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  • NBCU Wireless GM On iPhone: 'We Didn't Feel That We Had To Be There On Day One'

    When it comes to the iPhone, large entertainment companies are sitting on the sidelines. NBC Universal ( NYSE: GE ) can't justify investing in one platform, but instead is putting equal time and investment across the board at this point, Salil Dalvi, NBCU's GM of wireless, told mocoNews. He's not yet convinced there's a huge advantage of building on-device applications for the iPhone's updated operating system. "We didn't feel that we had to be there on day one … One of the real surprises from my perspective is it just really changes how we approach the market," Dalvi said. "We're taking a look at it. We haven't ruled it in or ruled it out at this point … Do we get 80 percent of what the benefit is just by offering a highly-optimized experience on a web site?" For games, there's a clear benefit, but for large entertainment companies that consider video their bread and butter the economic model around iPhone applications is still unknown. For the time being, NBCU's more immediate focus is on building up its ad-supported efforts for the mobile web, regardless of which device or platform brings users there. Video consumption is growing for NBCU on all smartphone platforms, something that was recently still considered a niche target market for the company. "Smartphone usage in general is representing a larger share of our traffic than I expected," Dalvi said. Despite the shorter reach and scale of the more capable devices, he said NBCU has also made tweaks to its mobile web sites to make use of certain features on devices than run operating systems from BlackBerry, Windows Mobile and the iPhone. Our mobile application for Blackberry and other Smartphones brings you the latest headlines when you're on the go. Go here to download .
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  • iPhone 3G Roundup: $330 Million For Apple; Month-Long Inventory Shortage; Free AT&T Wi-Fi Snags; RIM

    -- Apple ( NSDQ: AAPL ) Makes $330 Million On Early iPhone Sales: Apple earned about $330 million during the first weekend of iPhone 3G sales, according to Fortune . Piggybacking on Apple's announcement that it sold at least 1 million iPhones in the first three days and a tear down by iSuppli that gauged how much the devices cost to build, Fortune was able to break down its best guess at exactly how much coin Apple netted in return. Finally, basing sales numbers on a Piper Jaffray survey that estimated two-thirds of iPhone sales were the more expensive 16 gigabit model, Fortune estimates Apple made $239,113,000 on 16 gigabit model sales and $91,556,000 on the 8 gigabit model. -- Major iPhone Shortage To Last For Weeks: Apple might be slow to see a pickup in sales again since most AT&T ( NYSE: T ) and Apple stores are reporting serious shortages of the device, an inventory slip-up that might last for a month, Computerworld reported. Barely a quarter of Apple's retail stores have iPhones to sell, but only nine stores have all three versions available. Only 18 stores currently have the 16 gigabit black model in stock and 26 stores have the white model with the same storage capacity. AT&T is also reporting a severe shortage with all 1,200 retail stores nearly out of the iPhone altogether. This shortage comes after Apple sat out of sales for at least four to six weeks, as the first iteration of the iPhone dwindled in numbers before the new device launched. -- Free AT&T Wi-Fi For iPhone Users: AT&T keeps false-starting its plan to open up its Wi-Fi hotspot network to iPhone users for free. iPhoneAlley spotted a new page on AT&T that appeared to finally mark an official announcement from the carrier, but the page is now dead . iPhoneAlley captured a short announcement from AT&T that read: "AT&T knows Wi-Fi is hot, and free Wi-Fi even hotter, which is why we are proud to offer iPhone customers free access to the nation's largest Wi...
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  • T-Mobile USA Challenges The FCC's Free Wireless Internet Plan

    Yesterday, T-Mobile USA Exec Cole Brodman flew out to D.C. to plead with the FCC to reconsider a proposal that would require bidders in the next spectrum auction to offer free Internet access, Dow Jones reported . FCC Chairman Kevin Martin is proposing that the winning bidder in an auction would be required to devote at least 25 percent of the airwaves for free Internet access to 95 percent of the country. A long list of other companies also oppose the idea, such as AT&T ( NYSE: T ), Texas Instruments and Motorola ( NYSE: MOT ). T-Mobile argues that in particular the sale would affect them because the Internet activity will be next to the band its using for wireless services. "We're asking the FCC essentially to slow down and give the industry some time to do some testing," said Brodman, who is T-Mobile's CTO. Martin dismissed the idea that there could be interference issues. And, siding with the FCC was John Muleta of M2Z Networks, which is the company that originally brought the free Internet idea to the FCC. Muleta argued that the testing wouldn't accomplish anything but to cause a delay. Martin has already admitted that the sale may not occur until next year. Of course, the idea behind the plan is to give everyone in the U.S. a chance to have access to the Internet. However, it's unclear how a business would make money given such restrictions, and clearly opponents of the plan are against the idea because it would offer additional competition for their services, which cost billions of dollars to build. Related FCC Pushes For Free Broadband Network Despite Mounting Wi-Fi Failures FCC Chairman Puts Free Internet Plan On Hold Our mobile application for Blackberry and other Smartphones brings you the latest headlines when you're on the go. Go here to download .
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  • Earnings: Sony Ericsson Breaks Even; Profit Plummets 97 Percent

    Sony ( NYSE: SNE ) Ericsson ( NSDQ: ERIC ) managed to break even in the face of what it called "challenging market conditions and increased competition," the company announced today in its Q2 earnings report. Net income nosedived in the second quarter, plummeting to 6 million euros ($9.5 million), down from 133 million euors ($211 million) in the first quarter, and 220 million euros ($348 million) a year ago. More Details: — Sales Down: Sales slipped 9 percent in the quarter to 2.82 million euros ($4.47 million) compared to a year ago. The handset maker, which now puts its global market share at 8 percent, blamed its poor performance on the continuing decline of the mid-to-high end market, increased competition and unfavorable exchange rates. — Gross Margins Fall : Gross margins were also down, sinking to 23.1 percent in Q2 from 29.2 percent sequentially, and 29.6 percent a year ago. SE, which was particularly hard hit in Europe, acknowledged that its "less favorable product mix" was partially to blame, as was the increased price competition. — ASP Down: Sony Ericsson's average selling price (ASP) also fell, coming in at 116 euros ($184), as compared to 121 euros ($192) last quarter, and 125 euros ($198) a year ago. SE blamed increased competition one again, as well as the bigger proportion of low-end phones in its portfolio. — Market Outlook: Meanwhile, the company came out with a similar forecast to its rival Nokia ( NYSE: NOK ), predicting that the global handset market for 2008 would grow at a rate of around 10 percent from more that 1.1 billion units in 2007. In its earnings report yesterday, Nokia said the market would grow by 10 percent or more. It also said the majority of growth would come from emerging markets, where low-end phones dominate. — Challenges Ahead: Sony Ericsson warned that it expected "challenging" marketing conditions to "prevail" for the company, especially for the third quarter, but would continuing...
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  • Belgacom Buys SMS Parking Payments Provider Mobile-For

    Belgian network operator Belgacom has bought SMS parking payments provider Mobile-for. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The two year old start-up was created by Belgian parking operator Apcoa Belgium and the Estonian Now! Innovations and currently offers SMS parking in seven Belgian cities. It plans to roll out in three more by the end of the year. Belgacom said the purchase fits with its strategy of investing in the growing mobile payments market, which would allow it to expand its products ( release ). Our mobile application for Blackberry and other Smartphones brings you the latest headlines when you're on the go. Go here to download .
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  • Google Q2 Call: How Did They Miss? Chief Economist Varian: Consumers Showing Weakness

    Google's ( NSDQ: GOOG ) conference call is getting underway, and it should be an interesting one, following the miss. They spent a good portion of the call talking up mobile activity… -- Mobile thoughts : Sergey Brin is asked to riff on mobile: revenue per query will vary from market to market. iPhone users do some 30x queries compared to others, though no comments yet on the iPhone 3G. Later an analyst asked whether there would be a total separate marketplace for mobile. Brin: Once you get these phones with capable browsers, there's less reason to separate mobile and regular ads. -- Wireless Strategy and Android : The last question of the call concerns general wireless stuff: "We want our products on as many devices as possible. (Symbian, iPhone, Blackberries, Windows Mobile)." Android: "We're still very excited… We are still expecting phones shipped by the end of the year ." Not much there ultimately. Call is done. Full coverage of the call is at paidContent.org . Webcast (4:30 ET) | Transcript (via SeekingAlpha) Our mobile application for Blackberry and other Smartphones brings you the latest headlines when you're on the go. Go here to download .
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  • MySpace Mobile Prepares For Makeover

    MySpace is close to redesigning its social-networking mobile site to make it look more like the recent online redesign and more like the iPhone application, reports NewMediaAge in the UK . Currently, the site is supported with advertising, including campaigns from Coca-Cola, Nike and Warner Brothers, and will become even more important as the company forecasts half of all of its traffic to come from mobile within five years.
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  • Lost In Translation: Japanese Market Not Sold On iPhone Cool Factor

    In Japan, like elsewhere, gadget fans lined up to be some of the first to buy the new iPhone last week. However, after the initial rush, it appears that consumers there aren't completely sold on the device, AP reports . The biggest reason is because the Japanese market is very unique. Phones have their own icons for email and other services; they have infrared capabilities to beam contact info to each other, and they have digital TV broadcast receivers; and other common functionalities, like recording video. Even the highly praised form factor of the iPhone doesn't fit the culture there—there's no loop for hanging trinkets and most Japanese are accustomed to using only one thumb, not two. As one person in the story says: "I don't want my friends to think I'm this uncool." Still, the iPhone presents a much more open world than what the Japanese are used to—most don't access true Internet sites, especially for things like YouTube. It's unclear how many devices have sold there, but Softbank, which is selling the iPhone in Japan, said it sold out on the first day. Our mobile application for Blackberry and other Smartphones brings you the latest headlines when you're on the go. Go here to download .
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  • Earnings Call: Nokia Confirms Touch Coming This Year; Raises 2008 Phone Forecast; Progress In U.S.

    During the Nokia's ( NYSE: NOK ) conference call , the company dove in a bit deeper when it came to some aspects of it's Q2 earnings ( Earnings Release | Conference Call ). Here's a look: -- On touchscreen devices: Nokia's EVP of Devices Kai Oistamo: "We are fully committed to bringing out a complete portfolio of touch input devices to the mass market from the high-end to the low-end. We aim to appeal to the broadest part of the market, and leverage our scale in platforms, manufacturing and distribution. Our first touch device will be aimed at the volume part of the market. It's competitively spec'd, considering the price point, and it's scheduled to be out in the second half. Our platform approach to the software will allow us to roll out touch across the entire range from top to bottom, it's just a matter of Nokia figuring out what features and what specs we want to include, such as GPS, Wi-Fi and Qwerty keypads." -- 2008 Global Forecast: Nokia now expects industry mobile device volumes in 2008 to grow 10 percent or more , which is up from its previous estimate of just 10 percent. Last year, Nokia estimated that the market would total about 1.14 billion units, which would mean global volumes in 2008 hitting at least 1.25 billion. CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo: "We feel confident by the estimate given that we are already more than half way through the year and based on how we see the state of the market today." -- Progress in the U.S.: Kallasvuo: "Our overall global marketshare was 40 percent in Q2, which is up 2 percent year-over-year, and up 1 percent sequentially. Sequentially we were up in all regions except China and Latin America." In the U.S., device volume was up 80 percent sequentially in the US. "While I'm happy about making progress in the U.S., we have a lot more work to do to be satisfied with our position there." As part of its North American strategy, in June, Nokia said it will ship...
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  • AT&T Grabs Exclusive 24/7 NBC Olympics Channel For MediaFLO

    AT&T ( NYSE: T ) has used its clout as an Olympics sponsor and official telecommunications provider to the U.S team to nail an exclusive 24/7 channel on its broadcast mobile TV service run by Qualcomm's ( NSDQ: QCOM ) MediaFLO, we have learned. That's how a Verizon Wireless ( NYSE: VZ ) spokesman explained it to us: "They are an Olympics sponsor and as such they use their weight to freeze out other mobile TV providers from offering Olympics coverage." NBC's coverage of the Olympics won't be limited to AT&T entirely, but for mobile the carrier did secure sole rights for live competition footage and commentary on the MediaFLO platform, which both carriers use for broadcast-like TV service. The new channel, NBC Olympics 2Go, is set to launch August 8 at the beginning of the games and marks the third channel for NBC on the permanent 10-channel deck in addition to the limited-time channels routinely offered for special events. AT&T will play NBC's coverage of the games on its mobile TV broadcast service and its Media Net deck while Verizon's mobile offering will be limited to streaming video only on its V Cast video deck that will include daily highlights, breaking news, scores and results and more. AT&T's U-verse customers and Verizon's FiOS TV customers will get on-demand access to events at the games, footage from past games and highlights. On the broadband side, the carriers' plans are near identical as well with both launching more than 20 live streaming feeds from the games when the games begin. Related NBC And AT&T Partner On An Exclusive Music Work-Out Mix For The Olympics
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  • Mobile Content Bits: Opera Mobile 9.5; Verizon Mobile Banking; Google Mobile Reviews

    -- Opera Launches Mobile 9.5: Opera Software (OSL: OPERA) released today the Opera Mobile 9.5 beta, a new browser for Windows Mobile touchscreen devices. The browser can be downloaded at http://www.opera.com/products/mobile/ . Opera Mobile 9.5 beta is supposed to be faster and is also nice because it defaults to the page overview mode, allowing the user to view the entire Web page to be able to recognize the Web site. The user can pan and zoom to to focus on specific areas of the page. -- Verizon ( NYSE: VZ ) launches mobile banking: Verizon Wireless said today it is launching mobile banking services on the BlackBerry Curve, Pearl and World Edition smartphones, and phones that have Get It Now. The banking application allows users to check account balances and transactions; transfer funds between accounts and view and pay bills. Currently, the banks that support the application are: Wachovia, Regions, SunTrust, USAA, Synovus, America First Credit Union (AFCU), Arvest, Bancorp South, FirstBank, South Financial and BECU. Once customers sign up, they will receive an eight-digit code that will allow them to access the Mobile Banking application on their phones. The app is free, bit data charges apply. -- Google ( NSDQ: GOOG ) Launches Mobile reviews: Google said today it is launching a new feature that let's people review and rate restaurants and local businesses from your phone. All you have to do is go to google.com on your phone's browser, search for the business by name or location, click on the business name on the results page, and scroll down to click on "Sign in to write/edit your review." The results are also published on Google Maps. Sorry iPhone users, this ones not available to you yet.
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  • Twitter 'Bigger In UK Than US', White Van Man Taking It Mainstream?

    And you thought it was mostly Americans addicted to the SMS/IM/web presence thingamy… ? Web measurer Hitwise says it's the reverse - at least, proportionally . "Last week the site's share of UK internet visits was 70 percent higher its share of visits in America," said analyst Robin Goad. " Twitter cannot yet be considered mainstream in the USA, but in the UK it's getting there ." Its growth here - 485 percent so far this year and 631 percent year-on-year - is slower than the eightfold annual international increase , though. Twitter may seem too esoteric and the crowd too geeky to be adopted by the Facebook masses, but Goad says the "demographics are also pointing towards more wide-spread adoption". Last month, the audience was evenly split on gender and over-45s made up 37 percent of users. And, while the most prevalent users are high-rolling "city adventures", students and young professionals, young families, ethnic-minority singles and "white van culture " (for our American readers, "a white van man" is sort of equivalent to a pick-up driving worker) are also heavily represented, suggesting "more mainstream appeal" , Goad said. Fancy metrics aside, the barometer I always use is the girlfriend test - if she's adopted a new technology (hey, it happened with Facebook and Last.fm), you know it's reached a tipping point; she started tweeting several weeks ago. Now if only Ev and Biz would tell us their business model.. Related Twitter Buys Micro-Blogging Search Site Summize; Reportedly $15M Cash+Stock
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