Category: Mobile
March 4th, 2008
Truphone cuts international rates with new Tru Zone offering
Today, Wi-Fi centered mobile Internet service provider Truphone announced a pretty significant per-minute calling cost reduction on calls from the U.S. to 40 countries.
Marketed as Tru Zone, these calls will be USD0.06 per minute to landlines and USD0.30 per minute.
The 40 countries in the “Tru Zone” include most EU countries, as well as Australia, Japan and Russia.
Calls to other nations, China, Hong Kong, U.S. and Canada - will cost even less, at just USD0.06 per minute to both landlines and mobiles.
Truphone likes to compare these rates to those of standard wireless plans. They cite the cost of a Verizon Wireless call to Germany without an international calling plan to be as much as $1.49 per minute for a landline call or $1.68 per minute for a mobile call.
Truphone CEO James Tagg (bad pub alert: “telephone Tagg”) is not reticent to plug the win-win of “Tru Zone.”
“People don’t know how much they’ll be charged to make a mobile call to friends abroad or to call back home from holiday. But they do know it’s expensive,” Tagg said in a statement “We’ve made it simple for customers by eliminating roaming charges. Now they can pay the same low price to make a call, wherever they are in the world.
“Wi-Fi and the Internet, which we use to carry our customers’ calls, is almost everywhere,” he added. ?Those on holiday, expatriates, migrant workers, business people, anyone with friends, family or colleagues in a different country… they can all now sidestep high international roaming fees. People should be hanging up on roaming charges, not be hung up on them.”
February 25th, 2008
Technology for "stretchable" cellphones now on exhibit
At the On the website of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Nokia is displaying 
Morph, a nanotechnology based mobile phone concept that could lead to stretchable and flexible cell phones oh, say, seven years from now.
Morph is being shown as part of MOMA’s “Design and the Elastic Mind” exhibit.
Now you may be wondering what the use is for a phone that from a form factor standpoint, sounds a bit like silly putty.
Let me assure you there is method to this madness. Researchers at Nokia and at the University of Cambridge say the utility in the flexible, stretchable design would be to enable shape adjustments specific to user preferences as well as to ease the possibility of self-cleaning surfaces.
Don’t expect to see Morph at your Nokia-authorized dealer any time soon, though.
Nokia tells James Middleton of the online publication telecoms.com that elements of Morph might be integrated into handheld devices within seven years, though initially only at the high end.
“In the future however, the Finnish firm sees nanotechnology as one day leading to low cost manufacturing and the potential for integrating complex functionality at a low price,” James adds.
February 25th, 2008
Study: talk on your cell four hours a day and your sperm count may suffer
Seems as though Ashok Agarwal, director of the andrology lab at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, is working on a study that indicates that prolonged exposure to cellphone radiofrequency electromagnetic waves can lower a man’s sperm count.
And when that happens, fertility can be adverselely affected.
Publishing in the journal Fertility and Sterility (gee there are journals about everything, no?) Agarwal and his co-researchers note they examined 361 men under 40.
Agarwal’s team studied 361 men under 40 who were being evaluated for infertility; men whose personal or family history might explain a low count or other sperm abnormalities were excluded.
The researchers found a correlation between those who talked longest on their cell per day, and a drop in sperm count and quality.
Seems as though four hours a day is the tipping point. Longer than that, and, well, how should we put this? Those little fellers seem to have trouble swimming. Even an hour a day, and well, you know.
Agarwal says a reason for this could be heat generated by the mobiles. Sperm production is sensitive to temperature.
Although Agarwal cautions this research is preliminary, it makes you wonder. If a guy talks to his sweetheart a couple of hours during the day, and then drops by to see her most evenings, can “issues” arise?
February 22nd, 2008
New "GiFi" wireless chip unveiled: 5 gigs per second up to 10 meters!
They are very excited at the University of Melbourne today.
I mean, wouldn’t you be if today was the day you were formally announcing and demonstrating a chip that could transmit five gigabits per second of data over a wireless connection, for a distance of up to 10 meters (abour 32 feet)
The website of Melbourne, Australia’s The Age newspaper has the story.
“An entire high-definition movie from a video shop kiosk could be transmitted to a mobile phone in a few seconds, and the phone could then upload the movie to a home computer or screen at the same speed,” writes Nick Miller.
The chip’s inventor is Melbourne University Prof. Stan Skafidis, who you are looking at, @ the top of this post.
His chip uses only a tiny one-millimeter-wide antenna and less than two watts of power, and would cost less than $10 to manufacture.
“It uses the 60GHz “millimetre wave” spectrum to transmit the data, which gives it an advantage over WiFi (wireless internet),” Nick writes. “WiFi’s part of the spectrum is increasingly crowded, sharing the waves with devices such as cordless phones, which leads to interference and slower speeds. “But the millimetre wave spectrum (30 to 300 GHz) is almost unoccupied, and the new chip is potentially hundreds of times faster than the average home WiFi unit.”
Cool? Check.
Promising? Check.
Ready for prime time? Or better yet, is prime time ready for it? Perhaps not just yet. I mean, I don’t see the necessary imperatives in place yet that would forcibly inject the GiFi chip into devices.
But maybe in a couple of years?
February 15th, 2008
Since mobile search still sux, is it time for cellphone content "decks" to die?
First of all, the briefest of primers to let all of you know what I’m talking about.
Most cell carriers, including mine (AT&T Mobility) offer subject-oriented content decks that offer links to stories and services from favored content partners.
Just one example: AT&T’s MediaNet, with a topic tree organized around CNN and some others. Money changing hands to make this happen? You betcha.
When it comes to these wireless content decks, it’s all about the content alliances, and not what you want.
I suppose these decks are useful to some, but my problem with this whole arrangement starts with the hoops you have to jump through to find mobile content from sources that compete with these providers.
Mobile search services, as well as the carriers, will tell you about strides.
Well, they can say what they want, but then consider these comments made at the Mobile World Congress yesterday by Mike Yonker, who is general manager of worldwide strategy and ops for Texas Instruments’ wireless terminals business unit.
David Benjamin of EETimes was there for Yonker’s remarks to a panel entitled “It’s The User Experience, Stupid.
David draws on Yonker’s comments to write in part:
(Yonker) said that the way for the user to get the rich content now available on a mobile handset is through the “search” function. But this isn’t so easy. He compared the limitations of a mobile handset to a full personal computer screen.
Searching on a computer, he said, is like going to a store, where the customers sees every product displayed, and can make comparisons, touch the products, even try things on for size. Doing the same search on a mobile, he said, but like trying to shop in the same store but “through a drive-up window.” No matter how much stuff is in the store, you can only find out through the cashier at the drive-up window.
The dilemma, left unsolved by the panelists, was how to squeeze the user through that window, past the cashier, to sample all the things in the store, without guilt, while still feeling grateful to the cashier who seemed, all along, to be standing in the way.
Everyone agreed that, so far, only Apple (iPhone) has been able to turn this trick. For users, “the content is the core,” said Lipman of Power2B somewhat ruefully, “and we have to get out of their way.”
But you know, that’s because when it comes to the iPhone’s onscreen taxonomy, Apple, and not AT&T, calls the shots.
As to the question that constitutes this post’s title, it does indeed seem to me that these carriers care so much more about keeping their content decks neat, tidy, and money-flowing than they care about instituting mobile search with comprehensiveness, clarity and a good working UI.
Not channeling my better angels here, but I am so frustrated about sucky mobile search that part of me wishes the decks to fade into irrelevancy.
Do you wish that as well?
Loading ...February 11th, 2008
Two photos here of a VERY early Google Android prototype
Straight from the early hours of Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, Gizmodo has posted a video with a brief demo of a Google Android phone prototype powered by mobile chip-maker ARM’s, ARM9 processor.
Appears to be very basic. Just a prototype without any substantial feature set at all.
But as shown at the top of this post, there’s the main Google search box shown within this prototype device cobbled together by ARM.
And below, you find a set of navigation buttons that don’t tell us much:
Kind of the same as going to a construction site, eyeing the first efforts at laying a foundation, and then imagining a skyscraper.
Seems like lots of work to be done, but not necessarily by Google.
February 8th, 2008
Four reasons why new survey shows mobile market momentum shifting to iPhone, BlackBerry
According to a survey of 4,182 cell phone users, releasled today by ChangeWave Research, it seems that the march toward PDAs and related smartphones will quicken in the next six months.
This pace, which favors the Apple iPhone and newer models from BlackBerry, seems to be coming at the expense of older models, especially from Motorola.
What these stats tell me is that with the one-year anniversary if iPhone coming in less than four months, and BlackBerry’s advanced new features having been present for at least that long, consumers are eyeing the termination of their two-year contracts as an especially appropriate time to upgrade devices and perhaps to switch carriers as well.
Let’s look at three of the charts that ChangeWave released today:
iPhone market shares will increase just slightly- perhaps reflective of the “I’ve got mine already” factor- but BlackBerry market share will grow a bit more dramatically.
A lot of that slip is due in fact that Motorola has not been as dynamic in the smartphone space as rivals RIM (BlackBerry) and Apple (iPhone).
And finally:
This slide evokes two takeaways, for a total of four in this post:
Most of these manufacturers also offer, or will offer, smartphones. The fact that iPhone and BlackBerry are tracking as more likely buys over the next six months tells me at least in part that these other companies are not doing a great job at positioning new devices as functionality rivals to such models as the BlackBerry Curve and the iPhone.
Whoa. Palm, which makes the Treo smartphone, has some issues with user satisfaction. What are they, Treo-owning readers?
February 6th, 2008
Face it: some cell calls suck. Study cites three reasons why
Just got a note in my very early (hey it isn’t quote 06:00 hours here) from a representative of Ditech Networks.
Raison d’etre for this post is that Ditech (no, not the mortgage finance firm) has just announced results of a 630-million-call study of live mobile phone calls over 16 mobile carrier networks in 12 nations.
The study reveals nearly 40% of mobile calls 
fall below industry minimum standards for voice quality. The report analyzed 630 million calls from 16 mobile carriers in 12 countries.
We have it better here. In the U.S. and Western Europe, some 23% of calls were flagged as falling below industry standards. Yet in India, the Middle East and Latin America, that figure was pegged at 59%.
The three biggest issues cited as reasons why mobile phone calls can be of dubious quality:
Ambient noise, or noise originating in caller’s environment and entering device’s microphone, was rated “objectionable” on up to 50% of all calls in some regions.
Acoustic echo, often caused by handsets/headsets, was rated “objectionable” on up to 11% of all calls in some regions.
Voice level mismatch, or when a caller sounds either too loud or too quiet, was rated “objectionable” on up to 28% of calls in some region.
If you are wondering about testing criteria, Ditech tells us:
The audits were conducted using Experience Intelligence (EXi), a technology developed by Ditech that quantifies the impact of voice quality impairments caused by the places where people make calls, codec impairments, and mobile devices like phones and headsets. EXi is based on the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) G.107 E-Model, a widely used industry standard, and the technology has been utilized in the communications industry as a complement to existing voice quality test and measurement solutions.
The audit data was used to derive an R-Factor, which is a 1-100 (best) rating system developed by the ITU to assess customer satisfaction with voice quality. The R-Factor was converted to a Mean Opinion Score (MOS), which is widely used in the mobile services industry to rate voice quality on a scale of 1 to 5 (best.) The ITU has set the minimum level of acceptable voice quality at R-Factor 50, or MOS 2.5. Voice quality that is rated below these minimums is considered unacceptable.
Cliche alert:
“Can You Hear Me Now?”
“Huh?”
“Wah?”
February 5th, 2008
Report: maker of Ojo VoIP/videophone likely on bankruptcy path
Tom Keating is one of those VoIP bloggers who understands business and technology, and mixes journalistic doggedness with the backgrounding of an engineer.
I say this because Tom reports this morning that Worldgate Communications is experiencing a financial rough patch. A really bad one.
Worldgate, not so incidentally, makes the Ojo VoIP/videophone. You are looking at one.
Anyone who has seen the device- and you are reading the words of one of those “anyone”s now- believes it is pretty cool.
But when it comes to the coin of the realms, sometimes cool just isn’t enough.
The problem here, as To unearths via an 8-K filing, is that Worldgate has some accounts receivable problems with their largest customer.
Instant empathy, people. Almost any of us who have ever been in business can identify with that.
But the thing is, most of us aren’t public companies nor file 8-Ks. And when you mention such cashflow problems in your 8-K, you have to think these are more serious than simply a couple of customer checks that haven’t arrived yet.
So serious in fact, that Worldgate has wound down operations and has to be considered a likely bankruptcy filer.
That might very well happen unless Worldgate can collect what’s due from this customer. Yet as a former bill collector- and one who sometimes still collects bills from clients who won’t pay- I can tell you that revenues from collections is something you can never count on. The bills come regularly but the make-good checks far less dependably so.
Plus, you have to assume Worldgate has been trying to do this for some time now.
From there, who knows? Maybe Worldgate will get rescued and the Ojo will live. We’ll be watching.
January 29th, 2008
Skyfire: a true liberator for the mobile Web
While I am not at the DEMO conference in Indian Wells, Calif., I am present virtually.
Among the many interesting new product announcements I have received concerns a new mobile browser from a company called 
Skyfire.
Skyfire’s announcement at DEMO is not an indication of immediate product availability, but of an emergence out of stealth mode. As such, a sign up for a future private beta is now available on the Skyfire site.
This mobile browser’s main upside is enough heft to be able to handle some of the advanced scripting that even some other powerful mobile browsers cannot. We are talking dynamic Flash, advanced Ajax, Java and more.
With this support, it is possible to watch actual YouTube videos, as well as use the full feature PC versions of MySpace and Facebook.
This free app will work on your Windows Mobile-powered phone. Skyfire will also be seeking mobile deals. I will be rooting for them as they do.
January 17th, 2008
Check out Ken Camp's new Fixed-Mobile Convergence article
I take the rostrum to deliver an enthusiastic shout-out to fellow VoIP blogger Ken Camp’s “Fixed-Mobile Convergence In The SMB Sector” feature inone of my old dead-tree media stomping grounds, Von Magazine.
Covering several “hybrid” and enterprise solutions, Ken concludes his quality thought-leader piece by writing:
Today’s marketplace enables the SMB to become an early adopter of unified communications technologies with minimal investment and maximum integration as new solutions evolve. It doesn’t matter whether the convergence entry comes from a consumer-based solution that enters the workplace through stealthy adoption or service contracts with a regional or niche provider.
What matters in the SMB space is that the tools for high-powered communications that increase the competitive advantage are easily accessible and cost-effective to implement.
Good work, Ken. Hope to see you at IT Expo next week.
January 16th, 2008
Two of Martin Geddes' "Future of Broadband" predictions are already here
In terms of what we cover in this space, I’d like to cite and then comment on, two key points made by telecom analyst Martin Geddes in his recent guest column for GigaOm:
Voice will be the catalyst. There will be a rapid rise of non-traditional voice services as voice is embedded into the general online experience. You’ll be able to call your date from your mobile dating application, without knowing your date’s mobile number, and the whole cost of the call will be borne through your dating application subscription.
I see this, up to a point. Yet if we are talking about first dates, there would need to be enough security. I mean, calling your Match.com date via Match, as opposed to, on your cell? With enough prior trust (say, six or seven phone conversations) that could work. But then again, wouldn’t your date already know your phone number through those conversations? And once you have started dating this individual, wouldn’t speed dial on your mobile phone be a lot easier than calling him/her up via your, uh, “dating application subscription?”
Martin also writes that:
Telcos will move towards “two-sided” business models, which involve not just wholesaling bulk capacity, but increased personalization of delivery to their own retail ISP end users on behalf of their “upstream” partners. This will include using location and presence to enable everyday business processes (e.g. parcel delivery, health-care services), ad insertion, or ecommerce services like credit checks.
Maybe yes, maybe not. As to parcel delivery, I don’t see the likes of FedEx changing their delivery confirmation technology to a service where they have to pay subscription or per-delivery confirmation fees to telcos. Health-care services, such as “always-on” body monitoring alerts sent to 911 services and even to hospitals? Sure. That should be happening already.
But credit checks? Not over mobile, but isn’t this already going on? If I buy a new car, the dealer’s finance department will use their existing broadband connection to log in and lock on to one or more of the credit bureau sites.
Maybe I am missing something, but what’s new about that?
Russell Shaw is an enterprise computing journalist, analyst and author based in Portland, Oregon. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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