98 percent of iPhone owners use mobile data

There are now 6.4 million active iPhone users in the U.S. according to media research firm Nielsen, and 98 percent of them have embraced the Apple smartphone's data features. Nielsen reports that iPhone users in the U.S. totaled 4.3 million in April 2008, and forecasts that the pending release of a $99 8 GB version should negate consumer cost concerns that have limited the overall size of the iPhone audience.

Existing iPhone users are nevertheless highly coveted by mobile marketers. Nielsen notes that 40 percent boast household incomes of $100,000 or more, compared to 19 percent of all U.S. wireless subscribers. In addition, iPhone users are age-diverse, with the 55-and-older segment roughly equal to the 13-to-24 category.

China Mobile targets residential voice with TD-SCDMA

China Mobile is using its new TD-SCDMA network to offer cut-price fixed-line voice services to residential customers.

The mobile giant, which does not have a wireline business, is undercutting China Telecom and Unicom with its new service in Beijing and Shanghai.

Shanghai Mobile charges a monthly base fee of 16 yuan ($2.34) that includes 50 minutes of local call time, TD fixed-wireless phones use 11-digit phone numbers like mobile numbers with a "188" prefix. For additional use, the carrier charges 0.22 yuan ($0.03) for the first three minutes and 0.11 yuan ($0.02) per minute for extra time. Incoming calls are free of charge.

The phone that looks like a normal wireline phone can be used to send text messages at the cost of 0.10 yuan ($0.01) per message.

Families that sign an 18-month contract and commit to spend at least 88 yuan ($12.88) per month on their wireless phone bills can have the TD fixed-wireless phone free of charge. The phone is not available for sale otherwise.

Beijing Mobile is also selling a TD fixed-wireless phone service, offering 50 minutes of local call time in a monthly base fee of 10 yuan ($1.46) and charges 0.12 yuan ($0.02) per minute for additional use. Subscribers need to pay 20 yuan ($2.93) for the SIM card and can have the first month's base fee waived.

The monthly base fees for both China Telecom's and China Unicom's wireless voice services are higher and do not include any free minutes.

China Telecom, the main fixed-line operator in Shanghai, charges a monthly base fee of 25 yuan while China Unicom charges 21.6 yuan in Beijing. Their standard rate for local calls is 0.22 yuan for the first three minutes and 0.11 yuan for each additional minute.

China Mobile’s TD-SCDMA network, the country’s first 3G network, has struggled to find customers since formally launching early this year.

Tribute To Michael Jackson (1958-2009)

This is an advertisement for Michael Jackson's that many of us had been looking forward. Great tribute to the King of Pop whom I will always remember as the person who had introduced pop music to me and to the world.

His death has shocked the entire world, coming all of sudden without any warning. You can check out on MJ at his YouTube Channel or his life gallery.

The world without MJ will never be the same, no matter how you would had judged or perceived him, he will always be the legendary King of Pop. Here’s his last photo, showing medical officers trying to save him. R.I.P.

Test Your Awareness : Whodunnit?

iPhone interacting with outdoor media

CBS Outdoor and Clusta have designed digital billboards which can connect to your iPhone via WiFi or 3G, allowing you to rotate and zoom the products on screen with the touch-screen by using the "pinch" and "stretch" features on your iPhone. It’s the ultimate combination of “connective ubiquitous technology” and “making people stare at pictures of products for even longer”. It’s certainly a great advance in mass-market interactive technology and we’ll have to wait and see if it ever gets used for local news alerts, public information, or anything at all except selling stuff.

The technology can also be developed for other smart phones and can include SMS interactivity to receive more information about the product.

Mossberg on Palm's answer to the iPhone

Wall Street Journal Technology columnist Walt Mossberg reviews Palm's new smartphone, the new Palm's Pre.

Mossberg's finaly verdict, its an elegantly designed device and certainly will give iPhone a real competition provided if it can attract sufficient developers to its platform.

41 Percent Choosing Smart Phones As Next Device

Over the next few years, the handset industry will increasingly polarize between low-end feature phones and high-end smartphones, according to two separate reports released today by Yankee Group and Juniper Research.

Yankee Group said that 41 percent of consumers in US are likely to choose a phone with an advanced operating system for their next device. At that pick-up rate, smartphone volumes will make up about 38 percent of all handsets by 2013 in North America. In the U.S., the average consumer has had four phones, which increases their likelihood of wanting to have more sophisticated features for their fifth device.

While the smartphone trend increases in US, Juniper Research is forecasting that developing markets, like Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, will increase demand for low-cost handsets, reports cellular-news.com. By 2014, annual sales of low-cost mobile handsets will rise by 22 percent to more than 700 million phones.

Juniper predicts that the worldwide smartphone share will be grow to 27 percent of all mobile devices shipped in 2014 (up from 13 percent in 2008).

Over 1 million iPhone 3G S sold over the First weekend

Apple announced sales of its new iPhone 3G S topped the 1 million mark on Sunday, the third day the latest edition of the touchscreen device was available at retail. In addition, the computing giant reported that 6 million customers have downloaded the new iPhone 3.0 OS software in the first five days since its release on Wednesday.