ArchiveSeptember, 2007

The phone number used to be as familiar as our own home numbers. Where I grew up it was 844-1212 and a familiar, soothing voice would say, “At the tone, the time will be…” But as of this week in California, the time ladies are falling silent. Old equipment isn’t worth repairing, the phone companies are eager to turn those reserved exchanges into working phone numbers, and cell phones have replaced the need for dialing to get the current time.

When the time service originated, an actual person read the time live when a call came in – that gave way to recordings in the 40s. But now that equipment is obsolete and the phone companies are electing not to replace it as the service is no longer as popular.

Apparently watch manufacturers are having similar problems marketing to those who have grown up with cell phones – they never developed the habit of wearing a watch except as a fashion statement. The most common reason cited for preferring a cell phone for telling time is that it automatically updates with time zone changes.

According to the Washington Post, Sprint Nextel Corporation’s plan to build a cell phone tower disguised as an agricultural silo in Loudoun County (a Washington DC suburb) has been put on hold. County officials voted to send the proposal back for more debate.

Wireless companies regularly disguise cell phone towers to better fit into their environments, but even then can find strong community resistance to the idea. (Everyone wants great reception in their driveway; but no one wants a fake silo or fake palm tree in their neighborhood.)

Photo by jimmywayne22

Earlier today, Sprint and Microsoft announced a collaborative effort designed to provide fully integrated, location-aware search functionality on Sprint cell phones. The two companies have been working together since November 2006 on search related technology, and today’s effort is the next step in the strategic alliance.

Location-aware search is powered by GPS services built into certain Sprint cell phones. With the user’s permission, a cell phone can quickly identify its current location in order to avoid entering that information manually, essentially providing a default setting based on real-time location data. With GPS search, your phone will immediately return local results; of course, if you prefer to search the entire web, or wish to search outside your local listings, Sprint’s Live Search box is still easy to access and use.

In addition, select Sprint cell phones will now also incorporate voice search, making it possible to speak a business name or category directly into the phone, and enjoy hands-free search results tailored specifically to a local area. This advance is also due to the Sprint-Microsoft partnership, and takes advantage of a new user interface design courtesy of Tellme (a recent Microsoft acquisition).

If you’re single and the words “there’s someone I’d like you to meet” fill you with dread, help may be closer than you think – the answer may be in your cell phone.

Nearly 40 million people worldwide are currently using mobile phone dating services, and a recent study by Juniper Research projects that figure will rise to 260 million in the next 5 years with users from Japan and India leading the way. Currently popular dating sites such as Match.com and Webdate are recognizing that customers are willing to pay a premium for mobile access. And new companies are building on the popularity of Facebook and other social networking applications – think Flirtomatic plus social mapping or location based services.

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Ever reach for your phone convinced it was ringing or vibrating, only to realize you didn’t have an incoming call after all?

You are not alone, says a study conducted by David Laramie and presented at the American Psychological Association’s annual convention. And the more you use your phone, the more often it happens.

There have been a few theories for this “phantom ringing”, ranging from the scientific to the nefarious. Is it a conspiracy by the advertising industry? Or do you subconsciously believe you’re so popular that surely someone is calling you right now?

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The Qualcomm-Broadcom tangle took another turn this week, when a federal judge granted a temporary stay of the ban on Qualcomm microchips.

In a legalistic twist of sorts, Judge Haldane Mayer sided with a group of cell phone manufacturers that filed an appeal – including Motorola, Samsung and T-Mobile. The argument? Since the original law suit filed by Broadcom named only Qualcomm, the federal government – the International Trade Commission, to be specific – does not have the authority to impose a ban on any other company’s imports.

Judge Mayer did not actually rule on the issue under appeal; she simply suspended the ban pending the appeal process. So, for the foreseeable future, cell phones containing Qualcomm microchips are still allowed into the country.

This morning, Sprint announced a new service that brings the full online shopping experience directly to your cell phone.

Sprint’s Mobile Shopper allows customers to easily browse through a wide range of products, and even compare prices across different vendors, before placing an order using a credit card. The entire process – essentially, anything commerce-related you can do from your PC – is now mobile.

One interesting aspect of the new service is that Sprint won’t see any revenue. The carrier formed a partnership with the ecommerce specialists at mShopper, with 7 million available products from retailers as large as Wal-Mart all the way down to niche items from companies like Dreamtime Baby and GolfTravelBags.com. mShopper will take a commission and the majority of the profit, of course, will go the individual retailer. Sprint, on the other hand, doesn’t earn revenue directly from Mobile Shopper, offering it only as an enticement to its users to spend more time on the phone.

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