America Movil Partners with Appia for the launch of ‘iApps’ (Latin America)
Wireless service provider America Movil, has announced the launch of its iApps Application Stores powered by Appia, bringing a vast catalog of apps and games to all America Movil subscribers across Latin America. According to company reports, the iApps Application Stores are now available through America Movil’s operating partners Claro, Comcel, and Telcel reaching over 240 million mobile subscribers in 18 countries across Latin America including Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico.
Marco Quatorze, Director of Value Added Services, America Movil, has said that with the launch of the Application Stores powered by Appia to all America Movil subscribers, Apps are now available to the majority of Latin American Mobile subscribers. Further, Appia’s carrier-grade solution enabled them to quickly roll out the largest Application Store across Latin America.
Appia’s Application Catalog includes thousands of applications and games for Android, BlackBerry, Symbian, and Java phones. The iApps Application Stores include both paid and free applications such as social media, news, weather and sports apps in Spanish, English and Portuguese. Leading application developers including Rovio and Gameloft are distributing their app through the iApps Application store, along with internationally recognized application developers including Facebook, Electronic Arts, and MocoSpace.
Lukasz Deszczulka, Executive VP Marketing, Tequila Mobile, has said that America Movil’s iApps Application Stores have been a great source of traffic for them. Also, the Latin American apps market is growing rapidly, and Appia and America Movil have made it incredibly easy to reach users and generate downloads.
Jud Bowman, CEO, Appia, has said that Appia is excited to partner with America Movil to bring apps to the hundreds of millions of mobile subscribers in North, Central and South America. As app use continues to grow globally, Latin American is a phenomenal opportunity for application distribution and we expect tremendous growth in app consumption.
Globe Telecom launches new apps portal under ‘MyAppsMall’ (Philippines)
Philippines telecom operator Globe has partnered with parent company Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel), in bringing to the country ‘MyAppsMall’, a new apps store enabling customers to search, purchase and download mobile applications and games in a single portal.
According to company reports, Globe prepaid and postpaid subscribers will be able to avail this service for free. MyAppsMall offers a combination of over 20,000 free and paid apps ranging from games, entertainment, social networking, productivity, lifestyle, sports, news, finance, and weather and is accessible via mobile browser (m.apps.globe.com.ph) or via PC web browser (apps.globe.com.ph).
Once registered, users can personalize their homepage with social networking sites, emails, news updates and RSS feeds. Users will also be provided with a free MyApps email account for an easier and more secure access.
In order to make the user experience more enjoyable, MyAppsMall can be accessed via a single portal, eliminating the need for users to go to multiple sites just to search for various applications that suit their interests. Its cross-platform support lets users find content suited specific to their mobile device, whether Android, Symbian, Java or BlackBerry.
Further, in an attempt to offer convenience to users, purchasing apps on the MyAppsMall do not necessitate a credit card. The amount purchased will be automatically charged to the users Globe prepaid or postpaid bill.
MyAppsMall also provides an exclusive platform for application developers to create, distribute and monetize their apps to an international market, making content available not only to the Philippines but also to the rest of the region covered by SingTel via its multiple market base.
Through the operator billing capability, subscribers from other SingTel affiliates can also purchase content from MyAppsMall, while subscribers from networks outside the SingTel Group can still buy apps using their credit cards. This further widens potential market for local developers, exposing their creations to a vast audience from around the world.
Glenn Estrella, Head, Globe Digital Media, has said that they are very excited with this new offering for their subscribers, leveraging on their strong affiliation with SingTel. Through MyAppsMall, their subscribers get the best mobile browsing experience by getting exclusive access to their apps of choice. Purchase for paid apps is so convenient and worry-free with the secure billing platform, with costs directly charged to user’s prepaid load or postpaid account.
Further, with this innovation, Globe and SingTel are also helping expose Filipino talent and creativity to the global market by tapping local developers and allowing them to sell their apps and services. With the MyAppsMall portal, there is indeed everything for everyone, and with Globe, everyone can enjoy it their way.
Telkomsel launches mobile money transfer service (Indonesia)
Telkomsel, Indonesia’s largest mobile service provider has launched a mobile money transfer service called T-Cash Kirim Uang (Telkomsel Cash Transfer), which allows customers to transfer money using their cell phones.
Subscribers need to register for prepaid e-wallet deposits, which function like bank accounts. It helps customer to transfer funds via SMS, which recipients can claim at customer service centers and thousands of branches of retailer Indomaret in Java, Bali and Lampung. All they need is the recipient of the transaction number to an authorized merchant to claim the money.
According to Ricardo Indra, Telkomsel’s corporate communications manager, the service is the first of its kind in the country. Company’s target market is the people who do not have bank accounts, especially in rural areas.
Virgin Mobile India inks deal with GetJar to offer apps catalogue to consumers
Virgin Mobile India has joined hands with GetJar, an independent mobile phone application store , to provide applications from GetJar’s App Catalogue Express.
Through the deal, Virgin Mobile customers will have the access to applications varying from games, social networking, entertainment, food, health, lifestyle and other helpful applications.
Applications like Yahoo, Nimbuzz, Opera Mini Browser and such applications can now be downloaded in all major handsets, like Android, Blackberry, Windows Mobile, Java and Symbian phones.
Virgin Mobile subscribers can visit m.virginin.getjar.com to get GetJar’s applications. This link is presently available on Virgin Mobile India’s WAP portal on GSM platform in sixteen circles, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Chennai, Kerala, Orissa, Mumbai and Maharashtra, Kolkata and West Bengal, Haryana, Bihar, MP&CG, Punjab, UP (E) and UP (W).
Virgin Mobile India users can download all applications free of cost. Only the data browsing charges of INR 0.01 per kb will be charged.
Java Leads the path for Mobile eBook Downloads
Wattpad, the ebook community has unveiled its Q3 2009 Global Ebook Metrics Report which covers both country and handset/manufacturer data based on ebook usage of subscribers of over 600 mobile operators in 160 countries.
Te report has found out that Wattpad continues to be the world’s most downloaded mobile ebook application with over 4 million downloads.
IBM to provide cloud computing to SK Telecom
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Winning the battle against four of its largest rivals, International Business Machines Corp. will operate a cloud computing platform for SK Telecom Co., Ltd. As per the deal, IBM will provide the infrastructure to SK Telecom, South Korea’s largest telecoms operator with more than 50% of the market.
The networks will be used by SK Telecom and its business partners to test and publish telecoms applications in order for the applications to later to be rolled out on its networks for consumers.
IBM beat Hewlett-Packard Co., Microsoft Corp., Oracle Corp. and Sun Microsystems Inc. (JAVA) in order to win the contract but the value of the deal was not revealed. The technology giant has focused recently on building out infrastructure in Asia for cloud computing.
Cloud Computing has tightened its grip recently especially with smaller customers as it enables significant cost savings.
