Mobile Digest

Friday 13th brings six millionth question to mobile answering service AQA

At 10.17pm on Friday 13th April, the mobile phone answer service AQA (Any Question Answered) answered its six millionth question.

Paul Cockerton, managing director of AQA, said that the Easter Weekend had been a very busy period for the company, with the combination of the good weather, high profile sporting events, and a few extra days off, meaning that customers were "in a very inquisitive mood".

Some 60,000 questions were answered over the long holiday weekend.

And that six millionth question? The answer to "How tall is the 2nd tallest man in the world?" was "The second tallest man in the world is Pakistan's Ajaz Ahmed, who is a towering 8'4". The tallest man ever was Robert Wadlow, who was over 8'11".

"When AQA launched back in 2004 as the first premium text question and answer service in the world, it took us 18 months to reach our first million questions. This last million took only 10 weeks. By the end of the year AQA will be answering a million questions every month." said Cockerton.

The top 10 questions asked over Easter were:

1. What were the winning lottery draw numbers?
2. What's the meaning of life?
3. Which came first, the chicken or the egg?
4. Who won the Oxford - Cambridge boat race?
5. Why am i giving someone an egg?
6. How is Easter's date set?
7. What was Man Utd's score?
8. What was the result of the Calzaghe fight?
9. Why is the sky blue?
10. What was the England Australia cricket score?

Hmm, I wouldn't like to have to answer question 2 in a short text message.

AQA offer a free question at their web site. Using the service from a mobile costs £1 per message, by texting the question to 83336.

iStockphoto and AMUSE partner to give UK mobile users personalised wallpaper

iStockphoto, which is the world's most visited stock imagery and video site, has partnered with AMUSE Entertainment Group, to allow a selection of its stock photography to be used by mobile phone users.

A pilot phase is being launched in the UK and will allow mobile users to download wallpapers from a selection of 5,000 of iStockphoto's images. All major networks will be able to access the site.

“People want their gadgets to feel uniquely theirs, including their mobile phones,” said Garth Johnson, vice president of business development at iStockphoto. “Amuse and iStock have now opened a new range of personalisation possibilities with iStock’s diverse, global image collection.”

The pilot scheme launches this month, with plans to roll out to the US and Canada, and greater access to iStockphoto's 1.5 million images.

iStockphoto.com

Chiltern Railways continues to develop mobile ticketing system

Chiltern Railways has entered the second phase of its mobile phone ticketing project following a successful three-month pilot where 6,000 mobile phone tickets were sold.

They are the first UK rail company to offer barcodes on mobile phones as an alternative to paper tickets. Stage two of the project will further automate the system, adding two scanning devices to ticket gates at London Marylebone station to allow passengers to scan their own phones and open the gates.

Chiltern's Commercial Director, Neil Micklethwaite, said that the scheme had been very successful so far, not only from a technological point of view, but with 99% of passengers saying that they would recommend the scheme to a friend.

The scheme currently works with Chiltern Railway's E-day product, purchasable exclusively online, and allowing travel between Birmingham and Stratford-upn-Avon to London Marylebone for £5. Following customer demand, it will be extended to other tickets and routes.

Top 10 Twitter spin-off applications and services

Have you got the Twitter bug yet? The 'micro-blogging' platform is taking the Web 2.0 world by storm, as Techscape explained last week.

Besides picking up users in their thousands, the service is spawning its own ecosystem of spin-off applications and services, from mobile clients and desktop updaters through to whizzy mash-ups with Google Maps.

There are already dozens to choose from, but here's a selection of ten of the most intriguing, with links to read more from Techscape's Twitter Special. Read on for all the details.

1. Twitterrific. Mac OS X application that's sleek and minimal, and lets you check on friends' posts ('tweets') and post your own, without cluttering your desktop. Read more

2. Twitterlicious. Basically Twitterrific (above) but for Windows, offering the same blend of easy reading/updating, but for PC users. Read more

3. Twittervision / Twittersearch. Two services from the same people. Twittervision plots recent tweets on a big Google Map of the world, while Twittersearch lets you enter a search phrase and see all recent tweets mentioning it. Yes, I know this makes this a Top 11... Read more

4. Twitterbox. A Twitter client for Second Life, so you can read friends' tweets and post your own from within Linden Labs' virtual world. Zeitgeist-tastic! Read more

5. Tiny Twitter. Small but perfectly-formed Java application for mobile phones, which lets you post tweets and check on your friends. It's bare-bones, but right now, that's what keen Twitterers need. Read more

6. Twitterfeed. Turns your blog's RSS feed into tweets at pre-defined intervals. Could tempt commercial blogs as well as personal bloggers. Read more

7. Post To Twitter. Another simple one, this – it's a Firefox plugin that lets you post tweets from the dropdown search box at the top of the browser. Read more

8. WHERE GPS Twitter widget. Part of the WHERE GPS widgets service for phones in the US, if you've got a GPS-enabled handset, this adds your location to your tweets posted on the go. Read more

9. TwitterBuzz. This online service tracks the links that people are posting on Twitter, sorting them by popularity and giving you hourly or weekly views. Read more

10. Twitteromatic. Another OS X application, this, but it lets you with one click post what you're listening to in iTunes, what URL you're looking at in Firefox or Safari, and a bunch of other variables. Read more

Bebo Mobile to launch on Orange

Unsurprisingly, Vodafone were very chuffed when they got an exclusive deal to feature MySpace on mobile handsets. But Orange has struck back in the social networking battle with an exclusive deal with Bebo.

The media giant has struck a deal that will allow Orange customers to access Bebo with their phone, specifically to edit profiles, message online friends and update blogs. But it's not all good news for Orange - this is an exclusive deal for a limited time. After that, it's expected to be rolled-out across other networks.

Bebo access with an Orange handset is expected to launch over the summer months. Check with Orange for exact details.

Bebo website
Orange website

BBC trials TV and radio streaming to 3G handsets

Some of the BBC's biggest shows will soon be available to your 3G mobile handsets.

The corporation has announced a trail of BBC TV and radio channels for a 12-month period, which will be syndicated to the Vodafone, Orange and 3 networks. Subscribers will have access to BBC One, BBC News 24 and BBC Three - which means shows such as Dr Who, EastEnders and The Apprentice. The exceptions will be Premiership football, some films and bought-in shows, such as Neighbours.

After the 12-month trial, the BBC will assess the effectiveness of the 3G network and the demand for BBC channels. Also available will be BBC radio, including Radio 1, 1Xtra, Radio 2, Radio 3, Radio 4, 6 Music, BBC 7 and Asian Network.

The trial starts towards the end of April. Contact your mobile provider for further details.

BBC website

Microsoft reveal mobile Internet browser prototype

Microsoft has unveiled a prototype mobile Internet browser which it claims will mirror the ease of going online via a desktop PC.

Deepfish aims to solve the problems of slow loading, unintuitive pages that look different to what the user expects.

Microsoft has taken the approach of rendering the original 'designed for PC' web page, rather than relying on special mobile-friendly web sites.

Users will be able to zoom in and out on sections of web pages, making it faster and easier to navigate through a page.

The Deepfish technology has been released as a prototype in order to gain feedback from users, and will be available in limited numbers on a first-come first-served basis from labs.live.com/deepfish/. It seems that they've already hit their initial limits, though they may open up the project to more testers in the future.

It works on smartphones and Pocket PCs, though I couldn't find a detailed list of which phones are currently supported.

The site explains Deepfish's current status:

As a technology preview, Deepfish is early in its development cycle (still a few releases from beta quality). As a result some features are not implemented or are only partially implemented. Currently, the technology preview does not support ActiveX controls, AJAX, cookies, Javascript, and HTTP POST.

We'll keep you posted on how this technology develops.

Jajah mobile application to feature on LG Prada handset

Quite a coup for VoIP company Jajah, it has managed to get its functionality featured on LG's much-anticipated Prada handset.

Jajah claims to have two million users just one year into its existence, thanks to a system that requires no downloads and no extra hardware. That number which should be boosted with a prominent position on the Prada phone's menu. It uses Jajah's just-released mobile web application, which means low-cost calls with one click of the menu button.

According to the company, those call rates from the UK and abroad are typically 91% cheaper than on a standard mobile contract with Vodafone, 67% with Orange, 87% with T-Mobile and 88% with O2 - and even lower rates again if both the caller and the person being called are Jajah members.

Find out more about Jajah

Channel 4 launch "Big Art Mob" mobile blogging web site

Channel 4 is to launch a mobile blogging web site with the aim of creating the UK's first comprehensive map of public art.

The "Big Art Mob" aims to build the resource before next year's Big Art Project TV series by inviting people to use their mobile phones to send in photos, text, video and audio to do with any public art form.

Users upload images with the name of the artist and the artwork (if they know) as well as the location. Visitors to the site can also add and edit tags to help complete any missing information.

It will be up to the public to decide what 'art' is - whether things like graffiti count - and should make for an interesting collection.

Adam Gee, Channel 4’s commissioning editor, New Media, says: "There’s no comprehensive map of the UK’s public art, simply because there’s so much of it. But now, with a combination of networked media and people power, for the first time it’s an achievable public challenge. As well as documenting the richness and diversity of our public art, the Big Art Mob will highlight the fun of moblogging and provide the base for a lively, visually-oriented, UK-centred arts community.”

The new project uses moblogUK technology, who already run Europe's leading moblogging community site.

Big Art Project

Multimap and 82ASK offer maps by text to your mobile

Text and answer company 82ASK and internet mapping provider Multimap have launched a service together that offers a map of your location by simply sending a text.

Just text 82ASK (82275) requesting a location or landmark and a text is sent within five minutes with a link to a WAP page containing the map. Text directions can also be supplied along with the map. Ideal if you're lost or want to find somewhere in the area quickly.

The downside is the cost. The service will cost 50p per map in addition to the regular £1 per question asked to 82ASK, which seems a bit hefty compared to the price of mobile internet monthly rates these days (although obviously, not all phones are going to offer that).

Multimap website

Mr Bean mobile content - from the film poster

A cinema showing of Mr Bean’s Holiday might not be the first place you would think of looking for cutting-edge mobile technology, but that's where you will find the first UK use of Snap Happy.

The technology, created by Magnet Harlequin, works in conjunction with the Mr Bean movie poster. If you see one (at the cinema or not) with the Snap Happy logo, take a picture of the poster using your mobile phone and send it via MMS to Mr Bean’s special mobile number – 07786 200547. The Snap Happy technology will automatically identify the type of phone you have, then offer the appropriate free ring tones, wallpaper or video from the movie.

The technology behind Snap Happy uses an algorithm to match the camera phone picture to the promotional image logged on the database - even partial images taken in poor light or at an angle will be recognisable. The Snap Happy campaign for Mr Bean’s Holiday will launch through cinemas nationwide on 26th March.

Magnet Harlequin website

Mr Bean's Holiday

Premium rate TV phone in scams quizzes will need a lottery licence

TV channels looking to boost revenue through high priced phone in competitions will need a licence from September.

Changes in gambling legislation passed in 2005 and due to come into effect later this year will clear up the ambiguity about what is and is not a lottery, according to the Register.

The changes will cover many TV phone in quizzes - some of which are currently under investigation by Ofcom for not playing fair.

Programmes such as Richard and Judy, the X Factor and even children's TV staple Blue Peter have admitted to errors or misleading information with regards to premium rate phone in quizzes.

If a competition only involves chance, and no skill, then it's a lottery. As such, it will require a licence that costs £30,000 and 20 percent of income must go to charity.

Premium-rate phone operators will soon need a lottery licence

Blue Peter says we're very, very, very sorry.

Rebtel - free international calls from your mobile

If I were to mention free calls overseas via your mobile, you would expect me to then mention VoIP or at least something to do with the internet. Well, this new service from Rebtel does use the internet - but you don't need to be near a computer to make your calls.

The company claims its new service is "Skype for Mobile", which is probably overselling it a bit, but it's certainly worth a look if you do a spot of globetrotting. And you can use it with any phone, on any network and in 38 countries. To find out how it works, read on.

You can sign up for the service for free, with ten free unlimited international calls on offer every month. If you choose to make more calls, you'll be charged a small per minute fee by Rebtel, which (as an example) is 1.5p per minute from the UK to the US.

Commenting on the service, Rebtel CEO Hjalmar Winbladh said: We wanted to build a service that would allow mobile phone users around the world to talk to one another for free, liberated from exorbitant charges that the mobile industry levies for international calling. It’s a tax on international mobile calling. It’s 2007 for goodness sake; if you can do it from your PC, we think you should be able to do it from your mobile.”

Find out more about Rebtel service

Find love on public transport with On The Same Track web service

"We've all been there. We see someone on our train journey and wish there was an easy way to chat to him/her. Let's face it, it's more difficult in real life."

That's the opening gambit of the new networking web site onthesametrack.co.uk that seeks to bring together people who share the same regular commute on public transport.

The sign-up process is simple: provide details of your regular train journey, your photo and description, and then see matches with others who share your commute.

By sharing your mobile phone number, people can send you an SMS alert and invite you to go online to check them out. Of course, that's not going to work on the Tube - maybe that'll add to the dash of commuters rushing up the left-hand side of the escalators to get a signal so they can text that hottie whose armpit they've been admiring for the past 10 stops.

Or perhaps not.

It's a novel new idea. I've refrained from calling it a dating web site as it's billed as more than that - but let's face it, that's probably what it will be used for.

The downside, as with other services (such as I Saw You Once), is that both interested parties need to have signed up. Maybe more traditional methods still have their place.

As an incentive, the first 3,000 registrants will get 'free for life' membership.

Mix it up with Undersound and it'd be a cracking social networking concept.

Nokia Software Updater officially launched

After a year of being on test, Nokia has announced that its Software Updater application is now available for all to download. Software Updater allows you to update your own mobile device software without having to visit a Nokia dealer.

"As mobile devices become more intelligent, software updates make it possible for us to provide a better experience for people by adding and updating functions," said Jarkko Sakki, Director, Multimedia Customer Care, Nokia. "For example, the recent software update for the Nokia N80 added support for internet calls. The Nokia Software Updater can make it fast and easy for people to get the latest software for their compatible Nokia device. As mobile devices become more like computers in terms of performance, it's a natural step for us to offer internet based software updates so that people can have the best available capabilities in their Nokia device."

Nokia Software Updater is a free application that allows you to update the device software on compatible Nokia devices. Once the application is installed on a compatible computer, you can connect your compatible Nokia device via a USB cable, with the Updater automatically detecting your device, checking for software updates, downloading anything necessary.

Find out more about Nokia Software Updater

Amnesty International UK to implement mobile phone donation system

Another charity turns to technology to aid its fundraising efforts.

Amnesty International UK is to implement a mobile phone payment system that can handle donations of up to £800.

Using the LUUP payment system, Amnesty will be able to receive at least 15% more of the proceeds than by using the premium-rate text message (PSMS) system.

Donors need to sign up for a LUUP account (wallet), which can then be used for other money transfers via SMS.

Money to be donated first needs to be transferred from a bank account.

Katie Hart, Amnesty International UK new business development manager, said, "In the past, we avoided PSMS as we felt its value was questionable and that it was too costly for donors. The new mobile payments option is not only easy-to-use and very secure but also ensures the donation ends up with those who need it most."

More Mobile phones

Watch the iPhone interface running on a Pocket PC

Cor, I can't wait till the iPhone comes out, with its swizzy touch-screen interface, the like of which hasn't been seen on any mobile device ever before, ever. But hang on, what's this below? Some bloke's fiddled with their E-TEN M600 Pocket PC to make it identical to an iPhone – including the tactile UI and iPod music app? D'oh!

Beat Crazy Frog at his own game!

No, not by releasing a rubbish Hi-NRG cover of an old soft-rock tune while doing your best washing-machine impression over the top. Really.

Instead, a new service called Fonepark lets you set up your own Jamster wannabe, selling ringtones, wallpapers and mobile games. It's free to set up and run your own site using the service, you get 80% of the profits, while Fonepark takes 20% in return for hosting the site and handling billing and customer service.

Sadly, Fonepark doesn't supply the multimillion pound budget you'll need to book up hours of advertising time on digital channels, to really take on the evil Frog. But still, it's an intriguing idea.

(Fonepark website)

tera002.jpgThink watching top-shelf DVDs makes you go blind? Try watching a two-inch screen. Yet mobile adult content is growing pretty fast, as I heard from Brickhouse Mobile at 3GSM last week.

Think watching top-shelf DVDs makes you go blind? Try watching a two-inch screen. Yet mobile adult content is growing pretty fast, as I heard from Brickhouse Mobile at 3GSM last week.

Now adult star Tera Patrick has signed up to host a mobile portal called, er, Moistmob. Tera will have her own blog on the site, talking about new features and her latest exploits, as well as a bunch of videos for download.

Tera's not the first adult star to launch her own mobile content, mind. Everyone's favourite fugly dude Ron Jeremy has his own range of mobile content, while Jenna Jameson famously launched a series of 'MoanTones' – ringtones of... well, you can probably work it out for yourself.

(via Pocket Picks)

Interview: Microsoft talks about its new PlayReady DRM technology

At 3GSM this year, Microsoft launched PlayReady, its new ‘content access’ technology for mobile content, including music, video, games, ringtones and wallpapers. In essence, it’s extending Microsoft’s existing Windows Media DRM system to mobile, and expanding it beyond music and video.

I sat down with Microsoft’s Jim Alkove at 3GSM last week to find out more, starting with the basic overview.

What’s PlayReady about, in a nutshell?

Basically it’s a content access technology that supports different business models, like subscriptions, rentals, purchases, pay-per-view and preview, for a wide variety of content types well beyond music and video.

The technology will support an array of operator partners, including Bouygues Telecom, Telefonica, O2, Cingular and Verizon. And it’s available on a platform-agnostic basis, meaning it can be put in a wide range of devices, including operating systems other than Windows Mobile 6.

It will be available in the first half of this year for device implementations, and we expect we’ll start to see volumes of handsets coming through sometime in 2008. So that’s the high-level framing of what we’re announcing.

Tell me more about the thinking behind it

The technology is the result of a multi-year dialogue with the operators, including partners and mobile industry associations like the GSM Association. In a lot of ways they came to Microsoft to discuss how we could bring forth a suitable technology. Windows Media DRM has a long history since 1999, including being the first pioneers of the music subscription business. So PlayReady is the result of a long dialogue with the operators about how we bring that technology to the mobile market.

Windows Media DRM did move into the mobile space with various operators, such as [US operator] Verizon Wireless with VCAST. But PlayReady represents a marked step forward in the applicability of our technology to digital goods for mobile operators.

Today we think about music and video and games, but there are all kinds of interesting services operators would like to deploy to consumers. There’s enormous potential in the mobile entertainment space, and content access technology is a key enabler there, enabling operators to build differentiated offerings for consumers, and for consumers to have a wide variety of ways to access that content, whether they want to subscribe to it, or purchase it, or whatever.

What this really represents is bringing the mobile device centre-stage and allowing the consumer to do with their mobile all the things the previous ecosystem would have been able to do. Traditionally, portable devices are tethered accessories or peripherals to the PC. PlayReady brings those mobile devices out as first-class citizens, and enables it to participate directly with the services, for example subscriptions, without the PC.

Mobile seems the perfect medium for subscription music services, is it DRM issues that have held them back in the past?

Yeah, I think subscriptions are a very interesting business model, where there’s a critical need for content access technology. We prefer that term to DRM. Technically they’re the same thing, but content access technology really turns the lens around and focuses on the fact that what we’re doing is enabling interesting opportunities for consumers, and for operators to offer innovative services.

So for subscriptions, I think China Mobile has a ringtone subscription service where you pay a flat-rate fee, so rather than purchasing ringtones one at a time, you get access to unlimited ringtones for a flat monthly fee. That’s an example of a very interesting application of the subscription business model to something very popular like ringtones.

There’s numerous reports that mobile content isn’t growing as fast as the mobile industry expected. Do you think technologies like PlayReady will kickstart this again?

From our dialogue with mobile operators, especially in Europe, we see content access technology as a key enabler for these businesses. Mobile entertainment is continuing to grow though. The stalling you describe is more around music, where people are trying to figure out the right value proposition for consumers in the mobile music space. The reality is that things like mobile gaming are continuing to grow at a pretty good pace.

The operators are very focused on what they can deliver to the consumer in terms of mobile content offerings. Digital goods are equivalent - one copy of a digital good is the same as another copy, so if they want to offer a differentiated offering - purchase versus rental versus subscription - you need a content access technology. It’s about bundling, packaging and making compelling offerings...

Will PlayReady have a role in user-generated content? That seems to be building up some steam in mobile.

There are absolutely opportunities for content access technology in the user-generated space. That’s one of the benefits of PlayReady: we’ve added a degree of flexibility that allows us to partner with mobile operators and handset OEMs to build out new and exciting services over time, and have that fast pace of innovation that a commercial technology can really bring to bear.

Who’s going to explain what PlayReady is and how it works to mobile users?

From a marketing perspective, what you should be explaining to consumers is the service offer, rather than the underlying technology. Too often, the dialogue that happens in public around content access technologies or DRM is we tend to focus on the technology, rather than the service or offering it’s enabling.

So if I was a mobile operator, I’d be focusing my marketing on what I’m offering you - a music subscription service, or the ability to preview a casual game on your phone and then upgrade to a full version with one click to purchase. To consumers, the content access technology should be transparent.

For example, PlayReady allows a concept we call domains. If a user has multiple handsets, plus a PC and a laptop, and he wants the content to be seamlessly moved around those and be used at any locations, the domain feature we’re introducing enables content to be licensed to you, the user, as a group of devices, rather than individual devices as it is today.

A lot of content upgrade or migration scenarios today are problematic, and people often blame DRM for not enabling that. PlayReady will allow that content to move much more seamlessly along the devices that have been authorised by the service. That’s an offering decision that the operators will make, but PlayReady enables it.

How about sharing content with your friends’ mobiles. Zune’s been doing that in the MP3 player area, so will superdistribution be a factor in PlayReady?

Superdistribution is absolutely one of the business models we’re talking about for PlayReady, and at our 3GSM booth we’re demonstrating Bluetooth superdistribution on a couple of Nokia N90 handsets, which can send a music track from one to the other. It really brings home what PlayReady is enabling in terms of that P2P recommendation experience you’re talking about.

We think that’s a very powerful experience for consumers, and one reason we wanted to demonstrate it at the show is to prove that content access technology can enable interesting experiences for consumers, rather than what many people associate it with, which is stopping people from doing things they like to do.

So superdistribution is absolutely part of it, enabling consumers to recommend a song to a friend, and creating the subsequent business opportunity for the operator to enable the publisher to be compensated for that recommendation.

Is there a danger people will focus on PlayReady as a music-related technology, rather than the other mobile content forms?

It’s about providing the flexibility to provide new and interesting opportunities to consumers. We’ve talked already about user-generated content, and there are other new and interesting innovative services beyond music.

Content access technology has recently been pigeonholed into this music discussion, but the reality is it’s much broader. It’s really about enabling digital goods and commerce between consumers and operators in a way that’s very compelling, flexible and transparent to the greatest extent possible for consumers.

Last question then: what are some of the cooler non-music services you mentioned - what's got most potential?

Mobile gaming is definitely one. PlayReady will enable protection of mobile games in a way that is quite flexible. Traditionally, when you talk about music content access technology, it’s about yes you can play this music, or no you can’t. With games, there’s a lot of interesting angles to how you would use the technology to make interesting offers to consumers.

For example, you might play the first level for a mobile game, but if you want to access higher levels, you’d have to purchase the game. Or you could license the game to the consumer for a number of total hours of playtime. So you could rent five hours of playtime, rather than a month, and you’ll see this timer ticking down as you play, so you know how long you’ve got until you need to top up your credit. That’s the kind of stuff it’s enabling in mobile games.

Forget the features; mobile users just want good reception, research says

Research carried out by the Forum to Advance the Mobile Experience (FAME) amongst 15,000 mobile phone users across 37 countries has concluded that what they want more than fancy, complicated features is decent voice reception.

The number one complaint from mobile users was "function fatigue". Too many features, coupled with poor explanations of how they work, are the reason.

"Pain begins at point-of-purchase as users see lack of demos, product knowledge and slow service," concluded the report.

This might sound like bad news for the mobile manufacturers, who are keen to push ever more features and functions into their handsets, but then again, we all love getting phones with the greatest features on, even if we end up only using 10% of them.

The survey was partially funded by Palm, who would no doubt tell us that their devices are very eaasy to use.

Other mobile irritations raised in the survey included the cost of service, poor battery life, and dropped calls.

More mobile phone news

30 things we learned at 3GSM 2007

Phew. As ever, 3GSM was tiring both physically and mentally, with a barrage of new products and companies, plus an enormous venue to walk around. Honestly, if we believed in wearing pedometers, they'd have exploded by Tuesday.

So now the Shiny team is back in Blighty, what did we learn from this year's 3GSM? It's a chance to spot the hottest new mobile phones and technology, as well as suss out the most important mobile trends for the next 12 months. Here's our main thoughts.

1. There was no big theme this year

3GSM 2006 saw immense hype around mobile TV, with companies queuing up to proclaim it the Next Big Thing in mobile entertainment. The fact that it's since disappointed means that the lack of a single big hype this year isn't necessarily a bad thing. There was lots of buzz, but spread around a bunch of subjects, which is a healthier state of affairs.

2. Mobile social networking is a hot topic

There were lots of companies - many of them startups - promising to create MySpace-like communities for mobile. Meanwhile, the big players - the actual MySpaces, Bebos and so on - were undoubtedly at 3GSM, even if they weren't talking about their plans.

From our chats with companies like Cerkle, FunkySexyCool, Clicmobile and others, it's clear how new an area this is. People aren't sure if mobile-only social networks will succeed, for example, or whether mobile is just an add-on to existing web communities. 2007 should give some clues.

3. LG's Prada phone is better than you'd think

Don't take this the wrong way. We weren't expecting the Prada phone (right) to be awful. Just a bit gimmicky. Yet as Susi's video verdict makes clear, it looks and feels like Prada's been involved from the start. And that touch-screen is mighty purdy.

4. Mobile music is a bit rubbish

It seems us mobile users aren't as keen on downloading full tracks to our phones as the music industry would like us to be. Warner Music head honcho Edgar Bronfman Jr told 3GSM attendees that "it's expensive, it's complicated and it's slow", saying the iPhone will hopefully force operators and manufacturers to up their game.

Meanwhile, mobile firm Omnifone was trying to do just that, unveiling what it reckons is a truly mobile iTunes-beater, which it'll be running for operators around the world.

Meanwhile, the music industry continues to rumble about whether it should scrap copyright protection for digital music - if it does, it would certainly have a positive impact on the number of people downloading tunes directly to their phones.

5. Cool new handset designs

Motorola's new Z8 phone has a 'kick slider' design, which is the first handset type to sound like it should be a trick in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. We're looking forward to Nokia launching a triple-back-kick olley grinder phone at 3GSM 2008...

6. Bring on the five-megapixel camera phones

By and large, we tried to steer clear of the really techy companies at 3GSM. After all, the chips and servers they make are only interesting to the likes of us once they're actually in products we can buy.

But a firm called OmniVision announced a five-megapixel auto-focus camera module, which it'll be flogging to handset manufacturers, and which it says is affordable enough to be put into mass-market mobile phones. We can't wait.

7. Don't hold your breath for a roll-up mobile display that can play video

Philips spin-off Polymer Vision got plenty of deserved buzz at 3GSM for its Readius roll-up display for reading e-books and RSS feeds (left). Both Susi (video) and I (interview) were impressed, although the company's goal of putting one in every mobile phone seems ambitious, given they're not expecting the screens to be capable of video for a good five years.

8. We should start getting a bit worried about mobile viruses

Worried you'll look like a n00b if your phone gets hax0red? You should be. Bubbling under the surface at 3GSM was growing concern about the possible impact of viruses in the mobile space - even if some of it was fuelled by the companies looking to flog technology to protect against them.

McAfee claimed at the show that there are now around 350 mobile viruses, worms or other malware, and also said that 83% of mobile operators have been hit by mobile infections.

9. Next-generation phone interfaces will look amazing

We swung by the NVIDIA stand to check out some of the demos running on the company's new mobile chipsets, which will be making their way into millions of handsets in the next couple of years.

One demo featured a user interface for phones that included multi-tasking windows, a 3D interface with snazzy transition effects, and 'fully accelerated translucent window compositing'. Want to know what that is? Watch our video.

10. The operators need to sort out their data-tariffs

If we're all going to be downloading music, video and games onto our phones from sources other than the operator's own portals, we don't want to be paying through the nose in data charges. Yet although T-Mobile and 3 have launched 'flat-rate' tariffs in the shape of Web'n'Walk and X-Series, the other operators are dragging their heels a bit.

Who wants to download a music track if it's going to cost you an extra £3 in data charges? Or, as Yospace CTO David Springall pointed out to us, who's going to upload their cool cameraphone video to YouTube if it costs them £12 to do it? Even Nokia and Sony Ericsson united to criticise the operators' complex tariffs at 3GSM this year.

11. Transformers RAWK!

The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift might be the best mobile game of 2006, according to 3GSM's Global Mobile Awards judges, but I'm more excited about the chance to play as Optimus Prime in the upcoming Transformers mobile game. Even if it is a bit unwise to turn into a truck midway through a platform game.

Mobile games were a bit quiet at 3GSM, with only a few publishers booking their own stands to show off new stuff. However, there's a quiet momentum building behind smartphone games - for example with a new Symbian version of Project Gotham Racing.

12. We still can't tell the difference between all the mobile VoIP companies

There are loads of startups aiming to be the mobile Skype. And speaking as a consumer, it's hard to a.) tell them apart, and b.) figure out why we shouldn't just wait for Skype to roll out a mobile application that provides ALL the features you get on the desktop version.

Rest assured, Tech Digest is going to be looking at this whole area very soon, to figure out who's who and what it's all about. For now, we remain confused. Which is why we haven't raced to sign up to any service.

13. Mobile TV is still underwhelming

Research firm M:Metrics surveyed 22,000 European mobile users before the show, and found that former mobile TV viewers now outnumber current mobile TV users. 45% of the people who've turned off say pricing issues were a factor, while 24% cite concerns over service quality and reliability.

From the technical demos we saw at 3GSM, mobile TV will be great. One day. But for now, it's provoking a lot of people who are interested in watching programmes on their phones to switch off.

14. Mobile blogging is growing, with photos and videos the focus

The problem with moblogging was always the assumption that people would type posts on their mobile keypad to upload. However ninja your texting skills are, it's not very appealing.

However, talking to a couple of blogging tech providers at 3GSM (including Motorola), people have twigged that moblogging is more about instant posting of photos and videos as (or just after) you capture them. Which when you think about it, makes way more sense.

That said, the Shiny massive are also converts to SpinVox's Spin-my-Blog technology, which converts your voice blatherings into proper text posts. So wordy moblogging could make a comeback soon.

15. If you want a phone with a full keyboard, you're spoilt for choice

All the manufacturers had the QWERTY bug at this year's 3GSM, including the usual suspecs (HTC), but also the likes of Nokia, Motorola and Toshiba. We blame the rise of mobile email.

16. It's quite seedy to hang around a stand leching on Russian booth babes

Although, yes, it's probably even worse to film them. Sorry about that.

17. YouTube and MySpace have work to do on mobile

The two biggest Web 2.0 brands clearly see mobile as an important part of their future, but mobile types aren't convinced they've got their strategy right just yet. YouTube has signed deals with Nokia and Vodafone, but mobile video-sharing site Yospace reckons it still sees mobile as simply a case of shoving its web vids onto phones.

Meanwhile, social networking firm Clicmobile warned MySpace that it needs to get mobile right, or it could die! The fact that these two companies' are in some form rivals to MySpace and YouTube doesn't mean their views should be written off, either. Figuring out what will make a great MySpace or YouTube mobile service will be one of the biggest challenges in 2007. We're sure it's possible.

18. Don't spunk all your new product announcements the week before 3GSM.

It might mean Susi can shoot videos on your stand without being jostled by 717 men in suits, but it doesn't give her much to talk about...

19. Thin is in

The fashion industry may be (reluctantly) booting underweight models off the catwalk, but Size Zero phones go from strength to strength. Top dog at 3GSM in the 'looks really cool even though you have a nagging suspicion you might end up accidentally snapping it in your back pocket' stakes was Samsung's U100 (left).

20. Us Brits like a night at the movies

And we use our phones to do it too. M-Spatial chose 3GSM to release its latest research on what local services UK mobile users search for using their phones. Cinema was the most popular category, followed by Fast Food, Drinking and Taxi. No, Museums, Opera and Bowling Greens didn't make the Top 10...

21. Mobile GPS navigation is buzzing

Also in evidence at the show was mobile navigation technology, whether applications for phones from the likes of Telmap, TeleNav and ALK Technologies, or GPS-enabled devices from Garmin, BlackBerry and Nokia.

Right now, it's mainly about providing the sort of turn-by-turn driving directions that you'd get in a regular satnav device, but the real potential is in using your mobile's data connection to provide live traffic info and updates, or at some point in the future, tying into mobile social networks (companies like Clicmobile and CityNeo are already looking to do this).

22. Techy mobile companies have a keen sense of irony

At least, I hope that's the case. How they come up with stand slogans like 'Shattering Tomorrow's Boundaries of Mobile Antenna Specification Solutions, Today!' if they're not having a laugh is beyond me.

23. Windows Mobile is gearing up for another big push

Microsoft launched Windows Mobile 6.0 at 3GSM, with all manner of on-stand demos showing off its new features, which we'll be looking at in more detail in the weeks ahead.

But equally importantly, Microsoft has signed up the likes of LG, Toshiba and HP to make Windows Mobile phones, with the first handsets using the new OS set to appear in the second half of this year, including some from previous licensors like HTC.

24. Creating your own mobile TV channel is more fun than watching what the operators are serving up

If mobile is such a personal device, why do I have to just watch simulcasts of terrestrial or digital channels, hmm? Some companies are exploring DIY TV, where you create a channel of video content to watch on your phone. One example is Vpod.tv, who'll have an interview going up on Tech Digest early next week.

Meanwhile, Dutch firm TNO unveiled a new tech called Farcast which works the other way around, taking video from your phone and turning it into a web-based TV channel.

25. DVB-H mobile TV is still frustratingly far away in the UK

We want it. We want it now. But despite the announcement of cool DVB-H handsets like Nokia's N77, don't expect to see them on sale here unless the powers-that-be in the UK broadcasting and mobile industries figure out how and when to roll the technology out here. Bah.

26. You can finally get Flash Lite content on your phone

You know Flash - it's ubiquitous on the Web. Adobe has had the Flash Lite tool for mobile phones for some time, which can be used for rich games and applications. Trouble was, nobody was really selling them, so you had to frequent developer forums to find stuff to actually put on your phone.

That's changing. At 3GSM, Adobe signed a deal with website Handango, which will be one of the first to sell Flash Lite content to mobile users. Hopefully more will follow.

27. Short films on your phone are cool

At 3GSM, the people behind the Sundance Film Festival unveiled five short films shot especially for mobile, which were immediately made available for download to mobile users.

You can have a gander by texting FILM to 07624 807 811, to get sent a link to their WAP site. Better still, you can freely share them with friends via Bluetooth. The idea of sitting down for three hours to watch King Kong on a phone is horrendous, but short, arty movies like this should find a healthy audience.

28. We quite fancy a simple mobile phone

All these cutting-edge whizzy multimedia handsets can get a bit much at times. Remember the old days, when your phone could make voice calls, send texts and.. well, that was it. Those days don't have to be in the past.

The mobile industry is putting lots of effort into low-cost handsets too, albeit mainly for countries such as India and China, which are expected to provide explosive mobile growth in the coming years. Motorola's F3 won an award at the show for being the 'Best Ultra Low Cost Handset', for example.

If you're thinking of going retro, Tech Digest's recommendation is the newly-announced Nokia 3110 Classic, which is a replacement for the classic 6310i. Ashley liked the big buttons. "If your dad wants a phone..."

29. Touch-screen phones are easy to use

Not sure about how you'd get on without a keypad? Soon you'll have the opportunity to find out. Besides the LG Prada phone, and of course Apple's iPhone, 3GSM also saw the debut of Samsung's F700, which admittedly also has a slide-out keyboard for messaging. But it's the screen that caught Ashley's attention, even from behind a glass screen.

Touch-screen phones aren't just about slinkiness. As mobiles try to be all things to all people - music player, TV, web surfing device etc - the traditional keypad interface is struggling to keep up. Touch-screens mean more flexible user interfaces able to adapt to whatever you're doing on the phone at the time.

30. Everyone thinks mobile advertising will be big. Nobody knows quite how it'll work

The advertising industry loves the thought of putting ads on phones. Not least because the young cool hipsters it likes to target aren't as susceptible to TV and print ads. Along with online advertising, mobile is the new buzz area. Trouble is, nobody's quite sure what kind of mobile advertising will work well, and what us users will put up with.

The mobile phone's a personal device, so any unwanted ads will feel doubly intrusive. Yet at the same time, the mobile industry sees adverts as a way to make mobile entertainment cheaper - or even free - to make more of us use it. Which would certainly solve those worries over mobile TV pricing (see earlier).

At 3GSM, there was lots of talk about mobile ads, but not that much action yet. 2007 will see a big growth in the sector though, whether it's free mobile games with ads on the loading screens, banner ads on your operator portal, or the Crazy Frog bursting into your voice calls every three minutes singing his latest ringtone. Okay, not that last one. Well, I hope not...

MySpace may "die fast" if it doesn't get mobile social networking right

Us Brits will soon be able to access MySpace on our phones – well, we will if we're on Vodafone, anyway, as the two companies have signed an exclusive deal. But is it that important that MySpace launches a mobile version?

Apparently so. Alex Kummermann of mobile social networking firm Clicmobile reckons that it's essential to MySpace's continued survival. "Big social networks are like mushrooms: they grow very fast, but they die very fast too," he tells Techspace.

"MySpace is not as attractive as it was one year ago - some users have moved to Facebook or whatever. The challenge for MySpace is to keep the user base from moving to other websites. A good mobile strategy can help in that, but if they miss the mobile move, they might die quite fast.”

That said, it's not as if MySpace's rivals have been noticeably quicker to launch decent mobile versions, so News Corp's mega-community won't be going down the tubes just yet. Read the full interview at Techscape.

ShoZu launches automatic Flickr and YouTube geotagging for your mobile photos and videos

There are plenty of people out there geotagging their photos (uploading info on the location they were taking) already, but it takes a bit of knowledge. However, mobile application ShoZu has just added a feature that automatically geotags your photos and videos before uploading them to Flickr, YouTube and various other Web 2.0 services.

You need a GPS-enabled phone like the Nokia N95 to use it, mind, to get an accurate latitude and longitude for where you captured the photo or video clip. For Flickr users, the application will also automatically add your geotagged photos to your Flickr map.

(via Techscape)

3GSM 2007: FunkySexyCool is like MySpace meets Am I Hot Or Not... on your phone

Few of the mobile social networking companies at 3GSM are offering users prizes for being attractive. One who is, though, is FunkySexyCool, an Australian mobile community with over 200,000 users posting profiles and voting on one another's purdyness. The company just signed a deal with a company called Hands-On Mobile to bring it to the UK.

Hands-On has also announced its own YouTube-beater, a mobile service called Phame TV that lets users upload video clips from their mobile, and then get a cut when other users download them for 20p a pop. Find out more about both FunkySexyCool and Phame TV over on Techscape's interview with Hands-On's Eric Hobson.

3GSM 2007: Motorola wants to get everyone blogging

The big handset manufacturers aren't just focused on music, TV and signing deals with trendy fashion houses to get some free Prada gear, y'know. Really.

On its stand at 3GSM, Motorola was showing off its new mobile blogging application. It'll sit on a range of Moto phones from later this year, allowing you to automatically upload photos and video to various blogging/photo-sharing/video sites.

In that sense, it's similar to the ShoZu application that's been around for a while now. But at least Motorola is making its application work with a range of different services, which contrasts with Nokia and Sony Ericsson's strategy of signing individual deals with, say, Flickr, Blogger and Vox.

Read more over on Techscape.

3GSM 2007: NVIDIA's GoForce 5500 demonstration next-gen mobile interface

To see some of the properly futuristic stuff at 3GSM, you have to seek out the technology companies. On its stand, NVIDIA was running a bunch of demos, including one showing a next-generation mobile interface, powered by its GoForce 5500 chipset.

The demo shows a mobile screen switching between video, photos and gaming with all manner of spangly visual effects. How soon will this sort of UI make its way into handsets you can actually buy? That's down to the mobile makers to sort out.

Symbian not threatened by the iPhone

CEO of Symbian, Nigel Clifford, has said that he sees no real competitive threat from Apple's iPhone - in fact he welcomes their entry into the mobile market, particularly in the US.

In a press conference at 3GSM, Clifford also said that Symbian are looking to bringing advanced phone capabilities to midrange mobile phones.

“People think of smartphones as something big, ugly, and expensive. It’s time to lay to rest that myth,” he said.

He also noted four factors that have come together over the past six months that should lead to a boost in the market, including falling prices, more broadly available mobile services, greater penetration of mobile broadband, and improved devices.

Symbian are obviously highly optimistic about the future, and with a 73% stake of the global mobile operating system market, compared with Microsoft's 4.5%, and Apple's currently non-existent share, it's hardly surprising.

Microsoft PlayReady: brand new DRM for mobile devices

Microsoft have announced that they've been working on yet another Digital Rights Management (DRM) system. PlayReady is a new 'multimedia content access technology optimised to meet the needs of mobile operators and handset manufacturers for digital entertainment and commerce.'

In other words, plenty of lovely restrictions put in place to stop us evil consumers doing what we want with content downloaded to our mobile devices. Just like on a PC.

Many leading mobile operators have already signed up to include PlayReady technology, including O2.

PlayReady is the result of extended dialogue with the mobile industry, and will support a wide variety of business models, including subscription, rental, pay-per-view, preview, and super-distribution. Formats supported include WMA, AAC, WMV, and H.264.

Allegedly, "Microsoft PlayReady enhancements make it easier for consumers to move their content between their devices, giving them a new level of freedom with their digital content." We'll have to wait and see about that one.

PlayReady is backwards compatible with Windows Media DRM 10, and Microsoft will also provide an interoperability programme so content can be shared with other qualifying DRM and content protection technologies. Quite how these qualify remains to be seen. I wonder if Apple will get a look in (if they're still using DRM of course)

“Our wireless partners worldwide asked for a single system to power a growing array of business models and consumer scenarios — the result is Microsoft PlayReady,” said Amir Majidimehr, corporate vice president of the Consumer Media Technology group at Microsoft. Ooh goodie - a mobile Microsoft monopoly.

“Microsoft PlayReady technology will help accelerate deployment of our entertainment services, which we see growing in importance for consumers this year,” said Russ Shaw, director of Capability and Innovation at O2 UK. “Protecting content while keeping it easily accessible by consumers is a careful balance, and Microsoft’s digital media expertise and experience is critical to making this a reality.”

3GSM 2007: Nokia to cooperate with YouTube over mobile video

Nokia has announced that it will cooperate with Google's YouTube and allow its mobile phone users to access YouTube on their handsets. A new version of the YouTube website, called YouTube Mobile, will be accessible from a user's mobile web browser.

Good news, though mobile network operators also need to allow access to such services.

3GSM 2007: Microsoft claim signups to Windows Mobile 6

Microsoft, who officially launch
Windows Mobile 6.0 at 3GSM this week, have claimed that several mobile phone manufacturers have signed up to use the new incarnation of their mobile operating system.

LG Electronics, Toshiba and HP will make smartphones that use the new OS, though neither have made Windows Mobile devices before.

Microsoft say that the first devices using version 6 of their OS will be available from the second half of 2007.

It's thought that Toshiba and HP may be able to leverage their position in the PC marketplace to sell their Microsoft-enabled phones to their existing computer users.

More news from 3GSM 2007

3GSM 2007: RIM launches BlackBerry 8800 with BlackBerry Maps

Research in Motion has launched the BlackBerry 8800 - the first of the company's full QWERTY keyboard devices to feature a trackball design based on the Pearl handset.

The 8800 is a quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE device with Bluetooth 2.0 and a 320 x 240 display with "vibrant colour" - good enough to view detailed directions on the bundled BlackBerry Maps application, a handy tool that ties in with other applications - find someone in your address book and Maps will show you how to get to them.

Other features include a music player (AAC/MP3) and video player, with files stored on microSD card (just 64MB of on-board memory). There's also a speakerphone with built-in noise-cancellation technology, voice-activated dialling and a talk time of up to five hours.

Expect it on the shelves this month, pricing and networks to be confirmed.

RIM website

Via The Register

More from 3GSM 2007

3GSM 2007: Will MusicStation be a mobile iTunes beater?

That’s certainly how Omnifone, the company behind the new mobile music service, has been spinning it in a series of pre-briefings to journalists this week.

MusicStation is a music subscription service for mobile phones, where you pay £1.99 a week for unlimited downloads of songs to your handset over the air via 3G or 2.5G, although there is a £2.99 a week option which also includes downloads to your PC or Mac.

Omnifone announced the service today, but it’ll be offered by mobile operators, with 23 having signed up already, including at least one in the UK, thought to be Orange or Vodafone.

There’s a certain amount of hype around the announcement - Omnifone says it’s the first time 2.5G subscribers have been able to download full songs over the air, despite O2 having done this in the UK several years ago.

However, Omnifone was bullish when it talked me through the new service, pitching it as a direct rival to Apple’s iPhone’n’iTunes combination.

“Apple’s iPhone announcement has shaken up the mobile industry,” says co-founder Rob Lewis. “It’s created a lot of concern among the operators and handset manufacturers in Europe. Apple is looking to take a significant amount of market share from the manufacturers, while the operators see it as taking them out of the loop in terms of full music track sales.”

Hence MusicStation, which Lewis says will offer an iTunes-like experience on 75% of phones available right now, rather than just one. It’s an application that’ll come preloaded on phones sold by participating operators, although on certain phones you’ll also be able to download it to your handset.

But hang on a minute. Most operators are already selling full music tracks on their portals. Lewis says that MusicStation is designed to be complementary to this, rather than compete. However, he’s not exactly brimming with praise for what the operators are doing already.

“Most mobile operators are aware that their WAP service doesn’t look like a Rolls Royce product compared to the iPhone,” he says. “Our service is complementary to that.”

MusicStation WILL include digital rights management (DRM) technology within the application, to keep the record labels happy and ensure users can’t pass on songs willy-nilly. Sorry Steve Jobs, this pesky DRM malarkey won’t go away just yet.

But perhaps the most exciting element of MusicStation is the community aspects, which include charts of the tunes that are being played the most by users, the ability to create playlists which other MusicStation users can view, and send messages back and forth recommending tracks, albums and playlists.

There are also other connected features. “We’re constantly holding on the server details of your favourite music, playlists, friends and your personalised tastes,” says Lewis. “If you break your phone, or have it stolen, you can go into your Vodafone shop, get your new MusicStation handset, and when you connect to the network, all your favourite tracks and playlist data will be back.”

MusicStation will also include a personalised news service, where you can receive messages from artists that you’ve opted into (say U2, or Kylie Minogue) giving info on gig dates, ticket sales and new releases. On paper, MusicStation sounds ace – the application itself will hopefully be on show at 3GSM this week so we can get an idea of whether it lives up to it in practice.

But one thing is niggling me. Is iPhone really such a big threat to the mobile manufacturers and operators? After all, it’s expensive enough that it’ll be a niche, even if Apple does sell 10 million of the devices. So why should the mobile operators rush to adopt MusicStation over their own services?

“Apple is looking to take as much market share from the manufacturers as possible without doing anything to support the existing supply chain,” says Lewis. “The mobile industry, be it manufacturers or the operators, is desperately keen to make sure consumers have an alternative choice that’s differentiated.”

It sounds great. Let’s hope it’s not too long before us Brits get to try MusicStation out, to see if it really is an iTunes-beater.

Omnifone website

Nokia offers free mapping software for mobile devices

Nokia has annouced that its smart2go mapping and navigation platform will be made available free-of-charge for anyone with a compatible mobile handset to make use of.

Initially, the software will work on Nokia phones, and smartphones running the Windows Mobile OS, with Nokia planning to roll out the software to most other major mobile operating systems in time.

It will be pre-installed on all future N-Series multimedia computers under the name "Nokia Maps".

Featuring 15 million points of interest, with mapping and routing of over 150 countries and turn-by-turn satellite navigation in over 30 countries, the system will also allow users to send favourite location information by MMS, Bluetooth, infrared, or e-mail. Maps and routes can also be saved, and map screen shots added to their gallery.

Brand name companies will also be able to place their icons on these digital maps.

Nokia must have seen the potential, and threat, of services like Google Maps being used on mobile devices, and obviously wants a piece of the action. Yes, it's a useful application, and by installing it as standard on future handsets, and making it free to everyone else, they'll likely get many people using it, and be able to generate more revenue. Smart move.