Play launches sales of Nokia C1-01 (Poland)
Play has started the sales of Nokia C1-01. The handset features a web browsing, FM radio, music player, Bluetooth, GPRS, e-mail as well as chat.
The Nokia C1-01 offers microSD compatibility, enabling users to store up to 32 GB of music, photos or other media. In addition, owners of the Nokia C1-01 will also be able to take video and photographs using the built-in VGA camera.
French mobile web users increased to 15.5 mn in 2010
A new research report has revealed that France had 15.5 million mobile internet users, defined as people who connected at least once a month, in 2010, 3.3 million more than a year earlier.
Half of the users are using “advanced services” (MMS, radio, video/TV, e-mail, instant messaging, video telephony) and nearly half have downloaded an app. The number of fixed internet users rose by 10% in one year to 38.3 million in December 2010, with some 24 million connecting daily, or 3.2 million more than in December 2009.
According to the report, every hour between 9:00 and 21:00, an average of 5.4 million people are online in France in 2010, versus 4.6 million in 2009. Social media have created a permanent connection to the internet, with over three quarters of internet users having consulted a blog or social network in December (32.1 million people) and 11.7 million people did so daily.
Internet users are increasing the amount of time they spend on such sites, rising to 5 hours 30 minutes, on average, in 2010 from 4 hours 10 minutes in 2009. Consumers are using the internet to seek others’ advice before buying products, with two-thirds of internet users sharing their opinions on products and services they buy by commenting on e-commerce sites, blogs, forums or social networks. There were 27.7 million online purchasers in 2010, 3.3 million more than a year earlier.
Online video is gaining more and more viewers, with video portals hosting professional and amateur productions attracting 24.5 percent unique visitors last year, nearly 60 percent of all internet users. In the mobile sphere, one in ten mobile phone owners watched video or TV content in the preceding month. Fixed internet podcast downloads were up by 26.5 percent year-on-year to over 14 million in December.
Skype to reimburse paying customers after service outage
Skype has announced that it would be reimbursing its paying customers for the inconvenience caused by massive service outage.
According to CEO Tony Bates, Pre-paid and pay-as-you-go customers will receive a voucher via e-mail for 30 minutes of free calling to landlines anywhere in the world, and subscribers will be credited with one week’s subscription service to be applied from the next renewal date.
He added that audio, video and instant messaging are running normally, and the site is back to 90% of its normal user volume. Traffic peaked at about 20 million users Thursday. Offline instant messaging and group video calling are still unavailable.
Hawaiian Telcom emerges from Bankruptcy
Hawaiian Telcom has officially emerged from bankruptcy on Thursday, concluding two years of bankruptcy proceedings.
According to the company, it exited bankruptcy today with $300 million in debt. The Hawaii Public Utilities Commission, the last group needed to sign off, approved the Chapter 11 reorganization plan for the Honolulu-based company on Sept. 22.
The company’s reorganization reduces its debt by more than $850 million, or 74%. It retains $300 million of debt.
According to the Chief Executive Officer, Eric Yeaman, as was their goal, the company has significantly reduced the debt through the Chapter 11 process and have emerged a much stronger, more financially secure company better positioned to address the growth opportunities as the leading communications provider in the Hawaii marketplace.
As per the company, it is now been governed by a new board of directors, and retaining its management team, it is positioned to be more competitive in the changing telecommunications market. It has invested in its advanced fiber optic network and launched a new consumer portal, hawaiiantel.net, which combines e-mail, voice mail, streaming capabilities for music and video and weather and sports feeds.
Qtel introduces BlackBerry Curve 3G and the BlackBerry Pearl 3G in Qatar
Qtel has launched two new BlackBerry smart phones in Qatar the BlackBerry Curve 3G and the BlackBerry Pearl 3G.
According to Qtel, both models reflect the innovative new designs that BlackBerry offers to the market, and strong demand is expected for the popular smart phones from both corporate and consumer BlackBerry smart phone enthusiasts. It offers a range of innovative packages that enable customers to match BlackBerry service to their lifestyle.
The company further said that with the launch of the two new BlackBerry smart phone models, Qtel is extending the commitment to provide customers with the latest range of smart phones, offering more choices and greater value in the range of models available.
The BlackBerry Curve 3G smart phone supports high-speed 3G (HSDPA) networks around the world and gives users exceptional communication features. It features a comfortable full-QWERTY keyboard, optical trackpad, built-in GPS and Wi-Fi, as well as dedicated media keys. It also features a 2 MP camera with video record and a microSD/SDHC slot that supports up to 32GB memory cards for media storage.
BlackBerry Pearl 3G is a sleek compact device. The device supports high-speed 3G (UMTS/HSDPA) networks, Wi-Fi and GPS along with a powerful processor that drives stunning images on the sharp, high-resolution display. It also features an optical trackpad for smooth navigation, dedicated volume and media keys for added convenience, a 3.2MP camera with flash for quality pictures, and support for up to 32GB of personal content.
Qtel also offers a BlackBerry Enterprise Service, with a host of support services for businesses. BlackBerry Enterprise Server is for organizations that manage their own e-mail servers. The BlackBerry Enterprise Server software strongly integrates with IBM Lotus Domino, Microsoft Exchange and Novell GroupWise and offers advanced security and IT policy controls to enable secure, push-based wireless access to e-mail and other corporate data.
Vodafone ties-up with Blackberry
Vodafone has launched Blackberry services in Ghana. The new deal with RIM has helped Vodafone Group Ghana to provide mobile customers with the next level services, and a real smart phone experience through their Blackberry devices.
According to William A. Darkah, Head of Enterprise Operations, Vodafone Group Ghana, BlackBerry is mainly a messaging phone with the largest collection of messaging features in a smart-phone, which includes auto-text, auto-correct, text prediction, and support for many languages, keyboard shortcuts, text emoticons, push email, push Facebook and Myspace notifications, among others.
BlackBerry is a line of mobile e-mail and smart-phone devices, developed and designed by Canadian company (RIM) since 1996 as a personal digital assistant with address book, calendar and to-do list capabilities. It also functions as a portable media player with video playback and camera facilities, and has the ability to send and receive (push) Internet e-mail wherever mobile network service coverage is present.
According to Mr. Marc Norris, Director, Consumer Fixed Vodafone Ghana, users of smart-mobile-phone would enjoy the freedom and productivity benefits of staying in touch with their family and business partners through the numerous technological offers.
