RIM

Out There Campaign comes out incredibly successful

On 03.19.10, In Mobile Marketing, By Editor

Blackberry maker RIM had launched the touchscreen BlackBerry Storm 9500 Smartphone, in 2009. RIM and Out There Media joined hands to create and manage a mobile advertising campaign across Austria to target the under 26 year old market with this new device. The campaign was run for two weeks and Vodafone subscribers got it delivered through Vodafone live! portal.

Those who visited the portal were also offered a free Justin Timerlake music video for watching the 15-second long advertisement.

Through out the two weeks, the BlackBerry Storm ad was viewed for 140,000 times through the Vodafone live! portal. The advertisement as a clickthrough-rate of 5.5% and the Justin Timberlake video was streamed a total of 2,101 times. The conversion rate for the entire campaign was 27.5%.

According to Kerstin Trikalitis, Out There Media CEO, this is a great example of targeted mobile advertising in action and the fantastic results that brands can achieve through this medium.

The company strongly believes in the power of reaching out to consumers directly and they are very happy to witness through all their campaigns that mobile advertising is an ideal way of doing so. Targeted and appropriate campaigns, such as this one for RIM, prove that this approach can achieve great results.

Android gains while iPhone sale diminishes in the USA

On 03.16.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Earning over four percentage points of market share, Google’s Android OS has emerged as the only mobile platform experiencing significant growth in the US during the three months ending in January.

Even after an increase in the market share to 7.1% from 2.8%, Android continued to occupy the fourth place. Microsoft’s share of the smartphone market shrank four percentage points to 15.7%. The loss has been attributed to the gain in the Google’s share.

Sale of the iPhones has been stalled with just 0.3 percentage point’s increase in the Apple’s share to 24.8%. However, even after the loss, Apple maintained the second spot behind RIM, whose market share grew from 41.3% to 43%.

Fall in the share of Palm continued with a loss of 2.1 percentage points but it also continued to hold its fifth place with a 5.7% share.

Tagged with: Android • Apple • Google • iPhone • Microsoft • North Amercia • Palm • RIM • USA

BSNL’s stake sale proposal approved by Indian govt

On 03.12.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Proposal to divest 30% stake of state owned Indian telco Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) by the operator has been approved by the Indian government. The decision has come after a committee headed by advisor to the prime minister on infrastructure, Sam Pitroda suggested equity sale.

BSNL has also decided that the recommendation of the committee to cut the strength of 300,000 staff the telco currently employs by third. In addition, it will also look to implement a contract-based appointment system for top management, separate positions for MD and CEO and will begin the formation of an advisory board.

According to a BSNL official, the stake sale would take place in two to three stages, while with relation to staff reductions the telco will offer a voluntary retirement scheme to around 60,000 employees.

Approval from the Union cabinet is required by BSNL board on the stake sale. A request has also been made by the company from the state to cover the cost of the retirement scheme.

Quick response has come from BSNL employee unions which has condemned the proposals making clear that both the equity sale and staff reduction plans will be opposed through demonstrations planned across India.

Tagged with: ASIA • bharat sanchar nigam ltd • BSNL • India • operator • RIM

AT&T locks Motorola Backflip to avoid non-market apps (USA)

On 03.10.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: In order to prevent subscribers from installing non-market apps from unknown sources, the new Android-powered Motorola Backflip smartphone has been locked by telecom operator, AT&T. In the previous Android devices from rival U.S. operators, support for non-market apps as a default option was available.

Earlier, instead of releasing the Backflip with Google’s own search tool, AT&T released it with Yahoo as its default mobile search engine, thus breaking away from Android convention. Google was installed as a default search engine in most and if not all previous Android devices launched in the U.S.

However, Motorola earlier offered Chinese consumers the option to select Baidu as their primary search service.

Tagged with: Android • AT&T • Backflip • Baidu • default search engine • Google • Launch • Motorola • North Amercia • operator • operators • RIM • Yahoo

Bharti regains losses as investors revisit Zain deal (India)

On 03.09.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Within two days of the announcement that Bharti Airtel and Zain will enter into exclusive talks for Zain’s African assets, Bharti lost $3.6 billion in market capitalisation.

However, an improvement in the investor’s sentiments has been noticed since then, primarily after Bharti’s conference call with analysts in end-February on the Zain acquisition. The main concern was the fact that the valuation of the deal at 11.6 times estimated 2009 EBITDA was far too high.

In its clarification, the company said that the $1.7 billion debt component in Zain Africa’s enterprise value is inclusive of the share attributable to minority shareholders. The company has also indicated that tax rates in Africa are relatively lower, which justifies some premium in the valuation. Besides, the capital infusion of $9 billion of Zain till date makes the valuation of $10.7 billion look reasonable. The fact that Zain’s margin is lower than Bharti’s margin also leaves room for cost containment.

$4 billion would be used by Zain Africa’s holding company to retire debt on its books with the interest burden of $4 billion debt already reflected in Zain Africa’s financials, hence, the incremental interest burden would only be on $5 billion of debt.

All the factors have contributed well to improve the sentiments of the investors and has helped Bharti regained almost two-thirds of those losses.

Tagged with: Acquisition • Africa • Airtel • ASIA • EBITDA • India • RIM • Zain Africa

Constellation C design’ by Vertu

On 03.08.10, In Mobile Phones, By Editor

Constellation C design phone by Vertu has a length of 109 mm, a width of 45 mm, a depth of 15.7 mm and a weight that starts from 140 to 142 grams.

There are models with different combinations: 1) white gold with black ceramic keys, diamond trim and black leather, 2) yellow gold with black ceramic keys, diamond trim and black leather, and 3) yellow gold with black ceramic keys, double diamond trim and black leather.

Providing you a talk time of 5.5 hours and a standby time of around 400 hours, the phone also comes with a 20mm hands free loudspeaker. The keypad is laser etched + back-illuminated and the display of the phone is high resolution and dynamic with sapphire crystal.

Packed with a gamut of features, the constellation C Design phone has certainly met the standards of the present day market. There is Bluetooth and USB, PC and Mac synchronization and modem support!

You can also chose your own leather case – pink leather case with lizard print collar and stainless steel clasp, a black one with lizard print detailing, a burgundy one with crocodile print, or a brown one with lizard print detailing.

Tagged with: Bluetooth • Constellation • crocodile • ING • RIM

Sprint’s rating lowered by S&P due to post-paid pressures (USA)

On 03.08.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Despite growth in the pre-paid business, the loss of the post-paid subscribe will continue to pressure mobile operator, Sprint Nextel Corp. This has been cited as reason by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services for lowering its rating on the wireless carrier into junk territory. The rating has a negative outlook and reflects that additional downgrades might also be possible.

Even if the loss of the post-paid subscriber is abated, and the company’s cost structure is improved, the key credit measures are unlikely to improve in the near term.

According to S&P, despite growth in the so-called pre-paid segment which Sprint sees as its primary growth engine, it remains concerned about higher industry penetration levels and increased price-based competition.

A narrower fourth-quarter loss had been posted by Sprint last month but fewer so-called pre-paid customers were added suggesting the business fell victim to the intensifying competition at the low end of the market.

Tagged with: North Amercia • operator • RIM • Sprint • Sprint Nextel • USA

By 2011 iPhone will beat Blackberry: Analyst

On 03.07.10, In Mobile Phones, By Editor

Blakberry is the buzz word in North America today. However, witnessing the meteoric rise of the iPhone, it is expected that the phone will nab RIM’s number one market share spot. This conclusion was reached following the clear outpacing of growth Apple has enjoyed with iPhone.

As per the data, the growth of iPhone sat 0.3% in 2007 and 2% in 2009 while RIM went from 1% to 3% in the same period. According to Trefis, by 2011 Apple’s mobile market share will hit 11% and RIM will reach 8%.

It is eventually obvious that Apple has a ludicrously large marketing budget, which will continue to be used to capitalize RIM’s buttoned-down image and win the dead hearts and vacant minds of the masses. However despite all the competition the model has, the latest forecast for RIM shows positivity. it says that Blackberry still has more than a little fight left in her.

Tagged with: Apple • Blackberry • BlakBerry • iPhone • Mobile • North America • RIM • Trefis

Backflip looks bush league

On 03.07.10, In Mobile Phones, By Editor

The Motorola Backflip which came out this weekend for AT&T looked like a standard mid-range Android device. According to the critics it is completely bush league.

While the Backflip is loaded with AT&T’s bloatware, the default Google is completely replaced with Yahoo. AT&T is doing business so it cannot be blamed for blindly copying Android but you can blame them for not allowing you to delete those carrier apps or install apps that don’t come from the Android Market.

According to Phandroid, programs cannot be installed from other app stores even if an individual puts them into his microSD card while it’s connected to his computer. This could be AT&T approach to ensure that the Backflip Android experience isn’t tainted by bad apps but it goes directly against what the company said it planned to do with the operating system.

Last year the AT&T Mobility’s CEO, Ralph de la Vega opined that, the Android is liked as an operating system on its own, however the company wants to make sure that the company as well as the customers have the option to put applications on that device that are not just Google applications. Therefore when the G1 came out and T-Mobile launched it, it’s primarily a Google phone.

The company wants to give customers the choice of other applications on that device and not just the same Google applications.

Eric Zemen of Phonescoop added to the scene by mentioning on his Twitter stream that the MotoBlur on his Backflip gave him the option to set up myFaves at a time when myFaves is an exclusive calling feature of T-Mobile.

Tagged with: Android • Android Market • Applications • AT&T Mobility • Droid • Google Applications • Launched • LED • MicroSD card • Mobile • MOTOBLUR • Motorola • Operating System • Phandroid • phone • RIM • T-Mob • T-Mobile • twitter