Blogia
Transistor kills the radio star?

3.7 Telemóveis

Um telemóvel que emite para o FM!

«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

Pode o telemóvel substituir o iPod? Há quem ache que sim

«Can the mobile phone compete with the iPod as the user's device of choice? For example, can podcasting become a service enjoyed on mobile phones? Clearly, podcasting is very suitable for the mobile phone. First, it is an “on-the-go” experience. Second, audio content is not effected by the handset’s small screen. Third, mobile phones already support video and high-quality audio. Four, content can be delivery directly to the handset with superb user experience. (...) All of us carry our phones with us everywhere. We like our phones. Phones are getting smarter, with better user experience. The iPod is great, if you have one. Most do not. An iPod also means carrying around two devices. I do not. Given a compelling user experience and fair and clear pricing, many will gladly listen to great audio content during dead-time. »
fonte: «Mobile Phones vs. iPod - Can Mobile Operators/Carriers Win? - By Monte Silver », wpfblog, 08/07/07

Uma aplicação no telemóvel ao serviço da rádio

«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

Sobre o telemóvel (e as oportunidades...)

«First, cell phones are becoming ubiquitous.  Our poll shows ownership at 92%. 

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

Rádio no telemóvel

«Mobile Radio: Finally, if one can put radio content on an iPod, one can also download it onto other digital devices, including cell phones and PDA’s like BlackBerries and Palm Pilots. In September of 2006, Clear Channel announced its plan to stream radio content to cell phones with service provided by Cingular Wireless. The mobile radio program began streaming content out of New York’s station WHTZ-FM Z100, and includes live radio and news features, as well as on-demand podcasts. The service is called Z100 Mobile, and requires a subscription fee of $2.99 a month. Subscribers to the service can also request songs and locate the titles and artists of recently played songs via text messages on their cell phones. Clear Channel reported in its September press release that it expected to expand the service to 100 stations by the end of 2007» (the state of the news media 2007)

RFID no Brasil

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.

Na prática, no entanto, o RFID continua sendo apenas uma tendência para o futuro. A maior parte delas segue digitando diretamente os códigos dos produtos recebidos ou utilizando código de barras, já que apenas 8,8% dos ouvidos utilizam a tecnologia, enquanto 7,5% têm projeto piloto. Contudo, significativos 20% deles não têm interesse na inovação e não pretendem implementar.

Por vertical, os setores de veículos, alimentício e eletrônico são os maiores entusiastas no processo de conferência e identificação do recebimento e expedição de mercadorias, seguido pela localização de produtos no estoque. Outro campo de aplicação bastante promissor é o de rastreamento de cargas. Outro ponto do estudo analisado, o VMI (Gestão de Estoques de Vendas, da sigla em inglês), que permite o monitoramento inteligente com a reposição de produtos feita automaticamente, também vai receber atenção especial das empresas. Ao todo, 57% dos entrevistados pretendem iniciar projeto na tecnologia, enquanto 24% já estão utilizando. Por vertical, o setor químico e petroquímico é o mais receptivo à inovação.»

fonte: «Mais de 60% das empresas brasileiras querem RFID em menos de 2 anos», Computerworld, 14/02/07

Mais:

«Do you value your privacy, your freedom? Recently, I finished a book on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags, about a world where everything you own - sneakers, driver's license, even your prescription medications - contains a tiny microchip that can transmit private information about you to marketers, criminals or government agents. These RFID chips may eventually replace bar codes, allowing strangers to study your purchasing habits, peek at your medical history and pinpoint your physical location by global corporations and government agencies. RFID has the potential to open the floodgates of civil liberties abuses. This is not science fiction, not Big Brotherism, but it could become a fact of life. Since I am retired, I subscribe to numerous news magazines, a major national newspaper and local newspapers, and have seen only one article about this threat. I have seen nothing on national newscasts (...)»

Os smart phones e a rádio

« (...)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

O telemóvel será o proximo rádio

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

Quanto mais baratos, mais os telemóveis se democratizam

«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

Mais sobre o RFID

«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 


Há cada vez mais telemóveis a dar música...

«"Individually, cellphones and music players have been among the most favored Christmas gifts for years. For many holiday shoppers, this may be the season that they merge."Wireless carriers are offering a huge array of gadgets that combine both functions, with a variety of shapes and sizes and growing music libraries. The new dual-function handsets are often low-priced, and sometimes free, with a two-year service contract. (...)

"Cellphones that double as music players are already posting strong sales around the world. Sony Ericsson... says that it has sold 15.5 million Walkman music phones in a 14-month period ended in September. Motorola Inc. said in its third quarter earnings call that it shipped 15 million high-quality music phones in the past year. Nokia Corp., the world's largest handset maker, says that it is aiming to sell 80 million music phones in 2006, making the company the world's largest manufacturer of digital music-players.

"The new devices target phone users who want to make impulsive music purchases when on the move and will offer some services that iPods don't provide, such as wireless downloading...»

fonte: «New options make this the season for mobile music phones», WSJ (subscrição), via RAIN, 1/12/06

YouTube nos telemóveis

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

Telemóveis à borla?

«O presidente-executivo do Google, Eric Schmidt, prevê um futuro em que os telemóveis sejam gratuitos para os consumidores que aceitem assistir a anúncios nos seus telefones móveis. «O telemóvel deve ser gratuito», disse Schmidt depois de um discurso que proferiu num encontro sobre a inovação comercial, organizado por grupos de estudantes italianos e a Escola de Administração de Empresas da Universidade Stanford. Eric Schmidt afirmou que o Google está já a fazer experiências com o envio de anúncios em texto, vídeo e imagens de marcas para telemóveis.»

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

Telemóveis no futuro serão «carteiras inteligentes»

O DN de hoje fala em telemóveis que se tornarão em carteiras inteligentes, na sequência de um acordo entre operadores em torno da tecnologia NFC. (tecnologia wireless, de curto alcance, que permitirá agregar etiquetas nos telemoveispara abrir o carro, fazer pagamentos, ou comprar bilhetes para um espectáculo).

«Cingular» aposta na oferta de música

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

Canais XM chegam à liderança dos 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»  

Um telemóvel a antecipar o futuro

«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

Nokia ataca iTunes

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

A publicidade nos telemóveis

«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

Empresa de telemóveis lança Radio Sprint

«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