Spiral Arm News

SMS usage grows, data usage not so popular.

In the UK in May, a total of 3.3bn text messages were sent, pushing the estimate for 2006 in total to 36.5bn messages (compared to 32bn in 2005). Data usage may not be doing so well, as a survey from NOP found that "44 per cent of first-timers [mobile data users] told NOP they have no intention of using mobile data services again." Cost and ease of use are the main concerns.

Reported by The Register:

• Brits send 3.3bn texts during May.


• Half of mobile data virgins say never again.


• Mobile internet is still a turn-off

Recruiter sees 35% growth due to mobile.

O'Grady Peyton International, a nurse recruitment form, has seen a 35% increase in responses to adverts since introducing a mobile application. Job adverts published in nursing publications include an invitation to the candidate to send a text to a number. This in turn sends the candidate to the job application form, where their details are collected. Each page is then passed on to the appropriate recruiter for a region, allowing them to more efficiently pass on good leads to recruiters.

Tim Whyld of O'Grady Peyton: "Finding out if the applicant was suitable usually involved a 20 minute phone call. This was a costly exercise when the majority of nurses that enquire don't have the relevant experience or are not prepared to go through the lengthy application process, which can take up to 18 months [...] Prioritising the leads has freed up so much time previously wasted on unsuitable applicants and has enabled us to make recruiters responsible for other revenue-generating areas including post-contract employment".

Reported in Computing.

Mobiles: good for spelling, bad for stress.

Research from the University of Staffordshire points to people "becoming addicted to mobile phones, causing them to become stressed and irritable", reports The BBC. From a study of 106 phone users, 16% were found to have problems. The effects range from becoming irritable and pre-occupied with phones, to higher blood pressure.

The GSM Association comments: "We would say mobile phones are a liberating tool. You can switch them off so you only need be contactable when you want to be."

Elsewhere, The Guardian reports that text messaging "may actually be improving, not damaging, young children's spelling skills, new research shows." The study from Coventry University is based on interviews and tests of 35 11 year olds. "We are interested in discovering whether texting could be used positively to increase phonetic awareness in less able children, and perhaps increase their language skills, in a fun yet educational way."

Orange launch mobile Linux initiative.

"For the first time, Linux seemed to be gaining not just the political positioning, but the technical resources and unity, to be adequate in fighting off Microsoft Windows Mobile and possibly sidelining Nokia-backed Symbian."

Orange devices VP, Yves Maitre: "Having ALP [ACCESS Linux Platform] as an Orange approved platform and working with ACCESS to develop and deliver the Orange Application Package for ALP, will enable us to foster the growth of the mobile Linux market." The ALP will contain "applications optimised to deliver the Orange experience", giving device makers "a turnkey mobile Linux platform".

Links:

• Orange first mobile giant off the mark with Linux program, The Register.


• Press release: ACCESS and PalmSource Announce the ACCESS Linux Platform.


• Trolltech goes green with Linux-friendly phone, The Register

Under 8s with phones.

CNet is carrying a report suggesting that the average age of a child owning their first phone is expected to drop to five years old. Although some may have phones this young, the average age is currently eight, according analysts Dhaliwalbrown. The Daily Telegraph notes that "parents are so anxious to keep tabs on their offspring that they are sending them to primary school with unsuitable mobile phones designed for adult".

"According to the report's author, Ahmed Siddiqui, more than a million children under the age of 10—or one in three children—have a mobile phone in Britain. By secondary school, around 96 per cent have access to a mobile phone." It's not clear what "access" means in this context.

In related news, The Register reports that Disney has scraped it's UK mobile plans. "Part of Disney's problem is that, in the UK, the brand is more associated with young children; official government advice is that children under 16 should only use a phone for 'essential' calls—although what's essential to a 15-year-old might not resonate with the rest of us." The service has successfully launched in the US, based on the parent controlling spending and tracking children. "Tracking children has proved more contentious in the UK where the Data Protection Act guarantees privacy, even for children. According to OUT-LAW.com, by convention children under 12 have to rely on their legal guardian to give permission, but between 12 and 16 the child must give their permission too, and it seems unlikely that many 15-year-olds would be interested in their parents knowing their location at all times."

Phones and credit card security.

Lloyds TSB believe mobile phones could be set to become card-reading devices in the battle against credit card fraud. Others, including Apacs, suggest that a contact-less technology is more viable. Either way, agreement is forming that a mobile phone can play a role in card security, particularly because the mobile phone is often at the consumers side.

In New Zealand and South Africa banks are sending authentication codes to customers via SMS.

Reported in Computing, 13 July 2006.