MobileCrunch |  |
- WhiteMagic: Sony Shows Next-Generation LCD For Cameras And Phones
- Facebook Just Out-iMessaged iMessage — And SMS Is More Screwed Than Ever
- Developers Frustrated By Android Market Payment Issues
- Apple’s Trade-In Program Just Got So Much Better
- Use Your PS3 Controller On Your Android Phone Using This App
- Nokia To Kill S40, Symbian Efforts In North America
- Windows Phone’s Tango Update Bound For Budget Handsets
- iStoryTime Closes $2M Series A To Make More Mobile Children’s Books
- The Lonesome Death Of WebOS
- Third Galaxy S II Iteration Surfaces With LTE In Tow, Dubbed “Celox”
- The MySaver Keeps Your iPhone Cable From Breaking For The 100th Time
- AT&T Hits Obstacle In T-Mobile, Qualcomm Spectrum Acquisitions
- DudaMobile Makes Your Website Mobile in One Click
- Hate Lines and Live in Mountain View? We’ve Got an App for You (TCTV)
- Visa To Ramp Up Chip Migration To Support NFC And Mobile Payments
| WhiteMagic: Sony Shows Next-Generation LCD For Cameras And Phones Posted: 10 Aug 2011 05:29 AM PDT  Sony announced WhiteMagic today, a “next-generation”, 3-inch TFT LCD screen that boasts 1.23M-dot full VGA resolution. What’s special about the display is that it has two distinct modes: if switched to “low power mode”, power consumption of the backlight is pushed down by over 50% to 125mW, with Sony saying brightness in this mode is still comparable to that of conventional LCDs. When choosing “outdoors mode”, WhiteMagic’s brightness can be boosted from 470 cd/m² to an impressive 1,000 cd/m², while power consumption of the backlight in this mode (300mW) stays about as high as that of conventional screens. By way of comparison: the iPhone 4 reaches a maximum brightness of 500 cd/m². Sony achieved this by adding a white pixel to the Red-Green-Blue (RGB) pixels and developing an algorithm to correct picture distortion (“RGBW method”). The company plans to start shipping the first samples as early as October (price: $65 each). It expects WhiteMagic to be used in mobile devices, for example cameras and smartphones (even though it’s not a touchscreen apparently).
   |
| Facebook Just Out-iMessaged iMessage — And SMS Is More Screwed Than Ever Posted: 09 Aug 2011 07:54 PM PDT  Facebook did a strange thing today: they released a mobile application separate from their main app. They’ve never done this before. But it’s genius. And it’s yet another long-term thorn in the side of SMS. Facebook Messenger is a stand-alone app for iOS and Android. It essentially merges the Beluga product that Facebook acquired in February with their revamped Messages product. Now it makes sense why Facebook wanted to make it clear that the Beluga deal was for both talent and technology (Facebook almost always does just talent acquisition deals). Shortly after the deal, Jason Kincaid and I talked about the ramifications of the acquisition on our OMG/JK show for TechCrunch TV (video below). We were both in agreement that while it would be out-of-character for Facebook to do so, they absolutely should release a new stand-alone messaging app. The reason? Speed and simplicity are key in the space. The Messages product inside of the current Facebook apps offered neither. Now, with Messenger, Facebook is ready to roll into this space. Should competitors like GroupMe and Kik be worried? Maybe, but they’re iterating quickly and adding new features to try and stand out. They’ll have to do that a bit faster now as a player with 750 million built-in potential users just entered the space. But the service that should be perhaps more worried about Messenger is the still-unlaunched iMessage. Announced by Apple at WWDC in June, iMessage is a new messaging platform that will be a part of the default SMS application in iOS 5. That gives it a huge leg up, obviously. But it’s also potentially going to be harder to use than Facebook’s new Messenger. The reason is that iMessage, like FaceTime, relies on user email addresses to work (or phone number if they have an iPhone, but only if they have an iPhone). Developers with access to the iOS 5 beta that I’ve spoken with complain that they often run into problems trying to send iMessages because they have no idea what email address their friends’ accounts are tied to. This is the same problem that FaceTime has faced. Apple does this because email addresses are also how they define identity for Apple ID. But plenty of people have multiple email addresses, and may use a strange one for their Apple ID. For example, I do. You can add other email addresses where people can find you in the settings of iOS, but most users are never going to do this. The system is not ideal. Much more ideal is using your Facebook connections and actual name look-ups — which Messenger obviously does. Or, if the person you’re trying to reach doesn’t use Facebook, or you’re not connected, you can use a phone number to connect. Yes, you could also do this through iMessage, but whereas Messenger will likely use SMS to bring users into the app, iMessage SMS connections are more likely to continue as SMS communications. While there are some differences between an iMessage and an SMS, they basically look the same, and again, reside in the same app. Facebook Messenger will also clearly handle group messaging better than iMessage. Whereas iMessage seems like system to circumvent SMS — and for good reason, SMS remains one of the biggest rip-offs out there — Messenger feels like something that goes well beyond it. Code found today within Messenger by 9to5 Mac suggests that Facebook will soon add video chat capabilities to the app as well. This makes sense, given Facebook’s recent tie-up with Skype for such functionality. There’s one other big reason why Messenger is likely to out-iMessage iMessage: cross-platform compatibility. iMessage will only work for iOS users. Facebook Messenger works on both iOS and Android devices. And there is one other massive place Messenger messages work: Facebook.com. Using it today, it’s clear that this is the true power of Facebook Messenger. Someone messages me, and I get it sent to my phone and the message pops up in Facebook on the web, if I have it open. If I don’t, the message goes into my Messages area and I can access it later. It’s seamless. This iOS/Android/Web compatibility is a big reason why Beluga was my favorite group messaging app. With Facebook.com now the web component of this system, things just got kicked up a notch. One thing is more clear than ever before: between iMessages, Beluga, GroupMe, Kik, Google’s new Huddle feature of Google+, and now Facebook Messenger, SMS is under complete and utter assault. Yes, most of those service are compatible with SMS, but only so they can be parasitic off of it. As a standard that works across all mobile devices, SMS isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. But with the rise of tablets and the continued use of other computing devices, cross-device messaging is going to come into its own one way or another. And SMS, which is more or less a racket that has been run by the carriers for far too long, is not the way forward. Good riddance. Facebook is the world’s largest social network, with over 500 million users. Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg in February 2004, initially as an exclusive network for Harvard students. It... Started by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, Apple has expanded from computers to consumer electronics over the last 30 years, officially changing their name from Apple Computer,...
  |
| Developers Frustrated By Android Market Payment Issues Posted: 09 Aug 2011 05:54 PM PDT  We've heard our share of app store woes in recent weeks, but here's one that's unfortunately still in progress. A number of Android app developers have been claiming on the Android Market support forum that the amount of money they're being paid doesn't match up with the number of apps they have actually sold. The problem began on July 26, when a beleaguered dev posted the following:
From what the developers were able to piece together, the thread that connected their uncounted purchases was that they were all made through the Android Market’s web store. Customers’ credit cards were apparently charged and marked as shipped through Google Checkout, but with no corresponding payout to the developers. Much discussion ensued during the next nine days, until Google finally made their official response: Thanks for posting and for your patience. We're aware of the issue, and we're working on fixing it. Once the fix goes out (soon!), orders should be moved to the correct state, which will enable disbursement amounts to be recovered. So if your July activity payouts were underpaid, you will be notified, and your September 1 payout will contain the missing amounts. According to Google, there is no official ETA for a fix, but they have been proactive in contacting the affected developers by email notifying them of the situation. While we have every confidence that Google will eventually make things right, a little transparency could have gone a long way here, especially considering how valuable independent developers are to the success of the platform. The devs affected have been more than patient, but it never hurts to call attention to ground-level problems like this just to keep big companies like Google honest. It’s also possible there are more out there who haven’t heard from Google at all, and are simply baffled by their low receipts (you might want to check yours, just in case). Help should be on the way; be sure to voice your support concerns officially with Google and hopefully things will be resolved soon.
  |
| Apple’s Trade-In Program Just Got So Much Better Posted: 09 Aug 2011 02:47 PM PDT  If you were thinking of dumping that old laptop, hold on a second. Apple has just updated its trade-in policy, and you can now bring in any Apple product, as well as any desktop or laptop, for free recycling or even store credit. Yes, any desktop or laptop, including PCs — and it won’t cost you a dime. Thanks to some keen eyes over at MacRumors, we now know that this is how it’ll go down: You can now trade in your iPad and/or iPhone for its “fair market value” (determined in store, by Apple) on an Apple gift card. Apple has done this for a while with desktops and laptops, both PC and Mac, but is now extending the offering to iPhones and iPads. But remember, this only applies if your hunk of old technology is fit to be used in something new. If it has no monetary value at all, it goes in the recycle pile. But no worries — Apple has easy, pain-free plans for that, too. It used to be that when you brought in old computers and displays that were worthless, you could recycle it for free if you were buying a Mac. If you weren’t buying a Mac, you had to pay $30 for a shipping fee. Now, whether or not you’re buying a Mac, any brand of computer or display will be recycled for free. Most brands have some sort of trade-in program for their old products, but just like Apple, they offer credit instead of cash. So if you aren’t an Apple fan and don’t really need credit towards Apple gear, it’s worth the two seconds it’ll take to look up the manufacturer’s trade-in program details and get credit towards a brand you like. Other third-party programs like Gazelle also make it pretty easy to trade-in your old stuff for cash. But where ever you choose to dump your old stuff, try not to aim for the trash can. The planet could use a break. Started by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, Apple has expanded from computers to consumer electronics over the last 30 years, officially changing their name from Apple Computer,...
  |
| Use Your PS3 Controller On Your Android Phone Using This App Posted: 09 Aug 2011 12:31 PM PDT  One issue I’ve had with Android superphones, with their dual cores and their gigawhats, is that there just isn’t much of a use for them. Android apps are mostly made for the lowest common denominator, hardware-wise, and aside from a few 3D games and cool (but impractical) HD video playback, you can’t really use those extra cycles for anything without really diving into device customization. We know that these phones have the chops to run Playstation-level games at least — now if only we could use our Playstation controllers! Oh, we can now? Yes, Sixaxis Controller lets you use your wireless PS3 controllers with your Android phone or tablet, making your new Galaxy Tab or Xoom an emulation paradise. Well, let’s not overstate the case: PCs will always be top dog in that field, but this does make the tablet platform a bit more exciting for gamers. Unfortunately, you must have root access to make this app work, so it’s not quite the plug-and-play solution I’d like. The controllers need to be paired over USB, after which time you can have up to four controllers going at once. X-Men Arcade, anyone? Analog isn’t supported yet, so keep that in mind if you want to try your hand at Mario 64 or the like. You can download the app in the Android Market, but be sure to check if your device is compatible first by using the compatibility checker app. [via Reg Hardware]
  |
| Nokia To Kill S40, Symbian Efforts In North America Posted: 09 Aug 2011 12:18 PM PDT  If you were to sit down and look at all the devices Nokia has for sale in the United States, you may come away thinking that they weren’t in the business of making impressive devices. With only a few exceptions, Nokia’s domestic offerings are low-end, S40-powered talk-and-texters — hardly what one would expect from the self-proclaimed “world leader” of the cell phone industry. It seems as though the higher-ups at Nokia are starting to feel the same way. Instead of sullying the image of their North American operation, they have announced their intention to kill their low-cost S40 and Symbian smartphone business in an interview with AllThingsD. Instead, they’re putting all of their resources into one big push with Windows Phone 7. Nokia wasn’t always this clumsy when it came to handling the United States. In 2002, Nokia held onto as much as 35% of the domestic mobile market, thanks in part to some innovative feature phone designs. As the country made the move to smartphones, though, Nokia stubbornly stuck to its S40 and Symbian guns and lost much of the relevance they had worked to gain. It didn’t help that Nokia’s trouble with carriers also forced them to sell many of their more impressive devices unsubsidized by themselves. Customers, not used to purchasing phones without steep carrier discounts, paid them no mind. Currently, AT&T only has one Nokia device in their inventory, while T-Mobile stocks two. It’s quite the gamble Nokia is making, as they won’t have a safety net in case their Windows Phone ambitions don’t pan out. The implications aren’t lost on Nokia Inc. President Chris Weber. "It will be Windows Phone and the accessories around that. The reality is if we are not successful with Windows Phone, it doesn't matter what we do."
  |
| Windows Phone’s Tango Update Bound For Budget Handsets Posted: 09 Aug 2011 11:41 AM PDT  While Windows Phone junkies are still waiting on their Mango fix to arrive, details about Redmond’s next update are already starting to emerge. Tentatively dubbed “Tango”, the update will likely be wedged between its fruity predecessor and the forthcoming Windows Phone 8. Details are still scarce, but ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley has a few ideas about where Tango will take us that Mango won’t. According to her anonymous sources, Tango is “all about Nokia.” It certainly fits in with the gamble that Nokia is taking on Windows, although there isn’t much to show for it so far. To date, Nokia’s Searay prototype is their only Windows device to make an appearance, but a slew of budget models may well be in the works. That same source also mentioned that Tango may be used to gain a much-needed foothold in the low-cost Asian market. Though a grain of salt should always be taken with these sorts of claims, it does fit with Microsoft and Nokia’s February promise of inexpensive devices coming down the pipeline. It’s an intriguing mix — low cost hardware and a solid OS have the potential to make quite a splash — but it raises the question of where Microsoft thinks their best chances are. Microsoft is already making their push into Japan, with Fujitsu and carrier KDDI launching the world’s first Mango-powered phone. China is a distinct possibility, but if Microsoft makes a play there, it’ll require a bit of work to make sure their new users are getting the experience they deserve. The Windows Marketplace has yet to be officially launched in China, leaving clever users working off of the US Marketplace stuck without access in recent days.
  |
| iStoryTime Closes $2M Series A To Make More Mobile Children’s Books Posted: 09 Aug 2011 11:22 AM PDT  Times, they are a changin’. Magazines are falling at the feet of their digital replacements, while the printed book feels the burn of affordable, portable reading devices. And yet, we still seem to cling to one category of the binded book (if only for nostalgia’s sake): the children’s book. But for how long? iStoryTime, a publisher who releases “books” (in interactive app form) exclusively for mobile devices, has just closed a 2 million dollar Series A. While iStoryTime is a company that most of the younger iPad-toting crowd likely hasn’t heard of, the folks with Bed-Time-Story-age kids very well may have: they’ve got publishing deals for a handful of huge licenses like Transformers, Kung Fu Panda, and Smurfs, with that last property having earned them the #1 spot in the iOS App Store’s Childrens Book section for the past few weeks. So, what do they plan on doing with the money? More books, in more places. They’re going to focus on expanding their library (which currently sits at around 100 titles), then work on making them available to more devices (right now they’re almost exclusively iOS, with just a couple of titles available on Android.) The round was lead by Germany’s Corporate Finance Partners (which is particularly cool, because iStoryTime is a Californian company) Corporate Finance Partners (CFP) provides corporate finance advisory services with a focus on mergers & acquisitions as well as private equity/ venture capital financings. CFP achieves global reach through... iStoryTime brings the joy of a children’s book to the convenience of your iPhone, iPod® touch, or iPad. Their books are illustrated and narrated, so your child can enjoy...
  |
| Posted: 09 Aug 2011 10:30 AM PDT  I’d been hoping I wouldn’t have to say this a second time, but here we go again: WebOS is reaching a critical failure point and I doubt the technology will make it through the next two years. Why? Because WebOS just can’t grab the mindshare it needs to flourish. According to Woot, the deal site sold 612 TouchPads during its impressive $100-off sale. During a similar sale in July, the Motorola Xoom, sold2,288. This, in microcosm, is where the TouchPad and WebOS is headed. Before you argue that this sample size is far too small for a full assessment, think about the current price drops – over $100 in a few months – and also consider the last time you saw a TouchPad in the wild? The numbers may be skimpy but they’re all we have so far. This sudden decline in HP TouchPad pricing isn’t unusual. Given that HP is now in charge of this product, it’s obvious that the pricing, discounts, and giveaways are part of HP’s sales plan and, thanks to HP’s extensive experience in PC sales, they’re attempting to clear the channel for upgraded devices. While this pricing reduction is obviously part of HP’s traditional M.O. – you don’t sell millions of desktops and laptops by selling at full price all the time – I think this M.O. coupled with the general lack of consumer interest is what will sink the TouchPad and the Pre, leaving them to flounder and fail like so many devices before them. Consider, for example, the iPaq. Originally hailed as a solid competitor to the original Palm Pilot, Compaq sold itself to HP in 2002 and slowly sputtered out as HP gave less and less attention to these devices. HP attempted – and failed – to sell the the PDA concept to newly-minted smartphone consumers and even when the iPaq line began incorporating smartphone features it was too late: the world had moved on. Here’s the bottom line: HP is where good ideas go to die. The company isn’t set up to think like a scrappy start-up. WebOS will be rolled into laptops, the WebOS tablet product will be overtaken by Windows 8 tablets, and the long, twisted tale of Palm will end with a whimper. I don’t want this to come to pass. I love the TouchPad and the Pre 3 is a good phone. But there is just no room for a third (or fourth (or fifth)) player in the smartphone market right now with Android and iOS battling it out and Windows Phone creeping up behind. HP can’t pivot out of this and, in the end, they’ll pull the plug. Maybe not this year, maybe not this CES, but by 2013 we’ll be writing WebOS’ obituary. Maybe I’ll be proven wrong, but probably not. WebOS’ time has passed and we’re just watching the funeral. [Sort of via SplatF but seriously go read Dan Fromer's new thing]
  |
| Third Galaxy S II Iteration Surfaces With LTE In Tow, Dubbed “Celox” Posted: 09 Aug 2011 10:28 AM PDT  We already know there’s more than one version of the Galaxy S II floating around out there. We have the original, 4.3-inch tri-buttoned version that launched in Korea. Then we have the Infuse-esque 4.5-inch version we saw just a few days ago that’s headed to T-Mobile, dubbed the Hercules. And now, a third Galaxy S II version has emerged. Meet Celox, a 4G LTE monster. It just recently appeared on Korean site IT TONG, and was passed along by Unwired View. This iteration is more of a hybrid of the other two, with a 4.5-inch screen but an almost identical look-and-feel to the original S II, sporting three buttons instead of four. But under the hood, things have changed quite a bit. The Celox touts an LTE chip capable of speeds of up to 100Mbps (which, though the carriers have ignored it, is the ITU’s required transfer speed to use the term “4G.”) But before you get too excited: let me tell you a little bit about this 4G LTE chip lest you start scouring the Verizon site for a pre-order page in vain. Verizon’s LTE network supports 700MHz bands (as does AT&T’s unlaunched LTE network, though the two won’t be compatible), whereas the Celox sports 800 / 1800 / 2600 MHz LTE connectivity, meaning it’s probably headed to Australia, Europe, or Asia. But that doesn’t mean we won’t get a Celox of our own some day (..please?) In case we do: specs include a 4.5-inch Super AMOLED Plus display, a dual-core 1.5 GHz processor, Android 2.3 Gingerbread, and an 8-megapixel camera with LED flash.
  |
| The MySaver Keeps Your iPhone Cable From Breaking For The 100th Time Posted: 09 Aug 2011 09:35 AM PDT  Apple makes a lot of things remarkably well. Cables… are not one of those things. Up until Apple overhauled their laptop chargers to this latest revision, I was inadvertently destroying one every 3-4 months — but that’s nothing compared to how many iPhone cables I’ve chewed through. Really: I could probably use my pile of retired iPhone cables to knit you a very stiff, uncomfortable hat. I figured I was just particularly hard on my cables — I do travel a lot, after all. Turns out, I’m not the only one. After just a week or so in the world, a Kickstarter project for a super simple iPhone cable protector has already found a venerable army of backers. For those who haven’t had to deal with a self-destructing iPhone/iPad/iPod cable, here’s the problem: they fray. Bad. It’s just something about the design of where the end connectors (be it the dock side or the USB side) meets the cable shielding. After a few weeks (with lots of being wrapped up and rolled out, of course; if you just leave it on your desk all the time, your cable is probably pristine), they begin to separate ; after another few weeks, the wires will be mostly exposed. Within a few months, the wires will likely just give out. Apple has made subtle changes to the design of these cables a few times, but the problem never really seems to go away. This Kickstarter project, the “MySaver”, kills the fray by… well, by making the end connectors suck less. By wrapping the entire end bit in soft, flexible silicon and increasing the size of the end caps, the MySaver reduces the amount of strain placed on the connector’s weak spots. The MySaver comes in two flavors: a DIY, snap-on solution for your existing iPhone cable, which they hope will retail for $11 (Kickstarter backers get it for $8), and a pre-made replacement cable which they’re planning to sell for $25 (with backers getting it for $19. Early backers got it for $10, though that tier is now sold out.) Think I’m just being too hard on my cables? In the just over a week since launching, the project has already found 274 backers, and raised $7,500 of their $15,000 goal. While that’s no ridiculous landslide like the TikTok Nano watch, it’s certainly a much better start than most projects get. Ready to kick down a few bucks to end the fray? You can find the Kickstarter project right over here. (With all that said, lets not stop hoping that Apple follows through with their pledge to support microUSB before too long) Kickstarter is a platform for funding creative ideas and ambitious endeavors. It is funded by an all-or-nothing funding method where projects must be fully-funded or no money changes...
  |
| AT&T Hits Obstacle In T-Mobile, Qualcomm Spectrum Acquisitions Posted: 09 Aug 2011 08:09 AM PDT  The FCC has just informed good ol' big blue that its proposed acquisitions of T-Mobile and Qualcomm's 700MHz spectrum will be informally reviewed together, rather than as separate transactions. This wouldn't really be a big deal except for the fact that AT&T may be biting off more than it can chew. By reviewing the two proposed acquisitions together, the FCC is forcing AT&T to justify such massive purchases of spectrum. In a letter to both AT&T and Qualcomm, the FCC writes: "The Commission's ongoing review has confirmed that the proposed transactions raise a number of related issues, including, but not limited to, questions regarding AT&T's aggregation of spectrum throughout the nation, particularly in overlapping areas. As a result, we have concluded that the best way to determine whether either or both of the proposed transactions serve the public interest is to consider them in a coordinated manner at this time." Well, AT&T may not be too happy to hear that, but we're glad the FCC plans to proceed with caution. The acquisition of these companies' spectrum is a coordinated effort by AT&T. That's not to say that AT&T has some evil genius plot to screw us by taking over the world one spectrum acquisition at a time, but more that these purchases could inadvertently disrupt innovation, raise prices, and a bevy of other fateful consequences. Then again, the acquisitions could just lead to my AT&T iPhone getting some service for a change. Update: AT&T has responded with the following statement:
Update 2: Qualcomm’s VP of government affairs, Dean Brenner, has also responded with the following statement:
T-Mobile is a mobile telephone operator headquartered in Bonn, Germany. It is a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom. T-Mobile has 101 million subscribers making it the worlds sixth largest mobile... In July 1985, seven industry veterans came together in the den of Dr. Irwin Jacobs' San Diego home to discuss an idea. Those visionaries—Franklin Antonio, Adelia Coffman, Andrew Cohen,...
  |
| DudaMobile Makes Your Website Mobile in One Click Posted: 09 Aug 2011 06:26 AM PDT  DudaMobile just launched a new, self-serve platform that lets existing website owners create a mobile version of their site just by typing in the website’s URL. The service, targeted towards small business owners and other professionals, includes one-click website conversion, auto sync between the main site and the mobile site, plus mobile-friendly features like a click-to-call widget, a maps and directions widget, an SMS widget for texting business info, Google AdWords support (soon) and mobile analytics. DudaMobile Today Currently, the company has over 175,000 websites hosted on its platform, 35% of which are small business sites. And users are creating 25,000 new mobile sites each day, we’re told. The majority of these sites were created prior to the self-service platform’s launch, with help from existing DudaMobile partners, including Webs.com, Logoworks by HP, and a major U.S. mobile operator which the company can’t publicly name. The company has also just partnered with Yahoo and Eniro, with those integrations rolling out now. When DudaMobile’s platform is used by partners in some cases, it’s integrated into those companies’ own backend website creation platforms. That means anyone who builds a site using the partners’ tools can immediately create a mobile-friendly website at the same time. In other cases, it’s a white label deal. Freemium Package Now, that same feature set is available to anyone as a freemium offering. The resulting mobile site works on all smartphones, including iPhone, Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone. DudaMobile provides dozens of design templates, but if you happen to know CSS and HTML, you can further customize the site to your liking. WordPress sites are supported, too. Free plans include 10 pages, 500 MB of bandwidth and are ad-supported. Professional sites are $9/month, offer unlimited pages and bandwidth, your own mobile URL, and are ad-free. Only Professional sites have access to the above-mentioned widgets, but both both versions include analytics. DudaMobile says its current users are seeing up to 40% conversion rates on the mobile sites’ click-to-call widgets, and among certain business categories, like taxis and restaurants, it’s as high as 50%. There are a lot of free and paid mobile website builders out there, including one from Google itself, but DudaMobile’s service is unique because it automatically syncs content from your desktop website to the mobile version as changes are made. You can learn more about DudaMobile here. DudaMobile makes websites mobile. The platform converts existing websites into mobile friendly sites within a few clicks. First launched as a white label platform in 2010, now over 200,000...
  |
| Hate Lines and Live in Mountain View? We’ve Got an App for You (TCTV) Posted: 09 Aug 2011 05:50 AM PDT A new startup called Pago is launching today, and if you live in Mountain View your life may have just gotten a lot easier. You can now go to more than 50 local merchants– coffee shops, dry cleaners, bars and the like– and order what you want from your smartphone, pay for it, and then skip the regular line to get it. It aims to bring Web-efficient check outs to the real world. Clearly anyone who spends their day chronically late (like me) would love this. There are two potential problems. The first is that founder and CEO Leo Rocco may have taken that whole adage of building the company you’d like to see in the world a little too literally. He lives in Mountain View and today his routine will get a good deal easier. But what are the odds Pago lasts long enough to sign up my favorite coffee shop, dry cleaner, and ice cream shop? Or yours? Saying you are going to follow people through their day seems an almost impossible claim to deliver on given how different each of our daily routines are. The other issue is that Pago is positioning itself as a payment platform first and foremost, and that’s one crowded space. Is Pago clever but just too late to the local party? A place in my neighborhood that could desparately use something like this is trendy ice cream shop Humphry Slocombe. There’s a line halfway down the block most days, usually the result of people trying different flavors at the front of the line and agonizing over which one to get. A system for quickly serving customers who already know what they want seems a win-win for the store and its patrons. But Humphry Slocombe already uses Square as its main payment system. Is it likely to adopt another smartphone-based payment platform? Of course not. Like games that leverage Facebook’s existing social graph, Pago might be a stronger offering along with a payment system already gaining traction in the market than as a new payment competitor.
  |
| Visa To Ramp Up Chip Migration To Support NFC And Mobile Payments Posted: 09 Aug 2011 05:48 AM PDT  We know Visa is getting serious about mobile and digital payments. Part of this plan involves adopting NFC and other chip technologies that will enable mobile transactions. Today, the company is announcing that it will accelerate the migration to EMV contact (those chips that are sometimes found in your credit cards) and contactless chip technology in the United States. Visa says that the adoption of these chip technologies will help prepare retailers and payments companies for the arrival of NFC-based mobile payments by building the necessary infrastructure to accept and process chip transactions that support either a signature or PIN at the point of sale. Jim McCarthy, global head of product at Visa said in a release: “As NFC mobile payments and other chip-based emerging technologies are poised to take off in the coming years, we are taking steps today to create a commercial framework that will support growth opportunities and create value for all participants in the payment chain.” As Visa's Global Head of Mobile Product Bill Gajda told me last week, the company is bullish on NFC, but realizes that the wide scale adoption of the technology probably won’t happen until later this year at the earliest. Of course, globally, Visa will continue to support its range of cardholder verification methods including signature, PIN and no-signature for low-value, low-risk transactions. But in the longer term, Visa expects that the use of verification methods such as signature and PIN will be reduced or eliminated entirely as new and dynamic forms of cardholder verification are implemented with chip technologies. Visa also says that it will require U.S. acquirer processors and sub-processor service providers to be able to support merchant acceptance of chip transactions no later than April 1, 2013. While many argue that NFC will have an uphill battle when scaling, it’s a positive sign that Visa is pushing its strategy. Mastercard also partnered with Google on NFC payments with the upcoming launch of Google Wallet.
  |
| You are subscribed to email updates from TechCrunch » Mobile To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
