Saturday, September 17, 2005



CDMA2000 Operators Focus on Converged Services. Leading operators from the Americas and Asia discussed their successes with CDMA2000 and strategies for next-generation services. [Wireless IQ - News Feeds]
3:43:13 AM    comment   



NSA Cellphone - Stop Looking at It! Stop It!.

SecureMobileEnvironment.jpgThe NSA put out an RFP for a secure cell phone/smartphone and L-3 won with this Treo-esque smartphone called the Secure Mobile Environment Portable Electronic Device or SME-PED. Most of the specs are top top top top secret, but we suspect that it will probably run a super secure version of Solitaire and I seriously doubt there will be a camera. It probably explodes if lost so don't drop it into a box containing a litter of cute little puppies or you're in for quite a shocker.

This is probably based on an OEM spec that has been tweaked for the NSA.

A Smartphone for the NSA [Treonauts]

[Gizmodo]
3:42:59 AM    comment   



ML Media Conference: Time Warner: Bullish VOD, Broadband. : Jeff Bewkes, Time Warner's Entertainment & Networks Group Chairman spoke at the Merrill Lynch Media & Entertainment conference earlier this week and he stressed on the future of VOD for his company. (Archived webcast here)
-- Time Warner Cable created VOD, he said. AOL On Demand, which is the free music on demand service on TWC, is second most popular after HBO on demand, he mentioned. About 2/3 of free VOD is AOL on Demand.
-- Turner is taking a leading position in broadband network: includes GameTap, expected to launch this Fall. Turner also operates PGA.com and Nascar.com.
-- CNN.com's CNN Pipeline expected to launch in Q4 this year.
-- On AOL: AIM is the center of its strategy. Through AIM, AOL strategy is to offer "most compelling broadband content online". We have over 15,000 video assets as of now.
-- CNNMoney.com merging sites: That is mostly revenue driven..more powerful programming and more powerful connections with advertises
-- Cable competing with online video: It is competitive to some extent, although to the extent that user access the video online using the cable modem, it will support the cable infrastructure.
-- Piracy of video online: The best to thwart those things is to compete with the consumption..the answer there is: offer a good product in the right window, in high quality, at a good price. Also, DVR drives up usage...you need to find other ways to monetize the product.
-- Wireless TV network: There are early experiments, and you can see Cartoon Network in wireless. Same with CNN...
-- DVD: We are still very confident that competing DVD standard will become a unified one. [PaidContent.org]
3:42:44 AM    comment   



ML Media Conferece: Les Moonves, Co-COO, Viacom. : Les Moonves, Viacom's co-COO (and in line to be the CEO of the new spinoff with CBS Corporation) spoke at the Merrill Lynch Media & Entertainment conference earlier this week, and stressed the online component (his archived webcast is here)
-- Audience watch what's on, not where they get it..we view technology as our friend. Our brand of content is not just valuable now, but in all future use of technology.
-- Larry Kramer is our new Internet Guru, said Moonves. We now have a large dedicated sales force whose sole purpose is to sell online media for these three brands: CBSnews.com, CBS SportsLine and CBS.com. Internet is becoming the new cable..
-- Additional revenues streams: Sky is the limit..telephony.
-- Digital multicasting: CBS plans to begin digital multicasting in all of its markets by fall 2006. "There will be a 'CBS 2'" in each of those markets, Moonves said, noting that top executives just had a meeting about multicasting last week. The expanded bandwidth of digital technology makes it possible to fit several channels onto one broadcast signal.
-- The company does not anticipate any major acquisitions in the near future, though if certain "tuck-in" properties become available in the Internet sector, CBS could consider them, if such deals would be accretive to shareholders.
-- VOD: We will get paid for VOD for our top quality content in the next few years. [PaidContent.org]
3:42:04 AM    comment   



ML Media Conference: Tom Freston, Co-COO, Viacom. : Tom Freston, Viacom's co-COO (and in line to be the CEO of the new Viacom) spoke at the Merrill Lynch Media & Entertainment conference earlier this week, and stressed the online component like his colleague Moonves. (his archived webcast is here)
-- MediaWeek: Interactive media will be a major component of the new Viacom, Freston said, adding that getting content on wireless devices like PDAs and mobile phones will allow the company "to be everywhere our audiences are" while automatically reinforcing the strength of Viacom's various network brands. "This is easily the fastest growing part of company and an area of keen focus...and we're improving on this every single day," Freston said. "This is to us the trend of trends."
-- MTV Overdrive: Of the few months since it has been launched, we're well into seven figures, both in terms of revenues and audience figures.
-- Wireless continues to be a big driver for MTV..we're continuing to forge relationships with Virgin Mobile, Verizon, China Mobile, NTT DoCoMo. Wireless businesses are already brining in $100 million a year, and we're just getting warmed up in the space.


-- Digital: Will be looking for more acquisitions...reasonably sized that fit seamlessly within our framework, much on the lines of Neopets.
-- IPTV: No a la carte deals with the likes of SBC and Verizon, but full slate of 26 channels in U.S...we're in talks with all the players in this field. [PaidContent.org]
3:36:00 AM    comment   




BSkyB Moving Toward Hybrid Internet Platform. : (via Digital Lifestyles) BSkyB, the satellite provider in UK, is planning to move to a hybrid platform of satellite and broadband delivery from its curent satellite only, said Richard Freudenstein, COO of the company, at a speech at the ongoing Royal Television Society conference in Cambridge.
"New Ethernet connections will allow us to deliver services such as VOD over a broadband pipe as well as over satellite," said Freudenstein. Analysts have noted that BSkyB rents rather than owns satellite capacity, so it could move toward Internet distribution over time.
Freudenstein did not set a date for the new VOD services, but the newest Sky+ boxes have extra memory...Sky has also planned to broadcast live to mobile phones, and to allow Sky+ users to program their set-top boxes from mobile phones.
Digital Lifestyles: Expected Sky and BT to strengthen their current cuddling relation, to a full on snog, as BT's 21CN comes more into reality. this will provide additional bandwidth and an Ethernet port into every home in the UK, as they're trailing in Cardiff, Wales. [PaidContent.org]
3:35:27 AM    comment   



Rumor: News Corp Interested in NCSoft. : I can see how it fits in: News Corp is possibly interested in NCSoft, Korea's biggest online multi-player gaming company, and a company trying to make inroads into the U.S. market.
News Corp just bought IGN.
We'll keep following this one... [PaidContent.org]
3:35:10 AM    comment   



France: SFR signs up 300,000 3G users. 3G_newsFrench mobile operator SFR says it has signed up 300,000 3G customers since launching its full consumer range of UMTS services nine months ago. The telco says 3G phones now account for 40% of all handsets sold and its 3G users downloaded 30,000 songs and 15,000 video clips in August alone. SFR had 15.6 million subscribers at the end of June, giving it a 36% share of the French mobile market. It expects its 3G network to provide 60% population coverage by the end of this year
Tag: | Posted in:
Our 3G Support Service - 3G Launch Management [Daily 3G News]
3:34:57 AM    comment   



Australia: Hutch wants to push customers to 3G. 3G_newsHutchison Australia has announced plans to migrate all of its 2G customers to its 3G network as its rivals begin to launch UMTS. The cellco, which launched its 3G network two years ago, had around 500,000 3G customers and 400,000 2G subscribers at the end of June. Telstra launched 3G services last week, with Optus and Vodafone set to follow suit before the end of the year.
Tag: | Posted in:
Our 3G Support Service - 3G Devices [Daily 3G News]
3:34:46 AM    comment   



Too Many Mouths To Feed. It seems sometimes like news is very streaky. The last few weeks brought lots of stuff on mobile TV. This week it seems to be music's turn, so bear with me. Following yesterday's post on dual-delivery systems carrying dual charges... [MobHappy]
3:34:35 AM    comment   



Mobile Payments in the Wild. Back in June I wrote a post exploring the mobile payments sector - or what I called the next billion dollar market. In the post I used Mobile Lime as an example of a company who were getting it... [MobHappy]
3:34:20 AM    comment   



Consumer Resistance to Paid Content Stays High: Report. : So says a new report by JupiterResearch...but it found adoption is up from last year, albeit 64 percent of adults still said they wouldn't pay for content to avoid online ads. However, 31 percent of online adults paid for content over the Internet, up 5 percentage points from last year.
Paid content spending across categories is expected to grow 31 percent this year to $3.8 billion, gradually rising to $8.9 billion in 2010, JupiterResearch said.
General content excluding games and music will grow slowly but steadily from $2.1 billion this year to $3 billion in 2010. [PaidContent.org]
3:34:04 AM    comment   



UK Analog Switch-Off For Digital TV By 2012: Confirmed. : Not directly related to online content, but keep an eye out for this development in UK, which is and will cause a lot of friction in the market. Tessa Jowell, Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport in UK has confirmed the switchover and timeline, speaking at the Royal Television Society Cambridge Convention.
Jowell also reiterated the Government's pledge that digital switchover will be platform neutral.
ThisIsMoney: Households will have to invest in new equipment - set-top boxes, satellite dishes, cable links or TV or aerial upgrades - or see their screens go blank. Tories warned the dash for digital was a 'leap in the dark' which could mean people being unable to watch the Olympics in 2012. The estimates are as much as 2000 GBP per family...
The govt. does has some plans on how to fund the switch, as outlines in the story.
Jowell's full speech here... [PaidContent.org]
3:33:14 AM    comment   



When Will Sony Add TV Receiver To PSP?. : When it happens, this will make a lot of people do a rethink: Sony is displaying its PSP handheld at the ongoing Royal Television Society conference in Cambridge, and this Times story mentions that even though the handheld games console cannot pick up television signals yet, the company says only 70 per cent of its potential is being used so far and the PSP already has a port that could allow software that could pick up TV to be added.
Sony has mentioned the TV receiver earlier as well..in its recent upgrade of the software, users in U.S. and Japan can now access the open-Internet.
Related:
-- Streaming Movies May Come To Sony PSP
-- Sony Launches Video Portal for PSP; Web Browser Update; HBO Shows [PaidContent.org]
3:23:07 AM    comment   

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