Are Mobile Marketers Already Embracing Apple's iPad?

According to Mobile Marketer the rush is on:

On the heels of Steve Jobs’ official introduction of Apple’s iPad, marketers and developers are racing out the door with applications and advertising services for the new tablet.

Mobspree has launched TouchPlay, an interactive publishing service that uses the iPhone and iPad’s rich-media capabilities. First up on the platform is “Ordinary Mary’s Extraordinary Deed,” a copublishing collaboration between SnackLogic and Gibbs Smith.

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Scoreloop, a provider of social mobile games, has begun development on games for the iPad.

The game developer said the iPad will allow for a more sophisticated gaming experience with integration of its play challenges, achievements, friend recommendations and social network integration. Scoreloop also supports the iPhone and Google’s Android devices.

Read more @ Mobile Marketer

Will Apple Launch A Dual-Core 4G iPhone In April

Call us skeptical (about the specs), but this is what IntoMobile has to say:

According to a report citing comments from South Korea’s KT execs, Apple’s upcoming iPhone successor could feature a removable battery, OLED display, video calling, and a new dual-core processor alongside upgraded graphics processing hardware. If true, we could see this feature-packed “iPhone 4G,” as it’s being called, hitting market as soon as April of this year. The expedited launch window would be a departure from Apple’s traditional mid-year launch of new iPhone hardware.

And what might we see in April?

The rumored feature-set of the iPhone 4G is everything we’d hoped for in a next-gen iPhone. The higher-resolution OLED display should go a long way in competing with smartphones outfitted with 3.7-inch and 4-inch high-res displays from the likes of HTC and Motorola. The removable battery is something that iPhone users have been clamoring for ever since the original iPhone landed on US shores – an Apple patent application bodes well for a removable battery. And, while supposed Android “superphones” like the Nexus One tout 1Ghz Snapdragon processors, this new iPhone 4G might just come to market toting a latest generation of ARM Cortex A9 dual-core processor capable of clock speeds in excess of 2Ghz. That’s going to make for an iPhone that’s not just fast, it’ll have more processing power than laptops of just a handful of years ago!

Sounds exciting, but, alas, unlikely.

First Hands-On Review Of The Google Nexus One (The Google Phone)

Gizmodo has scored the first hands on review of the rumored, found, confirmed Google Nexus One.

Thanks to a clandestine meeting with a source, I got a chance to play with and try out the Nexus One. It's basically, from my time with it, Google's Droid killer. It's thin, it's fast, it's better in every way.

My source was very firm about no photography, and I didn't want to jeopardize anything on my source's end, so there are no photos, hence these photos are ones we've already shown you. But, based on all the leaked shots this week, plus the very pretty and very clear one last week from Boy Genius, everyone knows what the phone looks like already. Hell, there's even a complete UI walkthrough today that's on YouTube. So I'm going to focus on the experience, and how it compares to the Droid and the iPhone 3GS.

To those of who you who don't think the Droid is sexy, you'll be glad to know that the Nexus One is major aesthetic improvement:

You can call the design the antithesis of the Droid: smooth, curved, and light, instead of hard, square and pointy. It feels long and silky and natural in your hand—even more so than the iPhone 3GS.

Head over to Gizmodo right now to learn all about the Google Nexus One.

Smartphones Are Killing Wireless Networks

Mobile Marketing Watch has an interesting take on just why smartphones are hammering the carriers' networks. It's a bit more nuanced then you probably expect:

Through its research, Airvana identified a significant mobile network “load multiplier effect” caused by smartphone data traffic on the macro-cellular network.  Airvana engineers comparing data use profiles found that for a given volume of data transmitted, one smartphone typically generates eight times the network signaling load of a USB modem-equipped laptop. Although smartphones may only account for a minority percentage of all devices on operator networks today, they’re always on, moving between cell sites and continually ‘polling’ the network.  As a result, smartphones are already responsible for the majority—two to three times as much as laptops—of the total signaling activity.

Put simply, the nature of smartphones – with their mobile Web-focused design and always-on capabilities are swallowing bandwidth faster than any other device in use on wireless networks today- eight times more than a laptop pulling the same bandwidth from a USB-based mobile broadband connection.

Read more @ Mobile Marketing Watch.

Mobile Industry Review Looks At Canadian SMS Aggregators

Mobile Industry Review received a query from a reader, wondering who were the best 'tier 3 SMS aggregators in Canada.'

They're opening up the question to readers, so you'll have to head over and check out the comments to find out who has been getting the nod.

You also might want to check out this list of sms aggregators.

Improved Threaded SMS Chatting On Windows Mobile Phones

To those Windows Mobile powered smartphone users wanting a better threaded SMS chatting experience look no further:

VITO Technology has recently released an updated version of its popular threaded messaging client for Windows Mobile - SMS-Chat. Version 1.2 of the application now has 3 skins (dark, clear and light), SM backup function, and is more stable than ever thanks to Vito’s efforts to fix some of the known bugs. Moreover, the updated app sports an “enhanced look and functionality,” ensuring great experience when using the app.

Read more @ IntoMobile

BlackBerry Recovers The Smartphone Throne

The BlackBerry Storm hasn't exactly been the iPhone killer that RIMM was hoping for. Nevertheless, they managed to climb back to the top of the smartphone heap in Q1 2009. How? Discounts:

An aggressive “buy-one-get-one” promotion by Verizon Wireless helped Research in Motion’s BlackBerry Curve move past Apple’s iPhone to become the best-selling consumer smartphone in the U.S. in the first quarter of 2009, according to a market research report Monday.

RIM’s consumer smartphone market share increased 15 percent to nearly 50 percent of the smartphone market in the first quarter versus the prior quarter, as Apple Inc.’s (Nasdaq:AAPL) and Palm Inc.’s (Nasdaq:PALM) share both declined 10 percent each.

Sounds like an excellent recession strategy.

Read more @ Biz Journals.

6 New Phones For AT&T And They're All About Texting

AT&T recently unveiled six new phones to be sold on their network. Featuring full QWERTY keyboards, they're all designed with texting in mind:

AT&T today announced a fresh new lineup of smartphones and messaging phones that make it easier for customers to message with friends and family and manage their business and personal lives on-the-go. These new models are not available immediately but will be released soon in next few weeks. In the smartphone category, AT&T debuted the Nokia E71x and the Samsung Propel Pro, powered by Symbian OS and Windows Mobile 6.1. In addition, the Samsung ImpressionTM and Samsung Magnet, and LG Xenon and Neon expands the number of full-keyboard mobile phones in AT&T’s lineup to seven.

Read more @ SlashPhone

Mobile TV License Auction Coming to Hong KongMobile TV License Auction Coming to Hong Kong

Nothing like a good auction to kick off a new year. And Hong Kong is the place for all the excitement.

The Hong Kong government said that it will “auction three mobile TV licenses in 2009,” a move that could put city viewers one step closer to watching their favorite dramas and soccer matches on the go.

The licenses (which will span fifteen years) will allow operators to broadcast in the DVB-H standard common in Europe and in the T-DMB standard common in Korea. High bidders for the licenses will have to begin broadcasting within a year and a half, putting the start of the market’s mobile TV rollout in the second half of 2010.

Get the full story here.

AT&T and ChaCha Announce Strategic Relationship

Last week AT&T Inc. announced a strategic relationship between AT&T and ChaCha, one of the fastest growing text messaging mobile search services in the industry. As part of the agreement, ChaCha will use a co-branded greeting and promote AT&T when consumers call 1-800 2ChaCha (1-800-2-242242).

The two companies also will work together to further enhance ChaCha's free mobile-answers service and explore opportunities in both text and voice ad-based services. ChaCha will continue to provide free answers to any question -- anytime, anywhere -- to and from any activated wireless phone. Questions can cover any topic, from science to culture to sports and more.