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Video: 6.5 minute Nokia Money demonstration

Stefan Constantinescu — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 09:12:56 +0000

Nokia (NYSE: NOK) Money, which was announced in August, and is expected to launch in Q1 2010, is being shown off in the video below by Waltteri Karhusari at the Nokia “Way We Live Next” conference in Finland. The UI is fairly basic, but that’s do to the demo being done on a fairly low end device. Nokia Money’s target audience is emerging economies after all. It’s safe to say that Visa’s stuff is much more impressive, but sadly their solutions are due to hit the market at an even later point in time. Mobile Payments will be the next killer application, much like GPS was the killer application for smartphones in 2007/2008, but the question on everyone’s mind is when will Mobile Payments take off? Juniper Research predicts that in 2012 there will be $30 billion worth of transactions taking place, while ABI Research predicts that by 2011, only 2 years from now, there will be 170 million people taking advantage of mobile payments.

[Via: Nokia Conversations]

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Frost Bank goes mobile

Dusan Belic — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 09:12:45 +0000

By now I would expect that every single bank in the western hemisphere has a mobile banking option. Not so, as I just caught the press release from Frost Bank, which has launched Frost Mobile “just in time for the holidays.”

Frost Mobile allows users to view account balances, account activity, pay bills, and transfer funds between Frost accounts and between financial institutions.

It’s not a mobile application, but a mobile website, which works from (almost) any phone’s web browser. The service is free to all Frost customers who are registered for My Frost Online Banking, exclusive of any fees that mobile carriers charge for data services.

Finally, before I wrap this up, Frost wants us to know they’ll add an SMS service next year, “making mobile banking even more accessible.”

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U.S. Cellular introduces Overage Protection service

Dusan Belic — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 09:09:53 +0000

U.S. Cellular has introduced the Overage Protection service, which includes sending users an SMS when they’ve used 75% of available minutes or text messages, and another when they reach 100%. The idea is, of course, to inform customers how they’re managing their pre-paid accounts.

In order to sign-up for the free services, customers should visit the carrier’s retail store, contact customer service or access their account at uscellular.com. Then they decide who will receive the alerts. The service runs nightly, calculating the usage. If a predefined threshold is reached, a text alert will be sent the next day during normal business hours.

We like the idea and I can see virtually every U.S. Cellular customer signing up for Overage Protection…

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Brief: Spotify for Symbian launched

Stefan Constantinescu — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 07:06:53 +0000

Spotify, the Swedish music service that many in Western and Northern Europe have been enjoying for a little over a year now, has finally released a Symbian application! Complementing their iPhone and Android application, this new Symbian application makes the Spotify service available to over half the smartphones recently sold in Europe. I’d give you a video demo, but I’m not a Spotify Premium member. I’d like to be a Spotify Premium member, but their billing system doesn’t take my Finnish credit card, nor my American credit card for some strange reason.

To download the client, simply visit http://m.spotify.com in your mobile browser and it will automatically detect the device you’re using and begin downloading.

[Via: Spotify Blog]

The video below was recorded on September 7, 2009 and is of is of a preview version of the S60 client:

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Sprint offering YouMail visual voicemail service to BlackBerry and Android smartphone users for free

Dusan Belic — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 11:58:21 +0000

Sprint (NYSE: S) users with BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) and Android smartphones can now use YouMail-powered visual voicemail service free of charge. You know how it works, right? Just like on the iPhone, plus more:

You can scroll through incoming voicemail messages to see caller information including caller name, time of call, and length of message
Play voicemails by simply clicking on them
Share and forward voicemails as an email or post to a blog
Delete, archive or save voicemails, forever

In order to use YouMail on your phone, you’ll need the YouMail application. Search for it in the BlackBerry App World or Android Market, depending which device you use. Then go to YouMail’s website, sign up for a YouMail account and follow the brief instructions for forwarding unanswered calls to YouMail. It’s that easy.

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The Bookean Cybook Opus is now available for 215$

Ben Robinson — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:15:39 +0000

I’ve reported on the Amazon Kindle International Edition before (here), which is an interesting device, because its packing a SIM card in it that can roam seamlessly across network in Europe – in fact you could argue it’s the main way of acquiring e-books for that device.

Well now there’s another (yes, another) e-book reader, the Bookeen Cybook Opus, which has a couple of interesting traits:

Some kind of landscape mode
A price-point that is worryingly close to the Kindle

Yep, that’s right, this bad boy isn’t packing 3G data, yet it’s only $40 cheaper – that’s not good, is it?

Right now, from a mobile data connection perspective, Kindle is cream of the crop – but could we see a newer revision of the Opus coming soon, with 3G or WiFi data? Quite possibly.

[Via: e-reader-info.com]

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Nokia Ovi Store Stats: Almost half a billion downloads?

Stefan Constantinescu — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:59:43 +0000

Bill Perry, Senior Services Marketing Manager for Forum Nokia (NYSE: NOK), posted some statistics from the Ovi Store which has now been open for 5 months. The Ovi Store is available on over 100 devices, with users from over 180 different countries, and developers from 65 countries. There are 8 countries that have an Ovi Store in their native language and support operator billing: UK, Spain, France, Germany, Singapore, Australia, Italy and Russia. By the end of Q1 2010, that number should rise to over 20 countries. The top 10 countries accessing the Ovi Store are Egypt, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Spain, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Russia and the UK. In most of those countries the top 2 devices used to get to the Ovi Store are either the Nokia 5800 or N97. Each registered user downloads an average of 8 pieces of content, and the number of downloads in October compared to September is up by 70%.

Couple that data above with the information Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo gave during the Q3 2009 financial results conference call held on the 15th of October, where he said:

We grew our active users from 46 million to 61 million.

61 million users x average of 8 pieces of content per user = 488 million downloads?

Why isn’t Bill Perry providing any figures such as number of applications? The media would take that number and compare it to the massive 100,000+ applications in Apple (NSDQ: AAPL)’s App Store and claim Nokia is failing.

Why isn’t Bill Perry providing any figures for the number of downloads? Same reason as above.

[Via: All About Symbian]

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Google Latitude Launches Location History and Alerts

Simon Sage — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:29:45 +0000

Latitude, a Google (NSDQ: GOOG) service built into Maps for Mobile for sharing your location with trusted friends, just got two big updates. First up is location history, which, when enabled, will allow you to see where you were at specific times on desktop Google Maps, and follow your tracks sequentially. This seems like it could be very handy when trying to retrace steps from a hazy Friday night, seeing where you took a wrong turn, or any number of other scenarios. I’d really like to be able to slap on a Panoramio layer on top of that so I could see where geotagged pictures sit in the larger scheme of a trip. The other update is Location Alerts, which pings you via e-mail or SMS whenever someone on your Latitude list is nearby – very helpful for impromptu meetups, but depends on having a well-populated friends list. It certainly saves the hassle of actually opening up Google Maps and navigating to Latitude to see who’s usefully nearby. To get started with Location History, head on over here to enable it on your Google account, or over here for Location Alerts.

[via Official Google Mobile Blog]

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MasterCard launches MasterCard Mobile Payments Gateway

Dusan Belic — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:10:04 +0000

MasterCard introduced the MasterCard Mobile Payments Gateway, a mobile payments processing platform that enables financial institutions and mobile operators to deliver “end-to-end mobile payments solutions through the MasterCard Worldwide Network.”

And the first partners that will use the new service is already on board – Brazil’s Itau Unibanco and Redecard, along with mobile operator Vivo. Using the service, interested consumers will be able to use their phone as a mobile wallet and link their existing credit, debit or prepaid MasterCard or Maestro card accounts to their mobile phone to fund mobile-initiated payments.

MasterCard is working with the company called Smart Hub and has created an open mobile payment processing platform through the MasterCard Payments Gateway to facilitate the launch of MasterCard Mobile payment solutions in developing markets.

Finally, following the launch in Brazil, MasterCard said it will introduce MasterCard Mobile payments solutions through the Mobile Payments Gateway in select markets around the world.

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Brief: Amazon now trialing SMS notifications for orders

Stefan Constantinescu — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 11:09:20 +0000

Use Amazon.com to order everything and anything your little heart desires off the internet? Want to get notifications on when orders are fulfilled, shipped, and arrive at your door step? Amazon is now doing that via SMS. Read their FAQ for more information.

Between Amazon.com and Newegg.com, I’ve easily spent over $10,000 via e-commerce back when I lived in the states. Why oh why does is suck so hard in Europe is beyond me.

[Via: Textually]

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Livestream extends its video streaming service to the iPhone/iPod Touch

Dusan Belic — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 11:51:37 +0000

Livestream is extending its video streaming platform to include the iPhone and iPod Touch users. What this means is that using Livestreem Procaster, you can stream video from a webcam, video camera or even broadcast PC/Mac’s desktop to all the interested iPhone/iTouch users over 3G or WiFi.

The streaming on the iPhone/iPod Touch works over Safari as Livestream relies on the H.264 HTTP live streaming functionality included in iPhone’s native QuickTime player, removing the need for any application install requirements.

However, this doesn’t mean Livestream has forgotten developers. Quite the contrary, they also unveiled a Representational State Transfer (REST) API, which developers can use to integrate live streaming into their own iPhone websites and/or apps.

Finally, if you want to start streaming some video to the iPhone audience, all you need is the mentioned Livestream Procaster, connect a camera, select iPhone 3G Quality and press “Go Live” button. It’s that easy and you can get additional details from here.

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New service can send text message to your child from Santa

Dusan Belic — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 11:43:54 +0000

There’s a new service called TextSanta.net, which makes sure your child gets a text message from Santa himself. Although it’s not cheap — $5.49 for SMS service is kinda steep — it will certainly make your child at least a bit happier.

Parents can choose from three SMS packages or customize their own and define when these should be sent from Santa Claus, Christmas morning included.

TextSanta.net on its end will donate $1 of every sale to the March of Dimes which improves the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality. Nice!

[Via: textually]

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Hungary’s Pannon and T-Mobile introduce Nokia Messaging

Dusan Belic — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:52:25 +0000

Two Hungarian operators, Pannon and T-Mobile (NYSE: DT), are joining the “Nokia (NYSE: NOK) Messaging wave.” Starting from November 1st, all Pannon customers and postpaid T-Mobile customers will be able to access the Nokia’s push e-mail service from select Nokia phones. All leading consumer e-mail solutions are supported by the service — including Nokia’s own Ovi Mail, Gmail, Windows Live Hotmail and Yahoo! Mail; as well as the major local e-mail services such as Citromail, Indamail and Freemail.

Both operators will allow free 30-day trial period for Nokia Messaging, after which users will be able to continue using the service for a monthly charge that will be added on top of their monthly bill. Supported devices include such Nokia models as the Nokia E52, E66, E72, E71 and N97.

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Handmark brings Zagat To Go to Android

Dusan Belic — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:14:08 +0000

After conquering the iPhone, BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM), Windows Mobile, and Palm (NSDQ: PALM) OS platforms – Zagat Survey is “going Android.” Handmark is their “partner in crime” and together the two companies are bringing Zagat To Go to Android. The application, as expected, provides users with access to Zagat’s ratings and reviews for over 40,000 restaurants, hotels, nightspots and shops worldwide.

In addition, there are other features such as cost estimates, click-to-call, online reservation capabilities and photos. Users can search the data by location (GPS included) cuisine type, occasion and more.

As for the pricing, Zagat To Go for Android costs $9.99 and is readily available in the Android Market.

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After the iPhone, Adobe brings Photoshop to Android

Dusan Belic — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 09:42:50 +0000

After successfully launching an iPhone app, Adobe is bringing Photoshop Mobile to Android. The application is already available in the Android Market and seems to work with all of the existing models, good ol’ G1 included.

As that was the case with the iPhone version, the Android application allows for same photo effects to be applied on your photos. In addition, you can set your smartphone to automatically upload all new photos to your Photoshop.com account, which is quite neat for heavy Photoshop.com users…

I’ll stop here and leave you with the official demo video, which follows after the jump. Enjoy!

[Via: mashable]

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Associated Press and Verve finally show product of their co-operation; Unveil mobile app platform for publishers

Dusan Belic — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 09:19:04 +0000

Back in July of last year, we talked about Verve which at the moment got $3 million from Associated Press and other investors. Now we’re finally seeing some fruits of the co-operation as the two companies [Verve and AP] have unveiled an initiative to help publishers create white label, branded mobile apps for their content. The idea is to take a piece of the advertising being placed on other publisher’s apps in exchange for the application design.

The package comes with a content management system, allowing publishers to fully control their content, as well as ads that will appear in the application. In addition, standard metrics are also provided, as well as advertising delivery module.

The applications will be available for an array of platforms — including Android, BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM), iPhone, Symbian, Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Pre and Windows Mobile. Additional details are available from Verve’s website…

[Via: MobileBurn]

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Concur extends its travel and expense management service to the iPhone

Dusan Belic — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 09:13:14 +0000

Concur’s end-to-end travel and expense management service, Concur Travel & Expense, got its iPhone component simply called Concur Mobile. The application, which BTW is already available for BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) and Windows Mobile devices, enables users to manage their itinerary, conduct in-policy business travel transactions, capture T&E expense data and approve expense reports – all while on the go.

The free application is designed as a business travel companion that makes life easier for the mobile workforce while also “helping companies more tightly control the significant amount of unmanaged employee spend that occurs during business travel.”

Here’s what Concur Mobile enables travelers to do:

View their itinerary booked through Concur Travel & Expense;
Change existing flights and add or delete items such as hotels, rental cars, dining reservations and taxis;
Capture miscellaneous out-of-pocket purchases and tips.

On the other hand, managers can review their employees’ expense reports and eventually approve or reject them… AppStore link is here.

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Mobile Spy brings silent monitoring to Android

Dusan Belic — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 09:11:27 +0000

Retina-X Studios unveiled the Android version of its Mobile Spy application, allowing users to silently monitor GPS locations, incoming and outgoing SMS, and call information of employees or family members. The application, which is also available on other platforms (iPhone, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) and Symbian), runs in stealth mode and no mentions of the program are shown inside the device. After activities are logged, they will be (again) silently uploaded to the user’s private online account, which is later on accessible from any web browser.

Apparently, the main idea behind the app is to help businesses enforce their “Acceptable Use Policy” on company-provided phones. In addition, the software can also monitor teen or family phones… Interested users can grab it from the Android Market.

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iPhone App: Shazam Encore: $5 gets you premium features such as recommendations and maps

Stefan Constantinescu — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:42:02 +0000

The good news: Shazam, the popular music service that allows you to identify a song by holding your device up to a speaker for a few seconds, has released a premium version of their iPhone application called “Shazam Encore” [iTunes link]. For 5 USD (or 4 EUR or 3 GBP) you get: faster song recognition, the ability to see where you where when you identified a song, music recommendations based on the songs you looked up, find out which songs are being identified the most, and a car mode that helps you identify what’s playing on the radio.

“Since our launch on the App Store, Shazam has achieved a huge following with iPhone and iPod touch users and is now one of the most popular music apps in the world,” said Andrew Fisher, CEO of Shazam. “We have listened to our iPhone and iPod touch users and have created a new app which answers their requests to take them on an enhanced music journey that will change the way music lovers experience and learn about music.”

The bad news: New users of Shazam deciding to use the free verison will be limited to only 5 uses of the Shazam service per month.

[Via: Shazam Press Release]

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CHARGE Anywhere unveils mobile payment app for Android

Dusan Belic — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 08:12:40 +0000

Mobile payment solutions provider CHARGE Anywhere is “going Android” with a dedicated application which it argues is the first PCI PA-DSS validated Payment Application for the platform. All major card processors support CHARGE Anywhere’s mobile payment software and payment gateway solutions, hence seamless integration with virtually every merchant account provider is guaranteed.

To put this mumbo-jumbo into plain words, CHARGE Anywhere for Android enables merchants to easily and securely accept credit and debit card transactions at the point-of-sale or point-of-service.

The software also supports optional hardware such as a Bluetooth printer with integrated card reader, enabling for printing of receipts on the spot… Additional details are available from CHARGE Anywhere’s website.

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