Experience Mobile Mobile.

Experience Mobile Mobile from James Théophane Jnr on Vimeo.

Will the Mobile Web Kill Off the App Store?

"The debate over the longevity of native software continues. Mozilla, creator of Firefox, claims that its new browser for smartphones will contribute to the death of smartphone app stores.

Scheduled to begin appearing on devices at the end of this year, the Firefox mobile browser, code-named Fennec, will be packed with features to make it the closest thing yet to a real, desktop-class browser... Mozilla claims it will have the fastest JavaScript engine of any mobile browser, allowing developers to produce HTML- and JavaScript-coded apps for Fennec rather than for multiple smartphone platforms, such as iPhone OS, Google Android or Windows Mobile.

'In the interim period, apps will be very successful,' said Jay Sullivan, vice president of Mozilla’s mobile division, in an interview with PC Pro. 'Over time, the web will win because it always does.'"

As AT&T Complains, People Notice That It Has Decreased Infrastructure Investments, But Wireless Revenue Is Way Up.

Techdirt writes: "While we agree that creating a denial of service attack is not a good idea, AT&T's response to all of this has only sunk the company in deeper. It's making a ton of money, and its network sucks... and despite claims of fixing it, they've been spending less and less on the network. It seems like that's a lot more irresponsible than worrying about a random fake CEO."

Dean Bubley's Predictions for 2010: Mobile Winners and Losers.

"It's mid-December, so it must be time for the annual prediction season. I've tried to keep them short and sharp and to the point - there's plenty of detailed argument behind each of these if people are interested."

... very good reading, here.

InnoPath Delivers a Green Christmas Over The Air.

"In a single year, the positive impact of the InnoPath solution on North America alone is therefore almost 33M Kg. With a typical lump of coal weighing in at approximately 110 grams, this is enough to head off at least one lump of coal for the stocking of every man, woman and child in the United States, regardless of how naughty or nice they may be."

Symantec updates smart phone management suite.

"In addition to a variety of mobile device management features, Symantec Mobile Management 7.0 will allow administrators to deploy applications and updates to the mobile fleet. The other two products include Symantec Network Access Control Mobile Edition 6.0 and Symantec Endpoint Protection Mobile Edition 6.0, which together will protect devices against malicious threats and unauthorized access to the corporate network or Microsoft Exchange server.

The security giant said that while these products are only supported on Windows-based phones, the company is exploring Google Android and Apple iPhone solutions.

Rick Maddox, senior manager of product marketing with Symantec, said the updated product line will give security staff a single console for provisioning, managing, securing and retiring enterprise smart phones."

Smartphone, Heal Thyself: Droids, OTA Updates and FOTA.

"FOTA adoption has been a little bit slower in the United States, but this is quickly changing. In 2009 alone, more than 3.5 million devices were updated in the field using FOTA. While the problems addressed may not be earth shattering, they do include things like excessive power consumption, PTT issues, dropped calls, audio issues, problems with the contacts database, and problems with blue tooth connections. In short, a whole bunch of little things that would slowly drive a person mad.

Customer satisfaction and reducing churn are just part of the goodness of FOTA. Taking a greener, more global perspective, every time bugs are patched over-the-air, a trip to a store is eliminated, saving resources and reducing pollution. Maybe not much, but repeat even a very small thing often enough and it becomes a much bigger thing."

Google to debut Nexus One Android phone next year.

"Google will begin selling its own, unlocked smartphone running its Android platform sometime next year, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. The device, which is being called Nexus One, will be made by HTC and will be sold online without wireless service. Customers will have to buy service separately, according to the report that cited unnamed sources familiar with the matter...

Forrester Research analyst Charles Golvin wrote in a blog post. 'If subscribers can get a cutting-edge handset from Google, shop for the best plan, and take that handset to another provider as soon as a better service offer comes out, carriers will have to re-think what loyalty means.'"

Microsoft + Mobile Consumers = FAIL.

"Windows Mobile has lost nearly a third of its market share over the last year, according to the most recent data from research firm Gartner, as more consumer-focused manufacturers such as Apple and Research In Motion continue to gain momentum in the white-hot smartphone space. WinMo users’ traffic on the wireless web has dropped off even more dramatically during that period, falling 70 percent, according to the latest figures from AdMob — a clear indication that the few consumers who have Windows Mobile aren’t doing much on their phones other than talking and messaging... As the runaway success of the iPhone indicates, the smartphone space today is all about the consumer — not the enterprise. End users are increasingly buying their own handsets and forcing IT departments to support the gadgets. And that’s very bad news for Microsoft."

Customer Care: Prepaid Copies Postpaid.

"Companies that help manage customer service systems say the rise of customer care in the prepaid space is a relatively new but growing phenomenon. 'Up until a couple months ago, I would have said our entire base was postpaid,' says InnoPath’s Vice President of Marketing Dave Ginsburg. 'What’s happening is that [prepaid carriers] are focusing more on the customer experience. They’re beginning to speak with us about the same concerns as postpaid carriers would have.'...

Prepaid carriers have to be particularly vigilant about managing the costs associated with customer care, says Brian Pawlus, director of product marketing at Oracle Communication’s billing unit. 'They have to provide a really right self-service environment,' he says. 'Prepaid customers are typically low-margin… Even one call to a customer service center can wipe out the profit margin for that customer.'"

Carriers Get a Wake-up Call.

"He pointed to AT&T’s Glen Lurie, who’s managing that company’s machine-to-machine business as a decision by a carrier to become a bit pipe. Delivering data to various end devices that a carrier doesn’t control can drive high margins and lots of revenue. For example, providing connectivity for an e-reader broadens AT&T’s subscriptions, but because the device can’t roam on the broader Internet, it doesn’t consume huge chunks of data."

North American Mobile Operators save $140 Million, Boost Satisfaction with FOTA.

"In the past year, North American operators serving over 160 million subscribers have updated over 3.5 million devices via InnoPath’s servers across more than 20 device models, resulting in total savings in excess of $140 million, with volumes and savings expected to rise significantly in the future."

Android Steps Closer to Fragmentation.

"Wind River announced today a commercial version of the Android platform that comes with pre-integrated apps and global support and is optimized for Texas Instruments’ OMAP 3. But the offering represents one more step toward a dangerously fragmented Android universe.

The product is targeted at device manufacturers as a faster, more efficient alternative to building a platform from the ground up. It is a validated, fully compliant OS based on the latest versions of the Android SDK, Wind River said. It comes with software from partners including Adobe, PacketVideo and Red Bend Software, and features enhanced Android user interface and personalization options that enable carriers and manufacturers to present their brands on-screen."

AT&T releases Mark the Spot, a network failure reporting tool.

"To address its network woes, AT&T has released a new iPhone application called Mark the Spot to help AT&T customers report any failures with their service. The app uses geo-location to pinpoint the handset’s location and asks the user to identify the type of problem which they are reporting."