ArchiveAugust, 2007

We love when our friends from Motorola come by to visit. Sure, they are a good business partner, but more importantly they always bring the latest toys! Unfortunately we aren’t allowed to talk about most of them, but the RAZR2 was announced back in the spring and its features are well-documented by now.

Lost in the iPhone hype?
The RAZR2 got lots of buzz when it was announced, but soon after came the public relations juggernaut around the Apple iPhone, and suddenly it seemed like nobody in the press wanted to talk about anything else. Having spent some time now with the RAZR2, we are happy to say that Apple isn’t the only place where innovation is taking place.

Motorola RAZR 2: More than an Updated, Sleeker Look
Despite the bigger screen, the Motorola RAZR 2 is thinner than the original by 2mm. But thanks to the tapered edges and precision design, it feels even slimmer. This is one great looking phone.

When you hold the RAZR2, the phone’s quality is immediately apparent. This is a truly top-of-the-line phone; from the way it feels in your hand, to the finish of the metal, to the smoothly honed edges, to the firm feel of the hinge when you open and close it. Motorola claims the hinge can handle 120 pounds of pressure. Clearly they didn’t cut any corners on the design or the construction.

Read more…

U.S. cell phone sales grew 14% year-over-year to $2.4 billion, or 33 million units, in the second quarter of 2007, according to just-released research by The NPD Group; however, the total number of number of handsets sold represented a 17% drop from the previous quarter, as summer is traditionally a slow season for cell phone retailers.

According to the firm, 28% of phones purchased in Q2 were actually free due to promotions and rebates and an equal percentage cost less than $50. Only around 4% of handsets sold in the second quarter cost consumers more than $250 — indicating that models like the Apple iPhone continue to be the exception, not the rule, of the U.S. cell phone industry.

Popular features in Q2 included Bluetooth (70% of phones sold were Bluetooth compatible), music players (45% could play music) and smartphones. Smartphone/PDAs consisted of 11% of the total mix.

The most popular cell phone brand in the U.S. continues to be Motorola, which accounted for 32% of all cell phones sold in the U.S. last quarter. The world-leader Nokia came in 4th in the U.S. market with only 10%. Also rounding out the top 5 cell phone brands were Samsung (18%), LG Electronics (17%), and Sanyo (4%).

I was at the Dave Matthews concert over the weekend and cell phones have definitely replaced lighters as the light of choice for encores. But people aren’t just waving their phones at concerts – and artists and concert goers are divided about whether that’s a good thing. I would have gladly taken the phone away from the guy next to me who called everyone he knew to yell, “Dude, I’m at a Dave Matthews concert!”

But some artists have decided that fans are bringing their cell phones to shows, and they might as well involve them in making a better experience for everyone. Metal rockers Korn have allowed concert-goers to vote on which song will close the show. Other artists including Gwen Stefani have run in-concert contests for better seats, and at Lollapalooza one lucky fan won a guitar and the chance to play with Hold Steady.

Other than the U2 concert when Bono asked everyone to text in support of the One campaign, I haven’t attended any concerts with cell phone interactivity, though my friends and I have Twittered from shows. What’s been your experience? Have you participated in a contest? Did you receive any marketing messages after the show?

Location-based services continue to see actual use lag behind interest, but the expanding selection of services – and their emergence into the mainstream – may soon change that.

A survey conducted by JupiterResearch confirms that adoption does remain low, with only 3% of cell phone users taking advantage of GPS-based navigation and assorted location-based services. However, the same research indicates that public awareness of a myriad of services is growing.

A few weeks ago, we mentioned a partnership between Sprint and Loopt which will make “social mapping� a reality for any Sprint customer. Meanwhile, there’s a pretty effective Disney Mobile commercial currently running – the best Mom ever! – that calls attention to location-based services designed to help parents keep track of their kids.

Read more…

Researchers at Intel are working on teaching cell phones to be more polite and not interrupt important conversations. By analyzing speech patterns, tone, volume, etc., scientists are able to learn much about conversations – even without hearing the actual words.

For example, if one person is dominating the conversation, it is likely a more formal interaction – a boss and employee or teacher and student. But if the exchanges are more even and overlapping, it’s likely a casual or social conversation that may be more open to being interrupted by a cell phone call.

It would be nice if they could combine this with the GPS capabilities now available in many cell phones to teach phones when it’s not appropriate to put through calls as well (such as churches, movie theatres, etc.).

Now if we could only teach the kids when it’s appropriate to interrupt, we’d be set.

Read Wirefly’s tips on cell phone etiquette.

If you tend to think while you’re driving but you know it’s a bad idea to write and drive (and soon it may be illegal to text and drive where you are), you can now Jott your thoughts. Jott is a free transcription service – you call a toll-free number, talk, and your message is transcribed and sent as an email to you or a pre-determined list of contacts.

The service is free, and the transcription is done by actual people and then emailed and archived on the web site. While Jott does have rules for their employees, I would be cautious about revealing identifying information (whether personal or client-related) if you are in an industry with strict privacy concerns.

But for a sales manager debriefing after a pitch meeting, a real-estate agent doing a walk-through on a property, or even just composing a shopping list on the way home, it comes in very handy. The sign-up process was painless and quick – you have to validate both your email and cell phone number, then the system leads you through a quick trial where you record your first Jott to yourself. In less than five minutes, my “hello world” was in my email box and the original audio was available on the web site.

There are instructions available on the site if you’d like to be able to Jott directly to your blog as well.

The State of Virginia has begun to subpoena cell phone records to locate parents delinquent in child support payments.

The state currently has 260,000 delinquent parents and has already received cell phone numbers for 52,000. Now the real work of tracking down those parents and requesting payment begins. The head of the Child Support Enforcement division says he is hoping to expand the program to all 50 states and 160 cell phone providers in the country, particularly now that individual documents don’t have to be sent for each request. Through the program, the state is able to send one file, and the cell phone companies perform a data match and provide the information back to the state.

Statewide in Virginia, non-custodial parents owe a total of $2.3 billion in delinquent child support payments. That number is expected in increase by at least $100 million each year.