Recently in cellular Category

Maine Considers Banning Use of All Hand-held Gadgets for Young Drivers

May 18, 2007 3:54 PM | 0 Comments
Bad news for young addicts of today’s mobile electronic gadgets: the state legislature in Maine is considering a bill that would bane the use of electronic devices, including cell phones, for drives under the age of 18. According to Bangor Daily News reporter Tom Groening, the proposed bill won unanimous approval on Thursday by the legislature’s Transportation Committee.
 
In his report Friday, Groening said that the bill, LD 161, would go beyond current laws which prohibit minors’ use of cell phones while driving during their first 180 days holding an intermediate license. This new bill would also ban use of other handheld gadgets, like video games and portable MP3 players, while driving.
 
Groening’s report quoted a deputy with the state’s Office of Policy and Legal Analysis, who advised the Transportation Committee, as saying that the bill was broadened beyond its original address all electronics-related causes of young driver distraction.
 
On a related note, Groening said, the same committee also considered another bill, LD 114, that would have banned use of hand-held cell phones for ALL drivers; that bill was defeated. Meanwhile, a third bill (LD 576) that tasks the Department of Public Safety with studying the role of hand-hand cell phones in crashes, was recently passed in an amended form.
 
What’s my take on all this? I think it’s a positive sign that LD 161 focuses at least partially on “distractions.” That’s what I believe is the real issue here. If the bill passes, youngsters may cry foul, perhaps rightfully so: “If we can’t use cell-phones while driving, neither should anyone else, regardless of age.” It may be true that younger, less experienced drivers are more prone to having accidents when they’re distracted, the truth is that ALL humans have finite abilities to concentrate on multiple stimuli simultaneously.
 
I do think that using hands-free devices like Bluetooth headsets and voice-activated dialing helps cut down on the distraction factor. But, it can’t cut out the distraction completely. Be honest: if you’re talking on the phone, part of your attention is diverted from the task of driving, right? Anytime attention is diverted, whether because of talking on the phone or singing along to a song on the radio, the chance of making a driving error goes up.
 
What do you think?

AdMob and mywaves Team up on Mobile Video Ads

May 14, 2007 12:15 PM | 1 Comment
Okay, I have to admit something here: I’m a bit tardy in my reporting on the news that I’ll be featuring this blog entry. Last week one of the PR contacts who regularly feeds me wireless-related news sent me a note about a new mobile video partnership between mywaves and AdMob. The news came out on Thursday, and I’m just now writing about it—the product of a busy schedule.
 
mywaves is a mobile media company that delivers video content via the Web to cell phones. AdMob claims to represent the world’s largest mobile ads marketplace. The two companies have teamed up to deliver click-to-video ads—offered by AdMob advertisers and delivered to consumers through mywaves.
 
The capability to deliver embedded video player capability is being provided by mywaves. This means that, in more than 160 countries, cell phone users will be able to easily click through to video ads.
 
Mobile advertising, AdMob founder and CEO Omar Hamoui, explained in a joint press release that advertisers are increasingly becoming interested in mobile ads as a way to reach customers.
 
“Our partnership with mywaves makes it possible for AdMob to offer marketers and brands a means to deliver rich video experiences as part of their mobile advertising programs worldwide,” Hamoui said in a statement.
 
How do the mobile video ads work? Users who have Web browser on their cell phones can watch an ad video, using the mywaves video player, after clicking on an ad delivered through AdMob. mywaves’ video player also lets users save the video on their phone and send it to friends using multimedia message service (MMS). According to the press release from AdMob and mywaves, enabling viral, word-of-mouth sharing of video ads is a first.
 
The new video ad capabilities are being launched this summer as part of AdMob’s new landing page solution.
 
Hey, if you encounter an AdMob/mywaves video ad, let me know how well you think this new form of advertising works.

VirginiaTech Update: Technology Didn’t Speed up Warnings

April 16, 2007 5:22 PM | 0 Comments
Here’s an update on the VirginiaTech shootings: an AP report published just after 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time said that it took the university two hours to compose and send out an e-mail to students warning them about the first shooting.
 
According to the article, that’s also the span of time between the first shooting and the second one; by the time students got the e-mail (at 9:26 a.m.), the gunman had moved to a second building and begun his rampage again. The article also quoted a student saying that there were no public address system warnings as he walked to class at 9:00 a.m. two buildings away from the location of the first shootings.
 
From my perspective, it certainly does seem as if the university was ill-prepared to respond quickly to the emergency by getting information where it needed to be, regardless of the channel used.
 
This both does and does not surprise me. On the one hand, you’d think that with all the modern technology that’s available today, it would be easy to get the word out. On the other hand, we’re talking about a campus that rarely experiences any events even remotely out of the ordinary, so it’s probably reasonable for it to have only minimal systems in place for responding to emergencies.
 
For those watching from afar (I refer here to video clips I watched earlier on CNN.com), the dearth of warnings seemed to create a rather chaotic environment on campus, where in some areas there were people running around panicked and in others students strolled from one place to another without any apparent concern about armed police officers running about. At least one student even managed to capture part of the action related to the second shooting on his cell phone camera (I blogged about this earlier).
 
It will be interesting to watch as more eye-witness photos and video footage surfaces. Since most people, and especially young people, carry cell phones equipped with various types of cameras, I’m willing to bet that a fair number of students recorded what they saw.

VirginiaTech Shooting: Student Uses Cell Phone to Bring Us There

April 16, 2007 1:35 PM | 0 Comments
A student at VirginiaTech this morning showed the kind of go-getter courage that would make him a good journalist, and demonstrated how modern technology is changing the way our society observes and responds to extraordinary events.
 
The student, Jamal Albarghouti (a civil engineering major, according to VirginiaTech’s directory), turned his cell phone on and started recording with its video camera, after realizing that something unusual was happening on campus. In an interview available on CNN.com, Albarghouti said that at first he thought there was another bomb threat, but when he saw the officer pull out their guns and heard shots, he knew there was a bigger story developing.
 
In Albarghouti’s video clip, several armed police officers are seen approaching Norris Hall on the Blacksburg campus, and shots are heard in the background.
 
Think about this for a moment. A few years ago there was no way this type of video footage would ever have been shot because people didn’t just casually carry around video cameras. Nowadays, many people do—as a built-in component of their cell phones.
 
The fact that Albarghouti was able to capture part of the story as it unfolded is pretty incredible. The functions of today’s cell phones add a new and transformative element to our society by letting us see events both ordinary and extraordinary--as viewed not by news reporters, but by people just like us.

ViVOtech and Gemalto: Kings of the Contactless Technology Hill

April 10, 2007 9:08 AM | 0 Comments
ABI Research recently published its latest report on the contactless technology industry, including vendor matrixes showing which companies lead the pack. For those not familiar, contactless technology (also sometimes referred to as “near field communications”) refers to systems that use short-range wireless signal to transmit information from a small tag or transmitter to a receiver. Two examples are E-Z Pass for paying highway tolls, and key-fobs that provide access to corporate buildings.
 
Two companies that I have to admit I’d never heard of before topped ABI’s matrix of leading contactless reader and contactless inlay vendors: ViVOtech and Gemalto, respectively.
 
ViVOtech is a company that specializes in technology for next-generation, electronic payment systems. This includes things like radio frequency-enabled credit cards and infrared cell phones. On its Web site, the company indicates that a major barrier to the adoption of contactless payment systems is the cost of replacing or upgrading magnetic stripe terminals. With this in mind, ViVOtech has developed solutions that make such upgrades fast, safe, and affordable.
 
“Customers simply wave their contactless cards or point their cell phones or PDAs to make a payment transaction,” the company explains on its Web site. “Using ViVOtech's enabling plug and play technology, financial institutions, wireless operators and retailers, can increase revenues significantly.”
 
ViVOtech’s solutions fall into four main product lines:
 
  • ViVOpay—products that transform merchant devices into next-gen contactless payment systems
  • ViVOnfc—Integration of three of ViVOtech’s software apps (ViVOwallett, ViVOplatform Issuer Server and ViVOplatform Control Server) into a flexible solution that enable scard issuers, telecom operators and service providers to offer mobile contactless services.
  • ViVOfob—Contactless cards and fobs designed to generate revenue for providers of credit cards and prepaid loyalty products.
  • ViVOplatform—An online, real-time transaction processing system that supports contactless cards or fobs.
Gemalto is a company that manufactures end-to-end digital security solutions. This includes everything from the development of software apps through design and production of devices like smart cards and tokens. The company’s products are used in a variety of industries including telecom, financial services, e-government, identity management, multimedia content, digital rights management, IT security and mass transit.
 
On the Smart Readers & Tokens section of its Web site, Gemalto explains that it makes secure card interfaces, including readers, chipsets, contactless interfaces, USB tokens, and dongles. During 2006, its installed base of readers and card interfaces reached 30 million units.
 
So there you have it—two relatively unknown companies that top the list of vendors providing a type of wireless technology that we may someday take for granted.

Phone Sherpa Helps Artists Sell Their Work as Mobile Content

April 5, 2007 1:53 PM | 0 Comments
Many companies looking to make a buck (or a few million bucks) on the Web in recent years have gone into the mobile content business—selling things like ringtones and wallpaper for cell phones. This is a potentially very lucrative market, and one that also has potential for musicians and other artists looking for a way to distribute their creations while making some money. However, setting up a functional online store that’s compelling enough for visitors to return again and again can be a challenge.
 
This week I received a phone call from a representative at Phone Sherpa, a Seattle-based company (founded in 2005) that describes itself as “the world's leading ringtone maker and ringtone store service.” The rep wanted me to know about a new Phone Sherpa’s new Mobile Store solution, which provides tools to market and promote music and art as ringtones or wallpaper for mobile phones.
 
Here’s how Phone Sherpa described the new solution in an April 3 press release: “The artist creates a store, uploads their content and embeds the Flash store component on their Web site. These easy steps take as little as fifteen minutes to complete. The Mobile Store can be customized to match the artist’s site layout and colors.”
 
Mobile Store is offered as a partner package. Artists have a choice of three packages, depending on how much the want to sell. The basic package, which is free, provides hosting for up to four files, with the artist earning 20 percent net sale payout on each item sold (content priced at four levels: $0.99, $1.99, $4.99, $9.99). The Plus package, $9.99 per month, hosts up to 25 files; artists earn 50 percent net sale payout on each item sold. Custom packages are also available.
 
Partners who sign up for Mobile Store accounts get monthly “payouts” based on how much content they sell; this money is deposited into a PayPal account. To calculate payout, Phone Sherpa considers a variety of factors, including cost to deliver goods (e.g. fees for credit card transactions) and refunds for purchases returned. The appropriate percentage, based on account type, is then used to calculate net payout.
 
In the Phone Sherpa Mobile Store FAQ, the company provides an example of how much a partner with an account giving 30 percent payout rate on net sales might make in a month, as follows: nine ringtones are sold at $1.99 each, with five credit cards sales and four PSMS sales; after fees are deducted, the partner nets $3.34. This amount is based on a 20 percent fee for each credit card transaction, and a 60 percent fee for processing/delivery of each item billed via cell phone using PSMS.
 
In its announcement about Mobile Store, Phone Sherpa cited stats from music industry trade group IFPI that mobile music now accounts for about 40 percent of record company digital revenues. Jupiter Research figures, Phone Sherpa said, indicate that ringtone sales alone generate nearly $4 billion each year, and that number is expected to reach $14 billion by 2011. Obviously, this is a huge industry, but not all artists have access to revenues from mobile sales, Phone Sherpa CEO Grady Leno pointed out in the press release.
 
“Artists not signed by a major label typically have no access to the mobile marketplace,” Leno said. “Phone Sherpa opens the mobile industry to everyone by providing artists with complete control over promotion, pricing, and distribution of their content into the mobile channel.”
 
David Meinert, manager of the rock band The President of the United State of America, emphasized the importance of the mobile content industry for today’s artists.
 
“Ringtones and wallpapers are a critical component of any music marketing plan,” Meinert said in a statement. “There is no more effective way to reach the highly influential 16 to 29-year-old demographic.”
 
The Phone Sherpa rep who contacted me sent some sample links showing how different artists have used the company’s solution to create their own online mobile content stores. These examples include:
  • Super Geek League: The Band –Ringtones and music offered on a very colorful site currently featuring the band’s album Peppermint Rainbows.
  • AviationringTones.com – Features aviation-themed ringtones.
  • 24 Hour Gospel Network – Christian music-based ringtones, currently featuring clips from artist John Butler “The Minister.”
The three examples above are mostly focused on ringtones, but of course Phone Sherpa Mobile Store also lets artists sell their visual works as cell phone wallpaper.
 
Mobile Store seems like a timely offering; if you are an artist using the service, let me know how it's working out for you.

CTIA Wireless News Starts Now

March 26, 2007 9:18 AM | 0 Comments
The CTIA Wireless 2007 show kicks off tomorrow in Orlando, Florida. Already the newswires are starting to get flooded with announcements from wireless industry companies promoting their latest products, services and achievements. A quick search on Google News for “ctia” turned up the following:
  • Announcement that the creator of BlackBerry (Mike Lazaridis) has replaced Motorola’s CEO (Ed Zander) as the CTIA keynoter.
  • Announcement from TCS that it has been selected as a CTIA Wireless 2007 E-Tech Award finalist.
  • Announcements from Pantech and Nokia about their displays at the show.
I’m bracing for continued deluge of news as the show gets underway, and will be blogging, albeit from afar, on events and news that catch my eye.
 
In the meantime, here’s a question for you (courtesy of CTIA’s home page): what word do you feel best describes “wireless”?
 
a. Everywhere
b. Marketplace
c. Fashion
d. Exhibits
e. Freedom
f. Global
g. Cool
h. Other
i. None of the above

How to Quit Your Cell Phone Contract--Without Termination Fee

March 12, 2007 12:36 PM | 1 Comment
Okay, so you’ve decided to switch cell phone providers. Now, how to get out of your current contract without having to pay a hefty termination fee? A Dallas Morning News article Monday offered these techniques (obviously some more practical than others):
  • Pretend to die. Probably won’t work for Sprint, Verizon, or Cingular (AT&T); these companies may ask for a death certificate.

  • Join the military and get stationed overseas.

  • Move to a location where your provider doesn’t offer service. Be ready to provide proof of your new address.

  • Spend lots of chat time (at least half your calls) in areas where your service “roams.” (This causes the provider to lose money.)

  • Claim that changes to your contract have adversely affected your rates or service. Good luck, though, getting your provider to honor this particular escape clause.

  • Follow a script when you call your provider to cancel. (Here’s an example.)

  • Use a contract negotiation service like celltradeusa.com or cellswapper.com. Shell out $20 or so and the service signs your contract over to a provider that better suits your needs.
None of these solutions sound like they’ll work for you? Here is another list of possible tricks from consumerist.com. Good luck!

New from Mayo Clinic: Health Info on Cell Phones

March 6, 2007 3:52 PM | 1 Comment
Here’s good news for cell phone addicts who also happen to be hypochondriacs: this week The Mayo Clinic rolled out a health information service available on through most mobile phone service providers. The service, InTouch, costs $2.99 per month; for that, you got access to information (such as first-aid tips, health videos, and emergency room listings) from MayoClinic.com—on your cell phone.
 
By the way, I was just kidding about the hypochondriac part. While I’m sure some people will use the service to “confirm” that something is terribly wrong with them when it isn’t, it likely will be utilized mostly by busy folks who need to quickly confirm how to deal with illnesses, or find an emergency room when immediate help is needed.
 
A DallasNews.com report today noted that, “Although Mayo is not the first to offer health information on cellphones, it's the highest-profile player to do so.”
 
Currently, DallasNews.com said, InTouch is available to roughly 180 million mobile subscribers who use services from Sprint Nextel, Cingular (AT&T), Verizon, and Alltel. Of course, you’ll need Web capabilities on your phone to use the service.
 
Mayo Clinic’s new service is just another symptom, I guess, of the increasing utility of mobile phones as tools for accessing information while on the go.

ABI: Wireless Connectivity Technologies Converging in Computer Chips

March 5, 2007 10:51 AM | 2 Comments
Among manufacturers that make chips and other components found in wireless consumer electronics products like cellphones and PDAs, there is a definite trend toward trying to cram more and more functionality into smaller and smaller spaces.
 
One way to do this, ABI Research noted in a new report out today, is to create wireless integrated circuits (ICs, also known as computer chips) that truly are integrated in the sense that they bring together multiple wireless connectivity technologies—such as WiFi, GPS, and FM radio.
 
In other words, the convergence of different wireless communications technologies is being applied to the very chips that power handheld device applications.
 
ABI predicts that by 2011, 32 percent of all ICs with Bluetooth, WiFi, WiMedia, GPS and FM radio functionality will be “integrated products that are either incorporated into a connectivity package combining two or more solutions, or will be integrated with a host processor or baseband processor.”
 
Perhaps unsurprisingly, ABI predicts that the two equipment sectors to see the majority of this integration will be cellular handsets and mobile computing.
 
The change is happening already, ABI said. Analyst Stuart Carlaw used two examples to illustrate this point:
 
Broadcom’s recently launched BCM4325, which integrates Bluetooth, FM radio and WiFi in a single IC
 
CSR’s recent acquisitions of NordNav and Cambridge Positioning Systems, in line with the company’s goal to begin producing ICs that combine GPS and Bluetooth
 
“We are on the cusp of a high level of integration activity, as silicon vendors look to add value to their offerings, diversify, and differentiate themselves in what are increasingly competitive markets,” Carlaw said in a statement.
 
ABI said in its report that integration is a vital tool silicon vendors must use to maintain margins in markets where original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are squeezing their suppliers for every last drop.
 
“It also allows vendors to meet ever stricter OEM requirements for power saving and board space,” ABI said of IC integration. “There is a distinct possibility that the trend towards integration will significantly alter the competitive silicon supplier landscape.”
 
How do you see this integration changing the marketplace?
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