Nokia makes walk and drive navigation free on its smartphones. Starting today, the company offers a new version of Ovi Maps that includes turn-by-turn navigation with voice guidance for 74 countries, in 46 languages, and traffic information for more than 10 countries, as well as detailed maps for more than 180 countries and 6000 3D landmarks for 200 cities around the world.
Smartphone News
Beginning today, Verizon launches new monthly service plans. The customers may sign up for a new Nationwide Unlimited Talk plan that allows them to call anyone in the United States for $69.99 monthly access or a Nationwide Unlimited Talk & Text plan to call and send text, picture and video messages to anyone in the country for $89.99 monthly access.
The company also announced the expansion of the 25 megabyte for $9.99 per month data package requirement to include all Verizon Wireless 3G Multimedia phones.
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Contenders for the Biz-News.com Product of the Year Award are on a tight struggle to obtain the leading amount of votes for the 2009 Awards.
The awards are people’s choice; users are being called upon to express their consumer experiences during 2009.
What Smartphone device or service worked for you best? Which would you recommend to your friends and colleagues?
Let us know and award them a vote by filling this form.
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Global mobile communications software and technology giants Bitstream see the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa as a perfect platform to expand its influence in Africa and beyond.
Nigeria is currently Africa’s biggest user of Bitstream’s flagship product – BOLT mobile browser – and once the football extravaganza hits the continent in June and July, the impact should be felt far and wide, says award-winning Anna Chagnon, CEO of Bitstream, in an interview with Smartphone.Biz-News.com
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iVdopia, the advertising technology company, has just introduced Talk2Me ads solution and claims that for the first time, mobile advertisers can customize interactive actions in video ads that include customized social features, which allows for the sharing of ads on Facebook or Twitter.
iVdopia is an ad network and platform for the iPhone to enable both application developers and advertisers to simultaneously monetize their applications.
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As 4G network deployments gather momentum, a substantial 22% of device subscription revenues will come from suites of operator-branded premium services.
Total 4G mobile consumer service revenue – including mobile internet services – will grow rapidly to exceed $70 billion worldwide in 2014, says ABI Research.
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A recent Motorola Enterprise Mobility Solutions annual research study of holiday shoppers identified that more than half (51 percent) of consumers across 11 countries used their mobile phones for in-store activities such as comparison shopping and getting peer feedback, product information and coupons.
Motorola’s analysts think it signals the increasing importance for retailers to adopt mobile shopper technology strategies to remain competitive.
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Google’s new Nexus One smart phone serves as a showcase for the latest version of the Android operating system and will allow the company to gather critical user data for developing new software, according to iSuppli.
"With a plethora of smart phones based on the Android operating system already on the market, questions have arisen as to why Google would begin selling its own phone equipped with the operating system," said Tina Teng, iSuppli senior analyst for wireless communications.
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At the special Android press conference in Mountain View, Google officially confirmed the company’s first phone – the Nexus One.
This HTC-branded device is running Android 2.1 and comes with 3.7" AMOLED 480×800 WVGA display, 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset, 512MB flash onboard memory and 4GB removable SD Card (expandable to 32GB), 5 megapixel auto focus camera with LED flash and geo tagging, stereo Bluetooth, 3.5mm headphone jack, compass, GPS, accelerometer and light and proximity sensor.
Nexus One is initially available from the new Google web store in the US without service for $529 or starting at $179 with a two-year contract from T-Mobile USA.
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The release of 3G licenses in China is spurring a wireless data boom, with national revenue from such services rising by 18.9 percent in 2009 and nearly doubling from 2008 to 2013, says iSuppli.
According to the research group, as the one-year anniversary of the issuance of 3G licenses in China approaches, wireless data revenue, including both messaging and non-messaging service, is set to rise to $19.3 billion in 2009, up from $16.3 billion in 2008.
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