Nokia has begun selling advanced cell phones with Yahoo messaging, search and Web browsing embedded inside, in a move to spur wireless data usage and sales of smart phones.
The Finnish handset maker said Tuesday that the first three smart phones with Yahoo's popular software onboard are Nokia models 6680, 6681 and 6630, which are now widely available in Europe and Asia. Nokia said additional models will be unveiled on Wednesday.
Credit: Gizmodo The 6680 is one of three Nokiaphones to feature embedded Yahoo e-mail and IM.
Smart phones are handsets that are always connected to the Internet and that have PDA-like processing power for taking on much more complex tasks than a typical cell phone.
The deal is another example of how handset makers are turning to Yahoo, Microsoft, America Online and other Internet messaging and browsing giants to spur cell phone use and sales of next-generation handsets. The rationale is that if consumers can use an interface they're already familiar with, they will be more apt to use a phone's Internet connection, and by doing so generate new revenues for cellular operators.
Tuesday's "agreement is a progressive step in the adoption of an online lifestyle," Nokia Vice President Harry Santamaki said in a statement. "We are providing consumers with a familiar way of accessing the Internet and Yahoo e-mail."
U.S. cell phone operators believe that Internet search, e-mail, games and other features will combat the steep drops in revenue from voice calls, now a commodity because of fierce competition. But for years, such services have been a tough sell in the United States.
The Nokia-Yahoo agreement is also meant to spur smart phone sales, which remain relatively light. The high-end handsets make up less than a percentage of the world's more than 1.2 billion cell phones. But smart phones powered by operating systems from Microsoft and Symbian, a company partly owned by Nokia, are expected to become much more common over the next decade if handset prices drop.
Thursday, June 30, 2005
T-Mobile to use Google to sell mobile Net
Deutsche Telekom's mobile arm, T-Mobile, will use Web search leader Google as the starting point for surfing the Internet on its mobile phones, T-Mobile said Wednesday.
T-Mobile, Europe's second-largest mobile operator, is moving to provide full Internet access on its phones, abandoning the unpopular "walled garden" concept, in which operators give access to their own choice of Web sites.
"With the Google home page, we want tell our customers from the first moment that they are carrying with them the Internet they know from home," said T-Mobile board member Ulli Gritzuhn at a news conference in T-Mobile's Bonn, Germany, headquarters.
Mobile operators have failed for years to persuade subscribers to use their phones for more than calls and text messages. As voice call prices fall, they need to compensate with revenues from Internet usage and other services.
But the vast majority of customers shun mobile Internet services, such as T-Mobile's "t-zones" and market leader Vodafone's "Live." Those who use them do so rarely, and customer surveys show they do not see much use in them.
"Too expensive, too complicated, too little use--that's our clients' judgment about our current data services," said T-Mobile's Gritzuhn.
T-Mobile expects that mimicking more closely the Internet as people know it from their home or office computers will encourage them to use it for reading news or following eBay auctions while on the move, thus increasing revenues.
As part of its Internet campaign, dubbed "Web'n'walk," T-Mobile will also launch mobile devices with larger displays meant to be better-suited to the Web, and will offer cheaper tariffs to encourage Internet usage, Gritzuhn said.
Web'n'walk will launch in July in Germany and Austria and later this year in Britain, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic. T-Mobile has not decided yet whether to use Google as a home page in the United States as well.
The devices sold in the campaign are the Sidekick II, a miniature computer that has become a fashion item in the United States after celebrities including Paris Hilton started using it, Nokia's 6680 model and two handheld computers.
Google replaces the old "t-zones" home page only on those devices. Older phones will still use the t-zones because they are not able to display complex Web pages.
Previous Next
T-Mobile will use a Web browser by Norwegian software maker Opera on the Nokia model to make sure Web sites are rendered properly on the small phone display.
T-Mobile expects a high six-digit number of subscribers to use Web'n'walk by the end of 2006 and predicts those subscribers who use it will generate additional revenue of about $12 (10 euros) per month, Gritzuhn said.
T-Mobile, Europe's second-largest mobile operator, is moving to provide full Internet access on its phones, abandoning the unpopular "walled garden" concept, in which operators give access to their own choice of Web sites.
"With the Google home page, we want tell our customers from the first moment that they are carrying with them the Internet they know from home," said T-Mobile board member Ulli Gritzuhn at a news conference in T-Mobile's Bonn, Germany, headquarters.
Mobile operators have failed for years to persuade subscribers to use their phones for more than calls and text messages. As voice call prices fall, they need to compensate with revenues from Internet usage and other services.
But the vast majority of customers shun mobile Internet services, such as T-Mobile's "t-zones" and market leader Vodafone's "Live." Those who use them do so rarely, and customer surveys show they do not see much use in them.
"Too expensive, too complicated, too little use--that's our clients' judgment about our current data services," said T-Mobile's Gritzuhn.
T-Mobile expects that mimicking more closely the Internet as people know it from their home or office computers will encourage them to use it for reading news or following eBay auctions while on the move, thus increasing revenues.
As part of its Internet campaign, dubbed "Web'n'walk," T-Mobile will also launch mobile devices with larger displays meant to be better-suited to the Web, and will offer cheaper tariffs to encourage Internet usage, Gritzuhn said.
Web'n'walk will launch in July in Germany and Austria and later this year in Britain, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic. T-Mobile has not decided yet whether to use Google as a home page in the United States as well.
The devices sold in the campaign are the Sidekick II, a miniature computer that has become a fashion item in the United States after celebrities including Paris Hilton started using it, Nokia's 6680 model and two handheld computers.
Google replaces the old "t-zones" home page only on those devices. Older phones will still use the t-zones because they are not able to display complex Web pages.
Previous Next
T-Mobile will use a Web browser by Norwegian software maker Opera on the Nokia model to make sure Web sites are rendered properly on the small phone display.
T-Mobile expects a high six-digit number of subscribers to use Web'n'walk by the end of 2006 and predicts those subscribers who use it will generate additional revenue of about $12 (10 euros) per month, Gritzuhn said.
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Verizon Wireless' broadband blitz
The No. 2 cell phone operator in the United States, Verizon Wireless, said Tuesday that its third-generation wireless Internet service is still on track to be available to half the U.S. population by year's end. The company's BroadbandAccess service is now available to a third of the country, following a recent expansion to more than a dozen cities and airports, according to Verizon spokesman Jeff Nelson.
Operating at 400kbps to 700kbps, BroadbandAccess caters to business clientele paying $80 a month for unlimited use of the network, as well as to devotees of Verizon's V Cast, a cell phone TV and video-on-demand service. Verizon's rapid expansion into 3G wireless is an attempt to exploit the relatively limited reach of the wireless broadband network operated by Cingular Wireless, the nation's No. 1 cell phone operator.
Operating at 400kbps to 700kbps, BroadbandAccess caters to business clientele paying $80 a month for unlimited use of the network, as well as to devotees of Verizon's V Cast, a cell phone TV and video-on-demand service. Verizon's rapid expansion into 3G wireless is an attempt to exploit the relatively limited reach of the wireless broadband network operated by Cingular Wireless, the nation's No. 1 cell phone operator.
Cell phones aloft: Courtesy or chatter?
As is the case with many really bad ideas, there is a certain aura of inevitability to the prospect that airplane passengers will soon be able to yak on their cell phones, driving everybody within hearing distance crazy.
On the other hand, evidence is mounting that a significant number of travelers do not want to be trapped on an airliner in the proximity of one of those cell phone brayers. Now the nation's biggest cell phone data and network company, Cingular Wireless, has chimed in to say, essentially, hang on a second.
On June 8, Cingular--a joint venture of SBC Communications and BellSouth--sent a letter to Marion C. Blakey, the head of the Federal Aviation Administration, that raised a red flag about the prospect of cell phone blabbing on airplanes. "We believe there is a time and a place for wireless phone conversations, and seldom does that include the confines of an airplane flight," wrote Paul R. Roth, Cingular's executive vice president for external affairs.
I thought that was a pretty interesting corporate stance. It sounded to me analogous to Campbell Soup's announcing that there were certain places you should not be eating soup.
"We think that if the ban were to be lifted, and that's a big if, we would urge consumers not to talk when they're in flight, even if they have the opportunity to," said Mark Siegel, a Cingular spokesman.
He added: "It really is an issue to us of--dare I say it?--basic courtesy. We think there's a place to use cell phones and to talk on them, and there are places not to. For example, a theater, a crowded restaurant or, God forbid, a house of worship. One of the other places where you shouldn't be talking on a wireless phone, we think, is in an airliner up at 35,000 feet where you have 150, 250 people who are captive in a closed space."
Federal regulatory authorities have recently been sending signals that they are studying relaxing bans on in-flight use of wireless air-to-ground communications devices, perhaps before the end of 2006. Studies are under way into the potential for air-to-ground wireless transmissions to interfere with land-based wireless networks or with onboard navigational equipment.
Cingular and other wireless communications providers have a commercial interest in these matters, of course. For one thing, they are attuned to a growing backlash against cell phone louts. For another, they are offering a growing array of new services and devices for the fastest-growing and potentially most lucrative segment of their business: data and text communications.
Onboard an airplane, "there are other ways to stay in touch that respect the space and comfort and well-being of others in an airplane, if this ban were lifted," Siegel said. "That would be using text messaging, or sending and receiving e-mail." of 50,000 worldwide cell phone users
A recent online survey by IDC, a market research company, found a surprisingly small number of users--11 percent--in favor of allowing passengers to use cell phones on airplanes for voice calls. A big majority--82 percent--said that "voice calls would bother them," the report said. On the other hand, there was strong support--64 percent--for allowing the use of cell phones and other wireless devices for text and data-messaging, the study said.
Maybe I'm a pessimist, but I've been around the block a couple of times. My bet is that while in-flight text-messaging will prosper, we're eventually going to have to put up with some half-wit bellowing into a cell phone in the next seat on a five-hour flight to the West Coast. It's got that aura of inevitability, as I said.
Airlines are aware of the potential social problems--and not unaware of the potential new revenue sources in-flight cell phone use might bring.
I had lunch the other day with Richard Branson, the chairman of Virgin Atlantic Airways. Always an innovator with the uses of airline cabin space, he suggested that perhaps entire sections could be segregated for cell phone talkers, much as airplanes used to have smoking and nonsmoking sections. "It might be like the cell phone-free cars we have on trains," Sir Richard said.
That's one possibility. Another comes from a reader, Emily D. Greenberg of New York, who wrote with a suggestion that evoked an already proven, if today barely recalled, remedy:
"Regarding the impending use of cell phones on planes, I have an idea which may help curb the expected cabin rage: Install one or two small lavatory-like rooms, fitted with a stool and writing shelf and wired with whatever is needed for the cell phone connection. That would be the only place on the plane where cell phones would work, and would-be users would stand on line to await their turn. Do the words telephone booth come to mind?"
On the other hand, evidence is mounting that a significant number of travelers do not want to be trapped on an airliner in the proximity of one of those cell phone brayers. Now the nation's biggest cell phone data and network company, Cingular Wireless, has chimed in to say, essentially, hang on a second.
On June 8, Cingular--a joint venture of SBC Communications and BellSouth--sent a letter to Marion C. Blakey, the head of the Federal Aviation Administration, that raised a red flag about the prospect of cell phone blabbing on airplanes. "We believe there is a time and a place for wireless phone conversations, and seldom does that include the confines of an airplane flight," wrote Paul R. Roth, Cingular's executive vice president for external affairs.
I thought that was a pretty interesting corporate stance. It sounded to me analogous to Campbell Soup's announcing that there were certain places you should not be eating soup.
"We think that if the ban were to be lifted, and that's a big if, we would urge consumers not to talk when they're in flight, even if they have the opportunity to," said Mark Siegel, a Cingular spokesman.
He added: "It really is an issue to us of--dare I say it?--basic courtesy. We think there's a place to use cell phones and to talk on them, and there are places not to. For example, a theater, a crowded restaurant or, God forbid, a house of worship. One of the other places where you shouldn't be talking on a wireless phone, we think, is in an airliner up at 35,000 feet where you have 150, 250 people who are captive in a closed space."
Federal regulatory authorities have recently been sending signals that they are studying relaxing bans on in-flight use of wireless air-to-ground communications devices, perhaps before the end of 2006. Studies are under way into the potential for air-to-ground wireless transmissions to interfere with land-based wireless networks or with onboard navigational equipment.
Cingular and other wireless communications providers have a commercial interest in these matters, of course. For one thing, they are attuned to a growing backlash against cell phone louts. For another, they are offering a growing array of new services and devices for the fastest-growing and potentially most lucrative segment of their business: data and text communications.
Onboard an airplane, "there are other ways to stay in touch that respect the space and comfort and well-being of others in an airplane, if this ban were lifted," Siegel said. "That would be using text messaging, or sending and receiving e-mail." of 50,000 worldwide cell phone users
A recent online survey by IDC, a market research company, found a surprisingly small number of users--11 percent--in favor of allowing passengers to use cell phones on airplanes for voice calls. A big majority--82 percent--said that "voice calls would bother them," the report said. On the other hand, there was strong support--64 percent--for allowing the use of cell phones and other wireless devices for text and data-messaging, the study said.
Maybe I'm a pessimist, but I've been around the block a couple of times. My bet is that while in-flight text-messaging will prosper, we're eventually going to have to put up with some half-wit bellowing into a cell phone in the next seat on a five-hour flight to the West Coast. It's got that aura of inevitability, as I said.
Airlines are aware of the potential social problems--and not unaware of the potential new revenue sources in-flight cell phone use might bring.
I had lunch the other day with Richard Branson, the chairman of Virgin Atlantic Airways. Always an innovator with the uses of airline cabin space, he suggested that perhaps entire sections could be segregated for cell phone talkers, much as airplanes used to have smoking and nonsmoking sections. "It might be like the cell phone-free cars we have on trains," Sir Richard said.
That's one possibility. Another comes from a reader, Emily D. Greenberg of New York, who wrote with a suggestion that evoked an already proven, if today barely recalled, remedy:
"Regarding the impending use of cell phones on planes, I have an idea which may help curb the expected cabin rage: Install one or two small lavatory-like rooms, fitted with a stool and writing shelf and wired with whatever is needed for the cell phone connection. That would be the only place on the plane where cell phones would work, and would-be users would stand on line to await their turn. Do the words telephone booth come to mind?"
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
How does MSN stack up against the other DSL providers in my area?
How does the largest software giant in the word increase revenue? That is the billion-dollar question facing planners at Microsoft. As the market leader in operating system software with a market share of 95%, it becomes difficult to generate revenue while almost every PC on this planet is already running some version of Windows. The answer? High-speed internet access (MSN DSL) and video games (XBOX).
Wether by luck or by plan, Microsoft was able to hold off on their plans to become and ISP until -after- the dot-com crash, allowing Microsoft to purchase network capacity for pennies on the dollar. Coupled with Mircosoft's unequalled ability to repeat sell to their customers, MSN DSL was quick to pick up it's first batch of customers.
Since the initial launch in 2002, MSN DSL has built out it's portal to rival that of AOL, complete with it's own version of Instant Messanger, Spam-Filetered Email, and Parental Controls. Leave it to Microsoft to dominate any computer-related field it sets in its sights.
Wether by luck or by plan, Microsoft was able to hold off on their plans to become and ISP until -after- the dot-com crash, allowing Microsoft to purchase network capacity for pennies on the dollar. Coupled with Mircosoft's unequalled ability to repeat sell to their customers, MSN DSL was quick to pick up it's first batch of customers.
Since the initial launch in 2002, MSN DSL has built out it's portal to rival that of AOL, complete with it's own version of Instant Messanger, Spam-Filetered Email, and Parental Controls. Leave it to Microsoft to dominate any computer-related field it sets in its sights.
Monday, June 27, 2005
SBC Communications Declares Second-Quarter Dividend
--The board of directors of SBC Communications Inc. (NYSE:SBC) today declared a quarterly dividend of $0.3225 per share on the company's common shares. The second-quarter dividend is payable on Aug. 1, 2005, to stockholders of record at the close of business on July 8, 2005.
SBC Communications Inc. is a Fortune 50 company whose subsidiaries, operating under the SBC brand, provide a full range of voice, data, networking, e-business, directory publishing and advertising, and related services to businesses, consumers and other telecommunications providers. SBC holds a 60 percent ownership interest in Cingular Wireless, which serves 50.4 million wireless customers. SBC companies provide high-speed DSL Internet access lines to more American consumers than any other provider and are among the nation's leading providers of Internet services. SBC companies also offer satellite TV service. Additional information about SBC and SBC products and services is available at www.sbc.com
SBC Communications Inc. is a Fortune 50 company whose subsidiaries, operating under the SBC brand, provide a full range of voice, data, networking, e-business, directory publishing and advertising, and related services to businesses, consumers and other telecommunications providers. SBC holds a 60 percent ownership interest in Cingular Wireless, which serves 50.4 million wireless customers. SBC companies provide high-speed DSL Internet access lines to more American consumers than any other provider and are among the nation's leading providers of Internet services. SBC companies also offer satellite TV service. Additional information about SBC and SBC products and services is available at www.sbc.com
Sunday, June 26, 2005
Quest to expand DSL service
Nearly 80 percent of Eagan residents will have access to high-speed Internet service by the end of this summer under Quest's new DSL expansion plan.
The company already has added one "deployment" of DSL infrastructure and plans to add three more in the next few months, corporate spokeswoman Melissa Reffel said.
The 15-member Eagan Technology Task Force, a group that included the chief technology officers of Thomson West, Northwest Airlines and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota, concluded in January that only about 50 percent of residents and small businesses had access to DSL, or digital subscriber lines. The city then approached Quest to expand its service in the city.
"Clearly, this underscores that by focusing as a community and involving business, far more was accomplished than what the city could have done alone," city spokesman Tom Garrison said.
"We are pleased by this, but we are not done. We will try to identify the remaining service gaps and work to get them filled," he said.
The company already has added one "deployment" of DSL infrastructure and plans to add three more in the next few months, corporate spokeswoman Melissa Reffel said.
The 15-member Eagan Technology Task Force, a group that included the chief technology officers of Thomson West, Northwest Airlines and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota, concluded in January that only about 50 percent of residents and small businesses had access to DSL, or digital subscriber lines. The city then approached Quest to expand its service in the city.
"Clearly, this underscores that by focusing as a community and involving business, far more was accomplished than what the city could have done alone," city spokesman Tom Garrison said.
"We are pleased by this, but we are not done. We will try to identify the remaining service gaps and work to get them filled," he said.
Friday, June 24, 2005
AOL tells users its DSL days are over
E-mails were sent Tuesday night to AOL customers who subscribe to the company's high-speed DSL service notifying them that it was being shut off July 8.
AOL DSL costs $54.95 per month for the high-speed line and access to AOL services, the company says.
Its e-mail recommended that customers call SBC and take advantage of a $14.95 month deal being offered for DSL if they want to continue high-speed access to the Web.
But that offer is only available at www.sbc.com and only to new SBC DSL customers, SBC officials said.
AOL officials said they made the move because their DSL service had become too expensive for customers and the company.
"Now, we're offering our customers a better deal, by asking them to migrate to the unbundled, lower-cost SBC DSL Internet access, and to keep their AOL service," Anne Bentley, vice president of AOL's corporate communications wrote in an e-mail to The Bee.
"This process will reduce customers' total charges for Internet access, allowing them to maintain their high-speed Internet connection directly through SBC, while still retaining the AOL content and features that add to and enhance their high-speed Internet connection."
DSL is a way to access the Internet through traditional phone lines at speeds 50 times faster than a dial-up modem.
Modesto resident Glenn Mount said the e-mail solved a problem for him. He subscribed to Comcast's high-speed cable Internet services last month. He also kept his AOL DSL so he could compare the two services before deciding which one to stick with.
"I've been thinking about dumping AOL for a while now because it's so expensive," Mount said. "When I got the e-mail, I figured my problem was just solved for me."
The e-mails say:
"As of July 8, 2005, America Online will no longer provide your high-speed DSL connection as part of a bundled offer that was previously available. If you do not contact America Online by July 8, 2005, you will automatically be switched to your previous AOL® price plan, which allowed you to enjoy the AOL service through dial-up access, as designated in your AOL® for Broadband Terms of Service."
AOL recently shut down its DSL services in the Southwest, said Vanessa Smith, spokeswoman for SBC. She said the transition of customers from AOL to her company's DSL service was "smooth."
Competition has become fierce
Competition for high-speed Internet access has become fierce in the past year. Besides phone and cable companies, other firms are entering the market.
For example, this week Clearwire started offering high-speed Internet access in Modesto for less than $40 a month.
The competition has taken its toll on AOL. Already, U.S. subscription for AOL has decreased by about 5 million since its peak of 26.7 million in September 2002.
In the first quarter, AOL posted a 3 percent decline in revenues as it continued to lose subscribers, more than offsetting a 45 percent gain in advertising revenues. Profits rose 10 percent despite the revenue loss because of a decline in telecommunications costs.
The company has taken steps in an effort to win customers back, or at least figure out a way to direct advertising to them.
AOL has launched free Web-based e-mail, offering its instant-messaging users accounts with "AIM.com" address. Now, AOL is offering to forward e-mail from abandoned AOL.com accounts to AIM.
There is no time limit, and savvy users can still set their e-mail programs with the old AOL.com addresses without paying for them.
The company also announced it will launch a new AOL.com portal in July.
That free service will allow visitors to download video clips from AOL, Time Warner Inc. sister companies or elsewhere on the Web.
AOL also is pushing an "AOL Music On Demand" video channel and is developing an "American Idol"-like Web contest carrying as its prize a recording contract.
On-demand channels featuring comedy, celebrity news and self-help are also in the works. AOL visitors also will have access to 20 radio channels through XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc.
Users will be able to create a personalized "My AOL" home page with news headlines, Web journal summaries and other automated feeds from AOL.
AOL DSL costs $54.95 per month for the high-speed line and access to AOL services, the company says.
Its e-mail recommended that customers call SBC and take advantage of a $14.95 month deal being offered for DSL if they want to continue high-speed access to the Web.
But that offer is only available at www.sbc.com and only to new SBC DSL customers, SBC officials said.
AOL officials said they made the move because their DSL service had become too expensive for customers and the company.
"Now, we're offering our customers a better deal, by asking them to migrate to the unbundled, lower-cost SBC DSL Internet access, and to keep their AOL service," Anne Bentley, vice president of AOL's corporate communications wrote in an e-mail to The Bee.
"This process will reduce customers' total charges for Internet access, allowing them to maintain their high-speed Internet connection directly through SBC, while still retaining the AOL content and features that add to and enhance their high-speed Internet connection."
DSL is a way to access the Internet through traditional phone lines at speeds 50 times faster than a dial-up modem.
Modesto resident Glenn Mount said the e-mail solved a problem for him. He subscribed to Comcast's high-speed cable Internet services last month. He also kept his AOL DSL so he could compare the two services before deciding which one to stick with.
"I've been thinking about dumping AOL for a while now because it's so expensive," Mount said. "When I got the e-mail, I figured my problem was just solved for me."
The e-mails say:
"As of July 8, 2005, America Online will no longer provide your high-speed DSL connection as part of a bundled offer that was previously available. If you do not contact America Online by July 8, 2005, you will automatically be switched to your previous AOL® price plan, which allowed you to enjoy the AOL service through dial-up access, as designated in your AOL® for Broadband Terms of Service."
AOL recently shut down its DSL services in the Southwest, said Vanessa Smith, spokeswoman for SBC. She said the transition of customers from AOL to her company's DSL service was "smooth."
Competition has become fierce
Competition for high-speed Internet access has become fierce in the past year. Besides phone and cable companies, other firms are entering the market.
For example, this week Clearwire started offering high-speed Internet access in Modesto for less than $40 a month.
The competition has taken its toll on AOL. Already, U.S. subscription for AOL has decreased by about 5 million since its peak of 26.7 million in September 2002.
In the first quarter, AOL posted a 3 percent decline in revenues as it continued to lose subscribers, more than offsetting a 45 percent gain in advertising revenues. Profits rose 10 percent despite the revenue loss because of a decline in telecommunications costs.
The company has taken steps in an effort to win customers back, or at least figure out a way to direct advertising to them.
AOL has launched free Web-based e-mail, offering its instant-messaging users accounts with "AIM.com" address. Now, AOL is offering to forward e-mail from abandoned AOL.com accounts to AIM.
There is no time limit, and savvy users can still set their e-mail programs with the old AOL.com addresses without paying for them.
The company also announced it will launch a new AOL.com portal in July.
That free service will allow visitors to download video clips from AOL, Time Warner Inc. sister companies or elsewhere on the Web.
AOL also is pushing an "AOL Music On Demand" video channel and is developing an "American Idol"-like Web contest carrying as its prize a recording contract.
On-demand channels featuring comedy, celebrity news and self-help are also in the works. AOL visitors also will have access to 20 radio channels through XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc.
Users will be able to create a personalized "My AOL" home page with news headlines, Web journal summaries and other automated feeds from AOL.
Thursday, June 23, 2005
MCI Releases VPN For DSL Access To Networks
MCI Inc. has announced two new additions to its Secure Interworking Gateway (SIG) Services suite designed to help enterprises secure access to their networks.
Intended for organizations with a widely dispersed workforce, MCI Broadband VPN Interworking offers secure network connectivity over digital subscriber line (DSL) and cable connections. The service provides redundant SIG for additional reliability and an affordable failover solution for Private IP customers.
MCI Secure Internet Access allows enterprises with Frame Relay, Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) and Private IP networks to connect to the Internet through an MCI network-based firewall. Because it does not require an investment in security hardware, the service allows companies to bridge their existing network infrastructures to the Internet and IP wide area networks (WANs) at a comparatively low-cost.
"MCI continues to raise the intelligence and interoperability of our network," said MCI senior vice president of product management Nancy Gofus said in a statement. "This comprehensive suite of secure gateway services meets the growing requirements companies have to advance their capabilities in an IP world."
The new services are available immediately in North America, and in Europe and Asia Pacific later this year.
Intended for organizations with a widely dispersed workforce, MCI Broadband VPN Interworking offers secure network connectivity over digital subscriber line (DSL) and cable connections. The service provides redundant SIG for additional reliability and an affordable failover solution for Private IP customers.
MCI Secure Internet Access allows enterprises with Frame Relay, Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) and Private IP networks to connect to the Internet through an MCI network-based firewall. Because it does not require an investment in security hardware, the service allows companies to bridge their existing network infrastructures to the Internet and IP wide area networks (WANs) at a comparatively low-cost.
"MCI continues to raise the intelligence and interoperability of our network," said MCI senior vice president of product management Nancy Gofus said in a statement. "This comprehensive suite of secure gateway services meets the growing requirements companies have to advance their capabilities in an IP world."
The new services are available immediately in North America, and in Europe and Asia Pacific later this year.
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
Sony Ericsson: Heapin’ Helpin’ Of Wireless Toys
Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson announced their new players in the phone market with 5 phone products, including a new 3G phone and they have a wide variety of features to peruse, play with and pay for. No price points were mentioned but one could assume prices would be competitive with similar offerings from companies like Nokia.The first two on the list would be the W600 Walkman Phone and the S600 super play phone and several features are immediately prominent. The devices can hold up to 10 full length CDs in either the MP3 format or the AAC format using the Sony CONNECT software. One can also listen to music while leaving the mobile phone option off."The W600 is an exciting new product leveraging the heritage of our parent companies and demonstrates the vision when we combined Sony and Ericsson," said Miles Flint, president of Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications.
Both phones have Bluetooth wireless capabilities as well as a 1.3 megapixel camera many of the standard features of cell phones these days. The biggest different would be in the memory capacity as the W600 is designed to double as a Walkman too.The Z520 offers 16 megs of internal memory and more Bluetooth technology. The distinguishing features on this one are mostly cosmetic though with the flashing signal set to specific callers. Now, one can set an image on the screen, a tone for the sound, and now a flash pattern for the entire phone.The J210 is another entry-level product for people who aren't interested in all the doodads of the higher models. It's a got a few games, it'll support polyphonic ring tones, and wallpapers. Nothing fancy, just a basic phone. It does have a definitive market though.
Finally, the K608 really wields some awesome weapons. The coolest feature is the videophone and FM radio as well as the all the other features of the other phones. It's even got Macromedia Flash. This product is definitely in the cutting edge niche."During 2004 global subscriptions to 3G UMTS services nearly doubled to 16 million* and this growth trend is set to continue as many more operators come on stream with new services," said Jan Wäreby, Corporate Executive, Vice President and Head of Sales and Marketing of Sony Ericsson.Sony Ericsson managed to come out with several good products covering several market niches. This should keep them competitive as Nokia has already come out with several new phones and Samsung promises entries in the market very soon. All of the products look to be out in the 4th quarter, just in time for the Christmas shopping season.
Both phones have Bluetooth wireless capabilities as well as a 1.3 megapixel camera many of the standard features of cell phones these days. The biggest different would be in the memory capacity as the W600 is designed to double as a Walkman too.The Z520 offers 16 megs of internal memory and more Bluetooth technology. The distinguishing features on this one are mostly cosmetic though with the flashing signal set to specific callers. Now, one can set an image on the screen, a tone for the sound, and now a flash pattern for the entire phone.The J210 is another entry-level product for people who aren't interested in all the doodads of the higher models. It's a got a few games, it'll support polyphonic ring tones, and wallpapers. Nothing fancy, just a basic phone. It does have a definitive market though.
Finally, the K608 really wields some awesome weapons. The coolest feature is the videophone and FM radio as well as the all the other features of the other phones. It's even got Macromedia Flash. This product is definitely in the cutting edge niche."During 2004 global subscriptions to 3G UMTS services nearly doubled to 16 million* and this growth trend is set to continue as many more operators come on stream with new services," said Jan Wäreby, Corporate Executive, Vice President and Head of Sales and Marketing of Sony Ericsson.Sony Ericsson managed to come out with several good products covering several market niches. This should keep them competitive as Nokia has already come out with several new phones and Samsung promises entries in the market very soon. All of the products look to be out in the 4th quarter, just in time for the Christmas shopping season.
Monday, June 20, 2005
Ten Million New Subscribers Choose DSL
Over 10 million new global subscribers choose DSL (digital subscriber line) in the first quarter of 2005, according to industry analyst Point Topic.
DSL has reached a global total of 107 million subscribers by 31 March 2005 with an estimated 115 million expected by early June 2005.
There are 15 countries with more than 1 million subscribers with China comfortably the largest DSL population at 19 497 000 followed by the USA at 15 106 294 and Japan in third position with 13 887 000 subscribers.
France, U.K., Germany and Japan have seen excellent growth in their DSL market adding over half a million new subscribers to broadband DSL in the first three months of 2005.
The U.K. is the fastest growing established DSL market contributing over 20% to reach almost 5 million subscribers. Furthermore, the European Union (EU) continues to make up the world’s number one DSL region with almost one third of the total DSL subscribers coming from this area.
But it is the emerging markets that are beginning to show significant penetration of the DSL market.
“DSL keeps spreading. As the early adopters start to slow down slightly, the baton passes to the emerging countries,” commented Tim Johnson of Point Topic. “Countries such as Turkey, Mexico or the Philippines would not have been considered mass-market targets for a high-tech premium service a few years ago. And I think there’s another cycle of growth to come as the established DSL markets tackle the problem of making broadband connections ubiquitous to all their citizens.”
South Africa currently has around 67 000 subscribers, which when compared to other emerging markets like Brazil (over 2 million subscribers), Mexico and Argentina (totaling more than 300 000 subscribers each) and Turkey (1.5 million subscribers), fails to capture a significant share of the emerging market.
Steve Kingdom, president of the DSL forum, stated that “DSL roll-out continue to reach unprecedented levels, in both established and emerging countries.”
For South Africa to become a significant contributing member of DSL roll-out in Africa penetration needs to increase considerably.
DSL has reached a global total of 107 million subscribers by 31 March 2005 with an estimated 115 million expected by early June 2005.
There are 15 countries with more than 1 million subscribers with China comfortably the largest DSL population at 19 497 000 followed by the USA at 15 106 294 and Japan in third position with 13 887 000 subscribers.
France, U.K., Germany and Japan have seen excellent growth in their DSL market adding over half a million new subscribers to broadband DSL in the first three months of 2005.
The U.K. is the fastest growing established DSL market contributing over 20% to reach almost 5 million subscribers. Furthermore, the European Union (EU) continues to make up the world’s number one DSL region with almost one third of the total DSL subscribers coming from this area.
But it is the emerging markets that are beginning to show significant penetration of the DSL market.
“DSL keeps spreading. As the early adopters start to slow down slightly, the baton passes to the emerging countries,” commented Tim Johnson of Point Topic. “Countries such as Turkey, Mexico or the Philippines would not have been considered mass-market targets for a high-tech premium service a few years ago. And I think there’s another cycle of growth to come as the established DSL markets tackle the problem of making broadband connections ubiquitous to all their citizens.”
South Africa currently has around 67 000 subscribers, which when compared to other emerging markets like Brazil (over 2 million subscribers), Mexico and Argentina (totaling more than 300 000 subscribers each) and Turkey (1.5 million subscribers), fails to capture a significant share of the emerging market.
Steve Kingdom, president of the DSL forum, stated that “DSL roll-out continue to reach unprecedented levels, in both established and emerging countries.”
For South Africa to become a significant contributing member of DSL roll-out in Africa penetration needs to increase considerably.
Saturday, June 18, 2005
DSL Price Cuts vs. the Cable Bundle
SBC cut its base price for new customers to $14.95 in hopes that dial-up Internet users will begin to convert in droves. Cable operators, which added over 4.3 million cable modem customers last year, don't appear to be too worried by SBC's offer. For one thing, operators' basic broadband packages include speeds much faster than what SBC is offering. Looked at on a per-megabit basis, cable modem and DSL are roughly equivalent.
In fact, as Bernstein Research analyst Craig Moffett noted in a research report, in recent years discounting has had little impact on broadband market share. Still, to offset the perception that DSL is less expensive than cable modem service, operators may continue to roll out lower-priced, lower-speed broadband packages, or further discount VoIP phone service.
JupiterResearch expects 69 million households will have adopted broadband by 2010, or 80% of U.S. online households. Jupiter expects cable to retain its lead (albeit by a slimmer margin) as more online households switch to broadband. Cable's double- and triple-play bundles will enable operators to continue to offer compelling value to consumers.
In fact, as Bernstein Research analyst Craig Moffett noted in a research report, in recent years discounting has had little impact on broadband market share. Still, to offset the perception that DSL is less expensive than cable modem service, operators may continue to roll out lower-priced, lower-speed broadband packages, or further discount VoIP phone service.
JupiterResearch expects 69 million households will have adopted broadband by 2010, or 80% of U.S. online households. Jupiter expects cable to retain its lead (albeit by a slimmer margin) as more online households switch to broadband. Cable's double- and triple-play bundles will enable operators to continue to offer compelling value to consumers.
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
Sony Ericsson launches low-end, 3G phones
Mobile phone group Sony Ericsson has unveiled four new phones, which it says will boost its presence in the low end and midmarket.
Among the new models are the S600, which is aimed at the youth market, and a clamshell-style phone, dubbed the Z520, the group said Monday.
A third new phone is the J210, for customers who want simple functions like making calls and writing messages. A fourth is a third-generation, or 3G, handset, the K608i.
"We are widening our range in the low-cost and medium segment," Per Alksten, product market chief, told Reuters.
The announcement was made on the same day that competitor Nokia launched seven new phones, including a 3G phone and three other high-end camera phones.
Sony Ericsson, which used to focus on advanced, more expensive models, has said that it wants to expand its low-end range to become a top-three player.
Alksten said the J210 is expected to cost under $362, but the company would not give precise prices for either that phone or the others.
Ohman analyst Helena Nordman-Knutson said she was positive about the launch of the new Sony Ericsson phones to expand the market segments where the group is already present.
"But I still expect them to release a basic telephone for under 50 euros," she added. She said Nokia sold a fifth of its phones in the first quarter of the year for under that price.
Among the new models are the S600, which is aimed at the youth market, and a clamshell-style phone, dubbed the Z520, the group said Monday.
A third new phone is the J210, for customers who want simple functions like making calls and writing messages. A fourth is a third-generation, or 3G, handset, the K608i.
"We are widening our range in the low-cost and medium segment," Per Alksten, product market chief, told Reuters.
The announcement was made on the same day that competitor Nokia launched seven new phones, including a 3G phone and three other high-end camera phones.
Sony Ericsson, which used to focus on advanced, more expensive models, has said that it wants to expand its low-end range to become a top-three player.
Alksten said the J210 is expected to cost under $362, but the company would not give precise prices for either that phone or the others.
Ohman analyst Helena Nordman-Knutson said she was positive about the launch of the new Sony Ericsson phones to expand the market segments where the group is already present.
"But I still expect them to release a basic telephone for under 50 euros," she added. She said Nokia sold a fifth of its phones in the first quarter of the year for under that price.
Monday, June 13, 2005
TDM's demise is greatly exaggerated
Since data traffic first showed signs of eclipsing voice in the late 1980s, telecom service providers have considered assassinating time-division multiplexing in broad daylight or gently euthanizing the time-slotting technology when no one was looking. But, like the constantly reviving undead, TDM networks have a way of coming back again and again after being declared dead and buried.
Time slotting was conceived as a way to channelize 64-kbit/second voice traffic, and the efficiency of multiplexing such traffic has been one of the factors keeping circuit-switched voice traffic reliable and resilient in the face of network breakdowns. But TDM also has played a role in aggregation at the network core.
Digital leased-line circuits, the T1/T3 hierarchy in North America and E1/E3 equivalents in Europe, are based on TDM. So are the Sonet payloads used in the fiber-based hierarchy of dual rings used throughout metropolitan areas. Again and again, packet afficionados have advocated schemes for cutting TDM out of the network, only to learn that carriers aren't prepared to make a complete cutover to Internet Protocol (IP) packets.
Asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) was the first carrier-designed concept meant to bring together data packets and circuit-emulated voice, though the size of ATM cells-53 bytes-represented a compromise that satisfied no one. To be sure, core networks transitioned to ATM across the board, but these ATM networks used the hit-and-miss available-bit-rate service and ATM Adaptation Layer 5 designed specifically for data packets. In almost all circumstances, continuous-bit-rate and other services designed for voice were talked about endlessly, and never implemented.
Using ATM bought the carriers some time in the 1990s for conversion to IP, and represented a better switching infrastructure at the core than frame relay. But there is some degree of irony in the fact that an updated frame-relay switching method, committed information rate, brought the older frame-relay switches closer to coexistence with TDM than most of the ATM networks that still exist today.
ATM's demise was due largely to the dominance of Ethernet traffic at the desktop: If LAN users and broadband-access clients would not accept ATM in the last mile, its role in the core was doomed. Since then, developers have attempted to address low-latency traffic from two directions.
One concept sought to make a packet-based datagram service "look and feel" like a circuit through clever traffic shaping and quality-of-service (QoS) prioritization. At the core of large metro and interregional networks, router makers advocated Layer 3 IP routing along with a new "tag switching" concept of defining IP flows called Multiprotocol Label Switching, or MPLS. Meanwhile, the manufacturers of the largest Layer 3 Ethernet switches for the enterprise tried out various forms of Ethernet-based quality-of-service queuing so that time-sensitive traffic could be carried from enterprise-switched LANs to core MPLS routers.
Reluctant to switchIf the corporate world had cut straight over to 100 percent voice-over-IP (VoIP) use, this topology would have made sense for everyone. Many networks are being installed in metropolitan areas today, and they could represent the future carrier topology of choice. But carriers told equipment designers that customers were reluctant to give up T1 and T3 services, and some of them were adamant about not giving up circuit-switched voice.
Continuing limitations of VoIP in handling 911 calls, fax services and network-powered phone calls has also made corporate clients more adamant about retaining TDM. So members of the Metro Ethernet Forum began rethinking the problem, working backward from the central office to the customer site.
Architectures from the likes of Overture Networks Inc. and Ceterus Networks Inc. are based on bonding TDM channels into Ethernet transport services, thus providing the same types of encapsulation offered in modern Sonet services, such as generic framing procedure and virtual concatenation.
There are also schemes for bringing timing information directly to packet switching. In early June, Zarlink Semiconductor Inc. (Ottawa) introduced a patented technology the company calls Timing Over Packet, in which a hardware processing engine adds timing and synchronization information to Ethernet, IP, ATM and MPLS packets. The Zarlink processors encode and transmit a master clock over the packet network and recover the clock at client nodes. Since Zarlink, formerly Mitel Semiconductor, was responsible for developing controllers for the time-slotted H.110 bus used in older enterprise telephony networks, OEMs are giving the Zarlink proposal careful consideration.
The ultimate irony of this reaching back to TDM comes in the effort to define next-generation backplanes for communication equipment. The Advanced Telecommunication Computing Architecture, a project promoted by the PCI Industrial Computer Manufacturers Group and other trade organizations, originally was intended to define architectures for the largest routers and Layer 3 switches at the network core. With the addition of the mezzanine-card-based MicroTCA, the ATCA family has been extended to all kinds of devices functioning at the network edge, including access routers, IP PBX systems, DSL access multiplexers and Ethernet switches.
Time slotting was conceived as a way to channelize 64-kbit/second voice traffic, and the efficiency of multiplexing such traffic has been one of the factors keeping circuit-switched voice traffic reliable and resilient in the face of network breakdowns. But TDM also has played a role in aggregation at the network core.
Digital leased-line circuits, the T1/T3 hierarchy in North America and E1/E3 equivalents in Europe, are based on TDM. So are the Sonet payloads used in the fiber-based hierarchy of dual rings used throughout metropolitan areas. Again and again, packet afficionados have advocated schemes for cutting TDM out of the network, only to learn that carriers aren't prepared to make a complete cutover to Internet Protocol (IP) packets.
Asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) was the first carrier-designed concept meant to bring together data packets and circuit-emulated voice, though the size of ATM cells-53 bytes-represented a compromise that satisfied no one. To be sure, core networks transitioned to ATM across the board, but these ATM networks used the hit-and-miss available-bit-rate service and ATM Adaptation Layer 5 designed specifically for data packets. In almost all circumstances, continuous-bit-rate and other services designed for voice were talked about endlessly, and never implemented.
Using ATM bought the carriers some time in the 1990s for conversion to IP, and represented a better switching infrastructure at the core than frame relay. But there is some degree of irony in the fact that an updated frame-relay switching method, committed information rate, brought the older frame-relay switches closer to coexistence with TDM than most of the ATM networks that still exist today.
ATM's demise was due largely to the dominance of Ethernet traffic at the desktop: If LAN users and broadband-access clients would not accept ATM in the last mile, its role in the core was doomed. Since then, developers have attempted to address low-latency traffic from two directions.
One concept sought to make a packet-based datagram service "look and feel" like a circuit through clever traffic shaping and quality-of-service (QoS) prioritization. At the core of large metro and interregional networks, router makers advocated Layer 3 IP routing along with a new "tag switching" concept of defining IP flows called Multiprotocol Label Switching, or MPLS. Meanwhile, the manufacturers of the largest Layer 3 Ethernet switches for the enterprise tried out various forms of Ethernet-based quality-of-service queuing so that time-sensitive traffic could be carried from enterprise-switched LANs to core MPLS routers.
Reluctant to switchIf the corporate world had cut straight over to 100 percent voice-over-IP (VoIP) use, this topology would have made sense for everyone. Many networks are being installed in metropolitan areas today, and they could represent the future carrier topology of choice. But carriers told equipment designers that customers were reluctant to give up T1 and T3 services, and some of them were adamant about not giving up circuit-switched voice.
Continuing limitations of VoIP in handling 911 calls, fax services and network-powered phone calls has also made corporate clients more adamant about retaining TDM. So members of the Metro Ethernet Forum began rethinking the problem, working backward from the central office to the customer site.
Architectures from the likes of Overture Networks Inc. and Ceterus Networks Inc. are based on bonding TDM channels into Ethernet transport services, thus providing the same types of encapsulation offered in modern Sonet services, such as generic framing procedure and virtual concatenation.
There are also schemes for bringing timing information directly to packet switching. In early June, Zarlink Semiconductor Inc. (Ottawa) introduced a patented technology the company calls Timing Over Packet, in which a hardware processing engine adds timing and synchronization information to Ethernet, IP, ATM and MPLS packets. The Zarlink processors encode and transmit a master clock over the packet network and recover the clock at client nodes. Since Zarlink, formerly Mitel Semiconductor, was responsible for developing controllers for the time-slotted H.110 bus used in older enterprise telephony networks, OEMs are giving the Zarlink proposal careful consideration.
The ultimate irony of this reaching back to TDM comes in the effort to define next-generation backplanes for communication equipment. The Advanced Telecommunication Computing Architecture, a project promoted by the PCI Industrial Computer Manufacturers Group and other trade organizations, originally was intended to define architectures for the largest routers and Layer 3 switches at the network core. With the addition of the mezzanine-card-based MicroTCA, the ATCA family has been extended to all kinds of devices functioning at the network edge, including access routers, IP PBX systems, DSL access multiplexers and Ethernet switches.
Wednesday, June 08, 2005
Google now most valuable media company
Google took over the top spot as the most highly valued media company this week, surpassing Time Warner in just 10 months of trading as a public company.
Google's share price on the Nasdaq rose another $2.18, or 0.75 percent, to close at $293.12 on Tuesday, an all-time high. Stock market analysts have suggested the stock could go as high as $325 or $350 a share.
With a current stock market capitalization of more than $80 billion, Google is now worth more than any other media company in the world. That includes Time Warner, created five years ago when AOL purchased Time Warner for $106 billion in a much-hyped combination of old and new media.
But Time Warner's share price has deteriorated since the dot.com bubble burst--its market capitalization on Tuesday stood at $78.1 billion--and investors view Google as the hot internet and media company these days.
Other, more traditional, media companies trail Google's stock market worth by even more. Viacom and Walt Disney, for instance, hold stock market capitalization of between $54 billion and $55 billion.
Even Yahoo, seen as one big internet media competitor, carries a market value some $27 billion less than that of Google.
This all comes just 10 months after Google debuted in an initial public offering last August, priced at $85 a share. And it has led to some concerns that the company may be overvalued, a throwback to the hype of the dot.com era.
Previous
Google's sales last year, for instance, totaled just $3.2 billion while Time Warner's stood at $42 billion. And Mountain View, Calif.-based Google is trading at a sharply higher multiple than any other media company except Yahoo.Google shares now trade at 50 times the average estimate of analysts surveyed by Reuters Estimate of earnings in 2005. Compare that with Time Warner, which trades at 22 times earnings, Disney, which trades at 21 times earnings, or Viacom, which trades at 19 times earnings.Even so, not one of the 30 analysts polled by Reuters Estimates lists Google as a sell.
Story Copyright © 2005
Google's share price on the Nasdaq rose another $2.18, or 0.75 percent, to close at $293.12 on Tuesday, an all-time high. Stock market analysts have suggested the stock could go as high as $325 or $350 a share.
With a current stock market capitalization of more than $80 billion, Google is now worth more than any other media company in the world. That includes Time Warner, created five years ago when AOL purchased Time Warner for $106 billion in a much-hyped combination of old and new media.
But Time Warner's share price has deteriorated since the dot.com bubble burst--its market capitalization on Tuesday stood at $78.1 billion--and investors view Google as the hot internet and media company these days.
Other, more traditional, media companies trail Google's stock market worth by even more. Viacom and Walt Disney, for instance, hold stock market capitalization of between $54 billion and $55 billion.
Even Yahoo, seen as one big internet media competitor, carries a market value some $27 billion less than that of Google.
This all comes just 10 months after Google debuted in an initial public offering last August, priced at $85 a share. And it has led to some concerns that the company may be overvalued, a throwback to the hype of the dot.com era.
Previous
Google's sales last year, for instance, totaled just $3.2 billion while Time Warner's stood at $42 billion. And Mountain View, Calif.-based Google is trading at a sharply higher multiple than any other media company except Yahoo.Google shares now trade at 50 times the average estimate of analysts surveyed by Reuters Estimate of earnings in 2005. Compare that with Time Warner, which trades at 22 times earnings, Disney, which trades at 21 times earnings, or Viacom, which trades at 19 times earnings.Even so, not one of the 30 analysts polled by Reuters Estimates lists Google as a sell.
Story Copyright © 2005
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