Monthly Archives: November 2011
Nokia to project onto 800 windows promoting W7 Mango
Rating: Brought in Canadian artist – deadmau5 – to perform to crowds
Under the headline 400 foot butterflies and Nokia Lumia 800 [W7 Mango] phones to dominate the London skyline, the Finnish handset manufacturer has announced a collaboration with Canadian electronic artist, deadmau5. The guy seems to like playing with a giant butterfly’s had mask which accidentally makes looks like a Mickey Mouse costume, too. Nokia prefers to refer to deadmau5 as a world renowned producer. Anyway he says, “Visuals have always been an important part of my shows, so the chance to work with Nokia and its projection team on a project of this scale and ambition is really exciting.” It’s actually a bit of a coup for Nokia given that deadmau5 has previous output which is iTunes/iPhone/iPad only. Continue reading
Never mind the O2 trial – we need 4G now
Rating: BT is to blame, we think
Following our story revealing that O2/Telefónica has fired up its test LTE/4G network in London here, we received a missive from Robin Kent, director of operations with Adax Europe. He’s pretty adamant that the UK needs to go ahead with its auction of spectrum for the LTE bands as soon as possible. The crucial bit for GoMo News was this … “A recent report released by digital policy specialists Open Digital revealed the delay in adopting 4G or LTE is responsible for more than 37 million wasted hours of business time each year.” Seems a bit harsh but even if it is half true that’s a lot of wasted time. Continue reading
Vertu ain’t going to be too happy about this site
Rating: Russians sell Korean copies of Finnish luxury phones
The legality of this whole operation strikes GoMo News as being tenuous to say the least. Anyway, a company calling itself MobiLuxury contacted us to announce that it is offering “the most supreme qualified luxury Vertu replica phones for best prices ever.” The vendor prefers to use the word ‘replicas’ but the words ‘fakes’ or ‘clones’ would be more appropriate. GoMo News has no legal training but we’re pretty sure that in France, the mere possession of fake luxury items can end up in a prison sentence. The strange thing is that MobiLuxury seems incredibly proud of what it is doing. However, those running Vertu- a spin off from Finnish manufacturer, Nokia, won’t be too pleased to discover their products are being ripped off – whatever the ‘quality’ of the clones. Continue reading
Our American cousins shouldn’t get too excited by O2′s LTE trial
Rating: Never mind the USB dongle – blag the Samsung X430 laptop
O2 has switched on London’s first 4G mobile network today [November 14th 2011] but it is only a trial – which admittedly will run until June 2012. However, our Americans cousins shouldn’t get too excited at the prospect of using LTE when visiting the UK’s capital. That’s because the Olympic Games don’t start until July 2012 – so the trial network may well be switched off by then. Secondly, O2 which is part of Telefónica of Spain, is using LTE in a completely different spectrum for North America. The O2 trial network will be functioning at 2.6 GHz whereas networks in the USA which are claiming to have deployed LTE are operating in the 700 MHz – 800 MHz frequencies. Continue reading
Mobile Marketing Roundup: AOL mobile business, Audi on tablets and more
Here’s your Monday round-up of the hottest mobile marketing stories from across the globe.
Today’s edition looks at AOL profiting from its mobile business;predictions for the MNVO market; successes for Audi on tablet mobile ad spend and more.. Continue reading
Apple won’t surge past Samsung in smartphone sales
Rating: Tired of waiting, some switch to Android
Reports stemming from South Korea say that Apple will be unable to overtake Samsung in the smartphone sales stakes. The reports quote Thomas Kang, director of wireless smartphone strategies with Strategy Analytics, as saying, “Apple will rebound tremendously but it won’t be enough to catch up with Samsung.” One factor here was that the release of Apple’s latest handset – which turned out to be the iPhone 4S not the iPhone 5 – was delayed by around a month. This meant meant the US based electronic devices company had a poor Q3 2011. The research company also attributes Apple’s poor showing to the fact that some potential iPhone buyers got bored of waiting and switched to Samsung – which is fast emerging as the leading vendor of Android phones, of course. Continue reading
Oranges texts us to say we can save £48 per annum
Rating: & Virgin Mobile UK users can now utilise the Orange network
It’s not every day that a utility company (which is what mobile network operators effectively are) get in contact to say that they can reduce your monthly bill. Well, that’s exactly what’s just happened. We signed up for Orange Best Plan service and every six months the company reviews our existing plan to see if we could be getting a better deal from Orange. Apparently we could. However, you have to go online to review your Best Plan review – through ‘Your Account’. That wasn’t easy. We should also mention that Virgin Mobile (UK) contacted us to say that we can now use the Orange network as well. Continue reading
What they don’t tell you about Mobile Money Machines
Rating: Our advice? Steer clear of it
Here at GoMo News we’d normally ignore any get-rich-quick scheme – especially one which require you to make a payment and therefore divulge your banking details. However, we were stung by the insinuation that industry ‘gurus’ were preventing regular citizens from earning an honest buck. Our investigation – with massive help from postings on the Warrior Forum here have shown massive holes in the proposition offered by Frank Lucas and Matt Markus via Mobile Money Machines. In some cases, Lucas might be able to argue about the semantics. But in other cases, there are blatant untruths. Consequently, we wouldn’t recommend this scheme to anyone. Continue reading
iPhone 4S available for free in Hong Kong
Rating: Of course, you have to sign a two year contract
GoMo News received a missive from Hong Kong operator, CSL, which uses the 1010 brand for its network. As of November 11th [2011], it’s actually possible to get an iPhone 4S for free. This applies to the 8GB and 16 GB versions not the 32 GB or 64 GB versions. You have to sign a two year contract and the minimum one appears to be HK $177. That about £14 so you’d be spending a minimum of £340. Continue reading
The QR code meets art with Pedro Morales exhibition
Rating: Artworks which a cameraphone can still read
You’ve probably never heard of him but Venezuelan artist, Pedro Morales, has dismembered 2D/QR barcodes and then reset them into paper flowers, feathers, leather, and pieces of plastic since 2007. On top of this, he’s even challenged their normal small size by blowing them up to different proportions which a cameraphone can still read. GoMo News just received a message from him announcing that his work is currently on display at the Galería D’Museo in Caracas, Venezuela. His latest exhibition is known as DE REDES y CADENAS and is dedicated to the poems of Rafael Cadenas – a master of brief poetry, as a tribute to his genius. The exhibition is continuing until the end of this month [November 2011]. Continue reading
MWC GSMA Global Mobile Awards
[ February 28, 2012; ] Dear Colleague,
On behalf of our media partner, GoMo News, GSMA is delighted to announce the call for entries to the 17th Annual Global Mobile Awards. Honouring excellence and innovation, the Awards are the perfect way to get your mobile product or service the global exposure it deserves.
Submit your awards entry by Wednesday 30 November 2011!
Regards,
Mark Smith
GSMA Global Mobile Awards
Enter now at:
www.globalmobileawards.com
Entry Deadline: 30 November 2011
Submit your Global Mobile Awards Entry
View Categories for the GSMA Global Mobile Awards
See 2011 winners
Sponsor or Partner with the 2012 Global Mobile Awards
With a host of new categories for the 2012 awards, there is no better way to receive recognition for achievements within the mobile area.
Categories include:
•Apps of the Year
•Mobile Marketing and Advertising
Continue reading
The UK just isn’t ready for the micro SIM
Rating: GoMo couldn’t get one for love nor money
GoMo News was over the moon to receive a beautiful bit of kit to review – the latest Razr from Motorola which these days is a Android 2.3.5 (Gingerbread device). There’s only one big snag with this particular handset – it employs the very latest micro SIM card. When you’ve got an ultra-slim device like the Razr, saving a bit of space by using a micro SIM instead of the traditional SIM makes a great deal of sense. The downside is that you have to try to source such a SIM in a retail market environment which is totally unprepared for such an eventuality. Continue reading
Mobile Marketing Roundup: Google Encrypted Search, Kazakhstan and Telefonica
Here’s your Friday round-up of the hottest mobile marketing stories from across the globe.
Today’s edition looks at losses for Telefonica group for the first time in 9 years; growth in Kazakhstan; analysis on the implications for mobile use of Googles new secure search and more… Continue reading
Lloyds TSB banking app goes viral
Rating: Works on all 4 mobile OS & the ATM finder is hot
In the UK, Lloyds TSB reckons that it’s the first financial institution to launch a mobile banking app on all four major mobile OS (Apple, Android, BlackBerry and Nokia) simultaneously. “Purely through word of mouth we have had more than 360,000 downloads already being made and expect to double that by the end of the month [November 2011],” commented Ashley Machin, director of digital banking at Lloyds TSB. GoMo News reckons the apps were put together with more than a little help from Grapple Mobile because our mole there says the actual figure has already reached 400,000. The good news is that you don’t need to be a Lloyds customer to use the app. You can use it to locate the nearest ATM machine near to you. Boy does it work well. Continue reading
Gadget man turns singer for Steve Jobs tribute
Rating: Money raised will be donated to a kickstarter project
When we first met Hamza Gangat around seven years ago, he was the brains behind iFour Concept. The company(now defunct) was building the world’s first portable wireless storage device, which was designed to give mobile phones and PDA’s access to huge amounts of storage space continually on the go. Hamza’s had a complete change of heart and is now a musician based in Cape Town, South Africa. As such, he’s recorded a tribute to Steve Jobs. If you watch the band’s video on YouTube here, you’ll see there are plenty of other such songs. What’s unique is the way in which donations will be spent. Hamza will give 35 cents out of every 50 cents to a new innovative start-up company or project on kickstarter.com. And GoMo News readers can influence which project(s) receive the money. Continue reading
