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Mobile phones steal the show
Powerful new mobile phones, and Microsoft's "iPod killer", were stars of the CeBit show
Ashley Norris
Monday March 22, 2004
The CeBit 2004 exhibition held last week in Hanover certainly threw up some interesting stories. We witnessed one of the most impressive 3G demonstrations so far, a pair of innovative handsets from a rather unlikely source, and what some people are calling "Microsoft's iPod killer".
While almost every area of IT was represented at the huge show, the limelight was inevitably stolen by mobile phones. Perhaps the most impressive display was the enormous Vodafone stand where delegates couldn't move for company staff demonstrating 3G handsets.
Vodafone in Germany is slightly ahead of the UK in terms of 3G, with its Mobile Connect Card (basically a 3G card that fits into laptops) already rolled out to corporates and soon available to consumers.
While we are sure that Vodafone would have taken every step to ensure its 3G network at Hanover was functioning as well as possible, its demo was nevertheless very impressive, with excellent quality streamed video and speedy access to web pages.
Just as impressive was the parading of the company's first 3G handset for consumers - the Samsung Z105. With its clamshell design and large screen it looks more like a slightly chunkier version of the Vodafone/Sharp GPRS camera phone the GX20. Yet that's where the similarities end.
For, incorporated into the Vodafone Live web portal, were features far too bandwidth-hungry for existing GPRS networks.
Like many other 3G handsets the phone features person to person video calling and in terms of its quality it was at least as good as the current range of phones offered by Three. The only weakness is that users have to use a headset to hear the other person speaking.
Yet to many Germans the phone's killer application is the phone's ability to stream video programming. Unlike UK 3G network Three, which offers a range of short clips of Premiership goals that can either be streamed or downloaded to the handset, Vodafone was showing whole games of streamed football from both the German equivalent of the Premiership (the Bundesliga) and the Champions League.
Vodafone in the UK wouldn't confirm if it was going to offer this type of football video in this way in the UK, or even in Germany for that matter. But it does seem a little odd to parade an application at a high profile trade show and then not launch it.
Were the company able to offer live, or more likely, near-live streaming of high-profile matches, it would surely tempt at least some football-mad customers into upgrading to 3G handsets.
We are likely to find out more about Vodafone's 3G strategy for the UK in the next few weeks.
Over at the stands of Vodafone's rival network O2 was another surprise, namely the unveiling of pair of new mobile phone handsets. Last year the company offered a low-end camera phone, the X1. It claimed that no existing high profile manufacturer could supply a handset that fitted the network's requirements -a clamshell camera phone that could be given away to monthly subscribers and sold cheaply to pay as you customers. So it used a third party manufacturer to fashion its own model.
For 2004 02 is delivering a pair of own-brand handsets as well. The first, the X2, is a direct replacement for the X1, with a better screen, camera and interface. More interesting is the X3, which sees O2 take on phones from established players like Nokia, Motorola and Siemens.
Manufactured by Taiwanese company BenQ, the X3 combines a state of the art 262K-colour screen with a 1.3-mega-pixel camera. In theory at least it should take higher resolution images than either the Sharp GX30 or Nokia 7610 - both of which have one-mega pixel cameras. It also features an MP3 player and comes with simple access to O2's Wap portal.
O2 wouldn't say how much it is likely to sell for when it launches it in early summer, but you can bet that it'll come in way under the price of similarly specified rival handsets.
O2 also wasn't saying what percentage of handsets it sells that it would like to sport the O2 brand. But if the X2 and X3 meet the company's expectations, it could be bad news for established mobile phone makers, who are already operating in a very competitive market.
Away from mobiles CeBIT also saw Microsoft commit to launching its Personal Media Center (PMC) devices in Europe in the summer. Dubbed, at least by certain sections of the press, the "iPod killers", the devices from Creative and iRiver pair a 40 Gigabyte hard disk with a 3-4inch LCD screen. They use Microsoft software to enable consumers to transfer video, images and music from Windows XP devices so they can view and hear their content on the go.
The devices themselves, especially the Creative Zen Portable Media Center, look rather cool and deserve praise for their high-resolution screens and simple-to-operate interfaces. Where they could come unstuck though is they are only compatible with video stored in the Windows Media format and not MPEG4, the most popular, compressed video format.
And while in the US there are websites like CinemaNow (www.cinemanow.com) which enable users to download new-ish movies in Windows Media which can then be transferred to the devices, there is no equivalent online movie shop in Europe.
So the PMCs are certainly no iPod killers. But if Microsoft can kick-start legitimate movie downloads in the Windows Media format in Europe, it may find itself with a product that will - at least - steal a little of Apple's market share.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/news/0,12597,1175187,00.html
by Rich Brome
March 21-24, 2004
CTIA Wireless is North America's premier cell phone event. In past years, the event was associated closely with CDMA and TDMA, due to the dominanace of those standards in the Americas. But with the recent rise of GSM in this part of the world, CTIA Wireless has become a more diverse show. And with the recent emergence of EDGE, PTT, and EV-DO as U.S.-centric technologies, CTIA Wireless is quickly becoming one of the world's most important technology events.
This year, Atlanta is the host city. Last year's show in New Orleans saw such exciting announcements as Verizon's plans to launch EV-DO commercially, and LG's first GSM phones for the U.S. New phones announced included the Samsung A600, Sanyo 8100, Kyocera Slider, Audiovox 8900, and Danger's color-display Hiptop.
This year's show is expected to see the launch of even more new phones, including the Kyocera Koi, Audiovox 8610, and a whopping 14 new models from LG, including the VX-8000, the country's first EV-DO phone.
Last year's hot topics were Push-To-Talk and camera phones. If last week's announcements at the CeBIT show in Hannover are any indication, megapixel camera phones will be 2004's hot topic. Two other technologies expected to grab headlines are EDGE and EV-DO. And finally, with AT&T Wireless planning to launch WCDMA in several cities as early as July, it's possible that America's first WCDMA phones could be unveiled at CTIA.
Check back throughout the week for Phone Scoop's daily reports from the show floor in Atlanta.
http://www.phonescoop.com/articles/ctia_2004/index.php
Mobile trade show to focus on basics
The CTIA trade show being held at Atlanta will offer a snapshot into the hopes and fears of an industry halfway into a five-year, multibillion dollar upgrade to video and Internet.
Monday, March 22, 2004
Eric Auchard
ATLANTA: Gee-whiz gadgetry like TV on cell phones will be overshadowed by more pedestrian concerns like on-the-go convenience and fewer dropped calls as the U.S. wireless industry meets this week for its big annual showcase.
The Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association (CTIA) trade show here beginning Monday will offer a snapshot into the hopes and fears of an industry halfway into a five-year, multibillion dollar upgrade to video and Internet networks.
Hundreds of companies will tease conference goers with glimpses of a world of ubiquitous high-speed Internet connections, with full-length movies running on cell phones and Palm devices that can remotely control a stove.
And while TV and photos over phones are common in Korea and Japan and set to take off in Europe later this year, the United States is still in the early stages of building networks to handle such services.
As the industry tries to fix common problems like dropped calls and fuzzy connections, they seek to lure consumers to new phones with a taste of future technology -- at some risk.
"The industry constantly forgets that new technology takes a long time to mature," said Herschel Shosteck, chairman of the Shosteck Group, a Wheaton, Maryland, research firm that has tracked the wireless industry for two decades.
The U.S. is luring customers with transitional features like phone-based traffic maps for drivers, more musical-sound ringtones, or "push-to-talk" service talk that expands on Nextel Communications Inc.'s walkie-talkie-like service.
The U.S. is finally enjoying two-way text messaging, a substitute for e-mail over computers -- a feature years behind many other countries.
VERIZON NETWORK PUSH
Pushing the industry to make good on its promises, Verizon Wireless, the largest U.S. wireless service provider, is expected to detail which network equipment makers could win contracts to stretch its high-speed network beyond Washington and San Diego to other cities.
Verizon plans to spend an additional $1 billion to expand its high-speed 1x-EVDO network. It wants to emulate the Korean mobile phone industry, which three years ago pioneered the move to EVDO, or Evolutionary Data Optimization.
EVDO networks can handle TV, videoconferencing and other data-intensive features. "For any of these services, you have to have the right phones in place. And that takes time," Shosteck said.
In a keynote speech, John Chambers, the chief executive of Cisco Systems Inc., the world's top maker of network gear, is expected to argue the industry needs to upgrade to Internet gear so it can afford the planned overhaul.
Scott McNealy, CEO of Sun Microsystems Inc., a major supplier of computers that run communications networks, is expected to announce a series of security and software deals with wireless phone and handheld computer makers.
The computer maker, which a decade ago pioneered the Java technology that is used in mobile phones to download video games and other software, will unveil deals where Java-based technology allows business travelers to work wirelessly.
FRAGMENTING FUNCTIONS
Behind the scenes, mobile carriers such as Verizon, Cingular and Sprint are focusing on marketing and trying to contract out network operation, antenna tower construction and billing.
This specialization is giving rise to a new class of carriers who rent capacity from the established network operators. These so-called "mobile virtual network operators," or MVNOs are taking heart from the success of Virgin Mobile, which last week said it had 1.75 million U.S. subscribers.
Meanwhile, start-ups are aiming to disrupt the comfortable industry consensus with a range of new competitive technologies.
Dozens of smaller players will show clever ways to offer advanced features like video conferencing on cell phones by stretching the limits of current networks.
Polycom, a leading maker of deskbound conference calling equipment, will unveil an instant group calling feature similar to the "push-to-talk" service, but does not require any new network equipment.
T-Mobile USA, the fifth largest mobile phone service and leading supplier of short-range "Wi-Fi" communications now popping up in cafes and airports, aims to help computers hop from one Wi-Fi location to another.
Kineto Wireless will demonstrate a new class of phones that switch seamlessly between Wi-Fi hot spots and mobile phone networks.
With all the new phones and services coming on line, the industry on Monday will unveil a new push to recycle not just rechargeable batteries but old cell phones as well.
http://www.ciol.com/content/news/2004/104032202.asp
CTIA Wireless 2004: Largest Trade Show of Its Kind Comes to Atlanta
Special To LTW
Posted: 03/22/2004 12:49 AM
ATLANTA - The Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association (CTIA) kicks off its CTIA Wireless 2004 conference today, billing it as the largest wireless trade show in the world.
This year, the three-day show will take place at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, a hotbed for wireless companies, from Air2Web and Cingular to MetroPCS and XcelleNet.
In attendance at CTIA Wireless 2004 will be industry leaders, regulators, technologists and reporters from all over the world discussing the latest trends and products.
CTIA's Wireless Widgets Showcase, for example, will house a collection of the latest and greatest in wireless. This year, attendees can also vote for their favorite wireless widget, via text messaging, for the first time.
"Everyone is interested in the next, new thing, and today's greatest gadgets are wireless. The Wireless Widget showcase is a glimpse into the phones, headsets, applications, chargers and other tools and toys that consumers and businesses will be seeing in the months to come," said CTIA President and CEO Steve Largent. "The Widgets showcase is where wireless trends come to life in full color and sound. You can experiment with the latest wireless innovations and better understand the future of the wireless industry."
Some of the products in the Wireless Widgets Showcase include the new 6620 Imaging Phone from Nokia, which has a digital camera, video, RealOne player, Bluetooth, instant messaging, and Edge capability; the AirCard 775 from Sierra Wireless, featuring anywhere-access to Edge, GPRS and GSM networks; Motorola's DC600 wireless adaptor, which provides a quick way to turn non-Bluetooth enabled Motorola phones into enabled devices; and the Hiptop Communicator from Danger Inc. that includes Internet access, email with attachment capabilities, messaging and digital camera accessory.
Other new offerings on showcase will be the NASCAR Cup Series i736 wireless phones from Nextel, with car-racing wallpapers, ring tones and applications; the P900 from Sony Ericsson, which connects to a user's PC or Mac for downloads and file transfers and includes a CommuniCorder for capturing digital images or video clips; the SCH-i600 from Samsung and Verizon Wireless, an all-in-one device that provides applications from Microsoft Windows including Internet Explorer, MSN Messenger and more; and the Sprint PCS Vision Video Phone VM4500, a walkie-talkie phone that allows users to take and receive pictures, digital video clips, browse the Internet.
Wearable wireless: ‘Fashion In Motion'
For the fourth year at CTIA Wireless, Fashion in Motion incorporates wireless Internet technology into fashion, lifestyle, health, and security applications. It is the premier showcase for wearable wireless and Internet technology, organizers say.
"Wireless technology has inspired new products and features in the technology, clothing and accessory industries and Fashion in Motion brings that all together," Largent says. "Models in this couture style runway show wear the latest in high fashion while displaying mobile devices demonstrating the hottest items on the market today as well as the most futuristic technology of tomorrow."
This year's Fashion In Motion stage will feature, among other things, designs by Alexandra Fede, a world-renowned designer considered the first Scientific Fashion Designer specializing in applying research and technology to fashion. Fede will showcase her latest creations, produced by Mario Boselli Holding. These collections are produced with para-aramidic fibers, technical fibers like polypropylene, microfilament of polyamide, nano-technology, and integrated microelectronics.
Fashion in Motion also will display wearable wonders from the Topological Media Lab at Georgia Tech. The student design group will present garments whose textures of sound and light dance to the wearer's movement and gesture and use a broad spectrum of body-imaging and sensing technologies, from fiber optics to TinyOS wireless sensor platforms.
Pinpoint CEO to participate in events
Jud Bowman, president and CEO of mobile content sourcing firm Pinpoint Networks in Durham, will be a featured presenter at CTIA Wireless 2004.
Bowman will be part of a CTIA panel of experts discussing content distribution on Tuesday, from 3:30 to 5:30 PM. He will join experts from RealNetworks, Sprint PCS and a number of other wireless technology companies.
An experienced industry speaker, Bowman has spoken at more than a dozen industry events in his career. He most recently spoke at the International Wireless Symposium in September of 2003, where he presented "The Eight Simple Rules For Mobile Application Delivery."
Pinpoint has earned a reputation as a technology innovator in the wireless industry, and has received recognition for its work. In October 2003, Deloitte & Touche named the firm as one of the top 25 Rising Stars in North America. In September 2003, Technology Review, MIT's Magazine of Innovation, recognized Bowman as one of the world's 100 Top Young Innovators.
CTIA Wireless 2004: www.ctiawireless2004.com
http://www.localtechwire.com/article.cfm?u=7516
MSFT OS vs. Symbian OS Update:
Symbian OS 7.0 increases focus on smartphones: February 20, 2002, 16:33 GMT
"..The company tends to keep a low profile, letting the mobile phone makers that are its main backers take the limelight, but the Symbian OS has continued to quietly spread into new mobile models. And while the hype in the wireless industry has shifted away from pie-in-the-sky futuristic designs to the bottom line, Symbian has stepped up its offerings for more consumer-oriented devices that offer money-making opportunities for handset makers..."
"..Nokia announced last November that Matsushita, which owns the Panasonic brand, would licence Series 60 and Symbian OS Japanese handsets..."
"..For now, the company -- like the rest of the European wireless industry -- must content itself with preparing for the eventual arrival of data networks, when competition is expected to heat up..."
"..Our aim is to get every mobile phone manfuacturer making phones based on Symbian OS, hopefully all their phones.."
Microsofts OS:
1. Waking up MSFT: http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=2641653
2. Microsoft to 'Tie' New Search Engine Rather than Settle E.U. Charges (March 18th)
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=2640698
3. Bill Gates still does not take seriously cell phone industry
March 18, 2004 [General]
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=2631059
5. Microsoft-EU antitrust talks collapse Date:3/18/2004 9:18:48 AM
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=2628089
6. MSFT vs. Symbian (Nokia)
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=2618916
7. Microsoft presents bar code solution for smartphone
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=2617895
(Details)First auto-focus camera phone from NTT DoCoMo: 10th November 2003
NTT DoCoMo today announced the release of the mova P505iS handset, which according to an investigation by Panasonic, the manufacturer of the handset, is the world's first camera phone equipped with auto focus.http://www.infosyncworld.com/news/n/4293.html
Panasonic's first handset to use Symbian OS: February 25, 2004
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=2649443
Panasonic's first handset to use Symbian OS:
Panasonic X700 Symbian Series 60 Smartphone
Wednesday February 25, 2004 10:14 AM EST
Source: Panasonic
Panasonic Mobile introduced their flagship model for 2004 at 3GSM World Congress, the X700 smartphone. This compact digital camera phone, with video capability, comes in Panasonic's stylish clamshell design and supports miniSD cards. The X700 utilises Symbian OS, based on open standards, and the Series 60 Platform. Shipments across Europe are scheduled to begin Autumn 2004.
Jim Marion, President of Panasonic's U.S Wireless Design Center, responsible for developing the X700, says: "The X700 will appeal to the increasing number of users requiring compact and stylish mobile phones for their business, as well as personal, needs. Supporting the miniSDTM card and Symbian OS, the X700 smartphone allows users to view and edit presentations and documents, which can then be seamlessly connected to other AV equipment. In addition, the X700's digital camera, video, email and multimedia messaging capabilities make this model one of the most technically advanced mobile phones on the market."
Applications on the move
The X700 supports a series of pre-loaded applications. Users can view and edit native Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents on their handset. The miniSD card provides additional memory to store these files and by using the miniSD adapter can easily link these to other Panasonic AV equipment. In addition, an imaging application, that is also included, enables users to edit photos taken with the handset's high quality camera. Using the X700's Java capability, the user can download further applications, polyphonic ring tones and games.
Technically advanced
The X700 is Panasonic's first handset to use Symbian OS and the Series 60 Platform, which are increasingly bringing advanced mobile data services to the mass market. The X700 is also one of the first clamshell smartphones to offer a full colour sub display and picture CLI (Call Line Identification). Symbian OS and Series 60 are driving open standards for global network interoperability with mobile networks, content applications and services.
"The stylish X700's compact form and advanced capabilities make it one of the most appealing tri-band smartphones for consumer and business users," said Morgan Gillis, Executive Vice President of Sales, Symbian. "Panasonic's expertise in the miniaturisation of consumer electronics has resulted in driving down the size and weight of the Symbian OS smartphone - one of the most technically advanced mobile products in the market."
"The Series 60 Platform is targeted at encompassing two factors crucial for the success of advanced mobile devices: product differentiation and underlying application compatibility. The X700 smartphone by Panasonic is an impressive device that fully utilizes the capabilities of Series 60," says Pertti Korhonen, Chief Technology Officer, Nokia.
Picture perfect
Users will experience clearer pictures with the X700's built-in VGA digital camera, photo light and 65,536 colour Thin Film Transistor (TFT) display screen. The handset's editing capabilities allow users to enhance the quality of these images further and with the miniSD card, storing these files is not a problem. The X700 also offers the new and exciting feature of video capture, download and playback.
Technical elegance
As well as being one of the most advanced GSM handsets on the market, the X700 is one of the smallest and lightest smartphones available. Its stylish and elegant clamshell design, with full colour sub display, will appeal to mobile professionals, who will be able to use the X700 for a combination of business and personal activities.
Communicate with ease
The X700 supports MMS, email and Bluetooth, allowing users to send photos and documents to a PC or MMS enabled phone. Its Bluetooth capability also allows wireless connectivity through a Bluetooth hands-free headset and when connecting remotely through a laptop1 . In addition, its tri-band capabilities means users can take advantage of the X700's features and services while abroad. The X700 also features one of the first speaker independent voice recognition systems, to ease the dialling of numbers from the phonebook and to control some of the functions in the phone, all without having to train it first.
http://www.mobilemag.com/content/100/340/C2520/
Camera Phones w/4xDigitalZoom coming soon:
Sendo X:
http://www.symbian.com/phones/sendo_x.html
Motorola A1000
http://www.symbian.com/phones/mot_a1000.html
Nokia 7610:
http://www.symbian.com/phones/nokia_7610.html
2xDigital Zoom:
Nokia 6620
http://www.symbian.com/phones/nokia_6620.html
"...There will be camera cell phones with built in zoom lens soon enough! Go find the manufacturer who is currently designing one and you will know who Neom is actively talking too!
Good Luck to all!..." ~RetiredandPlaying
"...We currently work with the Nokia 3650, and expect to announce versions of PaperClick For Cell Phones for more popular camera phones from Nokia and other leading manufacturers over the next year..."
Refer to:
http://www.neom.com/corporate/press/2003/20030908.jsp
http://www.symbian.com/phones/index.html#7610
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=2648215
NeoMedia@CTIA w/Symbian!?
Symbian At booth 4665, Hall B5
1."..Symbian and its partners are demonstrating applications.."
2."..Running on the newest Symbian OS handsets.."
More Details:
1. NeoMedia Technologies is a Symbian™ Platinum Partner:
2. New Nokia megapixel phone: the 7610
"..Nokia grabbed the spotlight at CeBIT 2004 with the introduction of the sleek Nokia 7610 imaging device, the company's first megapixel camera phone."
"...The megapixel (1152 X 864) camera features a high-quality lens, 4x digital zoom[/u, and a self-timer. The Nokia 7610 imaging device also allows users to capture images in low-light conditions..."
"..With a wide selection of applications designed for Series 60 based devices, people can customize their Nokia 7610 imaging phones with the applications they require to be most creative...."
Refer to:
http://www.symbian.com/
http://www.symbian.com/partners/partners.html
http://www.symbian.com/news/2004/pr040317.html
"Teruaki Aoki, a senior executive vice-president at Sony, said that he foresees wide adoption of the technology as a bridge between consumer electronic devices: for example from mobile phones to DVD players." (Other Example: Frog dissection video clip linked to a students book)
Thats the same example Fritz used Mar 1rst on NBC-8.
WFLA-TV (NBC-8) aired covered PaperClick on Mar 1, 2004.
http://www.neom.com/products/paperclick/videoNbc8.jsp
Students urged to say 'no' to dissection
http://rds.yahoo.com/search/news/S=53720272/K=frog+dissection/v=2/SID=w/l=NSR/R=2/SIG=1196d0eam/*-ht....
Yucky' biology class ritual easier with ‘frogguts.com'
http://www.mtstandard.com/articles/2004/03/04/newsbutte_top/hjjfjgjejjeijd.txt
Remember HP's CoolTown?
High-tech classroom tools wow teachers
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/auto/epaper/editions/saturday/local_news_04b5cca9747e....
RE: NeoMedia is listed at CTIA Booth 3268, then I guess we are "launching" in North America Monday.
It would make sense for a CTIA+CeBIT PR combo. A back to back UK+USA launch. w/a bit more info included for us longs:
NeoMedia Micro Paint should set a good example for major brands. Why not show off PaperClicks capabilities with an in house contract?
RE: NeoMedia is listed at CTIA Booth 3268, then I guess we are "launching" in North America Monday.
Good point Retired. As obvious as that seems to be I missed it some how. I got the impression that they would not luanch in the USA for another few months... (perhaps @ CeBIT America). Maybe I am right and the CTIA is just a preview! Would make sense to me to have major brands signed on before launching in the US. Thinks about it. They luanch in the UK let things marinate a bit.. talk to a few major brands then BAMM!!
Day 1-NeoMedia Sign's LOI with Coke!
Day 2-NeoMedia Sing's LOI with Ford!
(+a few more)
Day 5-PaperClick now running on XXXX
Day 6-NeoMedia Technologies Luanch PaperClick in Italy
Day 7-NeoMedia Technologies Launch PaperClick in Germany
Day 8-NeoMedia Technologies Launch PaperClick in France
Day 9-NeoMedia Technologies Luanch PaperClick in France
Day 10-NeoMedia Techologies Luanch PaperClick in Spain
What do you think?
"The UK will be the lead market closely followed by Italy, Germany, France and Spain."
http://www.biggigstrategies.com/4709/6559.html
"If we didn't get a PR from Neom before CeBIT, there's a reason. That fact that you don't know it yet, doesn't make it a bad reason." ~Retired
"The proper way to run a company is to care about shareholders value, not simply to try and stay alive. There is an opportunity here to raise shareholders value through pring a real world event, Cebit, and neom's participation in it. No matter how your rose colored glasses see things, not pr=ing this event is a mistake." ~joedimaggio_6
Sorry I haven't had much time to attack important issues lately but I have to jump in on Retired's+Joe's convo.
Retired: you hit the nail on the head. Holding long and strong.
joedimaggio_6: You say there is an opportunity to raise shareholders value... but for who? W3 who just jumped in a few days ago? I'm not insulting daytraders but instead making a point. The fact is we are consolidating 700% higher then the previous low of .015. We will move to 1-2$ soon enough. Buyers will flood in then complain that NEOM is not taking care of shareholders while we consolidate for the next run. I find it funny how many judge Neo's success+value by looking @ the present pps. If your going to look @ the pps to indicate anything look where we will go not where we're @. Present price per share is the past!!
By looking @ the chart+comparing it to DD I believe we will move to .15-17 near term then consolidate somewhere lower before the next leg up. Take this with a grain of salt. Things can change anytime to change my prediction, this is where I stand now. (only sharing becase of comments)
P.S. I was expecting a PR... but becuase I though a service provider would be announced. Unless there is something new I see no reason for Neo to release a PR. Good call Retired.(Neo launching without a Service Provider) Gotta run!
~smartbiz
Waking up Microsoft
Funny how MSFT would be able to corner the market if the bought out NEOM and not have to worry about a monopoly. Although I am not at all implying that there is a direct relationship between Neo and MSFT but I think its is obvious MSFT's OS won't cut it anymore. They need to somehow tap into the mobile computer industry to stay on top. Cell phones is only the beggining.
"Microsoft decided that the ability to tie its search engine, and potentially other applications, to its operating system was more important than settling the long-simmering charges that could involve multi-billion-dollar fine."
Strange to watch MSFT lag so far behind:
1. Microsoft to 'Tie' New Search Engine Rather than Settle E.U. Charges (March 18th)
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?2. message_id=2640698
3. Bill Gates still does not take seriously cell phone industry
March 18, 2004 [General]
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=2631059
4. Microsoft-EU antitrust talks collapse Date:3/18/2004 9:18:48 AM
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=2628089
5. MSFT vs. Symbian (Nokia)
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=2618916
6. Microsoft presents bar code solution for smartphone
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=2617895
Retired: Right back @ ya! Long and Strong ;)
Microsoft to 'Tie' New Search Engine Rather than Settle E.U. Charges (March 18th)
Posted by Tig Tillinghast · email this · Comments (0)edit
Dow Jones: Q&A: Microsoft Chief Lawyer Explains EU Talks Breakdown
MarketWatch: Q&No Microsoft settlement, Monti says
The recent breakdown in talks between the European Union and Microsoft regarding antitrust allegations was caused by "future" issues, according to the head of Microsoft's legal department. In particular, Dow Jones reports that the E.U. had tried to prevent Microsoft from introducing additional applications to its operating system that could constitute further anticompetitive behavior. Specifically mentioned was the long-rumored upcoming new search engine.
Microsoft decided that the ability to tie its search engine, and potentially other applications, to its operating system was more important than settling the long-simmering charges that could involve multi-billion-dollar fine.
http://www.marketingwonk.com/archives/2004/03/18/microsoft_to_tie_new_search_engine_rather_than_sett....
RE: "that all the shareholders back home are in a confused state"
Make sure to one line "all".
Are there some confused shareholders? YES
Are all shareholder confused? NO
Not trying to nit-pick but I don't want there to be an illusion that "all shareholders" are confused. I am very confident I know what is happening here.
~smartbiz
CeBIT 2004 news: CeBIT 2004 starts today + Bill Gates still does not take seriously cell phone industry
March 18, 2004 [General]
Today in German city of Hannover in Central EU, starts the biggest Information and Communications Technology (ICT) trade show in the world: 7000 exhibitors and area bigger than areas of some cities.
The most popular German newspaper "Bild" got an exclusive text from Bill Gates about his future predictions (the text to the left; to the right: the new Symbian smartphone - Nokia 7610 with megapixel camera):
... unfortunately Bill Gates again proves that his overall vision has big holes and that he neglects cell phone industry.
In his text - which was written especially due to the CeBIT 2004 - Bill Gates writes among others:
TVs, DVD-players and other equipment will look the same in future but will be more intelligent and will have access to the Internet
till 2010 there will be 2 billion computers (mostly in "embedded" form - as part of other devices)
computers will be smaller and smaller and will be using much less power (what a revolutionary discovery!) and they will react to handwriting and voice
memory chips that will be able to store terabytes (one terabyte can store 600 hours video recording) of information are coming and will be very tiny
aritificial intelligence in machines is still far away
battery-less computers are coming - they will take energy from room temperature or from moves (when carried)
... but he is not mentioning Microsoft powered cell phones (MS Smartphone and Pocket PC phone)... so it is clear again: this man has no vision for cell phone industry.
To see more proofs that Bill Gates doesn´t take cell phone industry seriously, click here.
Please watch msmobiles.com in coming days, where we will be reporting directly from Hannover from CeBIT about the latest news about Microsoft powered cell phones.
donbalon:
Whats the difference between the launch @ 3GSM and the launch @ the CeBIT?
~smartbiz
Microsoft-EU antitrust talks collapse
9 minutes ago Add Technology - MacCentral to My Yahoo!
By Paul Meller, IDG News Service MacCentral
The European Commission (news - web sites)'s competition talks with Microsoft Corp. have collapsed, European Competition Commission Mario Monti said Thursday.
In a prepared statement read out to journalists Monti said that despite strenuous efforts by Microsoft to meet the European Commission's concerns, a settlement of the case "has not been possible."
"Therefore we will propose next Wednesday that the Commission adopts a decision," the competition commissioner said.
Monti added that a precedent setting legal ruling is in the best interest of consumers and competition.
"We made substantial progress towards resolving the problems but were unable to agree on commitments (Microsoft must make) for future conduct," Monti said. "The public and competition would therefore be better served by a decision setting a strong legal precedent which establishes clear principles for a company that is so dominate in the market."
In response to questions, Monti said that setting a strong precedent is "of key importance." By setting a legal precedent in the current antitrust case against Microsoft, the Commission will make it easier to pursue Microsoft in future antitrust cases, he said.
The Commission is already examining a complaint by Microsoft rivals that the latest version of the Microsoft operating system, Windows XP (news - web sites), is abusing its dominance in the market.
"Other cases (against Microsoft) that exist or are on the horizon (and they bear) remarkable similarities to issues raised in the current antitrust case due to conclude next Wednesday," Monti said.
Other issues the Commission is investigating is how Microsoft sells its music and video playing software program Media Player and the company's current practice of bundling the program with its Windows operating system. The Commission is expected to require that the Redmond, Washington, company sell two versions of Windows to PC manufacturers: one with Media Player and one with the program stripped out.
Also under question is server interoperability. It is understood that the Commission also wants to force Microsoft to share enough secret Windows code with rivals so that they can design server software that works as smoothly with the ubiquitous operating system as Microsoft's own server software.
Microsoft was not immediately available to comment on Monti's statement but it is understood to be preparing a statement for release later Thursday.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/mc/20040318/tc_mc/microsofteuantitrusttalkscollap...
The customer only has to enter his preferred method of payment once (e.g. credit card, online bank transfer or direct debit). A registration with the payment service provider is not necessary. The application is quickly installed and configured, following which the customer is able to conveniently and easily make payments using his mobile phone.
http://www.fun.de/english/news/presse/2004/presse2004_2E.htm
Just started buying Tuesday.. I'll be accumulating @ these levels she runs!
All the best.
~smartbiz
RE: bludmoneyriptide
Sorry I haven't been monitoring this board. Next time click on "Public Reply" instead of just posting. I don't know much about GLBT. GLBT is nothing more then a chart play for me right now. I'll wait for her to consolidate then rush in with the DD and possibly a long position.
~smartbiz
Good News: I have a friend attending the CTIA March 22-24... make a list of qeustions and I'll get them all answered...
~smartbiz
MSFT vs. Symbian (Nokia)
"braggin about your hyundai sedan when theres a ferrari in the driveway"
Microsoft found a way to get around Neo's patents alright! They set up a taxi service for traveler's so they could catch a ride to the nearest airport.... Not to bright when your destination is right across the street!.. Neo's been waiting for the perfect "device" (camera phone)... MSFT has just developed another CueCat...
Geuss they didn't learn the first time. I must admit I am suprised how behind MSFT is. MSFT is a great example of a company "to big to move".... "more cell phones are being sold then PC's... PC market is dead... that is why whoever gets neom ip will create amonster OS..."
MSFT dropped the ball. The sides have been chosen. Neo's running with Symbian (Nokia)
"Death with a thousand clicks"
~smartbiz
3GSM 2004 news: Keynote Session: Nokia and Ericsson grilled by us (Symbian in FUD) + future of wireless + Microsoft presents bar code solution for smartphone
February 25, 2004 [General]
Today in the morning we participated in the Keynote Session at 3GSM World Congress 2004. This session comprised of presentations of bosses of Nokia, Ericsson, Intel, Texas Instruments (TI), Microsoft and short FAQ sessions (questions were sent from the audience through SMS) in between these presentations.
In summary: Microsoft rocks big time, shows new bar code application for Microsoft Smartphone and explains why it is better to buy software for smartphones from Microsoft and not from Symbian (=Nokia). Apart from that, Session Chairman - Walter Mossberg from Wall Street Journal picked 2 questions that we have sent through SMS and CEOs of Nokia and Ericsson were forced to answer them... causing FUD in Symbian ranks (fear, uncertainty, and doubt).
On this picture you can observe CEO of Nokia - Jorma Ollila - answering our question delivered through SMS, question that Session Chairman picked:
Read on...
* * * * *
At the very beginning Walter Mossberg (Session Chairman), who is Personal Technology Columnist at wall Street Journal was boosting his ego and bragging by saying that he is just a meer journalist, not wireless industry leader, but his texts have "millions of readers" and are "most widely read". He also was attacking GSM (remember: this congress is about GSM after all) by saying that in USA users prefer CDMA because it is better and provides faster transfer rates. For picture of Walter Mossberg scroll to the bottom of this page to see him grilling Pieter from Microsoft (Walter hates Microsoft and he reviewed negatively the Motorola MPx200 in his column at wall Street Journal) - scroll down to the bottom of this page to read more about this grilling.
* * * * *
The first real speaker, who was showing presentation of his own company, was Jorma Ollila - CEO of Nokia (see picture above). Jorma presentation was very lame and he was reading the text from the paper (not from his head as other speakers). In his presentation Jorma has not even mentioned the word "Symbian" but was just bragging - typicall for Nokia - that they invented "seamless convergence" in last century and only now this convergence (Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and cellular in one) becomes reality. If somebody doesn´t know history, due to excessive bragging of Jorma, one couuld get impresion that Nokia invented cell phone but in reality it was Motorola that did it!
Then there was short FAQ session with Jorma Ollila where he answered, among others, a question sent by us by SMS and picked by Session Chairman. The question was "Nokia wants to overtake Symbian. Isn´t it contrary to ´openness´ mentioned in one of your slides?". Jorma answered that it was Psion that approached Nokia to sell shares in Symbian, not the other way around. He said that Psion´s motivation was to pursue other interests. As you maybe know the real motivation was that Psion wanted to bring Symbian to the stock market (so that it could go public) but Nokia rejected this proposition. You can see therefore clearly that Jorma Ollila lied.
The next speaker was Carl-Henric Svanberg, President and CEO of Ericsson (not SonyEricsson but the whole Ericsson - the company that has 50% in SonyEricsson):
Svanberg was telling about offering Ericsson for cell phone industry, including cell phones - nothing special here. However, during FAQ session after his presentation he also was forced to answer a question that we have sent by SMS and that Session Chairman picked: "now, when Nokia overtakes Symbian, could it be possible that ERICSSON wold decide ot use also Microsoft´s software in smart phones?". In the answer Svanberg didn´t even use the word "Microsoft" but said that it is unclear to Ericsson why Nokia wants to overtake the Symbian but Ericsson is sure that it will work out any problems. It was however very clear that he was confused with this question and turning his eyes down when answering. From the answer of Svanberg it was clear that FUD in Symbian ranks (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) is widespread by the arrogant actions of Nokia.
The next speaker was Paul Otellini, President and COO of Intel:
As you can observe on the picture above, the screen shot of Microsoft smartphone was clearly visible in his presentation.
Otellini and another guy from Intel presented 2 new platforms: ZOAR for smartphones (without touch screen):
... and CARBONADO for wireless PDAs (with touch screens). During the presentation. On the slide showing ZOAR refernce design there was a picture of smartphone that had buttons typical for MS Smartphone (Home, Back) - although the platform itself is designed to work fine not only with Microsoft software but also with Linux, Symbian and Palm. The main point of Intel´s presentation was to underline importance of the successor to Wi-Fi - the Wi-Max technology, that Intel strongly supports. Then there was a short movie showed where it was presented how widespread broadband wireless is nowadays in New Zealand. At the end of this movie there was a scene with plenty of sheeps that were shouting, in typical sheep-like voice, the word "broaaaaaaaaaaaadbaaaaaaaaaand" (broadband).
The next speaker was Rich Templeton, EVP & COO of Texas Instruments (TI):
It is worth noticing that as of now, most MS Smartphones, including SPV and Motorola MPx200 and MPx are powered by chipsets from TI. Templeton mentioned also Motorola MPx (Pocket PC phone from Motorola) and showed it shortly. Apart from that he was telling about OMAP2 (the next generaiton of OMAP) and about it that they have a reference design for EDGE smartphone. The most impressive part of his presentation (as sheeps in Intel´s presentation) was a cell phone with fingerprint recognition that he was showing: he showed that his worker (some other guy from TI) cannot use this phone because his fingerprints are wrong, but then he used his finger to authenticate and the cell phone was unblocked.
Last speaker in the Keynote Session was Pieter Knook, Senior Vice-President, Mobile & Embedded Devices Division:
We must admit that he speaks English better than his predecessor - Juha Christansen - he uses fluent "native speaker-style" English and not "foreigner English".
Knook was telling in his presentation about the benefits of Microsoft software both for operators and for users.
Then he switched to a presentation of new software for Microsoft smartphone: bar code reading in combination with web service from Amazon. Firstly Knook, with Orange SPV E200 smartphone, took a photo of the bar code of the book "Lord of the Rings":
... and then he has sent this photo as attachment by e-mail to Amazon. Then he received back from Amazon an email that he opened and that contained link to Amazon´s mobile web page with informatin about this book (it was the same book as he hold in hand - "Lord of the Rings"). He opened that web page:
... and showed some reviews and showed that it is possible to buy this book right from the Microsoft smartphone. The idea is simple: you take a photo of a bar code of the product of interest to you and then you can get through Amazon an information about this item and possibility to buy it.
Later he was showing some cell phones powered by Microsoft software, among others Voq (MS Smartphone) and Motorola MPx (Pocket PC phone):
At the end Knook was answering questions from the audience sent by SMS to the Session Chairman (Mossberg):
Knook, when answering questions regarding the fact that people are afraid of Microsoft, said "we do not compete with our partners" and that Microsoft delivers just software, not hardware. It was clear indication towards Nokia/Symbian, that proves the fact that the best software for smart phones - from the point of view of hardware vendors - is clearly made by Microsoft, not by Nokia that is also offering hardware and thus directly competing with their Symbian partners! Hardware vendors, that use Symbian in cell phones can never ever trust Nokia because it directly competes with them and having majority in Symbian is totally uncredible. with Microsoft there are no such problems and thus hardware vendors can trust Microsoft, but can´t trust in Symbian (and thus also can´t trust Nokia)!
OT: RE: Neonedia Paperclip! I wnt two b a jrnlst
tahts moost upp
"There is no word in the price yet but expect user fees to be bundled into your cell phone plans, much like text messaging and picture swapping services are."
http://www.kmci.com/kshb/home/article/0,1925,KSHB_9410_2722148,00.html
Vodafone? AT&T?
OT: Guinness record for world's smallest disk drive
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/ptech/03/16/toshiba.record.reut/index.html
TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) -- Japan's Toshiba Corp said on Tuesday that Guinness World Records had certified its stamp-sized hard disk drives (HDDs) as the smallest in the world.
The electronics conglomerate's 0.85-inch HDDs, unveiled in January, have storage capacity of up to four gigabytes and will be used in products such as cell phones and digital camcorders.
Toshiba, whose 1.8-inch HDDs are used in Apple Computer Inc's hot-selling iPod digital music players, for example, aims to start producing the 0.85-inch HDDs by the end of 2004.
"Toshiba's innovation means that I could soon hold more information in my watch than I could on my desktop computer just a few years ago," said David Hawksett, science and technology editor at Guinness World Records.
Patent Extends NeoMedia's IP Portfolio with Voice Link to Web
Fourth Patent in 19 Months for Industry Leader and Innovator
Fort Myers, Florida - March 7, 2001 -- NeoMedia Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: NEOM) the international leader in print-to-Internet technology, said today it has been granted its fourth patent in 19 months by the United States Patent and Trademark Office, building its portfolio of intellectual properties and extending its stake in the voice-to-Internet market.
NeoMedia Chairman and CEO Charles W. Fritz said the new patent (No. 6,199,048) "is a continuation in process, building on previously-issued patents and furthering our strategy of building an IP portfolio which financially and technically complement our award-winning product and service offerings."
Patent Gives NeoMedia Voice, Multi-Media Entry to Auto ID
Fritz said the patent "broadens NeoMedia's stake in the automatic identification marketplace with voice entry and multi-media and enhances our already strong position with related Web content. Voice-activated sessions facilitated by our technology," he said, "will eventually be so easy to use and implement that even ordinary telephones will become entry points for mobile commerce via the Web."
"Automatic identification in 2001 is not just bar codes," said Rob Durst, executive vice president and chief technology officer of NeoMedia. "Today," he said, "Auto ID also includes voice, radio frequency identification (RFID) and other innovative technologies now being developed that link physical objects directly to the Internet without having to slow down and use a search engine."
Along with the four patents issued to the company since August of 1999, NeoMedia has more than 50 patents pending, including 24 applications from its recent acquisition of Qode™ (see NeoMedia Technologies Acquires Qode.com; Acquisition Gives NeoMedia First End-to-End Solution Offering in Physical-to-Electronic Linking Space," Business Wire, March 2, 2001).
"Patents add substantially to our IP rights for products, systems and methods connecting the real world to the Internet, leading to new offers, strategies and profit centers," added Fritz. "the decision to make our IP available (see NeoMedia Board Decides to License Intellectual Property Suite," August 17, 2000) has already realized substantial gain (see NeoMedia Signs $100+ Million Patent Licensing Contract With Digital:Convergence," Business Wire, October 19, 2000), and the road ahead is exciting and lucrative as our innovation and progress gains recognition and market share."
About NeoMedia Technologies
NeoMedia Technologies, Inc, an Internet World Wireless 2001 "Best of Show Award" winner, is headquartered in Fort Myers, Florida. It develops and markets a family of PaperClick™ products and services, based on NeoMedia's patented technology, that provide direct, customer routable links between printed information or objects and Internet content. NeoMedia markets these services under the PaperClick trademark on the ASP site, www.paperclick.com Entering a PaperClick code, by scanning the bar code or entering the associated numbers in the PaperClick Go Window, routes readers directly to relevant Web information. PaperClick ToGo™ technology provides mobile linkage to Web content through PalmOS™ PDA devices and Internet-enabled cellular phones. NeoMedia also provides proprietary software for document management and production systems, as well as systems integration services for automated print production operations. For additional information, please visit the NeoMedia Web site at www.neom.com
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. With the exception of historical information contained herein, the matters discussed in this press release involve risk and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statement.
PaperClick, PaperClick ToGo, and Qode are trademarks of NeoMedia Technologies, Inc. Palm OS is a trademark of Palm Computing, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. http://www.neom.com/corporate/press/2001/20010307.jsp
Virgin Megastore
Entertainment Retailer Cuts Fraud with Real-Time Data Reporting
Posted: March 2, 2004 Printer-friendly version
Solution Overview
Company
Virgin Megastore
Customer Profile
Virgin Entertainment Group is one of the world's leading entertainment retailers, operating 23 Virgin Megastores in North America, as well as stores throughout Europe, Japan, Australia, and the Middle East.
Business Situation
Virgin Entertainment Group wanted to cut serious losses due to employee theft and shrinkage by adding real-time point-of-sale data reporting and analysis.
Solution Description
The company chose to work with Xavor to implement a solution based on Microsoft® Windows Server System™, including Microsoft BizTalk® Server 2004.
Benefits
Real-time alerts boost fraud detection by 50 percent
Better data analysis leads to informed business decisions
Integrated business processes will lead to cross-team efficiencies
Partner(s)
Xavor
Software and Services
Microsoft BizTalk Server 2004
Microsoft Office Excel 2003
Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003
Microsoft SQL Server 2000
Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition
Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services
Vertical Industries
Entertainment and Recreation
Country/Region
United States
Western Sahara
Audiences
Business Decision Makers
Virgin Entertainment Group wanted to reduce the significant losses that it was experiencing due to employee theft in its music and entertainment stores, but that effort was hampered by long lag times in data reporting. To improve loss prevention, the multichannel entertainment retailer worked with Xavor to deploy a new point-of-sale reporting solution based on Microsoft Windows Server System integrated server infrastructure software, including Microsoft BizTalk Server 2004, SQL Server 2000 Analysis Services, and Windows SharePoint Services. The reporting offers real-time data monitoring, suspicious activity alerts, and long-term trend analysis to help the Loss Prevention team at Virgin Entertainment Group identify and prevent employee theft. The improved reporting capabilities have boosted fraud detection by 50 percent.
Situation
The retail industry has always had to contend with losses due to employee theft, shrinkage, and mismanaged inventory. In many cases, these losses can seriously erode profits. Virgin Entertainment Group, which operates 23 Virgin Megastores in North America as well as stores throughout the world, was suffering significant losses due to employee thefts. With the uncertainty in consumer confidence, shrinking revenues in the music industry, and increasing competition, Virgin Entertainment Group needed to increase and protect its profits. Tracking and preventing employee-related losses became key business challenges.
Virgin Entertainment Group's first solution was to assign Loss Prevention managers to each of the stores, contract with an outsourced service provider to report on point-of-sale transactions, place security cameras throughout the stores, and encourage store managers to report suspicious activities. In spite of these measures, only 15 to 20 percent of the total losses were being tracked and recovered.
Management identified poor information analysis as the major obstacle to greater loss prevention. The outsourced approach had severe limitations, most notably a 10- to 15-day delay from the time a purchase took place in the store to the time it was grouped, categorized, filtered, analyzed, and made available in weekly reports and online queries. This significant delay rendered much of the reported information useless in controlling losses.
In addition, Virgin Entertainment Group had no effective way of mapping the information obtained from the reports to products and inventories without manually accessing multiple systems. The existing infrastructure consisted of many different repositories and systems for tracking and storing different kinds of data. Virgin Entertainment Group needed one centralized point of access to all the disparate repositories.
Another problem arose because the company's outsourced business tracking had no built-in intelligence. Because of this, it was impossible to filter out ongoing promotions or ongoing campaign transactions. With as many as 20,000 transactions a day in some stores, it was difficult to detect relevant trends such as a specific sales associate performing multiple suspicious transactions (post voids, refunds, discounts, etc.), or the use of a specific stolen credit card number.
We anticipate that the new loss-prevention solution using BizTalk Server 2004 will detect at least 50 percent more fraud cases starting from the first month, resulting in increased profits.
John Davis
Director of Loss Prevention, Virgin Entertainment Group
The incumbent tracking system also required constant additional human intervention, which made it difficult to create consistent, error-free reports. To further compound the problem, information was only stored up to 90 days, making it difficult to predict long-term trends and access histories of employees' transactions.
In short, the system offered limited reporting and analysis, created a delay in receiving point-of-sale data, and relied heavily on store managers and Loss Prevention managers to manually analyze the information from various systems. Unrecovered losses were adding up to hundreds of thousands of dollars every year, and Virgin Entertainment Group managers knew that they had to implement a better solution.
Solution
Virgin wanted to significantly improve loss recovery due to employee thefts by implementing real-time monitoring mechanisms at the point of sale.
Virgin Entertainment Group, in collaboration with Xavor, a Microsoft® Certified Partner, implemented a loss-prevention solution based on the Microsoft Windows Server System™ integrated server software. "It was a pleasure working with the Xavor team. Virgin Entertainment Group chose Xavor due to its in-depth knowledge and experience with Microsoft development projects. By staying abreast of Microsoft's cutting-edge technologies, Xavor was instrumental in our success," says Paul Duchouquette, Director of Information Technology for Virgin Entertainment Group.
Virgin Entertainment Group uses Microsoft BizTalk Server as the foundation for their Loss Prevention solution architecture.
Virgin Entertainment Group's solution used Microsoft BizTalk® Server 2004, SQL Server™ 2000 Analysis Services, and Windows® SharePoint™ Services, which are part of Microsoft Windows Server System. Windows Server System is integrated server infrastructure software that incorporates software innovations to help companies do more with less. The new loss-prevention solution will make it possible for Virgin's loss-prevention team to detect suspicious patterns, manage security, and prevent fraud, all in real time.
"We chose Microsoft products partly because we knew we needed a solution that was interoperable, that could talk to our heterogeneous mix of systems," says Duchouquette. "It was crucial that we had access to all our different data sources, and Microsoft provided that."
Benefits
The new solution is giving Loss Prevention managers faster, more meaningful access to information. By opening up data to real-time inspection, the system has fostered a proactive theft-prevention culture among the loss-prevention team.
Real-Time Loss Reporting
The solution monitors all transactions across the stores in real time, at the point of sale, and alerts Loss Prevention managers by e mail and pager when suspicious patterns occur in the data. In addition, it maps relevant product and inventory information from Virgin's back-end AS/400 systems for effective analysis and trending. The real-time tracking ability of BizTalk Server helps avoid the delay in providing data that had been associated with the outsourced provider.
John Davis, Director of Loss Prevention for Virgin Entertainment Group, explains, "We anticipate that the new loss-prevention solution using BizTalk Server 2004 will detect at least 50 percent more fraud cases starting from the first month, resulting in increased profits for Virgin Entertainment Group. The tool has provided the ability for my team to analyze information much more effectively and in a lot less time. We are alerted almost immediately when a suspicious activity occurs, allowing us to get to the source of the problem immediately and focus on the recovery. In the past, detecting such activities in real time was inconceivable for us, and getting to the problem took days and weeks. Now it takes minutes and hours."
Better Trend Reporting to Help Reduce Fraud
The BizTalk Server capabilities for business activity monitoring, in conjunction with SQL Server 2000 Analysis Services, improve trend analysis. BizTalk Server works with the Analysis Services data-warehousing abilities to generate reports on business activity. Those reports help managers identify patterns in the sales transaction data to provide fast answers to complex analytical queries. In addition, newly improved archiving capabilities allow users to track suspicious patterns over time.
BizTalk Server also offers significant improvements in defining and managing business rules and filters. Business users now have a user-friendly interface that helps them to modify business rules as business needs demand.
The business rules capabilities are used in two areas: real-time monitoring of transactions and trend analysis.
In real-time monitoring, the transaction data is saved in SQL Server and then analyzed by the BizTalk Server Rules Framework. The rules have been segregated to monitor transactions for discount percentages, stolen credit cards, high dollar amounts, and so on. The Loss Prevention managers can define criteria in the transaction monitor, such as the range of transaction amounts that may be determined suspicious. They can also specify the personnel who will receive alerts about these suspicious transactions.
In trend analysis, OLAP (online analytical processing) capabilities are applied on the transaction data to provide an aggregated view to the managers. For instance, a manager may specify a credit card number in order to review its transaction history with the stores, or view a particular cashier's activities over a specified time period.
The new solution gives Loss Prevention managers the ability to query, filter, view, and analyze information easily and quickly. The access to filtered data is simpler, making it easier for managers to perform analysis. The solution provides easy-to-use charting templates for long-term trend watching. The Loss Prevention team can also print reports in a user-friendly format.
Windows SharePoint Services, a component of the Microsoft Windows Server™ 2003 operating system, provides a portal through which Loss Prevention managers gain easy access to BizTalk Server. The SharePoint site makes information readily available and helps the managers predict trends and define priorities for their investigations more easily. The site also uses Microsoft Office Excel 2003 and Office Web Components, part of the Microsoft Office System, to provide the users with analytical abilities through charts and PivotTable® dynamic views.
"Microsoft does a great job of making everything work together. We were especially impressed with how seamlessly BizTalk Server worked with the SQL Server tools and the SharePoint site interface," says Duchouquette.
Integration for Future Streamlining
Because the solution gives users a single place through which they can drill down into and analyze information quickly and accurately, it has laid the foundation for future business process integration as well. By tying together disparate Virgin Entertainment Group systems, the solution will eventually help sales, marketing, product, and operations teams work together to create efficiencies within the organization.
Microsoft Windows Server System is a comprehensive, integrated, and interoperable server infrastructure that helps reduce the complexity and costs of building, deploying, connecting, and operating agile business solutions. Windows Server System helps customers create new value for their business through the strategic use of their IT assets. With the Windows Server operating system as its foundation, Windows Server System delivers a dependable infrastructure for data management and analysis; enterprise integration; customer, partner, and employee portals; business process automation; communications and collaboration; and core IT operations including security, deployment, and systems management.
For more information about Windows Server System, go to:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/
For More Information
For more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234 in the United States or (905) 568-9641 in Canada. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary.
To access information using the World Wide Web, go to: http://www.microsoft.com/
For more information about Xavor Corporation products and services, call (949) 250-4390, or visit the website at:
http://www.xavor.com/
For more information about Virgin Entertainment Group products and services, call (323) 935-1500, or visit the website at:
http://www.virginmega.com/
Virgin Megastore
Entertainment Retailer Cuts Fraud with Real-Time Data Reporting
Posted: March 2, 2004 Printer-friendly version
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Solution Overview
Company
Virgin Megastore
Customer Profile
Virgin Entertainment Group is one of the world's leading entertainment retailers, operating 23 Virgin Megastores in North America, as well as stores throughout Europe, Japan, Australia, and the Middle East.
Business Situation
Virgin Entertainment Group wanted to cut serious losses due to employee theft and shrinkage by adding real-time point-of-sale data reporting and analysis.
Solution Description
The company chose to work with Xavor to implement a solution based on Microsoft® Windows Server System™, including Microsoft BizTalk® Server 2004.
Benefits
Real-time alerts boost fraud detection by 50 percent
Better data analysis leads to informed business decisions
Integrated business processes will lead to cross-team efficiencies
Partner(s)
Xavor
Software and Services
Microsoft BizTalk Server 2004
Microsoft Office Excel 2003
Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003
Microsoft SQL Server 2000
Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition
Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services
Vertical Industries
Entertainment and Recreation
Country/Region
United States
Western Sahara
Audiences
Business Decision Makers
Virgin Entertainment Group wanted to reduce the significant losses that it was experiencing due to employee theft in its music and entertainment stores, but that effort was hampered by long lag times in data reporting. To improve loss prevention, the multichannel entertainment retailer worked with Xavor to deploy a new point-of-sale reporting solution based on Microsoft Windows Server System integrated server infrastructure software, including Microsoft BizTalk Server 2004, SQL Server 2000 Analysis Services, and Windows SharePoint Services. The reporting offers real-time data monitoring, suspicious activity alerts, and long-term trend analysis to help the Loss Prevention team at Virgin Entertainment Group identify and prevent employee theft. The improved reporting capabilities have boosted fraud detection by 50 percent.
Situation
The retail industry has always had to contend with losses due to employee theft, shrinkage, and mismanaged inventory. In many cases, these losses can seriously erode profits. Virgin Entertainment Group, which operates 23 Virgin Megastores in North America as well as stores throughout the world, was suffering significant losses due to employee thefts. With the uncertainty in consumer confidence, shrinking revenues in the music industry, and increasing competition, Virgin Entertainment Group needed to increase and protect its profits. Tracking and preventing employee-related losses became key business challenges.
Virgin Entertainment Group's first solution was to assign Loss Prevention managers to each of the stores, contract with an outsourced service provider to report on point-of-sale transactions, place security cameras throughout the stores, and encourage store managers to report suspicious activities. In spite of these measures, only 15 to 20 percent of the total losses were being tracked and recovered.
Management identified poor information analysis as the major obstacle to greater loss prevention. The outsourced approach had severe limitations, most notably a 10- to 15-day delay from the time a purchase took place in the store to the time it was grouped, categorized, filtered, analyzed, and made available in weekly reports and online queries. This significant delay rendered much of the reported information useless in controlling losses.
In addition, Virgin Entertainment Group had no effective way of mapping the information obtained from the reports to products and inventories without manually accessing multiple systems. The existing infrastructure consisted of many different repositories and systems for tracking and storing different kinds of data. Virgin Entertainment Group needed one centralized point of access to all the disparate repositories.
Another problem arose because the company's outsourced business tracking had no built-in intelligence. Because of this, it was impossible to filter out ongoing promotions or ongoing campaign transactions. With as many as 20,000 transactions a day in some stores, it was difficult to detect relevant trends such as a specific sales associate performing multiple suspicious transactions (post voids, refunds, discounts, etc.), or the use of a specific stolen credit card number.
We anticipate that the new loss-prevention solution using BizTalk Server 2004 will detect at least 50 percent more fraud cases starting from the first month, resulting in increased profits.
John Davis
Director of Loss Prevention, Virgin Entertainment Group
The incumbent tracking system also required constant additional human intervention, which made it difficult to create consistent, error-free reports. To further compound the problem, information was only stored up to 90 days, making it difficult to predict long-term trends and access histories of employees' transactions.
In short, the system offered limited reporting and analysis, created a delay in receiving point-of-sale data, and relied heavily on store managers and Loss Prevention managers to manually analyze the information from various systems. Unrecovered losses were adding up to hundreds of thousands of dollars every year, and Virgin Entertainment Group managers knew that they had to implement a better solution.
Solution
Virgin wanted to significantly improve loss recovery due to employee thefts by implementing real-time monitoring mechanisms at the point of sale.
Virgin Entertainment Group, in collaboration with Xavor, a Microsoft® Certified Partner, implemented a loss-prevention solution based on the Microsoft Windows Server System™ integrated server software. "It was a pleasure working with the Xavor team. Virgin Entertainment Group chose Xavor due to its in-depth knowledge and experience with Microsoft development projects. By staying abreast of Microsoft's cutting-edge technologies, Xavor was instrumental in our success," says Paul Duchouquette, Director of Information Technology for Virgin Entertainment Group.
Virgin Entertainment Group uses Microsoft BizTalk Server as the foundation for their Loss Prevention solution architecture.
Virgin Entertainment Group's solution used Microsoft BizTalk® Server 2004, SQL Server™ 2000 Analysis Services, and Windows® SharePoint™ Services, which are part of Microsoft Windows Server System. Windows Server System is integrated server infrastructure software that incorporates software innovations to help companies do more with less. The new loss-prevention solution will make it possible for Virgin's loss-prevention team to detect suspicious patterns, manage security, and prevent fraud, all in real time.
"We chose Microsoft products partly because we knew we needed a solution that was interoperable, that could talk to our heterogeneous mix of systems," says Duchouquette. "It was crucial that we had access to all our different data sources, and Microsoft provided that."
Benefits
The new solution is giving Loss Prevention managers faster, more meaningful access to information. By opening up data to real-time inspection, the system has fostered a proactive theft-prevention culture among the loss-prevention team.
Real-Time Loss Reporting
The solution monitors all transactions across the stores in real time, at the point of sale, and alerts Loss Prevention managers by e mail and pager when suspicious patterns occur in the data. In addition, it maps relevant product and inventory information from Virgin's back-end AS/400 systems for effective analysis and trending. The real-time tracking ability of BizTalk Server helps avoid the delay in providing data that had been associated with the outsourced provider.
John Davis, Director of Loss Prevention for Virgin Entertainment Group, explains, "We anticipate that the new loss-prevention solution using BizTalk Server 2004 will detect at least 50 percent more fraud cases starting from the first month, resulting in increased profits for Virgin Entertainment Group. The tool has provided the ability for my team to analyze information much more effectively and in a lot less time. We are alerted almost immediately when a suspicious activity occurs, allowing us to get to the source of the problem immediately and focus on the recovery. In the past, detecting such activities in real time was inconceivable for us, and getting to the problem took days and weeks. Now it takes minutes and hours."
Better Trend Reporting to Help Reduce Fraud
The BizTalk Server capabilities for business activity monitoring, in conjunction with SQL Server 2000 Analysis Services, improve trend analysis. BizTalk Server works with the Analysis Services data-warehousing abilities to generate reports on business activity. Those reports help managers identify patterns in the sales transaction data to provide fast answers to complex analytical queries. In addition, newly improved archiving capabilities allow users to track suspicious patterns over time.
BizTalk Server also offers significant improvements in defining and managing business rules and filters. Business users now have a user-friendly interface that helps them to modify business rules as business needs demand.
The business rules capabilities are used in two areas: real-time monitoring of transactions and trend analysis.
In real-time monitoring, the transaction data is saved in SQL Server and then analyzed by the BizTalk Server Rules Framework. The rules have been segregated to monitor transactions for discount percentages, stolen credit cards, high dollar amounts, and so on. The Loss Prevention managers can define criteria in the transaction monitor, such as the range of transaction amounts that may be determined suspicious. They can also specify the personnel who will receive alerts about these suspicious transactions.
In trend analysis, OLAP (online analytical processing) capabilities are applied on the transaction data to provide an aggregated view to the managers. For instance, a manager may specify a credit card number in order to review its transaction history with the stores, or view a particular cashier's activities over a specified time period.
The new solution gives Loss Prevention managers the ability to query, filter, view, and analyze information easily and quickly. The access to filtered data is simpler, making it easier for managers to perform analysis. The solution provides easy-to-use charting templates for long-term trend watching. The Loss Prevention team can also print reports in a user-friendly format.
Windows SharePoint Services, a component of the Microsoft Windows Server™ 2003 operating system, provides a portal through which Loss Prevention managers gain easy access to BizTalk Server. The SharePoint site makes information readily available and helps the managers predict trends and define priorities for their investigations more easily. The site also uses Microsoft Office Excel 2003 and Office Web Components, part of the Microsoft Office System, to provide the users with analytical abilities through charts and PivotTable® dynamic views.
"Microsoft does a great job of making everything work together. We were especially impressed with how seamlessly BizTalk Server worked with the SQL Server tools and the SharePoint site interface," says Duchouquette.
Integration for Future Streamlining
Because the solution gives users a single place through which they can drill down into and analyze information quickly and accurately, it has laid the foundation for future business process integration as well. By tying together disparate Virgin Entertainment Group systems, the solution will eventually help sales, marketing, product, and operations teams work together to create efficiencies within the organization.
Microsoft Windows Server System is a comprehensive, integrated, and interoperable server infrastructure that helps reduce the complexity and costs of building, deploying, connecting, and operating agile business solutions. Windows Server System helps customers create new value for their business through the strategic use of their IT assets. With the Windows Server operating system as its foundation, Windows Server System delivers a dependable infrastructure for data management and analysis; enterprise integration; customer, partner, and employee portals; business process automation; communications and collaboration; and core IT operations including security, deployment, and systems management.
For more information about Windows Server System, go to:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/
For More Information
For more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234 in the United States or (905) 568-9641 in Canada. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary.
To access information using the World Wide Web, go to: http://www.microsoft.com/
For more information about Xavor Corporation products and services, call (949) 250-4390, or visit the website at:
http://www.xavor.com/
For more information about Virgin Entertainment Group products and services, call (323) 935-1500, or visit the website at:
http://www.virginmega.com/
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/casestudies/CaseStudy.asp?CaseStudyID=15075
RE: I don't think that having a store in Chicago would matter
Virgin Entertainment office is in Chicago IL. I think thats what counts.
Virgin Entertainment-Chicago
(312) 245-0488 540 N Michigan Ave
Chicago, IL Map
http://www.neom.com/corporate/press/2004/20040105.jsp
RE: Asking and allowing are 2 different animals.
Right you are. I got caught up in all the info and assumed it would be granted. I brought up your post/experiance w/JP for a reason. (Tell me what you think)
Baniak Pine & Gannon is located in Chicago IL. Care to geuss where the Virgin MegaStore is located?
(Hint: CHICAGO IL.!!)
~smartbiz85@yahoo.com
mLife is a multi-million dollar advertising campaign sponsored by AT&T to promote their wireless products and services. AT&T says the "m" in mLife stands not only for mobile, but also for other words reflecting AT&T's vision of the future of the mobile telephone such s "messaging," "multitasking," "modern," and "managed". The mLife advertising campaign and marketing platform were developed by the advertising firm of Ogilvy and Mather. mLife has been been compared to the Japanese firm NTT DoCoMo's mobile internet access system, i-Mode. (The "i" in "i-mode" stands for information, Internet, instant, etc.)
http://searchmobilecomputing.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0%2C%2Csid40_gci815959%2C00.html
Watch the video... @ 1.09 you will see mLife on the Nokia screen.
http://www.abc-7.com/BuildASX.asx?videofilename=040225_abc-paperclick.wmv
DoCoMo's presentation:
http://www3.stream.co.jp/web/selector/r_docomo/smart.html
DoCoMo's Vision for 2010:
http://www.nttdocomo.com/vision2010/media64.html
I-Mode Global: (Posted on February 5, 2004)
http://www.nttdocomo.com/corebiz/imode/global/index.html
NeoMedia is planning on launching in the US this summer. I think I know who their ISP will be. (Hint: Starts with an A ends with a T&T)
DoCoMo+NeoMedia - The perfect "Strategic Alliance". Together they could tackle their biggest competitor. MicroSoft's Aura!
http://aura.research.microsoft.com/aura/AuraPortal/
Make sure you check out all DoCoMo's video's. Very similar to Vodafone's+HP's vision.
HP's Cool Town: http://www.cooltown.hp.com/
(I'm not sure if the video's are available anymore. I expect an update on HP's vision soon.)
Vodafone's vision: http://www.vodafone.com/flash/futures/
The market for this technology is far to great for any one company to control. By the time the internet is incorporate w/everything we do many tables will have been turned. JMHO
smartbiz85@yahoo.com
RE: exciting new mobile phone promotion for the summer.
Are you refering to the 04/06/03 PR?
Walkers Announce Biggest Ever on pack Txt2win promotion!
http://www.12snap.com/uk/index2.html
~smartbiz85@yahoo.com
By: jpetroinc 13 Mar 2004, 12:50 PM EST Msg. 45873 of 45890
(This msg. is a reply to 45872 by retiredandplaying.)
Jump to msg. #
Retired...
Excellent post as usual. Yes the Big Boys, aka Big Kahuna's, i.e Hedge Funds, Mutual Funds, Pension Funds, Wall St. Boutique's, etc. will come into the fold. There is absolutely no doubt about that in my mind.
I look at this as a two sided equation on purely a superficial level; new proprietary patent protected technology which will revolutionize the way we communicate coupled with revenue producing business contracts. If I am right in my above assertion, then we are half way home.
If I may be so bold as to speak for us Longs, you are correct, for we do feel the excitement mounting. Just perhaps, some of the longs who did buy high, myself included (300K @ $0.248) have averaged down along the way. I got in early at $0.05 with a large stake as you know. However, if there are high PPS holders out there and they are convinced in what they own, then they too will hold for the "long" run as well or will average down by buying more now at these levels.
Most of us have been in since at least Aug. 03, and some have been in much longer, such as yourself. You once said that you "bought a company and not just shares in a company." I gravitated to your understanding and have adopted it simmilarily. Its a great perspective.
And yes, day traders and speculators will drive the PPS North dependent solely on each PR released, only to settle back and commence consolidating at a neutral plateau. Perception along with supply & demand principles mostly drive OTC stocks because most are in infancy regarding generating enough sustainable revenue to guage good sound accounting analysis such as ROI, NOI, PE ratios, etc.
Additionally, I saw your catch on the Cornell funding of BSDS last Dec. 03. You picked up on the fact that Cornell has acted as a common denominator between all 3 parties; i.e. CSI, Triton and NEOM. I agree with you further that Cornell would not have increased their viability and credit worthiness with NEOM if the number projections were not evident. These private lending institutions have "factors of safety" which they add on to their analyses. Even with those safety factors (approximating loss on capitol investment), Cornell likes what they see. They know their money is well protected. Subsequently they seek to and will maximize their returns. Cornell wins, NEOM wins and we Longs win as well. The homework has been done. Savy professionals such as Cornell have run computerized statistcal financial models to determine the outcomes on their credit lines. My little hand held Casio with the sticky = sign is no comparison, so I'm a happy camper.
Undoubtaby there is a game plan unfolding here. Do I have all the pieces, or anyone else for that matter other than Chas or Chuck? No. However, in my profession we engineers do alot of estimating. We look at a structure and determine what the lump sum total cost is to build a paticular structure, such as a building. When a seasoned Chief Estimator (who can easily earns $250K/yr. for the Bechtels, Aramco's and Brown & Roots of the world) gets to the bottom line of their cost, he/she puts the pencil and calculator down. They look at that number and will either add to it, cut it or leave it alone, just prior to final submission of their bid proposal. At this point, you go from using your head to using your gut. You can not be taught gut feelings. They are not found in books. They come from years of experience, trials and tribulations, and mostly tribulations.
Well its the same here with NEON. IMHO, my gut tells me we are at the threshold of going from estimation or speculation to tangible, definitive and profitable results...and those results my friend will lead us all (sooner or later) to greater self-worth. All the Best, JP
By: retiredandplaying 13 Mar 2004, 10:37 AM EST
Msg. 45872 of 45890
(This msg. is a reply to 45851 by jpetroinc.)
Jump to msg. #
JP...
I agree that we will be getting very positive news shortly.
How much the pps moves up will obviously depend on how much Neom can and is willing to release.
The Big Boys (hedge funds...) will want to see enough info that they can sink their teeth into. Will we get that this week? I don't know.
We longs have put in so much due diligence that we can see and understand how Neom's business plan is coming together much easier than the average Joe investor. I suspect that depending on the depth of the news, the pps will increase at a minimum from existing shareholders increasing their positions and some fence walkers entering in. If the volume moves fast, the day traders will enter and the stock will move even faster. If the news is overwhelming, the Big Boys will easily push the pps past last September's highs.
My point about remaining long regardless of where we end up next week has to do with the fact that this Stock is a keeper for perhaps years to come.
There are many smaller investors who have been "trapped" because they bought in during September's highs and are likely to get out on the next run. This stock has gone down since September because Neom needed to raise money through dilution. Once the day trader realized this, they backed away. Neom has now been able to get funded up front. I believe that Cornell's confidence in being more aggressive in funding Neom is absolutely a consequence of the CSI/BSD link as well as the European launch of Paperclick... (AND OTHER DEALS the public has not been told about yet). If the trapped investors get out on the next run, they will live to regret it.
If it turns out that Neom can or will only release minimal info next week, it won't jade my confidence for success that will ultimately come.
That is why I have said that I will remain long and strong in Neom regardless of what the pps does in the coming days/weeks.
One last point;
I have thought for sometime now, that Neom has had a game plan for acquiring BSD concurrently with the pps moving significantly higher. Getting the money from Cornell up front (which allowed for the CSI acquisition) has convinced me that my premise from months ago that Cornell was the common denominator with CSI/BSD/NEOM is true. Therefore, I believe Neom is going to acquire BSD and that they will release info they have been holding back that will move the pps higher and keep the exchange rate with BSD in Neom's favor and the original parameters.
One thing for sure, JP, the excitement continues to build!
All the best!
"Why hasn't texting taken off in the United States as a business or as a cultural appropriation?
The analysts I consulted laid the blame on competing standards and clueless marketing, including a pricing model that rules out the most likely early adopters. Whereas European operators agreed on the GSM standard, which allows the customer of one company to send SMS messages to any customer of any other company, in the United States tesxt messages can be sent only to certain kinds of telephones, and you can only send messages to people who subscribe to your operator."
"U.S. operators (Company's like AT&T, MCI & Sprint) did not bypass their corporate cultures, made text messages from traveling expensive, failed to bridge barriers that prevented messages from traveling between different operators, and marketed text messaging services to thirtyish executives rather than teenagers."
~Howard Rheingold (Author of Smart Mobs + The Virtual Community)
"Create complete, detailed listings with just a few clicks by using eBay's new Pre-filled Item Information Feature. Click here to view our Tutorial": http://pages.ebay.com/Pre-filledItemInformation/Preview/index.html
URL for add: http://altfarm.mediaplex.com/ad/ck/1065-12659-2357-0?mpt=4801079073938780
URL where the add was posted: http://entertainment.ebay.com/11233?ssPageName=MOPS123:HMD04
(Right under "Category changes are coming! click here" If the pic. doesn't pop up reload the site.)
Mobile Giants Seek New Domain
Thu Mar 11, 4:20 PM ET Add Technology - NewsFactor to My Yahoo!
Jay Wrolstad, wireless.newsfactor.com
Convinced that the time is right for a new Internet ID, several mobile industry and I.T. heavyweights are pushing for a mobile domain name that, if approved, would join the list of such familiar tags as '.com,' '.net' and '.org.'
Among those leading the campaign are Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT - news), Nokia (news - web sites) (NYSE: NOK - news), Vodafone, Sun Microsystems (Nasdaq: SUNW - news) and the GSM Association. They have petitioned ICANN (news - web sites) (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), an Internet standards organization, for a mobile "top level domain," and they are committed to establishing a joint venture to manage it.
Web Goes Wireless
The request reflects a feeling that Web browsing on next-generation wireless networks and advanced devices is reaching maturity. A mobile domain name is seen by the consortium as a critical step in bridging the world of mobility and the Internet, which will benefit end-users and industry players.
"The principal aim is to simplify Web access and navigation for mobile users," Vodafone spokesperson Ben Padovan told NewsFactor. With a domain name such as ".mob," for example, developers can create sites specifically targeted at mobile users and devices, while the users themselves could establish e-mail addresses for mobile phones or smartphones that combine voice communication with PDA functionality.
Also, noted Padovan, the Internet ID would encourage acceptance of services delivered on so-called "3G" wireless networks. Wireless carriers like Vodafone have invested billions in such systems and have yet to reap the benefits.
Strength in Numbers
Bringing together major players in the industry is critical for approval of the proposal. "We need broad-based support for the application to ICANN," Riitta Mard, a spokesperson for global mobile phone leader Nokia, told NewsFactor. A memorandum of understanding signed by the companies will be presented to ICANN on Monday, Mard said.
The rise of Internet-based services available on mobile devices prompted the partnership, Mard agreed. "This is an effort to make the Web easier to use, as more mobile-phone customers adopt Internet usage."
Better Web Experience
A mobile domain name is a prerequisite for the growth of mobile Web browsing -- and it is perhaps overdue, says IDC analyst Keith Waryas. "There's not yet a lot of compelling browsing content for mobile users, so this is a step in the right direction by encouraging the creation of that content," he told NewsFactor.
The availability of WAP and HTML browsing capabilities has led to increased mobile-Internet access, but the full Web experience thus far has eluded mobile users, Yankee Group analyst John Jackson told NewsFactor.
"This has the potential to let developers channel content and to build awareness of the mobile space among developers," he said. "It could also lend some structure to mobile Web browsing by defining the mobile realm."
Under the terms of the memorandum of understanding, the companies will establish a registry to manage the distribution of mobile domain names.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=1212&e=2&u=/nf/20040311/tc_nf/23336&...
Mobile Domain Proposed
Thu Mar 11, 7:00 PM ET Add Technology - PC World to My Yahoo!
Scarlet Pruitt, IDG News Service
Promising to spur the development and reliability of mobile services and technology, a group of nine mobile industry players say they are applying for a mobile top-level Internet domain to operate under a joint venture registry.
The group says the initiative is intended to simplify mobile subscribers' Internet experience and streamline deployment of new sites for mobile usage. Participants include Microsoft, Nokia (news - web sites), Vodafone, Hewlett-Packard, Hutchinson 3G UK, Samsung, Sun, Orange, and the GSM Association.
Application Due Soon
The group plans to hand its top-level domain application and plan to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers next week, and expects a decision within three to six months. If all goes well, the registry will be operating in the second half of 2005, says Brian Arbogast, Microsoft's corporate vice president of the MSN Communications Platform.
An ICANN (news - web sites) representative could not comment on the likely outcome of the application. However, Arbogast says the group "remains very confident" about the decision.
While nine players have already thrown their weight behind the proposed joint venture, Arbogast says they expect several more companies to get involved.
"We expect and encourage different members," Arbogast says.
Creating a mobile TLD offers mobile customers more reliability when accessing content from their mobile devices, which should accelerate adoption of mobile services, Arbogast adds.
"Today customers don't have a dependable experience," he says. The TLD will also offer a new business opportunity to network operators and content creators, he adds.
In that vein, Arbogast says he expects the move will open access to mobile content and to peer-to-peer content.
The joint venture members say they want to build a system that can support the growth of Internet-enabled mobile devices accessing new content.
Organizers at Work
The proposed mobile TLD registry would be based in Ireland, with some outsourcing of infrastructure functions, says Pertti Korhonen, Nokia's senior vice president and chief technology officer.
Korhonen estimates the system must support over a billion mobile devices connected to the Internet from the start.
"We need high reliability on the back end with the ability to scale [to support] new technologies," he says.
Besides providing mobile TLDs for operators and content providers, the group plans to offer second-level and third-level mobile domains, Korhonen says. A second-level domain would be for a corporation or trademark, while a third-level domain would offer an address to an individual.
While acknowledging plans for the TLD are ambitious, Korhonen says the registry itself will be lean, with a staff of 20 to 25. The group plans a policy advisory organization, and Korhonen says the organizers are already discussing issues such as open standards for interoperability and guidelines for mobile content.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=1211&e=3&u=/pcworld/20040312/tc_pcworld....