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Your advert here!!! Our Guides Technical Editors:
Last modified: | Mobile Insight Vol: 8 Issue 307 March 6th 2006RIM settles with NTPThe penalty for playing chicken with NTP over patent infringement appears to be $162 million. That's how much extra Research in Motion (RIM) has been forced to pay its adversary. In the end, the Blackberry-maker coughed up some $612 million, rather than the $450 million the two sides almost settled for last year [2005]. It follows a stern warning from Judge Spencer back in February. See RIM wins minor reprieve vs NTP. However, it also leaves NTP free to pursue other patent disputes. In particular it could help Visto in its battle against Microsoft. See Visto head expects battle with Beast to drag on for three years.The full Inquirer story ... RIM bites bullet Sony Ericsson ties up with Google over bloggingHaving sold over three million of its Walkman phone range, Sony Ericsson has decided to build on another Sony brand – the Cyber-shot digital camera. It's just released the first two models in its new Cyber-shot phone range – the K800i (with an approximate price of £300), and a slightly cheaper version – the K790. While various Java apps have been available to allow cameraphone shots to be uploaded directly to a blog, these new handsets are the first to come with a built-in blogging capability. All the user has to do is select a picture and then pick the option for sending via 'blog' rather than MMS (picture messaging) or email. By default this will link the user directly to Google's Blogger service. All of the seven new handsets Sony Ericsson announced will be available Q2 2006 except for one – the W950 ultra thin Walkman handset. This – along with Sony Ericsson's first clamshell Walkman phone, the W300 – will bring the number of Walkman handsets to seven. Steve Walker neatly side-stepped a question about the very early Walkman phones frying their memory cards.
Christina Aguilera signs with OrangePop Queen, Christina Aguilera, has signed up with Orange for nine months to be the new face of its music service. The deal is in partnership with handset vendor, Sony Ericsson, and her record label, SonyBMG. The deal will result in at least two of the Walkman mobile phones being specially customised for France Telecom's nine European Orange branded networks. That means Christina can potentially reach some 70 Orange subscribers. The first two 'signature' Walkmans - customised for Orange by Sony Ericsson - will include the W300i and the W800i. The good news, however, is that Microsoft appears to be excluded from this arrangement. The Digital Rights Management (DRM) system which Orange and Sony Ericsson will implement is the Open Mobile Alliances DRM 1.0 solution. Orange promised that it would eventually enable its subscribers to transfer music files downloaded from its Orange World music store to PCs. However, an Orange spokesman told Mobile Insight this would only happen after Orange sorted out this capability with its sister company – Wanadoo (the ISP). Separately, the US Department of Justice has been looking into prices charged for music downloads. Mysteriously the typical price in the UK is 79 pence whereas in the rest of Europe it is 68 pence and in the USA it is only 57 pence.The full Inquirer story ... Christina Aguilera turns Orange Vodafone employee sells numbers on eBayA scam which involved selling memorable mobile phone numbers on eBay has landed its perpetrator, Stephen Day, in Reading Crown Court. He confessed to falsifying accounts and theft and was given a slap on the wrist. Mobile Insight would like to point out that this has nothing to do with the Stephen Day, who is Virgin Mobile's corporate affairs director. Vodafone Day managed to pass highly desirable mobile phone numbers such as 007 007 and the sign of the Beast's 666 666 to a middleman.
Easymobile UK signs up with The LinkIn an admission that its 'Internet only' policy is failing – and rumours that just 15,000 UK subscribers had signed up – the Easy Group's Easymobile has signed a deal with UK High Street retailers, The Link. The Link (part of the Dixons Group) will have a three month exclusive on retailing Easymobile's service. Consumers will be offered a choice of four subsidised handsets including the Nokia 1600, 3220, 5140i and the Motorola Razr V3 Blue. This is a total break with Easymobile's Web based offering which was SIM card only. It therefore puts Easymobile up head to head with the likes of 3 and Virgin Mobile.
The thorn in Vodafone's side that is its Japanese mobile operation, Vodafone
KK, might be extracted by the native conglomerate, SoftBank. The two companies
had been exploring the possibility of SoftBank becoming an MVNO on the back of
Vodafone's mobile network. However, SoftBank is now expected to offer serious
money for all or a major part of Vodafone's Japanese operation. The move is
hardly unexpected since SoftBank won a licence to operate a new mobile service
in Japan last year [2005]. Vodafone has continued to pour money and key
personnel, including Brit hit man Bill Morrow, into its Japanese operation. It
was hoping to gain an insight into selling 3G from Japan, where the market is
more advanced than anywhere else save, possibly, South Korea. During the course of reviewing the latest i-mode 3G phone from O2, the
Samsung SGH-Z320i, Mobile Insight made a very interesting discovery. Backwards
incompatibility may have crept into this handset's support for video calling. In
essence the SGH-Z320i absolutely refused to make a video call to an ancient 3G
handset which we had kicking around – an NEC e313. The NEC is connected to the 3
network in the UK and has proved to be an extremely reliable workhorse. Out of
curiosity, Mobile Insight swapped it over to one of the latest 3G
handsets it possesses – a Nokia N70. Bingo! As soon as the USIM was swapped,
videocalls from the Z320i were accepted. The harsh reality is, of course, that
there can't be that many 3 subscribers walking around in real life using a
handset as ancient as the e313. A handful at most? But it does reveal one of the
biggest problems for handset vendors and network operators. Testing.
In Site of the Week (by Tony Dennis)This week
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