«Put FM radio in cellphones and everyone will benefit.
That’s the gist of a report commissioned by an NAB technology advocacy program.
“Cell phone service providers, radio broadcasters and handset manufacturers all stand to benefit from the expansion of FM-capable cell phones, a platform that could reach 257 million American subscribers,” NAB stated in a summary.
President/CEO David Rehr said the trade group is “confident that implementation of a new FM-radio feature would result in rapid penetration.”
The report was commissioned by an NAB program that is pushing for advanced services for radio and TV on all devices, called NAB FASTROAD.
Only about 8 percent of U.S. cellular handsets sold last year were FM-capable (although that’s still 12.5 million sets), and almost all of these were GSM phones, the authors found. (...)» FM Receivers Belong in Cell Phone Handsets, NAB Report Says  RWnewsbytes 13/06/08

mais do jogos ou venda de imagens

«Mobile social networking stands a good chance of jumpstarting mobile Internet adoption because mobile social networking is based more on communication than content. Time and again, communication services have led the way for content and advertising to follow. In the case of the Internet, it was e-mail and discussion boards—not Web pages—that triggered the explosion from early adoption to mainstream consumer use. SMS services drove mobile data use and they still account for the majority of mobile data revenues by carriers. It is not surprising, therefore, that mobile carriers and mobile content providers have warmed to mobile social networking as a new opportunity to ramp mobile Internet use. In truth, they have little choice. Their attempts to convince the mass market to sign up for mobile Internet have proved moderately successful, at best. According to February 2008 research by Informa, the global market for all current forms of paid mobile entertainment should reach $31.7 billion by 2012. Back in 2006, the same forecast optimistically predicted $42 billion by 2011. »

«Jumpstarting the Mobile Internet», eMarketeer, MAY 12, 2008

«Let's breakdown a fairly recent RCW Wireless news account:
"A recent study from TNS Global Telecoms found that 43% of all mobile users listen to some form of music on their phones, and 73% of smartphones double as music players. And while the use of MP3 players on phones is up 78% in the last year, mobile radio uptake has seen a whopping 140% increase".
The high use of mobile devices for listening to music is not surprising, but mobile radio listening is. The reason may be that this study was worldwide in scope including countries where radio has not yet committed consolidated suicide.
"TNS — which polled an astounding 16,000 consumers in 29 countries for the study — also found that 45% of users list AM/FM as one of the top three factors in purchasing a mobile phone".
I'll make you a money bet that if you polled U.S. consumers only, you would find AM/FM's effect on purchasing a mobile phone almost negligible.
Ask anyone.
Who do you know that requires AM/FM access on a mobile device? The next generation will tell you that they have moved on beyond radio. It's simply not important to them.
"Meanwhile, a recent study from the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that 17% of U.S. mobile users play music on their phones, nearly matching the 19% who use mobile e-mail or surf the wireless Web".
Note the lower use of mobile phones for listening to music. Keep in mind many of these folks listen to MP3s not streaming radio. (...) «The cell phone may be everywhere but consumers don't necessarily want it to do everything.» (Jerry Del Colliano, Cell Phones Are Not Transistor Radios Inside Music Media, 30/04/08) 

«An even more promising delivery system is on the horizon: cell phones. "If you've got cell phones that also can be MP3 players, how hard is it to add a chip so that they could pick up FM and HD? Not hard at all," said John Crenshaw, operations manager of Clear Channel Columbus. The move toward listening to music on cell phones is well under way. A recent study from TNS Global Telecoms found that 43 percent of cell-phone users listen to some form of music on their phones. While much of that comes via MP3 players, use of FM players on cell phones could be ready to explode. About 30 percent of U.S. cell phones can receive FM radio, and the industry is hoping for more, Rehr said. According to surveys by America Online, more than half the respondents say they would listen to the radio on their cell phones if it became available»

Growth has occurred in every region with particularly rapid adoption seen in Latin America and in emerging Asia, where 45% of users list FM/AM radio as one of their top-3 choices for purchasing a mobile phone – making it a more popular application than SMS (texting), internet access or even a camera.

Matthew Froggatt, Managing Director of TNS’s Global Technology sector says, “Radio-enabled mobiles take away the need to have a separate music device like an MP3 player and should lead phone manufacturers to win the battle for control of the earphones. »

MOBILE PHONES ARE MUSIC TO THE EARS FOR RADIO SAY TNS, TNS 26/02/08

• Cell phones are optimized for audio, and music is an audio medium.
  
• Cell phones are essentially a beefed up portable MP3 player.
  
• Advertising supported downloaded music enables advertising to be pulled and delivered in a natural way.»

fonte: The Marriage Between Mobile and Music 29/11/07

«STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson said it had signed deals with 10 music labels to add content to its PlayNow service, which lets users download music via their mobile phones. Sony Ericsson, owned by Ericsson and Sony Corp., said the deals added 5 million new tracks to its catalogue. The venture said in a statement late on Sunday it had signed deals with Sony BMG, Warner Music Group, EMI, The Orchard, IODA, The PocketGroup, Hungama, X5Music, Bonnier Amigo and VidZone. Sony Ericsson, which made the announcement at a trade show in Cannes, France, said it was negotiating further deals with regional labels.» The company introduced PlayNow in February 2004 as a way to listen to and then purchase ringtones for mobile phones. Since then, it as expanded the service, allowing full music tracks and games to be downloaded and other features. It said PlayNow was available in 32 countries.»

fonte: Reuters, Sony Ericsson cuts deals with 10 music labels Mon Jan 28, 2008

«Music applications have become the fastest growing services on mobile phones, acording to new market research. The TNS Global Telecoms Insight study said that the use of MP3 players on mobile phones rose by 78 per cent last year, but that radio via mobile went up by 140 per cent. Growth has occurred in all 29 countries surveyed, particularly in Latin America and emerging Asia regions, where 45 per cent of users list FM/AM radio as one of their top three choices for purchasing a mobile phone. "Radio-enabled mobiles take away the need to have a separate music device like an MP3 player and should lead phone manufacturers to win the battle for control of the earphones," said Matthew Froggatt, managing director of TNS's Global Technology sector. "The increased use of radio in the Asian markets is also extremely important. It is driving a whole new wave of customers to service providers and has huge implications for spreading media communications to a wider audience more quickly."Two thirds of people aged 16 to 21 now listen to some form of mobile music on the go, but it is also surprisingly popular with more senior generations. The study shows that 20 per cent of people aged 51 to 60 tune in to music on their handsets.» Fonte: Mobiles users tune-in to the radio Written by Ian Williams vnunet.com, 29 Feb 2008

«Nokia is inviting radio stations around the world, and here in the UK to submit station details to make your stream available for their new Nokia Internet Radio service. People with S60 3rd edition mobile phones (N95, E90 etc) will be able to stream registered stations via wifi and GPRS. Nokia Internet Radio users will pick a station from the directory instead of manually entering links to streaming servers or browsing the web. That, Nokia say, is the main reason to be listed in order to let the audience discover and enjoy your station.

Fru Hazlitt, GCap Media chief executive recently announced details of their stations streaming via the iPhone although Apple does not encourage listening via a GPRS or EDGE connection. This service however is designed for listening via mobile phone signals, and with providers such as Nokia getting in on the action, it seems the future of radio could be online.

Any legal radio station can request a free invite, and registration takes less than five minutes. For more information click here.»

fonte: «Nokia wants to add your station Radio Today reported on Tuesday 26 February 2008

«Discover and listen to radio shows broadcasted over the internet with the Nokia Internet Radio service now available. The application can be downloaded for free from http://www.nokia.com/internetradio and will also be embedded in upcoming Nokia S60 3rd edition devices."Most new music discovery occurs while you're listening to the radio," said Tommi Mustonen, head of the Nokia music business. "By offering the Nokia Internet Radio service on mobile devices, the radio experience becomes more accessible, giving people new ways to find music."With hundreds of internet radio stations to choose from worldwide, the station directory of Nokia Internet Radio makes music discovery effortless - browsing can be done based on station name, genre, country or language. To find out what hits are hot around the world, hourly updates of the top ten most popular internet radio stations are also available in the station directory. Plus, there is no need to search for your top stations time and again because adding them to the list of 'Favorites' makes them easily accessible. Moreover, the audio quality is enhanced by selecting appropriate streaming servers that match the speed of the current network connection. The Nokia Internet Radio application is currently available for download to the following devices: Nokia N82, Nokia N91, Nokia N95 and Nokia N95 8GB. The application is planned to be available later on further devices and will be embedded in selected upcoming Nokia S60 3rd edition devices. Please visit http://www.nokia.com/internetradio for the list of the latest compatible devices.»

fonte: «Discover New Music With Nokia Internet Radio», CNN Money December 03, 2007

"Tudo parece estar a movimentar-se para os telefones móveis e nós queremos ser uma parte disso", afirma, por seu turno, Bartek Hojka. "Há duas coisas que as pessoas trazem sempre consigo: a carteira e o telemóvel. Aplicações de pagamento estão a ser criadas para colocar a minha carteira no meu telemóvel. Se minha carteira está lá, também quero que a minha estação esteja lá", sintetiza o responsável do Agora Radio Group»; fonte: NAB: Colocar a rádio onde está a carteira, Meios e Publicidade, 6 de Novembro de 2007, por Ana Marcela

As radio loses its grip on portability to these devices and iPods, wouldn't it be wonderful if AM/FM stations could easily and conveniently be accessed by cell phones?»

fonte: «The Swiss Army Phone», 9/01/07, Jacoblog

«That's up 11% from the first quarter according to NDP Group. The explosion of music-on-mobile phones has implications for radio, which is increasingly developing cell strategies for both programming and strategy. Also of note - NDP says 11% of new mobiles are smartphones, which is the kind Ipsos and The Media Audit intend to use for a ratings service.»

fonte: newsletter Inside Radio, «45% of new cell phones play music», 15/08/07; ou «Forty-five percent of new phones were able to play music in the second quarter of 2007 (up 11 percent, since the prior quarter)»

«Music-playing cellphones are a dime a dozen, right? Not the new Musiq by LG. This slim clamshell phone, available from Sprint for $99 with a two-year contract and rebate, can download music wirelessly and transmit audio to any nearby FM radio, taking the party out of your earbuds and into your car or kitchen. The 3-ounce phone, available next month, comes with a 64-megabyte MicroSD memory card, enough to hold about 20 songs, and it can handle cards up to 2 gigabytes. It includes a 1.3-megapixel camera and can work as a music player for up to 10 hours, while talk time is about 4 hours. The phone has track controls on its front, and the external buttons vibrate when you touch them, so you don’t mistake fast-forward for pause. You can add music to the Musiq from your computer desktop or from Sprint’s Music Store, which lets you download music wirelessly. A bonus: with the FM radio transmitter, you can have fun sharing your favorite hits with the entire car just by hijacking the frequency of the current radio station»

fonte: JOHN BIGGS, «Transmit Your Music to FM Right From Your Cellphone», New York Times, July 12, 2007

Etiquetas: iPod, podcasting

«San Antonio - May 21, 2007 - Clear Channel Radio has begun the national roll-out of customized mobile phone applications to extend its local station brands. The effort begins in New York City for stations WHTZ-FM Z100, WAXQ-FM Q104.3, WKTU-FM 103.5, WWPR-FM Power 105.1 and WLTW-FM 106.7. Clear Channel expects to launch similar programs on as many as 100 more of its radio stations by the end of 2008, beginning with stations in Salt Lake City and St. Louis in the next 60 days. With the application, users will be able to send text messages into the studio, participate in contests, receive alerts before songs play, make requests and dedications, and view the last 10 songs played. The feature is available on most cellular phones via carriers that offer SMS text features. Phones with WAP capability can access an enhanced user interface. Listeners send the message "join" to a station's short code to subscribe to the service. »

fonte: «Clear Channel Launches Cell Phone Interactive Application» RWOnline, 21/05/07

Secondly, texting [SMS] is major league.  One of the fastest growing tech activities, and the leading feature on cell phones (second only to talking).  (...)  The percentage of young people texting on an hourly basis in our study is stunning.  And it's going to do nothing but grow.

Third, there are huge opportunities to capitalize on text messaging relationships with listeners.  The vast majority of those who text are open to this type of communication - whether it means receiving texts from stations about contests and concerts OR texting stations to vote, enter contests, etc.  And of course, that leads to revenue-generating activities, too.

Fourth, while listening to mp3s and streams on phones is not as common an activity as texting or using the calculator, you can see the potential. And for radio, television, and every other content generator, making your product available so that listeners can stream it is important.  Obviously, the convergence of the iPod and cell phone is what the Apple iPhone is all about.  (...).Tech Poll III is loaded with great information, designed to help radio better understand the larger media environment.  Competing with it and against it, and realizing opportunities and threats, can only be accomplished with knowledge and information.  Check out the newest cell phone findings, as well as archived sections on satellite radio, iPods, and social networking sites.

fonte: JAcobs Media, Hold The Phone, 30/04/07

A revolução que se prepara para os telemóveis pasará também por tecnologias como RFID?

«Mais de 60% das empresas brasileiras planejam implementar solução de RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) em até dois anos. Esse é um dos resultados da segunda pesquisa “Panorama do Cenário do Supply Chain no Brasil”, realizada pela Associação Brasileira de e-Business. O levantamento ouviu 86 grandes empresas dos segmentos industrial, comercial e serviços.

Etiquetas: RFID, telemóveis

« (...)Smart-phones are no longer just for busy executives. With better styling, lower prices and easier interfaces, these high-end mobile phones are being snapped up by a much broader audience, from soccer moms to college students. Sales of smart-phones -- those with sophisticated e-mail-ready operating systems -- are expected to nearly double this year to 122 million worldwide, compared with 74 million in 2006, according to leading research firm Gartner. Nearly half a billion people will have one in 2010, the research firm says. (...) Mobile phone makers and wireless carriers are starting to work on that, and last month's announcement that Apple's iPhone would launch in June will only ``push the industry harder and faster to focus on the user experience,'' said Randy Eisenman, chief executive of Handango, a company that handles content for carriers and manufacturers. ``We're already having conversations with a number of our partners that will be Apple iPhone competitors who want to improve their consumer experience.''(...) ``Years ago, PDA-style devices were typically business devices with contacts,'' said Jason Dunn, executive editor of Smartphone Thoughts, a Web-based blog about mobile phones. ``Now, there's almost no one who uses their device strictly for business. There's a really strong personalization there.''»

fonte: «New smart phones: Good looks and brains too», By Sarah Jane Tribble, Mercury News, 12/02/07

Mark Ramsey:

«Like it or not, the phone will be the new portable radio, even as the definition of "portable radio" ebbs and flows. Just remember, right now consumers feel that radio isn't portable at all. So this might actually be a growth opportunity - but only if you have the streaming capacity and if you have the right partner deals in place.»

Porquê?

«According to the "Outlook for the Global Mobile Music Market, 2005-2010" report, just released by Gartner Dataquest, worldwide mobile phone users spent $13.7 billion to have music delivered to their handsets, and that figure will rise to $32.2 billion by 2010. 'Mobile music, which includes everything from ringtones, realtones and ringback tones to full-track downloads and streaming, is the second most popular mobile data service — although it is considerably behind short message service (SMS) in both usage and revenues'.»

fonte: Hear2.0, Phone = Radio, 25/01/07

«A TI (Texas Instruments) está desenvolvendo uma série de chips para celulares de baixo custo voltados a países em desenvolvimento, e prevê preços abaixo de US$ 20 para telefones mais básicos e US$ 35 para aparelhos com GPRS (General Packet Radio Service), câmera e tocador de música digital até o final deste ano. A empresa tem um papel vital na determinação de preços dos aparelhos já que é a maior fabricante do mundo da parte mais cara do celular, o chip. (...) Hoje, um aparelho GSM básico, com tela monocromática, custa US$ 25 para produzir, disse Goren. Os aparelhos são vendidos pelas operadoras nos mercados emergentes com
subsídios, que permitem faturar posteriormente com serviços. Adicionar memória ao aparelho aumenta em US$ 10 a US$ 20 o custo, mas o ao fazer isso as empresas podem oferecer aparelhos GPRS, que permitem a navegação na web, a possibilidade de enviar fotos a outros usuários, entre outros recursos.(...)

fonte: «Mercado terá celular de US$ 20», Jornal do Commercio, 11/01/07

«Segundo a agência EFE, a substituição do popular código de barras, que revolucionou a atividade comercial e se estendeu a inúmeras atividades, é só uma questão de tempo. O que o substituirá é um dispositivo baseado em um microchip que armazena dados e se comunica por meio de ondas de rádio com um aparelho leitor. A invenção atende pelo nome de Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), que em português significa "Identificação por Radiofreqüência". Dentro de pouco tempo, esta tecnologia será tão familiar quanto o próprio carrinho de supermercado. Além disso, estará presente em uma infinidade de produtos, de pizzas congeladas e refrigerantes a CDs e televisores. A RFID, que está cada vez mais difundida, se caracteriza por um microcircuito eletrônico que armazena informações sobre todos os tipos de objetos, e até de animais. Permite, além disso, a localização destes em poucos segundos, e a transmissão de seus dados a um dispositivo receptor situado a poucos metros ou a vários quilômetros de distância. Os sistemas RFID começaram sua caminhada durante a II Guerra Mundial, quando os aliados utilizaram aparelhos deste tipo para distinguir seus próprios aviões dos inimigos. Mas a invenção saltou do campo militar para o industrial na década de 90, quando o Massachussets Institute of Technology o aperfeiçoou e elaborou o código com o qual as informações são armazenadas em chips. A RFID já tem múltiplos usos: é usada tanto para localizar e identificar cabeças de gado ao ar livre como para encontrar livros nas bibliotecas. Mas sua aplicação em massa ocorrerá nas lojas e supermercados, onde os clientes só terão que passar suas compras sob um leitor, o qual, por meio de uma antena, enviará um sinal e ativará os chips dos produtos adquiridos para que enviem as informações armazenadas em seus circuitos. Com estes dados, o sistema calculará imediatamente o preço total da compra»

fonte: «Microchip substituirá os já tão familiares códigos de barras. Saiba mais!», emSergipe.com, 3/12/06 

Etiquetas: RFID

Etiquetas: musica, Nokia, Motorola, Sony

Mais cedo ou mais tarde...

«YouTube is coming to mobile phones — or, to be more precise, a small slice of YouTube is coming to some Verizon Wireless phones.

While its explosively popular Web site is free, YouTube’s phone-based version will require a $15-a-month subscription to a Verizon Wireless service called VCast. And instead of choosing what to watch from a vast library of clips, VCast users will be limited to an unspecified number of videos selected and approved by the companies»

fonte: New York Times Online, «YouTube Coming Soon to Cellphones», By MATT RICHTEL, Published: November 28, 2006

Etiquetas: youtube

fonte: «Google prevê telemóveis gratuitos pagos por anúncios», Diário Digital, 13-11-2006 9:05:04

Etiquetas: publicidade

Etiquetas: NFC

A empresa líder no mercado de telemóveis nos EUA está apostada em oferecer múltiplos serviços de música aos seus clientes. Assim, além de ter garantido canais de música da XM, anunciou também que:

«With cellphones the next battleground for digital music, No. 1 wireless carrier Cingular will announce a new twist Thursday: phones that can work with online subscription services from Yahoo, Napster and eMusic. Cingular will introduce several new phones. Unlike music stores from Sprint and Verizon, which sell songs a la carte, Cingular will offer unlimited music transfers to subscribers of Napster and Yahoo "to-go" programs. The songs expire if the subscriptions aren't renewed. Songs sold at eMusic aren't copy-protected and don't expire. They will work with new and existing phones from Cingular. Pricing at most subscription services ranges from $10 to $15 a month. Sprint says it has sold 8 million songs since opening its music store in late 2005. Verizon says it sells 1 million songs monthly. Apple, which dominates digital music, has sold 1.5 billion songs since the iTunes Store opened in 2003.

Cellphone subscribers mostly have stayed away from mobile music because of the higher prices charged by the carriers, says Kevin Nolan, an analyst at researcher Strategy Analytics.  Apple sells songs for 99 cents each, compared with $2.50 for Sprint and $1.99 for Verizon. Nolan says subscription music will catch on with mobile customers because it will be perceived as a better value. "It should really kick-start volume," he says.

Cingular was the first carrier to enter the mobile music market, aligning with Apple to offer Motorola's iTunes-compatible Rokr phone. Subscribers can't buy songs over the air but can transfer songs from iTunes to the phone itself. The Cingular alliances with the music services will also require PC transfers. The Rokr was poorly reviewed, and analysts expect Apple to eventually release an iPod phone. Cingular spokesman Mark Siegel declined to give further details about the phones or financial terms. He says the company still views Apple as an "important partner." "We are the first and only wireless company to offer iTunes," he says. Phil Leigh, an analyst at Inside Digital Media, says Apple has nothing to fear from Cingular's new music strategy. "The iPod is popular because people love the idea of being able to carry around your entire library. Phones have limited capacities," he says. Most cellphones work with MicroSD storage cards. The largest-capacity cards are 1 gigabyte, while the biggest iPod has an 80-GB hard drive.»

fonte: USA Today, «Cingular opens phone network to other music services», 1/11/06, Jefferson Graham

Etiquetas: iPod, Rokr, Cingular, telemóveis

Mais uma forma de convergência; mais um exemplo de que os telemóveis podem ser o receptor do futuro:

«Starting Monday, Cingular Wireless customers can hear 25 XM Satellite Radio channels through their compatible phones.
The agreement between the two companies, announced this morning, marks the first-time satellite radio has been available on a wireless carrier of this size. The commercial-free channels being broadcast range from 70s/80s/90s music to hip hop/R&B to country, Latin, Top 20 and rock.
The service, called XM Radio Mobile, carries a monthly charge of $8.99 for Cingular customers with compatible phones. However, the songs are considered data transmissions, which all but ensures that you'll need to purchase a Media Max package (unlimited data access for $29.99/month and up) if you don't already have one, to go with the subscription.

"Otherwise, it gets pretty expensive," said Cingular spokesman Mark Siegel.
The song title, artist and album will display on your phone's screen while the music is playing over your headset.
A similar agreement between XM and Alltel that launched about two months ago has "exceeded our expectations," said Chance Patterson, XM spokesman. While he didn't rule out additional agreements with other carriers, he said the company was focusing on these two companies for now.
Cingular is the nation's largest wireless carrier, with about 58 million customers. Alltel has about 11 million customers, Patterson said.»

fonte: Detroit Free Press, «Cingular, XM reveal plan for radio on cell phones», November 2, 2006, HEATHER NEWMAN

Sobre o negócio com a Alltel: «enabling Alltel users to listen to 20 commercial-free channels of satellite radio on their phone. This isn't just a "value-add" for Alltel customers, nor is it a sweetheart deal for XM. Rather, it's the nation's number five carrier trying to drive revenue through additional services in the face of ever-increasing downward pressure on call rates. Once we get that in-car WiFi we are all being promised, we may still need Verizon and Cingular for broadband access, but I won't be buying 900 minutes a month anymore, that's for sure. And I might not even need a "phone" as we currently know it. Now, I am not trumpeting the death of the cell phone here--that would be idiotic, and this isn't that kind of blog»  

Etiquetas: telemóveis, Cingular, Alltel, XM

«The Treo 680 offers music, video, and photo capabilities, and even taps into Yahoo Music Unlimited for on-demand, streaming tunes. A camcorder, camera, and MP3 player are built-in, and the device offers a storage capacity of 64MB. That number that can easily be augmented with a 1GB portable memory card, and the Treo 680 also packs a Intel 312 MHz processor»

fonte: Digital Music News, «Palm Tosses New Treo Into Ring, More Music Capabilities», 16/10/06

O maior fabricante mundial de telemóveis gastou 47 milhões de euros para comprar a Loueye, uma empresa que gere 60 serviços de música em cerca de 20 países, com uma oferta de mais de 1,6 milhões de temas musicais. Com este negócio, a Nokia tenta combater a Apple, mais propriamente o serviço iTunes, associado ao popular leitor música digital iPod, no mercado de downloads de música

«O investimento dos anunciantes em publicidade divulgada nos telemóveis vai crescer em 2007 para mais do dobro dos valores deste ano, devendo atingir os l,2 mil milhões de euros, prevê a consultora Informa Telecoms & Media. De acordo com estudo “Serviços de Publicidade em Telemóveis: gerar receitas através de conteúdos subsidiados”, hoje divulgado pela empresa, os próximos 12 meses vão marcar o início de um forte investimento em publicidade nos telemóveis. Investimento que crescerá ainda mais à medida que aumenta a proliferação de telemóveis multimédia de alta qualidade e baixo preço e que as redes móveis atingem um ponto de saturação (…). Entre as vantagens da publicidade nos telemóveis encontra-se a proximidade de contacto com os consumidores, que possibilita dirigir as campanhas apenas para o público-alvo de determinado produto, explicou Nicky Walton.

Por outro lado, acrescentou, os telemóveis permitem medir o sucesso das campanhas, já que as respostas dos utilizadores, seja através de texto, de voz ou por carregarem em ‘links’ possibilitam obter um feedback razoavelmente rigoroso da eficácia dos anúncios. (…) “Os telemóveis representam um canal directo ao consumidor, ultrapassando a Internet, mas só se conseguirá alcançar níveis significativos de sucesso se passarem a ser integrados nas estratégias publicitárias que actualmente utilizam os media tradicionais”, concluiu.»

LUSA, «Publicidade: Investuimento nos telemóveis vai duplicar em 2007 para 1,2 mil ME»,  8/9/06

(os investimentos publicitários que forem «desviados» para os telemóveis deixarão os inevitavelmente os canais tradicionais, e a rádio sofrerá a sua parte

«Sprint has announced that it will launch Sprint Radio service and the introduction of unique features and a promotion for the Sprint Music Store.

Sprint Radio features more than 50 channels of streaming radio and video with programming that offers music and music videos as well as news, weather, sports, finance and entertainment from sources such as NPR, ESPN and Radio Disney. Sprint Radio is offered through a partnership with mSpot, which is responsible for content production and ongoing operations of the service.

Sprint Radio covers many different music genres, including urban, pop, Latin, Rock, Reggaeton, Country, Dance, Spiritual, Jazz and more. It is available via a subscription for $5.95 a month on the Sprint Media Player or as a downloadable JavaR application. Sprint Radio is offered on select handsets across all three of Sprint's networks: Sprint Power Vision, Sprint Vision and Nextel.

"More people than ever before are enjoying music on their mobile phones, and this popularity is expected to continue to rise as Sprint offers more truly differentiated ways to be entertained no matter where our customers are throughout their busy days," said Alana Muller, director of entertainment product marketing for Sprint.»

fonte: Radio Ink, Sprint Radio Launches With More Than 50 Channels, 1/9/06

There will always be lots of people wanting dedicated cameras or iPods, but the majority of people in future will opt to have all these functions on one device rather than two or three. They already are. It is no coincidence that in the first quarter, when Apple suffered a sharp drop in iPod sales (blaming it, implausibly, on seasonal factors), the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry said that half of all digital music sold in 2005 went directly to mobile phones (including ringtones).

The decline of iPod sales continued in the second quarter, while sales of music-enabled mobile phones soared. Nokia alone, a late entrant to music, plans to ship 80m music phones this year (almost double last year's iPod sales). Sony Ericsson is enjoying success with its popular Walkman phone, as is Motorola with its Razr, while LG's Chocolate was Carphone Warehouse's biggest ever seller.

fonte: Guardian, Dump your iPod, the mobile's taking over, Victor Keegan, August 24, 2006

Etiquetas: telemóveis, iPod, convergência

The service will cost Alltel subscribers $7.99 per month; a subscription to XM's regular satellite radio service is not required. This is not Alltel's first move toward making its service more media-rich. Recently, the wireless provider entered an agreement with podcasting site Melodeo to make podcasts searchable and streamable via Alltel's Axcess media platform.»

fonte: C.Net.news.com, «Alltel launches satellite radio service with XM», By Caroline McCarthy
Staff writer, CNET News.com, Published: August 10, 2006, 7:48 AM PDT

mais sobre os telemóveis e os canais de rádio:

«Today, we can get our Radio via satellite, the Internet, through cable, even in our PDAs and cell phones. Oh yeah and even through those old "AM/FM Radio things".So, where is all this going? My gut tells me your cell phone is vehicle of natural portability - and the heir to the transistor radio which revolutionized Radio’s portability in the 1960’s. The convergence of wireless technology, content and size make the cell phone the perfect host for taking your favorite sounds to the beach, a doctor’s waiting room or the park near your home. Many higher-end cell phones have already incorporated the ability to receive FM signals. This ability will only continue to increase as new generations of lower-end phones become even less expensive to manufacture and providers strive to offer more options to new users.» (Corey Deitz)

XM Canada President/COO Stephen Tapp said it's the first offer of streaming real-time satellite radio programming to Canadians.

Twenty XM Canada channels will be offered over some Telus cell phones for $15 per month. Initially, the service will be available on the LG 8100 and Samsung A950 phones.

The deal is similar to one signed last year between Sirius and Sprint. »

fonte: «XM Canada Branches Out to Cell Phones», RWOline, 7/7/06

"Wireless OTA music services offer music fans a convenient source of music and bring the music industry new opportunities to reach consumers and drive revenue. Wireless music services are still in their infancy in the U.S., but are expected to quickly gain traction during the forecast period. By the end of this year, the number of U.S. OTA customers will be approximately half that of online music service users, but may surpass them by the end of the forecast period," says Susan Kevorkian, program manager, Consumer Markets: Audio.

According to an IDC survey, a total of 22% of respondents indicated that they would buy at least one track from their service provider within the first three months of availability, assuming they had an appropriate handset. Eight percent of respondents age 25-44 indicated they would buy four or more tracks. It’s this 25-44 age group that IDC analysts believe could be the core base of wireless over-the-air service users, in particular those who may be new to digital music services. (...)»

fonte: «IDC Says Wireless Mobile Music Users Could Surpass Online Music Service Users by 2010», IDC, 15 Jun 2006

(só com um modelo)

«Nokia has recently crossed sales of one million units of its 3250, a music-focused mobile. The RAZR-like sales curve is impressive, and reaffirms analyst projections of strong music-focused mobile sales. The device first hit markets in March, sporting 1 gigabyte of total storage, a 2 megapixel digital camera, and little extras like an airplane listening mode. The phone comes pre-packaged with the S60 3rd Edition software and Symbian OS, and support for a variety of codecs, including MP3, WMA, M4A, AAC and eAAC+. "S60 3rd Edition introduces a new level of flexibility and security, enabling easy creation of devices and applications targeted to mass markets," commented Heikki Norta, a senior vice president at Nokia.»

fonte: «Nokia Crosses One Million Units on 3250 Music Phone», Digital Music News, 12/7/06

Quem tem este modelo vai ouvir música na rádio? a resposta parece-me óbvia...

«Judging from the amount of press radio trades give the topic of listening to radio on cell phones, the radio industry seems to ignore the potential of how popular this could become. Yet, if industry titans misjudge the oncoming train called cell phone radio, like they did that of satellite radio, they may find themselves being hit upside the head with another blunt reality: It's not a question of "if" listening to radio on a cell phone will become common, only "when."

RRadio Network's continuing survey of online radio listeners is showing what could be another thorn in the radio industry's side; the concept of paying to listen to radio on a cell phone is gaining ground. When this hits mainstream status, there's a very good chance that the stations offered (on cell phones) will originate more from online than terrestrial.

In March 2005, Audio Graphics released data from 2038 listeners answering the question "If Internet radio were available on your cellular telephone, for a reasonable fee, would you pay to listen?" At the time only 27.9% answered "yes."

Our current survey, although only partially completed, is indicating that the public is far more receptive to the concept of paying to listen to radio on a cell phone. Of those answering the same question this time around, 35.4% say "yes," they would pay to listen to radio on their cell phone if it were offered for a reasonable fee.

(...) Youth and cell phones are inseparable. Is there anyone in the radio industry that doesn't see where this is a problem? (...)»

fonte: «Radio Industry Quandary: Cell Phone Radio», Audiographics, 5/7/06

«In a move that will extend the reach of its broadcast programming, Radio Disney announced a partnership with mSpot on Tuesday. An aggregator of mobile music and video, mSpot will incorporate Disney Radio within its 100 channel lineup, and subsequently stream the programming to wireless users. Radio Disney president and general manager Jean-Paul Colaco touted the initiative as "another step" in his company’s strategy to keep "connected with kids and families, whenever and wherever they are." The mSpot lineup of music, sports and movie content is currently available to Sprint subscribers»

fonte: «Radio Disney Pushes Mobile-Based Distribution, Taps mSpot» Digital Music News

That's a likely possibility given one of the latest trends among local television news stations: distributing their programs via mobile devices and the Web as they try to hold onto fickle audiences. Local stations are following the example of broadcast and cable networks, which are rushing to make hits like ``The Sopranos" and ``Lost" available to viewers unwilling to be tethered to a schedule or their TV sets. Locally though, it's the news instead of mob dramas that is migrating to new devices.

Boston TV executives say their multimedia strategies are a response to viewers who are increasingly shifting their viewing to the Web and portable devices. Doing so, they say, is a relatively cheap way to expand the reach of their programming because it usually doesn't involve investing in new equipment or in many cases even the time it takes to produce new video.(...)

``Do I expect to make a ton of extra advertising money the day we launch it? No. But I do expect that this is absolutely going to be a vital part of any station's future," said Steve Safran, director of digital media at New England Cable News.(...)

CBS4 Mobile , a subscription service designed to give Sprint and Verizon Wireless customers access to news, traffic, and weather videos from the station and blogs written by some of its reporters, is days away from launch, said vice president and station manager Angie Kucharski. The service will cost about $3 per month and will be billed directly to subscribers by their cellphone companies.(...)»

fonte: «Local TV news when you want it», Boston.com, Keith Reed, Globe Staff  |  May 31, 2006

Bob Law, Senior Vice President and General Manager Consumer Electronic Division for SIRIUS commented: “The market for digital audio on-the-go is exploding. We are working with ZING to expand the availability of SIRIUS content on new platforms and bring the best in satellite radio programming to an increasingly mobile audience.” 

fonte: http://www.orbitcast.com/archives/more-on-zing-sirius-partnership.html

Alguns assinantes da Sprint (EUA) podem receber, desde o início do ano, três canais de rádio (de desporto) via «streaming»:

«“WFAN, WSCR and WIP are among CBS Radio’s most listened to stations in the country and we recognize that in today’s fast paced world, our listeners need immediate access and alternate ways to hear live broadcasts and news about their favorite sports teams,” commented Joel Hollander, chairman and CEO, CBS Radio. “CBS Radio seeks to partner with companies that will enhance the listener experience and we’re thrilled our stations will be offered through mSpot Sports service.”» (http://www.radioink.com/headlineentry.asp?hid=133387&pt=inkheadlines).

«“It’s basically what you have in your car radio, with a 30-second delay,” said Daren Tsui, MSpot CEO» (http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/interactive/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001807316)

É o Nokia N91 e já está à venda. Para quem tiver quase 700 euros...

Com os seus 4 GB, pode, diz a própria marca, levar «até 3.000 das suas músicas favoritas».

Como comentava comigo o Edgard, «iPod Nano vira coisa de criança». Por falar em iPod Nano: se a versão maior tem 4GB e suporta até mil músicas, como é que o N91 pode ter até 3 mil e a mesma capacidade? É um problema do formato de compressão do iPod (o AAC)?

«the personal computer remains the dominant platform to access the Internet globally. However, Internet access via the mobile phone actually outpaces wireless access from a notebook PC in many of areas of the world – a statistic driven largely by the massive install base of mobile phones throughout the world as well as more developed wireless networks, according to The Face of the Web, the annual study of Internet trends by global market research firm Ipsos Insight. »

fonte: «Mobile Phones Could Soon Rival the PC As World’s Dominant Internet Platform», Ipsos News Center, 18/4/06

Via Corey Deitz: «Interested in receiving music on your cell phone? I recently received this email from Rusty Hodge, the General Manager of SomaFM.com in San Francisco. SomaFM is listener-supported, commercial-free, underground/alternative radio broadcasting from San Francisco. Rusty wrote: I read your article about Mspot Puts 8 Channels of Commercial-Free Music on Sprint PCS Vision Phones and wanted to let you know that there are other sources for commercial free music on phones. SomaFM has been supporting Sprint's "3GPP" multimedia phones (Sanyo MM-7400, MM-5600 and Samsung MMA700 phones) since May, 2005. We offer 3 of our commercial free radio channels on our 3GPP service for no additional charge if you already have a Sprint internet access plan. We also offer radio stream formats that are compatible with newer smart phones that include the Windows Media Player, and the Treo phones with Pocket Player. (...) You'll be surprised at how good radio over your 3GPP phone can sound - even better than satellite radio!»

A previsão é de um responsável da Nokia: tal como aconteceu com as máquinas fotográficas analógicas, e vai acontecer com as digitais, os telemóveis vão matar os leitores de audio digital (ou será que, como se fala com o iPod, este também será um telemóvel?):

«O sucesso dos telemóveis, enquanto dispositivos multimédia, vai provocar o desaparecimento de muitos fabricantes de leitores de áudio e câmaras digitais. Quem o afirma é um responsável da Nokia, em declarações ao Financial Times.
Anssi Vanjoki, director da divisão multimédia do maior fabricante mundial de telemóveis, recordou antigas previsões da Nokia, em 2000, relativamente à "morte" da indústria de fotografia.
Para o responsável, as empresas que se dedicam apenas ao fabrico deste tipo de equipamentos têm o futuro em cheque, na medida em que os telemóveis, se convertem, cada vez mais, em opções de compra.
Mais avançados e versáteis, os terminais actuais cruzam aparelhos de telecomunicações com leitores de áudio e câmaras digitais. É este "tudo em um" que poderá condicionar a opção dos consumidores. Os musicphones , por exemplo, poderão vingar no mercado, em detrimento dos leitores específicos.
A Nokia produziu, em 2005, 100 milhões de telemóveis com câmara, tornando-se assim a maior fabricante deste tipo de componentes no mundo. Em Janeiro, a Konica Minolta anunciou o abandono do mercado da fotografia (ver link). A Agfa-Gevaert, por sua vez, vendeu en 2004 a sua famosa divisão fotográfica.
«Nos próximos 6 a 12 meses, virão a público mais anúncios destes. Os próximos a desaparecer serão os fabricantes de aparelhos de música», disse Vanjoki, citado pela Reuters.
No ano passado, a Nokia produziu 40 milhões de telemóveis com capacidade para reproduzir música e pretende duplicar as vendas em 2006. Funcionalidades como a gravação de vídeo, outrora disponível apenas nos terminais mais caros, são hoje comuns. A tendência é para que a qualidade melhore e a tecnologia se torne mais acessível». (fonte: «Nokia prevê desaparecimento dos leitores de MP3 e câmaras», JC, 2006/03/25, Ciberia)

Bill Gates disse o mesmo há um ano!

UPDATE: Turns out the 100-song cap is staying in place. The upgrade graphics will be released to non-American customers whose phones were limited to as low as 25 songs. This will at least get their phones to the 100-song limit. But, as Engadget says: “Of course, the very existence of the upgrade system raises tantalizing possibilities for the rest of us, but for now, that’s all that’s being raised.”»

fonte: «“iPod Phone” becomes more of a radio threat», I Love Radio.org, Thursday, February 16th, 2006 at 8:41 am

« the world's first 8GB Hard Disk embedded smartphone (...) The i310 works as a perfect platform for users by combining a phone, a digital camera, and a MP3 player with its immense storage capacity. It enables users to carry around 2,000 songs (4MB/song) wherever they go»

É o que diz este estudo: 

(eis um daqueles estudos cujos resultados são óbvios, mas que são necessários para legitimar o empirismo...)

O uso do telemóvel no carro prejudica a audição da rádio, diz um estudo da Bridge & Ratings: 

«Cell phone pervasiveness is a significant contributor to threat to traditional media by cell phone use in vehicles. Topline findings of our national study conducted between July 2005 and January 2006 projects that in the United States, 66% of the population owns a cell phone: U.S. population stands at 297 million, with 197 million cell phone users. In fact, today cell phone technology is the only audio technology that could approach traditional radio’s market penetration (currently at 93% or 276 million Americans who listen to terrestrial radio at least once a week).

From our analysis, it was clear that in vehicles in which the radio was being listened to, when cell phones were in use, radio behavior was affected: