IPneo receives the IMS Industry Award for best IMS client framework (Egypt)
In IMS World Forum 2012, the industry leading IMS event, held from April 24th to 26th in Madrid, Spain, IPneo’s IMS Client Framework has been chosen to receive the IMS Industry Award for the Best IMS client Framework.
IPneo’s IMS client framework is designed to grant a generic and flexible architecture allowing both, seamless integration with new IMS services and easy selection of pluggable IMS services based on the customer and market needs. Being highly modular and scalable, provides a fully customizable framework ready for the development of an unlimited number of IMS applications and services including: PoC, Presence, instant messaging, image share, file share, video share, VoIP, RCS, RCS-e (Joyn), VoLTE and VCC. The framework is also platform independent thanks to the environment adaptation layer which allows the framework to run on a wide range of platforms including Android (both Phones and Tablets), iOS (4.0 and 5.0), Windows Mobile, Symbian, Windows, Linux and Mac.
The framework also has repeatedly proved to be the best-in class through extensive bilateral Interoperability Testing (IOT) done for several years with major IMS network vendors and operators. IPneo is committed to continuously enhancing its IMS Client Framework to keep it always in this leading position.
AT&T to sell Nokia Lumia 900 from 8 April (USA)
Mobile operator AT&T will sell the Nokia Lumia 900, which is powered by Windows Phone software, in the US market. According to reports, the phone will go on sale on 8 April, with customers allowed to pre-order the same on Friday itself.
The Nokia 900 is expected to be sold at $100 with a contract of two years. With rival manufacturers Samsung and Apple controlling majority of the market share, Nokia has been actively working to establish itself in the smartphone arena. The Finnish maker hopes to target the US market with its new Windows Phone, as previously, Nokia phones powered by Symbian versions were unable to make a place amongst the iOS and Android smartphones.
The price has been kept much lower than that charged by Apple and Samsung in a bid to appeal to a larger market segment. The 4G enabled phone will use AT&T’s LTE network to offer users faster download speeds and better internet connectivity.
As per reports, the Lumia 900 comes with a display screen of 4.3-inches and an 8-megapixel rear camera. The phone also offers a front facing camera to enable video calling.
However, industry analysts remain skeptical regarding Nokia’s ability to enhance its market share over the other giants. The low price may attract certain customers but customer loyalty towards brands like Apple and Samsung is extremely high and may be tough to break.
America Movil Partners with Appia for the launch of ‘iApps’ (Latin America)
Wireless service provider America Movil, has announced the launch of its iApps Application Stores powered by Appia, bringing a vast catalog of apps and games to all America Movil subscribers across Latin America. According to company reports, the iApps Application Stores are now available through America Movil’s operating partners Claro, Comcel, and Telcel reaching over 240 million mobile subscribers in 18 countries across Latin America including Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico.
Marco Quatorze, Director of Value Added Services, America Movil, has said that with the launch of the Application Stores powered by Appia to all America Movil subscribers, Apps are now available to the majority of Latin American Mobile subscribers. Further, Appia’s carrier-grade solution enabled them to quickly roll out the largest Application Store across Latin America.
Appia’s Application Catalog includes thousands of applications and games for Android, BlackBerry, Symbian, and Java phones. The iApps Application Stores include both paid and free applications such as social media, news, weather and sports apps in Spanish, English and Portuguese. Leading application developers including Rovio and Gameloft are distributing their app through the iApps Application store, along with internationally recognized application developers including Facebook, Electronic Arts, and MocoSpace.
Lukasz Deszczulka, Executive VP Marketing, Tequila Mobile, has said that America Movil’s iApps Application Stores have been a great source of traffic for them. Also, the Latin American apps market is growing rapidly, and Appia and America Movil have made it incredibly easy to reach users and generate downloads.
Jud Bowman, CEO, Appia, has said that Appia is excited to partner with America Movil to bring apps to the hundreds of millions of mobile subscribers in North, Central and South America. As app use continues to grow globally, Latin American is a phenomenal opportunity for application distribution and we expect tremendous growth in app consumption.
Globe Telecom launches new apps portal under ‘MyAppsMall’ (Philippines)
Philippines telecom operator Globe has partnered with parent company Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel), in bringing to the country ‘MyAppsMall’, a new apps store enabling customers to search, purchase and download mobile applications and games in a single portal.
According to company reports, Globe prepaid and postpaid subscribers will be able to avail this service for free. MyAppsMall offers a combination of over 20,000 free and paid apps ranging from games, entertainment, social networking, productivity, lifestyle, sports, news, finance, and weather and is accessible via mobile browser (m.apps.globe.com.ph) or via PC web browser (apps.globe.com.ph).
Once registered, users can personalize their homepage with social networking sites, emails, news updates and RSS feeds. Users will also be provided with a free MyApps email account for an easier and more secure access.
In order to make the user experience more enjoyable, MyAppsMall can be accessed via a single portal, eliminating the need for users to go to multiple sites just to search for various applications that suit their interests. Its cross-platform support lets users find content suited specific to their mobile device, whether Android, Symbian, Java or BlackBerry.
Further, in an attempt to offer convenience to users, purchasing apps on the MyAppsMall do not necessitate a credit card. The amount purchased will be automatically charged to the users Globe prepaid or postpaid bill.
MyAppsMall also provides an exclusive platform for application developers to create, distribute and monetize their apps to an international market, making content available not only to the Philippines but also to the rest of the region covered by SingTel via its multiple market base.
Through the operator billing capability, subscribers from other SingTel affiliates can also purchase content from MyAppsMall, while subscribers from networks outside the SingTel Group can still buy apps using their credit cards. This further widens potential market for local developers, exposing their creations to a vast audience from around the world.
Glenn Estrella, Head, Globe Digital Media, has said that they are very excited with this new offering for their subscribers, leveraging on their strong affiliation with SingTel. Through MyAppsMall, their subscribers get the best mobile browsing experience by getting exclusive access to their apps of choice. Purchase for paid apps is so convenient and worry-free with the secure billing platform, with costs directly charged to user’s prepaid load or postpaid account.
Further, with this innovation, Globe and SingTel are also helping expose Filipino talent and creativity to the global market by tapping local developers and allowing them to sell their apps and services. With the MyAppsMall portal, there is indeed everything for everyone, and with Globe, everyone can enjoy it their way.
SingTel launches global cloud-based service (Singapore)
Mobile operator SingTel has launched a global cloud-based service that enables companies to secure, control and manage corporate data and mobile devices of their employees, regardless of their location. The SingTel Mobility Device Manager (MDM) service, enables companies to manage devices of different mobile OS and ensure information security for mobile devices used by their workforce. This includes company-issued devices, as well as those belonging to employees.
According to company reports, Bill Chang, Executive Vice President (Business Group), SingTel has said that they are seeing a surge in the number of companies that allow their employees to bring their own mobile devices for work. In fact, the use of smartphones for business activities worldwide is projected to grow by 116 per cent by 2014. This opens up new security issues, particularly for companies with regional operations. With SingTel MDM, companies can secure data through security policy settings and governance, control on devices, manage apps deployment and control cost through usage policy management. These can all be done via the simple-to-use web-based portal.
Further, in the event of the loss or theft of an employee’s mobile device, an administrator can remotely lock the device or selectively erase corporate data to prevent market sensitive information from falling into the wrong hands. Administrators can determine the location of the missing devices and remotely deploy and track apps downloads within the enterprise. They are also able to configure and provision the devices over-the-air.
The report alsoreveals that SingTel MDM is compatible with all mobile OS platforms including iOS, Android, Blackberry, Windows Phone, Symbian and Windows Mobile. In addition, it is independent of the location and mobile network, thus facilitating the seamless control of mobile devices globally.
Chang added that as SingTel MDM is offered on a monthly subscription basis, companies do not need to make upfront investments in equipment and can avoid the ongoing costs of managing and maintaining complex systems and hardware. This allows them to improve their productivity, increase business agility and reduce their operating costs significantly.
Nokia already working on first Microsoft based smartphone
Nokia’s CEO, Stephen Elop has stated that the company has already started work on the company’s first Windows Phone 7 based smartphone, just a few weeks after the company announced its shift from Symbian to the WP7 operating system. Although the company aims to deliver a handset by the end of this year, the first sales are still not expected until next year.
Elop squashed rumors that Microsoft could launch a takeover bid for the company. He stated that he is not aware of a strategic interest that Microsoft would have in the rest of the business. To the extent that a partnership has been formed around what they’re really interested in, then what would an acquisition bring other than a good year of anti-trust investigation, huge turmoil and delays.
He also dismissed rumors of a further shake-up of the senior management team following the recent reshuffling of the directors.
As recently noted, the final terms of the Microsoft-Nokia alliance are still being sorted out, but Elop stated that he expects the final deal to be signed within the next couple of months.
Nokia leads in Pakistan
Nokia is considered the market leader in terms of mobile handsets being used to access the Internet in Pakistan.
According to a research, of an estimated 5 million mobile customers using GPRS/EDGE services in Pakistan, a sizeable 74% use phones based on the Finnish company’s Symbian operating system.
While Nokia is struggling to retain market share elsewhere in the world new statistics from a research company showed its Western European market share fell by six percentage points on-year to 33% in Q4 2010 its position has remained relatively solid in Pakistan; the vendor lost just two percentage points of share in the year to February 2011, despite growing competition from the likes of Apple.
Apple’s iOS is Symbian’s closest rival in Pakistan, but with a share of 8% in February it remains a long way behind. Sony Ericsson comes in third with 5% of the market.
