Link: 3D handset hits streets of Japan | Reg Hardware

Just when you thought mobile phone evolution was slowing down on the design/cosmetic front, check out this little beauty from NEC.

Just launched in Japan on the NTT DoCoMo network, the N704iu handset is not only the world’s slimmest clamshell (measuring 10cm x 5cm x 1cm), but also has.. get this.. a 3D fascia.

If you’re old enough to remember the days of polarised glasses being given away with the Radio Times and coming out of the cinema slightly disappointed that Jaws didn’t actually eat the noisy popcorn-munching person in the row behind you, you’ll be forgiven for thinking this is just a passing fad that’s come back to haunt us. And maybe it is - having not actually seen the handset in real life it’s difficult to gauge exactly what’s so ’stereoscopic’ about it.

Needless to say, the specs are impressive. Standby time weighs in at 690 hours, talk time of about 200 minutes and continuous video calling time of 135 minutes (which begs the question - has anyone ever managed a video call longer than about 2-3 minutes without getting bored of the novelty?)

The price is yet to be confirmed, and no word yet whether it’ll be available outside the Japan anytime soon. However when you’re next in Japan and have a spare five minutes to kill in a mobile phone store, you might just find yourself entranced by this little beauty.

We’re always looking for new and exciting people to be a part of our Who’s Who in Mobile.

Do you want to be a part of it? Are you hip and happening in the world of mobile? Just send me an email with the subject Who’s Who and the text Add me! and I’ll send you back what we need to know.

We can’t wait to hear from you!

Link: Housing Excellence - Text messaging service for Haringey repairs#

17,000 housing tenants in Haringey, London now have the option of receiving repair appointment confirmations by SMS.

The service, called ‘C u l8er Repair Service’, aims to reduce missed appointments by not only immediately confirming a booking, but also sending a follow-up reminder message 24 hours before the contractor is due to visit. The service will also provide details of a changed appointment.

According to Homes for Haringey, around 4,000 appointments are missed annually, at a cost of around £80k to the organisation. They are aiming to reduce this by at least 25% within the next year using SMS.

Mike Jones, chair, Homes for Haringey said:  “We’re always listening to our tenants. This free reminder service is the result of tenant feedback which highlighted the need to confirm when contractors are actually arriving to do their repairs.”

Video ringtone sharing pioneers Vringo has announced the closing of a $12m funding round, led by private equity firm Warburg Pincus.

The Jerusalem-based company provides users with the ability to share video ringtones each time they make a phone call. The application brings ringtones to life by integrating video clips, avatars, animation, greeting cards or photos whenever users make or receive calls.

“Vringo set out with an ambitious goal to make video ringtone sharing finally work,” said Jon Medved, the founder and CEO of Vringo. “We are delighted to be working with Warburg Pincus, a firm that shares our vision and recognizes the enormous consumer potential in sharing video ringtones. Their extraordinary track record, truly global reach, corporate relationships and strategic insight will bring huge value to Vringo as it grows.”

The Vringo service, currently in public beta, will soon be available on a wide set of mobile handsets including devices made by Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson and Samsung. The company are planning to use some of their $12m pot of cash to formally launch the product and expand global partnerships with leading mobile carriers and content providers.
 

Brand new mobile phone back-up service My Mobile Vault have just launched a beta test of their service - and are giving away free lifetime accounts to the first 1,000 people to respond.

The My Mobile Vault back-up service works on hundreds of different mobile phone models across hundreds of GSM networks.  My Mobile Vault works by sending the phone-specific synchronisation settings to the subscriber’s handset.  My Mobile Vault provides easy-to-use instructions on how to back-up the phone.  Phone-specific settings enable the phone to send the contact list and appointments to a secure server over the air via GPRS.

US mobile network AT&T (formerly known as Cingular, and then AT&T before that, and then something else before that) have launched a new mobile music service with eMusic, the world’s largest online retailer of independent music.

The service, imaginatively titled ‘eMusic Mobile‘, will give AT&T’s customers the ability to preview and purchase music via their wireless devices from a catalog of 2.7 million songs.

Songs purchased from eMusic Mobile are immediately sent to the user’s wireless handset, and a duplicate copy is available for download to the user’s PC at no charge. AT&T customers can subscribe to download five tracks a month for $7.49, and additional packages of five songs are available for the same price whenever desired.

“eMusic Mobile is not your typical over-the-air service,” said Mark Collins, vice president of Consumer Data Services for AT&T’s wireless unit. “This service, which is as unique as the independent artists found in the eMusic catalog, differentiates itself from the competition through its ease of use, subscription pricing model and the ability to play these tracks in any MP3 player.”

Link: The Jakarta Post - Government campaign against prize fraud

In Jakarta, it appears the classic Nigerian-style 419 fraud is moving onto mobiles. The best way to combat the problem, it appears, is not only to ignore the text, but also to shout at no-one in particular if you get one.

Ati, a resident of Manggarai, South Jakarta, said she once received a text message from someone claiming to be from a major cell phone provider asking her to transfer some money.

“Learning from the experience of my relative, who was a victim of such fraud, I didn’t buy it. Instead of transferring some money to him, I yelled, calling him a robber,” she said.

Link: webitpr | India’s Largest Service Provider, Airtel, Deploys BubbleTALK ‘Voice SMS’ over Fixed Line

India’s largest telco Airtel has teamed up with voice SMS pioneer Bubble Motion to deploy voice SMS to fixed line and mobile customers.

To use the service, the customer dials * followed by the mobile number of the customer they wish to send the Voice SMS to.  The recipient then receives an SMS alert on his mobile phone, notifying them that they have a new Bubble message.  The recipient then retrieves the Voice SMS by dialing *0* from their mobile. 

Sunil Coushik, President and Co-Founder of Bubble Motion said: “Airtel has become the number one service provider in India on the back of service innovations, which have successfully captured the imagination of India’s wired and wireless customers.  By deploying the best Voice SMS solution on the market, Airtel is staying one step ahead of its competition.”

Link: 160Characters Association

The latest results SMS volumes grew by 15% year on year to 7.10 billion messages across the O2 group as revealed in the 2007 second quarter results.

Peter Erskine, Chairman & Chief Executive of Telefónica O2 Europe, said that “Against the backdrop of highly competitive European markets, O2 has built on its robust start to the year, adding 534,000 mobile customers in the second quarter, taking the total mobile customer base to 36.4 million, 8.4% higher than last year”.

Link: You might be paying $1,000 per MB for SMS at mobilejones

 We all know that mobile operators use SMS as a cash cow, and printer ink costs more per drop than melted gold. After some research and a bit of number crunching, mobilejones has very kindly worked out how much US carriers charge per megabyte for texting.

It gets a little complicated as the figures are worked out for normal texts, those from bundles, and domestic vs international - but needless to say it’s a lot of dosh. If you’re curious about how it pans out, check out the original article. 

In case you’re interested, the average UK cost per megabyte of SMS data is about £700. Which is nice.

Link: Half of European calls to be mobile by 2008 | The Register

Telecom and IT consultants Analysys are predicting half of all phone calls made in Europe will be made on our mobiles by 2008.

According to their report, Finland is the most mobile-using nation in Europe, with 74.6% of all phone calls made on the go during 2006. In Germany, 24.3% of all calls originated on mobile networks during the same period.

However, there’s a twist. This increase is not due to us making more calls on our mobiles - instead we’re relying on traditional fixed lines less. Good news for the mobile networks, but not so great for the traditional telcos. 

Link: Introducing foonzMobileTM - If You Have A Cell Phone, You Now Have Instant Free Conference Calling at Your Fingertips

From today US mobile users can now easily setup instant free conference calls with foonzMobile.

The service, available on all networks in the US, costs nothing other than the minutes used for a regular call. It’s easy to setup too - users just text START to FOONZ (36669) from their mobile. 

foonzMobile also offers address book and group setup via their website, so you can import your contacts and predefine groups (eg START family would conference all your family members together). 

UK premium phone regulator ICSTIS (soon be known as the rather friendlier “PhonePayPlus”) have begun an urgent consultation into anonymous text services, after growing concern about these services being used to detrimental effect.

According to ICSTIS, one particular case from 2006 involved a text sent to a mother claiming her son had been killed in a car accident. Since then the regulator has been busy monitoring and researching these anonymous text services, and having come to the conclusion that potential widespread distress exists, they’re now proposing greater licensing and control.

The public consultation can be downloaded at http://www.icstis.org.uk/pdfs_consult/anonymous_sms.pdf - the deadline for comments is Friday 7 September 2007.

Link: People Taking Their BlackBerry Handsets to Bed With Them

According to a recent research conducted for AOL by Opinion Research Corporation, 43% of American mobile email users are so addicted they take their device to bed with them. 

The survey also found that the average email user checks mail about five times a day, and 59% with mobile email jump straight on the case everytime a new mail arrives. 

Rather concerningly, around 40% of those surveyed plan their holiday around the availability of access to their email, and 83% admit to checking their mail while away. 

Remember GMTV Boss Paul Corley quit last week in the wake of the premium scandle?

(Here’s the link: SMS Text News » GMTV Boss, Paul Corley, falls on sword re: phone-in screw up)

Well, Robert Thurner, Commercial Director at mobile marketing agency, Incentivated has an opinion. He whacked it through to me for publication here.

He believes that although the measures introduced by GMTV and Opera are a very positive step forward in restoring public confidence, what is really important is that all players take a responsible attitude to growing the sector through self regulation and the development of best practice guidelines.

I’ve published the rest of his perspective here as I think it deserves airing.

Codes of conduct developed by the Direct Marketing Association, Institute of Sales Promotion and Mobile Marketing Association as well as the existing rulebook developed by the Advertising Standards Authority are very clear in such cases and together with the premium rate regulator ICSTIS should be strictly adhered to.

Text message campaigns can offer a vital service. For example, Incentivated’s campaign for the Mayor of London allowed the general public to receive contact details by text for the closest licensed minicab firms in an effort to reduce sexual assaults by illegal minicab drivers. British Airways delivers time sensitive travel alerts to passengers and cabin crew, again through Incentivated, allowing travellers to learn about disruptions and act upon them instead of finding out at the airport when it’s too late.

Although allegations such as those made in April 2007 concerning the use of premium-rate phone lines by TV stations are no doubt causing the public to become suspicious of text messaging services as well as promotions and competitions we must be careful that they do not undermine all the positive work currently happening in the industry which should not be ignored.

Legislation is in place to protect the consumer and text campaigns that allow the public to make charitable donations, find safe taxis and even land a new job prove the many benefits of mobile and text services. Offering the mobile as a medium for consumers to interact with brands and good causes that insight an immediate desire to respond and be involved is bringing traditional media to life.

Thanks for sending that in Robert. If you’ve got an opinion and you’d like it aired, whack it over to me.

Link: Twitter Blog

First, Twitter was a fun side project, then it was cared for lovingly at Obvious until it was time to form Twitter, Inc. Today, we’re excited to announce an important moment for Twitter. We’ve raised funding from our friends in New York City at Union Square Ventures.

I’m delighted for the team at Twitter. Just before the weekend, they announced another round of funding, this time led by Fred and Co at Union Square Ventures. Wherever Union Square are to be seen, it’s worthwhile keeping an eye.

Marc Andreessen, Dick Costolo, Ron Conway, and Naval Ravikant also popped along with some investment as well as Charles River Ventures.

Why fund Twitter when, as many have commented, there’s no obvious business model? Well, first Fred points out that he reckons, after Facebook, Twitter is the second most interesting facebook that people are building for. Second, here’s what they said about their investment in Delicious (before it went balistic):

The question everyone asks is “What is the business model?” To be completely and totally honest, we don’t yet know.

Here’s how Union Square are thinking of Twitter:

If you think about it, Twitter extends short messaging (SMS) style communications to the web and does it in an open way that anyone can build on top of it. I think we’ve only begun to see the kinds of things that can be built on top of a messaging system like this.

As one of the biggest and most public SMS applications on the planet, it’s going to be fun to see what’s next for Twitter.

Link: Policeman’s open SMS line policy pays off

Last month we bought you the story of Ku Chin Wah, the police chief of Kota Kinabulu in Malaysia. He’d been merrily giving out his personal mobile number for ‘concerned citizens’ to text him crime reports - and in the process been slightly overwhelmed by the response.

In news that’s sure to delight his wife (and anyone else who has to put up with his constantly beeping phone), the citizens of Kuala Lumpur are to get the same service - as Ku has just been promoted to police criminal investigations chief for the city.

Although it’s unknown whether the chief is planning to keep his existing mobile number, he did go some way to reassure reporters last week that he hadn’t destroyed any evidence. According to reports, Ku has transferred all the texts to a computer, and printed them for good measure - which took more than 500 sheets of paper.

Amongst the highlights from the crime fighting text hotline included such gems as “Honey are you sleeping already?” and “You chicken. You never reply my message. I will tell your boss.”

If you’re at all interested in mobile payments, Paul Ruppert has a heck of a lot of data linked on his blog at the link below - definitely worth a look!

Link: Mobile Point View by Paul Ruppert

A compendium of 56 Mobile Payments press releases over the last six months (a ton of reading if you click on the links) reveals that notwithstanding the mobile payments debates and dialogue centered in the carrier centric mobile industry, the real action is already occurring with trials in the financial services and retail segments, plus through government central bankers around the world. These are the concrete emerging COIs (centers of influence) for this developing market. The operators are just going to go along for the ride….

I tell you what, I am getting oodles of pleasure out of seeing this new mini 3.5g icon on my N95. No end of pleasure.

It seems to me that the whole thing is much faster, although I’m wondering if there’s possibly some rose-tinted perspective going on there.

Either way, I love my 3.5g icon.

Link: The MySpace of Mobile?

BusinessWeek has an interesting article on mobile marketing company Mozes - who are offering their text messaging platform free of charge to the music industry.

Among marketers, mobile has been hailed as the next big thing for years now, but in the U.S., actual adoption has lagged behind the hype (see BusinessWeek.com, 4/23/07, “The Sell-Phone Revolution”). With the exception of a few big brands, most advertisers have taken a wait-and-see approach when it comes to mobile marketing campaigns. Now Mozes, a 14-person startup from Palo Alto, Calif., with $5 million in venture funding, is hoping to give both advertisers and consumers an incentive to experiment, by offering up its text-messaging platform for free.

While its service is available to anyone from individuals to school groups to small businesses, Mozes is targeting the music industry, promoting its Web-based platform as a free tool that bands can use to connect with fans on their mobile phones, notifying them when concert tickets go on sale, for example, or running text-to-win contests. When the Plain White T’s—a band that topped Billboard’s Top 100 singles chart in July—ran a backstage pass giveaway with Mozes during their tour last fall, around 50% of audience members participated each night, the company says.

It’s an interesting gamble - by targetting the music industry, Mozes hope to build a ‘branded network’ of consumers.  Once the marketing database hits critical mass, they’ll be in a position to charge advertisers for getting their message to their network. However, the question still remains whether consumers will be happy to receive marketing texts from third parties. Mozes clearly state on their homepage “You won’t be spammed or tricked” - could this be seen as a little misleading?

Link: The Scotsman - International - Bus driver a mobile lottery loser

Spare a thought for Leszek Wojcik, a former bus driver from Slupsk in Poland. Having set his hopes on winning a 100,000 zloty (about £17,600) lottery prize, he decided to use his company mobile to send a text to enter the competition, at 2.4 slotys (around 42p). Then he had another go. And another. And another.

38,000 entries later, and having racked up a bill of about 94,000 zloty (£16,500), company officials noticed he’d exceeded his 15 zlotys (£2.60) a month phone bill allowance, and promptly gave him the sack.

It’s not known quite how he managed to send an average of 1,200 texts a day and still find time to drive his bus. Needless to say he didn’t win the competition, and is now without a job.

Link: Ins and outs of teen sex, as told via SMS - National - theage.com.au

In research carried out in Australia, teens say that “dumping” a partner by text is the lowest way to end a relationship - and feel it’s a cruel way to act towards the other person.

The research also found that mobiles are increasingly becoming a tool to control partners, with excessive text messages used by teens in some relationships.

Link: Mobile Marketing Magazine: Emoze Targets Corporates with Low-cost Push Email Solution

In a private briefing in London yesterday, Emoze CEO Benny Ballin told Mobile Marketing that the solution would be sold in batches of 50 licences at a cost of €1 (£0.67) per user per year. In comparison, said Ballin, the price to run a Blackberry is around £30 - £50 per month for each device. The huge difference, Ballin explained, comes from the fact that the Blackberry system relies on storing the message on Blackberry’s servers, something that is not required in the Emoze system.

I’ve always been a fan of the Emoze concept, particularly for people who want their email to just work on their mobile and don’t want to arse around with Blackberry or Exchange Server.

And there a ton of those people who don’t want the hassle. I liked the Emoze client when I had a look recently. You can get hold of a copy for your device at http://mobile.emoze.com.

Carlo spotted this one

Link: Twitter / Prashant Agarwal: Just got busted for taking …

Just got busted for taking a camera phone pict! Ironic considering that venue is sponsored by O2 who sells quarter of camera phones in the UK.

If you work in web 2.0 and mobile than you shold be best friends with Giles at WebitPR. If you don’t know him then drop me a mail, you should come along and meet him and the team at their Foosball bash this Thursday.

Webit are the chaps who distribute your releases to the planet. I get their notifications for anything mobile related and I’m oft linking to and quoting their releases.

Places are limited so if you fancy attending, drop a note directly to Giles at webitpr.com.