Yahoo And Publicis Work Together On Mobile Advertising Initiative (USA)
Paris-based ad holding company Publicis Groupe formed an ad network spanning all four major ad serving systems?Microsoft , Google/DoubleClick, Yahoo and AOL ?to tightly coordinate campaigns across these platforms. The announcement also included an additional deal with Yahoo for mobile advertising, which aims to help brands reach mobile consumers more easily.
The breakdown of the deal: Publicis will integrate its current media buying systems with Yahoo!’s Right Media Exchange (which also recently signed a deal with Publicis rival WPP’s GroupM), and with AMP!, Yahoo’s advertising management platform. Publicis Groupe’s mobile marketing agency, Phonevalley, will also lean heavily on Yahoo’s Blueprint technology which is the backbone of Yahoo! Go, a platform that supports widgets and third-party apps. Blueprint, in theory, allows developers to create an app once that can run on the Yahoo! Go platform, which is compatible with hundreds of phones around the world. Brands working with Publicis could tap into this capability, making it easier to develop one campaign that could work on various phones, carriers and across multiple countries. Phonevalley is claiming to be the first global agency to integrate Blueprint. In addition, Yahoo! and Publicis Groupe will work with Yahoo’s Smart Ads technology, allowing Publicis to create numerous permutations of a given brand’s message more easily.
This relationship may provide a much needed boost to mobile advertising. Often times, ad agencies don’t have the expertise in-house to roll out a campaign that may need to be adapted for hundreds of phones, carriers and countries. Of course, this is a pretty big win for Yahoo, which has been slowly setting up an empire of mobile search and advertising relationships around the world with carriers. Just last week, Yahoo announced five new partners, bringing the total list of carriers that uses its mobile search to 60 over the last 18 months.
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Seven things about the Nokia-Symbian deal
The world’s largest handset vendor’s bold announcement that it plans to buy the rest of Symbian has generated a lot of media attention, especially since the OS company holds two thirds of the global smart phone market.
The most popular analysis paints Nokia as a winner and Google as the loser. The deal is also seen as a victory for the open-source movement, with Nokia validating a business model pursued by competitors like Google’s Android platform and LiMo (Linex Mobile) Foundation.
But further interviews with Nokia and Symbian executives reveal more than a few bumps waiting in the “open” road to the Symbian Foundation.
Here are seven things you need to know in order to understand what’s behind the Nokia/Symbian deal and what it means for the industry:
1. It’s going to be a long process?
Don’t hold your breath. It will be years before Nokia can migrate all the associated properties and assets into the Symbian Foundation and then make its offerings available under the Eclipse public licence model.
Lee Williams, Nokia’s senior VP for S60 Software, explained a three-phase programme in an interview with EE Times:
In the first phase, Nokia will contribute to the Symbian Foundation—a new non-profit organisation—the core code behind Symbian’s operating system along with S60, Nokia’s user interface, middleware and everything that comes with its platform for Symbian-based smart phones. The goal is to allow handset vendors to execute their product development under the royalty-free licence programme.
But foundation members won’t be able to stop royalty payments to Symbian and Nokia until the first quarter of 2009. Those payments cover the use of Symbian’s OS, and Nokia’s S60 user interface. While Nokia wouldn’t disclose its fee for S60, mobile makers currently pay royalties as high as Rs.200.11 ($5) per unit to Symbian.
During phase two, members will start adding and integrating some assets from the Mobile-Oriented Application Platform used as NTT Do Como’s platform for its mobile phones and UIQ, a software platform based on Symbian OS, as complements to the Symbian Foundation’s offerings. This alone could take up to two years, according to Williams.
In the third phase expected to begin in 2011, the foundation’s offerings will finally start to evolve with the help of the open-source community. Development results will be released to the community under the Eclipse Public Licence (EPL).
Compared with other open-source licence models, Nokia believes that EPL, often known as a business-friendly free software licence, will make a difference. Williams said EPL can provide “proper protection for core source code,” allowing developers to do “derivative work” while giving licensees “strong ability for differentiation.”
2. No night at the Opera?
Despite all the talk about open-source development and freedom to add or differentiate on a platform, the Symbian Foundation’s offering may end up with just one target browser for smart phones.
John Forsyth, VP of strategy at Symbian, said: “One target browser covering most of the world’s phones is a good thing.” He noted that making a standard browser part of the platform will be “critical” in the foundation’s next phase. It will help to “cut tremendous cost, and it’s a healthy thing for application developers,” he explained.
The current Nokia Web browser is built on S60Webkit, a port of the open-source WebKit project for the S60 platform. WebKit contains core and components that Apple uses in its Safari Browser.
Does this mean there will be no room for other browsers such as Opera?
Forsyth stressed the strength of the open-source WebKit, while speculating that Opera may be seeking other embedded devices to promote its browser.
3. It’s all about “simplifying the software supply chain.”
The biggest issue with current mobile application software and service development is “fragmentation” of the platform. There are too many implementation paths, experts say. “We need to simplify a software supply chain and extend more value to our own products,” said Nokia’s Williams.
Symbian’s Forsyth agreed. “A question every OEM is asking today is: How do I change the ratio of commodity engineering and differentiation [of my products]?”
The hope is that the Symbian Foundation will take care of “commodity engineering.” By walking away from the current royalty licence model, Nokia hopes to eliminate “latency built in for participating in an eco-system,” said Williams.
4. Is Facebook coming to mobile handsets?
Ideally, implementing popular applications such as Facebook in the open-source model promoted by the Symbian Foundation should be simple—at least in theory.
Rather than each handset vendor negotiating individually with Facebook, Yahoo or Google, the foundation’s eleven founding members can act collectively. Along with Nokia, the members are Samsung Electronics, Motorola, LG, Sony Ericsson, STMicroelectronics, Texas Instruments, AT&T, NTT DoCoMo and Vodafone.
More important, once an asset like Facebook becomes available to the foundation, platform integration will follow for use by all members. Although Nokia’s Williams noted that the Facebook example is hypothetical, he added, “It should be very interesting.”
5. The power of semiconductor companies.
With most chip companies eager to participate in almost any mobile handset alliance, it’s no surprise to see names like Texas Instruments and STMicroelectronics among the founding members.
Indeed, observers of the latest Nokia-Symbian deal tout this as a huge win. Why?
Symbian’s Forsyth explained that the software integration necessary between silicon solutions and OS platforms is “really hard.” He added, “It has the biggest impact on the time-to-market.” Getting it right can take months of development time.
According to Frank Dickson, co-founder and chief research officer at MultiMedia Intelligence, “The major chip vendors will want to support every major OS as they cannot afford to be excluded from a significant group of new handset designs.” Obviously, OS vendors need semiconductor company support.
However, he added: “The chip vendors will not define the success. Chip companies will define protocols and standards to enable efficient implementations.”
6. Why is this open-source mobile platform better than others?
Nokia’s Williams insists that the Symbian Foundation will be a truly open foundation offering the EPL licensing model. Most important is that the foundation is built on an existing framework and is set up to exploit a collection of assets.
Dickson agrees. The foundation is “grounded with handset vendor DNA. This will be its greatest strength, he said. “The handset vendors are highly motivated to insure that they control their own destiny and thus have a vested interested in success of the Symbian Foundation.”
But the reality is that the fight has not even begun.
Dickson cautioned: “Android has Google behind it, looking to leverage the power of Internet-based services on the handset. Microsoft and Apple have powerful ecosystems and know a bit about making OS work. Linux has a rapid development community.”
Hence, the battle is far from over.
7. What’s the bottom line?
The Symbian Foundation is a huge development for the handset business. Dickson said “the implications for today are much less relevant than the implications for tomorrow.” He sees the deal as indicative of “the movement of handsets to replicate the PC model.”
This may not be exactly what all stakeholders wanted to hear, but the truth is that differentiation will be less about proprietary implementations. “Handsets will be standard platforms that run a standard OS,” said the analyst. “Differentiation will occur in form factors and applications that run on the OS.”
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Microsoft to buy mobile software maker MobiComp (USA)
Microsoft on Thursday announced plans to buy MobiComp, a Portuguese company that makes software for the mobile world, including mobile posting to Web sites such as Facebook.
Microsoft hopes the acquisition will further its mobile ambitions, particularly in building new mobile data protection and sharing services, the company said in a statement. The company also plans to use MobiComp to further expand its ability to provide compelling software that can be used for work and play with mobile phones, PCs and the Internet
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
MobiComp offers several Web based software services. For example, its MobileKeeper Backup & Restore backs up mobile phone data, while MobileKeeper Sharing & Communities connects mobile phone to social networking sites and gain updates on entertainment and news.
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Virgin Mobile’s “totally unlimited” deal (USA)
I have no experience with Virgin. I’ve never tried Virgin. I don’t know of anyone, personally, who uses Virgin. (heck, I don’t even like virgin daquiris or daquiris for that matter… but I digress)
I thought I’d put this offer out there for those of you looking for cell phone deals. Everyone out there has an unlimited plan offer out there, it seems. Now Virgin’s throwing its hat into the ring, too.
Virgin Mobile USA will unveil its new “Totally Unlimited” calling plan for $79.99 on July 1, the lowest priced and first unlimited nationwide calling plan without roaming charges or an annual contract that can be purchased by cash or credit. Bob Stohrer, chief marketing officer of Virgin Mobile USA, said, “It is simply not necessary to sign a two-year contract to get real worth with your wireless plan. This offer surpasses the regional carriers unlimited calling plans as well, as most addd on roaming charges that can cost customers as much as 79 cents per minute.”
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Microsoft, HTC Announce Mobile Internet Service Platform (USA)
Microsoft Taiwan, mobile phone maker High Tech Computer (HTC) and several other companies on Thursday announced a mobile Internet service station in Taiwan called Pl@net.
The mobile Internet service platform puts a host of entertainment and shopping options in users’ hands via their mobile phone, including news, travel planning and purchase, as well as concert tickets and content from Warner Music.
Several Internet shops well-known in Taiwan also signed on to Pl@net, including an online bookstore run by Eslite and the HappyGoCard, a shopping discount and point card.
Pl@net formally launches on July 1.
HTC also announced the release of HTC My Connect 2.0, a new version of mobile software that puts a button on a handset’s touchscreen that users push for quick software downloads, to share pictures, and more. One button on My Connect sends users right in the services and entertainment offered on Pl@net.
HTC is the world’s largest maker of smartphones based on the Microsoft Windows Mobile OS.
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China orders carriers to stop adding phone, internet customers (China)
China has ordered phone companies to stop adding new customers in August so they can better focus on ensuring service for the Beijing Olympics, an Associated Press report said.
The moratorium on new phone and internet connections adds to sweeping measures, including traffic bans and factory shutdowns, that are meant to provide better conditions for the games, a major prestige event for the communist government, the report said, quoting employees.
“We simply won’t touch the network any more to ensure its stability for the Olympic Games,” said an employee of China Telecom, China’s main fixed-line carrier, who said he had seen an internal company memo on the subject. He asked not to be identified further because he was not authorized to talk to reporters.
The curbs will interrupt explosive growth in new business for mobile carriers, which the government says are adding 9 million accounts per month.
Existing customers should not be affected, said the phone company employees and a spokesman for the Beijing municipal phone regulator. They said the curbs apply to Beijing, several other cities with Olympic events and possibly additional areas.
Businesses have been warned for months of Olympics-related curbs on traffic, construction and other activities.
internet provider China Netcom Corp. distributed a notice to customers this week saying that they should not expect to add new accounts in August.
CNC will avoid installing equipment from August 1 to August 25 but might be able to open a new account if it requires no additional wiring, said a spokeswoman for the company who refused to give her name. The Olympics will be held August 8-24.
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EU pitches 70% cut in mobile call handling charges
European mobile operators face a 70% cut in the fees they charge each other for passing on calls from competing networks under draft guidelines published by the European Commission, a Dow Jones report said.
The report said the development led to sharp criticism from the industry.
European Union telecoms commissioner Viviane Reding argues that so-called termination fees, which account for around 20% of operators’ revenue, don’t reflect the cost of providing the service and are nine times higher than equivalent fixed-line charges, the Dow Jones report said.
Mobile call termination rates are currently around €.08 to €.09 euros a minute.
But the commission’s latest proposals faced strong opposition from the industry and some national telecommunications regulators, who may seek to block it, the report said.
The commission’s plans are “too drastic,” said Hamid Akhavan, chief executive officer of Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile wireless unit, quoted by Dow Jones. “That is a level that is significantly below what we expected,” he said.
Richard Feasey, director of public policy at Vodafone Group, said the commission’s proposal fundamentally changes whe way mobile operators cover the cost of operating a network in Europe.
Operators’ revenue is already under pressure from previous cuts to roaming call prices and increased competition, just as they face possible further regulation on text and data charges.
Industry body GSM Association, joining the chorus of criticism, said there’s little need to regulate an industry in which prices are already falling year on year, the Dow Jones report further said.
