Mike Slocombe – Page 201 – Digital-Lifestyles

Treo650: European Release Delayed

PalmOne delays the European release of the Treo650 In a move sure to have Palm aficionados blubbering into their PDAs, the European release of the eagerly awaited PalmOne Treo 650 smart phone has been delayed, the company said this week.

Although available to US citizens since October 2004, PalmOne has failed to meet their announced February European delivery date with the handsets now expected to ship here in Q2.

The phone is an update of the hugely popular Treo 600, widely regarded as one of the most successful PDA/smartphones ably backed up by an immense range of software available on the Palm platform.

The 650 offers a higher-resolution 65,000-colour 320 x 320 display, integrated Bluetooth, VGA digicam with 2x digital zoom, a faster, 312MHz Intel XScale processor and 32MB of Flash memory, of which 22MB to 23MB are available to the user.

Running on PalmOS 5.4, aka ‘Garnet’, the device also sports an SD IO slot for expansion, an easier-to-use QWERTY backlit keyboard and call ‘make and break’ buttons.

PalmOne delays the European release of the Treo650 According to PalmOne, the GSM version of the 650 provides up to six hours talk time and 12 days on stand-by.

So far, only Orange has confirmed that it will be backing the 650 and, as with the Treo 600, the company will be offering its innovative TalkNow push-to-talk service to new users.

As an Orange Signature phone, the phone will also come equipped with Orange-specific applications, such as Orange Backup (which allows customers to automatically back up Contacts, SIM data, Calendar, Tasks, Memos, Mail and images wirelessly on a remote server) and Orange Download (enabling customers to receive updated software from Orange directly to the phone).

There’s a lot riding on this release. Although PalmOne remains the second most popular PDA/smartphone platform worldwide, the unexpected withdrawal of the innovative Sony Clie Palm PDAs last year was a serious blow.

Although many feel that the Treo 650 remains a class leader, increasingly, competition from Nokia/Microsoft PC and Linux devices means that the delayed release could seriously impact on potential sales.

Treocentral
PalmOne (UK)
PalmOne Treo 650

Nokia Series 60 Update, Smartphones to the Masses

Mindful of the advance of Linux as an OS for mobile handsets, Nokia is giving their updated Series 60 Platform 3rd Edition, the loud fanfare treatment at 3GSM Cannes.

Although the Series 60 Platform is currently the leading smart phone platform in the world (licensed by mobile phone heavyweights such as LG Electronics, Lenovo, Nokia, Panasonic, Samsung, Sendo and Siemens), things are hotting up in the smartphone market with increased competition from Linux and Microsoft’s just-announced ‘Peabody’ phone.

Running on Symbian OS v9.0, the updated software will enable Series 60 handset manufacturers to create smartphones for various user segments, device formats and better target high volume consumer markets. And – they hope – beat off Linux.

The Series 60 3rd Edition will be available for licensees in mid-2005 and comes stuffed full of groovy new features including enhanced multimedia and enterprise functionality, sustainable application business support, customisation tools and improved platform architecture.

But what does that mean in English? Allow us to explain!

The software will include all the features and functions of the previous editions – including multiradio, extensive application suite, scalable UI and high-resolution support – and bolt on lots of new refinements for business and consumer users.

Let’s look at multimedia first: the new software will offer a new music player, more functionality for rich media content, USB mass memory storage and high-quality multimedia rendering.

The music player will come with all the bells and whistles demanded by the youth market (and hipster execs!), including “seamless and easy-to-use music downloading” with personalised themes and skins.

USB support means that it’ll be easier to exchange music files from mobile to PC, although we suspect that some of their target audience may not be quite so excited by the inclusion of OMA Digital Rights Management (DRM) v2.0.

For business users, the Series 60 3rd Edition also includes significant improvements in many areas, including a new security framework and calendar, synchronisation and device management enhancements.

The new functionality on a platform architecture level will allow manufacturers to target devices for specific segments, with increased support for different hardware configurations, including single and dual-chip hardware architectures and improved performance.

The global smartphone market is expanding at a huge rate – Nokia will have shipped approximately 20 million Series 60 based devices by the end of February and estimates the overall smartphone market in 2005 to exceed 50 million units. In 2008, Nokia expects the smartphone market to be around 25 percent of the total mobile device market.

Series60.com
Series 60 Developer Platform 2.0 and Feature Packs (PDF)

Smart2Go , Maps and Local Guides to your Mobile Phone

The Smart2Go Personal Navigator is claiming to be the first mobile navigation system to combine satellite navigation with an extensive travel guide. For travellers who don’t know their A-Z from their GPS, the Personal Navigator promises to make finding your way around town a breeze, with routes, directions and 3D maps being generated at a click of a button on your PDA/smartphone.

Initially running on Series-60 Nokia phones, the package is supplied with a separate GPS location device that uses Bluetooth to find its precise location. Instead of just serving up a boring old route from A to B, the Personal Navigator digs into its database (compiled by Tele Atlas) to dish up a load of useful local information to guide users to petrol stations, banks, car parks, etc.

Hard drinking, wild-living road warriors will be pleased to learn that the program can serve up details of nearby pubs and nightclubs, while more cultured types will enjoy looking up museums, tourist sights, shopping information.

Smart2Go Personal Navigator Additionally, Personal Navigator can also provide recommendations, updated daily, for events in culture, sports and more – and if you fancy meeting up with your friends, smart2go can send them route details by sms or e-mail.

Although Smart2Go is a fully fledged satellite navigation system, it can speed up route calculations by utilising its own maps, stored in memory, rather than making the user wait (and pay) for a connection to an external server.

Maps of many European countries and the United States are already available. Locations can be entered through the keypad and the resulting navigation directions are spoken loudly and clearly (available in four languages).

Smart2Go are clearly going for the mass market with this application, as it runs on all Nokia Series60-Standard smartphones with Bluetooth and SD/MMC slot. The company is also promising versions of smart2go for MS Windows Smartphone, PocketPC, Nokia Series 80 and Palm OS in the near future.

Smart2Go Personal Navigator
Gate5
Tele Atlas

‘Ultra Low Cost’ Mobile Handsets Announced by GSM Association

GSM Association announces 'Ultra Low Cost' handsets In response to demand from emerging markets the GSM Association (GSMA) is forging the way toward for a new ‘Ultra-Low Cost’ mobile handset market, producing sub-US$40 (Euro 31, £21) handsets. Some of the more cynical observers are wondering if this is an attempt to create a demand, or an early move to ensure a toehold in the potentially lucrative emerging market.

This initiative was kick-started by GSMA-commissioned research that identified handset cost as the single biggest barrier to mobile communications affordability in emerging markets.

Although we can’t help questioning the need to commission an entire study just to discover that ‘poor people can’t afford handsets’, the GSM Association aims to use the economies of scale of GSM to drive a new ‘Ultra-Low Cost’ market segment.

The GSMA brought together a group of its operator members that serve emerging markets to create critical mass through a special procurement initiative.

“One of our key goals as a global trade association is to help connect the ‘unconnected’ people of the World, a mission that is critical to the social and economic development of many emerging market countries,” said Craig Ehrlich, Chairman of the GSM Association. “By directly addressing the cost of handset ownership, we believe that we can unlock the new ‘Ultra-Low Cost’ market segment.”

The operators participating in this stage of the initiative are: AIS Telecom, Bharti Televentures, Globe Telecom, Maxis Mobile, Orascom, SingTel Mobile, Smart Communications, Telenor Mobile and Turkcell. Together, they represent significant presence in Eurasia, the Arab World and Latin America.

A handset specification and tender was issued to 18 different handset vendors, with Motorola’s family of products (built on its new, ultra-low cost C114 platform) being selected.

The handsets are optimised for their durability, long talk time, and design preferences of emerging markets and Motorola has committed to start delivering these products during the second quarter at a price point below $40 (ex factory) – with a strategic intent to work with GSMA members to develop follow-on products at sub $30 (Euro23.10, £15.89) price points.

Once shipments begin, the initial unit volume target for the first six months is a massive 6 million handsets, which equates to around 1 percent of the global handset market.

As economies of scale kick-in, this new market segment has the potential to add more than a 100 million new connections per year.

Motorola’s Chief Executive Officer, Ed Zander comes over all touchy-feely in the announcement:

“Connecting the unconnected with new Ultra-Low Cost, high quality, beautifully-designed handsets is a critical component of Motorola’s growth strategy – and it is the right thing for us to do as a good global citizen. We are delighted to have won the opportunity to seamlessly partner with the GSMA and member operators to deliver the magic of mobile communications to those who have never experienced it.”

(Note: Motorola had sales of US $31.3 billion (Euro24.1 billion, £16.5 billion), in 2004). GSM Association announces 'Ultra Low Cost' handsets The next stage of the project will see the project extended to other emerging market operators, while more vendors will be encouraged to supply terminals for this sizable segment.

According to GSMA estimates, in the region of 80 percent of the world’s population have wireless coverage but only 25 percent use mobile services.

By bridging the gap between supply and demand, the GSMA hopes to accelerate mobile penetration into a user segment currently seen as financially unrewarding.

“This announcement is just the beginning,” enthuses Conway, Chief Executive Officer of the GSMA .

“We also believe that the creation of the ‘Ultra-Low Cost’ market segment represents a significant step towards a sustainable business case for all players in the supply chain. Our mission is to aid economic and social development, by ensuring more people than ever before benefit from mobile communications.”

The mobile usage equation has three major elements: handset, service provision and regulatory / tax requirements.

While the GSMA is working with operators and vendors to address the first two, the third requires serious government support to lower taxes and regulatory requirements.

The GSMA will be reaching out to governments and regulators across emerging markets towards this goal.

GSM Association (GSMA)
Industry Comment (GSMWorld)

Nokia mPosition System Brings in Cambridge Positioning Systems Matrix

Nokia rolls out the Gateway Mobile Location Center (iGMLC) 4.0 There’s a big future in locations-based services and Nokia are making their move to provide technology for it. As part of the Nokia mPosition System, Nokia is rolling out the Nokia intelligent Gateway Mobile Location Center (iGMLC) 4.0.

Billed as a new, cost-efficient platform for location-based services (LBS), the Nokia iGMLC platform is highly flexible and simultaneously supports both GSM and WCDMA 3G location based services. “The new platform offers our customer a cost-efficient means of deploying location based services, as well as excellent scalability and flexibility in terms of capacity and choice of positioning technologies,” says Heikki Hemmi, General Manager, Location Business Program, Networks, Nokia

Nokia are hoping that this system will provide operators with a future-proof and cost-effective solution for providing mobile services based on the location of the user, as Hemmi says “The platform supports the entire range of complementing positioning methods, from low-accuracy to high-accuracy technologies.”

Teaming up with Cambridge Positioning Systems (CPS), Nokia aims to provide a comprehensive state-of-the-art solution, with the platform supporting a variety of positioning technologies for both GSM and WCDMA 3G.

This includes new support for enhanced Cell Identity and Mobile Station-based A-GPS (based on the Secure User Plane (SUPL) protocol) and support for Cambridge Positioning Systems’ SUPL Matrix for 2G.

Secure User Plane Location (SUPL), works on any network and doesn’t require additional investments in the core and radio network, as Chris Wade, CPS Chief Executive Officer explains, “CPS believes SUPL is the simplest and most cost-effective route to high accuracy. Matrix is particularly suited to this new open standard due to its ability to offer high and robust accuracy, all-area coverage and fast location fixes in a software-only implementation.”

With the Nokia mPosition System allowing mobile operators to build complete end-to-end systems for Location Based Services (while supporting both legacy and LBS enabled handsets), we think this is a significant development.

The Nokia iGMLC 4.0 platform will be available in the second quarter. Support for MS-based SUPL A-GPS and CPS’ SUPL Matrix for 2G will be available as a software upgrade in the third quarter.

Cambridge Positioning Systems
Nokia
Nokia Location Services

RAJAR announces results of Audiometer Validation Test

RAJAR announces results of Audiometer Validation Test Arbitron Portable People Meter and Eurisko Media Monitor selected for further field testing RAJAR(Radio Joint Audience Research) has announced the results of its pioneering Audiometer Validation Test which took place in November 2004.

Of the three audiometers which took part in the test, two have been selected for further fieldwork tests: the Arbitron Portable People Meter (PPM) and the Eurisko Media Monitor.

The Audiometer Validation Test, designed in conjunction with the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen), was set up to determine how well the audiometers could identify up to 33 different radio services (both music and speech-based) under as wide a variety of real life situations as possible.

The three audiometers, the Arbitron PPM, the Eurisko Media Monitor and the GfK/Telecontrol MediaWatch, were all subjected to the same listening conditions over the course of a weekend in November 2004.

RAJAR announces results of Audiometer Validation Test To make the test as thorough as possible, hundreds of unique listening environments were generated, with RAJAR specifying several criteria which the audiometers should fulfil – these included the ability to identify all formats equally, whether music or speech, against a variety of extraneous background noises, when played at differing volume levels and regardless of whether the wearers were stationary or in motion.

RAJAR wasn’t anticipating 100% accuracy from any or all of the audiometers on test, but they hoped to be able to identify listening correctly across FM, AM and DAB in a variety of day-to-day conditions.

Sally de la Bedoyere, managing director, RAJAR, commented on their results:

“RAJAR has selected the Arbitron PPM and the Eurisko Media Monitor meters following analysis of the Test results, which showed that, despite using different techniques, both audiometers identified very similar numbers of listening sessions. Their level of correct identification was in line with that anticipated when designing the test.”

She added that their decision was based “solely on the needs of the UK market, where monitoring AM, FM and digital broadcasting is highly complex.” and described the tests as “Another momentous hurdle has been crossed in our journey to achieving the objectives of the Roadmap by 2007.”

As radio continues to fragment, the ability to measure small audiences becomes ever more vital to the survival of stations, with advertisers needing solid proof that they’re not investing their precious advertising budget into tumbleweed stations.

This has added significant pressure on RAJAR to produce reliable measuring systems, with the threat of lawsuits always hanging in the air (see: RAJAR defeat TWG Audience Court Case

Digital-Lifestyles was present during the testing last year and we can vouch that it was very comprehensive – and quite possibly the largest world-wide trial to date.

Skype and Motorola Form Partnership

Motorola and Skype make eyes at each other and form a partnership Motorola and Skype Technologies have announced their intention to jump into bed together on a saucy co-marketing collaboration that will provide greater connectivity options and access for Skype’s 25+ million registered worldwide users.

Both companies are hoping that this technological romp will explore exciting opportunities for both companies.

Motorola’s strength in advanced mobile technology, mobile devices and accessories, should prove to be the perfect love match for Skype’s rapidly-growing global user base and rich voice and messaging communication tools.

The first baby born out of this union, will be the co-marketing of freshly optimised Motorola ‘Skype Ready’ companion products, such as Bluetooth headsets, dongles, and speakerphones, as well as delivery of the Skype Internet Telephony on selected Motorola mobile devices.

Motorola and Skype make eyes at each other and form a partnership Liz Altman, vice president of business development, Motorola Mobile Devices, was clearly happy with the relationship:

“By making Voice over IP truly mobile and easily accessible, we can make communications seamless for consumers as they travel throughout the environments of their day – at work, at home, in the car, or out in the world.

“With over 68 million downloads of their client in the last 18 months, we believe Skype is a natural fit with our vision of simple and seamless connectivity for our consumer customers around the globe.”

And Niklas Zennström, Skype CEO and co-founder was also enjoying the experience: “Our alliance with Motorola is a major step forward in delivering the Skype experience to a whole new base of mobile device and accessory users”

Motorola ‘Skype Ready’ companion products are expected to be available in the first half of 2005.

MobileKeeper: Mobile Phone Data Backup ‘Over The Air’

MobiComp Mobile Keeper If you’ve ever had your phone stolen, left it in a cab or, like a colleague of ours, managed to send it spinning down the u-bend whilst attempting a tricky feat of toilet-based multi-tasking, you’ll know the pain of unexpectedly parting company with your phone.

Although losing a phone is not only an inconvenience, losing the stored messages, photos and personal data stored on it can be irreplaceable – so forgetful, crime-attracting drunks should be delighted by the release of media is generated on mobile phones, this type of application will become even more useful.

Created by MobiComp, a leading mobile computing and wireless solutions provider, the Symbian-signed, MobileKeeper client-server solution enables operators to guarantee safekeeping of increasing volumes of valuable information stored on subscribers’ phones.

MobiComp Mobile Keeper Working as extended storage for the mobile device, the application offers “over the air” data backup for the mobile device allows storage and recovery of contacts, calendar, tasks, SMS, MMS, ring tones, images, videos, J2ME applications and anything else you can fit on your phone.

MobileKeeper’s main functions include ‘ Keep It’ (replicates all/defined information), ‘Get It’ (recovers all/part of stored data), ‘Explore It’ (works as a File Explorer allowing to keep, get, move, delete items) and Profiles (allows the user to define several profiles for storing/recovering/scheduled backups).

The application relies on open standard technologies, with a client-server architecture, and Web services layer for integration with the mobile operator infrastructure.

MobileKeeper is currently on trial with a number of European mobile communications operators.

With the advent of longer pub licensing laws in the UK, we suspect there may be a growing demand for this kind of product.

Mobile Keeper

i-Mate Preloaded Skype on Smart Phones

iMate tie up with Skype Skype has announced a partnership with i-mate, industry innovators of wireless device solutions.

i-mate will launch the first dual-mode wireless mobile handset preloaded with Skype software and demo it for the world at 3GSM in Cannes from Monday 14th February through Thursday 17th February.

The new i-mate PDA2K and PDA2 handsets will come preloaded with Skype’s award-winning software, allowing users to fire up Skype and get phonin’ as soon as they’ve wrenched the unit out of the box.

The handsets, expected to retail at a wallet-draining price of $850 (€660, £455), are enabled in dual modes – GSM/GPRS and Wi-Fi – and both use the Windows Mobile Pocket PC Phone Edition.

The two companies worked for several months to integrate the software with the handsets and have provided a solution that will, in some circumstances, enable calls made over GSM and GPRS technology to be free, while others will be subject to small charges.

Skype users can call other Skype users for jack diddly squat, while another service, called SkypeOut, enables users to call to public-switched telephone networks for slightly more than two cents a minute.

The VoIP market is currently growing faster than Billy Bunter’s waistline on Bun Eating Day, with businesses and individuals keen to get a slice of the cheap call action.

The Skype service is already making noticeable inroads into traditional phone traffic, with more than one million users on the Skype service at any given time.

The peer-to-peer software is available on Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, and Pocket PC platforms and is the fastest growing voice communications offering worldwide with over 67 million downloads, since its launch in August 2003.

So the program is a hit. Everyone wants it. But how are they going to make money out of something they’re giving away for free?

It seems that Skype’s solution is to create an income stream through licensing their software on to other platforms.

Skype
iMate

Industry Giants Stick it to Viagra Spammers

Pfizer and Microsoft go in hard with fake online Viagra sellers In a litigious pincer movement, Pfizer, makers of the anti-impotence drug Viagra, have filed lawsuits against two online pharmacies selling the drug, while Microsoft has sued the same two pharmacies and the firms that promoted the Websites via email.

It’s the first time Pfizer and Microsoft have teamed up for such an action in a move that should prove mutually beneficial: Pfizer’s civil suit may curb the illegal sale of generic drugs while Microsoft’s legal action is aimed at reducing spam.

“We want to take back our inboxes,” said Aaron Kornblum, Microsoft’s Internet safety enforcement lawyer. “Spam can lead to fraud, it can lead to identity theft and, in this case with Pfizer, it can lead to possible physical harm.”

Pfizer has taken action against CanadianPharmacy (cndpharmacy.com) and E-Pharmacy Direct (myepharmacydirect.com) for allegedly selling unapproved drugs – claimed to be Viagra – to U.S. citizens.

Despite their name, the exact whereabouts of the people behind CanadianPharmacy is unclear.

Kornblum said orders for cndpharmacy.com were received by a computer server in New York that relayed the information to a call centre in Montreal. The drugs were made in India and then mailed back to rumpy-pumpy seeking customers using a US freight forwarding company.

Pfizer took action after receiving complaints from shareholders who wrongly assumed that the company was responsible for the daily deluge of Viagra-related spam cascading into their inbox.

Levine said that Pfizer was also concerned about the safety of advertised products being sold online, although he conceded that he was yet to receive any reports from disappointed customers (or their partners).

In the notoriously nefarious world of Web identities, it’s open to question whether this action will succeed or not.

Dodgy Internet trading companies can move physical and virtual locations faster than Casanova on steroids, but many suspect that this legal move is more about firing a warning shot over the bow of Web based spammers.

With Viagra-based bulk emailing currently accounting for more than 14 per cent of all spam (Commtouch Spam Lab, 2004) we live in hope that this action may reduce the amount of emails bearing the title “VIAGRA”, “v1AGRA” AND “V*GRA” etc arriving in our in boxes.

But we’re not holding our breath.

Microsoft, Pfizer to tackle fake Viagra sales (Reuters)
Microsoft and Pfizer fight fake Viagra spammers (Guardian)