Category: Mobile

It’s going to take almost 10 years for the sale of LTE devices to overtake 3G devices, according to an analyst who follows the industry. Keith Mallinson, founder of WiseHarbor, estimates the tipping point between LTE and 3G will occur in 2019 and said the U.S. will be an early leader when it comes to deploying the technology, in part because of the National Broadband Plan’s reliance on mobile. Mallinson also expects China to move quickly to LTE because its largest mobile operator, China Mobile, doesn’t like being forced to use Chinese developed 3G technology.

In the last few days, I’ve received several LTE reality checks, such as the news that by 2014 there will only be 150 million LTE subscriptions, or AT&T’s belief that true LTE handsets that are as diverse in features as the current 3G handsets won’t even hit the market until 2014 (even though Verizon is bringing five LTE handsets to market next year).

Still, I’m optimistic, mostly because I can see faster speeds on the horizon. For those upset at my focus on speeds at the expense of network quality and capacity, I’m encouraged by LTE for two reasons: the technology itself is more efficient, which means we can cram more bits into each hertz, but it is also being deployed in new spectrum, which will help meet capacity and bandwidth needs as well. Of course, it’s not going to provide the quality or consistency of wireline broadband, but expecting that would be kind of like believing in the tooth fairy.

Related GigaOM Pro content (sub req’d):
Everybody Hertz: The Looming Spectrum Crisis

MocoSpace has been able to build a mobile social network of more than 11 million registered users without building an application or targeting smartphone users.

But now it has released an application for the Android platform, and soon iPhone, that is focused on some of the site’s more popular features, including sharing photos and messaging other members in chat rooms.

The applications represent a shift in strategy for the company that to date has mostly been access by users through browsers on low-end handsets. A recent survey of its own members found that even its users are beginning to purchase smartphones. It said that the number of Android users accessing MocoSpace’s mobile Web site spiked by 40 percent over the past six months and is growing faster than iPhone or Blackberry.

For now, the application is fairly basic. They’ll enable users to chat, upload photos, find new friends and receive message notifications, but if you want to view a profile, it will direct you to the browser. According to the Android Market, the application has already been downloaded between 10,000 and 50,000 times, and has received 200 ratings. Users have rated it four of five stars.

Related

• Mobile Social Network MocoSpace Soars To 11 Million Members
• Users Appetite For Social Networking Much Broader Than Facebook When On The Phone
• Interview: MocoSpace CEO Justin Siegel: “We’ll Generate Millions Of Dollars In Ad Revenue This Year”

At Google’s developer conference in San Francisco today, it provided rock-solid evidence of Android’s gaining momentum and outlined where the platform was headed, including new features that make the platform more competitive, and in some cases, leap-frogs the iPhone.

The entire presentation, given by Vic Gundotra, the VP of Engineering in charge of mobile applications, and was sprinkled with back-handed jabs at Apple (NSDQ: AAPL), and stressed how being open means being inclusive. “Thank you for supporting Android and for voting on the side of open,” he said. Today’s announcements included incremental updates to Android, such as new features like tethering. Google (NSDQ: GOOG) also demonstrated future versions of its app store, and showed off new ad formats that mock Apple’s iAds. As is typical with these kinds of Google events, everyone in the audience walked away with Sprint’s HTC EVO 4G, which comes out June 4.

Some of the impressive figures shared today:

—Google is now activating 100,000 mobile phones a day, up from 60,000 a day in February.
—In the first six months of offering free turn-by-turn navigation, it has mapped 1 billion miles.
—Google searches on mobile have grown five times in the past two years across all phones.
—The Android Market now has 50,000 applications, and 180,000 registered developers.

Google’s announcements can be broken down into four parts:

Froyo: Google unveiled Android 2.2, which is code-named Froyo for Frozen Yogurt. The platform, which will be released to hardware compatible phones over time, will be two to five times faster than running Eclair. That will improve the entire experience on the phone, but also the performance of games. New enterprise features for Froyo includes integrating Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) Exchange and enabling an IT department to remote wipe a device if necessary. Cool new features from Froyo consists of tethering, so you can internet-enable your laptop, or create a WiFi hotspot with your phone. One necessary chagne that Froyo has is to allow users to save large applications to the SD card, rather than the phone’s memory. This task will now be done automatically for the user. It will also have Adobe’s Flash, clearly something the iPhone won’t be supporting. In one of his jabs at Apple, Gundotra, said: “A special thanks to Adobe (NSDQ: ADBE) for wanting to engage with us. It’s much nicer [for Google to be inclusive] than just saying no.”

New developer updates: A few new features were added to the developer SDK. One of the more impressive demonstrations was of how the Chrome browser on the PC was tied to the phone. If you find directions on the computer, and send them to the phone, it immediately launches the maps application.

—Android Market updates: Google provided a sneak peak of upcoming Android Market updates. A user can now access the application catalog from the browser, and then can send applications right to the phone, without having to tether the device to the PC. Google is also making easy to slide over all your non-DRM music to the Android device. It also demonstrated how to buy songs or albums in the market, which Gundotra said is not just for apps, signaling that Google will be getting into more content sales.

—Advertising: One area they are facing stiff competition from Apple is advertising. While Apple moves forward with its iAd service, Google is still waiting to hear from the FTC about its purchase of AdMob. Gundotra: “We aren’t new at this game, we aren’t charging people $1 million to be part of our program. Advertisers and publishers have all different kinds of needs, local, direct response, and brand, and you need formats that meet the needs. We have those formats.” Today, Google announced they are releasing “expandable ads,” which allow a banner to become bigger within an application when someone clicks on it. The ad format is part of Google’s Adsense for Mobile Apps which is in Beta. From the expandable ad, people will be about to see a map, or click to call and watch movie trailers.

We were pretty confident that the Buick Regal GS concept would make its way from auto shows to dealerships, and we now have a report that almost officially confirms it. GM executives told The Detroit News that the GS has been approved for production, although they didn’t specify when the car would launch. We think the GS will debut sometime next year.

If it follows in the concept car’s footprints—and it should, as the show car look fully production-ready—the Regal GS will pack a 255-hp, 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine with all-wheel drive, as well as uprated brake and suspension components. We’re hoping this confirmation is the real deal, and we’ll relay the official word as soon as we get it.

Related posts:

1. 2012 Buick Regal GS – Feature
2. 2011 Buick Regal – Spied
3. 2011 Buick Regal – Video

Nearly 70 percent of U.S. cell phone subscribers are on a 3G network, according to data released today (and based on info gathered at the end of the first quarter) by Wireless Intelligence. In comparison, at the end of last year only 20 percent of the world’s mobile phones were on a 3G connection. India is in the process of auctioning off its 3G spectrum and China plans to boost its 3G coverage over the next few years, which will boost worldwide 3G. Meanwhile, the U.S. has a lead when it comes to innovation on the wireless front that is driven in no small part by its widespread access to 3G speeds, and its citizens’ willingness and ability to consume them.

In the first quarter of this year, all four of the nation’s top carriers were among the top 10 in the world making money from data revenue, with Verizon leading the list for the first time. As power in the industry shifts to mobile computing from the desktop, such dominance is a clear indicator of how fast broadband helps drive innovation.

But it isn’t just the pipe. Consumers have to be able to access the faster networks on their phones, which is why devices like the iPhone have played such a huge role when it comes to both new mobile computing innovations and the boost in data revenues (GigaOM Pro, sub req’d) (and most importantly, data traffic). As we transition to next-generation networks like LTE or WiMAX, the relationship among the pipe, the device and the corresponding level of innovation is notable.

Land Rover has confirmed intentions to up the green quotient on its next batch of SUVs with more fuel-efficient model variants. For the upcoming “compact Range Rover”—based on the LRX concept—Land Rover will offer—blasphemy alert!—an economical two-wheel-drive variant. For larger vehicles, the company plans a new diesel hybrid powertrain.

The new compact Range will offer both two- and four-wheel drive. Along with lightweight construction and efficient engines, Land Rover claims the 2WD model will produce CO2 emissions of just 130 g/km, which it says would make it the most fuel-efficient Land Rover ever. It should debut in early 2011.

Starting this fall, Land Rover will test a diesel hybrid vehicle called range_e, which uses a system designed for its larger vehicles. Based on the Range Rover Sport platform, the range_e mates the brand’s 3.0-liter turbodiesel V-6 and an eight-speed automatic transmission to hybrid components. The goal is for up to 20 miles of electric-only propulsion and a top speed of 120 mph, with overall CO2 emissions under 100 g/km. Land Rover says a diesel hybrid will be ready by 2012 and on sale by 2013.

Related posts:

1. Land Rover Receives UK Grant Offer to Build Smaller, More Efficient Range Rover – Car News
2. 2010 Land Rover Range Rover and Range Rover Supercharged – First Drive Review
3. 2010 Land Rover Range Rover Sport HSE / Range Rover Sport Supercharged – First Drive Review

Ad requests across smartphones using Google’s Android operating system and Apple’s iPad both rose 77 percent between March and April, according to a new report by mobile ad net Millennial Media. Meanwhile, ad requests on the iPhone fell 8 percent during the same period, but the device is still the leader by far, with a 62 percent share of smartphone impressions. And if you add up the numbers since this past January, the iPhone’s ad requests are still up 1.5 percent. Way behind the iPhone at number two is Blackberry maker RIM (NSDQ: RIMM), which had a 17 percent share of mobile ad impressions, and was up 3 percent in April versus March.

Thanks to Google’s OS’ growth, Android maker HTC entered Millennial’s top five ranking of manufacturers for the first time and represented the largest increase within the largest 15 manufacturers in April with a 2.5 percent impression share increase month-over-month.

The rise of Android impressions is related to increasing consumer interest. Last week, Google (NSDQ: GOOG) CEO Eric Schmidt told shareholders that the company’s partners are shipping at least 65,000 handsets with the Google open-source operating system every day.

Meanwhile, advertisers and media companies have been salivating over the revenue possibilities of the iPad, as the device’s sales have exceeded even the most optimistic expectations. Even still, the iPhone has a huge head start in terms of ad impressions, and no one, not even Google, is close to toppling it from its perch at this point. Of course, that could change quickly, depending on when and if Google’s $750 million acquisition for mobile ad net AdMob goes through.

Related

• Android And Apple Were The Big Winners In Q1, Says Analyst
• Google Says It’s Shipping 65,000 Android Phones Daily
• Mobile Ad Requests Soaring On All Major Smartphone Platforms In U.S.

Among the markets that Apple hasn’t quite been able to crack with their iPhone, China has to be the most frustrating. It’s a huge opportunity that’s being missed. And now we finally know exactly why. More »










iPhone – Handhelds – Smartphones – Twitter – Apple

Cellphones may be the one item that people never leave the house without, but a wallet must come in at a close second. That’s because paying for physical goods—a subway ticket, a sandwich, or a new pair of shoes—with a cellphone hasn’t taken off, especially in North America.

There’s one good reason for that: If a user wants to charge the purchase to his or her cellphone bill, the carrier will likely take a 40 to 50 percent cut of the transaction from the retailer. Purchases are also typically capped at $25. Under these conditions, a trip to the grocery store, or the mall is completely uneconomical for the retailer. But Mobile payment service provider mopay says that’s changing and is now supporting purchasing physical goods billing in countries outside of the U.S. It said both in other countries, both the percentages that carriers are charging and the limits are slowly becoming less onerous. Retailers are also raising prices in order to make-up for how much the carriers are charging.

Mopay said it is currently supporting physical goods in 28 of the 75 countries in which mopay offers some sort of payment options. Mostly they are countries in Western and Eastern Europe, as well as the Middle East. It is also live in Australia and New Zealand. Users are able to purchase virtually anything from tickets to movie downloads to physical goods.

The service is not yet available in the U.S., where mobile payments have been more limited to virtual goods, such as a song or buying virtual currency in an online game. Several companies are going after this market, which has recently become frothy with several companies raising big rounds of capital. Companies include: Zong, PayPal, Boku and Paris-based Hi-media.

Kolja Reiss, Mopay’s managing director of mopay, said in a release that other countries, including the Asian market, is leading the way. “mopay actively pushes mobile payments to essentially become a replacement for cash and other intricate methods of payment, foreseeably eliminating the need for the traditional ‘wallet’ as we know it.”

Perhaps it will never make sense for people to purchase physical goods on their phone, and instead, there will be other solutions created to leave the wallet at home. MobileCrunch reported yesterday a feasible alternative. Visa is working on a new way to charge things to your credit card, and not your cellphone bill. It’s a bit complicated, but basically it has partnered with a company to create a case for your iPhone that allows you to just tap the phone to a credit card payment system to make a transaction. The complicated part is that the case has a microSD card slot, and the card is not only a memory chip but also a near-field communication chip. Trials are scheduled to start during the second quarter of 2010.

Wow…the 3G auction in India has raised a whopping $11 billion by selling licenses to some of the country’s major telecom carriers including Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications and Aircel. That is an astounding amount of money considering the low tariffs in the Indian market, where voice minutes and SMS messages are ridiculously cheap and most telecom carriers are struggling to keep their profit streams intact.

Bharti, for example, is in the process of buying the assets of Zain in 15 African countries in order to diversify from the hyper-competitive Indian market. Vodafone, which entered the Indian market with much fanfare a few years ago, is taking it on the chin these days. In its most recent quarter, the company said it was taking an impairment charge of around 2.3 billion pounds ($3.31 billion) related to its operations there.

There is no reason to believe that things will be any different in the 3G world. The 3G buildout isn’t going to be cheap and if the tariffs remain low, expect things to be tough for Indian telecoms. Given the history of telecom regulation in the country, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and/or the Department of Telecommunications continued to make short-term, politically popular moves that will kill the golden goose. Bharti Airtel, for instance, spent $2.6 billion on the 3G spectrum — good luck recouping that after a big network buildout.

While it might seem like an opportunity for hardware providers like Ericsson, I think the big winners of India’s 3G buildout are going to be the three smartphone giants: Apple, Research in Motion and Google with its Android ecosystem.

In fact, if Google was smart, it would be shifting much of its mobile resources to India right now. Not only could it use the demand for cheap 3G smartphones to its advantage, it could also jump-start its tablet ambitions by building low-cost devices coupled with affordable 3G Internet plans.

Similarly, Apple could offer a lower-priced version of the iPhone 3G/3GS in the Indian market — even as it introduces the higher-priced iPhone 4 in it core markets such as the U.S., Europe and Japan.

Samsung said its proprietary smartphone platform that it has been prepping for the past year will be the basis for one-third of the smartphones that it ships in 2010.

The first phone based on bada is called the Wave, which is expected to launch in the next few weeks in Britain and Germany, according to Lee Ho-soo, head of Samsung’s smartphone operating system, Reuters reports. With only about half the year left, Samsung must be expecting to accelerate development given its goal of shipping around 18 million smartphone units this year, which is only a small fraction of the overall it makes. The remaining two-thirds of the company’s smartphones will likely use the Symbian, Windows and Android operating systems.

Samsung’s bada will face a lot of competition in the space, especially when it comes to attracting application developers to the platform.

However, as the second-largest handset maker in the world, it may be able to achieve significant volumes quickly. It could simply swap out its old feature-phone proprietary platforms for the new Bada OS, and rely on its current market share to sell a lot of phones. In February, Samsung’s mobile communications division President JK Shin said it was there goal to enlarge the smartphone market to a bigger demographic of users: “We are committed to bringing the smartphone era to everyone, and making it a true democracy for billions of people on all continents in all corners of the world. This is Samsung’s vision to advance the democratization of the smartphone era, regardless of cost, or lifestyle or geographic location.”

Samsung said today that the bada application store won’t launch until June, and that eventually bada could run on more than just smartphones. Bada is “aimed at offering a unified platform for a wide range of products we offer such as TVs and computers,” Lee said.

Related

• Samsung’s Messaging Still Muddled After The Official Launch Of Bada
• Samsung Unveils Vision Of The Future: No More Dumb Phones

Porsche has released pricing information for the 2011 Cayenne, which was heavily redesigned for the new model year. The SUV is now offered in four flavors: Cayenne, Cayenne S, Cayenne S Hybrid, and Cayenne Turbo. The Cayenne S and Turbo go on sale in July, while the base and hybrid models will reach dealerships this fall.

The entry-level Cayenne, powered by a 3.6-liter V-6 producing 300 hp, now starts at $47,675. Stepping up to the V-8-powered, 400-hp Cayenne S requires $64,675. The new-for-2011 Cayenne S Hybrid costs $68,675, and the boisterous, 500-hp Turbo commands $105,775.

Related posts:

1. 2011 Porsche Cayenne / Cayenne Hybrid – Auto Shows
2. 2011 Porsche Cayenne S Hybrid and 2009 Cayenne Diesel – First Drive Review
3. 2011 Porsche Cayenne / S / Turbo / Hybrid – First Drive Review

The public-service BBC’s app plans may be on hold in its native UK until its regulating body checks for anti-competitive effects – but, outside of Blighty, the profit-seeking BBC Worldwide wing is pressing ahead with its latest mobile download.

The BBC’s boldest step yet in to chargeable content, BBC Listener is a radio app offering over 20 documentary, magazine and discussion shows on-demand, plus access to archive programmes from the last decade.

Here’s the bold bit – after the $2.99 download fee, BBC Listener uses iPhone OS 3.0’s in-app subscription feature, requiring uses pay $12.99 per quarter for continued access.

There’s potentially a decent U.S. market of public radio afficionados keen for serious news and analysis, and forms part of BBC Worldwide’s big U.S. push. Most of the shows are from BBC Radio 4 – the intellectual station that some Americans I know cite as the world’s only credible objective news source of any scale.

But BBC Listener may not be all that good value – many of the shows contained within are available as free downloadable podcasts, as well as for web playback, no matter where in the world listeners are. For example, here’s BBC World New America reporter Matt Frei’s Americana show, all 51 episodes of it.

Maybe some users will be happy to pay to have all this wrapped inside a single app, but there’s another stumbling block – NPR in the States does at least as good a job at radio news and documentary, and all its apps, like its podcasts, are free.

Here’s further proof that the buzz and hype in mobile is increasingly narrowing in on two mobile platforms: Android and iPhone.

Gartner said in its smartphone report released today that when looking at the OS market in the first quarter, Android and Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) were the only two vendors in the top five to increase market share year-over-year. Android moved to the No. 4 position displacing Microsoft’s Windows Mobile, and Apple had its strongest quarter yet, coming in at third behind both Symbian and RIM (NSDQ: RIMM). Symbian remained in the top position, but lost 4.5 percentage points compared to the year-ago period.

Something that’s helping to float all boats is consumers’ increasing appetite to buy new smartphones. Gartner said smartphones accounted for 17.3 percent of all mobile handset sales sold globally in the first quarter, up from 13.6 percent in the same period in 2009. In Q1, smartphone sales totaled 54.3 million, up 48.7 percent from 36.5 million last year.

The jump in smartphone sales led to an increase of overall phone sales worldwide. When counting all phones sold, ranging from smartphones to lower-end feature phones, sales totaled 314.7 million, a 17 percent increase. Carolina Milanesi, Gartner’s research VP, said in a release: “This quarter saw RIM, a pure smartphone player, make its debut in the top five mobile devices manufacturers, and saw Apple increase its market share by 1.2 percentage points. Android’s momentum continued into the first quarter of 2010, particularly in North America, where sales of Android-based phones increased 707 per cent year-on-year.”

You’re on the subway on the way to work. It’s not a long trip, maybe 15 to 20 minutes long if you’re coming in from an outer borough. You have to kill the time somehow lest you be alone in your thoughts for a few moments. What do you do? If we’re to believe a new survey, then you’ may well whip out your phone to play a video game. Back in the day, people would have had a paperback or magazine handy. Times, they are a….

The survey, carried out by Popcap, the social games company, suggests that today 25 percent of 16-24-year-olds play mobile games to pass the time on public transportation. It was only 10 years ago that 11 percent of respondents would have chosen a game over reading material.

The survey asked some 1,500 Britons of that age group to respond. These 1,500 people speak for us all.

Then you have to take into considering that the survey was carried out by a company that would directly benefit from an increase in mobile gaming.

Anecdotally, I guess those numbers work out. You occasionally see people on the subway in New York reading a newspaper or whatever—I’ve actually seen a few e-readers of late—but then you’ve got all these older people playing some game on their BlackBerry or iPhone.

Me? There’s a 100 percent chance I’m listening to a podcast while on the train. Or plane or automobile, for that mater.

via The Guardian

Flickr’d

Russian visual search vendor Quintura says it’s raised $1 million to make in-roads in to mobile search. Quintura CEO Yakov Sadchikov didn’t disclose the investor’s identity.

Why the money? “We are going to shortly launch Quintura search apps for mobiles (iPhone/iPad, Nokia/Symbian, HTC/Windows Mobile, HTC/Android, etc.) as well as turn our existing search services such as search for kids, hosted site search, etc. into paid search,” Sadchikov said.

The company raised first-round money, reported to be $5 million, from Mangrove in 2007, before later bridge funding in 2008.

Quintura has been operating a visual search engine interface, which shows results in a relational, contextual cloud format, since 2005 and was last year awarded the latest of eight U.S. patents.

Last May, Google (NSDQ: GOOG) introduced its own little-used visual search interface, Wonder Wheel, tucked away in its search options, that offers similar functionality, and, prior to announcing the funding, Quintura made a show of claiming patent infringement.

When it comes to mobile search, Google is keener on using mobile sensors as search input than displaying search results on mobiles diagrammatically.

Quintura operates its existing search facility at its own quintura.com, but the site is mainly a shop window for the technology. The company’s business is to white-label visual site search to publishers – it’s currently being used by over 5,000, ranging from individual bloggers to Axel Springer’s Russian magazine sites and Komputerra Publishing House.

Most Quintura sales are at home in Russia; the company has U.S. office in Virginia, but it scaled back there last year as the recession reduced publisher demand for the service.

MySpace (NYSE: NWS) is enabling thousands of third-party mobile developers to integrate MySpace into their applications, which will let users login into their accounts and update their statuses without leaving the application.

The developer kit initially will be available for Google’s Android platform, and is being announced today as part of Google’s developer conference. In the next two weeks, it will become available for the iPhone. However, it’s the Android platform that has been one of MySpace’s biggest success stories. As one of the earliest applications on Android, it has the ability to claim it is ranked as one of the top 10 most popular apps. In the past year, unique users have jumped 230 percent year-over-year, said MySpace’s Co-President Mike Jones.

MySpace is being a bit vague about how these SDKs could be used by third-parties, mostly because there’s so many possibilities. But in theoretical situations, you can imagine a mobile game developer enabling players to post their scores in a status update, or a photo-sharing site that wants to enable the ability to post photos to multiple sites, including MySpace.

MySpace hopes by giving developers access to these tools, it will both increase the number of integrations with MySpace from mobile, but also increase the number of uploads from the phone to the web (including photos, status updates, etc.). Currently, it said 30 percent of the site’s traffic comes from phones, and it projects that to jump to more than 50 percent within a year.

The developer kit provides access to login capabilities, meaning that users can login to MySpace without leaving the app.; Status updates, allowing users to update their mood or update their profile; Friends lists; and Photo and video upload functionality. Access to the SDK is free, and is the same tools that MySpace developers use in house to create their own applications.

Related

• Users Appetite For Social Networking Much Broader Than Facebook When On The Phone

While everyone is watching to see how Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN) will counter Apple’s iPad, the online retailer is concentrating on other things. The company has unveiled its second publishing imprint, AmazonCrossing, which will acquire the rights to foreign-language titles and publish the English versions. Secondly, it has finally released a free Kindle for Android app a year after it created one for the iPhone and iPod touch and a month after its iPad app became available.

Amazon’s publishing move follows last year’s launch of AmazonEncore, a program aimed at promoting books from independent,  unknown authors who stand a good chance of attracting a wider audience based on “buzz” from Amazon reviews. Once a book appears to garner a certain cult status, AmazonEncore kicks in with an offer to partner with the offer of marketing support and distribution through the online store as well as independent bookstores via third-party wholesalers.

The idea behind AmazonCrossing is similar, in that the e-tailer believes it can easily find books outside the U.S. to promote and publish, as an increasing share of Amazon’s revenues come from book sales.

Meanwhile, the addition of the Kindle Android app is designed to extend Amazon’s e-book sales to those who might not have a Kindle. All of which also gives Amazon another opportunity to show off its “openness,” as the company stresses that buying a Kindle e-book lets users read it across their PCs and Macs, as well as their Blackberry smartphones. The news also comes a few days after Google (NSDQ: GOOG) CEO Eric Schmidt told shareholders that the company’s partners are shipping at least 65,000 handsets every day.

More about AmazonCrossing here; details on the Kindle Android app here.