Tjat, specialist in seamless mobile messaging solutions, is showcasing its new messaging services on the new ‘Ultra Low Cost Smart Phone' at MWC.

The phone retails under $25 and is set to provide affordable services such as ‘MIM, and picture downloads' to third world countries. One of the key benefits includes the unique ability to set up a service in the users' native language. TJAT are part of the mobile ULC2 Alliance with Jurong Technologies, leading ODM handset manufacturer, Infineon Technologies AG, leading platform and chipset manufacturer, and Brightstar, the leading global distributors of handsets.

Market research firm Gartner estimates, that mobile instant messaging will gain huge momentum. In the year 2008, 2.8 trillion messages will be sent via that channel. This is a growth of 19.6 per cent compared to 2007. Revenues are expected to grow by 15.7 per cent to 60.2 billion US dollars in 2008. Tjat's browser-based service bridges the gap between the mobile and PC based Internet world by offering access to online Instant Messaging accounts like Yahoo, ICQ and MSN – with communities in excess of 300 million users.

According to Dr. Oleg Golobrodsky, EVP and Chief Product Officer of TJAT, "The New Smart Entry phone will be affordable by all segments of society giving all the ability to communicate. We are sure that this is a truly life changing development for people living in third world countries, allowing them access to communication services that many take for granted." 

A new social networking platform designed specifically for the mobile phone, GyPSii, goes live at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Uniquely among social networking applications, GyPSii is designed with the features and capabilities of the mobile phone in mind, and offers location-based search for people, places, content and events.

"The real time location-based element of GyPSii adds a new dimension to the social networking phenomenon.  The device we all carry in our pocket, our mobile phone, is now empowered to record your life; where you are and what you do, and share it in real-time within your chosen social networking communities," said Dan Harple, founder and CEO.

"Rather than sitting indoors chatting to friends on a PC-based service – you can be out and about seeing who is nearby, what they are doing and where you could go – all in real time.  GyPSii takes a virtual connection with your friends and turns it into a real connection," he added.

GyPSii will go live with a global footprint at the Mobile World Congress across multiple handsets, geographies and communities of interest, following a successful three month public beta trial with users, worldwide.

The GyPSii application is already fully compatible with Windows Mobile phones and was also recently certified for Nokia's flagship consumer smartphones – the N95, the N73 and the new N82 as well as the 6110 Navigator. In addition, the GyPSii application is now also available on the Blackberry range from RIM.

As well as extending its product reach, GyPSii is also reaching beyond English speaking markets with its webtop client – now available in ten languages including Korean, Russian and two forms of Chinese.

In China, GyPSii also this week announced a partnership with device maker Dopod to provide a range of location-based information and services to members of its Dopod Club community and the company expects to announce other international agreements and partnerships in the coming weeks.

In Barcelona, GyPSii will be giving interested parties a sneak preview of the GyPSii Locations Based Advertising Solution, which provides highly accurate location based targeting of advertising messages to mobile and web based users. GyPSii has a wide range of advertising packages, from simple text and banner placement, to coupons and preferential POI, to full brand and product sponsorship of GyPSii users & communities, by topic and or region.

"Traditional search on the Internet, the driver for advertising based revenue, has no real-life location-based context.  Our platform is the first ever to provide a level of geo-targeting and advertising targeting that is unprecedented in the industry," stated Harple, GyPSii's CEO.

The GyPSii software is free to download to mobile phones from the company's website (www.gypsii.com) or from a phone browser over the air at http://gypsii.com/m. Users can also create a web based profile, with the launch of new web interface at the show this week and then use their mobile to create and share content about people, places and event.

GyPSii is a lifestyle-enhancing application; a location based friend-finder, a place and event finder, a networking site for communities and a home to share pictures, video, audio, and content with friends and other groups.  GyPSii also uses location information to effortlessly "Geo-tag" entries and to provide a powerful location based search tool.

This means GyPSii users can make use of multiple features and services from their phone, including local and regional "Point-of-Interest" search: receive maps and directions: and instantly identify nearby friends and places that have been popular within their communities of interest. They can also create their own geo-tag POIs from their phones for sharing with others. 

Sonim Technologies, the US based mobile telecoms company and inventors of the "indestructible" Sonim XP1 mobile phone, announced today that the popular "World's Toughest Phone Tour" would be making an appearance at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and challenge attending media to torture the  "World's Toughest" phone.

So confident are SonimTech over the durability of the phone, they are inviting bloggers and journalists across Europe to "torture test" the phone by sending them a new XP1 along with a illustrated how-to-torture guide.

Bob Plaschke, CEO of Sonim comments: "If you've been watching the videos on YouTube, you'll have seen the Sonim shot with a Glock 9mm by Mobil magazine and a Remington rifle by Metro, the largest paper in Sweden.
You'll have seen the Sonim kicked around, pushed around, put in the oven, put in the freezer and still surviving.  I'd like to invite you all to have a go and see if you can finally break it."

The Sonim XP1 is an IP-54 certified, mil-spec approved, bluetooth and Push-To-Talk enabled GSM phone, engineered to meet the needs of people who work outside the office and outdoor sports enthusiasts, the Sonim
XP1 works perfectly in harsh environments. Certified to withstand shock, water, wind, dust, dirt and extreme temperatures, the Sonim XP1 is the only certified phone designed specifically for the lives of people who work and play in demanding conditions.

As well as being very shock water-resistant, the Sonim XP1 is backed by an Unconditional 3 year warranty – and a lifetime warranty for the phone housing with immediate in-store replacement if needed – the XP1 is the only phone that doesn't compromise on capability, durability or style.

Joakim Wiklund, co-founder of Sonim Technologies comments: "Research commissioned by us indicated that 70% of outdoor workers refrain from using their phones in the workplace because the phone might break, and 40% have broken their mobile phone in the last year, and common reasons are damage from humidity, dropping and crushing the phone. We are aiming to provide a solution to this problem."

A venture capital programme has been set up by Telefónica's Executive Committee to support the company's innovation strategy and has already signed up three pioneering start-ups.  By the end of 2008 there will be approximately 10 to 12 companies in Telefónica's strategic portfolio.

Russ Shaw, Director of Innovation at Telefónica SA said: "The primary focus of the VC programme is to find the very best-of-breed innovators out there – vibrant, young start up companies that can bring new experiences, capabilities, and technologies to Telefónica and our customers".

The three investments made to date have been mobile advertising solutions specialist Amobee, user recognition innovator GestureTek, and multimedia social networking specialist Kyte. 

GestureTek has been selected as a finalist in the 2008 GSMA Mobile Innovation Global Awards for its innovative gesture-controlled mobile gaming and navigation software, EyeMobile Engine. Fifteen finalists were selected from several hundred entrants worldwide. Award winners will be announced during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

EyeMobile is the world's first gesture-controlled user-interface for mobile devices, providing camera phone users with the ability to play games, scroll menu items, navigate maps and browse web pages simply by tilting or moving their mobile phones. 

Shaw added: "The focus of the innovation agenda is to help the company to find new revenue streams and ways to differentiate the customer experience.  Although a financial return is important, the main focal point is to find companies who have a strategic fit with Telefónica in key areas of potential future growth.  A collaborative working relationship between the start-up and the various Telefónica operating businesses is encouraged right from the very outset".

Telefónica takes a minority interest in each start up, and once the deal is closed, each start-up is assigned to a Telefónica Business Sponsor who will work closely with the company to ensure that it is getting the support and access that it needs within the Telefónica family of companies.

ChangingWorlds, specialist in Personalization and Content Discovery techniques for mobile data, today announced the launch of its new solution for off portal personalization – ClixSmart Discover – at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. 

ClixSmart Discover enables mobile operators to intelligently personalize the 'invisible' 90% of off-portal content including content catalogues, content partner sites, networked content applications and freely available Mobile Internet content. ClixSmart Discover forms part of the ClixSmart Mobile Internet Platform which includes sophisticated reporting as well as the profiling and personalization of Mobile Internet content.

ClixSmart Discover uses an off-portal subscriber intelligence engine which actively monitors users' off-portal browsing habits in order to analyze emerging behaviour patterns. This enables mobile operators to build in-depth business intelligence on the likes and preferences of individual portal users browsing off-portal.

The intelligence gained from tracking off portal behaviour enables the personalization of off-portal advertising, off-portal content discovery, off-portal content recommendations and intelligent off-portal search.

Speaking today, Professor Barry Smyth, Co-Founder & Chief Scientist for ChangingWorlds said "As in the case of 'on-portal' browsing, the promise of open internet browsing on the mobile device with restricted user interface and limited screen size also presents significant content discovery and usability challenges for end-users. In fact the challenges are significantly greater. Our new solution for off Portal Personalization, ClixSmart Discover, extends the usability benefits of our proven ClixSmart personalization to off portal browsing applications ensuring easy information access for subscribers and an overall enhanced
experience." 

ClixSmart Discover enhances ClixSmart Intelligent Navigation (the automatic reorganization of the portal menu according to individual usage patterns) by enabling a subscriber's favourite off-portal services to be promoted onto the mobile operator's portal, in a similar fashion to promotion of on-portal services.

This enriches the on-portal browsing experience providing subscribers with direct simple access to their favourite off-portal services, thus increasing traffic and revenue for the mobile operator.

Also speaking today, ChangingWorlds CEO, David Moran said "ClixSmart Discover benefits mobile operators through increased mobile data usage, reinforcing the mobile operator's brand identity and providing more opportunity to target users with relevant advertisements based on their off-portal browsing and content consumption. End users also benefit from increased awareness of available services so they can quickly discover relevant off-portal content. This increased content consumption leads to greater data revenues for the mobile operator."

Vodafone is carrying out technical trials of 3G femtocells to assess how effectively the technology is able to deliver wireless high-speed data and voice services inside homes and business locations.

Vodafone is currently carrying out technical trials in Spain with both Alcatel-Lucent and Huawei to explore the potential of femtocells, which are wireless access points supporting 3G devices and connecting to the core network via broadband DSL.

Based on the trials, Vodafone anticipates that femtocell technology may potentially enable it to offer its customers highly targeted propositions for the home and office offering enhanced indoor coverage.

Vodafone is also exploring whether the deployment of femtocells could generate greater cost efficiencies through the provision of highly targeted 3G broadband coverage using DSL technology to connect the customer to the core network.

"Vodafone has been driving industry development of femtocell technology, and the trials with Alcatel-Lucent and Huawei are an opportunity for us to assess how much benefit it can bring to our customers," said Andy MacLeod, Global Networks Director of Vodafone. "Femtocells have the potential to enhance customers' 3G broadband experience, and the trials are critical to investigate whether the technology can deliver on its promise."

Vodafone continues to offer its customers high speed 3G broadband through its current access technologies including 3G and HSPA offering speeds of up to 7.2 Mbps in selected hotspots. Vodafone is continuously assessing new ways to exploit these technologies further and also exploring the potential of next-generation technologies that could offer wireless broadband speeds in excess of 50 Mbps.

Purple Labs, a leading supplier of embedded Linux solutions for mobile phones, announced today that its new Purple Magic feature phone has received LiMo Foundation certification. The 3G Linux phone is a LiMo Platform Type I device, and will serve as a reference product for ODMs and phone manufacturers wanting to accelerate time to market for low-cost 3G handsets.

"We are proud to have created the first LiMo-compliant feature phone," stated Simon Wilkinson, chief executive officer of Purple Labs. "Certification of Purple Magic is a significant milestone for LiMo, and reflects our shared commitment to drive Linux into mass-market phones."

Founded in January 2007 by industry leaders Motorola, NEC, NTT DoCoMo, Panasonic Mobile Communications, Samsung Electronics and Vodafone, LiMo Foundation aims to create a rich ecosystem based on Linux, which will enable compelling and differentiated services for mobile users. Earlier this year, Purple Labs became the first commercial Linux platform for feature phones to join the consortium.

"We are delighted that Purple Labs is making a rapid contribution to our open mobile initiative," said Morgan Gillis, executive director, LiMo Foundation. "The Purple Magic design now makes it easier for any handset manufacturer to deliver LiMo-compliant feature phones – this will further accelerate mass adoption of LiMo as the leading global mobile Linux platform."

The Purple Magic phone developed by Purple Labs is based on NXP Semiconductors Nexperia Cellular System Solution 7210 for 3G and was unveiled last month by the two members of the LiMo Foundation as the first sub-$100 3G Linux mobile phone. The Purple Magic is a 3G Linux reference feature phone offering video telephony, music playback, high-speed Internet browsing and video streaming.

"Essentially, we've designed the complete phone – hardware and software – so our manufacturer partners can enter into production quickly, with little investment," added Wilkinson. "The economics of our Linux-based design make Purple Magic ideal for emerging markets like Southeast Asia, as well as first-time mobile users and prepaid users in any country,"

The Purple Magic phone is being exhibited at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain on February 11-14, 2008 at the LiMo Foundation booth (Hall 8 B135) and the NXP booth (Hall 8, B110).

WDSGlobal, in partnership with integrated Mobile Device Management leader InnoPath, has today announced the launch of DeviceUpdate, the mobile industry's first fully managed, pay-per-use FOTA (firmware over-the-air) service. As a hosted solution, including full firmware management, testing and update delivery, DeviceUpdate dramatically lowers the cost of entry for organizations looking to benefit from FOTA capabilities.

FOTA technology allows organizations to deploy firmware updates over-the-air, remotely fixing troublesome handsets, reducing expensive return costs and increasing user adoption of mobile services. DeviceUpdate reshapes the FOTA market by allowing, for the first time, organizations to outsource the entire process of firmware management. This dramatically reduces capex investment and enables organizations to pay only for updates as required.

Uniquely, WDSGlobal, a company with more than ten years of experience supporting mobile users and their devices, will work with DeviceUpdate customers to analyze existing support trends and handset return statistics, helping them to determine the value of initiating a FOTA update against alternative support options.

"As a fully managed service, our job is to help the customer identify exact FOTA requirements based on real-world analysis of support trends, help source the firmware update, test it and then make it available through their existing support channels; such as the contact center or self-serve web portal," explains David Ffoulkes-Jones, CEO at WDSGlobal. "We even analyze risk logs of handset manufacturers' pre-release devices and recommend fixes that should be made available using FOTA at the time of launch. DeviceUpdate is about mobile organizations using FOTA technology to its maximum effect and with maximum efficiency."

DeviceUpdate is fully OMA-DM compliant and utilizes technology from InnoPath, one of the most established players in the FOTA industry. The company pioneered FOTA technology with the world's first commercial deployment and has since conducted tens of millions of firmware upgrades in the field.

"InnoPath, through its Tier 1 operator deployments and handset vendor partnerships, uniquely understands the evolution of the mobile device management space," says John Fazio, CEO of InnoPath. "This announcement focuses on reducing barriers to adoption and is evidence of the leadership role we are playing within OMA-DM, helping to fast-track the deployment of standards-based device management globally."

Within the FOTA market, WDSGlobal believes that efficiencies can be gained from every FOTA session. Information about available FOTA packages is logged and made available to support agents, allowing them to problem solve faster and more efficiently. With easy to use interfaces, DeviceUpdate can also be integrated within self-serve portals. This allows end-users to retrieve their own FOTA updates and manage their own equipment, further reducing ongoing support costs.

"It's important that the use of FOTA technology does not disrupt the user experience and that it overcomes service and device failures quickly and efficiently. Because WDSGlobal operates specialist call centers across four continents, we can apply our expertise to train customers' support agents, ensuring FOTA sessions are performed in-line with end-user expectations for service and quality. That experience is an asset that's simply not available elsewhere within the FOTA market," adds Ffoulkes-Jones.

DeviceUpdate forms part of WDSGlobal's portfolio of mobile device management solutions. The service is available globally to mobile operators (including MVNOs) and handset manufacturers.