Mobiles

M:Metrics, the mobile market authority on the consumption of mobile content and applications, announced last week the first large-scale study of mobile media consumption in China, the world’s largest mobile market.

According to M:Metrics’ December Benchmark Survey, mobile entertainment is popular among the Chinese, with an astonishing 34.8% reporting they listened to mobile music in the month, and 10% playing a downloaded mobile game.

“China is the most important market for mobile technology in the world, and I’m proud that M:Metrics has the distinction of being the first measurement firm to offer authoritative metrics on this large, growing mobile audience,” said Seamus McAteer, Chief Product Architect & Senior Analyst. “We are already seeing pent-up demand for this data among our client base, and will continue to report on this fascinating audience monthly through our MobiLens syndicated data service.”

To get the data, M:Metrics surveyed 5,163 Chinese mobile subscribers aged 13-54 via telephone in the capitals of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenyang, Chengdu, Wuhan and Xi'an.

Last night at the annual GSM Association (GSMA) 2008 Awards Gala Dinner, Glu Mobile's original title My Hangman was a joint winner of the Global Mobile Award for Best Mobile Game along with Cellufun's Call of the Pharaoh.

My Hangman is a casual game based on the classic word puzzles and was created and developed in Glu's London studio. The title features 1,000 different word puzzles, multiplayer modes, and the ability to put pictures of friends into the puzzles themselves. Upon its launch, My Hangman has seen strong performance critically and commercially including reaching the number one spot on T-Mobile UKs Top Ten Games when launched on the network.

"We're honored to have this Glu original title recognized by GSM, said Greg Ballard, President and CEO, Glu Mobile. This award is a testament to the strength and creativity of our development team in making compelling original titles."

In Call of the Pharaoh, you get a job as an inscriber, priest or engineer and work with your fellow CelluPharaohs to create the largest pyramid possible. You must depend on your fellow workers to gather the bricks and ropes used to build up the pyramid, and then call together the engineers to plan, the inscribers to decorate and the priests to bless your pyramid as it grows larger.



Commenting on Cellufun's entry, the jury said: "Call of the Pharaoh introduces social networking to games, you can't win this all on your own, you need to call in your buddies. Beware, don't start this just before bedtime or you will spend all night on it!"

Congratulations to both companies.

First of all, Happy Valentine's Day!

The MobilePhoneBlog hopes everyone has a great day, whether you buy into Valentine's Day or not.

My wife is a happy one this morning as she got an iPhone from yours truly. Some of my friends think I'm crazy for giving such a nice gift on a second-tier holiday but if you're at all familiar with the sacrifices ones spouse has to make to support a startup business, you'll understand that it's the least I can do.

We haven't activated it yet but it will be fun to watch her use it as she has been carrying around some old crappy LG phone for years and her mobile experience is about to be blown away.

In business news, this past week was the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and there was tons of news about new phones, new partnerships and such. Far too much for us to cover, but one news bit that came out from AT&T caught our eye.

During his keynote appearance Thursday at the Mobile World Congress, AT&T Mobility president and CEO Ralph de la Vega called Apple's iPhone "a game-changer," noting that since AT&T exclusively launched the device in mid-2007, mobile data consumption has grown dramatically. According to de la Vega, 95% of iPhone owners regularly surf the web, even though 30% had never done so prior to iPhone ownership.

"There isn't a device that's easier to use," de la Vega said. "The iPhone proves that price resistance is only as strong as the user experience is weak."

Enhanced devices and improved user experiences are driving AT&T mobile data across the board. De la Vega said that 13% of all AT&T customers now own a 3G device.

95% of users regularly surfing the web? Wow!

The combination of powerful handset Nokia N82 with character-recognition and text-to-speech software from KNFB Reading Technology resulted to a cutting edge mobile phone that can assist the blind or visually-impaired people, according to USA Today.

A sightless person can use the phone to snap a picture of a menu, book, printed receipt or business card. Software on the phone processes the words on those items and reads the text aloud in a synthesized voice. The device can even let a blind person know if paper currency is a $5 or a $20 bill.

Unfortunately, this innovative product is not within the reach of average individuals. The software alone is worth $1,595 plus the cost of Nokia N82 which is around $500. Polarizers are also needed to reduce the glare on the phone.

Since this is just the beginning, let's hope these guys are brilliant enough to find ways to lower the development cost of this product and make this available to the greater community.

via picturephoning
See full article.

Related Entries:

First Book Written from Mobile Phone Now Available - 26 July 2007

Are Your Ready for a Cow Dung-Powered Mobile Phone? - 07 October 2007

Class-Action Suit Against T-Mobile a Small Victory for Mobile Users - 16 October 2007

knfbREADER Mobile: Text-to-Speech for the Blind in a Nokia N82 - 30 January 2008

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It seems everyone wants to enter in the wireless industry. The latest addition is Digital Dolby, the trusted name in audio technology, and its bold ambition of bringing "rich, vibrant surround sound to music, movies, and television programs on mobile phones and portable media players."

At the Mobile World Congress, the company has presented its audio process technology known as Dolby Mobile. Moreover, it has recently signed agreements with NTT DoCoMo and Sharp to use its Dolby Mobile to FOMA SH905i and FOMA SH905iTV in Japan.

But Dolby is not alone in this conquest. SRS Labs is also vying for attention and market share for its SRS CS Headphone technology that can take "stereo or surround encoded 2-channel audio and processes it using an ultra-low-power Circle Surround decoder to create 5.1 highly accurate channels."

via intomobile
See full article.

Related Entries:

The Next Battle: User Experience 2.0 - 01 October 2007

Mobile Ads Least Credible Form of Advertising - 10 October 2007

Class-Action Suit Against T-Mobile a Small Victory for Mobile Users - 16 October 2007

What's Hot in the Mobile World this 2008? - 13 February 2008

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Happy Valentine's Day!

It's rather interesting to understand how different cultures speak of love and celebrate this event. But do you know that mobile phones can easily detect if love is in the air?

According to Reuters, there is a mobile technology developed in S. Korea simply called "Love Detector" that basically analyzes voice patterns during our conversations via mobile phones and determines if there is sexual attraction based on the levels of excitement and concentration.

There is a counterpart in the U.S. named "LoveDetect" but only works with service provider TelTech LLC.

Though it's designed for entertainment purposes to help ignite hope to the hopeless romantics, the voice pattern technology is used in different settings such as banks, law enforcement and academic institutions.

How to use it? Just call that special person, engage in a normal conversation and leave the analysis to Love Detector. After the call, there is a verbal report of the emotions analyzed and you can even get the detailed report at the site.

The bad news: It's not free! (But love don't cost a thing, right? WRONG)

What makes the dating game a very amazing experience is the heightened anticipation. It's a chess game where every move leads to victory or defeat.
See full article.

Related Entries:

Mobile Future Through the Eyes of Nokia - 23 October 2007

Mobile Payments Market to Reach $11.5 B by 2011 - 13 November 2007

Why You Should Not Buy a New Mobile Phone this Holiday - 05 December 2007

Mobile Technology Shaping the Future of Retail Industry - 18 January 2008

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