ZTE to offer handsets, modems in Russia
ZTE is planning to roll out mobile phones under its own brand in Russia this year. The company will offer smartphones and 3G modems.
ZTE total sale reached US$180 million in Russia in 2010, reporting an increase of 20% year-on-year.
PosteMobile introduces handset for foreigners (Italy)
PosteMobile, which is an Italian MVNO, ha introduced the PM1109 Mondo, a new mobile phone designed to meet the needs of foreign nationals.
The device provides a multi-language menu and T9 writing system in the following languages: English, Italian, French, Spanish, Albanian, Romanian, Russian and Polish.
The device is a dual-band GSM phone with 2.8-inch full touch LCD, 1.3 MP camera and 2GB microSD included in the package. It also features include FM radio, Bluetooth and a stereo headset.
Nokia boasts Gold-Plated Smartphone
Nokia has boasted the Nokia Oro, which is a gold plated smartphone. The company has stated that it will sell the handset in a few selected markets.
The handset is a Symbian based phone which includes 18-carat gold plating, a sapphire crystal and Scottish leather on the back.
The handset is a 3G phone with Wi-Fi and a 3.5-inch AMOLED display, an 8-megapixel camera with 720p video recording and all the rest.
According to Nokia, the Oro is a device that’s clearly intended for someone who doesn’t want their mobile device to look the same as other peoples. The main markets for this sort of device are the Middle East and Russia, where they have been best-sellers for some time.
According to Materials Designer Robert Lihou, their aim was to use the best materials for the purpose. It’s coated with 18-carat gold which has been made scratch-resistant. The leather is from premium Scottish stock. That’s a real sapphire crystal in the home key, which makes it eight times sturdier than glass.
Nokia Oro will be launched in selected countries across the Europe, Eastern Europe, China and the Middle East from July and will cost around US$1,125.12.
FAS clears VimpelCom to acquire Ural-Intercard (Russia)
FAS, Russia’s competition regulator has cleared VimpelCom to acquire 100% of the regional ISP Ural-Intercard. Ural-Intercard offers data and telematics services in Chelyabinsk.
Telecom Italia At Femtocells World Summit in London
Mobile operators can easily monetise femto-enhanced applications and services which provide tailored, customer-centric experiences to mobile users. This is according to Camillo Carlini of Telecom Italia’s Home Network and Handset Engineering division.
Telecom Italia is a pioneer in the femtocell industry and during the upcoming Femtocells World Summit in London, Camillo Carlini will present the company’s latest initiatives to enable, develop and test femto-enhanced applications. The event will bring together more than 350 industry experts in London from 21-23 June, at what is the only global event of its kind.
Femtocell more than a full mobile service provider
Says Telecom Italia’s Camillo Carlini: “with applications, femtocells’ value proposition goes well beyond providing coverage and enriches the customer’s user-experience by creating a full service environment. Operators can easily monetise femto-enhanced applications and services given that mobile operators directly control the applications capabilities on femtocells and customers interested in a particular service can add it to their contract.”
He continues: “the Femtocell recognises the customer as soon as they enter their home and enhances mobile devices’ capabilities and supported services. Also, in public spaces mobile phones and devices become aware of where they are, and can receive relevant information and ask the customers for context related actions.”
Femtocells in our everyday lives
According to Camillo Carlini, femtocell applications can make an immediate impact on people’s lives. He explans: “when you are at work, the femtocell can make you aware of who is at home, such as your children or family members, and when you return you can automatically receive messages left for you, as well as automatically switch the air conditioning on, and your mobile phone synchronized with your new media server contents.”
“Additionally, your mobile phone itself is aware of being at home and can change to different interfaces and applications, more suitable for home rather than office.” He adds: “when you go out and use, let’s say, metro transportation, femtocell applications help you to be recognized at the metro entrance and allow you to go in if you have already paid; or mobile payment would be possible through femto applications.”
Telecom Italia’s Camillo Carlini says another example of an outdoor application is visiting a museum: “the femto application will know in front of which artwork you are, delivering the related description content to play on your mobile. In a shopping mall, femtocell applications will present you with real-time alerts of price changes and special offers based on your tastes and preferences.”
The Femtocells World Summit, organised in exclusive partnership with the Femto Forum, brings together the femtocell ecosystem to discuss the latest developments and experiences with femtocell deployments worldwide.
Improved coverage only the start
The chairman of the Femto Forum, Simon Saunders says femtocell deployments are growing rapidly with the majority of major operator groups now offering services. He continues: “However, it is clear that the improved coverage and capacity that femtocells provide is only the start. Advanced femtocell applications are commanding great interest both from the operator community and direct from consumers themselves. Our research shows that of those global consumers interested in femtocells, almost 70% find these advanced services either very or extremely appealing.”
Highlights from the programme:
• An Operator’s Perspective on the First Femtocell Deployment in Greece – Dr. Polychronis Tzerefos – New Products, Innovation and Wholesale Group Product Manager, Vodafone Greece
• Femtocell perspectives in Russia: Success factors and barriers – Alexey Alekseev – Project Director, Convergence Products, MTS Russia
• Femtocells and the data monetisation challenge – Jorge Alvarez – Network Strategy Manager, Telefonica o2 UK
• Strategies and Challenges in Deploying Femtos in Rural America – Rick Vergin – CEO, Mosaic Telecom
• Leapfrog with FemtoCells – Nick Papadoglou – Senior Manager, Wind Hellas
• The Applications of Femtocells with Satellite Backhaul and their Role in Disaster Relief – Jesada Sivaraks – Engineer, TOT
• MegaFon’s experience in femtocell deployment in Russia, 2011 – year of challenge – Pavel Skorodumov – Senior Engineer, MegaFon
• Network Norway’s Experience in Launching an Enterprise Femtocell Service – Geir Ove Jenssen – Femtocell Project Manager, Network Norway
Microsoft Previews Next Release of Windows Phone
Microsoft Corp. today previewed the next major release of Windows Phone, code-named “Mango,” through a series of media events around the world. “Mango” will deliver more than 500 new features to push the boundaries of the smartphone experience around communications, apps and the Internet. The “Mango” release will be available for free to Windows Phone 7 customers and is scheduled to ship on new phones beginning this fall. More details on device update timing will be provided closer to availability. Windows Phone will also add support for additional languages, expand access to apps by launching Windows Phone Marketplace in new countries, and partner with new OEMs to enable expansion to new markets.*
“Seven months ago we started our mission to make smartphones smarter and easier for people to do more,” said Andy Lees, president of the Mobile Communications Business at Microsoft. “With ‘Mango,’ Windows Phone takes a major step forward in redefining how people communicate and use apps and the Internet, giving you better results with less effort.”
Communications: Easier to Connect and Share
The smartphone experience can be complicated by a sea of disconnected apps and accounts as people attempt to keep pace with all the ways they communicate — from calls, texts, email and instant messages (IM) to status updates, Tweets, check-ins, photo posting and tagging. To help people stay on top of that growing complexity, the “Mango” release organizes information around the person or group people want to interact with, not the app they have to use.
| • | Threads. Switch between text, Facebook chat and Windows Live Messenger within the same conversation. |
| • | Groups. Group contacts into personalized Live Tiles to see the latest status updates right from the Start Screen and quickly send a text, email or IM to the whole group. |
| • | Deeper social network integration. Twitter and LinkedIn feeds are now integrated into contact cards, and “Mango” includes built-in Facebook check-ins and new face detection software that makes it easier to quickly tag photos and post to the Web. |
| • | Linked inbox. See multiple email accounts in one linked inbox. Conversations are organized to make it easy to stay on top of the latest mail. |
| • | Hands-free messaging. Built-in voice-to-text and text-to-voice support enables hands-free texting or chatting. |
A Smarter Approach to Apps
Windows Phone will challenge the way people think about apps. Today their usefulness is measured by what can be done within the app, but Microsoft sees the promise of apps in how they can be integrated directly into the core experiences of the phone. In addition to making it easy to get timely notifications and updates from apps right from the Start Screen, the “Mango” release also will surface apps as part of search results and within Windows Phone Hubs. As a result, a useful app is more likely to be right there when needed.
| • | App Connect. By connecting apps to search results and deepening their integration with Windows Phone Hubs, including Music and Video and Pictures, “Mango” allows apps to be surfaced when and where they make sense. |
| • | Improved Live Tiles. Get real-time information from apps without having to open them. Live Tiles can be more dynamic and hold more information. |
| • | Multitasking. Quickly switch between apps in use and allow apps to run in the background, helping to preserve battery life and performance. |
Taking the Internet Beyond the Browser
In addition to including Internet Explorer, the “Mango” release will connect the power of the Web to the unique capabilities of Windows Phones, such as location awareness, camera and access to apps, to present a way of viewing the Web that is more localized, actionable and relevant.
| • | Internet Explorer 9. A browser based on the powerful Internet Explorer 9 and including support for HTML5 and full hardware acceleration. |
| • | Local Scout. Provides hyperlocal search results and recommends nearby restaurants, shopping and activities in an easy-to-use guide. |
| • | Bing on Windows Phone. More ways to search the Web, including Bing Vision, Music Search and Voice so it’s easy to discover and decide. |
| • | Quick Cards. When searching for a product, movie, event or place, see a quick summary of relevant information, including related apps. |
Strengthening the Ecosystem
The Windows Phone ecosystem has grown steadily since Windows Phone 7 first launched in October, with more than 17,000 apps currently available on Windows Phone Marketplace and Windows Phone handsets available from a range of partners worldwide, and Microsoft’s recently announced partnership with Nokia. “Mango” will further expand and strengthen the Windows Phone ecosystem through new partnerships with Acer Inc., Fujitsu Ltd. and ZTE Corp., which today announced plans to deliver new Windows Phone devices in markets around the world. Furthermore, Microsoft announced it will support additional languages, including Brazilian Portuguese, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Hungarian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, and Swedish, and will greatly expand the list of countries where consumers have access to apps via Windows Phone Marketplace. As well, a beta release of the free Windows Phone Developer tools, which will be used to create the next generation of “Mango” apps and games, will be posted for public download to Microsoft’s website within 24 hours of today’s events. More information about what “Mango” means for developers, the tools and a link to the public download page is available at http://windowsteamblog.com/windows_phone/b/wpdev/archive/2011/05/24/developer-news-beta-mango-tools-available-today.aspx.
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.
Rostelecom sets up new mobile division (Russia)
Rostelecom, which is a Russian operator, has formed a new division which will manage and develop mobile networks of the reorganized Rostelecom.
Alexander Ragozin will head the new division. Ragozin earlier worked for consulting company AT Kearney and for mobile operator Tele2 Russia.
VimpelCom offers telecom services for machinery producer (Russia)
VimpelCom, which is an operator in Russia, has started offering telecommunications services to the Bryansk machinery production company.
The operator will provide local and zonal telephony, as well as internet services to the company.
MTS introduces Super Zero tariff with free on-net calls (Russia)
MTS, which operates in Russia, has launched the Super Zero tariff providing free on-net calls in the home region of the subscriber.
The company is charging no monthly subscription rate, with the service activated by topping up the balance from US$1.75, depending on the area.
The service is valid for 30 days after the single top-up, the whole sum paid remains in the balance and could be used paying for services of MTS.
Opera Mini browser surpasses 107.1 mn users mark in April
Opera Mini browser had over 107.1 million users in April an increase of 4.6% from March. With this percentage Opera Mini browser has grabbed the top position as the world’s most popular mobile browser.
Indonesia and the Philippines are on top of user participation on social networks. More than 77% of mobile web users in these countries visit Facebook.
Opera Software itself has more than 400,000 users on Facebook alone. The top ten countries using the Opera Mini browser in the region are Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, Moldova, Azerbaijan and Tajikistan.
From April 2010 to April this year, page views in the top ten countries of the CIS increased by 198 percent, unique users increased by 65 percent and data transferred increased by 176 percent.
