Mobile startup Shorthand Mobile announced the launch of its SMS-based mobile browser with access to SMS GupShup in India. SMS GupShup is the country’s largest social network and we’ve already covered few times in the past. With smartphone penetration still low in India, SMS remains the only way to reach the Indian mass market. The…
Nokia teams-up with China’s ISPs SINA and Tencent on Ovi Maps
Nokia is teaming-up with two of China’s leading ISPs, SINA and Tencent, to integrate Ovi Maps into local social networks during Q1 2011. As a result, users of the two ISPs will be able to share their location information with friends and online communities. Moreover, Chinese Nokia phone users that also use SINA’s Twitter-like service…
Telefónica and MasterCard team-up on mobile payments in Latin America
Telefónica and MasterCard are teaming-up to “lead the development of mobile financial solutions in 12 countries in Latin America where Telefónica is present with the Movistar brand.” The 50/50 joint venture will “leverage banking relationships of both companies, Telefónica’s telecommunications assets and MasterCard’s payments expertise.” As a result, customers should be able to use devices…
Telefonica and China Unicom deepen cooperation
We know that Telefonica and China Unicom already have great business relations. That, however, is not enough as the two companies announced strengthening of the partnership in a deal that will see the Spanish group increasing its stake in China Unicom to 9.7%, while Unicom’s holding in Telefonica will increase to 1.37%. Both companies will…
Kayak’s iPhone app to add ground transportation, compliments of GroundLink
Until this point, you could only search and book a hotel and/or flight using Kayak’s iPhone app. Renting a car was not an option until now… Enter GroundLink, which has partnered with the travel search engine to allow users to book ground transportation (not exactly “regular” rent-a-car) from Kayak on their iPhone. As a result,…
China Mobile, DoCoMo and KT form a “broad-based business tie-up”
Three of the leading mobile operators in Asia — China Mobile, Japan’s NTT DoCoMo and South Korea’s KT — are forming what they call a “broad-based business tie-up” to explore opportunities in the region. The three companies will set up a business cooperation committee to take advantage of trends such as “the further globalization of…
IK Multimedia teams-up with major guitar and bass amplifier and effects manufacturers
IK Multimedia, the company behind quite a few music centric apps and accessories for the iPhone, announced the formation of strategic partnerships with many of the music industry’s leading guitar and bass amplifier and effects manufacturers — including Fender, Ampeg, Orange, Soldano, Seymour Duncan, Gallien-Krueger, Jet City Amplification, THD and T-Rex. Unsurprisingly, the alliances struck…
Rauland-Borg, Voalté team-up on iHealthcare
Rauland-Borg Corporation, a pioneer in the development of Nurse Call solutions, is teaming up with the developer of point-of-care communications software Voalté to enable patient calls from Rauland-Borg’s Responder 5 Nurse Call system to connect directly to the caregiver’s Voalté-enabled iPhone. Voalté’s unified communications solution enables nurses and clinicians to send and receive presence-based text…
Griffin, Dijit team-up on universal remote
Mobile accessory maker Griffin Technology has teamed-up with software developer Dijit to launch a device and an accompanying app that turns your smartphone into a Universal Remote Control. Using the so called Beacon you will be able to control your entire entertainment system by tapping and swiping through your device’s screen. For instance, you can…
eReading service Kobo reaches for OEMs, mobile operators
Open platform-based eReading service Kobo announced that it has secured relationships with over a dozen partners that include tablet and eReader OEMs and mobile operators, including Samsung and RIM. As a result, the company gained access to more than 20 million consumers all of which are able to access a catalog of more than 2.2…