Japanese operator KDDI is to invest $22 million in the US-based financial service provider Microfinance International Corporation (MFIC) with the idea to develop a global open mobile payment platform. According to the carrier’s president, Takashi Tanaka, although telecom players and the financial services markets are converging, “most of them are local movements” rather than a…
Archives for 2010
Acer beTouch E140 officially official in the UK
Two weeks after we covered the Acer beTouch E140, the Taiwanese company officially announced the device in the UK. As you may know from our previous post, we’re talking about an entry-level Android smartphone which prides itself with a 2.8-inch QVGA touchscreen, 3.2-megapixel camera, 600MHz processor, WiFi and HSDPA connectivity, GPS, Bluetooth, FM radio and…
Telmap-powered Orange Maps V2 launched in France
Orange France launched Telmap-powered Orange Maps V2, a multi-platform mobile navigation solution. The new offering will be included on all GPS-enabled devices, including the iPhone, as part of all Origami tariff plans that come with data packages, providing users with access to free mapping, pedestrian and in-car navigation with spoken and graphical instructions. Also included…
Bracketron MobileDock Vent Mount holds your mobile phone securely while you drive
Bracketron, which calls itself the “leading innovator in mounting solutions for mobile consumer electronics”, is out with a new product – MobileDock Vent Mount. As you can see from the image on the left, this mount is designed to be attached to an automobile’s air vent and should work with pretty much any mobile phone.…
In-Stat: This year US operators will spend $1.4 billion on smartphone subsidies for businesses
According to a new report from In-Stat, US businesses will spend close to $27 billion on wireless data this year, driven by heavy operator subsidies valued at $1.7 billion. Most of that amount, $1.4 billion, goes for the smartphone subsidies. The news doesn’t come as a surprise considering that mobile data revenue is the engine…
Opera Mini comes to Three UK customers
Opera Software announced a new carrier partner for Opera Mini – Three UK. As a result, even those with low-end feature phones will be able to get a decent web browsing experience by downloading the free application from Three’s portal. Moreover, as Opera’s web browser comes with the data compression technology, users will even end…
Unlimited mobile data has come to the UK thanks to operator 3
Unlimited data is both a blessing and a curse to mobile operators. The billions they spent on their networks, including the money they dished out to governments for 3G spectrum licenses, was considered a waste by many since it created an excess in capacity. Then the iPhone came out and it changed everything. People actually…
Imagination acquires Caustic Graphics for $27 million [Future iPhone to get ray tracing?]
Imagination may not be a company you’re familiar with, but they make the PowerVR SGX 535 graphics processing unit that’s inside Apple’s A4 chip, which is at the heart the Apple iPad, iPhone 4, iPod touch and the new Apple TV. In 2008 Apple thought Imagination was so critical to their future that they bought…
Novatel Wireless MiFi 4082 pops up at the FCC [Is that a portable WiMAX in your pocket?]
A new MiFi device by Novatel Wireless has just landed at the FCC: model number 4082. Like all the other portable hotspots that came before it, the whole concept of a MiFi is to take the mobile broadband signals that your operator transmits and then make them usable by spitting them out via WiFi. Got…
Verizon iPhone may help, not hurt AT&T
A report from Global investment banking and securities firm Nomura suggests AT&T will weather a Verizon iPhone just fine. Though AT&T stands to lose millions of customers to Verizon, the wireless carrier is expected to generate revenue from early termination fees that will offset subscriber losses. The report also suggests the loss of exclusivity with…