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- AQUOS PHONE THE HYBRID 007SH: Sharp Shows World’s First Clamshell Android Phone
- 1.6 Million Windows Phone 7 Handsets Were Sold Last Quarter
- MasterCard Study: Youngsters Will Be The Catalyst Of Mobile Payment Adoption
- AT&T To Launch HTC HD7S On June 5th
- Sprint HTC Arrive To Get Security Update On May 24th?
- Verizon Fires Up Their 4G Network In 9 New Cities
- Verizon’s First WP7 Phone, The HTC Trophy, Launching May 26th for $149.99
- iOS Game Publisher Fuse Powered Raises $2m Seed Round From BlackBerry Partners Fund And NFQ
- Need Help With Class? Motuto Puts A Live Tutor In Your Pocket
| AQUOS PHONE THE HYBRID 007SH: Sharp Shows World’s First Clamshell Android Phone Posted: 20 May 2011 01:28 AM PDT
If you thought Android and clamshell handsets won’t fit, think again: Sharp today introduced [JP] the so-called AQUOS PHONE THE HYBRID 007SH, a flip phone running on Android 2.3. It’s the first of its kind (at least by a major company), but that’s not all the device has to offer. Sharp actually squeezed a ton of features into the phone:
In other words, this thing is quite a monster.
The keyboard section can also be flipped to the back, so you can use the phone like this:
The AQUOS PHONE THE HYBRID 007SH will be distributed in Japan by mobile carrier SoftBank starting next month. An interesting experiment to see how Japanese consumers will react to a smartphone in a form factor they have been used to for over a decade.
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| 1.6 Million Windows Phone 7 Handsets Were Sold Last Quarter Posted: 19 May 2011 04:27 PM PDT
One little blip worth noting is the modest but not insignificant 1.6 million Windows Phone 7 sales. For an OS in its infancy, from a company whose mobile strategy has been the subject of ridicule for years, 1.6 million is a perfectly strong start. If they keep that up and add a few on top, they could sell 10 million phones this year, which, while paling in comparison to the 50 million iPhones and 100 million Android phones (give or take a million score), is far from a failure. Whether it’s enough for Microsoft is something we’re unlikely to find out directly from them. But it’s no Kin, that’s for sure.
Android had a slow start too, and WP7 is still undergoing serious changes. I’d like to see this interesting and different OS improve and sell more, though of course it depends on how hard Microsoft works to push out updates and the speed with which that Nokia partnership takes effect. Note that Microsoft hasn’t actually released this info, it’s an estimate by Gartner, presumably based on data from carriers, retail, and other trackers. Check out the rest of the report here.
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| MasterCard Study: Youngsters Will Be The Catalyst Of Mobile Payment Adoption Posted: 19 May 2011 12:39 PM PDT
MasterCard's survey found that younger generations, specifically those between 18-34, are most at ease with the idea of phone transactions. In that younger age bracket, 65 percent of 18-34 year-olds feel more naked without a phone than without a wallet. The study failed to ask whether they felt more naked without their phone than without clothing, but in any case, it's clear that the younger demographic will be the pioneers in the future of our commerce. Some more interesting insight gleaned from the survey: more than half of those surveyed claimed that someone's phone is more telling of their personality than their wallet and its contents. Though the differences are somewhat slight, men more so than women feel comfortable with the idea of using a phone to make purchases (51 percent vs. 40 percent) and are more likely to be impressed by a bill paid using NFC than a credit card purchase (49 percent vs. 45 percent). On the other hand, half of the women surveyed tend to feel more exposed without their phone than without their wallet, as opposed to just 36 percent of men who echo the sentiment. Clearly, we have become a society that is completely and utterly dependent on our mobile phones, but that dependency still can't quiet concerns for personal safety and security. The most significant finding of the study revealed that 62 percent of all of those surveyed said they'd need reliable confirmation that their personal data was secure before they'd be comfortable making a transaction. MasterCard has been working towards bringing a comfortable level of security to its NFC technology, and scribed a recent blog post outlining its progress. [via The Heart of Commerce Blog]
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| AT&T To Launch HTC HD7S On June 5th Posted: 19 May 2011 11:38 AM PDT
We’ve known for a while now that AT&T was preppin’ to launch their very own version of the HD7S — they said as much back in March. While they were glad to talk up the HD7S’ advantages over its near-twin, the T-Mobile HD7 (such as the upgrade from a 4.3″ LCD to a 4.3″ Super LCD and.. uhh.. the addition of an S to the end of the name,) they left out two oh-so-important bits: the launch date, and the price. Well, here it is straight from the horse’s mouth: the HTC HD7S will launch on June 5th for $199 on a 2-year contract. That’s conveniently close to the May 24th event where Microsoft is expected to announce the details of WP7′s next big update — but given Microsoft’s update pace so far, they’d have to pull off some wicked sorcery to ship these things with said update in place.
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| Sprint HTC Arrive To Get Security Update On May 24th? Posted: 19 May 2011 11:01 AM PDT
We’re not usually ones to believe images that are essentially one big JPEG artifact — but hey, we’re talking about a security update here. For Windows Phone 7, no less. Who would fake that? It’d be like photoshopping yourself into a picture of a Quizno’s and only showing it to your cats. In case you don’t have your blurry-mess-decrypting goggles on, here’s the gist of the image above: come May 24th, the HTC Arrive will be getting a security update. Back in early May, Microsoft started shippin’ around an update that blocked certain fake SSL certificates that could potentially be used for various dastardly deeds — we’re guessing that update and this update are one in the same. [Via Spantechular]
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| Verizon Fires Up Their 4G Network In 9 New Cities Posted: 19 May 2011 09:40 AM PDT
You know the drill: another few weeks have passed, so it’s time for yet another batch of cities to start swimmin’ in Verizon’s sweet, sweet LTE radio waves. Is your hometown one of the new regions? Probably not — but maybe! Today’s new additions:
The Full List (As of 5/19/2011):
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| Verizon’s First WP7 Phone, The HTC Trophy, Launching May 26th for $149.99 Posted: 19 May 2011 07:17 AM PDT
All the signs pointed to an impending launch of the Windows Phone 7-powered HTC Trophy on Verizon — and wouldn’t you know it? It just became official. The HTC Trophy will hit Verizon’s website on May 26th (the same day that they’re launching the Xperia Play, and quite possibly the LG Revolution), with in-store availability on June 2nd. Expect to pay around $149.99 after all is said and done, with “all is said” entailing a 2-year contract and a $50 mail in rebate. Join us after a jump for a quick gander at the specs, won’t you? The Specs:
What do you think? Was the wait for Windows Phone 7′s arrival on Verizon the only thing keeping you from hopping on the WP7-train?
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| iOS Game Publisher Fuse Powered Raises $2m Seed Round From BlackBerry Partners Fund And NFQ Posted: 19 May 2011 07:05 AM PDT
When you hear a name like BlackBerry Partners Fund, your first thought probably isn’t “Hey! They should invest in an iOS games publisher!” As it turns out, while the investment firm shares a name and myriad ties to the finest gadget line to come out of Waterloo, the fund isn’t bound to products built for any one platform in particular. They’re celebrating that fact today by investing in — you guessed it — an iOS game publisher. This morning, iOS publisher/analytics provider Fuse Powered is announcing a two million dollar seed round lead by BlackBerry Partners Fund and NFQ Ventures.
While Fuse has a handful of big-name licenses (Jaws, Dawn of the Dead) under their belt as a publisher, their primary focus is to provide developers with real-time app usage analytics which they can in turn use to advise their partners on how to spend their marketing money. With this investment, Fuse Powered should be set for some time — especially considering that thanks to an accelerator program they won a few months back, they’re already set with office space at an incubator right in the heart of San Francisco.
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| Need Help With Class? Motuto Puts A Live Tutor In Your Pocket Posted: 19 May 2011 06:59 AM PDT As easy as it is to forget that the iPad isn’t just a little Angry-Birds-and-Netflix machine, it’s always nice to see someone building something meant to teach kids a thing or two. Exhibit A: Motuto. Launched this morning, Motuto takes live tutors from around the world and shoves ‘em into the iPhone, iPad, and, before too long, Android devices.
Here’s how it works: Once the free app is installed, users pick from a range of subjects for which Motuto has tutors on standby, covering much of Grade 7-12 math and sciences. They’re connected to the tutor as soon as one is available (if there’s a wait, the user is alerted via push message when their time comes), at which point their 20 minute tutoring session begins. Tutor and student communicate via text chat (students can also snap and send photos of their problems), while a real-time, two-way whiteboard runs alongside for demonstrations. Sessions are stored on the device for later studying, and can be e-mailed to the student for printing and sharing. Each new user gets 1 free 20 minute session, after which point each session will cost around 5 bucks a pop. Motuto’s developer, Castle Rock Research, pins this pricing model as their strength; real-world tutors generally don’t come cheap, while their virtual competition (such as Tutor.com) tends to charge monthly fees rather than per session. It’ll be interesting to see how that pricing model plays out. As pretty much every US wireless carrier has learned, a huge chunk of the populace seems to prefer to pay more for “unlimited” access rather than pay less for limited portions – even if they don’t really need unlimited access. Castle Rock tells us they plan to up the value of their product in the near term with topic-relevant study guides, built to help ensure that any lessons learned are properly nailed in. Also coming soon (“in a matter of weeks”, they say): Android support. What do you think? Is mobile tutoring the instructional aid of the future? In a world where every second App Store review complains that 99 cents is too much, will $5 pay-per-sessions take off? You can find Motuto in the App Store right here [iTunes Link]
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