India Adds 15M Mobile Subs in January

What a blowout month ! 3G auctions are unlikely to happen in the first half with impending elections.

India Adds 15M Mobile Subs in January
February 24, 2009, Unstrung

A staggering 15.4 million mobile lines were activated in India during January, according to the latest statistics from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) .

The number seems even more amazing when broken down further: It averages out to nearly 497,000 new lines each day, or more than 41,000 each hour.

In the previous few months the number of additions had risen above the 10 million mark, but reaching 15.4 million in one month is by far the biggest single addition to the mobile subscriber base. It takes the total number of activated wireless lines to 362.3 million, and, once the country's 37.75 million fixed lines are added, it takes India's total number of telephone lines to more than 400 million for the first time.

But there's still plenty of room left for growth, as India's teledensity is just 34.5 percent. Many of those without any kind of telephone connection are in India's expansive rural areas, which are now the focus for many of the country's mobile operators (and the country's government) as they look to build up their subscriber bases.

For example, the metro "circle" (telecom service area) of Delhi has a mobile penetration rate of around 90 percent, while some of the rural circles, such as Assam and Bihar in the northeast have penetration rates below 20 percent.

That remaining growth potential is what is attracting overseas investors, including Japan's NTT DoCoMo Inc., Bahrain Telecommunications Co. (Batelco) , and Norway's Telenor ASA , which recently confirmed its plans to take an initial 60 percent stake in new entrant Unitech Wireless and inject more than $1 billion into the company during 2009 alone.

The Norwegian operator has described India as the "world's largest untapped mobile market" because of the nearly 800 million people who are still without a mobile connection. By Telenor's reckoning, China is home to 710 million people who aren't hooked up to a mobile network.

In addition, there are the additional growth opportunities, particularly in the densely populated metro areas, that will come with the launch of 3G services. The auction of 3G spectrum, which had been set for January, has been delayed -- industry observers now believe the auction may happen in March.

The longer that auction is delayed, the more it suits state-owned operators Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd. (MTNL) , which have already been handed their spectrum. MTNL has launched its initial 3G services in Delhi and Mumbai (the two metro circles where it holds licenses), while BSNL is in the process of rolling out its initial services in 12 other cities. (See MTNL Launches 3G.)

The imminent availability of 3G spectrum notwithstanding, Unitech Wireless and the other new entrants face a tough battle to attract subscribers ahead of the country's leading and well established mobile operators. Bharti Airtel Ltd. is still the largest mobile operator, with 88.4 million subscribers at the end of January, followed by Reliance Communications Ltd. with 66.3 million and Vodafone Essar with 63.3 million.

The MyPhone sync service was interesting and definitely a marked improvement over what MSFT has tried earlier and its provided gratis. While the Marketplace (MSFT's app store) was announced it wasnt on display at the show.

The new OS tries to bring more user friendliness directly on the homescreen by providing a dashboard-like experience to items such as new e-mails, texts, missed calls and calendar appointments.

MWC : Windows Mobile 6.5 gets official at MWC 2009

GSM Arena, 16 Feb, 2009

Today at Mobile World Congress 2009, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer unveiled the long awaited Windows Mobile 6.5 OS, after numerous leaks the last couple of months.

The WinMo 6.5 has a slightly updated user interface, some new features and enhanced browsing experience thanks to the latest version of Internet Explorer. The mobile phones that use the service will also make use of two new Microsoft services: My Phone and Windows Marketplace for Mobile.

Microsoft MyPhone is a service to sync text messages, photos, video, contacts and more with previously created personal internet account while the Windows Marketplace will provide direct-to-phone mobile applications and can be accessed from both the phone and the Web.

The new OS tries to bring more user friendliness directly on the homescreen by providing a dashboard-like experience to items such as new e-mails, texts, missed calls and calendar appointments.

Windows Mobile 6.5 is also more thumbable with its larges icons and menus. It comes with the latest Internet Explorer Mobile browser, which has also been thumb-optimized. It is equipped with an on-screen zoom slider and thumb-optimized shortcuts bar much like Opera 9.5 currently used by HTC.

Here are some official screenshots of the new OS:

As you may guess the changes that Windows Mobile 6.5 brings are nowhere near the long expected complete overhaul of the device but might serve their purpose of putting some competitive edge to the Microsoft Mobile OS until Windows Mobile 7 is ready to roll next year.

The first Windows Mobile 6.5 devices will be available at the second half of 2009. The currently announced LG GM730, HTC Touch Diamond 2 and HTC Touch Pro 2 that were all announced today, will initially run on WinMo 6.1 but an upgrade to 6.5 is guaranteed once the OS is ready.

MWC : 3 INQ1 is the best handset and Nokia Sports Tracker the Best Internet Service for 2009, GSMA awards announced

MWC : 3 INQ1 is the best handset and Nokia Sports Tracker the Best Internet Service for 2009, GSMA awards announced

GSM Arena, 18 Feb, 2009

3 UK's INQ1 is top of the list of winners of the 14th Global Mobile Awards basking in their glory. Last night at the National Palace in Barcelona the vote of a wide panel of judges from within the world of mobile technology, decided the winners in 7 categories.

The one we're most interested in - the Best Mobile Handset or Device - produced a quite surprising winner. The Amoi-made INQ1 for 3 UK emerged triumphant over LG KS360, T-Mobile G1, BlackBerry Storm 9500 and Nokia E71. Winning stuff was social networking - the INQ1 is tightly integrated with Facebook and last.fm, and comes with support for popular messengers like Skype and Windows Live Messenger.

3's INQ1 official photos

T-Mobile and Nokia are the two runners-up so to say, splitting the Highly Commended award in this category. The G1 was praised by the judges and T-Mobile should share credit with HTC, who actually manufactured it. The Android Platform got its share of appreciation and, with several new handsets coming in 2009, the way ahead is wide open.

The other competitors

Nokia got a firm handshake too on behalf of their E71 - the business minded QWERTY all-in-one. You can read our review here.

Nokia also snatched the Best Mobile Internet Service award with the Nokia Sports Tracker. The application uses GPS to keep track of your workouts - jogging, running or cycling. Putting due emphasis on networking again, that workout data can be shared on the relevant website including route, speed and even pictures taken along the way.

The Best Mobile Technology Breakthrough award went to the SurePress screen of the BlackBerry Storm. The SurePress screen actually 'clicks' like a hardware button allowing the user to both hover over an item and get physical feedback from virtual buttons, a feature that has been a major challenge for touchscreens.

There were many rumors of trouble for the Storm but if anything, this award is confirms that touchscreen is the way the future's shaping and tactile feedback will play an important role in user experience.

Next year's awards promise to be even more interesting with the Mobile Innovation Grand Prix. It will focus on smaller players with pioneering products and services seeking bigger market deployment.

The Idou, the first device presented to ever run on the brand new open source Symbian user interface that's still being developed by the Symbian Foundation, and the PlayNowArena movie service are interesting.

MWC 2009: Sony Ericsson overview

GSMArena team, 15 February 2009.

Starting off the MWC 2009 hectic week, the Sony Ericsson press conference went to a nice start, though this year saw Sony Ericsson shrink the announcements to only a couple of handsets. No there was no XPERIA X2 this year, but as Sony Ericsson's Head of marketing Lennard Hoornik shared, there will be a next XPERIA, but only when they find the right product.

Sony Ericsson Idou

The new Sony Ericsson Idou will probably create as much hype as the original XPERIA. Not only it is the first 12 megapixel GSM cameraphone, but it's also the first device presented to ever run on the brand new open source Symbian user interface that's still being developed by the Symbian Foundation. The 3.5-inch touchscreen with a resolution of 360 x 640 pixels, GPS and Wi-Fi and the relatively compact size are just an added bonus to that already impressive novel package.

Sony Ericsson Idou sees broad daylight for the first time at this year's MWC

The Sony Ericsson Idou is nowhere near complete - they haven't even come up with a marketing model name yet as Idou is still code name for the device. The show-off devices that the Sony Ericsson staff had at the event varied from graphically rich dummy phones to basic early-stage prototypes. Amazingly though the new user interface is perhaps faster and more fluid than everything else that we have seen (including iPhone). We really hope that the final product will be as responsive as the units showed today.

Check out how it looks on video: http://vimeo.com/3231160

Perhaps the design of the Sony Ericsson Idou is not totally final, however at this stage it certainly looks like a nice mix of LG Viewty and Sony Ericsson C905.

Sony Ericsson Idou is a serious attention grabber

Interestingly enough, the Idou uses microSD card slot (visible on the side), which hints that the manufacturer of the device is not Sony Ericsson themselves - much like with the XPERIA X1.

Sony Ericsson Idou held in hand: the design traits of C905 are evident

Much like XPERIA X1 last year, it would take Sony Ericsson at least half a year to get the device rolling into production. Actually, we bet it won't be before October or November that we see an actual retail Idou.

The only commitment regarding the Idou availability that Sony Ericsson are taking right now is second half of 2009. Well, guess what - they said exactly the same thing about XPERIA X1 last February and it took them 8 months to push it to the market. Just don't hold your breath just yet.

Sony Ericsson W995 a.k.a. Hikaru

The Sony Ericsson Idou might have stolen the spotlight off the Sony Ericsson W995 but the truth is that the W995 is one of the most well equipped feature phones of the company.

At their press conference Sony Ericsson announced their strategic plans to converge their separate product lines such as Walkman and Cyber-shot into single powerful high-end products so that users will no longer have to choose between enhanced music or imaging capabilities. Lower range phones may still get some kind of specialization - be it Walkman or Cyber-shot, but that would be more of an added bonus feature than anything else.

Sony Ericsson W995 a.k.a. Hikaru goes officially live

As we already mentioned, the Sony Ericsson W995 (previously codenamed Hikaru)combines both music and imaging prowess and additionally it takes a shot at a field Sony Ericsson have never turned attention to - video playback.

The neat kickstand on the back of the W995 is used for watching videos, while the device is in landscape position on your desk for example.

Sony Ericsson W995

Unfortunately, the W995 2.6-inch display (the largest on a SE feature phone to-date) doesn't have a widescreen aspect ratio. The handset doesn't even have DivX or XviD support - that's a certainly a downside for a product with ambitions in video playback. So all in all, the only specialized video feature of the W995 remains its kick stand - not quite enough to qualify for a portable video player.

An additional disappointment is that SE have not done anything serious to pump up the video recording capabilities of the W995. While their competition is going for 720p HD video recording, the best that Sony Ericsson can offer with their top multimedia device W995 is 30fps video in WQVGA resolution.

Having said all that, we still favor the W995 since its feature package seems rather well balanced. The relatively large screen is coupled with Wi-Fi and GPS connectivity, there's a standard 3.5mm audio jack, and most of all the device is quite compact.

Sony Ericsson W995 in Cosmic Silver and Energetic Red

MediaGo

The Sony Ericsson W995 will be the first phone to support the new Sony Ericsson MediaGo multimedia management sync service that should allow for seamless transfer of data between Sony Ericsson phones and a computer over USB cable. The key feature of the service is that it will transcode all data on-the-go so that it can run on the mobile phone.

MediaGo will also allow automatic syncing of multimedia files such as updating of the music library, transferring of newly downloaded podcast episodes, etc.

Sony Ericsson MediaGo to offer seamless multimedia transcoding on-the-go, as well as auto syncing

MediaGo will launch with Sony Ericsson W995 and will be available in 15 languages.

Sony Ericsson also announced that they are planning of hitting the video playback from various angles by not only focusing W995 on video, but by providing unlimited movies downloads via the PlayNow Arena Movies service, which would require a monthly subscription.

PlayNow Arena Movies will offer unlimited movies downloads