A couple of interesting announcements from the last few days; Nokia shipping mobiles with Skype, Vodafone shipping mobiles with Windows Instant Messenger, Samsung and LG shipping mobiles with YouTube interfaces, PayPal mobile checkout service, TV viewing for PC based video service Unbox, WiFi BlackBerry a bit closer, and MySpace enters video market.

Nokia has announced that it will ship the N800 mobile with a Skype installation link pre installed. This will allow VoIP calls when connected to a WiFi nework only.

Vodafone is deploying Instant Messaging in Portugal after an agreement reached with Microsoft to use Windows Live Messenger. The service will sync between a users PC and mobile handset. Initially free, the service will be charged from end of October.

Both Samsung and LG have announced agreements to embed YouTube into selected mobile handsets. The YouTube applications will enable video footage taken from the mobile to be directly posted to YouTube without the requirement of a PC.

PayPal has launched PayPal Mobile Checkout to provide online businesses an interface to accept payments by mobile phone. Users visit the online site via their mobile and can complete the entire transaction from the mobile handset.

PC based movie service Amazon Unbox has announced an agreement to have its content delivered to TiVo set-top boxes. The agreement brings TV based viewing to Unbox users, while also increasing the available content for TiVo users.

WiFi enabled BlackBerry´s are a little closer with FCC approval of the device in the US.

The world´s most popular social network site MySpace has entered the video market with the beta launch of myspacetv. The site is a YouTube competitor. Depending on its success it will be interesting to see when the first mobile carrier deals start.

Richard T.

Some key announcements from the week past; iPhone release, Helio funding, T-Mobile’s GSM/ WiFi handset, Clearwire wireless VoIP, formation of the Femto Forum, and Google’s purchase of GrandCentral.

So just in case you missed it, the iPhone was launched on Friday. Estimates of half a million sales have been made, and despite some minor activation issues the consensus is that the iPhone is a fantastic device that will change the direction of mobile phones forever. Bizarrely enough, some of the first iPhone users decided to break it apart to see what was inside! Rumors of a UK launch with Vodafone are now being reported.

US MVNO Helio is set to receive US$100m injection joint founder SK Telecom, an equal amount is expected from the other founder Earthlink. This is not too much of a surprise given forecast estimates of a loss between US$330 – US$360 million for the 2007 FY.

T-Mobile launched its dual mode GMS WiFi handset in the US with an offer of unlimited calls via WiFi. The release comes after T-Mobile recently began blocking VoIP traffic from mobile VoIP provider Truphone. The T-Mobile product is targeted at the mobile carrier gaining share of the fixed voice market by offering a replacement service using VoIP via WiFi. The product uses Unlicensed Mobile Access technology to allow GSM / WiFi handovers, for a quick review of UMA see here.

Clearwire the US WiMAX operator has begun offering wireless VoIP services. Consumers use their existing analogue handsets connected to an Internet phone adapter. The service is initially available in Texas.

The Femto Forum, an operator and vendor non-profit association, has been formed to promote Femtocell deployment worldwide. Founding members include Netgear and Ubiquisys (who recently announced a jointly developed Femtocell product) and recently NASDAQ listed company Airvana.

Google has acquired GrandCentral. GrandCentral provides US consumers a service to have a single inbound telephone and voicemail service that links to up to 6 phones. The inbound number never changes and can be configured to provide call features normally seen on business key systems. The Google acquisition ads to their existing voice directory service Goog-411.