Latest Telephia’s Premium SMS Report provides a detailed look at the US market for off-portal content purchased via premium SMS from off-portal storefronts as well as premium text messaging services, like voting/sweepstakes and chat. According to the mobile consumer research firm, premium SMS revenues totaled more than $273 million, making up 32% of mobile content revenue in Q1 2007. Read the full article »

Last month we posted how mobile content discovery on U.S. carriers is everything but a seamless process in the eyes of consumers. Now, the same market research firm Strategy Analytics went one step further to quantify its findings. According to them, U.S. carriers are loosing more than $100 million in annual gaming revenues as a result of poor UI designs. Verizon (NYSE: VZ) Wireless’ mobile content store provides users with the best experience, while still leaves space for improvements. On the other end of the spectrum is the Cingular/AT&T (NYSE: T)’s mobile storefront, for which users showed “most dissatisfaction.”

More numbers from China. Last time we’ve talked about mobile phone users in the world’s fastest growing economy. Today we’re presenting you with the production numbers.

According to information released by China’s Ministry of Information Industry, mobile phone production in the country is expected to grow nearly 17%, to reach 560 million units in 2007. Read the full article »

A new research from Compass Intelligence indicates that businesses in the US will spend $3.8 billion on mobile applications this year, while that number is expected to reach $9.0 billion by 2011. To improve productivity and collaboration across businesses, business will be spend on mobile and wireless-based custom-coded and packaged applications, including productivity, ERP, e-mail, CRM, security applications, and more. Read the full article »

According to J.D. Power and Associates 2007 U.S. Wireless Mobile Phone Evaluation Study, the average reported length of time a customer owns their cell phone has increased by 5% to 17.5 months, an increase from 16.6 months since fall 2006. The study also finds that thanks to the carriers’ incentives, the cell phone price has dropped from an average of $103 in 2002 to $93 in 2007.

Furthermore, the study measures customer satisfaction with handsets by examining five key factors. In order of importance, they are: physical design (24%); operation (22%); features (20%); handset durability (19%); and battery function (15%). Read the full article »

It looks like WiMAX is hotter than ever these days. Sprint (NYSE: S) and Nokia are probably grinning from ear to ear with this latest study. Research firm Maravedis has revealed, among other things, that WiMAX deployments around the globe have risen a whopping 85% – in the firm’s own newsletter, the WiMAXCounts Newsletter.

However, the technologies deployed varied from proprietary spec to year 2004- and 2005-draft specs, with the majority being proprietary equipment, so don’t get too excited about globally standardized WiMAX just yet. Still, the US, Spain, and Australia were the leaders in WiMAX deployments, with total WiMAX service revenues in 2006 of $322 million, and ARPUs of $40.76 and $145.54 in residential and business subscriptions, respectively

via: cellularnews

The world’s largest mobile phone manufacturer, Nokia (NYSE: NOK), has joined forces with China’s Beijing-based Tsinghua University for a new research center. This partnership is the first Nokia Research Center venture for Nokia in the Asian continent – Nokia has already setup research facilities in the US, Finland and UK.

Students at the Tsinghua University will be collaborating with the Nokia Research Center to develop a wide range of technologies – ranging from global to Asian specific. Professor Zhisheng Niu, Vice Dean of the School of Information Science and Technology at Tsinghua, stated that, “In some ways, the future of mobile technology is the future of all technology in China. The country has set itself the goal of developing indigenous innovation and, with four times as many mobile subscribers as Internet users, the opportunities within mobile technology are clear. In addition, a world-class communications network is essential to breakthroughs in all areas of science and technology research, rendering mobile technology doubly important. With this announcement, therefore, Nokia is not only promoting research in its own fields, it is actively facilitating and supporting an entire culture of innovation.”

Welcome to the Nokia Research Center club, Asia!

via: digitimes

Beatnik has announced that they have developed a new audio format geared specifically for mobile devices. The company, fittingly founded by Thomas Dolby, claims that their new format can compress audio files ten times smaller than the popular MP3 format. To make good on their claim, the format includes just one copy of a repeated section of audio, and uses it over and over again, as needed. Beatnik is aiming this technology primarily at wireless operators. With audio files this small, operators can cash in on Over-the-Air (OTA) downloads of music files from a wider range of users – including those limited to just 2G data transfer rates.

Read the full article »

The market for mobile phone accessories is booming. According to ABI Research, it will generate over $32 billion in revenues this year, $4 billion more than what is expected from the smartphone market. Around 77% of these revenues will come from the sales of “after-market” mobile phone accessories and the remaining from “in-box” accessories shipments. Furthermore, ABI Research expects this market to grow steadily and generate over $80 billion in revenues in 2012.

Handset vendors now recognize that to increase sales of their high-end mobile phones, they need to provide accessories that allow users to fully enjoy and benefit from the features provided in those handsets. Nokia (NYSE: NOK) is addressing the handset accessory market with a distinctive approach of “Mobile Enhancement” products while Motorola (NYSE: MOT) is placing special emphasis on the growing “Personalization” and “Self-Expression” trends.

Korea’s government laboratory, Korea Electronics Technology Institute, has developed what they call a Single-carrier Modulation Photo Detector (SMPD) chip that can work in extremely low-light conditions. The new technology basically obsoletes the need for flash photography, especially on mobile phones. The new chip can collect enough picture data from 1 lux (1 candle’s worth of light) environments to take a decent photograph or video clip – resulting from 2,000 times greater sensitivity to light! The Korean laboratory spent 11 billion won ($10.5 million USD) in research and development costs, but expects to recoup that cost to the tune of about 2 trillion won ($2.2 billion USD) every year.

It’s about time. We’re tired of lackluster performance from our camera phones!

via: dailytech