ZDNet |UK| Sendo lawsuit targets Orange SPV smartphone. "Sendo previously sued Microsoft, which created the SPV's operating system, for allegedly stealing trade secrets from Sendo that were later used in the creation of other Microsoft-powered smartphones, such as the SPV. Sendo is now developing a smartphone based on the Symbian OS, which is used by manufacturers such as Nokia and Sony Ericsson. "
The AnnyWay MMS Client enables Smartphone 2002 handsets, as well as the upcoming 2003 smartphones and Micosoft Pocket PC devices to send and receive MMS messages. [via msmobiles.com]
"While the other mobile phone operators watch, 3 UK has pushed ahead with its launch, banking on high profile investment in video and movie downloads, alongside video conferencing, as a major selling point."
But, as one analyst points out, the other operators "are looking at 3 UK as a guinea pig, to see how their service goes and what problems they encounter."
Airblogging.com is another moblogging service that offers to handle your journal or blog posts from your mobile phone, via email or sms. It lets you post pictures or text entries to your blog or journal and it's free. Airblogging.com currently supports users of Live Journal, Blogger, and Movable Type software, regardless of your hosting situation. [via Moblogging.org]
Pricing MMS in Europe. Some good snippets of concrete information in this report from In-Stat/MDR including this nugget - "Since the current price per multimedia message service (MMS) is $0.40 in Europe, the service's potential lies in business usage. However, as the price per message declines by a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16% between 2003 and 2007 -- hitting $0.17 per message in 2007 -- adoption of the technology should rise."
Tesco to sell mobile phones [via BBC]. "Supermarket chain Tesco is teaming up with mobile phone group mmO2 to sell telephones at its stores. Tesco-branded pre-paid phones will be on supermarket shelves by Christmas, the partners said on Wednesday".
Can I've a pound of sausages, a loaf of bread and.... er..... a mobile phone please ;-)
Phones with cameras: Ridiculous? No! - ZDNet. David Coursey is his usual cynical and behind-the-times self in this ZDNet article but after being ready to diss cameraphones without ever trying them he is at least coming around to the idea that they might just be useful -
"I'm warming to the idea of having a camphone in my pocket for all those photos that I wouldn't ordinarily shoot, either because I don't have a camera with me, or because only with a camphone could I immediately send them wirelessly to another handset or via e-mail. So I am not yet a real believer in camphones. But I am in the infatuation stage. Let's see how long it lasts."
The Mac Observer - Apple Bluetooth Update Adds Support For Two Nokia Phones & Sony Ericsson P800 "In addition to the QuickTime 6.3 and iSync 1.1 updates, Apple also released an update to Bluetooth, bringing it to version 1.2.1. Bluetooth 1.2.1 provides enhanced stability and support for the following Symbian OS based mobile phones: Nokia 3650, Nokia 7650, and Sony Ericsson P800. Bluetooth 1.2.1 is recommended for use with iSync 1.1."
"Yeeeha! I'm now downloading Quicktime 6.3 which has support for 3GPP video. Amazingly, it's a separate download, so it won't be standard and/or easy to just send someone a link to install (say, for my parents). However, it's still pretty great that someone's finally showing support for the millions of videos that are being shot daily by Nokia 3650 owners around the globe.
I'd say shortly there will be more video taken with the 3650 than any other device ever created. Think about that for a moment. Short and grainy, yes, but video nevertheless... "
Excellent, but like Russell, I can't believe that the 3GPP codec is a seperate download. Why put barriers like that before the uptake of a technology which they eulogise on their own website?
-- Composed with Newz Crawler 1.4 http://www.newzcrawler.com/
It's amazing the conflicting reports coming out regarding MMS and the future of mobile data services right now. Or maybe it's not so amazing if you analyse the source! For instance this report from the global management consulting firm A. T. Kearney seems too optimistic even for this MMS evangelist.
"More than 80 percent of mobile phone users in the study were aware of the photo messaging capabilities of today's mobile phones, and two-thirds said they were willing to pay to utilize those services. Among those under 19 years of age -- the heaviest users of text-based messaging -- 42 percent said they would be willing to pay more than $1 US to send a photo message. Fourteen percent of all users were prepared to pay more than $2 US per photo message. More than 30 percent of those surveyed said they would be willing to use photo messaging at least once a week in the future."
Feh,.. where in hell did they find those teenagers? Beverly Hills? I can only hope the operators aren't paying much heed to these incredibly rosy projections because I, for one, sure as hell won't pay $2 per photo message!
And just to balance that upbeat snippet of news below we have an article from The Register which paint a rather more gloomy picture -
"Newly launched messaging services such as Multimedia Message Service (MMS) and Instant Messaging (IM) will not reach double-digit (10 per cent) penetration before 2007, according to market research firm In-Stat/MDR. The prospects for 3G services, which are launching during a seemingly unending telecom slump, look grim, it concludes."
Picture passwords for cameraphones Instead of using a password to unlock your cellphone, a Japanese company called Earth Beat has come up with a way to use a picture instead. You just snap a picture of yourself with your cameraphone, then whenever you want to unlock the phone it uses face recognition technology to verify that the person trying to use the phone matches the photo it has in storage.
MMS at the heart of business? Yes, according to Bernadette Mulcahy, strategic product manager for MMS at LogicaCMG, who says, "Whatever the uncertainties about MMS, one thing is clear: its potential is much greater than current consumer applications. It will rapidly be at the heart of many businesses, changing working practices and positively affecting the bottom line."
