Wireless Blog

July 8, 2008 Most retired mobile phones are left in drawers instead of being recycled, according to a global survey conducted by Nokia Corp.

More than a year after they were introduced, federal rules intended to keep cell phone towers operating during natural disasters remain in limbo.

Nokia Oyj is expected to report a 16 percent earnings rise due to strong demand in emerging markets, yet its comments on the impact of slowing growth is likely to set the tone for its shares.

This piece of PR came over the transom today:

With the Apple iPhone 3G recently announced for a mere $199, many are considering the purchase. But how each person uses their phone will affect how much they pay, since certain features are now premium priced…and that’s before verifying the signal strength of AT&T’s coverage at their home, office, and along the commute.

So the key questions on everyone’s mind: What is it going to cost me? Can I really afford the switch? Is the new iPhone right for me?

Enter BillShrink (www.billshrink.com).

BillShrink is a free service that saves consumers money when they select everyday services like cell phones — and its revolutionary technology collects and processes millions of data points for all cell phone plans, with a special page dedicated to the iPhone/AT&T combos at: www.billshrink.com/iphone.

By simply entering a few pieces of information about your own cell phone usage, you see which iPhone plan and add-ons make the most sense. By importing a recent cell phone bill, BillShrink will include analysis of who you call, how frequently, in what network, during which hours, etc.

Using this information, BillShrink can find the right combination of iPhone plan and add-ons that you should use, and exactly how much more (or sometimes less) you’ll pay.

The technology examines early termination fees, coverage in your area, sign up fees, one-time costs, family plans, and all the other ways services providers confuse consumers, and the end result is the best plan package.

Gizmodo explains over two years, the iPhone 3G will cost $160 more than the original iPhone ($1975 vrs $1815). This includes the unlimited data plan plus the additional $5 SMS plan you need to get to match the original’s 200 included messages.

Bill Shrink says they do not take advertising, and don’t sell anything. They get paid by retailer partners if you decide to sign up for new service.

Canada’s AWS auction, in the AWS band (1.7/2.1 GHz), is winding down. The auction was expected to raise around $1 billion for the government treasury but so far bids are totaling more than C$4 billion ($3.9 billion) — says Reuters.

Canada’s government plans to allow new players to break into the cellular phone market. A total of 105 MHz of AWS radio spectrum will be open for bidding (map), which includes 40 MHz of AWS spectrum specifically set aside for new players, with another 65 MHz of spectrum for all bidders.

The three top telecom companies, which already dominate Canada’s C$13 billion wireless market; Rogers Communications, Bell Canada Enterprises and Telus — lead the pack in the dollar value of high bids across the country.

Among possible new contenders:

• Quebecor, a company controlled by the Montreal-based media and publishing group which has committed C$556 million in bids. Quebecor has long said it plans to build out a network across its home province of Quebec, also BCE’s home turf.
• Globalive Communications, a privately held firm that offers cheap long-distance calling, has put up more than C$444 million. It has said it is confident it will be able to buy enough spectrum to become a national player.
• Data & Audio-Visual Enterprises Wireless, chaired by entrepreneur John Bitove. It has committed C$242.5 million in high bids. One of Bitove’s partners in DAVE Wireless is the investment arm of Vulcan, Paul Allen’s investment group.
• Shaw Communications, a Western Canadian cable and communications group, has put up C$205.4 million so far. Still, its chief executive has warned that just because Shaw participates in the auction does not mean it will build out a network.

Because the prices of spectrum are being bid up faster and higher than expected, there is more pressure on the newcomers to set up partnerships to share the costs of a national wireless push.

Industry observers generally agree that Canadians should hold off in signing for a new contract until next year as it is expected a newly-established carrier will be set to launch by spring of 2009.

Customers can access internet, music, video and entertainment services through the high speed wireless 3G data network enabled by Nokia Siemens Networks' 3G solution Telcel, Mexico's leading wireless operator, ...

Just before going to bed, you thumb through the inbox on your BlackBerry to check updates from work. You send out a few directives before turning in.

Some would say you're getting a jump on the next day's work. Others say it's billable hours.

Can you claim overtime for using your BlackBerry?

More employers have faced that question in the past year --- in court. Workers in California and Ohio have sued their employers to recoup time spent on their BlackBerry and other workplace tools such as laptops.

While Georgia courts have not decided such cases yet, there are new ones cropping up nationally each month in the wage-hour realm, said Clare Draper, partner in Alston & Bird's labor and employment group.

Most of the people being issued BlackBerries tend to be managers, professionals or executives, Draper said.

"They get paid the same amount no matter how much they work," he said. But it becomes a problem when companies issue remote technology such as BlackBerries to hourly or nonexempt workers who are eligible for overtime, Draper said.

So what can companies do to protect themselves?

"It would be wise for an employer to have a policy dealing with [nonexempt or hourly workers] reporting the times worked on cell phones, BlackBerries, pagers or laptops," Draper said. His firm is helping clients in Georgia craft such policies.

BlackBerry usage can become a legal problem for companies if workers are misclassified, Draper said.

Say you're classified as a manager, but you later claim that the work you do is really hourly work and, therefore, you should be receiving overtime pay. The time on a BlackBerry, laptop or cell phone could become a legal issue, he said.

Draper advises companies to "regularly check and update job classifications to make sure workers are properly classified."

Companies can equip a mobile workforce for greater productivity, cost savings and enhanced security. Mobile solutions for enterprises have primarily consisted of personal or business-owned mobile phones deployed on an ad hoc basis that permitted little control by the company. Today's dramatically growing virtual workforce, however, requires new tactics to keep workers responsive and productive, to rein in spiraling telephony costs, and ensure security and compliance with regulatory and company requirements.

Choosing, integrating and successfully deploying a mobility solution that serves a diverse workforce can be challenging. There is no one standard solution that simultaneously meets the needs of road warriors, telecommuters, campus nomads and desk workers in every type of enterprise.

As the number of mobile workers increases, the cost to keep them connected to their workplace is one of the fastest-growing components of the IT budget. This has been spurred for the most part by the availability of new applications, such as mobile e-mail and data, that end-users have driven into adoption. These costs are destined to increase unless enterprises proactively define a mobile communications strategy.

To compound problems, enterprises are realizing that ad hoc solutions lack the necessary security and compliance features. These devices can be easily lost or hacked, and potentially provide entry points into corporate systems-threats that will only grow with the power and proliferation of devices if not mitigated by enterprise controls.

Additionally, when a company relies strictly on its cellular carrier as its mobility strategy, retaining call logs, call recordings or voice mails can be difficult, perhaps creating compliance issues. Cellular call information resides on the carriers' systems and is not integrated with enterprise calling or messaging systems. Enterprises will eventually have to take control of these assets in order to enact their own business and security policies.

Map Out a Mobility Strategy

Determining the most critical applications and...

Here's one reason you may want to take the hardcover of David Sedaris' new book to the beach this summer instead of the digital version for Amazon's Kindle: Sand between the pages won't ruin a good story.

About six months after its introduction, the Kindle electronic reading device is entering its first beach season amid increasing discussion that the gadget may have a future. Skepticism about whether people will try reading books on a screen instead of the printed page is being joined by evidence of a nascent but growing market for the Kindle and its competitor from Sony.

Much of the talk focuses on the comment by Jeff Bezos, Amazon's founder and chief executive, who said for the first time that the Kindle is having an impact on book sales.

"Of the 125,000 books available both as a physical book and on Kindle, Kindle books already account for over 6 percent of units sold," Bezos said in a statement coinciding with a recent book publishing trade show in Los Angeles.

On the other hand, Amazon won't disclose how many consumers have bought a Kindle -- reduced to $359 last week from $399 -- or how many actual e-books have sold for the device.

Nonetheless, publishers are making more titles available on the Kindle. Simon & Schuster is adding 5,000 titles to its Kindle offerings after e-book sales grew by 40 percent in 2007.

E-books represent the fastest-growing category for publishers, though the sales volume is tiny compared with traditional books. In 2007, sales increased by 23.6 percent over 2006, accounting for $67 million in sales. Overall, the book industry grew by 3.2 percent in 2007 and had sales of $25 billion, according to the Association of American Publishers.

Ross Rubin, an analyst for the NPD Group, said it's too early to say whether e-books...

NBC is using the Olympics as a "billion-dollar research lab" to get a sense of how people are using different media platforms to experience the Beijing Games that begin Aug. 8.

Besides giving advertisers a clearer picture of how much consumers are paying attention to the games, NBC hopes its research provides a comprehensive picture of how people are supplementing TV viewership with tools such as video streaming, video on demand and mobile phones, said Alan Wurtzel, the company's research chief.

"The billion-dollar lab is an extraordinary research opportunity," he said.

NBC has scheduled 3,600 hours of Olympics programming on its main network, along with Telemundo, USA, Oxygen, MSNBC, CNBC and Bravo. That's the equivalent of eight days of programming packed into each day.

In addition, the company is planning to make 2,200 hours of streaming video available on NBCOlympics.com. Consumers may also get video on demand via their computer and Olympics content through their mobile phones.

NBC relies on Nielsen Media Research for a count of how many people are watching the Olympics on their TVs at home, but there is no existing research tool that pulls together all the different types of exposure, Wurtzel said. With the help of outside companies and its own research staff, NBC is using about 10 methods for measuring the audience.

NBC has contracted with Quantcast Corp. to get a sense of who is using NBCOlympics.com. Besides video streaming, computer users are being offered reams of Olympics data, blogging of live events and gaming. NBC wants to know how many people will visit NBCOlympics.com, what pages they are viewing and how much time they are spending on the computer.

The information could be used on the fly to program the Web site. If one sport is doing particularly well with video on demand requests, NBCOlympics.com might feature it on its...