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The Wireless Outpost News Issue #6 Vol. 5
Wednesday, April, 2003
Another (politically incorrect) issue of the Wireless Outpost News. This publication is produced for the soon to be educated cellular phone user community. If you know of anyone else that may have an interest in our publication, make sure to forward them a copy. Don't worry if you miss an issue of our publication, we archive to cellularphonenews.com for your convenience. Now we move forward at Mach II speed!
[Note: This newsletter is delivered Bi Weekly on Wednesday.]
INTERESTING REPORT COMES OUT ON WIRELESS INDUSTRY GROWTH
A report by Strategy Analytics has some interesting predictions on who will be the winners and losers in the next few years within the wireless industry service providers. In total, the report claims that the wireless will see a modest growth rate over the next few years. After that, we will be spectators sitting in the arena watching the gladiators go at it to gain favorable public opinion and then some.
The report states that the wireless market will grow at approximately 6% over the next five years. This growth rate will result in a penetration rate in the US at nearly 70% making the US the second largest penetrated wireless market in the world in terms of the number of subscribers. The report was broken down even further by carrier and where they could expect to see gains or losses. The biggest winner is expected to be Verizon Wireless.
Sprint PCS is anticipated to gain ground with their data services because of their Virgin Mobile partnership. On the other hand, another affiliate of Sprint PCS called Horizon PCS is looking at a potential bankruptcy. How that may affect their gains in data services is not yet known. T Mobile USA is expected to continue reporting a high number of net additions. The report also suggests that Cingular Wireless and AT&T Wireless are going to lose ground. In reference to the high additions of T Mobile and the loss of ground by Cingular and AT&T Wireless was not covered and we didn't get a chance to research why this may happen although LNP was one suggestion.
Since AT&T Wireless and Cingular are switching to a GSM platform, we can assume that the technology platform wouldn't be the problem. Coverage areas provided by these two companies could be a factor. However, both of these companies are battling a variety of issues that could be causing them to lose subscribers to their competitors. Nextel is expected to increase their average revenue per customer which isn't saying much since they have the smallest customer base of all the wireless carriers. Nextel recently entered the consumer segment of the industry but they may be a bit too late in trying to grab a major portion of the marketshare if this trend unfolds this quickly.
As a whole for the industry, service revenues are expected to be up by nine percent which equates to $93 billion. Analysts are also predicting that wireless minutes sold will double to
$1.6 trillion, and operator revenues will grow to approximately $133 billion. The report also anticipates that by 2008, CDMA network technology cellular phones will be the largest majority of cellular phone users with US standard GSM technology making progress. Voice traffic volume will also double in that time.
Meaning that carriers are going to have to pay attention to tower capacity to ensure that dropped and blocked calls are kept to a minimum to avoid customer complaints. Then again, that may become a moot point if the federal legislation is enacted to regulate wireless carriers. As a refresher, the federal legislation was being drafted that would allow the State Public Utilities Commissions (PUC) to regulate wireless carrier services in their states similar to that imposed on land based telecom companies providing local phone services.
It appears as if the next ten years is going to be quite rosy for consumers and the next five years might be good for retailers. With a note of caution to the wireless retailers in that the next five years could see a slowing down of new business as more and more consumers begin contacting the carriers directly. In so doing, the carriers are not going to pass up a chance to cross sell or up sell to an existing customer and avoid paying a commission by extending a contract.
For the more optimistic types, the pool of cellular phone users will be much larger and the enacting of Local Number Portability (LNP) will help with churn to another service provider. Of course, LNP can also be a double edged sword for the retailer if the customer cancels their contract. If you are curious as to what the future may hold, feast your eyes on Japan which has a saturation rate of over 90%. As they say, onward and forward soldier!
CHINESE MOBILE PHONE MANUFACTURERS BEATING MOTOROLA & NOKIA
Ever been to China? Extremely intelligent people and quite friendly too. Too bad that their government reigns them in so tightly that their intellectual resources are not applied nearly as much as they could be. At least they can borrow the schematics of Motorola and Nokia who have most of their cell phones manufactured in China. They may or may not regret that decision now that the local manufacturers are starting to pick up domestic marketshare. A market which could be the largest in the world. Here are the most recent stats from China's Ministry of Information Industry.
Chinese manufacturers have increase their market share to 39% in total. A major leap from last year which was at only 22%. Motorola and Nokia paid the price as well as a few other manufacturers. But Motorola and Nokia had the most to gain or lose depending on how you look at it. Motorola's marketshare in China dropped to 26% compared to 29% last year. Nokia's marketshare dropped from 22% to only 18%. Continuing on that note, the market share of Siemens declined in 2002 to 4.7% and Sony Ericsson was 2.1% compared to Ericsson's 6.5% in 2001.
Most of the gains by the domestic manufacturers was at the expense of non Chinese manufacturers. They were able to increase their marketshare by focusing on producing lower end priced cellular phones for the general population. With lower end phones being priced at under $300 USD per unit. Which brings us to the next point. Chinese sales for cellular phones was listed at slightly over 130 million units last year with about sixty million of those units being exported outside of China.
This would suggest that approximately 70 million units were sold within China. Where as the local manufacturers have seen some success in the domestic market, they are having trouble with getting their phones accepted abroad. Their total sales for exporting was only a half million units which equates to less than 1% of their overall export volume of cellular phones. That may be in part due to a lack of name brand recognition outside of the country.
However, that is an obstacle that can be overcome in time and probably isn't of major concern for the immediate future. With a marketshare of over 1 billion people, they still have plenty of room to grow within their own market. That isn't to say that China will see a penetration rate that is seen in more developed countries though as many of the Chinese people are peasants who will never make enough to afford a cellular phone and even if they did, their area probably wouldn't have tower coverage to allow them to use the phone.
When it is viewed from that perspective, only about 20% of the population in China could be considered a viable market for the purpose of cellular phone use. A significant reduction in the potential marketshare in that country but it is still a market that could rival that of the US. Making it a very lucrative foreign market to be pursued in light of the current penetration rate within the US. It was said that Nokia is already taking steps to stem the tide and it would be fair to assume that Motorola will follow.
Motorola may have an advantage in that they have already implemented a production process that allows them to manufacture a board that can be adapted and customized with changing the form/shape of the housing and software included with the unit. Much like the process utilized by Sendo UK Ltd. We intend to monitor this trend and we will keep you posted as we learn of new developments.
VIRGIN MOBILE STEPS UP TO THE PLATE AND BACKS LNP FOR CONSUMERS
Oddly enough, Virgin Mobile has broken ranks with the other carriers with supporting Local Number Portability for wireless subscribers. An added twist to it is that not only do they support LNP but they have urged the FCC to force carriers to meet the November 24th deadline. When I read that, even I had to sit down to finish reading the details. That when the second shock to my system came about. Yet another carrier is in support of LNP!
The other dissent to LNP delays is Leap Communications. Leap feels that implementing LNP will allow more land line customers to switch to wireless use by being able to transport their telephone numbers to their cellular phones. Although our research indicates that not all landline phone companies will be able or ready to transfer their toll numbers over to a wireless phone, some of them will be in that position.
Virgin Mobile's take on the LNP issue was that they considered themselves to be champions of the wireless consumer and felt that any delay in implementing LNP was be detrimental to the consumer. Of course, there is some marketing spin in making those statements but the fact that these two companies are breaking rank in support of LNP is incredible. Virgin is also supporting the requirement for enhanced 911 services to be made available to consumers.
Analysts believe that Verizon Wireless and Nextel will most likely benefit from LNP although they oppose it. As we mentioned in a previous article, it is expected that the Cingular and AT&T Wireless may find LNP to be a setback due to their transitions to the GSM platform. It was also suggested the Cingulars coverage footprint for service may not be as attractive to subscribers once they have completed their migration to GSM.
Back to Leap's comments on gaining wireline customers, it has grabbed the attention of local phone companies too. They are concerned that land based customers will do exactly as Leap Communications is suggesting and have joined the battle to delay or derail LNP implementation. The CTIA and Verizon are in a battle with the FCC over the LNP mandate. Both have filed a suit with the US Court of Appeals in DC which was heard just days ago. An argument was put forward by the CTIA and Verizon that the FCC has over stepped their authority in the LNP mandate.
A ruling on the lawsuit is not expected until the end of this summer. If they lose and the FCC is found to have the authority to force LNP implementation, then we will be able to start switching our cell phone numbers around from one wireless carrier to the next. Local phone companies are trying to limit the number of land based toll lines that can be transferred to a cellular phone. AT&T Wireless on the other hand is suggesting that it should be available to all wireless carriers.
The fact that so much attention and effort has been put into fighting LNP means that it has the carriers and local phone companies running scared. At present, it is estimated that only 3% of wireless customers do not have any landline phone service. If LNP is enacted, those statistics could significantly increase within a matter of months causing more mayhem for service providers on both sides of the fence. For the record, we are definitely 100% in favor of the implementation of local number portability.
In fact, I do believe that it will be necessary for me to switch my service several times. In the name of scientific research of course. Far be it from me to switch providers just to create havoc and mayhem for the purposes of a story. Strike that. I would definitely do it just for a story. But I will try not too. In the meantime, I would like to ask our readers who actually take on that task to send us your feedback and experiences. The more comparisons I have to my own experience, the better.
WIRELESS LEGISLATION FOR IRAQ RECONSTRUCTION EXCLUDES UN COUNCIL
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) wanted to make a statement when he and several others introduced legislation that would require the reconstruction plan of Iraq to be setup as CDMA technology. In so doing, the focus of the bill was to ensure the Department of Defense and the United States Agency for International Development excluded France, Russia, and Germany from getting a piece of the action. The congressman also circulated a letter to other lawmakers which had this to say.
"If European GSM technology is deployed in Iraq, much of the equipment used to build the
cell phone system will be manufactured in France by Alcatel, in Germany by Siemens, and elsewhere in western and northern Europe. Therefore, if our understanding of this situation is correct, because of ill-considered planning, the U.S. government will soon hand U.S. taxpayer dollars over to French, German, and other European cell-phone equipment companies to build the new Iraqi cell-phone system. This is not acceptable," it read.
The bill that was introduced had the following statement. "In entering into any contract with a private entity to provide commercial mobile wireless communication service as assistance for Iraq, the administrator of USAID and the Secretary of Defense shall require that CDMA technology be used for such communication service."
Qualcomm may have been behind the lobbying for such a bill which drew the ire of Cingular Wireless who is now moving into GSM technology deployment. About two weeks later the Congressman stepped back from his strong stand on a CDMA only deployment in Iraq after getting a letter from the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA). Must have been a fairly strong letter from the association because the Congressman responded in a letter back to the President of the SIA with stating the following.
"At this time, I am requesting that USAID and the Department of Defense rethink their decision and allow both CDMA and GSM vendors to bid on this substantial contract and, after reviewing all of the proposals available to them, choose the one that serves the best interests of American taxpayers and the Iraqi people," wrote Congressman Issa. It is unknown what was in the letter to cause the Congressman to revise his stand on the issue.
FIRST WIRELESS WRISTWATCH PHONE MAKES IT ONTO THE MARKET
The Japanese always get the good stuff. Now they are able to purchase a wrist held cellular phone called the Wristomo being offered by DoCoMo. Since they have a stake in AT&T Wireless, maybe they will be generous enough to have that bad little toy introduced into the US. But I wouldn't recommend holding your breath. For some reason, they will only be selling it over the internet. Can't really say why they chose to go that route but here are the details on the features available with the Wristomo.
The Wristomo is a waterproof wristwatch with buttons on the side that open up the face and turn it into a phone. It includes an e-mail service with up to 6,000 characters, an Internet browser, location-based services and handles wireless data at 64 kilobits per second. The wristwatch also synchronizes an address book and journal with a desktop PC via a wireless connection or with a cable. The watch weighs 113 grams including a battery and has a talk time of two hours and 200 hours of standby time.
It is a fairly nifty device with being something of a "snap on" type of wrist band. Of course, it is was designed by Seiko. We found a website located in Japan which gave a 3D picture of it and clicked on another link that gave us a 3D still picture as well. You can find the website at www.wristomo.com and if you click on the button called WMSWORLD, it will take you to the still photo of the wrist phone. However, unless you can read Japanese, you may have trouble reading the rest of the website.
This is the URL website that we believe is where the online orders would be placed. I would have to say that the press release from the DoCoMo company website has the best still photo of the device. It does not allow us to capture a direct link to the press release so you will have to do some digging to get to it. Go to the company's main website at
http://www.nttdocomo.com/home.html
and click on the current information button and select press releases.
Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the press release archives for March and you will find it on that page. Believe me, it is unique enough that it is worth the look see. I don't think any of us would have an issue wearing one. For those who are wondering why they won't be available in the US, it is because they are not compatible with our wireless networks. If they were, I would have had a boat load of them by now.
NEW WIRELESS PHONES ROLLED OUT BY THE MANUFACTURERS
Who wants to bet that Lucky Goldstar will find a marked increase in their US marketshare as a cellular phone manufacturer in the upcoming twelve months or so? I will have to raise my hand on that one. In fact, if they meet their predictions on their sales forecasts, they will bump Sony Ericsson for fifth place as a major cellular phone manufacturer. The reason for their recent success? They looked and they listened. Here is the new line to be rolled out by manufacturers including a new manufacturer to North America.
LG Mobile Phones announced five new phones for North America. The LG 6000. LG 5450, and LG 3100 flip style CDMA phone and the LG 4050 and LG 4010 GSM flip style phones. With the fact that they are clam style flip phones in silver housings, it will make them quite popular. Only because those are the two cosmetic features that American consumers have decidedly voted for with their dollars as the most popular.
LG doesn't get much attention as a manufacturer but last year sold 16 million phones. This year they anticipate selling 23 million phones that use either CDMA or GSM technology. We are paying attention to LG because we believe they are going to give Motorola and Samsung a run for their money in the sale of flip style phones. Although the Motorola V60 is still topping the charts with a substantial lead as the most popular phone.
Enough of a led that Motorola is rolling out the V60X in due time as well as the introduction of two more small flip style CDMA phones. The V810 which will come with a camera and E310 which will have the camera as an optional feature. The V810 looks very similar to a V60 series unit. The E310 looks similar in style to the LG TM510 unit. But we would be remiss if we failed to mention Audiovox who is also coming out with a couple of flip style phones.
The Audiovox 8600 and 8900 series units. The 8900 will also be a smaller unit with a camera and includes my favorite feature of voice dialing. The company is also coming out with a bar style 8400 series unit. But I do find it strange that a bar style unit would come with voice dialing. Sanyo is supposed to be rolling out their 8100 series phone for Sprint PCS. Again, it is a flip style phone with a silver or chrome housing.
Last but not least, we have the introduction of a new company to North America. The Telson TDC 8100 series flip style cellular phones which has what? Voice dialing. For some reason, the first phone to be introduced is a dual mode CDMA technology unit. Currently, Verizon Wireless is looking at adding it to their current product line. The phone just received FCC approval a couple of weeks ago. It will come with capabilities for internet access, GPS capability, and two way text messaging.
Based on what we read on the capabilities of their dual mode phone, it comes with all the advanced features you would normally find in the tri mode CDMA phones. No release date on this unit has been offered that we can find. Just for the devil of it, we will throw in a couple of other lesser known brands and models who are seeking to enter the marketplace. They are the Telit GM 825 tri band GSM world phone, the Maxon MX 7391, and the Hitachi SH P300 offered by Sprint PCS which is the first for Hitachi in the US market but hasn't taken off as a popular phone.
What we have seen in the current trends of manufacturers are that more and more of the manufacturers are moving into offering the flip style phones. In most of the roll outs that we have seen from many of them, at least 50% or more of the new units are rolled as flip phones by the various manufacturers. Expect to have more choices by the end of this year in what you can select. Verizon Wireless appears to be the most aggressive in offering these types of units too.
Divelink International Technologies Inc. of Canada has revealed a unique underwater communication system. The company specializes in hands free wireless underwater communications, supplying the Divelink system to almost 60 countries worldwide. Originally developed for Nokia of Finland, the project was moved to Canada when Mark Stone, an electrical engineer who developed the system, acquired it. Which brings us to their latest system development.
The Victoria-based hi-tech company's systems are favored by rescue divers because theirs is the only system that allows divers to communicate without being connected by wires and without having to operate awkward hand-held units. The latest technology developed by Divelink is a special adapter that enables further communication using a cell phone. Not only can divers now talk to other divers and someone on the surface, but also they can speak to a person anywhere in the world.
"Our system is a natural fit for emergency response professionals as they need to communicate with a variety of sources during a rescue operation," says Pete Devine, Vice President of Divelink. "We're proud of our technology and we're also proud that it helps to save lives."
The Divelink system is the only multi-channel underwater communication system and has a range of up to 2000 meters. The system gives divers voice contact with the surface and with each other through a hands-free microphone attached to the dive mask. The system works on a patented voice recognition chip, allowing dive teams to work more cooperatively. Divelink's products have quickly become fundamental dive tools in the field of search and rescue, scientific data gathering, movie production, underwater photography, salvaging, weapon retrieval and diver instruction. It is a vast improvement on the old system which consisted of line pulls on a rope stretching from the diver to the surface.
The company's client list includes the US Navy Seals, Japanese Coast Guard, Malaysia Fire Brigade Search and Recovery Unit, Disney World, the Seattle Aquarium, National Geographic Magazine and over 40 search and rescue dive units in North America alone. Their latest client is Florida State University where Divelink equipment will be used for an underwater crime scene course. The full-face single channel mask retails for approximately $900 US; a full-face multi-channel unit for $1500 US; a single channel surface communications unit for $900 US and a cell phone surface unit for $1250 US.
You can visit their website at www.divelink.net
for further information.
GSM ASSOCIATION AWARD WINNERS FOR 2003 ARE OUT AND ABOUT
The 2003 GSM Association Awards celebrated the most innovative and successful achievements of the wireless industry. We mentioned this event previously and wanted to do a follow up on it for those of you who have an interest in it. Each year the prestigious wireless industry awards attract a huge number of entries from network operators, manufacturers, application developers and content providers worldwide. I am sorry to say that we are not in the major league so we didn't win anything as an independent publication. Then again, they didn't have a category like that because if they did, I am sure we would have won something! Here are the results.
The winners of the 2003 GSM Association Awards were announced as:
Category One: Technology Innovation
BEST WIRELESS HANDSET/TERMINAL OR HANDHELD DEVICE:
. Sharp Corporation, UK, for the Sharp GX10
BEST INFRASTRUCTURE OR NETWORK SOLUTION PRODUCT:
. Telos Technology & Globecomm Systems Inc., Canada ,for Telos' Packet Switching Technology
Category Two: Applications & Services - Sponsored by Motorola
BEST WIRELESS APPLICATION OR SERVICE - CORPORATE MARKET:
. Commtag, UK, for DualityT Always-on Mail
BEST WIRELESS APPLICATION OR SERVICE - CONSUMER MARKET:
. Vodafone Group, for Vodafone live!
BEST WIRELESS APPLICATION DEVELOPER:
. 3G LAB, UK
Category Three: Marketing & Promotions
BEST TELEVISION OR BROADCAST COMMERCIAL:
. Vodafone Group, for 'Vodafone live!'
BEST MARKETING CAMPAIGN:
. Entel PCS, Chile, for the 'XAT' Campaign
Category Four: Wireless in the Community
USE OF WIRELESS FOR ACCESSIBILITY:
. XIAM, Ireland, for XIAM Information Router/West Midlands Police
BEST USE OF WIRELESS FOR EMERGENCY SITUATIONS:
. MTN Networks, Sri Lanka, for the SMS Blood Appeal, Matching and Donor Management Application
GSM Association Chairman's Award:
. Sir Christopher Gent, Chief Executive Officer, Vodafone Group Plc
Sharp Corporation's GX10 won the Best Wireless Handset/Terminal or Handheld Device award and succeeded in impressing the judges with its huge choice of features that are easy for consumers to use.
The judges commented: "The Sharp GX10 exceeded all the judging criteria. Crucially it was delivered on time and enabled the seamless launch of an important new service as a result of close collaboration between Sharp and its operator customers."
The winner of the Best Infrastructure or Network Solution Product was a joint entry from Telos Technology & Globecomm Systems Inc. for Telos' Packet Switching Technology implemented on a new network in the Kingdom of Tonga. The technology deployed significantly reduced costs and saved vital network bandwidth.
"Telos' technology is great progress in the development of the GSM market, making communication possible where it was previously extremely difficult," commented Rob Conway.
In the Applications and Services category, the number and quality of entries was staggering. The judges selected Commtag's DualityT Always-on Mail application as Best Wireless Application or Service - Corporate Market because it successfully dealt with the need of many corporations to mobilise workforces.
The judges decided that: "For many corporate users, email is the primary means of communication and is hence the most important application for mobile workers. Commtag's system enables remote access to corporate email in a flexible and efficient fashion."
Vodafone Group scooped the Best Wireless Application or Service - Consumer Market award for Vodafone live! Despite tough competition from dozens of creative and innovative services, Vodafone live! incorporated cutting-edge technology, applications and services to give its customers a complete wireless Internet experience.
Rob Conway commented: "Vodafone has succeeded in making mobile data services exciting and accessible to all. Vodafone live! has been pivotal in helping consumers understand exactly what they can get out of their phones in terms of simple user benefits."
The Best Wireless Application Developer award went to 3G LAB. The company's work on enabling operators and manufacturers to dynamically update user interfaces over-the-air, specifically with the Trigenix offering, impressed the judges. "3G LAB has clearly identified a key operator and manufacturer business challenge and is tackling it effectively," the judges concluded.
Entries in the third category demonstrated how far the industry has come in its ability to effectively market to its customers by focusing on services rather than technology. Best Television or Broadcast Commercial saw Vodafone Group carrying off its second award of the evening for the commercial that supported the launch of Vodafone live!
The judges were impressed by the high level of awareness created by the commercial and the translation of this awareness into sales. "The Vodafone live! commercial serves our entire industry - it succeeds in demonstrating to a wide audience exactly how data devices can deliver benefits in everyday life," enthused the judges.
Entel PCS took the Best Marketing Campaign award for its 'XAT' campaign that aimed to win market share of the Chilean SMS market following interoperability. The campaign created an entirely new language (XAT is pronounced 'chat') and sub-culture and integrated numerous marketing media to deliver a coherent, compelling message.
The judges commented: "XAT is a great example of a simple, successful, interactive marketing campaign. Entel PCS has raised consumer awareness and excitement around SMS and, crucially, this has translated into sales."
The Wireless in the Community category seeks to showcase the often unrecognized work of the wireless industry in the community - it is traditionally a challenging category to judge as there are many deserving entries. The winner of the Best Use of Wireless for Accessibility award was XIAM. XIAM's Information Router was installed by the West Midlands Police - the second largest police force in the UK - to give the hearing and speech impaired access to emergency services wherever they may be.
"This is an excellent category that never fails to demonstrate how crucial GSM can be to certain communities. It really can help transform peoples' lives. XIAM's technology provides a critical service to a market segment that has previously experienced difficulties accessing emergency services whilst on the move, " added Rob Conway.
This year the Best Use of Wireless for Emergency Situations award was won by MTN Networks for its SMS Blood Appeal, Matching and Donor Management Application. MTN worked with Sri Lanka's Blood Transfusion Service to help solve blood stock shortages exacerbated by unrest and disease in the country. The use of SMS to recruit and recall blood donors at times of shortage was applauded by the judges and has been recognized by the World Health Organization.
The judges commented: "MTN Networks and Sri Lanka's National Blood Transfusion Service have found a novel way of using existing technology to counter a wide-spread public health problem."
The final category, the GSM Association Chairman's Award, is awarded at the sole discretion of the GSM Association. Presented by Jim Pratt, GSMA Chairman 2002, the award aims to recognize an organization, individual or company that has made an outstanding contribution to the development, success or growth behind the GSM family of wireless communications.
This year's Chairman's Award went to Sir Christopher Gent, Chief Executive Officer of the Vodafone Group Plc in recognition and honor of his outstanding personal contribution to the growth and success of the global GSM industry over the last two decades.
"Sir Christopher Gent is perhaps one of the best known captains of the wireless industry. His efforts have not only positioned Vodafone Group as one of the largest wireless telecommunications companies in the world, but have furthered the cause of the wireless industry beyond estimation," commented Jim Pratt. "We are pleased to be able to celebrate his contribution to our industry's success at the end of his high-profile career."
FREE WIRELESS SOFTWARE DOWNLOADS FROM MOBIMARKETING
Too often, I neglect our friends on the other side of the time zone in Australia. I figured I had better correct that when I stumbled across a company called Mobimarketing out of Brisbane, Australia. A company that has managed to take a traditional style of marketing and turn it to their favor and that of their end users. MobiMarketing announced the release of MobiManager, a tool for creative
cell phone users. MobiManager provides an easy-to-use means of creating Logos, Ringtones, personal phone lists and for the sending of SMS and picture messages.
"Already on the Internet there are hundreds of sites offering free Ringtones and Logos. Getting these into your
cell phone was always the challenge," said Alistair Campion, General Manager of MobiMarketing.
MobiManager provides an exceedingly easy-to-use interface. Most users can create, edit and save a Logo or Ringtone within minutes. With the addition of a data cable, a single click uploads the file to your phone. Alternatively, you can SMS your friends. Using MobiManager you can send Text, Ringtones, Logos, Picture and Flash messages.
"Phone security is an issue which many people never think about until their phone is lost or stolen", said Alistair Campion. MobiManager allows you to backup and restore the contents of your phone. You can also view your security code and your IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity). Access to this number allows you to quickly block the usage of your phone if it is lost or stolen.
Campion went on to say that many users now store their personal and business contacts on their
cell phone. "Loss of this information can be a major setback. MobiManager allows you to backup, edit and restore the complete contents of your mobile phone. It also allows you to save this data to other files formats for easy migration between applications."
With mobile handsets now exceeding the number of fixed line telephones in Australia and the subscriber base of mobile-users set to exceed 0.5 billion in the Asia Pacific region by 2005 (EMC World Cellular Database, Nov 2002), it is not surprising that people are now looking at ways to better protect and to customize these assets. MobiMarketing is currently working with Australian Ringtone-composers and graphic artists to create a sense of Australian style about the way people use their phones.
"Most people continue to play bland Ringtones and display the name of their mobile operator", said Alistair Campion. "Using MobiManager, it is now very easy to add your own music favorite, company logo or child's photo to a mobile phone".
By working with local artists, MobiMarketing plans to provide an alternative medium for personal expression. As Campion suggests, "The
cell phone is already pervasive, what we currently lack is a sense of style about the way we use and display our
handsets."
Mobimanager is available as a FREE download at http://www.mobimarketing.com, the program has been designed to work with Nokia phones. Anecdotal research suggests that many phone users find it difficult to customize their handsets and that the premium cost of existing Ringtones and Logos services is excessive.
EDITOR'S CORNER - YOUR RESPONSES TO OUR CONTROVERSIAL MESSAGES
Well, we had a total of eight people unsubscribe from our publication in protest of the EVC messages. Can't really say that I was shedding tears or losing sleep over the loss of a few subscribers. I mean this is a free publication after all. If it had been thousands of people dropping off, I may have had a reason to start sweating a bit. I mean this is a free publication after all, and I am a firm believer in controversy. It keeps things interesting. Anyhow, here are your responses to those messages. Note that we didn't spell check or edit them but posted them in an "as is" format.
"THAT IS VERY STUPID, HOW CAN YOU MIX BUSINESS WITH GOVERNMENTAL ISSUES? HOW DO YOU KNOW WHO AND WHO DOSNT SUPPORT THE WAR IN THOSE COUNTRIES? VERY IGNORANT"
[Editor: As far as mixing business and government, we can do it because we want to do it out of patriotism. You see that is the nice part of living in a democracy, we actually have a choice. In reference to how we know who supported the war, it is called a coalition and the list of most countries involved is readily available. Why take three when you can have over fifty! Sounds like a solid business decision to me.]
"10-4. Keep it up! Let's give them a lesson!"
"You're right on track. I'm sending your e-mail on to my own personal network. I also think we should forget about the UN until we can develop an action minded organization that can recognize right from wrong. The organization is so complex that trying to get action when needed is virtually impossible. as it stands now, it's a platform for countries that want to execute their own agenda and the hell with whether some one is getting trampled, bombed or having their buildings crunched by a bunch of maniacs that think they are going to some sort of heaven populated by attending virgins. if we let the UN bundle the peace effort then we deserve
everything we get."
"In response to your e-mail as an a American Corporation we support your efforts and we are proud to know that there are other Companies that share our thoughts GOD BLESS AMERICA GOD BLESS OUR REPUBLIC GOD BLESS the Coalition and the Iraqi People."
"This does it. Kindly Unsubscribe me from your newletter/email lists."
"Good for you! You've earned my respect!"
That about sums up the general perspective of our readers. We actually posted two of the eight responses in opposition to the messages. It was felt that it was time to get off the fence and take sides regardless of the risk. But here is what really burns me the most. It is a given that we can be biased or slanted in the angles in our articles although we really try to keep it to a minimum. We are honest about articles possibly being biased and continuously remind you of that fact. However, I have read some publications that tried to pass off their bias, slants, and outrageous exaggerations as objective journalism. With plenty of them leaving out important details so that they can make their point to fit their agenda. There is a reason why we remind you of our bias and/or slants.
What we present to you is only one side of the story. We don't expect you to take it as gospel, rather to look at it as being one presentation to be taken under consideration as a part of your evaluation. In total, it is more important to us that you decide on what you feel is the most appropriate view. In our case, our bias is more but not always in the role of devil's advocate in the wireless industry. There is no agenda in our articles although it may sometimes appear to be the case.
Most publications are terrified of losing advertising dollars and "eyeballs" by making statements that are controversial to their clients. We don't have to worry about that and even if we did have advertisers, we still wouldn't allow that to affect the content of the articles. We write what we believe to be the truth and you can be assured that we will never intentionally mislead our readers. As we see it, our job is to educate and inform. We remain dedicated to that task and we hope that this piece will help clarify our position as a publication. Thank you for taking the time to read this post and we hope to have you with us for many years to come.
A further update to the status of Cellular Phone News (CPN), it was decided that at the end of this month, we will officially become an independent entity from EVC. Yeah! No more straining on the tether and we can present our views as an independent publication without fear that we may be associated as being biased to a parent company. We will be privately owned but without the support of a parent corporation. I can live with that even though it's a scary thought. Hold on to your breeches because this may become a bumpy ride!
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