mobile

Popular video Web site YouTube.com is opening up its service to run on millions more phones which are capable of using high-speed wireless links, the company said on Thursday.

YouTube, a unit of Google Inc, says it is extending its service from a handful of phones to a broader range of devices used by 100 million consumers worldwide that rely on high-speed links to stream videos to mobile screens.

"It's basically the full YouTube experience you can get on the desktop -- on the phone," said Dwipal Desai, YouTube's mobile product manager. "We expect it to get fairly popular from our past experiences."

The Web video sensation now only provides a full mobile video service to users of Apple Inc's iPhone and to devices sold by Helio, a small U.S. wireless provider that targets young, tech-savvy consumers. Helio is a unit of SK Telecom Co Ltd and EarthLink Inc.

A scaled-down version of YouTube with selected clips is also available to subscribers of the No. 2 U.S. mobile service, Verizon Wireless, a venture of Verizon Communications Inc and Vodafone Group Plc.

Desai said that most of the phones sold by Verizon Wireless would not support the full-fledged streaming service and that it was not yet clear when this might change.

The company is also testing software that will make it easier for mobile phone users to upload videos from phones onto YouTube.com, potentially allowing for far greater use of video to document people's everyday lives.

Desai did not say how YouTube plans to make money.

Typically, YouTube and other Google services wait until they have found a large audience before the company seeks to introduce advertising to help pay for the service.

"Right now we are focused on building a user base on alternative screens and we'll look at monetization in the future," said Desai.

Monetization is a code word among Internet companies for running advertising alongside Web content.
The service will run on select devices from U.S.-based Motorola Inc, South Korea's LG Electronics, Finland's Nokia and Sony Ericsson, jointly owned by Japan's Sony Corp and Sweden's Ericsson.

YouTube for Mobile will be available in 17 countries and 11 languages.

Voice on the Go Inc, provider of mobile voice solutions, has announced the availability of Voice on the Go for the Apple iPhone.

iPhone users can now listen to their email rather than reading it. With Voice on the Go, iPhone users can securely access their email and calendar, search contacts by name or company and place calls all hands-free by voice, Voice on the Go said in a release.

Simon Arnison, president and chief executive officer of Voice on the Go, said, "Voice on the Go extends this multimedia capability which allows users to safely and legally access

their email and other content with their iPhone by voice in the car while driving - anytime, anywhere."

Voice on the Go offers a way for iPhone users to safely access email and other content, while keeping their eyes on the road and their hands on the wheel - when used with a headset or hands-free kit. It enables subscribers to listen to, compose, reply and forward their email all by voice - hands-free and eyes-free safely while driving, or any other time.

The committee set up by the Ministry of Communications and IT to check the misuse of technology by hacking SMSes, has recommended the blocking of level +91 overseas SMSes which do not bear party address starting with +91.

The committee set up with the objective to check mobile hacking through SMS gateways has recommended strict vigilance on the control mechanism including SMS providers on the application and content when it passes through the gateways.

The Department of Telecom (DoT) has taken a serious note against hacking of mobile phones through SMS or through manipulating mobile numbers. The department has termed mobile hacking a cyber crime.

The committee stated, “It is a criminal offence using somebody else’s identity like telephone or mobile number for communication.’’

According to DoT, there have been many instances where customers were cheated through false SMSes from banks and financial institutions. The department has already registered complaints on the fake SMSes. “A subscriber may receive a message from his bank asking to confirm the details of the banking account. And once the customer replies back to the SMS it may not reach the destined number, rather may reach another number, which could be overseas,” the committee said.

Currently, SMSes are routed through application servers, SMS gateways, SMSCs and Mobile Switching Centres. According to experts if the transfer protocol between SMS gateways and SMSCs can be intervened the hacker would be able to access vital information from the subscriber.

With mobile phones enabled with email, Bluetooth, GPRS and banking transactions, it has become more prone to infiltration from outside.

However, the department has already blocked a couple of websites, which facilitate manipulation of phone numbers. DoT is also taking special initiative to control illegal routing of international calls through local lines.

Microsoft’s Windows mobile (WM), has achieved sales of 1, 00,000 units in over 15 months of its launch in India. This performance has been a result of WMs value proposition that allows consumers to remain connected while on the move and work and play anytime, anywhere. Windows Mobile devices provide an integration of enterprise as well as consumer features at affordable prices and are therefore being widely embraced within all segments.

Over the last year, WM has had a growing partnership with leading Smartphone device manufacturers like HTC, HP (iPAQ), Imate, O2 and Motorola and has significantly increased its portfolio of form factors. Today, WM offers India’s widest portfolio of form factors with close to 35 models (including 20+ Touchscreen phones) with prices starting from Rs. 11,990 upwards. "The one lakh mark is a significant achievement for any player in the messaging space, but that we have done so in record time underlines the powerful value proposition that Windows Mobile enabled devices offer. We are greatly enthused by the response we have received, and, having crossed this important milestone, we aim to touch the two lakh figure by end of FY08”, said Sumeet Gugnani - Director, Mobile Communications Business, Microsoft India.

Windows Mobile, which had achieved a record market share of 30.5 % in Q1 2007 (according to IDC quarterly tracker) maintained its shipment level this quarter as well shipping more than 20,000 units of WM based phones, thus underlining its leadership position in the messaging segment. According to IDC Worldwide Converged Mobile Device 2006-2011 Forecast and Analysis, May 2007, Windows Mobile is expected to see a CAGR of 57.0%, the highest rate of growth among the top 5 platforms through 2011.

"Mobility is a key focus area for Microsoft, both in India and globally, and we have over 1300 gold certified partners working just in this area, developing applications for the Windows Mobile platform. We believe in empowering our consumers with powerful software which can enable them to remain connected anytime, anywhere and Windows Mobile is one such significant innovation which makes this possible." added Mr. Gugnani.

Microsoft has recently launched the next iteration of Windows Mobile platform, Windows Mobile 6 which is currently available on models like - HTC Touch, HTC S710, HP iPAQ 512, and O2 Zinc.

Besides a host of applications, all Microsoft Windows Mobile platform enabled smartphones offer a four pronged value proposition to smartphone users : Office on the move (consumers can have access to their familiar MS office - Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Internet Explorer ), Push Mail Messaging (E-mail and other information - Contacts, Tasks, Calendar - is pushed and synchronized directly between the Microsoft Exchange 2003 (SP2) and Exchange server 2007 providing end-users with up-to-date information , Line-of-business-applications (The .Net framework provides a platform which supports line-of-business applications like Sales force enablement, mobile CRM etc ), and Multimedia functionality (camera, MP3, video recording). It also offers the security features most requested by enterprise customers such as data protection, password protection; remote and local wipe which allows them to have control of their vital information