Mobile Innovation

Though high interantional mobile rates have opened the market to alternative VoIP services like Rebtel and Jajah, there always seems to be some added inconvenience to using a new system.

That said, there are a couple new low-cost international calling services that come pretty close to repicating the traditional phone experience with more features.

TalkPlus and Eqo are two of these companies. While they take similar approaches, they each have significant differences. With both of these services you can set up a call via web interface. The service then makes local calls to you and the person you are calling. You pay for the local calls and the connecting international call. But at least you don’t have to receive a call to make a call.

Eqo uses low-cost international VoIP connections, while TalkPlus uses low-cost international voice routes.

Another difference if that Eqo focuses only on mobile customers, while TalkPlus Global can be used from traditional landline phones as well.

Link

Posted by Mobile Innovation at 04:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Barablu, ConnectMeAnywhere, EQO, Fring, Gizmo, Hullo, iSkoot, Jajah, MiNO, Nimbuzz, Rebtel, Talkster, TalkPlus, Truphone and Yeigo are just some of the VoIP providers I’ve seen. All of them are fairly similar, with at least one or two other companies like them, and most are exactly the same. It almost seems like anyone with a pulse and an asterix installation is starting their own. I understand why so many people are hopping in the game. International calling is nearly a $300 billion industry. However, they all seem the same, and it seems hard to pick a winner except based on the size of their bank account. Not to mention Vonage, Comcast, and Time Warner Cable loom large as land-line VoIP providers.

The general formula for these centers around their main value add, cheaper long distance calls. All of these companies offer cheaper long distance calls by bridging two local calls across cheaper IP networks. Basically, instead of calling your friend in the UK, you call the VoIP provider on a local number and the provider transmits the call to a local station in the UK, calling out to your friend on a number local to them. Total cost = local call + VoIP cost + taxes etc.

To encourage adoption, most providers drop the VoIP fees for calls to other users of their service. There are free (as in beer) calling plans for people with WiFi and one of the multitude of straight to internet phone programs. BTW, a call to the UK from the US will cost about 2-3 cents a minute.

The thing that separates these guys from the international calling card startups, is that they come with some management tools. These come as simple WAP access to your account, or full blown applications for select handsets. These apps let you manage a contact list and make calls more naturally. Better one’s easily migrate your current address book to their system. Still, others throw in IM and messaging services.

VoIP providers also differ in one other key area, marketing. Some come in plain vanilla, while others jazz up their sites, targeting teens apparently excited at the idea of saving their parent’s minutes on their calling plan.

Posted by Mobile Innovation at 12:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Mobile banking today is in its second youth. After a false start in the period until 2001/2002 with the first version of Wap, many financial institutions are again looking at the potential of the mobile channel. For banking, we believe that the time is right to reassess the value of wireless technology to provide valued customer services, gain efficiency in reaching and communicating with customers and enable secure banking and payment facilities to increasingly mobile customers.

The modern consumer is internet-savvy, mobile and 'always on'. Sending a text message is as normal as sending an email, and the text message might even replace the email for more formal forms of communication. Why send an email if you could send an SMS to your bank instead? With a solid and growing base of users, banks could increase income by differentiating between free and premium banking and payment services. Costs can be optimised in the contact centre by shifting some of the calls to forms of self-service via SMS or Wap / mobile internet.

Mobile banking "2.0" covers the whole spectrum from SMS, phone-based (Wap) banking, browser-based (PDA) banking, mobile payment, contactless commerce and multi-channel direct marketing and customer services.

Whereas most of the SMS-based applications are based on sending (pushing) notifications and alerts to inform the customer of certain events, pull-based applications are offered and used as well. Customers may request account balance status, increase or top-up their credit account, request an additional line of credit, or transfer money from their credit account. Since it is available on every mobile phone, SMS is an easy-to-use and cost-effective way of providing a mobile, two-way banking service. Despite the somewhat negative experiences with Wap some five years ago, Wap banking seems to be back on the rise. Modern phones, in particular smartphones and Java-enabled phones, more capable browsers, and faster mobile networks enable banks to provide interactive banking services that can be used by any customer. With the built-in mobile phone browser or a dedicated banking application that is downloaded and installed on the phone customers have access to their accounts, the latest transactions, and can perform transfers, pay bills, and locate the nearest ATM or branch office. mFoundry's True Mobile Banking mimics the bank's web-based online banking. The application, which runs on any J2EE and Symbian phone, automatically downloads and displays the current balance when the user logs in, saving time, while smart data compression speeds up.

Posted by Mobile Innovation at 03:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

If you thought that you had Customer Relationship Management covered, you may want to think again. Conventionally defined as the strategy to develop, maintain and optimally use customer (and supplier) relationships, CRM has long been and still is associated with the traditional contact channels. Outbound and inbound contacts take place via print, online media such as web and email, and phone, and intelligence is gathered from the moment of interactions. The mobile however, for the moment just a ripple in the waters of CRM, is set to become a catalyst for changing the way we look at relationship management.

Every advance in communications technology has led to a change in how enterprises manage relationships. Voice response, automatic call distribution and recently Voice over IP enabled customer support and phone sales through large contact centres with hundreds or thousands of agents. Distance being of less importance, many centres are today located in countries like India and make use of highly-educated and well-trained local staff, at a cost level that is far lower than what is possible in Europe or North America. The web has further virtualised the world. Customers interact with their suppliers through websites and email, neither knowing nor caring where and by whom their request is handled, but expecting that it will be done in the most accurate way and respecting their existing relationship with the company.

The mobile phone adds another dimension to all of this. Like the web accessed through a personal computer, the mobile enables continuous interaction and immediate action. But unlike the PC, the mobile allows this any time, at any location, with images, text, speech and sound. Enterprises now face the big challenge of embedding this mobile channel in their outbound and inbound communications, in advertising, marketing, sales and customer support. The mobile is the logical extension of the existing set of channels through which a person can be reached to book an appointment, confirm temporary coverage of car insurance, remind him of a payment date, or inform her of a last minute travel opportunity.

The real innovation wave in CRM and marketing that the mobile will cause is called location. For years, location based services have been called the marketer’s dream. It's not been a success, mainly due to the limitations of ellular technology and failing business models. However, this is about to change, due to near-field communication (NFC, RFID) and narrowcasting technologies. Imagine a bus driving through town, with on board displays showing location-based advertisements as it passes the shopping malls. Direct response ads promote the latest offers. As soon as the viewer sends an SMS to the promotional short code, a discount coupon with a two-dimensional barcode is sent back to the mobile phone. The ads, selected and displayed in real-time, take into account the location of the bus and the age distribution of the passengers on the bus. As each passenger passed the entrance door, the RFID tag in their public transport passes was scanned automatically and - through an online connection to the back office systems of the transport company - profiling information was fed back to the advertising narrowcasting system.

Posted by Mobile Innovation at 02:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Mobile Commerce is the ability to conduct commerce, using a mobile device e.g. a mobile phone, a PDA, a smartphone while on the move.

Mobile commerce is currently mainly used for the sale of mobile phone ring-tones and games, although as 3G/UMTS services roll out it is increasingly used to enable payment for location-based services such as maps, as well as video and audio content, including full length music tracks. Other services include the sending of information such as football scores via SMS.

Currently the main payment methods used to enable mobile commerce are:
- premium-rate calling numbers,
- charging to the mobile telephone user's bill or
- deducting from their calling credit, either directly or via reverse-charged SMS.

Mobile commerce was coined in the late 1990s during the dot-com boom. The idea that highly profitable mobile commerce applications would be possible though the broadband mobile telephony provided by 2.5G and 3G cellphone services was one of the main reasons for hundreds of billions of dollars in licensing fees paid by European telecommunications companies for UMTS and other 3G licenses in 2000 and 2001.

Other examples of mobile commerce applications are information-on-demand systems like news services or stock tickers, banking and stock brokerage applications by SMS, WAP or iMode.

Link

PDA’s and cellular phones have become so popular that many businesses are beginning to use m-commerce as a more efficient method of reaching the demands of their customers. Although most trends and advances are seen in Asia and in Europe, North America (Canada and the United States) is also beginning to take advantage of m-commerce.

Banks and other financial institutions are exploring the use of M-Commerce to broaden/retain their business by allowing their customers to not only access account information, e.g. bank balances, stock quotes and financial advice, from anywhere, but also the possibility to make transactions, e.g. purchasing stocks, remitting money, via mobile phones. This service is often referred to as Mobile Banking or M-Banking. The stock market services offered via mobile devices have also become more popular and are known as Mobile Brokerage, as they allow the subscriber to react to market developments in a timely fashion and irrespective of their physical location.

News information is also becoming more popular with subscriptions to daily headlines from anywhere in the world being transmitted to mobile devices. Sports and entertainment are areas that have also grown with the demand for mobile related services. Shopping and reservation services are now more accessible when using mobile devices. Corporations are now using m-commerce to expand everything from services to marketing and advertisement. Although there are currently very few regulations on the use and abuses of mobile commerce, this will change in the next few years. With the increased use of m-commerce comes increased security. Cell phone companies are now spending more money to protect their customers and their information from online intrusions and hackers.

Financial Institutions such as Banks see mobile commerce as offering new channels of service to customers as well as offering them new and innovative products. These financial institutions are working to design and implement new applications that will offer mobile payment (ie. being able to pay for groceries) and mobile brokering. The travel industry, in realizing the possible benefits of m-commerce, is working on technologies that will take care of travel arrangements, update customers on flight status, notify them when this information changes and will offer to make new arrangements based on preset user preferences requiring no input from the user. Therefore, a customer’s entire trip can be scheduled and maintained using only their mobile device. The retail sector is also looking into the possibility of using mobile commerce for making the purchase of merchandize easier. Customers will be able to browse and order products while using a cheaper more secure payment method. An example of this is; instead of using paper catalogues, retailers can send customers a list of products that the customer would be interested in, directly to their mobile device. Additionally, retailers will also be able to track customers at all times and notify them of discounts at local stores in which that customer would be interested in. Shopping will also be easier. Soon, phones will be equipped with “bar-code scanners” and shoppers could scan an item and find out its pricing and availability. In the entertainment industry, m-commerce could be used for the purchasing of movie tickets, verify someone's ID or authorize their reservation information. This industry will also be able to promote wireless gaming and music.

Posted by Mobile Innovation at 02:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

TV enabled handsets will reach a staggering 244 million devices by 2011, according to a new report.

This is almost double the number previously forecast, and was reached by a detailed look into the likely mobile TV launch dates and the uptake rate expected in 55 countries.

The report was published in the US by Multimedia Research Group, but was written by Rethink Research Associates in the UK. It shows the rapid increase anticipated in handsets annually, with huge leaps during 2009 especially (see graph below), when 53 million broadcast TV enabled handsets are expected to ship.

"There are over 80 mobile TV trials all over the world and already there are a handful of services launched. The bulk of those trials are already committed to turn into genuine services, in some cases with a nationwide footprint, in other countries in limited regions," said report author Peter White, principal analyst at Rethink.

"This forecast is not including video services which are streamed over a cellular network, because that has largely been a slow burn business, due to its low screen resolution and the careful management it needs so that it doesn't interfere with voice. Most of these new handsets will deliver QVGA quality screens, where voices and lips are synchronised, where there is no shadowing on the screen, and where the resolution is good enough to watch for 30 minutes at a time and beyond," White said.

Initiatives in Japan and South Korea have been launched for some time using technologies which are largely unfavoured in the rest of the world, but last year Italy launched two DVB-H based services and now Qualcomm's MediaFLO is aggressively going after the US market with deals that take in Verizon Wireless and AT&T as resellers.

Around 80 pilots have been carried out globally and the trickle of current services will reach a torrent of some 50 to 60 services during 2009, led by developments in China and Asia Pacific, where the report says 105 million handsets will ship. It says this will be followed by strong showings in Western Europe and the US, which will ship 73 million and 40 million mobile TV capable handsets by 2011 respectively.

According to the report, service revenues from the global mobile TV market will exceed $24bn annually by 2011, with Western Europe likely to lead in revenue terms at over $10bn, followed by the USA and Canada at $7.7bn, and China and the Far East lagging at $5bn, despite higher usage levels.

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Posted by Mobile Innovation at 10:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I found a very thrilling map application for Nokia devices: smart2go. smart2go is a compact programme for your mobile that allows you to load maps from around the world. Discover interesting places with ease, highlight them and get the route. It is a service combining GPRS+ bearers for content download and GPS for localisation. A hybrid between navigation and a travel guide with local based information.

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Tech Review has a great little video of Bruce Sterling ranting about futurism, design, and its relationship to science fiction.

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Although Galileo, the European alternative to GPS, has been beset by endless delays and even the ignominy of having its access system hacked almost immediately, the project continues to make slow progress this week with the transmission of its first navigation message. GIOVE-A, the first of a planned 30 satellites, has been floating overhead since the beginning of last year, but had only been sending "general signals" until the test last week, when the bird sent the data needed to measure the distance between itself and a ground station in Guildford, England. That's a big step, since the system is supposed go live next year and be fully operational by 2011.

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MVNO Virgin Mobile USA, a JV between Virgin Group and Sprint Nextel has filed for an IPO of up to $100 million in stock, reports BusinessWeek. The company intends to use the funds to repay debt and pay an undisclosed amount to Sprint Nextel, which will be a selling stockholder in the IPO. The stock will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol VM. The company has about 4.88 million customers, and made a loss of $36.7 million in 2006.

Link BusinessWeek

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Orange has joined other UK operators in offering flat-rate data plans. Contract customers will be able to sign up for unlimited surfing for 8 pounds per month (US$15.97) or a bundle for evening and weekend browsing at 5 pounds per month (US$9.98), or a cap of one pound (US$2) per day reports ZDNet UK. However, Orange joins Vodafone in banning VoIP or IM on the network: “The bundled prices won’t include VoIP or IM,” an Orange spokesperson confirmed on Friday. “We advise against using [those services] as yet.”—because it could cut into Orange’s voice/SMS revenue.

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Vodafone will revamp its Vodafone live! Portal and plan a relaunch at 1st June 2007. With the new portal Vodafone will offer a more web-like look and feel of the mobile homepage. Next to popular mobile internet sites like BBC the customer will also find Google Search. Google enlarges its presence in the mobile internet very successfully by starting a lot of co-operations. In March 2007 for instance o2 announced a co-operation with Google (Link).

With the new Vodafone live! Portal Vodafone will also release a new pricing structure for data usage. Vodafone will offer a much cheaper structure. Currently Vodafone users pay £2.35 per MB a day; under the new pricing they can use up to 15 MB a day for £1. When users exceed 15MB a day, they then pay £2 per MB for additional data. High usage mobile internet customers can alternatively subscribe for a monthly browsing bundle at cheaper data rates. Unfortunately the press release does not mention much about a new bundle pricing.

Basically there are two kinds of customers: Those who want to pay what they have used and those who prefer a package. o2 for instance offers three data packages: "Internet Pack S", "Internet Pack M" and "Internet Pack L".
The Internet Pack S serves the pay-as-you-use demand. The Internet Pack M is appropriate for an intense usage and includes 200 MB per month for 10 Euro (200 MB are enough to browse 800 Websites). For users who would like to use more data intense services the Internet Pack L would be advisable since it includes 5 GB and costs 25 Euro per month.

For a sustainable raise in mobile internet usage the bundle pricing will be essential. With bundle pricing you do not just persuade the early adapters, you also improve the confidence of the majority in the pricing and avoid the negative bill-shock effect. Thus the intensity of the mobile portal usage will be strongly dependent on the bundle data pricing.

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