Blog | News & Information on Wireless Services & Telecommunications
Posted: 09/01/10 by Mobile Future Team
Rise and shine sports fans. With September officially upon us, now is the time to change out your summer whites for your football finest.
That’s right, September 4th marks the commencement of a new calendar year, where weeks revolve around Saturdays and the difference between triumph and heartbreak can boil down to a matter of inches.
Because if it’s September, it’s time for college football. And whether you’re watching your team live between the hedges (shameless plug) or nestled between fellow enthusiasts on your couch, mobile applications are here to make sure you never miss a down.
From apps geared toward specific teams and conferences to Gameday bundles and live game streaming, mobile promises to give you the full college football experience this fall. So before your team kicks-off this Saturday, be sure to pay a visit to your app store so you can be armed and ready all season long.
Posted: 08/27/10 by Mobile Future Team
Picture this: It’s Labor Day weekend, and your family has piled into the car to make the four-hour drive to the beach. On your right, your little brother immediately monopolizes the backseat DVD player watching Austin Powers, while on your left, your big sis unabashedly belts out the lyrics to Lady Gaga’s latest hit. Behind you, Rover joins in for harmony. In the front seat, Mom won’t stop talking to Dad about just how badly Uncle Pete burned the burgers at last year’s cookout.
In the middle seat, it’s just you and your smartphone, and you’re yearning for a sweet release. Well, road-trippers rejoice, because Netflix has just made its way to the iPhone and iPod Touch. Simply flick over to the App Store, download the application (which is free for Netflix subscribers), and immerse yourself in a video oasis with hundreds of titles that download and stream directly to your smartphone.
So while mobile can’t help reconcile your siblings’ tastes with your own, it once again finds a way to cater specifically to yours. Now if only your phone really could pop corn (seriously though, how did they fake that?). Oh well, maybe one day.
Posted: 08/25/10
It’s like clockwork. Each year as summer winds down, students across the country bid adieu to leisurely days and late nights to once again populate the hallowed halls of their various educational institutions. Only this year, some students are nixing the traditional textbooks and trading up for a more dynamic alternative: the iPad.
New technology—developed by Inkling to turn textbooks digital—is more interactive than platforms offered by traditional screen readers to date, allowing educators to highlight and leave notes for students in the text, administer pop quizzes, and even utilize 3D figures to better explain complex concepts in areas like science and math. Similarly, students can leave commentary for their professors and share notes with peers. And with the iPad maxing out at mere 1.5lbs, a full day of classes is no longer an exercise in manual labor.
While some question the cost of requiring iPads for class—the most basic model still starts around $500—proponents of the technology note the cost of physical texts is surging past $1,100 annually at many U.S. colleges and universities. Additionally, Inkling’s technology allows students to download single chapters at a time (which is extremely cost-effective, especially if teachers want to pull certain chapters from various textbooks to offer the best possible curriculum).
If the price of going digital is comparable to that of paper texts, adopting the iPad for school seems like a logical step. Happy learning!
Posted: 08/17/10
Shopping. It seems to be one of those things people either love or hate. But regardless of whether the words “shopping mall” send your heart racing with anticipation or anxiety, everyone loves finding a deal. And as of today, you can actually be directed to and awarded for thriftiness all from the comfort of your smartphone.
Shopkick—which just launched for iPhone with Android capabilities not far behind—rewards users simply for walking into participating stores by awarding “kickbacks”, or points, for certain behaviors. Once inside, Shopkick offers a customized shopping experience, directing you to specific bargains and rewarding you for handling items, trying pieces on, and of course, for purchasing. Amass enough points, and you earn store credits, gift cards, and redeemable coupons.
By simply switching on Shopkick and “checking-in,” users can locate deals in their area and even earn points just for their own curiosity without ever even entering a store. And if you’re feeling charitable, the app allows users to opt out of personal benefits to donate to one of 30 participating charities.
Shopkick is currently available in the wider New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco regions, with more locations promised shortly.
For more information, check out the NYT profile of Shopkick here.
Posted: 08/05/10 by Mobile Future Team
Gone are the days when forgetting your cell phone was an insurmountable crisis. This faux-problem has been reduced to the now ubiquitous phrase, “There’s an app for that”. The app du-jour is from Vonage and allows users to call their facebook friends for free using the iPhone, Android devices, iPod touch and, in a few weeks, even the iPad. Users can contact any of their Facebook friends provided that both people have downloaded the app.
Concerned about getting a call from facebook “friends” you don’t actually know? A call-block feature is set to be added in future updates. Also in the future, Vonage plans to bring the app to Blackberry users and to add an SMS (texting) service!
Posted: 07/28/10 by Mobile Future Team
The Walt Disney Corporation has come a long way since audiences first saw Steamboat Willie in command of his river-boat vessel. These days the company behind heartwarming, animated classics is forging ahead into the mobile revolution. Piggy-backing off success of the latest release in the Toy Story franchise, the Toy Story 3 application was downloaded 1.7 million times in its first month (box-office projections foresee over $900 million in revenue for Toy Story 3, the film).
In addition to creating its own content, Disney has also moved into the mobile acquisition market with its recent purchase of Tapulous, the developing engine behind the successful iPhone series Tap Tap Revenge. With almost $1 million in monthly sales, it’s easy to understand why 30% of iPhone and iPod touch users have downloaded the musical game since its release in 2008.
With new content being developed for the iPad, it is clear that Disney intends to stay relevant as technological advances bring more media into the mobile space. The mobile future looks bright for Disney and its future generations of captivated audiences.
Posted: 07/09/10 by Jonathan Spalter
Consumer confidence remains low in today’s tough economy, but the Pew Internet and American Life Project’s new Mobile Access in 2010 report illustrates a contrarian streak among U.S. consumers when it comes to the mobile marketplace. Across ages and demographics, Americans are showing a remarkable bullishness when it comes to the value and innovation they see in their wireless purchases. In fact, usage of connected devices and applications continues to grow at an unabated and staggering pace.
Over the past year, the number of Americans connecting wirelessly to the Internet is up 8 percentage points, with six out of 10 Americans now using their smartphone or laptop to access the Internet. In fact, more Americans now use their mobile device to connect to the Internet (38%) than play a game on their device (34%). And, it’s not just young millennials gravitating to the nexus of wireless and the Internet. Their parents—folks in the 30 to 49 year old age bracket—are now leading the growth.
African Americans and Latinos also continue to lead in mobile connectivity. Two-thirds of both communities are wireless Internet users. And, African Americans and Latinos continue to outpace whites when it comes to cell phone ownership (87% versus 80%).
These insights illuminate the wireless debate at a pivotal moment, coming on the heels of President Obama’s Executive Order announcing his Administration’s intention to increase the amount of spectrum available to meet consumers’ fast-growing mobile needs. Pew’s methodical documentation of a steep adoption and usage growth trajectory—cutting broadly across the U.S. population—powerfully illustrates the profound importance of these spectrum allocation efforts and the equally essential need to safeguard policies that encourage the billions of dollars in investment needed to get this spectrum into use across the country. This process can take six to 10 years to complete, from the announcement of auctions to the deployment of actual networks, so we need to get started now.
Unfortunately as temperatures rise in Washington (both literally and metaphorically), it seems no debate is safe from the partisan pull of election-year politics. Even U.S. wireless policy, which has enjoyed bipartisan support for a light-tough regulatory framework through both Republican and Democratic administrations, is getting dragged into the pro-regulation and heated rhetorical fray.
It’s hard to justify given the frenetic pace of competition across the mobile landscape. Verizon and Google recently have gone public with their ambitions to challenge the AT&T/Apple iPad alliance. HP, Dell and others also are in hot pursuit. Cox is becoming the first U.S. cable company to directly offer wireless services. Regional players like Leap Wireless and MetroPCS are thriving. And, the Palm Pre was recently offered to consumers for the jaw-dropping price of a single cent. Consumer choices of service providers, plans, devices and applications abound.
All of this, of course, only further fuels the leaps and bounds we’re now seeing in mobile Internet adoption and usage. The arrival of dispassionate, data-driven reports like this Pew contribution are essential to constructive policy conversation that benefit consumers and innovators alike.
The data also clearly illustrates just how deeply mobile connectivity is working its way into our lives, and just how enthusiastically consumers are responding to the profound innovation it is making possible.
As the Federal Communications Commission takes a closer look at wireless, it’s important that it consider how consumers are actually embracing mobile connectivity in their diverse lives. And, it is imperative that the FCC acknowledge that all of this progress we celebrate now has taken place in—and been made possible in no small part by—the current light-touch regulatory framework.
The proof is in the numbers. As the mercury rises in the nation’s capital, it’s important that cooler heads prevail when it comes to the flexibility and dynamism that have truly connected the nation to the opportunities and innovation made possible by the mobile Internet.
This article was orginially published on Huffington Post.
Posted: 07/06/10
When AT&T and Apple debuted the original 2G iPhone on July 1, 2007, the most expensive 8GB model cost a whopping $599. Just three short years later, the most sophisticated 32GB iPhone 4 is available for $299, while consumers can snag the 8GB 3GS model for $99. There’s no denying that increasingly sophisticated operating systems combined with significant price decreases equals a consumer-friendly marketplace, and Americans have responded to these positive trends with insatiable demand.
But perhaps what is most exciting is that the price of today’s most basic iPhone is not the floor as far as smartphones are concerned. In fact, manufacturers are rolling out smart devices for as low as $70—a far cry from the $599 number that seemed justifiable in the industry such a short time ago.
For example, last week Qualcomm focused a sizable portion of its Uplinq annual developer conference on Brew MP software designed to proliferate mass-market smartphones. Qualcomm anticipates the technology will have massive implications in both domestic and international markets, driving the cost of multiple smartphones well below $100 when models running on Brew MP software are released either later this year or by early 2011.
These models will join other newcomers—like Nokia’s Nuron and E73 Model, which are available through T-Mobile and cost around $70 each—in a new family of smartphones that reach broader demographics and bring these devices’ life-changing capabilities to an increased number of consumers. For more information, check out “The Race to the $70 Smartphone” in Forbes.
Posted: 06/24/10 by Mobile Future Team
Taking off work to stand in line for a new iPhone4?
If you answered 'yes' to this question, you are not alone. Media outlets today have been blanketed with the images of long queues as impatient Apple fanboys and fangirls are paying the opportunity cost and at least $200 (with 2yr activation) to get their hands on the latest must-have device. With such tantalizing features as video-conferencing, multi-tasking, and 720p video recording, it is no wonder that people are forming endless lines outside Apple stores-- similar to those you might see outside a certain vampire themed movie premiere.
With as many as 600,000 preorders, Apple's current supplies can only appease those launch day customers showing up to AT&T stores that actually ordered the device in advance. All Johnny-come-latelies must wait until June 29th to be able to buy an iPhone4 at AT&T stores.
Has the love affair with your iPhone3 come to an abrupt end? Don't trash it, learn how to recycle it and other phones here.
Posted: 06/07/10 by Mobile Future Team
Today marks the kick-off of Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference, which continues through June 11th. Taking place in San Francisco, the conference is usually full of surprises, with Apple CEO Steve Jobs already unveiling the highly anticipated new iPhone 4 during his keynote address today. The Wall Street Journal’s Yukari Iwatani Kane is live-blogging from the event, so check it out for real-time updates on what to expect from Apple in the coming months!
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Tags: Apple, Applications, Consumer Benefits, Mobile Applications, Mobile Phone, Mobile Video, Smartphone