Messaging

AT&T’s new package offers customers a significant savings when compared to international roaming pay-per-use rates for messaging, which are $.50 per message sent for text and instant messages and $1.30 per message sent for picture and video messages. With AT&T’s Global Messaging 50 Package, the $10.00 flat-rate monthly charge equates to $.20 per message sent—any message. Additionally, messages sent over the monthly limit are charged an overage rate of $.40 per message—also lower than the pay-per-use rates for sending messages while abroad.

Messages received while abroad will be charged according to the customer’s regular domestic plan.

To sign up for the new Global Messaging 50 Package or other international plans, customers can stop by their local AT&T store, call 866-MOBILITY or visit att.com/mywireless.

For information on AT&T’s international services, including tips for traveling abroad, visit www.att.com/global.

AT&T has the broadest international coverage of any U.S. wireless provider, delivering voice service in more than 220 countries and data service in 195 countries. AT&T also offers voice and data roaming coverage on 130 major cruise ships, as well as 3G services in more than 115 countries.

Activation fees, taxes and other charges apply.

AT&T imposes a Regulatory Cost Recovery Charge of up to $1.25 to help defray costs incurred in complying with obligations and charges imposed by State and Federal telecom regulations; State and Federal Universal Service charges; and surcharges for government assessments on AT&T. These fees are not taxes or government-required charges.

3G Services not available in all areas. Limited time offer. Requires a compatible device and domestic messaging plan. The plan is only for messaging sent from countries/carriers included in AT&T’s international roaming zone. Messaging sent outside AT&T’s international roaming zone will incur standard pay-per-use international messaging roaming fees. Availability, quality of coverage and services while roaming are not guaranteed. Allotted messages, monthly fee, overage rate, and countries/carriers are subject to change.

Global Messaging 50 Package is provided by AT&T Mobility.

Charles Park to CEO, Dave Ronis to CMO

Charles Park joined Pantech in 2004 and previously served as the Vice Chief Officer of Overseas Sales and Marketing where he managed all international product sales and marketing for the company. Prior to this role, Charles was the head of Pantech’s R&D and chief of its UMTS lab at the company’s Korean headquarters where he oversaw the development of key handsets such as the dual-sliding, double-keyboard Pantech duo.

“2010 is a busy and important year for Pantech, and we will not be slowing down any time soon,” said Charles Park, CEO, Pantech Wireless. “I’m excited to lead our talented team in North America and work with them in expanding our portfolio of QMDs. We enjoy designing handsets for our customers and they have come to appreciate the unique and creative approach we bring to this category.”

Joining the team as CMO is Dave Ronis, who will oversee all sales and marketing initiatives in North America as well as product planning. Dave’s role entails working with Pantech’s global executive team to make decisions about device design, manufacturing and strategic global business issues. Dave has previously held executive-level positions at LG Electronics MobileComm and Cingular Wireless.

Pantech’s QMD customers can look forward to additional handsets hitting shelves throughout the coming year. For more information about current Pantech products, please visit www.pantechusa.com.

Lamar Odom

“Samsung Mobile found Lamar Odom a natural fit for our ad featuring the premium capabilities of the Samsung Omnia II with Swype technology for faster texting. Lamar is a remarkable athlete who is on the rise, just like the Samsung Mobile brand,” said Paul Golden, chief marketing officer, Samsung Mobile. “The College Basketball Championships attract a diverse audience and one which we think will appreciate all of the smartphone features the Omnia II has to offer.”

The Samsung Omnia II, available exclusively with Verizon Wireless, is a full-touch all-in-one smartphone powered by Windows Mobile® 6.5 to keep customers connected to their corporate and personal e-mail accounts and synchronized with their schedules and contacts. The Omnia II’s 3.7-inch widescreen WVGA AMOLED (Wide Video Graphics Array Active-Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode) responsive touch screen results in one of the brightest and clearest displays on a mobile phone in the United States. The Omnia II’s virtual QWERTY keyboard with Swype technology allows customers to input text faster and easier with one continuous finger or stylus motion across the screen keyboard.

Global media agency network Starcom MediaVest Group collaborated with CBS to plan and negotiate the campaign. The campaign goes live March 18th and will run through the College Basketball Championships.

1. Number one mobile phone provider in the U.S. claim for Samsung Mobile based upon reported shipment data, according to Strategy Analytics Q1-Q4 2009 and Q3 and Q4 2008 U.S. Market Share Handset Shipments Reports.

Orange Sony Ericsson Xperia X10

The 3G+ enabled X10 is the latest device to feature Google’s Android operating system, and sees the introduction of Sony Ericsson’s new User Experience (UX) interface. The interface features great new applications including Timescape and Mediascape which allow users to organise the content in their phone in an intuitive way:

• Timescape manages all your communication with one person in one place.  Browse through your conversations the bright way to check out your Facebook, Twitter, photos, emails, and texts all in one go
• Mediascape is the smart way to get all the music, photos and videos you want from your favourite friends and artists.

What’s more, intelligence capabilities integrated into Timescape and Mediascape can automatically recognise connections between contacts, content and media. By recommending alternative ways to communicate or guiding to new media experiences, consumers can discover more in a truly open way. For example:

• Pressing the new “infinite button” guides users through the connected world, aggregating all interactions with one person into one view
• Intelligent face recognition features recognise up to five faces in any picture, automatically connecting them with users social phonebook and all other related communications with that person

The handset also comes with an integrated 8.1 mega-pixel, auto-focus camera, featuring camcorder capability, a 4 inch WVGA touchscreen, A-GPS and 1Gb of internal memory with a 8Gb MicroSD card.  All this is supported by a superfast 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor.

Francois Mahieu, Director of Devices, Orange UK said “We’re really pleased to be working with Sony Ericsson to help bring their first Android device to UK customers. The exclusive white Xperia X10 allows users to make the most from their social relationships, whether over a call or online and is a great addition to our ever expanding range of Android devices”.

The X10 will be available in black and in white from Orange shops and www.orange.co.uk/shop in April, as well as on Orange from Phones4U.

Hmv mobile games powered by Orange

Hmv mobile games will provide customers with access to a library of over 400 games, with new titles available every week. They will have access to their favourite games including some of the more popular titles such as Fifa Manager 10, Call of Duty MW2, Tetris and PAC-MAN. Games will be priced starting from £1, while new releases and premium games will cost between £3 and £5.  The service will also include free demos.

Orange customers will be billed directly for their mobile game-play, while customers on other networks can use a ‘Pay For It’ billing system, where they will be charged for the individual cost of each game.

As the mobile market evolves and the popularity of digital and mobile media continues to increase, new and innovative services such as hmv mobile games are becoming an essential part of consumers’ everyday lives.

Stephen Harris, Business Development Director, Orange UK, said: “Orange is proud to be introducing this new service in strategic partnership with HMV, which will enable both parties to deliver greater value, products and services to our customers. It will also allow us to increase our reach in mobile gaming and build on our success as the number one mobile gaming operator in the UK. Our partnership with HMV is a key part of our strategy to grow and evolve our business, while giving consumers even more convenient ways to play games on their mobile phone.”

Tim Ellis, Head of Games at HMV, said: “We’re delighted to be launching this new mobile offer to get them closer to games content in a way that’s relevant to them. It also demonstrates the kind of added-value benefit that we can deliver to our customers by working in partnership with Orange.”

Orange and HMV continue to develop their partnership, following last year’s announcement that HMV would install concessions in up to 100 stores.

HMV mobile games goes live from Friday 26th March. For more information, visit www.hmv.com/mobilegames

Siterra+ Mobile

“Our application needs to be as mobile as our customers. This new extension of our Siterra+ functionality was built to foster collaboration throughout our customers’ organization, whether the user is working in their home office or out in the field,” said Bernard Fried, Siterra’s CEO.

Users of Siterra+ and its four product modules can access much of the same functionality through their mobile devices, including:

• Projects—Coordinate all site-related activities such as site selection, build-outs, and ongoing maintenance.
• Assets—Track and maintain all assets associated with an operating site and integrate asset data with their enterprise financial and other operations support systems.
• Data | Documents | Photos—Access all operational site-related data, custom forms, documents, and photos.
• Leases—Interface with internal and external financial systems to automate and streamline lease billings and payments, monitor of critical dates, and maintain financial regulatory compliance.

Attendees at CTIA 2010 can experience Siterra+ Mobile in action, along with a host of new features recently introduced to Siterra+, the company’s online software for the Wireless industry at Booth # 1855

Nokia Diagnostics for S60 3.2 devices

This beta release has been tested with:

Nokia 5320 XpressMusic, Nokia 5630 XpressMusic, Nokia 5730 XpressMusic,Nokia 6210 Navigator, Nokia 6220 classic, Nokia 6650 fold, Nokia 6700 slide,Nokia 6710 Navigator, Nokia 6720 classic, Nokia 6730 classic,Nokia 6760 slide, Nokia 6788, Nokia 6790 slide, Nokia 6790 Surge,Nokia C5-00, Nokia E52, Nokia E55, Nokia E71x, Nokia E72, Nokia E75,Nokia N78, Nokia N79, Nokia N85, Nokia N86 8MP, Nokia N96, Nokia N96-3

WIND mobile

Streaming refers to the ability to listen to music and watch video from the web on your BlackBerry smartphone. Our testers have fallen in love with streaming apps Slacker Personal Radio and Nobex Radio Companion from BlackBerry App World.

They also recommended using your internet browser to go straight to m.youtube.com to watch videos or m.moodio.fm to listen to music – no special download required.

Opera at CTIA Wireless

For the telecom and mobile industry, in addition to the products and demos listed above, Opera will showcase a number of Opera Widgets and cross-platform solutions, as well as conducting real-world speed tests across multiple handsets, to showcase Opera’s latest Carakan JavaScript engine, the Opera Presto 2.5 rendering engine and Opera Turbo compression technology.

Opera will also take the discussion of widgets outside the smartphone by unveiling a new strategy that will make it possible to bring widgets to feature phones and other types of limited-capacity devices.

Finally, stay tuned for Opera’s latest partner announcements, and make sure to check out Opera Co-founder Jon von Tetzchner on the following panel:

• “Devices – The Competitive OS Landscape”
• Location: Las Vegas Convention Center – Room N 120
• Date/Time: Mar 23, 2010, 4:00 PM to 5:15 PM

“Today we see the Web infiltrating all aspects of the mobile industry, from smartphones to feature phones” explains Roy Satterthwaite, Senior Vice President, Americas, Opera Software. “The Web has become a rich platform for development. For carriers and OEMs alike, the opportunity is now about utilizing existing and future Web technologies to deliver rich content and applications across multiple platforms, while dealing with real-world network conditions.”

CTIA Wireless will be held from March 22–25 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Visit Opera at Booth #6767 in North Hall at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Sprint Mobile Broadband on Demand

Now, Sprint Wholesale partners are able to provide on-demand access of prepaid mobile broadband services to their customers by the day, week or month – or should the customer prefer, by megabyte. Consumers can enjoy an “off the shelf” experience; in which they simply purchase the partner-branded data card (no contract required), select the data plan of their choice, and connect. Users can easily track usage from a small data meter icon and can “top off” their balance as needed.

“This joint offering from Sprint and Telespree represents one of the most exciting prepaid mobile broadband opportunities today,” said Dan Dooley, president of Sprint Wholesale Solutions. “Now companies with strong brand presence and distribution can expand the appeal of mobile broadband with economical, pay-as-you-go plans as well as innovative bundle solutions designed to reach new markets and customers.”

“There is a need for more flexible business models and pricing structures as we move into the next phase of mobile broadband consumer adoption, which will include new market segments and myriad devices,” says Mark Lowenstein, Managing Director of consulting firm Mobile Ecosystem. “This is among the first tools on the market that accommodates the requirements of mobile operators, who, in addition to supporting consumers and enterprises, are also building a robust wholesale business.”

The Mobile Broadband on Demand solution is customizable; Telespree will work directly with each Sprint partner to design their specific service offering. Telespree can integrate into existing partner backend systems or provide a turnkey solution, including billing and logistics.

“This joint offering with Sprint creates interesting and diverse markets,” said Bill deKay, chief executive officer, Telespree. “The Mobile Broadband on Demand model allows any company to compete in the wireless space with a tailored solution that best meets the needs of their customers.”

Sprint and Telespree will be showcasing the Mobile Broadband on Demand product at the International CTIA WIRELESS 2010 Show in Las Vegas, March 23-25. Demonstrations of the product will be available at the Sprint booth (#5764, North Hall).

The announcement of this new product by Sprint and Telespree for Sprint Wholesale partners comes on the heels of a recent announcement of the refresh of Broadband2Go prepaid mobile broadband plans by Virgin Mobile USA, one of Sprint’s prepaid wireless brands, indicating a coordinated effort by Sprint to fully cater to the needs of this new breed of mobile broadband consumers. For more information, visit www.virginmobileusa.com/mobile-broadband.

MobiTV Gets Multi-Screen Future

MobiTV says,Without offering a specific app or plan, it will work for a number of business models including subscriptions, rentals and even sharing content between devices.

This new security feature will eventually allow customers to store programs and watch them offline, instead of relying on a wireless connection to stream multimedia content.

Microsoft and SFR launch Messenger Edition 251

It doesn’t run Windows Mobile, but some proprietary OS that only works with Microsoft’s IM service.

It will cost 79 EUR for the phone with its “SFR La Carte” prepaid plan(which costs 10 EUR and comes with unlimited SMS and Windows Live messaging for 10 days_. Alternatively, the unlocked Messenger Edition 251 is for 109 EUR.

Samsung S3370 Spotted!

Features include 3G connectivity, 2.8-inch QVGA (most likely) display, Bluetooth, some camera, whereas Samsung’s infamous TouchWIZ user interface will be in charge for all interactions with the device.

The S3370 already made its way through the FCC, so we expect an official announcement soon. It may cost about about €100