China Unicom Deploys InnoPath’s Integrated MDM Solution.

"China Unicom, the second largest mobile operator in the world, has selected InnoPath’s Integrated Mobile Device Management (iMDM) solution for firmware-over-the-air updates (FOTA), advanced customer care, and security. These mobile device management applications will be tied together through iMDM’s unique workflow capability, permitting China Unicom to adapt the solution on-the-fly to its business processes."

Financial Transactions Conducted Via Mobile Phone to Generate Over $587 billion by 2011.

"A new report by Juniper Research finds that the rush by banks and mobile operators to deliver financial services to the mobile phone will result in just over 612 million mobile phone users generating over $587 billion worth of financial transactions by 2011."

Nokia’s Plan to Acquire Trolltech Raises Concerns for Symbian.

"It is becoming very clear that Nokia is getting serious on Linux, signaling more challenging times ahead for Symbian. Currently, Nokia only offers Linux based MIDs (mobile internet devices) and even though it has not expressed any specific intentions so far, this acquisition is likely to lead to Nokia introducing smartphones and other handsets based on Linux in the coming years. For Symbian, it will be a big setback and their market-share of the OS market will rapidly decline if Nokia starts offering Linux devices."

A Big Day For Mobile In The US?

"Today, that $4.6 billion barrier was breached, with the C block now bid up to $4.72 billion — meaning the open-access rules will be in force when the network using that license is launched."

Clearwire Reportedly In Talk With Sprint On WiMax Venture; Potential Investments From GOOG, INTC, BBY.

"Clearwire (CLWR) shares soared this afternoon after the Wall Street Journal reported that the company is holding talks on restoring its joint venture with Sprint (S) to build out a nationwide broadband network using WiMax technology. The story says outside funding for the venture could come from Google (GOOG), Intel (INTC) and Best Buy (BBY)."

Red Bend Unveils MAST - Industry's First Linux Mobile Phone with Software 100% Customizable OTA.

"Red Bend Software... today unveiled the industry's first Linux mobile phone with software that can be fully customized over the air. Red Bend has partnered with industry-leading companies—including Digital Airways, Opera, Synchronica, Trolltech and Zi—to showcase a new concept in customizing mobile software where features, applications and services can be deployed and updated easily and securely over the air on consumers' handsets using Red Bend's vRapid Mobile.

The concept phone is called MAST, an abbreviation for Master Key, to symbolize a new milestone in Open Access, where any software on any mobile device can be customized at any time during the device lifecycle."

InnoPath's FOTA client deployed on KDDI's Common Platform 'KCP+'.

"InnoPath Software... today announced that InnoPath's FOTA client will be deployed on KDDI's Common Platform 'KCP+'."

RIM unveils BlackBerry platform updates.

"According to RIM, a new web-based device management console called BlackBerry Web Desktop Manager increases deployment flexibility and simplifies software upgrades by enabling BlackBerry users to install software and manage their smartphones from any browser-enabled computer, effectively reducing the volume of software components installed on end-user workstations--new over-the-air software upgrades were also introduced."

Nokia, the OS company.

"No matter what you think Nokia's motives are, the fact is that it's now the owner of a respectable cross-platform software layer that runs on PCs and mobile devices. Nokia is now a software layer company, in very direct competition with other layer companies like Microsoft and Adobe and Sun. The deal also makes Nokia a much more important player in the open source community. And it puts Nokia in more direct opposition to the companies with their own operating systems -- Apple and Google and (once again) Microsoft."

Skyfire browser for Windows Mobile is game changing, does Flash.

"The Skyfire browser is set to finally bring PC-like browsing to your Windows Mobile device with crazy speeds and support for all manner of embedded content."

Nokia acquires Trolltech.

"A very selective tech downturn: as the stock market tanked, Nokia reached its world-domination target of 40% total market share. They celebrated with a recreational acquisition, buying Norwegian mobile-Linux specialists Trolltech. This brings not only their Linux technology, but also their cross-platform development environment Qt on board; this is presumably a means of hedging against Google Android et al. The mobile development race continues."

related: Nokia Acquires Trolltech For $153 Million

What Will Mobile Phones Be Like In 10 Years?

"Aside from full wireless broadband access, drastically improved user interfaces, and powerful application capabilities, consumers will routinely be able to design, purchase, update, and repair their own cell phones online. Mobile Device Management (MDM) will be widespread. No more schlepping off to the local wireless store to take care of your problems. Over-the-air firmware upgrades and software repairs will negate that necessity."

Symbian Virus-Worm Spreading in the Wild.

"A new virus-worm for Symbian OS smartphones has been detected and is actively spreading on various mobile phone networks, reports FortiGuard Global Security Research. The worm, deemed SymbOS/Beselo.A!worm is able to run on several Symbian S60 enabled devices."

Linux phone stack to gain differential FOTA.

"Trolltech's Linux-based Qtopia stack will be available with third-party software aimed at allowing partial FOTA (firmware over-the-air) updates...

According to a Red Bend spokesperson, vRapid Mobile is a new and enhanced superset of the company's widely used VCurrent Mobile FOTA software. Whereas VCurrent is designed to update an entire firmware stack at once, the new VRapid product uses differential compression to deliver only those parts of the stack that have actually changed...

Calling the new approach Software Components Over-the-Air (SCOTA), Red Bend says that vRapid Mobile can update the following components:

* Embedded applications such as messaging clients, web browsers, homescreen clients, and media players
* Middleware and service enablers including Java Virtual Machine, Flash Lite, position location software, media codecs, SIP and IMS clients, and digital rights management (DRM) agents
* Device features like Bluetooth profiles and multimedia and 3D graphics engines"

Red Bend Software and Trolltech partner.

"Red Bend Software and Trolltech announced they have formed a partnership to bring over-the-air software component management to Linux mobile phones that use Trolltech's Qtopia application platform."

Apple and IBM team up against Microsoft.

"Lotus Notes is coming to the iPhone and iPod Touch, and both Apple and IBM hope that the result will make you want Microsoft solutions a little bit less... The benefit for IBM is obvious; for Apple, it's increasing the perception that the iPhone is a good enterprise-class platform."

Mobile-application developers grow tired of waiting for Google's Android code.

"For the first time, developers are griping about Google the way they used to complain about Bill Gates & Co. The search giant's phone software is buggy, they say, and lacks key features. Google admits that the software development kit it released in November is a work in progress and does not include all the software needed for a phone. "

iPhone goes corporate: AT&T announces business plan.

"We have a funny feeling that the timing of this has something to do with IBM's imminent announcement of Lotus Notes mail for the iPhone. Now get on the horn to IT, they'll be dreading your call. "

Kyocera to buy Sanyo's Mobile Phone Division.

"Sanyo Electric Co. announced today that it will sell its mobile phone division to Kyocera Corp."

Google: What If It Wins The 700 MHz Spectrum Auction?

"But here is the intriguing thing. Lindsay says that in the long run, Google would be better off to bid to win and suffer the inevitable short-term drop in its share price in return for the opportunity create a much larger company down the road. Lindsay thinks a winning bid would provide Google with a way to take a 20% share of the wireless voice, wireless data and fixed-access data markets by 2014, nearly doubling the size of the company."

Sprint Shares Tumble; T, VZ Also Drop.

"Earlier this morning, Moffett had cut his price targets for Sprint, Verizon (VZ) and AT&T (T), all of which he rates Market Perform. His targets go to $14 from $18 on Sprint, $41 from $44 for Verizon, and $44 from $47 for AT&T. His issue: the stocks look vulnerable to an economic downturn. He says the stocks are not the defensive issues they once were. The issue, he says, is their ability to continue to growth the wireless business. 'With penetration at 80%, the economics of newcomers to the wireless industry in 2008 are already challenging - recession or not,' he writes. 'And history suggests that the wireless industry is susceptible to a significant growth shock.'"

The mobile revolution.

"The BBC reports: 'It's time that we recognize that for the majority of the world's population, and for the foreseeable future, the cell phone is the computer, and it will be the portal to the internet, and the communications tool, and the schoolbook, and the vaccination record, and the family album, and many other things, just as soon as someone, somewhere, sits down and writes the software that allows these functions to be performed.'"

With Recession Looming, Tech Profit Ests Look Too High.

"Even if the global economy does not slow substantially in 2008, the uncertain macro context all but assures that technology budgets will be spent in a more back-end loaded fashion."

Mobile Device Management in 2008 and Beyond.

Rob Dalgety, marketing director at Mformation, comments: "MDM will play a central role in managing devices over WiMAX and other new network technologies to ensure consistent and seamless delivery of services and applications, regardless of the underlying network... We are seeing significant demand for advanced MDM services such as application management, remote diagnostics, security management, and experience monitoring to support the growing complexity and number of mobile device types, applications, services and networks on the market... Mformation has two major predictions for MDM in 2008. One is that there will be a mass mobilization trend among enterprises... Mformation also predicts that, during 2008, more mobile operators will start providing advanced MDM capabilities."

The Real Importance of iPhone Update 1.1.3.

"It wasn't important for features per se, it's important because it shows Apple can give the iPhone extended life by delivering upgrades through the iTunes utility that change and enhance the iPhone and the way it works.

It's really something no one else has done as well (Microsoft does offer some in place updates to Windows Mobile but it's rare that anyone has implemented them. MSFT also offers some ROM refreshes to carriers but rarely do we so those offered to consumers and they also require a complete re-setup of the device). The iPhone's updating mechanism is one of the un-sung feature of the line and it's something that, I suspect, is going to become even more important later in 2008."

Personal Devices Create a Dilemma for Corporate IT.

"Ideally, an IT manager will be able to remotely configure a multifunction device, load software on it, set policies governing passwords, implement encryption and wipe the device clean by remote control should it be lost or stolen.

Companies must also decide whether to forbid certain content—such as personally identifiable information—from ever residing on mobile devices, and then to enforce such policies.

It’s a tall order that a number of different vendors—including Research In Motion, Nokia, IBM Tivoli and Microsoft—are addressing to varying degrees."

Motive to Provide Diagnostics and Device Management to Airvana Femtocells.

"Femtocells are a new class of consumer device that use broadband Internet connections to provide exceptional in-building coverage and data performance, and innovative rate plans, to mobile phone subscribers. As a result of the agreement, Motive’s HDM solution will become a critical component of Airvana’s femtocell management system. Motive HDM technology will provide the ability for wireless operators deploying Airvana femtocell technology to perform advanced diagnostics and problem resolution, while increasing the productivity and efficiency of its service assurance capabilities."

Telco 2.0: 2008 Preview: Platforms, Partners… and Predators.

Telco 2.0 offers a wonderful post and analysis... "We’ve picked 21 of the biggest trends we see unfolding, but nothing is neatly segmented into calendar years, so we’re not wagering too much on the timing of any of these events.

Key highlights we discuss below include how:
* investors are following the wrong KPIs.
* the network doesn’t just stop at the central office or cell tower any more.
* ‘open’ turns out to be easy to say, hard to do.
* enabling boring business processes brings bountiful bundles of cash.
* new networks don’t need old revenue models.
* hardware goes soft, and we don’t just you’ll get a new leather pouch for your mobile.
* telco plumbers go well with IT electricians.
* telcos may be aspiring media stars, but our panel voted ‘no’.
* we say goodbye to ‘ISP’, hello to ‘MSP’.
* ‘two-sided’ sounds like an insult, but turns out to be a compliment.
* ‘wholesale’ and ‘sexy’ mysteriously get conjoined.
* nobody gets to be neutral on network neutrality.
* spectrum is like clean air: everyone wants it, nobody wants to pay for it.
* regulators find themselves coupled with telcos on a waterbed.
* privacy trumps piracy.
* everyone pretends to be environmentally sound when all they want is to work in their dressing gown.
* ‘mobile’ turns into a four-letter word.
* iPhone meets my phone
* emerging market voice and messaging isn’t just cheap and cheerful, but dangerously different
* voice gets absorbed by the Internet borg
* everyone wants to be a telco, except telcos"

Major carrier shakeup expected in China.

"The Chinese government is planning a major restructuring of the country's telecom sector to create three giant operators that each own fixed and mobile network assets, according to reports in the Chinese media. Currently, each operator is focused on running either a fixed line or a mobile business.

According to the South China Morning Post, the ruling Communist Party has signed off a plan that will involve a series of mergers and asset divestments to create a trio of fixed/mobile supercarriers."

Sun rubber stamps Synchronica licensing deal.

"Acceptance of the licensed components of Mobile Gateway means Sun will now pay Synchronica an initial licence fee of $1.8m, spread over three equal installments due in February, July and October of this year, as per the details of an agreement signed in August 2007.

Use of Synchronica's core SyncML technology in the Mobile Gateway will enable wireless synchronisation of the Sun Java Communications Suite with any industry standard mobile device."

NEC's N905i/N905iµ handsets ship with Red Bend's FOTA solution.

"Red Bend Software... announced that its vCurrent® Mobile FOTA solution has been implemented in the N905i and N095iµ mobile phones manufactured by NEC. These two models will be the first phones from NTT DoCoMo to ship with Red Bend's vCurrent® Mobile firmware over-the-air (FOTA) client software."

HP on UWB, TV and cellular.

"Security is also an issue preventing businesses from rolling out mobile apps on cellphones. As many as 10,000 handsets a month are left in cabs in Chicago alone, McKinney claimed. That drove HP to acquire Bitfone for its over-the-air software update technology which HP has upgraded so it can also remotely erase any data on a lost handset."

The Untold Story: How the iPhone blew up the wireless industry.

"For those working on the iPhone, the next three months would be the most stressful of their careers. Screaming matches broke out routinely in the hallways. Engineers, frazzled from all-night coding sessions, quit, only to rejoin days later after catching up on their sleep. A product manager slammed the door to her office so hard that the handle bent and locked her in; it took colleagues more than an hour and some well-placed whacks with an aluminum bat to free her... The iPhone cracked open the carrier-centric structure of the wireless industry and unlocked a host of benefits for consumers, developers, manufacturers — and potentially the carriers themselves."

iPhone virus confirmed.

"The virus does not currently pose a huge risk, the Trojan specifically targets users that have modified their iPhone so they can install third-party applications."

New sun spot activity threatens mobile phone networks.

"The new 11-year cycle, called Solar Cycle 24, is expected to build gradually, with the number of sunspots and solar storms reaching a maximum by 2011 or 2012, though devastating storms can occur at any time.

During a solar storm, highly charged material ejected from the sun may head toward Earth, where it can bring down power grids, disrupt critical communications, and threaten astronauts with harmful radiation.

Storms can also knock out commercial communications satellites and swamp GPS signals. Routine activities such as talking on a cell phone or getting money from an ATM machine could suddenly halt over a large part of the globe."

IBM digs into security management.

"There will be competition, but I think that IBM sees this risk management issue as going far beyond what we consider traditional security, they are looking more at setting policies and security within a larger IT management framework that includes performance management, data governance and overall business services issues."

Windows Mobile 7 to focus on touch and motion gestures.

"Windows Mobile 7 will dramatically change the way we use mobile devices. It will emphasize the use of touch on the device, as well as motion gestures created by using the device. It is, absolutely, Microsoft’s effort to beat back the iPhone."

Trolltech, Huawei join mobile Linux group.

"LiMo plans to announce on Monday new members, including Trolltech, Acrodea, ETRI, Huawei, and Purple Labs. The group, including founders NTT DoCoMo, Vodafone, and Motorola, now consists of 25 members."

Yahoo opens up its mobile platform to third parties.

Interesting comment from Greg Harris follows the article: "The mobile web will be where the apps will live. It’s happening on the Internet, and we will take that lesson to the mobile world.

As new browsers like the iPhone and others begin to show up, there will be no reason to write phone specific apps unless they need deep interaction with the OS for bluetooth, LBS, or other functions.

Rather than building a framework for Yahoo, Plusmo, Google or someone else, why not build a browser with that framework?"

Sprint, SquareLoop team up for safety alerts.

"Location-based services provider SquareLoop announced that Sprint is the first carrier to deploy its Mobile Alert Network, which offers advanced, geographically-targeted public safety alerts to mobile phones. According to SquareLoop, its LBS technology enables public and private sector officials to send messages to subscribers based on their actual location as they travel, placing the intelligence in the handset to maintain consumer location privacy."

YouTube - Motorola Z8 firmware update (FOTA) demo.

"See how to update your Motorola Z8's software with the latest feature enhancements using Firmware Over-the-Air (FOTA) update technology."

Nokia Siemens snaps up Apertio.

"Apertio's data base technology, the One-NDS (Network Directory Server), acts as a data base for legacy subscriber management platforms, such as the HLR (home location register) used by mobile operators, and, more importantly, for the next-generation HSS (home subscriber server), a core element in an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) that manages the subscriber data underpinning mobile and fixed-line services...

Having a unified subscriber management database will be important for carriers wanting to operate a single, converged network for all its subscribers and have a single source of operating data to underpin important new revenue-generating services based on identity management."