Smartphone solutions GmbH from Germany, after releasing several programs for Symbian, is now releasing some of them also for Windows Mobile… like for example “smartControl” - an application with which you can view and control your Windows Mobile phone remotely on your PC - through Wi-Fi, USB cable or over Internet connection…
SmartControl is used to display a smartphone’s screen on a PC or video projector in realtime. It is also possible to control the phone using a PC keyboard or mouse. This is especially useful in presentations and demonstrations.
Apart from that smartControl also offers an easy way to create screenshots and even videos of the phone display. These are perfect for documentation purposes or to show people how to use or configure an application. Because the user interface on the PC side features a skin that looks and behaves like the remotely controlled phone, using it is as easy as operating the phone directly.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
Game developers are increasingly eyeing Bollywood production houses to create content. For instance, a recent entrant into the gaming world, FXLabs, a content developer for personal computers (PC) and console games, is in talks with at least five Bollywood production houses for creating movie-based games. By the end of the year, the company will release games based on Dhoom2.
FXLabs is simply a case in point. Hungama has launched more than 80 games based on Bollywood and Hollywood titles. And players such as Reliance Entertainment’s Zapak have been roping in celebrities around whom games are being developed.
Industry experts say that Bollywood-based games on the PC and Internet, though just five per cent, are growing fast, while Bollywood games on mobiles is approximately 15-20 per cent of the total content generated.
However, industry players caution that India as a gaming market is yet to mature and bring in the big bucks. Neeraj Roy, managing director and CEO, Hungama, said, “We were the first to introduce multi-player PC games with Don in India. Now everyone is talking about online and mobile gaming. The entire PC-based gaming in India is just about $15-16 million (Rs 60-70 crore) whereas mobile games is Rs 65-80 crore from the end user perspective.”
Roy also feels that movie-based games inherently garner maximum hits or downloads due to their popularity and a natural affinity from the users. When it comes to games, Roy is bullish about the growth of console games. With biggies such as Microsoft and Sony getting serious about the Indian market, he believes it is just matter of time for the uptake of these games.
PC gaming is expected to witness a growth in value terms from Rs 25 crore to Rs 200 crore by 2008, according to a recent report by PricewaterouseCoopers and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).
The console games market is expected to witness a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 75.2 per cent over the next four years, increasing its share in the total gaming market to 30 per cent. The report adds that the demand for online games is increasing due to a growth in Internet usage.
Rohit Sharma, chief operating officer, Zapak Digital Entertainment, says: “We are in talks with 3-4 big production houses and we are primarily looking at action flicks.” Meanwhile, they have roped in Mallaika Arora, Bipasha Basu and Salman Khan to promote their games.
“The innovative thing about our approach is that the celebrity is involved in the development of the game right from the conceptual stage. We will be launching Salman Zone in the next few days. Games on Salman receive at least 40,000-50,000 page views per day,” adds Sharma.
But right pricing is a crucial element to make online games popular. That is the focus area for FXLabs. The company is also clear that pricing will be key in gaining market shares.
Tony Garcia, CEO, FXLabs said, “Though we are yet to decide on the pricing for Dhoom2, it should range between $10-15 (Rs 420-630).”
Garcia is gung-ho about the Indian gaming scenario. “Today, India is the largest untapped market for gaming. I think the potential of PC and console gaming in India is very huge,” he added.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
The GSM Association (GSMA) has announced a global research program in partnership with Microsoft to determine the market potential of embedding mobile broadband capabilities into notebook PCs.
The program hopes to assess the opportunities to drive PC broadband connectivity growth beyond business users to consumers and small business notebook users.
Through the GSMA, 13 mobile operators are participating in the research; Telefonica/O2 is a sponsor of the study. Other participating networks include: AT&T Mobility (formerly Cingular Wireless), China Mobile, DTAC, Maxis, MTN, Orange, SingTel, Smart Communications, TeliaSonera, Turkcell, Vodafone and Wind.
“Following the success of our initial program to infuse the notebook market with mobile connectivity, we are delighted to be working with Microsoft to initially understand the scale of the opportunity for mobile broadband enabled PCs in the mass market,” said Rob Conway, CEO of the GSMA, in a statement. “Understanding the market size and customers’ requirements is the first step toward developing devices to meet those requirements.”
The collaboration will begin with a global market research study including field research, conducted by Pyramid Research, which aims to quantify mass-market interest in mobile broadband. The researchers hope this will identify key adoption drivers, as well as the customer value proposition.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
MyCorner has announced the availability of its mobile video user generated content and social networking service. The MyCorner service is supported by advertisement, requires no client download and works on most phones on most wireless networks worldwide by just entering the URL (m.mycorner.com) in the phone browser. It is a free service for users that enables them to Upload, Share and Interact with videos on their mobile phone. It also enables users to upload videos from phone & PC, watch, rate and comment via their mobile phone and share them with their friends instantaneously.
“The majority of the video content watched by individuals in the future will be generated by someone they know. We have launched a service that makes it very easy for mobile phone users to Upload, Share and Interact using their multimedia phone and data service from their wireless carrier,” said Dev Gandhi, CEO of parent company NEXAGE. “We are also making available highly attractive professional content by media companies that will enable users to watch and interact with content they are passionate about.”
The potential of this market is illustrated by iSuppli Corp’s recent Mobile Video report, which shows video capable mobile phones growing from 700 Million in 2005 to 2.2 Billion by 2010. Deutsche Bank forecasts that 97% phones will be Data-enabled by 2010 and 70% will have 3G high speed data connection.
“Third Screen Media is pleased to partner with MyCorner to ad-enable its mobile video service,” said Ray Colwell, senior vice president, TSM|Network Sales. “The growing consumer demand for video on the cell phone has opened up new opportunities for content providers to increase revenue by delivering advertising that is relevant and enhances the user experience. Advertising will continue to go hand-in-hand with video content delivery to meet this growing demand for video on the consumer’s most personal device.”
The MyCorner service is powered by NEXAGE’s PhoneCast, white label mobile video solution for Media companies. “The PhoneCast platform supports auto content ingestion, encoding, management, publishing and delivery of mobile video content. Its an end-to-end platform integrated with mobile ad networks that includes phone, carrier and country detection; and subscriber, content partner, billing and report management,” said Mr. Gandhi.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
Italy’s largest cellular operator, Telecom Italia Mobile (TIM), is introducing a new flat-rate mobile internet tariff which will offer unlimited internet access from mobile phones for EUR20 a month. Customers of the Tutto Compreso Internet tariff are allowed up to 2GB of mobile and PC surfing without incurring the government concession tax charge, which is being refunded to customers as a bonus in traffic, Telecompaper reports.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
Telecom Italia Mobile presented its new offers for the summer at its 2007 dealer convention, collecting orders for 3.1 million mobile telephones, of which over 40 percent UMTS and exceeding the results of the May 2006 Convention when 2.5 million mobile phones were ordered. Starting from June, Telecom Italia is further simplifying the pricing of its mobile internet service by launching “Tutto Compreso Internet”, which, for EUR 20 per month and no additional costs, offers free and unlimited mobile internet access. In addition, the EUR 20 fee entitles users to 2 GB per month of mobile and PC websurfing, without the government concession tax charge, which is being refunded to customers as a bonus in traffic. With the new price list of handsets, TIM offers 34 UMTS models of which 16 are HSPDA-enabled. TIM is also revamping a “virtual” telephone token. Following a EUR 7 one-off activation fee, this virtual token is available exclusively to TIM Tribù customers. It lasts all day, and allows the customer who has chosen this option to make callsto other TIM Tribù users for just EUR 0.25 (including VAT) without any additional costs.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
Zambian ISP Zamnet Communication Systems launched a mobile wireless broadband service in co-operation with US-based Navini Networks. Zamnet said the service was ‘the first truly mobile wireless broadband internet solution on the Zambian market’. Customers can plug in Navini’s WiMAX Rabbit modem to their PC, activating it like a mobile phone. Zamnet said the service was available in most parts of Lusaka, Kitwe and parts of Kalulushi. It plans to cover most of Lusaka and Kitwe by the second half of 2007 and then introduce it to other towns.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
Msmobiles writes….This one is a commercial (not free) and it seems to be more mature. Anyway if something would be not working (like unlocking during incoming phone call) - you can always demand corrections because it is a commercial program.
Screen lock and application launcher utility for Pocket PC (phones)
* Lock your screen and put it in your pocket without triggering unwanted actions
* Launch commonly used programs with the touch of your finger
* Start programs such as Pocket Outlook, Internet Explorer, MSN Messenger, Pocket Excel and Pocket Word and Skype.
* Runs on Pocket PC 2003 and Windows Mobile 5 in QVGA portrait mode only.
* iLaunch will automatically detect if Skype and Google Maps are on your device, and prompt you to download it, if you don’t have it installed.
* There are also buttons for the camera…and of course to make calls.
Conclusion: not only Windows Mobile is more powerful than Apple iPhone in all areas (including ability to run 3rd party programs - impossible in iPhone) but also with simple programs it is possible to emulate iPhone functionality easily inside of Windows Mobile phones.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
SmartControl for Windows Mobile released
