Tonethephone

118800 in temp shutdown

UK mobile phone users up in arms

In an apparent response to the furore surrounding its mobile phone number directory, 118800 has decided to suspend what it called its 'beta service'.

Bellwether figures cast little light on mobile sector

Having just read through the IPA (the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising) Bellwether report which it produces with NTC Economics, I'm sad to say that it doesn't cast much light on how advertising spend is going in the mobile sector.

Sony Ericsson talks up TrackID

A very interesting event in London's Soho saw Google, Sony Ericsson, and 3 UK sitting around the same round table. Revealing comments were made by Sony Ericsson's Anders Runevad about content services.

IPA Bellwther report shows internet ads up

The UK's IPA (the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising) in conjunction with NTC Economics has just produced its quarterly Bellwether report. Basically it shows that after a glitch in Q4 2007, internet advertising is up and not only that, it's the only sector actually doing much better.

Nuance promises T9 Nav any day now

Rating: Predictive search available now as beta

An extremely impressive demonstration of how Nuance´s T9 Nav software (inherited from Tegic) was given to me by Nuance senior vp, Robert Weideman.
He demonstrated how the software could do discover local content on my Nokia N95 very quickly and efficiently.

Microsoft/Yahoo will send out shockwaves

I didn't think I'd ever hear an acquisition by Microsoft as a "Good thing for competition", but that's exactly how some industry observers are describing news of Microsoft's unsolicited bid for Yahoo!

The general consensus is that the regulators would let the pair combine even though Google's proposed acquisition of DoubleClick is still under investigation.
The logic seems to be that Google is commanding far too great a share of the emerging online advertising market and that advertisers would welcome a strong opponent. Yeah, but Microsoft as a White Knight? Am I dreaming?

A-Z maps brought to mobile

Don't you hate it when the popularist press carries a story about some neat kind of mobile phone service but don't give any clues how to find it?

Well, that was my experience with AZ Finder which is a freshly launched site enabling mobile phone users to take advantage of  the popular A-Z city guides in the UK. I've finally tracked it down, though.

Mobile2IP offers search possibilities

I've just had a very interesting discussion with Shlomo Wolfman, founder of Starhome, as to how mobile operators are sitting on a form of search and advertising which they haven't fully utilised yet. In essence, it  hinges on their own directory enquiry service.

What Starhome can do is take advantage of a the standard call log which every mobile phone possesses.  As an illustration, take a missed call. If the number is in the handset's own addressbook, you instantly know who's called.  That's easy.

But if it is not recognised, then why not link straight into the operator's own directory inquiry system? At a touch of button, you could discover whose call you've just missed.