Recently in mobility Category

Aruba Networks Welcomes 100th PartnerEdge Program Participant

December 3, 2007 12:56 PM | 0 Comments
One hundred is a nice, round number. It also happens to be the number of companies now participating in Aruba Networks’ PartnerEdge program. Not too shabby for a program that was only launched this past September.
 
Aruba, a provider of network and secure mobility solutions, designed its PartnerEdge program to be compelling for companies interested in joining—thanks to sales and marketing resources, comprehensive training and cash rewards. Apparently, given the numbers, the proposition is a pretty appealing one. No doubt this is because the program affords participants the opportunity to generate new business and boost margins by offering differentiated solutions backed by a solid distribution program.
 
“This program has legs and it delivers results,” said Paul Black, President of Comm Solutions, a Malvern, Pennsylvania-based network integrator and platinum Aruba partner, in a statement. “Aruba has got it right – they provide meaningful incentives, mature program management, and a continuing rollout of innovative products and programs. By partnering with Aruba, Comm Solutions has successfully grown our wireless practice and overall business, to the benefit of both our clients and our bottom line.”
 
Aruba divided its PartnerEdge program into three tiers: Silver, Gold and Platinum. Partners can participate at whatever level appeals most to them, depending on how much sales and support resources they can devote and where they set their sales targets.
 
“Our program is tailored to highly motivated partners that want to stimulate sales growth by teaming with a global leader in secure mobility solutions,” said Julia McConaughy, Aruba’s Director of Global Channel Marketing, in a statement.
 
It appears that, thanks to careful planning and solid results, Aruba is well on its way to outstanding long-term success for its PartnerEdge program. Way to go!

Disney Plans Spring, 2008 Launch of Mobile Phone Service in Japan

November 12, 2007 4:48 PM | 1 Comment
In late September, TMCnet editor Stefania Viscusi reported on the possibility that Walt Disney Internet Group, after announcing the shutdown of its Disney Mobile phone service on Sept. 27, might be out of the mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) business for good.
 
The answer to that question is “Apparently not,” at least not for now. Wall Street Journal reported today that Walt Disney Co. and Softbank Corp. (a Japanese mobile operator) are teaming up to introduce a mobile phone service in Japan. The service will be called… drum-roll please… Disney Mobile.
 
Apparently the company is hoping that the Japanese market ends up being more lucrative than the U.S. Disney plans to use Softbank’s networks and sell phones at thousands of Softbank stores in Japan.
 
The U.S.-based Disney Mobile service was launched in April 2006 and lasted just about a year and a half before folding. (Existing customers will continue receiving support until Dec. 31, 2007; Verizon has stepped up to the plate with a special Chaperone Service deal for subscribers who want to transfer up to five phone numbers to another provider.) The service was geared toward families, providing kids with limited access to the Internet on phones configured to help parents track the whereabouts of their children.
 
The Disney Mobile service in Japan is slated for a spring, 2008 launch. No further details of the deal between Disney and Softbank were released.
 
When Disney announced the shutdown of its American MVNO operations, Walt Disney Internet Group president Steve Wadsworth said the company decided the wireless operator market in the U.S. was too competitive, and that more profitable opportunities for its content and services existed through other business models.
 
Only time will tell whether the sun will rise on Disney’s service in Japan for longer than it did in the U.S.
 
What do you think—is Japan a better market or is Disney making another mistake?

Woman Sues Apple for $1 Million Over iPhone Price Cut

October 2, 2007 2:17 PM | 4 Comments
One of the bigger stories in the mobile space this week is the case of a New York woman who’s suing Apple for $1 million because of the way the company handled recent price cuts and changes to its iPhone and iPod product lines.
 
Dongmei Li, the woman who filed the suite, is p-oed because she bought a 4GB model of iPhone in July, and now her phone is obsolete; 68 days after iPhone’s launch in the U.S., Apple cut the price of the 8 GB iPhone from $599 to $399 and phased out the 4GB model.
 
Li claims that Apple’s actions represent “price discrimination, underselling, discrimination in rebates, deceptive action and other wrongdoings,” Times Online said in a Tuesday report. Li also thinks that Apple was wrong to lower the price because market conditions didn’t make the change necessary.
 
I have two comments about this. First, I think the whole lawsuit is silly. Maybe the price-cuts and product line changes happened more quickly than expected, but come on! Technology changes at a breakneck speed, and anyone buying a gadget expecting it will still be cutting edge a few months or a year down the road is out of touch with market realities.
 
Sometimes the changes happen faster than anticipated, but they will occur and at that point the owner has to decide if the product purchased still has use or if it’s time for another upgrade. End of story.
 
Second, the amount Li is suing Apple for seems rather puny. I’m not a legal expert, so perhaps there are restrictions that I’m not aware of, but it seems to me that $1 million is just a drop in the bucket for Apple. I mean, the company finished last fiscal year (ended Sept. 30, 2006) with $10 billion in cash, and pulled in $818 million net profits during the third quarter of 2007 alone. I hardly see how a $1 million lawsuit will garner much real attention from anyone but bloggers like myself who jump to write about any “juicy” bit of wireless news.
 
What do you think—is Li justified in her lawsuit or just insignificant?

Rumor Mill: Apple Developing Newton II

September 27, 2007 11:24 AM | 1 Comment
Officials at Apple, Inc., have a habit of being very close-lipped about potential future products or product updates. At the same time, Apple’s products—like the very popular iPod line of music players—are extremely cutting-edge and user-friendly, making them very sought-after. These two factors, tight control over press and popular products, are excellent ingredients for a robust rumor mill.
 
That rumor mill is in full swing again after a post yesterday morning on the AppleInsider blog regarding Apple’s plans to have a go at reinventing the personal digital assistant (PDA). To understand the significance of this requires a short history lesson.
 
In the early 1990s, Apple Computer (now Apple, Inc.) introduced a product called the Apple MessagePad, otherwise known as the Newton (name for the software that ran on it). This was a handheld device for taking notes, storing addresses/phone numbers, and keeping track of events with a digital calendar. In other words, it was PDA before that concept existed in the mainstream market.
 
Arguably, Newton’s biggest claim to fame was its software recognition software that, as the Wikipedia entry for the device succinctly puts it, “could be fairly inaccurate.” Newton was a cutting edge product, but for various reasons—perhaps most of all because it was a bit too far ahead of its time—never took off and was retired in 1998.
 
Now that iPhone has successfully launched, AppleInsider said in the Wednesday post, Apple is forging full steam ahead with another project the company has been working on for the past 18 months: an Apple PDA. The product reportedly will run an embedded version of OS X, aka “Leopard.”
 
Citing information from “well-respected sources,” AppleInsider painted the following picture of the Newton II: an ultra-thin, handheld device about 1.5 times the size of the iPhone and iPod Touch, with a roughly 720x480 resolution screen and more advanced use of Apple’s multi-touch technology (e.g. drag-and-drop, copy-and-paste).
 
“More broadly characterized as Apple's answer to the ultra-mobile PC, the next-gen device is believed to be tracking for a release sometime in the first half of 2008,” AppleInsider reported. “Assuming the project remains clear of roadblocks, sources believe it could make an inaugural appearance during Jobs' Macworld keynote in January alongside some new Mac offerings. Still, manufacturing ramp and availability would seem unlikely until closer to mid-year, those same sources say.”
 
Hmm… seems like I’ve seen this movie before: rumors fly in September about a new and cool Apple product. The rumors reach fever pitch approaching Macworld in January. At Macworld, Steve Jobs wows the crowd with a fantastic presentation of the new product, which is slated for a June release. Will history repeat itself? Stay tuned.

Intel’s WiMAX Ambitions: Fantastic or Foolhardy? You Be the Judge

September 20, 2007 12:07 PM | 1 Comment
At its Developer Forum Wednesday, Intel officials outlined the company’s plans to combine WiMAX with Centrino Duo processors to develop what it claims will be a new category of mobile, broadband-connected computing devices. The initiative, which is slated to bear fruit next year, includes the use of High-k metal gate silicon technology to deliver better battery life.
 
CBR reporter Rhonda Ascierto pointed out in a Thursday report that Intel’s main focus remains on notebook computers, but the company is branching out into handheld, Internet-enabled devices and, even more of a reach, the WiMAX networks needed to support such products.
 
“Intel's WiMax ambitions may still be premature, at least in the US where cellular coverage is almost ubiquitous and WiFi is fast becoming available throughout major metropolitan areas,” Ascierto said in the report.
 
Intel officials said its new WiMAX-enabled products, which fit into the new category of “Mobile Internet Devices” or MIDs, will use the company’s latest 45nm processors.
 
Hmm… now I wonder—does iPhone fit into the MID category?
 
In a Wednesday announcement about the WiMAX initiative, Anand Chandrasekher, senior vice president and general manager of Intel’s ultra mobility group stressed consumer demand for the “full Internet” on mobile devices.
 
That seems like a pretty overt reference to the capabilities offered by Apple’s iPhone, if you ask me.
 
In fact, one could view this entire initiative as an effort to compete with iPhone specifically and maybe, in a broader sense, other smartphone/service offerings. That seems like a pretty big bite for Intel to get it mouth around.
 
“Not only does Intel want to create an entire new category of handheld computers called Mobile Internet Devices, it wants to set up a whole new network to service those devices,” CNet blogger Tom Krazit said in a Wednesday post.
 
Stay tuned—we could be in for an interesting ride.

Appeasing Early iPhone Adopters with $100 Refund

September 6, 2007 5:29 PM | 0 Comments
If you happened to visit Apple’s Web site today, you may have noticed the “Open letter to iPhone owners from Steve Jobs,” posted Apple-style inside an image of the phone’s screen itself.
 
If you happened to be among the folks who stood in line to snap up one of the first iPhones in June, the letter probably came as a bit of a victory. You see, this week Apple revamped its line of iPods and iPhones, and lowered the price of the 8GB iPhone from $599 to $399. That means earlier adopters essentially paid $200 extra solely for the benefit of having an iPhones for a few weeks longer than everyone else.
 
In the letter, Jobs acknowledged the “hundreds of e-mails” he received from iPhone users upset that the value of their new toy dropped $200 only two months after they bought it.
 
To appease these irked customers, Apple is now offering a $100 “store credit toward the purchase of any product at an Apple Retail Store or the Apple Online Store.” Further details a slated to be posted on Apple’s Web site next week.
 
Despite offering the store credit, Jobs stood by the decision to lower iPhone’s price: “I am sure we are making the right decision to lower the price of the 8GB iPhone from $599 to $399, and that now is the right time to do it.” He hinted that the price cut has at least something to do with the pending holiday season—it’s a way to boost sales during what is usually the busiest part of the year for companies that sell consumer electronics.
 
Did you buy an iPhone early for $599? If so, is the $100 store credit enough to sooth your ruffled feathers, or do you still feel gypped?

Palm Foleo RIP

September 6, 2007 11:45 AM | 0 Comments
Less than six months after announcing the Foleo, “the first computer designed to be a companion to a smartphone,” Palm has discontinued the product, CEO Ed Colligan said in a Sept. 4 blog entry.
 
The Foleo was essentially a mini laptop designed to sync with a smartphone. It was one company’s attempt to fulfill the demands of users for portable computing and telephony. Apparently, there just wasn’t a market for the product—a criticism that some analysts expressed when Foleo was announced in May.
 
I say “announced” rather than “launched” because, as Colligan acknowledged in his blog entry, no Foleos were ever shipped.
 
“Because we were nearly at the point for shipping Foleo, this was a very tough decision,” Colligan wrote. “Yet I am convinced this is the right thing to do.”
 
He continued: “In the course of the past several months, it has become clear that the right path for Palm is to offer a single, consistent user experience around this new platform design and a single focus for our platform development efforts.”
 
Hmm… ‘single, consistent user experience’… Can anyone say “iPhone”?
 
Colligan said Palm is now working on building the next generation of its software platform, which will boast “a modern flexible UI, instant performance and an incredibly simple and elegant development environment.”
 
Again, can you say “iPhone”?
 
When Foleo was announced in May, TMCnet president and group publisher Rich Tehrani said that he just didn’t see a market for the product.
 
“I can think of virtually no-one who needs it,” Tehrani wrote. “I keep trying to come up with a scenario where the Foleo makes sense and I just can’t. Palm would have been much better off making a truly functional ultra-mobile PC.”
 
The market has spoken, and it turns out Tehrani and the other analysts were right. What do you think—is Palm now focusing its attention correctly or making another mistake?

Apple Reinvents iPod Lineup, Again

September 5, 2007 4:41 PM | 0 Comments
Well, it’s September and you know what that means—time for Apple to announce a whole new lineup of iPods! Today’s announcement about a new product lineup was a bit more exciting than usual because it included a new iPhone-like product as well.
 
The new “best iPods ever” lineup features the iPod shuffle (1GB, in five “remixed” colors, for $79); the iPod Nano now reshaped in a shorter and squatter form factor to accommodate a color screen for playing video (4GB model $149, 8GB model $199); the iPod Classic, which plays video and music and boasts 160GB of storage (price tag $249); the iPod Touch, which is essentially a iPhone without the phone, featuring the cool multi-touch interface found on iPhone, plus a 3.5 inch display and WiFi Web browsing (8GB model $299, 16GB model $399); and of course iPhone which will soon be even more of a value proposition, Apple claims, when the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store launches. Also coming soon: custom ringtones.
 
I must say, I do appreciate that the Nano is now video-enabled without losing its solid-state, Flash storage. I’ve had a Nano for almost a year now, and love its big storage in a small and relatively indestructible nature thanks to solid state media. Look, Ma, no moving parts! I would consider upgrading to the new Nano just to get video capability. By the way, the iPod Touch also uses a Flash drive.
 
No Apple announcement would be complete without some words about iTunes, and this one was no exception Apple is now in the processing of rolling out iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store, which as the name implies will let users download music wirelessly using the WiFi capability on the iPod Touch or the iPhone.
 
Apparently as a way to demonstrate how powerful Wi-Fi Music Store can be, Apple is partnering with Starbucks Coffee on a couple of value-added features. Basically here’s how it will work: a user walks into a Starbucks Store with an iPod Touch or iPhone and the device recognizes the Starbucks wireless network and auto logs into the iTunes Store (free access). The device then displays the song currently playing in the store, along with ten previously played songs. The user can then opt to purchase a copy of that song on the spot. Wi-Fi Music Store will be available at Starbucks stores Oct. 2 in New York and Seattle, Nov. 7 in the San Francisco Bay Area, Feb. 2008 in Los Angeles and March 2008 in Chicago.
 
The “Now Playing” feature IMHO does have significant potential, assuming (as I do) that it eventually will be freed from the confines of Starbucks by expanding the concept to other stores that play music. (Like, say, a store that sells music.) Talk about a way to market songs! For such on-demand access to purchasing music as it is heard, I’m sure lots of people will be willing to pay per track—assuming the service works quickly and seamlessly enough.
 
What’s perhaps most significant about today’s announcement from Apple, I think, is that after the company introduced a fully converged device earlier this year, it is now in a sense re-diversifying by introducing a product that appeals to people who want a little less convergence; people who don’t want to pay $600 for a phone, even if it is cool, but will pay $400 for a music player that lets you surf the Web and download songs wirelessly. But wait—there is also a $400 iPhone. Will people really pay $400 for what is essentially a dumbed-down product when they could pay the same amount for the whole package (albeit 8GB vs. 16GB)? Time will tell.

Wireless and Mobile Technology at ITEXPO West 2007

August 17, 2007 5:39 PM | 1 Comment
INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference & EXPO West 2007 is less than a month away. (The event this year is being held at the Los Angeles Convention Center in California, Sept. 10-12, 2007.) If you haven’t registered yet, here’s a plug: this show is not just about IP communications. It’s about wireless, too.
 
Here are a few of the wireless-related companies that will be at the show.
 
a la Mobile – makes Linux-based platforms for mobile handsets. Chief Technology Officer David Rivas will be speaking. (Session info here.)
 
Airwide Solutions – makes mobile messaging infrastructure products and applications. Chief Technology Officer Vincent Kadar will be speaking. (Session info here.)
 
EarthLink Wi-Fi Phone – a service that includes a Wi-Fi-enabled handset and connectivity. Director David Elgas will be speaking. (Session info here.)
 
Kineto Wireless – developer of unlicensed mobile access (UMA) technology for fixed-mobile convergence. Associate Vice President of Marketing Steve Shaw will be speaking. (Session info here.)
 
MobiTV – develops technology that lets users watch live TV on their cell phones, anywhere. Chief Technology Officer Kay Johansson will be speaking. (Session info here.)
 
MOBIVOX – provides cheap international calls from mobile phones, with or without Skype. CEO Stephane Marceau will be speaking. (Session info here.)
 
That whetted your appetite? Register for ITEXPO here. Then, while you're waiting for the show to start, check out this list of recommended sessions to attend.

Firetide Brings Wireless Network to the Carnival

August 7, 2007 4:29 PM | 0 Comments
Running away to the circus no longer means running way from modern technology. Wireless mesh networks developer Firetide said Tuesday that its portable network solution is now being used by Ray Cammack Shows (RCS), a North American carnival midway company.
 
Carnivals put on by RCS get 9 million visitors annually. Maintaining the necessary business environment to serve all those people, while moving frequently from site to site, used to be a challenge. No longer. Now the company can use Firetide’s technology to set up a mobile, wireless environment wherever it goes that’s capable of supporting all business functions—including real-time e-ticketing, inventory management and time card tracking for more than 500 employees.
 
In 2006, RCS launched an initiative to operate more efficiently, and have a lighter environmental impact on the places it visits, by going completely “digital.” The company also hoped that the initiative would help it combat ticket fraud and optimize inventory/personnel management.
 
In order to achieve these lofty goals, RCS needed a secure, rapidly-deployable wireless infrastructure capable of operating in any environment the company’s IT team might face. Only Firetide offered the necessary technology.
 
“Without Firetide's reliable, high-performance wireless backbone, it would have been impossible to migrate the entire IT infrastructure to wireless and achieve our business goals,” said Bil Lowry, director of IT and marketing technologies at RCS, in a statement.
 
At the company’s largest event this year, the Orange County Fair, the Firetide system performed “exceptionally well,” Lowry said. Next year, the company now plans to add IP video surveillance to the system.
 
RCS defines itself as a “self-contained, mobile entertainment company.” It hauls with it all the equipment needed to assemble and disassemble an entire midway—equipment hauled by a fleet of more than 80 trucks. The company’s infrastructure now includes 46 Firetide nodes, 35 access points, and more than 300 handheld cordless scanners and POS terminals.
 
The scanners are used to conduct ticket redemptions, time card logs and inventory checks from each booth. This information is beamed wirelessly in real time to an operations center.
 
“By deploying a complete wireless infrastructure with the Firetide backbone, RCS is revolutionizing the centuries old carnival entertainment business to provide customers with enhanced service and increased security,” said Bo Larsson, Firetide’s CEO, in a statement.
 
Lowry said the entire Firetide network can be deployed in 12 hours and disassembled in two hours. The technology works in extremely varied climates, including the heat of Phoenix and the humidity of Houston. Further, because it uses 5 GHz spectrum, interference from WiFi devices (which operate at 2.5 GHz) is minimized.
 
Pretty cool stuff.
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  • sex shop: he MS fanboys need to step back and realise that read more
  • Georg: Fantastic or Foolhardy - or both at the same time? read more
  • Mirko: As you already mentioned: some methods are more practical than read more
  • Anniversary gift: Based on your article, it seems that the only significant read more
  • oil portraits: I also noticed the same trend here in our place. read more
  • G. Aasen: Interesting indeed. Let's hope they are more successful in Japan read more
  • Bahamut: If earthlink is going into difficulty, it will certainly affect read more
  • Free Flash Clock: Earthlink restructuring will definitely affect the wifi market. But wifi read more
  • Polin Armsley: niceSecond, the amount Li is suing Apple for seems rather read more
  • www.r10.net küresel seo yarismasi: obviously still no iPhone nano around, but plenty of iPods. read more