simple way to link DoB & mobile marketing - Wedd

The acquisition of a rich media specialist, Mogreet by a US based mobile payments provider, payvia, has led to some pretty radical claims. For starters, payvia claims to be the leader in direct carrier billing (DoB) mobile payments. It then describes the combination of its DoB [Direct Carrier Billing] system with
Mogreet’s technology as creating “the first end-to-end mobile payments, user targeting and engagement platform.” Extremely useful, yes. But the first???

Anyway, payvia says its claim to fame resides with the fact that it has paid out to merchants and developers worldwide more than $2 billion in global mobile commerce revenues.

Meanwhile, Mogreet’s platform engages with 120 million unique mobile users and processing billions of mobile messages every year.

That probably does make it the largest combined DoB and connected messaging platform in the USA.

“Our clients have told us they also need a simpler way to link targeted mobile transactions to their marketing campaigns,” observed Darcy Wedd, CEO with payvia.

“By integrating Mogreet’s solutions on our platform we answer that need,” Wedd continued.

“As the only company to solve a known disconnect between traditional mobile commerce and engagement solutions, payvia is well positioned to increase mobile’s share of the $252 billion¹ e-commerce market.”

Crucially, Mogreet’s API will become a core component of the payvia payments API in order to provide access to cross-platform mobile payments, rich media and video messaging, via SMS, MMS and in-app messaging.

“payvia and Mogreet’s unique combination of dynamic mobile messaging and secure mobile payments will enable us to explore new opportunities in radio advertising,” claimed Angie May Cook, a vp with digital radio specialist, Emmis Digital.

“By connecting audio commercials with mobile advertising and mobile payments to provide advertisers with a direct connection to purchase on the mobile device,” cook added.

GoMo News wonders how many rival suppliers can also claim to offer merged DoB and rich messaging facilities to their clients?

Notes

1. Forrester Research Mobile Commerce Forecast 2012-2017 (USA)

Press release

May 20th 2013. payvia, the leader in direct carrier billed mobile payments, has announced its strategic acquisition of Mogreet, an innovative mobile video and rich media messaging engagement solutions provider that is used by thousands of marketers, retailers, small businesses and developers including major brands such as Cox Media Group, Emmis Communications and Gamefly. The full Mogreet team will join payvia, with Mogreet Founder and CEO James Citron serving as payvia’s Chief Marketing Officer (CMO).

The acquisition is significant as it will set payvia apart from the rest of the mobile industry with a simplified solution that increases revenues for businesses through highly targeted mobile payment transactions and relevant ongoing engagement via branded communications, offers and mobile relationship management.

“Our mobile payments offer resonates strongly with the market because it is built on our proprietary carrier connected technology that gives us a unique ability to understand consumer mobile usage,” said Darcy Wedd, CEO, payvia.

“Our clients have told us they also need a simpler way to link targeted mobile transactions to their marketing campaigns.”

“By integrating Mogreet’s solutions on our platform we answer that need. As the only company to solve a known disconnect between traditional mobile commerce and engagement solutions, payvia is well positioned to increase mobile’s share of the $252 billion¹ e-commerce market.”

payvia operates the largest direct carrier connected messaging and mobile payments platform in the USA, engaging with 120 million unique mobile users and processing billions of mobile messages every year.

The company has paid out to merchants and developers worldwide more than $2 billion in global mobile commerce revenues.

Clients of payvia and Mogreet can expect the following benefits from the acquisition: -

• Mogreet’s clients can expect faster message throughput and up to 2x higher mobile video quality through payvia’s directly connected carrier infrastructure
• International reach through payvia’s global messaging footprint via direct carrier connections in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific
• Mogreet’s cloud-based video and rich messaging technology will be integrated into payvia’s industry-leading mobile payments platform
• The Mogreet API will become a core component of the payvia payments API providing simple access to cross-platform mobile payments, rich media and video messaging, via SMS, MMS and in-app messaging
• payvia will continue to support all Mogreet’s customers and expand upon its existing service offering

Commenting on the importance the acquisition, Sam Brown, chief operating officer of Organizing for Action, and former finance chief of staff of President Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign said, “During the 2012 Presidential Election, we drew on payvia’s mobile payments expertise and high capacity messaging infrastructure to empower millions of Americans to make their voices heard by contributing to Obama for America, and also supporting our historic get-out-the-vote effort.”

“We look forward to payvia’s new combination of rich media, a dynamic, extensible engagement platform, and robust carrier infrastructure to help more and more Americans organize in support of the agenda they voted for in November 2012.”

Angie May Cook, vice president, Emmis Digital, also commented, “We believe that mobile engagement will be the driving force of radio’s digital revolution.”

“Mobile devices provide the perfect distribution platform for consumers to take the utility of radio everywhere they go and the capability to communicate with our audiences one to one.”

“payvia and Mogreet’s unique combination of dynamic mobile messaging and secure mobile payments will enable us to explore new opportunities in radio advertising by connecting audio commercials with mobile advertising and mobile payments to provide advertisers with a direct connection to purchase on the mobile device.”

“Businesses of all sizes are looking for better ways to engage with their increasingly mobile customer base to drive awareness, interest and most importantly, revenue.”

“For the first time ever, marketers and merchants will now have a way to connect with their customers using text, picture and video messaging, but also to drive an immediate transaction via the simplest mobile payments platform in the industry,” said James Citron, CEO of Mogreet.

Notes

1. Forrester Research Mobile Commerce Forecast 2012-2017 (USA)

About payvia

payvia is a leading mobile and online payments company that allows consumers to make simple and secure payments via their mobile phone. By connecting directly to the carrier network, payvia enables consumers to pay for digital goods and services using their mobile phone, adding purchases directly to their carrier bill. payvia is headquartered in Los Angeles, with offices in San Francisco, Seattle and Boston. payvia is backed by leading investors Silver Lake Sumeru, Montgomery & Co, and Trinity Ventures.

About Mogreet

Founded in 2006, Mogreet is the leading cloud-based communications platform enabling businesses to engage with their mobile consumers using rich media, video and text messaging. The company’s products include, an Enterprise CRM platform powering the largest marketers’ video and rich media messaging campaigns, a small business marketing platform used by thousands of small businesses to deliver MMS, and a developer toolkit enabling developers to integrate Mogreet’s proprietary technology into their applications. Mogreet is headquartered in Venice, California.

Vodafone‘s shares are expected to take a dive when trading resumes this morning (21st May 2013) after full year results to the end of March showed group revenue to have slumped 4.2 per cent to £44.4 billion, with an accompanying decline in organic service revenue of 1.9 per cent. A further disappointment to investors is the news that the British operator is to keep in its own coffers the bulk of the £2.4 billion it recently achieved from its 45 per cent stake in America’s Verizon Wireless, rather than distribute it as a special dividend. Instead investors will get a final dividend of 6.92 pence per share.

Curiously, before today’s results, some 66 million shares in the company were reported to have been sold in London after the market closed last night.

On a brighter note Vodafone’s adjusted operating profit was above guidance, up 9.3 per cent at £12.0 billion, with adjusted earnings per share up 5 per cent at 15.65 pence.

According to CEO, Vittorio Colao, the company continues to face “headwinds from a combination of continued tough economic conditions, particularly in Southern Europe, and an adverse European regulatory environment.”

* Footnote: In a separate development, it was reported by Reuters that Vodafone had withdrawn from the race to provide a mobile service to fixed-line operator BT, leaving Telefonica’s O2 and EE in the bidding for the contract.

order online for €399

A group of ex-Nokia workers who believe the Finnish manufacturer was wrong to ditch its Meego operating system have unveiled their own smartphone using the abandoned technology. The workers, who lost their jobs after Nokia’s CEO, Stephen Elop, opted for Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform, set up their own company called Jolla soon afterwards and yesterday, with Meego now reborn as Sailfish, launched their first smartphone.
Jolla consists of just 70 employees and has a mere €11 million in venture funding, but its directors believe Meego was never given a fair chance to prove itself.

Nokia released only one handset running it, the N9, before pulling the plug on the project in which IBM had also invested.

Jolla’s new phone, due by the end of the year and sold purely online, includes among its novel features an interface able to change according to the hues its casing, perhaps reflecting the colours of a user’s football team.

Antti Saarnio, chairman and co-founder of Jolla, wouldn’t reveal how it would work, but many suspect near field technology (NFC) could be involved.

“It’s an interesting way to show you ‘belong’ with something,” he explained.

He also revealed that Sailfish would be made available for other smartphone makers to use, including Nokia.

The phone’s debut comes just a few weeks after angry Nokia investors rounded on Elop, blaming his strategy of backing the Windows platform for the fall in in the company’s profits, and urging him to change course before it was “too late.”

Nokia’s share of the phone market continues to decline, meanwhile, down to about 16 per cent in the last quarter from around 22 per cent in 2012.

It does seem a little strange that Yahoo! would want a major blogging host company and be willing to pay a massive $1.1 billion for the privilege, according to the latest reports. But it seems to have happened. As all GoMo News will instinctively know, nothing happens on the Net unless it is mobile related. This had left us scratching our proverbial heads until we saw a story in London’s Evening Standard. Apparently, it is a mobile related move.

According to the Evening Standard, James Hilton, CEO of ad agency -M&C Saatchi Mobile, has said, “Tumblr was completely suited to the mobile ecosystembecause users can easily micro-blog on a smartphone.”

Well, that makes a great deal of sense. Until you try to maintain a major blog from the fourth screen of your mobile phone.

It’s a good enough UI for typical blog maintenance. However, when it comes to major content generation, you really don’t want to be doing that on a smartphone.

Go ahead and prove us wrong by downloading the Android version of the Tumblr app from Google Play here.

The perceived wisdom is that in emerging markets the only possible means of creating your blog is via a smartphone.

Which is great, except that making money out of emerging markets like India is tricky unless you can generate high numbers.

In essence, GoMo News is still to be convinced that purchasing Tumblr for such a huge sum is a “good thing”.

Hopefully, we will be proved wrong. Incidentally, we would accept offers around $1 billion for this site if you are interested.

damme the QR code doesn't work

This is probably going to be one of the shortest QR barcode roundups that GoMo News has ever done. We have always maintained that here in the UK at least, the drinks industry is one of the most prolific users of QR code technology in their promotional campaigns. So when we spotted another beer mat with an enticing QR code on it, we enthusiastically scanned it in. That’s as far as we got.

The beer mat was promoting Coors Light [Lite] here in the UK so we expect a brand as experienced as Molson/Coors to have got its act together.

Apparently not. The QR code takes you to www.coorslight.co.uk/qr/ and then nothing happens. Somebody forgot to check this out.

We don’t even think the beer mats were out of date. The blurb indicated that we were supposed to be provided on some kind of information to do with penguins.

But no bananas. Shame really because in our estimation the Claude van Damme fronted campaign was going so well.

The Monaco Grand Prix is probably the most famous race in the Formula One (F1) motor racing calendar. And it’s this weekend [May 2013]. So GoMo News thought we continue our long tradition and try to place a bet from our mobile phone. This time we decided to pick William Hill which appears to offer the widest range of betting methods for mobile phones of any betting shop chain in the UK. In the process we discovered that it is actually possible to gamble real money on casino style games courtesy of William Hill Casino.

We suspect that many readers have finger trouble like us and get frustrated at typing in a really long URL like www.williamhillcasino.com/mobile/. Luckily there are a number of shortcuts.

If you type in the above URL via a desktop computer’s browser, it will give you a couple of options.

One is to supply the game you want, the country you are in and you mobile’s telephone number.

The alternative is to scan in the barcode which is provided on that page. We also made another interesting discovery.

If you scan the barcode in with an iPad, for example, it will take you to http://willhillcasino.mobi.

This is significant because it allows iPad users to play a very wide range of casino style games – such as European roulette on the Apple tablet without a need to download lots of different apps.

The reason we wanted to prove it is possible to play casino games for money is that one of our US based readers claimed it is impossible – failing to realise that the USA has some fairly Draconian anti-gambling laws.

You can play away over here in Blighty. Incidentally, you don’t have to sign up to become a full member of William Hill to try out many of the games – there is frequently a ‘free’ play mode.

Back to F1, we signed into the William Hill mobile site using this URL. Then all we had to do is find ‘Motor racing’ and select the Monaco F1 Grand Prix from there.

For once, with William Hill’s signing up  facility for betting, itwas so mobile friendly that we didn’t need to create an account via a PC and the HTML site.

There are also an impressive number of ways of paying for you bet besides credit/debit card.

There’s Paypal if you are feeling brave or Click2Pay if you happen to be based in Eire. Sadly no Payforit option.

All we’ve got to do now is guess who will win the Monaco Grand Prix.

still waiting for Summly tech

It appears that Yahoo! – best known for its search engine, is on the acquisition path again according to report coming out of the Wall Street Journal. Current CEO, Marissa Meyer, apparently will be given the go-ahead to purchase Tumblr – the NY based blog hosting site. GoMo News hopes it goes better than Yahoo!’s acquisition of Summly the smartphone app created by Brit, Nick D’Aloisio. It seems that only those residing in the USA can currently enjoy the benefits of Summly technology incorporated into Yahoo!’s mobile apps.

Although Android Police reported that the Android app – known simply as Yahoo! became available last month [April 2013], you still can’t get it over here in Blighty [UK].

To check whether you can download the Yahoo! App visit this Google Play page. Our loan Motorola RAZR HD just report the store as saying,”This item is not available in your country.”

scan this code to download Yahoo! Android app

Our American cousins who can obtain the app will find that it can provide “a virtually endless stream of personalized stories.”

That feature is obviously thanks to Summly technology which condenses large stories down to about a 400 characters. Incidentally, the iOS version is available on iTunes here. Again it is only available from the US iTunes app store.

GoMo News can’t think of a good reason why Yahoo! would want Tumblr. How can it be thinking outside of the box if it isn’t thinking outside of the USA?

SMS for Hangouts seems to be available

Well Google certainly knows how to confuse the Hell out of this particular GoMo News hack. And in the case of its recent release of Google Hangouts, the company has really got us scratching our heads. Initially we were just trying to ascertain whether Hangouts already supported SMS as an alternative communications’ medium. No we’re trying to ascertain where Hangouts fits into the scheme of things. We can definitely say we’ve got Hangouts working but we also need the help of our Indian and Israeli readers to investigate if SMS/text is genuinely supported.

OK. First up – although there is now an iOS version of Google Hangouts, we were trying to get the software working on our Android handset (the Motorola RAZR HD).

Yesterday [May 17th 2013], the handset was reporting that we had actually download Hangouts but the handset’s client was very, very definitely still Google Talk.

Currently, when you visit the Google Play app store, the app you require is now described as Hangouts (replaces Talk). See here.

When we downloaded that app today (May 18th) we were able to see the new Hangouts UI which the blurb has been talking about.

Our advice is keep checking Play until you’re offered the real thing.

Now, as expected once you’ve installed the full Hangouts client, Google Talk disappears. But there’s a strange thing. Google + Messenger lingers on.

It actually integrates with Hangouts but remains as a separate app on your Android smartphone. Why?

Now here’s the most baffling bit. You should be able to receive Hangout messages via text/SMS when no alternative comms medium is present.

We associated our mobile phone number with Google + and Android but this makes no difference to SMS support with Hangouts.

Try this. Go online to your Google Account’s Settings here. Now try to edit the settings which are described as ‘SMS for Hangouts’.

We can’t – because we are based in England and our country isn’t supported at present. However, in the list of countries which do support this facility are India and Israel.

So we are asking our readers in those two countries to try playing with these settings and establish whether SMS can really be integrated with Hangouts.

Incidentally, we haven’t even touched on how Hangouts is supposed to integrate with Google + and Google Circles in particular.

We blatantly just don’t understand Google’s banter.

the answer to bloatware - Titanium

After Samsung’s latest flagship handset, the Galaxy S4, featured in a recent episode of the BBC’s Watchdog TV programme, the term ‘bloatware’ has suddenly become extremely newsworthy. Handy for GoMo News since we’ve been reporting on it for years. The problem derives from the way Samsung describes its models. Quite correctly. its best selling model is described as a 16 GB version. It genuinely does have 16 GB of onboard memory. Only problem? When the latest version of the Android OS and all of Samsung’s sophisticated UI ( including eye-tracking) are loaded, you are left with a handset that only has around 9 GB of free memory space.

All of that extra code on top of the basic mobile OS is commonly referred to as bloatware. If you can get rid of it, then the handset returns to a more useable state.

Pedants might be wondering what all the fuss is about? Why don’t users simply stick a big micro-SD card into the handset and use that instead?

Short answer. It won’t work. If you want to run loads and loads of Android apps – which is the point of owning a smartphone in the first place, they can’t run on the memory card. They have to be located in the internal memory.

According to Watchdog some sophisticated Android users who were upgrading from an older model to the very latest S4 from Samsung simply found that all of their apps wouldn’t fit.

So the only real solution is to get rid of some of that fancy software which Samsung provides but which owners can actually do without – the bloatware.

It turns out that back in 2010, GoMo News‘ Cian O’Sullivan already knew one answer – Titanium Backup from Joël Bourquard.

It wasn’t widely available at the time but it is now available from the official Google Play store here.

Just scan in the barcode that we’ve provided below. Only snag? You have to ‘root’ your Android handset in order to use this app.

Luckily we have a guide for that too, here.

Best of luck.

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Walmart already offering app in USA

A recent report in The Times [UK] has revealed that UK shopping giant, Asda,is planning to roll out an app to its shoppers that will enable them to scan their groceries . The app that will help customers to cut their costs and whilst providing the retailer with valuable customer data. And we all know that ‘Big Data’ is the buzzword of the day. The app has been developed in the USA by Asda’s parent company – Wal-Mart. It will help Britain’s second-largest supermarket group get around the fact that it doesn’t offer a customer loyalty card.

Until now, Wal-Mart and Asda have been sternly opposed to loyalty schemes because the pair see them as being at odds with their avowed strategy of keeping prices stable and low.

Allowing customers to scan their shopping as they fill their trolleys, Asda will begin testing this app later in 2013.

The Times reports Asda’s CEO, Andy Clarke, as saying, “Data is something which all retailers look to gather, whether that’s through our credit card or home shopping.”

“This is another opportunity for us, with customers’ permission, to gather data.”

Asda had already offers free Wi-fi in stores to shoppers for a very similar reason.

“Every customer has a choice whether they want to accept free wi-fi, so giving us permission to talk to them about the Asda business in-store,” Clarke revealed.

Shazam on iTunes since 2008 - Riley

Figures just released by Apple show that its App Store has now reached its 50 billionth app download. That figure represents unique downloads excluding re-downloads and updates. The winner of a $10,000 App Store gift card Brandon Ashmore from Mentor, Ohio, USA. He downloaded Say the Same Thing by Space Inch from here. But ITunes is about more than apps – it’s music too. As Shazam points out, it was behind the 25 billionth Apple music download back in February 2013.

That track was Monkey Drums (Goksel Vancin Remix) by Chase which Phillip Lüpke in Germany discovered via the Shazam App on his iPhone.

Rich Riley, CEO with Shazam, says, “We were blown away with our success on the App Store back in 2008.”

He continued, “And almost five years later we continue to be amazed with how much people love using Shazam on their iPhone or iPad.”

“With the App Store, we can effortlessly provide users with updates that give them great new features while making it easy for new users to discover and download Shazam for themselves.”

Now Digital Mu sic News recently estimated here that Shazam behind one in 14 of all music downloads.

It was working with figures provided by Shazam’s executive vp, David Jones.

The publication based  its calculations on recently-released, worldwide figures from industry trade group, IFPI, digital recording sales topped $5.798 billion in 2012.

Of that, 71 percent came from downloads (or $4.117 billion).  Jones said Shazam’s revenues were around $300 million a year.

Which means that Shazam is responsible for at least 7.2 percent of those sales, or roughly one out of every 14 downloads.

That’s an impressive figure that demonstrates the force of music discovery services.

It is particularly more impressive if you take into account that the fact that SoundHound provides a very similar service.

So music discovery is behind a large chunk of music downloads.

Incidentally, in reaching its 50 billion app download, Apple revealed that the App Store offers more than 850,000 apps to iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users.

That’s in 155 countries around the world and furthermore over 350,000 of those are native iPad apps.

May 16th 2013. Apple has announced that customers have downloaded over 50 billion apps¹ from the revolutionary App Store. Customers are downloading more than 800 apps per second at a rate of over two billion apps per month on the App Store. The 50 billionth app was Say the Same Thing by Space Inch which was downloaded by Brandon Ashmore from Mentor, Ohio USA who received a $10,000 App Store gift card to commemorate this historic milestone.

“Apple would like to thank our incredible customers and developers for topping 50 billion apps downloaded,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services.

“The App Store completely transformed how people use their mobile devices and created a thriving app ecosystem that has paid out over nine billion dollars to developers.”

“We’re absolutely floored to cross this milestone in less than five years.”

The App Store opened in July 2008 with 500 apps. Since its introduction, Apple’s incredible developer community has created an app for doing almost everything imaginable on an iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

“We were blown away with our success on the App Store back in 2008,” said Rich Riley, CEO of Shazam.

“And almost five years later we continue to be amazed with how much people love using Shazam on their iPhone or iPad.”

” With the App Store, we can effortlessly provide users with updates that give them great new features while making it easy for new users to discover and download Shazam for themselves.”

“We started our company in 2008 as three friends focused on creating great educational apps for our children,” said Caroline Hu Flexer, co-founder of Duck Duck Moose.

“The App Store brought ‘Wheels on the Bus’ to the world in a big way. Sixteen apps later, a fan base of millions of parents, children and educators and a growing company with 20 full-time employees, we couldn’t be happier with our success.”

“The App Store has been integral in getting us into the hands of millions of iOS users and has transformed our business,” said Elizabeth Francis, Chief Marketing Officer of Gilt.com.

“Our apps allow our members to access their favourite sales on Gilt every day, anytime, anywhere. App Store customers have proven to be a loyal shopper base and have been influential in making Gilt the globally recognized brand it is today.”

The revolutionary App Store offers more than 850,000 apps to iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users in 155 countries around the world, with more than 350,000 native iPad apps available.

App Store customers can choose from an incredible range of apps in 23 categories, including newspapers and magazines offered in Newsstand, games, business, news, sports, health & fitness and travel.

Notes

1. 50 billion unique downloads excluding re-downloads and updates.

About Apple

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad.

Press release

May 15th 2013. Tapjoy, a leading mobile advertising and publishing platform, has announced an agreement with Kakao, the largest mobile social platform in Korea, to allow developers on the Kakao Games platform to monetise their apps through Tapjoy’s market-leading advertising and monetization tools. Kakao is the provider of the popular mobile messenger app KakaoTalk, which currently has more than 90 million users around the globe, with more than 30 million users visiting the platform every day.

Its Kakao Games platform allows users to enjoy games with their KakaoTalk friends, share game scores, and compete for the highest ranks on leaderboards in real-time.

“Kakao has enjoyed tremendous and rapid growth over the last year,” said Steve Wadsworth, President and CEO, Tapjoy.

“With its KakaoTalk and Kakao Games platform, Kakao is at the forefront of emerging trends in the industry, and we cannot wait to help them and their partner developers grow even further.”

“We are excited to join hands with global advertisement platform Tapjoy to provide our game partners with an additional source of revenue,” said a spokesperson with of Kakao.

“The partnership will help provide developers with a stable source of revenue, while heightening user’s game experience by providing new game items that can be earned through Tapjoy’s rewarded advertisements.”

Kakao’s gaming platform represents a sizable and influential pocket of the global gaming market.

Following the platform’s launch in July 2012, games on the platform now gross more than $40 million per month.

Popular titles such as ‘Anipang’ and ‘Dragon Flight’ saw revenues increase 400-fold and nearly 2800-fold, respectively, after bringing their titles to the Kakao gaming platform.

On its own, Dragon Flight achieved KRW 1 billion (nearly $1 million) daily revenue in just one month.

On iOS, seven of the top 10 grossing games in Korea are on the Kakao Games platform; on Android, Kakao games make up eight of the top 10 games and 48 in the Top 100.

The partnership provides Tapjoy with the opportunity to deliver premium content within some of the globe’s most popular games and apps, as well as the ability to expand its massive global reach, already at more than 340 million.

As the first global advertising platform available to Kakao Games developers, Tapjoy will provide them with its proven and powerful advertising and monetisation tools to help grow their revenues even further.

Among the many success stories across the Tapjoy network, Tapjoy’s monetization solutions increased revenue for ‘Dead Trigger,’ the critically acclaimed free-to-play hit from MADFINGER Games, by 66 per cent on Android and by 48 per cent on iOS.

About Tapjoy

Tapjoy is a mobile advertising and monetisation platform whose Mobile Value Exchange model allows users to select personalised advertisements with which to engage for virtual rewards or premium content. Tapjoy empowers users on more than 1 billion devices to watch videos, subscribe to services, install applications and participate in other types of advertisements in exchange for virtual rewards they can use in their favourite apps. Tapjoy’s turnkey in-app advertising platform helps developers to cost-effectively acquire high-value new users and monetise their applications, while its powerful advertising marketplace lets brand advertisers reach a global mobile audience spanning more than 116,000 applications. Tapjoy is backed by top-tier investors, including J.P. Morgan Asset Management, Rho Ventures, North Bridge Venture Partners, InterWest Partners and D.E. Shaw Ventures. Headquartered in San Francisco, the company also has offices in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Santa Barbara, Atlanta, Boston, Paris, Dusseldorf, London, Beijing, Shanghai, Seoul and Tokyo.

MNOs still superior to OTT players - Sullivan

It seems that Google’s Google’s G+ community manager of Hangouts and Chat, Dori Storbeck, accidentally let the cat out of the bag over Google’s intention to roll out support for SMS within Google Hangouts here. She was actually trying to publicise the release of an iOS client for Hangouts here. Storbeck describes the move as an upgrade to Google’s Real-Time Communication product. Asked about support for SMS, Dori replied, “Yes, SMS integration is coming soon – it is one of our most requested features!” However, the blog was later edited to say,” Oops! We actually have nothing to announce at this time. My apologies.” Still, JF Sullivan, CMO with Acision, still believes Google’s inevitable move into SMS will have major repercussions.

“Google’s play in the messaging space is an intriguing one and certainly something that taps into the psyche of the 21st century eclectic communicator,” JF Sullivan observes.

“Three quarters of all smartphone owners today use multiple messaging services simultaneously, alongside SMS – a subconscious strategy that allows them to communicate cheaply and efficiently, all the while fully benefitting from rich features and service quality.”

Sullivan continued, “Google’s unified approach [When it comes out– Ed], enabling interworking across multiple services is a powerful move, in line with an increasing user demand for a unified messaging experience.”

Directly competing with Facebook Home and iChat, the key application within Google ‘Hangout’ is the ‘Follow Me’ tool.

This enables your presence to be recognised plus your messages and notifications are updated according to the device/application you are using.

Acision’s own consumer research has indicated that 62 per cent of users were in favour of a messaging service which allowed them to receive a message on any device.

A further 44 per cent confirmed that a presence feature, capable of directing notifications to the device in use, were an attractive concept.

“However, the reality today is that operators continue to stand in a far superior position than any other OTT provider as their networks offer the only ubiquitous messaging service, capable of reaching over 6 billion mobile devices,” Sullivan says.

Sullivan added, “Our research also revealed that 78 per cent of participants surveyed are interested in an operator-led cross platform messaging service which would allow them to send SMS, MMS and IP messages.”

Ideally this would be from one single consolidated messaging application – working across multiple devices and interworking across all messaging services and social network applications.

A move into SMS for Google will only serve to highlight the opportunity for MNOs to launch one consolidated messaging app – via Rich Communication Services (RCS), Acision believes.

Below is the full conversation that took place on the Hangout blog …

>>>

Hi +Dori Storbeck! , Hangouts is gorgeous Will we see unification of SMS/Messenger in the future?

Dori Storbeck
+Nathan Hague nothing changed with streaming HOAs on your blogs via the embed code. Also, the team wants to provide the option to initiate HOAs from mobile, they just haven’t gotten to it yet. And I don’t have a specific timeline.

+Jovan Givens glad to hear it. And yes, SMS integration is coming soon – it is one of our most requested features!

EDIT: Oops! We actually have nothing to announce at this time. My apologies.

>>>

MegaFon, Russia’s second largest telecommunications company, is 50.1 per cent owned by billionaire Alisher Usmanov’s Garsdale Holdings and 25.17 per cent owned by TeliaSonera, with the remaining 14.75 per cent listed on the London Stock Exchange.

Tavrin, who spent $155 million on his latest stock purchase, acquired them from company subsidiary MegaFon Investments (Cyprus) Ltd.

Tavrin, a former advertising agency boss, is a long-term business partner of Usmanov and prior to joining the mobile operator was president of TV company UTH Russia that they co-owned.

Only yesterday [May 16th 2013], it was revealed how billionaire owner, Alisher Usmanov, was poised to become £250 million richer after MegaFon revealed it was to pay out a massive $1.3 billion in dividends having beating analysts’ earnings estimates.

Usmanov’s own major stake in the company is controlled through his Virgin Islands tax haven firm, USM Holdings.

Britain’s fourth biggest mobile operator, Three (3UK), may bring forward its introduction of 4G networks in a bid to counter the headstart gained by rivals. The carrier had originally intended to introduce 4G by the end of 2013, but now CEO, David Dyson, has revealed its customers could have access to the ultra-fast networks by this Summer if thought necessary.

Britain’s biggest operator EE, which owns the Orange and T-Mobile brands, launched 4G last year while O2 and Vodafone are set to follow within the next few months.

Until now Dyson has played down concerns that Three will be last to offer 4G, telling journalists only in March, “A mass migration is hard to conceive. We’ve tested 4G and seen what it can deliver and our network stacks up very well.”

But now, with the prospect of its customers being lured away by rivals who do offer 4G, it seems Dyson may be having a change of heart.

Refering yesterday to whether implementation might be brought forward he declared, “As to whether it’s a few months earlier, I’m pretty relaxed.”

“We can defend the position we’ve got without necessarily having to jump into 4G too quickly. If in coming months it looks like we’re losing momentum in the market, then maybe we can pull a lever that says we can accelerate.”

A potential fly in the ointment, however, is how well talks go between Three and EE, which acquired vital spectrum in Ofcom’s 4G auction in January.
The two companies are currently in talks on a deal that could see them working together on their respective networks.

Meanwhile Three -if it does accelerate 4G rollout, has pledged not to charge its customers extra for the services.

Recently it revealed how it had added 112,000 contract customers in the first three months of the year but lost 122,000 pay-as-you-go users, the first time it has seen a net decline for over the year.

In December last year [2012] Three, owned by Hong Kong-based conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa, awarded a £120 million management contract to controversial Chinese equipment maker, Huawei, in a deal lasting five years and aimed at improving its core network management.

* Footnote: Vodafone has struck a deal with German operator Deutsche Telekom to sell high-speed internet and TV services in the country, though the pact has put a question mark over whether the UK operator will now continue in its attempts to buy Kabel Deutschland, the cable firm it was rumoured earlier this year to be trying to buy for £9 billion.

We all use wireless technology in our lives because it is the easier way to use something without any cables to lose. A wireless way to communicate in a quick and simple way – that is definitely Bluetooth. With Bluetooth these days you can connect anything – your laptop and your mobile phone; your mobile phone with another mobile phone; and a mobile phone with a headset. There are the numerous combination. The best way to make your life easier and – in some instances – safer is connecting your mobile phone with Bluetooth headset. When you have a Bluetooth headset you can walk and talk; drive and talk; or actually do whatever you want and talk. It is that easy.

Due to such high level of usability of the headset, there are many different models on the market, designed for different life styles.

That is why you should see what you must consider while searching and eventually buying a headset for your lifestyle.

“Another thing you must consider is a battery life”

One of the first things you can test and try in a Bluetooth headset is how they feel in your ear.

That is something personal. If you are buying a headset for someone else then you should choose the most universal headset, because it will fit almost every person.

Another thing you can test while shopping is call quality. You can call a person near you or -even better – someone who isn’t in the same room with you and test the volume, microphone and headphone.

Presently, almost every headset has sound filtering and voice cancelling for better sound quality for the caller and the person to whom the call is directed.

So, you can check if this headset you want to buy has included one of those two capabilities in the total package.

Those two abilities can assure that you’ll have great sound quality no matter where you are and what you are doing.

You can be in the shopping mall; at the baseball game; in your house; or in the street and you should hear the other person loud and clear.

If you are talking and driving, I hope you use a handsfree system. But a Bluetooth headset with noise filtering will cancel the sound of the wind so that the other person can hear.

Another thing you must consider is a battery life. Regular battery life for headset is about five hours of talk time and 12 to 24 hours on stand by.

If your headset lats longer- great, but not less otherwise it isn’t economical.

Author biog

Edin is a student in the Polytechnicum Zagrabiense in Zagreb and he is a big technology fan. He researches devices and then he creates a website about that device with advice and reviews to help others. His latest venture is Best Bluetooth Headset.

MegaFon, the Russian mobile operator owned by controversial billionaire Alisher Usmanov, is to pay out a bumper $1.3 billion in dividends after beating analysts’ earnings estimates. It means Usmanov, who part floated the company in London last November, himself stands to become more than £250 million richer thanks to the payout.

Earlier this month Usmanov was revealed as Britain’s – as well as Russia’s – richest man, owning the Surrey mansion previously owned by property of oil baron J Paul Getty; a major stake in Arsenal football club and control of MegaFon through his Virgin Islands-based business, USM Holdings.

Now, with the latest dividend payout, he is expected to pocket a further quarter billion dollars after MegaFon overtook its key Russian rival Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) in market cap.

News of the dividend sent its shares up slightly in London, pushing its market value up to $20.9 billion, compared to MTS’s $20.7 billion in New York.

MegaFon, Russia’s second-largest mobile operator by revenue and part-owned by Sweden’s TeliaSonera, has more recently lured an increasing number of subscribers in its home country by focusing on improved data speeds, so allowing Russians to download data and videos more quickly on their smartphones.

Net income rose to 12.6 billion rubles in the quarter ending March 31 from 9.3 billion a year earlier, exceeding average analyst estimates by 19 percent.

Investors will get 64.51 rubles ($2.05) per share as a payout for 2012 and the first quarter of this year.

Apart from Usmanov, another beneficiary of the windfall will be MegaFon’s CEO Ivan Tavrin who soon after the London IPO splashed out nearly £100 million on buying shares in the operator, at a price of $20 each.

The shares now stand at around $32, making them worth half as much again.

In a statement MegaFon later revealed that it expects. “high single-digit” revenue growth this year and may be poised to raise as much as 60 billion rubles through the issue of corporate bonds, having already notified regulatory authorities of the proposal.

Meanwhile Usmanov, who is rumoured to have had links with the Russian mafia, has spent $100 million separately investing in Apple earlier this month, again through his tax haven vehicle USM Holdings.

With Apple’s latest iOS, iPhone app development has achieved new heights in the mobile application development industry. Most tech savvy organisations and businesses are trying to associate themselves with iPhone apps development as the demand for these has gone much higher. It is the extreme popularity of this smart multimedia phone that allows iPhone application development companies to make a huge profit. But if the website fails to be compatible with the OS and the platform of the iPhone, it will not be able to display properly on the screen.

It is always better to hire the services of an expert iPhone apps developer rather than losing the clients to the competitors.

Therefore, most of these organisations are trying to hiring professionally
skilled iPhone apps developers who will be able to build applications that
will guarantee profit from every side.

You will be able to find plenty of iPhone app developers in the market.

However, it may appear to be a bit difficult for the clients to access the most genuine iPhone apps developer.

Basic guidelines

In case you have a requirement to hire iPhone developers, I can
provide you a few guidelines on how to hire the right developer: -

The first thing you must focus on is the need of the application.

Remember before you start to look out for expert iPhone developers, you must have a thorough knowledge about the need of the application.

Think carefully whether the app is going to benefit the iPhone users. If the app is not going to have any future demand, there is no point in developing it.

Thus, you should first analyse the need and demand of the particular app.

The second thing to focus on is whether there is already a similar
app in the market or not.

If there is already something similar to it on the Internet, you will have to think carefully as to whether you can add a different and innovative touch to it or not.

Tech savvy people always look for something new and iPhone apps have always continued to amaze them.

The app should always be as unique as it can be. So developing a similar app will not be able to gain you popularity.

Neither you will not be able to experience the joy of increased revenue.

Never forget that there are numerous iPhone app developers in the
market and so you will be required to make a careful selection.

Hire someone who can come up with new ideas and give the right physical shape to your thoughts and visions.

If he or she can execute it in the right way, you will be able to attain huge success out of it.

Experience is an important point to consider when it comes to
hiring iPhone applications developers.

Thus, make it a point that the developer you are going to hire someone who has a good amount of experience in the relevant field.

The technical skill of the developer should get reflected in the
earlier projects he has worked on.

Being an iPhone apps developer, he or she must be registered with Apple’s iTunes store.

Check out for testimonials. If there are any contact numbers on
the testimonials, you should contact them directly and ask for a feedback.

While there is no specific set of techniques that one has to follow, the
points discussed above will certainly help you to hire the right developer
for your iPhone applications.

Author Biog

Diyana Lobo is a technical content writer by profession. Her articles provide in-depth knowledge to readers looking for information
on iPhone application development. She writes for ClickWorkForce which claims to be India’s Number One IT SME.

It seems that EE (which owns the Orange brand as well as T-Mobile) has decided to maintain its establish links with the Glastonbury UK music festival. Here at GoMo News we were kind of hoping EE might have defected to WOMAD (the UK version of the World music festival event) that is. EE is, of course, hoping to showcase the fact that it is the only UK network presently capable of providing the festival with 4G coverage (via 4GEE). You have to wonder, however, how many mud soaked revellers will realise they can stream their Glastonbury experiences live back to friends who couldn’t get tickets?

GoMo News was puzzled as to why EE would bother to provide 4G coverage to such an event until we realised, of course, that the UK MNO will be using it to power its free Wi-Fi service.

Those on rival UK networks will be able to experience the power of EE’s 4G network via Wi-fi and could easily churn as a result, of course.

Significantly, EE will also be beefing up its 2G and 3G at the event just to make sure that its customers get a decent connexion. Poor coverage would simply harm the EE brand.

There are hidden benefits to EE’s sponsorship of Glastonbury, naturally. One of them being that it can offer free tickets to an event which is totally sold out. [Geddit? -Ed.]

Existing EE customers who follow the UK MNO via Facebook http://facebook.com/EE or Twitter @EE stand the chance of winning much sought after tickets.

Of course, here at GoMo Towers we are completely biased and instead of the Glastonbury festival favour the WOMAD festival later in the year.

We wonder if EE really has done its homework.

Are the younger typical attendees of Glastonbury more like to churn that those maturer revellers visiting WOMAD which has been described as the “thinking person’s” music fest?

According to Adam Leach, principal device and platforms analyst at Ovum,”BlackBerry is clearly aiming to replicate the success of the Blackberry Curve in emerging markets, doing so will help the company establish the Blackberry 10 platform in the market.” Despite low average incomes,emerging markets accounted for roughly 17 per cent of the nearly 450 million smartphone shipments globally in 2011. In markets such as India. Smartphones are establishing themselves as the prime means of Internet access.

Ovum projects that emerging markets will account for nearly 40 per of the 1.7 billion smartphone devices shipped globally in 2017.

Leach observes that, “The Q5 could be a very significant device for the company, as there is a significant opportunity for high-quality low-cost smartphones.”

He continues, “However, Blackberry has significant competition in this area with a number of handset manufacturers championing an array of low-cost Android devices as well as Nokia’s Asha 501.”

BBM on BlackBerry

When released in Q3 2013, only high end devices running iOS6, and Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich/ICS) will be able to take advantage.

BlackBerry says that ininitial release, iOS and Android users will be able to take advantage of BBM chats – including multi-person chats.

More worrying for the major social networks like Facebook, new BBM users will have the ability to share photos and voice notes.

They’ll also be able to engage in BBM Groups – which allow BBM customers to create groups of up to 30 people.

BBM is loved by BlackBerry customers for its ‘D’ (Delivered) and ‘R’ (Read) statuses indicators.

These show up in chats to let people know with certainty that their message has been delivered and read.

Compare that with standard SMS where users have no certainty that a message has been received, let alone read and you can see why operators should be worried.

BBM also allows users with a high level of control and privacy over who they add to their contact list and how they engage with them, as invites are two-way opt-in.

iOS and Android users will be able to add their contacts through PIN, email, SMS or QR code scan, regardless of platform.

Android users would also be able to connect using a compatible NFC-capable device.

Samsung 31% share - Gartner

South Korea’s Samsung has further extended its lead over Apple as the world’s largest smartphone maker, taking a 31 per cent share of recent sales according to new data. Research firm Gartner says the manufacturing giant sold 64.7 million smartphones in Q1 2013, against 38.1 million iPhone sales. It means Samsung is increasing its lead since a year ago when it sold 40.6 million smartphones to Apple’s 33.1 million.
Together, the two companies now account for nearly half the smartphone market which in itself is increasing by 43 per cent a year. Gartner says more than 200 million people bought smartphones in the quarter, and that the devices now account for just under half of total phone sales globally.

But the growth of Samsung and Apple is, as ever, coming at the expense of rivals – especially BlackBerry, whose sales slid by 37 per cent, and Nokia whose share of all phone sales fell from 20 per cent to 15 per cent.

The Gartner figures also show that while the smartphone market grew rapidly, sales of more basic mobiles declined at almost the same rate, with the upshot that the total market was flat year-on-year.

Gartner analyst, Anshul Gupta, noted that every global region apart from Asia Pacific actually saw a decline, though he expected Samsung to grow its share this quarter as it rolls out its flagship Galaxy S4 model.

* Footnote: Nokia’s latest WP8 smartphone the Lumia 925, unveiled yesterday [May 14th 2013], appears to have done little to revive the company’s fortunes. Though thinner and lighter than the Finnish company’s previous high-end smartphone, the Lumia 920, investors seemed underwhelmed as shares in the manufacturer fell five per cent in Helsinki.

Sadly, GoMo News has been around for so long that we can recall Bluetooth – which most smartphone users take for granted, being in its early days. We firmly believe that NFC (Near Field Communication) is still in its early days presently. Particularly judging from our recent experience playing [testing] with two Sony handsets and the Sony Xperia Z tablet. We were particularly impressed with Sony’s pledge on its support for NFC. It claims, “No other consumer electronics company is bringing as many NFC-enabled products to market.” Shame NFC doesn’t work perfectly, then.

Now support for NFC is an integral part of the latest versions of the Android OS.

Of course, you have to dig deep inside the OS to turn a device’s NFC capabilities on – it’s under ‘More’ from wireless and networks in Settings ,for the curious.

We didn’t want to test NFC’s ability to support m-commerce activities – instead we were more interested in getting file sharing to work.

To do so, it’s also a normal requirement to turn the Android Beam facility on – it doesn’t fire up automatically with NFC initialisation.

Anyway, once you get Beam working with NFC you are supposed to be able to do all of those data transfer tasks which Bluetooth supports but very few people bother to utilise.

Instead of going through the laborious ‘pairing’ procedure which Bluetooth requires, with NFC you’re supposed to ‘pair’ simply by tapping two devices together.

To transfer, we found that tapping devices back to back worked best.

You know if you’ve got it right and NFC is up for file sharing because at least one device vibrates.

The Android OS tells users all you have to do is go to the requisite application – such as the Gallery for photos; tap the two devices together and the file will transfer.

We’re happy to announce that we managed to transfer a photo from our loan Motorola RAZR HD to both of the Sony handsets we were testing.

What we couldn’t get to work was businesses card transfer even though it is pretty easy to locate your own personal details in the Android ‘People’ built-in app.

We tried tapping away at the screen to send the information but nothing happened.

Worse was to come. In a nutshell, we couldn’t get NFC beam to work on the Xperia Z tablet. To be fair, however, the Xperia Z was still in beta form.

What GoMo News found intriguing, however, was how the Android OS treated our NFC transfers.

It listed them as being performed by Bluetooth – even though NFC was to blame.

This leads us to conclude that there is some way to go before NFC becomes a mature facility in Android.

But we’ve seen it all before. With Bluetooth, the SIG (Special Interest Group) knocked the heads of diverse handset manufacturers together until Bluetooth became truly platform/hardware independent.

GoMo News looks forward to the same thing happening with NFC.

Organiser: AIME
Venue: 10-11 Carlton House Terrace, London
Location: England, UK
URL: http://payforitsummit.com

Register here.

An event to explain the advantages of Payforit and help people get started with the mobile billing solution.

The UK mobile operators will be attending and the agenda is designed to provide something for everyone – whether you are exploring mobile billing for the first time, or looking to increase your revenues.

In order to deliver a comprehensive set of new best practices for the telecoms industry covering big data analytics implementation Tektronix Communications has announced its collaboration with the TM Forum. The objective is to achieve the best-in-breed big data implementation and value extraction. The pair who have been co-leading the TM Forum project group since January 2013 intend to publish a report containing new best practices and guidelines to help carriers worldwide define and refine their ‘big data’ analytics offering.

The report is part of TM Forum’s latest release of Frameworx 13 and contains two main sections.

One is the ‘Reference Model’ which illustrates the roadmap and processes operators required to deal with big data analytics.

This is effectively a detailed ‘how to guide’, describing the tools and functionality required to put together a big data stack inside the network.

The second section contains a detailed set of business use cases, showing operators a variety of methods for extracting value from big data, covering all dimensions of the business from product offering through to fulfilment, assurance and monitoring to billing and subscriptions.

“Big Data has been something of an industry buzzword now for several years,” observed Tektronix Communications CTO,  Manuel Stopnicki.

He continued,  ”However, the new best practices in Frameworx 13 and the report we have been working on with TM Forum provide comprehensive guidance for all operators on how to define from scratch, or refine their existing big data initiatives.”

Commenting on the project, Steve Cotton – Director, Business Assurance Programs for TM Forum said, “We are delighted by the work from our member Tektronix Communications which helps our industry better understand the functionality and value of big data.”

“This is a good example of how close collaboration can result in an output that will benefit many.”

“We look forward to witnessing our members embrace the power and derive the benefit of big data analytics as a result of this project.”

Following last week’s [May 10th 2013] of the Nokia Lumia 928 exclusive for Verizon Wireless in the USA, Nokia has introduced its international model – the Lumia 925. Verizon’s co-owner, Vodafone, interestingly offers an exclusive 32 GB version for its subscribers. GoMo News highlights the introduction of a software release cycle from Nokia. The first of these, Amber, ships with the 925. The releases are about new functionality, not developer APIs. Rather than going heavy on the bundled software, Nokia’s ads will focus on the smartphone’s camera.

If HTC continues to expand its range of WP8 devices and if other OEMs commit substantially to Windows 8, Nokia needs a USP.

The bundled software will do just that. For starters there’s the HERE suite of integrated location and navigation services and Nokia Music for unlimited streaming of free music.

However, Hipstamatic’s WP8 app, Oggl, will allow people to take and share high quality pictures.

In addition to sharing photos on Oggl, users can simultaneously share photos on social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Tumblr, Flickr and Instagram.

Adverts for the latest Lumias will explicitly put them head-to-head with Apple’s iPhone and Samsung’s Galaxy S on low-light image capture.

According to John Delaney, research director for consumer mobile with IDC, “Nokia has been reluctant in the past to mention competitors, let alone to criticise them.”

He continued, “But having developed an extremely strong imaging proposition comprising both hardware and software, if Nokia is going to start a battle then it has probably made the smartest choice of battleground available.”

interestingly, whilst HERE Maps and HERE Drive+ ship free with the 925, purchasers will have to visit a store to get HERE Transit.

Hidden away in the full Nokia Lumia 925 specs here is full support for the global versions of LTE/4G.

Now there’s been a very significant comment from 3UK. It says the handset is compatible with its Ultrafast 3G network which is currently underpinned by DC-HSDPA technology.

When 4G LTE does roll out on 3UK, the Nokia Lumia 925 will be future proofed, the company says.

This means that Three customers will be able to enjoy even speedier downloads without having to pay a premium, or change price plans. Now that’s fighting talk.

“Windows Phone is slowly gaining traction – largely via the Lumia range and positive word of mouth – but is still a small fraction of the smartphone market,” says Ernest Doku, telecoms expert at uSwitch.com

IDC’s Delaney thinks it is too late for Nokia to join the Android sector because the costs are too great.

Plus going Android would torpedo most of Nokia’s competitive differentiation.

GoMo News remembers Microsoft being totally caught out by the popularity of the Internet, thinking businesses wouldn’t touch it.

If Microsoft can chnage its course, why can’t Nokia?

Finally Doku reckons, ” This gorgeous piece of hardware shows that the Finnish manufacturer still has fire in its belly.”

Launched in London on May 14th 2013 as the follow up to the Nokia Lumia 920. In addition to Europe with Vodafone, the Nokia Lumia 925 will be introduced into the USA by T-Mobile and into China by China Mobile and China Unicom. Sales are expected to start in the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain and China in June 2013, followed by the USA and a number of other markets. The Nokia Lumia 925 will be priced around €469 before taxes and subsidies.

Key features

•The world’s most advanced lens technology and Nokia imaging software on the Nokia Lumia 925 delivers the best low light images.
•The new Nokia Smart Camera captures 10 high quality images at one click for powerful new creative possibilities, such as Best Shot, Action Shot, and Motion Focus*.
•Nokia Lumia 925 features a metal frame around the body for antenna functionality, appeal and robustness.
•Comes with the world’s only fully integrated and true offline maps experience from the HERE location suite.
•Offers access to a world of music available to stream or download with Nokia Music.
• *Being made available as an update Nokia original accessories
•Nokia Wireless Charging Cover CC-3065
•Nokia Wireless Charging Stand DT-910
•JBL PowerUp Wireless Charging Speaker for Nokia MD-100W
•Nokia Purity Pro Stereo Headset by Monster (BH-940)
•Nokia Tripod Mount HH-23
•Nokia Wireless Charging Car Charger CR-200 (2Q/2013)
•A wide range of additional accessories Colors
•White, grey and black Operating times
•Talk time: up to 12.8 hrs (on 3G)
•Standby time: up to 440 hrs
•Video playback: up to 6.6 hrs
Technical profile

•Operating System: Windows Phone 8
•Networks: GSM 850(5), 900(8), 1800(3), 1900(2), WCDMA, 2100(1), 1900(2), 850(5), 900(8), LTE 2100(1), 1800(3), 2600(7), 900(8), 800(20)
•Speed: HSPA+: DL Cat24, dual carrier 42.1 Mbps/UL Cat6, 5.76Mbps
•HERE location and mapping services: Free global HERE Maps and HERE Drive+;Free HERE Transit available in the Store
•Memory: 1GB RAM, 16 GB internal user memory; 7 GB SkyDrive cloud storage
•Display: 4.5” AMOLED WXGA (1280×768), 2.25 D sculpted Gorilla 2 Glass, PureMotion HD+, ClearBlack, High Brightness Mode, Sunlight readability, Super sensitive touch for glove and nail usage
•Processor: 1.5 GHz dual-core Snapdragon
•Camera: PureView 8.7 MP with Optical Image Stabilization (OIS), Autofocus, short pulse high power dual LED flash, most advanced lens technology, 1080p HD video at 30fps with OIS. Includes Nokia Smart Camera mode. Secondary camera: HD 1.2MP wide angle
•Size: 129 x 70.6 x 8.5* mm (*volumetric). Weight: 139g
•Connectivity: USB 2.0, BT 3.0, NFC with SIM based security, WLAN a/b/g/n, A-GPS and Glonass, 3.5mm audio connector
•Battery: 2000 mAh battery, Wireless charging supported via accessory cover
•Audio: -IHF speaker, 2 microphones, HD voice compliant, 3.5mm AV connector Nokia sales package accessories
•Nokia Stereo Headset WH-208
•Nokia USB Charger AC-50
•Data Cable CA-190CD
•Foldout Quick Guide, Product Information Booklet (PIB)
•Integrated/fixed battery: BL-4YW
•SIM door opening tool

Press release

May 14th 2013. Nokia has introduced the Nokia Lumia 925 , a new interpretation of its award-winning flagship, the Nokia Lumia 920. The Nokia Lumia 925 introduces a metal design and showcases the latest PureView camera innovation, new features and third party applications coming to the Nokia Lumia range.

The Nokia Lumia 925 includes the most advanced lens technology and next generation imaging software to capture clearer, sharper pictures and video, including the best low light images.

The Nokia Lumia 925 also introduces the new Nokia Smart Camera mode, coming as an update to all Lumia Windows Phone 8 smartphones.

Nokia Smart Camera offers an easy way to capture ten images at once and edit the pictures with options like Best Shot, Action Shot, and Motion Focus for creating the perfect high quality image.

Nokia also announced Hipstamatic’s new app, Oggl, will arrive on Nokia Lumia smartphones, allowing people to take and share high quality pictures with like-minded creatives and photography enthusiasts from around the world. In addition to sharing photos on Oggl, users can simultaneously share photos on social networks including Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Tumblr, Flickr and Instagram.

“We keep innovating,” said Jo Harlow, executive vice president of Nokia Smart Devices.

“We’re advancing experiences on the Nokia Lumia portfolio whether that means great new benefits for an existing Lumia owner, or bringing new showcase devices like the Nokia Lumia 925.”

The Nokia Lumia 925 introduces metal for the first time to the Nokia Lumia range, bringing appeal and unique benefits like increased robustness.

The polycarbonate back comes in white, grey or black.

A wireless charging cover can be clipped onto the back of the phone to take advantage of Nokia’s extensive wireless charging accessories and ecosystem. Covers, sold separately, come in white, black, yellow, and red.

Leading Nokia services, such as the HERE suite of integrated location and navigation services and Nokia Music for unlimited streaming of free music playlists, add to the great proposition offered by Nokia’s latest smartphone.

The Nokia Lumia 925 is being introduced into Europe with Vodafone, along with other operator and retail partners.

Patrick Chomet, group director of Terminals at Vodafone said, “The new Nokia Lumia 925 is a sleek and sophisticated smartphone delivering great performance and outstanding imaging.”
” We look forward to offering the Nokia Lumia 925 across our markets on Vodafone Red, as well as other tariffs, enabling customers to make the most of their new smartphone on Vodafone’s fast and reliable network.”

“Vodafone customers will also have exclusive access to a 32GB version of the Nokia Lumia 925, giving them even more capacity to store all their content for personal and business use.”

Terry Myerson, corporate vice president, Microsoft Windows Phone Division, added, “Together with Nokia, we continue to change the way people think about smartphone cameras.”

“The work Nokia has done with the Lumia 925 further enhances the imaging capabilities of the Lumia smartphones.”

In addition to Europe, the Nokia Lumia 925 will be introduced into the USA by T-Mobile and into China by China Mobile and China Unicom.

Sales are expected to start in the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain and China in June 2013, followed by the USA and a number of other markets.

The Nokia Lumia 925 will be priced around €469 before taxes and subsidies. Country-specific pricing and availability will be announced locally.

Tech specs

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About Nokia

Nokia is a global leader in mobile communications whose products have become an integral part of the lives of people around the world. Every day, more than 1.3 billion people use their Nokia to capture and share experiences, access information, find their way or simply to speak to one another. Nokia’s technological and design innovations have made its brand one of the most recognized in the world.