Author Archive: Gareth

comScore releases First Data on iPhone Users in the U.K.

London, U.K., March 26, 2009 – comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today unveiled for the first time its data describing iPhone users in the United Kingdom, finding that 93 per cent of iPhone owners accessed mobile media in January.  According to comScore, mobile e-mail is used by 75 per cent of British iPhone owners, making it the most popular type of mobile content consumed on the device. 

“Consumers are clearly embracing the iPhone’s touch screen keyboard,” observed Alistair Hill, analyst, comScore. “The penetration of e-mail usage on the iPhone is more than double that of the smartphone category as a whole. Over the past several quarters, the UK smartphone market has been dominated by the N95, which lacks a QWERTY keyboard. As a result, we see smartphone users favour using their device for music and photo messaging, two activities for which these Nokia devices are particularly well-suited, more than e-mail.”

New Nokia N97 promotional video looks awesome, laden with marketing jargon

Nokia has made a new marketing video for its upcoming super phone the N97. The first half doesn’t even show the phone, it just has a bunch of international looking people spouting generic web 2.0 platitudes, but the second half is where the real action is. The video features lots of nice shots of the phones UI, including some new transitions, and it hints at some possible content partners for this media focused device. As an American I was particularly interested to see the “Live TV” tab featuring NBC, CBS, and ABC, meaning that Nokia may be planning a big marketing push in the US later this summer. Video after the break.

Zune on Windows Mobile, not until 7

According to some information supplied to our friends over at wmpoweruser, Windows Mobile 6.5 will not in fact be getting the Zune service that we were all secretly hoping for. But the better news is that  Zune is very much coming to Windows Mobile 7, and a pretty full implementation of it too.

Unfortunately for the over the air download part of the service Microsoft intends to have the operators very much involved, meaning when music tracks are downloaded via 3G we may end up paying twice as much as if the track was downloaded over WIFI. The Operators will also be involved in billing, with the ability of tracks to be charged directly to your phone bill rather than your credit card.

So there you go, Windows Mobile 6.5 is a stepping stone to the big changes and nothing more, for Win Mo to get back in the game, 7 is the lucky number.

via wmpoweruser

EA Mobile reveals 2009 iPhone game lineup

EA Mobile on Tuesday discussed their 2009 plans for the iPhone and iPod touch platform. The company plans to offer games based on well-known properties in the EA library for PC and consoles.

Many of the titles have been previously announced, such as Tiger Woods PGA Tour, an adaptation of the long-running golf game which has previously seen incarnations on the Mac, both from EA in its partnership with TransGaming and from Aspyr Media. Other games include Wolfenstein RPG, FIFA Soccer, Madden NFL (American football), NBA Live, Spore Creatures, Mystery Mania, American Idol, Command & Conquer, SSX (a snowboarding game), Need for Speed and The Sims 3. EA Mobile also plans to release iPhone/iPod touch games based on popular board games, including Connect 4, Battleship, Risk, Monopoly “classic,” Trivial Pursuit and Clue.

EA Mobile indicates that Tiger Woods PGA Tour Golf and Trivial Pursuit will be coming in Spring and late April, respectively. Other release dates were not available.

via Mobile Tech Moment

T-Mobile trialling Bluetooth technology advertising

T-Mobile today announces that it is trialling Bluetooth as part of a campaign to encourage more people into its stores. Piloting the scheme at six stores across the country, passers by will be prompted to enable Bluetooth on their mobile phones to receive T-Mobile offers and deals.

The activity, known as ˜Proximity Marketing’, will be run in conjunction with Hypertag, a provider of proximity solutions. Hypertag has installed Bluetooth tags in the six T-Mobile stores, which send out invites to pick up a free gift and promotional offers to customers’ Bluetooth-enabled phones as they pass the store. Graphics in the shop windows also prompt customers to turn on their Bluetooth to receive the offers, which cost nothing to receive.

Skype 3.0 Beta for Windows Phones

Skype have just released a 3.0 beta version for Windows Mobile Phones. New in this release is the ability to send spreadsheets, photos, music and other files Skype-to-Skype for free as well as great value texts to mobiles abroad, and a great way to avoid roaming charges abroad if you text on Skype from a WiFi zone. You can download it directly on to your phone and install it straight away, or you can save it to your PC and transfer it on to your Windows® Phone device. See the easy downloading guide for step-by-step help.

AT&T Breaks the E71x, then delays it.

Over the weekend there was a lot of excitement over the fact that this was going to be the week that AT&T would finally start selling Nokia’s masterpiece, the E71x, but alas the news was too good to be true. With today being the scheduled release date, and no E71x in sight qwerty loving S60 fans across the country had their dreams smashed. According to BGR the trouble comes from a bug in the email or exchange synching software. I find this pretty hard to believe, I have been using an unlocked E71 with exchange since Thanksgiving (late November for those of you outside the U.S.) and have never had a problem with synching at all, and on top of that Nokia has sold millions of these phones around the world for nearly a year. If there was a problem with something as vital as email synch, I’m sure someone besides the guys at AT&T would have spotted it by now. While I am disappointed that my fellow countrymen will be denied such a great phone for an extra few weeks, this really questions what AT&T did to this great phone that would break it.

Acer A1 coming September

You gotta love rumors that come across like “This comes from a guy, who knows a guy…“  Such is the case with the Acer Android-based handset rumor.

This one comes via TalkAndroid who found it in The Philippine Business Mirror. An unknown source within Taiwan-based Acer claims that their first Android handset will be known as the A1 and will feature  a full touch screen.  This handset is rumored to be launching in September alongside 3 other phones.

[Via Androidguys]

Have questions about Windows Mobile?

Aaron Woodman, Director for Consumer Experiences for Windows Mobile, will be available the week of March 23rd to take questions on anything related to your consumer experiences with Windows phones. Post your questions over at the Facebook discussion board here.
Aaron may not be able to answer every question—and he won’t be giving away any deep trade secrets—but he has a wealth of fascinating knowledge to share so get your question posted there now.