Archive for Instant Messaging
by Ewan Spence
January 3, 2008 at 11:08 am · Filed under Mobile messaging 2.0, Devices, Platforms, iPhone, Instant Messaging, Wifi, CES
With CES starting this Sunday, the rumour mill is already firing up, but the one of interest to me looks to be a racing certainty after Sony announced on their CES site that they would be bringing Skype to the Sony Playstation Portable device.
Call friends, talk trash to fellow gamers, or catch up with acquaintances via Skype for PSP System.
That’s right – a games console, with roughly 30 million or so units in circulation, will all of a sudden be switched on, via over the air firmware upgrades, to become VOIP telephones. That’s a masterstroke (and one that Nokia are tying to mimic in reverse, by switching on the N-Gage gaming features in millions of Nseries devices).
I’ve always been amazed at just how multi-media the Sony PSP games console is. Using Wi-fi and the built in web browser, it lets me read my email whenever I’m in Wi-Fi range. The built in podcasting application will stream audio or video, or save it to the memory stick for alter viewing 9something that the iPods still can’t do without iTunes support). You can watch full movies on the go, stack up your mp3’s take family pictures, and a recent addition of internet streaming radio, while still a little unwieldy, provides yet another way to get messages into the device.
Now Sony are starting to publicly explore how they’re getting messages out of the device, there’s going to be a lot of people wondering why such a machine is still marketed as solely a gaming console.
All that’s missing is some sort of instant messaging application and we have a 2.0 comms device already here. And funnily enough, that’s exactly what Sony’ partnership with BT in the UK will provide; the Go!Messenger was promised for January 2008 and should be here soon.
by Darla Mack
January 1, 2008 at 9:23 pm · Filed under Mobile messaging 2.0, Instant Messaging, Messaging
One of the things that has been an ongoing trend for me is Holiday messaging. New Years Eve is the high point for my phone regarding text and multimedia messaging. With the amount of contacts that I network with and the different time zones my phone constantly buzzes with the tune of incoming New Years wishes.
To count, I received about 42 messages, all from different parts of the world at different times. I noticed the same trend in previous years and in return I try to send out as many messages as possible.
From the world of Mobile Messaging 2.0, I would like to extend my wishes for a bright and prosperous New Year!!!
by Ewan Spence
December 31, 2007 at 10:45 am · Filed under MMS, Carriers, Instant Messaging, Communication
And so it begins.
My phone is already beeping at me with text’s from all my friends wishing me a Happy New Year – of course being Scottish Hogmanay (December the 31st) is effectively the start of a three day national holiday which is know for drinking vile drinks, eating vile animals, and generally enjoying life as much as possible.
But it also coincides with one of the busiest times for the UK mobile networks in terms of traffic not of voice calls, but in texts. The New Year message, as midnight strikes, invariably sees a significant number of subscribers on every network send an SMS wishing them all the best for 2008. And it’s not just to one person, it’s to a significant proportion, if not all, of their address book.
Now take the average address book, multiply that out by the number of people looking to send such a batch of messages, and there’s no doubt that come Jan 2nd, I’m sure the PR departments will warm-up the “written on Dec 14th minus the number†press release with “the biggest year for texts yet in the United Kingdom.†And I’m also sure we’ll hear the stories of texts taking hours to get through, network saturation at the centre of street parties, a log-jam of data and calls in networks that struggle to cope.
Make no bones, this is one of the biggest nights of the year for mobile messaging, certainly in the UK. Yes there has been localised pressure over the last months and years (case in point being the London Underground bombings) but this is both predictable, and nationwide (and I’m sure a wodge of international traffic in and out as well).
So do you design your network for the peak of the busiest night, or do you aim somewhere below that because the spare capacity isn’t needed for the other 354 days? My guess is probably the later, but knowing that the networks are constantly expanding, I suspect the capacity that is filled tonight would have easily coped with the traffic from last year, and capacity 12 months down the line would cope with tonight. This increase in bandwidth, capacity and handling goes on behind the scenes without the subscriber even realising, and for all that we complain about the big bad networks, take a moment to think just how many texts will get shuffled around tonight, even if there is a ten-fifteen minute delay on some of them.
Happy New Year!!!
Update: While coverage was spotty in Edinburgh, there were no real delays on voice - only took three rings to get through mobile to mobile at about ten past midnight. Txts seemed to flow freely, as they also did for Ewan McLeod. How did your messages get through?
by Ewan Spence
December 9, 2007 at 8:15 pm · Filed under Mobile messaging 2.0, Mobile Email, Instant Messaging, Communication, Symbian, Messaging, WIMM
While at the recent Nokia World conference, both Darla Mack and I decided to ask a number of people just what a mobile message was? Darla’s posted up her responses, but I shall now do mine in the form of a podcast and the spoken word. Over to our guests to find out their thoughts…
MM20 Podcast: What Is A Mobile Message [00:03:05m]:
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by Debi Jones
December 8, 2007 at 11:32 pm · Filed under Mobile messaging 2.0, Mobile Email, mobile social networking, Instant Messaging, Messaging, WIMM
A recent discussion between most of the bloggers of Mobile Messaging 2.0 resulted in a disagreement. We were turning over various topics in our collective mind that might be interesting to our readers and us. As we deconstructed these topics, a starting point of sorts emerged on which we could bring our different perspectives in the hope of providing insight into how some parts of the mobile ecosystem interpret the language of mobility. That starting point is logical and simple although we found the answer may not be so.
What is a Mobile Message? Going around the virtual room to gain agreement on a starting point for considering other topics, it became apparent that the defining characteristics of applying the label mobile to any message was not a point on which we agreed. Over the next week, MM2 will consider this question, share our own perspectives and views relative to our position within the mobile ecosystem and invite you, our readers, to join in the discussion.
The components of a mobile message include the network, the device, the transport (e.g., SMS, MMS, email). Is the mobile network required? Or is it enough to use a mobile device on some other network, for example, wi-fi? A purist might say that the SMS transport is required to qualify the distinction of a mobile message versus merely a message sent electronically. Given the spirited discussion that took place between us, readers can expect some considered opinions and lively disagreement.
The marketing language from operators to consumers specifies text messaging, email, picture messaging, video messaging, voicemail messages, and Voice SMS. What about the mobilizing of social networks and the associated messages? What about mobile IM, chat, etc.? What about social gestures such have been popularized by social networks like nudging, poking, smiling or following? Consider Vibetonz and sending emoticons…are those mobile messages? And finally, do the semantics matter?
Let us know what you like, dislike or were bored by in this process as we hope to do more conversations on shared topics in the coming months. And now, enjoy.
by Russell Shaw
December 6, 2007 at 11:49 pm · Filed under News, Instant Messaging, Yahoo
Earlier today, I reported on my BlackBerry blog that:
BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion has just announced they are teaming up with airline JetBlue and Yahoo to offer free, in-flight, Wi-Fi web connections for Wi-Fi enabled BlackBerrys (such as the BlackBerry Curve 8320) as well as laptops.
The service will allow passengers to access customized Yahoo mail and Yahoo instant messenger services on their laptops or to access corporate e-mails on Wi-Fi enabled versions of the popular Blackberry device from RIM,†Reuters reports.
A RIM spokesperson tells Reuters the first JetBlue flight to offer this service will be on Tuesday, December 11. The flight will be JFK to San Francisco, Flight 641.
I have some opinions on this. First, when you are talking about moving 550 mph (maybe 600 mph with a good tailwind push), that’s being mobile.
And if you are talking about using your WiFi-enabled BlackBerry (such as the BlackBerry Curve 8320, or your laptop for real-time communication at 35,000 feet, that’s being a serious mobile messenger.
Many’s the time I’ve transcontinentally flown, and wanted to whip out my BlackBerry or laptop (both which go wherever I go) send a text, check my email, etc.
But then I stare out the window at a bank of fluffy clouds below us, and start humming “Both Sides Now” by Judy Collins (and yea, I do know Joni Mitchell wrote it).
Or, there’s the cart just two rows in front of my seat. Cart bearing a mini bottle of Merlot that when sipped, will help pass the time.
Or both of the above scenarios present themselves in parallel.
All of a sudden, I make the transition from a Type A type of guy to a mellow chilled out dude.
And when I get that way, texting or any type of technical alternatives to get back in touch with the world seven miles below becomes a highly distasteful notion.
One more sip, and I stop thinking about the need to mobile message. It’s an hour, 20 minutes ’til we land, and I can turn my BlackBerry back on in non-airplane mode.
Text me then, for I will have landed.
by Russell Shaw
November 30, 2007 at 10:27 am · Filed under SMS, Studies + Research, News, mobile data statistics, Instant Messaging, Messaging
According to an M: Metrics Survey released earlier this week, 44.10% of U.S. cell users sent a text message over the three-month period ending September 30.
That three-month moving average climbed 2.20% over the previous three month calculation. That would have been June-August.
What’s even more interesting, as gleaned from the facts in the canvass (reproduced in screencap at the top of this post)
Texting is more than six times as popular as mobile IM (7.00% of users) which I take to mean using one or more of those popular IM programs on your handset. So we’d rather text than IM.
Texting is more than four times as popular as sending emails via your phone (9.50%). No surprise there, since composing an actual email message on a cell can be a kludgy process. Plus, why take the time to compose an email if all you want to do is write a few words? Isn’t that easier to do via text?
Is mobile gaming declining? Check the chart. Downloads of mobile games are the only category that’s down. Although I’d have to see more of an ongoing pattern to draw a conclusion, it does appear to me that the market could be temporarily saturated. Mobile gamers have all the games (pre-loaded and chosen) that they want for now, and not a lot of new mobile gamers are being added to the mix.
Maybe both groups are waiting for more common 3G?
by Ewan Spence
November 27, 2007 at 7:03 pm · Filed under Platforms, Twitter, Instant Messaging, Communication, Convergence, Jaiku, Messaging, seesmic
Many years ago, back in the dark days when I studied Artificial Intelligence at Edinburgh University I was a heavy user of the Usenet reading application TIN. This of course was in the fun days when all access was through 80×24 VT100 terminals. And I remember that TIN was a great improvement over RN and NN, and the main advantage was it used threaded messaging.
And I think that’s where Seesmic, Loic Le Meur’s play to get into the instant message + stream of conscious + video space which could (could) prove profitable in the future. I’ve been on the service for some time, and using it in anger over the last week, and while it is incredibly rough around the edges (and everyone is screaming for threaded messages - making it more Jaiku than Twitter?) there is something going on here that needs exploring.
Seesmic is not the final answer. It’s simply the opening shot, like a ranging shell in a naval battle. If any of the other presence services add video, the bloated Flash app of Seesmic will have a tough battle early on it’s career. TIN caught my imagination, but it was a News client on Windows 3.11 that really pulled me into Usenet. So the question is, will Seesmic’s TIN become lead or gold?
by Ewan Spence
November 23, 2007 at 10:47 am · Filed under Devices, Mobile Tech, Platforms, Software, ARPU, iPhone, Google, Apple, Instant Messaging, Openmoko, Communication, Convergence, Symbian
The launch of Android, and the Open Handset Alliance (primarily with Google and over 30 other partners) has prompted a huge amount of discussion around the internet, from Telecoms Analysts, Industry Watehrs, Developers and enthusiatic bloggers. That’s been reflected here on Mobile Messaging 2.0.
So what exactly is the impact of this in the mobile space? Debi Jones and I sat down to discuss that very topic in our latest podcast.
Google, Android and the Implications - MM2.0 With Debi Jones and Ewan Spence:
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by Debi Jones
November 20, 2007 at 7:05 pm · Filed under Mobile messaging 2.0, Mobile Tech, Events + Conferences, Mobile Email, mobile social networking, Instant Messaging, FOMM, Venture Capital, Under the Radar, 3Jam
Venture capitalists Tim Chang, Norwest Venture Partners, and Veneet Buch, Blue Run Ventures, speak from an investors perspective on “The Future of Mobile Messaging.” While attending Under the Radar - Mobility last week at Microsoft’s Mountain View campus, I had the chance to ask Tim and Vineet about their predictions on the future of mobile messaging. They have different ideas about what will be the most critical aspects of messaging and the role of mobile network operators in those developments.
To toggle between the two interviews, click on the “Play Now” link associated with the interview you wish to listen to.
Tim Chang on FOMM [6:39m]:
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Vineet Buch on FOMM [6:23m]:
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