MobileCrunch |  |
- Apprupt Raises More Funding For Mobile In-Content Advertising Technology
- Forget Apps, Carbyn Has Built A HTML5 OS
- Microsoft Shows Off Tango Video Chat App On The HTC Titan
- Congress Members Urge Obama To Approve AT&T/T-Mobile Merger
- iPhone 5 To Launch On October 15th, Suggests France Telecom CEO
- Did Case-Mate Just Leak The iPhone 5?
- AT&T To Officially Light Up LTE Network This Weekend
- YouTube Video Hints At New T-Mobile myTouch Phones By LG
- Nintendo Will Not Make Smartphone Games, Says President Iwata
| Apprupt Raises More Funding For Mobile In-Content Advertising Technology Posted: 16 Sep 2011 02:33 AM PDT  Apprupt, which operates a performance network for mobile in-content ads, this morning announced that it has raised more funding from existing backers T-Venture (a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom), Neuhaus Partners and KfW. The size of the financing round was not disclosed, although the company says it involves a “seven-digit Euro investment”. The new funding will be used to increase the startup’s headcount in sales, international expansion and to invest in its mobile advertising technology. apprupt is the first premium performance network for mobile in-content ads. Through our extensive network of premium publishers, apprupt provides advertising companies with specifically targeted solutions for context-driven mobile advertising and lead generation. With its Contvertising format, apprupt enables publishers such as the Financial Times Germany, stern.de, WEB.DE Mobile, n-tv and Men's Health to offer their own users relevant and topical apps and products and thereby monetize mobile traffic in a context-driven manner. apprupt is internationally represented with offices in Hamburg,...
   |
| Forget Apps, Carbyn Has Built A HTML5 OS Posted: 15 Sep 2011 06:16 PM PDT  HTML5, HTML5, HTML5 — it seems to be the only thing anyone wants to talk about these days. And that excitement could get kicked into overdrive next week when Facebook unveils Project Spartan, their platform for HTML5 apps. But why wait? A startup that launched at TechCrunch Disrupt has already built an entire HTML5-based OS: Carbyn. The great thing about Carbyn is that there’s nothing to install. Because it’s HTML5, it works in the browser. Well, any “modern” browser, as Google often likes to say — that means essentially anything but the older versions of IE. You simply open a browser and log-in to Carbyn and you’re ready to go. The team showed it to me running on both an iPad and a BlackBerry PlayBook. Soon it will work on smartphones as well, they say. Once you load up the OS, you can pin any app to the main OS screen (again, all in the browser). Apps can be tailored for Carbyn from the ground up (still using all HTML5) or there’s a wrapper that can be used to make existing apps work. There’s a SDK for all of this, and the team says that they can get any app up and running in less than a half hour. So how is this different from something like the Chrome Web Store? Well, that’s just a store for HTML5 apps, it’s not an OS to run them. They still run in the browser itself, and that means when you close one, you’re just closing a window or a tab. When you close a Carbyn app, you’re taken back to the Carbyn homescreen. But the key is that there’s much better multi-tasking thanks to their SDK which allows different apps to talk to one another in a way that traditional web apps can’t. In many ways, Carbyn is more similar to the browser itself, Chrome. Or even closer, Chrome OS. But the Chrome Web Store only works on Chrome and only on personal computers. Carbyn is meant to run anywhere (again, anywhere with a “modern” browser). “Google wants to promote their own products, we’re agnostic,” co-founder Jaafer Haidar notes. Carbyn is probably a bit closer to Jolicloud, a startup we’ve covered a bunch. But they’re in the process of refocusing their product. And the truth is that they were always a bit different anyway. While the vision may have been similar, Jolicloud perhaps suffered from being a bit too early to the space. When they launched, HTML5 wasn’t on the tip of everyone’s tongue, so they had to build an OS around Linux. As for Facebook with Project Spartan, Carbyn anticipates it will have the same problems as the Chrome Web Store in that it will be too closely tied to the parent company. “Hopefully Facebook doesn’t try to pull a Microsoft and create some proprietary hooks for HTML5,” Haider says. Carbyn is now focused on partnering with some key developers to tailor apps for their platform. They eventually plan to take a cut of app store sales (the standard practice) or possibly do affiliate deals. The Canadian-based startup has 5 employees and has been entirely self-funded up until now. They’re in the process of raising their first outside funding. See Carbyn in action in the video below. Company: Carbyn Website: carbyn.com Carbyn is an online app operating system, bringing the same type of full App experience we all love on iOS but doing it in the browser meaning accessible by everyone on all devices; phones, tablets, and desktops new and old. Now everyone can get the apps they love! We believe human computer interaction is increasingly App-focused, meaning people launch apps first and then do what they want instead of going through a file system. It’s what those with an iPhone/iPad...
  |
| Microsoft Shows Off Tango Video Chat App On The HTC Titan Posted: 15 Sep 2011 03:45 PM PDT  I’ve liked Windows Phone Mango since I first laid eyes on it, but the truth of the matter is that most of the features being implemented are merely catching up to competing platforms. The Bing integration and voice-to-text capabilities are… pretty cool. But other than that, as I said, Mango is playing catch-up. The addition of a video chat app on the Mango-powered HTC Titan is yet another example of that, but it’s coming. Despite the incredibly unfortunate name sharing situation, the Tango video chat app (unrelated to the next WP7 update codenamed Tango) is actually pretty cool, albeit a bit late to the party. In the video below, Aaron Woodman of the Windows Phone team perhaps too enthusiastically details the way video chat works on that massive 4.7-inch Titan screen (courtesy of the Windows Phone Blog). Like Apple’s FaceTime and the Tango app for Android, Tango for WP lets you enjoy the “see what I see” switcharoo between front and rear-facing cameras. Oddly enough, Google Talk has yet to get this figured out. What’s cool is that the Tango app for Mango is cross-platform, offering support for iOS, Android, and PC. Microsoft happens to own a pretty awesome VoIP service called Skype, so this Tango app may have some pretty serious competition on the Windows platform in the future. HTC Corp, (TAIEX: 2498) produces smartphones running the Android and Windows Phone 7 operating systems for themselves and as an OEM to other manufacturers. Since launching its own brand in late 2006, the company has introduced dozens of HTC-branded products around the world. The company recently introduced the HTC diamond to compete with Apple’s iPhone. Founded in 1997 by Cher Wang, Chairwoman, and Peter Chou, President and CEO, HTC made its name as the company behind many of the...
  |
| Congress Members Urge Obama To Approve AT&T/T-Mobile Merger Posted: 15 Sep 2011 01:38 PM PDT  Fifteen members of Congress aren’t too pleased with the Department of Justice’s recent anti-trust suit, as instanced by a letter they sent to President Obama. Penned by Rep. Heath Shuler (D-NC) the letter urged the president to settle the suit in favor of the AT&T/T-Mobile merger because of the benefits it could bring to the American people. Though Shuler meanders a bit, the letter essentially boils down to three main points: the merger will help the expansion of high-speed wireless networks, help generate new jobs, and help boost the country’s GDP in the long run. Shuler paints a picture of an America that is ultimately better off from the results of the merger, and ties the potential benefits back to the president’s own hopes for broadband expansion and job creation as laid out during the last State of the Union address. Shuler finishes up the letter by recognizing the intent of the Department of Justice, and goes briefly into why the they should actually want a settlement:
The claims, of course, are nothing that haven’t been heard before. While members of Congress can voice their complaints all they like, this is a matter that’s ultimately up to the courts to decide. That wasn’t about to stop Sprint, who filed their own lawsuit shortly after the DoJ kicked things off, from vigorously denouncing the merger once again:
Unless something drastic happens soon, expect the situation to become much hairier before it starts to clear up. UPDATE: A tweet from a reader prompted me to do some more digging, and it turns out that Rep. Shuler has been the recipient of over $25,000 from AT&T over the course of his political career. I haven’t yet been able to figure out who the others are, but it’s possible that their campaign contribution histories are similarly tainted.
  |
| iPhone 5 To Launch On October 15th, Suggests France Telecom CEO Posted: 15 Sep 2011 12:17 PM PDT  Apple is famous — hell, notorious even — for their culture of secrecy. With the strictest of NDAs, discussions between even the closest of teams limited to need-to-know matters, and whispers of creepy internal investigation squads lurking about, people in the know tend to keep their lips sealed up tight. Unless that person’s name is Stéphane Richard and they’re the CEO of France Telecom — then they say just about whatever the heck they want. In this case, he’s stirring up the rumors surrounding the iPhone 5′s launch date. Back in May, Stéphane Richard tested the waters by confirming that Apple was tinkering with the idea of a new, smaller SIM card standard. Seemingly walking away from that without any harsh repercussions, he today shared what he believes to be the launch date for the iPhone 5. In discussions with a small group of French reports, Stéphane mentioned: “If we believe what we have been told, the iPhone 5 will be released on 15 October” Gasp! Of course, it’s worth noting that new iPhones dont always launch in all regions simultaneously; while the iPhone 4 launched in the US and across Europe all at once, some countries don’t get the new model until a few weeks later. Previous rumors have pinned this newest model’s launch on days all over the first half of October, and this little slip-up really just helps cement that idea. What do you think? October 7th? October 15th? Place your bets now. The winner gets to point to this thread in all future internet flamewars as evidence of their undeniable prescience. 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, Inc. to Apple, Inc. in January 2007. Among the key offerings from Apple’s product line are: Pro line laptops (MacBook Pro) and desktops (Mac Pro), consumer line laptops (MacBook) and desktops (iMac), servers (Xserve), Apple TV, the Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server operating systems, the iPod (offered with...
  |
| Did Case-Mate Just Leak The iPhone 5? Posted: 15 Sep 2011 10:23 AM PDT  And like that it’s gone. Before I could hit the publish button on this post, Case-Mate pulled the page in question and replaced it with a landing page. But for a second there, Case-Mate had what seemed to be a whole bunch of images of iPhone 5 cases loaded with a slightly different phone that looks rather iPad-ish. Here we go again. Yet another trip around the iPhone 5 leak zone. It’s hard to say what Case-Mate was using to display their cases. It’s unlike Apple to give accessory makers actually hardware. The pics shown on the now-removed product pages looked like renders anyway, but they were probably based at least partly on known specs. The result is a device with styling cues clearly taken from the iPad 2 and current iPod touch with a tapered back and thinner casing. Case-Mate’s quick removal of the offending page seems to suggest that it wasn’t posted intentionally — although it could be part of a ploy to get people to this landing page and if was the intent, well played, Case-Mate. Apple is said to announce the next iPhone sometime in the coming weeks. These images are just the latest in a long, long series of Apple leaks concerning the next iPhone. Gizmodo might have officially pawned Apple with its iPhone 4 scoop, but the iPhone 5 isn’t exactly a well-guarded secret anymore. 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, Inc. to Apple, Inc. in January 2007. Among the key offerings from Apple’s product line are: Pro line laptops (MacBook Pro) and desktops (Mac Pro), consumer line laptops (MacBook) and desktops (iMac), servers (Xserve), Apple TV, the Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server operating systems, the iPod (offered with...
  |
| AT&T To Officially Light Up LTE Network This Weekend Posted: 15 Sep 2011 09:52 AM PDT  AT&T CFO John Stevens dropped a bit of a bombshell while speaking at a Bank of America/Merrill Lynch event today. According to him, AT&T will officially launch their LTE network in five markets this weekend. Assuming they have either an LTE modem or a needlessly-expensive HTC tablet, customers in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio will be able to jump on the fledgling high-speed network on Sunday, September 18. Data plans start at $50 for 5GB of use, which puts them right on par with most other mobile broadband providers. Even though Verizon has had a substantial head start in building out their LTE network, AT&T claims that their data speeds are right on par with their red-swathed rivals. Hopefully it turns out to be true — This is my next performed some preliminary tests when the network soft-launched in Chicago, only to see disappointing results. Still, that could all be chalked up to some pre-launch jitters. AT&T has big hopes for their LTE roll-out: they aim to cover an additional 70 million customers, and have their first LTE smartphone on shelves by year’s end. In contrast, FierceWireless reports that thanks to their head start, Verizon plans to cover 175 markets and nearly 185 million subscribers by the same time.
  |
| YouTube Video Hints At New T-Mobile myTouch Phones By LG Posted: 15 Sep 2011 08:25 AM PDT  It used to be that T-Mobile’s myTouch line consisted exclusively of HTC devices, but a video uploaded to T-Mobile’s official YouTube account has revealed that the myTouch club may have some new members. Before being marked as private, the tutorial video briefly showed off two heretofore unseen LG smartphones, named simply the myTouch and the myTouch Q. A similar pair of LG phones was spotted in a leaked T-Mobile roadmap from a few months back, meaning that this could be the first glimpse of the rumored LG Maxx and Maxx Q. The LG myTouch line bears a striking resemblance to LG’s Optimus Sol, which as TmoNews points out has a 3.8″ AMOLED display. The screen size seems consistent, as does the strangely low placement of the three Android softkeys, but it’s too early to tell if the LG myTouch is just a simple rebrand. The Maxx Q was also reported to sport a four-row QWERTY keyboard, which for right now seems like the only major difference between the two units. Given the number of other myTouch entries in T-Mobile’s lineup, the branding choice here seems a bit puzzling. To call LG’s device simply the “myTouch” almost seems to imply that it’s more of a myTouch than all of HTC’s devices. It wouldn’t surprise me if T-Mobile made the video private to fix certain inconsistencies in the title and description. Still, if the original roadmap is to be believed, then we’ll only have to wait until November to find out the real deal. [via AndroidGuys]
  |
| Nintendo Will Not Make Smartphone Games, Says President Iwata Posted: 15 Sep 2011 06:53 AM PDT  While I would be absolutely thrilled to indulge my Pokemon addiction on my smartphone (officially, anyway), Nintendo President Satoru Iwata has gone and shot down my dreams. According to a post-press conference interview with Nikkei, Iwata has categorically denied that Nintendo will create games for platforms other than their own. “This is absolutely not under consideration. If we did this, Nintendo would cease to be Nintendo. Having a hardware development team in-house is a major strength. It’s the duty of management to make use of those strengths.” Though Iwata does admit that creating a division to churn out smartphone games would lead to some short-term gains, he states that his job is about maintaining Nintendo’s position down the line. It’s a fair point to make — Nintendo has spent decades cultivating some of the most beloved gaming brands in the world, and to start releasing iOS and Android spin-offs that don’t live up to the standard could jeopardize those years of effort. Even so, one can’t help wonder if Iwata is being a tad short-sighted. The company’s latest handheld effort has been a bit of a flop, with the company even tacitly admitting faults in the 3DS’s design by rolling out a heinous new cradle for it. Nintendo took a risk on 3D, and to date, it simply hasn’t been working out for them. Would Nintendo really be risking that much if they went the smartphone route? It could be a secondary focus for them: get a talented group of people to make, for example, the best mobile version of Zelda they can and push it out right before Skyward Sword hits. Deliver a solid enough experience, and fans will eat both games up. Of course, it’s easy for me to say all this from the outside. Iwata (and Nintendo by proxy) would be the ones to deal with the aftermath, and for them, it just may not seem worth it yet.
  |
| 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 | |
