Orange challenging Blackberry perhaps?
Posted Wednesday, March 22, 2006 at 10:22pm in Blogging | Leave a Comment
Uk phone company, Orange is introducing a new feature with Windows Mobile 5 that allows push email to be sent to the user’s mobile phone. Much the same way as the Blackberry phones work, users on Orange business plans can have email sent straight to their phone’s inbox instantly, as opposed to manually downloading them.
As well as this, business plan users will also be able to let their IT department set up Windows Mobile email across as many devices as they wish, without configuring each manually. Read the full press release over at CoolSmartPhone.com. (Can’t find it on the Orange website)
Sounds like it’s a definite challenge to the Blackberry business model to me. What makes it particularly interesting, and why Orange might have an advantage here, is that Windows Mobile phones tend to come with more appealing features than the Blackberry - camera, video camera, mp3 player, Internet, instant messaging. (I believe - never actually held a Blackberry).
And although the Blackberry is perceived as the cool hip phone to be down with, this new push email from Windows might just throw up a few challenges?
Technorati tags:
orange, blackberry, push-email
Paypal goes mobile
Posted at 9:26pm in Blogging | 1 Comment
Paypal, the online secure payment system has gone mobile, allowing users to make payments using their mobile phones. Simply log into your Paypal account, click on your profile page and then click on the ‘phone’ option. You then have the opportunity to ‘confirm’ your phone by typing in your own unique pin number where Paypal will subsequently call you for confirmation.
I’m a frequent eBay user (student + study = skint), thus I have a Paypal account. I’ve just signed my mobile up for the facility but I’m having one or two issues at the moment. I wait for the confirmation call and nothing happens. So I click on the link again, and it says: “We tried to call you, but the number you provided is invalid. Only US, UK, and Canadian phone numbers are currently supported. Please check your number and try again when you are able to answer the phone.”
Erm, I have a UK mobile number? I’ve tried it with and without the country code but alas. Suppose they’re experiencing a high volume of users testing it out at the moment.
As well as this, Paypal has also rolled out a ‘Text to Buy’ (membership needed) option where it says: “Whenever you see Text to Buy next to something you want to buy - on a poster, in a magazine, at an event - you can order the item securely by text message. Use your phone to buy items like CDs, DVDs, books, electronics, accessories and much more.”
The latter new feature seems more interesting to me. It’s an ideal solution for when you’re out around town, see something you like and want to buy it in a instant. Suppose if the idea does pick up among highstreet shops, it’s would be better than carrying around credit cards in the old sky rocket. Although, I’ve been known to have friends who lose their mobile once a month on average. Don’t think they’d be too keen on the concept.
Via, Russell Beattie
Picture via Russell Beattie
Sidenote: I got in touch with Technorati regarding my blog not updating on T/rati’s site again. Within a matter of days I received a response and an apology from a customer support specialist. Wow! They seem to really on the ball now. Much quicker than previous problems with the same issue. Kudos to Technorati.
Technorati tags:
paypal, mobile, paypal+mobile
An interview with BBC Radio 4
Posted at 7:11pm in Media, PR General | 5 Comments
Along with three other University of Sunderland students, I was interviewed by BBC Radio 4 last night regarding the recent situation of how the Labour Party is funded. For anyone that doesn’t know, four businessmen gave the Labour Party unpublicised loans totalling £4.5m and were subsequently nominated for peerages by Tony Blair. More here.
We discussed how far politicians are out of touch from the general public and what they should do to get politics in the forefront of people’s (and students’) minds. Being the only PR student (the others students are studying politics) I had my PR hat on. And of course pointed out that politicians need to be upfront, honest and transparent in everything they do.
It was aired at 10pm last night but I was told it will be available via the BBC Radio 4 website today. As of yet, I haven’t found it, but if I do I’ll put a link up. If anyone’s remotely interested that is!
It certainly was a great opportunity for media training, and once again, thanks Philip.
Technorati tags:
politics, BBC+Radio+4, PR, stephen+davies
Why isn’t Hollywood embracing Web 2.0?
Posted Monday, March 20, 2006 at 11:08pm in Blogging, Technology | Leave a Comment
Following on from a previous post on how the music industry is using Web 2.0, I decided to check out some recent Hollywood movie websites to see if they’re taking a similar approach. Analyst I am not, so this is only a sketchy look at what some movie companies are doing.
I decided to look at the top 10 movies in both the US and UK box offices at the present time. Things I looked for were the use of blogs, RSS, podcasts, video blogs, tagging etc etc. You get the picture.
Surprisingly, there isn’t a great deal of use in terms of the tools mentioned above. However, there is a considerable amount using…yes, you guessed it, MySpace. By my recent posts, I feel like I’m becoming a MySpace groupie, but the more I explore it, the more I think what a phenomenon it is and will continue to be.
Why the movie industry hasn’t embraced Web 2.0 as much as the music industry I don’t know. Maybe it’s a different audience? Maybe they haven’t discovered its benefits yet? Who knows? It’s early days still so I guess it’s hard to tell.
Number one in the US movie charts is V for Vendetta. The company behind it is Warner Brothers, who are usually on the ball when using new technologies as I’ve mentioned before. Not this time, all we get is an RSS feed (that isn’t working in Firefox) for news and a ‘talk back’ section which allows fans to give feedback. A quick MySpace browse, and there we are.
In fact, V for Vendetta is probably one of the best sites for using new social technologies. A lot of movie sites I checked didn’t use any Web 2.0 at all, including Failure to Launch, The Hills Have Eyes, Curious George and Ultraviolet. Nothing, no measly RSS feed, blog, nothing! Interestingly, they all have a MySpace page though:
Failure To Launch
The Hills Have Eyes
Curious George
Ultraviolet
She’s the Man website has video which can be downloaded to the Video iPod and PSP but apart from that, there isn’t anything else. Again, skimping on the Web 2.0 but not neglecting a MySpace page.
Perhaps the best use of a movie taking advantage of MySpace is Date Movie. On its website, it has a section called Pimp My Profile, which allows MySpace users to type in their profile name where a character out of the movie criticises how bad your profile is. He then suggests pimping it which, if clicked ‘yes’, it changes your theme to a theme of the movie. Brilliant! Very original and guaranteed to generate interest from the movie’s target audience. See for yourslelf.
Oh the movie has a MySpace page too, surprise surprise.
As mentioned earlier, I don’t know why the movie industry isn’t adopting Web 2.0 like the music industry. It could possibly have something to do with the longevity of a film from promotion to release? Once the intitial hype has been built and it’s released, then maybe they don’t see any need to continually promote it.
But this could be an squandered opportunity. The great thing about the Internet is that it doesn’t work the same as traditional media. Old news and information comes back around and recycles itself. This should be taken advantage of. And after all, it’s not like they can’t afford it.
Technorati tags:
movies, movie+industry, web2.0, stephen+davies
Is Google experimenting with their search page?
Posted at 12:18am in Blogging | 2 Comments
While my intrigue continues to grow around Myspace, I was browsing around Google to try and find some random high-profile Myspace members. After finding that the Xbox 360 has its own Myspace page (can you believe that?) I decided to do a Google search to see if Nokia had joined the Myspace revolution too. Which I don’t believe they have by the way.
What I did find though was a slightly different search page to what is the norm. You instinctively know when something looks odd on a Google search page because we use it so many times throughout the day. Now, I’m no expert but I’ve never seen this minor change in the layout before.
This is what I normally see when querying a search:
However, this time I got:
Notice how the different search options are not aligned at the top horizontally but instead are place to the left-hand-side vertically.
For a closer inspection:
As mentioned, I’m no expert but I’ve never seen it’s layout like that before? Anyone else?
UPDATE
Found this via trusty Digg. Questions answered.