Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009
On its first weekend in China, the iPhone wasn’t a blockbuster. The iPhone only picked up 5000 initial subscriptions. China Unicom says that it expects to sell 460,000 annually.
The China-version iPhone does not have Wifi, and it is very expensive in comparison to other phones on the Chinese market. Also Apple doesn’t quite have the same cult following as they do in the US.
Tuesday, October 13th, 2009
Google has just added the “invite a friend” feature to Google Voice.
Users have been requesting to be able to share the service with their friends and family. Google will limit the “invite a friend” feature to 3 invitations.
The new feature will be added to user accounts over the next few weeks–preventing all users from accessing the feature all at the same time.
Thursday, October 8th, 2009
AT&T’s chief technology officer John Donovan defended the company’s wireless network against criticisms of poor service, dropped calls and slow internet connections. The criticisms came mostly from the company’s base of iPhone users who feel that the network limits the performance of their smart phone.
“I’m not ignoring the criticism of our network,” AT&T’s CTO stated in the CTIA Fall 2009 tradeshow. He was insistent that AT&T is dedicated to providing the best customer service and the most capable network possible.
There has been some debate whether iPhone users specifically have been the reason for the tremendous increase in AT&T’s data usage.
Tuesday, October 6th, 2009
Starting at 1:30 a.m. PT on Friday, T-Mobile Sidekick users experienced a major service outage that in some cases caused all internet connectivity to be lost intermittently.
Danger, Inc. a Microsoft subsidiary part of the new Premium Mobile Experiences (PMX) team, has been working to restore lost service and solve the problems which caused the outages.
Not all users have been affected in the same way. Some users reportedly could not access their address book, while others may have experienced temporary outages since the problems began.
Source: CNET
Monday, October 5th, 2009
Adobe may have won support from Google, Motorola, Nvidia, Palm, RIM, and Qualcomm for Flash 10.1 software for smartphones and mobile devices. Flash is not currently available on most all phones. Flash video acceleration has not be widely available on mobile devices.
Adobe has also created a campaign titled “Open Screen Project initiative” to have manufacturers allow Flash to be open to developers. Google has already agreed to join the Open Screen Project initiative, and phones running Android will be shipped with Flash early next year.
Friday, September 11th, 2009
Orange and T-mobile are planning on merging their British operations to create the UK’s largest mobile carrier.
When the two giants merge they will combine their customer base of about 28.4 million people ( 37 percent of the mobile market ).
The merger will cost the companies between £400m ($656 million dollars) and £600m ($984 million dollars). The merger will ultimately provide a savings of half-a-billion pounds per year by 2014 by allowing the new company to remove duplicate base stations and retail outlets.
Monday, August 31st, 2009
The iPhone is already popular in China even though it officially has not entered its mobile market. The iPhone can be bought in the underground market and unlocked by software in order to purchase applications. In some estimates, there are already 1.5 million devices in use within China.
With more than 687 million mobile phone users in China–the largest market in the world, Apple is eager to start doing business in the region. The success of the iPhone seems predetermined with so much interest even before its official release in the country. For many Chinese the iPhone is a status symbol–a display of the cutting edge, wealth and coolness.
The research firm IDC has attributed 7% of the iPhone sales to the Asia Pacific region within areas like Australia, Hong Kong and India. (The US is still the largest iPhone market. The iPhone has not however performed as strong in Japan, where the Apple brand does not carry the same golden shine as it does in the US.)
China Unicom is the expected carrier of the iPhone. Apple is nearly conclusion with negotiations with China’s state-owned wireless operator. Apple has also already received one of the technical licenses required by the Chinese Government, but it is unknown how many more licenses it will have to complete. Currently the anticipated release is October 2009.
Saturday, August 8th, 2009
Apple prevented Google Voice from becoming listed on the iPhone App Store or installed on the iPhone. Google is now considering rebuilding the application as a web application which will circumvent the need to be distributed through the App Store. This loophole will allow iPhone users to access the new technology without breaking their terms and conditions contract with Apple.
Google Voice is a free application that lets customers designate a single number to ring their home, work, and cell phones, and also get voice mail as text transcriptions.
The reason Apple may have been behind the decision to block Google Voice is because the application also allows cheap international calls and free text messages through the program.
Friday, July 31st, 2009
Skype, an online communications system, will be undergoing a legal battle in 2010 that will effectively determine whether the company can remain operational. The battle shows no sign of being resolved quickly, which will come as a relief to Skype’s currently registered users who number 480 million.
Monday, July 27th, 2009
The top business lobby group in Russia, called the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, is taking action against Skype in partnership with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s political party. The lobby group has deemed Skype a threat to both national security and as a threat to Russian business.
The actions call for drafting legal (protectionist) safeguards against Skype and other Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephone services.