuation of Obigo and the financial troubles of Openwave should see Nokia’s WebKit become adopted by other tier-1 OEMs such as SonyEricsson, who should acquire much of Obigo’s browser know-how. The browser business should gradually shift into a professional services model, i.e. optimising and developing value-added features on top of an open source browser core, with Teleca best-placed to capitalise on this trend. I doubt that Access and Opera will be able to sustain their licensing agreements at current levels, given the popularity of low-cost open-source-based alternatives.

At the same time, this may be a lesson for the PC industry, too; had Internet Explorer not been bundled within Windows and offered to PC OEMs for free, it would no doubt have been sidestepped by Firefox."

Finding security in Windows Mobile monoculture.

"Said Samir Kumar, mobile devices product manager at Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft... 'It's not about Windows Mobile having more security features than any other platform; it's about enterprise customers who already see a need to align mobile security and device management with how they do things in the desktop world. If they have existing management tools and policies for Windows desktops and laptops, it's logical and effective to extend that to handheld devices.'"

Smith Micro licenses Insignia technology to Sybase.

"Aliso Viejo-based Smith Micro Software said today that it has licensed its firmware over-the-air technology to SyBase iAnywhere, a subsidiary of Sybase. Smith Micro's technology will be included with Sybase iAnywhere's embedded software development kit as part of Smith Micro's Insignia Open Management Client. The technology allows for remote update and upgrade of mobile devices. "

IDC: mobile device security software will drive revenue growth over the next five years.

"'For most enterprises today, device-based security, such as device wipe/lock and encryption of the data on the device, are the most important features that a mobile security solution must contain,' says Stacy Sudan, research analyst for IDC's Mobile Enterprise Software. 'But in the future, secure content and threat management features like mobile firewall, mobile VPN, and mobile antivirus will begin to gain increased importance for companies seeking to secure further aspects of enterprise mobility.'"

Microsoft's Deepfish service dives into mobile web-browsing waters.

"Deepfish, a downloadable application for smart phones running Windows Mobile, made its debut last week. The program enables users to browse Web sites as they would appear on a desktop or laptop computer screen rather than as the edited and imageless versions provided by existing mobile browsers... Microsoft considers it a prototype and has not announced any plans to offer full or more widely available versions."

Nokia's cellphone firewall patent.

"Unlike conventional firewalls which sit on a PC, Nokia's phone firewall is part of the mobile network itself, which acts as a barrier between the device and the internet. It protects mobile devices that connect to the network by setting up 'pinholes' through which they can send and receive legitimate data to and from the internet.

Data recognised as belonging to a trusted application is allowed to pass through but unknown packets are automatically blocked. The firewall's so-called pinholes should therefore prevent malicious programmes getting through."

Banking goes mobile (via Time magazine).

"The electronic wallet got one step closer to reality on Monday when Citibank unveiled a cell-phone-based service that lets customers pay bills, check their account balances and transfer funds, regardless of which wireless carrier they use. The free program, Citi Mobile, will be available for customers in Southern California via download this week at Citibank.com and will go nationwide this summer. AT&T, Sprint and Verizon customers can start using the program this week, with other carriers and a Spanish-language version out later this year. "

Symantec offers mobile security.

"The first announcement we’d like to highlight is Symantec’s Mobile Security Suite 5.0. According to the security company, the product is 'designed to provide customers with the same security and data protection capabilities on their Windows Mobile smartphones and PDAs as what has become standard for laptops and other computing devices.' The application will 'include antivirus, firewall, anti-SMS spam, and data encryption technologies.'"

O3SIS chosen by mobilkom austria AG to safeguard subscribers' mobile address books.

"O3SIS' advanced over-the-air SyncML technology will enable mobilkom austria AG users to simplify their personal and business contact management with automatic synchronization and backup/restore functions. The O3SIS XPAnywhere desktop add-in enables users to easily synchronize their contact and address book data between their mobile device, web, and desktop computer. Synchronization and updating are performed automatically over the mobile network, without the need for manual entry or cumbersome cables... In the event of a lost phone, mobilkom austria AG can restore data to the user's new phone over the air within minutes. This service spares customers the hardship of retrieving and re-entering lost contact information and ensures a smooth transition for handset upgrades."

Now roll your own MVNO.

"How many virtual mobile operators does the world need? Ask Juha Christensen, former head of Microsoft’s mobile division and a founder of Symbian, and his answer would be: as many as you can think of... Christensen has a new start-up, Sonopia, that has put together a back-end platform that allows anyone to become a mobile operator."

related: Build Your Own Third Rate Mobile Network