Mobile phones often have features beyond sending text messages and making voice calls, including Internet browsing, music (MP3) playback, memo
recording, personal organizer functions, e-mail, instant messaging, built-in cameras and camcorders, ringtones, games, radio, Push-to-Talk (PTT),
infrared and Bluetooth connectivity, call registers, ability to watch streaming video or download video for later viewing, video calling and serve
as a wireless modem for a PC, and soon will also serve as a console of sorts to online games and other high quality games. The total value of mobile
data services exceeds the value of paid services on the Internet, and was worth 31 billion dollars in 2006 (source Informa).
Cell Phone Applications:
The most commonly used data application on mobile phones is SMS text messaging, with 74% of all mobile phone users as active users (over 2.4
billion out of 3.3 billion total subscribers at the end of 2007). SMS text messaging was worth over 100 billion dollars in annual revenues in
2007 and the worldwide average of messaging use is 2.6 SMS sent per day per person across the whole mobile phone subscriber base. (source Informa
2007). The first SMS text message was sent from a computer to a mobile phone in 1992 in the UK, while the first person-to-person SMS from phone to
phone was sent in Finland in 1993.
The other non-SMS data services used by mobile phones were worth 31 Billion dollars in 2007, and were led by mobile music, downloadable logos
and pictures, gaming, gambling, adult entertainment and advertising (source: Informa 2007). The first downloadable mobile content was sold
to a mobile phone in Finland in 1998, when Radiolinja (now Elisa) introduced the downloadable ringing tone service. In 1999 Japanese mobile
operator NTT DoCoMo introduced its mobile internet service, i-Mode, which today is the world's largest mobile internet service and roughly
the same size as Google in annual revenues.
The first mobile news service, delivered via SMS, was launched in Finland in 2000. Mobile news services are expanding with many organizations
providing "on-demand" news services by SMS. Some also provide "instant" news pushed out by SMS. Mobile telephony also facilitates activism and
public journalism being explored by Reuters and Yahoo![5] and small independent news companies such as Jasmine News in Sri Lanka.
Companies like Monster are starting to offer mobile services such as job search and career advice. Consumer applications are on the rise and
include everything from information guides on local activities and events to mobile coupons and discount offers one can use to save money on
purchases. Even tools for creating websites for mobile phones are increasingly becoming available, e.g. Mobilemo.
Mobile payments were first trialled in Finland in 1998 when two coca cola machines in Espoo were enabled to work with SMS payments. Eventually
the idea spread and in 1999 the Philippines launched the first commercial mobile payments systems, on the mobile operators Globe and Smart. Today
mobile payments ranging from mobile banking to mobile credit cards to mobile commerce are very widely used in Asia and Africa, and in selected
European markets. For example in the Philippines it is not unusual to have your whole paycheck paid to the mobile account. In Kenya the limit of
money transfers from one mobile banking account to another is one million US dollars. In India paying utility bills with mobile gains a 5% discount.
In Estonia the government found criminals collecting cash parking fees, so the government declared that only mobile payments via SMS were valid for
parking and today all parking fees in Estonia are handled via mobile and the crime involved in the activity has vanished.
Mobile Applications are developed using the Six M's (previously Five M's) service-development theory created by the author Tomi Ahonen with Joe
Barrett of Nokia and Paul Golding of Motorola. The Six M's are Movement (location), Moment (time), Me (personalization), Multi-user (community),
Money (payments) and Machines (automation). The Six M's / Five M's theory is widely referenced in the telecoms applications literature and used
by most major industry players. The first book to discuss the theory was Services for UMTS by Ahonen & Barrett in 2002.
The availability of mobile phone backup applications is growing with the increasing amount of mobile phone data being stored on mobile phones
today. With mobile phone manufacturers producing mobile handsets with more and more memory storage capabilities the awareness of the importance
in backing up mobile phone data is increasing. Corporate mobile phone users today keep very important company information on their mobiles,
information if lost then not easily replaced. Wireless backup applications like SC BackUp offer users the chance to backup mobile phone data
using advanced wireless technology. Users can backup, restore or transfer mobile data anytime, anywhere all over the world, to a secured server.
Cell Phone Media:
The mobile phone became a mass media channel in 1998 when the first ringing tones were sold to mobile phones by Radiolinja in Finland. Soon
other media content appeared such as news, videogames, jokes, horoscopes, TV content and advertising. In 2006 the total value of mobile phone
paid media content exceeded internet paid media content and was worth 31 Billion dollars (source Informa 2007). The value of music on phones
was worth 9.3 Billion dollars in 2007 and gaming was worth over 5 billion dollars in 2007 (source Netsize Guide 2008).
The mobile phone is often called the Fourth Screen (if counting cinema, TV and PC screens as the first three) or Third Screen (counting only TV
and PC screens). It is also called the Seventh of the Mass Media (with Print, Recordings, Cinema, Radio, TV and Internet the first six). Most early
content for mobile tended to be copies of legacy media, such as the banner advertisement or the TV news highlight video clip. Recently unique
content for mobile has been emerging, from the ringing tones and ringback tones in music to "mobisodes," video content that has been produced
exclusively for mobile phones.
The advent of media on the mobile phone has also produced the opportunity to identify and track Alpha Users or Hubs, the most influential
members of any social community. AMF Ventures measured in 2007 the relative accuracy of three mass media, and found that audience measures
on mobile were nine times more accurate than on the internet and 90 times more accurate than on TV.
Cell Phone Power supply:
Mobile phones generally obtain power from batteries, which can be recharged from a USB port, from portable batteries, from mains power or a
cigarette lighter socket in a car using an adapter (often called battery charger or wall wart) or from a solar panel o a dynamo (that can also
use a USB port to plug the phone).
Formerly, the most common form of mobile phone batteries were nickel metal-hydride, as they have a low size and weight. Lithium-Ion
batteries are sometimes used, as they are lighter and do not have the voltage depression that nickel metal-hydride batteries do. Many
mobile phone manufacturers have now switched to using lithium-Polymer batteries as opposed to the older Lithium-Ion, the main advantages
of this being even lower weight and the possibility to make the battery a shape other than strict cuboid. Mobile phone manufacturers have
been experimenting with alternate power sources, including solar cells.
Cell Phone SIM card:
In addition to the battery, most cellphones require a small microchip, called a Subscriber Identity Module or SIM Card, to function.
Approximately the size of a small postage stamp, the SIM Card is usually placed underneath the battery in the rear of the unit, and
(when properly activated) stores the phone's configuration data, and information about the phone itself, such as which calling plan
the subscriber is using. When the subscriber removes the SIM Card, it can be re-inserted into another phone and used as normal.
Each SIM Card is activated by use of a unique numerical identifier; once activated, the identifier is locked down and the card is
permanently locked in to the activating network. For this reason, most retailers refuse to accept the return of an activated SIM Card.
Those cell phones that do not use a SIM Card have the data programmed in to their memory. This data is accessed by using a special digit
sequence to access the "NAM" as in "Name" or number programming menu. From here, one can add information such as a new number for your phone,
new Service Provider numbers, new emergency numbers, change their Authentication Key or A-Key code, and update their Preferred Roaming
List or PRL. However, to prevent the average Joe from totally disabling their phone or removing it from the network, the Service Provider
puts a lock on this data called a Master Subsidiary Lock or MSL.
The MSL also ensures that the Service Provider gets payment for the phone that was purchased or "leased". For example, the Motorola Razr
V9C costs upwards of CAD $500. You can get one from Bell Mobility for approximately $200. The difference is paid by the customer in the
form of a monthly bill. If, in this case, Bell Mobility did not use a MSL, then they may lose the $300–$400 difference that is paid in the
monthly bill, since some customers would cancel their service and take the phone to another carrier such as Telus, or Verizon. This would
eventually put the carrier or in this case, Bell Mobility out of business.
Mobile (Cell) Phones
Mobile phone features
Cell Phone Usage
Cell Phone Business Models
History of Cell Phones
History of the Telephone
History of the Telephone Controversy Debate and Patents
Source References:
- Total mobile subscribers top 1.8 billion".
- Up to 90 percent of globe to have mobile coverage
- Cell phone use booming worldwide" (September 15, 2007).
- Mobile growth fastest in Africa",
- Phone revolution makes Africa upwardly mobile", The Times
- The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India
- Mobile Phones for Kids Under 15: a Responsible Question
- Rise in executions for mobile use", ITV News (June 15, 2007).
- PC World - Cell Phone Fashion Show
- Gundersen, Edna, "Mastertones ring up profits", USA Today, 11/29/2006
- "In Grazer "Öffis" sind Handys ab heute verboten" (in German), Klagenfurt: Styria Medien AG, p. 18.
- "Rücksichtsvoll" oder "völlig sinnlos"" (in German), Der Standard Online vesion, p. 18.
- ICT Security & Dependability Research beyond 2010: Final strategy
- Supplementary memorandum submitted by Gregory Smith
- Guidelines on Cell Phone Forensics
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/965274.stm Mobile phones key to Omagh probe]
- Communication safety
- New Japanese phones offer Earthquake early warning alerts".
- Wikipedia.org, the free encyclopedia
