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  • Sonetel to Give All Customers iNum Numbers From Voxbone

    Voxbone announced today that Sonetel, a Swedish VoIP provider with users in more than 200 countries, has begun giving all of its subscribers free iNum numbers from Voxbone. The agreement to provide iNums expands Sonetel's relationship with Voxbone, which has provided the certified reseller more than 17,000 geographical phone numbers since 2010.

    iNums are global phone numbers that Voxbone launched in 2008 to support IP communications. Using the international number range of +883 5100 assigned to Voxbone, iNums enable a customer to establish a local presence in new locations with a single, portable number. By providing every customer an iNum, Sonetel will extend the subscriber's range of free calling to include communications with all other iNum users, anywhere in the world.

    Sonetel offers a free hosted PBX solution that is particularly popular with small and medium businesses (SMBs) in price-sensitive regions, such as Africa and Asia. The company then upsells those customers on call termination and Voxbone-provided premium origination services. Together, Sonetel and Voxbone help business owners cost-effectively add local phone numbers, as well as launch virtual offices in any country where they see a market opportunity.

    Sonetel has begun providing iNums to its more than 40,000 existing users and will assign them to the 200 to 300 customers that sign up for service each day. In the process, Sonetel is helping enhance the value of iNums by expanding the number of businesses and other organizations worldwide that can be reached for free via iNums.

    iNums are distributed and routed by a growing list of service providers. Where not routed by a local provider, iNums also can be reached by the iNum initiative's local access numbers in 45 countries.

    "Sonetel's decision to provide free iNums to all of its customers is the latest example of increasing adoption of these flexible, global numbers that support IP communications features," said Voxbone CEO Rod Ullens. "The addition of iNums to Sonetel's innovative freemium PBX solution will enable a business to create a professional, global presence quickly and cost-effectively."

    "The iNum concept is ideally suited to the needs of our SMB customers and a natural complement to our existing offerings," said Sonetel CEO Henrik Thomé. "Providing free iNums will add value to our solution, making it easier for our customers to drive global growth."

  • Microsoft Compels You to Update – Windows Phone 7.5 Will No Longer Be Optional

    Microsoft makes final preparations prior to compel its users to switch from Windows Phone 7 to Windows Phone 7.5.

    Shortly, Windows Phone 7.5 will not be optional. If you have a smartphone running WP 7 and refuse to make the update to WP 7.5, you will lose the possibility to buy new apps from the Marketplace. Moreover, you will risk being unable to update the ones that you already have. Although this information has been circulated in the past, a new blog post on WindowsTeam confirms the proximity of the event.

    The update does not come without problems. Although some users have had the opportunity to update the operating system for the smartphones with WP, many users have knowingly avoided the upgrade to Windows Phone 7.5. The reason?

    Many of those who have installed the update complained that their virtual keyboard disappears. A user said on one of the Microsoft forums that the problem with the keyboard that disappears is absurd.

    Microsoft partners are also guilty for this issue. After being notified for the first time about the virtual keyboard problem, Microsoft has tried to be operative and worked on an update. Unfortunately, the 8107 update from Microsoft had to go through the mobile operators before reaching the terminal, which is why there have been recorded terrible delays. The AT&T users of Windows Phone 7.5 – the most important mobile operator partner with Microsoft in the U.S. – even today, after 3-4 months after the event have not received the patch.

    On Apple’s terminals this thing would not happen, thanks to the centralized system of updates, which is delivered to the iOS users on the entire planet in one day.

    Ultimately, is worth to note that there will be a prior notice a few days before the “D-Day”, announced on the same WindowsTeamBlog.

  • Lenovo to Invest $800 Million in Mobile Devices

    Lenovo has big ambitions for mobile devices and puts on the line not less than $800 million to be invested in a new facility whose purpose is research and development in mobile phones, tablets and other gadgets.

    The new facility located in Whuan, China, in the coming years will produce tablets, smartphones and other mobile devices addressed to local and global markets. Lenovo’s ambitions aim to achieve a sales figure of $ 1.59 billion by 2014 and five times more in the next five years.

    In other words, Lenovo intends to secure its place among the major mobile devices manufacturers and in order to achieve this, the company’s leaders are willing to invest significant amounts, designed to accelerate the company’s ascent.

    Lenovo products that will come up from the new factory will be built on the foundations of some very promising models such as the laptop IdeaPad Yoga, the ThinkPad range of laptops and the IdeaPad tablets or LePhone S2 – an interesting Android smartphone.

    We must not forget about the agreement reached with Intel, according to which Lenovo can use Intel’s Medfield-core Atom processors for the future range of smartphones.

    As for the company’s current presence in the smartphone market, Lenovo occupies an important position on the Chinese market, but it’s a name almost anonymously in Europe or North America. The situation could change dramatically in the near future if the company’s engineers manage to prove imagination and vision in designing new models of smartphones and tablets.

  • Vonage Reports First Quarter 2012 Results

    Vonage announced results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2012. Reflecting the company's previously stated plans to increase investment in its strategic growth initiatives, Vonage reported adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $32 million which includes $7 million in growth initiative funding.

    Adjusted EBITDA is down from $40 million sequentially and $43 million in the year ago quarter. Similarly, income from operations was $21 million, a decrease from $28 million sequentially and $30 million in the year ago quarter.

    Net income was $19 million or $0.08 per share excluding adjustments(1), a decline from $26 million or $0.11 per share sequentially, and a decline from $23 million or $0.10 per share in the year ago quarter.

    GAAP net income was $14 million or $0.06 per share, down from $350 million or $1.55 per share sequentially due to a one-time non-cash income tax benefit recognized in the fourth quarter, and down from $21 million or $0.10 per share a year ago.

    Revenue totaled $216 million, flat sequentially and down from $220 million the prior year.

    Marc Lefar, Vonage Chief Executive Officer, said, "Our financial results were consistent with previous guidance as we increased investment in our strategic growth initiatives. Our core business is stable and generated EBITDA which was in line with recent quarters."

    Vonage also announced its first international partnership with Globe in the Philippines. The partnership marks a significant milestone in Vonage's strategy to expand its services beyond North America and the United Kingdom. The company remains actively involved in discussions with several prospective partners and expects to announce additional alliances before the end of this year.

    On April 18, 2012, Vonage announced key milestones for its Vonage Mobile and Extensions products. Launched in February 2012, the Vonage Mobile app surpassed one million downloads in approximately eight weeks, with usage now approaching 10 million minutes per month. Since launch, the company has steadily updated the app to enhance ease of use and performance and has implemented new releases for iOS and Android addressing top priorities including connection quality, latency load times when opening the app and battery life. Most recently, the company yesterday updated the app to enhance its messaging capability to allow photo and location sharing and sharing of the app with friends on Facebook and Twitter.

  • Attendee List Announced for the 3rd Annual Location Business Summit

    The attendee list for the 3rd annual Location Business Summit has just been announced. 120+ senior-level location and mobile business professionals are meeting in Amsterdam (May 22-23rd) to analyse business strategies, discuss the SoLoMo revolution and identify the winning revenue streams for 2012. 

    View it here: https://bit.ly/AttendeeList

    At present, the location industry giants have a firm grip on the market space. However, with the influx of start-ups and innovative companies coming to the fore, a key thought on their minds is how to establish a successful strategy for survival. This is clearly an issue which needs addressing, alongside whether or not LBS service providers are really answering the needs of advertisers and brands.

    Business models and revenue streams might be the most important issue right now, but at The Location Business Summit, over 120 senior executives will be examining all of the trends which are set to revolutionise the mobile and location industry.  From indoor location to social location and mobile marketing, they’ll be revealing how to monetize location and provide a crucial strategy to win the campaigns of global brands.

    VP of North America and Europe for TheWhereBusiness, Naomi Hands commented, ‘This year we have seen a huge shift in focus towards geo-targeted marketing and location based advertising. With a massive uptake in global brands utilising these services in their marketing efforts, without a doubt this is the year that we should be excited about.’

    The high level of attendees include CEO’s, CMO’s, Head of Mobile and Directors of Marketing for some of the world leading companies putting their effort into LBS and Mobile strategies.
    Companies include the likes of Google, TripAdvisor, Nokia, TomTom, Sygic, PayPal, Orange, Everything Everywhere, T-Mobile, YOOSE, AKQA, Ogilvy and many many more.

    Naomi also commented ‘This year the LBS Summit is here to bring together likeminded professionals in the perfect, intimate environment for making those business deals happen. With support from the MMA, OGC, LBMA and many more industry associations; it’s one that’s not to be missed’.

    The attendee list has been announced and you can access it here: https://bit.ly/AttendeeList

    Contact
    Naomi Hands
    VP North America & Europe
    TheWhereBusiness
    Tel: +44 (0) 207 375 7513
    Toll Free: +1 800 814 3456 ext. 7513
    [email protected]
    https://bit.ly/AttendeeList

    About TheWhereBusiness:
    TheWhereBusiness publishes news and events for those involved in the navigation and location ecosystem. Through high-end B2B conferences, we connect people across the industry, provide market leading intelligence and enable companies to capitalise on emerging business opportunities in location-based services, navigation, geo-web, tracking and mobile advertising; basically, anything that involves location, context or maps! Through continuous independent research with hundreds of companies and dedicated journalists, our news portal keeps you one step ahead of an industry in flux, and our events provide key networking forums for the industry.

  • It's Official! Samsung Galaxy S3 to Be Launched on May 3

    The Samsung Galaxy S3 release date has been officially confirmed by Samsung. The smartphone, initially announced at the 2012 Mobile World Congress (MWC 2012) in Barcelona will be presented by the South Korean company on May 3 in London, as the gadget is being promoted as the official smartphone of the 2012 Olympic Games.

    Samsung on Monday sent the invites for the press conference during which will be presented the much-awaited smartphone. Although on the invitation is not specified the launch of the smartphone, international press’ opinion is unanimous, anticipating the launch of the new gadget. Samsung Galaxy S3 will be launched simultaneously in New York, Seoul and Dubai.

    The upcoming Galaxy smartphone will probably run Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich, rumors say, with the special interface Samsung TouchWiz 4.0. Speculations emerged once with the announcement focused on all its specs, but nothing has been confirmed by Samsung so far, which preferred to let the Galaxy fans to promote the smartphone.

    According to androidadvices.com, the phone will have a 4.65” AMOLED SuperPlus HD display, with a resolution of 720 x 1280 pixels, a quad-core 1.5 GHz Exynos processor, 1 GB RAM, 32 GB storage capacity and two cameras – one of 2 megapixels in front and another one of 8 megapixels capable to record in Full HD. The phone will support the 4G LTE technology, the same source adds.

    The new S3 is expected to have a thickness of only 7 mm, 1 mm thinner than HTC Ville and 0.1 mm from the Moto RAZR. The phone will weigh 118 grams, will come in two colors – black and blue – and will have a battery of 1750 mAh.

    The launch of the new Samsung Galaxy S3 will be held at Earl’s Court in London, on May 3.

  • Samsung Expects 1st Quarter 2012 Profits to Double

    Samsung, now the world’s biggest-selling smartphone maker, says it expects to see its profits double for the first three months of the year.

    Online investments experts told BBC Monday that Samsung Electronics apparently has been able to hang on to its lead as the market leader in the heated smartphone niche, with its 1st quarter 2012 profit expected to hit $5.1 billion.

    BBC said analysts from the LIG Investment & Securities and Kiwoom Securities in Seoul see Samsung’s increasingly popular Galaxy range of smartphones as the engine for the Korean company’s continuing profit growth, despite great competition from the active smartphone market led by Apple’s iPhones, RIM’s Blackberry and Nokia’s Symbian OS models. 

    Samsung’s high-end Galaxy S and Galaxy Note editions have been the year’s best sellers, having overtaken the Apple iPhone last year.

    The company’s efforts to keep its profit margins healthy despite sharp competition from its giant smartphone rivals have been cited as the key to the double profit figures set to be released in detail in a formal quarterly report on April 27. Profit margins for the company’s fast-selling handsets have been higher than 20%, accounting for the 4 trillion-won profit for the smart phone division. 

    The analysts noted that despite Samsung’s current difficulties in its other products, notably in memory chips which are suffering from a glut in worldwide supply, the company could still rev up its overall profit margin as the global economy improves later this year, as predicted, and as parts suppliers such as Japan and Thailand recover from various economic and political problems.

  • Ford and Mercedes Looking to Succeed In Mobile Applications

    In a world dominated by technology and internet, it seems that not even the auto fairs are deprived of promotion and marketing campaigns for the new applications for smartphones.

    In the attempt of promoting the idea of SmartCar, each carmaker is struggling to demonstrate its efforts through a useful, fast and of high performance application.

    Ford's SYNC system will allow the driver to make voice commands to the phone, to hear a voice that reads the text messages received or to listen to the favorite music through the car speakers. In case of an accident, the same system will call 911 and will send the coordinates of the event over to the phone operator. This technology will be implemented starting with Ford’s new range of family cars.

    Although all manufacturers seemed interested in this trend – currently in a continuous process of popularization –, there were people in charge, probably because of the great efforts required. In terms of location information security there were also several uproars, fortunately most programmers trying as much as possible to give users the option to take into consideration the preferences of the most reluctant people to this technology as well.

    To define a trend related to smartphone applications, Pitt Moos, Product Manager at Electric Cars Division of Smart, explained that currently the priority is an interface to allow users to see the current level of battery for example and only after to check the Facebook page.

  • Blackberry Maker Says It Plans to Release New Model First Before Disclosing Financial Figures

    RIM, the maker of the popular BlackBerry smartphone today said it was postponing its earlier scheduled disclosure of the latest company financial figures, preferring to go ahead first with the release of its awaited new BlackBerry 10 models.

    In a report by Reuters, BlackBerry maker Research In Motion said it was delaying its scheduled disclosure of financial figures to analysts set for May this year, instead setting the business meeting for later in 2012. RIM had typically released its financial report for analysts during the Blackberry World conference, usually held in the summer.

    RIM spokeswoman Tenille Kennedy told Reuters the company is deciding to focus instead on its worldwide customers, developers and partners as the Canada-based technology firm goes into the final stages of the impending public release of its new generation of smartphones to be led by the popular BlackBerry.

    Kennedy confirmed that the company is planning to set up a session separate from the product-oriented BlackBerry World conference in May that would target the interests of investors looking to RIM as an alternative investment focal point, at a point level with such smartphone leaders as Apple, Samsung, Nokia and LG. 

    Research In Motion had earlier announced its impending release of the new BlackBerry 10 editions which will use the same operating system of the company’s PlayBook tablet.  The PlayBook itself has not made a successful sales impact on the strictly competitive tablet market, led by Apple’s top selling iPads.

    The new RIM schedule, both for the postponement of the public release of its financial position as well as the marketing of the BlackBerry 10 models, has been interpreted by industry observers as the firm’s redoubling of efforts to come out with a competitive smartphone that would make use of powerful chipsets it said were set for delivery to its factories sometime early this year.

  • Telematics Update’s Human Machine Interface Report Discusses Business Critical Issues

    Telematics Update, a reference point for automotive telematics, has launched the 2012 edition of Human Machine Interface Report. This report aims to provide companies with information regarding the current trends in the industry, guides on creating original products, and inspiration for new strategies from interviews of industry leaders.

    SIGNIFICANT BUSINESS ISSUES DISCUSSED
    The Human Machine Interface Report 2012 Edition provides a detailed reading on the current state of telematics and how leading automotive brands have developed their human machine interfaces and put these into operation. Various topics that are beneficial to those in the telematics industry are discussed in detail. These business-critical issues include fearless forecasts for product developments and expansions until 2016, tips in improving the user interface from leading companies, mitigating driver distraction, regulatory trends, human machine interface (HMI) and connected car technology roadmap, and insights from various consumers of the electronics industry.

    In addition, the success stories of the HMI strategies utilized by top automobile companies like Audi, Lexus, and Ford are also included in this report. Regulatory trends that may affect the telematics industry and ways to adapt to these legislative changes are incorporated as well.

    According to a Telematics survey, the top three in-car applications are real-time traffic reports, navigation, and speed camera warning. However, 450,000 injuries and 3,000 deaths attributed to driver distraction have been recorded in the United States in 2009 and 2010 respectively. These statistics have given automakers the dilemma of creating a user interface (UI) which is easy to use without sacrificing the entertainment features expected by the consumers. Erasing driver distraction problems posed by complicated interfaces will lessen brushes with the law for the automotive makers. The UI optimization strategies of automakers, like Audi, Ford, Visteon and Yazaki, are examined in the Human Machine Interface Report to serve as a guide for other developers.

    THE FUTURE OF THE HMI INDUSTRY
    By 2013, the Human Machine Interface Industry is expected to be worth $1.3 billion with the United States and China as the thriving areas of opportunity. From 2013 to 2016, Heads-Up Display (HUD), organic light-emitting diode (OLED), haptic and center stack touchscreen displays are expected to project a $350-$400 million revenue per year.

    Aside from primary and secondary data, the Human Machine Interface Report 2012 Edition also includes an in-depth analysis by its author, David MacNamara. MacNamara has more than 30 years of experience in the automotive industry. The report is also supplemented by interviews with industry leaders and insiders. Feedbacks from four independent industry reviewers were taken into account to preserve the report’s credibility and quality.

    Volvo, Harley-Davidson, IBM, and Bosch are part of the numerous companies who purchased the 2011 edition of the Human Machine Interface Report.