MWC2010: Verizon Wireless to launch Skype service

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Skype service has been offered by US mobile operator Verizon Wireless to its customers on mobile data plans. The deal between Skype and the mobile operator was announced at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona as per which smartphone users would be able to use the VoIP service on the Verizon network starting in March.

Verizon data plan subscribers will be allowed to make and receive free Skype-to-Skype calls, call international numbers at Skype Out rates, use Skype instant messaging and remain online and check the online status of contacts through this deal.

BlackBerry Storm 9530, Storm2 9550, Curve 8330, Curve 8530, 8830 World Edition and Tour 9630 smartphones, as well as the Droid by Motorola, Droid Eris by HTC and Motorola Devour will have the Skype service initially.

MWC2010: Google has no plans to compete with mobile operators

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: With the test of gigabit-to-the-home technology and selling 60,000 Android smartphones a day, Google has started investing in the wireless network but has no plans to compete with network operators. The announcement was made by Google CEO Eric Schmidt at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona

However, the investments made in the network infrastructure, and the trials of FTTH (fiber-to-the-home) do not indicate that it wants to become the network operator. Instead the focus of the company is on its search advertising and enterprise software businesses.

According to Schmidt, as the company rolls out new applications, its engineers are increasingly developing for mobile first because they are more excited by its greater potential, although the goal is still to develop for all platforms and not to favor Android, the mobile OS that the company helped develop.

MWC2010: Mobile tech to reshape society in economic crisis, says Vodafone CEO

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The role the technology to overcome the global financial crisis became the topic of discussion at the Mobile World Congress for Vodafone Group chief executive Vittorio Colao expressed that mobile technology has the ability to reshape society in the wake of the economic crisis.

According to Colao, machine-to-machine technology which is the ability for devices, in healthcare for example, to connect over the mobile network deployed in a “massive way” in Europe could save 40 billion Euros and 110 million tonnes of CO2 emissions, equivalent to the emissions from the country of Belgium.

In Barcelona, along with 15 other mobile operators Vodafone too supported a wholesale platform for mobile applications that allows developers a single point of access to more than $3 billion mobile customers. The move is a challenge to Apple’s dominance in the application space which has seen mobile operators lose control of the content pumped across their networks.

According to Alcatel Lucent chief executive Ben Verwaayen, consumers will need retraining from the expectations of the all-you-can-eat model to different prices for quality of service.

MWC2010: Microsoft gets serious about mobile with Windows Phone 7

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: It’s now official- Microsoft’s next mobile phone platform, Windows Phone 7 is a phone and not a PC. However, the technical details and the changes made to the operating system kernel have not been revealed by the company.

According to Steve Balmer, Microsoft CEO, who hosted the press conference at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, Microsoft wanted to do things that were out of the box, that were clearly differentiated from its past and hopefully from other [offerings] in the market.

Microsoft has made it clear that new set of software development tools and resources, and presumably a software development kit, will be forthcoming but put off details until the company’s MIX10 Web developer conference next month in Las Vegas.

MWC2010: T-Mobile to launch ‘Blockbuster on Demand’ via HTC HD2

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Introduction of a new mobile entertainment suite along with the forthcoming HTC HD2 touch screen device, highlighted by the premiere of Blockbuster on Demand has been announced by T-Mobile USA.

Blockbuster on Demand will enable consumers to purchase a movie on one device and watch it across other connected devices.

The announcement was made at Mobile World Congress 2010 by T-Mobile USA chief technology and innovation officer Cole Brodman according to whom the operator will further trick out the HD2 with the addition of bookseller giant Barnes & Noble’s eReader application, which promises more than a million ebooks, newspapers and magazines, as well as the MobiTV application, which delivers live and on-demand content from partners like ESPN, NBC and Comedy Central.

Apart from this, subscribers who purchase the HD2 will receive up to six months of free in-flight WiFi service courtesy of Gogo Inflight Internet.

Nokia & Intel launch linux-based mobile OS

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: A mobile operating system will be launched by Finland’s Nokia Corp. and U.S.-based Intel Corp which can run on a number of electronic devices including smart phones, laptops and TV sets. The announcement was made by Kai Oistamo, head of devices at Nokia Oyj at the Mobile World Congress at Barcelona.

The Linux-based platform, called MeeGo, will be openly available to developers from the second quarter of this year and it will allow for a massive expansion of new applications, provided developers find the platform exciting.

In June 2009, Nokia and Intel announced that they would work together on device and chip architectures, aiming to define a new platform for mobile products beyond existing smartphones and netbook computers.

Apple hailed valuable partner by Google at MWC2010

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Hailing Apple as a very close and valuable partner, Google made it clear that the company sees no reason behind the rumors that Microsoft’s Bing search engine may replace Google on the iPhone.

According to Vic Gundotra, who leads Google’s mobile engineering and who was present at a roundtable at industry trade fair Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the relationship between the two companies is stable and as far as the Nexus Two is concerned, no decisions had been made yet about how many Google phones there would be or who would manufacture them.

Nexus One was made by Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC and it was for the first time that Google has lent its brand to a consumer hardware product.

Microsoft unveils Windows Phone 7 at MWC2010

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: 2010 Christmas might welcome Windows phone 7 operating system for mobile phones, a whole new platform incorporating social networking, music, video, photos and games to provide a rich, personalized user experience.

The features of the Windows Phone 7 were unveiled by Microsoft’s Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer at the Mobile World Congress.

The phones will revolve around the concept of ‘hubs’ on-screen for people, pictures, office and mail applications, music and video with dedicated keys for start, search and back besides the ability to display configurable individual ‘tiles’ on the display screen for the people and applications that matter most to the individual user will differentiate the Windows Phone 7 from the personal computer, and other phones.

MWC2010: Samsung becomes the show stealer on the 1st day

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The biggest show of the telecom world, the Mobile World Congress for 2010, opened Monday in Barcelona. More than 1,300 companies attended the conference showcasing their latest products and technologies, apart from Nokia and Apple who were not present.

The absence of the world’s two biggest handset makers has given leverage to South Korea’s most powerful handset maker Samsung Electronics and telecom carriers such as SK Telecom and KT Corp who are making the most out of the biggest event.

While Samsung Electronics released its first phone equipped with its own mobile operating system called Bada, Korea’s top mobile carrier SK Telecom showed off its off mobile in vehicle (MIV), 3D switching, smart payment and ZigBee USIM technologies.