Lauren Ashburn and Howard Kurtz discuss the growing number of people who get their online news from mobile devices.

originally posted on Pandodaily.com

RIM’s BlackBerry handset was also hit by Samsung’s popularity.

As in the USA, Apple’s share of the European market similarly fell – largely because iPhone fans were thought to be holding back until verion 5 of the handset is expected to be released on September 12th [2012].

Kantar director, Dominic Sunnebo, revealed that much of Samsung’s sales were in low-end handsets, with crisis-hit countries Spain and Italy witnessing the most Android growth.

Ever have a question left unanswered that occupies your mind almost every minute? One that bugs you either because you know the answer but can’t remember or just plain frustrated at not knowing? The world is full of questions that require answers.
There is a significantly large market to be taken notice of under the business of “answers”… This is a market that is almost untapped. From minor queries of trivia, random questions and even sound decisions, the business of answers can cater to them.

NMS – SMS InfoPoint

New Media Services has the tools to help you become part of the Business of Answers; with SMS Infopoint.

SMS Infopoint uses the basic Short Message Service (SMS) to answer to end-user queries and provide answer verification in real-time. Live operators are specially trained to provide quick and logical answers to user questions.

SMS Infopoint delivers:
1. Well researched answers
2. Intelligent suggestions
3. Up-to-date replies
4. Fast and efficient service
5. Accessibility – anytime and anywhere via SMS

SMS Infopoint’s Potential:
1. It Re-branded to fit the client’s needs and specifications
2. Our operators can be quickly trained for topic-specific answering services
3. Can handle general questions as well as random personal questions
4. High marketability through minimal effort
5. Easy set-up with local SMS numbers

For virtually any question, SMS Infopoint is the answer.

Get SMS InfoPoint

Let New Media Services and SMS Infopoint be your partner in the Business of Answers. See an increase in profit and an increase in patronage with this value-added service.

SMS Infopoint – Any Question, Answered Anytime

Contact us: info@newmediaservices.com.au

Communication is a basic need which is apparent in even the smallest creatures in the known world. Humans have the most complex form of communication from words, gestures, symbols and even art. The need for expression via communication is a viable market not just for business, but for the everyday person. The average male speaks 6073 words per day and the average female – 8805 words per day.
Imagine tapping into the demand for communication and it will be quite obvious that this is an unsaturated market – one that always has an open mind to anything that addresses and satisfies the need for social interaction.

NMS – WAP Chatter

New Media Services’ WAP Chatter is a chat engine specifically created for WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) enabled mobile devices. It allows end-users to use the WAP service for enhanced communication. An improvement to basic short message service conversations, all contained within the mobile phone – making it portable, convenient and easy.

Chatting Via WAP

What is WAP Chatting?
WAP Chatting is basically similar to its computer-based counterpart which is Internet Messaging. The main difference is that WAP Chatting uses software tailor-made for mobile devices connected to a mobile network service provider.

How Does It Work?
The inner workings of WAP Chat are simple. This form of chatting uses what is called a WAP Messenger; a WAP messenger is a commonly used web communication tool for small mobile devices such as cell phones or PDAs, developed to allow for a realistic chat experience by its users.

Functionality & Convenience

WAP Chatting is easy and a significant step above basic text messaging. It functions quite similarly to Internet Messaging but with the added convenience of being mobile. WAP Chatter answers the need to communicate, the need to be entertained and the need to be mobile when required.

Get WAP Service

All-in-all, WAP Chatter is an end-user feature that providers may offer to enhance their services and entertain their customers, retain their business target population to attract additional subscribers.

Contact us: info@newmediaservices.com.au

Text messaging is one of the most common means of communication in the mobile world. It is short, quick and relatively cheap. These mobile interactions via text messaging have been maximized with the concept of chatting.

SMS Chat which involves a send and reply based on an extended conversation is a way of communicating without the need for face-to-face interactions. It addresses the need to be social and at the same time makes it convenient enough not to interrupt with daily activities.

NMS – SMS Xchange

New Media Services offers SMS Xchange; a Short Message Service feature that combines the global accessibility of SMS, the simplicity of text messaging and the fun of chatting.

Stay connected and entertained via SMS wherever your customers are. Satisfy end-users’ social communication needs and let them chat with our live operators 24/7. Our friendly, sociable and courteous chat operators make sure your customers have are well-entertained.

SMS Exchange takes advantage of the global availability of SMS to deliver a one of a kind chat experience that is fun and addictive. With SMS Infopoint’s easy set-up and low resource demands, company profit and customer satisfaction become the results of a winning formula.

Get SMS Xchange

Avail of SMS Xchange for your business and get:
1. Increased user activity
2. Increased profit
3. Maximum advantage of simple SMS
4. Customizable, characteristic and specific interaction methods based on you specifications

SMS Infopoint works and enhances on pre-existing facilities and features making it a business advantage as well as a prompt, end-user-oriented service. Avail of our SMS Xchange and we guarantee you entertaining end-user-oriented service.

SMS Infopoint – Simplicity and Accessibility Combined

Contact us: info@newmediaservices.com.au

Thailand is among the last countries in Asia to auction the 2.1 GHz spectrum. Political upheaval and court cases brought by state telecoms companies have delayed the transition to 3G for years, periodically hurting the shares of the mobile operators.

The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) will hold the much-delayed auction on Oct. 16. It is seen as a crucial step in reforming the $7 billion sector, enabling operators to tap more revenue from fast-growing data services.

Nine slots with 5 MHz bandwidth each will be auctioned and each winner will be limited to a maximum of 15MHz, with a starting price of 4.5 billion baht ($146 million) per slot.

Market leader Advanced Info Service (AIS), 21 percent owned by Singapore Telecommunications Ltd, will bid through wholly owned unit Advanced Wireless Network Co. Ltd.

Second-ranked Total Access Communication, controlled by Norway’s Telenor, sent its unit DTAC Network Co, while True Corp, which owns True Move, the country’s third-largest mobile operator, joined the bid via Real Future Co. Ltd.

Existing 2G contracts expire in 2013 in the case of True, 2015 for AIS and 2018 for Total Access.

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At a meeting with communications regulator Ofcom and the government, rival operators agreed to settle their differences and get services up and running quickly.

The government said high-speed data services should launch by spring 2013, six months earlier than planned.

O2 and Vodafone have agreed not to pursue legal action against EE.

Both had been unhappy that EE had been granted permission to add 4G to its existing network later this year.

Co-operation

EE is likely to announce when its services will go live imminently.

“Delivering 4G quickly is a key part of our economic growth strategy,” said Culture Secretary Maria Miller.

“I am grateful to the mobile operators for their co-operation in bringing forward vital 4G services.”

A combination of factors, from a change of government to threats of legal action from operators, had slowed down the process to free up spectrum used by analogue television broadcasts.

While the auction of the airwaves made available by the digital switchover is still scheduled for January next year, clearing them for 4G use will happen far more quickly than originally envisaged.

Ofcom said that it had secured the earlier release of frequencies that were previously used for digital-terrestrial broadcasting.

Ed Richards, Ofcom chief executive, said: “The actions we have taken with industry and government avoid the risk of significant delay and are tremendous news for consumers who might otherwise have waited a considerable period for the next generation of mobile broadband services.”

Three was the first operator to comment, following the meeting.

A spokesman said: “We see this as positive step for UK consumers by removing the monopoly on LTE that would have benefitted just one operator.” LTE, or Long Term Evolution, is the flavour of 4G that UK operators will be deploying.

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We have been here before. Data traffic already exceeds voice on many mobile networks. And it is predicted to increase 1000-fold within a decade as wireless becomes the world’s primary method of Internet access. A massive surge in fixed network traffic started approximately 15 years ago. Data surpassed and then dwarfed voice as Internet access and IP services drove exponential growth.

Major fiber investments around the millennium provided copious amounts of cheap bandwidth for consumers. Unfortunately, overinvestment followed by bankruptcies and significant retrenchment proved to be a painful experience for many network service providers, their vendor-financed suppliers and other investors. The question is: Will these mistakes be repeated in the bonanza to turn 3 billion mobile voice and text users into mobile broadband consumers on Long Term Evolution (LTE) and 4G networks?

Mobile broadband economics

To help ensure profitable growth, mobile operators are revamping their business models. This will include charging on the basis of speeds, data volumes, service levels and advanced services which can be combined with the raw connectivity.

In the fixed telecoms boom of the 1990s, aggressive pricing on highly commoditized connectivity services and vendor financing exposed many operators and their suppliers to significant losses. Today, operators and technology vendors must be careful to ensure services are more differentiated and expenditures are better matched to their revenues.

Some players triumphed through the fixed Internet access revolution. These included incumbent local phone companies, leading DSL equipment suppliers, and many web companies including Amazon.com and Google. But there were also significant financial casualties such as some national backbone and international communications service providers, fiber optic transmission equipment manufacturers and many ISPs. The challenge will be to figure out which strategies will be required to capitalize upon the mobile broadband revolution while avoiding previous mistakes.

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THE NEXT “KILLER” APPLICATION
Mobile carriers experienced a surge in revenue as SMS text messaging took off. The adoption has become so widespread that text messaging is as important to many mobile carriers and subscribers as is telephony. Consumer demand and competitive pressures, have led to unlimited text plans, though, the result is that the growth in data services has begun to flatten out. Carriers are looking for the next must-have application to drive revenue.
Instant Messaging (IM) offers the convenience of text messaging but provides a lot more. It is a highly flexible medium that can presence-enable services and open up new revenue opportunities in areas such as social networking, communities, blogging, gaming, advertising, and interactivity. Mobile operators have a unique opportunity to fully leverage their position in the mobile ecosystem with Mobile IM through their established SMS subscriber bases and their access to and management of a user’s presence information.

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One thing is certain: the mobile channel is here to stay. The research – from a number of different sources – backs this up. IDC predicts that by 2015 smartphone sales will reach 982 million and according to Morgan Stanley, by 2014, mobile web users will surpass ‘traditional’ desktop Internet users. Travel firms, it seems are taking this seriously too; a recent Airline IT Trends survey finds that nine out of ten airlines are planning to sell tickets via mobile by 2015.

Unsurprisingly emerging trends and opportunities in mobile will be a central theme at EyeforTravel’s fast-approaching Travel Distribution Summit, North America which takes place in Las Vegas from September 13–14. So what are the emerging trends and opportunities? EyeforTravel.com goes in search of answers and identifies five central themes for mobile.

1. Smartphones are here to stay; not just for the last minute!

For online hotel booking firm, HotelTonight, the single biggest trend to emerge in 2012 will be the continued penetration of smartphones and the resulting shift of everyday activities from PC-based websites to the device in the customers’ pocket. “We believe the smartphone will become the new laptop and the resulting opportunities and challenges for businesses will be extreme,” says Jared Simon chief operating officer of HotelTonight.com. So which platforms is HotelTonight focusing its energy: on iOS and Android, of course although Simon says “we are always ready to move on a dime to take advantage of trends in this fast-paced mobile environment”.

Chris Blakely, vice-president of client services at comScore seems to be singing from the same hymn sheet. For him the biggest trend for 2012 is: “Continued growth of smartphone ownership in general, and the use of Android and iOS platforms in particular which are the core “rising tide that lifts all boats”.

For many firms, says Max Starkov president and chief executive of HebsDigital, the mobile channel is already a real travel planning and hotel distribution channel and this is especially true for so-called ‘drive-in and last-minute travel markets’. But going forward, even that may be changing. Priceline.com vice-president for corporate strategy, Todd Henrich, says that all the research points to the fact that consumers are becoming more mobile and before long they will be booking travel via mobile too – and this, he says, “this won’t necessarily just be the case for last-minute bookings”.

2. M-Commerce is ramping up but it is still the Wild West

It may still be a minority of smartphone users who are using their phones to transact, pay bills, shop and interact but this is changing as consumers become increasingly comfortable using their phone for commerce. This trend will only continue. In fact during May, online travel agency, Orbitz, reported that 6 million people used a mobile device to shop for travel, more than doubling numbers on the previous year. During the first quarter of the year, more than 9% of Orbitz hotel bookings were made via mobile devices.

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