The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is Alice Cooper's classic album Killer. Oh stop giggling - I don't make fun of those REO Speedwagon or Kenny Loggins albums you still listen to, do I?

Tech vendor FreeBit, which sells to "as many as 80 percent of Japan's ISPs," according to company officials, has released today its latest version of the iPhone application ServersMan@iPhone 3.0β. 

 

"I'm very happy to announce the release of ServersMan@iPhone 3.0β," said FreeBit president and CEO Atsuki Ishida.

 

The software, billed as "transforming iPhone & iPod Touch into true cloud storage devices," is now available at no charge in App Stores covering 77 countries in French and German -- assuming Apple approves the App Store registration -- as well as Japanese, English and Chinese.

ServersMan lets iPhones be used as cloud storage devices, FreeBit officials say, and lets users "import, view, and export any type of file -- Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Keynote, Numbers, Pages, PDF, mp3, jpg and others -- from any online device. 

 

In addition, ServersMan has a Web server service for mobile phones to publish data in the iPhone as Web pages. ServersMan@iPhone 3.0β was selected as one of Japan's Best iPhone Apps by TechCrunch, a technology blog.

The product enables file uploads to the ServersMan Storage area in an iPhone or iPod Touch directly from a Web browser on a Mac or PC: "Users do not need any cables or iTunes synchronization when transferring data," company officials explain, adding that since ServersMan also supports WebDAV, "users can transfer data directly to and from iPhone or iPod touch without going through the browser."

It also has a Web server engine to allow users to publish data on the Internet by selecting the data on iPhone and "performing a few touch operations."

...

Verizon Business has unveiled a set of IT consulting services designed to "support the deployment and ongoing support of enterprise-wide mobility programs," according to company officials.

The new professional consulting services are intended to help organizations "control expenses associated with multiple mobile devices and usage plans across several carriers, while maintaining security over the IT environment," company officials say.

 

Verizon Business' suite of mobility professional services is currently available in the United States, as well as 19 European countries. The services will be launched in countries in the Asia-Pacific region later this year.

 

Curtis Price, program vice president - infrastructure service, IDC, called professional services "an important and often overlooked part of the mobility ecosystem... these services will help enterprises deal with the competing objectives of accelerating mobility deployments, while controlling costs and securing mobile devices."

The services include the development of recommendations on vision, approaches, objectives and implementation plans for global mobility deployments, consulting for deployment of mobilized unified communications and collaboration applications.

 

It offers "dedicated program managers" providing support for mobility deployments via collection and validation of information to "equip workers with mobile devices and enhance configuration of business systems and reporting" as well, company officials say.

There are also telecom expense management advisory and consulting services for enterprises considering implementation or performing analysis of previously deployed telecom expense-management systems, as well as evaluation and updates of existing mobile policies, or creation of new policies, for use as corporate standards for mobile devices and subscriber services.

...

Chicago-based InVision Software, a contact center products vendor, is offering a free Webcast, "Building a Multi-Channel Contact Center in the Era of Social Networking," aimed at contact center managers, operations executives as well as workforce and forecasting managers.

 

The presentation is co-hosted with industry analyst Donna Fluss, President of DMG Consulting. InVision officials say it will focus on "benefits and challenges of contact centers in the Web2.0 era."

The concept of multi-channel contact centers was introduced to the market more than 10 years ago with the rise of the Internet, once people figured out hey, this can alter the way customers and prospects interact with enterprises. 

 

It's a bit surprising, frankly, that many contact centers still insist on providing primarily phone-based support -- and when they do provide support for alternative channels such as e-mail, chat, SMS (texting), community bulletin boards and other social networking, InVision officials say, "service levels and quality are inconsistent."

The 40-minutes online presentation will be followed by a Q&A session with Fluss and Craig Shambaugh, Vice President Sales at InVision Software North America, who'll give a review of the emerging channels.

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Just what you needed, folks: Another way to make your iPhone absolutely, completely, totally indispensable: Skype has announced its Skype for iPhone and iPod Touch on the App Store in Canada. 

 

"We are delighted to bring the Skype for iPhone application to Canadian iPhone and iPod Touch users," says Tom Yeung, Skype`s director of market development, Americas. 

 

Yeung said the Skype for iPhone application has "more than six million downloads from the App Store so far," making it "one of our most popular mobile offerings." 

 

The app includes free Skype-to-Skype calls from any Wi-Fi zone to other Skype users worldwide, and lets users call landline or mobile phones at Skype's rates from any Wi-Fi zone, as well as send and receive instant messages to and from individuals or groups via 3G, Wi-Fi or EDGE.

 

Skype officials say users can also receive calls to a personal online number on Skype and see when Skype contacts are online or available to IM or talk.

 

It offers call forwarding, voicemail retrieval, SMS messaging and is available in such languages as Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Swedish and Traditional Chinese.

 

The Skype for iPhone application requires a Wi-Fi connection to make free Skype-to-Skype calls or calls to mobiles and landlines. The app uses Wi-Fi, 3G or EDGE (based on the fastest connection available) to sign into Skype, update a contact list, maintain and update presence and send or receive instant messages.

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The European mobile industry is still in "uncertainty," according to industry research firm Frost & Sullivan. 

 

"Despite some positive signs, European economies are not out of the woods yet and consumers' confidence remains low," says Saverio Romeo, Frost & Sullivan analyst, adding that "continuous innovation, collaboration between market players and various stimulus from governments' policies can help."

Romeo said in early 2009, Frost & Sullivan suggested that one possible reaction to the coming recession was to "pursue creativity and innovation in order to offer attractive products and services." He noted that during the first quarter of 2009, the industry "predictably focused on managing costs but also looked increasingly at providing creative and innovative solutions to customers' needs."

 

In Romeo's estimation, this led to the establishment of numerous forms of partnerships, and "this approach to the crisis should be continued during the last quarter of 2009 and all of 2010."

Frost & Sullivan is an analyst briefing on the European Mobile Industry this upcoming Thursday at 17:00 BST. The briefing will explore the impact of this recession on the European mobile communications industry, Frost & Sullivan officials say, adding that it will also "illustrate how the industry can react in the short term."

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In more Frost & Sullivan news, Avaya is the top ranked vendor in Enterprise Advanced Premise-based Fixed-Mobile Convergence market share, according to a recently published report by the analyst firm. 

 

"The Worldwide Enterprise FMC Markets, 2008" report puts Avaya's share of the advanced FMC clients market at 43 percent -- more than 16 percentage points ahead of the second-place vendor.

 

The report estimates that worldwide revenues for advanced, enterprise premise-based FMC grew by 486 percent in 2008 over 2007. Further, Frost and Sullivan expects the compound annual growth rate to be approximately 61.4 percent for revenues and 72.6 percent for shipments between 2008 and 2015.

Avaya also got Frost and Sullivan's 2009 Global Market Leadership Award in the world enterprise FMC market. Avaya officials say it was based on the "continued success" of its products in terms of "market share, revenue growth, installed base and the breadth of product portfolio."

Calling enterprise mobility "the most compelling element in the Unified Communications stack," Frost and Sullivan defines enterprise FMC as "any feature, service or product that allows a mobile device to connect with the corporate PBX or WLAN to either extend corporate features and applications or deliver cost-related benefits through the integration of wired and wireless networks."

 

Frost & Sullivan officials say emphasis is placed on "advanced, premise-based FMC products requiring a soft client to deliver call control and PBX features such as single-number reach, single voicemail, corporate directory access deeper mobile handset integration."

Year-over-year growth in the FMC market is attributed to company concerns about cutting mobile expenses, with Frost and Sullivan estimating that FMC products could provide savings of about 10 to 20 percent on the monthly mobile bill.