The Google Mobile Blog has a tip for Blackberry 8800, Samsung Blackjack, and Nokia N95 owners…
Fast tip: one-click access to Google mobile applications on your phone
My Dash (Windows Mobile 6 Standard Edition) does not have the option to assign buttons or other physical inputs (volume slider) to applications. However, all Professional Edition (Pocket PC Phone Edition) devices do have this feature. You can find it in Settings->Buttons.
Engadget points out the limits of the new Verizon Wireless Unlimited Plans. It looks like the way to read the three offerings are: Somewhat unlimited, sort of unlimited, and unlimited but pricey. These plans can also have two-person and three-person family plans (Sprint and T-Mobile family plans include up to 5 phones if I recall correctly. Not sure what the AT&T Wireless family plans look like).
Addendum: It looks like everyone else is joining the Unlimited Club. AT&T Wireless and T-Mobile announced similar plans at the same price ($99). And, Sprint PCS’ existing plans are so close that you might was well call it unlimited. Does anyone really need more that 2000 minutes per month plus free nights and weekends? That’s like 1.5+ hours of talking per weekend (remember nights and weekends are free).
I mentioned earlier this week that T-Mobile USA customers will still have WiFi access in Starbucks coffee shops due to a WiFi roaming agreement between T-Mobile and AT&T Wireless. Then, I learned that this agreement ends after 5 years (early 2013). It is possible they could renew their agreement at that point in time. But, it is also possible that AT&T could wave goodbye to T-Mobile at that point. So, T-Mobile’s hotspot service will be limited to Kinko’s/FedEx locations, some hotels, and and airports. Not real useful even at only $20/month.
Then, I read over on Brighthand that T-Mobile USA is finally getting around to rolling out a 3G network later this year (or so they claim). But, there’s a wrinkle to this promise too… T-Mobile’s 3G is neither animal (UTMS) nor vegetable (HSDPA). This means that we can’t just take an unlocked 3G phone and use it with T-Mobile.
This bad news is not limited to T-Mobile IMHO. This is also bad news for Microsoft. Why? I If T-Mobile becomes seen as an backwater mobile phone service, it will make it easier for its customer base to abandon it for AT&T Wireless to get widely available WiFi hotspot and 3G service. It also makes it really easy for people to decide to dump Windows Mobile and get an iPhone (or Google Android for that matter).
Microsoft should think about investing in a nationwide hotspot provider and having it shore up T-Mobile’s WiFi coverage to help T-Mobile keep their WiMo customers happy.
An article over on ABCnews.com talks about the high cost of text messaging and calculates some interesting comparisons based on AT&T Wireless’ upcoming increased charge of 20 cents per text message and 30 cents per MMS message. Based on the assumption of a cost of 1 cent for every 7 bytes (characters), AT&T’s text messaging will cost about $1,500 per megabyte. Sure, you can pay for an unlimited text message plan. But, how many people require unlimited text messages.
Why does AT&T charge so much for text messaging? Does it really take that much to manage and maintain the service? Do they hate text messaging and only keep it alive because they are forced to? And, they are not alone…
Let’s look at another US mobile carrier: Sprint PCS. Sprint is in big trouble. They are bleeding customers losing 100,000 subscribers in the last quarter alone and recently laid off 4,000 workers (see this PC World article for details). Their basic plan provides something 5 or 7 (or some other really small number) of free text messages per month. You jump from single digits to 300 messages per month for a $5 monthly charge. 1000 messages bumps the cost to $10/month. And, unlimited is $15/month. Here’s a free tip for Sprint’s new CEO. Want to reduce your customer churn rate? Give them something of value that doesn’t cost you much. Reduce your text messaging rates. 300/month for free, 1000 a month for $5/month. Unlimited for $10/month. This will make parents more likely to let their kids text a bit more freely. Next, get some cooler looking phones to appeal to the younger crowd directly. Reduce the new phone cycle from full discount every two years to annually. Kids ask for new phones all the time. Parents (like me) might be more likely to replace them on an annual cycle if they were fully discounted.
Text messaging is probably on the tail end of its life cycle curve. The richer mobile presence services, like Twiter, Jaiku, and Pownce, that depend on packet (Internet) services will probably send text messaging off to visit its older cousin the venerable pager within the next couple of years. But, in the meantime, cell phone companies could probably retain customers and reduce churn by being competitive in provide text message services.
RCR Wireless News reports that T-Mobile may be the US carrier that launches the Google mobile phone. Information Week reports that Verizon Wireless may be the lucky carrier. If Google uses Apple’s one carrier strategy for a mobile rollout, VZW seems like the more likely candidate since it has a much larger presence than the far smaller T-Mobile USA.
My guess, ok wishful thinking, is that Google has more clout than Apple (though that may be hard to believe) and is able to avoid the whole exclusive carrier agreement and roll out both a CDMA (VZW) and a GSM (T-Mobile) solution. VZW would give it the US footprint to compete effectively with the Apple/AT&T Wireless iPhone product. The T-Mobile GSM solution would give it worldwide roaming. The combined rollout would also have a larger customer population than AT&T Wireless.
I guess we’ll see how things shake out in the next couple of weeks if we believe the various reports and rumors published in the past few weeks.
This is slightly off-topic. But, I figured a few other people might find it useful information (I did) in this article from Government Technology magazine.
FTC Separates Fact from Fiction on Cell Phone Do Not Call Registry
There’s a 7-point bullet list specifically related to cell phones.