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iTunes “Essentials cards” In Glastonbury 2005 Promotion
Apple is elbowing its corporate presence onto Glastonbury Festival with a launch at world famous music event later this week, according to a report in MacWorld.
Details are nearly as scarce as festival tickets, but the site cites third-party reports suggesting that all will be revealed on Friday, June 24 at the East Dance stage, where the first act up listed in the official Glastonbury Festival website is called, “iTunes present…”
This will feature winners of a competition run between iTunes and Hit40UK which asked budding musos to create a five-song iMix of tracks they felt appropriate for kick-starting the Dance stage this year.
The competition page ran the blurb: “Runners-up will also bag themselves some great iTunes Glastonbury Essentials cards which get them 75 tracks of the hottest Glastonbury tunes on the iTunes Music Store”. Apple’s Glastonbury Essentials compilation was listed as being worth £19.75 (~€30, ~US$36).
MacWorld mulls over the suggestion that these iTunes “Essentials cards” could auger an extension of Apple’s existing band promo cards.
These take the form of fan-tempting collectible iTunes cards stuffed full of band-specific artwork and special codes that let mustard-keen fans download tracks from a specific artist or album.
These cards have previously been used as tickets to events like Apple’s “Live from London”.
Naturally, we’ll be at Glastonbury trying to get our hands on some of these “Essential cards”, but with thousands of more interesting non-corporate offerings on display, we can’t promise that we won’t get hopelessly sidetracked at the world’s greatest festival.
Hit40uk
MacWorld
21 June, 2005
Google Wallet Looks To Challenge PayPal
It’s not yet confirmed, but it appears that Google is preparing to challenge PayPal with its own online electronic payment system, rumoured to be called ‘Google Wallet’.
The Wall Street Journal website reported Google’s plans late Friday, citing sources “familiar” with the company’s plans. No details about Google’s strategy were revealed.
Analysts have commented that a rival Google payment system would prove a mighty bummer to PayPal’s owners, eBay.
In the last quarter, revenue from PayPal amounted to $233.1 million (~£128m, ~€190m), equal to nearly a quarter of eBay’s revenue during the period.
Diversifying into the online payments business looks a wise move for Google who are currently dependent on advertising, accounting for almost all of its first-quarter revenue of $1.26 billion (~£690m, ~€1bn).
Sellers who run auctions on eBay are major buyers of Google’s ads, which appear alongside search results, so it’s not surprising to see the company angling in for a slice of the payment action.
Rumours about the new Google service heated up after a panel discussion at a Piper Jaffray Internet conference, where Scot Wingo, chief executive of e-commerce consulting firm Channel Advisor, said he believed the payment service would be launched soon.
According to the story in the Wall Street Journal, Wingo said he based his statement on questions from retailers with which his company works. They’d apparently asked him whether his company would be supporting the “Google Wallet” service, thus sending the cat fleeing from its bag.
A Google spokesman declined to comment on the report.
Wall Street Journal
20 June, 2005
Sony BMG Rolls Out Copy-Restricted CDs
Sony BMG Music Entertainment has announced that it intends to add copy-restricting software to its latest CDs.
The software is designed to limit consumers to making no more than three copies of a CD, and marks Sony’s determination to bolt on restrictions to a twenty year-old music format that currently makes copying and digital distribution a breeze.
This year has already seen more than two dozen copy-restricted titles released – including albums from the Backstreet Boys, the Foo Fighters and George Jones – and Sony has flagged its intention to beef up their anti-copying campaign.
Rival US companies haven’t been too impressed with the restrictive software thus far, saying that the software was too easily defeated and that working versions did not allow consumers to transfer music to portable devices and music players as freely as the industry would like.
Instead, they’ve been badgering Apple Computer to amend its software and “make its technologies compatible with copy-prevention tools”.
A major sticking point is that the restrictive software used by Sony BMG is currently incompatible with Apple’s popular iPod.
This doesn’t affect Apple computer users – they can freely copy and transfer music from the restricted CDs to their iPods – but consumers using Microsoft’s Windows software won’t hear a note, although they will be able to transfer music to Windows Media-supporting devices.
Thomas Hesse, president for global digital business at Sony BMG, said Apple could “flick a switch” to amend its programming to work with the restrictive software.
“It’s just a proprietary decision by Apple to decide whether to play along or not,” Hesse said. “I don’t know what more waiting we have to do. We think we need to move this forward. Time is ticking, infringement of intellectual property is happening all over, and we’ve got to put a stop to it I think.”
Analysts suspect that Sony is playing to the gallery a tad here, seeing as a Web site set up by the company will happily despatch emails to users explaining how they can unlock the CD’s software and make music files available for unlimited copying and transferring.
Mike McGuire, an analyst at Gartner G2, summed up the move by Sony BMG by describing it as a “very interesting public negotiation”.
New software may sink music pirates (via NY Times)
20 June, 2005
UK Pets Ousted By iPods And Consoles
A report by compilers Mintel International has revealed that pets are being ousted by consumer electronics in British homes.
The percentage of British homes with a pet has fallen from almost 55 per cent in 1999 to 48 per cent, with consumers so obsessed with fragging space aliens and listening to iPods that there’s no time for looking after cute little Tiddles and frisky Fido.
The study observed that, “In those families with children, the demand for pets may not be as strong as it once was, since many children now prefer to immerse themselves in the world of computer games and TV programmes”.
The report suggests that the decline in pet ownership has also been exacerbated by modern living, exemplified by “longer working hours, the increase of overseas holidays and the trend to live in flats and smaller homes”.
But it’s not all bad news for our precious pampered pooches and treasured tabbies, with the report revealing that sales of pet food, accessories and pet insurance have rocketed by 24 percent in the past five years, reaching a total of US$6.5 billion.
“Amongst the gloom of reduced pet ownership shines the very bright light that is the continued willingness of owners to indulge themselves and their pets,” purred Katy Child, senior retail analyst at Mintel.
“Despite a decline in the popularity of some pets, the remaining pet owners have shown themselves willing to spend more than ever before,” she added, stroking furiously.
With the rise of home entertainment robots like the Sony Aibo and the forthcoming Nintendo virtual pet game, Nintendogs (where virtual dogs will respond to voice commands and bark at passing Nintendog consoles), we wonder how long it will be before children think that pets live on batteries.
And with no pets in the house, hen-pecked husbands looking to slip out to the pub for a sneaky feast of lager are going to have to find a new excuse as, “Honey, I’m taking the iPod for a walk,” isn’t likely to convince.
Mintel International
Nintendogs (in Japanese)
17 June, 2005
Vodafone Cuts 3G Data Roaming Charges
Vodafone has made their service more alluring to international business travellers by cutting roaming charges on their 3G data networks.
Designed to suit the needs of business travellers, the new roaming tariff gives customers predictable data costs by introducing a flat rate of €75 (US$ 91) per month (£50 pounds for Vodafone UK customers) to send or receive up to 100 MB of data when using the Vodafone Mobile Connect service on participating Vodafone networks.
The deal allows European subscribers to send or receive up to 100Mb of data while roaming on Vodafone 3G networks in Europe, Australia, Japan and New Zealand.
Heavy users soaring past the 100Mb limit will then be charged at a standard roaming rate.
According to analysts Gartner, the new prices demonstrate that operators are currently charging too much; “This is a sign that mobile operators are starting to recognise they charge too much for roaming data services,” they added, as your writer’s head nodded vigorously in agreement (while making snarling noises in the direction of T-Mobile).
“Current charges for data calls, especially while roaming, are much too high. Operators are starting to realise that high charges, coupled with unpredictable bills, are limiting use of data services,” Gartner added, commenting that the new roaming tariff, and greater availability of the flat-rate domestic tariff, should allow companies to predict data charges for travelling employees.
Gartner noted that with Vodafone only selling sold 300,000 3G data cards since launching the 3G data network in January 2004, the company is hoping that the reduced roaming charges will boost this figure.
In conclusion, Gartner advised that Vodafone customers regularly sending or receiving more than 10Mb of data per month while roaming should change to the Monthly Travel Tariff in double quick time.
They also recommended that European travellers on other networks should check out Vodafone’s new 3G data tariff if their current mobile service provider cannot match it, or use the figures as a benchmark to renegotiate for lower prices.
Vodfone
16 June, 2005
Ericsson And Napster Team Up For Mobile Music Service
After a long cuddle on the sofa, Napster and Ericsson have announced a global partnership to offer a fully integrated new digital music service aimed at mobile phone customers around the world.
The service – yet to be given a snappy name – will combine elements of Napster’s popular PC offering and Ericsson’s personalised music service and serve up iTunes-like song downloads with a monthly subscription plan.
Scheduled to go live in Europe over the next 12 months, the service “accommodates mobile operator participation in all revenue streams” and will initially be offered to operators in selected markets in Europe, Asia, Latin America and North America.
“Ericsson’s world-leading wireless and telecommunications solutions experience, along with their exceptional client base, make them the ideal partner to deepen Napster’s presence in the global mobile arena”, entoned Chris Gorog, Napster’s chairman and CEO.
“Ericsson and Napster are uniquely suited to offer mobile operators a simple, cohesive and personalised digital music experience for their consumers”, he added.
The new joint service will let users coordinate wireless and PC downloading of digital music (in both subscription and a la carte models) with songs downloaded via the phone playable on the user’s home PC.
The service works on most suitably equipped handset models and networks, with next-generation phones being able to support the digital rights management stuff.
The service is designed to deliver a “complete digital music solution under one brand”, with users benefiting from a consistent user interface and integrated billing from their mobile operator.
The two companies hope that their service will allow mobile operators to get their grubby mitts on the “growth opportunities for personalised digital entertainment on the mobile phone and PC” and will, no doubt, include the usual slew of lucrative, downloadable offerings like ringtones, master tones, images, wallpaper and video content.
With doe-like eyes, Ericsson CEO Carl-Henric Svanberg praised Napster as “the strongest digital music brand in the world”, adding: “With Napster we are uniquely positioned to deliver the easy to use, complete suite of music offerings our customers are asking for.”
It’s anticipated that the announcement could stir things up in the accelerating mobile music sector, driven ever-onwards and upwards by the growth of high-speed networks in Europe and Asia.
More and more mobile operators are already cutting themselves a slice of the mobile digital music services pie, with the largest Korean mobile phone operator recently purchasing a controlling stake in the country’s biggest record label.
Napster’s no stranger to the world of mobile music either, offering limited access to its service through selected US phone networks and operating a ringtone download store.
If the joint venture manages to persuade mobile phone operators that customers are going to lurve the integration between handsets and online services, the two companies could be on to a winner.
Sony Ericsson
Napster
15 June, 2005
Yahoo Buys DialPad VoIP Phone Service
Yahoo has whipped out its wallet and snapped up DialPad Communications, a company making VoIP software allowing users to make cut-price calls over the Internet.
Yahoo will use DialPad to expand its product array in the Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) sector.
Based in California, DialPad is a six year-old company with around 40 employees competing in the hot potato sector of rerouting calls from computers to servers to telephones.
The company offers a selection of VoIP subscription plans to users – including prepaid VoIP calling cards – with charges ranging from as little as 1.7 cents per minute for calls to more than 200 countries.
DialPad has been offering calling plans for about two years and boasts more than 14 million users.
Although the specifics of the deal are yet to be released, Yahoo spokeswoman Joanna Stevens said that the new products integrating the DialPad technology could be debuting within a month. Pricing has yet to be announced.
In its announcement, Dialpad served up a bit more information about the deal: “Yahoo plans on leveraging Dialpad’s PSTN calling capabilities to add to Yahoo Messenger’s recently enhanced PC-to-PC voice calling offering. These products are very complementary and by combining our strengths, we are better positioned to take advantage of the fast growing IP telephony market and build a range of exciting new services.”
The acquisition comes hot on the heels of Yahoo introducing a test version of its instant messaging software which bundled an Internet telephony component that allowing users to make free computer-to-computer calls.
With rumours recently circulating the Web about Yahoo scooping up Skype, it now seems that Yahoo is looking to take on the VoIP upstart head on. Fight! Fight!
DialPad
Yahoo
15 June, 2005
BT Fusion Integrates Landline And Mobile Calls
BT has unveiled a smarty-pants phone designed to integrate landline and mobile phone technologies.
Called BT Fusion, the handset promises callers the “best of both worlds” and works like a regular mobile phone away from home, but when the rambling caller comes home, the clever stuff whirrs into action.
As soon as the user’s home broadband hub is detected, the call is transferred to a VoIP connection through the phone’s own Bluetooth software.
BT is hoping that the service (dubbed “Project Bluephone” during development) will tickle the fancy of consumers looking for the functionality of a cell phone with cheaper fixed-line prices.
“We know that many of our customers enjoy the convenience of their mobile phones when they’re out and about, but switch to using a landline phone when they arrive back home to save money or because they have little or no mobile coverage”, observed Ian Livingstone, chief executive of BT Retail.
BT Fusion is part of the company’s strategy to lure back customers wooed by mobile telephonic temptresses touting cheap calls.
The BT Fusion service – using adapted Motorola V560 GSM phones – will initially be trialled by 400 customers, with a more widespread consumer launch in September, followed up by a corporate package rollout in 2006.
BT was tight-lipped about how many customers it expected to sign up to the service, but was clearly eyeing up the 30 percent of their customers who make mobile phone calls from their homes.
“The future will be convergence”, insisted Livingstone. “This is going to be a market that grows fantastically over time even though it might take a while to get going. We still expect many millions of converged handsets by the end of the decade.”
BT’s monthly packages will come in two flavours, offering 100 cross-network minutes for £9.99 (US$18.07~ €15) or 200 minutes for £14.99 (US$27.12~ €22.5) for 200 minutes.
Calls to landlines originating in the home will be ratcheted up at BT’s regular rate of 5.5 p (10 cents, €0.08) for up to an hour.
Subscribers wanting to join the BT Fusion gang will need both a BT landline and access to BT broadband, with a special access point, called the BT Hub, being installed in the home.
Although currently using Bluetooth, BT is planning an upgrade to Wi-Fi technology and has already installed the necessary wireless equipment in the hubs.
Although Ian Livingstone, chief executive at BT Retail, has commented that the service could be used on any broadband service provider “if we decide to make it available”, subscribers will have to use BT’s own broadband service and Vodafone for now.
BT Fusion
Motorola’s RAZR Coming Soon to BT Fusion Service
15 June, 2005
IE7 Adds Spyware Protection As Firefox Grows
Smarting daily from the soaring popularity of its upstart rival Firefox, Microsoft is hoping to stem the exodus by bolting on new security features to their next version of Internet Explorer browser.
According to Rob Franco, lead program manager for IE security at Microsoft, Internet Explorer 7 for Longhorn will contain a feature called “low rights IE”, designed to resist hijacking attempts by spyware and other malicious software.
The new feature effectively removes administrator rights, ensuring that unknown applications – like dodgy software, iffy code and lurking spyware – can’t be installed without express permission from the user.
“When users run programs with limited user privileges, they are safer from attack than when they run with administrator privileges, because Windows can restrict the malicious code from taking damaging actions”, wrote Franco in his personal blog.
“Any programs that the user downloads and runs will be limited by User Account Protection, unless the user explicitly gives the program administrator privileges”, he added.
The idea is that by restricting administrator rights for Web surfers, they’ll be protected even if they visit a bad bwoy website that tries to exploit vulnerabilities in their browser.
Without enough privileges to copy files to start-up folder, install software, hijack the browser’s homepage or search provider, the surfer should be protected.
Although IE7 will be made available for Windows XP SP2, the low rights browsing feature will be available only on the next version of Windows, known as Longhorn.
With Internet Explorer losing friends fast because of its unsavoury reputation as a honeypot for homepage hijackers and skulking spyware, these new security features can’t come too soon for Microsoft.
A new study by NetApplications revealed that Microsoft, the market leader, is fast losing ground to Firefox, with the open source browser now accounting for 8% of the global market; up from 7.38% in April.
The browser has eroded Microsoft’s market share by nearly one percentage, down to 87.23%, following month-on-month advances from Firefox.
Dan Shapero, the company’s chief operating officer commented that although Microsoft’s 87% share “may seem like market dominance,” the browser is suffering an average of 0.5 to 1% loss of users each and every month.
Shapero feels that Firefox is now appealing to a mainstream audience rather than early adopters and tech-savvy surfers: “FireFox is gaining traction with early adopters and its popularity and adoption rate are starting to tap into mass-market acceptance as buzz continues to build.”
“The message for Web masters is clear: Make sure your Web site is compatible with Firefox, because more and more of your visitors are using it to go to your Web site,” Shapero finger-wagged.
The only other browser to record significant gains is Apple’s Safari which extended its share by a tenth of a percentage.
Once Microsoft’s fiercest rival, Netscape is now humbled with a lamentable 1.64% market share, followed by Safari at 1.91% and Mozilla with 0.58%.
Microsoft Longhorn
NetApplications
14 June, 2005
Nokia And Apple Develop Series 60 Browser
Finnish mobile phone giants Nokia have launched a new Web browser for their Series 60 smartphones.
The browser was developed in partnership with Apple and uses the same open source components – WebCore and JavaScriptCore – that are used in Apple’s well-regarded Safari Internet browser.
The new Series 60 browser, based on KHTML and KJS from KDE’s “Konqueror” open source project, will let ambling Nokia mobile users enjoy “a rich Web browsing experience that takes full advantage of today’s fast wireless networks and advanced mobile devices”.
“Nokia is excited to enrich Series 60 with optimised mobile Web browsing. Open source software is an ideal basis for development since it enables Nokia to leverage and contribute to speedy software innovation and development. As a result, the entire Series 60 value chain, from manufacturers and operators to end-users, will benefit from the flexible architecture, full Web compliance and a truly enjoyable user experience,” enthused Pertti Korhonen, Chief Technology Officer, Nokia.
Web browsing on mobiles is a key money-spinner both for handset manufacturers, who need to keep producing punter-tempting feature-rich handsets, and for telecom operators who rely on revenues from mobile browsing.
With a Nokia-backed study among consumers declaring that over 50 percent of data traffic was generated by web browsing on mobiles, the quality of the handset’s browsing experience could become a critical purchasing factor.
Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing reckons the new browser is the dog’s nadgers: “The Safari Web Kit’s blazing performance, efficient code base and support for open standards make it an ideal open source technology for projects like Nokia’s new Series 60 browser.”
It seems that both Nokia and Apple enjoyed their mutual browser-based love in, with Nokia indicating that they intend to continue their collaboration and actively participate in the open source community.
The new Series 60 browser will be available to all Series 60 licensees during the first half of 2006.
Nokia
Series 60
13 June, 2005