Cell Phone Runs on AAA Battery

TechTree

If you are a cellphone freak with who wants to be always accessible, your worst enemy is probably inside your phone itself. The cell phone battery. As long as you continue using your phone, the battery will keep on losing power and eventually die. God forbid, you're in an area where there is no power source or if you didn't carry your charger along, you're in a fix!

No longer! Say hello to the Olive FrvrOn (Forever On) - probably the only phone in the world that can take in an AAA alkaline battery - apart from the normal "flat" batteries seen on mobile phones. When you run out of power on the "normal" Lithium Ion cellular battery, you can use the AAA battery to charge it for a few hours of usage! Now you know the rationale behind the rather weird naming scheme.

The FrvrOn, whose sole aim is to keep the user connected "forever", comes with a 1.5-inch, 128*128 pixel color display, stereo speakers and FM radio. The feature set on this phone is pretty basic.

If you remove the AAA battery support thing that is sure to turn heads if you open the battery cover in full public view. According to the manufacturer, this device is specifically targeted at the rural user who is often faced with unreliable electricity supply, which increases the chances of his phone dying on him.

Motorola Targets 1Q 2011 to Split off Handset Unit

USA Today

Struggling mobile phone maker Motorola said Thursday it plans to split off the business units that make the phones and television set-top boxes into a separate publicly traded company early next year.

Motorola said in late 2008 that it would spin off only its handset unit by the third quarter of 2009, but it put the separation plan on hold as the recession deepened and sales continued to deteriorate.

Now, it has decided to include the home business unit, which makes the set-top boxes, as part of the new company as well. The spinoff is planned for the first quarter of 2011.

Motorola Co-CEO Sanjay Jha, who will serve as the chief executive of the handset and home business, said the new combination "brings together two highly complementary and innovative organizations. Together we will be best positioned to lead in the convergence of mobility, media, and the Internet."

Motorola's cellphone business has been in a tailspin. The Schaumburg, Illinois-based company hasn't produced a hit since the wildly popular Razr phone in 2005. In recent months, Motorola has had its eyes set on smart phones running on Google Inc.'s Android operating system.

The company's other co-CEO, Greg Brown, will head what's left of the company, made up of the enterprise mobility and networks businesses.

Earlier, the company said that if the spinoff of the handset unit did not happen before Oct. 31, 2010, Jha would get $30 million in cash. It's unclear if Jha will be paid that amount.

Legislature Considers Warning Labels For Cell Phones Sans Science

Ars Technica

According to an Associated Press report, a state legislator from Maine has introduced a bill that would attach a warning label to cell phones. The proposed warnings would feature bold red text warning of the danger of brain cancer, and feature an image of a small brain. There's one small problem with all of this: there's little evidence that cell phones increase the risk of brain cancer.

The AP story provides a convenient way to look at a whole series of relevant issues: nonscientific policy initiatives, scientific consensus, and press reporting on contentious scientific issues. We'll start with the science.

Cell phones emit radiation in an area of the spectrum that isn't capable of rearranging the chemical bonds of biological systems unless intensely focused (which they're not). The energy is able to heat water, and that heat may influence biological systems. But there's no obvious connection between mild heating and any obvious health issues, meaning there's no clear mechanism linking cell phones with health problems.

In the absence of a mechanism, epidemiological studies might be used to identify a risk. Here, the literature is a bit more confused, as a few small studies have suggested associations between cell phone use and specific cancers (or, in one case, the location of the cancer and the side of the head that an individual typically holds the phone). So, it's possible for someone to read the literature and conclude there's some risk; that reading, however, would have to be very selective, as large population studies argue against it.

In the most recent example, published just this month, the records of national health services in Nordic countries were combed for instances of brain cancer. Although rates of some cancers have risen over the last 30 years, there was no change in the rate of increase since the boom in cell phone use of the 1990s. Studies like this one have led the majority of the scientific community to reach a consensus: any influence of cell phones on brain cancer rates has to take decades to be apparent, and cell phones simply haven't been in general use long enough for us to evaluate that risk.

As with any scientific consensus, there are dissenters, and the AP article features them prominently. These include the retired director of a cancer research institute, who bases his claims on unpublished data, and a report from an organization called the BioInitiative Working Group, which includes scientists who research this topic. The AP reporter, however, didn't appear to have bothered to evaluate the Bioinitiative document; doing so would have revealed a selective and, in some cases, misleading view of the current biomedical literature. In short, the report doesn't appear to be a reliable guide to the scientific literature, making its conclusions suspect.

Although the National Cancer Institute is given the final say (no apparent risks at this time), the article highlights one of the weaknesses of traditional reporting. In attempting to provide a sense of balance, it uncritically provides space to those who dissent from the prevailing consensus, which is likely to confuse those who haven't dug into the scientific literature.

(Presumably in an attempt to humanize the report, it also presents the opinion of a Maine cell phone user, even though there's no indication that the individual is in any way especially informed about the topic.)

As for the legislation in question, the person who introduced it (Democrat Andrea Boland, for the curious) apparently claims that numerous studies have established a link between cell phones and cancer, and wants the warning to target children and pregnant women. It's clear that the legislation is spectacularly ill-informed, but that hasn't stopped it from being introduced and promoted. Unless the bill is made an issue in an upcoming campaign, however, Boland is unlikely to face any difficulty for introducing something that runs counter to the best available evidence.

Boland's bill gets lumped in with another potential law, one being pushed by San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom. In contrast to the Maine legislation, Newsom is promoting a law that would require cell phones sold in the city to carry an indication of the amount of radiation that their users are exposed to. Although that would almost certainly stoke unwarranted fears, it's actually a reasonable approach given the current state of the science. We can't currently know whether there are risks following decades of exposure; the bill would provide those who want to exercise caution with an opportunity to limit their exposure. Unfortunately, the AP terms that a "similar effort," despite the fact that its focus—informing cell phone buyers—is almost exactly the opposite of the Maine bill, which would misinform them.

At this point, neither of the efforts have passed. The Maine legislation is being introduced during the January session. Hopefully, other legislators will use the opportunity to educate its backers on understanding scientific evidence.

Google Set To Market The Nexus One

Wall Street Journal

Google Inc. plans to begin selling a cellphone directly to consumers as soon as next year, people familiar with the matter said, escalating the Internet giant's assault on the traditional business model of the wireless industry.

The phone, called Nexus One, was designed inside Google and will be sold, at least initially, without a wireless partner, these people said. It is the latest sign of the Internet giant's ever-broadening wireless ambitions as Google hunts for ways to expand its Internet services beyond computers. The move, details of which were first reported by The Wall Street Journal on its Web site Saturday, also marks a new front in its growing rivalry with Apple Inc.

As Internet usage has shifted to mobile phones, Google has repeatedly tried to break wireless carriers' tight grip on the services and devices they allow on their networks. It has been lobbying the government to open up cellular networks and unused TV airwaves to a broad group of devices.

At the same time, Google has purchased and developed technologies that can replace existing communications services. One example is Google Voice, an Internet calling and routing service. Some analysts speculate that Google could eventually deliver very cheap or subsidized service to consumers on its own, in exchange for advertising. The company recently purchased a start-up called Gizmo5, whose service allows users to make Internet calls from mobile phones.

Rather than selling the Nexus One phone through a wireless carrier -- as the bulk of phones are sold in the U.S. today -- Google plans to sell the Nexus One itself online, people familiar with the matter said, although the company may seek wireless partnerships in the future. Users would have to buy their wireless service separately. The phone's pricing, along which countries Google initially will target for the device, couldn't be learned.

While the move gives Google flexibility to distribute software services such as email and maps without playing by wireless carriers' rules, the company risks making new enemies among companies whose trust it has tried to win.

A Google spokeswoman declined to comment on how the phone might be received. In a blog post Saturday, Google said it was testing a new device running Android with its employees to "experiment with new mobile features and capabilities."

Google has spent the past year wooing hardware makers and wireless carriers to build phones running its Android mobile operating system, which it announced in 2007 and which went live in phones in 2008.

As of October, nine Android devices had been announced with 32 carriers, including Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel Corp. and T-Mobile USA Inc., a unit of Deutsche Telekom AG. HTC Corp., Samsung Electronics Co., LG Electronics Inc. and Motorola Inc. have launched or announced mobile devices based on Android.

Some of those companies are likely to be "ticked off" by Google building its own phone, said Charles Golvin, a wireless industry analyst with Forrester Research. Companies that haven't invested heavily in Android yet may think twice before doing so, he said.

But he doesn't think it will cause larger companies like Motorola to back away. "There are also a lot of benefits for the Android platform that they are reaping anyway," he said, citing the fact it is free to license, provides access to Android developers and Google's marketing clout. A Motorola spokesman declined to comment.

Google's move comes as the market for high-end phones is expanding rapidly but growing increasingly competitive. For example, Dell Inc. has announced plans to offer phones in China and Brazil; people familiar with the matter say the computer maker also has plans to release an Android-based phone in the U.S.

Microsoft Corp., which is a major supplier of software for cellphones, has been increasing its focus on designing hardware that works with its mobile-phone software, as part of its collaboration with handset makers. But company executives have said repeatedly they have no plans to make a Microsoft mobile phone.

Google has been considering developing a phone for years. In a 2008 interview, Google co-founder Sergey Brin said the company hadn't ruled out a phone but its focus was on getting as many partners to adopt its software as possible.

But Google focused more on designing a phone in the past year, one person familiar with its efforts said, as the company battled to get some partners to accept its software. This summer Google complained to the Federal Communications Commission that Apple had not yet allowed its Google Voice service to run on the iPhone, for example.

At the same time, software developers have dedicated less effort to Android than the iPhone, in part because of the latter's widespread popularity. Such applications, from games to collaboration services, are a big selling point for consumers.

"We still haven't seen an Android phone that competes with the iPhone," said Sam Altman, chief executive of Loopt Inc., a mobile social-networking service. "Google could still miss the iPhone mark, but at least they have a chance of making a phone that everyone wants, which would then make it attractive for developers."

The Nexus One has a touch screen, like the iPhone, according to people who have seen it, with a few buttons along the bottom. These people say the phone is being manufactured by HTC, which also built the first Android phone to hit the market, T-Mobile's G1 phone.

Unlike other Android phones made by phone manufacturers today, Google designed virtually the entire software experience behind the phone, from the applications that run on it to the look and feel of each screen, they added.

Google has kept at least two carriers -- Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile USA, which have been high-profile partners on Android phone launches -- informed about its new phone, according to people familiar with the matter. These people said Google has left open the possibility that it could sell the phone through a carrier's store at some point, too. (Verizon Wireless is a joint venture between Verizon Communications Inc. and Vodafone Group PLC).

AT&T, which has exclusive rights to offer Apple's iPhone in the U.S., has tangled publicly with Google on regulatory issues and is the one U.S. carrier that doesn't yet offer an Android phone. An AT&T spokesman declined to comment.

A Sprint spokeswoman said the carrier would be open to working with Google to make the business model work, but declined to comment further.

Google's direct sales strategy bypasses how phones are usually sold in the U.S. wireless industry. Carriers typically sell phones that are locked, meaning they will only work on a certain network, and require a service contract. In return for a hand in developing and selling phones, carriers take on the bulk of marketing and often subsidize the cost of the phone to the customer. They recoup the subsidy over the life of a customer's contract.

Whether Google plans to subsidize the phone -- which analysts cite as an important factor in whether it can go mainstream -- remains unclear. So does the process for how users may sign up for cellular service.

Outside the U.S., consumers often have more freedom to buy their phones and cellular service separately, making it easier for the Google phone to gain traction.

Some U.S. carriers, such as AT&T, allow users to buy their phone service separately from handsets -- which typically feature a removable card containing subscriber information that can be moved among devices. Others, such as Verizon, will activate some phones consumers bring to them even if they don't sell them directly, analysts say.

Some companies, such as Nokia Corp., have sold unlocked phones in the U.S., but the devices have so far gained little traction.

As Cell Phone Market Reaches Saturation, AT&T And Verizon Look To Netbooks

Story from Business Week

For the country's two dominant wireless phone carriers, AT&T (T) and Verizon Wireless, the arithmetic is clear. Cell-phone penetration in the U.S. is approaching 90% of the population, and the recession is damping enthusiasm for pricey new phones and services. So to avoid a slowdown in sales growth, both cellular giants are getting into a new game: personal computers.

AT&T jumped in earlier this year selling the stripped-down laptops called netbooks at its stores in Philadelphia and Atlanta. These devices are already a big hit for computer makers, priced in the $300-$500 range at retail. Now the carriers want to sell them—much the way AT&T sells Apple's (AAPL) iPhone—by discounting the device but making up revenue with two-year contracts for expensive data plans. Long-term, the carriers aim to expand into a whole range of computers, Net-ready cameras, game consoles, and other such products. The goal: to find fresh revenue streams and stoke demand for their new, fourth-generation (4G) data networks, expected to start rolling out next year.

The netbook idea appears to have legs. On May 17, Verizon Wireless began selling Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) netbooks discounted to $199 with a two-year data contract starting at $40 a month. "We are ramping up very nicely," says Verizon Wireless CEO Lowell McAdam. Two days later, AT&T announced that by midsummer it would broaden its own netbook experiment to all its stores nationwide, offering Dell (DELL), Acer, or Lenovo (LNVGY) products. If Sprint (S) and T-Mobile USA (DT) follow suit, netbook sales could top 2.1 million units in the U.S. this year, with carriers accounting for 22.5%, market researcher IDC estimates. "We think we are really at the next big growth area of wireless," AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la Vega recently told BusinessWeek.

Pricing is still a work in progress. In Atlanta, AT&T subscribers who sign up for a two-year service contract can snag an Acer netbook for as little as $50, but they must shell out $40 or $60 a month for either 200 megabytes or 5 gigabytes of wireless capacity, used for everything from messaging friends to posting photos on Facebook.

Similarly, Verizon customers who pay $60 a month for a data plan can get an HP netbook for $199. "You are not going to find too many laptops at that price point," says Verizon Wireless director of marketing Michael Willsey.

Probably not, but buyers may notice that when the service fees are tallied up, the cost could be as much as $1,440 over two years, plus the price of the netbook. And that may be on top of $30 a month or more the customer is already paying for another data plan linked to his cell phone. Tech-savvy shoppers may balk at this, given a logical alternative—on some service plans they can "tether" the computer to their smartphone with a cord and use the high-speed cellular connection. AT&T charges $15 a month for this on top of a subscriber's data plan.
"Limited Viability"

Some analysts say the chances of driving iPhone-like revenues are slim unless the carriers pull in millions of new users with cheaper data plans. That's what's happening in Europe, where service plans cost less and come in a variety of forms, including prepaid monthly and daily plans. As is, the U.S. approach—counting on well-heeled customers with little sensitivity to price—has "limited viability," says CCS Insight analyst John Jackson.

Technical glitches could also spoil the fun, but carriers say they're ready. PC makers will field hardware problems for customers while the service providers handle diagnostics and network issues. "We're very much in coordination with their customer care people," says Glenn Lurie, AT&T Mobility's president of emerging devices, who managed the Apple relationship. "This is nothing new for us."

Two Services To Sell Tickets On Cellphones

As Originally Posted at the Wall Street Journal

Ticketmaster Entertainment Inc. and Tickets.com Inc. are launching services to let customers buy tickets directly from their mobile phones, in an ambitious attempt to extend Internet commerce to cellphone screens.

Starting this month, U.S. and Canadian BlackBerry users will be able to search Ticketmaster's inventory and purchase tickets on their handsets. Tickets.com will let baseball fans buy and receive tickets via cellphone from 13 Major League Baseball teams starting with the April 10 opening home game of the Oakland A's. Tickets.com is a subsidiary of MLB Advanced Media, LP, the interactive media and Internet company of Major League Baseball.

The push for mobile ticketing comes as customers shift to smart phones, whose faster networks and larger screens come closer to the feel of ordering via computer. While the wireless industry has long awaited the time when cellphones would be used for buying, most purchases have so far been for items consumed on the phone itself, such as ringtones, wallpaper and music.

Mobile ticketing will provide an early case to see how customers take to the new platform. Both deals are aimed at audiences -- BlackBerry users and baseball fans -- known as early adopters of new technologies.

Ticketmaster President Eric Korman draws a comparison with online sales, which have grown rapidly in the past decade, from a small sliver of the company's business to the dominant way people buy tickets. "Today Ticketmaster sells 72% of its tickets online," Mr. Korman says. "That started as a small number 10 years ago."

Baseball fans are increasingly using mobile phones to check game scores, and asking that tickets be sent as barcodes to their mobile phones. MLB.com sold 32 million tickets last year. Noah Garden, an executive vice president at MLB.com, said he expects mobile ticketing to account for 20% to 40% of the total in 2011.

Baseball promoters are especially eager to spur last-minute purchases of seats, since clubs need to move tickets to 81 home games each season, compared with eight home games for National Football League teams. "I think mobile phones will have a tremendous impact on moving distressed inventory," said Larry Witherspoon, chief executive of Tickets.com.

Previous mobile-ticketing efforts have required customers to connect to an operator to complete the purchase and then return to their computer to print out a receipt. That was mostly due to the technical limits of barcode scanners at airports and venues, which have trouble reading off a brightly lit screen.

"The challenge is not all the digital technology in delivering the ticket, it's the physical technology in getting through the gate," said Charles Golvin, principal analyst at Forrester Research.

Tickets.com last year started delivering barcodes to mobile phones, letting holders scan their phones at special turnstiles to enter a venue, and will now let customers complete the entire purchase via phone. "They don't need a computer or a call center," to complete the purchase, said Mr. Witherspoon.

Tickets.com hired Usablenet of New York, which converts Web sites into a format that can be read by 5,000 devices running on different networks. The company has devised sites for Sears.com customers to shop for refrigerators and New York residents to pay utility bills.

Ticketmaster and BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd., which announced their exclusive partnership in September, have been working together to design the software platform. The feature is part of RIM's investment to spread its devices from the hard-core business user to the mass market. "It's bringing e-commerce to your belt," said RIM's co-chief executive, Jim Balsillie.

Corrections & Amplifications
Major League Baseball's online division, MLB.com, sold 32 million tickets last year. A previous version of this article said that MLB overall sold 32 million tickets. MLB sold 78.6 million tickets last year.