Rating: Strange requests for help of our time
This one takes the biscuit. A British woman, Janet Stuart, is desperate to obtain some publicity for a ‘painting’ by American artist, Bertha Lum, that she has inherited. It seems that while Lum is presently flavour of the month in her home country (USA), over in the UK there is little interest in her work amongst the art auction houses. She’s trawled the Net and there is no sign of any image of the work. So she’s approached GoMobile News with the idea of creating either an app or a wallpaper so she can get the image onto the iTunes App Store. We’re not sure whether or not this ruse will work. Continue reading →
Rating: Could be improved quite easily
Over the weekend GoMobile News got to play with an updated app for Formula One (F1) motor racing addicts on the RIM BlackBerry. The latest version of F1 Live! for BlackBerry is 3.0.1 and it comes from India’s Divum Corporate Services. The app actually proved to be quite handy so you may want to download it to your ‘Berry before the next F1 race in China on 15th April [2012]. In terms of editorial content it is more than adequate and – given that this app is free, much better than you would normally hope for. Continue reading →
Rating: No more waiting to update operator settings
A solution which will enable mobile network operators to send configuration settings over-the-air (OTA) to W7 Mango devices has just been released by device management specialist Mobilethink. The company claims it’s the first time all WP7 users will be able to access the mobile Internet irrespective of their network operator. Mobilethink actually alleges that in worst case scenarios, users have had to wait for weeks for their devices to be re-configured. That’s because in certain circumstances the user was prevented from correcting network settings after their devices had been shipped thanks to Microsoft security policies. Continue reading →
Rating: You can obtain card details using your NFC enabled smartphone
UK TV station, Channel 4, is claiming to have discovered the potential for enormous fraud against those people issued with contactless Visa cards supplied by Barclays Bank. The station argues that you don’t even need to ‘lift’ a person’s wallet from their person. Using an NFC enabled smartphone it’s possible to read the data from Barclays cards using ordinary NFC data capture software. Channel Four was working in conjunction with mobile phone security specialist – ViaForensics. Barclays has responded that the problem lies with the checks undertaken for ‘card not present’ payments by certain retailers – including Amazon it seems. The scam apparently doesn’t work with other banks’ contactless cards. Continue reading →
Rating: Opportunity for developer to fill the (g)app
The Lumia 710 (W7 Mango) handset from Nokia which Vodafone lent us was so impressive that we decided to go for fhe slicker Lumia 800 model when it came to contract renewal time. What is the feature which we really, really miss most? You won’t believe it but the thing which is most sorely missed is the good old ‘Profiles’ option. Which is surprising really since it was one of the default facilities that distinguished the Nokia user experience from rival manufacturers. GoMobile News has searched high and low for a solution and come to the conclusion that pursuading a developer to fill the gap with an app is the only way forward. What happens, though, if this oversight is fixed in the next WP 7 release which we believe is nicknamed Apollo? Continue reading →
Rating: Since when has coming fourth been such a big deal?
There’s exaggerating; there’s bending the truth; and, apparently, there’s Somo. The company has just used the phrase (in several missives to GoMobile News) that its client “raced to victory in their bid to win over the crowds at Cheltenham racecourse.” The trouble is we’re talking horse racing here. And the ‘horse’ which Somo was backing turns out to be the iOS app it has promoted for bookmakers, Paddy Power. Unfortunately, the app came in fourth place during Cheltenham week. It is our understanding that unless the race has a huge number of runners, coming fourth in a horse race doesn’t even secure you a ‘place’, let alone a victory. A bit of a hollow ‘victory, then? Continue reading →
Rating: has this got something to do with patents?
Curious news on the NeoMedia Technologies front. It appears that a US-based billionaire, Dr Patrick Soon-Shiong, just bought a significant stake (estimated to be approximately 25.9 per cent) in NeoMedia. The transaction was completed on March 20th [2012]. More details are available here and here. This raises the question of why Soon-Shiong should want to buy into a company which specialises in 2D barcode/QR code technology?There’s also speculation Dr Soon-Shiong might, in fact, be planning to acquire the entire company. So why would a man who made his money in the pharmaceuticals industry suddenly start showing an interest in QR code technology? We’d guess it has something to do with patents. Continue reading →
This week’s Guest Post author is Arthur Tegetmeier from Clicky Media. We all pretend to know everything about Mobile Marketing but Arthur actually spells it all out.
The first thing to understand when looking at mobile as a marketing platform is that it is fundamentally a different medium to traditional marketing platforms (desktop and tablet included). Irrespective of what those differences are, it should follow that a particular platform demands a specific strategy. Surprisingly, this is a measure that many large and established brands are yet to adopt. Below is an outline of what some of these differences are, what they mean for marketing and how they can be approached. Continue reading →
Rating: No excuse for not accepting credit cards in a field
Hot on the heels of the announcement of the PayPal Here offering (see our previous story) which can turn iOS devices into credit card readers comes the At The Door card reader from Eventbrite. Being an online site that has served served almost 500,000 events last year [2011] and has sold more than 52 million tickets worldwide, just like PayPal Here, the At The Door solution is aimed at events organisers who want to collect payments on the door. Companies that use the Eventbrite card reader will be charged a three per cent fee on top of the service fee. PayPal charges 2.7 per cent. Continue reading →
Brit woman tries to sell a Bertha Lum via wallpaper 
Mobilethink provides OTA solution for W7 Mango configuration 
Barclays Visa contactless cards wide open to fraud says UK’s Channel 4 
The one thing missing from WP7 Mango is Profiles 
Pharmaceutical billionaire buys into NeoMedia 
Guest Post from Arthur Tegetmeier, SEO Accounts Manager with Clicky Media – Top Mobile Marketing Tips 
Eventbrite takes on PayPal with At The Door reader 
