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The market for terminals used by emergency first responders looks set to grow significantly over the next five years from slightly more than $1 billion in 2007 to more than $3.6 billion in 2013, according to a new study from ABI Research authored by Jeff Orr. This growth will occur as agencies standardize on digital technologies such as APCO/TIA Project 25 (P25) and ETSI TETRA. Although something of a laggard compared to markets in other regions, the North American market looks set to be the largest global opportunity in the long term, as federal funding filters down through the system. Vice…

United States federal regulators today gave Sprint Nextel the green light to spin off and merge its XOHM mobile broadband network with that of Clearwire. The XOHM brand is expected to remain as the new entity takes shape. A Clearwire shareholder vote is planned for later this month. In a unanimous 5-0 vote Tuesday, the Federal Communications Commission approved a plan to combine Sprint’s mobile WiMAX network with Clearwire’s pre-WiMAX network. Google Inc., Intel Corp. and a group of cable companies are contributing investors into the $14.6 billion venture, which will carry…

ERF Wireless announced it has registered and received a nationwide license for operation of WiMAX-based services in the 3.65 GHz frequency band. In addition, the company is partnering with entities owning 2.5 GHz spectrum to grow its coverage footprint. The operator is a wireless ISP and services multiple vertical markets including the oil and gas industry. ERF Wireless is currently evaluating equipment vendors for limited deployment in select markets across Texas, New Mexico and Louisiana. “The adoption of WiMax technology is a critical part of our current network expansion…

Alcatel-Lucent announced it has been selected by Italy’s AriaDSL as prime supplier for building and maintaining a nationwide broadband wireless network based on mobile WiMAX (802.16e-2005) technology. Earlier this year, AriaDSL won 3.5 GHz radio spectrum in all regions of Italy. Upon completion, the new network is expected to be one of the largest mobile WiMAX deployments in Europe. Alcatel-Lucent will install the first 130 base station sites in the Puglia and Veneto regions. AriaDSL plans to provide municipalities, businesses and residential users with high-speed Internet access in…

FairPoint Communications announced what the network operator believes is the largest fixed WiMAX network to utilize the recently licensed 3.65 GHz frequency band in the United States. FairPoint plans to introduce broadband wireless services to underserved communities across three states - Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont - a region known as northern New England where consumers lack options for broadband Internet services. The network is being designed and implemented by Nortel using radio equipment from Airspan Networks. The operator has selected Nortel’s WiMAX network solution as one…

Michael Manna cohost of the Mobility Today Podcast and owner of T4Show has just reviewed a new accessory from our store. The 3 - 1 car charger enables the mobile warrior to always have juice and stay connected,

Apple has released an update to the iPhone. Version 2.2 is now available. Install the free iPhone 2.2 Software Update and get Google Street View, public transit and walking directions, and more.

In this video we take the Blackberry Storm outside and compare the screens to see how it stands up against the iPhone. We picked the iPhone for this test as it has won numerous awards for its outdoor viewing capability. Take a look and let us know what you think.

Our podcast is available Download the MP3 directly here Tonight Dave, Steve, Mike and Bill (URPREY) discuss in full detail the Blackberry Storm and why Dave thinks it might be the ultimate phone on the market today.

Since we were very lucky to get our hands on the Verizon Blackberry Storm we were able to learn some of the in's and outs of the device. We thought it would be important to learn more about the ways you navigate your new Blackberry Storm.

Filed under: Handsets, Samsung, Verizon Wireless, Windows Mobile, EV-DO, CDMA They're apparently not for sale yet -- stores don't even know what the pricing situation is -- but Verizon has starting shipping Samsung Omnias to at least some of its stores. For anyone not needing the global...um, "globalness" of the Saga or the QWERTY-ness of the upcoming Touch Pro, the Omnia certainly makes for an interesting option -- espeically in light of the TouchWiz support and the 5-megapixel cam. With units in stores now, it can't be long until we can actually buy these, can it?Samsung's Omnia found in…

Filed under: Handsets, RIM, Verizon Wireless We don't have official confirmation of this yet, but we're hearing from all over that Verizon's launch of the BlackBerry Storm has so far been a raging success -- from what we can tell, it's sold out nearly everywhere, and the online store is buckling under the load of thousands of eager buyers. Sounds like RIM's on track for a hit -- any of you have any luck scoring a Storm today? How'd it go? Digging the SurePress screen? Hit us up in comments![Thanks to everyone who sent this in]BlackBerry Storm sells out hard and fast originally appeared on…

Filed under: Multimedia Great news for all you aspiring paparazzi -- it looks like someone has finally figured out how to eliminate that nasty camera phone shutter lag. By sending image data directly to the camera's display and capturing it as a modified SpeedTagged JPEG when the time comes to immortalize that precious moment (or romantic indiscretion), the Scalado Camera Solution not only takes nigh-on instantaneous photos, but also provides high quality, real-time preview, pan and zoom. With several camera phone sensor and module manufacturers (including Aptina, OmniVision Samsung, and…

Filed under: Handsets, RIM, Verizon Wireless, GSM, EDGE, EV-DO, HSDPA, UMTS, CDMA If the BlackBerry Storm's $199.99 retail price on contract after rebate isn't sitting particularly well with you, there's an alternative you may want to investigate. LetsTalk, purveyors of the free Bold, have outdone themselves with a rebate-laden $99 Storm; granted, the catch is that you've got to sign up for a plan package of $69.99 or higher, but let's be honest -- plenty of Storm buyers are going to be doing just that anyway.[Via BlackBerryNews]Get a Storm for a C-note less than usual originally appeared on…

Filed under: MiscThe GSM Association has been gung-ho about near-field communications (NFC) for a good while now, but just recently at a meeting in Macau did it take the opportunity to officially proclaim its support for NFC and Carrier ENUM. As for the former, it's urging manufacturers to have NFC technology (which is most commonly used for mobile payment systems) in "mainstream mobile phones by mid-2009 by using the standardized single wire protocol (SWP) interface, which enables communications between NFC hardware and a SIM card." Furthermore, it gave a hearty thumbs-up to ENUM (previously…

By Sinead Carew (Reuters) Qualcomm Inc, seeking to cut costs in the face of slowing demand for cell phones, has stopped developing a next-generation wireless technology called Ultra Mobile Broadband and is making small-scale layoffs. The wireless chip maker will instead put its resources into a rival high-speed technology called Long Term Evolution, which some of its major customers, such as Verizon Wireless, have backed, said Qualcomm Chief Executive Paul Jacobs. Jacobs told an annual analysts’ meeting on Thursday that there are no plans to undertake “a large layoff across the…

Novatel Wireless Inc. announced the continued evolution of its USB product line with the introduction of the Ovation MC760 Micro Modem. The MC760 is the world’s smallest EV-DO Rev. A USB modem, weighing less than an ounce and measuring just over two inches long. The MC760 supports all computing devices equipped with Type A USB ports, including most desktops, notebooks and PDAs, to provide instant mobile broadband access anywhere a cellular signal is available. With out of the box support for a variety of operating systems including Windows (Vista, XP, 2000), Mac and Linux, the MC760…

by Jeff Orr, Editor Mobile Broadband News HTC announced the dual-radio GSM/WiMAX T8290 handheld, dubbed “MAX 4G”, today. Rumors and photos surfaced last month of an HTC Windows Mobile device with a Russian user interface and claims of WiMAX support. Russian operator Scartel and HTC Corporation today announced the dual protocol handset as a featured device for its Yota mobile WiMAX service. Voice calls over the cellular GSM service use a SIM card from a range of Russian network operators. When both callers are using the Yota WiMAX network, the call will automatically be routed as a…

Icomera AB announced that its Moovbox technology has been selected to provide real-time communications for a trial of live CCTV on London buses to improve public safety. 21st Century CCTV, a division of TG21 plc, has equipped twenty-one double-decker buses in North London with the technology, which allows live images to be transmitted to a central control center shared by officers from TfL (Transport for London) and the Metropolitan Police’s Transport Operational Command Unit. The six-month trial on behalf of TfL will monitor and analyse the use of the technology to decide whether it…

According to research firm The NPD Group, Apple’s iPhone 3G surpassed the top-ranked Motorola RAZR as the leading handset purchased by adult consumers (NPD does not currently track corporate/enterprise handset purchases) in the U.S. in the third quarter (Q3) of 2008. RAZR had been ranked by NPD as the top-selling consumer handset for the past 12 quarters. Even with stronger consumer sales of iPhone, and the mobile phone market’s normal seasonal uplift after Q2, domestic handset purchases by adult consumers declined 15 percent year over year in Q3 to 32 million units. Consumer…

That’s a bit of a grotesque-sounding headline, isn’t it? But it’s true. This handset is one of those designed for older people with limited manual dexterity and no experience with mobile phone technology. It’s got a simple layout and basic high-contrast screen, easy-to-set quickdial buttons, and no features to speak of other than text messaging and an FM radio (oldsters love that stuff). We tried to set my Grandma up with some Motorola flip phone last year and it was a disaster. This HandleEasy is something the Greatest Generation (and their retiring, non-tech-savvy…

According to a Reuters report, there was 200+ CrackBerry addicts waiting this morning at the mid-town Manhattan Verizon store for the BlackBerry Storm and most of them were turned away due to supply levels. The report then states, The angry customers caused a ruckus and police came to restore order. Really? The police had to be called to calm down middle-aged suits? What’s wrong with these poeple. Plus, did anyone read all the crappy reviews? We ran a poll here on the site and 44% stated that they had purchasing plans for the Storm, but a 200 person line is iPhone-impressive. Even…

Further proving that security through (very, very light) obscurity isn’t a good means of keeping things secret, a new beta version of Yahoo’s Mobile Front Page (generally known as just m.yahoo.com) has been found hiding just one character away from the beta announced to the public back in January. Where as the public beta can be found at beta.m.yahoo.com, our tipster dug up the new version by instead navigating to beta2.m.yahoo.com. Unfortunately, it seems we weren’t supposed to see this just yet; within a half-hour of us reaching out to Yahoo! for comment, the page had…

The calendar now reads November 21st and, just as expected, iPhone firmware 2.2 has been released to the masses. Seeing as a pretty good number of developers have had their hands on test versions of 2.2 for sometime now, and as NDAs generally turn to pudding after a few hundred people are in on the secret, we’ve had a pretty good idea of what this release would bring to the table for a while. For the sake of those who may have missed a day or two, though, we’ll recap: Safari’s address bar/search has been tweaked a bit, apps now request a rating upon deletion, over-the-air…

Things were a bit quiet around here yesterday due to an all day field-trip to Nokia in San Diego (more on that soon - likely tomorrow evening), but we’re back. First news of the morning comes via tip from Sean. Sometime yesterday, Samsung made an update (MR4, Version BJ20) available for the Instinct with at least one feature that many users have been anxiously awaiting: keyboard support in Java applications. Update: Some Java applications, it seems. While it works with Opera Mini, readers have mentioned that other applications are still keyboard-less This is something users have been…

Venture Beat reviews some envisioneering projects from Nokia Research Labs in Palo Alto, California. They include a bunch of next-generation technologies that are genuinely innovative, including phones that can tell us what we’re looking at and devices that morph their forms from watch to tablet to phone as needed. Henry Tirri, senior vice president and head of Nokia Research, said, “We’re talking about going way beyond just replicating a computer on a phone,” he said. “We want to provide the user with the right context that they need at the time when they need it. This is the…

Wireless Week says technology companies such as TeleNav and WebTech Wireless have seen a jump in revenue because of enterprise interest in using location-based services (LBS) and telematics services. WebTech, which has headquarters in Vancouver, Canada, reported a 36% increase in year-over-year revenue through July. Home Depot is using TeleNav Track to monitor its home inspection line of business and has seen a 300% increase in productivity by using wireless forms on BlackBerry devices, said Sal Dhanani, co-founder and senior marketing director of TeleNav (right). WebTech Wireless recently…

Informa Telecoms & Media is forecasting one billion HSPA subscribers and 103 million WiMAX subscribers by 2013, world-wide. Of course that’s somewhat comparing apples to oranges. HSPA is a 3G cellular technology. It usually tops out between 500-750kbps, while WiMAX might be considered a “4G” technology, and is expected to deliver 2 Mbps or more. LTE, cellular’s “4G” technology, will likely deliver similar speeds to Mobile WiMAX, but it will be 2010 before it’s ready. It may be 5 years (around 2013) before LTE is commercially available in big…

At the LA Auto Show, Mercedes showed off their Web-Connected myComand, which takes on BMW’s iDrive. One big difference is that myCOMAND is connected to the web, grabbing information wirelessly and presenting it through their own on-screen apps, explains Gizmodo. It features: Off-board navigation: The GPS is constantly updated, from the maps to the points of interests. It also has a satellite overview and the search language is open: you can write directions without having to follow a format. It looks like the are plugging into Google Maps for this one, although I’m not sure how…

Clearwire shareholders decided Thursday it would be a good thing to collect $3.2 billion from Google, Intel, Comcast, Time Warner and team up with Sprint to build a new national high-speed wireless network, says the Kansas City Star. “Today, our shareholders have taken a transformative step toward enabling an entirely new mobile Internet experience for consumers and businesses across the country,” Benjamin Wolff, chief executive officer of Clearwire, said in a statement. “With an unmatched spectrum portfolio, a next generation all IP network, an ever-expanding ecosystem of mobile 4G…

I am still trying to get my head around this article on Gearlog that points out that Apple notebooks throttle the CPU performance if you run them plugged in without a battery installed.  They discovered this "feature" by accident while performing benchmarks with different types of RAM.  They kept seeing different results and then figured out that the benchmarks run on the MacBook Pro while plugged in but without the battery installed consistently clocked in with 37% lower performance. You may want to read that last sentence again.  If you pull the battery out of your…

We've been long-time fans of Screenium for the Mac. It's a great screen-capture tool that just got greater... er, better. MacWorld says that version 1.06 adds support for multiple webcams like the iSight on a Mac. This allows you to create your screencast but also capture your own picture so folks can see your facial expressions when you totally hose up the screencast. Well, maybe I'm the only one that happens to. I gave the new feature a quick try by showing how easy that shared Google Docs drop and drag feature works in Gmail and the results are pretty good. Next time I'll have to make sure…

It's hard not to ask the question that many folks are already asking over on the Windows Live FolderShare Team blog. In reaction to an announcement that FolderShare is going away and getting replaced with Windows Live Sync, the obvious question is: why Live Sync and not Live Mesh? It's a fair puzzle to be perplexed over and it echoes the same sentiment we've had for a few years now: why have all of these overlapping tools in the Windows Live world? I'm sure there are very good technical or platform reasons that these overlaps exist. Perhaps too much time, effort and money have been thrown at…

Folks living in the browser will appreciate this quick-and-easy tidbit of a feature shown over at Digital Inspirations. You can now share a Google Doc simply with a drag-and-drop right in Gmail. First, you'll need the Google Doc gadget that we mentioned back in October so that your Docs will appear in your Gmail sidebar. Once you have it there, simply drag the document link into an e-mail and you've got an active hyperlink that will share the doc with your e-mail recipient. It's a small touch, but definitely handy for sharing docs. Note that you could already search for docs in the gadget…

I just visited the Verizon Wireless web site to see if I would qualify for the $199 price that is appearing everywhere.  This is basically a $249 price less a $50 mail-in rebate.  What I found online really surprised me, after inputting my account information they gave me the $199 price and took another $100 off for the "new every 2" discount.  I didn't buy one but it sure is tempting at just $99.

Casio unveiled its 5.2M camera phone, model 830CA, featuring face detection and auto-focus functions, which will be available in Japan at the end of November via SoftBank. The handset incorporates a 3" display with 240x427 resolution, supports HSDPA, 1-Seg and a global roaming service. Color options include white, black, orange and ...

Huawei said that they will provide LTE/SAE infrastructure to mobile operators based on multi-standard base stations and their first commercial LTE/SAE network is expected to be ready by June 2009. "The rapid development and benefits of wireless technology has seen mobile broadband evolve from UMTS / HSPA / HSPA+ to LTE ...

Motorola, Inc. announced it has completed the industry’s first over-the-air Long-Term Evolution (LTE) data sessions in the 700 MHz spectrum using its LTE Radio Access Test Network and LTE eNode-B platform with a prototype LTE device. This testing milestone, achieved in Motorola labs and at an outdoor location in central ...

According to research from the analyst firm Berg Insight, the number of machines connected to mobile networks in Europe will grow by 34.2% in 2008 and reach 14.1 million at the year-end. Growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 32.9%, the number of connections is projected to reach ...

According to research firm The NPD Group, Apple's iPhone 3G surpassed the top-ranked Motorola RAZR as the leading handset purchased by adult consumers (NPD does not currently track corporate/enterprise handset purchases) in the U.S. in the third quarter (Q3) of 2008. RAZR had been ranked by NPD as the top-selling ...

With the shareholder approval finally taken care of, the massive deal to build a new nationwide WiMax network under the Clearwire (Nasdaq: CLWR) name can (finally!) now begin in earnest. While those of us who have been following the events over the past year know pretty much what is on Clearwire’s immediate to-do list, for those who are playing catch-up may we suggest you order the new, updated version of our WiMax report, which includes a comprehensive study of the “new” Clearwire WiMax deal and its $3.2 billion of investment from a group that includes Google, Comcast,…

Tropos Networks is hosting a webinar featuring Jimmy Bagley, CIO of Rock Hill, South Carolina, on 11 December 2008 at 10:00 Pacific Time. Mr. Bagley will talk about the wireless broadband infrastructure deployed by Rock Hill to support municipal services. He will explain how various municipal departments are using the network: Police - for high-speed access to information at the precinct and on the Internet from in-vehicle PCs Fire – for communicating dispatch information and pre-plans while en route, saving valuable time in emergencies Mobile city workers – for inspectors (building,…

Nearly every online tech publication, including this one, has written about the AT&T announcement offering free Wi-Fi access to iPhone users at Starbucks. Unfortunately in at least two Starbucks locations — Bush Street at Grant in San Francisco and California Avenue in Palo Alto — it’s not working. Indeed AT&T’s splash page sends users to T-Mobile! Here’s a note I received from an iPhone user today: I went to the Starbucks on California Ave. in Palo Alto. My iPhone shows two SSIDs: ATT and T-Mobile. I chose the ATT one, but when opening the browser on my…

Blyk, the European MVNO targeting 16-to-24 year olds, has raised 40 million EUR in a third round of funding. I’ve written about Blyk’s unusual business model — free phone calls and text messages in exchange for viewing MMS and SMS advertising. While it might sound like “free WiFi in exchange for ads”, there’s a big difference. Blyk is using existing networks, not building its own, by buying wholesale capacity from operators such as Vodafone. It also acts as a consultant and mobile ad platform for large companies that target young people. Moreover, not…

Glenn Fleishman has written an analysis of municipal wireless networking, tracing its development from large citywide “free” networks (which did not get built out) to smaller, more targeted networks (Minneapolis, Oklahoma City). He focuses much of the article on mesh vendor Meraki’s strategy: unwiring small neighborhoods, apartment complexes and downtown areas. EarthLink’s pullout from the municipal wireless market, the failiure of wireless ISPs such as Kite Networks and MetroFi, and more importantly, the financial crisis which has drained cities and businesses of…

One of the panels I moderated yesterday at the Open Mobile Summit was focused on US regulatory trends around open access, focusing on this year's 700MHz auctions, and also recent moves to free up spare spectrum in what are known as "white spaces". One of the speakers was from the FCC, so I got a pretty definitive view on what's going on and why.For those people not familiar with the US White Space phenomenon, I thought I'd give a quick round-up of what it's all about:- In the US, there are many areas that have spare (unused) channels among the TV broadcast spectrum. Because of the regional…

I've seen various pitches from Google about mobile. In particular, I've seen several Android presentations over the last year.Each one looks less convincing than the last. I've just been watching Rich Miner speaking at the Open Mobile Summit, and although the developer story looks fairly well-articulated, I just think that some of the wider back-story about mobile looks tired, and the assumptions and world-view seem too simplisitic.One slide seemed to suggest that hardware cost as a % of handset bill-of-materials is falling, making the software cost more important as a way of driving down…

The other day, I wrote a post about the need for some form of forum representing end-users of mobile phones, which could define true requirements for handset manufacturers . I contrasted this with the current, highly-biased requirements-setting bodies, whose demands are derived from the desires of the mobile operators, rather than the actual preferences and best interests of real customers.The GSMA has kindly illustrated my point for me, pronouncing its views on the "need" for handset manufacturers to hurry up with putting NFC into phones - based on a model which would see the SIM card…

Some good stuff this week on the Carnival, plus a big thank-you to the author for the kind words about this blog. I really liked Andrew Grill's post on mobile advertising.Actually, I have to confess I didn't realise what Mippin actually was - basically an easy way to reformat sites like blogs to work better on handsets. Now I've checked it out, I may use it myself.

Answer: when T-Mobile uses the word "UMA" as its network ID for all roaming customers, instead of "T-Mobile US".No idea why this happens - initially on an unlocked Nokia E71 with a T-Mobile SIM (I thought it maybe had a "hidden" UMA stack and auto-logged on to the SFO Airport network, until I switched off the WiFi). Then I got the same tag on my non-WiFi SonyEricsson, and realised the answer must be simpler.I'm pretty sure it's always just said "T-Mobile US" when I've been here in the past.

I’ve been a full-time blogger for 3 months now (check out my day job blog MobileAppsToday.com). I’m pretty happy to be working alone and uninterrupted most of the time. But, it is nice to interact with real people now and then too. Although I used Twitter before making this job-lifestyle change, it has become invaluable [...]

Ha! I noticed Michael Gartenberg, who is my blog-neighbor MobileDevicesToday (I edit MobileAppsToday), asked… Is the Zune the Rodney Dangerfield of technology? Then, Roy Furchgott on The New York Times said… Google Phone Is the New Zune So, I guess… T-Mobile G1 == Zune == Rodney Dangerfield

I was just reading a good review of the new Celio Redfly C8N terminal companion for Windows Mobile smartphones over on Brighthand… Celio Redfly C8N Review It looks like Celio listened to potential customers who told them their $500 price for the original model was way too high for a dumb terminal. The new C8N comes in [...]

Apple, RIM (Blackberry), and Samsung are above the J.D. Powers industry average score for smartphone satisfaction… J.D. Power: Apple’s iPhone top dog in customer satisfaction …but Windows Mobile device manufacturers HTC, Motorola, and Palm are all below the average. Samsung also makes WiMo devices. There are a couple of interesting findings reported in the J.D. Powers press release… J.D. [...]

I launched a new weekly feature over on my day-job-blog: MobileAppsToday.com called App of the Week. The recognition cuts across all the major mobile smartphone platforms. You can find the announcement and the first App of the Week, Ilium Software’s eWallet, at… MobileAppsToday App of the Week Category I think I can do a pretty good job [...]

Frank Meehan, CEO of 3 UK's custom handset manufacturer INQ, is sounding dangerously like he (and hopefully, by extension, 3) have some sort of clue. This would be dangerous new territory for an operator, hitherto not known for getting much except the value of fat voice revenues.I clicked on the link explaining the new 3 Facebook phone with some trepidation, expecting it to be the standard load of 2.0 rubbish, but was met with the following quote:"Communications is what the mobile industry should be about. The industry has forgotten its core roots; to make communication easy. Operators are…

A friend just tried to upgrade his SkypePhone to the new Skypephone S2 on the 3UK network - he is 14 months in to an 18 month contract. The prices he could pay:£105 to upgrade 4 months early (with all the lock-ins of a new contract);£76 to purchase a reconditioned used handset;£60 to buy a brand new Pay As You Go handset (which he could use with his contract SIM).Would anyone at 3 like to explain how that possibly makes sense?I guess at least if you buy the reconditioned one it ought to work, wheras maybe the new PAYG one will have to take a trip to the repair shop before it's usable?

Ubiquitous Thoughts decided to include our last post on this week's Carnival of the Mobilists despite the cynicism, nice :)This week's Carnival also has some other good posts, and something from Ajit.

Congratulations today must go to iSkoot, "the company that brought Skype to mobile phones" (well technically, only one of the companies to do that as Skype themselves have done it too, as have a whole raft of other companies with even shallower business models than Skype itself).They have now raised a $19m third round of funding from some people in suits, bringing their total fleecing investment up to $33m.The purpose for this cash injection was to build an applications platform for AT&T. Presumably AT&T want this platform so much, they won't pay for it - but presumably the suits…

Pepsi UK have been persuaded to roll out a massive QR code promotion on cans of toothrot, which should hopefully prove once and for all that slick marketing agency types should not be trusted, and QR codes are a waste of time outside of Japan. This is not news but I reckon this may be the biggest amount of money wasted proving it in the UK...I ran into someone at an event a few weeks back who had a QR code attached to her name badge, and one on her business card - guessing the answer, I asked her why. She said I could quickly snap it with my phone to get her contact details... then did admit…

President-elect Obama used technology to motivate his base and get the vote out. What’s phenomenal about it is that he came from practically nowhere two years ago, and despite running against established rivals - first Hillary Clinton and John Edwards, and then John McCain - managed to take the White House by a landslide. And mobile technology was there to help. Today, an aide for the transition team announced that future White House press briefings may include a “mobile component” to keep Americans informed of the “select developments” they care about when…

Jim Shilale, the VP of business development for 2ergo, guides the sales outreach for 2ergo in the U.S. More than most, he is a man who understands how to help agencies and advertisers realize the value of mobile marketing. Today, Mr. Shilale released an article addressing why advertisers should turn to mobile even during an economic slowdown. And as news emerges of faltering marketing firms on a daily basis, it’s crunch time for some advertisers to make a dent and capture the remaining consumer spending that still exists. With the economy continuing its downward spiral, marketers, brand…

T-Mobile has decided, effective immediately, that it will no longer require marketers and other senders of commercial, non-premium SMS to have double opt-in for their subscribers. Double opt-in, in case you don’t know, is the process in which a marketer ensures that a subscriber really did mean to sign up to receive marketing SMS messages. Usually (including in the case of T-mobile) it means that after the consumer sends a keyword to a short code, the marketer sends the person message asking to confirm the subscription by texting back the word YES. There’s two sides to this news.

Have a short code that you want to get rid of? Do you have a non-premium short code already approved on all major carriers–and you are not doing anything with it? Are you getting ready to decommission your short code? If so, don’t let it expire. There may be some money in it for you! Please contact editor@mobilemarketingwatch.com right away to learn more. Share This

Whoop, Inc. is releasing - get ready - the first ever Whoop Mobile Marketing Manifesto. It’s okay. I chuckled considerably upon hearing the name of this thing too. A primer to some, a white paper to others, and blue print for how companies and their agencies can tackle the explosive mobile marketing arena, the Whoop Mobile Marketing Manifesto is being hyped as offering “solid, how-to information on rich media mobile applications, mobile web site development and simple SMS/text initiatives.” I’m sure, however, that some will find this piece far more promotional than…

Operators jam the jammer The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has offered to work with South Carolina's prison boss to find a way to prevent mobile phones being used in prisons, but industry body the CTIA is calling on the FCC to get a court order preventing anyone from demonstrating the technology.…

SIM manufacturer in strategic deal with pipe dream BlueSky Positioning, the company that promised to have GPS working in a SIM by June last year, has entered a "strategic relationship" with respected SIM manufacturer Sagem Orga.…

Farewell then, UIQ The death of UIQ deserves a footnote for posterity – and a chance to take look back at a decade in which almost everything that everyone predicted for mobile data proved to be wrong. Given the way the market turned out, it didn't stand a chance.…

Verizon staff caught snooping Staff at Verizon face disciplinary action after accessing Barack Obama's phone bill and taking a peek at who the president elect had been calling.…

Hoping to make it big in the flicks Continuing to distance itself from boring-old mobile phones, Nokia has announced plans to open a research lab in Hollywood packed with movie executives rather than those engineers the company so recently laid off in Finland.…

I am still trying to get my head around this article on Gearlog that points out that Apple notebooks throttle the CPU performance if you run them plugged in without a battery installed.  They discovered this "feature" by accident while performing benchmarks with different types of RAM.  They kept seeing different results and then figured out that the benchmarks run on the MacBook Pro while plugged in but without the battery installed consistently clocked in with 37% lower performance. You may want to read that last sentence again.  If you pull the battery out of your…

We've been long-time fans of Screenium for the Mac. It's a great screen-capture tool that just got greater... er, better. MacWorld says that version 1.06 adds support for multiple webcams like the iSight on a Mac. This allows you to create your screencast but also capture your own picture so folks can see your facial expressions when you totally hose up the screencast. Well, maybe I'm the only one that happens to. I gave the new feature a quick try by showing how easy that shared Google Docs drop and drag feature works in Gmail and the results are pretty good. Next time I'll have to make sure…

It's hard not to ask the question that many folks are already asking over on the Windows Live FolderShare Team blog. In reaction to an announcement that FolderShare is going away and getting replaced with Windows Live Sync, the obvious question is: why Live Sync and not Live Mesh? It's a fair puzzle to be perplexed over and it echoes the same sentiment we've had for a few years now: why have all of these overlapping tools in the Windows Live world? I'm sure there are very good technical or platform reasons that these overlaps exist. Perhaps too much time, effort and money have been thrown at…

Folks living in the browser will appreciate this quick-and-easy tidbit of a feature shown over at Digital Inspirations. You can now share a Google Doc simply with a drag-and-drop right in Gmail. First, you'll need the Google Doc gadget that we mentioned back in October so that your Docs will appear in your Gmail sidebar. Once you have it there, simply drag the document link into an e-mail and you've got an active hyperlink that will share the doc with your e-mail recipient. It's a small touch, but definitely handy for sharing docs. Note that you could already search for docs in the gadget…

I just visited the Verizon Wireless web site to see if I would qualify for the $199 price that is appearing everywhere.  This is basically a $249 price less a $50 mail-in rebate.  What I found online really surprised me, after inputting my account information they gave me the $199 price and took another $100 off for the "new every 2" discount.  I didn't buy one but it sure is tempting at just $99.

Here is a short overview I put together from this weeks updates. On the official Facebook blog, there was a short message about mobile Facebook. It said that there were over 15 million active Facebook mobile users, either from the normal m.facebook.com version, or from the extended iPhone, Blackberry, and other smartphone versions x.facebook.com. It will [...]

Another quick data research is here, this time it’s time for Europe’s largest mobile web country - United Kingdom. The mobile web in UK is evolving quickest in Europe. I’ve been quite surprised about the mobile web growth recently, it’s growing especially thank to operators creating better and more affordable data packages.  UK population: 60 [...]

Opinions in Mobile, the online platform in the mobile industry that HungryMobile brings you, has launched the first question during the last week. The question was specifically: “Who do you think will have the main role in the mobile portals world in the next 2 years? Do you think the operators or the OEM’s, or [...]

We are launching a portal on our HungryMobile site, called Opinions in Mobile. Opinions in Mobile is a market driven portal, which is aimed at key industry areas, areas of required focus or areas of interest on the market. Several key industry people (further referred to as Opinion Leaders) have agreed to participate in Opinions in [...]

I would like to end this review of Google mobile services with an ending article. Not to only critisize Google’s services, which was part of what I’ve done in the articles in the past two weeks. Of course, what can be better with Google then Google Maps. Google Maps Mobile is available throughout all different [...]

Take a look around your desk - you've probably got a charger or two sitting there all day, everyday plugged into a power socket. You charge your phone in for an hour or two each and every day to top up but that's probably it. Most phone chargers draw power when not in use, and that some chargers draw considerably more power than others. Around two thirds of energy consumed by owning a mobile phone is lost in this way - it's obviously something that all manufacturers can improve on. One step in the right direction is in giving consumers clear and informed choices about what it is they are…

Today's fivedollarcomparisons: delivery of (priceless) pieces of art to a nearby gallery in Seoul (photo by Ron Saunders) versus delivery of a relieved tourist on a one way burro ride to the east crater lake Laguna del Quiotao, Equador (Xona808) versus delivery of a human being - a taxi ride within the city limits with an English driver in Kabul - a city with a high degree of kidnap paranoia (your's truly). Want to participate? Uploading is easy here.

Want to know what you sound like to others? Cup your hand around your ear and speak. To what extent does knowing what you sound like change what you decide to say? Been playing around with the new glimpse-the-future Google voice search application for the iPhone, that copes with my Caucasian-male-non-Californian voice with an unnerving mixture of precision and humour. Yeah, voice search has been around for a while - just not quite so accessible. How do the things that people search for using voice differ from those that are typed in - not only in terms of complexity but in terms of content?

Today's five dollar comparisons: a live chicken from Kabale (photo by Ben Konrath), Uganda versus 228g of Mortadella ham from Rio de Janeiro (William Yau) versus Spicy Duck Necks from Shanghai Airport (ED209uk). The ham slices are eating at a leisurely pace, the live chicken is as much as can be eaten by a local family in one sitting - a lack of refrigeration for this family in Kabale means that any food left overnight would go off by the morning, and spicy duck necks are souvineers with little likelihood of ever being eaten. Food for thought, eh? Want to participate? Uploading is easy here.

Photos above taken from the fivedollarcomparson.org site - they make more sense with the notes posted here You're on your way to meet up with friends and only realise after 5 minutes that you've left your mobile phone at home - what do you do? If you're like me you mutter a curse under your breath, retrace your steps and retrieve your phone. But what the cost of obtaining a new phone was radically different than today, what if you could pick up a new phone at the convenience store or from a vending machine for only $5 - and painlessly sync your contacts and other personal data from the…

New stats are out on wireless penetration in Canada. ” A new Harris/Decima survey finds that 72% of Canadian households now have access to a wireless phone, up from 64% in 2006. Commissioned by the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA)” it gets better “Canadians continue to be some of the most enthusiastic mobile phone users in the world” said Bernard Lord, CWTA President and CEO. Than you Bernard, give us a second while we try and mop up the vomit of sycophantic incredulity now splattered down our shirt fronts. As we work on that, how about a…

It’s been a while since we first wrote about fonolo, and in the meantime this cool little startup is finally getting closer to launch. Fonolo is one of those tools that should have been invented a long time ago, it enables you to visualize call center or IVR trees and dial directly in to the place (or agent) you want to talk to. The service is looking good with a lot more companies added since the last time we looked. A couple features we’d still like to see are a) an ability to save your account numbers in the service to dial deeper b) where are the telco’s? If you want to…

That’s what it looks like this morning. Discuss.

Alex reminds us that Mobile Monday Toronto returns tonight. Here are the details if you are in town: Topic: Mobile User Interfaces - Creating Engaging Customer Experiences Guest Speaker: Mr. Hanni Doch Director, New Products Rogers Wireless We return to our regular venue: Dunedain Multimedia Inc. 110 Spadina Avenue, Studio 700

The new entrant formerly known as 6934579 Canada Inc. (or on this blog as the Tirabassi mystery co.) has come clean on their plans for the Canadian Market. You may recall that 6934579 was an entrant than came out swinging early in the auction before settling on an somewhat oddball piece of spectrum (the G band) just off to the right of the main AWS band. A corner of spectrum poo-pooed by the big GSM players like Nokia/Ericson as orphan spectrum not really useful for anything. But apparently not so… Alek Krstajic the new CEO of of BMV Holdings (real brand name TBD) gave us a call…

Palm, Inc. is laying an undisclosed number of employees off, both in the U.S. and in other countries, as it tries to reinvent its products in tough economic times.

The newly-released iPhone 2.2 update brings a number of enhancements, many of which are related to Google Maps.

Thanks to a slip-up from Samsung, there's virtually no room for doubt that Verizon will soon release a version of the Omnia, a touchscreen-oriented Windows Mobile smartphone.

T-Mobile USA has increased the price it charges smartphone customers for an unlimited wireless data plan.

Nokia and IBM have announced that official support for Lotus Notes is coming to a number of Nokia's S60-based phones.

Rumor: PalmInfocenter has received a couple of unconfirmed reports that Palm Inc. has had a round of layoffs this week. One report from a reliable source claims as many as 200 people were let go from the US team on Thursday. Most of the cuts are claimed to be in the sales and marketing departments. Sources also postulate that Palm will be closing some offices in Europe and Asia as well. The news comes during a rather rough week for Palm's stock and the US stock market in general. Shares in Palm closed at a new all time low over continued uncertainly about the general economy and Palm's long…

While certainly a slim and sleek device, the Treo Pro's smaller formfactor is a major factor in its reduced battery capacity compared to its older Treo brethren. Despite the substantial improvement made in the new Treo Pro's stock battery over the meager 1150mAh offering found in the Treo 800w and Centro, many power users have still been clamoring for a higher-capacity battery alternative. Fortunately, longtime accessory specialists Seidio have come to the rescue once again with the surprising release of a new 1650mAh extended OEM-size battery for the Treo Pro. The new Seidio 1650mAh Innocell…

Since its announcement in August rumors have been about of a CDMA variant of the Treo Pro smartphone. A good three months later and still all we have is speculation and more rumors. Today the Boy Genius Report is throwing another one out there, this time claiming the Treo Pro will debut on Sprint in early 2009. The BGR report does not name any sources or provide any supporting evidence, thought they do claim to have a release date of January 11th (a Sunday). Nevertheless, there has been some recent evidence to support a upcoming Treo Pro release on Sprint. In late October a log entry showed…

Palm's stock price dropped another 21% today to close at 1.76. It nearly goes without saying that the todays price represents a new all time low. On a day where the Dow closed below 8,000 and the Nasdaq under 1,400, Palm ended the trading day with a $192 million market cap. Like most other equities in the past couple of months, the stock has seen sharp declines since the current economic crisis emerged. Just over two weeks ago the stock received a double dose of downgrades from financial analysts on account of slowing sales and uncertainty surrounding Palm's long planned turnaround.

Bapsoft has released a new version of its Bubble Pop game for Palm OS. Bubble Pop is a colorful puzzle game with a simple yet highly addictive design. Your goal is to empty the bubble tank by popping bubbles in groups of three or more. You'll have to be quick to complete each level before your time runs out. The latest version features improved graphics and sound effects as well at the ability to auto-save your game so you can return at any time and pickup where you left off. Bubble Pop v2.0 is available now for $14.95. A free trial period is included. The game is compatible with devices with…

I’ve been working with Aaron from Arkon for a while and they have been strong supporters of the site all the way back to early Aximsite days. Getting in gear for our 5 Year Anniversary contests, Aaron decided to start early by knocking more than 50% off the price of these Dell Axim X50/51 Mounts. DM320 : Docking Powered Mount for Dell Axim X50, X51v For use with Dell Axim X50, X50V, X51, X51V Industry’s most powerful speaker High-quality, built-in, hands-free function (with microphone and noise cancellation) Docking PDA-specific power connector To grab this mount for only $9.99,…

Hi all. I would like to invite you to a poll I’m conducting with a clear purpose to find out, once and for all - what is the best smartphone in the world! Since it’s not an accurate science, and since many of the new devices have similar specifications but different reviews, I decided to let the readers decide by asking a simple question: If price and operator were not part of your considerations: Which Smartphone would you purchase? I can bet the letters ‘I’, ‘H’, ‘T’, ‘C’ and ‘X’ will be very popular in the votes but…

I don’t get out into the Black Friday traffic much, but if I did, a tool to make my shopping easier would definately be in order. I caught a post in our forums about this application and thought it sounded really neat. I haven’t tried it, but I do wonder if the deals are “pre-populated” by the author or if you have to enter all this in from the leaked ads all over the place. If you don’t mind dropping $5, this might be a  worthwhile tool to plan your Black Friday war. A smart shopping tool running on Pocket PC to make your BlackFriday shopping plan. You can…

As I was looking around for bluetooth solution today I saw that Callpod has introduced the Dragon V2 (DV2) headset.  It looks very interesting and I thought I would share it with you. Not only is it for your device, but it can be used with VOIP products. The DV2 gives users the powerful combination of unparalleled range and superior sound quality. The original Dragon Bluetooth headset and Phoenix, a Bluetooth mobile conferencing system were both 2008 Innovation Award Honorees. In addition, Callpod created the Chargepod, a well-received 6-in-1 portable gadget charging solution. The Dragon…

Concerned about losing your laptop on the road?  Here is a simple solution from from Syfer that just might be a solution for you. Did you ever hesitate to leave your laptop for a few minutes in a public space like a library? Afraid that someone will take your laptop? Now there is a simple and free solution to this problem! Laptop Alarm will ring a loud alarm if someone will try to steal your laptop! When the laptop is disconnected from AC-power (someone pulls the AC adapter plug out) or someone removes or moves the USB mouse the alarm will go off. Version 1.2 adds Mouse movement…

The GBM staff will be working on some articles taking a look back at 2008 and looking forward to 2009, but we’d love to hear from you first. Get out your crystal ball and tell us what you think mobile tech will look like in 2009. What’s going to be hot or not?

I don’t have my Tablet PC with me today to check this out right now, but Inker looks like a great way to enhance the TIP.   Make sure and watch the video of the replacement TIP on their site.  It’s looks very useful, especially when inputting text in the console window.  Report back on your thoughts! Also of note - The beta version will say it’s thru Dec 1st - but don’t fret over that short eval time - they will release a newer beta before that date.  Below are a few differences from the original TIP, visit the Inker home page for a full list…

One of the best sites around for inside Windows 7 information is from Microsoft themselves - the Engineering Windows 7 blog. In their latest posting, they give an in depth look at the new Taskbar by first going back 23 years to examine the Taskbar in Windows 1.01. They then come full circle to take a look at new features in the Win 7 Taskbar like Peek, Aero, etc and how they came about. Very interesting reading for those who like the “back story”. We were very excited to unveil elements of the Windows 7 desktop at this year’s Professional Developers Conference (as seen in the…

I was just granted access to the new Gmail Themes.  I am really enjoying what I see, it’s great to have something a little different to look at while reading your mail.  In the past I had been using Better Gmail from Lifehacker, but now I can change it up even more.  Currently I am using the Mountains theme… cause here in the Midwest, after living in Colorado, I miss the topography! What theme have you picked out to use??

I didn’t think of this until I saw it posted by Sarah Perez on Channel 10, but it just makes sense for those who use Windows Live Writer as a blogging tool and have multiple computers. You can save your drafts in Windows Live Writer to a Live Mesh enabled folder and then have the accessible across all of your Mesh devices. If you already sync your documents folder you’ll have your My Weblogs Folder included. If not, it is simple enough to add the folder by right-clicking on it to add the folder to your mesh.

About 2 weeks ago we introduced something that we thought was very exciting, a new way to visualise data in DeviceAtlas, we called it Data Explorer. If you missed it, you can watch a screencast that explains how it works and gives a few ideas of what you can do, see Introducing the new DeviceAtlas Data Explorer. read more

Last week I posted that it was nomination time for the Open Web Awards by Mashable. Nominations have closed, and it's time to get voting. I've always wanted to say this, maybe wearing a tuxedo and under bright lights, but here goes: And the nominations in the category for best mobile application are...read more

I was reading on Techcrunch a rumor about the new UI design for Windows Mobile 6.5. See the article, Rumor: Windows Mobile 6.5 screenshot shenanigans. I quickly followed up with a blog post on my personal blog, Windows Mobile 6.5 and Zumobi, but while that writing that quick post made me think about the new UIs and trends in mobile devices. read more

On Saturday 15th November I, along with Andrea, Ruadhan and over 70 (yes you read that right, over SEVENTY) other Irish Drupalers rolled over to DIT Kevins Street for a spot of Drupal-centric discussion and joviality. read more

The 2nd Annual Open Web Awards are currently accepting nominations in a wide range of categories, including, of course, the Mobile Application category. Now would be a great time to reward those responsible creating your favorite mobile app. But be quick, nominations are only open for another 2 days (until Sunday 16th 11:59 pm PST).read more

Here’s a little early Christmas treat from O2. Anyone who signs up for any of the O2 Mobile Broadband solutions between today and Christmas Eve will be eligible to receive a Prepay Sony Ericsson T280i FREE in the post. The T280i is a straightforwards, no-nonsense candybar phone with an FM radio, Bluetooth, a 1.3 Megapixel camera and the capacity for MP3 ringtones and MMS messages – hardly cutting edge you’ll agree, but it’s a nice little stocking filler nonetheless. As a phone it’s fine; you get some 7 hours of talk time and 300 hours of standby time thanks to the…

Google have just rushed out a patch for the T-Mobile G1, after it was recently discovered that typing the word ‘reboot’ shortly after turning the device on, caused the Android phone to do just that. Google were quick to respond to user complaints and sent out the fix in the RC30 update, which was made available to UK users as of the 12th of November (this Wednesday). Rich Cannings of the Android Security Team said that; “This is definitely a big bug,” and although he admitted that there was an element of security risk, any hacker would have had a hard time getting…

More details have emerged concerning the forthcoming ‘Facebook Phone’ developed by INQ, an offshoot of Hutchinson, owners of 3 Mobile. Designed purely with social networking in mind, the INQ1 – pronounced ‘ink one’ – is a slim tablet slider phone that looks set to take the wind out of the sales of the high-falutin’ likes of Apple and T-Mobile with their fancy pants iPhones and G1s – the INQ1 will retail for the very credit-crunch friendly price of FREE on 3 contracts costing upwards of just £15 a month for 18 months. For said amount, you get unlimited…

Stand aside Zune Guy, there’s someone out there willing to go to even greater lengths to publicly declare their love of a piece of hardware via the medium of Indian ink and public self-abasement. One T.J. from Toledo, Ohio, who goes under the alias of ‘Stressed’ on the CrackBerry.com forums – ‘the #1 site for BlackBerry users and abusers’ – boldly stepped up to the plate when aforementioned website launched their ‘What Would You Do for a BlackBerry Storm?’ contest. Of the 187 BlackBerry addicts who said that they would get the image of a…

The LG Wine KF300 clamshell has just been released exclusively on the Orange network. The LG Wine is one of those whip-smart flip phones which is high on design, but not so hot on features, but is sure to attract a certain type of customer, one who wants a phone to be a phone first and foremost, but wants its looks, if not its features to be on the cutting edge. The LG Wine boasts a reflective anodized effect finish, into which is hidden a discreet exterior TFT, displaying the usual secondary screen fare; signal strength, battery life, time, that sort of thing. Much like the Sony Ericsson…

Grumpy British chef Gordon Ramsey is never kind to the restaurants he’s sent to save. One constant theme is his railing against complex food. Time and again, he shouts that simple is best. That adage could probably apply to messaging, marketing and otherwise. The downside to all the compelling technology coming out on mobile phones–from networking [...]

Last week our CEO, Jared Reitzin, wrote a guest column for Mobile Marketing Watch about the current state of short code provisioning.  For those of you familiar with the process, you know it is relatively “antiquated,” as Jared says, and pretty inefficient. There are a number of ways provisioning can be improved, and Jared offers candid advice [...]

Simplicity is key when it comes to navigation. The more simple it is, the better. Your main task is to make sure visitors aren’t lost on your site. Navigation should be available on each page of your site. The visitor should be aware of where, exactly, he/she is located on the site at every moment. The [...]

Wouldn’t you  know it: The same day of mobileStorm’s free webinar on mobile coupons last week, I saw a Harris Interactive study that emphasized the importance of coupons this holiday season. The study found that 89 percent  of online adults think coupons are a great way to save money, and that 35 percent of those who will be spending less [...]

While the homepage is your website’s face, the layout is how it looks. You want your face looking good, right? Let’s see how we can make this happen. We have already talked about design and content, and will discuss their sub-elements in upcoming posts. So today I’ll concentrate on the visual essentials of your website’s [...]

Larry posted the news about the updated Zune Pass music subscription service and after checking out the press release in detail I am going to sign back up for the monthly service. Getting to keep some songs for my own collection each month was the kicker that pushed me over the edge because now there is some real tangible value from the service in case it ever ends.

Do you have a camera-enabled phone, but don't know what to do with all of those captured images? Would you like to share those images with family and friends? Well, T-Mobile and Parrot have come together to launch the T-Mobile cameo, a MMS photo frame, that allows anyone to send photos from their cellphone to the picture frame. The T-Mobile cameo is available starting today for US$99.99 with a US$9.99 monthly recurring charge for unlimited messaging.

It has been 2 months since the major Zune 3.0 update and couple of new devices were released. Today Microsoft released the Zune 3.1 update that adds 3 new games and makes some stability and performance improvements. Also, they should be announcing a small price cut on the Zune tomorrow in time for the holidays.

Last week TeleNav announced their new Shotgun personal navigation device (PND). The Shotgun takes the tried and true TeleNav navigation software (found on many carrier phones as AT&T Navigator, Sprint Navigation, etc.) and places it on a very nice piece of hardware. I was sent an evaluation unit to check out and wanted to offer a few first impressions, along with plenty of device pics and screenshots in my image gallery and the video below. The TeleNav Shotgun is available now for US$299.

Boingo Wireless provides WiFi services all over the world and I have used them on the past in Spain and London. They have been busy adding more wireless networks and today announced that they will be providing the services for the Washington State ferry system. About 1/4 of the employees in my office ride a ferry to work in Seattle, it is the largest ferry fleet in the U.S., and so I am sure they will be happy to hear they can now standardize on Boingo and get access on the ferry and when traveling out of the State. There are 22 ferries and 11 terminals that Boingo will be working on when you…