While the wide-world of cycling isn’t exactly included in our mobile-related beat, I figure HTC’s Tour de France cycling team is doing too well to ignore. Team Columbia-HTC has been seeing great success at the Tour de France, thanks to team rider Mark Cavendish. I won’t pretend to know too much about cycling (please tell me what a peloton is), but I do know a fast cyclist when I read about one. The Tour’s fastest cyclist this year seems to be Team Columbia-HTC’s very own Cavendish, who just managed to clinch his fourth stage win of the Tour. Cavendish’s Stage 11 win earned the rider the points lead and some sort of Green Jersey.

The HTC-backed Tour de France team saw its star rider claiming his eighth career Tour victory. Cavendish also managed to tie a British stage-record held by Barry Hoban. In fact, Cavendish’s win today was his second consecutive win of The Tour, despite predictions that had the rider finishing further back in the race.

Good luck to Team Columbia-HTC! When do we get our HTC Hero “Tour de France” Edition?

[Via: CyclingNews]

IntoMobile is now officially part of the Silicon Valley! To celebrate our arrival in the San Francisco Bay Area, we’ve teamed up with VentureBeat to give our readers discounted passes to the MobileBeat 2009 conference in San Francisco’s Parc 55 Hotel. MobileBeat 2009 is a one-day event where big-wigs from the mobile world converge to talk shop and ponder future mobile technologies and businesses. The MobileBeat 2009 Conference will take place on Thursday July 16, 2009 from 8AM to 7:45PM PST (Pacific Standard Time).

MobileBeat 2009 will kick off with chat between Tero Ojanpera of Nokia (NYSE: NOK), Michael Abbott of Palm (NSDQ: PALM) and Vic Gundotra of Google (NSDQ: GOOG). We’ll have three of the biggest names in mobile tech chatting it up about what makes a successful mobile platform, so it’s sure to be an interesting conversation. And, that’s just the start. There’s even more in store at MobileBeat 2009. Check out the entire MB2009 conference agenda here.

Now, for the good stuff. Use the code “IMMB2009″ during registration to get 30% of your MB09 conference passes. You’ll be saving at least a Benji and some Jacksons by using the code, so it’s kind of a no-brainer for those already thinking of attending the event. Come to MobileBeat 2009, chat with industry heavyweights and meet the IntoMobile team live and in person!

Again, enter code “IMMB2009″ at this registration page to get 30% off your MobileBeat 2009 passes.

It might not sound all that interesting or important to casual wireless consumer, but T-Mobile (NYSE: DT)’s newfound alliance with the Voice Over LTE via Generic Access (VoLGA) Forum is an important development in the move to 4G LTE adoption. While 4G LTE networks promise to deliver true wireless broadband data speeds, there’s still the issue of how to deal with carriers’ golden geese – voice calls and SMS text messages. As part of the VoLGA Forum, T-Mobile has published specifications for routing money-making voice and SMS services over the LTE data network, bringing the whole world one step closer to a unified spec for routing voice and text messages over future 4G LTE networks.

T-Mobile is planning to convert circuit-switched communications to data-packets that can be ferried across the international wireless operators’ LTE networks. This is known as circuit-switched-over-packet. T-Mobile and VoLGA are moving to have their CS-over-packet protocol approved by the global 3GPP (3rd Generation Partner Project) standards body. In fact, VoLGA is working hand-in-hand with the 3GPP to make the adoption of their protocol even easier on the world’s carriers.

That’s all good and well for all the major network infrastructure vendors – they’re all on board with the VoLGA approach. All vendors, that is, except Nokia (NYSE: NOK) Siemens Networks, who are working on their own proprietary voice-over-LTE protocol.

There’s also another problem. Voice and SMS services can be routed through LTE networks by way of an already approved 3GPP standard known as IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS). But, as Unstrung notes, the IMS standard is still too rough around the edges to be a serious contender. And, there’s also the option for carriers to keep their 2G and 3G networks alive for the sole purpose of handling voice and text message communications – not an ideal solution, to say the least.

Plans for voice-over-LTE standards should become a little clearer in a little under a year’s time. We’ll be keeping a close eye this space, stay tuned.

[Unstrung via: EngadgetMobile]

Digital incentive and information management company, Zave Networks, and provider of mobile barcode solutions, Scanbuy, announced a partnership to offer consumers an easier way to access discounts and coupons while on the go.

As a result of this co-operation, a new solution will be developed, combining Scanbuy’s ScanLife mobile barcode technology with Zave Network’s incentive network Zavers, effectively making it easier for consumers to find coupons, save them to their Zavers account and redeem them at participating retailers.

Why this matters is the fact that Scanbuy’s software is available on an array of platforms — including Android, BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM), BREW, iPhone, Java, Symbian and Windows Mobile — meaning that the two companies together could reach more users than any other mobile coupons service out there. What we have to see is how well they can execute and start offering the service to the consumers…

The US Census Bureau is getting ready to conduct the most wireless, high-tech census in US history. And, they’ve tapped none other than No. 3 US wireless carrier Sprint (NYSE: S) as the exclusive wireless provider for all their “census-ing” needs. The wirelessly connected Decennial Census will kick off in 2010, and promises to be the most accurate account of the US population in the history of the US Census.

You might recall seeing the HTC Census passing through the FCC, on it’s way to some half million (500,000) Census enumerators. HTC created the HTC Census specifically for the US Census Bureau’s Field Data Collection Automation (FDCA) project, which aims to collect and transmit census data back to a central database.

Armed with this EVDO data-only Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC, and integrated GPS, the enumerator’s job of collecting absentee census information will get nice and streamlined. As a high-tech plus, the built-in GPS unit also keeps the enumerator honest.

Makes me wish I had an HTC Census during my stint as a US Census enumerator back in 2000.

[Via: CN]

One more release from the Mobile Money Summit event in Barcelona…

Leader in global roaming and interoperability solutions, California-based Roamware, announced a strategic partnership with Grameen Solutions to develop mobile money applications and services for the unbanked.

So, on one side we have Grameen Solutions which is part of Grameen group that also includes Grameen Bank, the world’s leading micro-finance institution; and on the other, Roamware which ecosystem spans over 375 network operators in 138 countries, reaching more than 1.8 billion mobile users. You see where this goes, right?

The two companies could reach the poor and allow them to use financial services through their mobile phones and that’s a noble cause. Hopefully, we’ll hear some tangible results from either Roamware or Grameen in the near future…

Russia’s MTS and Nokia (NYSE: NOK) announced the signing of the memorandum of understanding on the direct delivery of Nokia devices to MTS’ retail network. The first joint project of the two companies will be the priority sales launch of the Nokia N97, which will start selling with pre-installed software from MTS.

Under the terms of agreement, Nokia will directly supply its products to MTS’ retail network, and will provide a special training program for the carrier’s retail employees. Moreover, the two companies will co-operate in marketing campaigns to promote Nokia’s handsets.

Commenting on the announcement, MTS’ CEO Mikhail Shamolin said: “This partnership agreement with Nokia is a milestone in our development of the MTS proprietary retail network. Teaming up with the world’s leading maker of mobile devices will allow us to further differentiate MTS’ retail network by matching cutting-edge products with tariff plans to enhance customer experience and spur the growth of data usage by our subscribers.

Back to the N97. It’s set to hit MTS stores in Moscow and the Nokia’s flagship store on June 17th, while rest of the population will have to wait for the end of the month…

The Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Pre is picking up steam as it fuels the media hype machine. As we near the June 6th launch of the Palm Pre on Sprint (NYSE: S), rival carriers are gunning for a chance at the hotly-anticipated smartphone. Not to be outdone by the wireless underdog, both AT&T (NYSE: T) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ) Wireless have gone public with their intention to offer the Palm Pre on their respective networks “in the next six months or so” – essentially taking some air out of Sprint’s sails.

Today, Sprint has confirmed that they have an exclusive on the Palm Pre through 2009. That means rival carriers will be looking to offer the Palm Pre a little more than six months from now. Unfortunately, Sprint’s Pre sales numbers could suffer as potential customers wait for the Pre to hit Verizon Wireless or for the GSM Palm Pre to go live on AT&T. The GSM Palm Pre will presumably be capable of simultaneous voice and data service, one-upping the CDMA variant in big way.

Of course, the real winner here is Palm. Palm needs the Pre to be a huge success, and that’s only going to happen with widespread carrier support. If AT&T and Verizon’s plans to carry the Pre are echoed around the world, limited carrier support is no longer an obstacle to the Pre’s success. But, there’s still the issue of manufacturing enough Palm Pre’s to keep up with demand.

Palm is no doubt going to make a good chunk of change with the Pre, but poor Sprint may be left out of the party. If AT&T brings both the Palm Pre and the Palm Eos to market next year, we’re in for some exciting times in the US GSM market.

[Via: SmartMoney]

It looks like the Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Pre isn’t going to be a Sprint (NYSE: S) exclusive for very long. The Palm Pre is slated to hit Sprint’s network on June 6 in what could be Palm’s final push to remain a viable smartphone manufacturer in a market they essentially helped create. Palm needs to push the Palm Pre to as many pockets as possible – and they can only do that by partnering up with multiple carriers in multiple countries. To that end, Verizon (NYSE: VZ) Wireless has announced that they too will carry the Palm Pre sometime in 2009.

Sprint’s stranglehold on the Palm Pre will reportedly be short-lived, as Verizon Wireless Chief Executive Lowell McAdam confirmed that Big Red will indeed be picking up the Palm Pre sometime in “the next six months or so.” McAdam also mentions that the BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) Storm 2 and its revamped touchscreen will hit Verizon’s network later this year.

“Over the next six months or so you will see devices like Palm Pre and a second generation Storm,” on the Verizon Wireless network, McAdam said. “You can expect to see us launch a steady stream of new devices from multiple vendors.”

Palm is wise to enlist Verizon Wireless as a partner carrier for the Palm Pre. Verizon Wireless is now the single-largest wireless carrier in the US, and offers a much larger potential customer-base than third-place Sprint. Like Big Yellow, Verizon uses a CDMA-based network that is compatible with the same hardware used in the Sprint Palm Pre, so it wouldn’t be too hard to bring the Pre to VZW.

AT&T (NYSE: T)’s Stephenson recently made it known that AT&T would welcome the Palm Pre with open arms. Given Palm’s dire financial position, it would behoove them to give AT&T a shot at selling the GSM Palm Pre.

[Via: Reuters]

Google’s I/O conference wasn’t just a good place to get your hands on a free HTC Magic, it was a great place to get the down-low on upcoming Android hardware. In it’s first official comment regarding upcoming Android smartphones, Google (NSDQ: GOOG) has confirmed that the mobile world will welcome at least 18 new Android OS-powered smartphones by the end of 2009. Google’s senior director for Mobile Platforms, Andy Rubin, noted that we might see upwards of 20 Android phones hitting market by year’s end.

For the eight or nine distinct cellphone manufacturers confirmed to be working on the 18 to 20 new Android handsets for launch later this year, Google will offer three different versions of Android OS: a completely free and generic flavor with no pre-loaded Google applications; a slightly-customized version of Android OS that comes pre-loaded with Google apps like Gmail and Google Calendar; and a completely “Google-fied” Android OS bearing all sorts of Google branding and integration with Google’s services.

We’re told that 12-14 of the upcoming Android phones are expected to use the slightly-customized version of Google’s Android OS. This version of Android will apparently require the manufacturer to agree to a distribution deal with Google that would allow the handsets to come pre-installed with Google-ware.

The remaining 5 or 6 Android phones will come to market completely decked out with “The Google Experience.” These phones will bear the “Google” logo on the handset and will come pre-installed with all sorts of Google apps. Furthermore, these phones will be censor-free – neither the manufacturer or carrier can restrict access to even the most objectionable content on the Android Market. This option carries the risk of forcing carriers and manufacturers to allow access to controversial Android applications – like the Baby Shaker app that landed Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) in some hot water recently.

The 18-20 expected Android phones are limited to handsets that Google has been officially approached with by mobile phone manufacturers. As with all things mobile, expect to see tons of cheaper Chinese-made devices going live with generic Android operating systems. Making cheap off-brand handsets that mimic brand-name devices in form and function is what the Chinese mobile market has become known for.

[Via: Bits]