Verizon customers are expected to send over 300 million text, picture and video messages this New Year’s Eve between the hours of 12 p.m. and 4a.m. ET New Year’s Day. During the third quarter of 2007, customers exchanged more than 721 million picture and video messages over Verizon Wireless’ nationwide network and sent or received nearly 36.5 billion text messages.

Mike Lanman, vice president and chief marketing officer for Verizon Wireless, said, “During holidays such as New Year’s Eve, text, picture and video messages allow our customers to personalize their communications with friends and family. Last New Year’s Eve, our customers sent and received more than 284 million text messages and nearly 4.75 million multimedia messages, so we fully expect to surpass the 300 million mark tonight.”

Other carriers are also expecting an increase in traffic as the clock moves closer to midnight. As more cell phones include cameras and quick editing features, friends and family will be able to celebrate the New Year together even if they are separated by great distances. So hit the party circuit tonight, quaff some spirits and exchange a gaggle of messages you’d rather not remember in the morning.

Internet calling company Vonage announced today that is has settled three patent disputes with telecommunications equipment manufacturer, Nortel. The settlement involves a limited cross license to three Nortel and three Vonage patents and will not call for any monetary payments by any party.

Vonage has settled other patent disputes in the last few months with AT&T, Sprint Nextel and Verizon Communications. The patent lawsuits caused Vonage stock to drop from an initial offering of $17 a share to as low as $0.89 a share in September of this year. As of this morning, Vonage shares sell for $2.16.

Vonage
Nortel

Each week MobileCrunchArcade compiles the biggest news from the world of mobile gaming.

Research from Frank N. Magid associates has found that a majority of cell phone users don’t play mobile games. I know how ridiculous that sounds but the evidence is in. Over 80% of Internet users, ages 12 to 64, own a cell phone or PDA but only a little over 10% of this population played a mobile game at least once a week — even free games! People aged 12 to 24 are the most likely to play mobile games. This means there is great growth potential in mobile games if we can just get the word out how great this pastime can be. Tell Grandma and Grandpa to pickup the handset and thumb thump those keys.

In the near future you may be playing mobile games with Vollee, a new technology that streams PC games to mobile phones. Vollee’s Head of Business Development, Julian Corbett, explains how Vollee’s service works: “Vollee streams console and PC games directly to a mobile handset using 3G networks. We host the games on our servers, and users download a player or thin-client to their handset which gives them access to the titles we have licensed and adapted for mobile.”

If you have an iPhone and hanker for an old PlayStation game, now you can revisit past glories. ZodTDD has revealed its PlayStation/iPhone emulation software. The psx4iphone application is open to anyone with an iPhone and doesn’t require any registration. The emulator divides the iPhone screen in two, with game play on one half and the game’s standard face button controls and directional movement pad placed on the other. The onscreen control works much like a regular PlayStation controller.

India is seeing a video game war. Console and computer games are fighting mobile gaming in India’s growing gaming market. In India mobile phone games are king, constituting around 50% of the gaming industry. “Mobile gaming is for the more casual gamer. For the high-end gamer, the console or online is the answer,” says Smita Jha, principal consultant (Entertainment & Media Practice), PwC. She adds that even five years from now, the mobile base will be much larger, considering the numbers that are swelling by the month. Gandhi may have preached non-violence, but if he were around today he would secretly be pulling for the mobile gamers to win this war.

That is this week’s mobile gaming new roundup. Remember to exercise those thumbs, recharge the battery and never take you eyes off the screen.

Each year the American Film Institute (AFI) votes on “moments of significance”. A 13 member jury (which includes film scholars, artists and critics) vote on seven events that affected “the world of moving image” over the past year. The iPhone made the list this year.

AFI says the iPhone is a “symbol of the exploding on-demand culture.” The device, which sparked a buying frenzy when it was launched this summer in the United States, allows users to stream and download music, movies and TV shows.

At the top of the list was the Writers Guild of America strike, which began on November 5. The dispute between the Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers addresses storytelling in the digital age and “may be a defining event in shaping the future,” the AFI said.

The AFI is concerned about the hyper-tabloidization of traditional television news. Coverage of the antics of Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears often eclipsed coverage of the war, the economy and international topics in 2007.

AFI

Incesoft and mInfo announced today that they will collaborate to bring advanced conversational search to Chinese MSN instant messenger (IM) users. The companies will cooperate on both the technical and the marketing side to distribute the XiaoMing IM search robot to the land of dragons.

“Currently there are over 80 million mobile instant messaging users in China. With this number having grown over 400% just in this year, it’s clear to see the promising future of IM on mobile devices and the pending need for search capabilities by these users,” said Alvin Wang Graylin, CEO of mInfo. “One of mInfo’s technical strengths is in supporting natural language search, which coincides well with instant messaging that is
inherently a natural language communications tool. The alliance with Incesoft will provide our joint users with more conveniences and easier access to useful information whether on mobile devices or PCs.”

Incesoft’s Xiao-i and mInfo’s XiaoMing are both IM robots with complementary capabilities. By working together, the two companies hope users will enjoy clear and immediate benefits. XiaoMing’s unique capabilities in rich daily- life and local search content was where Incesoft found the most synergies. Moreover, Xiao-i could distribute its contents to more users through mInfo’s SMS and WAP platforms.

“With the upcoming 3G license issuance in China, the mobile services market will grow dramatically,” said Hui Yuan, CEO of Incesoft. “mInfo is definitely the best partner to choose in bringing a more natural mobile search experience to our users.”

Incesoft
mInfo

A new book by author Seth Shulman entitled “The Telephone Gambit: Chasing Alexander Graham Bell’s Secret” argues that Bell stole ideas for the telephone from rival, Elisha Gray. By hiring clever lawyers and a corrupt patent examiner, Shulman makes the claim that Bell was able to examine patent documents Gray had filed which helped Bell perfect his telephone.

Some of the best evidence supporting Shulman’s claim comes from Bell’s own laboratory notes. The notebook is full of false starts as Bell and assistant Thomas Watson tried to transmit sound electromagnetically over a wire. Then there is a 12 day gap in the notes during the time Bell went to Washington to visit the patent office. On his return, Bell was able to transmit his voice over the new invention. A revolution in telecommunications was born with the first words, “Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you.”

Shulman’s book points out other suspicious activity by Bell. For instance, Bell’s transmitter design appears hastily written in the margin of his patent; Bell was nervous about demonstrating his device with Gray present; Bell resisted testifying in an 1878 lawsuit probing this question; and Bell, as if ashamed, quickly distanced himself from the telephone monopoly bearing his name.

The book also examines why historical memory favors Bell over Gray and German inventor Philipp Reis. Reis invented a telephone in the 1860s that worked on a different principle.

One reason fate shined on Bell may be due to the fact that he demonstrated his invention to other people and was a good promoter. Gray was more interested in solving his era’s communications challenge: how to send multiple messages simultaneously over the same telegraph wire. As Gray told his attorney, “I should like to see Bell do that with his apparatus.”

This is a good historic lesson for our Century. New technology needs to be protected with strong but fair patent laws so that those who put the effort into inventing new ideas are protected. It also shows that we shouldn’t be of a one-track mind. Solving the problems of today may lead to new breakthroughs but it takes a promoters mind to point out revolutionary change.

Internet phone company Vonage settled a patent lawsuit brought against it by AT&T. AT&T claimed that Vonage infringed with its patents by using packet-based telephony products, which allow voice conversations to be carried over the Internet.

Since going public in 2006, Vonage was hit by multiple lawsuits by telephone service providers. It settled a suit with Sprint Nextel and another one with Verizon Communications in October.

Vonage did not disclose the nature of the settlement but in November the company offered to pay AT&T $39 million over five years. (See: Vonage Discusses Settlement). Vonage hopes that by settling it will be able to become profitable and that its stock price will rise. When the company went public in 2006 its stock sold for $17 a share. In September of this year Vonage stock fell to as low as $0.89. Ever since negotiating with the companies that brought the patent infringement lawsuits, Vonage stock has increased. The stock sells for just over $2 as of this morning.

Taiwan’s production of handsets is up nearly 82% over last year’s numbers. Many of the 6.2 million devices manufactured in Taiwan are made for Apple and its iPhone brand. It is believed that similar numbers will be achieved in next year’s first quarter. This will be a jump of 150% over this year’s first quarter numbers, Market Intelligence Centre said in a forecast.

“This growth is being driven by several factors, one being the introduction of several new mass-produced models by High Tech Computer Corporation,” the centre said in a report, referring to the island’s leading smart phone maker.

“Another factor is the rise in procurements by North American and European operators to satisfy traditional peak season demand in the fourth quarter,” it said.

Shipment value over the period broke the one-billion-US-dollar mark for the first time to 1.46 billion dollars, it added.

“Major growth momentum for the Taiwanese smart handheld device industry in the third quarter came from increased contract production of the Apple iPhone,” it said.

If Taiwan keeps the iPhone contract there may be even more dramatic increases in production numbers. Apple is currently in negotiations with various Asian phone companies to release the iPhone in those markets.

Each week MobileCrunchArcade compiles the biggest news from the world of mobile gaming.

A little news has leaked out about the upcoming mobile game Final Fantasy IV: Return to the Moon. The game is a direct sequel of Final Fantasy IV. But you could probably guess that from the title. The DNA results are in and it is confirmed that Theodore is Cecil’s and Rosa’s son. The divorce petition has been withdrawn. All of the original characters in Final Fantasy IV will be returning to the mobile sequel, go figure. The mobile version will have episodic chapters to master and a story update every month. A free demo will be distributed as the story’s prologue so there is no good reason to pass up a little fantasy when the game is released.

The first game for Google’s mobile operating system Android is in development. Wi-Fi Army is a game where you try and track down other players with you phone and take their picture. The earth is your battlefield and your phone is your weapon. You have to search for other players while you are out and about. Your phone can detect anyone else who is running Wi-Fi Army within a 300-foot radius. Once you shoot a picture of them it is compared to photos in a data base and if a match is made you get one hit. The beta version only supports 500 players per city so if it is to become popular in large cities the number will have to increase. Power-ups and weapon upgrades will be available for a nominal fee. I’m not sure what they mean by weapon upgrades but if it is legal why not do it?

Earlier this week, Verizon in partnership with Hand-On Mobile and Activision released Guitar Hero III Mobile. Much like the console game players must hit keys in sync with colored notes that appear on a scrolling board. Verizon Wireless customers get 15 song tracks from the Guitar Hero console series and can add new tracks as they become available each month. The game can be purchased monthly for $4.49 or can be bought for a onetime price of $12. The game won’t teach you to read music but it will help you irritate people while you wait for a connecting bus.

N-Gage was supposed to be softly launched this week with little fanfare. It was so soft that nothing went into the air. N-Gage has been postponed again and is now rescheduled for next year. Space Shuttle launches haven’t been aborted this many times. Here’s what a post on the official N-Gage blog reads: “Unfortunately, as can sometimes happen in software development, unexpected difficulties can occur. We have been doing an internal run with more than 1,000 global testers this week, and during this process we uncovered an issue we feel we need to address. Overall, the games and service are working smoothly, but because of this issue, we feel we could not release N-Gage First Access before the holidays as planned.”

If you are in for a little nostalgia, or you want to know what gaming was like in ancient times, Atari is releasing Atari Legends Volumes 1, 2 and 3. The graphics and game play are right out of the 1980’s and can be played in the palm of your hand. You don’t have to lug a big 25” screen television around to play pong or asteroids and you don’t have to fight everybody for the joystick that isn’t broken.

That is this week’s Mobile Gaming News Roundup. Remember to exercise those thumbs, recharge the battery and never take your eyes off the screen.

Air France is experimenting with cell phone calls on a limited number of European routs. Passengers can send and receive short messages and send and receive e-mails if the phone supports Internet access. At first, travelers won’t be able to make or receive voice calls because of issues with other passengers. Air France hopes to allow voice calls within three months in a way that won’t interfere with other passengers’ comfort and well-being.

A small cellular base station inside the plane routs onboard calls and messages. Messages are sent to a satellite and then to the ground and the phone’s network. The service is supplied by OnAir, a company partially owned by airplane maker Airbus.

Cell phone users must dial as if they are making an international call. Air France hasn’t said how much a call will cost but said it is comparable to traditional mobile rates. Signs are posted telling passengers when to keep their phones off. Messages can’t be sent until the plane rises above 10,000 feet.

Airlines and regulators have been debating cell phone use for years. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has banned mobile phone service on flights. The European Union has taken the opposite line and has approved of cell phone flights. Airlines in other regions, like the Australian operator Qantas, are conducting limited tests of the service.