Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Language learning on the go

Nokia has launched a service in China that delivers English lessons to mobile phone users.

Called Mobiledu, the service could be launched in other countries.

Downloads consist of text and audio and cost 26 cents. They are aimed at people who are working.

More on: www.wsj.com (subscription needed)

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Wednesday, May 23, 2007

They would say that, wouldn't they?

The GSM Association (GSMA), the global trade association for mobile operators, believes that the proposed EU regulation of roaming services, which was approved by a vote in the European Parliament yesterday, is unnecessary, will curb competition and risks long-term harm to consumers.

It says: "The proposed price cap of 49 Euro cents per minute for outgoing calls, excluding VAT, and 24 Euro cents per minute for receiving calls will force many European mobile operators to offer roaming services at a level that leaves them no scope to compete with each other on price and on new services.

"Moreover, the proposed annual decreases in these price caps appear to be arbitrary and bear no relation to the expected evolution of roaming costs."

It's not surprising that the industry body representing GSM mobile operators and others feels that way. Roaming has been very profitable for its members. But lower mobile call costs between EC countries could help increase the productivity of European business people.

Maybe the US model of business being conducted on mobiles round the hotel pool will start to take hold. Quelle horreur!

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Call global, pay local says eqo

Eqo, a cheap way of making international calls from mobile phones, launched on Wednesday.

It works a bit like Skype, the system for making voice calls over the internet. But it is, if anything, easier and voice quality in the demonstration was good.

To get the eqo service, the user needs to log on to www.eqo.com, and enter their mobile number. They will receive a link. Clicking on the link automatically downloads the eqo software.

Once downloaded, the mobile phone user can call anyone else with the eqo service for cost of a local mobile call. If the recipient does not have eqo or is on a landline, the caller pays the cost of a local mobile call plus 1p or 2p a minute for calls to the US or Western Europe.

The local call charge goes to their existing mobile operator and the 1p or 2p goes to eqo and its service providers. Other call destinations, such as to India, are likely to cost a bit more (see eqo website).

The mobile user will need to be on a data tariff. Calls are cheap because they are transmitted over a nearby node on the internet and travel over the Net for most of their journey.

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Tuesday, May 22, 2007



Off grid in Africa

Here's a picture of Motorola's wind and solar-powered base station in Namibia (see previous story).

Thursday, May 17, 2007


Motorola’s green base station ©Joia Shillingford 2007

Motorola goes off grid

Motorola said yesterday it has installed a wind and solar-energy base station in Namibia. The base station is located at African mobile operator MTC’s site at Dordabis village in the Khomas region.

“With the implementation of cell sites into more remote areas this Motorola solution provides us with an efficient and reliable alternative to the often costly roll-out of mains grid electricity,” said Albertus Aochamub, corporate services general manager, MTC Namibia.

"The wind and solar cell site trial is proof of our commitment to our customers to provide the essential communication services needed in the region."

In some parts of Africa, there can be long delays in getting connected to the electricity grid. However, as the Dordabis site is a trial, there is a possibility of re-connecting it to the mains if there are problems.

According to Motorola: "The main grid physical line has been left in place however on the 30th April the power source for driving the cellsite was switched over to the Motorola wind and solar solution. The wind and solar solution is the primary power source for the site for the period of the trial."

Motorola's wind and solar base station was displayed at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona in February (see picture above) and has the support of the GSM Association’s Development Fund. The stand next door at 3GSM was an Ericsson demo of how biofuels could be used to power base stations.

www.motorola.com/reach/windandsolartrial

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Monday, May 14, 2007

Improving the mobile user experience

The Mobile User Experience (MEX) event held in London earlier this month saw mobile experts from rival companies coming together in seminars and lectures to discuss improvements to handsets. It was a bit like being back at university.

Delegates suggested there was a lot to learn from other industries, such as the car and airline businesses. “Car makers have whole teams working on getting the right door-thud sound,” said Hampus Jakobssen, vice president business development at The Astonishing Tribe, one of the co-sponsors of the PMN publications event.

Another delegate pointed out that airlines were very good at surveying customers regularly.

By contrast, some mobile phone features suggest that insufficient time has been spent on creating a good user experience. Ken Blakeslee of Web Mobility Ventures, who was moderating one of the seminars, said: “I couldn’t get MMS (multimedia messaging) to work but now I have software from Shozu.com on my phone and it is easy to send a photo.”

Delegates at the event also looked at whether mobiles could use some of the information they already have built-in or available via the mobile network to respond more intelligently to a changing environment – such as day moving into night.

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Wednesday, May 09, 2007


Mobile TV

Vodafone's billboard for its mobile TV product - captured earlier this month in London's Victoria station - should appeal to exhausted commuters. Though in today's crowded trains they may end up having to watch TV standing up, rather than sprawled on a seat.

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