iWallet

May 14, 2008 at 1:37 pm · Filed under Mobile messaging 2.0

While most of the industry is breathlessly anticipating the arrival of a 3G iPhone with its integrated Wide-Area Reality Distortion Field, users are continuing to utilise the Jesus Phone in unanticipated and innovative ways.

Take Albert Alberts, inspired by a story on slimming down your wallet (in size, not fiscal capacity), has stored scanned images of his plastic on his iPhone, with enough fidelity that barcode scanners can still read codes from the phone’s screen!

OK, it’s not ultra-secure or tamper-proof, but for low-risk identification, it’s entirely acceptable. There’s a spark of an interesting idea here…I’m not sure what, but tokenised temporary identifiers delivered - and paid for - by SMS/MMS could be interesting…

In the meantime, as a Muslim I should take more exception to the Jesus Phone nomenclature; we believe that Jesus was just another prophet, like Mohammed - not the Son Of Steve

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SMS: Space Messaging Scandal!

May 14, 2008 at 9:34 am · Filed under Mobile messaging 2.0

An interesting study by scientists at the UK’s University of Leicester has concluded that the cost of sending a five-penny text message is at least four-times more than the equivalent exchange with the Hubble Space Telescope…

 “The maximum size for a text message is 160 characters, which takes 140 bytes because there are only 7 bits per character in the text messaging system, and we assume the average price for a text message is 5p. There are 1,048,576 bytes in a megabyte,  so that’s 1 million/140 = 7490 text messages to transmit one megabyte. At 5p each, that’s £374.49 per MB - or about 4.4 times more expensive than the ‘most pessimistic’ estimate for Hubble Space Telescope transmission costs.”

Coverage of this story (TXTING COSTS R $£&+%$*&!, Costs of Text Messaging vs. Space Transmissions and Is Text Messaging a Rip-Off?) all seems to focus on the apparently ’scandalous’ pricing of SMS messages, however is it really fair to compare this to something as niche and narrowly focussed as a 20-year old satellite? Value, not pricing is the real story here.

Market prices for mobile broadband, photo messaging and text messaging all point to an acceptance that pricing for these categories of data transfer provide value for customers. Yes, they could all be cheaper, but these are the prices that people are prepared to pay.

Interplanetary data transfer pricing isn’t a benchmark that’s useful for most people…

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TwitterFone

May 13, 2008 at 11:43 am · Filed under Mobile messaging 2.0

Last week TwitterFone joined the universe of applications extending the popular messsaging service…actually strike that, Twitter is a messaging platform.

Founded by Cubic Telecom’s Pat Phelan, Twitterfone simply enables Twitter users to…

• record a short voice message using a regular mobile handset.
• have the message transcribed to text.
• the text is Twittered on the user’s behalf, including a URL to the original voice message.

Twitterfone’s has a couple of UI problems (instructions for ending a call are unclear) but the overall user experience is a great example of complexity concealed within simplicty.

Ostensibly, TwitterFone might appear to be a gimmicky voice-based alternative posting interface for Twitter, however as the range of Twitter applications grows from everything to home automation to parking, Twitterfone becomes a powerful vocal command line for a whole chunk of your life…

Just as landline carriers lost control of their pricing to Skype and the music industry to Apple, it seems Twitter and services such as TwitterFone will gradually erode control of text messaging and voicemail. So much for not being a dumb pipe Mr. Cellco

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Roundup: Orange Partner Camp 2008

May 10, 2008 at 4:45 pm · Filed under Mobile messaging 2.0

Orange’s annual Partner Camp wrapped up a couple weeks ago with some interesting outcomes and revelations…

• 13 new APIs to access Orange’s backed systems, including hooks into conferencing, contact, messaging, media and authentication services as well as the experimental Bubbletop start page and Pikeo photosharing services.
• The launch of a developer ‘play-zone’ and a mash pit for experimenting and developing services in a safe environment.
• A speed-dating contest, matching entrepreneurs and developers with Orange staff and their partners.

Wow, these guys don’t sound like a telco…or my old employers! Throughout the day’s events, it seems a sincere openness and collaboration was foremost on the minds of France Telecom and Orange employees. I think I need to lie down, next thing you know, Apple and Google will be making phones…doh!

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Should AP News ‘Going Mobile’ Actually Be News?

May 6, 2008 at 5:36 am · Filed under Mobile Tech, News, iPhone

Should it be news when a popular website launches a ‘mobile’ version of their site? I ask this as a flurry of sites pick up the press release from Associated Press that around 100 of their member newspapers will ‘make available’ stories on a website for the iPhone and other mobile devices.

Come on! This is the 21st century, the principle of web design where content is divorced from layout has been entrenched for years, there shouldn’t need to be a big song and dance that a web service is ‘now available’ for a certain browser. We should be in a position where everything just works, the browser is detected as the site loads, and the appropriate style sheet is selected (or ajax code delivered, or flash disabled as required, etc, etc, etc).

But we’re not, and yes I do live in the real world, and these announcements are a good thing. Because it means that the usage of mobile browsers is leaving the realms of the geekerati, and moving into the real world. Which is exactly what should be happening.

And even though I live in the real world, and think that ‘iPhone and other mobile devices’ does a huge disservice to the hundreds of other mobile browsers out there - and yet again elevates the iPhone into an interesting position where the perception of it being a game changer actually makes it a game changer.

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Apple’s iPhone losses market share

May 1, 2008 at 10:47 am · Filed under Mobile messaging 2.0, iPhone

Man Bites Dog!
Apple, Motoroloa and Sony Ericsson have lost market share in Q1 08 according to figures released by Strategy Analytics on Monday. Those regions–often overlooked in the mind of the western trade press blog media–such as Asia and Africa drove the surge in growth, compensating for sluggish demand in developed regions of North America and Western Europe. Seems a pesky recession in the west is crawling out of the swamp.

Neil Mawston, director at Strategy Analytics, said, “Motorola, Sony Ericsson and Apple suffered downturns. Motorola and Sony Ericsson lost marketshare to rivals with stronger handset portfolios, such as LG and Samsung, while Apple has been hit by stock outs in North America and lackluster demand for its overpriced iPhone in Western Europe.” Although global mobile handset shipments grew a strong 14 per cent year on year, to reach 282 million units the first quarter, Motorola, Sony Ericsson and Apple all lost market share to stronger–Korean–competitors.

The iPhone saw global shipments fall sharply, from 2.3 million units in the fourth quarter of last year to 1.7 million units in the first quarter of 2008. This resulted in the first decline in the company’s market share, which dropped from 0.7 per cent to 0.6 per cent. (Then again 75% of it’s time in the market has been up and to the right.)

Third placed Motorola suffered yet more woes as its market share dropped sharply from 12.4 per cent in the previous quarter to 9.7 per cent in the first quarter. While Sony Ericsson experienced a decline from 9.4 per cent to 7.9 per cent.

Market leader Nokia continued at a slow and steady growth pace, increasing its market share from 40.6 per cent to 40.9 per cent. While Mawston said that 2008 is shaping up to be the year of the Koreans, with improved handset portfolios enabling LG to grow at almost four times the annual industry average, while Samsung is growing over two times faster.

LG boosted its share from 7.2 per cent in the fourth quarter to 8.6 per cent in the first quarter, while Samsung jumped from 14.1 per cent to 16.4 per cent.

I’ve been observing the Korean handset manufacturers for three years now, including personally using both a Samsung and LG device for three out of the last four years. Their interface, functionality and stylish accesorizing has established a strong position in the market place which will continue to grow and solidify. The numbers don’t lie. iPhone may be the buzz of the glib technorati, but the reality is in the billions of revenues produced from the middle of the curve.

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Total reQall II: We Can Remember It For You Retail!

April 27, 2008 at 10:10 am · Filed under Mobile messaging 2.0

Late last year, QTech’s impressive reQall memeory and productivity service launched in the UK. In recent weeks, the company has extended the functionality of its service with what amounts to a voice-based command line…kinda like Stikkit with a voice interface.

The new set of features introduces some neat multi-model interfaces for interacting with your ’stored memories’. As the diagram to the right shows, voice-based commands program the service with items to be stored and can later be managed additional by a web interface or retrieved by SMS and voice.

Simple phrases uttered into the voice interface bely the service’s power…

• ‘remember to call Ewan tommorow’ will result in a reminder notification being sent to me the following day.
• ‘note: have a great idea for a MM2 post’ followed by a date and time will add a to-do note.

reQall have also added a social dimension, using imported address books to connect items and tasks with others.

reQall’s technology is impressive and works well, encapsulated in a simple user experience. However, I’d like to see some figures on the number and type of users that’re using the service. Is it a universal interface applicable across many contexts or something that a niche - however large - finds more useful.

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Is Mobile Advertising Bad Phorm?

April 25, 2008 at 3:22 pm · Filed under Mobile messaging 2.0, Advertising, Mobile Marketing, Privacy, HSDPA

UK-based Phorm has attracted criticism like no other company in the recent history of tehcnology, rapidly gaining an image of a company rapaciously consuming the personal rights and privacy of internet users and in the process ensuring its telco partners - British ISPs such as BT, Virgin and TalkTalk - are even less loved than they already are.

Phorm works with its ISP partners at their network’s infrastructural level to analyse the browsing patterns of users and serve targeted, relevant advertising to those users.

Some of the criticism has been unfair - privacy isn’t an absolute and people wil ltrade access to their privacy for some return in value. Criticism has been levelled largely at the lack of transparency and permission, but I think more importantly, that Phorm and its ISP partners aren’t sharing any created value with those creating it!

So what has Phorm to do with mobility? Many of the target partners for companies like Phorm have mobile and wireless ISP arms and it’s likely Phorm-like analytics can be applied to the burgeoning use of the mobile internet via smartphones, HSDPA dongles and maybe even some clever analysis of SMS and voice traffic, though it’s not entirely clear what the user experience of a mobile-Phorm would be?

More importantly, Phorm’s antics have given mobile users a headstart in ensuring that network operators are forced to at least consent them and possibly share some of the newly created value with them. If it’s possible to hate your cellco even more, companies like Phorm will be the ones that could help make it happen!

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Nationwide Text Messaging Alert System in Place by 2010

April 22, 2008 at 1:54 am · Filed under Mobile messaging 2.0, SMS, emergency services, Messaging, CTIA Wireless

MSNBC reports that the Text Messaging Alert System has been approved and will possibly be in affect sometime in 2010.

Federal regulators approved the service last Wednesday and consumers will have the option to opt out of receiving the messages… but why would you?

The plan stems from the Warning Alert and Response Network Act, a 2006 federal law that requires upgrades to the nation’s emergency alert system. The act tasked the Federal Communications Commission with coming up with new ways to alert the public about emergencies.

Since text messaging has become one of the most popular methods of communication in todays society, it goes without question that this would be the appropriate way to reach out and inform.

According to the regulations, there will be 3 different types of messages in affect. The first being a national alert from the president in regards to a terrorist attack or natural disaster. The second would be involve “imminent threats”, such as natural disasters (hurricanes or tornadoes) or university shootings. The third, which some of us are already familiar with, would be reserved for child abduction emergencies or so called Amber Alerts.

“The ability to deliver accurate and timely warnings and alerts through cell phones and other mobile services is an important next step in our efforts to help ensure that the American public has the information they need to take action to protect themselves and their families prior to, and during, disasters and other emergencies,” FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said following approval of the plan.

Consumers may opt out from receiving these alerts and might possibly not be charged for receiving them.

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Kill or Cure the iPod Touch Platform

April 21, 2008 at 9:02 am · Filed under iPhone, Apple, 2008

I wonder just how much a headache the iPod Touch is causing Cupertino? Essentially the Touch is the iPhone without the phone circuit, but it’s also more than that. It’s not the ongoing revenue stream that the iPhone devices are, it’s not out there challenging for column inches in a fight with the telcos and smartphone manufacturers. It’s the forgotten brother of the line up.

Yet it’s arguably exactly the same hardware, and it’s definitely the same platform as the iPhone. Yet iPod Touch users are getting a rough deal at every turn. Flash software updates are being charged for, just to add in the same software that the iPhone carried originally, it seems to be the forgotten product, and as the iPhone gathers all the press and marketing push, the Touch is left forgotten in everything except the financial reports.

The Touch could be, with some focus, a fantastic platform for Apple and the mobile space. It’s well positioned to be the first truly mainstream successful internet tablet. Yet it continues to be crippled. The upcoming iPhone SDK will also allow applications to run on the iPod Touch

The Touch may well have the potential to be a new type of device family, but it could also signal that Apple are losing site of their audience – news that the January 2008 upgrade was going to be chargeable drew (admittedly muted) boo’s from the audience at the MacWorld Keynote… and with the upgrade to allow third party SDK developed applications due to incur a further charge, I wonder if Apple really wanted the iPod Touch in the first place?

When you have a product you should be 100% behind it, or kill it. I wish Cupertino could make its mind up.

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