txtNation, a specialist in global premium rate billing services, has announced it is now offering Voice Short Codes otherwise known as a VSC in the UK market. Available across all UK mobile operators, the new short codes have proven to be a very successful marketing tool due to their convenience, claims the company.

Voice Short Codes are compatible with SMS Short Codes, which means they complement existing SMS or Premium Rate services, and an provide an effective marketing vehicle to allow the combination of voice and data components for any campaign or application. The same 5-digit short code number can therefore be used for both voice calls and SMS messaging, keeping costs to the business to a minimum.

The revenue generated from the charge to customers for Voice ShortCode services is shared by txtNation, the network operators and their clients. Customers pay for these premium rate calls in the normal way; either on their mobile phone bill or out of their pre-paid credit.

Michael Whelan, Director txtNation "I predict that in 2010, shows like the X-Factor, Deal or No Deal and other high grossing interactive TV shows will be using VSC's for enhanced user participation. If you look at the issues with premium rate numbers and how difficult they are to advertise when compared to Voice Short Codes, this alone will result in better acceptance."

According to txtNation, the major advantage that txtNation see for Voice Short Codes over other types of customer engagement and billing types, is that with a VSC end users only have to call a 5-digit number, which is much more memorable than a standard phone number or premium rate number. This means that users are more likely to remember the short code and therefore re-use the service. The overall experience is that much better, resulting in improved revenues and less customer service incidents.

Eagle Eye Solutions, a specialist in mobile voucher issue and redemption, has created what is believed to be the world's first peer-to-peer SMS gift voucher for the high-street fashion retailer Oasis. 

The mobile vouchers use Eagle Eye's patented technology, which allows redemption in-store by keying in the unique code sent to phones using retailers' standard EPoS (electronic point of sale) and Chip & PIN systems. 

Launching just in time for Christmas on December 8th across all Oasis's UK and Northern Ireland standalone stores, customers can purchase the gift vouchers online through the Oasis website or directly at www.OasisMobileVoucher.com in values of £10-£300. Once established, Oasis' parent company, Aurora Fashions, intends to roll out the mobile vouchers to all its brands – Karen Millen, Coast and Warehouse -in the first quarter of next year.

According to Eagle Eye this method has a wide range of benefits:
* Eagle Eye's mobile vouchers use a retailer's existing EPoS and Chip & PIN systems, meaning no new investment or changes to their infrastructure are needed
* Customers understand existing electronic transaction and Chip & PIN systems, so education is fast and adoption rapid
* Mobile vouchers are more environmentally friendly than paper/plastic with less wastage and a far smaller carbon footprint from creation to delivery *
* Trials have shown that on average customers are ten times more likely to redeem mobile vouchers than their paper, plastic or emailed equivalent *
* The vouchers will allow the retailer to increase footfall, revenues and even reach new demographics – especially last-minute panic-buying men!
* They can be personalised and scheduled to arrive whenever you want, e.g. Christmas Day/birthdays
* The system radically reduces the potential for fraud, as it is sent directly to the recipient's phone and must be shown in-store
* The data captured offers retailers unprecedented levels of insight into consumer behaviour

Sharon O'Connor, Managing Director, Oasis commented: "New product innovation and the ability to adapt to the changing shopping behaviour is key to truly understand constantly evolving interaction with emerging technology when looking to deliver the ultimate shopping experience.

"Through utilising new mobile technology, we can make the shopping experience more accessible to the challenging demands of daily life. Building on the success of the first commercial fashion iPhone application, the Mobile Gift Voucher initiative keeps Oasis at the forefront of technological development for the high street through embracing the emerging mobile market and creating a roadmap for the future integration of online and in-store commerce."

Steve Rothwell, CEO Eagle Eye Solutions added: "Nearly everyone in the UK can receive a text and hence a coupon or voucher on their phone, but what makes this such a breakthrough is that we've solved the key barrier to entry i.e. the real-time authentication of the voucher at the Point of Sale.

"Our future-proofed technology is being deployed to high street retailers opening up a new consumer channel for them – they get more footfall and increased revenues and the customer gets real value delivered directly to their handset.  It's a win-win for everyone. This is the future for traditional retailers."

Steve Thomas, Chief Technology Officer, BT Expedite said: "Mobility is now part of mainstream retailing. Whether it's buying on a Smart Phone, up to the minute best prices and localized special offers, or trusted recommendations from social networking friends. We're delighted to see Oasis lead the pack once again with this new SMS voucher solution integrated with BT Expedite's EPoS."

Will help solve fragmentation issues, company claims

Intel subsidiary Wind River has released a commercial Android platform, optimised for Texas Instruments' OMAP 3 platform.

Wind River, which has previously contributed its software towards Qualcomm's integration of the Android OS on its Snapdragon chipset, is introducing a commercial Android platform on TI's platform to make it easier for handset developers to bring Android-based products to market. The company also hopes that a commercial platform will reduce fragmentation around Android. Fragmentation is mainly being driven by different companies developing to their own specifications around the OS. Fragmentation creates problems for developers, and for operators, who find they need to support multiple iterations of the open OS.

Jason Whitmire, general manager of Wind River's mobile business, said in a company blog post that it takes OEMs at least a year to develop an Android phone, and much longer to get differentiated products into the market.

Whitmire said that having multiple hardware platforms in play is an advantage for the industry, because it means manufacturers are not "tied" to one platform. But it also creates a "thicket of software code and hardware that is difficult enough to manage inside of one manufacturer, much less between device makers and developers."

"Indeed," he wrote, "there is a growing recognition that companies are challenged to cost-effectively create a commercial handset product based on something that's inherently unstable or changing too rapidly, especially for mass market."

This has lead to a market for professional services companies that can smooth out the testing and validation process for the vendors. Wind River is hoping that a pre-tested platform will ease the pain of that effort. Whitmire said that only time would tell which of two approaches would prove successful.

Wind River's new platform is built on several building blocks:
·         Open source Android code validated and tested by Wind River
·         Pre-integrated third-party software, including existing Flash technology from Adobe, OpenCORE mobile multimedia software from PacketVideo and firmware over-the-air (FOTA) updating and device management software from Red Bend;
·         Enhanced Android user interface and personalization options for such common branding functions as boot-up splash screen, locked idle screen, and termination screens and additional gesture-based choices for core phone functions;
·         Extended framework and applications including master reset function, music player, performance and power management;
·         Optimization for leading mobile hardware including Texas Instruments' OMAP34x and OMAP36x platforms.

Samsung  has today revealed the results of a new survey into consumers' mobile software demands. The survey is said to provide 'unique' insights into the opportunities available for the growing developer community across the world.

According to Samsung, the survey results were found to be extremely encouraging for those developers currently creating apps for the mobile market, as this was identified as the greatest opportunity for new development. Almost half (42%) of current feature phone users surveyed would pay to download applications if they could – and 54% of those people would be prepared to pay up to €5 for each application they download, illustrating the scale of the potential revenues available for developers by extending application-downloadable smartphone markets.

The research comes ahead of the worldwide launch of Samsung's new bada platform, which, says Samsung, is set to open up millions of mainstream handsets worldwide to the new possibilities of applications. The consumer survey was based on responses from UK, France and Italy -three of Europe's biggest mobile markets where Samsung currently offers apps through its Samsung Application Store.

The research also highlighted the types of applications which are particularly sought after by those consumers who have no previous experience of downloading them – and therefore the people who present the biggest potential revenue opportunity for developers at the moment. The study shows that among users of mainstream handsets who have not downloaded an application before, travel and navigation applications were most in demand with 34% of people surveyed eager to use them, followed by photography (12%), work (11%) and shopping (9%).

"Our findings show the vast potential of the applications market and the huge untapped revenues, driven by high levels of consumer demand," said Dr Hosoo Lee, Executive Vice President and Head of the Media Solution Center at Samsung Electronics.
Dr Lee added, "Through the launch of bada, Samsung's open mobile platform, we aim to help developers to capitalise on this exciting market opportunity. The aim of the bada platform is to make smartphone features accessible to everyone, so that developers can reach larger audiences and the variety and creativity of apps can be enjoyed by many. We want consumers to have a fun and diverse mobile experience that really adds value to their lives, by providing them with high-quality applications and mobile services."

Further findings are said to illustrate where the market opportunity lies for different types of applications among current smartphone users, and indicate the areas where developers could reap the benefits and discover new revenues.

According to the survey, overall, women were found to be highly attracted to certain types of applications. Gaming applications are ranked more popular among women than men, with 70% of women surveyed saying they use them, as opposed to 57% of men. Women also value photography applications highly, with just under half saying that they use them to help in their everyday lives (49%). Nearly six out of ten women (57%) said that they use apps to enrich their family life, illustrating that demand for apps designed for parents has overtaken those for social networking (which received just 39% of responses).

Education is also an area with huge potential for growth within the application market, says Samsung. When asked what apps they would like to see developed, the highest number of respondents (18%) said they would like new education apps, as they feel that there isn't a suitable solution available for them at the present time. The figures also show that there are more opportunities for developers in the work and travel related apps arena. These were rated second and third by consumers disappointed that the right app is not available yet (17% and 13% respectively).

In addition, the findings raised the issue of the longevity of apps among smartphone users. 43% of app users said that once they have downloaded an app they quickly lose interest and cease using it, leaving almost half of apps redundant within a relatively short space of time. "This shows that the market is still in its infancy," said Dr Hosoo Lee.

"There's a clear gap in the market for ‘killer' apps which can enrich people's mobile phone lives, and we believe that bada will be the platform to supply these apps."

According to a new report by Juniper Research – ‘Mobile Coupons & NFC Smart Posters: Strategies, Applications & Forecasts 2009-2014' – consumer usage of mobile coupons will see users exceed 300 million globally by 2014, principally in developed markets, with the apps revolution triggering the growth of new mobile coupon services.

As more and more users acquire smart phones, says Juniper, they will want to exploit the improved capabilities of their devices with new features and services, especially when it is going to save them money. For marketers, mobile coupon campaigns sent using location based applications can be much more effectively targeted than the scattergun approach of traditional coupons.

Howard Wilcox, Senior Analyst at Juniper Research, explained: "We found that with the growth of smart phones, a growing number of coupon-specific downloadable apps are being launched, often linked to location based searches.  For example, when you are in the mall and you have your smartphone on you with your downloaded coupons app, then you should be able to find your way to a good offer nearby."

However, the report also identified a number of market constraints. For example, some users could be reluctant to share their mobile number to participate in coupon schemes due to the danger of spam and fake coupons – privacy is a concern to many. Despite this and the lack of progress on NFC coupons because of the poor availability of NFC phones, the mobile coupon usage is still set to triple over the next 5 years.

Further findings include:

• ARPU from NFC coupons and smart posters will exceed ARPU from NFC payment transactions
• N. America and Western Europe to be major regions for mobile coupon usage in 2014

Allot Communications, a specialist in IP service optimisation and revenue generation solutions, announced today the completion of integration and interoperability testing between its Service Gateway (PCEF) and Huawei's PCRF product.  The solution, which was driven by customer requirements and is specifically designed for mobile broadband networks, is intended to enable the deployment of application aware, tiered and premium subscriber services, manage bandwidth utilization and costs, and enhance subscriber quality of experience (QoE).

The solution, based on 3GPP standards for mobile networks, combines Allot's application identification and Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF) capabilities with Huawei's Policy and Charging Rule Function (PCRF) System.  The integrated offering is designed to enable operators to better manage network resources usage, optimise application performance and implement new service plans.

"The collaboration between Allot and Huawei, which was driven by one of our Tier 1 mobile operator customer requirements, is further evidence of Allot's commitment to this market," stated said Andrei Elefant, Allot's Vice President for Marketing and Product Management.  "Our joint solution is intended to provide operators with the means to stand out from the crowd and provide their subscribers with premium, enhanced services."

Amobee Media Systems, a provider of advertising solutions for mobile operators, has delivered a global mobile ad serving and campaign management platform for Telefónica across all of its 18 markets world-wide. The majority of the launches – including Telefonica's O2 businesses in UK, Ireland, Germany and Czech Republic as well as in Spain, Mexico, Argentina and Chile – are now live and actively serving brand campaigns. The remainder of Telefónica's Latin American operators will begin accepting campaigns by year-end via the deployed Amobee platform.
 
Through Amobee, Telefónica is now capable of dynamically ad-serving all mobile communication channels including mobile internet, applications, games, video, and messaging via one uniform advertising solution. Telefónica is positioned to serve as a single point for agencies and advertisers wishing to buy ad-enabled inventory to deploy and monitor campaigns across multiple channels and markets simultaneously.
 
"Removing the friction for the media buyer is fundamental to the future of mobile advertising and Amobee makes this possible. We enable operators to build profitable revenue streams from advertising while making it easier for marketers to utilize new, more engaging ways to target their audience globally," said Zohar Levkovitz, co-founder and CEO of Amobee.
 
"Amobee is playing a vital role in helping us to monetize our assets and realize the full potential of mobile advertising, but not to the detriment of customer experience," said Tanya Field, Director of Mobile Data Group at Telefónica S.A. "Amobee's mobile advertising platform seamlessly leverages our existing user data for targeting, while providing advertisers and marketers easy access to our premium inventory to enable them to get their message across quickly, effectively, and globally."
 
Amobee says it has served mobile advertising campaigns for many of the world's top agencies and brands enabling them to achieve as much as 80% audience share in several markets. This is due to Amobee's operator-centric approach and unique composition of exclusive partnerships in key geographies.

"Telefónica is a great example of a mobile operator deploying a uniform solution which strikes a balance between offering a positive user experience and presenting marketers the opportunity to leverage its 268 million global subscriber base. We are thrilled to play such an integral role and we look forward to supporting them in Europe, as well as Latin America, which holds significant growth potential and is a key milestone for us as a company," added Levkovitz.

Huawei has announced the completion of a joint LTE (Long Term Evolution) test with Telecom Italia (TI). Using 14 LTE cells on the existing mobile broadband infrastructure in Turin, the test claimed to successfully showcase a downlink speed of over 140Mb/s per cell, demonstrated by three simultaneous connections.

This high transmission capability will allow new services on the next-generation mobile broadband networks, such as high definition video calling.

Mr. Sandro Dionisi, Head of TILab said, "This first technical trial with Huawei represents a very important milestone in the development of the network technology LTE/SAE in line with the future goals of Telecom Italia. The results reached so far reinforce our partnership with Huawei and our joint commitment in deploying the LTE technology that will continue also next year. "

"This demonstration reflects our commitment to accelerating LTE commercialization and to realizing seamless end-to-end mobile broadband connectivity though continued investment in this technology," said David Wang, Managing Director of Huawei Italy.

Polaris Wireless, a global specialist in high accuracy, software-based location solutions, today announced its Polaris Wireless Location Signatures (Polaris WLSTM) Hybrid technology has established new benchmarks in location performance, including better accuracy, reduced time to fix and improved battery consumption, for indoor and dense urban environments, according to field trials conducted by major wireless carriers globally.

The trials, performed in multiple continents, are claimed to demonstrate that Polaris's Hybrid solution performs better than A-GPS alone in both indoor and complex environments, such as dense urban areas with high rise buildings and many signal obstructions.  In addition, Polaris Wireless announced that its solution is 4G LTE ready with the Hybrid solution supporting multiple cellular air interfaces (2G/3G/4G) in a single platform in support of carrier's multi-mode services and devices.

"The ability to locate wireless handsets and devices in indoor environments is particularly important since that is where most users originate voice and data calls," said Professor Per K. Enge, a leading researcher at Stanford University's GPS Laboratory. "Location performance in places like high rise office buildings and indoor shopping malls is critical to meeting consumer and enterprise demand as well as emergency call requirements. Further, with the established trend of mobile wireless replacing landline services, the importance of accurate, timely and efficient location indoors will continue to rapidly grow."

"The advantage of the Polaris Wireless solution is that it works well in non line-of-sight, cluttered environments – with indoors being a particularly challenging environment for cellular location systems," said Dr. Marty Feuerstein, CTO of Polaris Wireless. "WLS capitalizes on complex obstructions and shadowing to improve location performance. In addition, the Polaris Wireless Hybrid location solution for 4G LTE networks enables truly global and ubiquitous location-aware applications that offer consumers far more than today's turn-by-turn navigation."

North American carriers have recently conducted 3G location system trials, testing indoor and outdoor wireless location performance over an urban trial area of 10 square kilometers. Polaris out performed other solutions with a consistent accuracy of 47 to 59 meters versus 230 to 250 meters at 67th percentile. As further confirmation, a major wireless service provider in Asia recently tested 3G location performance, including accuracy, time to fix and battery consumption in urban and suburban settings. Results demonstrated Polaris Hybrid solution performance of 50 to 60 meters in 5 seconds time to fix compared with alternatives at 130 to 140 meters with 20 to 30 seconds time to fix. In addition, significant improvements in battery consumption were demonstrated to support pervasive location applications requiring frequent fixes, such as zone-based mobile marketing services.

The trial results are said to show that the Polaris Wireless approach to determining handset location, independent of handset capabilities and features such as Wi-Fi, is well suited to indoor and dense urban environments. Like a fingerprint's pattern of lines and swirls, a location can be identified by a unique set of values including measurements of neighboring cell signal strengths, time delays and other network parameters. The Polaris WLSTM solution collects this information and uses it to match incoming signals to an extensive geo-referenced database of values to determine highly accurate handset location-regardless of the type of environment. In fact, shadowing from large buildings, walls and other clutter enriches the location signature and increases accuracy.

The Polaris WLS solution is available on all air major cellular interfaces including GSM, cdma2000, UMTS and LTE. In particular, LTE networks, one of the 4G standards that will usher in next generation broadband wireless performance, greatly surpass the 3G networks of today. LTE promises a truly broadband experience capable of supporting a new world of advanced voice and data applications, all based on Internet Protocol. The proliferation of 4G networks promises to create a single, unified global wireless infrastructure for content-rich applications, where location awareness is ubiquitous and transparent. Location-based services will work seamlessly across continents and oceans, driving the wide-scale development and deployment of powerful applications that thrive on frequent and accurate location updates on a mass scale and in real-time. Today, the Polaris WLS solution is commercially deployed with twenty 2G wireless carriers in the US and three 3G wireless carriers in Asia.

Location-based services are already available on today's 3G networks-most notably on the Apple iPhone 3G-however, these applications are primarily built around basic turn-by-turn navigation tools. More pervasive and interactive mobile social networks, multiplayer gaming, zone-based coupon/advertising promotions and asset tracking will drive the need for high-accuracy, high-yield and low-latency location-based services on 4G networks.