Phones from vending machines.
Vodafone have begin trials in Manchester, UK, selling SIMs and pay-as-you-go phones via vending machines. "While the kiosks may be a first for Europe, they would barely raise an eyebrow in Finland or Japan, where consumers have been using phones and buying unusual items through vending machines for years." Reported in The Guardian.
Email launches and lawsuits.
Google's Gmail is now available from mobile web browsers, reports Computing. "Alternatively users can read their email with a mobile using POP access. Google can also forward email messages as a SMS message [...]"
Meanwhile, Computer Weekly and eWeek report that Microsoft is alleged to have violated three US patents in the connectivity between Microsoft Mobile 5.0 and Exchange servers. "The announcements could put more pressure on RIM to settle", comments SFGate
Mobile TV deals.
The Guardian report on the deals being stuck to bring TV to mobiles, with the Vodafone and HBO agreement being "particularly significant because it includes access to entire programmes, not just the clips or cut-down versions, often called mobisodes."
Vodafone are using the 3G network to stream content. Meanwhile, as ZDNet report, hardware is being developed to allow mobile phones to tune to pick up specially broadcast TV.
Microsoft and mobile.
The Economist special report on Microsoft looks at how the company is approaching the markets of games, home entertainment and mobile (The Economist, November 26, 2005, pp. 85-87).
Microsoft was initially kept out of the mobile market by handset makers who wanted to avoid the fate of commodity PC manufacturers. By going directly to network operators, and offering operator-specific customizations, Microsoft have become established with over 100 different Windows-base smartphone devices. "'Microsoft still has a steep hill to climb—it is still viewed as an outsider in the mobile industry', says Ms Zweig [of the Shosteck Group]".
Microsoft's 2005 operating income for Windows (US$13.1bn) and Office (US$7.7bn) contrasts with the combined income for mobile, embedded devices and home entertainment (US$ -0.4bn). Mobile is not anticipated to give Microsoft anything like the profit it has experienced from Office and Windows—"a business that has, after all, been declared an illegal monopoly in both America and European courts".
"The best justification for its move into other markets, then, is to protect and reinforce the profits of its core business. 'If they can use these ofther devices to keep those profits rolling in, then that's justification enough', says Mr Jackson [of Forrester]".
State of workforce mobility.
Nokia has released a set of white papers on business use of mobile. In The Evolution of Workforce Mobility (PDF) Nokia outline five phases of enterprise mobility:
The Nokia press release suggests that the five phases are something "that companies can employ to evaluate their own use of mobile technology and ensure proper planning of a successful mobile strategy".
"...Nokia has discovered that a 'hidden
mobile workforce' exists at most companies.
A recent global survey by Simpson Carpenter
showed that while business decision makers
think just 24 percent of their employees use
mobile phones for work, in fact, 50 percent
of employees actually do. And many of these
employees are clamoring to leverage the
built-in power of many phones today, for
example, to manage their company email."
To reach phase 3 of improved productivity, organizations need to examine individual processes and application to identify areas that will benefit from mobilization.
The opinions expressed are those of the author and not necessarily reviewed in advance by anyone but the author, and neither Spiral Arm Ltd nor any other party necessarily agrees with them.