FCC Rejects Free Wireless Service Proposal
Joelle Tessler, Mobile Tech Today, 9/3/2010
The FCC has rejected a plan proposed by M2Z Networks that would have allowed free nationwide wireless service. M2Z wanted the FCC to demand that the winner of an auction for the radio spectrum provide free Internet service to anyone who connects to it. M2Z’s plan had encountered resistance from T-Mobile USA and other wireless carriers.
Federal regulators have shot down a proposal by a startup called M2Z Networks Inc. to build a free, nationwide wireless broadband network using a spare slice of airwaves.
The Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday said it has rejected M2Z’s request that the agency demand that the winner of an auction for the radio spectrum provide free Internet service to anyone who connects to it.
That condition would have mirrored M2Z’s business model of offering free basic wireless broadband access — with speeds of up to 768 kilobits per second — that would be supported by advertising in addition to a faster, premium service.
“We gave careful and thorough consideration to the proposal, but ultimately determined that this was not the best policy outcome,” Ruth Milkman, head of the FCC’s wireless bureau, said in a statement. The FCC did not explain its rejection further.
M2Z’s plan had encountered resistance from T-Mobile USA and other big wireless carriers, which warned that it would interfere with their own services.
“A designer allocation auction that would be tailored for one company was not in the public’s interest, especially when that company was offering broadband service that is slow by even yesterday’s standards,” Steve Largent, head of industry trade group CTIA-The Wireless Association, said in a statement.
M2Z was founded in 2005 by John Muleta, a former FCC official who at one time also headed the agency’s wireless bureau, and Milo Medin, co-founder and chief technology officer of cable modem pioneer (At)Home. The company’s investors include several top Silicon Valley venture capital firms, including Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Redpoint Ventures.
In a statement, Muleta said “the FCC’s decision to delay the use of this valuable spectrum forgoes the consumer welfare and economic stimulus that would result from putting new spectrum into the marketplace.”
The FCC is still studying possible uses of the spectrum.
In: Mobile Technology · Tagged with: CTIA, FCC, T-Mobile
iOS Passes Linux to Become Third-Most Popular Internet Browsing Platform
Eric Slivka, MacRumors.com, 9/3/2010
As noted by Computerworld, Internet research firm Net Applications has calculated that Apple’s iOS has passed Linux to become the third-most popular Internet platform, surpassing Linux to trail only Windows and Mac OS X. According to Net Applications, the milestone came in July, when the release of the iPhone 4 apparently created a surge for iOS past 1% market share while Linux dropped below 1%. The trend continued in August, with iOS taking a 1.13% share compared to Linux’s 0.85% share.
“It’s something to take note of when a mobile operating system passes something that’s been around forever,” said Vince Vizzaccaro, a Net Applications vice president, talking about iOS overtaking Linux. “Mobile’s growth curve is strong, and mobile is becoming quite a phenomenon on the Internet.”
Net Applications, which measures data from actual browser usage based on network of 40,000 websites that it monitors, found that mobile platforms accounted for 2.6% of the overall Web usage last month. The data also revealed much strong Web usage for iOS than for Android, which clocked in at only 0.2% share.
Android devices made up just 0.2% of the operating systems that powered browsers Net Applications tracked last month. “Whatever the sales are, we’re seeing iOS totally dominate the market on the Web,” Vizzaccaro said. “iOS has nearly a 6:1 advantage over Android.”
In: Android, Mobile Technology, iPad, iPhone · Tagged with: Linux
Flash on Android “Shockingly Bad” – Will BlackBerry Fare Better?
Ronen Halevy, BerryReview, 9/1/2010
Since DevCon back in October of last year RIM has said that Flash is coming to the BlackBerry OS in the summer of 2010 and people have been waiting for it. There have been quite a few delays and Adobe split hairs nice and thin with excuses. I asked back in May if we really want Flash on our BlackBerrys considering how sluggish things already are with the 624mhz processors RIM has limited the BlackBerry OS to. Don’t get me wrong I would love to be able to watch videos from the hundreds of Flash video streaming sites out there but I doubt it will be as easy or simple as that.
Flash video for mobile devices got another nail in its coffin from a video review posted by NewTeeVee. They tested out the latest build of Flash for Android on a 1Ghz Snapdragon powered Nexus One and according to them the results were “shockingly bad.” Anybody surprised? I would describe the performance of Flash on my 2.8Ghz laptop as “shockingly bad” so how does a mobile device stand a chance.
I will be quick to point out that these video streams tested out were designed for desktops and not optimized for mobile viewing. The thing is that the whole point was to bring the desktop Flash experience to mobile devices. If you have to optimize it for mobile devices then you have cut away much of its appeal.
In: Android, Blackberry, Mobile Technology · Tagged with: Flash
Windows Phone 7 released to manufacturers
Matt Hamblen, Computerworld, 9/1/2010
Windows Phone 7 has been finalized and released to manufacturers, Microsoft announced in a blog Wednesday.
The milestone means manufacturers can integrate the software with their hardware and networks to create smartphones and devices for customers prior to the holiday selling season, a Microsoft spokeswoman said.
In the blog, Terry Myerson, corporate vice president of Windows Phone Engineering, said 10,000 prototype devices ran automated tests of the OS daily, with over 3.5 million hours of stress tests. “We are ready,” he said.
Since Microsoft reached the Technical Preview stage in July for the OS, engineers got feedback and changed the Facebook integration so users can filter contacts so the friends they really know show up in the list. Microsoft also made it easy to “like” a post from the People Hub in the OS, or quickly post a message to someone’s Facebook wall directly.
Microsoft as of late July described at least five makers for Windows Phone 7: Asus, HTC, LG, Samsung and Dell.
But a Microsoft spokeswoman today reiterated that the company is only officially naming partners touted at Mobile World Congress in February. That list adds Sony Ericsson and Toshiba to the five named by a Microsoft official last month.
As for U.S. cellular carriers, Microsoft is only naming as partners all four major U.S. carriers: AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint and T-Mobile. AT&T said in July it will be the “premier” Windows Phone 7 carrier.
In: Mobile Technology, WinPhone 7 · Tagged with: AT&T, HTC, Samsung, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon
Firefox Mobile comes to Android in ‘Fennec’
Jessica Dolcourt, CNET, 8/27/2010
Mozilla is one step closer to getting its Firefox browser surfing on Android phones, and on the Nokia N900. On Friday the company issued an alpha version of Fennec, the code name for every instance of “Firefox Mobile” that’s still in development stages.
Features-wise, Fennec alpha is very similar to the Fennec prealpha we got a peek at in April, but with the notable exception that Firefox Sync is now baked in. Firefox Sync is an account-based Web service that stores data on your currently open tabs, bookmarks, browsing history, passwords, and form-fills in the cloud, on Mozilla’s secured Firefox servers. When you use Firefox Sync on Fennec or any other Firefox Mobile app, you’ll be able to access URLs you’ve visited on your desktop from your Android phone. Firefox Sync spells out less typing on that comparatively cramped keyboard.
The fact that Firefox Sync now comes wrapped into the installation will help keep users’ setup of the service to a minimum, which will encourage its adoption on mobile phones and on the desktop. It’s also what drives the Firefox app on iPhone.
In addition to Firefox Sync, Fennec’s support for browser add-ons is another important differentiating factor, especially as these add-ons have made Firefox the most mainstream alternative in desktop browsing to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. Fennec’s design also keeps the settings tools and open browser tabs in the “gutters” of the screen real estate, which means you swipe left or right to access the controls. This declutters the screen of its buttons and makes your content the main focus.
Fennec is now available to download and test on Android phones and the Nokia N900. We advise that only experienced or intrepid users should download the Fennec for Android alpha release, which is intended for testing and feedback purposes, not for widespread use. Testers may encounter bugs and instability.
Interested parties can find the technical release notes here. You can find additional technical details and watch the demo on Mozilla’s blog.
In: Android, Mobile Technology, iPhone · Tagged with: Motorola, Nokia
Hedge Fund Manager Falcone’s Big Bet On Wireless Broadband
Tricia Duryee, MocoNews.net, 8/27/2010
Investors in the Harbinger’s hedge fund are increasingly uncomfortable with Philip Facone’s obsession with building a high-speed wireless broadband network. Falcone, who got rich by out-smarting the subprime housing bubble, has committed roughly $3 billion or 40 percent of the fund’s assets to LightSquared, making the telecom company the hedge fund’s single largest and most concentrated bet, according to a Reuters special report.
LightSquared will have to raise an estimated $6 billion to build out a network that will be late to market, especially when compared to Clearwire, Verizon Wireless and AT&T. So far, Harbinger has already contributed $2.9 billion in assets to LightSquared, which has secured additional debt and equity financing of up to $1.75 billion.
The plan is for Reston, V.A.-based LightSquared to leverage its deep nationwide spectrum holdings to provide a lower cost wireless broadband service to under-served areas. To do so, it will launch two satellites by early next year that could deliver signals to towers on the ground. It estimates that it could reach 260 million U.S. residents by 2015. Comparatively, Clearwire already delivers 4G to about 56 million people in the U.S.
If history is any indication, LightSquared has a lot going against it. Not only will it have to secure billions more financing, but it is following in the footsteps of a long list of failed broadband satellite providers.
Clearwire has demonstrated just how difficult and expensive it is to build a new wireless network from scratch. Over the past few years, it has raised billions in private equity and from a public offering and has secured even more from partners, such as Sprint, Comcast, Google and others. LightSquared would inevitably have to secure more partners, but given that Clearwire has already aligned itself with Sprint and a handful of cable operators, the only obvious partner remaining, analysts say, is T-Mobile USA because it doesn’t have a 4G strategy. (T-Mobile has also been in talks to work with Clearwire.). Likewise, it would appear that LightSquared’s technology is completely unproven, and other telecom companies, like TerreStar, are near bankruptcy (Harbinger owns 30 percent of TerreStar, and could be lining up to take advantage of its weak financial position).
Regardless, Falcone is bullish and has hired experienced employees to run the day-to-day operations of the company. Sanjiv Ahuja, formerly Orange’s former chief, has been appointed to the position of CEO, and Frank Boulben, formerly of Vodafone, is chief marketing officer.
In: Mobile Technology · Tagged with: 4G, AT&T, Clearwire, Comcast, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon, Vodafone
RIM Acquires Mobile Software Firm Cellmania
Chloe Albanesius, PC Magazine, 8/25/2010
Research in Motion has acquired mobile software firm Cellmania for an undisclosed sum.
The Mountain View, Calif.-based company produces a solution known as mFinder, which allows companies to track downloaded content on mobile phones, offer subscription billing, as well as time- and location-based content management.
“Our team has joined RIM’s global organization and will continue to bring our expertise in application storefront development to the BlackBerry platform,” Cellmania said in a note on its Web site.
Terms of the deal were not released.
RIM confirmed the purchase, and said Cellmania “is bringing their expertise in application store front development to the BlackBerry platform,” but had no further comment at this point.
Cellmania said it will continue to support its existing client base, but additional details were not provided.
RIM launched its BlackBerry App World in April 2009 in order to compete against Apple’s App Store and Google’s Android Market. The store went live on the Web four months later. Last month, RIM said it had started testing a new version of the App World, which would offer new payment options, easier app discovery, and the introduction of BlackBerry ID, which will tie a user to a device-independent account.
Last week there were rumors that RIM was also shopping around for a mobile ad network, much like Google purchased AdMob and Apple bought Quattro Wireless for its iAd platform.
In: Blackberry, Mobile Technology
Google aims Goggles at Apple’s iPhone
Rik Myslewski, The Register, 8/23/2010
Google Lab’s visual-search technology, Google Goggles, should be available for iPhone users later this year.
“We’re working on an iPhone version, and hope to have it out by the end of the year,” David Petrou, a Google staff engineer working on the Goggles project, told his keynote audience at Monday’s Hot Chips conference at Stanford University in California.
Currently, Google’s “Search by Sight” service is available only on Android clients, as it has been since it was introduced last December.
Petrou said that porting Goggles to clients other than Android is no mean feat. “It’s actually a significant penalty [having] different code bases,” he said.
But there is an alternative. “You write web apps,” said the Googly dev, echoing his company’s web-centric view of the world.
A web app for Goggles, Petrou said, isn’t current;y an option, even with HTML5′s enhanced media-capture abilities. “There is a new part of HTML5,” he said, “that allows you to acquire an image from a camera. And that’s really nice and really useful, but we don’t think it’s sufficient for something like Goggles that needs very fine control over the camera.
“The unfortunate reality is that we have to write client apps,” he said. “If something were a web app, we could change and test on one per cent of our traffic, just like that.”
And so Goggles will have to crawl out of its Android exclusivity by way of those pesky, time-consuming, hard-to-test client apps — and the iPhone will be the first to benefit.
And although Goggles is a technology worth using, Petrouy reminded his audience that it’s still in the developmental phase. “When it works, it’s very useful,” he said, “but it doesn’t always work.”
That said, the technology — based on Google’s CONGAS image-recognition engine — has acquired a database of approximately a billion images to work with, and can return a specific result on approximately 33 per cent of the queries it receives.
Considering the complexity of Google’s goal of Goggles being able to identify everything, everytime, a one-third success rate — while not exactly chopped liver — leaves a lot of room for improvement.
“We still have a very, very long way to go before we meet our universal goal,” said Petrou. And later this year they’ll add a huge cohort of Jobsian test subjects to help them on their way.
That is, if the App Store police let Goggles into their sacred store. ®
In: Android, Mobile Technology, iPhone · Tagged with: HTML5
Virgin launches contract-free unlimited mobile broadband
Ian Paul, ComputerWorld, 8/24/2010
Sprint’s Virgin Mobile today announced an overhaul of its Broadband2Go mobile broadband service. The carrier plans to offer a new contract-free, unlimited mobile broadband plan for $40 per month. Virgin Mobile will also phase out most of its current tiered mobile data plans.
The new broadband plans will be available for purchase online Wednesday and will roll out to retail stores in the coming weeks. Virgin Mobile’s announcement comes when the trend among mobile carriers is to control data consumption through tiered plans for both cell phone and mobile broadband access.
Virgin Mobile options
Starting Wednesday, Virgin Mobile’s Broadband2Go will offer two new mobile broadband data plans: unlimited data for $40 per month or 10 days of data access for $10 with consumption capped at 100MB. All Virgin Mobile plans are prepaid and contract-free.
To use Virgin Mobile’s new mobile broadband plans, customers must also purchase the carrier’s MiFi 2200 mobile hotspot for $150 or the Ovation MC760 USB device for $80. Virgin Mobile’s new broadband plans replace the carrier’s previous tiered mobile broadband offerings that ranged from $10 to $60 with the top plan maxing out at 5GB of data access.
Virgin Mobile also offers an unlimited data plan for cell phones that includes 1,200 anytime minutes for $40 per month.
Virgin Mobile vs. the World
Virgin Mobile’s new broadband offering may be welcome news for those that would like to use mobile broadband but can’t be bothered with yet another service contract.
Verizon also offers a contract-free mobile broadband plan, but the best you can get is 5GB of data for $80 per month. You can also sign a two-year contract for mobile broadband with Verizon for the still high monthly fee of $60.
AT&T offers a similar contract plan for $60 per month with a maximum 5GB. Sprint, meanwhile, has a two-year contract plan for $60 per month that includes unlimited data access over the carrier’s 4G network and a maximum 5GB a month over 3G.
But pricing isn’t everything and coverage may also be a concern depending on where you are in the U.S. You can check out Virgin Mobile’s current mobile coverage on the carrier’s Web site, and Sprint offers detailed information about current 4G coverage regions. Click here to check out Verizon’s coverage, and AT&T’s is here.
If you’re currently a Virgin Mobile Broadband2Go user, you will be eligible for the new plans once your current plan expires. So if you run out of service today, you might want to wait until Wednesday before refilling.
In: Mobile Technology · Tagged with: 3G, 4G, AT&T, MiFi, Sprint, Verizon
Mobile 3D planned for MeeGo Linux
Gavin Clarke, The Register, 8/23/2010
Intel and Nokia are reviving the spirit of Second Life with plans for 3D interfaces on mobile devices running their MeeGo Linux distro.
The companies have announced their first joint innovation center at Finland’s Oulu University, and it will specialize in the development of 3D interfaces and environments for MeeGo.
Intel and Nokia executives speaking Monday said that they hope to transfer the experience of 3D from the PC to mobile. The believe that while 3D in Second Life hasn’t lived up to the promise, 3D as a technology has passed out of hype mode and is ready for wide adoption.
The duo believe 3D will finally see off gaming and collaboration on the multi-touch iPad and iPhone and answer Windows Phone 7, which combines Silverlight and XNA to deliver what Microsoft hopes will be a rich interactive gaming and application environment.
Amid much talk of paradigm shifts, Heikki Huomo, director of the University’s Center for Internet Excellence, co-founded by Nokia, said: “We are starting the research and we believe we are able to find new use paradigms beyond the current use paradigms.”
The director for Intel Labs Europe Martin Curley added: “Nobody has a the monopoly on innovations – this will stiffen the competition and raise the game for everybody.”
Twenty four researchers will work during the next three years to build and release projects and code under an open-source license, Intel and Nokia said Monday.
Ideas will be delivered across different technologies and as specific Nokia products, although the companies said it’s too early say what products and when.
Intel and Nokia executives outlined possible scenarios, such as “home control systems” where you could mimic your house to turn on and off heating or lighting, and the use of 3D to combine gaming with social networking and location-based services on devices.
Intel and Nokia wouldn’t be drawn on specific research projects calling it “premature go through all the scenarios we are starting to research.”
The companies said that they’re trying to create an “upstream pipeline of compelling R&D activity that can find its way into the market in a couple of manifestations.”
One thing the duo did concede was that their joint lab will deliver a curriculum for MeeGo developers to try and establish Oulu as a center for MeeGo development.
Oulu University already has experience in open source and 3D and 2D development with its realXtend project. Described as a client-side stack, Oulu says realXtend will scale from devices to PCs and consoles and span 2D, Flash, and 3D. The university is building what it called a framework for flexible messaging and streaming media.
It’s unclear whether realXtend will be used in the MeeGo work. ®
In: Mobile Technology, WinPhone 7, iPad, iPhone · Tagged with: Flash, Linux, Nokia