Phone Shopping

I stopped by the Cingular store today to look for a new phone. The sales guy was suggesting either the Cingular 8125 Pocket PC or the Cingular 2125. Both devices are Windows Mobile 5 devices which would be a bonus but they were both >$300 which is pretty steep. Furthermore, I don't check email on my phone today, and am not sure I want to start. I may just go with the SLVR which looks like a pretty slick device.

More info. on subscriber estimates

Ran across this link that gives a bit more detail on wireless subscriber estimates in the US. They estimate 7% as dual subscribers - people with more than one plan.

In other news, News Corp recently launched Mobizzo, a web based portal for mobile content. I checked it out briefly - they've got some cool content but I'm not sure about the brand - mobizzo?

Paid Content Mixer

I went to the Seattle Paid Content mixer on Wednesday night at the palace Ballroom. You can see photos of the party here.It was a great event - saw lots of familiar faces in the crowd and look forward to more of these events.

There is certainly a lot of activity in the tech space these days and I'm glad Movaya is now part of the action.

Telecommunications Industry Association Report

According to TIA, revenue in the U.S. wireless market totaled $174.7 billion in 2005, up 10.7 percent from 2004.

Additionally, 25 million new wireless subscribers were added in 2005 vs.the 21.4 million subscribers added in 2004. Not sure the total number of wireless subscribers in the US, but it should be close to 200 million, which CTIA agrees with.

Movaya's first full-time employee

I am now officially full-time with my start up company, Movaya.

And even more...

Disney Mobile has launched their site. You can pre-register there if you like.

Looks like they are targeting a Summer 2006 launch. Their early marketing pitch is that they are trying to keep the family connected while providing exclusive Disney content as well.

My daughter is almost 4 and she's not even ready for Disneyland but I'm sure she'll want a phone one of these days. By then, she'll probably have her choice of a Dora phone, Cinderella phone, Clifford phone, Angelina Ballerina phone...

More MVNO news

Helio announced a partnership with MySpace today and also announced their first two handsets. You can read the press release here.

Highlight quote from CEO Sky Dayton:

"Helio is for those of us who want a badge of personality, not a phone; a mobile lifestyle, not a utility."

The service is scheduled to launch this Spring.

Sprint Music Store - 1M tracks sold

Sprint announced today that they passed the 1M tracks sold mark for their Music Store. They launched the service end of October. When the service was launched, Sprint got a fair amount of grief because they were selling the tracks at $2.50 a pop, which is a significant premium over the going rate of $.99 on itunes.

From what I've heard, Sprint has been happy with the uptake. The service is only available on a few phones, so I think 1M downloads in a little over 3 months is impressive.

Top Mobile Content Devices

Our good friends at M:Metrics just updated their list of Top 10 phones that consume mobile data in the US.

You can read their post here.

The list:

1. Motorola i860, 50.6%
2. Motorola RAZR, 47.8%
3. Sanyo PM-8200, 47.3%
4. Motorola V330, 45.2%
5. Motorola V551, 31.2%
6. Sony Ericsson Z500, 31.0%
7. Motorola i730, 30.7%
8. Audiovox CDM-8910 BREW, 28.8%
9. Motorola i710, 28.8%
10. LG VX6100, 27.1%

The number next to each phone represents the % owners of that particular device that access mobile content. Man, the RAZR has been a home run.

News from Spain

Didn't really see anything overly exciting coming out of 3GSM today. Motorola announced that they would develop phones with Windows Media technology - not a huge surprise.

Most of the talk these days is around Mobile TV. I've been very involved in these discussions over the past couple of years and things are accelerating.

Basically, in today's market (North America)the only two operators that offer video streaming services are Sprint (Sprint TV) and Verizon (VCast). Both services are fairly compelling & from what I've heard, consumer adoption has been pretty solid.

Sprint is the only NA operator that offers "live" broadcasting on their multimedia phones - they offer Sprint TV Live as well as a number of a-la-carte channels that aggregate various radio feeds. VCast's service is all "on-demand" today.

Moving forward, the general consensus is that live broadcasting to mobile phones will have to happen on separate networks. The two most visible technologies are MediaFlo (Qualcomm) or DVBH (Crown Castle).

Everything I'm reading about Europe sounds like DVBH will be the technology choice which may have an impact on NA as well. Verizon has announced a deal with MediaFlo but Sprint & Cingular have not announced anything publicly yet.

Personally, I'm not sold on TV on your phone - I think made for mobile content (personalized highlight packages) can be compelling but watching live TV on my phone is unnecessary. I have a DVR which solves my mobility problems...

3GSM

3GSM kicks off in Barcelona tomorrow & will end on Thursday. I am not going, but it sounds like everyone else is. According to its website, there will be nearly 1000 companies exhibiting - which is a 40% increase from 2005.

There is surely going to be tons of news coming out of this show and I will do my best to highlight a few interesting announcements.

I already saw one note about a group of 14 companies (game publishers, handset OEM's and technology firms) who have announced that they are getting together to create a new open architecture for games for mobile devices. If you're interested in reading more, click here.

Selecting a phone

I need to get a new phone. Currently I'm carrying a Cingular Motorola V551 and the volume is shot. I can barely hear when my phone rings which is somewhere between irritating and critical.

I also own an Amp'd device that I've been playing with - it's the black "Jet" and Verizon's EVDO data network is awesome but I don't love the form factor as a phone.

I'll probably stick with Cingular and will probably wait until they launch their 3G devices. We are going to add a phone rating selection to phonepimp at somepoint, but in the meantime, here are a few links that can help you select a phone.

1. Cnet editor's picks

Very well done - you can review by Carrier, Style, Brand and even Weight.

2. Phonescoop

Complete coverage of all phones across all NA Carriers- very helpful.

3. Amazon's Top selling list

Doesn't give individual tear-downs but at least you can see what's selling.

Let me know if you have other recommendations.

Another MVNO

Stumbled across an announcement of another MVNO: kajeet. This group is focused on "tweens" which I guess is 10-14 year olds? Not sure how this group will compete against Disney (& other carriers) but apparently the investment community believes the story because (according to reports)they raised $27M in Series A funding.

Awhile back some colleagues and I were kicking around a similar idea, but instead of focusing on "tweens" we would focus on "neareads" which is short for nearly deads. The brand would be Geriatric Wireless.

The business model penciled very well b/c we didn't even need a network. Just build a phone with a few buttons and put some canned audio on the device: "Hi Grandma, I love you", etc., etc.

Camera Phone Activity

Just read about a new start-up here in Seattle called Vizrea that apparently has developed a method for consumers to easily transfer photos from their camera phones to PC's. It works on Symbian based devices only but a J2ME version is "in the works". I haven't tried it yet but (similar to previous post on ringtones)any service like this has to be brain-dead simple or people won't use it. I don't take a lot of pictures with my phone but I'll give it a shot and post on my first impressions later.

With regards to camera phone usage, as of November, 2005, M:Metrics data shows that 65 percent of camera-phone owners used their phone to take pictures, and more than half (51 percent) of those who did take a photo sent it over the network.

2/3 penetration rate is spectacular so clearly if a company like Vizrea can help these consumers transfer & manage their phone-photos seamlessly and figure out how to make money doing it would be an interesting company to follow.

Why end users won't create their own ringtones

There are firms popping up left and right offering services and software for end users to create their own ringtones. The problems they are attempting to solve include: the high cost of one ringtone; duplicate purchases of the same original song; getting independent musicians an avenue to create their own ringers; and there are more.

The problem with this solution is simple: end users are lazy, they want convenience, and most importantly, they want the ringtone now. Ringtones are a fad in nature, they express someones individualality, and they express the here and now.

But here are the real reasons why end users wont adopt services and software to create their own ringtones:
1. Ease of use
2. Time
3. Cost

Ease of use: nothing could be easier than browsing for a ringtone, clicking the BUY button, and having the item sent to your phone. In order to to get a self made ringtone on your phone, you either have to have a USB cable that connects your phone to your PC (or a bluetooth phone), the software to enable synchronizing the ringtone to your phone, and more importantly, knowing how to do all of this!

Time: Again, the time it takes to browse for a ringer and download is short, and it takes less than a minute to get the SMS and download your tone. In order to create your own ringtone, you will need to edit your own MP3 files (or WMA, iTunes, whatever), choose the 15 seconds you like best, and save the file. Then, upload the file to your phone.

Cost: One ringtone costs around 2.50. An average user might purchase 10 a year, costing $25 total. Ringtone creation software can cost up to $100, plus upgrades in the future, and then you must factor what your time costs as you make your own tones. Additionally, in order to get the tones on your phone, you must purchase the USB data cable OR purchase a high end phone that has bluetooth enabled. Over 85% of all cell phones in use today are the free or next-to-free phones that the carriers supply.

Bottom line: only real audiophiles and super geeks will take the time to make their own ringtones. The rest of us will continue to use our disposable income to have the latest ringer in order to annoy all who have to listen to it :^)

More on Mobile ESPN

Check out this article on Mobile ESPN. Looks like the first device is EVDO only.

According to Gary Krakow's article, he likes the device & service a lot but it also sounds pretty expensive to me.

"Mobile ESPN is not cheap, particularly if you plan to use this phone to, you know, actually talk to people. The phone itself sells for $199.99. Monthly service plans start at $34.99 for 100 minutes of talk time. Talk a lot? You can get up to 4,000 minutes a month for a whopping $224.99. Again, that's per month. All plans include unlimited data services, which means all the Mobile ESPN service you can use."

It will be interesting to see how this shakes out. Certainly lots of sports nuts out there - just not sure if this demographic has this kind of $$ to spend on cell service.

MVNO Update

Like every other Seattlite, I'm getting fired up for the Super Bowl on Sunday. Rumor has it that Steeler fans are blanketing Detroit. I'm not really sure why they would have a Super Bowl in Detroit. I've never been there, but I hear it sucks.

Anyway, Mobile ESPN is kicking off their marketing campaign at the Super Bowl. ESPN will be the latest MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) to hit the market. An MVNO is basically a marketing company that buys airtime on one of the Big 3 networks (Cingular, Verizon & Sprint). Mobile ESPN will be using Sprint's network and I'm not sure if there phones are 1X or EVDO.

I think the most interesting thing to watch regarding this venture is how much content ESPN will "hold back" from their new competitors. As many people know, Comcast and other Cable companies write their biggest content checks to ESPN so I'm sure Wireless Operators will feel that ESPN content is critical for any full-service video offering. And one critical differentiator for Mobile ESPN is their content.

I guess Sprint could just jack up their network fees if ESPN refuses to license Sportscenter to Sprint TV or ESPN could jack up their content fees to Sprint if they don't offer reasonable pricing.

Needless to say, these are complex relationships between big, tough companies. Stay tuned...