I came across this article from CNET on frequently asked questions about smartphone safety and thought that I’d share it with readers. Never a bad idea to remind ourself about safety of data and apps. Here’s the basic checklist:
Do you have data on your phone backed up in case you lose it?
Is there business or personal information (such as accounts or passwords in messages) which is easily accessible to someone who gets hold of your phone?
Are you aware of the applications installed on your phone: commerce related apps, social networking apps
Be careful about the usual phishing and other social-engineering scams – with so much browsing on the phone, it is more likely these days to follow a bad link and give away your password by mistake
Beware of sending sensitive info over unencrypted WiFi
We have talked about netbooks and how the drop in price of these devices will impact computing, mobility and the need for mobile data consumption over wireless networks. The trend for smaller, cheaper Internet based devices continues full speed. See the graphic below (via WSJ) compares current netbooks to “smartbooks”, the next generation of ultra mobile netbooks.
Just recently Zong has come up with an application based e-mail service “Zong M@il“. The service enables Zong customers to access all their e-mail accounts on their mobile phone through an application client. Customers interested in staying connected to their email accounts can do it through Zong mail without necessarily having to buy high-end mobile handsets.
Lesson from emerging telecom market – when revenues per user from voice are going down, find creative ways to encourage users to spend on other (data) services. And that’s what Indian cell phone companies have done by offering radio, sports and other entertainment and religious services over cell phones to rural areas, where such services had never reached before. ARPU comparison below is from a recent WSJ article on the mobile VAS market in India. And this dear readers, is the answer to the “suggest a title” mystery post. The woman in the picture was listening to radio on her cell phone.
As is often with new technologies, it takes a while before new technologies settle in and consumers get comfortable with it. Mobile ads are no different. According a recent survey on US consumer’s preferences about mobile ads, four in 10 consumers don’t want to see ads on their phones. The other six are ok with ads on their mobile phones.
Just a decade ago, traditional media such as print, radio and tv dominated the marketing budgets. Today its a completely different world: two-thirds of the world’s Internet population visit a social network or blogging site and the sector now accounts for almost 10% of all internet time, according to a recently released report by Nielesen Media. With the rise of online media (Internet) and in particular the user generated social media (blogs, Twitter, Facebook) there has been a clear shift in the way marketing messages are created and consumed. Smart companies now pay equal attention to social media as they do to other methods of communications and marketing. In case of telcos in Pakistan we have recently seen Telenor embracing social media to engage its customers and to create buzz through bloggers. This post is a review of Telenor Pakistan’s efforts to promote its brand using social media.
Nokia has published information about the new Ovi ecosystem which includes handsets, software, developer tools along with mobile operators, 3rd party developers and users. An important element is the Ovi Store as a content intake and point of sales. On the developer tools side, the Ovi ecosystem comprises of Ovi APIs, consisting of Ovi Maps Player API and Ovi Navigation Player API as well as the Ovi SDK Beta and Ovi apps. See details below.
Technology Preview:
Ovi APIs (application programming interface) makes Ovi apps contextual and more relevant for consumers. Ovi APIs opens access to the industry leading context assets from Nokia, starting with Ovi Maps.
A recent article talks about the rise in demand of business applications for doctors and health-care professionals. These apps provide reference guides, lab results and at times the vital signs of patients. With reminders, alerts and other ways to get quick snippets of information, these can be very handy for doctors.
Pagers have long reigned in hospitals, where they are prized for their dependability. But with doctors treating more patients and hospitals facing pressure to be more efficient, companies like Apple Inc. and Research In Motion Ltd. see an opportunity to peddle their devices.
Last month, Stanford Hospital & Clinics, in Palo Alto, Calif., started a trial with Apple and Epic Systems Corp., a provider of health-care information systems, to test software that will let medical staff access patient charts on Apple’s iPhone.
Stanford is studying ways to use the devices to reduce the risk of error as patient care is increasingly handed off from one doctor to another, says Pravene Nath, chief medical information officer.
InMobi is a fast growing global mobile advertisement network. InMobi has been a sponsor to Telecompk.net for a while and we had the chance to sit with InMobi CEO and ask a few questions about the future of mobile advertising and opportunities in this exciting space.
How is InMobi different from its competitors? Instead of focusing on being different we’d much rather focus on doing things better. What has helped us grow to this point is our focus on solving real customer needs and our value proposition to our partners. InMobi has consistently focused on providing higher quality and monetization levels for our publishers and greater return-on-investment (ROI) for advertisers, many of whom are trying the mobile internet medium for the first time, or for the first time in our region.
Out of curiosity I wanted to see if data usage on phones is going up or not. It is often assumed that smartphone users (Nokia, Blackberry and iPhone, for instance) consume lot more data than others. I use an iPhone for email, reading blogs (via rss reader) and for browsing the web when away from a PC. My data consumption averages about 200-250 MB per month. What about you?
One thing is very clear, the mobile data usage can never match the voice usage. But I believe it still has a lot of room to grow. The operators with their attention on the voice users should also focus on the data services. We still lack in making the data services known to common masses. Operators can play a pivotal role here in awareness of the mobile data services.
When mobile phones came consumers were already aware of telephonic voice services and voice going mobile was appreciated by all and thus mobile gained popularity. But when SMS entered the market it wasn’t much appreciated because consumer were not really aware of its potential. In fact SMS was rarely used and was costly. But then some steps like making it free for limited time, reducing the cost, bringing in unlimited usage packages (bundles) made SMS an invincible necessity.
Now we have the GPRS/EDGE based data services which are not known by a majority of mobile users. The operators need to run a campaign first to educate the consumers of the potential use of data services and then make these services accessible for all.
A few ways I think this can be done:
Facebook Mobile. We have a huge base of Facebook users in Pakistan. Many of these users would use it from the mobile if it was easy and cheap.
Email. Blackberrry aside, using email from other phones is not widespread yet. Awareness of Mobile Email clients needed.
Mobile Weband Content. This is one of the big things which iPhone accomplished but still needs to widespread.
Location Based Services. Maps, directions, local information, coupons based on your location.
All the latest mobile set support the mobile data services, awareness will make the little shift in the mind-sets needed to boost these data services which will make room for 3G services.
soon on the potential of EDGE/GPRS services i feel that we still need to make the most out of it and make it as popular as SMS… the recent poll at telecompk.net is the first step to get an idea what percentage usually uses these services
23:39Imtiazsoon on the potential of EDGE/GPRS services i feel that we still need to make the most out of it and make it as popular as SMS… the recent poll at telecompk.net is the first step to get an idea what percentage usually uses these services
23:39Imtiaz
Vopium is a free piece of software, which you download to your mobile phone so that you can use VOIP to make calls from your mobile phone. It uses least cost routing (such as WiFi when available) to helps you save money on international calls and SMS. For details and rates check out Vopium website and see how it compares with other services. It works in 45 countries.
Vopium supports more than 900 phones including iPhone. For calls to Pakistan, Vopium’s Call Pakistan package has competitive calling rates. Currently Vopium offers double minute for Call Pakistan offer – users gets 500 minutes instead of 250. Here is more about the offer.
Until the 23rd of September Vopium doubles your minutes!
Get 2 for the price of 1. Buy a “Call Pakistan”-package (250 minutes) and get another one on top for FREE during the campaign period. Receive 500=2 X 250 min for only USD 18.55 and call any network, both landline and mobile, in Pakistan. A package is valid for 30 days.
Vopium just launched its mobile VoIP solution in 25 new countries in regions including North and South America, Western and Eastern Europe, Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific.
Tanveer Sharif, CEO of Vopium says:
The roll out of Vopium in 25 new countries meets the ever increasing demand for high quality and low price international telephony. Due to the present economic climate consumers are keen to cut cost wherever possible. International telephony rates are still outrageously high, but with the geographic expansion, we are delighted to solve that problem by enabling even more consumers to save heavily on international phone calls.
Instead of focusing on being different we’d much rather focus on doing things better. What has helped us grow to this point is our focus on solving real customer needs and our value proposition to our partners. InMobi has consistently focused on providing higher quality and monetization levels for our publishers and greater return-on-investment (ROI) for advertisers, many of whom are trying the mobile internet medium for the first time, or for the first time in our region.
TelecomPk.Net is a leading source of information and analysis about Pakistan Telecom industry. 
