Mobifun’s Weblog

The GSM Association appears to be getting more industry support for its mobile payment initiative.  Announced at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona, the Pay Buy Mobile project will allow for the purchases of goods and services by mobile phone. The GSMA advocates two options for mobile payments, which will probably complement each other: over-the-air (OTA) downloads and preloading encrypted credit card information from the bank on the phone’s SIM card.  

Now Motorola has announced that it will participate in all GSMA mobile payments trials. In addition, the company will provide feedback to the GSMA Near Field Communications Technical Guidelines white papers and work with standardization bodies to provide further input

Sony Ericsson showed off six new handsets and a slew of accessories in Berlin yesterday. The devices and accessories are set to ship in third and fourth quarter. 

Not surprising, the phone generating the most buzz is the W960 music device that features 8 GB on-board memory a 2.6-inch display and a 3.2 megapixel camera. The phone has a media player and will include a keyboard.

The company also debuted the K530, which is the first phone compatible with the new GPS Enabler HGE-100. When the GPS Enabler is plugged into the phone it turns into a personal satellite navigation system.

Just two weeks to go until the iPhone makes its U.S. debut and the hype surrounding the phone is reaching near-preposterous proportions. But perhaps the hype is paying off. M:Metrics reports that consumer awareness of the iPhone is strong–64 percent of Americans are aware of the iPhone as are 56 percent of Brits.

Exactly how does awareness translate to sales? M:Metrics says that of those 64 percent in the U.S. that knew of the phone, just 14 percent said they would be highly interested in buying one. In addition, 67 percent of those that were inclined to purchase an iPhone, are subscribers on a network other than AT&T, which has a five-year exclusive agreement with Apple to sell the iPhone. M:Metrics analyst Mark Donovan says this is an early indication that AT&T’s strategy to use the iPhone to lure customers to its network could be effective