Monthly Archives: November 2012
2nd WIMA NFC USA
[ November 27, 2011 9:00 am to November 29, 2012 7:00 pm. ] Organiser: WIMA
Venue: San Francisco Arirport Marriott Waterfront Hotel
Location: San Francisco, USA
Web: www.wima.mc
For WIMA NFC USA 2012 WIMA is building on previous innovation and enabling greater business opportunities within the event by adding new and exciting elements to drive forward the NFC ecosystem. Continue reading
Vodafone launches updated entry-level Android – Smart II
Rating: We think this one is supplied by TCL/Alcatel
If anyone has spotted a niche in the market for a good, entry-level Android (Gingerbread) smartphone then it is very definitely Vodafone. (Or maybe, 3 – Ed). Anyway, Vodafone has decided to follow up the success of the original Vodafone Smart handset with the Vodafone Smart II. As you’d expect, the Smart II outperforms its predecessor in every way. It offers a bigger display; better camera; longer battery life; a more powerful processor ; and more memory than the original Smart handset. To give readers an idea of the price, this Android 2.3 handset should cost around £70 on a prepaid tariff. We’re pretty sure the original Vodafone Smart handset was supplied by Huawei (probably its U8160 model). Runours are that the new Smart II is supplied to Vodafone by TCL which owns the Alcatel handset brand. It previously supplied Vodafone with the 555 Blue. Continue reading
Nobody seems to offer joint laptop/smartphone insurance
Rating: Essential if you are planning a trip to a business conference like MWC
In a few days, GoMobile News will be off to attend the key mobile industry conference – MACH Insights 2012, in Prague, Czech Republic. Given that we know how thieves target business conferences – the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona is a prime example, GoMobile News thought it would be a jolly good idea to insure our mobile phone – a Nokia Lumia 800 W7 Mango handset. At the same time, we reasoned that it would also be sensible to protect our notebook computer – a Samsung NC10. Now we don’t think we are unique in carry both devices abroad to a ITC (Information Technology & Communications) style conference. But when we asked a leading supplier of such insurance, we were effectively told no such beast exists. Why? Continue reading
Coca-Cola hooks up with ScanLife for QR codes in Spain
Rating: Give the punters what they want – footie content
Well it seems that soft drinks giant, Coca-Cola, has very definitely identified the potential of 2D barcodes in Spain. The company has decided to form a pact with barcode specialist software supplier – ScanLife www.scanlife.com. In Spain the company is behind BIDI which has become something of an industry QR code reader app in the region. The aim is to supply content which will appeal to Spanish mobile phone users and what better than football [soccer]? Now QR codes will be placed on packaging and sends users to content such as UEFA’s EURO 2012 videos. Continue reading
Masabi’s Android app can display Oyster-style card info
Rating: Still at proof-of-concept stage
UK rail m-ticketing specialist, Masabi, has revealed a proof-of-concept Android application called ‘Smart Card Buddy Beta’. The company claims the technology paves the way for smartcard (such as London’s Oyster card) ticket validation on low-cost smartphones and will allow passengers to buy rail tickets or ‘top-up’ credit for their smartcard on their handset rather than at a station. This facility is courtesy of its ability to read and display the contents of ITSO-based transport ticketing smartcards. Continue reading
Samsung launches Music Hub, offering the ultimate mobile music service
New service integrates all your music experiences in one place: -Millions of songs, your own music stored in the Cloud, a music store and radio discovery
Initially launching on the Samsung Galaxy S III in Germany, France, Spain, Italy and the UK
Press release
May 29th 2012. Samsung Electronics, a global leader in digital media and [...]
NFC retail payments set to explode, says Juniper
Rating: 1 in 4 mobile users will pay in-store using NFC
By 2017, over one four 4 of Western European and USA mobile phone users will use an NFC-enabled mobile phone to pay for goods in-store, claims Juniper Research. GoMobile News finds this a very interesting prediction given that less than two per cent of users will be paying by NFC this year [ 2012]. Where are all the NFC-enabled handsets going to come from? Apple still doesn’t offer one. Anyway, the report entitled ‘NFC Mobile Payments & Retail Marketing: Business Models & Forecasts 2012-2017‘ covers the key advantages to NFC; and customer care concerns. It also argues that mobile network operators will be able to offset declining ARPU as they commit to NFC-based payment projects. Continue reading
Guest Post: 4G phones – the future of mobile handsets
by Matt Rawlings
Technology is always moving forwards and sometimes it’s just as hard to keep up with it from a consumer point of view as it is to keep moving it on as a developer. The insatiable demand for ‘the next big thing’ from customers has manufacturers and researchers working 25-hour days in the pursuit of perfection and innovation. Continue reading
MACH helps major operator group grow roaming revenues through Applied Business Intelligence
MACH’s Subscriber Performance Manager enables differentiated retail roaming offerings for global telecoms giant
Press release
May 29th 2012. MACH the leading provider of cloud-based managed communication services, has announced that France Telecom-Orange has selected its Subscriber Performance Manager business intelligence solution to help grow the roaming revenues of its group members. Through the granular reporting of subscriber behaviour enabled by MACH’s Subscriber Performance Manager, affiliates of France Telecom-Orange will be able to offer subscribers highly innovative and flexible retail roaming tariffs, encouraging use of these profitable services and thereby driving up revenue. Continue reading
2012 to become Year of the mobile wallet
Rating: Everybody else’s prediction so we join in
There was a tradition in technology journalism that writers always tied to predict which particular item of technology was going to triumph in the current calendar year. So they could describe ’201n’ as the “Year of the nnn.” Well it is becoming increasingly obvious to GoMobile News that in the mobile sector, 2012 is going to be the year of the mobile payment. Luckily – to back our viewpoint, GoMobile News has just received a comment from Hwan Chung, CEO of Danal CS&F. Continue reading
NeoMedia gets more money to carry on
Rating: Barcode giant feels the need to tell us all
Here at GoMobile News Towers we’re not quite sure why NeoMedia has felt the need to tell the whole wide world that it has restructured its loans and extended the maturity date. Thanks to YA Global Investments. We assume the company means to reassure everyone that it is here to stay. NeoMedia is, of course, a leading player in the mobile barcode sector. Continue reading
Guest Post: How to maximise m-commerce potential
Phil McGriskin, chief product officer with WorldPay, looks at how retailers can best approach implementing a mobile payments channel
m-commerce has been hotly tipped as the next major advance in retail and payments for about the last six years, but only recently have we seen merchants finding ways to make it into a stable revenue stream. The ubiquity of mobile devices in our day-to-day lives has essentially changed consumers’ shopping behaviour so that they can browse and buy through their devices anytime, anywhere. Coupled with technological advances, never has the opportunity for mobile been so great. Continue reading
Mobile payments support is the Galaxy s3′s killer feature
Rating: Never mind the processor speed and the screen size
Tomorrow [May 29th 2012], is the official release date for the Samsung Galaxy S3 smartphone in Europe and ten other cities worldwide including Tokyo and Dubai. There have already been glowing revues and the general consensus is that this is the handset which will really take the battle to Apple and its iconic iPhone range. Many pundits seem to overlook the fact that Samsung has already stolen the mantle of the leading vendor of mobile phones from Nokia. So why shouldn’t the Galaxy S3 trounce the iPhone because Samsung obviously knows what it is doing in the mobile phone business. Making phones that people actually want helps a lot. However, GoMobile News is with Fred Huet, founder of Greenwich Consulting, who points out that mobile payments is Apple’s Achilles heel. Continue reading
in2loyalty named in ‘SMART 100’ Index
Employing the judgement of ‘mavens’ and readers
Press release
May28th 2012. in2loyalty.com has been named one of Australia’s 100 most innovative products or services, in one of the largest and most audacious innovation awards of its kind in Australia – the Anthill Magazine ‘SMART 10′’ Index. Continue reading
Another PR disaster for RIM/BlackBerry
Rating: Ain’t our problem – speak to the operator, says RIM
Talk about failing to appreciate the Power of the Press. GoMobile News was stunned by RIM’s recent reaction to a request for information from the well-respected ‘Don’t Panic’ techie section in the UK’s Sunday Times. Did the struggling handset manufacturer answer the technical question? Nope. Instead it fobbed the newspaper journalist off. Now, Nokia might be ignoring our advice to start making Android handsets but it certainly responds to Press enquiries. We thought we’d detected a change in attitude @ RIM when the company under Thorsten Heins had invited some leading journalists and developers to briefings on RIM 10. But the Times incident raises parallels with the PR disaster which was the Network Operations Centre) outage in in Slough, UK. Continue reading
