Would you like to let AT&T know when your iPhone has dropped a call? Well, now there is an app for that.
AT&T on Monday released a new application called "Mark the Spot," which lets iPhone users submit complaints about dropped calls, poor service coverage, and less-than-perfect voice quality.
The application is free and available in the iTunes App Store. It uses GPS technology in the iPhone 3G and the iPhone 3GS to pin point where the user is when experiencing the problems. For first generation iPhones, it uses cell tower-triangulation to get a fix on problem areas.
Once the application is launched, users have several complaint options. They will see a screen that has buttons that let them report a dropped call, poor voice quality, or poor service coverage.
AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel said AT&T plans to use the data collected to identify trends and prioritize the company's network investments.
"We think this is a great way to get customer feedback to improve our network," Siegel said. "We are always looking for ways to make it easy for customers to share their experiences. And this app lets customers report issues. It logs the time and location and automatically forwards the information to our network planning team."
iPhone owners have been complaining about AT&T's network since the Apple iPhone went on sale in the summer of 2007. Complaints mounted after the 3G version of the phone was released a year later in 2008. And as more iPhone users come onto the network, more people, particularly in densely populated urban areas, such as New York City and San Francisco, have experienced problems with dropped calls and congested data networks.
AT&T executives have not admitted that AT&T has a problem with its network. But executives, such as AT&T Chief Technology Officer John Donovan, have said that the company has seen a surge in data traffic attributed to iPhone users, who typically consume more wireless bandwidth than other AT&T wireless customers.
AT&T has been upgrading its network to keep up with demand. But problems persist. And AT&T's network recently got a poor ranking in terms of customer satisfaction in a Consumer Reports survey.
Verizon Wireless, AT&T's chief rival, has taken advantage of AT&T's struggles with a series of advertisements that point out AT&T's lack of 3G network coverage in certain parts of the country. Verizon is running advertisements that mock the Apple "There's an app for that," catch phrase with one that says, "There's a map for that."
AT&T fired back with a lawsuit and an advertisements of its own featuring actor Luke Wilson, who points out AT&T's strengths while taking a few shots at Verizon Wireless.
AT&T recently dropped its lawsuit against Verizon. And Verizon, which had been suing AT&T over claims that it has the fastest 3G wireless network, also dropped its lawsuit against AT&T.
Siegel said that the new "Mark the Spot" application was not prompted by the bad publicity around its network issues nor was it prompted by the current ad wars going on between AT&T and Verizon. Instead, he said that the application was simply a part of AT&T's ongoing commitment to listening to customers.
"We are always looking at ways to get customer feedback in as timely a manner as possible," he said. "That's why we pay attention to Twitter, Facebook and blog. One of the great values of these social networking tools is that it's a great way to get instant feedback. And it helps us identify problems."
The "Mark the Spot" application can be downloaded onto all iPhones running version 3.0 or later of Apple's operating system or it can be access using iTunes and synchronized to the iPhone via a PC or Mac.
Siegel said that AT&T is testing the "Mark the Spot" app for other devices. And he said AT&T hopes to offer applications on other smartphones in the future. No date has been announced yet. And Siegel didn't specify which devices might get the new application, but considering that AT&T sells a lot of Research in Motion's BlackBerry devices, it's likely it will create an application for that device. The app could be offered through AT&T's own application storefront or through RIM's BlackBerry App World.
Yahoo announced three new mobile applications Tuesday as the company continues to focus more on developing specific applications for the iPhone and other select smartphones like the BlackBerry.
The most widely publicized application to be announced Tuesday is Flickr for Mobile. This application is only available for Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch. It's free from the iTunes App Store. And it allows users to upload, share, and tag photos and videos. Flickr already has a browser-based mobile app at M.flickr.com.
The official Flickr app for iPhone and iPod Touch offers search, browse, and upload features.
Yahoo also created two new mobile applications for a few BlackBerry models.
Yahoo Finance for Mobile works on the iPhone and iPod Touch, as well as the BlackBerry Bold, Tour and 8900 series. This free application allows users to track companies, market indices, and news. It also lets users drill down into specific companies for more data. Yahoo already has a browser-based version of the application.
Yahoo also announced Yahoo Fantasy Football for Mobile. This application is available for the iPhone/iPod Touch and the BlackBerry Bold, Tour and 8900 series. Using this application, football fans can manage their teams from their phones, add and drop players, view match-ups and player stats, and get news and expert advice.
These new applications, which are specifically designed for the iPhone and a handful of BlackBerry devices, are part of the company's latest strategy to address the mobile market. Earlier this year, Yahoo shifted its mobile strategy to focus more on developing separate and distinct applications instead of creating services that fell into an all-encompassing Yahoo application.
"Before we had a one-size-fits-all approach to the application market," said Sandeep Gupta, senior director of mobile applications for Yahoo. "But the iPhone changed how consumers accessed applications. Now, they want to search for and download point applications. And we thought it was better for us to fit into this world."
Yahoo's primary goal with the strategy shift is to bring Yahoo's PC-based services to mobile phones. And in order to do this, Yahoo executives said they needed to develop and distribute applications like other developers, which meant adopting the iPhone model.
To execute this strategy, Yahoo is taking a two-pronged approach. It is offering browser-based applications for its more general properties, such as travel, personals, or some of its entertainment sites. But for more frequently visited sites, such as Flickr and Finance, Yahoo is creating native applications.
"Yahoo has a huge set of properties that we want to bring to all mobile users," Gupta said. "But we can't have customized application experiences for all of them. It's too much work. So we have created a broad experience for a whole host of sites. And we're creating a more customized app experience with a richer experience for certain vertical sites."
In February, the company announced the newly revamped Yahoo Mobile service, which combines all the organizational elements of Yahoo OneSearch, OnePlace, and OneConnect together in a single application. The redesigned service is a scrollable mashup of search, news, e-mail, social networking, finance, weather, sports scores, and other RSS feeds.
The company decided to offer the service to more than 400 mobile devices as a browser-based application. But it also built a version specifically for the iPhone. The app is free to download and is available on Apple's iTunes App Store.
Now, Yahoo has created three other native applications that have been customized for specific devices. Initially, these applications are only available on the iPhone and certain BlackBerry devices. The reason for this is simple. The iPhone and the BlackBerry currently have the most interactive mobile users, Gupta said. But he added that the company will eventually tailor these same applications for other smartphones, such as the Palm Pre and Google's Android phones.
"We're not waiting for these other devices to get popular," he said. "Work is going on. But it's a matter of priorities. There is a lot of investment needed to build these applications. And we have prioritized which devices have the most interactive users."
Google image search is no longer restricted to iPhone and Android phones.
(Credit: Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)Last March, Google's mobile team made it possible to search for images on your iPhone and Android phone. On Thursday, they rolled out image search for feature phones; that is, for pretty much any cell phone make and model with a Web browser.
Image search will work roughly the same way it does through a desktop browser. Starting from Google.com in the mobile browser, click "Images" in the top navigation, then fill in your search term. Google will return thumbnail images in the results page; between eight and fourteen, Google wrote in a blog post.
Click on one of these pictorial results to see a larger thumbnail image. Below, there's a link to view the photo in its original Web page and another one that takes you to the full-size image. You're also able to navigate "left" and "right" arrows to view other image results.
As with all Internet-dependent mobile apps, the slower your data or Wi-Fi connection is, the slower these images will be to load.
It's all in INQ Mobile's Twitter feed from Tuesday, and appropriately so: "Yes, you guessed it. A Twitter phone from us is imminent!"
The Twitter phone isn't expected to arrive until the holiday season, but here's the INQ1, or Facebook phone, shown at CES in January.
(Credit: Nicole Lee/CBS Interactive)The same U.K.-based cell phone maker that launched the Facebook and Skype phones will be introducing the Twitter phone--the latest in its line of "social networking phones"--by the end of the year.
"This can really help open up and drive Twitter use on mobile when usage becomes part of your data package like on the PC," INQ Chief Executive Frank Meehan told Reuters earlier Tuesday.
The device lets users tweet on the go without having to pay the high prices of smartphones like the iPhone and BlackBerry. According to Reuters, the Twitter phone will cost carriers less than $140.
The Facebook phone, officially called the INQ1, won a 2009 Global Mobile Award for best mobile handset. The INQ1 (CNET editors' take here) comes with Facebook, Skype, Yahoo, Google, eBay, and Windows Messenger built-in, and it also supports Java and BREW, so other applications like MySpace can be added.
Traffic for the INQ1, Reuters reports, is three to four times higher than other phones in its cell phone network, 3 UK. Since introducing its Skype phone in 2007, INQ mobile has sold 700,000 of their social-networking phones.
INQ Mobile and 3 UK are owned by the same umbrella company--Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa; INQ's phones have not yet been picked up by other cell phone carriers.
(Credit:
Screenshot by Bonnie Cha/CNET)
Delivering on its promise, Google released a new mobile application on Wednesday that brings its Voice Search feature to BlackBerrys, much like it did for the iPhone and Android-based T-Mobile G1.
The Google Mobile App is available now as a free download and allows you to conduct searches with the sound of your voice. To do so, you simply hold down the Talk button on your BlackBerry and then speak your search term into the phone. Brits, you'll also be happy to hear that the app now supports British English accents.
Perhaps even more powerful, the app also includes support for Google's My Locations feature, which brings up search results based on your location as determined by your BlackBerry's GPS, Wi-Fi, and cellular triangulation.
Other enhancements include shortcuts to several Google services, such as Gmail, Maps, News, and Reader. To get Google Mobile App on your BlackBerry, you can point your phone's browser to http://m.google.com or enter your mobile number here. Be aware that the app requires you have to have BlackBerry OS 4.1 or higher and BlackBerry OS 4.2 or higher for Voice Search.
(Sources: Google Mobile Blog, Information Week)
RideCharge on BlackBerry summons a cab and lets you pay by credit--for a fee.
Not everyone is as lucky as we are to work adjacent to a hotel with a fresh supply of taxicabs pulling up to its curb. When you're stuck without a ride, cab-calling applications can make ordering a taxi through local companies a surer, safer thing than throwing yourself in the middle of a darkened street and flailing your arms wildly.
A recent application we've looked at, RideCharge for BlackBerry and Windows Mobile (www.ridecharge.com from the mobile browser), not only lets you order a cab from your phone without placing a call, but it also has you enter a credit card payment when the ride is complete--tip, too. To round out the service, RideCharge e-mails a a receipt to print for your records, or for an expense report.
iPhone's RideCharge application, Taxi Magic, doesn't have cashless payment yet.
(Credit: CNET)Adding mobile payment to the cab-calling concept gives RideCharge additional layers of service and convenience. On a GPS-enabled phone, you'll receive notifications when your cab is dispatched and can track its progress to your destination. You just have to be comfortable paying with your phone, and paying RideCharge a convenience surcharge per ride--$1.50 for a taxi or shuttle and $3 for a limo or sedan, like the kind business travelers might take to the airport.
Yet quite a few scenarios for these business travelers, and regular Janes and Joes, would obviate the need to ever use RideCharge. Most hotels, for instance, have taxi ranks or concierge services that will flag you a ride. If you're somewhere stationary, you could easily spare the extra minute to call a dispatcher from a free listings application or Web site. However, RideCharge will have its uses for pedestrians struggling to find a cab, and for those who would rather use a sure thing than search, or who would rather type than talk.
For Apple fans, RideCharge also offers a far sexier version for iPhone and iPod Touch. Called Taxi Magic, the free application also lets you ping a cab company for a pick-up in about 30 U.S. cities and track the cab's progress, but doesn't yet have an integrated mobile payment function--which means no surcharge for now. If there's no partnered taxi company to take your order, the application lists phone numbers you can call from the iPhone.
(Credit:
Skype)
BARCELONA--Skype is racking up deals with mobile handset makers here at GSMA Mobile World Congress 2009.
On Tuesday, the company, which is owned by eBay, announced a partnership with Nokia, the largest cell phone maker in the world, to put the Skype Internet calling software onto its phones. Nokia will initially offer Skype on its high-end smartphones, the N-series. The N97, Nokia's flagship device that goes on sale in June, will be the first to have Skype embedded. The Skype feature will start shipping on the device in the third quarter of 2009.
Skype will be integrated into the N97 address book, enabling users to see when Skype contacts are online. It will also let people use Skype's instant-messaging client. Most importantly, N97 users will be able to make free and low-cost phone calls over the Internet whether they are on a 3G cellular network or a Wi-Fi network. The Skype-to-Skype voice calls are free. And the SkypeOut service, which allows calls from Skype to landlines and mobile devices, offers low rates.
Nokia's not the only handset maker to announce a deal with Skype at Mobile World Congress. On Monday, Sony Ericsson announced it would be offering a Skype "panel" on the Windows Mobile Xperia1 device.
Adding Skype to smartphones is a great benefit for consumers, especially people who travel internationally or have friends and family overseas. While pricing on domestic voice services has been dropping like a brick from a third-story window, international rates have remained high.
As a consumer who likes to travel and who happens to be traveling internationally right now for this trade show, I am annoyed and almost angered at the outrageous prices mobile operators charge when customers roam in other countries or make international calls from the U.S. They all try to sell "international" plans to help defray the cost, but the plans themselves cost consumers an extra fee every month regardless of whether they're traveling that month or not.
Skype and other VoIP services offer users a more cost-effective alternative. And Skype on a mobile phone, when accessed on a low-cost data network, could help people who travel frequently or make lots of international calls save tons of money.
Of course, the two smartphone makers Skype has announced as partners here are manufacturers that are already struggling to get their high-end devices on American mobile networks. And my guess is that adding Skype won't do much to convince these operators to offer these phones and subsidize them so that American consumers will buy them.
The reason is pretty simple. AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel, and T-Mobile USA know that a wide-scale deployment of Skype on their phones could cannibalize their international voice services and potentially hurt their domestic voice service.
So if by chance, Nokia or Sony Ericsson manages to win approval from a U.S. operator to get these phones on their networks, I wouldn't be surprised if the Skype feature is stripped from the device in the U.S. version.
That said, AT&T is allowing some voice over IP applications to appear on Apple's iPhone App Store. And Skype users are able to make free and low-cost calls through applications, such as Truphone. But for now, AT&T and Apple seem hesitant to allow Skype's powerful brand, which has more than 400 million registered users, to make it onto the iPhone.
AT&T announced Wednesday that it has formed a strategic partnership with ChaCha, a mobile service that allows users to submit questions via text message or phone and receive their answer in a text message.
The deal calls for a co-branded greeting and AT&T promotion when consumers call ChaCha's answer hotline or text message the company a question.
More important from a business standpoint, the two companies will also work together to improve ChaCha's mobile-answers service and develop both text and voice ad-based services.
The partnership between AT&T and ChaCha is interesting, to say the least. At first glance, the deal makes some sense, given both companies are working in the mobile space and want to maximize monetization. But after further inspection, I don't see how a clunky mobile answers service with less than ideal accuracy can provide greater value to AT&T customers. And if the companies can't develop a viable advertising solution, it seems all AT&T will get for its troubles is the chance to have its name mentioned whenever a user calls or text messages ChaCha to ask a question.
A company called Proximic says it has developed an easier way for consumers to do complex searches from their cell phones.
While Apple's iPhone has helped make surfing the Web from a mobile device easier, it's still difficult to type in complex search queries. But Proximic has introduced a new application called Proximic Agents for the iPhone that will help. The new technology, which is language-independent, uses point-and-click technology to highlight bits of text. This means that users don't have to type in a long string of search terms.
Search results from a Proximic search.
(Credit: Proximic)Unlike other search engines, which rely on keywords to find results, the search technology from Proximic looks for patterns in the text to see where these patterns overlap. It then delivers relevant results based on these patterns.
Proximic co-founder and CEO Philipp Pieper believes that conducting searches in this manner provides more contextualized and relevant search results and also makes conducting complex searches much easier.
"Mobile phones today lack ease of use when it comes to complex searches," he said. "But with our technology users can click on a paragraph or a whole Web page and get other relevant stories or information."
The application is initially being offered on the iPhone through the Apple App Store. It's free to download. But Pieper said that the technology will eventually be available to other smartphones. Future releases of the software will also allow users to do much more, like find more relevant search results based on location. Other search companies such as Yahoo and Google are also using location-based technology to provide local search results for mobile devices.
Users can highlight an entire paragraph for a search query.
(Credit: Proximic)But Pieper believes that the Proximic technology will be able to take location-based search a step further. For example, in future releases of the software, users will be able to go into a store and take a picture of a product description and then be able to search for that product or a product with similar features. Users will then get reviews of that product or will even get results for where they can buy that particular product nearby.
"Imagine you're shopping for a TV in Best Buy," Pieper said. "You punch the product description or take a picture of the description, and you can get search results that show you the same TV is being offered for a lower price down the street at another store."
Pieper went on to say that these kinds of search results could be a boon for mobile advertising.
"Advertisers are looking for useful ad placements," he said. "Especially now in the current economy, advertising needs to be useful and relevant to users. It has to be something that users value and engage in to make it worthwhile to the advertisers."
(Credit:
TiVo)
TiVo is launching a cell phone-friendly Web site that will allow users to search programming and set their TiVo DVRs remotely. TiVo Mobile will be a free service available "with any Internet-enabled phone through any network, regardless of carrier," according to the company. Any user will have access to the program listings, but only TiVo owners (Series2 or Series3/HD) will be able to set their home DVRs to record programs they would've otherwise missed. A similar service was previously available--for a fee--only to Verizon customers. The service (available soon at m.tivo.com) is currently in beta, but will be more widely available "in a few weeks," according to the company.
It's worth noting that TiVo owners can already program their DVRs remotely through the company's main web site. Likewise, Slingbox owners can also access any DVR remotely (TiVo or otherwise) through the SlingPlayer Mobile software, which is currently available on Windows Mobile, Palm, Symbian smartphones, and coming soon to BlackBerry models as well.
