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Last modified: | Mobile Insight Vol: 8 Issue 309 March 20th 2006Wildjack welcomes gambling guidanceAs the UK's new gambling laws aren't due to be fully enforced until September 2007, the online gambling community has been left somewhat in limbo. But recent guidelines published by the UK's Department for Culture, Media, and Sport (DCMS) alongside the Gambling Commission have been welcomed by the industry. Simon Swanson, UK country manager with the Wild Jack Mobile Casino (WJMC) highlighted the fact that the existence of 'remote gaming sites' were specifically acknowledged within the new guidelines. "That's a very welcome point," Swanson claimed. "The fact that we envisage being [eventually] licensed by the UK government would make it difficult for other territories to ignore that fact. It makes us feel more comfortable about our offering our services and is a good reason why we chose to operate in the UK first," Swanson explained. The existence of an entire legal framework surrounding the operation of remote gaming sites by overseas companies would probably be a world first, too, Swanson argued. "I'm not saying it was their [the UK government's] motivation for introducing these regulations but one of the spin-offs will be that it makes it easier to tax the [mobile gaming] industry," he said.The full Inquirer story ...UK clarifies UK gaming arena Zinwave offers leaky fibresThe classic solution for providing radio access in tunnels is a special copper cable designed to radiate the signal and therefore known as a 'leaky cable'. UK start-up, Zinwave, has discovered a way of achieving the same result with boring old optical fibre cables. The good news is that the system can carry a wide range of radio signals including all of the obvious cellular frequencies (including 3G). What's more it can carry these signals simultaneously and the list includes Wi-Fi too. When Mobile Insight asked Martin Cassidy, general manager for US operations with Zinwave if it handled Bluetooth, he had to confess he hadn't tested it with Bluetooth. Anyway, Zinwave seems to think it can flog this kind of stuff into business premises and campuses. So that cellular signals will work deep inside concrete buildings. Zinwave would probably be better off pushing it as a solution to providing cellular coverage in subway (ie Metro) style networks. Plus you can hang whatever kind of antenna you like off the system. The boffins that invented the system are from two leading British universities [it says here]. They've been looking to commercialise their invention for ages and Zinwave is the result.
BenQ suffers from Siemens purchaseMuch as we predicted, BenQ has posted a net loss of around $186 million in Q4 2005 compared to a record profit the previous year. Everyone's blaming its acquisition of Siemens' handset division. The company has introduced 12 handsets so far under the 'BenQ-Siemens' banner and says it expects to add another 13 -18 models during 2006. However, BenQ believes its losses will be stemmed by higher prices for the high tech models it is now offering. "These new phones were well received at the CeBIT technology show in Germany, and a number of global telecom operators have put them on their lists," claimed Clemens Joos, CEO with BenQ Mobile.The full Inquirer story ...BenQ needs Razr to cut losses www.benqmobile.com ROK's soccer deal is hardware basedRather than cutting a content deal over World Cup soccer as Mobile Insight had expected, ROK has decided to get into the hardware business. It's planning to offer a Bluetooth based device which will transmit TV images to mobile phones. "We'll beat Virgin/BT to the punch when it comes to being the first to offer digital TV live to mobiles," claimed ROK's group marketing director, Bruce Renny. The only snag is that you need to be within 10 metres (a mere 33 feet) of the device which will be known simply as the BLX. It is aimed at domestic users but can only synch to one handset. No pricing is available yet, but it should go onsale by June 1st [2006]. Interestingly, Renny revealed that the BBC and ITV can't sub-licence the World Cup to companies like his.
Gizmondo crew join Zero MobileAccording to recent reports, most of the team behind the failed mobile games console – Gizmondo – have shown up in the USA. The list includes Richard Clayton, Peter Lilley and David Levett. They're all involved in a new venture called Xero Mobile. The rumour is that Xero Mobile will implement an old idea – mainly that cellular airtime will be doled out for free as long as the subscribers don't mind being bombarded with adverts for the privilege. Thankfully the backers of Xero don't appear to include Sweden's Stefan Erikson (see Gizmondo man crashes Ferrari in real life.) The problem is that no-one seems to know which US cellular network is prepared to host such a bold venture as Xero. Especially given its previous track record. Plus the fact that Gizmondo might have pledged the rights to its Smart Ads technology – which sounds very similar to the Xero Mobile offering – to some of its creditors.
In Site of the Week (by Jayker Shah)This week
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