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The Centrino 2 platform is based around the Intel Mobile 4 Series Express chipset.

BT Total Broadband's stylish new Home Hub gives customers the best wireless signal of any UK broadband provider - ' thanks to next-generation wi-fi technology that enables reception even in areas that other ...

It’s all about the mobile phone. That’s the message to advertisers clamoring to reach teens, because that’s where they’re spending their time, reports C/Net. What’s more, teens wield an estimated $200 billion annually in discretionary spending.

Fuse, a marketing agency based in Vermont, talked in recent weeks to senior technology executives from companies such as Sony, MTV Networks, Yahoo, and Nokia to find out what the future of technology will look like for the teen market.

Among the predictions:

• Mobile phones in the United States will surpass the popularity of desktops for teens.
• Only an estimated 20 percent of teens currently own a smartphone such as the iPhone,
• Smartphone adoption is expected to spread fast among teens in middle America and other areas.
• Geographic ad targeting to teens via the phone is expected to explode in the coming years.

“The iPhone is just the beginning of the all-in-one device. Uses of mobile devices will expand to include all kinds of bar code applications and prepaid debit card payment methods,” said Bill Carter, a partner at Fuse, who presented the findings at the YPulse 2008 National Mashup, a two-day conference on teens and technology.

Right now, mobile phone providers analyze an estimated 4 billion Internet Protocol addresses to provide street-level targeting to consumers. Companies like U.K.-based Blyk, for example, are reaching teens through the phone with ads and information on nearby nightspots. Teens sign up for the service.

“When you combine this new technology with teens giving their permission to market to them, the growth could be exponential,” Carter said.

But companies like Apple, Google, and Yahoo may be more effective at “side-loading” the cell phone with services. And most teens download music to their iPod that’s been ripped from a friend’s collection. “There’s a natural gravitation to get content on a device that’s different than the one the manufacturer intended,” he said.

Carter predicts that Apple’s iTunes will offer an unlimited monthly download service for music. Mobile phone companies, too, will launch music subscriptions on the smartphone.

Another prognostication: Other technology platforms will save, not kill TV networks.

The analog-to-digital conversion will make it possible for teens to watch live TV on portable devices. The technology will help the television networks target programming to specific audiences, and that will buoy the cost of advertising, he said.

When Apple launched its MobileMe Web cloud software last Friday, customers ran into severe glitches. The subscription service is designed to synchronize calendars, e-mail and other applications between iPhones and Mac or Windows desktops, but users of the new service were unable to log in or sync files correctly.

The company fielded a torrent of criticism from end-users. An e-mail from the MobileMe team on Tuesday read in part:

"Although core services ... went relatively smoothly, the new MobileMe Web applications had lots of problems initially. Fortunately we have worked through those problems and the Web apps are now up and running."

As a goodwill gesture, Apple is extending customer subscriptions by 30 days. According to the e-mail, subscribers should see the credited time on their next statements. According to a FAQ on Apple's Web site, customers are eligible if they subscribed to its earlier .Mac service before July 9 or created a new MobileMe account before Tuesday at 7 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time.

Push Needs a Shove

Most affected were syncs between iPhones and desktops. The service had advertised push technology that implied any change made in applications on one device would automatically be pushed out to the users' other devices. But push needed a shove, according to user complaints. iPhone and Web-based apps did propagate properly, but Mac and PC desktop changes were less than automatic. According to one user's post on Apple's support Web site:

"If I make a change on the MobileMe Web contacts, my Macs will update pretty quickly, but if I make a change to my contacts on my Mac, nothing happens until I manually initiate a sync, even though I have MobileMe sync set to Automatic ... I was under the impression the way everything was explained was that all the data was going to be stored server side...

UTStarcom Inc. signed a contract with Aksh Optifibre Ltd., its second deal with the Indian maker of fiber optic cables.

South Korea’s SK Telecom and U.S. wireless carrier Sprint Nextel are in preliminary talks to form a strategic partnership to develop new handsets and services, says the Wall Street Journal.

The companies have discussed the idea of SK Telecom making a minority investment in Sprint, but they aren’t discussing an outright merger, according to the story. Last fall, Sprint rejected a $5 billion investment offer by SK Telecom and Providence Equity Partners.

SK Telecom formed a $440 million joint venture with Earthlink to create Helio, a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), using capacity leased from Sprint. On June 27, 2008, Helio was acquired in an all stock deal by Virgin Mobile for a net acquisition price of $39 million - in stark contrast to the $500 million investment in the venture.

SK Telecom now has a 17% ownership in Virgin Mobile USA, exchanging full Helio shares into a stake in Virgin Mobile USA and making a strategic investment in the company. SK Telecom, the largest mobile operator in South Korea with a 50% share, and Hanaro Telecom, are also rolling out WiBro/WiMAX nationwide in South Korea.

Competitor Korea Telecom has aggressively pushed WiBro service in South Korea, attracting some 150,000 subscribers. However, the Korean government allowed only data service through WiBro - not voice - limiting the potential market. KT hopes to have 400,000 WiMax subscribers by the end of this year.

SK Telecom is building out Wave 2 WiBro in Seoul and has sent HD video across the network in real time. Under optimal conditions it downloaded at 37 Mbps and uploaded at 10 Mbps. SK Telecom has generally been less enthusiastic about WiBro than KT since SK is also a cellular carrier.

DISH Network got lucky in the early hours of Wednesday after a successful launch of its EchoStar XI broadcast satellite from Boeing’s Sea Launch platform in the Pacific.

DISH, the second-largest U.S. satellite TV operator, needs to roll out more HD channels to be able to compete with larger rival DIRECTV, as well as cable and phone companies’ video services, explains Reuters.

Their HD plans were set back in March when a satellite launch by SES Americom (AMC-14) failed to reach its intended orbit on board a Russian Proton Breeze-M launch vehicle. The SES Americom satellite was entirely contracted by DISH sister company EchoStar.

The 20-kW direct broadcast satellite has deployed its solar arrays and is performing post-launch maneuvers on schedule. Its final destination: 110 degrees West longitude. EchoStar XI is the fourth Space Systems/Loral-built satellite to be launched this year and the fifth satellite that SS/L has provided to DISH Network.

DISH said earlier this month it would add another 17 national HD channels bringing its total to 100 ahead of its original year-end target. DIRECTV has said it will have 150 HD channels by the year-end.

The satellite operators are aggressively pushing HD as a way of differentiating themselves from cable operators, who are also launching more HD channels at a rapid pace but are on average still behind the satellite operators.

In related news, the Proton Breeze M rocket is slated to return to flight Aug. 14 carrying the Inmarsat-4 F3 satellite, after a failure investigation board led by International Launch Services (ILS).

The Proton M has been down since an anomaly on March 15 left the SES Americom AMC-14 (Echostar’s DBS) spacecraft stranded in the wrong orbit. In April, the Russian State Commission attributed the failure to a ruptured exhaust gas conduit.

The Inmarsat-4 (I-4) satellites are among the largest and most sophisticated commercial communication satellites ever built. Their spotbeams are capable of delivering advanced voice and broadband data communications to mobile users via the BGAN service.

Inmarsat-4 F3 will complete Inmarsat’s next-generation global spot beam network. F-3 will provide broadband MSS service over the Pacific Ocean and the West coast of the United States, enabling voice and highspeed data using laptop-size terminals. Based on EADS Astrium’s Eurostar 3000 bus, the satellite will weigh approximately 6 metric tons at liftoff.

Related Space and Satellite articles on Dailywireless include Galaxy 18 Cable Sat Launched, ICO Deploys 40 Foot Antenna, AMC-14: Not Dead Yet, Dish Network Testing DVB-SH, ICO G-1 In Space, Vietnam Launches Its First Satellite, AMC-14: Killed by Lawyers?, HughesNet’s Spaceway 3 Now Available, Intelsat & Panamsat to Merge, Global Satellite Providers Now Three, Eutelsat HotBird 8, U.S. Antisatellite Weapon to be Tested, Satellite Shootdown Fallout and To Mars…and Beyond.

Aircell which delivers WiFi on airplanes, via its Gogo service, today announced its intention to base its airplane-to-ground link on Long Term Evolution (LTE).

Aircell uses an exclusive FCC frequency license to provide a cellular data channel to airplanes. It currently uses CDMA EVDO Rev A to deliver an effective data rate of more than 12 Mbps peak to Gogo-equipped aircraft. By the end of 2009, Aircell says further advances in existing technologies will enable Aircell to deliver a raw data rate of up to 22.7 Mbps to aircraft.

By the beginning of 2011, Aircell expects to deploy a 4G LTE network, which will enable a throughput of up to 300 Mbps to aircraft. Aircell, however, is not a terrestrial service, so any benefits to consumers would likely be faster WiFi speeds onboard aircraft.

“With LTE, Aircell’s Air-to-Ground (ATG) Inflight Internet technology is future-proofed,” stated Joe Cruz, CTO, Aircell.

Aircell plans to deploy LTE to enable the next generation ultra-high bandwidth mobile services such as hi-definition and interactive TV and multi- player immersive gaming. Their 4G ground link will also enable operational applications such as high-resolution weather to the cockpit.

Aircell joins wireless giants AT&T, Verizon and Alltel in selecting LTE as the choice for 4G network technology.

Gogo service, powered by Aircell, will be available on American Airlines and Virgin America later in 2008. Gogo turns a commercial airplane into a Wi-Fi hotspot. It’s available to passengers with Wi-Fi enabled personal devices such as laptops, smartphones and PDAs.

Once the system goes live, it will cost $12.95 for those who log on during flights longer than three hours and $9.95 for shorter flights. Access to American’s Web site, Frommer’s online travel guides and some news headlines will be free, however.

In-flight broadband is taking off — with and without voice:

• American Airlines:
  Aircell won the rights to 3-MHz on the 800-MHz spectrum to deliver broadband to airlines from terrestrial towers. Passengers connect via Wi-Fi inside planes. AA began testing the service on its fleet of Boeing 767-200 aircraft in August 2007, with the goal is to provide broadband service to all passengers in 2008.
• Alaska Airlines:
  Row 44 is providing Ku band transponders with downlink speeds of 81Mbps and uplink speeds of 1.6 Mbps. Passengers get a Wi-Fi connection for Internet, e-mail, VPNs, and stored in-flight entertainment for $10 for up to two hours, $15 for 2-5hr and $20 for more than 5hr. If the airline chooses, the link can also be used to support VoIP from dual-mode phones. Row 44 leases Ku-band satellite transponders from several operators, but is managed through HughesNet. Alaska hopes to have Wi-Fi connections on all 144 of its planes and more than 100 channels of live television.
• Air France:
  As well as AirAsia, Oman Air and Jazeera Airways offer OnAir inflight passenger communications services.
• Virgin America:
  Virgin America will be the second major U.S. airline to employ Aircell for Wi-Fi enabled devices. Additionally, the airline’s Red Inflight Entertainment network will allow customers to use a wide variety of instant messaging services on their seatbacks, including MSN messenger, Google talk, Yahoo! messenger, and AIM. The company hopes to have its all of its planes connected “sometime in 2008.”
• JetBlue:
  Plans a nation-wide PlaneFi service using LiveTV, a wholly owned subsidiary of JetBlue that won rights to 1 MHz of the 800-MHz spectrum last year. They’re currently trialling free e-mail and instant-messaging on one Airbus A320. Wi-Fi connects user devices (no voice). If the trial goes well, JetBlue is expected to expand the service.

Related DailyWireless stories include; JetBlue Buys Airfone, Row 44: Cleared for Take Off, FAA: Go For Aircell Launch , Aircell Vs Row44: Two for Two, FlyFi Takes Off, Lufthansa & AA Trying WiFi — Again, Inflight Phones Banned by FAA?, AirCell on Virgin by 2008, Wireless Voice on Airplanes? Yes & No, AirCell Demos Inflight WiFi, Aircell for Planes, FCC Rules on Airplane Cellular, Connexion On Again?, Dis Connexion, Connexion Dying, AirFone Dead, Airplane Internet Auction Over, Airplane Wireless Auction (Virtually) Over, AirCell Demos Inflight WiFi and Connexion Press Junket.

"We already work together and so whatever collaboration, if there is an opportunity, we will be happy to collaborate with them," Symbian chief executive Nigel Clifford told reporters in Tokyo.

Comstar UTS, the leading integrated telecommunications operator in Russia and the CIS, today announced that it has selected Nortel equipment to develop the first mobile WiMAX network in Moscow. Some 160 base stations are expected to be built in Moscow by the end of 2008 with the overall investments in the project are expected to be US$ 20 million in 2008.

The building of the IEEE 802.16e standard (2.5-2.7 Ghz range) based network has already started and is expected to be completed by the end of 2008, with Kvazar-Micro (now renamed as SITRONICS Information Technologies) acting as the equipment supplier and Intellect-Telecom as the project designer.

Sergey Pridantsev, President and Chief Executive Officer of Comstar UTS, commented: “The mobile WiMAX network, which will be added to other broadband internet access technologies, will allow us to provide a very broad range of telecommunications services to our subscribers in Moscow, whether at home, in the office or on the street.”

Nortel Networks now plans to focus on LTE, with WiMax products being dropped in favor of working with Alvarion for WiMAX products, the company announced last month.

Comstar had 3.6 million residential subscribers and 750 thousand residential broadband internet subscribers in Moscow, as well as 40 thousand residential regional and international broadband internet subscribers at the end of March 2008.