’70s retro label Binatone are to launch two, sub two hundred pound Android tablet devices. When we were young Binatone was the label that signified cheap and cheerful audio goods, from hi-fi’s to alarm clock radios. Over the intervening years it’s changed and is now concentrating on the portable electronics market, and it’s recently done…
Category: News
News
Viewsonic unveils iPad rivals
Details for two new iPad competitors hit our desk this week, the dual-boot Android/Windows ViewSonic ViewPad 100 and the ViewPad 7. Of the two the ViewPad’s the 100 is aimed firmly at the iPad market, where as the 7 could be a cut-down iPad competitor. The ViewPad 7 is described by ViewSonic as the “world’s…
News
Gig tickets? there’s an app for that
O2 have launched a new iPhone app called Priority, which ties into its Priority Tickets service. The app, which is free, lets people buy tickets to gigs and events at over 1,500 venues around the UK up to 48 hours before general release. If you’re a non-iPhone owners then you’ll have to wait a bit.…
News
Businesses set to spend £1.17 billion on location based ads by 2015
Location-based advertising is still in its infancy, but according to a new study from ABI Research, businesses are primed to spend $1.8 billion (£1.17 billion) on it in 2015 as part of their overall mobile marketing budgets. “It’s still early days and there’s no single ‘right’ approach to location-based advertising,” says practice director Neil Strother.…
News
New BT Wifi finding app for iPhone and Android
BT have launched a package of new free smartphone apps to help users find and connect to its Wifi hotspots. The new apps available for both iPhone and Android based devices allow users to search for nearby hotspots including BT Openzone and BT FON and if users are BT customers, they can connect automatically. The…
News
Mobile sales are up in UK by 5.15%
Using data collected at the point of sale, GfK found that second-quarter sales of mobile handsets were up 5.15% to 7.5m handsets, compared with the same period in 2009, thanks to a rebound in pay-as-you-go phones and continuing demand for smartphones. June turned in a particularly strong performance, up 6.8% on the prior year, capping…
News
Android web browsing grows by 400% in US
Bango stats show web browsing on the rise for Android users. According to new statistics released by Bango mobile analytics and payment specialist, the volume of mobile web browsing from Android phones in the USA grew by 400% between Q1 and Q2 2010. In comparison the volume of growth from Apple devices was just 13% over…
News
YouTube for Mobile moves to HTML 5
European and Middle East users of Google’s YouTube mobile video get access to HTML 5 Mobile users in the UK, Europe and Middle East can now access an HTML 5 version of Google’s YouTube video site, speeding up access for those accessing it via iPhones, Android or other mobile devices with browsers able to render…
News
Windows Phone 7 final developer tools launch date set
Microsoft have announced the final version of Windows Phone Developer Tools will be made available on 16 September 2010. Microsoft issued an update for developers on the Windows Phone 7 developer blog for its planned Windows Phone 7 launch timings, stating that it will make the final Windows Phone Developer Tools available on 16 September 2010. The final release…
News
Consumers are moving faster than retailers to mobile
A survey commissioned by AIME, IAB and IMRG shows that 41% of UK retail brands expect to have a transactional mobile site or application within the next year Too few retailers have a solid mobile presence today, however, 41% plan to have a transactional mobile site or application in place within the next year, according…
Analysis, News
BlackBerry App World failing at every level
We think the BlackBerry App World is possibly the worst app store out, it fails at all levels and if it doesn’t improve soon it’s going to die a well-deserved death. The BlackBerry App World store just isn’t working and it’s not just us that thinks that, RIM think it too. Why else would they…
News
HP Tablet out in 2011
HP have confirmed their webOS tablet for early 2011. Hewlett-Packard confirmed it will release a webOS-based tablet early next year, adding another forthcoming entrant to the growing tablet market and yet another contender for Apple’s iPad. While HP has indicated in the past that a tablet product based on Palm’s operating system was in the…
Events, News
Sign up for the Mobile Marketing Show London 21-22 Sept
A date for your diary the Mobile Marketing Show Olympia 21-22 Sept. The Mobile Marketing Show 21-22 Sept is nearly here, and this year it looks like it’s going to be a must-visit show. The mobile marketing show is supported by the Mobile Marketing Association and featuring comapanies such as 2ergo, Amobee, GetJar, Netbiscuits, Open…
News
Viewsonic to launch Android tablet device
ViewSonic is to preview and Android based tablet device at the IFA 2010 show Sept 3-8th 2010. Viewsonic will be launching a 7” Android tablet, an eBook reader, as well as an “affordable” 3D camcorder, and a portable 3D TV. The ViewPad 7, a 7” Android tablet with 3G and wi-fi connectivity, with access to…
News
Google Maps for mobile hits 100 million users a month
According to website Mobile Marketer more than 100 million consumers are accessing Google Maps for mobile each month. Google Maps launched five years ago, and has been a quiet success, but not an outstanding success compared to some of its upstart competitors. Facebook currently admits to 150 million mobile users, but Stuart Drudge on Mobile…
News
Vodafone invest in micropayments service
The payments landscape is changing daily and now it seems that the networks are getting into it, as Vodafone piles $18m into micropayments business PlaySpan. PlaySpan has announced that it has raised $18 million from Vodafone and SoftBank for its virtual goods and micropayment platform. The company plans to use the money from Vodaphone Ventures…
News
Contactless mobile payment system from Visa to go trial in Turkey
A new retrofit contactless mobile payment system from Visa and DeviceFidelity is to go on a live trial in Turkey. While we were digging around for news on Visa’s digital wallet we found this news that somehow went under the Business Mobile radar from earlier in the month. Visa are to launch Europe’s first microSD-based…
News
Visa to trial m-payments digital wallet in US
There’s one phrase that never fails to depress the life out of us at Business Mobile and that is “digital wallet.” If we had a pound for every time we’d been told that the the digital wallet will replace the real wallet, and that it will make e-commerce, m-commerce etc more secure and make it…
News
BlackBerry App World cuts prices and revenue share
Cut-price apps are now to be available on BlackBerry App World but revenue share is reduced to 70%. Research In Motion (RIM) has ditched the rule on its BlackBerry App World that developers have to sell their paid apps for a minimum of $2.99. But at the same time RIM have also announced that it…
News
Mobile data use triples in the past year
Mobile data use has tripled in the past year and global mobile data traffic has now hit over 225,000 terabytes per month, with 50 billion mobile devices predicted by 2020. Figures released by Ericsson show that mobile data use has almost tripled in the past 12 months. Global data traffic had reached nearly 225,000 terabytes…