Two Thirds Of Mobile Phone Subscriptions In Developing Nations

Two Thirds Of Mobile Phone Subscriptions In Developing NationsIt doesn’t seem that long ago that mobile phones were the sole province of braying city slickers bellowing, “Buy! Sell!” into their handsets, but new research shows that two thirds of the world’s cell phone subscriptions are now in developing nations.

A study by the United Nations agency, International Telecommunication Union (ITU), found that the highest growth rate of mobile subscriptions was in Africa where over a quarter (28 per cent) of the population own mobile phones – a huge leap up from 2000 where just 2 per cent Africans were connected.

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Universal Chargers For Mobiles On The Way

Universal Chargers For Mobiles On The WayIf, like us, you have drawers and shelves overflowing with obsolete and unused phone chargers, then a new initiative may banish cable-related angst forever.

The GSM Association, backed by a charge of mobile phone manufacturers and operators, is leading a move to create a universal charger based on the Micro-USB interface.

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HTC Announces Touch Diamond And Touch Pro Updates

HTC Announces Touch Diamond And Touch Pro Updates Mobile manufacturing maestros HTC have announced updates to their Touch Diamond and Touch Pro 3G phones, imaginatively called the Touch Diamond2 and Touch Pro2.

New to the handsets are Push-Internet – a feature that lets users download selected web sites at specified times so they’re quicker to open later, and what HTC are calling a ‘unified communications’ feature.

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Nokia N86 Officially Announced – Nokia’s First 8MP Snapper

Nokia N86 Officially Announced - Nokia's First 8MP SnapperShiny new handsets continue to be lobbed out of the Mobile World Congress (MWC) at an impressive rate of knots, and the latest to be seen arcing through the air is Nokia’s new N86 smartphone.

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Text And MMS Messaging Continues To Grow

Text And MMS Messaging Continues To GrowThe Mobile Data Association (MDA) has been running wild over towering mountains of raw data, skipping gaily through meadows of mobile traffic reports and splashing in streams of SMS statistics to being you their latest quarterly report on mobile phone usage in the UK.

Covering mobile activity from October 2008 – January 2009, the study looked at text messaging (SMS) and picture and video messaging (MMS) traffic and discovered that UK phone owners sent 78.9 billion text messages in 2008, up an RSI-inducing 20 billion texts on 2007.

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Skype Heading To Nokia Handsets

Skype Heading To Nokia HandsetsBig news for Skype and Nokia … and in turn mobile phone operators.

It’s just announced that Skype will be integrated into Nokia handsets, starting in the 3rd quarter of 2009 with the N97.

As well as allowing Skype calls via 3G and WiFi, Skype to Skype calls will be free (excluding any data charges), we’re also told that “low-cost Skype calls to landlines and mobile devices” will be allowed.

The surprise is that Skype contact details will be integrated into the handsets address book, showing the presence of the Skype user and enabling instant messaging.

Skype has previously had some success getting on to mobile phones, the most significant of which was the deal with 3, but this deal with Nokia is far more significant.

Good for mobile service providers?
As to how the mobile service providers will react to it is quite another matter.

If their subscribers are using data bundles, the operators aren’t going to make any money from calls that are made over their networks, reducing them to providing the plumbing to enable it.