Tag: open-source

  • Young Entrepreneur Brings Openmoko to Africa

    A young entrepreneur in South Africa has teamed up with Openmoko to distribute the Neo Freerunner to Africa.

    Nyasha Mutsekwa spoke to Biz-News.com at the sidelines of Mobile Web Africa conference in Johannesburg of his mission.

    Mutsekwa believes that the biggest challenge in Africa is not short of skills but lack of latest technologies that can be harnessed to empower people.

    “In Africa I think its not skills shortage but rather lack of access to latest technologies, this is why we are going all out to bring all the technologies available to Africa,” he said

    The Neo Freerunner is an open-source phone, which allows developers and enthuasists alike access to the source code and hardware schematics to customize the device to their hearts content.

    Nyasha Mutsekwa

    Mutsekwa through his company Engineering Ideas is optimistic of their business venture across the continent saying they have received favourable response in countries that they have a footprint.

    Openmoko is a project dedicated to delivering mobile phones with an open source software stack. This technology allows the users to freely choose to run any operating system on their Openmoko smartphone.

    Besides running the Openmoko software and applications, users can also run the following distributions: Qt Extended Improved, Debian, Gentoo, Google Android, Hackable: 1, neovento.

    “With this smartphone user have the ability to create their own African Mobile environments using a tried and tested open source platform,” Mutsekwa added.

    Mutsekwa, who previously worked for Oracle Africa as the e-School Business Development Manager teamed up with friends in 2008 to start Engineering Ideas, a private limited company serving the technology and intellectual capital needs of small to medium size business clients in Africa.

    Speaking about the regulatory environment on the continent, Mutsekwa said that his company hasn’t faced much challenges as there is an identical regulatory environment within their sphere of operation.

  • Collecting Testimonies of Violence Using Mobile Internet

    Kenya has taken a leading role in Africa by embarking on effective use of Mobile Internet to expose acts of political violence, murder and torture, Ory Okollo the founder of Ushahidi.com told Biz-news.com

    In an interview on the sidelines of Mobile Web Africa conference in Sandton recently, executive director of Kenya’s Ushahidi, Ory Okolloh, said her organization was primarily established to expose crisis situations to empower Africa.

    “In brief, Ushahidi means testimony. The name was derived from Swahili language and Ushahidi was developed to map reports of violence in Kenya after the post election fallout at the beginning of 2008.

    “This is basically about creating technological platform to enable anyone from around the globe to capture reports by mobile phone, web or email. With time, we would want this to work with other online tools,” said Okolloh.

    Ory Okollo

    She said Ushahidi was an open source application which could be downloaded, used or implemented, to bring awareness to regional crisis prevailing on the continent.

    Already some countries such as Uganda, war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Malawi and Zambia are tapping into Ushahidi project to improve and track near real-time stockouts of medical supplies at pharmacies.

    Even renowned international television channel, Al Jazeera, is reportedly using some of the technology from Ushahidi in its work to expose elements of violence from around the globe.

    Ushahidi.com site collects “testimony” on violence as people see it. They can send reports using cell phones and computers to the site.

    The information is logged and registered according to the type of violence (riots, deaths, property loss, rape, looting, etc.) using Google Maps.

    In places and moments when reporting is dangerous and difficult, this kind of program uses information from ordinary citizens to record violence as its happening. Ushahidi was put together by a lawyer/activist, Okollo and a small group of Kenyan, blogger/techies while the post-election violence in Kenya was going on in the early part of 2008.

    It was then used in South Africa to track xenophobic attacks against foreigners, and then in the Democratic Republic of Congo. All these instances can be viewed on the website.

    In addition to offering a method of tracking violence, Ushahidi also serves as a bloggers’ space to talk about new uses of technologies in Africa. Videos produced on the spot that can be uploaded also add to the testimony. It is cutting edge technology married to a citizen empowerment project.

    The collected data is useful for all kinds of people and purposes from NGOs, media, human rights workers, aid organizations to ordinary citizens who want to know what is happening in times of crisis.

  • Innovation Come to BlackBerry as RIM Acquires Torch Mobile

    There’s no doubt that the mobile market is a hot market. Competition is stiff, but the so far the clear winner by leaps and bounds has been the Apple iPhone.

    The market for second is easily becoming close with Blackberry fighting to keep its position and Palm looking to break into the market but eating some of Blackberry’s market share with the Palm Pre.

    Still, the iPhone may not stay on top forever and Blackberry has taken a bold step in the right direction. If one thing has kept the iPhone ahead of the game, it’s been its clear dominance in the ease of use market.

    Blackberry has always had dependable technology and has also established itself amongst the corporate market, something iPhone has been unable to do in recent years. As Blackberry users look for innovation, Research in Motion (RIM) take a bold step in redefining their browser by acquiring browser development company, Torch.

    The Toronto based developer has created an open-source browser called Iris, which like Mozilla, has offered innovative design for mobile browsers, to include tabbed interface. This tabbed interface has worked well for the various mobile devices that Iris has been put on, and now with the ability to be included on Blackberry devices, the acquisition could prove beneficial for both parties.

    In what is sure to be a step forward in tackling Apple, RIM released a statement stating that Torch will work closely with RIM developers to “contribute to the ongoing enhancement of the BlackBerry platform.”

    Torch has gone further to state on their own website that any contributors, Committers and Reviewers will remain on board as active participants in the WebKit development community.

    It remains to be seen if Blackberry can truly take on the overwhelming lead that Apple has with their iPhone, but with unique innovation that Torch can bring to the table, RIM has the ability to increase the ease of use to all their devices.

  • Open-Source "Tidal Wave" Will Shift Power to Developers


    The number of smartphones shipped with open source operating systems (OS) will increase from 106 million this year to 223 million by 2014.

    That’s the prediciton of telecom consultants Juniper Research, who found that operating systems and applications are playing an increasingly important role in the differentiation of new smartphones.

    They also found that the OS plays a key factor in the choice of which handset to choose from by users.

    Juniper’s research mirrors recent figures from rival market watcher Strategy Analytics, which forecast that Android smartphone shipments will increase 900 per cent during 2009 over last year.

    The last three years has seen a revolution in the OS market, with market leader Symbian moving to open source and Apple leading the way in the distribution of apps through their innovative, but now widely copied, AppStore approach.

    The move to open-source OS has also encouraged developers to design new and attractive applications.

    With over 60 per cent of the OS market now based on open-source, and a sizeable pool of software design talent out there, there is a massive opportunity for innovation.

    However, Juniper said the real key is not whether the OS is open-source but whether it’s easy for a developer to design an application and make money from that effort.

    The combined changes of Apple’s open route to the market and LiMo, OHA and Symbian’s open-source OS approach have generated a tidal wave-like effect which even the economic downturn has been unable to reverse.

    The researchers said there is a clear warning for device manufacturers – the choice of OS is now critical and market share will, to a large extent, follow application development.

    They add that the unexpected side effect, however, will be a shift in the balance of power towards application developers and end users.

    Handset-makers beware.

  • HTC Forecasts 50% US Sales Growth


    Hot on the heels of launching its third Android smartphone, HTC is forecasting its US handset sales to grow by at least 50 per cent this year.

    With the arrival of the Hero, the Taiwanese phone maker is establishing itself as the leading manufacturer of the Linux-based devices.

    The release of the Hero follows the G1 and the myTouch3G.

    Jason Mackenzie, vice president of sales and marketing for HTC America, said this would help the company drive sales despite a smarphone market packed with rivals.

    Apple, Palm and Research In Motion have all recently launched new handsets – and other major mobile makers are expected to release Android phones this year.

    Mackenzie said HTC’s forecast sales growth would represent sales of around 6 million phones in the US this year.

    "Competitively we feel very good," he said.

    AT&T Mobility is seen as the carrier that will offer the Hero in the US this fall.

    It will be available on T-Mobile and Orange in Europe in July and in Asia by late summer.

    Similar in appearance to the G1, the Hero has an updated profile – no physical keyboard – and is based on a 528 MHz Qualcomm MSM7200A processor.

    It also has two of the highly-in-demand features – a 3.5mm headphone jack and the multi-touch and fingerprint-proof 3.2" HVGA touch display (320 x 480).

    Other features include:

    • a 3.2-inch capacitive touch screen
    • 288 MB RAM
    • quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE
    • 7.2 Mbps HSPA/WCDMA radios
    • Bluetooth 2.0
    • GPS
    • digital compass
    • gravity sensor
    • 5 megapixel camera
    • MicroSD slot

    HTC has also layered its own UI – known as Sense – over and above the Google-backed Android.

    This enables addition of gesture controls, widget support, and quick-launch icons for use in web-specific applications like e-mail, Facebook, and Twitter.

    The Hero also supports Adobe’s Flash technology.

    While HTC’s Sense UI will be available on its non-Google branded Android devices, licensing terms prevent it being on any phone that’s got the "with Google" branding.

  • Boxee Extends to all Windows Users, Adds Apps


    Boxee is extending its media center access to Windows and will shortly change its "alpha" status to "beta".

    The open source media site has also announced four major new app partnerships that will be available to everyone downloading its software.

    While Boxee has been available for Linux computers and Macs, it was only possible to get it for Windows as an invite-only alpha.

    Despite this it has gained enthusiastic following for its support of almost any major file type and Internet apps.

    Boxee has promised to keep the three platforms in sync as the service undergoes updates and upgrades.

    With around 120 apps in the Boxee App Box, users can now chose from the likes of MLB.tv, Current, Digg, and Tumblr.

    Among the new partnerships announced at its App Developer Challenge in San Francisco, the Major League Baseball one is the most interesting.

    The MLB arrangement marks Boxee’s first live streaming deal. MLB.tv Premium subs can now stream games through Boxee’s system in full HD from anywhere in the country on their TV.

  • Transverse Offers Service Providers Open Source-based BSS Solution


    Transverse has announced the availability of the first open source business support solutions (BSS) solution for telecom service providers.

    Chris Couch, chief operations officer at Transverse, said its blee(p) Enterprise Edition offers a telecom back office solution that is flexible and adaptable to the changing needs of service providers.

    It is designed as a fully integrated set of business management services for back office systems.

    Speaking at CTIA 2009 in Las Vegas, he said the new commercial solution gave service providers the benefits of an open source-based BSS solution together with the critical support provided by a commercially backed solution.

    "The result is a high quality, fully supported, carrier-grade BSS solution at a fraction of the price of competitive offerings," he said.

    Last month, Transverse was named in the "Cool Vendors in Telecom Operations Management (TOM) 2009" report by Gartner.

    Couch said blee(p) Enterprise Edition provides several advantages to telecom service providers above and beyond the benefits of the open source-based platform blee(p). These benefits include:

    • Service-level agreements
    • On-site or virtual training and continuing education services on blee(p)
    • Production and developer support staffed by experts 24×7
    • Integrated third-party software
    • Indemnification on existing blee(p) code
    • GPL exclusions for integrated applications
    • In addition to being open source, blee(p) is a web-based, real-time, telecom back office support system.

    Jim Messer, CEO of Transverse, said it is constructed as a service-oriented architecture (SOA) based product and provides over 2100 individual telecom related business management services.

    Utilizing SOA, and the blee(p) configuration framework, end-to-end telecom business solutions can be assembled in days, instead of weeks or months.
    "Until now, service providers have had to face significant CAPEX and OPEX costs in order to radically change and upgrade their back office architecture to support new business models," he said.

    "By leveraging open source and technologies that help end vendor lock-in and drastically reduce the total cost of ownership of back-office systems, service providers can proactively move toward new service offerings."

    Messer said these new service offerings, together with the adoption of new business models, gave them the competitive edge they need to succeed with significantly reduced financial risk.

    Pricing for blee(p) Enterprise Edition is based on the number of subscriber lines per number of installed systems it is used to manage.

  • Gizmo5 CEO Challenges Skype For SIP


    The CEO of Gizmo5 Michael Robertson has responded to last week’s announcement of Skype for SIP by posting a comparison (see below) of the new service and his own company’s OpenSky.

    While welcoming Skype’s initiative, he described it as a "vaporware announcement" with "murky pricing details".

    Writing on his blog, Robertson said he has been a vocal advocate for open standards, both in music with my company MP3.com and in VOIP with Gizmo5.

    He said open standards have always give consumers more choices and ultimately better value.

    "V0IP standards got a huge boost this week with two announcements," he said.

    Roberston said these were Gizmo5’s launch of its SIP for Skype service called OpenSky, which lets any SIP device call Skype and receive their Skype calls, and Ebay’s announcement of Skype for SIP.

    "These announcements are a huge boost for SIP as the open standard which will let calls move freely from any calling device or network," he said.

    "It’s great to see Skype inching towards a more interoperable world. Even if this is a vaporware announcement at least their heart is in the right direction."

    Robertson compared Skype For SIP with Skype for Asterisk, announced last year, saying that Skype’s business offering is not yet available and pricing details are murky.

    In response to Robertson’s blog comments, Skype said its SIP offering is available now.

    While there are other details that will undoubtedly be challenged by Skype, Robertson’s riposte will certainly give any enterprise pondering the services something to chew over.

  • G2 Software Issues Delay Launch


    There has been plenty of speculation that the launch of the next Google Android-powered handset is just days away.

    That appears to be premature according to BGR, which claims the launch has in fact been delayed until April due to "software issues".

    Among the other unconfirmed details gleaned are that the T-Mobile G2 will actually launch on another global carrier as well.

    Since the "G" names are trademarks of T-Mobile the other carrier will use its own name for the device.

    BGR also reports that the new handset will be full touch without a physical QWERTY keyboard and will have a trackball at the bottom.

  • OnePhone Seeks To Benefit From Shift To Open-source

    smartphone.biz-news spoke to Christoph Wernli, business development manager at Devoteam, about the convergence market and the opportunities offered by open-source operating systems.

    Devoteam is to release a Blackberry version of its VoIP client OnePhone that runs on mobile platforms enabling voice calls over an IP network.

    It is expected to be available for the RIM handset in the first quarter of 2009.

    The application, which effectively turns mobile devices into extensions of employees’ desk phones, is also being made ready for Android and the iPhone.

    Christoph Wernli, business development manager at Devoteam, said the application would have to be modified to comply with Apple’s legal requirements for services such as VoIP functionality.

    That aside, he said the aim was to expand beyond the current offering for Symbian and Windows Mobile handset to provide its clients – and in particular operators – with a wider choice of devices on which OnePhone can be used.

    "What we are aiming to do is create this same kind of convergence platform for all operating systems out there," he said.

    Convergence Is The Future

    OnePhone is a SIP-based, dual mode GSM-WiFi solution that is able to interwork with public and private WiFi hot spots, and with mobile networks.

    It was first released in 2004 – before the advent of smartphones – in an internal Bluetooth version.

    Wernli said they had anticipated the growth of WiFi and sophisticated handsets, and the application had evolved for use with 3G and WiFi.

    "The vision we had is that it’s not going to be a mobile world but a converged one," he said.

    From an infrastructure access point of view, this entails a plethora of wireless options – WiFi or GSM/GPRS/UMTS.

    Wernli said this meant that a device has to be agnostic in regards to the access methods it uses.

    Devoteam had also to consider the gamut of services required for mobile devices, including:

    • Traditional voice
    • Messaging – SMS, email, instant messaging
    • Location Based Services (LBS)
    • TV
    • Video calls

    "All these should be accessible seamlessly by whatever means is available, without having to choose different WiFi access points or UMTS, if you are in the field. That should be transparent," said Wernli.

    He said OnePhone has been set up based on these requirements. As a result, it sits on top of the different stacks for accessing GSM or WiFi but beneath the user interface.

    "That means that on one hand the OnePhone is not necessarily visible to the user, but can translate any kind of user action towards different access stacks," he said.

    "So, if you place a voice call, then of course you couldn’t care less if you are in the office or in range of WiFi access or outside on GSM.

    "You place the call, OnePhone intercepts it and depending on the parameters, processes the call over GSM or, if WiFi is available, it will transform this user action into a VoIP call."

    Wernli said that ability to seamlessly communicate via the best possible wireless option at any given moment was one of the fundamental concepts of OnePhone.

    He said it was this that gave it a huge advantage over other applications that were often separate add-ons that sat on top of the user interface.

    "OnePhone is structured so that it can be used by my grandmother – it’s point and click," he said.

    Convergence Platform

    Wernli explained that behind the scenes OnePhone was a convergence platform providing voice call functions as well as others such as video calling and access to data (email, mapping etc).

    A key element was its ability to provide call continuity, switching between GSM and WiFi mid-call without calls being dropped or any loss of call quality.

    He said other solutions relied on special boxes to provide this functionality, increasing the burden on enterprises.

    "OnePhone implements the hand-over mechanism, which is entirely client-based," he said.

    "It senses when it is losing the WiFi signal and starts transferring a call over to GSM or whatever is available."

    Signal strength is continuously measured and based on a series of complex factors the application decides when it is necessary to start the hand-over procedure.

    "It’s a trade-off. On the one hand you want to remain on VoIP as long as possible because it costs less," he said.

    "On the other hand you don’t want to have dropped calls."

    Encryption Becoming Essential

    A recent feature added to OnePhone was the ability to encrypt voice calls, something that is required particularly by users handling sensitive information such as banks.

    Wernli said there was still a certain wariness that someone could eavesdrop on calls.

    "With GSM it’s usually taken for granted that no-one can drop in on your call," he said.

    "With VoIP that’s not the impression people have."

    Wernli said because Devoteam developed and controls the entire stack within the application it has the flexibilty to implement such user requests speedily – something he said was almost certainly not always the case.

    "We don’t have to tell the customer that we would like to provide this feature, but you will have to wait until someone in Microsoft or Nokia agrees," he said.

    Market Expanding

    Devoteam’s main market is currently Italy, where it has over 60,000 users but it signed up a UK operator earlier this year and is currently in talks with operators in Spain and France.

    Typically sales are to operators who are able to sell OnePhone’s mobility function as a complementary product to an IP PBX.

    Wernli said that while efforts were being focussed on the European market, they weren’t ruling out future operations in the US.

    "We have seen a lot of interest in the upper segment of the market where OnePhone is used to offer additional services to complement other corporate functions and broaden an enterprise’s offering."

    Open-source World

    Wernli said he expected the penetration of OnePhone to increase as the shift towards handsets being mobile computers rather than simple phones quickened.

    He said that in addition to improvements in hardware towards iPhone-like handsets, the shift to open-source operating systems such as Android, LiMo and iPhone was extremely positive.

    "Open-source gives so much more choice to enable new kinds of services," he said."We will see a huge explosion of applications and services in the same way we saw it on the Internet 10 years ago."