Windows Mobile 7 Delayed Until “Late Next Year”

Ah, Windows Mobile 7. It was first rumored to be released in February 2010. According to Phil Moore, Microsoft UK head of mobility, Windows Mobile 7 might not be coming until Q4 2010. Recently, in a Q&A session at the ‘Connect!’ technology summit in London, Moore [pictured] stated:

“[Windows Mobile 7] has been put back until late next year but it is definitely coming. You’re going to see a lot more on Windows Mobile 7. Giving the enterprise users and consumers what they want will be part of Windows Mobile 7. You’ll get flexibility on a much easier touch UI.”

No details were disclosed as to what has caused the delay. Moore did mention that Apple has left them “playing catch-up” with the iPhone. Also not very clear at this moment is how this move will affect Windows Mobile, considering many that were looking forward to the new mobile OS by Microsoft will not want to wait until the end of 2010. Only time will tell.

Google hints at making mobile telephone

SAN FRANCISCO — The Internet on Saturday buzzed with renewed rumors of Google making its own smartphone, after the Internet powerhouse said it is internally dabbling with a mobile device.

Google workers are trying out a device that "combines innovative hardware from a partner with software that runs on Android to experiment with new mobile features and capabilities," vice president of product management Mario Queiroz said in a blog post.

Google is seeking feedback in a process it refers to as "dogfooding" in which innovations are tested internally before being offered to the public on the basis that employees should be willing to "eat our own dogfood."

"This holiday season, we are taking dogfooding to a new level," Queiroz wrote.

"Unfortunately, because dogfooding is a process exclusively for Google employees, we cannot share specific product details. We hope to share more after our dogfood diet."

The Android-based mobile devices are being shared with Google workers worldwide, according to Queiroz.

The blog post came a morning after Google workers evidently excited about getting "Google phones" exchanged comments on wildly popular microblogging service Twitter.

"ZOMG we had fireworks and we got the new Google phone," one Google worker said in a tweet. "It's beautiful."

ZOMG is texting slang that originated as a typo of an acronym for "Oh My God" but has come to be used when the phrase is meant a bit sarcastically or while stating the obvious, according to the online Urban Dictionary.

A growing number of US telecom carriers and manufacturers have been adopting Google's open-source Android software in bids to challenge the Apple iPhone and Blackberry from Research in Motion.

Technology industry tracker Gartner predicts that Android-based smartphones will capture 14 percent of the global market by the year 2012, as compared with a mere two percent today, according to a report in Computerworld.

Motorola to Sell Droid-style Phone in China This Month

Motorola will start selling a smartphone similar to the Droid in China this month, but the phone will use China's homegrown 3G standard and a China Mobile operating system.

The MT710, Motorola's first smartphone made for the China Mobile Ophone brand, will go on sale in China on Dec. 28, a company representative said. Pricing was not available but the device, like all Ophones, will use a version of the Google Android operating system modified by China Mobile. The Droid offered by Verizon Wireless in the U.S. uses the normal Android operating system.

The MT710 will also support the 3G mobile standard designed in China and being promoted by China Mobile, TD-SCDMA (Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access). Another Chinese technology it will support is a security protocol designed in the country for wireless LANs. In the past China has barred Wi-Fi on mobile phones but this year it began approving phones with the function if they supported the Chinese protocol.

Unlike the Droid, the MT710 has no slide-out keyboard. But both handsets have a 3.7-inch touchscreen and a 5-megapixel camera and can be viewed sideways to browse the Internet or watch videos. Their faces also look similar with a few touch buttons below each of their screens. The full name of the Motorola phone, the MT710 Zhiling, uses Chinese characters that mean "intelligent" and "leader."

China Mobile is the world's largest carrier by accounts with over 510 million subscribers. But its 3G services have struggled so far and the carrier has worked to get attractive handsets from foreign vendors to attract more users.

Nokia has announced its first handset using the China Mobile 3G standard and Dell's first mobile phone, the Mini 3i, recently went on sale in China as a 2G Ophone. Dell plans to release a 3G phone for China Mobile at an unspecified time, Yang Chao [cq], Dell's consumer business general manager for Greater China, told reporters last month. Other Ophones are on sale or on the way from Lenovo Mobile, LG Electronics and Dopod, the China distributor for Taiwan-based High Tech Computer (HTC).

New Droid Ad Has a Blast at iPhone's Expense

By Adam Dickter
December 4, 2009 2:22PM

Verizon is ramping up the testosterone in its newest ad campaign against the Big Man on Campus, Apple's iPhone. Falling just short of saying other phones are for girlie-men, Verizon's ads tout their phone's "racehorse taped to a Scud missile" speed as opposed to that of a "digitally clueless beauty pageant queen."

The enemy phone, never mentioned by name, is briefly shown in two scenes. In one, young people gaze at it shrinking in a display case before they are all engulfed in a blast of flame. In another, the device erupts into something that looks like a mixture of cement and milk.

The Droid is made by Motorola and distributed in the United States by Verizon.

Going Their Own Way?

The ad blasts a hole in speculation that Verizon wants to be the next iPhone carrier when Apple's contract with AT&T expires next year.

"We haven't heard about any overtures from Verizon to become iPhone's new network ," said Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst for mobile devices for IDC.

"What Verizon has been doing with the Droid is to wisely position it as the alternative to the iPhone. Part of that strategy to highlight some of the shortcomings of the [iPhone] and AT&T network, such as the lack of 3G coverage," or fast data speed.

Another shortcoming, said Llamas, is the iPhone's inability to run third party multiple applications concurrently. "Verizon Wireless is promoting the fact that Droid is capable of doing these things," he said.

Can Droid Gain Ground?

No one expects the Droid to make a dent in iPhone sales in the immediate future. "It's not going to happen in Q4," said Llamas. "But Apple has lost a lot of mileage already, so to speak, and Droid has just ramped up its campaign."

Llamas sees the iPhone gaining some ground as a consumer oriented device while the iPhone should hold its own among enterprise clients, who buy far larger quantities. The reason?

"The iPhone has the ability to synch up to corporate business systems, which is very important," he said. "The Droid currently does not. Having said that, [the Droid] is still a very good phone. It has positioned itself as much more of a consumer play."

Its broader coverage area is another advantage Verizon likes to tout over AT&T.

"Verizon is promoting the strength of its network, and the idea that you're not just getting a device but getting [the whole] network," said Llamas.

Does all this rule out a future Apple-Verizon collaboration? "It's always possible," he said. "We've seen very strict competitors quickly colloborate further down the line. I wouldn't rule it out, but I wouldn't rule out [an Apple deal with] Sprint or T-Mobile either."

Apple's iPhone arrives to rousing welcome in tech-savvy South Korea

By Kelly Olsen (CP)

SEOUL, South Korea — South Koreans got their first taste of the iPhone on Saturday as the multifunctional communication and entertainment device made its long awaited debut in one of the world's most technologically sophisticated societies.

Though already available in other Asian countries such as Japan - where it went on sale last year - the slim smartphone got a late start in South Korea amid regulatory hurdles and tough negotiations between manufacturer Apple Inc. and a local telecommunications company.

But the waiting finally came to an end for about 850 South Koreans who took possession of their coveted iPhones at a boisterous official launching event in Seoul characterized by blaring music and flashing lights.

"I'm really happy because I waited for a long time," said Kim Min-ju, a dentist who travelled to Seoul from the regional city of Cheongju. Kim said she planned to use her iPhone to study English.

Huh Jin-seok, the first recipient of the iPhone, had waited in line more than 26 hours outside the arena where the event took place. The 25-year-old university student expressed joy, though acknowledged being "a little bit tired."

South Korea is home to world-beating technology corporations including Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc. The country is also known for its high penetration rate for broadband Internet as well as government encouragement for IT-related innovation.

But Smartphones - which are advanced mobile phones with computer-like capabilities - are just taking off.

"We're hoping that this iPhone will be a trigger point for the smartphone market in Korea," said Yang Hyun-mi, chief strategy officer at KT Corp., Apple's local partner. Smartphones make up just 1 per cent of all cellphones in South Korea, she said.

Yang declined to offer a sales forecast for the iPhone, but said KT was optimistic given higher-than-expected advance orders.

"We just think it will be really huge," she said.

About 65,000 people placed orders since Nov. 22, according to KT.

Steve Park, Apple's spokesman in South Korea, declined to comment on the launch of the iPhone.

The Korea Communications Commission - South Korea's telecommunications regulator - paved the way for the iPhone's introduction by granting a license to Apple earlier this month to offer so-called location-based services, which include functions such as maps and direction finders that are available on the iPhone. South Korean law requires companies that provide such applications to obtain government permission.

The commission earlier this year also abolished a rule that required all mobile devices to carry special software adapted to South Korea's wireless Internet platform, which was an added cost for foreign manufacturers and viewed as a trade barrier.

KT's Yang said another factor contributing to the delay was a complicated negotiating process with Apple over what she described as the Cupertino, California-based company's strict standards and policies.

The iPhone is expected to pose a challenge to Samsung and LG, which dominate the market for mobile phones in South Korea and also make smartphones. They are also major players globally in mobile phones, ranking No. 2 and No. 3, respectively, behind Finland's Nokia Corp.

KT, South Korea's second-largest mobile carrier, already offers service plans for smartphones made by Samsung, LG, Nokia and a Taiwanese manufacturer, said KT spokeswoman Alice Park.

Also available in South Korea is Research in Motion Ltd.'s (TSX:RIM) Blackberry, which is offered by SK Telecom Co., the country's largest mobile carrier.

Moon Chang-soo, a computer programmer, said he plans to mostly use the iPhone to keep his life organized.

"It's amazing," he said, describing his feelings at finally getting one. But despite its fame as a smartphone, Moon used it in a more basic way.

"I just made a call to my wife," he said with a laugh.

Major Magazine Publishers Coming to iPhone, BlackBerry

New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Vogue, Time, People could be available via iTunes style store
Nick Spence, Macworld U.K.

Rival publishers including Time, Condé Nast and Hearst are expected to team-up to offer a range of best-selling high-profile magazines on the iPhone, BlackBerry and other mobile platforms.

More than 50 magazines including The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Vogue, Time, People, Sports Illustrated, Esquire and O, The Oprah Magazine are likely to be available digitally according to New York Observer.
The plans also include the companies setting up an iTunes style digital store and are likely to be officially announced in a few weeks, when other publishers on board claims the Observer.

Time EVP John Squires will be the interim CEO of the new joint venture for the next six months, while a permanent boss is sought claims the Observer. "It's very close and more imminent than it's been," the report said, quoting one source familiar with the situation.

Recently, Apple has reportedly been talking to publishers about delivering content via the rumoured Apple Tablet, which is likely to be launched early next year.

According to The Sydney Morning Herald, last month Apple sent specifications to media companies in an effort to sound out whether they would be interested in delivering their content to the tablet.
"The tablet is tipped to be a larger version of the iPhone. It is small enough to carry in a handbag but too big to fit in a pocket. It will have a touch screen and be targeted at users who mainly want to surf the web, read books and newspapers or watch movies," the Herald claimed.

Microsoft combines search and display in mobile marketplaces

by Dianna Dilworth, November 25, 2009

Microsoft is beefing up its mobile advertising offering with a destination called "Microsoft Mobile Marketplaces." Rolled out a month ago, the site was announced on a Microsoft blog this week. It aims to combine search and display ads to increase their performance.

“The Mobile Marketplace acts as a transformational mobile ad product, converting a generally reactive medium like mobile display into a more intent-based mobile search product,” said Jamie Wells, director of global trade marketing at Microsoft Mobile Advertising, in a blog post.

Microsoft launched the marketplace to a select group of advertisers last month. The first part of the rollout is called Marketplaces for Ringtones, but the software giant plans to roll out more marketplaces, including Holiday Shopping, Mobile Games and Wallpapers, this holiday season.

When a consumer visits a Microsoft mobile media property, such as Mobile MSN, Hotmail, Messenger, CNBC or Fox Sports, he or she is served a display ad promoting a specific consumer product vertical, such as "last minute holiday deals" or "hot ringtones."

When the consumer then clicks on a mobile banner, he or she is redirected to a mobile landing page that contains a list of sponsored links from Bing for Mobile. These links are based on the theme or set of keywords associated with the specific marketplace vertical.

Advertisers can buy ads in the marketplace by setting up a Bing for Mobile ad campaign and bidding on one keyword. Since its soft launch last month, Microsoft has measured an average click-through rate of 20%, more than five times as high as the average click-through for mobile search, according to the Microsoft blog.

This offering comes as Google is asserting itself in the mobile advertising space. On November 9, Google announced the purchase of mobile ad network AdMob for $750 million. While Google already offers mobile search ads, the acquisition was done to expand its expertise in mobile display and in-application ads.

iPhone And Android Dominate Mobile Web Browsing

Posted by Ed Hansberry, Nov 24, 2009 12:03 AM

The iPhone and devices based on Android make up 75% of mobile web traffic according to a recent report by AdMob. These two devices together don't make up anywhere near 75% of the device sales, but they have a disproportionate share of web browsing.

The October Mobile Metrics Report shows that in the US the iPhone, along with the iPod Touch, has 55% share while Android is at 20%. Once again this emphasizes that these two platforms have killer browsers on hardware powerful enough and fast enough to handle desktop sized pages.

In the US, the next closest mobile platform is RIM with 12% and WebOS with 5%. Bringing up the rear is Windows Mobile with 4%, other at 3% and PalmOS at 1%. To be fair, Windows Mobile just launched WinMo 6.5 which comes with a decent browser compared to the comparatively useless browser that WinMo 6.1 and earlier has. We may see increases in WinMo share in the coming months if sales are healthy. Android isn't likely to suffer though as there are a flurry of devices with Google's platform launching even now.

If this information is of interest, you should check out the entire report. AdMob has provided a lot more data by platform, carrier and device maker in various locations around the world. These stats really tell who is enjoying using their device. There is nothing worse than browsing the web on an underpowered device with a slow connection and weak browser.

Google Offers Peek at Operating System, a Potential Challenge to Windows

By MIGUEL HELFT

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Google began lifting the veil on its planned Chrome operating system on Thursday, but it said that computers powered by the software would not be available for a year.

The new operating system, which is closely tied to Google’s Web browser, also named Chrome, is seen as a potential challenge to Microsoft, whose Windows software powers the vast majority of personal computers.

But with the Chrome operating system, Google is not trying to build a better version of Windows. Instead, it is aiming to shift users toward its vision of “cloud computing,” a model in which programs are not installed on a PC but rather are used over the Internet and accessed through a Web browser. In Google’s approach, a user’s data will also reside on servers across the Internet, rather than on their PC.

Most PC users already rely on cloud computing, using their Internet browsers to access things like e-mail, photo albums and digital maps.

“Hundreds of millions of users are living on the cloud,” said Sundar Pichai, a vice president for product management at Google in charge of Chrome. Every program that users enjoy on their PCs today, Mr. Pichai said, will soon be available as a Web application. “The trend is very, very clear,” he said.

While Microsoft and others say they believe that cloud-based programs will coexist with traditional PC software, Google has often said that Web applications will replace all desktop software, another area that Microsoft dominates. Machines running the Chrome operating system, which initially will be limited to lightweight, portable computers known as netbooks, will not run any desktop applications other than the Chrome browser.

But even Mr. Pichai said that devices on the Chrome operating system were likely to be used, at least at first, as a complement to users’ more powerful computers at home.

Analysts said that the Chrome operating system could pose a challenge to Microsoft over the long term but said that Microsoft was not sitting still.

“Chrome OS moves the playing field to the cloud,” said Ray Valdes, an analyst at Gartner. “But Microsoft is a multifaceted company. They have a systematic effort to put a lot of their technology portfolio in the cloud as well.”

In a statement, Microsoft said that the Chrome operating system was in “early stages of development” and that “customers are already voicing their approval of the way Windows 7 just works — across the Web and on the desktop, and on all sizes and types of PCs.” Speaking to investors at Microsoft’s headquarters, Steven A. Ballmer, the chief executive, said that Windows 7 was outselling any previous version of Microsoft’s operating system.

On Thursday, Google demonstrated an early version of the Chrome operating system on a netbook during a news conference at its Mountain View headquarters. Google also announced that it was releasing the underlying programming code for the operating system to anyone who wants to tinker with it under an open-source license.

Not surprisingly, the Chrome desktop looked similar to the Chrome browser. It included a handful of smaller tabs that Google calls application tabs, which are meant to run the programs people use most often, like e-mail or calendar software.

The netbook using the operating system booted in seven seconds, and Google said it was working to make the start-up time even faster. Google declined to say which hardware makers were planning to build machines that used the operating system, but said it would work closely with manufacturers. It said it had been pushing them to make netbooks that were slightly larger than today’s models and included full-size keyboards.

Google Earth for iPhone updated to 2.0 with map compatibility

By Chris Foresman

The 2.0 update to Google Earth for iPhone lets you view your saved maps, more easily browse linked location data, and adds 13 new languages.

Google announced Wednesday that Google Earth for iPhone has been updated to version 2.0. Though the major version number has incremented, the update is rather minor except for a new ability to connect to your saved Google Maps and view them overlaid on its virtual globe.

The main reason to grab this update is in integrated ability to view maps that you have saved to "My Maps" using Google Maps or the desktop version of Google Earth. Google offered the examples of checking maps for Lonely Planet co-founder Tony Wheeler likes to travel or where chef Ferran Adrià likes to eat. However, it could also be used for viewing things like tracking a recent road trip, hike, or even a bike ride. Just enter your Google account login credentials, and you can select from any of your saved maps to overlay on the Earth.

In addition to the new map viewing feature, viewing information related to the current location has also been improved. While browsing the current area, location-linked data such as photographs and Wikipedia entries are displayed using icons. The updated Google Earth will show a glow around where you click, so you know which icon was chosen. If you click on an area with multiple icons bunched together, you'll get a list of possibilities to choose from.

And finally, the language support for Google Earth for iPhone has been expanded from 18 to a total of 31 options. You can now choose from English, English (US and UK), French, German, Traditional and Simplified Chinese, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese (Brazil and Portugal), Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian, Korean, Japanese, Russian, Polish, Turkish, Ukrainian, Arabic, Thai, Czech, Greek, Hebrew, Indonesian, Malaysian, Romanian, Slovak, and Croatian.

China Mobile still in talks to sell iPhone

By Dan Nystedt

IDG News Service - The world's largest mobile phone service provider by subscribers is still in talks with Apple about offering the iPhone in China even though rival China Unicom started selling the handsets there last month.

"I think the iPhone is a very good phone for consumers and is very popular with young customers so China Mobile has continued negotiations with Apple to introduce the iPhone on China Mobile's network," said Wang Jianzhou, chairman and CEO of China Mobile at the GSM Association's Mobile Asia Congress in Hong Kong on Wednesday.

Talks between Apple and China Mobile have gone on for years, but the CEO declined to comment on why no agreement has been reached. China Mobile first revealed its iPhone negotiations two years ago.

China Mobile's CEO has complained publicly in the past about the revenue sharing model with the iPhone, and China Mobile has opened its own app store, the Mobile Market.

China Unicom started selling the iPhone in China at the end of last month.

Ryuji Yamada, president and CEO of NTT DoCoMo, Japan's largest mobile network operator, said other mobile phones are improving and predicted smartphones based on Android and Windows Mobile will catch up with the iPhone.

"I think that day is not far off," he said, during an on-stage discussion at the Mobile Asia Congress.

Windows 7 Available For The XpPhone, Coming In December For $500-$700

World’s first Windows XP in the world has been announced earlier this year in June, when ITG announced that the handset is available for pre-order. The specs were released, while the pricing and release date remained unknown. The specs were updated once again, and although we shouldn’t make such a big deal about it, the fact that the xpPhone can feature Windows 7 just makes us think that the company is missing the point here.

If you want the ITG xpPhone then you should know that the handset can feature a 4.3-inch or a 7-inch TFT touchscreen LCD (not only the known 4.8-incher), WSVGA resolution of 1024 x 600, a 5-megapixel camera, while the clock speeds of the AMD Super Mobile CPU have been changed as well and you can choose between speeds of lower or higher than 1GHz.

All of these change are important, and we welcomed the fact that we can have a phone which features Windows 7, but I demand a name change as well. Please ITG, stop calling it the xpPhone! As for the pricing and release date, rumors point to the fact that the handset will become available in December for prices between $500 and $700.

Android 2.0 Source Code Released, Ported to T-Mobile G1

Posted on Saturday, Nov 14, 20, by Casey Chan

Though the Android 2.0 'Eclair' SDK has been available for quite some time and the Motorola DROID runs Android 2.0 perfectly, the Android 2.0 source code has been kept under wraps for some particular reason (underhand deal with Motorola & Verizon?). This meant that all phone manufacturers outside of Motorola could only tinker with Android 1.6. Luckily, that has all changed.

Google has released the Android 2.0 source code to the Android Open Source Project and that's a great start for all Eclair hunters. Cyanogen has even got it fully running on his T-Mobile G1 and says everything is running "really well, fast and smooth". Eventually, we're sure that Android 2.0 will be available in relatively easy, how to instructions for rooted Android devices.

Google Chrome OS to Be Launched Next Week

The highly anticipated operating system should be available to everyone soon enough

Google's most hotly anticipated project, the brand-new, web-based operating system Chrome OS, is about to become a reality if rumors about its impending launch as soon as next week turn out to be true. When it first announced the project, Google said that the first public release should come this fall so this wouldn't be too much of a surprise. There's not much info aside from the fact that it will be launched and, in fact, any type of details about Chrome OS have been scarce so far, so there's plenty of anticipation in the tech crowd to see just what Google cooked up.

The rumor comes from the TechCrunch blog which has been on somewhat of a roll lately with rumors about Google. Adding the fact that we already knew that Chrome OS would hit at around this date, this rumor seems solid enough. But don't get your hopes up yet, just because Google is launching the OS doesn't exactly mean that you'll be able to pop it into any computer or laptop and run it. It's likely that it's at a pretty unpolished state and Google previously said that Chrome OS wouldn't be ready for the market at least until the second half of 2010.

Hardware support is one of the biggest issues at this point. Chrome OS is based on the Linux kernel so, in theory, at the low level, it should have some very good driver support. It's unclear though what kind of changes Google has made and how far along the other components of the OS are to take advantage of the hardware capabilities. Google is building Chrome OS with netbooks in mind, so chances are that some of the more popular machines like Asus' Eee PC will probably work right off the bat.

But even if you can install it and run it, it doesn't mean that there will be much to look at. From a user's view point, Chrome OS will most likely be very lacking at this point. This release is meant to get developers familiar with the platform and give hardware manufacturers enough time to get used to it, before presumably starting to ship machines with Chrome OS. Anyway, even so there's plenty to be excited about, we'll finally get a look at the mysterious GUI Google has been working on and see how the company has adapted the more system-oriented tasks to an OS designed for the cloud. There have been some clues already, but the speculation should end soon enough.

Nokia Rumored to Consider Palm Buyout

I’ve always been amazed at how stocks can be influenced by mere rumors, but Palm’s stock skyrocketed today by 8% amidst speculation that the struggling company may be bought out by Nokia.

Now, this wouldn’t be the first time we’ve heard this rumor, but for some reason it’s resurfacing; word of a Palm takeover had been talked about as early as September 2008.

It is interesting to note, however, that the two companies don’t have a whole lot in common. For instance, Nokia is heavily invested in Symbian and Maemo while Palm already has established WebOS as its current OS of choice. Would Nokia be willing to takeover WebOS and make it its own?

We do know, though, that Nokia is having its fair share of problems getting any sort of stronghold in the smartphone market with heavy competition such as the iPhone and the large number of Android devices now emerging. If there is any merit to the rumor, it would likely mean Nokia is hoping to add strength to its smartphone market share.

Dell bringing smartphone to China, Brazil

(11-13) 10:11 PST -- Not wanting to be left behind in the smartphone wars, Dell today announced that it was bringing its first-ever smartphone to China Mobile.

The Dell Mini 3 smartphone, which made its first appearance in China this past summer, will make its official debut on China Mobile's network by the end of the month and will launch on Brazilian carrier Claro by year-end. The Chinese version of the phone will run on Open Mobile System, a unique incarnation of the open source Google Android platform that was developed by China Mobile.

7 keys to the ultimate smartphone

While Dell has not released specifications of the device, Engadget Mobile reported earlier this year that it features a 3.5-inch touchscreen with a 360x640-pixel display. The phone will run initially on China Mobile's 3G network.

Dell also says that it has "existing agreements" with other telecom providers around the world to sell the phone, including Vodafone, AT&T and Verizon. If the phone were to be available for both AT&T and Verizon customers, it would mean that Dell has developed versions of the phone that run on both GSM and CDMA networks.

"Our entry into the smartphone category is a logical extension of Dell's consumer product evolution over the past two years," says Ron Garriques, the president of Dell's Global Consumer Group. "We are developing smaller and smarter mobile products that enable our customers to take their Internet experience out of the home."

This autumn has been a busy season for smartphones, with Android phones in particular garnering a significant amount of attention. This fall along has seen the launch of the Motorola Droid on the Verizon network; the Samsung Moment and the HTC Hero on Sprint; and the Motorola Cliq on T-Mobile.

Original story - www.networkworld.com/nwlookup.jsp?rid=192139

Copyright (c) 2009, IDG News Service. All rights reserved. IDG News Service is a trademark of International Data Group, Inc.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2009/11/13/urnidgns852573C4006938800025766D00636F66.DTL#ixzz0WoSmCOPS

Samsung launching its own mobile OS

By Bonnie Cha, CNET.com
Friday, November 13, 2009 10:46 AM

In an interesting move, Samsung announced this week that it will launch its own mobile operating system called Bada in December, giving developers an open platform to create new apps for Samsung's upcoming phones.

The name Bada, which means ocean in Korean, was chosen to represent the "limitless variety" of potential apps that could be created on the platform and its goal is to bring the smartphone experience to everyone.
Samsung said Bada will offer a developer-friendly environment, particularly in the area of Web services, and promises a rich user interface. In addition, Bada will give mobile operators the opportunity to differentiate its phones with their various services.

While the SDK will not be released until December, Samsung has set up an official Bada Web site where users can find more information about the mobile platform as well as receive updates on product launches, features, and upcoming events.

According to various news reports, the announcement indicates the company will drop support for Windows Mobile and Symbian, bringing Microsoft's share in the market to 50 percent next year and 20 percent by 2012. Most of Samsung's smartphones currently run on Windows Mobile.

This article was first published as a blog post on CNET.

Samsung Behold II (T-Mobile) Smartphone Review

by Ginny Mies, PC World

Nov 13 - The Samsung Behold II ($230 with a two-year T-Mobile contract; price as of 11/12/09) smartphone is the latest device to join T-Mobile's growing army of Android phones, which includes the T-Mobile G1, the T-Mobile myTouch 3G, and the Motorola Cliq. Though the Behold II has a gorgeous AMOLED display and a superior camera, customers might be turned off by the high price (it is more expensive than the iPhone 3GS and the Motorola Droid) as well as the somewhat cluttered TouchWiz interface.

T-Mobile Launching 21Mbps HSPA+ in Mid-2010

Despite the bad rap T-Mobile has gotten recently over outages, the company is moving right along when it comes to innovation within its mobile network. The company is already planning to launch blazing quick 21Mbps HSPA+ service starting in mid-2010 for select US markets (obviously, large cities).

Phones such as the G1, myTouch 3G, and the Motorola CLIQ will be able to take advantage of the quick speeds.

The company has previously stated that they are planning to launch 7.2Mbps in select cities by the end of 2009, and continues to expand its nationwide 3G coverage.

Does Anyone Need the Microsoft Mobile?

Nowadays Droid and other phones based on the Android 2.0 operating system play a very important role in the world of technology as it drives the buzz meter needle into the red zone. There are opinions that Windows Mobile is carried treat to has-been status.

Many consider that we are at the start of the Droid era. According to a post located on SFGate.com, Microsoft could not be seen in battle royal, meaning there was no sense to struggle against Droid and other phones based on the Android 2.0 operating system.

The situation of Microsoft is not so good as it was in August, i.e. Windows Mobile had only 4 percent share of the mobile OS market worldwide, it dropped by 7 per cent if compare it with Febriary.

The reality is in the following many customers are not interested in Windows on smartphones. Windows is associated with a PC, but it is not of service when talking about a smartphone purchase.

Companies such as Toshiba will probably not get success on Windows Mobile because they would be on Android 2.0. or they would be not able to get the necessary buzz.

One should say that the Droid can become the killer not for the iPhone but for the Windows Mobile.

FontSwap – Change iPhone/iPod Touch System, Lock And Notes Font

by kameron

FontSwap enables you to change your System, Lock and Notes font using the currently installed fonts on your iPhone. Install by adding: www.touchrepo.com/repo.xml as a source in Installer.

Screenshots:

Mobile applications contest in RP launched

IPVG Corp., one of the fastest growing publicly listed companies in the Philippines engaged in the Information Communications and Technology space, in partnership with the Ayala Technology Business Incubator (TBI) and GlobeLabs will be launching MobileXtreme! The Big Apps Competition, a nationwide search for the most innovative mobile applications.

The competition will be spearheaded by IPVG, Ayala Technology Business Incubator, GlobeLabs and MegaMobile Inc., the mobile communications business unit of IPVG. MegaMobile is the mobile service partner of content providers and communities which include some of the biggest names in the publishing, online gaming, music and entertainment industries.

As an aggregator, MegaMobile welcomes mobile concepts and developed products (preferably the latter) for applications that run on the Java (J2ME) platform. The competition will be facilitated through an official web-based portal where contestants can upload their entries, which can consist of applications under the following categories:

Category 1: Games and Entertainment
- Entertainment, fun and games

Category 2: Enterprise and Productivity
- Enterprise and productivity solutions; applications that address business needs as well as home and work productivity needs of individuals

Category 3: Cause-oriented
- Cause-oriented applications, news and public service, applications that address needs of underserved and marginal sectors of society (ex: farmers, fishermen)

The competition will present a chance for developers to showcase original applications. The best entries will receive infrastructure support from IPVG to help develop their ideas into full blown commercial products, plus a chance to have their products launched commercially through IPVG and MegaMobile. Category winners will also receive a bonus cash prize of P50,000 each.

To kick off the competition and issue the official call for entries, a one-day conference dubbed as MobileXtreme! The Big Apps Competition - Opening Forum will be held on November 7, 2009 at the UP-AyalaLand TechnoHub Conference Room in Quezon City, from 1PM to 6 PM. Keynote speakers for the said conference will include representatives from IPVG, MegaMobile, Ayala Foundation and representatives from the IT industry. The Opening Forum will be free of charge and potential contestants can learn firsthand what the board of judges will be looking for in the entries and what the experts’ insights are on current and emerging mobile trends.

MobileXtreme! will run from November 2009 to February 2010. Online learning materials, discussions and forums at the competition’s official portal will be held simultaneously during this period.

Deadline for submission of entries will be January 10, 2010. Finalists will be invited to the MobileXtreme! Awards Night – Open Tech Party to be held on February 26, 2010 at the main lobby of the UP-AyalaLand TechnoHub in Quezon City. Participants and industry leaders will discover the hidden talents who will win the MobileXtreme! Big Apps Competition.

For details and to learn more about the organizers, visit www.ayalatbi.org, www.ipvg.com, or www.mymegamobile.com. To learn more about GlobeLabs, please click ://www.globelabs.com.ph
For inquiries, email innovation@ayalafoundation.org or call 752-1267.

Motorola Droid, not iPhone, is the Best Smartphone

Michael Arrington calls the Droid a phone “that is as close as we’ve come to the Platonic ideal of a smartphone. Its very existence ensures that the next iPhone will be even better than it otherwise would have been.” And he concludes that “Droid is the Alpha phone. And I will love it and only it. Until something better comes along.” That’s well said, assuming Apple has seen the Droid before finalizing the design of the iPhone 4G.

That the Motorola Droid is exclusive to Verizon puts it in a very good position to dominate the iPhone, at least, in the U.S. market. Never mind that currently, the iTunes App Store boasts 10 times more appas than the Google. Soon, Google Android developers will catch up.

For a great head to head between the Motorola Droid and the iPhone 3GS, Mobile Crunch has it in two parts. They have this conclusion:

With Android 2.0, we’ve come to a very difficult crossroad. No longer can we recommend one handset over the other simply by its feature set. At this point, it’s all about the person who will be carrying it. For you, dearest TechCrunch Network reader: Yes, I’d probably recommend the Droid over an iPhone. Would I recommend it for your mother, father, or little sister? Nope. If you want a phone that just works and does damned near everything you could want and don’t mind Apple’s closed garden: by all means, get the iPhone. If you can handle a bit of complexity for the sake of flexibility and don’t mind having to tinker a bit: by all means, get the Droid. At this point, I honestly feel that either choice would make any sane person incredibly happy.

Right now, I’m going for the iPhone because of the ease of the Interface. On the all-important looks department, I find the Motorola Droid narrow enough to my liking. The iPhone has always been too wide for time. Another important factor to consider is pricing, not just the MSRP of every unit, but the amount you’ll spend to enjoy your smartphone on their respective networks. Here’s PC World on Droid fees on the Verizon network: $30 for tethering on an ulimited plan (limited to 5GB) or $60 for 10GB; Microsoft Exchange has a separate $45 a month for 5GB; and cacellation is $350.

Sprint offers BlackBerry Curve 8530

By Sapna Ranka


Mumbai: The all new BlackBerry Curve 8530 will be offered by Sprint. In three beautiful colors, Black, Royal Purple and Red, users can make a choice upon their liking.

It includes multimedia applications like BlackBerry Media Sync, Sprint Music Store, Sprint TV and Pandora. BlackBerry Curve 8530 will also offer instant access to the BlackBerry App World.

Sprint will make the Curve available under Everything Data plans. These plans include the Any Mobile, Anytime, a feature that provides unlimited calling on the Sprint network.

The Everything Data plans are available for a starting price of $69.99 per month.

The smartphone allows the users to easily connect to social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and Flickr.

However, the pricing details for the phone are not known yet.

Cell phones and Internet don't increase isolation: Study

by Ishita Sood - November 7, 2009

New York, November 7 -- According to a recent survey by the Pew Internet and American Life, people who use mobile phones and Internet are linked to a more diverse discussion network and have better social life.

Americans are not as isolated as previously reported in a 2006 study by the U.S. sociologists. The survey had argued that due to the advancements in technology, the Americans are becoming socially more isolated.

"When we examine people's full personal network... Internet use in general and use of social networking services such as Facebook in particular are associated with more diverse social networks," the researchers said in a statement.

"Our key findings challenge previous research and commonplace fears about the harmful social impact of new technology."

Research results
The telephone survey conducted in July and August this year consisted of 2,512 adults. It found out that since 1985 the social isolation has hardly changed.

Pew said that 6 percent of the entire U.S. adult population presently has "no one with whom they can discuss important matters or who they consider to be 'especially significant' in their life."

However, it had nothing to do with phones or the Internet. In reality, the organization's study found that cell phone users and active Web participation leads to a “larger and more diverse core discussion networks".

People’s discussions are 12 percent larger among the mobile phone users, nine percent larger for those who share photos online and for the ones who use instant messaging.

Users have a positive relationship with Internet
Most of the internet and mobile phone users have a positive relationship to networks and voluntary associations.

"Cell phone users, those who use the Internet frequently at work, and bloggers are more likely to belong to a local voluntary association, such as a youth group or a charitable organization," the study found.

"However, we find some evidence that use of social networking services (e.g., Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn) substitutes for some neighborhood involvement."

"Our survey results suggest that people's lives are likely to be enhanced by participation with new communication technologies, rather than by fearing that their use of new technology will send them into a spiral of isolation," they concluded.

New Droid is worthy competition for iPhone

Motorola was once king of the cell phone industry. Everywhere you looked people were using those Razr phones made by the Illinois-based company. But these days, you're more likely to see a Motorola phone in a rerun of 24 than in the hand of someone next to you on a bus.

Friday's launch of the " Droid" smartphone from Verizon ($200 with a two-year contract and after rebate), is Motorola's biggest step yet toward recapturing its former glory. The much-anticipated device gets its name from the Google Andorid operating system that powers it, but it's the first phone to feature the second version of Android, Android 2.0, which is a big improvement over the original OS.

In its ads for the Droid, Verizon takes the clearest shots yet at the iPhone by any competitor. With cheery, Apple commercial-like music, the spots rattle off a list of iDont's – things the iPhone lacks – such as a physical keyboard and removable battery and then declares that the Droid has all these features.

So how does the Droid stack up to the iPhone?

Overall, I think it's a great phone for Verizon customers, Google devotees and anyone that longs for a physical keyboard or removable battery. It mostly lives up to the hype and it comes a lot closer to matching the iPhone's mini computer-like capabilities than BlackBerrys and many other smartphones. Plus, Verizon's 3G network is generally more reliable and widespread than AT&T's.

Design/Hardware: The Droid isn't as sexy as the iPhone, but it still has an attractive design that includes a slide-out physical keyboard without adding a lot of heft. The touchscreen is gorgeous and it's bigger and boasts a higher resolution than the iPhone. Being able to use both a virtual keyboard and a physical one will definitely appeal to many people, even though the physical keys are kind of flat, which can be frustrating. I really liked the Droid's directional key, which was easier to use for on screen navigating than many of the trackballs found on other phones.

Operating system/ease of use: I've always found Android phones to be full of useful features, but a little overly complex because they aren't as intuitive as an iPhone. Android 2.0 is more polished and easier to master than Android 1.0, though it still may require a lot of thumbing through the manual.

Apps: By far, my favorite feature of the Droid is the inclusion of Google Maps Navigation, a free, voice guided, turn-by-turn GPS program that's as good as the dashboard mounted units sold by TomTom or Garmin. The iPhone and other phones have voice guided GPS apps, but they aren't free and they don't integrate as nicely with Google search. On the Droid, you can say "directions to nearest Starbucks" and with a few taps, you'll get voice guided directions without having to type anything.

Although it's now easier to browse through the Android Market, the number of Android apps (about 12,000) still pales in comparison to the iPhone App Store (more than 100,000). But now that three of the four major U.S. cell phone carriers offer Android phones (Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon), I expect developers to spend even more time building Android apps.

The phone comes with a slick Facebook app that allows you to include contact information from Facebook in your phone's contacts so when a Facebook friend calls, their picture from the social networking site pops up.

Multimedia: The Droid's 5-megapixel camera with flash is great for taking lots of photos, but I found it to be a little hard to focus. There's also a video camera, and like the iPhone 3GS you can upload videos you shoot directly to YouTube. Videos look great on the Droid, but it's not as easy to transfer them, music and photos from your computer.

Web: With a 3.7-inch screen, browsing the Web on the Droid requires a lot less scrolling than other Android phones such as the recently released HTC Hero from Sprint. Web pages are displayed in their full glory, and as you type an Web site into the address box, the phone suggests what you might be looking for. You can have multiple Web pages up at and you can zoom in and out easily, though it's not as easy as pinching gestures used on the iPhone and Palm Pre.

With the Droid, Verizon, Motorola and Google have a winner that will further solidify Andorid phones as a worthy competitor to the iPhone, something that's good for everyone.

Etan Horowitz can be reached at ehorowitz@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5447. To read his technology blog, visit OrlandoSentinel.com/techblog.

T-Mobile reports 16.6m customers

November 5, 2009

by MaryLou Costa (marylouc@mobilenewscwp.co.uk)


T-Mobile customers down 1.2 per cent from Q3 last year but EBITDA up 18.7 per cent from Q2 this year
T-Mobile's Q3 results have shown a small drop in its customer base from Q3 last year with a six per cent decline in revenues.

The network reported 16.61 million customers, compared with 16.8 million customers in Q3 last year, a drop of 1.2 per cent. Its contract customer base measured at 4.07 million, an increase of 1.4 per cent on the same quarter last year, while the prepay base fell two per cent to 12.54 million.

Total net revenues came in at £744 million for the quarter, down six per cent from £794 million in Q3 last year. Service revenues were also down around six per cent, from £727 million in Q3 last year to £680 million in Q3 this year. However, EBITDA is up 18.7 per cent from Q2 this year, to £159 million for Q3. EBITDA margin is up from 17.3 per cent in Q2 to 21.4 per cent.

ARPU is down five per cent, from £20 to £19. But sales of data devices to access mobile broadband rose 71.4 per cent year-on-year.

The company said service revenue was impacted by the introduction August 1 of lower regulatory caps on mobile termination rates.

It also said the increase in its contract customer base was a result of having "maintained its focus on selective investment in the market with the aim of restoring profitability and margins", and the lanch of new Combi value tariffs.

The prepay customer base was up 0.5 per cent from Q2 this year, which the network said was "driven by successive enhancements to the prepay portfolio", with offers such as free texts for life and weekend and monthly top up rewards, as well as the launch of the Pulse prepay Android handset.

T-Mobile UK managing director Richard Moat (pictured) said: "In the third quarter, T-Mobile UK has continued to strengthen by attracting new customers, reinforcing its brand and marketplace position and markedly improving its financial performance.

"I'm pleased that over the quarter we have substantially improved our operating efficiency with the result that profitability and margins have bounced back to levels that are appropriate for a business of our scale. At the same time, we've adjusted our product portfolio in key segments with the emphasis on leading the market on value and we will continue this trend through to the end of the year.

"A highlight of the quarter was the announcement of exclusive negotiations between Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom on proposals to create a 50:50 joint venture between T-Mobile UK and Orange UK. This is an exciting prospect which will create a new UK mobile leader. It will reinforce competition, create the best mobile network and enable us to invest more than either we or Orange UK on our own could do in network expansion, innovative new services and new mobile devices. It will also mean we can take full advantage of the opportunities that new technology is bringing for very high-speed mobile broadband. All this is to the great benefit of our customers and to the UK as a whole."

LG POP available at Carphone

November 5, 2009

By Paul Withers



The GD510 POP, LG's latest full touchscreen device, is now available at The Carphone Warehouse

LG’s newest touchscreen handset, the GD 510 POP, is now available at The Carphone Warehouse for £99.95 on prepay.

The manufacturer said the handset is the smallest full 3-inch touchscreen phone yet and features a 3-megapixel camera, web browser and multimedia player. There is 8GB of external memory available on the POP.

Measuring 97.8x49.5x11.2mm, there are also shortcuts to social networking sites and widgets. The LG POP is available on all networks at Carphone except for 3.

BlackBerry Bold 9700 available now from Rogers

by Chris Ziegler

AT&T and T-Mobile customers have a little bit to wait yet before they can clamp down on a 9700 of their own, but Rogers -- which has a history of being in the VIP section for new BlackBerry launches -- has already brought the new Bold flavor to market. RIM's latest high-end full QWERTY device will run you CAD $299.99 (about $281) on a three-year contract, scaling all the way up to CAD $599.99 (about $563) commitment-free -- so needless to say, you have to really want this thing. The original Bold's running CAD $99.99 on contract, so depending on what you're looking for (read: you're not a rabid early adopter like we are), that could come out the better deal.

Best Buy Mobile Offering Google Mobile App

By Kevin C. Tofel | Thursday, November 5, 2009

OK, you really can’t sell something that’s free, but customers can get Google Mobile in a retail brick-and-mortar now. Best Buy Mobile, which sells handsets throughout the U.S., will offer to install Google Mobile on new phones. Customers who aren’t familiar with the software can even get an overview of what it offers. Interestingly, Google says installation is for BlackBerry, Windows Mobile and S60 devices only. I would have expected that Android devices would be in the mix as well. More than likely, it is, even if not specifically mentioned.

In any case, this is the first noticeable push to get the Google name and services in a retail setting. Sure, you could say that Android devices were truly the first, which is accurate. But this is a little different in that the focus is on Google services and software on non-Google devices. With the majority of the search market, Google is certainly a familiar brand name. What consumers may not know of in detail though are the services like Gmail, Google Talk, and Google Docs, for example. Raising awareness through in-store marketing and free software installs could expand consumer knowledge on the offerings, gain more customers and add more search revenues to Google’s coffers.

Our tech-savvy audience probably isn’t likely to be affected by the Best Buy Mobile deal, but do you think it could have benefits to Google in the long run? I’m even wondering if folks come away with an impression that the Google experience is better on Android devices than on others.

T-Mobile introduces carrier billing for Android apps

November 5, 2009 Written by James Middleton

Wireless carrier T-Mobile strengthened its ties with the Android platform this week, revealing plans to roll out a T-Mobile channel in the Android Market and introduce carrier billing for these apps.

During a presentation at the Open Mobile Summit taking place in San Francisco this week, Cole Brodman, CTO of T-Mobile USA, said that from November 17, Android users would be able to pay for apps downloaded to their device on their monthly bill.

The carrier is also deploying a T-Mobile channel in the Android Market to support this carrier billing functionality.

According to Brodman, around 50 per cent of users of the myTouch 3G, which is the US model sold elsewhere as the HTC Magic, visit the Android Market at least once per day. Moreover, around 80 per cent of myTouch users also browse the web on their devices multiple times per day.

T-Mobile has stepped forward as the operator cheerleader for Android, with four Android-powered devices already in its portfolio – the Motorola CLIQ, Samsung Behold II, HTC myTouch, and the original HTC G1.

T-Mobile says software glitch jammed network Tuesday

Posted by Brier Dudley

Bellevue-based T-Mobile USA today blamed a "software error" for a network outage that affected voice and messaging services for about 5 percent of its customers - including many in Seattle - on Tuesday.

"After investigating the cause, we have determined that a backend system software error had generated abnormal congestion on the network. T-Mobile has since implemented additional measures to help prevent this from happening in the future. We again apologize to those customers who were affected and may have been inconvenienced."

No word yet on whether customers will get a one-day break on their Tmo bills.

VASCO DIGIPASS for Mobile Available for iPhone(TM) and iPod Touch(TM)

OAKBROOK TERRACE, Ill. and ZURICH, Nov. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- VASCO Data Security Inc. (Nasdaq: VDSI) (www.vasco.com ), a leading software security company specializing in authentication products today announced that DIGIPASS® for Mobile is available for iPhone(TM) and iPod Touch(TM). With DIGIPASS for Mobile running on iPhone(TM), authentication using the mobile phone is available to an additional 20 million users worldwide. DIGIPASS for Mobile can be downloaded through the App Store(TM). For corporate users the deployment is very straightforward, considering that with DIGIPASS® for Mobile Enterprise Security Edition VASCO offers the provisioning services. For use in banking, the solution is extremely easy to integrate into existing e-banking and m-banking applications.

DIGIPASS for Mobile is VASCO's authentication solution that leverages the internet enabled mobile phone for authentication and signature purposes in m-banking, e-banking, e-commerce and enterprise security. The application supports multiple profiles (retail banking, cash management, remote access, application security, gaming, ... ). Menus, messages, logos, colours, font can be fully adapted to the service provider's branding, supporting the brand recognition for the end-user. The menus also contribute to the mobile experience offering additional services such as ATM/branch locator, information services, etc.

IT departments will integrate VASCO server technology (VACMAN® Controller, VACMAN® Middleware IDENTIKEY® or aXsGUARD(TM)) and will assign for which applications (e-banking, brokerage, VPN, application security, webmail access... ) DIGIPASS for Mobile will be used. For the native integration into existing applications, VASCO has a software development kit available (DIGIPASS® API). For the roll-out of DIGIPASS for Mobile on iPhone(TM), the

end-user will connect to the App Store(TM) to download the authentication application.

When users log on to the e-banking application on PC, an SMS will be send to the iPhone(TM) by the server at the bank. The user will then launch the authentication application on the iPhone(TM) by inserting a PIN-code. The authentication application will generate an OTP on the iPhone(TM). To sign the transaction the user will validate the OTP on the iPhone(TM). The solution is well suited to protect banks and users from Man-in-the-Middle attacks, considering two separate channels, the PC and the iPhone(TM), are used to sign transactions.

The VASCO DIGIPASS for Mobile application can easily be found on App Store(TM). Users need to launch the App Store(TM) on their iPhone(TM). In the search function they type DIGIPASS and the search engine will direct them to the VASCO authentication application. On the other hand a direct link is available: http://www.appstorehq.com/digipassformobile-iphone-58839/app

"Over the years VASCO has built an extensive experience in large-scale deployments of authentication to end-users. Ease-of-use and smooth provisioning are key components in large deployments. With the iPhone(TM) version of DIGIPASS for Mobile, VASCO combines its experience in provisioning with the easy-of-use of the Apple platform already adopted by millions of users worldwide," says Jan Valcke, President and COO at VASCO Data Security.

For a demo of DIGIPASS for Mobile available for iPhone(TM), please visit: http://dp4mobile.demo.VASCO.com Screenshots are available on: www.vasco.com/iphone

About VASCO:

VASCO is a leading supplier of strong authentication and e-signature solutions and services specializing in Internet Security applications and transactions. VASCO has positioned itself as global software company for Internet Security serving a customer base of over 9,000 companies in more than 100 countries, including almost 1,350 international financial institutions. VASCO's prime markets are the financial sector, enterprise security, e-commerce and e-government.

Forward Looking Statements:

Statements made in this news release that relate to future plans, events or performances are forward-looking statements. Any statement containing words such as "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "expects," "intend," "mean," and similar words, is forward-looking, and these statements involve risks and uncertainties and are based on current expectations. Consequently, actual results could differ materially from the expectations expressed in these forward-looking statements.

Reference is made to the VASCO's public filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for further information regarding VASCO and its operations.

This document may contain trademarks of VASCO Data Security International, Inc. and its subsidiaries, including VASCO, the VASCO "V" design, DIGIPASS, VACMAN, aXsGUARD and IDENTIKEY.

For more information contact:

Jochem Binst, +32 2 609 97 00, jbinst@vasco.com

SOURCE VASCO Data Security Inc.

Jochem Binst of VASCO Data Security Inc., +32 2 609 97 00, jbinst@vasco.com

Droid: iPhone-killer or Windows Mobile-killer?

The teaser commercial for the new Motorola Droid smartphone, set for release on Friday, is clear: Verizon hopes it has an iPhone-killer on its hands. With black text on a white background, a la every iPhone commercial, the Droid ad attacks everything the iPhone lacks.

Media coverage of the new smartphone largely has focused on its chances of competing with Apple's immensely popular device. Along with Droid's inclusion of a QWERTY keyboard, the biggest difference between it and the iPhone is the operating system: Google-backed Android. It'll be Verizon's first Android phone and the first smartphone on the market with Android 2.0.

Rarely mentioned, however, is another player in the mobile OS market – Microsoft. Why not? Because not many people in the smartphone world seem to really give a hoot about Windows Mobile anymore.

"It was gaining fractions" of market share, said Azita Arvani, a mobile-industry analyst and the founder of Los Angeles-based Arvani Group. "Then it just seemed like Microsoft dropped the ball a couple years ago."

Even after the October release of Windows Mobile 6.5, Microsoft's mobile operating system seems antiquated because it's still mostly text-based, Arvani said. Apple's iPhone OS and Google Android, for example, are much more visual.

Maybe Microsoft got distracted by the problems it had with Windows Vista. Maybe it just lost sight of the future smartphone market.

But in any case, Microsoft's Windows Mobile team needs to turn things around, Arvani said. And soon.

"They need to have a different mindset and change their thinking completely," she said. "The world has changed. It's no longer about downloading operating systems and downloading applications, and sitting and going on the Internet occasionally."

Microsoft's main advantage is the potential for integration between Windows on the desktop and Windows Mobile. But as the world shifts more and more toward cloud computing, such integration will become less important. Microsoft should take advantage of that opportunity as soon as possible, or it will be left in the dust.

Keep in mind that Microsoft, with Windows, does have the market's biggest developer base. If Microsoft can make it easier for developers to work with Windows Mobile, they could have a huge advantage – even though Apple already has more than 100,000 applications in its iPhone/iPod Touch App Store.

"But other than that, they don't have much to stand on," Arvani said of Microsoft.

here are about 20,000 apps available for Windows Mobile, with 450 of them available at Microsoft's Windows Marketplace for Mobile as of Oct. 21, the company said.

With the release of the Droid, Microsoft may have missed its last chance. Android 2.0 is an open-source operating system, meaning anybody with the know-how can create and market an app for it. And soon Android 2.0 will be on more smartphones.

The first version of Android, of course, also was open-source – and the operating system may prove to be a sleeping giant. Research firm Gartner has predicted Android will make up 14.5 percent of the market by 2012, ahead of Apple's mobile OS but second to Symbian.

Meanwhile, Windows Mobile's market share plummeted 33 percent year-over-year in the third quarter of 2009, according to analysis firm Canalys. The OS now has about 8.8 percent of the market.

Microsoft is expected to release Windows Mobile 7 sometime during 2010. But the company is staying mum about the product – except for Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's comments that he wished WinMo7 were already released.

He also said that the company has pumped new people into the Windows Mobile team and that mistakes "will not happen again."

"I think (Microsoft) might still have a shot at it, but time is of the essence here," Arvani said. "There's no wow-factor. Everything they have, other phones can do."

Do you think Windows Mobile has a shot at rebounding?

Posted by Nick Eaton at November 4, 2009 9:00 p.m

T-Mobile network customers hit by widespread service outages

Wednesday, November 4th, 2009

Cellular service provider T-Mobile was partially off the air for roughly eight hours yesterday, leaving many of its customers unable to make calls, send text messages, or access the internet.

The company released a statement acknowledging the issues and saying that its rapid-response teams were working to restore service to its customers. Ina Fried of CNET solicited reports from T-Mobile users, who were experiencing outages from San Francisco to New York. T-Mobile insists that only 5 percent of its users were affected by the outages at any given time, but cell phone management analysts say that the widespread and numerous responses calls that figure into question. Even if only 5 percent of T-Mobile users were affected, says Sumner Lemon of IDG news, that still means that 1.7 million people experienced issues.

The issues appeared to have been resolved early Wednesday morning as T-Mobile released a second statement confirming that normal service had been restored and advising that it would be looking into the root causes of the service disruption.

T-Mobile is still reeling from the incident last month in which a server failure caused Sidekick users to lose access to their personal data.

From http://www.visagemobile.com

Mobile market report: China

October 14, 2009

By Michael Garwood

In the first of a series of international market reports, Mobile News dissects the Chinese market: a prepay nation of 700m subscribers and 60pc penetration

Unsurprisingly China, the most populated country on the planet with almost one and half billion people, has the largest base of mobile subscribers in the world, with more than 700 million since mobile first hit its market in 1994.

But perhaps what is surprising is that mobile penetration measures at just under 60 per cent, meaning mobile is still very much a growing industry, compared with the UK market, which is more than 114 per cent saturated.

Ovum regulation analyst Charice Wang says: “China is still a developing country so mobile penetration is still quite low across the whole country at below 60 per cent. In rural areas this is around just 20 per cent. So there are still very big areas for growth.”

Because of its sheer size, lack of coverage in China is a significant issue, although 3G coverage is expanding rapidly.

Contrary to the belief China is technologically advanced like its neighbour Hong Kong, it is in fact, in many ways lagging behind Western markets.

Hong Kong is being excluded from this piece as it operates independently from the rest of China, and uses different network operators, and unlike China, is an established market.

IHS Global Insight deputy research manager Jing Li explained: “Hong Kong is a completely separate market. The players are different as is the regulation. Mobile penetration is well above 100 per cent and there are many more operators, primarily private operators.”

In contrast China does not yet have technologies such as mobile TV and video calling, which are popular in other Asian markets such as Hong Kong, Japan and Korea.

However, recent figures from Chinese operators suggest the market has begun to mature, with the level of growth in customer numbers and ARPU slowing down, as it has done in the UK.

There are many reasons for this. The economy being one, as many foreign migrants to Chinese coastal areas have returned home due to unemployment.

Additionally, the market demographics are skewed largely towards prepay, which lowers the overall ARPU levels.

Full article only In Mobile News issue 449 (October 5, 2009).

The attack of the Androids

November 2, 2009

By Paul Withers

Google’s populist Android platform will do more than Apple’s elitist iPhone to deliver the mobile internet to the masses. All the industry is hitching a ride

Google’s Android platform is a year old, and its deployment on mobile handsets next year will be commonplace. It appears to make manufacturers look good. Taiwanese maker HTC, responsible for the Android’s debut handset, the T-Mobile G1, has gained real momentum in its portfolio from the platform.

And suddenly every manufacturer is readying Android models for a 2010 splurge, with Samsung and Motorola in an end-of-year flurry and LG and Sony Ericsson to make major statements in the first quarter.

The already buoyant among them are looking to Android as a way to share in the buzz of new mobile applications, and the long-time deflated are looking to it as a way out of the doldrums.

The industry has finally declared that the mobile internet revolution is here (see Speakers’ Corner, Mobile News issue 451), and a major reason for this appears to be the ground broken by the Apple iPhone, but also by Google’s Android.

The everyman Android system will likely ensure Apple’s elitist message about the mobile internet spreads to the masses.

Google chief executive Eric Schmidt sent out a bullish message during a conference call for the company’s Q3 financials: “Android adoption is literally about to explode. You have all the necessary conditions – vendors, distribution, and so forth.”

Full article in Mobile News issue 451 (out November 2, 2009).

Released!: Opera Mobile 10 beta for Symbian

by Jessica Dolcourt

Right now I'm Web surfing with a browser that's sleek and fast. It has Speed Dial thumbnails to quickly load a favorite Web page and preview thumbnails to help rotate through open Web pages by sight. The app I'm wielding sounds a lot like Opera 10, Opera's desktop browser (Mac | Windows), or even the recently released Opera Mini 5 beta for Java phones. But it's not.

I'm navigating the Internet from a 4.6x2.2-inch screen belonging to a Nokia N97 smartphone using a prerelease version of Opera Mobile 10 beta for Symbian Series 60 phones. Opera Mobile 10 beta is available as of Tuesday morning, Central European Time.

What's new? The tabbed browsing treatment and speed-dial thumbnails you see when you load the browser anew or launch a new page are the spotlight-grabbing features. The entire interface, in fact, gets a fresh coat of paint using the same brush that drew in Opera Mini 5 beta. The visual encore works. In looks alone, the inviting Opera Mobile 10 beta bowls over Opera Mobile 9.7 beta's design.

While the speed-dial thumbnails and multiple browser tabs were far more impressive in the comparatively resource-light Opera Mini 5 beta, a proxy browser, the design continuity we see in Opera Mobile 10 beta, a standalone Web browser, is a welcome refresh that also joins the two cell phone apps in a unified design philosophy.

Opera's 4MB version 10 beta browser retains many of the features from prior releases, like the password manager, and the abilities to zoom in and out, copy text, save images, download files, and open links in a new tab. Opera says it has improved the password manager in this 10 beta release, including better handling for multiple URLS for a single site, and easier management for deleting passwords.

From Opera Mobile 9.7 beta, the version 10 beta has carried over Opera Turbo, Opera's compression engine that uses Opera's servers to punch up performance (and deliver less detailed images) when the Internet connection is slow.

In addition, Opera claims that Opera Mobile 10 beta is twice as fast as its Symbian predecessor when it comes to downloads and zooming and panning.

As a beta build, Opera Mobile 10 beta does have several bugs to work out. First, Opera Link, the bookmarks-syncing service available in Opera 10 desktop browser and in the stable builds of Opera Mobile and Opera Mini, is absent from this build (it's also missing from Opera Mini 5 beta.) Opera Link will return by the time Opera Mobile 10 leaves beta.

Other known issues include the virtual keyboard popping up even when you're using the physical keyboard, as it did in our tests on the Nokia N97. The beta browser is also known to freeze at times, and has only partial support for the IMEs (Input Method Editors) that make typing Asian languages like Chinese, Japanese, and Korean work. As a result, this beta build won't function on handsets with Asian language packs and won't render Asian fonts in this version, says Opera, but the input incompatibility should be fixed in the next release.

Opera Mobile 10 beta is available now for Symbian users on Nokia, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson smartphones running Symbian Series 60, 3rd and 5th editions. Try it by pointing the mobile browser to http://m.opera.com/mobile.

Originally posted at The Download Blog

T-Mobile ramps up for an Android future

T-Mobile has been out in front of the Android wave, having launched the first Android device, the G1, a year ago.

The company plans on riding that wave well into the future, said Cole Brodman, T-Mobile's chief technology and innovation officer, at the Open Mobile Summit this morning.

Brodman shared some insights into T-Mobile's Android business and explained how T-Mobile is looking to get the most out of the platform for itself, consumers and developers. T-Mobile has four Android devices on sale for this holiday season.

He said Android has led to a 50x jump in data consumption for T-Mobile with 80 percent of Android users browsing at least once a day and 2/3 of Android users browsing several times a day.

He said half of the users visit the Android Market at least once a day and nearly half of the users of the latest MyTouch 3G have "completely customized" their phones.

More than 40 percent of users use their Android device for social networking, he said.

"People are using (their Android devices) beyond voice, text messaging and simple communications," he said. "Android, for us, is a great accelerant. We feel there's a lot of opportunity to drive innovation on top of this platform.

To help drive the Android ecosystem and keep customers and developers satisfied with the experience, T-Mobile is rolling out a number of initiatives specific to Android. In addition to embedding more apps on devices, T-Mobile is creating its own T-Mobile Channel in the Android Market on Nov. 17, a sort of recommended list of apps.

Also, users will be able to tap into T-Mobile Studio, a collection of lifestyle themes, which will then recommend a number of apps to you based on your interests. For example, musicians will get a list of good apps related to music.

On Nov. 17, T-Mobile will also allow users to buy Android Market apps by just posting the purchase to their T-Mobile bill. "It's another accelerant to make sure the paid ecosystem can thrive and flourish," Brodman said.

Brodman said this is the year of Android and he expects to see millions of devices sold now that the platform is gaining momentum. The company is also trying to stay ahead of the data curve by upgrading its still unfinished 3G network to HSPA 7.2 by the end of the year. By next year, T-Mobile will be upgrading again to HSPA+ which will give users speeds of 21 megabits per second.

Posted By: Ryan Kim (Email) | November 04 2009 at 10:32 AM

Listed Under: Wireless

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/techchron/detail?&entry_id=50971#ixzz0VwYgUbJk