MWC: Global Mobile World Awards 2008 announced

Mobile World Congress 2008 is over and the winners of the Global Mobile World Awards 2008 have been announced.

Congratulations to all the winners!

Continue reading for a full listing:

 

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MWC: Windows Mobile 6 Wins Big

In Barcelona, Spain, Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 6 was named “Best Mobile Enterprise Product or Service” at the 13th Annual GSMA Global Mobile Awards.

Judges for the GSMA commented, “A leading platform for business owing to the ease of integration with Microsoft Exchange infrastructure. For the SMB market in particular, Windows Mobile 6 is an attractive proposition.”

To extend its mobile services to a broader consumer audience and raise awareness of Windows Mobile 6, Microsoft made a series of announcements at the 2008 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week, including a new partnership with Sony Ericsson, one of the world’s top mobile phone makers, and an agreement to acquire Danger, a popular software and mobile services company.

Source: Gloibal Mobile Awards 2008

MWC: Microsoft Selects Viigo to Demonstrate the Power of the Windows Mobile Platform

Viigo Inc., leading developer of mobile application software, today announced that Microsoft has selected Viigo’s soon to be released mobile services platform (code-named Project Tango) as one of its showcase mobile applications at the 2008 World Mobile Congress in Barcelona.

Viigo has built a solid reputation for building an intuitive, fast, and easy-to-use mobile RSS Reader which is currently enjoyed by thousands of people around the world. Project Tango represents the next generation of Viigo technology and a quantum leap forward in creating a unified, mobile platform where users can choose, view, and manage their content and services.

“Viigo represents the best in class when it comes to consolidating my commonly used services,” said Rick May, Marketing Manager, Mobile Communications Business, Microsoft. “Gone are the days when I had two or three applications. Now, Viigo has become the one application on my Smartphone I cannot live without! Having the new flight schedules, hotel and restaurant information and the ability to provide me insights on my return home (such as flight status, weather, events, etc.) is simply put — a fantastic time saver.”

“By working closely with the Microsoft Windows Mobile team, we were able to develop a platform that will give users the flexibility to customize the way they view and consume information in an intuitive, made-for-mobile format,” said Mark Ruddock, President and CEO of Viigo.

The Viigo mobile services platform circumvents the limitations of the mobile browser and provides companies with the fastest possible way to mobilize content. It delivers a highly optimized wireless experience that addresses the challenges of delivering content to mobile devices and does so in a clean, efficient and highly engaging manner.

Source: Viigo press release

MWC: GSMA to Pilot a Carrier ENUM Service for Mobile Operators

NRS will make it easy to access a rich suite of communications services

NeuStar, Inc. announced today that the GSM Association (GSMA), the global trade association for mobile operators, is preparing to pilot a service that will simplify the transmission of instant messages, MMS, emails, video and other Internet Protocol (IP)-based communications between mobile phones and between mobile and fixed-line phones.

Following a competitive evaluation process, the GSMA has selected the clearinghouse and directory services provider NeuStar to manage the service on the GSMA’s behalf.

Based on a Carrier ENUM approach, the GSMA, operators and NeuStar will pilot a Number Resolution Service (NRS) that automatically translates a phone number into an IP-based address, making it simple for users to initiate a wide range of IP-based communications via their existing phone numbers and contact books in their handsets. The system affords subscribers the same levels of control and privacy that they currently enjoy with existing telephone services.

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MWC: GestureTek Mobile is Overall Winner

Company wins prestigious award for popular gesture-controlled mobile gaming and navigation software

GestureTek Inc., world leader in computer vision control technology and provider of state-of-the-art gesture- based interactive solutions for over twenty years, today announced that the company’s mobile business unit, GestureTek Mobile, has been selected as the Overall Winner at the GSMA’s Mobile Innovation Global Awards at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The Award was presented to GestureTek at the Global Mobile Awards gala evening at Barcelona’s National Palace, in recognition of the company’s innovative gesture-controlled mobile gaming and navigation software.

GestureTek’s EyeMobile Engine takes mobile gaming and navigation to new heights. This software-only solution uses the existing camera on a mobile device to deliver a gesture-based interface to mobile applications. An entertaining and intuitive alternative to conventional button interfaces, EyeMobile allows users to do anything they would normally do with their mobile device, such as play games, answer calls, make menu selections or scroll, pan and zoom in on photos, simply by shaking, rocking or rolling their device. With the EyeMobile Engine, handset manufacturers can offer all of the benefits of gesture recognition technology, without the expense and real estate of adding specialized hardware. The EyeMobile Engine Application Programming Interface (API) also provides application developers with the means to integrate motion control into their applications, much as they do with current conventional controls, such as keys and buttons.

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MWC: Matt Miller hands on with Readius eReader device

Matt Miller, Mobile Gadgeteer blog, is at the Mobile world Conference 2008 conference and had a chance to check out Readius eReader device.

Specifications of the Readius include the following:

• 115 g
• 5 inch diagonal display in 16 grayscales
• 115 x 57x 21 mm in size
• 30 hours of continuous reading (estimating 10 seconds per page turn for a total of 10,800 page turns)
• Tri-band GSM/HSDPA radio
• USB 2.0 connectivity
• Bluetooth 2.0 radio with A2DP support
• ARM111 400 MHz processor
• microSD expansion card slot with microSDHC support
• 8 buttons for navigation and operation

Check out Matt’s blog for his thoughts, photos and video on the device!

Source: Mobile Gadgeteer

MWC: TietoEnator Introduces a Complete Mobile TV Solution for Telecom Operators and Media Companies

TietoEnator has introduced a complete Mobile TV and video solution for telecom operators and media companies as a part of its Digital Media offering. Using the solution, operators can help their subscribers enjoy the next generation of mobile TV services with easy access to live TV channels and video-on-demand (VoD) content. Five European operators already use TietoEnator’s solution for Mobile TV in several countries.

Magnus Hoglund, head of Digital Media in TietoEnator said: “We have worked closely together with our customers to develop a solution which meets their needs and allows them to serve their end customers with innovative digital media services.”

TietoEnator’s Mobile TV solution is a complete platform for operators, content providers and broadcasters for the provisioning of TV and video services over mobile networks. The services can be used with a broad range of devices as the solution comes with mobile terminal applications for both Symbian and Java-enabled devices. The features of this next generation Mobile TV and Video solution include live TV programmes and play lists, Video on demand (VoD) and personal content, easy-to-use Electronic Program Guide (EPG), e-commerce and interactive value added services. The solution enables easy integration of advertising with mobile TV services and is compatible with TietoEnator’s end-to-end mobile advertising solution. TietoEnator’s mobile TV solution is also available as a fully managed service.

 

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MWC: Motorola Enables Broadband Everywhere with Fuel Cell Alternative Power

Motorola further advances alternative power solutions for multiple technologies

As the demand for energy soars in the face of growing concerns for the environment, Motorola Inc. is developing alternative power solutions that support multiple wireless technologies from GSM, for example, to high speed mobile broadband including HSxPA and WiMAX. Motorola’s alternative power solutions are on display during Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2008 at Motorola’s booth AV09, outside Fira Barcelona Hall 8.

Motorola is showcasing a number of new alternative power technologies at MWC, including fuel cell and reflow batteries — suited for deployment in most wireless or mobile environments for voice and data, from 2G to WiMAX. In addition, Motorola is demonstrating for the first time the use of fuel cell to power a WiMAX base station. Operating on liquid fuel, it provides a dependable and compact solution with no requirements for onsite hydrogen storage that enables quicker and easier installation.

“Following the success of the solar and wind powered cell site trials conducted in the UK and in Namibia, Motorola continues to develop technology that elevates the growing need of operators for alternative power sources from a theoretical possibility to practical and commercially viable solutions,” said Fred Wright, senior vice president, Cellular Networks and WiMAX, Motorola Home & Networks Mobility.

 

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MWC: Jamba Leads the Way with Mobile DRM Free Music

Jamba First to Offer EMI DRM Free Music on Mobile

Partnering with popular music label EMI, Jamba is the first mobile content provider in Europe to offer Digital Rights Management (DRM) free music for the mobile and the PC. In the future, DRM free music from EMI will be available on all Jamba/Jamster portals in EMEA. This is a critical first step for Jamba to move towards delivering its extensive music collection of over 1.5 million songs to mobile handsets entirely DRM free.

Jamba’s music service is available through both mobile handsets and PCs, and the new DRM free tracks will be sent to users through a dual delivery system. This means that a MP3 version will be sent to PCs to ensure top sound quality, while compressed AAC+ files are sent to the mobile. The AAC+ files perfectly balance top quality sound and file size to ensure fast downloading and increased storage.

“Music is now available on mobile devices for everyone, and Jamba is excited to be the first company in Europe to deliver DRM free music to customers on both the mobile and PC,” said Mauro Montanaro, Chief Executive Officer of Jamba. “This new development really allows us to take our music offering to the next level. Jamba continues to address the needs of consumers by allowing them the freedom to take their music with them any where, at any time,” added Lee Fenton, Chief Operating Officer of Jamba.

Ian Whitfield, Director Digital Business Development for EMI Music added: “As the first major music company to make all of our digital downloads available for sale without DRM, EMI’s objective is to deliver more music to more people with the flexibility and ease of use they want. With Jamba now offering an even larger catalogue of EMI’s downloads to consumers we can continue to drive the digital market further forward.”

Source: Jamba press release

MWC: CNN and Ericsson Reveal Key Findings From Joint International Mobile TV Research Study

• Mobile TV Tops Consumer Wish List for New Handsets
• News Leads Genre Viewing Patterns
• Photo Technology Ranks Highest for Frequency of use

Mobile TV use is set to surge due to strong consumer demand, with the service ranked as the number one application users want on their phone, according to a consumer behaviour study conducted by Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) and the #1 international news broadcaster, CNN. The results show more than a third (34%) of respondents ranking TV as the most in-demand application and almost half (44%) of the respondents poised to adopt mobile TV in the next two years.

Key findings also revealed that photo and video messaging look to be set for wide-scale adoption as consumer pricing and functionality improves. 57% of respondents use photo technology to send and receive images on a monthly basis, making it the most popular activity. This trend is mirrored by popularity of CNN International’s user-generated content service iReport, which launched in 2006. The service garnered 50,000 submissions, including mobile phone footage and images, from 189 countries worldwide in its first twelve months, driving the worldwide trend for ‘citizen journalism’ and giving audiences a deeper connection to network news.

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MWC: Viigo Keeps Blackberry and Windows Mobile Smartphone Users in the Loop

Viigo Inc., a leading developer of mobile application software, announced today that it has just released a special 2008 Mobile World Congress Channel that delivers up-to-the-minute Congress press releases, news, blogs, events, and alerts on Blackberry or Windows Mobile Smartphones.

In addition to following a range of World Mobile Congress coverage, Smartphone users will also have access to a wide variety of regularly-updated content from Viigo’s Channel Library. Mobile World Congress attendees and non- attendees can quickly and easily subscribe to a wide array of content and services, such as special interest news, blogs, sports, weather, entertainment, market data and more — creating a powerful handheld companion.

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MWC: New Samsung MP3 Players Feature Broadcom’s Single-Chip Bluetooth and FM Radio Solution

Enabled by Broadcom Technology, New Samsung YP-P2 and YP-T10 Drive Untethered Listening of Digital Audio and FM Reception for the First Time

Broadcom Corporation today announced that its combined Bluetooth and FM radio chip is featured in the new award-winning MP3 players from Samsung Electronics. Equipped with the Broadcom® BCM2048 system-on-a-chip (SoC), Samsung’s YP-P2 and YP-T10 allow consumers to receive FM radio broadcasts on their MP3 players, or wirelessly stream digital music to Bluetooth headphones or speakers. In addition to creating new ways for consumers to enjoy and share their digital content with friends, Samsung’s Bluetooth-enabled MP3 players introduce a new era of wireless connectivity that will help drive wired headphones into obsolescence.

The popularity of MP3 devices continues to grow as music, video and other digital entertainment media files become increasingly portable. With an estimated 240 million media devices expected to ship in 2008(1), Samsung is differentiating its products with built-in wireless features and has received accolades for its innovative designs. Samsung’s YP-P2 was recently named one of the Top Ten Gadgets of 2007 by Time Magazine, and recognized as a CES 2008 Innovation Award Honoree.

One of the most innovative features of Samsung’s new MP3 players is multi- user audio that enables two YP-T10 users or three YP-P2 users to simultaneously enjoy the same music or video stream over multiple wireless headsets. This capability takes advantage of Bluetooth’s A2DP profile, supplemented by the advanced quality of service (QoS) enhancements in Broadcom’s Bluetooth software stack and silicon, which ensures a great multi- A2DP user experience.

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MWC: tuitalk Brings Together Telecom Operators, Advertisers and tuitalkers

ARGELA-USA announces “tuitalk” and the introduction of a new business model in telecommunications world. tuitalk acts as a broker between advertisers and telecom operators providing free international calling (and other telecom services) to callers world-wide. Services are subsidized by commercials that are directed to subscribers based on their profile, their preferences and advertisers’ marketing targets. tuitalkers access services over the Internet, maintain their profile and preferences while partner advertisers define their target market along with their alternative commercials and interactive marketing applications. tuitalk matches tuitalker’s preferences and profile with its partner advertisers’ target audience profile and plays the most appropriate commercial prior to handing the service request to one of its partner telecom operators.

For telecom operators, tuitalk is a new channel outside their traditional coverage of fixed or wireless networks. Independent of the underlying access infrastructure of the telecom operator, tuitalk integrates with the operator network and hands service requests to its partner operators once the associated commercial is viewed by the tuitalker. In other terms, tuitalk is not an operator but a partner that attracts global subscribers over the Internet and brings them to the operator for additional traffic and a new revenue stream!

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MWC: Yahoo! to Reinvent Mobile Communications with Yahoo! oneConnect

Groundbreaking New Service to Aggregate Mobile Communications, Centered Around a Socially-Connected Address Book

Yahoo!, a leader in developing mobile-first experiences, is driving the industry towards the future of mobile communications with Yahoo! oneConnect. In 2007, Yahoo! revolutionized mobile search with Yahoo! oneSearch, an optimized search experience designed for the mobile device. Today the company will unveil a plan for similarly reinventing mobile communications by demonstrating its upcoming Yahoo! oneConnect service. Yahoo! oneConnect is expected to become available in the award-winning Yahoo! Go 3.0 and Yahoo!’s new mobile home page in Q2 2008.

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MWC: WiMAX Forum Announces Mobile WiMAX Certification Product Progress and Updates Technology Roadmap to Include 700 MHz

WiMAX Forum, Members Promote Mobile WiMAX at 2008 GSMA Mobile World Congress

The WiMAX Forum today announced that 28 Mobile WiMAX products in the 2.3 GHz and 2.5 GHz frequency bands have been submitted for WiMAX Forum certification since WiMAX Forum labs began accepting applications from vendors in late 2007. The organization further announced its official decision in support of significant market demand to expand the WiMAX Forum product development roadmap for Mobile WiMAX certification in the 700 MHz frequency band. These updates were delivered as part of a media luncheon hosted by the WiMAX Forum at 2008 GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

“With more than 260 commercial WiMAX deployments rolled-out on a global basis, WiMAX technology is the only commercially available OFDMA-based wireless technology today to support the rapid expansion of mobile broadband Internet access and the broad proliferation of the open Internet concept that so many mobile service providers are talking about here this week,” said Ron Resnick, president of the WiMAX Forum. “We expect this momentum to be evident at Mobile World Congress and at the upcoming WiMAX Forum Congress event series.”

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