Hybrid Satellite-Cell Networks

This article talks about two companies that are combining satellite and cellular networks to provide end to end coverage. Add in to the mix other technologies such as WiMax, and you have a much less capital intensive network infrastructure. This should ultimately translate to lower cost mobile services for the consumer.

Jamdat acquires Tetris rights

I think for $137m, Jamdat got a bit of a deal. Of all the mobile phone games out there, Tetris is has a huge following already in the non-mobile world, and given its play format and style, it translates very well to the mobile world (04/05 4th top best selling game in UK). And its sooo addictive. Theres been loads of hype (and VC activity) around mobile gaming over the last six months. Theres now a lot of competition in the mobile gaming sector and its a challenge to find new game formats that will be financially successful. The margins will improve as handset standardisation improves because much of the cost of game development is in reformatting the title for different types of handsets.
For Blue Lava Wireless (the Tetris mobile owners), $60m in cash and 4.05m shares in Jamdat stock should keep them in cocktails and suncream for the next 15 years in Honolulu, at which point the Jamdat rights to Tetris expire!
press release here

Operator handset "protection"

ARgghhhh! there must nothing more annoying for customers who have bought a 5/600 euro handset, and when then try and transfer pictures from it to their computers, they find that the Object File Transfer has been blocked. The operators do this on a lot of phones to prevent people being able to transfer wallpapers/ringtones etc to another device (cos DRM isnt quite there yet). Interestingly "vanilla" devices (e.g. non operator tampered) now sell for almost 30% more on Ebay than operator customised ones. Shows what the market thinks of the operators efforts to improve the handset UI/experience!!!!!

Google results

Eric Schmidt must be smiling today with Googles incredible results. These have over-shadowed Ebays results which were also impressive. I, along with many others outside of the US were early advocates and promoters of the Google search experience and it still riles me that we didnt get a chance to participate in last years IPO.

Bangladesh Village Phone Program

This is a great example of how companies with a social conscience can improve their local environment, help the population and increase profit at the same time.

Odeo - creating a podcasting marketplace

Evan Williams (co-founder of Pyra Labs, Blogger) left Google last October to co-found Odeo. Evan writes "Odeo aims to enable this new distribution channel and medium by creating the best one-source solution for finding, subscribing to, and publishing audio content".

3 Blogger gripes

1) When a user edits a post, then selects publish, the application publishes the article but stops once it has completed the process. Why doesnt it automatically return to the "edit post" view?
2) Im not sure I "get" the publish process. it seems unecessary...why cant the blog just be published automatically on a periodical basis, or every time a post has been made. Now i expect some may sit back aghast at the sheer stupidity of this comment, but I think applications like these need to work in ways that are currently familiar to users (e.g. writing an email) , or align with existing behaviour.
3) My user stats are very wrong.

Did you escape?

If you did, here is the second room...

Skype Update

Wow! 100m customers (35% active), new SkypeIn product (for increasing your call circle to those who dont (yet) have skype) and new Skype Voicemail (in case you cant answer your SkypeIn calls).

Can you escape?

There are less than 4000 people in the world who can escape this house. So have a try.

http://flash.qbol.net/pl;p/youxi/images/04042203.swf

There are 13 items hidden in this room in order to let you get out of thisroom.If you found:0-6 items, your IQ is very low, total idoit6-8 items, Low IQ, u r an idoit9-10 items, u r normal11-12 items, your IQ is high, above the average.13 items found and get out of the room, there are less than 4000 people in the that world can do it.

Orange MVNO deal with Tele2

Link

Googlezon

A vision of the media industry in 2014...

democratising innovation by using "lead-users"

...in The Feature

Patent for real-life Matrix

here

Mobile radio content feeds

I know that a number of Nokias (and others) have a built in FM transmitter, but there are many popular handsets that dont. Radio is a ubiquitous music experience that is understood and appreciated by the masses. MSpots approach to wrapping this in to the device mediaplayer for a monthly subscription is smooth. What excites me are the future possibilities of this; podcasts, video streams, purchased music, audio books, live user-generated radio broadcast feeds etc...

Phling!

Phling! is a new service for mobile phones that acts as the glue between your phone, your PC, and your IM contact list to enable sending multimedia between the three. It’s not an MMS protocol, so it avoids leaving you with any per-message charges, instead using peer-to-peer technology via the internet connection on your phone to relay the data. You can send pictures, voice and text messages to IM contacts, to your home PC, or to your mobile blog via your phone, all for free — at least, while the phling! service is still in beta. What’s the catch? For now, it only works on three phones, all Nokia: the 6600, the 6620, and the 7610, and you have to have one of the listed data plans from AT&T, Cingular, or T-Mobile

Rabble

the Rabble team can clearly see a shift in traditional mobile content creation and distribution models . They appear to be developing some form of platform to allow end users to connect to each other and share, manage, subscribe and download media produced by other users.
Intercasting Corp are running a Rabble beta. Unfortunately I dont live in the US so I cant register and see what theyre up to. Definitely one to watch....

Gadget overload

i looked at my desk today and counted the following:

 

1 Apple iPod

1 SE V800

2 Nokia 6600

1 Blackberry 7100v

1 compaq iPaq

1 Dell Laptop

1 Motorola E1000

1 Pentax Optio DigiCam

1 Bosch Fixed-phone

 

I realy cant wait any longer for some device consolidation...

Back to the future

How cool is this - I want one...

P Diddys Speech at CTIA

http://www.contentnext.com/pdiddy.mp3

OpenWaspa

Ajit Jaokar and Tony Fish at OpenGardens have created OpenWaspa - a fully fledged 'showcase' for innovation in the mobile data industry. It should officialy launch next month.

JamPod

I want one of these

EasyMobile and why MVNO's prosper

MVNO's are refreshing. Comviq in Sweden, EasyMobile and Virgin in the UK, Boost in the US to name but a few. They are not lumbered with baggage. They have the freedom to create clear and compelling propositions that take advantage of many of the mistakes that old-school operators have made. They are not trying to be all things to all people. They know their market, and they tailor their offerings so that it does what their customers need it to do. They are the new market entrants who arrive with a message of disruption, anarchy and championing the customer (Orange did this way back in 1994, and they built a network!).
Easymobile launched this week in the UK with a very simple voice and text proposition, based on a SIM-only offer (no high SAC's), Internet billing, and a single pricing plan which excludes any monthly contract. For a large portion of the mobile population, this encapsulates exactly what they need from a mobile; good network coverage, value for money, and a simple pricing structure. It is easy to understand and leverages the brand values that Easy Group has established in the UK (and Europe) with services such as EasyJet (low-cost, no frills air travel) and Easy4men (low-cost, no fuss male grooming products).
Boost Mobile has been extremely successful in the US and is a testament to the team at Nextel who had the foresight and courage to experiment with customer segment specific brands. The Boost Mobile example is an interesting one because it is owned and operated by Nextel. Its an example of an operator launching its own MVNO to compete with its own existing and established customer base. Other operators have toyed with MVNO's but only from a network re-sell perspective, and that was partly enforced by the regulators. I think many of the old-school operators see MVNO's as meaning margin erosion and brand dilution, but they are missing the point. Surely it is better to lose customers to yourself (albeit under a different brand), than to someone else? And the fear of margin erosion is false. Comviq has consistently reported margin percentages in the 50's and 60's!
The MVNO landscape is going to hot up - EasyMobile has plans to launch in another 11 European countries and the founders of Boost are launching a new MVNO called Amp'd in the US. Surely this calls for a re-evaluation of the old-school operators MVNO strategies?

TheWebLogProject

The first open source, FREE, grassroots movie to support and promote the blogosphere where featured stars, producers, fundraisers and actors are the bloggers themselves

SociaLight

Here is another example of a Mobile Social Interaction platform