China Mobile closes in on iPhone deal

Comments made by China Mobile recently regarding its talks with Apple provided the strongest signal to date that the iPhone could soon be making an appearance in the world's biggest mobile market.

Now Apple is no longer insisting on a revenue-sharing deal, discussions between the pair are focusing on "practical issues", a spokesperson for the Chinese mobile operator told Reuters this week.

However, the source was keen to point out that a deal has not yet been reached, and as such, there is no timetable for the arrival of the handset in China.

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Ofcom advises consumers on mobile use abroad

Ofcom, the U.K. telecoms watchdog Friday published a information advising consumers on how to avoid bill shock when they use their mobile phones and Web dongles abroad.

Most of the tips are fairly obvious, such as finding out how much international calls and Web surfing will cost before you leave, or, checking whether or not calls from abroad are included as part of your monthly minutes bundle.

Yet, there is some advice that some people might be less likely to consider.

They include exploring the possibility of buying a local SIM card that will work in your handset, and contacting your operator immediately if your phone is lost or stolen in order to make sure you're not liable for the cost of any subsequent usage.

Still, the situation is set to change very soon, since next Tuesday is the deadline for operators to cut their international data roaming tariffs as set by EU Commissioner Viviane Reding.

Follow the news as it develops on Total Telecom.

In the meantime, anyone heading off on holiday with a phone or USB modem in tow can look up Ofcom's travel tips here, and even watch a helpful accompanying video here.

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Virgin Mobile-Helio deal this week?

Reports are once again circulating that Virgin Mobile USA will acquire SK Telecom's
Helio subsidiary.

The Financial Times reported that an announcement from both companies could be made this week.

Rumours circulated in May that Virgin and Helio were discussing strategic opportunities, although neither company was prepared to comment on the speculation.

What's more there were further signs this week that Helio is struggling in the U.S. market.

The operator listed a number of stores across the country that will close this week.

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I like surfing in my car...

If you think driving while using a mobile phone is pretty dangerous, read on.

In-car WiFi will become a reality next year, with U.S. car manufacturer Chrysler seen unveiling its UConnect Web System for cars later this week, U.K. WiFi specialists BWCS reported today. And according to the analyst firm, Chrysler plans to include the WiFi system into certain models from next year.

The Microsoft-backed system will essentially turn cars into WiFi hotspots, enabling occupants to access the Internet from the dashboard. The service will be provided by mobile phone networks and car owners will be charged a monthly fee for using it.

In theory, the system will allow drivers, as well as passengers, to surf the net while on the road, but to us that just sounds like a Darwin Award waiting to happen... or at least a mention in Total Telecom's weekly Totally Trivial column!

By the way, the Americans aren't the only ones keen to provide drivers with another reason to take their eyes off the road... once the radio's tuned, the kids have been silenced, and you've rescued that wayward piece of Ginsters pasty that was threatening to get lost between the seats, that is.

Germany's BMW has also demo-ed an in-car Internet system, but has not said when it is likely to become commercially available.

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Telecom Blogs?

I was looking at the website for this years Webby Awards and found a specific category for Telecommunications.

Focus is clearly consumer and perhaps 'telecom' in the broadest possible sense, but the winners and shortlist makes interesting reading:

Winner
Sidekick Wiki a community site for T-Mobiles sidekick handsets

People's Voice Winner
Sony Bravia- clearly one of the more vague definitions of telecom - isn't this a TV?

Nominees
Boost Mobile RockCorps - still no clearer what this is all about, so you'll have to decide for yourself - but some form of JV with Boost Mobile I think

Nokia Jealous Computers - spoof to support the Nokia N95 campaign, what computers have become

Nokia Picture Poetry a picture competition for Club Nokia members.

Proof if any is needed that creative marketing is alive and well in this space. Wonder if all the effort was reflected in increased sales??

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iPhone Obsession

It's official - well according to TT stats - we are obsessed with the iPhone.

Top stories on Total Telecom for June so far are:

3G iPhone unveiled… and it's cheaper
and
O2 UK bolsters WiFi hotspots ahead of 3G iPhone

and these have generated 25% more requests than the next most popular story. Not only that, but 'iPhone' has appeared in 40 TT stories so far this month.

Just in case anyone is in any doubt, there has been other news - but apparently Apple did something with the iPhone...

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Google like it's 1999

Google like it's 1999 - Engadget

This photo on engadget perhaps illustrates why Google has become scary. This is reputedly all the hardware used to run Google in 1999, whilst in a Forbes article last year Scott McNealy of Sun is quoted as saying Google purchased around 15% of all computer servers worldwide in 2006. Ouch!

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The search is on

So we're up and running, the search is on for telecoms Person of the Decade.

This year we celebrate 10 years of the World Communication Awards and to mark this milestone we will seek to identify the Person of the Decade.

The choice will be a public vote from a shortlist of 10, but right now we need to know who will make the shortlist.

We've asked the judges of the 2008 WCA for their nominations and the 'usual suspects' are in the frame, but we're also asking the industry to nominate who they think is the Person of the Decade.

Make sure your person of the decade is included, nominate today!

As food for thought, some of those in the frame are:

• Arun Sarin
• Bill Gates
• John Chambers
• Jorma Ollila
• Larry Page
• Steve Jobs
• Viviane Reding

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6 million iPhones sold

Well, needless to say by now, Steve Jobs did indeed unveil the 3G version of the iPhone at the Worldwide Developers Conference 2008 yesterday.

And Total Telecom was right there covering that announcement ("right there" as in, glued to a computer screen in London, just waiting to bring you the latest from San Fran), so check out the site for more info.

In the meantime, here's a bit more from the event.

As we suggested yesterday, Jobs revealed that Apple sold 6 million iPhones globally in the past year since launch. Officially the handset is available in six markets, although Jobs made reference to the fact that there are iPhone users in many other countries, using a graphic to demonstrate the migration paths of the handset.

That graphic gave rise to my favourite quote from Macworld, which provided brilliant up-to-the-minute coverage of Jobs' speech last night: "The iPhone is apparently taking over the world, or at least winning at Risk."

Jobs also addressed the cost issue. Prior to revealing that the 3G iPhone would be priced at $199 and $299 for 8GB and 16GB versions respectively, the Apple CEO told the audience that 56% of people who didn't buy iPhones said that was because it was too expensive.

Time will tell whether the lower price drives take-up. Analysts are already predicting that as a result of the cost-cut, Apple is well on course to meet its 10 million target for this year. And Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster told Dow Jones Newswires: "We're much more comfortable now projecting Apple will sell 45 million next year."

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Will he or won't he?

Will we really see a 3G version of the iPhone later today? Most people think so, but Apple has surprised the industry before.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs is due to take the stage at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco at 6pm (U.K. time). Until then, it's all just speculation.

Many people expect Jobs to present a 3G version of the device and to reveal more flexible pricing options for the phone... specifically, to allow subsidisation of handsets in a bid to reach its 10 million units in 2008 target. It also seems likely Jobs will announce new sales figures for the iconic phone. Has Apple hit the 6 million mark?

The industry also expects various announcements on new iPhone software... but that's not to say the company will completely overlook the Mac at this year's event. There has been talk of the latest version of the Mac operating system - OS X 10.6 - despite the fact that Leopard (10.5) has not long been with us.

Any guesses on what they're going to call this one? Velociraptor.., duck-billed platypus.., Labradoodle, maybe?

Sadly, most of the predictions I've seen lately are plumping for Snow Leopard. Frankly, that just seems a bit dull.

Anyway, keep an eye on Total Telecom later for all the answers.

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Global smartphone growth driven by U.S.

The number of smartphones sold to end-users globally rose by 29% on-year to 32.2 million in the first quarter of this year, with handset giant Nokia growing faster than the market, according to new statistics published by Gartner.

The analyst firm reported that smartphones accounted for 11% of the global mobile device market in Q1.

Sales in EMEA reached 11.7 million units during the quarter, up 38.7%, while smartphone sales in North America rose by a massive 106.2% to 7.3 million units.

On a global basis, Nokia claims a 45% share of the smartphone market, recording growth of 25% in Q1. The Finnish vendor is the market leader in most markets, with the exception of the U.S., where number two player worldwide RIM is a more popular choice. The BlackBerry maker is hot on Nokia's heels globally though, with 1 42% market share.

And - heaven forbid we fail to mention the iPhone in a blog post - Apple comes in at number three globally with a 5.3% share, having sold 1.72 million handsets. The iPhone has a sizeable 20% of the U.S. smartphone market.

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VON Dot Gone?

A sad indictment of what happens when the plug is pulled is pulled on a company without much warning. In the 2 months since it started becoming common knowledge that VON was no more, there have been over 100 mostly sympathetic posts against Om Maliks article on Gigaom. However now the tide has turned as it appears the potential attendees to VONs Amsterdam event were treated less well:

For example, Beate said:

I wonder why nobody from (ex-) Pulver Media was concerned enough to inform the pre-registered visitors that the VON.x Amsterdam would not take place… reveals a telling lack of esteem and an absolutely unfair attitude towards their (ex-) business contacts respectively.

Having flown to Amsterdam, my colleague and I were not very amused to find out right outside the fairgrounds´ doors that the event was cancelled. At least we were not the only ones but met other people from several European countries who got stuck there as well.

VON seemed to have a mostly good following amongst those interested in VoIP in our industry, but if the rumours are true that TICC will try to sell VON to recover [some] of their money - this certainly isn't cultivating good feeling for the future.

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U.K. Sidekick Slide users get MySpace

A MySpace Mobile application is now available to T-Mobile Sidekick Slide users in the U.K., it emerged Tuesday, although there was no formal announcement from either Microsoft, which now owns Sidekick creator Danger, or T-Mobile itself.

In a nutshell, the application gives end users a better MySpace social networking experience, providing push, rather than pull, access to the service.

The Sidekick has yet to really take off in the U.K., although it has gained considerable traction in the U.S. The Slide, which was brought to market by T-Mobile UK in October last year, is the first Sidekick device to be manufactured by Motorola, rather than Danger's previous partner, Sharp.

There are no publicly available figures for the number of Sidekick Slide users in the U.K., but they are thought to be fairly few and far between. So essentially this looks like a bid to boost the popularity of the device this side of the pond.

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iPhone: The losers

You may have read last week on Total Telecom that Harald Neidhardt, CMO and co-founder of mobile advertising platform company Smaato, gave an interesting presentation at Visiongain's iPhone conference here in London.

At the event he presented the results of a survey carried out by Rubicon Consulting which, among other things, asked U.S. iPhone users what their previous handset had been. Moto's RAZR came out top and... well, the story's here for those who missed it, now updated with more stats from Rubicon.

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