Youku Partners with China Telecom for Joint Operation of Subscription-Based Video Channel
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.
RCS Features are in demand: research
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.
Ofcom calls for cut in mobile phone charge
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.
Chicago court rules TCPA applies to SMS
According to a federal district court in Chicago the SMS messages that are sent to consumers without their consent could violate the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.
The decision reminds of the conclusions in the previous Ninth Circuit opinion and underscores the importance of getting express consent from consumers before sending SMS messages.
According to Gonzalo E. Mon, attorney at Kelley Drye & Warren LLP, Washington, mobile marketers would be well-advised to get express consent before sending text messages to consumers. Without the consent of the consumer, the marketers are likely to face complains, lawsuits and significant settlement costs.
In the last few years there has been a considerable rise in the number of people filing lawsuits against companies that failed to get consent from consumers before sending them text messages.
The primary law in the US which is governing the conduct of telephone solicitations is TCPA and it restricts the use of automatic dialing systems, artificial or prerecorded voice messages SMS text messages received by mobile phones and the use of fax machines to send unsolicited advertisements.
Motorola CEOs continue to accept their pay cuts
Motorola is fighting for getting back its image of a giant mobile phone maker it once was. With the introduction of Android phones, the company has shown a clear sign of its way back to prominence. Also, in order to support the company one step further, co-CEO Greg Brown and Sanjay Jha have agreed to continue taking their voluntary salary cut of 25% for 2010.
Motorola is all set to make their long-awaited comeback in the mobile space with solid plans to divide the company into two separate publicly trade entities. While Sanjay Jha is expected to take his seat as the head of the Mobile devices and Home Businesses division, Greg Brown will rein the Motorola Enterprise unit.
Though the company has showed that they have the capability to be one of the formidable players in the smartphone space, the long-term success of the company will largely depend on its ability to continue to capture mindshare in the US and around the world. At present, Motorola Droid is considered to be a good step; but it won’t be enough to carry Moto through the next year.
Make your life of luxury complete with ‘Gucci A800 Diamond’
The Gucci A800 Diamond studded phone, as the name suggests, is a phone involving a lot of diamonds. But what has come as a surprise to many is how gold has been embedded in many of its areas.
Also, contrary to what many expected, the Gucci A800 is light in weight (only 100 grams), with an LCD of 2.8 inches and a 1.3 megapixel camera.
Gucci A800 provides a talk time of 180 to 240 minutes and a stand-by time of 160 to 200 hours and can be used in English, Arabic, and French.
The Accessories of Gucci A800 are exceptional as they add charm to the Luxurious Cell Phone and highlight its features. What also sets this phone apart from the rest is its video quality that enables you to play 3GP as well as MP4.
The Mobile Phone comes along with a powerful Bluetooth, charger, USB Data Cable, batteries and a user guide in which the information is written on how to use the Cell Phone.
Find the colors of the ocean in ‘Ascent Ti Neon’
Here comes a mobile phone, inspired by the colours of the ocean. We are talking about the new Ascent Ti Neon that comes with rubber on the back instead of the leather of the regular Ascent Ti, in a choice of four colours: green, orange, pink and white. What makes the phone so expensive could be attributed to its titanium chassis.
Providing a talk time of 4.5 hours (GSM) and a standby time of around 400 hours, the phone supports the quad band GSM coverage and WCDMA2100 throughout the world.
Ascent Ti Neon has a QVGA display, 4GB of internal memory, 3MP camera and supports Bluetooth interface.
Not to forget to mention, the phone comes with a high performance hands free loudspeaker.
The phone will go on sale in October and will cost nearly $9,900.
M-Pesa launches in UK (Kenya)
Vodafone’s group company, Safarikom has launched m-pesa, it’s mobile money transfer and payment service at selected outlets in the UK.
Kenyans in the UK can now send money to their friends and family in Kenya through M-pesa UK, direct to their mobile phone wallets.
Western Union, Provident Capital Transfers and KenTv were involved in a small pilot before the commercial launch of this service. A total of 19 outlets with high local kenyan population were selected to trial this service.
To send money using M-PESA, the sender in UK will be required to identify themselves and furnish the agent with the recipient’s name, Kenyan mobile number and the amount being sent in Sterling Pounds. This will be converted at current rates and sent in Kenyan Shillings. Neither party is charged a registration fee.
A transaction fee ranging from £4 to £6.90 will be charged though.
Following authorisation by the Central Bank of Kenya, Safaricom shall be increasing the locations in the UK from which money can be sent to M-pesa customers as well as launching services across other popular remittance corridors
Currently, the maximum amount that can be sent internationally per transaction through M-pesa is £250 while the total allowable per month from a single sender in the UK is £1,000.
The successful take-up of M-PESA in Kenya has clearly demonstrated the demand for easily accessible, secure cash payment services in emerging markets,†said Nick Hughes, Vodafone’s Head of International Mobile Payments. Our partnership with Western Union allows M-PESA subscribers to receive international remittances and builds on the demand we have already seen domestically in Kenya.â€
This program aligns a global leader in money-transfer services, the world’s largest mobile operator group, and arguably one of the most impressive success stories in mobile money,†said Matt Dill, Senior Vice President, Western Union Digital Ventures. In offering M-PESA users the opportunity to receive funds from abroad for the first time, these three companies are changing the way money moves around the
globe.â€
Safaricom CEO Michael Joseph said: We wish to invite Kenyans living in the UK to take advantage of this service, which presents a real innovation on our M-pesa menu. Through strategic partnerships with Western Union, Provident Capital and KenTV we are giving them an opportunity to convert across two currencies into M-pesa and send money affordably without any hidden costs directly to the mobile phone of the recipient.â€
MetroPCS Orders LTE Infrastructure from Ericsson & Handsets from Samsung (USA)
MetroPCS Communications, Inc. (NYSE: PCS), the nation’s leading provider of unlimited, flat-rate, no signed contract wireless communications service, announces that it has selected its infrastructure and initial handset vendors for its second half 2010 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) Broadband service launch. MetroPCS has selected Ericsson, a world-leading provider of telecommunications equipment and related services to mobile and fixed network operators globally, as its infrastructure vendor for the launch of its LTE service. In addition, MetroPCS has selected Samsung Telecommunications America (Samsung Mobile)1, the number one mobile phone provider in the U.S.2, to provide the Company’s initial LTE handset device.
“LTE represents the next generation of wireless technology, and we are proud to be working with two technology leaders in Ericsson and Samsung,” said Roger D. Linquist, president, chief executive officer and chairman of the board of MetroPCS. “As the Internet goes ‘mobile’ we are excited to be at the forefront of this wireless evolution with the building out of our 4G broadband data services. We anticipate to begin offering our 4G LTE services and a dual-mode LTE/CDMA smartphone in our major metropolitan markets in late 2010. When launched, our customers will benefit from our next generation, leading-edge network technology which will enable true high-speed Internet access in the palm of their hand. With the announcement of our LTE launch vendors, MetroPCS will move directly to 4G.”
MetroPCS has successfully encouraged customers to cut the cord on their landline phones and enjoy wireless mobility with their unlimited, flat-rate, no signed contract plans. With its LTE broadband initiative, MetroPCS will provide the ability to cut the cord on the Internet, and subscribers will enjoy a richer HTML browsing experience coupled with multimedia applications that allow a traditional wireline Internet experience directly on their handset.
“Ericsson is honored to be chosen by MetroPCS as their LTE/EPC infrastructure supplier for its LTE service launch,” said Angel Ruiz, president and CEO of Ericsson North America. “We look forward to using our leadership in LTE technology to help MetroPCS usher in a new era of communications and transform the mobile-broadband user experience for their customers.”
“Samsung Mobile is excited to announce a handset that will be compatible on MetroPCS’ high-speed LTE network,” said Paul Golden, chief marketing officer for Samsung Telecommunications America. “This mobile device will take the user experience to the next level by offering users a full broadband Internet experience on a LTE infrastructure.”
MetroPCS offers a diverse selection of service plans, which allow customers to talk 24-hours-a-day, seven days a week, for a wireless experience that best fits their lifestyles. With MetroPCS, customers pay by the month, not by the minute, and services do not require a signed contract, deposit or credit check. For more information on MetroPCS, please go to www.metropcs.com.
About MetroPCS Communications, Inc.
Dallas-based MetroPCS Communications, Inc. (NYSE: PCS) is a provider of unlimited wireless communications service for a flat-rate with no signed contract. Currently, MetroPCS is the fifth largest facilities-based carrier in the United States and has access to licenses covering a population of approximately 145 million people in the largest metropolitan areas in the United States, including New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Jacksonville, Detroit, Boston, Miami, Las Vegas, Orlando, Tampa and Sacramento. As of June 30, 2009, MetroPCS had approximately 6.3 million subscribers. For more information please visit www.metropcs.com.
About Ericsson
Ericsson’s multimedia content is available at the broadcast room: www.ericsson.com/broadcast_room
Ericsson is the world’s leading provider of technology and services to telecom operators. Ericsson is the leader in 2G, 3G and 4G mobile technologies, and provides support for networks with over 1 billion subscribers and has a leading position in managed services. The company’s portfolio comprises of mobile and fixed network infrastructure, telecom services, software, broadband and multimedia solutions for operators, enterprises and the media industry. The Sony Ericsson and ST-Ericsson joint ventures provide consumers with feature-rich personal mobile devices.
Ericsson is advancing its vision of “to be the prime driver in an all-communicating world” through innovation, technology, and sustainable business solutions. Working in 175 countries, more than 75,000 employees generated revenue of SEK 209 billion (USD 32.2 billion) in 2008. Founded in 1876 with the headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden, Ericsson is listed on OMX NASDAQ, Stockholm and NASDAQ New York.
About Samsung Telecommunications America
Samsung Telecommunications America, LLC, a Dallas-based subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., researches, develops and markets wireless handsets and telecommunications products throughout North America. For more information, please visit www.samsungmobileusa.com.
About Samsung Electronics
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a global leader in semiconductor, telecommunication, digital media and digital convergence technologies with 2008 consolidated sales of US$96 billion. Employing approximately 164,600 people in 179 offices across 61 countries, the company consists of two business units: Digital Media & Communications and Device Solutions. Recognized as one of the fastest growing global brands, Samsung Electronics is a leading producer of digital TVs, memory chips, mobile phones and TFT-LCDs. For more information, please visit www.samsung.com.
1. Samsung Mobile is proud to provide ENERGY STAR-qualified power adapters with its mobile phones and accessories. ENERGY STAR qualified products use less energy, save money, and help protect the environment. Products that have earned the ENERGY STAR meet strict energy-efficiency guidelines set by the US Environmental Protection Agency and the US Department of Energy.
2. Based upon reported shipment data, according to Strategy Analytics Q2 2009 U.S. Market Share Handset Shipments Report.
Forward-Looking Statements
Except for the historical information contained herein, this news release contains forward-looking statements as defined within Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties and are based upon MetroPCS’ current expectations and assumptions at the time they are made. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance or results. Actual financial results, performance or results of operations may differ materially from those anticipated. The risks and uncertainties include those detailed from time to time in our periodic reports filed with the SEC, such as our annual report on form 10-K for the period ending December 31, 2008 and in our quarterly reports on form 10-Q. Certain factors that may materially affect such forward-looking statements and our future performance include:
- the demand for LTE services;
- the performance of Ericsson and Samsung under their agreements with MetroPCS;
- the highly competitive nature of our industry;
- the rapid technological changes in our industry;
- our ability to maintain adequate customer care and manage our churn rate;
- our ability to secure the necessary spectrum and network infrastructure equipment;
- our ability to maintain and upgrade our network and business systems;
- ability to obtain permits required for LTE development; and
- governmental regulation of our business network and services and the costs of compliance and our failure to comply with such regulations.
Existing and prospective investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. MetroPCS undertakes no obligation to update or revise the information in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or circumstances, or otherwise, except as required by law.
SOURCE: MetroPCS Communications, Inc.
Edelman for MetroPCS Sarika Patel, 214-443-7555 sarika.patel@edelman.com
