mobile things
opinion and news on mobile gadgets and development
Jun
29
Truphone now offer free calls to 40 countries
Posted by grouchal in Business
An exciting release from Truphone shows how they have extended their service and offereings.
Can’t help but feel this might not be the best day to upgrade your services and doing anything with a mobile product - unless you just want to be the other news!
Wish I had wifi on my phone! 
Popularity: 49% [?]
Jun
28
Find the nearest loo - from your phone
Posted by grouchal in mobile software, review
I think this is a great idea - just aslong as you know about it - when I have been travelling this would be a great tool to have on my phone - questions is would I remember it at the time? Or just ask someone?
There is a quick review on TechCrunch: When You’ve Got To Go, Go To Mizpee.com
I am not sure about the comments that say the Web 2.0 “has just jumped the shark” - it is neat ideas like these that allow the innovation to happen - it may be this that inspires it’s creators or someone else to come up with a better service - so don’t dismiss it immediately as useless.
Popularity: 65% [?]
Jun
28
Google allows access to images on the move with Picassa Mobile
Posted by grouchal in mobile software
Google have added to their library of mobile applications with mobile Picassa, this is a nice addition as it means rather than sending a MMS message a link to an album could be sent by SMS, which would be cheaper for the sender and receiver.
I am suprised though that the SMS side of things isn’t incorporated here - why don’t Google have SMS notifications and ability to send a link to a set of phone numbers?I hope this comes soon as using these facilities in mail and calendar is highly useful.
Popularity: 50% [?]
Jun
26
LG KU580
Posted by grouchal in Business, Gadgets, iPhone
The company who will probably make most money out of the iPhone may well be LG, as they ride on the tails of the iPhone hype with their cheaper and more mature touch phones.
I think they will be quick to match the successful parts of Apple’s iPhone over the next 18 months.
They have just released the LG KU580 and this review makes an interesting read - what will Apple do? My advice is invest in LG not Apple!
Popularity: 82% [?]
Jun
26
Haptic Clock?
Posted by grouchal in Gadgets, mobile software, review
Nice idea at cwwang.com for an application that is a “Haptic Clock“.
The plan is I guess that when you are stood talking to someone and you want to glance the time, but not upset them you reach into your pocket and press a key and then feel the time. I like it - also for meetings without clocks in the room.
The porlbem as I see it is that it won’t work in my pockets, I can’t leave it running as it will get stopped by random key presses - and if I lock the phone (my N70) the application won’t be in the foreground.
If there was someway to make it into a screen saver - this is a great idea otherwise I think it is just an idea.
Popularity: 80% [?]
Jun
26
Mobilephones as payment cards in London?
Posted by grouchal in Business, Gadgets
An article over at the Mobile Report claims that UK operators are ready to start shipping smartcard compatible phones that can be used in London instead of the Oyster card.
I’ve heard rumours about this for a while, and I really like the idea - especially as it is extended. I don’t live in London but travel in often and have an Oyster in my wallet, the pain is when it runs out of money. Attaching the oyster to the phone, and therefore payments systems and the internet would be fantastic, no more queues! There are also plans to extend the Oyster cards use into micro payments and the Oyster would make the first stage of a transformation of London into a cashless city possible.
Let’s hope this has legs and Oyster or similar also start being deployed outside of London.
Popularity: 70% [?]
Jun
26
IPhone - the business plan
Posted by grouchal in iPhone
I came across a very in-depth analysis of how Apple will need to sell the iPhone over the next 18 months to reach their target of 10M units. I think this really adds to the iPhone criticism (well Apple criticism) that they have been far too ambitious in their sales targets.
Everyday I get this feeling that the iPhone and the Newton story may end up being very similar.
I think that most of the critics have hit the problems on the nose and Apple really face an uphill struggle here - the decision to create such hype and set such high figures may well come to be a big mistake. I think the initial iPhone purchases may not get the experience that they want - especially with the keyboard.
BTW The video from Apple I posted from yesterday really is interesting on second viewing - if you watch you can see how the demonstrator is having to turn his finger on it’s side for some functions - this is exactly where this touch screen is supposed to be different - no stylus needed.
I guess the hype before Friday is nothing compared to next weeks deluge from reviewers - that could be the week that makes or breaks this idea.
Popularity: 62% [?]
Jun
25
iPhone - A Guided Tour
Posted by grouchal in iPhone, off-topic
20 interesting minutes - on the build up to Friday.
I have to say I like what I see - will be interested to see if a clone or the real thing makes it to Europe first!
Apple - iPhone - A Guided Tour
Read a rumour today that google might buy Apple - interesting!
Popularity: 75% [?]
Jun
22
mPoria PayPal
Posted by grouchal in Business
Paypal are taking mobile seriously, another way to use paypal whilst mobile is with mPoria, I wonder if Google can get in on this also - I much prefer the low charges (free) when used in conjunction with adwords for items in the £10 range.
It is going to be interesting to see how things go with payments on the mobile - credit cards just don’t make sense here - but does paypal - or google checkout for that matter?
Popularity: 63% [?]
Jun
22
network effects - a story here for the iPhone?
Posted by grouchal in iPhone, off-topic
Found this article today (thanks to the BBC News website) Are network effects getting weaker? on Skrentablog which talks about how various “hip” tools for networking - myspace the key example are becoming less “hip”.
The web is a great leveller for people, allowing small companies to compete with the large companies, allowing independents bands to compete with Stadium bands etc. It also allows consumers to become much more flexible in their approaches and also less loyal. I am no marketer, but this must have a big impact on brand.
Sony is going through a hard time as a brand at the moment but it is likely to come out well, it has a long history and this contributes to a strong brand. Myspace though has no such brand, nor LinkedIn, they are new and well known, but people have no loyalty to them, especially when they are no longer “cool”. This must be something that Bebo and Facebook are thinking about, and must have something ot do with Murdoch’s decision to sell mySpace to Yahoo.
Anyway what has this to do with the iPhone - well I wonder how much we value brand nowadays, a lot of the belief in creating the market they need for the iPhone is that iPod is “cool”, so the iPhone will be too. How much cooler will you be if you have an iPhone? Is the iPod just enough cool without becoming a geek? Although having an iPod has been about fitting in and having the same, most phone owners want to have something unique - will this change?
In broad terms it makes me question if the iPhone does succeed it suggests that mobile preferences are starting to converge and that the currently diverse market will start to shrink based on consumer demand. I guess that is why they are charging for the device upfront, this will make people not upgrade their phone at the end of the 12-18 month contract. I can’t help but feel though that innovation is coming from Nokia, Motorola and the others and it won’t be the dream Apple want to come true. All of the manufacturers need this constant upgrading cycle to continue - there are not many other devices that have an 18 month life.
Popularity: 75% [?]