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Numo signs global advertising agreement with Widespace

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Numo, a Scandinavian mobile application company, is joining forces with Widespace – a mobile ad network.

For the last three years Numo has built a customer base of over 3 million end-users of the products Numo Finder, SMS Preview and Company Phonebook. By joining forces with Widespace, represented in over 60 countries, Numo will get the opportunity to capitalise on this customer base and their dynamic ad enabled mobile clients.

 

The key to success in mobile advertising, a Numo statement said, is to deliver ad placements that work, without being intrusive. People are willing to see ads in free software as long as it is done in a delicate way.
“I strongly believe that we are in the right position to succeed in this market, with our unique and effective mobile ad units and their volume. With the Widespace revenue maximizing ad server and ad feed, we are about to create a very interesting business model for us and for the consumers” says Trond Ingeretsen CEO at Numo.
“We are especially pleased to work with Numo, since they have interesting and unique advertising placements. Ad effectiveness is one of our key differentiators and we believe Numo has some very compelling ad spaces” said Henric Ehrenblad, founder and head of marketing at Widespace

Red Bend shipments reach 915 Million in Q3 2010

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Red Bend Software, said it set a new company record for quarterly shipments as its vRapid Mobile, vDirect Mobile and VLX software products were embedded in 85 million mobile phones and connected devices in the third quarter of 2010. That brings Red Bend’s total shipments to 915 million. Q3 shipments were up 48 percent from third quarter last year, outpacing overall mobile phone shipments, which rose 35 percent year over year.

In September, Red Bend entered the mobile mirtualization market through the acquisition of VirtualLogix and its solution, VLX. As part of integrating the two companies, Red Bend has appointed two new members to its management team to lead its mobile virtualization business. Michel Gien, cofounder of VirtualLogix, serves as Red Bend’s executive vice president and general manager for mobile virtualization. Christian Jacquemot, cofounder of VirtualLogix, serves as CTO and vice president of engineering for mobile virtualization.
Third-Quarter Highlights:
Forty-three new Red Bend-Enabled mobile devices shipped in the quarter, bringing the total to 707, including:
·       Samsung Galaxy Europa GT-i5500 – featuring Red Bend’s vRapid Mobile firmware over-the-air (FOTA) updating software
·       Sony Ericsson Xperia™ X8 – featuring Red Bend’s vRapid Mobile and vDirect Mobile device management software
·       Kyocera/Sanyo Zio SCP 8600 and Zio M6000 phones from Sprint
·       NEC N-08B and Sharp Lynx SH-10B mobile internet devices (MID) from NTT DOCOMO
·       The Acer BeTouch E130, E120 and E110 – low-cost Android smartphones featuring Red Bend’s VLX mobile virtualization solution, the most widely deployed mobile hypervisor
·       The K-Touch W606 and Coolpad W711, both available from China Unicom
“Q3 was a game-changer for Red Bend and the mobile industry,” said Red Bend CEO Yoram Salinger. “Not only did we set a new company record for MSM shipments, but with the acquisition of VirtualLogix and its market-leading mobile hypervisor we set in motion the convergence of Mobile Software Management and Mobile Virtualization.
“I’m extremely pleased to have Michel Gien and Christian Jacquemot bring their leadership in mobile virtualization to the Red Bend management team,” Salinger continued. “The strength of our team combined with the most widely deployed and trusted solutions for mobile software management and mobile virtualization will enable our customers throughout the mobile ecosystem to develop feature-rich, highly customizable, affordable and secure mobile phones and connected devices.”

Livewire Mobile acquires FoneStarz Media Group

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Livewire Mobile, a global specialist in mobile music and content, announced today that it has acquired FoneStarz Media Group, a mobile digital storefront and mobile content supplier currently working with many of the world’s largest telecom and media brands.

The combination of the two companies creates a mobile content provider with a broad content-offering that includes application distribution, ringback, full-track music, video, advertising, ringtones, images and games. Furthermore, the acquisition expands Livewire Mobile’s market reach to more than 400 million subscribers at over 40 mobile operators in nearly 30 countries – said to provide one of the most comprehensive one-stop digital content solutions for carriers, handset manufacturers and other media companies entering the mobile content market.

Based in Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom, FoneStarz has a track record of retailing mobile entertainment content for mobile network operators. It manages digital content services from its proprietary merchandising and delivery platform for 11 mobile operators in eight countries around the world.

FoneStarz services are currently deployed with premier operators including Vodafone, Hutchison 3 and O2 in countries including the U.K., Ireland, Denmark, Sweden, Austria, New Zealand, South Africa and Egypt. It works with a number of other Tier 1 and 2 operators and has content aggregation agreements with handset manufacturers including Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Samsung and LG, and content licenses with more than 140 media companies, including Disney, Playboy, Turner, American Greetings and Manchester United.

Livewire Mobile plans to incorporate the FoneStarz platform into its Infuse integrated storefront solution for mobile operators, as well as its recently launched Mediadrome direct-to-consumer music service.

The management team is headed up by Matthew Stecker, CEO, Livewire Mobile and Dave Moreau, CEO and founder of FoneStarz, who will become COO of the combined company. They intend to grow the combined business by exploiting its product set and extending services across six continents.

“As we stated earlier this year, we refocused our company resources toward providing our global partners and customers with an innovative suite of products and end-to-end services,” said Mr. Stecker. “Now, with this combination of two complementary companies, we are creating an even stronger organization with a broadened product suite, improved service and support worldwide and increased cross-selling opportunities to an expanded customer base.”

Mr. Moreau added: “We spent some time looking for a partner that offered a strategic fit in terms of product roadmap and territorial expansion. Scale is vital in this fast moving, global market and we believe Livewire Mobile and FoneStarz together will be able to provide a preeminent digital solution for mobile network operators, handset manufacturers and media businesses.”

Synchronica signs up third Russian operator

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Synchronica, an international provider of mobile messaging services, has received a purchase order for deployment of its carrier-grade IMPS mobile Instant Messaging infrastructure software with the Russian subsidiary of a pan-European mobile operator group.

With the initial order, the operator purchased professional services and licenses worth USD 246,000. In addition, the operator will pay Synchronica a recurring service fee based on the registered each month. This is the first purchase order that Synchronica has secured in concert with its new global reseller partner, Acision.

The operator is part of a pan-European mobile operator group which owns GSM licenses across 37 Russian regions, and covers an addressable population of approximately 61 million. This purchase order represents Synchronica’s first deal with a subsidiary of the group. The operator will use Synchronica’s IMPS infrastructure to offer their own carrier-branded Instant Messaging service to their 18 million subscribers, in addition to providing access to mainstream IM communities. Synchronica is scheduled to deliver the service in early 2011, with the Operator launching shortly thereafter.

With its messaging infrastructure products already being used by two of the country’s top-3 operators, Synchronica is becoming a strong player the Russian mobile market. Synchronica’s IMPS technology enables operators to provide a complete, scalable and OMA standards-compliant service which subscribers can connect to from IMPS-enabled handsets. This appealing, carrier-branded service acts as a churn inhibitor, because defecting to a rival carrier would mean the loss of a customer’s mobile IM identity.

Portio Research expects that by 2012, there will be 867 million worldwide mobile IM users generating $12.4 billion in revenues. Mobile IM is still in its infancy stage in Russia according to Visiongain, but has been widely accepted, especially amongst the youth segment.

Carsten Brinkschulte, CEO of Synchronica, said, “We are pleased to secure this deal in collaboration with our new partner Acision, demonstrating again the strategic importance of our global reseller network. With Synchronica’s solutions already being used by two of Russia’s top-3 operators, we are now in the pole position of this important market. We’re committed to using our experience to help our new customer launch an innovative, popular and indeed lucrative ‘churn-busting’ IM service.”

Orange makes major contactless push

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Cityzi to go national: “over half” of all new smartphones in 2011 to have NFC SIMs

Orange has said it will extend the CityZi mobile contactless service, currently being piloted in Nice, across the country in 2011, which would make it one of the world’s first mass-market commerical contactless services. The operator will sell the “Player One Cityzi” handset across France from January, with “further handset models” to follow from the spring, the operator said. Orange added that it has a target of “at least” 500,000 French customers with compatible devices by the end of 2011.

The operator is also going to push for NFC-enabled SIMs to be made available in all its markets across Europe by the second half of 2011. The Group is also working with manufacturers to ensure that “over half” of the new smartphone models it buys will be compatible with contactless services when combined with the new, secure SIM card.

The Nice pilot involved Orange as well as France’s other two major operators, SFR and Bouyges, as well as NRJ mobile and other service providers. Orange did not say whether it would have the same infrastructure to call on when it makes the Player One Cityzi handset available nationwide.

 

Android drives smartphone growth in Western Europe, says IDC

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The Western European mobile phone market grew 7.5% year on year to 50.7 million units in 3Q10, according to IDC’s European Mobile Phone Tracker. Shipments of smartphones increased to 19 million units, 109% higher than last year’s third quarter, to represent 37% of total shipments. Feature phone shipments declined 17% to 31.7 million units compared with the previous year.

Strong smartphone demand continues to drive the Western European mobile phone market. Growth in the segment was supported by the surge in Android devices and strong sales of Apple’s iPhone 4. In the quarter vendors shipped over 4.3 million Android devices, with HTC, Sony Ericsson, and Samsung accounting for 84% of total Android shipments. This lifted the platform into third position, with 23% market share. Apple’s iPhone 4 was a major hit in the quarter, with 4.5 million units shipped, 102% higher than last year’s third quarter, giving iOS 24% market share.

Feature phones suffered their biggest decline ever, with shipments down 17% to 31.7 million units from the same period last year, says IDC. Operators are moving their subsidies to smartphones and the segment has suffered from the lack of attractive devices, with price the major sales driver.

“In the third quarter, 24 of the 45 Android devices available in Western Europe were launched,” said Francisco Jeronimo, European mobile devices research manager, IDC. “This shows how actively phone makers are seeding operators with new Android models to meet market demand. The operating system is very popular among consumers due to its intuitive user interface, increasing number of free applications, and very competitive prices compared with other devices on the market. It’s also important to point out that the strong volumes Apple shipped during the quarter took it to third position among the biggest manufacturers in Western Europe, which is an impressive achievement after the antenna problems and the criticism the iPhone received when it was launched.”

Nokia’s total shipments increased 4% year on year to 17.2 million units, but market share slipped to 34% due to slower growth in its smartphones compared with the overall market.

Samsung’s shipments dropped 3% year on year to 13.9 million units and smartphones only represented 8% of total shipments. The Samsung Galaxy S, running Android, was a top seller with most operators but had a limited impact on the results due to its late launch in the quarter. 63% of total Samsung smartphone shipments run Android and 29% are based on Samsung’s bada. This platform will continue to play a major role in Samsung’s portfolio and more devices will be launched at lower price points.

Apple had an excellent quarter, says IDC. The iPhone 4’s antenna problems didn’t affect its sales, and it shipped 4.5 million units, 102% higher than in the previous year — making it the third-biggest manufacturer in the region. Apple retained second position in the smartphone segment and closed the gap with Nokia.

Sony Ericsson’s successful Android strategy and products kept it in the top 5 smartphone vendors, placing it in fourth spot with 10.6% market share, one place ahead of HTC, though fierce competition from HTC, Samsung, and LG is expected to negatively impact Sony Ericsson’s market share.

LG’s performance in the quarter was poor, with shipments declining 48% to 2.7 million units from 3Q09. Unlike Samsung, LG has not been able to bundle its feature phones with smartphones to push its sales due to the lack of a strong smartphone portfolio. LG feature phones dropped 54% in 3Q10 to 2.4 million units, from 5.1 million units a year ago, says IDC.

Nokia files patent infringement complaints against Apple in the UK, Germany and the Netherlands

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Nokia has announced it has filed claims in the UK High Court, Dusseldorf and Mannheim District Courts in Germany and the District Court of the Hague, Netherlands, alleging that Apple infringes Nokia patents in many of its products sold in these countries, including iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

“These actions add 13 further Nokia patents to the 24 already asserted against Apple in the US International Trade Commission and the Delaware and Wisconsin Federal courts,” said Paul Melin, vice president, Intellectual Property at Nokia. “The Nokia inventions protected by these patents include several which enable compelling user experiences. For example, using a wiping gesture on a touch screen to navigate content, or enabling access to constantly changing services with an on-device app store, both filed more than ten years before the launch of the iPhone.”

Nokia’s filing in the UK covers 4 Nokia patents related to touch user interface, on-device app stores, signal noise suppression and modulator structures.

Nokia’s filing in Dusseldorf, Germany covers 7 Nokia patents related to touch user interface, antenna structures, messaging functionality and chipsets.

Nokia’s filing in Mannheim, Germany covers 5 Nokia patents related to on-device app stores, caller ID, display illumination and the integration of multiple radios.

Nokia’s filing in the Hague, Netherlands covers 2 Nokia patents related to signal noise suppression and data card functionality.

None of the asserted patents have been declared essential to any wireless communication standard.

Anvil forges MVNO relationship with aql to deliver landline services for mobile phones

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New MVNO Anvil Mobile has made it possible to have one or more local or national numbers on a single mobile phone – said to be the first in a series of converged business communications services made possible by Anvil’s new generation SIM card and through its collaboration with aql, a mobile network enabler and fixed line carrier.  aql provides access to one of the UK’s largest broadband infrastructures, as well as the 3 mobile network in the UK.

Anvil’s new SIM card can be used with any 3G compatible unlocked mobile phone to support multiple landline numbers covering different geographic areas to the same mobile. For small businesses that operate over a wide area, this greatly improves customer perception and image by enabling local numbers to be promoted on business cards, websites and vehicles or in advertising and directories.

Incoming callers are only charged at the standard rate for landline numbers rather than for calling a mobile phone. Multiple device ringing means that users can answer either at a desk phone or mobile, while Anvil will also be offering other features such as the ability to record mobile conversations to meet existing and planned regulatory requirements.

With a new machine-to-machine SIM being introduced, Anvil will also be able to offer features such as remote video monitoring plus remote diagnostics and control. And when used in conjunction with a 3G router, the Anvil SIM makes it possible to set up instant local voice and data networks via 3’s 3G network.

“We recognised that many self-employed and SME businesses rely on mobile communications but want to present a more local image in the areas they do business,” said Ian Philip, founder and CEO at Anvil Mobile. “Through our collaboration with aql, we are now able to deliver an exciting range of flexible services that meet these requirements and also provide substantial cost savings. aql’s proven and robust broadband network provides nationwide coverage and access to some 12 million UK landline numbers, while 3’s 3G network reaches 97.4% of the population.”

mBlox research reveals ‘gap’ in mobile services currently on offer by UK banks and credit card providers

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mBlox has conducted a study into the types of mobile services offered by UK banks and credit card providers and is said to have found a gap in the range of mobile services currently available to consumers. A sizeable 84% of UK banks and credit card providers do not offer SMS transactions or balance alerts as part of their customer service offering, says mBlox. A further 34% do not have a mobile website and surprisingly 76% do not yet have a mobile application, with only 16% offering an iOS mobile app, 8% an Android app and 2% a BlackBerry app.

Andrew Bud, Chief Strategy Officer and Founder, comments: “Our research shows that many banks and credit card providers are missing a significant opportunity to serve and engage with consumers. SMS is still the most dependable, effective way for banks and credit card providers to reach practically all their customers. Earlier this year, Juniper Research predicted that mobile banking services will use this medium 50% more in 2015 than in 2010, engaging consumers worldwide at a rate equivalent to about one message per month for every man, woman and child on the planet.”

Andrew continues: “Consumer demand for access to mobile banking services is growing fast, so financial institutions must ensure that they offer a full range of secure and reliable mobile services, including mobile websites, mobile applications and SMS.  Engaging consumers effectively via the mobile medium will rapidly become a key competitive advantage.”

MegaFon selects Xtract’s analytical solutions

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Xtract, a provider of social intelligence powered analytics solutions, today announced that a Russian operator, the Metropolitan Branch of OJSC MegaFon, has signed an agreement to use Xtract’s Social Links solution. The solution will help MegaFon to analyze the behaviour and interaction of mobile subscribers on its network, allowing them to identify key segments for effective marketing campaigns for improved customer retention.

Social Links provides mobile operators, such as MegaFon, with an opportunity to define segments, allowing them to maximize the effectiveness of campaigns for the retention of subscribers. The platform also allows operators to view and manage the activity on their desktop, giving them a deeper understanding of subscriber behavior. This helps operators to make more informed decisions when choosing and creating marketing campaigns, says Xtract.

“We hope that the implementation of Xtract’s Social Links solution will open up new opportunities for us – helping us to better engage with our customers and ensure our marketing campaigns are both focused and effective” commented Natalia Spitsyna, Commercial Director of the Metropolitan Branch of OJSC “MegaFon”.

Mika Lindholm, CEO of Xtract added: “We are pleased to work with MegaFon to offer them the advanced analytics capabilities powered by Social Links. We are confident that the combination of our technologies and expertise along with our innovative service offerings will help MegaFon to obtain a competitive advantage.”

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