Mobiles

23half announced the launch of Thrrum MMS Search. The service enables camera phone users to find and browse information related to their physical environment using the Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) integrated into their phones. Users can capture a picture of any text with their camera phone and send the picture as an MMS to m@thrrum.com. Relevant search results are then sent to the users’ phones. The Thrrum MMS Search service is presently in beta and is available free of charge to AT&T wireless subscribers in the United States.

“Thrrum introduced the exciting visual click-to-search experience last year,” said K. Gopalakrishnan, CEO of 23half. “Now, Thrrum MMS Search extends the experience to additional devices without requiring any software to be downloaded. Users of camera phones can point their camera phone at a book, a product label or any printed material, take a picture and send an MMS to get relevant information right on their phone. With Thrrum, any text that you see around you becomes a hyperlink that can be ‘clicked’ upon with your camera phone.”

Zeemote, Inc., the creator of intuitive user interface technologies, today celebrates being crowned winners of the inaugural ‘Quality of Experience Award’ and the ‘Technology Innovation Award’ at the Mobile Entertainment Forum’s (MEF) fifth annual Meffy awards.

Based in Bedford, Massachusetts, Zeemote makes intelligent wireless controllers for mobile devices. Their first product, the patented Zeemote JS1, is the first compact wireless thumbstick for mobile gaming. Small, fast, ergonomic, and wireless, the Zeemote controller creates a near console game playing experience with true analog control.

Check out the video of the product demo here.

“Being recognised for these awards is a huge compliment to the entire Zeemote development team as well as the game developers who have thoroughly embraced our interface,” said Beth Marcus CEO Zeemote “The JS1 is a major leap in the world of mobile gaming and we’re delighted that the MEF judges have recognised the true technological innovation .”

The JS1 controller won the first ever “Quality of Experience Award”, voted for by a broad panel of consumers, for bringing a near console gaming experience to mobile games. Through its ease-of-use, ergonomic design and simple set up via Bluetooth, the JS1 provides user-friendly, intuitive and engaging game play for consumers.

Winning the Technology Innovation Award demonstrates that the JS1 controller directly enhances the uptake and enjoyment of mobile gaming by removing the limitations associated with a directional keypad. This award underscores the JS1’s ability to aid consumers, developers and operators alike in efficiently overcoming barriers surrounding mobile content consumption.

“With over 40 Zeemote ready games available, the game developer community is rapidly embracing the Zeemote JS1 controller. Over the coming months, the industry can look forward to major partnership announcements and the launch of the first handset and controller bundle.” concluded Marcus.

Rimma Perelmuter, MEF Executive Director said “Zeemote created an innovative tool to help drive the casual games market by overcoming the limitations of screen size and interface. It received the most enthusiastic response from the consumer panel, irrespective of age or demographic, due to its ease of use.”

Unfortunately, the Zeemote JS1 is not yet available for consumers to purchase, but if you sign up for their mailing list you'll be one of the first to find out.

According to an article from InfoWorld, Microsoft believes that they can capture 40% of the smartphone market with Windows Mobile by the year 2012.

As the article states, the target is ambitious considering the company's relatively small share of the market for smartphone operating systems today and stiff competition from the likes of Symbian, Apple's iPhone, RIM's BlackBerry, and newcomers such as Google's Android platform.

Microsoft's Windows Mobile OS went into around 11 million handsets in the company's fiscal year 2007, and it says it will reach nearly 20 million devices in fiscal year 2008, which ends June 30, said Eddie Wu, managing director of Microsoft's OEM Embedded Devices in Asia, on the sidelines of a news conference in Taipei.

Around 118 million smartphones were sold last year, according to market researcher Canalys. Symbian captured 67% of the OS market, while Microsoft came in second at 13% and RIM took 10%.

I have personally had this debate with lots of folks over the last few years. Just how successful will the Windows Mobile operating system be?

On one side, you have business users and consumers who are hooked on the Windows OS on their desktops and having "seamless" integration with their mobile device is compelling. Add to that, the marketing muscle of Microsoft and it would be easy to see them hitting a significant market share.

On the flip side, you have users who want nothing less than to escape the Windows operating system and now you have significant competitors (mentioned above) entering the space.

Maybe I'll figure out a way to add a poll to the blog - in the meantime, if you have an opinion, we'd love to hear your thoughts.

According to the National Health Interview Survey, conducted by the U.S. Center for Disease Control, about 3 in 10 households either only use mobile phones or rarely take calls on their landlines.

During the second half of last year, 16% of households only had mobiles, while 13% had mobiles and landlines but took nearly all calls on their mobiles. Wireless-only houses grew 2% between the first and second half of 2007. In early 2004, only 5% of households only had mobile phones.

We've written about the decline in landline use before, and these numbers are not surprising at all. I have been pushing hard with my wife to give up our landline but haven't broken through yet. My guess is that it'll happen in the next 12-18 months in our household.

The survey had other interesting data including:

-Low-income people are likelier than the more affluent to have only cell phones.

-Those with only cells tend to be living with unrelated roommates, renters rather than homeowners, and Hispanics and blacks rather than whites.

-About a third of those under age 30 only have cell phones.

-Households with both cell and landline phones who rarely or never get calls on their landlines tend to be better educated and have higher incomes.

-About 2% of households reported having no telephones.

The National Health Interview Survey, conducted by the CDC, involved in-person interviews with people in 13,083 households done from July through December of last year.

Nokia's head of Location-Based Services, Michael Halbherr, recently stated at the Where 2.0 conference in California that the company has plans to ship 35 million GPS-enabled devices this year alone. Nokia's Maps GPS software is currently available for its S60-powered smartphones, with a version for non-smartphones expected later this year.
Read the full story here.

Verizon Wireless today announces that it will fill the last seat on the LiMo Foundation's board of directors. The LiMo Foundation is dedicated to promoting the use of Linux in the mobile industry as a way to encourage openness and reduce costs.
Read the full story here.

Greystripe has announced another Tier-one game publisher deal to distribute free mobile games from  Sega.  Three classic game titles from the Sega collection will be delivered across mobile phones worldwide through all 50 of Greystripe’s Catalog Platform partners in addition to GameJump.com. Additionally, Sega will monetize their mobile game content via Greystripe’s AdWRAP advertising network, which includes brands like Diet Coke, Yahoo!, New Line Cinema and eBay.

To launch the partnership, Sega and Greystripe are launching three popular mobile games:

• Sonic Jump - Go vertical with Sonic the Hedgehog. Play through familiar fast-paced action with an addictive new style as Sonic jumps from platform to platform in a race to stop the evil Dr. Eggman.
• Afterburner II - A classic Sega arcade favorite, players can use their mobile phones to jump into the cockpit of a fighter jet and combat swarms of supersonic enemy fighters.
• Golden Axe - In the epic “side-scrolling beat ‘em up” Golden Axe, choose one of three powerful heroes to embark on an adventure to save the land of Yuria from the evil forces of Death Adder!

“Sega has selected to be a part of the Greystripe’s distribution network of sites as it opens up the category to a whole new market of consumers,” said Linda Chaplin, VP of Mobile at Sega. “The ‘free games’ proposition allows consumers to try mobile games without risk and we’re confident that our brands and commitment to quality will convince consumers to stay and continue gaming on their mobile phones.”

Greystripe’s AdWRAP technology enables advertisements to be wrapped directly with mobile games and applications without any complex coding and development for the content owner. AdWRAP provides game publishers, Web and mobile media portals, and carriers with an additional source of revenue, while simultaneously building customer retention and loyalty. 

A spyshot sent to Engadget has revealed the upcoming release of new fashion phone. The new fashion phone by Christian Dior is in clamshell design, crafted with unique faceplate design. There is also a remote control, no info on its functionality though.

More detail will be available this Friday, according to the source it will be announced on May 16 this week and available in the retail market 2 weeks later.

Source [engadgetmobile]

LiMo Foundation announced today the addition of Infineon Technologies, Kvaleberg AS, Mozilla Corporation, Red Bend Software, Sagem Mobiles, SFR, SK Telecom and Verizon Wireless as new member companies. Expanding LiMo’s membership to 40 since the foundation’s launch in January 2007, these companies join with existing LiMo members to collaborate on the LiMo Platform, a Linux-based software platform for mobile devices.

“This latest group of new members demonstrates the rapidly expanding reach of the LiMo ecosystem, and we are very excited by their commitment to further enrich the LiMo Platform and accelerate its adoption within all markets,” said Morgan Gillis, executive director of LiMo Foundation. “It is now clear that LiMo’s transparent and participative governance model and total focus on the handset operating system-which are designed to avoid value-chain distortion-are proving to be very attractive to the whole industry.”

Launched in January 2007 by six mobile industry leaders-Motorola, NEC, NTT DoCoMo, Panasonic Mobile Communications, Samsung Electronics and Vodafone-LiMo was formed to deliver an open and globally consistent software platform based upon Mobile Linux for use by the whole industry to catalyze next-generation mobile consumer experiences. LiMo Foundation is open to all vendors and service providers in the mobile communications marketplace, including device manufacturers, operators, chipset manufacturers, integrators and independent software vendors. LiMo members are participating collectively to building a rich ecosystem and have the ability to influence the evolution of the LiMo Platform, leaving them free to provide compelling and differentiated services to customers.

LG and Samsung have announced that they are working together to develop a new standard for mobile digital TV to be used in North America. The two plan to take advantage of the existing terrestrial digital TV infrastructure in North America.
Read the full story here.