Mobile On AIR!

Send and receive emails, sms and mms messages at 10,000 m!


Air France has become the first airline in the world to offer an in-flight mobile phone service on international flights

Using to the Mobile OnAir system, passengers travelling on board one of the Airbus A318 aircraft operating European routes can now:
Send and receive sms and mms messages
Send and receive emails via all phones with Internet access
During the second half of the trial, passengers will be able to make and receive phone calls, with the service being regulated to maintain passengers’ comfort and well-being.

Customers on board this Airbus A318, with seating for 123 passengers, can find out more about this service in an information leaflet in seat pockets. Information will also be included in the cabin crew announcement. Air France welcomes feedback on this service from its passengers, who can fill in a twenty-question survey.

At the end of the six-month trial, Air France will examine the feedback and comments made by customers to determine whether to launch this service on all its flights.

“We are seizing every opportunity to offer customers the latest technological innovations, while continuing to make their travel comfort and well-being our main priority”, stated Patrick Roux, Executive Vice President Marketing Air France.

Benoit Debains, CEO of OnAir, said “We are delighted that Air France is the first airline to use the Mobile OnAir onboard mobile telephony system on international flights. This marks an important phase in the implementation of a new generation of in-flight services and we are confident that this trial will define the future standards in terms of in-flight passenger communication”.

The Mobile OnAir onboard mobile telephony system, certified by EASA (European Aviation Safety Authority) does not interfere with the radio-navigation instruments on this Airbus A318 and may only be used at cruising altitude once the new illuminated sign “Switch off your phone” is turned off. The system is activated at 3,000 metres (10,000 feet).

OnAir has roaming agreements with mobile network operators, including the three major operators in France: Orange, Bouygues Telecom and SFR.

How does it work?

Mobile phones connect to a miniature cellular network installed inside this aircraft.
A modem transmits data and calls to a satellite that routes them to a ground station. Data and calls are then routed to the passenger’s usual telephone network. This network is located inside the aircraft. Passengers’ mobile phones only emit at minimum power, which does not risk harming interference with aircraft avionics or ground telecoms network.

Phones are used just like on the ground. To make a call on board the aircraft, passengers simply dial the international prefix (+) or 00 + country code + full number (without the 0).

The cost of data exchanges are invoiced by the customers’ telephone operator and are comparable to those used for normal international mobile phone calls.

2007 Wrap Up. 2008 Predictions..=D

Apple The biggest news of 2007 was the Apple iPhone - love it or hate it, you certainly can't ignore it. As a result of the iPhone, touchscreen phones started to become popular and manufacturers had a good, long look at their interfaces to make sure that they were as user friendly as possible.

Expect to see a 3G iPhone announced in the next couple of months, possibly at the Mobile World Congress in February. There's a good chance that the iPhone II will fix many of the other issues with the original iPhone. One question is: how easy will it be for iPhone owners to upgrade? Most iPhone users are locked into an 18 month contract, and will be frustrated if they can't upgrade to the latest version.

Google The long-rumoured Google Phone turned out to be just a rumour after all - Google was working with a number of other manufacturers to create the Open Handset Alliance and Android platform. Android handsets should be out in the second half of 2008, the impact they will have on the market is anyone's guess.

Google is involved in many other aspects of the mobile industry, from bidding for part of the radio spectrum in the US to finding ways to push advertising on mobile phones. Expect to see more of Google where you least expect it during 2008.


Microsoft


Despite launching Windows Mobile 6, 2007 really hasn't been Microsoft's year. Cosmetically, Windows products compare poorly with the "iPhone generation" of user interfaces. Ironically, Microsoft has been able to champion the openness of the Windows platform, and there is no doubt that there is an impressive array of devices that Windows Mobile can run on.

Microsoft is being squeezed from several sides at once - the Linux-based Android environment, an improving Symbian platform and the consumer friendly iPhone all compete directly with Microsoft in the smartphone market.. and in the corporate environment, the BlackBerry range are proving difficult to beat.

It's unlikely that Microsoft will make a breakthrough into the consumer market in 2008, but improved integration with Microsoft's corporate offerings (such as Microsoft Exchange) should lead to a strengthening position in the business sector.

Nokia
Nobody covers all the bases in the same way as Nokia - from the ultra-cheap Nokia 1200 to the massively sophisticated Nokia E90, Nokia's range is far broader than the competition - a fact that is reflected in its market share.

The Nokia N95 and N95 8GB are the phones that other manufacturers are trying to beat for their "flagship" devices. Nokia will want to keep the N-Series devices at the top of the pile, so you can expect to see something snazzier than the N95 (The N96?) announced in February.

Nokia will be moving forward with touchscreen smartphones during 2008, and this will help to overcome a key weakness in phones such as the N95 8GB which has a huge screen, but it isn't touch sensitive.

Expect to see more of Nokia's Linux-based Maemo platform too (as used in the N810). We've suspected for a long time that a future Maemo device will also have built-in telephony.. although Nokia will want to be careful not to compete too much with it's own Symbian S60 operating system.

Nokia are certainly on the right course for 2008, and we expect to see them end next year as the clear market leaders.

Canadian Man Shocked by £41,000 Mobile Phone Bill!

Talk about receiving an unexpected bill, a Canadian man has been shocked to receive a mobile phone bill for nearly $85,000 (£41,000).

Piotr Staniaszek thought he could use his new phone as a modem for his computer under his $10 unlimited mobile browser plan from Bell Mobility.

He downloaded high-definition movies and other large files unaware that this incurred massive extra charges.

Bell Mobility has since lowered the bill to $3,243, but Mr Staniaszek says he intends to fight the charges anyway.

'Nobody told me'

The 22-year-old oil-field worker from Calgary said he thought a first bill for $65,000 in November was a mistake.

When he spoke to Bell Mobility he was informed the bill had climbed to nearly $85,000 after more downloading.

He said he normally paid about $150 a month for his phone and used to be notified of high charges.

"I'm going to try and fight it, because I didn't know about the extra charges "

"The thing is, they've cut my phone off for being like $100 over," he told CBC News.

"Here, I'm $85,000 over and nobody bothered to give me a call and tell me what was going on."

Bell Mobility said they would lower the bill to $3,243 in a "goodwill gesture" to match the best data plan available for using mobile phones as a modem, the Globe and Mail reported.

The trouble stems from the new phone he received when he renewed his mobile phone contract.

The new model allows him to connect with his computer and download data.

"I told them I wasn't aware I would be charged for hooking up my phone to the computer. I'm going to try and fight it, because I didn't know about the extra charges."

Canadians complain that their mobile phone charges are much higher for comparable service in the United States.

First Generation Mobiles (TACS)

In the early 1980's, the UK government wanted to introduce competition in the Telecomms industry. They decided to award two licences to operate cellular networks in 1982. One of the licences was awarded to BT, which formed a company with Securicor. Telecom Securicor Cellular Radio Ltd was born, which traded under the name Cellnet. The other licence was offered by holding a competition from which Racal-Millicom was selected out of the five applicants. This company was a member of the Racal Telecom group and is now known as Vodafone. The two companies along with the government jointly decided the standard for the UK networks. They agreed to base the network standard on the north American standard Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS) and this lead to the UK standard Total Access Communications System (TACS). Cellnet and Vodafone launched their networks in January 1985 and this was three months ahead of their licence requirement. They both expanded their coverage to 90% population requirement in 1987, two years ahead of the licence requirement. This was mainly due to strong competition between the companies. In just over two years from launch each network was supporting 400,000 customers, and continued to grow at such a pace that each company nearly doubled in size each year.

When Cellnet and Vodafone were initially licensed by the DTI, they imposed a condition, which meant neither company was allowed to sell directly to the customer. All products and services were offered via Service Providers who became responsible for setting customer contracts, billing, tariffs etc. This was done either directly by the Service Provider or via Dealers.

The basic concept behind cellular radio are not complex, the area to be covered by the system is divided into a number of regular cells, and each cell has a radio base station positioned to give coverage to that cell. The mobile connects to the nearest cell with the strongest signal and is then passed to a neighbouring cell with a stronger signal when the original signal becomes weak. This allows freedom for the mobile to move from cell to cell provided there is coverage in between.

Apple prepping devices based on Intel's Silverthorne chip

We suppose it was always inevitable, but things are about to get quite interesting at the intersection of cellphone and laptop processors. According to Intel, Apple has apparently committed to using the company's 45nm Silverthorne chip in multiple products slated for 2008. The chip offers the processing power of second-generation Pentium M processors, with the power consumption of a cellphone chip. Of course, it's not just the processor. Apple is expected to emerge as a major supporter of Intel's whole "Menlow" Mobile Internet Device platform, which packages processor, graphics and connectivity into a small enough bundle to give iPhone-powering Samsung a run for its money in ultra mobile products -- and Intel has made it clear that it has its sights set on that very member of Apple's lineup wit. The best news for dreamers that've been holding out for a true Newton successor all this time is that the chips provide plenty of juice for a UMPC-type device should Apple choose to go.

iRadio for cell phones

Motorola, the No. 2 maker of mobile telephones, is set to unveil a service called iRadio that will let users download preselected audio content from a range of providers on their home computers, dump it on their cell phones and listen to it on their car stereos.

Motorola, Inc. offered a select group of media and content industry insiders a sneak peak of the forthcoming Motorola iRadio™ Solution at the Demo @15 conference in Scottsdale, AZ.

The breakthrough Motorola iRadio solution will mobilize hundreds of commercial-free Internet radio channels and your personal music collection, letting you enjoy your favorite genres, artists, and tunes whether at home, in the car, or on the go. The service uses a high-speed Internet connection, Bluetooth® technology, and a mobile phone to offer listeners a continuous entertainment experience – you can start a song on your car radio at exactly the point where you stopped it on your living room stereo.

Planned for launch later this year, Motorola iRadio will provide Internet broadcasters with the ability to extend their services to the places where people listen to and enjoy music the most, such as in the car or while jogging. For music labels and producers, Motorola iRadio will offer a secure, direct way to reach consumers most interested in a specific recording artist or genre.

"I am really excited by how iRadio links the discovery of new music with the ability to purchase what you want when you want it," said Ted Cohen, senior vice president, digital development and distribution, EMI Music.

Motorola plans to provide more information about iRadio later this year when the service becomes available to consumers.

“Digital entertainment should be accessible wherever the consumer wants it. With Motorola iRadio, consumers can enjoy a seamless, personal music experience as they move throughout their day,” said Mike Gaumond, Motorola vice president and general manager, media solutions. “By working with industry leaders, we’re providing the consumer with convenience, choice, and flexibility while still maintaining the security and quality of the digital content.”

How Much Mobile Phone Power Do You Need?

A quick look at features available with today's mobile phones.For many, a mobile phone is required equipment these days when you walk outside your office to do business. But how much mobile phone power do you really need when you're away from your desk? Do you need a phone that enables you to …

• Look up customer information and keep track of appointments?

• Access e-mail or the Internet?

• Take pictures?

• Run a word processing or other business application?


Mobile phones on the market today offer and combine many of these features in a slim package that fits comfortably in the palm of your hand. Here's a quick look at the available phone functions, and how they can help you take care of business on the road.

Phones That Provide Basic Calling Services
The most basic mobile communications device is the mobile phone. Most mobile phone plans come with voice mail, allowing customers and co-workers to leave you messages if you cannot take their calls. Mobile phones give you the ability to store limited contact information, including names and phone numbers of people you call most frequently. In addition, you can send and receive text messages with a mobile phone and even use it as a modem to connect your laptop computer to the Internet.

A simple mobile phone is probably adequate if you just need to make a few calls during the day or want a way for close business associates can reach you. But you may miss other important messages.

Phones That Let You Receive E-mail Messages
Today, far more business is done through e-mail and other forms of electronic communication than phone calls. To keep up with all your customer messages—voice and electronic—consider a mobile device that has mobile phone and e-mail capabilities. These devices are typically the size of a regular mobile phone, but they allow you to send and receive e-mail wherever you have a wireless connection. Most devices can be configured to use the same e-mail account you access at your desk.

Phones with Windows Mobile 5.0 software installed can make electronic communication even timelier. Windows Mobile 5.0 supports Direct Push technology, which allows some e-mail servers – such as the one included with Windows Small Business Server 2003 – to send new messages to your phone as soon as they arrive. As long as you have network connectivity, your inbox is always up-to-date

iPhone...Fastest Selling of all Time!!!

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O2 CEO Peter Erskine claims Apple's iPhone has been the fastest selling device his mobile network has ever seen.

Actual sales figures of the hotly-touted Apple mobile remain unknown, though Erskine told The Times newspaper that "tens of thousands" of iPhones sold across the launch weekend.


An additional report in the Sunday Mirror claimed that 70,000 iPhones were sold across the launch weekend. That report cited an unnamed O2 spokesman.

"Demand has exceeded our expectations and we believe it will be the fastest selling mobile ever," the spokesman said. "We've hundreds of thousands of devices to sell and we are extremely happy with how things have gone."

O2 expects to sell "a couple of hundred thousand" iPhones over Christmas and New Year.

Speaking to the Times, Erskine also revealed that approximately: "Two-thirds of iPhone customers are new to O2," meaning the company has succesfully stolen subscribers away from competing networks.

Apple, O2 and Carphone Warehouse have so far declined to offer detailed sales figures for the iPhone in the UK market, and local media reports have been mixed, with some claiming the launch a failure while others observe queues and steady traffic at most major stores belonging to the three firms.

The rush to buy iPhones saw foot visitors at O2 stores increase to three times the traffic generated in the same weekend last year.

Apple Speaks with China for iPhone Deal

Apple is reportedly speaking with China Mobile over plans to launch the iPhone in China.

China Mobile CEO Wang Jianzhou, revealed his company is talking with Apple in an attempt to launch the iPhone in China. China is one of the world's largest mobile phone markets, but while talks continue, the ink's nowhere yet dry on the deal.


"Of course, we hope to bring the iPhone to China," Huang Haibo, a China Mobile executive, told the Agence France-Presse news agency. "But for the time being we are only in preliminary contact with Apple, and we have not made any concrete progress yet," he said.

Apple has always confirmed it intends launching its device in the Asian market in 2008, and is currently engaged in discussion with all the major mobile networks in the region.

Apple hopes to sell ten million iPhones by the end of 2008. It has already sold in excess of 1.4 million handsets.

iPhone Huge Sales

Apple has sold 1.4 million iPhones since it went on sale in the US and O2 and T-Mobile are expecting strong sales.
Graham Gilbert was the first to buy the iPhone at the London store
Mr Joswiak said: "People love their experience with the iPhone. They don't love the experience with other phones. That is why our sales are through the roof."

"We assume that the device will find a very good reception on the market," said Rene Bresgen, a spokesman for Deutsche Telekom, owners of T-Mobile in Germany.

More than a 1,000 O2 shops, Carphone Warehouse stores and Apple shops are expected to sell the device.

Some iPhone owners in the UK have not been content to wait for the official release and have bought the device in the US and unlocked it for use on any network.

One owner, called Daryl, told BBC News he had bought 14 phones in the US for himself and friends and unlocked them.

He said he had unlocked his original phone because he didn't want to be tied to one network.

"I like the current network I am on and I'd like to stay with that network. I don't like be imposed upon as to which network I want to switch to.

"Also the actual O2 network doesn't have very good coverage where I live; Orange has good coverage where I live, that's why I chose them first, and why I want to stay with them."

iPhone Feature Delayed

Apple shops stopped from selling iPhone
When the iPhone goes on sale at 6.02pm on Friday, a key constituent of the Apple experience will be missing - and there's little you or anyone else can do about it.

For Apple has decided that only official Apple Retail Stores and branches of Carphone Warehouse and O2 shops can sell the iPhone.

This consciously leaves out the 24 or so Apple premium resellers- those local Apple specialist stores that can often be as good as the real thing.

Now while it's undoubtedly sad that these resellers will miss out on the sales bonanza the iPhone will bring; worse is what'll happen when you hit a problem with the iPhone and you try to ask a reseller for help.

No iPhone help
They'll nod, smile politely and then point you in the direction of your nearest Apple / O2 / Carphone Warehouse store, which may or may not be in the same town as the one you're currently in. Apple premium resellers aren't even allowed to service the iPhone.

Mark Hooper, MD of premium reseller Farpoint told Tech.co.uk:

"It's a kick in the teeth for us - as a premium reseller that's invested a lot of money in Apple - not to sell key products for which we can give a great user experience. Because [the iPhone] is not just a phone. It does so much more than that.

"When people look on the back of the iPhone they'll go 'Apple' and where are they going to go? To us, not to Carphone Warehouse. And they're going to go away with a bad taste in their mouths [because we can't help them]."

Both Carphone Warehouse and O2 say they'll have specially trained staff in every store who can help with any iPhone questions or complaints. It remains to be seen whether they're able to provide the same level of customer service that Apple's premium resellers claim, however.

High Demands On iPhone

O2 has substantially bulked up its customer service staff ahead of the high-profile launch of Apple's iPhone this week as the mobile operator looks to ensure that consumers that fork out for the expensive handset receive the best possible support.

O2 will add 1,400 staff prior to the launch of the handset on Friday to ensure it can cope with the unprecedented demand for the flashy phone. It will take on around 700 new customer service employees in Glasgow and Leeds, with a further 700 staff added across the company's chain of High Street stores.

O2 and Carphone Warehouse are bracing themselves for a stampede of customers when the iPhone goes on sale at 6pm on Friday.

Carphone Warehouse, which will keep its stores open late to satisfy demand for the touch-screen handset, has said it could sell as many as 10,000 iPhones in the first day alone despite the £279 price tag which comes on top of the contract with O2 that will cost between £35 and £55 a month. O2, which is supplying the handset directly to Carphone Warehouse, has ordered around 200,000 iPhones from Apple to satisfy demand over the Christmas period.

John McGuigan, head of O2's post-pay customer service unit, said that around 200 of the new staff will be dedicated to handling customer calls related to the iPhone, helping to activate and register the user if assistance is required.

He said: "It is very important to get the customer-service experience right."

He added that O2 will work closely with Apple which has already been closely involved with AT&T in the US to support the iPhone there.

Mr McGuigan added that it has also swelled its customer service employee ranks to ensure that its existing customers are not neglected as a result of increased support for the iPhone.

iPhone: Problem or Solution of Network

Apple iPhone warning proves true

Users may not be able to add Apple features to an unlocked phone
An Apple software update is disabling iPhones that have been unlocked by owners who wanted to choose which mobile network to use.
Earlier this week Apple said a planned update would leave the device "permanently inoperable".

Thousands of iPhone owners hacked their expensive gadget in order to unlock it for use with other mobile carriers and to run a host of unsupported programs to benefit their own needs.

There are also reports of the update causing issues with unaltered iPhones.

On Monday Apple issued a statement in which it said many of the unauthorised iPhone unlocking programs caused "irreparable damage" to the device's software.

The company said this would "likely result in the modified iPhone becoming permanently inoperable when a future Apple-supplied iPhone software update is installed".

That warning has now proved correct as many owners are reporting their phones no longer work following installation of the update.

Apple requires iPhone owners to take out a lengthy contract with AT&T in the United States but there are a number of programs on the net that unlock the device for use with other networks.

A few owners are reporting on technology blogs and Apple's own forums that the update is deleting contacts information, as well as photos and music, on iPhones that have not been modified in any way, which may be a start of a new problem for i-phone holders that have not being part of in changing their network to something else.

...The hacking of the iphone...

A serious isue recently cropped up that suggested that company Independant Security evaluators have found a way to hack an iphone simply by injecting a bit of code through to its web browser, causing ''buffer-overflow'' which is like a water overflow but except of water the verflow of technology and data.

That could be done either through a malicious Wi-Fi network (which redirected you to a fake website when you thought you were going to a trusted one) or via a malicious site that you were tempted to visit one way or another. The problem is that for a handheld computer, and unlike its Mac OS X operating system on its computers, an iPhone runs a very phone-like version of an operating system: every process belongs to the "administrator", which is the person who turns on the phone. "This implies that a compromise of any application gives an attacker full access to the device," the researchers note in a preliminary PDF about the attack (securityevaluators.com). And that's bad.

Apple was told about the flaws on July 17, and has until August 2 to fix them; after that, the exploit will be made public and the million or so iPhones out there will be targets.

But is this a serious flaw? Certainly. It was discovered within three weeks of the phone going on sale, and as more and more people get hold of it - and especially once the method that Independent Security Evaluators used is made public - the attacks will increase. Smartphones, as is obvious from a little reflection, are more handheld computers than phones, and Apple's decision to let this one sync via iTunes - including the transfer of logs detailing how and why any iPhone application crashed - offers would-be hackers a lot more "attack surface" to hammer away at.

New media technology 2007