Mobifun’s Weblog

Apple launches the phone in Europe on a single carrier. This probably means that iPhone will not be available in all European countries at first. My guess is UK, Germany and France. I’ve very limited knowledge of operators in these markets, but my guess is that there are some big players in all of these fighting over the exclusive deal over iPhone. Other markets will see iPhone later, through subscriptions or after Apple starts to sell iPhone without subscription in whole Europe. But for this to happen, Apple needs to find a way to bring down the price, at around 800-900 euros,

Many Apple fans are salivating over the rumored launch of Apple’s long-awaited mobile device in Europe. These fans (who put ”fan” in ”fanatic”) are reading the American echo-chamber-blogs and are certain that Apple will not only introduce iPhone in Europe this year, but it will be also revolutionary. As a card-carrying Nokialand citizen who, though, has never owned a Nokia, I disagree.

Could the first gen iPhone already be in danger of extinction? That’s the latest rumor to spread and it comes courtesy of a Chinese outlet called the Commercial Times. According to the publisher they’ve heard reports from Apple partner manufacturers Quanta and Wintek that the next gen iPhone is already in the prototype phase and that the finished model could be ready for sale by as early as September. It may even retail for less than June’s iPhone, clocking in somewhere between $250 and $300.

September is just a short two months away and for Apple to make a move like this so soon after the launch of the first iPhone doesn’t seem to add up. We have no doubts that Steve Jobs has secret plans in motion in Cupertino but the past history of Apple has demonstrated that they like to wait and pounce instead of rush and blow the element of surprise. Instead of looking to September 2007 our guts tell us to instead keep an eye around the first anniversary of the iPhone announcement in January 2008.

Groove Mobile announced the expansion of its global mobile music handset platform via new partnerships with manufacturers Samsung, Sony Ericsson, LG, HTC, Motorola and Nokia. The following handsets now support the Groove Mobile platform:

• Samsung: Upstage (Sprint), M510 (Bell Mobility)
• Sony Ericsson: W660i (3UK)
• LG: U970 (3UK), 570 MUSIQ (Sprint), Chocolate (Bell)
• HTC: 6800 “Mogul” (Sprint)
• Motorola: ic902 (Sprint)
• Nokia: 6120, 6151 (3UK) 

Vodafone’s second-quarter revenues for the period ended 30 June 2007 are out today, with strong top-line numbers driven by its acquisition of Hutchison Essar in India.

The mobile operator said group revenue was up 7.5 percent to £8.3 billion and reported 9.1 million proportionate organic net mobile additions for the quarter, compared with 4.8 million for the same quarter last year. The total proportionate mobile customer base at 30 June 2007 was 232 million (the figure includes users from operations where Vodafone has a partial stake such as Verizon Wireless).

Mobile data up: Non-voice revenues are continuing their decline–in Europe this quarter they were down 2.4 percent on an organic basis compared to the same period last year. But non-messaging mobile data revenues in the region increased by 7.2 percent, with a figure of 6.1 percent for the group overall. This is roughly half as much growth as Vodafone had in messaging data.

Data driven by business users: Vodafone says that the majority of the growth in mobile data usage has come from the business sector rather than the consumer sector. The number of handheld business devices increased by 87 percent since June last year, and Vodafone Mobile Connect data cards are up 70 percent.

Number of 3G devices doubles: currently there are 18.5 million 3G devices in use on Vodafone’s networks. In the last quarter, there was a net-add of 2.46 million consumer devices, and 182,000 business devices.

Vodafone live! update: Vodafone says that within the 3G space it added 3.3 million customers registered for live! for 3G and the Mobile Connect data card (which works on 3G and GPRS). The operator didn’t break out live! customers specifically within that number.

Models such as the 550 euro ($759) N95 are paying off as customers trade up from starter phones in India and China. The shift is restoring profit margins that Chief Executive Officer Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo sacrificed last year when he focused on cheaper phones to win sales in those countries, where Nokia is the dominant brand.

As customers move up in price range, Nokia is benefiting from the users’ tendency to stick with a brand whose products they have already learned how to use, analysts and investors including Heikkilae said.

Replacement phones will make up 60 percent of emerging- market sales this year, up from 50 percent in 2006, according to Nokia. Globally, the replacement market is expected to climb to 80 percent by 2010 from current 65 percent.According to Business week Nokia’s sales in China and the Asia-Pacific region each jumped 39 percent last year.The former producer of rubber boots and timber, which famously made a risky decision in 1992 to focus on mobile technology, seems to be doing everything right these days. Nokia’s supply-chain management may be the best of any company in the world. It has a big head start in fast-growing markets such as China and India. And it has $9.5 billion in cash and practically no debt, so it can invest far more than rivals on developing new products or conquering new markets—and thus build even more intimidating economies of scale. “We are about to report our billionth customer, so we must be doing something right,” says Anssi Vanjoki, a Nokia executive committee member responsible for multimedia devices. One lesson Nokia learned was that it doesn’t pay to rely too heavily on a few top-selling models. Motorola, by contrast, became overly dependent on the Razr. Nokia has nailed both the high and low ends of the market and pretty much everything in between. For affluent buyers who want the latest technology, the $750 top-of-the-line N95 includes an Internet browser, music player, GPS satellite receiver, and the ability to connect to Wi-Fi networks as well as standard cellular services. Even Nokia’s entry-level phones offer extras that appeal to Mumbai tea sellers and vast numbers of other low-income people enjoying their first taste of telecommunications.