AT&T said it fixed a security breach that affected over 100 thousand iPad owners.

AT&T issued a statement saying that it was informed on Monday by a business customer of the potential breach.

"The only information that can be derived from the ICC IDS is the e-mail address attached to that device. ... We have essentially turned off the feature that provided the e-mail addresses," the statement said.

The statement said the company corrected the problem by Tuesday. AT&T also added it does not believe many people were affected.

According to Gawker, 114,000 accounts were affected by a hacking company called Goatse. AT&T says it will continue to investigate and inform all customers who were affected by the breach.

According to metrics from admob, the Android was the fastest growing operating system in their network (which covers over 15,000 mobile websites) metrics year-over-year. The platforms share of request increased from 2% in February 2009 to 24% in February 2010. Additionally, the leading smartphone operating systems where iPhone followed by Android and then Symbian.

By Levi Shapiro

The iPhone zooms to #1. Competitors react to declining market share and diminishing ARPU (Average Revenue per User) by embracing Android. Sound familiar? Actually, this is not the US, but Japan. Market leader NTT Docomo, which turned down the iPhone three years ago, is now saying "Konnichi Wa" to Android. Their approach is providing a rare opportunity for Western content companies to penetrate the Japanese market and may be a roadmap for other carriers.

The world launch of the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 will be this month on Docomo

Android, the mobile operating system (OS) from Google, is on a tear. Because it is free and open source, there are now 24 different Android devices available from 61 operators in 49 countries. Last month, Google CEO Eric Schmidt announced that Android is selling 60,000 handsets every day. At that rate, and if Google continues to double sales every quarter, we can expect to see 25 million Android handsets this year. Most of this market share expansion is at the expense of Windows Mobile.

Continue reading "Android in Japan " »

With Prognostications coming from every side about the potential for the Apple iPad to be a disruptive platform in the mobile marketplace, some concrete numbers from Crowd Science indicate some Blackberry users are or may shift to other platforms, namely the iPhone and Google Nexus One.

According to the study 39% of BlackBerry owners said they "definitely or probably would" get an iPhone. Additionally about one-third of the participants claimed they'd get an Android phone.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple is expected to release two new iPhones this year, including one compatible with the CDMA network used by Verizon Wireless, Sprint and others, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people briefed by the company. The introduction of a CDMA-based iPhone would effectively end Apple's exclusive deal with AT&T in the U.S.

Apple is also reportedly working on a new version of its current iPhone that is thinner and sports a faster processor.

image c. Amazon

Rupert Murdoch is taking on the role of circus master, voice for the newspaper industry in his bid to stop Google from crawling his and other sites. His personality and perhaps motivations aside, there is a legitimate concern over the newspaper industry, a failed model that is hemorrhaging money, loosing readers and advertisers, to put it bluntly content is currently far from king.

Putting aside the cost of labor, transportation and raw materials, the industry contributed to their own problems when papers such as the New York Times and others put up their content, lock stock and barrel for free. The ground they lost can not be taken back, the war is lost. On the other side however, WSJ.com the Wall Street Journal charged for their content out of the gate and at a lower price point then the paper version, it has been a success with over 16 million readers at a current subscription price of $103 for 52 weeks.

As the character Tyrell in the cult classic movie Blade Runner said
"But this - all of this is academic. You were made as well as we could make you."
Roy: "But not to last."

Perhaps, perhaps not..

Continue reading "The New Newspaper?" »

Image via Wikipedia

As reported in Silicon Alley Insider, the iPhone only moved 5k units in its roll-out week in China. I'd say 2-million unlocked phones is likely a major reason for the poor showing but I'm just a cynic..

NJIT: New Jersey's Science & Technology University is offering a free on-line development course for budding iPhone developers who want to take their idea and turn it into a working product.

As listed on their site:
Have an idea for an iPhone application, but don't know how to make it happen or can't afford to take a course? NJIT will offer free tuition for an online iPhone application development non-credit course. The 10-week online course will begin Oct. 19, 2009. An NJIT instructor will teach it and students who successfully complete it will receive three continuing education units from NJIT.

The 30-hour, online training course teaches computer-savvy students how to design and implement iPhone and iPod Touch software using the Apple software development kit. They will learn how to create and deploy iPhone and iTouch applications on the software simulator and hardware devices. Participants will be encouraged to practice submitting their applications to the Apple AppStore because the apps can potentially be offered by Apple as paid, downloadable commercial software packages.

Fifteen applicants will be selected and preference given to those unemployed and underemployed in the northern New Jersey region. Applicants not eligible for free tuition still may register for this or future classes and pay tuition by visiting http://online.njit.edu. The next class begins Nov. 30, 2009.

A new report from Morgan Stanley and Internet Analyst Mary Meeker on the financial state and trends of the Internet and mobile.

Mary Meeker's Internet Presentation 2009

By combining engineering talent, access to capital and a start-up friendly environment, Israeli companies have made their country a leader in the mobile media sector. But ICQ founder and Angel investor Yossi Vardi has a different and more light-hearted explanation: the Jewish mother. "Nobody is harder to satisfy than a Jewish mother," he said, relaying an old joke:

Q: How many Jewish mothers does it take to change a light bulb?

A: (In despondent, motherly voice) Don't worry about me...I'll just sit here in the dark.

According to the Israeli Export Institute, Israel has the world's highest proportion of scientists and engineers with postgraduate education: 135 per 10,000, compared to 78 per 10,000 in the United States. Many engineers were first exposed to advanced communications technologies during their mandatory three-year military service, followed by degrees at world-class engineering universities such as Technion, Tel Aviv and Bar Ilan.

Continue reading "Mobile start-ups thrive in Israel" »

There are uber numbers of in-depth columns and video reviews of the HTC G1 so this is not going to be one of them, just sharing my 14-days with a G1.

My LG VX-8000 on the Verizon network was on its last legs so I decided to switch to T-Mobile with the belief that their network had matured, this since my friend went with their service two years ago. I have a 15-day trial period which ends tomorrow from which to decide if I want to keep the service and get locked into a two-year contract.

It is going to come right down to the wire as I am the undecided voter when it comes to my choice for the next two years.

Android
The platform is very nice and suits my style of working and accessing information. I did not need the manual as pretty much everything is intuitive and easy to navigate. There are some hidden tricks which I found from a well informed and nice rep at the store. More importantly, its platform openness jives with my sense that the market should decide which apps rise and fall, not one guy in Silicon Valley, kinda like a free market guy here.

So, the OS and UI has been a positive experience...

The Device
Here I have mixed feelings, I like the basic form factor however, the plastic seems somewhat cheap and I'd prefer a nice metal back and side bezels. I did wrap the device right away with a Zagg protective set. It does work however, you'll need a degree in wrapping or hands of a surgeon to make it all perfect. Also, from a functional perspective and having had a Blackberry I am use to a keyboard no matter that its not perfect with that hump on the right.

So, could be better here but workable and more importantly, its not hunt and peck...

The Network
Well no mixed feelings here, I am not happy with the T-Mobile network no matter how much it may have improved over the past two years. I am located in and around the number one market in the country, New York City. Since last Saturday their 3G network has been down and I've had problems with making and receiving calls. Something happening in Brooklyn that crashed the network, this according to their technical support reps that have all been professional. I've had people call to get recordings that my device is not registered on the network, yikes Batman. I've had dropped calls and even found they had dinged my minutes for all my tech support calls. To their credit, they put it all back and more however, I am left with a dilemma.

So, unlike the election, I am left with no good choices here....

Do I go back to Verizon, the company with the most boring devices on the market bar none? (Though the RIM Storm is due out in a couple of weeks, pricing not announced, and will I like its slow browser and virtual keyboard?) Do I unlock my G1, pay the full rate for the platform and bring it back to Verizon which at least has a solid network, or do I stick it out with the hope that T-Mobile is going through adolescences and they will come out of it soon?

Decisions, decisions, figuring out who to vote for President today was a snap compared to this...

image c. Fotolio

By Levi Shapiro

It doesn't take a vivid imagination to predict what the No. 1 topic will be after the November election: the weak economy and how to improve return on investments. While a slow-down in advertising spending represents an unprecedented opportunity to migrate ad dollars to the mobile space, that will not happen until standardized measurement systems are in place. For example, last month Chrysler's CMO Deborah Meyer announced 30 percent of the embattled car-company's ad-spend will move to digital. Unfortunately, it was also reported spending for "experimental" platforms, including mobile, would be cut in half. Mobile advertising desperately needs a unified measurement standard to help brands, agencies and publishers quantify ROI.

History suggests the process is slow. Although the first TV commercial aired July 1, 1941 (a 10-second billboard with voice-over for Bulova during a baseball game), it was 10 more years before the A.C. Nielsen Company's Audimeter became the industry's recognized standard for television audience measurement.

For their part, agencies are frustrated. "What is most glaringly absent is a mobile equivalent of persistent cookie tracking," said Dr. Yaakov Kimelfeld, senior vice president and director of Analytics at Mediavest. "Without unified tracking, mobile campaigns are destined to exist in some parallel world." He also said he believes online criteria, like click-throughs and downloads, "play only a marginal role in decisions to increase mobile budgets. The metrics that matter vary in each case, depending on the campaign."

Continue reading "Mobile Advertisers Demand Unified Measurement Standards" »

September 23, 2008, New York City. This morning, the first Android based mobile device is being rolled out. Based on Google's operating platform, the Android G1 is aiming to assimilate users who might otherwise look to the iPhone.

To view the press conference, visit: Andriod Press Conference

For more information about development, see: Android - Open Handset Alliance Project

For more information about HTC, Visit: HTC Press Release

HTC Specs on G1, visit G1 Specs

Additional Coverage about Android at BBC News

Continue reading "Android T-Mobile G1 Press Conference" »

iStock ™

Rod Serling, producer of "The Twilight Zone" television series once commented, "It is difficult to produce a television documentary that is incisive and probing when every twelve minutes is interrupted by 12 dancing rabbits singing about toilet paper". Although we may not like advertising, the reality is that a variety of the most successful video delivery platforms, from television to the internet to mobile, have reached their success when pricing was reduced through advertising. The upcoming national launch of WiMax (the next generation of mobile broadband) in the United States presents an opportunity for content owners to reach audiences on any device, anywhere. Low pricing, supported through advertising, can help spur the adoption of WiMax.

WiMax is often called "Wi-Fi on steroids". While Wi-Fi is a short-range system that uses unlicensed spectrum and does not assure Quality of Service, WiMAX is long-range, covering many kilometers, uses licensed spectrum and provides guaranteed Quality of Service. That can be at 60mph in your car, your laptop, your phone or any other device with an Internet connection.

Continue reading "WiMax, Advertising Goes Here" »

By: Levi Shapiro

iStock ® stock image

Cuban-American mommy-to-be Gloria Dobal "loved everything" about online pregnancy site Baby Center. However, she had difficulty sharing the experience with family members who prefer Spanish. "My mother is from Cuba and I wanted her to enjoy this with me," she said. After two days, Gloria switched to Baby Center En Espanol (www.babycenterenespanol.com) and its mobile version. Although the sector is still nascent, some brands and agencies are beginning to target Hispanics with mobile tools and campaigns.

The numbers suggest an attractive demographic for mobile marketing. Nielsen's Q2 Mobile Advertising Report cites Hispanic data users as more likely (41% compared with 30%) to recall seeing ads on mobile phones and more likely (22% vs. 13%) to have responded. Moreover, according to ComScore m:metrics, Hispanics significantly over-index on mobile content consumption (71%) compared with the market average (48%). Brian Colbert, VP of mobile sales at ESPN, comments that in "all things mobile, the Hispanic audience over-indexes quite a bit."

Ansible Mobile President Larry Harris (who previously ran multi-cultural advertising at Bank of America) advises "the most important best practice is to consider what's in it for the consumer. The focus has to be on great content, integrated within an existing strategy and traditional DM at the local level." Ansible worked with a variety of agencies on J&J's mobile Spanish version of Baby Center (before there was even an English version) and attracted 4,000 active users, including Gloria Dobal. "Content is king," says Larry. "Just offering a short-code is not enough." The mobile program achieved opt-in retention of 93% last year and 85% this year.

Continue reading "Targeted mobile marketing and Hispanics" »