torstai 4. kesäkuuta 2009

Cannot Top this!!

Hi

So I came to the conclusion that you just cannot top these three announcements. First off all we can say two - since the last one will not make any impact anymore. Nevertheless it is also good :)

Anyways - let’s forget mobile devices from this post. iPhone, Palm Pre, N97 whatever..

Nothing will ever be the same after Google launched their Google Wave!! Please see the video. It is amazing.



So breaking it down - if possible - it’s remarkable what Google can do and has done. The whole project has been done in 3-5 (max) years and was located in Sydney.

I think WAVE will change everything as we know it -

* Email - Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail etc.
* Instant Messaging - Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger, GTalk etc.
* Social Networking - Facebook, Orkut, MySpace, Twitter etc.
* Collaboration tools - Zoho, Google Docs, Adobe tools etc.
* Content publishing - Blogs, Discussion Boards, and Wikis

Yes. Once WAVE is out, I can foresee massive changes to all of the above and beyond!

Here is a preview pic of the service:



Next up: Xbox unveils project Natal: a hands-free motion-sensitive controller system.

"Introducing Project Natal, a revolutionary new way to play: no controller required. See a ball? Kick it, hit it, trap it or catch it. If you know how to move your hands shake your hips or speak you and your friends can jump into the fun -- the only experience needed is life experience." "Natal, by comparison, provides much of that same functionality, but without having to hold on to the controller. Want to kick a ball in a game? Then make a kicking motion. Want to buzz in a game show setting? Smack your fist into your hand. Want to share a drawing with an in-game avatar? Draw it and then hold it up to the Natal camera. "

Please see the amazing video:



Closing this video madness: Sony unveils their response to Nintendo Wii. A new motion controller demo.



That’s all for now. Hope you have already come across this news stream. If not hope you’re seeing the colors brighter now :)

Br. Vesa

torstai 28. toukokuuta 2009

Big start for exciting and upcoming June

Hi there

Well June gets a nice start with Nokia announcing the Ovi Store. TechCrunch already manifested that: "Nokia Ovi Store Launch Is A Complete Disaster." the service was very slow (due to high interest), applications disappeared or showed up twice, user experience i.e. navigation was complicated and in addition the search did not work properly.



Bad start for Nokias ambitious response to Apple Apps store!!

Enough said on Nokia.

Moving on: At the Google Dev Conference Google has confirmed that the mobile world will welcome at least 18 new Android OS-powered smartphones by the end of 2009.

Google will offer three different versions of Android OS: a completely free and generic flavor with no pre-loaded Google applications; a slightly-customized version of Android OS that comes pre-loaded with Google apps like Gmail and Google Calendar; and a completely “Google-fied” Android OS bearing all sorts of Google branding and integration with Google’s services.

Continuing with this Google Developer news here is a VERY cool video: Spotify mobile demo for Google Android



Spotify is a streaming music service which is gradually gathering a large fan-base in Europe, and is poised to launch in the US, has been plotting a mobile version for a while. The Android app is still very much a work in progress and subject to minor changes, but it gives a pretty good overview of their thinking. The demo highlights a number of features including playback, playlists, offline synch and music search.

Please see the video. It looks fantastic even though it is still under development.



Br. Vesa

keskiviikko 20. toukokuuta 2009

Stats to the table

Hi

Bringing some stats to the table.

Akihabar tells us that Sharp Announces 10 Megapixel Camera. Other specs include a nice 3.3” VGA Mobile ASV LCD, a LED Flash and the ability to go up to ISO 12800.

Seems like the pixel war will hardly ever end. Fooling consumers to buy more via pixels does not really make any sense. Unless you are into having more pixels than you neighbor :)

Below is the picture.


Next up iPhone rumored feature list. I picked some of the highlights:

* Sleeker design with Apple logo on the back to light up
* 32GB and 16GB to replace current capacities
* 3.2 Megapixel camera
* Video recording & editing capabilities
* Double the RAM and processing power
* Built-in compass
--> In addition the New iPhone is Due to Land July 17.

Last but not the least:
Video Demo of Android ‘Rosie’ OS Leaked Online



The interface looks very nice and fast. Guess the future is truly about widgets and apps :)

Br. Vesa

Sticking with the news

Hi

Starting off: FierceMobileContent

Reports that financial giant MasterCard is going live on an on-demand, person-to-person Mobile MoneySend payment platform. Nice - finally some movement in this area. Please notice that I have already looong been talking on mobile payments. Guess someone needs to make the first steps.

“The platform enables bank customers to offer P2P payments to their customers--users can send and receive funds via SMS, mobile web, downloadable mobile application or PC, linking their mobile phone number to a MasterCard. The platform is already available in 17 countries across the Asia Pacific Middle East Africa region, including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, India and the Philippines." Does anyone know how it has worked out in these regions?

Also another favorite of mine has been mobile education. IntoMobile reports via CrunchGear that Japanese University Tracks Students by iPhone.

"The iPhone will basically be used as a tracking device with which the university can control if its students are physically on campus or not (the main goal is to prevent cheating during roll calls). But the phone will also be used for digital lectures (podcasts), doing homework and taking tests."

Hope that stuff like this will take up. Really promising as far as reaching rural areas and educating people.

Br. Vesa

Problems ahead

Hi there

Recently I came around this:



So it seems that Nokia is transferring Widsets to Ovi store. Nice - but what happens to all those personal smaller RSS feedbased widsets such as this one on 1.6.09 ?

Will I have to publish my stuff on Ovi store? Sounds really hard.. taking into account the publisher costs etc. Hmm.. I sure hope my bloggy widset will keep on going :)

I will keep you posted on what will happen by 2.6.

BR. Vesa

torstai 14. toukokuuta 2009

Communities

Hi there

Starting off: Tomi Ahonen indicates interesting numbers on the Finnish Habbo hotel (teenager) social networking site.

Numbers: “The teenager social networking service has over 90% of its users within the age bracket of 13-18. They have 11.7 million active users any given month. They earned 50 million Euros (74 M USD) last year in revenues and made a profit of 4.8 M Euros. Ebitda profit margin of 9.6%. A profit margin for an online social networking service with no subscription fee and where the majority of the income is NOT advertising."

Wow impressive figures when you take into account that they do not have subscription and major advertising. How do they make their money? They make it the same way that Second Life - by selling virtual stuff. The teenagers can decorate their hotel rooms and characters as they wish with real Euros.

Next up also news from: Tomi Ahonen evaluating / speculating on Blyk.

Blyk is a free mobile service for young people funded by advertising. So does the Blyk concept work otherwise as well? Seems that Tomato Plus out of Croatia is doing the same with a different approach. "Is not limited to the 18-24 age bracket like Blyk, so they also understandably have attracted a wider age range in their users. Similar to Blyk the users agree to receive 6 mobile ads per day and they receive somewhat a smaller set of free traffic, 50 minutes of free calls and 50 free SMS text messages per month. The ads arrive as SMS or MMS messages."

So: 92% of their users are happy. MobHappy says Advertisers get better response rates than Blyk and their range goes up to 75%. (Blyk after 18 months reports 25% average response rates). I will not go into detail. Please visit Tomis blog if you are interested in more speculation. the main idea is that people are happy and willing to receive ads if they also get something out of it i.e. free calls and text.

Lastly: Cnet states that Crystal Wiski, a teen from Antelope in California's Sacramento County, claims to having sent out almost 304,000 SMS text messages in a single month. More precisely, Crystal claims to have sent 303,398 text messages from her iPhone. Previous record-breaking attempt by a pair of Pennsylvania buddies resulted in a whopping $26,000 phone bill. But, that particular record attempt had just 217,000 text messages sent between two people.
Crazy teens :)

That's all for now.

Br. Vesa

perjantai 24. huhtikuuta 2009

Video time

Hi

This post will have two interesting videos.

First up: Seth Godin at Gel in 2006

Bio: Seth was founder and CEO of Yoyodyne, the industry's leading interactive direct marketing company, which Yahoo! acquired in late 1998. Godin worked as VP Direct Marketing at Yahoo before leaving to become a full time speaker, writer and blogger.


Seth Godin at Gel 2006 from Gel Conference on Vimeo.


Even though the video is old (2006) it nicely demonstrates how things take time. Nothing happens over night. The video/presentation is called: "This is broken". If something is "broken" i.e. the process or things/products do not work - then who is to blame? This is the question that the video/presentation tries to answer. Ultimately in an organization no one really wants to take responsibility of putting out there something that is (already) broken. Please see the vidoe - this is difficult to explain.

The other video is from TED.

Bio: David Pogue presents "When it comes to tech, simplicity sells." New York Times columnist David Pogue takes aim at technology’s worst interface-design offenders, and provides encouraging examples of products that get it right.



The video has numerous examples of what not to do when trying to get a service or product out there. Design does count. And when you mix this video with "This is broken" you start to see the point in UI and industrial/experience design.

To end this post on a relaxed manner Engadget informs us that:

Devious carrier pigeon caught trying to smuggle cell phone parts into prison. Case one: attempting to smuggle cell phone parts to inmates in a high-security Brazilian prison. Case two: Columbian authorities say that pigeons are likely being raised inside the prison, and then sent to the outside to collect the contraband handsets before doing what pigeons do best -- returning home.



Br. Vesa

keskiviikko 22. huhtikuuta 2009

iPhone 3.0 (?) speculations

Hi there

The new iPhone (3.0) is getting more rumors and speculations as we near the early June. Hopefully we will see a new and greater iPhone on 8.6.

Anyway here are a few news picks on the iPhone. Digitimes has teared down the components. Please see the pick for more details.



What is more "interesting" than components is the following speculation by PhoneNews. They claim that future iPhone and iPod Touch hardware will be capable of playing back full-HD video at 720p and 1080i resolutions! Seems that: Apple Resellers have been advised to start clearing out any remaining Composite AV Cable and Apple Component AV Cable stock. The move is aimed at cutting down inventory ahead of the introduction of Apple’s new Apple AV Cable, which consolidates the functions of both the Composite and Component AV iPhone-cables.

Other interesting news is by Ars Technica. The next operating system upgrade will include both voice recognition and text read-back capabilities kind of like with Apple latest iPod Shuffle.

Other rumors are around a "pro" version sporting a 5MP camera and the "smaller" version having a 3.2MP camera. There have also been rumors on an iPhone Nano.

To end this post check out the nice flexible phone concept.





For more info visit Ondo phones

Br. Vesa

perjantai 17. huhtikuuta 2009

App developers and store reviews

Hi

So yet again a new post. New York times is reporting on the iPhone app store success.

The idea is that smaller/niche developers can monetize throught the new channel. Ethan Nichols (30 year old) earned himself in 5 months 800.000 dollars with the iShoot application. Another success storey is based on 22 year old Kostas Eleftheriou who gained 100.00 with his iSteam app in three months.

Needless to say that these are the "success" stories. Similarly there was a case where three developers made a game going strait to the top 10 and was downloaded per week over 10.00 times. However the game was free. Thereafter (3months) they decided to give it a price tag of .99 cents. Well downloads fell to 200 per week - ration being somewhat 400:1. At the end they tried advertising and update/upgrades, but the game/app never made it again to top levels.

The idea behind an app store is to view it critically and as a new distribution channel. There might not be any time for price "testing" as trends emerge within days/weeks. Your app might be the hottest and most selling for only a short period of time.

Moving on Gizmodo: has an extensive review on apple, android (Google), blackberry, windows, palm and Nokia app stores.

Please visit their site for more info. Also below is a pick on the main differences.



Below some highlights from Gizmodo:

Apple:
* At least for now, the App Store is the standard by which all others are judged.
* With a $99 dollar developer's fee and a novice-friendly SDK, the barriers of entry for an iPhone developer are fairly low.

Android:
* Google has been much more lenient about what they allow in their store since the beginning but in the rare case that they don't approve of an app you can just go download an .APK file and side load it onto your G1 anyway.
* Google has been much more lenient about what they allow in their store since the beginning but in the rare case that they don't approve of an app, as in the case of tethering apps earlier this month, you can just go download an .APK file and side load it onto your G1 anyway.

Blackberry:
* Listing your wares in App World costs a hefty $200, which gives you the right to upload 10 apps, but doesn't come with any new SDKs or development tools. The payment system is PayPal, which is clumsy to use and a pain to set up. A minimum non-free price tier of $2.99, probably intended to filter out spammy apps.

Nokia, Windows and Palm:
* All still more on the speculative side.

More on ovi store as they arrive :)

Br. Vesa

keskiviikko 8. huhtikuuta 2009

SMS marketing and FB going to NYSE?

Hi

Interesting news section on how to value other "marketing" channels. Communities dominate brands tells us that: The newsmagazine Economist has gained more sales in India by promoting/selling their magazine through SMS marketing.

The idea: "The Economist introduced a daily Economist newsflash ad, with a short snippet of news from the current issue or a summary of the headlines etc. They increased India circulation by 39%; they increased subscriptions by 26% and news stand sales by 15%. In one year, using SMS. “ ---> Phenomenal success!!

Other stuff; tietoviikko reports that Facebook is preparing for the stock market. “On Tuesday, the briefing Facebook representative Larry Yu said the company now looking for a financial manager, who would have experience in a listed company's management.” "Larry Yu said the company also will consider a public share issue, but the plan does not even worthy of consideration. "

Facebook also reported its turnover to rise during the current quarter, 70 percent and estimates of the company's profits in 2010. " WHoow - NICE!!

The service is great but I am just worried that consumers will eventually get tired of using the service. It needs to be linked more to your friends and location. Now consumers/users are just increasing their friends lists and updating this and that. What a waste of time :) --> Go out and play. Or write a blog - hehe.

Back again later this week.

Br. Vesa

tiistai 31. maaliskuuta 2009

News News

Hi

Yet again I have been really busy. Anyway: Look like "my" thoughts on Nokia and general mobile banking were correct?

At least finally we are hearing some news around mobile payments/banking. Nokia is investing 52 million Euros to California-based mobile banking/payments startup banking firm: Obopay. Obobay ensures mobile payment/money transfers via mobile devices. The idea is similar that PayPal uses i.e. you need an account etc. Nokia vision is to make the mobile phone the credit card of the developing world. By the way: Gartner has predicted that mobile payments user base is to got from 33m to over 100m by 2011.

Other news: Operator Orange UK has conducted a survey to find the role of Mobile within the media marketing landscape. Here are some key findings:

* The average age for mobile media users is 36, and 81% use mobile media more than once a week with 46% using it daily

* The Mobile Internet pages viewed most often are search engines, email, news, music and film although, interestingly, a high proportion (55%) of people browse the mobile internet with no specific agenda, providing an opportunity for marketers to attract their attention

Al in all the stuff is rather basic. Please visit the Orange Press office site for more info. By basic I mean information such as:

* 82% of respondents have the operator’s portal as their mobile internet home page, making this page an extremely valuable piece of marketing estate. --> Yes --> Most consumers have bought the phone via an operator deal and thereby the phone is "customized" and has the operator sites pre installed. Naturally these can be used for marketing. However more interesting would have been to know how many change the configurations and do not want to visit the operator "sites" i.e. walled gardens :)

* 70% of participants are attracted more by interactive marketing formats, such as sponsorship, coupons or picture messaging mechanics --> Yes Really? --> Sure they are when you take into account how static and boring the sites look and feel :)

FROM this particular point we come to the next news section:

EngadgetMobile tells us, that in downtown Oslo a Norwegian ski billboard gets snowy when texted.

See pic:



Similar interactive stuff: intomobile tells that Dockers brings motion-sensing ads to iPhone games. The new Dockers ads take advantage of the iPhone’s accelerometers and microphone to turn a mobile banner advertisement into a fully interactive ad. The first ad, “Shakedown 2 Get Down” features a dancer clothed in Dockers threads. The ad responds to shaking movements with a little dance-show from the on-screen dancer, asking the user to “Shake 2 Activ8.”

See pic:




That’s all for now. Br. Vesa

perjantai 13. maaliskuuta 2009

Music for the masses

Hi

So Nokia came out with new Xpress devices. Nice, but what does Express mean? Please leave a comment if you happen to know. Anyways: Nokia and also other competitors are really pushing to the music scene. I'll focus more on Nokia as their news hit the streets here in Fin more often than for example Samsung.

Below is pictured one of their devices. The Nokia 5730 XpressMusic has both numeric keypad and slide-out QWERTY keyboard. I feel this look squire nice. Nevertheless I might be already too old to judge stuff like this... eventhough I am part of the younger generation.



More info on the release can be found under: Nokia events

So Nokia is really going after the music via Comes with Music and Nokia Music Store which currently operates in 15 countries. Nokia is planning on adding more within this year (5-10 stores) Personally I feel that the Comes with Music “idea” is more revolutionary than the plain shops. Also the Comes with Music “idea” is to some extent not perfect. By perfect I mean some of the DRM issues.

However the future aspect of the whole music mania (in addition to getting free DRM music) is the notion that in the future consumers will not need to purchase any music at all. Nor will they need to "keep" music i.e. mp3 files etc. Either the music is free, subsidized by Ads or included in the device/service or “the” cloud will keep you music. Remember Googles plans on integrating a G-drive to the cloud i.e. online? Anyway: Comes with music it works in the sense that the device price includes the “extra” cost.

Also other companies are getting interested on music: Amazon launches DRM-free "Amazon MP3" music downloads. Engadged

My favourite “player” is Spotify. "There are no restrictions in terms of what you can listen to or when." You can access all music fro free - however no download i.e. cannot keep music, but the service remembers your playlist and is VERY fast so who needs to keep the files. In addition they are moving to the mobile space as well.

To end this post: A cartoon from Dilbert:

torstai 5. maaliskuuta 2009

Productivity

Hi

Two interesting news on how to increase productivity.
The first one is more on the subject and the other one on a concept idea.

Starting off: Digitoday.fi
As the site is in Finnish please us for example Google translator.

Anyway Fraunhofer research indicates that productivity rises as end-users (at work place) get the chance to use multiple screens. The research shows that with three panels (LCD screens) the productivity rose by 35%. In addition the work environment and atmosphere also had a positive affect. Needless to say that please keep in mind that this is a research study and the sample and results are questionable and thus cannot be "used" for populations.

The second news comes from: tivi.fi
Again use a translator.

The news is on a Asus concept miniPC showcasing two screens. Please see the picture.


NOW to the assumptions; I feel that within a few years the mobile devices will look similar. Have tow sides. This is good news if we can back up the design with increased productivity!! That's all for now.

Br. Vesa

keskiviikko 4. maaliskuuta 2009

iPhone or "touch" increasing web traffic?

Hi

At least to me not surprisingly iPhone is clearly dominating the web traffic accessed via phones.

Link to News text By Fortune:

Anyways seems that iPhone is according to AdMob dominating mobile web traffic… In almost all categories The iPhone OS now represents 51% of U.S. smartphone traffic, leaving RIM’s (RIMM) BlackBerry (19%) and Microsoft’s (MSFT) Windows Mobile (14%) in the dust. In the global handset market, the iPhone and iPod Touch represent 18.3% of worldwide ad traffic - second only to Nokia 30%.

I feel the success is mostly related to the fact that the consumers who initially purchase an iPhone are tech savvy and probably already use the web to a great extent. In addition the iPhone is a wonderful device to surf the web. Unlike most devices using "small" screen wap or .mobi sites. Anyway will be nice to see whether giant Nokia can increase the S60 web traffic with 5800 and upcoming N97. IF then one conclusion might be that the touchscreen (or at least wider screen) provides more delight to end-users in surfing the web.

And link to AppleInsider:



The second news suggest that iPhone (both the iPhone and iPhone 3G) accounts for a staggering 66.61% of all mobile web traffic! Despite Nokia's domination of the global mobile phone market with its Symbian-powered handsets apparently failed to provide its users with the kind of desirable web surfing experience. Yes - I agree!

Finally a nice video that has been creating "news" online:
<a href="http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-GB&playlist=videoByUuids:uuids:a517b260-bb6b-48b9-87ac-8e2743a28ec5&showPlaylist=true&from=shared" target="_new" title="Future Vision Montage">Video: Future Vision Montage</a>

Br. Vesa

keskiviikko 11. helmikuuta 2009

Bring back the FUN

Yes

Finally I have been reading more than crappy all high-techie mobile stuff:

Please view the videos down below:
Fist one is making fun off Sony and actually about the whole industry.



Personally I have been so fed up with the battle of the gigabytes and storage AND TV stuff here in Finland - so this video truly made my day :) Hope that other countries will end up with digital TV sh*t as well. That whole thing is just so lame and useless (at least for now).

Next up:

This video to some extent indicates/shows off how cocky the iPhone and Apple media/advertising strategy (***) has been for the past years.

--> In the end the video showcases the end-usage of techie devices.

Lastly: How does this i.e. Paris Hilton help increase Nokia 5800 (Tube) sales?
http://www.dlisted.com/node/30412

Funny text and nice video portraying the hollywood glam :( Noooot!

Br. Vesa

perjantai 30. tammikuuta 2009

Back with a few cloud news :)

Hi

Huh - Back after a few weeks of non-blogging. I do read blogs and try to keep my self up-to-date. However I am currently also working for my living, so therefore I have not had the time to think about writing this blog. Which sucks kind of since I was already at the very beginning quite unsure of whether I would drop to the one year blogger status? Statistics reveal that most people start blogs, but in the very end they will not do any updates... that is more or less under a year of trying.

I have been quite busy i.e. do not really understand how people (bloggers) have the time to write out long and interesting topics/posts.

Anyways: http://uk.gizmodo.com/2009/01/29/acer_launching_1st_smartphone.html

Seems that also the PC manufacturers have realized the mobile and internet AND PC convergence. They are all stepping to the mobile space with Smartphone i.e. PDAs.

http://www.phonesreview.co.uk/2008/10/29/china-mobile-lenovo-join-hands-to-launch-android-2009/

Lenovo aka IBM ThinkPad owner is building a Smartphone. Idea is to manufacture/sell the first Google powered android phone in China.

http://www.mobilewhack.com/dell-to-launch-a-smartphone-in-february/

Dell is also getting interested on the matter/subject. Seem like the smaller laptops are not enough for the PC manufacturers.

Interesting will be to see just how the new mobile manufacturers will come out. Who will be their UI platform partner? Mac OS (No), Microsoft (Maybe), Android (Maybe), Symbian (No?)
Strategically a very interesting move from min PC/Laptops to mobile devices YET again proves that mobiles will surely be the dominant way of communication within the internet age. Power words: mobile, internet and convergence etc.

From the likes of Internet we will come to the next post:

http://www.t3.com/news/will-the-google-gdrive-kill-off-the-pc?=37934

VERY interesting!! So cloud computing and the likes have been hip words for some years now. Everyone has an idea of them. However only some services are currently running around cloud computing. Is data i.e. email synchronization cloud computing? Maybe - or at the least it is a starting point.

Anyways: How about a Google GDrive? You are probably aware of how much computers need processor power. In addition they need memory and storage memory. Well make those PCs thinner please? Google is on the works of giving you bootable Google hard drive in the sky. This remote-storage service could replace the hard drive, operating system, and the PC itself. And then potentially have a profound effect on mobile devices.

So to make things near future: http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/new-in-labs-offline-gmail.html

Google is now using their Gears engine to offer offline Gmail access, allowing Gmail users to read e-mails offline. "You get the same Gmail experience whether you're online or offline, all in a web browser, just like you're used to."

Watch the demo video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOAZaIaeIrI

Then to the final blog post:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/01/21/the-day-live-web-video-streaming-failed-us/

"Yesterday was supposed to be the day that live Web video streaming took on TV broadcasting. With millions tuning in from their PCs to watch President Obama’s Inauguration speech, it was one of the biggest tests yet for live video streaming. But live streaming failed. " So seems that the online world is partly not ready for the masses :)

Well that's it for now. Back in February.

Br. Vesa

perjantai 9. tammikuuta 2009

New year starts fast

Hi and Happy 09

This year sure starts fast. At the end of last year we saw Nokia announcing their new touch UI N97. I personally like the fact that it in addition to the touch UI it also has a QWERTY keyboard.

Anyways analytics are already making scary predictions for other players: http://www.forbes.com/personaltech/2008/12/02/nokia-netbooks-apple-tech-personal-cx_bc_1202nokia.html

"N97 device could compete with low-cost laptops. Not that the N97 meant to compete, directly, with the Asus Eee PC, Dell's Inspiron Mini 9 or HP's Mini 1000. That, however, is what makes it so dangerous: The N97 isn't a laptop scaled down to be more portable and more connected. "

Anyway back to 09. Finally someone took the leap and changed the DRM issue in music. This time unsurprisingly it was iTunes i.e. Apple. Why on earth is Nokia always following behind? Nokia surely has more "power" OR are they in fact powerless due to the operators?? I feel that it is both: Have to keep operators happy and at the same time shareholders/investors, so being revolutionary/first might scare people.

Here a link to the iTunes news: http://www.internetnews.com/ec-news/article.php/3794556

There is more news on the way. Behold of CES related news:

** Need to recharge your phones battery "wirelessly": http://www.powermatusa.com/

Yet again please keep in mind that this is new and stuff like this will surely evolve. At the end all surfaces could be charging your electronics.

** Also what has previously been addressed in this blog has been the 3D and sunglass style video "watching". Anyways also here big changes are happening: http://www.vuzix.co.uk/

There has also been quite much talk on receiving some electronic surfaces right "inside" your eye. It is supposed to work similarly as a contact lens.

** LG Electronics has announced a "watch" phone: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QR50ZcHrmC0&feature=related


Other interesting news is that at least some firms dear to show the mobile marketing results: http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/commerce/2211.html

"Pizza chain Papa John’s International Inc. has generated more than $1 million in sales from mobile Web orders in less than six months after offering that option to consumers.” Other milestones include: "Papa John’s earlier this year crossed more than $1 billion in overall online sales – up from $400 million in 2007.”

Last "post" item is in my opinion the best: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUnA7HzGFbo

Br. Vesa