Here’s a video report from Mobile World Congress 2010 at Barcelona, which talks about the  innovation and cool new gadgets.

Apple announced iPad, a new device with features similar to iPod touch and iPhone but with a modified interface. and enhanced capabilities. The iPad is for surfing web, reading, watching pictures and videos, email and for accessing apps such as maps, contacts and a calendar.

Apple also announced a new e-book store and a version of iWork for the iPad. With so many features packed in one beautiful device, iPad competes with — and could potentially replace– devices such as netbooks and electronic book readers such as Kindle. Watching the video on Apple website, it is clear that Apple iPad is more than a large size iPhone – its a stylish mobile Internet and entertainment device from Apple which will drive up mobile broadband usage and result in a larger wallet share for Apple.

Models vary by memory and connectivity options (WiFi is cheaper than 3G). Pricing ranges from $500 to $829. International pricing has not been announced yet. With iPad, Apple can clearly capture many market segments  and just like the iPhone store, it is hoping for developers to come up with innovative apps to keep user interest high.

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. a global leader in cutting-edge technology has signed with TeleTec Solutions Pakistan as its new official partner and has also unveiled its latest GenoA touch screen mobile phone for its customers.

Mr. Zeeshan Qureshi, Head of Mobile Phones Division, Samsung Pakistan & Afghanistan at this occasion expressing his views stated, “The Samsung GenoA is a testament to the technological edge, and this touch screen phone will extend the most fulfilling mobile experience to customers. By having TeleTec on board we have ensured an even higher standard of sophistication and swiftness in our Sales and Service network to facilitate our customers”.

Danish Haroon, CEO Teletec stated, “We are delighted to partner with Samsung Electronics and are fully committed to make Samsung’s products a resounding success in Pakistan. With Teletec’s extensive dealer network in all major cities of Pakistan, consumer will receive top quality cellular devices and gadgets easily and conveniently.”

The phone launch was attended by senior media scribes who witnessed a wide array of unmatched GenoA features including; GSM Quad-band, GPRS/ EDGE, and weighs only 92 grams. A standard Li-ion, 960mAh battery provides 3.8 hrs of Talk-Time and 400 hrs Standby time. Its memory comprises of 32MB+microSD (up to 8GB). Moreover a Bluetooth v2.1 FS, USB v2.0 (High speed) and a 3.5mm Ear-jack are also included. It has Google Search / mail, WAP 2.0 / Java MIDP 2.0, mobile Printing capabilities with a Display of 2.8” QVGA 262K (TSP) and a Full Touch Screen.

[Via PR]

Music play a vital role in chillaxing human brain both in leisure or work and in youth its much more than that. Nokia’s recent study reveals that youth, the predominant majority of Pakistan’s total population, have expressed a high preference for music. According to it out of every 10 youth 8 prefers to have a Nokia music device. It also claims to take over the Sony Ericsson’s music device business share with its XpressMusic series.

Perhaps music serves as an escape from the negativity around young people or is just an interesting option to relax and have fun. Whatever may be the reason, the fact of the matter is that good music can be an instant mood up-lifter any given time of the day. Youth represents a predominant majority of Pakistan’s total population and most of them have expressed a high preference for music. According to a recent study conducted by an independent tracking agency, out of every 10 youth 8 prefers to have a Nokia music device.

With the passage of time, our lives have become so technology dependent that almost every aspect of our life has been pervaded with a bit of technology for the better or worse. However, the good part is that now we can easily enjoy our favourite tracks on the go. With the influx of technology, music has gone digital which means, not only we can enjoy our playlist on the desktop but we can also carry our music with us on our mobile phone and share it easily with friends and family.

The love for music on mass-level encouraged many mobile phone makers to come up with their own version of music-enabled mobile phones. We have seen Sony Ericsson commanding the music devices business in Pakistan a few years ago but that is not the case anymore. The introduction and high appeal of Nokia XpressMusic devices compelled SE to wrap their business from Pakistan. Today, Nokia is the largest manufacturer of music devices. By the end of 2008, Nokia shipped more than 4 billion music devices worldwide.  Another emerging trend of late is touchscreen phone; a technology that was initially unveiled to the market through high-end smartphones is now all the rage. Building upon this opportunity, Nokia was the first mobile phone maker in Pakistan to introduce a blend of touch and music phones. Nokia 5800 XM can be positively hailed as the king of this new breed of music-enabled devices, when it was announced for Pakistani market in the 2^nd quarter of 2009. Influenced by the massive acceptability of Nokia 5800 XM, Nokia went on to introduce its latest portfolio of touch and music devices later during the year 2009. The impressive line-up of Nokia touch and music devices includes Nokia 5630, Nokia 5730, Nokia 5530, Nokia 5230, Nokia X3 and the high-end Nokia X6 to name a few.

Nokia’s Music and Touch Portfolio symbolizes Nokia’s leadership in music technology and customer-centric approach. The Nokia Touch and Music range continues to deliver affordable music and entertainment experience with the most fresh, stylish designs available in the market. The Nokia Touch & Music feature brand underlines Nokia’s commitment to providing quality music capabilities on mobile devices and makes it easy for consumers to identify Nokia’s growing portfolio of music-optimized devices. Each device in the Nokia Touch & Music range shares key features that ensure the best mobile music experience, including dedicated music keys, support for 3.5 mm connectors and extended battery life for music listening.

Nokia 5230 is an affordable touch device with rich features. Available in appealing design and vivid colour skins, Nokia 5230 is packed with crisp 3.2” widescreen. Nokia 5230 features a Media Bar with quick access to your favourite media and applications, such as music, photos, YouTube or Ovi Share. The innovative Contacts bar features

Thumbnail images for up to 20 close friends and provides easy access to them and their communications history including emails, phone calls, photos or other social media updates. It supports a continuous 33 hours of music playback with your favourite 3.5mm music headphones. With all S60 functionalities, Nokia 5230 gives access to Ovi Store which is a single stop for games and other fun applications.

The new Nokia X3 also joins Nokia’s music portfolio. The Nokia X3 is designed for music lovers and is the first S40 ‘Ovi Store’-enabled device. The Nokia X3 is a sleek and compact music device that comes with stereo speakers, built-in FM radio, and a 3.2 megapixel camera.

Nokia X6 is the ultimate touch phone with capacitive touch, metallic accent and a sleek design. Combining 32GB of on-board memory with a slick 3.2” finger touch interface, Nokia X6 is a perfect choice for music lovers and social butterflies. Nokia X6 has a 16:9 widescreen optimized for photos, videos and browsing. With direct access to Ovi Store, Nokia X6 is a hive of activity that brings 20 friends and virtual communities, like Facebook, to your homescreen.

For an unbeatable music experience, Nokia Touch & Music devices support dedicated music functionalities. Getting music onto your Nokia device is quick and easy, with a number of transfer options available. Nokia music devices support a wide range of digital music formats including MP3, M4A, AAC and WMA meaning you can listen to your favourite music and not worry if its in the “right” digital format.

Nokia Music for PC makes it easy to rip and transfer music from PC to mobile, and to enjoy your music and playlists on your PC. In addition, you can connect your Nokia device to your PC or MAC using the USB connection, just drag &drop your music to the integrated memory or additional memory card. One thing that all our devices have in common –they are easy to use.

Nokia ‘Comes with Music’ is an exclusive service available in select markets. It makes locally relevant songs available to people via their mobile phones making all you can eat music easily accessible. Nokia currently has 12 Nokia Music Stores globally and is striving hard to establish its Music Store in Pakistan in near future. To ensure that managing music is a streamlined and comfortable experience for music lovers, Ovi also makes easy music management possible for Nokia music optimized mobile phones.

A large variety of headsets by Nokia and other manufacturers such as Sennheiser and Bose are also at your disposal. Nokia’s newest Bluetooth Headset, Nokia Bluetooth Headset BH-607 is the perfect representative of the highest audio level. It offers the most advanced audio in the market utilizing a new type of wind noise protection to allow microphones to easily resist wind noise. Advanced mechanical and personalizable design of this headset help the product “adapt itself” to chin shape of the user. There are also many options for changeable ear rubbers and a bendable ear hook to fit all ears. Even in its most affordable Bluetooth Headsets, Nokia offers leading audio quality within the segment.

The bundle of touch and music optimised devices, services and head gears are available in the market for a matchless music experience. Nokia Touch & Music portfolio has all the right ingredients to captivate your senses with the best music quality.

Interesting presentation which talks about why smart phones are so important for marketers, what are the major areas of growth and how to target this group of early adopters.

Windows Mobile’s share of the global smart-phone operating-system market fell to 7.9% in the third quarter from 11.1% a year earlier, research firm Gartner estimates. Also losing ground was Nokia’s Symbian. In contrast, both Apple and BlackBerry manufacturer Research In Motion boosted their shares, while Android grabbed 3.5% from zero a year earlier. That will likely increase given the popularity of Motorola’s new Droid phone.

Here’s an interesting illustration of how Apple and Google are competing.

Illustration via WSJ.

The latest Corby series from Samsung designed around the Corby concept, which aims to deliver stylish devices to support the highly connected lifestyles of today’s younger mobile users. They have now entered into promotional partnership with Beacon House School Systems, where with fun activities students are given an opportunity to win corby via luck draw.

Lahore: 18th December, 2009 – Samsung Electronics Company Limited, a global leader in mobile phones and electronic products, through a promotional partnership with the Beacon House School Systems, has introduced the latest Samsung Corby Series mobile phones through student engagements at Beacon House schools located in various cities of Pakistan. The students are provided with fun activities and opportunities to win this futuristic cellular product through lucky draws.

The youth oriented Corby series is focused on interactivity and loaded with exciting features such as videos, images, sounds, music and data sharing. The joint-promotion aims to generate excitement among the youth and provide them a feel of the touch phones to make them understand the multiple capabilities of the Corby. These mobile phones are specially designed to enhance the ability of young people to make new friends.

Zeshan Qureshi, Head of Samsung Mobiles, Pakistan and Afghanistan said, “It is delightful to host 8000 students in these activities that comprise of friendship competitions, Fastest SMS contests, Graffiti skill games and Poster painting challenges. Samsung would like to share the joy of the winners of Corby phones in these Lucky draws”.

Zeeshan further added that; As an International chain of educational-excellence, Beacon House is a well-suited partner for Corby-promotions, as its 150 campuses in Pakistan alone have over 100,000 students, allowing Samsung to effectively reach out to the Youth segment”. Games, Contests, display-kiosks, promoters, Mobiles and Dummies are the exciting components of these Corby activities held for over 10 days at various campuses.

Via Samsung PR

As smartphones become more like portable computers, scammers, phishers and other cybcer criminals have stepped up their attacks on smartphones. Here are a few excerpts from an article which provides tips on securing your smartphone.

Security experts have long warned of the vulnerability of smart phones to hackers. And in the past year the threat has been highlighted by an attack on the Symbian operating system, used mainly by Nokia Corp. phones, and a demonstration at a conference of a flaw that was found in the iPhone’s security.

As the software for smart phones becomes more sophisticated and open, they become better breeding grounds for a new generation of spyware and viruses. Hackers can work their way into your phone through text messages, steal your information and use your contact list to find more victims. Scammers can now dupe you into revealing your Social Security number or credit-card account number on your phone, just like they’ve been doing for years on PCs.

To some extent, you need to rely on your phone’s maker to keep you safe. But there are several simple ways you can help protect yourself.

Message Minefields

Text messaging is a favorite service for many mobile-phone users. It’s also becoming a favorite line of attack for scammers. For instance, text messages carrying insidious coding were the weapon in an attack late last year on phones using the Symbian operating system and were later identified as a threat to the iPhone.

For owners of the Symbian phones that were targeted, the attack was a major annoyance. Phones that received the malicious text messages shut down and lost their ability to receive any further text messages—damage that could only be repaired by sending them back to the factory. Then, in July, hackers at a conference on digital security demonstrated the ability to send text messages to iPhones that would allow the senders to gain access to data stored in the devices.

Apple Inc. and the Symbian Foundation patched up the holes in their security. For attacks like these, users have no defenses of their own—the messages do their damage without any action on the part of the user. But these incidents should alert smart-phone users to the vulnerability of their devices, and encourage them to guard against other kinds of attacks.

That includes phishing scams, which attempt to acquire personal data such as passwords or credit-card account information through fraudulent messages. These scams have spread from email to text messaging. Here the best protection should be familiar: Be skeptical of any messages that ask for passwords, account numbers or any other personal information. When in doubt, check directly with the company that claims to be asking for the information.

Multimedia messages—photo attachments sent like text messages—also pose a threat. A message could contain a virus that not only can tap into any information stored on your phone but also dig into your phone’s address book to spread itself to all of your contacts. Other versions might spread by using the phone’s Bluetooth connection to attack nearby devices. Attacks like these will drain your phone’s battery and leave you with a large messaging bill, not to mention the embarrassment of contaminating the phones of your friends and colleagues, or even perfect strangers.

Again, caution is the best protection. If you don’t know the origin of the message or don’t recognize the number it’s sent from, it’s best to delete it before opening. Even if you do recognize the number, be wary of messages you weren’t expecting, since viruses spread through contact lists look like they’re coming from a trusted source.

Denying Applications

Applications could be another avenue for hackers, security experts warn, though it appears to be one that hasn’t been explored yet to any great extent.

One way to head off potential problems is to limit the access applications have to your phone’s functions. For example, some games require access to your Internet connection so that they can compare your scores to those of other players. But many applications don’t need this capability, and if you find that one of those apps does have access to your connection, it could be a sign that something is amiss.

Smart phones running on the Android operating system or the BlackBerry system allow you to limit the amount of access an application has. You simply head to your Settings menu and choose Application. You can then look at each application to see which phone functions it has access to, and deny it access to any that don’t seem necessary.

The new battle ground for smart phones is Motorola Droid versus iPhone. The Droid is offered  by Verizon Wireless in the US and runs on Google’s Android OS. Verizon and Google teamed up against a common rival to come up with the Droid, which is supposed to offer a number of features which iPhone lacks. Droid has been getting good reviews but iPhone remains a tough one to beat. I think the discussions around comparison of these and other smartphones will continue. At the end of the day this is a subjective discussion and the market will determine the winner.

A GSM version of the Droid is also available and its only a matter of time before it hits the market worldwide, including Pakistan.

The first one is a Verizon advertisement which pokes fun at the limitations of iPhone.

For those who are interested in details, read this review by Mossberg or watch this video after the break which compares Droid and iPhone:

Here is an interesting slide which shows the rapid growth of cloud-based connected mobile devices. The trends depicted here will be important for the telecom industry. The numbers for 3G users worldwide are important and I will soon write more on that topic.

Source: Morgan Stanley (Economy + Internet Trends October 20, 2009. Web 2.0 Summit – San Francisco)