Wireless Federation

Airtel-Vodafone has begun offering Research In Motion’s BlackBerry smartphones in the Channel Islands, UK.

According to Research In Motion (RIM), its BlackBerry solution brings together smartphones, software and services to allow wireless access to email, phone, organizer, web and multimedia applications, as well as many other business and lifestyle applications.

At launch, Airtel-Vodafone will offer the BlackBerry Curve 8310 and Pearl 8110 smartphones. Both units have built-in GPS and advanced multimedia capabilities.

Iain Williams, CEO of Airtel-Vodafone, said: “The BlackBerry smartphone is no longer just a business must-have but it is increasingly becoming a lifestyle device as well. The more digital the world becomes the more people live their lives online. BlackBerry smartphones accommodate the modern way of life and, in combination with the additional services of the Vodafone network, we are confident that the BlackBerry solution will be well received by customers in the Channel Islands.”

For more information please visit www.airtel.in

About Wireless Federation

Wireless Federation is an industry research conglomerate headquartered in London, United Kingdom. The mandate of the Wireless Federation is to provide its members and customers industry knowledge that can further enhance their understanding of the wireless industry. Wireless Federation conducts bespoke research and produces boxed reports in collabaration with Industry Bodies, Telecom Operators for Issues that revolve around ARPU, CHURN and Loyalty.
They have been associated with more than 225 mobile operators globally to set their Pricing/ Tariff Strategies, Go-To-Market Strategies for Mobile Advertising, Mobile Payments, Cutting VAS among others amongst 59 countries globally.

For more information please visit www.wirelessfederation.com

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Nokia is planning to roll out a mobile phone based on China’s home grown 3G (third-generation) technology standard, TD-SCDMA, in tandem with service provider China Mobile. According to the Chairman and CEO of China Mobile, Nokia’s handset will be launched “very soon”. The handset which is set to rollout with China Mobile, is the Nokia’s first based on TD-SCDMA technology. It is anticipated that  Motorola and other companies will also launch TD-SCDMA-based handsets to increase competition in the market.

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The highly anticipated Blackberry® Storm 9500, the first ever touch-screen BlackBerry smartphone, purpose built exclusively for Vodafone, will be available to buy from 14th November. Available on a range of high value price-plans, the device offers consumers and business customers easy access to voice and email, a range of social media applications, multimedia content, satellite navigation and many other services on the move.

Customers who want to be the first in the UK to have a BlackBerry Storm can pre-order in Vodafone stores, online at www.vodafone.co.uk/storm and telesales, and account managers for our business customers from November 14. It will also be available for sale through Vodafone’s retail partner Phones 4U in store and online.

“We know customers are excited about the Storm and the early pre-orders really emphasise this. We continue to take orders and are excited that customers are responding so enthusiastically,” commented Ian Shepherd, consumer director, Vodafone UK. “Our customers told us that they wanted a single phone that would give them the most secure, reliable email and messaging experience possible combined with all the desirable smartphone features, and at a price that’s affordable. The BlackBerry Storm has delivered all of this and more and will give our customers incredible power in their hands to make the most of now.”

BlackBerry Storm features:

Coming in a sleek and elegant black design, the BlackBerry Storm smartphone brings together messaging services including email, SMS and MMS in a single in-box and alerts from social networks. It also offers superb sound quality and a 3.2 MP camera with video capabilities that exploit the screen’s stunning clarity to deliver advanced multi-media performance coupled with Vodafone’s fast and reliable mobile broadband network.

The BlackBerry Storm smartphone, comes with an enhanced high performance browser which delivers users a high speed web browsing experience, with desktop-style depiction in either portrait or landscape view. The new user interface combines the familiar dedicated “menu” and “escape” keys common to BlackBerry smartphones and adds support for multi-touches, taps and slides allowing the user to easily highlight, scroll, pan and zoom, making navigation fast, easy and intuitive.

The uniquely tactile 3.25” screen gives users a variety of different sense experiences. Despite its flat surface, users feel the sensation of actually pressing down on virtual keys which also light up when touched. This makes it quick and easy to type texts and emails as well as navigate through the phone’s functions. Customers will also have the choice of using a full QWERTY, SureType® or multi-tap keyboard.

By excluding the traditional physical keyboard, more space has been dedicated to the high resolution colour screen, allowing customers to display multi-media content and comfortably view attachments as well as read and edit documents.

The ground-breaking screen with its 480 x 360 pixel resolution display switches from portrait mode to landscape mode as the handset is rotated, while automatically changing the format of the keyboard from multi-tap or RIM’s SureType® to full QWERTY*. A wide range of songs and full length videos can be downloaded and enjoyed with the stunning clarity of the smartphone’s screen and its incredible, high quality audio.

The BlackBerry Storm retains the full functionality and security features of the BlackBerry platform but is also ideal for avid Facebook, MySpace and YouTube users, while Flickr fans will love the ease and speed of directly uploading their pictures seconds after taking them.

Customers can access all Vodafone’s entertainment and information services including Vodafone Music, Google Maps and Find&Go navigation, and the Vodafone live! portal, whilst also benefiting from a removable battery with excellent talk and standby time, and up to 16GB of exchangeable memory.

The BlackBerry Storm will be available from next month through Vodafone stores as well as independent outlets and online. Full pricing details will be available in the coming weeks.

For more information log on to www.vodafone.co.uk

About Wireless Federation

Wireless Federation is an industry research conglomerate headquartered in London, United Kingdom. The mandate of the Wireless Federation is to provide its members and customers industry knowledge that can further enhance their understanding of the wireless industry. Wireless Federation conducts bespoke research and produces boxed reports in collabaration with Industry Bodies, Telecom Operators for Issues that revolve around ARPU, CHURN and Loyalty.
They have been associated with more than 225 mobile operators globally to set their Pricing/ Tariff Strategies, Go-To-Market Strategies for Mobile Advertising, Mobile Payments, Cutting VAS among others amongst 59 countries globally.

For more information you can log on to www.wirelessfederation.com

TIM Brasil, third largest mobile operator in terms of subscribers, posted its third quarter results ended 30 September. TIM Brasil reports its first net profit after adding more customers and keeping subscriber acquisition costs (SACs) down, media reported. Net income was USD10.6 million for the period under review, reversing a net loss of BRL127 million in the same period of 2007. Revenue mounts by 6.1% year-on-year to BRL3.36 billion. The operator adds net six million new mobile users in this quarter, subscriber base reaches to 35.2 million. The cellco cut its SACs from BRL129 to BRL110 as it cut handset subsidies. Prepaid subscribers increase from 77% (a year earlier) to 81% of the total base in third quarter.

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China’s mobile handset shipments for the third quarter increased by 8.1% y/y , and was up 11.2 percent sequentially. According to a report, combined shipments for the first nine months of 2008 was down 2.8 percent compared with the same period last year. It is anticipated that, Nokia will continue to fly the rating chart of GSM and overall handset market in China as well, whereas Motorola is struggling to hold onto third position. In CDMA market, Samsung recouped the top position from Huawei but the overall segment remains weak. In China, demand for Samsung GSM handsets continued to grow as shipments hit a record level in third quarter.

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The most anticipated mobile phone release from RIM Blackberry has finally come to fruition, the latest Blackberry Storm has now been officially launched as a network exclusive by Vodafone in the UK.

After months of speculation, revised release dates and general blog and forum post rumours this high specification device can now be connected to the full range of Vodafone pay monthly tariffs, but is a network exclusive launch good for the consumer?

Basically, the exclusive deal signed between the manufacturer and the network dictates that the Blackberry Storm can only be sold by the network on one of their many contract packages, the handset will not be available on any other UK network operators so there is no way of comparing prices or for that matter any competition - the Blackberry Storm has been developed solely for Vodafone.

This has obvious implications for consumers as there is no way of knowing whether the networks deals are of value, basically the network can set their own prices as the handset can not be purchased anywhere else, the Storm will be available from select retailers but again Vodafone have the say on pricing so as not to sell themselves short.

This may not be the end of it though and there may be some good news on the horizon, in the past network exclusive mobile phones have popped up as SIM free handsets from independent retailers, if these retailers can secure stocks of the Blackberry Storm there is a chance that they will offer the handset with no network subsidy or contract ties - this will initially work out far more expensive than buying the phone on contract however there are no extra ongoing line rental charges and the user can insert their existing SIM card to retain their current mobile number, account details and any saved contacts.

The Blackberry Storm could be a real candidate for the iPhone killer, in reaction to the release of the iPhone the standard of touchscreen mobile phones has reached new heights recently with the release of the Samsung Omnia, Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 and the LG Renoir and the Blackberry Storm is no exception.

Incorporating an amazing animated touchscreen similar to that of the HTC Touch Diamond, the Blackberry Storm is one of this years big product launches and has already created a buzz in an extremely competitive market, laying testament to the impact this handset is set to make. The Storm also offers a 3.2 megapixel camera, WiFi technology, built in GPS, Blackberry maps, HSDPA and Blackberry operating system.

This is not the first time RIM have made a BlackBerry which seems to appeal to everyone, but it is perhaps the first time they have packaged one inside such a stylish handset! Style is everything in consumer world and phones don’t come much better looking than when they are almost devoid of ugly buttons. It’s not just a pretty face either, as the Storm does everything the casual user demands.

This is both a business tool as well as a pleasure gadget, integrated access to emails for on the move professinals runs alongside an enhanced music player, WiFi connectivity for using theinternet on the go coupled with a high specification camera lens with video support for viewing You Tuibe videos.

For social networking addicts there is the ability to update and connect with friends during the day for those that do not always have access to a computer. Direct access to accounts means it’s easy to change status or add a blog post all from the mobile phone, wherever and whenever.

In conclusion the Blackberry Storm represents the best in technology, design and features that RIM has to offer, as its flagship device the Storm will attract custom from a wide range of consumers including teens looking fro a new cool phone through to businessmen and women seeking that all inclusive communications device.

For more information log on to www.vodafone.co.uk 

About Wireless Federation

Wireless Federation is an industry research conglomerate headquartered in London, United Kingdom. The mandate of the Wireless Federation is to provide its members and customers industry knowledge that can further enhance their understanding of the wireless industry. Wireless Federation conducts bespoke research and produces boxed reports in collabaration with Industry Bodies, Telecom Operators for Issues that revolve around ARPU, CHURN and Loyalty.
They have been associated with more than 225 mobile operators globally to set their Pricing/ Tariff Strategies, Go-To-Market Strategies for Mobile Advertising, Mobile Payments, Cutting VAS among others amongst 59 countries globally.

For more information you can log on to www.wirelessfederation.com
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Nokia, which leads the chart of top mobile handset maker, said, it is looking at the possibility of hiking the prices of its products globally given the rising input costs even, as it launched low-cost phones for emerging markets. Nokia Vice-President and Managing Director (Markets) D Shivakumar, said, “We are looking at the issue of price hikes. The increase will be globally.” He refuses to comment on the timeframe  that the price hike will take.

It is anticipated that handset prices will increase by as much as 15% post Diwali. Almost 60% of the component is imported from China and Taiwan and the yuan taking a hit against the dollar, the handset makers have been left with fewer options. Indian handset market is 10 Mn phones a month and is growing at a fast pace. As developed markets are reaching the saturation point so Nokia is heading towards emerging markets.

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MasterCard proclaimed a service through which its users can pay for products with their cell phones. The company’s over-the-air provisioning service lets the card issuers transfer a PayPass application onto handsets that are equipped with Near Field Communication technology. After that customer can use this service as their payement account over a mobile network, and then buy products by swiping the phone near specially-equipped terminals.

The NFC technology facilitates contactless payements and it’s already in many mobile phones around the world. It is forecasted that up to one-third of all cell phones will be NFC-equipped in five years.

“At MasterCard, we are dedicated to the development of a sustainable mobile payments eco-system in which all of our customers and every major mobile player can participate,” said Art Kranzley, MasterCard’s chief emerging technology officer. “By managing the device personalization process for our customers from beginning to end, we are offering a service that is consistent with both customer demand for ease of implementation and consumer demand for ease of use,” Kranzley added.

However, Visa, the contender of MasterCard is also heading towards mobile market and it has been piloting mobile banking and payment services. Additionally, Visa partnered with Nokia to roll out a handset with NFC technology. The comapny said, it would develop applications for Google’s Android platform.

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Microsoft and LG Electronics have inked a preliminary agreement on strategic collaboration in mobile technology. “The agreement ensures continued strategic collaboration in R&D, marketing, applications, and services in the field of converged mobile devices,” LG said. While, LG’s home market rival Samsung Electronics have also launched the domestic version of the Omnia touch screen handset model, based on Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 6.1 operating system. Samsung said, the model will be available from mid-November under an exclusive deal with No. 1 mobile operator SK Telecom.

Microsoft is anticipating that its Windows Mobile operating system can continue to give competition to Symbian, a platform backed by the world’s top mobile phone maker Nokia and used in two-thirds of smartphones - mobile handsets with computer-like capabilities.
Research in Motion and Apple’s iPhone racing to threat Symbian, while several manufacturers are planning or have started to roll out smartphones based on Google’s Android software. Both LG and Samsung are members of the Symbian Foundation and are also developing models based on Android.

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KDDI Corp has reported a 24% increase in net profits in second quarter which ended 30 September. This rise is mainly due to lower handset subsidies. According to the operator, net income ascended to JPY78.7 billion in the period under review, from JPY63.3 billion in the three months to 30 September 2007, although revenues slipped 1.5% to JPY876.8 billion.

With the introduction of instalment-payment plan the company introduced in June this year helped reduce costs for phone subsidies and also enabled it to contend with lower income after it cut its tariff plans to entice subscribers away from rivals NTT DoCoMo and Softbank Mobile, media reported. KDDI repeated its from April for profit and sales revenue to augment this fiscal year. The operating profit mounted 27% y/y to JPY138.5 billion in the second quarter.

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