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Wireless Federation » archive for 'mobile phones'

Nokia unveils seven new handsets for emerging markets

  • November 4th, 2008
  • 10:01 am

Nokia, the Finnish mobile handset maker, unveil seven new phones for the emerging mobile markets. Nokia has always had an upper hand in the emerging markets, but faces acute competition from vendors like ZTE and Samsung Electronics. It unveils 1202 model, follower to top-selling 1200, to retail for around 25 euros, to roll out e-mail service across Series 40 devices and 2 new phones, both priced at 40 euros, will have e-mail support.

Handset makers are looking for ways and means to capture the developing markets as the demand for handsets is huge.

   

South Korea has 45 million mobile phones (South Korea)

  • August 20th, 2008
  • 10:24 am

South Korea, reportedly, now has 45 million mobile phones, which equals to 91% of the total population of the country.

According to the Korea Communication Commission, the given figures mean that there are 3 mobile phones on an average for every 15.8 million households.

Out of 45 million mobile phones, 43 million had an internet connection.

   

No fingerprint registration for mobile users - Argentanian Gov

  • August 18th, 2008
  • 11:06 am

According to a report, Argentinian government has denied it plans to require mobile phone buyers to record their identification details and fingerprints. Minister for justice, Anibal Fernandez said that tougher sales guidelines are planned, but the fingerprint requirement does not form part of the proposed regulations. He also said that the government is still finalising the wording of the new regulations, which aim to help law enforcement officials track mobile users. Minister also called on mobile network operators to cooperate on ways of tracking and blocking lost or stolen phones.

T-Mobile to make App Store for all mobile phones (USA)

  • August 11th, 2008
  • 8:13 am

T-Mobile is planning to create Apple like App store for all handsets and has started working with the developers in that regard. T-Mobile’s director of Mobile Applications and Partner Programs T-Mobile has said, “T-Mobile is working with the industry to foster an open wireless services platform which will provide developers with the tools and information they need to make new, innovative experiences available to T-Mobile’s more than 31.5M customers. The devPartner Community site, which is in its alpha stage, is just a taste of what T-Mobile has in store and we encourage you to stay tuned for more details in the coming weeks.”

It is anticipated that deal is going to work in a similar way to Apple’s offering with developers sharing revenue with T-Mobile though rather than than just work with one handset like the Apple App Store, to work with all T-Mobiles handset from the Sidekick to any newer Android based phones in the pipeline.

Presently, Apple takes a sign-up fee and 30 % of all sales of all paid for applications in the App Store.

Guidelines for Israeli’s cellphone users

  • July 31st, 2008
  • 8:27 am

Dr. Siegal Sadetzki, head of the Gertner Institute for Epidemiology and Health Policy at Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer has drafted the guidelines for the safe use of mobile phones which call fo children to be limited in how  much they use their handsets. Israel’s Ministry of Health has published guidelines so that people use the phone wisely.

Sadetzki told “Even though we have not yet reached the height of information on the issue, there are already answers to some of the questions that have arisen regarding the use of mobile phones.” “The public is very interested in the issue of radiation emanating from cell phones, but continues to use them as usual,” she added. ”

Sadetzki found a link between cell phone usage and the development of tumors. Dr. Sadetzki published the results of a study recently in which she and her colleagues found that heavy cell phone users were subject to a higher risk of benign and malignant tumors of the salivary gland.

She recommended that people use hands-free devices at all times, and when talking, hold the phone away from one’s body. Less frequent calls, shorter in duration, will also have some preventative effect.

Mobile phones are as harmful as Smoking!

  • July 28th, 2008
  • 7:33 am

There has been a hot debate as to whether the electromagnetic radiation (EMR) emitted by phones increase the phone users cancer risk.

Herberman, director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, last week warned mobile phone users to limit exposure to mobile phone radiation and also alerted parents “to beware of possible effects on their kids’ developing brains”.

According to a report, warning has been issued to number of countries including France, Germany and India.

Herberman also outlined 10 ways to reduce exposure including “reducing mobile phone use, use a hands-free earpiece, switch ears while chatting to limit radiation concentration in one spot, and avoid using mobile phones in public places to limit second-hand radiation”.

In particular, he indicates that “kids should only be allowed to use these devices in cases of emergency, as their developing brains are more likely to be susceptible to possible side effects.

He said recent studies indicate that” “living tissue is vulnerable to electromagnetic fields within the frequency bands used by cell phones.”

Six months to 3G mobiles in China

  • July 22nd, 2008
  • 7:02 am

After the restructuring of the six big Chinese telecommunications operators, China will issue 3G mobile licenses and certificates says Xi Guohua, vice minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China. The reorganization is expected to be completed in about six months.

At present, there are three 3G standards: TD-SCDMA, WCDMA and CDMA2000. According to the restructuring plan, it is estimated that China Mobile will get TD-SCDMA, China Telecom will get CDMA2000 and the new China Unicom will get WCDMA.

In regards to whether foreign visitors to the Beijing Olympic Games can use their WCDMA and CDMA2000 mobile phones, Xi says that foreign visitors will not be able to use their WCDMA and CDMA2000 EVDO mobile phones in China, because China has not issued the license for the third-generation mobile phones. But TD-SCDMA will be an exception. As a test for enlarging the network of TD-SCDMA and to fulfill the country’s promise to provide 3G services during the Olympic Games, China Mobile will launch a TD-SCDMA service during the Olympic Games, which is also available for foreign visitors who want to rent special mobile phones.

Cellphones lags popularity in Canada

  • July 22nd, 2008
  • 6:15 am

Global Study on Telecommunications suggests, when it comes to owning and using mobile phones, Canada lags behind many nations, including several in the developing world.
Conducted by international market research firm TNS, the Global Telecoms Insight study found that only two-thirds of the Canadian population between the ages of 16 and 60 use a mobile phone on a regular basis. This level of penetration puts Canada significantly below the global average of 80 per cent among the 30 countries surveyed, and even further behind the 90 per cent and 97 per cent levels found in the U.S. and UK, respectively.

Among the one-third of Canadians who do not own mobile phones, the majority has no intention of purchasing a cellphone within the next 12 months, a group of consumers the study refers to as rejecters. Interestingly, only Mexico and Vietnam have greater proportions of people in the rejecter segment, two countries that are not traditionally considered as technologically advanced. By contrast, many South East Asian markets, such as South Korea and Hong Kong, have very few people falling under the rejecter category.

Canadians who own mobile phones are in no rush to replace them with newer and better models. They, along with the Dutch, expect to keep their handset for 3.5 years on average - longer than in any other market studied - and one year longer than mobile phone users in the USA, UK and Australia.

Saudi Telecom 1H’08 Net Profit +18% to $1.82billion (Dubai)

  • July 21st, 2008
  • 7:10 am

18% rise in the first half net profit to $1.82 billion from a year earlier reported by Saudi Telecommunications Co. Acording to STC, the rise is attributed to higher mobile phone revenues, broadband services and the increase of foreign investment income. STC’s second-quarter net profit rose to 24% to $1.02billion from a year earlier.

Small Company Turns iPhone Into Storage Device

  • July 13th, 2007
  • 9:46 am

Ecamm Network, a two-person Massachusetts software company, has launched a product that turns the Apple iPhone into a storage device for people who want to take files from their Mac on the road.
The iPhoneDrive launched late Tuesday works only on Macs with installed software, and transfers files to and from an iPhone using a Finder-like interface familiar to Mac users. “That’s pretty much it,” Glen Aspeslagh, who founded ECamm with his twin brother Ken in 2002, said. “It’s a very simple niche product that fills a missing feature.”

The brothers got the idea for the product, which costs $9.95, from the Apple iPod, which includes software that can make the music player’s hard drive appear as another drive on a PC or Mac. “The iPhone doesn’t have that functionality, so we thought we’d try to write a program to add the feature,” Aspeslagh said.

In the future, Ecamm could add new features to the iPhoneDrive, such as automatic backup. However, the options are limited, since Apple doesn’t give developers access to the operating system on the combo mini-computer and mobile phone. “We’re not actually adding any functionality to the iPhone operating system. As you know, that’s pretty closed off,” Aspeslagh said. Instead, Ecamm’s software uses the same application-programming interface as Apple’s iTunes software to move files back and forth.

Aspeslagh would like to see Apple provide developers with tools that go beyond just using the iPhone browser to run Web 2.0 applications. Apple chief executive Steve Jobs crowed at the Worldwide Developers Conference last month that developers “can write amazing Web 2.0 and Ajax apps that look and behave exactly like apps on the iPhone, and these apps can integrate perfectly with iPhone service.”

Aspeslagh said developers aren’t buying it. “I don’t think anybody believes his spin.” The general feeling among Mac developers is they’ll have to wait and see whether Apple gets more generous. “I’m sure they’ve had their share of developers asking them to open up the iPhone,” he said.

Ecamm, based in Somerville, Mass., primarily sells plug-ins for Apple’s video-conferencing software iChat. The plug-ins include tools for recording conference calls and for adjusting video images.