Monthly Archives: July 2011
Google updates Maps for Android
Rating: Lots of nice little extras
Google has just released a brand spanking new version of its Maps app for Android -5.8.0. The upgrade adds lots of nice little extras, so GoMo News recommends you do so immediately. One of the quickest ways to do so is to open the Android Market; look at ‘My Apps’ and then accept the upgrade. This new release appears to co-incide with a number of improvements Google has made to its Maps technology – such as support for public transport in London [England]. Google seems to taking a feed from Transport for London (tfl) to do so. Android users can click on ‘Get directions’ and then receive suggestions for their trips.
Massive surge in smartphone access to retail says comScore
Rating: Curiously it’s browser rather than app based traffic
Figures just released by comScore, showing an enormous increase in the number of smartphone users accessing online retail sites – which confirms a trend which GoMo News has long spotted. The figures are for the five leading European markets (France, Germany, Italy, Spain plus the UK). The number of smartphone users accessing online retail sites in the UK has increased by a whopping 163 per cent but Europe as a whole experienced 80 percent over the last year. Across all markets, online retail sites were accessed through a browser by a greater percentage of smartphone owners when compared to app access. Overall some 5.8 per cent of all mobile subscribers (13.5 million users) accessed online retail sites in Q2 2011. Continue reading
Inexpensive rugged Motorola Android released into Wild
Rating: Motorola Wilder Éclair (2.1) for £49.95 (~$80)
A long fan of ruggedised mobile phones (because you aren’t usually insured for dropping your handset down the loo), GoMo News has just noticed that the Motorola Wilder has become available [July 29th] from the Carphone Warehouse, SIM-Free for only £69.95 in the UK. You can get it for £49.95 (about $80) if you purchase one on a PAYG tariff. At these kinds of pricing levels, Android phones really have become entry level handsets. Which will in turn create more demand for apps, naturally. It’s also very interesting to see that with the Wilder, Motorola has followed the latest trend for social networking integrations and offers built-in support for both Facebook and Twitter. Continue reading
Vodafone lands a nice little £2.8 bn bonus from Verizon
Rating: Save for rainy day or splash out on LTE?
So Arun Sarin – Vodafone‘s former CEO, was right all along. It was worth Vodafone hanging on to its stake in the USA’s Verizon Wireless. The two companies have just announced that Verizon will be paying out a total of £6.1 billion on 31st January 2012. Seeing as Vodafone has a 45 per cent stake in Verizon Wireless, its share of the dividend will be worth £2.8 billion. Lucky Arun didn’t take any notice of industry pundits who urged him to get out of Verizon, then? Maybe Vodafone will invest a chunk into its LTE roll-out? Continue reading
Apple will continue to trounce Android over paid-for apps
Rating: Apple ain’t got where it is today my misjudging the public
It’s going to take a lot more than merely outselling Apple in the physical sales of handsets stakes for Android to topple Apple from its dominance of the paid-for apps sector. That’s the conclusion reached by UK based mobile design specialist, the Nice Agency. The company was commenting on Apple’s recent decision to raise the cost of some UK apps by ten pence. (See our previous story here). “While the Android market is set to overtake Apple in overall number of apps, the iTunes App Store has over three times as many paid apps as Android,” observed Ryan Hall, co-md of the Nice Agency. “Consumers are willing to pay for Apple apps because they believe they¹re good value for money,” he said. Knocking Apple off its perch is going to prove very difficult. Continue reading
Subway plus Velti plus mobile marketing
SAN FRANCISCO, CA, Jul 28, 2011 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) — Velti /quotes/zigman/3823805 VELT -1.81% , a leading global provider of mobile marketing and advertising technology, today announced it has been selected as the mobile technology provider for the SUBWAY(R) restaurant chain. The restaurant chain will use the Velti platform worldwide, becoming one of the first [...]
M-Health New Patient Wristband solution
Following its recent appointment as a GS1 Solutions Partner, SATO UK, a subsidiary of the barcode and RFID technology company SATO Corporation, has received certification from GS1 for its newly developed patient wristband identification system.
Demonstrating its expertise in providing effective identification solutions to the healthcare industry, SATO has developed a new system for patient identification [...]
Vodafone claims first Facebook phone with 555 Blue
Rating: INQ can’t be bothered to argue the toss over Cloud Touch
When we first saw the phrase, “The world’s first designated prepay phone specifically designed to put the Facebook experience into the heart of the handset”, alarms bells rang. The phone in question is Vodafone’s Facebook 555 Blue handset. Yes, it goes extremely heavy on Facebook integration but it is other aspects of its specifications (see here) which are more significant. For starters, this ain’t no Android phone. It’s actually being made for Vodafone by Chinese manufacturer, TCL, which has acquired the Alcatel brand. As such the 555 appears to be running a proprietary OS with all the Facebook bits shoe-horned in. The other thing is that this ain’t really no smartphone either. It’s not 3G – its top speed is EDGE (just like the original iPhone]. What the 555 does is download all of your Facebook stuff in the background – a technique pioneered by RIM with the BlackBerry (only with email not Facebook being trickled down). So we ought to nickname it the BlueBerry, really. Continue reading
ITU Telecom World won’t be moving to Barcelona
Rating: Assurance from new rival to MWC
The ITU’s Telecom World exhibition and conference is undergoing a massive transformation. According to Blaise Judja-Sato, executive manager with ITU Telecom, the whole format for future Telecom World events is up in the air. Firstly the intention is to make it an annual event rather than just once every four years. Secondly, the organisers are contemplating moving the whole thing to other cities besides Geneva. However, Judja-Sato assured GoMo News that Barcelona is not on his list. He joked that the new venue might be Paris, Milan or Munich – all cities recently rejected by the GSMA as a possible site for its Mobile World Capital (see our story here). What’s obvious is that there will be far more focus on mobile communications than at previous events – reflecting the growing importance of mobile as a communications media – especially in the developing world. Continue reading
GetJar continues as world’s largest free mobile app store
Rating: Comes over all social with Facebook, too
The world’s biggest provider of free mobile apps, GetJar, has just reached another milestone in its history with over tow billion downloads. This figure is greater than any other cross-platform app store. With a truly global customerbase, GetJar has reach this number thanks to its database of over 150,000 applications. It’s not just a one trick pony, either because GetJar offers apps for BlackBerry, Java, Symbian and the mobile web as well as Android. What’s more, GetJar is getting all social as Facebook’s app has become its top most downloaded app with over 100 million downloads. Continue reading
Scanbuy hires Alan Atlas to bolster its mobile barcode tech
Rating: Aims to unlock new industry segments and drive partnerships
To help grow the company’s global market share and technology leadership in the rapidly emerging mobile barcode space, Scanbuy has appointed mobile industry veteran, Alan Atlas, as its new CTO. Atlas has deep experience of leading the development of
Internet, enterprise and operating system software products. The appointment comes at a time when mobile barcodes are reaching a tipping point with mass consumer and business-to-business adoption. Continue reading
Some of our advertising is missing, Muzicall admits
Rating: It took taken longer than expected to get this project moving
In response to our story ‘ Why Xipto’s ringback tone advertising isn’t working’ here, GoMo News was delighted to get a reaction from Muzicall’s CEO, Patrick Allainguillaume, that this was indeed the case. “Related to Xipto, RBT Advertising is not yet launched in the UK,” he told GoMo News. Significantly, he added that, “While the operators are interested in launching the service, it has taken longer than expected to get this project moving.” Oh, dear. We wonder if Juniper Research even knows about this and has downgraded its forecasts for predicted RBT advertising revenues, accordingly? Continue reading
EHT rants against no evidence of brain tumours from mobile phones
Rating: Oh, yeah, and buy my book
Apparently, gut feeling is valid as a scientific argument. The Environmental Health Trust (EHT) complains that even though researchers at the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute in Basel [Switzerland] have found no link between children’s brain tumours and their reported mobile phone usage, they are obviously wrong. There are distinct parallels here between the UK’s official guidelines on alcohol consumption and research. The UK government has had to admit its guidelines are guesswork and that dinking must be bad for you, despite the lack of any research to prove it. “Brain tumours can take ten years to form and young children certainly have not been heavy mobile phone users for very long,” complains Devra Davis, president of the EHT. If they’ve been using mobile phones for longer than ten years, they’d be youths anyway. Continue reading
Flexion’s wrapper enables 1 free mobile app trial per/sec
Rating: developers stand better chance of making money from apps
Android and Java ‘wrappers’ from Flexion are currently enabling more than one free trial per second, the company claims. It also maintains that it is adding over four million new consumers per month to its platform. Jens Lauritzson, CEO with Flexion explained, “Instead of making developers add billing SDKs to their game code, we let them wrap their products with the Flexion wrapper which automatically enables in-app billing for products. These can then be distributed via app stores as free downloads.” As an example of Flarion’s technology, Nokia customers in 68 markets can now download any Java game from EA and play it for free before deciding whether to commit to a purchase. Purchases are then made securely via operator billing via the Flexion wrapper. The wrapper comes with an add-on feature called Discovery, Flexion’s on device portal, to promote more games to customers. Continue reading
simyo selects Funambol New Cloud Digital Locker service
Users have new flexible cloud service to sync mobile data across diverse devices
Funambol, the leader of smart cloud sync solutions, and simyo, the mobile brand for a new generation of customers, has announced that the new simyo Sync service, based on Funambol MediaHub, is now live. simyo Sync enables users to keep mobile phones, tablets, PCs and other devices in sync with a digital locker in the cloud. It backs up user data and allows easy access across multiple devices. Continue reading
