Wireless Federation

Argentina imposes restrictions on mobile imports

On 03.14.11, In Mobile, By Editor

The government of Argentina is clamping down on mobile phone imports in order to increase demand for locally produced handsets, in a move which predominantly affects BlackBerry and Apple smartphones.

Most manufacturers have some sort of local handset factory to cater to South American markets, but Apple and RIM are entirely imported.

As per reports, the clamp down comprises of delays in getting imports cleared by customs, and would range between 2-6 months.

It is also reported that about 60% of all phones sold in Argentina in 2010 were imports, with the bulk being either low-cost models from Brazil and Asia, or very high-end smartphones such as BlackBerry and iPhone handsets. The middle-market for feature phones is generally assembled from imported components by local factories operated by Huawei, Samsung, LG and Motorola.

The customs restrictions also apply to other consumer electronics, not just mobile phones.

750 mn mobile users expected to use mobile ticketing by 2015

On 03.10.11, In Mobile, By Editor

A new research report has revealed that one in every eight mobile users worldwide will either have a ticket delivered to their mobile phone or buy a ticket with their phone by 2015 which equates to over 750 million users. This compares with approximately 1 in 20 now which equates to 230 million. Ticket delivery will be by SMS, bar codes, mobile web, smartphone apps or NFC.

Whilst mobile ticketing users are currently concentrated in a number of early adopting transport schemes in Japan, Central & Eastern Europe and Scandinavia, the report determined that opportunities for mobile ticketing will spread right across the transport, sport, entertainment and events sectors.

The report pinpointed the next two years to 2013 as the key period in which mobile ticketing will transition from a minority experience will become mainstream as the mobile plays an ever growing role in all aspects of airline travel, rail travel, festivals and cinemas.

According to researchers, mobile technology is moving the ticket machine into users’ pockets. The research demonstrated that mobile ticketing will change the way that many people buy and obtain their regular, every day tickets that are mostly printed at the moment. They foresee strong acceptance driven not only by airlines but also cinemas and some sports events: bar coded boarding passes are a clear case in point.

Further key findings from the report include:

Number of primarily developed regions will see penetration of up to one in five users by 2015
Growth constraints include existing ticketing infrastructure and danger posed by poor user experience

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: 750 million users • bar codes • Central & Eastern Europe • Entertainment • events sectors • Japan • Mobile • Mobile Phone • Mobile Web • NFC • Scandinavia • smartphone apps • SMS • sport • ticket delivered • transport

Majority of Chinese children access the internet

On 03.04.11, In Mobile, By Editor

A survey of Chinese school children has found that a majority, i.e. almost 60% have accessed the internet at least once before they were ten years old. It was even found that just under 2% of the respondents could recall being exposed to the internet when just 3 years of age.

According to the survey, about 47% of the minors surveyed owned a mobile phone and 40% used it to go online. The results show that most of the children use cell phones to chat, read blogs, play games and search for information on the Internet.

The survey, which lasted more than half a year, was conducted mainly among students aged between 10 and 18 years in 106 middle and elementary schools across the country. Some parents and teachers also participated in the survey.

The survey carried warnings that unguarded access to the internet over mobile phones without parental supervision could lead to problems later on with internet addiction – although the censorship in the country is unlikely to lead them towards unsavory websites.

The survey was jointly conducted by the Chinese Young Pioneers Business Development Center and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: chat • China • Chinese Academy of Social Sciences • Chinese school children • Chinese Young Pioneers Business Development Center • internet • Mobile • Mobile Phone • Online • play games • read blogs

France Telecom faces increased competition

On 02.28.11, In Mobile, By Editor

France’s biggest phone company, France Telecom SA has announced that it faced a drop in profit margins this year as it prepares for a new mobile-phone rival in its home market in 2012.

The company has reported profits which were slightly better than analyst expectations. The company stated that it sees a 1% point slide in 2011 margins for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.

According to telecommunications sales specialist, the risk profile in both fixed and mobile is increasing in the French market.

Chief Executive Officer, Stephane Richard. is looking to guard market share and margins at home, where Iliad SA will start offering mobile services next year. France accounted for more than 51% of revenue for the former state-owned monopoly last year.

According to the Chief Financial Officer, Gervais Pellissier, the preparations for the fourth entrant will put some pressure on mobile prices in France in 2011.

According to the company, in 2010, EBITDA declined to US$21.5 billion from 21.21 billion a year earlier.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: Chief Executive Officer • Chief Financial Officer • depreciation and amortization • earnings before interest • EBITDA • France • France Telecom SA • Gervais Pellissier • Iliad SA • Mobile • Mobile Phone • profit margins • Stephane Richard • Taxes

West Virginia considers making covert smartphone software illegal

On 02.18.11, In Mobile, By Editor

The US State of West Virginia is planning a new law that would make it illegal to install covert software onto a mobile phone, personal digital assistant or other mobile device without the owner’s knowledge and consent.

The law – Senate Bill 281 – will however have exemptions for parents and employers who want to monitor how a mobile phone is used.

It also only applies to software that allows or causes transmission of voice or non-voice content, conversation, text message, electronic mail or the location of the non consenting person’s computer, mobile phone or digital assistant or other mobile device at any particular time.

The law is aimed at computer viruses which are increasingly migrating to the smartphone arena, and would – in theory – enable the sending of confidential information back to a third source. The law effectively tidies up the anomaly where a computer virus is illegal, but a smartphone might not be, depending on how you define a computer by the law.

Violators face a fine of up to US$500, or confinement in jail for not more than six months or get fined and confined both.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: conversation • covert software • electronic mail • Mobile • Mobile Phone • personal digital assistant • Senate Bill 281 • Text Message • US State of West Virginia • Voice or non-voice content

BBC iPlayer plans to launch Android smartphone (UK)

On 02.10.11, In Mobile, By Editor

UK based broadcaster, BBC has confirmed plans to enable TV shows on mobile phones. The broadcaster has already built a hugely popular web based service iPlayer that lets people watch shows for up to a week after they were broadcast and there have been constant reports of a smartphone app to enable the same on the move.

According to Daniel Danker, the BBC’s General Manager of Future Media & Technology, the BBC News app has been a success since its launch last year and he confirmed that the BBC iPlayer will be the next off the production line.

Last year, BBC stated that growth in mobile use of its iPlayer outpaced PC growth by more than 2-to-1 and BBC iPlayer growth on tablets outpaced PCs by more than 20-to-1. They are now just applying the finishing touches to the apps, and all things being well the company plans to have Android and iPad apps in stores by the end of this week.

The new apps will enable people to watch live TV and listen to radio and also access the full catalogue of iPlayer post-broadcast content.

Although developing the app for the iPad was said to be straightforward for it to work on Android devices, they will need to be running Android OS version 2.2 at a minimum along with Adobe Flash 10.1 Player.

Significantly, it will only be available to stream over Wi-Fi networks, which will probably be a relief to the mobile networks who faced the sort of deluge in mobile data usage that had previously upset the UK’s landline internet providers.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: Adobe Flash 10.1 Player • Android • Android OS version 2.2 • BBC • BBC iPlayer • BBC News app • broadcaster • Daniel Danker • General Manager of Future Media & Technology • iPad • Mobile • Mobile Phone • PC • tablets • TV shows • UK • USA • Wi-Fi networks

Google Voice accept Porting of US mobile Numbers

On 01.28.11, In Mobile, By Editor

Google has launched a service which lets US mobile phone users to port their mobile phone number over to the Google Voice platform.

The service was actually enabled by mistake last week and swiftly removed, but has now been confirmed on Google’s official blog website.

Porting a mobile phone number to Google Voice will cost US$20 and will be completed within 24 hours.

After porting a number to Google Voice the subscriber’s mobile service plan will be cancelled, and the user then has to enable the Google Voice service on their computers and other devices. Number Porting is currently available for existing users and will become available to new users within the next few weeks.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: Google • Google Voice platform • Mobile Phone • Porting • U.S

Youku Partners with China Telecom for Joint Operation of Subscription-Based Video Channel

On 11.25.10, In Mobile, By Editor

China’s leading online video site Youku announced today that it would partner with China Telecom to manage the subscription-based new “Original Content” channel on the operator’s 3G video service. The new cooperation marks the first time China Telecom has ever partnered with an online video site for 3G video services — and continues Youku’s strategy of forging strong, lasting partnerships with all three of China’s telecom and mobile operators.

Under the new partnership, Youku will provide content and manage operations for the channel. When the Original Content channel launches late next month, subscribers will be able to pay over their mobile phones or via the internet for access to a broad range of high quality video content, including short films produced by Youku under its Youku Originals brand and all of the films co-produced by Youku as part of the hit 11 Degrees New Media Project — on whatever screen they happen to have in front of them, whether it’s their mobile phone, a tablet computer, or a desktop PC. The service will deliver high quality streaming video to any internet-connected device for a superb viewing experience.

In addition to being China’s largest internet service provider, China Telecom is also the country’s fastest-growing 3G mobile operator, with 3G subscriber growth of 76.5%, or nearly 4 million, for the year to date, bringing it to 9.2 million 3G subscribers. In May 2009, Youku became China’s first online video site to make selections from its content library available to mobile users through its 3G portal; since then, Youku has seen mobile traffic grow to two million page views per day. Earlier this year, Youku moved even further beyond the PC when it became the first online video site in the world to make its entire catalogue of content available in HD for the iPad and iPhone 4. Through its new partnership with China Telecom and its ongoing partnerships with China’s other two major telecom operators, Youku is laying the groundwork for the future of internet television on the PC and beyond.

Youku CTO Leo Yao Jian hailed the partnership as the latest move in Youku’s long-term strategy of making internet video as ubiquitous as the internet itself. “Over the last year,” Yao said, “we’ve been working to make Youku a part of people’s daily lives, whether they’re at their computers or commuting to work. We enjoy friendly working relationships with all three of China’s 3G mobile operators, and we’ve seen explosive growth in the number of 3G users as a result of that.” He added that Youku was working to explore business models for mobile access. “Mobile data fees are poised to become still cheaper next year,” he said, “and we expect to see even greater growth in mobile users, which will mean ever closer partnerships between Youku and mobile operators in the future.”

In addition to its regular web and mobile web interfaces, Youku also offers native software clients for all major smartphone operating systems. The company’s free iOS app, for iPhones, iPod Touches, and iPads, is one of the most popular free downloads in China’s iTunes App Store, and Youku applications for other operating systems have shipped pre-installed on more than 4.6 million smartphones this year alone. Youku estimates that its smartphone penetration is more than 50%.

About Youku

Youku.com Inc. (www.youku.com) is China’s leading Internet television company. Our mission is to become the primary video content provider for Chinese internet users across all Internet-enabled devices. We offer a combination of licensed professional content, user-generated content and self-produced web content by Youku Originals. Since launching in December 2006, Youku has grown to become China’s third-largest website in terms of user time spent. According to research firm iResearch, Youku attracts approximately 203 million monthly unique visitors from homes and offices and 61 million monthly unique visitors from Internet cafes, and has a 40% share of total user time spent viewing online videos among Chinese internet users.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: 3G video service • China • China Telecom • HD • iPad • iPhone 4 • Mobile • Mobile Phone • tablet computer • Video Channel • Youku

RCS Features are in demand: research

On 04.13.10, In Mobile Marketing, By Editor

A study has revealed that that an overwhelming proportion of British mobile phone owners want access to RCS (Rich Communication Suite) features.

As per the report 31% of 18-to-14 year old want to see their friends’ status from within their mobile phone address book, but that only 5% have phones that offer this feature. 51% would to like to see their friends’ location in their address book, something that has been recently added to RCS.

According to a source, while the current RCS initiative is rounding out nicely, there is clearly more work to be done, especially with social network integration.

Filed under:Mobile Marketing Tagged with: British • Mobile • Mobile Phone • phone

Ofcom calls for cut in mobile phone charge

On 04.01.10, In Mobile Marketing, By Editor

Ofcom, communications regulator has proposed a steep reduction in connection charges for mobile phone users. As per the plans, the wholesale charges that operators make to connect calls to each others’ networks would fall from around 4.3p per minute to 0.5p per minute by 2015.

The company is also proposing to reduce the time taken to transfer a mobile number to another network from two working days to one.

In addition, the Porting Authorization Code (PAC) that consumers need to switch provider and keep their number will in future be issued immediately or within a maximum of two hours by text message. At present, the time and way to issue PAC varies considerably between providers.

Filed under:Mobile Marketing Tagged with: Mobile Phone • Ofcom • PAC