Mobility Watch

The company is officially launching its turn-by-turn GPS navigation for the Android-powered device come February 24th. The software will feature full color 3D graphics, speech recognition, one-click rerouting, and traffic alerts, as well as weather updates, gas prices, and restaurant reviews (the PR claims over 10 million business and services). The service will launch with a 30-day free trial, after which it’ll run you $9.99 a month.

Great info from GPS.About.com on the new offering:

Google created the open Android operating system for phones to help keep its Web-based services front-and-center on future mobile devices. GPS apps shipping with the G1 include “Ecorio,” developed to help people keep track of their daily travels and carbon footprint, and “BreadCrumbz,” enabling users to create step-by-step visual maps using photos. With BreadCrumbz, customers can create their own routes, and share them with friends or with the world.

Additional GPS/location-based apps that may be available in the future include “Locale,” an advanced settings manager that automatically changes your phone’s settings based on conditions, such as location, and “iMap Mobile,” a multimedia weather platform to provide radar images, lightning strikes, conditions and forecasts at your location.

With Google Maps, G1 users can view maps and satellite imagery, as well as find local business and get driving directions, all from the phone’s touchscreen interface. “The T-Mobile G1 also includes Google Maps Street View, allowing customers to explore cities at street-level virtually while on the go. Without taking a step, customers can tour a far-away place as if they were there - standing on the street corner. Even better, the Google Maps feature syncs with the built-in compass on the phone - an industry first - to allow users to view locations and navigate 360 degrees by simply moving the phone with their hand. Google Maps Street View is available today in many U.S. locations and soon in European countries,” states T-Mobile.

With each new mobile phone model that comes out, the number of unused mobile phone increases. After all, who would want to use the old ones when there are even better and newer units available?

As part of T-Mobile’s campaign against unused and forgotten mobile phones, they are offering a new kind of program. This way, long forgotten mobile phones could best be recycled and maybe even be put again to use.

The program is for those mobile phone owners in Britain. If you got any mobile phone that you are no longer using, you just send these in and T-Mobile would take care of that. Plus, you would be getting some cash in return which is quite great. T-Mobile also did share that it does not matter if the mobile phone you would be sending in is working or not.

According to the company, they have decided to do such a campaign because they feel alarmed by the fact that there are 52 million units of mobile phones that have become unused.

[Via United Press International]
[Image from iStockphoto]

It has already been launched. The very first mobile phone in US shores that uses the latest version of Windows Mobile from Microsoft. The phone is from T-Mobile USA and this one comes with the promise that it would allow users to have an “improved handling of email and tougher security�. Now that we gotta see.

The mobile phone from T-Mobile is known as the T-Mobile Wing and I believe you would have to shell out $299 to own it. But for that price you get to use a mobile phone unit that uses Windows Mobile 6 and you can use all of the carrier’s services for two years. You also would be able to take full of advantage of browsing through your documents through your gadget and also be able to check out what is happening on the Internet.

How this one would fare we all would have to find out.

[Via StarTribune.net]

[Image from ecoustics.com]

You read that right. Your mobile phone can be a personal computer in the near future.

And that is not going to be a big surprise. Just take a look at the features that mobile phones have now and compare these mobile phones to the versions of yesteryears. You would see just how fast things are developing.

At present, many mobile phone manufacturers are already into that challenge. If you know about the HTC mobile phone from Advantage, it looks like a small laptop but you can fold it up and use it as a phone.

At the Cebit computer show, T-Mobile from Germany boasted off its Ameo which is a mobile phone with a screen measuring 13 centimeters and comes with a drive with 8 gigabytes.

These are just a couple of the many other mobile phones that are already displaying the features of personal computers. When the time has come that mobile phones have turned into PCs, I sure wouldn’t mind at all.

[Via Playfuls.com]

[Image from Portel.de]

VoIP services like Vonage are known, among other things, for being able to provide you with multiple incoming phone numbers on one phone line.  You can live in one place but have phone numbers with local area codes from all over the place.  All the calls are forwarded to your one incoming line.  (Which isn’t a “line”, actually, it’s your broadband connection.)

Here’s a different wrinkle on VoIP:  Grand Central.  Its specialty is incoming calls, and for them it offers many typical VoIP features along with a compelling new one:  forwarding all incoming calls to your cell phone, with the caller ID on your cell phone always displaying your Grand Central number, instead of the number where the call originates.

The advantage:  If you subscribe to T-Mobile’s My Faves, you just sign up your own Grand Central number as a “Fave” and you now have totally free incoming calls from everyone.  T-Mobile may not like it, but there’s little T-Mob can do about it since there’s no easy way to detect that this has happened.

Since Grand Central actually offers a tier of service absolutely free, it’s great news for T-Mobile My Faves customers, and not good news for T-Mobile.

Grand Central, T-Mobile, My Faves, free incoming calls

[via Phone News]

Where do these rumors get started? 

MacRumors would be the place.  Actually, MacRumors is quoting Jim Cramer’s RealMoney.com, which indicates that the new AT&T (Cingular) is so anxious to use iPhone to gain market share, that it is willing to give away 18 months of free service with the purchase of a new iPhone.

This would certainly help to convince reluctant carrier-switchers to move to AT&T (Cingular).  It’s also led to the suggestion that the $500 entry price point for the iPhone is NOT a subsidized price; that this is the actual full retail price of the phone.  The theory is, if AT&T (Cingular) doesn’t subsidize the price of the phone as it usually does, it can subsidize the price of the service. 

AT&T also wouldn’t want people just to buy the phones at retail, and then go somewhere else (like T-Mobile) for service.  Keeping the monthly service cost low for iPhone buyers helps guarantee they’ll stick with AT&T long enough to appreciate them (they hope!). 

It’s led to another interesting suggestion:  The fact that the $500 entry level Apple iPhone isn’t subsidized, Apple may introduce some other products, like a touchscreen iPod (without a phone).  A subsidy on iPhones would cause the phones to sell for less than a touchscreen iPod without a phone, and that wouldn’t make much sense.

iPhone, subsidy, Cingular Wireless, T-Mobile

When Cingular Wireless bought the former AT&T Wireless for $41 billion a few years back and became the biggest cellular company in America, a lot of wireless wonks predicted the buyout would be a failure, and that Verizon Wireless would come back and catch Cingular.

Those wonks may still end up being right, at least about Verizon catching Cingular.  During the third quarter of 2006, for instance, Verizon added 1.9 million customers.  Cingular only added 1.6 million.  But Cingular is no failure these days.  With just-announced profit margins in the 40 percent range and a new Apple iPhone on its way in June, Wall Street loves Cingular and its parent company, which strangely enough is known as AT&T.

As Cingular adopts the AT&T brand, it would appear that the big are just getting bigger.  Verizon and Cingular are at each other’s throats over who’s best, particularly in terms of coverage.  T-Mobile. which has competitive signals in some, but not all, markets, can offer gimmicks like My Faves and tout the relative popularity of T-Mo’s cusomer service.

Carriers like Sprint, whose calling plans and data packages are some of the lowest in the industry, continue to struggle.  Customers find out the hard way that Verizon, with its reputation for best coverage, generally has the highest prices.  Cingular (AT&T) has poured millions into improving coverage and reputation the last few years, while generally undercutting Verizon’s prices.

As a result Cingular is enjoying the best of two worlds - it’s a “discount” carrier  (compared with Verizon, anyway) with coverage that has improved to the point that a lot of customers can’t tell the difference between Verzon and Cingular.  Until they look at their bills at the end of the month.

[via Business Week]

When the Super Bowl goes on TV February 4, say a little ‘thank you’ to what makes it all possible.

Advertising.

Sitting through the ads for Bud Light and Degree deodorant (or leaving the room while they’re on) pays all the bills (except your cable or satellite bill, if that’s how you get your local channels).

How would you feel if Bud Light or Degree deodorant or even prescription medications for ED would pay your wireless bill for you?

For now, the major cell phone carriers (Verizon, Cingular/AT&T, Sprint) will experiment with a few little banner ads on screen along with menus for information services and such.

Smaller carriers like Virgin Mobile and Amp’d will go further.  You promise to watch ads, the carriers will provide you with free content in exchange. 

Xero Mobile will go further, by handing out a million cell phones on college campuses - and giving the students 40 percent off their monthly service charge.. if they’ll sit and watch four commercials a day.

A company in Britain called Blyk will go even further - with totally free plans on phones paid for by ads.

What excites ad executives most about all this is that wireless phone advertising can reach a rich audience of 18-30 year olds that other advertising media (including radio & TV) don’t.

Craig Mathias of the Farpoint Group suggests eventually it may be much more than broadcast-style ads on your handset’s small screen.  How about replacing ringback tones with sponsor messages?  You’re waiting for your mom to answer the phone, and instead of the ring tone in your ear, a voice asks you to ask your doctor if Cialis is right for you.

When NetZero first started, it made a name for itself providing free Internet service in exchange for giving up a chunk of your screen for a banner ad.  What would you be willing to give up, if you could have wireless phone service cheap, or even free?

cell phone advertising, AT&T, Cingular, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, Virgin Mobile, Amp’d

[via NY Times News Service, Computerworld]

BlackBerry named its first multimedia phone the Pearl, not because of the phone’s color (black), but because of its pearl-like trackball navigator, which was a radical change for BlackBerry users who know and love the scroll-wheel.

But someone at BlackBerry figured out that pearls are usually white.  So we have BlackBerry’s new Pearl model, that’s, well, pearl-colored.  It’s not a stark white, but a soft glossy white. 

And absolutely nothing else has changed, except there’s a MyFaves logo on the back, that the original Pearl model didn’t have.  (T-Mobile hadn’t officially introduced MyFaves when the Pearl came out, although the phone has had MyFaves capability from day one.)

And it’s selling on T-Mobile’s website for the exact same price as the black version - about $150 with a 2-year deal and mail-in rebate.  For now, it’s a T-Mobile exclusive.  (AT&T/Cingular has Pearls, but only black ones.)

Shall I remind you that, at this price, you could buy 4 BlackBerry Pearls for the price of one 8GB iPhone?  Naaaah.

BlackBerry, White Pearl, T-Mobile, Cingular Wireless, AT&T, iPhone

Since Apple chose Cingular (AT&T) as its carrier to roll out the new iPhone, does that mean there will never be a CDMA version of the device, and that Verizon and Sprint will never be able to sell it?

Apple’s decision to produce iPhone as a GSM cellular device has a lot to do with GSM’s predominant position as the cellular transmission system of choice worldwide.  About 70% of the world’s cell phones are GSM.  Certainly Steve Jobs envisioned marketing the iPhone on a worldwide basis.  And although Cingular (AT&T), a GSM carrier, has won first crack at marketing the iPhone here, there’s a strong possibility that iPhones could eventually be sold unlocked, to be used on any GSM system carrier, or that T-Mobile could wind up selling them as well.

But will Apple eventually want to go after Verizon and “the network”?  There are several good reasons for him not to.  For one, the CDMA system is awfully carrier-specific.  Steve Jobs likes the idea of controlling his product’s destiny.  He no doubt appreciates the fact that, if Cingular (AT&T) decided to stop marketing iPhones, he could cut a deal with T-Mobile in a heartbeat.  The GSM system allows for handsets to go from one carrier to another with little hassle.

On the other hand one carrier’s CDMA handsets are pretty much “locked in” to that carrier.  And the CDMA carriers maintain a lot of control over features.  Verizon Wireless is well known for disabling features like certain Bluetooth capabilities on some of its handsets.  Handset manufacturers have very little say in the matter.  Steve Jobs wouldn’t like that. 

Then there’s the matter of Qualcomm’s royalties for the CDMA system, which Apple would have to pay in order to make CDMA handsets.  Look how Steve Jobs rebelled against the idea of settling with Cisco over the iPhone trademark.  I’m sure Jobs doesn’t want share anything he doesn’t have to, when it comes to iPhone, including royalties.

While Verizon Wireless appears to be on the outside looking in when it comes to the iPhone, potential partners are reaping a windfall even before the handsets are built.  Foxconn International Holdings in China, which makes handsets for Nokia and Motorola, saw its stock jump 4 percent in a single day Friday when it was rumored to be in line to manufacture some or all of the new iPhones. 

Apple, iPhone, Steve Jobs, Verizon Wireless, Sprint, GSM, CDMA, Qualcomm

[via International Herald Tribune] 

We wrote about Sprint discontinuing its Fair & Flexible calling plans for new customers around the first of the year.  The move became official Thursday with the announcement of Sprint’s new Power Pack pricing plans.  Other than the 7PM night & weekend rate start time, there’s no gimmick for Sprint to woo new customers - nothing like Cingular’s rollover minutes or T-Mobile’s My Faves.

Sprint also announced brutal news this week for its workforce.  That workforce will be shrinking by 5,000 this year.  It’s part of the hangover from Sprint’s merger with Nextel, which has been drawn out and painful.  The biggest challenge has been hanging onto Nextel customers.  They’ve been leaving for other carriers because Nextel hasn’t been able to improve service and coverage as quickly as those customers would like. 

Nextel has been fighting to keep those customers by introducing “hybrid” phones that allow Nextel customers to access Sprint’s voice network when Nextel’s own network is unavailable.  Sprint Nextel will also invest $8.5 billion in 2007 to add more cell sites and build out its WiMax wireless broadband network.  Chicago and Washington will be the first cities to get that new technology. 

But Wall Street doesn’t like Sprint Nextel’s overall outlook.  The problem for any wireless carrier is, once you lose a customer to another carrier, it takes two years for that customer’s contract to expire before you can hope to woo that customer back.  It’ll take Sprint $1.1 billion just to cover marketing and handset subsidies this year, to try to do it.  The fact that Sprint doesn’t usually get first crack at the flashy phones like BlackBerry’s Pearl or Apple’s iPhone doesn’t help.

Sprint Nextel and its employees are going through some difficult times.  We’d hate to see them cash it in and be merged with some other wireless company.  Even those of us who aren’t Sprint customers benefit from increased competition.  If 4 major carriers in the U.S. (Cingular, Verizon, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile) were to become 3 carriers, the loss of competition would almost certainly lead to higher rates for us all.

Sprint, Nextel, Verizon Wireless, Cingular Wireless, AT&T, T-Mobile, Fair & Flexible, Power Packs, WiMax, Apple iPhone, BlackBerry Pearl 

[via CBR]

The creator of the Walkman isn’t taking all this blather about Steve Jobs’ alleged new iPhone lying down.  Sony Ericsson has been tantalizing music-phone fanatics about its upcoming super-slim W880, with an aggressive rumor campaign (complete with press release).

But since that one’s not ready for prime time just yet, Sony Ericsson’s giving us a new entry level Walkman phone to chew on, the W200. 

“Entry level” means features like Bluetooth are missing.  It does come with a wired stereo headset,  a Memory Stock M2 micro card slot for music storage, FM radio and VGA camera.  And its respectably sleek appearance means that your kids won’t feel too put off by the fact that you didn’t buy them the highest-priced music phone in the lineup.

As a tri-band GSM (850/1800/1900 MHz) handset it’s a likely candidate for carriers such as T-Mobile or Cingular when it becomes available in mid-year.  “Entry level” should mean reasonably-priced, although details about that are yet to be determined.

Apple, iPhone, Sony Ericsson, W200, W880,  music phone, Walkman

[via Sony Ericsson]

 

LG’s successor to Chocolate, known as Shine, has been wowing ‘em since October in South Korea (the only place they are officially available) and on websites like this one, where we all wonder out loud why Korea gets all the coolest handsets first.

We may not have much longer to wait for this one.  LG’s slick slider with the 2 megapixel camera, aluminum brightwork and the mirror-finished screen coat is now expected to get an official rollout at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show next week in Vegas.  The news conference is Sunday at 8AM, if you’re in the neighborhood.

But hold the phone.  This handset retails in South Korea for the U.S. equivalent of about $650.  Even if a major U.S. GSM carrier such as T-Mobile or Cingular decides to market this handset, with incentives for a long term deal, it’s going to be at the high end of the high end of their handset lineup.

When Motorola RAZRs are practically being given away, how much would you be willing to fork over for this puppy?

LG, Shine, Consumer Electronics Show, RAZR, Cingular Wireless, T-Mobile

[via InfoWorld]

 

 

While scrolling through the site one day, the Palm Treo site that is, an observant Engadget reader caught a listing for the Treo 680 with a link for T-Mobile support.

So far, the only carrier in the United States selling Treo 680s is Cingular.

Does this mean T-Mobile is about to take on the Treo 680 as one of its own products?  Not necessarily.  Palm has also been selling unlocked Treo 680 handsets from its own website.  This may just be Palm trying to be helpful - offering support to T-Mobile customers who have bought unlocked 680s and want to use them on T-Mobile’s network.

There are plenty of T-Mo customers who would love to be able to have Treo 680s at a subsidized price from T-Mobile.  I might even be one of them.  But we’re not holding our breath.  Just because Palm supports 680s for T-Mobile doesn’t mean T-Mobile is on board.

Palm, Treo 680, T-Mobile, Cingular Wireless

[via Engadget]

We’ve heard about YouTube’s deal with Verizon Wireless to provide some of its user-created content over V-Cast-equipped handsets.  We’ve also heard that the content will be edited, which means a lot of the most compelling must-see stuff may be deemed inappropriate for a Verizon-branded service.

Enter MyWaves, Inc. which has just launched its own video service, by repackaging video content from other sites including YouTube, Comedy Central, CNN, VH1 and more.  Mywaves promises you the opportunity to create your own channel lineup along with automatic text message updates when new material you’ve chosen is available for viewing.

And unlike Verizon Wireless’ YouTube offering, there’s no charge for MyWaves’ service, other than the data download expenses involved.  Now the fine print - this service will work best with 3G (third generation) high speed data capable handsets, and they have to be capable of running Java applications.  But they’re signing up customers from the four major U.S. cellular carriers - Sprint, Verizon Wireless, Cingular Wireless, and T-Mobile.

The developers of MyWaves promise that instead of editing (or censoring) material, they’re grouping content into channels that will make it easier for you to get to see whatever it is you’re looking for, from the comfort of your 2 inch handset screen.  They claim it’s designed “similarly to the way Apple created iTunes”. 

Whatever.  We won’t argue with free stuff, this early in the new year.

MyWaves, Cingular Wireless, Verizon Wireless, YouTube, T-Mobile, Sprint, user created video, iTunes

[via Slashphone, MyWaves]