The free operation system Linux is gaining more support in the mobile handset industry. Entities like the LiMo Foundation and the Linux Phone Standards (LiPS) Forum met recently at the Linux World Conference to support Linux as a mobile phone operating system. Supporters from around the world have made Linux a major player in the mobile phone business.

While supporters like the LiMo Foundation and LiPS Forum are made up of sometimes competing companies, the goals of the groups aren’t necessarily in conflict with one another. But time restraints may cause some rough spots. As IMS Research Director John Devlin points out, “The LiMo Foundation intends to develop an actual mobile Linux platform which potentially will conform to the standards established by the LiPS Forum. However, since the LiMo Foundation has stated a desire to have products shipping as early as next 2Q08 (second quarter of 2008), they are working in advance of any final standards that will be sent by the LiPS Forum. This creates the potential for the LiMo Foundation platform becoming a de facto competing standard.”

The future of Mobile Linux may see the creation of an industry standard brought about by consolidation and inter-company agreements. In a recently published report, “The Impact of Cellular Linux,” IMS Research Analyst Alison Bogle accurately predicted much of what we are seeing come to pass. Bogle states, “There will be a period of acquisition and consolidation over the next few years, the Mobile Linux community will eventually standardize on one or two leading unified Linux-based platforms, which will become the de facto standards, and Linux will see strong adoption in the handset space based on the strength of the companies supporting it.”

If Mobile Linux can continue its journey towards standardization it will become a major player in the handset operating system arena. I would like to see one major mobile operating system become the world’s standard. This would make the connectivity of various services from differing service providers easier to translate on all mobile devices the world over. But this wish is coming from someone who would like to be able to play his old Commodore 64 games on the Xbox 360.

LiMo Foundation
LiPS Forum

Prodigious iPhone users have been receiving itemized bills from AT&T that can number hundreds of pages long. And every thing is itemized. Even a small 1K text message shows up. Some bills are so large they had to be sent in boxes. The size of the bills have enraged some customers, and not just because of their cost. Paper producing trees take years to grow and if this trend continues, Americans may be forced to limiting toilet paper use to one square per visit.

AT&T doesn’t want to cause a national inconvenience in paper consumption, so yesterday the telecommunications company sent text messages to iPhone users that itemized bills will only be sent upon request. There is a charge of $1.99 for each itemized paper bill mailed out in the future. As of September 28, all of AT&T’s new wireless customers will be sent a summary bill. Any current subscriber who makes a change to an existing account will also receive a summary bill. This is good news to trees around the world.

Places like YouTube have posted some funny videos on the subject. The one posted below has had over three million hits. Now AT&T has a Website you can go to for billing information. This fiasco is a lesson to all: the new information business requires new thinking.

YouTube: Justine’s Phone Bill
AT&T

New research from Bango shows that consumers who buy content on the mobile web buy more content, and require less support and fewer refunds than users who buy content through Premium SMS. The mobile web also has three times as many add-on sales. This gives marketers a greater return for advertising costs.

“The mobile web gives consumers a payment experience they are already familiar with on the PC web,” said Martin Harris, Senior VP of Sales at Bango. “Because they can see the price and conditions of purchase before they click to pay and are billed, they feel much more comfortable with the whole experience.”

When text buyers purchase things like ringtones, games and wallpapers only 18% buy more than one download. Bango research claims that 46% of buyers who visit a browser and buy through a mobile website purchase more than one item.

Mobile web customers also appear to be more happy with their purchases, asking for refunds in less than 1% of transactions. SMS text buyers ask for refunds in 10-20% of all sales.

Caveat: Bango is a company that provides mobile phone web base services to entities that want to sell digital applications. Those who sell services over an SMS system may disagree with Bango’s research.

Bango

SNL Kagan, a company that provides revenue projections for various communication outlets, predicts that in the next 10 years 84% of Americans will have a mobile phone. Mobile subscriptions are supposed to grow at a rate of 3% despite the fact that the American population is only projected to grow at a modest 1% rate. This growth rate is attributed to an increase in mobile data use, including Web, text and video services. Multimedia services partially or wholly paid for by advertising play a large part in the projected increase.

SNL Kagan projects total industry average revenue per user (ARPU) to grow at an inflation-paces compound annual growth rate of 1.5% over the next decade. This means the ARPU should increase from today’s $52.38 to $61.09 by 2017. Data ARPU is projected to be even stronger, with an increase from $5.92 to $8.58 by 2017.

“If carriers can hold onto their position in the revenue chain, data is poised to give them a second growth spurt,” says SNL Kagan senior analyst Sharton Armbrust. “While subscriber units and voice revenue will inch along, we expect data revenue to grow at a compound annual 14% rate over the next 10 years, rising to at least 22% of service revenue, compared to under 10% today.”

If data revenue is to grow, the American public is going to have to be sold the proposition that such mobile phone services are required. Mobile data is going to have to be sold as something practical, necessary and inexpensive. There will always be people who are interested in the latest gadget and application, but the majority of people want practicality. What is the advantage to me in watching video on my phone? Why do I want to text message someone when I can just call them? If I can use the Web on my PC, what is the point of doing so on my phone? If these and similar questions can be answered by manufactures and mobile service providers, SNL Kagan’s predictions may be on the mark. But projecting a rosy future based on what’s trendy today is bound to be disappointing.

SNL Kagan

Traditionally, Google mobile and non-mobile web surfing declines in the summer months as people go on vacation. (At least in North America). This year traffic on mobile devices utilizing Google has increased 35%. Mobile devices looking at Google Maps has increased as much as 50%. This appears to point to a trend, in which people use their mobile devices for information while taking time off from work. This shows how attached people are to such devices, when they are willing to take them along on vacation.

“I think this is sort of a sign that people are becoming savvier with their mobile devices, and that there are better devices” available for the Web, while away from computers, Mayer told reporters after a presentation to marketers at the Search Engine Strategies Conference in San Jose.

“The technology curve is catching up,” she told reporters after the presentation. “The phones are just better.”

The number of Google searches done on mobile devices are tiny compared to those done on PCs, but the summer increase in North America shows that people are realizing the usefulness of mobile search engines. Maps and other information can enhance the vacation experience. Getting lost or visiting uninteresting places may become a thing of the past.

Google says mobile usage has surged this summer [Reuters]

Giants Microsoft and Nokia are teaming up today to provide Windows Live on S60 compatible devices. This service will be available to Nokia Series 40 compatible handsets next year.

Windows Live is a comprehensive set of personal Internet services and software. It is designed to bring together in one place all the relationships, information and interests people care about. Safety and security features are carefully crafted to protect the user without interfering with communications. Window’s Live Hotmail, Live Messenger, Live Contacts and Live Spaces are all now available on Nokia devices.

“The availability of Windows Live services for Nokia’s devices demonstrates our commitment to delivering great mobile experiences and extending people’s online lives — taking them from the PC to the device,” said Steve Berkowitz, senior vice president of the Online Services Business at Microsoft. “The alliance will enable a much broader group of consumers to experience the benefits Windows Live has to offer, easily connecting them to the information and people that matter most from virtually anywhere.”

This service is initially being launched today in 11 countries including; Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, U.K., Sweden, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. The service is free now but may incur a monthly cost in the future. For information and updates, press the Nokia link provided below.

As mobile devices become more and more popular, services like Windows Live are bound to feature mobility. Revenue from subscription services and advertising are going to increase as popular PC features reach the mobile device market.

Nokia
Windows Live

A new group-calling service is under development that allows conference-type calling from virtually any wireless device (including phones) and your desktop. This new application is called Lypp. When the service launches, users won’t have to pay a monthly fee and the first 500 minutes are free. No installation of software will be required so the service can be used instantly after registration.

Outbound conference calls can be made from your desktop without having to visit a website. The use of callback eliminates outbound wireless minute costs and Lypp creates a seamless transition between mobile and desktop group calling.

A beta version of Lypp will be released in early September. Keep reading the Crunch family for updates on Lypp.

Lypp

A new mobile phone service is available for those of us who want to stay in contact with our MySpace friends. Tell Them is a service that lets the user send pictures and text via a mobile device. The service is free and simple to use.

First, go to the Tell Them site on your phone. Enter your MySpace E-Mail password and select the friends you want to contact. Write a message and attach a picture if you want and blamo, the message is sent.

This service is very new so it is impossible to say right now if it will become popular. Tell Them appears to be the only service that currently caters specifically to mobile users who want to send MySpace messages. By providing a specific service for a popular phenomena like MySpace, Tell Them has the potential to grow rapidly. If the service is liked, mention of Tell Them will spread through MySpace quickly.

Tell Them
MySpace

AT&T has the exclusive carrier license in the Untied States for the iPhone. It is too early to tell how profitable this will be for AT&T. The licensing agreement between the two companies includes a payout to Apple from AT&T’s revenue generated from iPhone calls and data functions. Some rumblings in Europe may be a clue as to what it takes to get an exclusive iPhone license.

Three European companies, T-Mobile of Germany, Orange of France, and O2 UK, have agreed to pay Apple 10% of all revenues generated from iPhone calls and data functions. Revenue sharing may be a new trend in the mobile business. Operators have resisted handset manufactures’ attempts to latch onto their service revenues. But the excitement generated by platforms like the iPhone may make revenue sharing by manufactures an irresistible trend.

As the functions that mobile phones can perform increase, the companies that design and manufacture these new wonders aren’t going to be happy with simply selling devices. They are going to want a percentage the carriers make off the manufacture’s product. If this trend continues, it won’t be long before service providers and manufactures of mobile devices merge. Just imagine, the A in AT&T might one day stand for Apple.

[Via: Financial Times]

Many people who live in Africa don’t have personal computers but do have mobile phones. Mobile phone providers are fulfilling the thirst for knowledge and connectivity the internet provides. The company Celtel-Sierra Leone has unveiled plans to offer internet access and downloads to an inquisitive nation. In case you’ve forgotten, Sierra Leone is a small country on Africa’s Atlantic coast.

“The mobile internet service is reliable, affordable and accessible to all subscribers using Celtel network all over the country,” a senior official told Highway Africa News Agency (HANA).

According to Andrew Johnson, a private IT expert, Tigo mobile offered the citizens of Sierra Leone mobile internet services first. “Each other mobile telecommunications network seems to be playing catch up with Tigo,” he said adding that “this will make other mobile companies to come up with more improved facilities to boost up the communications industry in the country.”

To date, Tigo offers the cheapest rates in Sierra Leone, but competition is bound to reduce costs and improve services. If you represent a company that is interested in jumping into the Sierra Leone market there is a caveat: the country underwent a bloody civil war between 1991 and 2002. But currently, the government is stable enough to have a National Telecommunications Commission (Na Tcom) that regulates and licenses mobile companies.

Sierra Leone: More Mobile Internet Services for Country[Via allAfrica]

Celtel-Sierra Leone
Tigo Sierra Leone