Jajah for O2

Telefonica O2's acquisition of mobile Internet telephony company Jajah reported by the Times reflects a dramtic change in the approach of operators to the potential of the mobile voice over Internet Protocol (mobile VoIP) market.

For many years traditional operators have viewed the development of mobile VoIP simply as a threat to their call revenues. Some service providers even adopted a strategy of blocking VoIP access from their networks or branded handsets.

But with the unstoppable rise of new generation smartphones led by the iPhone and other recently released devices such as Google's Nexus One and Palm Pre, mobile operators have been forced to re-think their strategies.

Mobile operator 3 was the first UK provider to exploit the mobile VoIP opportunity. It's partnership with Skype enabled it to secure its place in the market. Despite the arrival of new competitors including Google Talk, Skype continues to lead the way with its 480 million worldwide user base.

But with consumer VoIP inevitable destined to become a commodity mobile operators must create new differentiated services that offer more than just cheap calls.

By its £130 million Jajah aquisition Telefonica O2 shows that it means business.

Motorola releases new Milestone

As Motorola prepares the European launch of it's new Milestone handset in Germany on November 9th 2009 some analysts are already considering whether it will outshine the Palm Pre as the most serious threat to Blackberry Storm and Apple iPhone.

Motorala Milestone is the first Android powered phone to combine release 2.0 of the Google operating system and ARM's A8 processor. It has the same specification as the US version called Droid which features a slider with full Qwerty keyboard, 3.7-inch high resolution capacitive touchscreen with more than 400,000 pixels, 5-megapixel camera with dual-LED flash and video capture, and 16Gb of microSD storage.

Google has said it expects some 20 Android-based devices will be released by the end of the year. The Android 2.0 browser supports all the key new web technologies like WebKit HTML 5 and Adobe Flash 10.

Motorola last set the pace in the handset market five years ago when it released the iconic RAZR phone. Since then it has been virtually eclipsed by Apple and RIM in the fast growing smartphone market.

Milestone will be launched in Europe by German operators Vodafone and possibly T-Mobile. It is expected in the UK early in 2010.

Palm’s Pre Power Play?

Evidently the world is moving over to the smartphone. The increasing power of the wireless internet enables smartphone users to do more things, be it social networking, TV, music, navigation, remote working, commerce or gaming. But two years after the arrival of Apple’s iconic iPhone is the powerful new Palm Pre the next definitive step forward in smartphone performance?

Smartphone sales accelerated in the fourth quarter of 2008 growing 26% higher than the previous year, and 36% above for the whole of 2008. The fierce fight for customers sees RIM BlackBerry Storm and BlackBerry Bold, T-Mobile G1 and the HTC Touch HD, Arena, Nokia E71 and N97, Samsung Omnia HD, the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 all challenging the 3G iPhone as brands such as Google, Apple, Nokia, Microsoft and Palm battle across the smartphone range.

Palm Pre comes with WiFi, and 3G (HSDPA) internet connectivity and features a 3.1 inch touch-screen, a slide-out Querty keyboard, accelerometer, and gesture bar. Its multitasking capability allows different applications like text, chat or IM to be used at the same time. Pre's Webkit browser is the same as the Android and iPhone. Palm’s Linux-based Web OS is designed for use without a stylus and uses a Card system to display applications on the phone desktop. You can drag an application onto your phone desktop and close it by a simple upward flick.

With its links to Amazon store Palm Pre continues the central role the internet plays in smartphone applications. But whether it proves a match for the 3G iPhone and its Apple store remains to be seen. Feature for feature it arguably excels. Game on!