On Hulu moving to Cellphones, Driving mobile video usage

Hulu has done well as a browser-based video destination. In march 2009, it reached he third position in video internet website with 2.6% market share. (which is good but still really far behind Youtube, 40% market share). With Newscorp and NBC Universal as shareholders, Hulu is a promising start-up. Hulu aims to provide free and legal content sponsored by advertising to users. More recently, Disney just joined the investors enabling TV series like “Lost” or “Desperate Housewives” from ABC available on the network.

So, it’s not surprising to hear that Hulu is headed to cell phones. An anonymous mobile industry executive says the video service will soon appear on Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch, according to Business Insider.

Zapping April 19th

Japanese don’t like (or hate) the iPhone…softbank offers the phone for free in its plan – 1 Billion app (soon to be) downloaded – the battle between Larry King vs Aston Kutcher (Demi’s boyfriend) on the most followed on twitter…Nico we are still waiting for your twiller you may now be able to monetize it with tipjoy – nokia profits down of 90% – for the fan…we are still waiting Maria Sharapova to announce an Android Sony Ericsson phone!

virtual world from scratch on the iphone

A Tokyo-based start-up called Genkii is building a unique app that has the potential to not only let a few iPhone users connect with each other, but thousands of them – at the same time or asynchronously. Sparkle is poised to become the first virtual world for the iPhone.

iphone OS 3.0: 1000 new APIs, 100 new Features

iPhone will be availabe in Malaysia through Maxis and in Indonesia though Telkomsel by the end of March! Which is a great news for the region after the launch in Singapore end of last year!

iPhone OS 3.0, my highlights:

• developers to create multiplayer games that work over a local wireless connection
• better maps integration
• “push” messages to users through their programs, it is a feature that reminds me of Phonebook 2.0 designed for Android
• Sell monthly subscriptions that is a significant step! This will completely bypass current Operator Premium SMS offers…
• MMS application
• Spotlight…Amazing! It is the best desktop search I have ever used.
• The long awaited cut, copy, paste feature though it looks a bit difficult to use.
• Bluetooth

  

  

  

  
  
  

The new operating system would be available to current iPhone users at no charge sometime this summer. It will sell for $9.95 to owners of the iPod Touch.

Industry analysts saw a decrease in iPhone sales and expect couple of hardware changes in the coming months! And I am sure we will see a form of iPhone nano!

Mobile World Congress 2009

My feedback of the show:

1. Openness: a lot of companies opened their platform and now provides API for developers to work on it. (myGamma…)
2. Applications stores: Nokia, Samsung, Orange, SFR…all of them are opening app stores! Guess it will be harder for the users to understand what will happen!
3. Mobile Widget or mobile connected applications: Qualcomm through Plaza are strongly ahead. Operators are also interested Orange. In their recent announcement it was said by the end of 2009 80% of their mobile “signature range” will be sold with new widgets. Also worth to mention are companies like Goojet (financed by american and french VC), webwag…
4. Green: The universal charger initiative (without Apple…though it is predictible) – the Solar Energy phone designed by Samsung and LG. Nokia got an award for an Outstanding Environnmental Contribution (more info here)
5. Mobile Advertising: admob! admob! admob! and a mobile company that does affiliation for mobile web site! texomobile already more than 130 000 affiliates! Sybase released a mobile advertising platform that allows content providers, publishers, and enterprise to insert text ad into a SMS
6. Mobile Payment: Mobile payment englobes 3 different notions nowadays: mBanking, mCommerce and mRemittance. Tranfer money to your friends or relatives in your home country, several experiences launched with the Philippines operators, namely Globe. A leader in that space is a German company called Paybox (recently acquired by Sybase 365). Maxis have a great mRemittance system with Transfer To Explanation of the service: “Hotlink i-Share is a first-in-Malaysia service by Maxis that was launched in April this year and enables its prepaid subscribers to share airtime credit with their friends and family to several countries, including Indonesia and the Philippines through an easy-to-use “shared top-up” application…”
7. New mobile phones: I will only mention one: The G2 which apparently is close to perfection…what a plan!

And to finish the list of the awards and their winners! One remark in the Champion for Global Award Mobile Innovation we find a chinese company which is great as more and more I think that innovation in the mobile space will come from Asia!

Best Mobile Game: Winner: Gameloft – Real Football 2009

Best Mobile Music or Video Service: Winner: BBC iPlayer on Mobile

Best Mobile Advertising Service: Winner: Turkcell – Tonla Kazan

Best Mobile TV Service: Winner: MobiTV – MobiTV

Best Mobile Enterprise Product or Service Winner: Vodafone – Vodafone Global Enterprise Limited

Best Mobile Internet Service: Nokia – Nokia Sports Tracker

Best Mobile Money Service: Safaricom and Vodafone – M-PESA

Best Mobile Handset or Device:
INQ – INQ1
Highly Commended: Nokia – Nokia E71
Highly Commended: T-Mobile – T-Mobile G1

Best Use of Mobile for Social and Economic Development: Nuance Communications – Airtel-T9 India Consumer Vernacular Messaging Campaigns

Best Service Delivery Platform: NewBay Software – LifeCache Social Networking Solution 2.0

The Green Mobile Award: Smart Communications – Alternative Power for Cell Sites program

GSMA’s CEO Award for Outstanding Environmental Contribution: Nokia

Government Leadership Award: The Government of France

THE 2009 MOBILE INNOVATION GLOBAL AWARD CHAMPION: Cootek, China (Most Innovative Wireless Dev)

iPhone 3G

Rumor in the market is saying that the iPhone 3G will be release in June 9th. Check out guizmodo or techcrunch france.

That’s what I was waiting for to get an iPhone. Singtel is the chosen telecom operator to distribute the iPhone in Singapore and his partly owned subsidiaries in Australia, Thailand & India.

Let’s see what will be their offers and if as some European operators they will let out  free iPhone with 2 years contracts!