RCom inks exclusive Ovi deal with Nokia (India)

By Editor on February 23, 2011 · Leave a Comment

Reliance Communications has entered into an exclusive Ovi deal with Nokia.

The collaboration will give RCom subscribers the advantage of accessing 17,000 apps and content which are Ovi’s premium content first, though they will be charged on the same through integrated billing or deduction of a prepaid balance.

According to experts, India has graduated into the second chapter of mobility which will provide people with rich content, games, multimedia, web applications and other downloads.

Currently, India does have access to Ovi store content but only if they possess international currency (Euros) or credit card. Nokia’s Ovi store has an advanced coverage of more than 190 countries in 32 languages and it is supported by 135 handsets which are functional on the Symbian operating system.

The collaboration shall facilitate Indian users to download premium content on lower prices based on the Indian currency, that too bilingual content which shall be available both in English and Hindi.

But the exclusivity of the deal is only for 3 months after which Nokia will have the freedom to leverage more such collaborations.

Filed under Mobile · Tagged with Credit Card, India, international currency, Mobile, Nokia, Nokia Ovi store, Ovi, Prepaid, Reliance Communications, Symbian operating system

Android users browse more mobile websites than iPhone users – survey

By Editor on February 16, 2011 · Leave a Comment

A recent survey has unearthed that there are significant variations in between different operating systems in terms of mobile web activity. The research method analyzed mobile behavior via operators’ IP traffic.

According to the survey, Android users were the most ‘web intensive’ with an average of 9.1 daily site visits per user, compared to iPhone (8.0), BlackBerry (5.7) and Symbian (5.2), the latter utilized more as a feature phone as opposed to a smartphone.

It was also revealed that variations in mobile usage in terms of handset screen size; <2″ displays saw an average of 2.8 site visits per day per user, whereas >4″ displays exhibit a marked increase, with 10.4 visits per day, per user.

Social networking sites continue to dominate the mobile internet picture, with a 28% share of all site visits. The importance of Facebook for example depends heavily on the operating system utilized. For users with a Symbian operating system, Facebook accounts for 24% of all visits while elsewhere the significance is lower; iPhone (17%), Blackberry (16%) and Android (13%). Similar variations were found for other popular sites; Google for example is hardly used at all by users with Symbian phones.

Filed under Mobile · Tagged with Android, Blackberry, Facebook, feature phone, Google, IP traffic, iPhone, Mobile, mobile web activity, Operating Systems, smartphone, social networking sites, Symbian, Symbian operating system, USA

STC launches Java Facebook App (Saudi Arabia)

By Editor on January 31, 2011 · Leave a Comment

Saudi Telecom Company (STC) has launched a separate application for mobile devices and smartphones that support Java based applications, letting them access the world’s largest social network.

The number of Saudi users on Facebook is estimated to be around 3.3 million, and the majority of those are still using devices that run Nokia’s aging Symbian operating system.

To make the most of Facebook’s popularity and increase user interaction on the platform, the company is providing a fully interactive Java based application that it states is optimized to use as little data as possible while providing the great user experience mobile applications offer.

Using minimal data is the punch line here as STC’s main objective is likely to be to increase data usage, even for users on relatively older mobile devices.

Filed under Mobile · Tagged with Facebook App, Java, Mobile, Nokia, Saudi Arabia, Saudi Telecom Company, smartphones, STC, Symbian operating system, USA

Symbian Foundation Web Sites to Shut Down

By Editor on November 29, 2010 · Leave a Comment

As Nokia has changed its plans for licensing the Symbian operating system, the Symbian Foundation states that it will be reducing its day-to-day operations, including shutting down its websites from next month.

While the website will be closed down, the content, such as the source code, kits, wiki, bug database, reference documentation & Symbian Ideas will be made available via a DVD or USB from next February.

The @Symbian Twitter feed and the Symbian.org fan pages on Facebook are also likely to be discontinued. Websites such as www.symbian.org will close on 17th December.

Symbian Signed will continue to operate, as will Symbian communities hosted outside the Symbian Foundation.

As per the Foundation, it is also working with Nokia to see how best to make official documentation available. Further detail will be communicated at a later date.

Filed under Mobile · Tagged with DVD, Facebook, Mobile, Nokia, Symbian Foundation, Symbian operating system, twitter, USB, Web Sites

Apple sets-up online Store in China to Boost Sales

By Editor on October 27, 2010 · Leave a Comment

Apple has launched a new online store for China in the company’s latest move to reach users in the Chinese market. The store features free shipping for its products. The Chinese-language site allows users to buy a range of Apple products, including the iPhone 4, which sold out across stores in China last month. Third-party products are also available on the store.

The company has also started to offer its popular App Store in simplified Chinese Mandarin, the written language predominately used in mainland China.

The world’s biggest technology company by market value last month started selling the iPad and the latest version of the iPhone in China, and added two stores in Beijing and Shanghai. Competition in the Chinese consumer electronics market is increasing as China’s Lenovo Group Ltd. and Huawei Technologies Co. offer rival smartphones.

According to research firm Analysys International, in China, shipments of iPhones followed those of smartphones running on Nokia Oyj’s Symbian operating system, and handsets equipped with Google Inc.’s Android software in the first half.

Lenovo, China’s biggest personal-computer maker, started selling its LePhone handset this year and Huawei, the country’s largest producer of phone equipment, rolled out its Ideos device. Both products run on the Android operating system.