Welcome to this week’s Carnival of the Mobilists #221. It’s my first time hosting, and I’m glad to have this opportunity to showcase the best and brightest bloggers covering the mobile space. Thank you to all of the dedicated people who not only blog, but connect with one another to share ideas and introduce their readers to the work of our esteemed colleagues. Without further ado, here we go…

A new Mobile OS from Japan? It looks like it, according to Ajit Jaokar of Open Gardens. Read more at Good news for Japan but bad news for LiMo? Japanese phone makers to develop new operating system AND open it to the world.

Readers are given a cultural lesson on Chinese New Year gift-giving customs as the backdrop for the ‘missing million’ in iPhone sales. Tomi Ahonen explains, “Forecasters predicted over 1 million less iPhone sales (some even 2 million below) what actually happened. I was also wrong obviously as nobody saw the increase in sales for the after-Christmas quarter.” The mystery is solved, along with a lively debate in the comments section in Apple to thank Year of Tiger for China Surprise in iPhone strong quarterly sales on Communities Dominate Brands.

Payment via mobile phone are headed to countries that don’t already have it, and Simon Judge gives his top observations of the Mobile Monday London’s treatment of the subject in Mobile Money on MobilePhoneDevelopment.com. It looks like operators are concerned about liability while third party developers lead the way.

It’s clear from a number of posts this week that many mobile developers and mobile marketers are still coming to grips with mobile, especially when it comes to deciding whether to create apps for particular smartphones vs. mobile websites that can be viewed regardless of which phone or mobile device the audience is likely to have.

A shattered iPhone graces Mobsessed.co.uk’s Carl Martin’s post Evidence against the iPhone Mobsession. He argues that since there is a scant 4% iPhone ownership in the UK, money spent marketing iPhone apps would be put to better use on a mobile website. He backs up his rationale with a presentation by Ewan MacLeod of Mobile Industry Review. Elsewhere on his site this week, he marvels at a University student’s use of an iPhone adapted via WiFi to run a remote controlled car. Perhaps that iPhone money should go to R&D then, Carl? iPhone + Virtual Reality Headset + Wifi + REMOTE CONTROLLED CAR = WIN

The Carnival welcomes newcomer Helen Lynch of with a pair of articles with a corporate perspective from Amdocs. Are service providers ready for the smartphone revolution? and So Many Devices, So Little Time by Mike Couture. The articles are two sides of the same issue: people who buy smartphones and don’t know how to use them, and the difficulty companies have in supporting smartphone users in their call centers.

When considering mobile design, “accessible” needs to mean more than just accomodations for physical handicaps. Economic and technological differences must also figure into the equation. Belen Pena reminds us that most people accessing the internet – as much as 87% globally – are not using smartphones. There is a distinction between inclusive design and accessible design in Narrow mobile strategies are a terrible form of exclusive design.

James Coop details the difficulty of apps marketing in an ever-changing environment in Mobile marketing for the online casino industry – iphone, ipad or i dont know?. The article is focused on the casino industry, but the struggle to keep up with technology upgrades will be familiar to all.

Andy Favell of mobiThinking.com gives us the numbers on mobile this week, and ought to be required reading for all mobile marketers and decision-makers: Global mobile stats: all latest quality research on mobile Web and marketing in one place. Andy, too, reminds us that the mobile web is not just for smartphones:

Beware: there is a lot of misinformation about the market share of smartphones and some handsets in particular. This doesn’t matter if your mobile strategy targets all phone users equally, but if you are prioritizing one handset, you must know the facts.

Here’s the thumbnail version of this in-depth report:

1. Mobile subscribers will surpass 5 billion in 2010
2. Half a billion people accessed mobile Internet worldwide in 2009
3. By 2011, over 85 percent of new handsets will be able to access the mobile Web
4. The number of 3G handsets is growing fast
5. Mobile devices sales fell slightly in 2009, while smartphone sales showed strong growth albeit from a small base
6. Estimates for expenditure on mobile advertising and marketing worldwide ranged from US$1.4 billion to $7.5 billion in 2009, all analysts forecast rapid growth
7. How will consumers use their mobiles?
8. The top five mobile network operators worldwide that derive more of their revenue from data than other operators are all Asian

I throw my hat into the ring with Social Media: Playtime is Officially Over. Since social media is mobile, and concerns mobile marketers, brands and developers, the YouTube video is a very enlightening two minutes for people who think Twitter is just to tell people what you had for lunch. (It’s a little loud, you might like it better with the sound off.)

Finally, this week’s Carnival post of the week is awarded to a post with heart, announcing an initiative that will undoubtably change many lives for the better. Carnival of the Mobilists’ very own Peggy Anne Salz of MSearchGroove.com presents THE MOBILE MOVEMENT Launches, Brings Mobile To Non-Profits; MSG Joins Advisory Board. Here’s what the new initiative will do:

Our mission is to support non-profits by bringing mobile capabilities to non-profits, helping them to reach millions more people in need by leveraging mobile devices, networks and innovative applications they will create in partnership with social entrepreneurs.

Thanks for reading, and be sure to visit the links of our contributors to expand your knowledge of what’s going on in mobile today. To see a complete list of archives, or to submit your site in the future, please visit Mobili.st (not .com).

All the Best,
Holly Kolman

Founder, Editor & Publisher,
mobiEnthusiast.mobi

Holly Kolman on LinkedIn
@mobiEnthusiast on Twitter
mobiEnthusiast’s Facebook Page

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According to Gizmodo, somebody blew it. They left their super-secret iPhone prototype in a bar in Redwood City. Here’s what Gizmodo had to say:

You are looking at Apple’s next iPhone. It was found lost in a bar in Redwood City, camouflaged to look like an iPhone 3GS. We got it. We disassembled it. It’s the real thing, and here are all the details.

All I can tell you is after looking at the specs, I want one.

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VisionMobile invites you to the biggest mobile developer survey to date – 400+ developers, 8 platforms, 35+ data points, sponsored by O2 Litmus. Join in and enter a draw to win prizes. Register visionmobile.com/developers and see complete details at the survey page

.

This survey covers all 8 major platforms; iPhone, Android, Symbian, Java ME, Blackberry, Windows Mobile, Flash Lite and mobile web. The research has been kindly sponsored by O2 Litmus, so that the results may be widely published in Q2 2010. The survey close date has been extended to March 26.

The survey will answer some very interesting questions like:
• How do the developer pain points vary across the Symbian, iPhone, Android et al ?
• How do App Stores compare to other go-to-market channels?
• Do developers really care about network APIs, or standardisation?

Have your say on the future of mobile development and find out what other developers think. Participants receive summarised copy of results.

This originally appeared on mobility.mobi

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Business owners and developers who are serious about making money on the mobile web need a product to sell and a way to collect payments. Paypal has an entire section in their Paypal Developer Network devoted to answering questions about adding the famous “pay now” button to mobile sites and apps.

The Paypal Mobile Payment Library contains sample code and a Paypal Mobile demo site.

There’s also documentation for Paypal mobile, which includes:

• Security on the Mobile Web
• How Mobile Checkout Works
• Customer Activation for Mobile Checkout
• Mobile Checkout Processing Flow
• Merchant Integration Points
• Documentation

If you are viewing this post from a phone or computer that can access youtube, here is a video featuring Osama Bedier of Paypal demonstrating mobile payment integration:

Video: PaypalX – Osama Bedier demos Paypal integration

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Microsoft evangelists are getting more involved with the mobile developer community by organizing the first Windows Mobile Developer Camp event. It’s scheduled for August 19 in Redmond, Washington at the Microsoft Campus. WinMoDevCamp is a series of upcoming free, not-for-profit gatherings to develop applications for the upcoming release of the Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.5 O/S. The event is currently being planned in seven cities around the world.

This event is not directly associated with Microsoft, however, the organizers say they are getting support from them in this effort, and it is being hosted at the Microsoft campus. WinMoDevCamp is driven by private individuals that are simply interested in developing applications on and growing the community around the new Microsoft Windows 6.5 platform. Giovanni Gallucci and Jennifer Conley are the organizers of WinMoDevCamp.

I’ve spent a fair amount of time at one of the Microsoft regional offices learning about product launches and other training. If they are sending trainers, trust me, you’ll want to be there. Hey, Giovanni and Jennifer — consider this my request for an invitation to a San Diego MoDevCamp if that city is chosen (it hasn’t been yet), which is home to Qualcomm and a substantial Nokia facility.

According to organizer Giovanni Gallucci, Microsoft is

“sending members from the Windows Mobile Developer Team to each event. Telligent has stepped up to provide the social platform that we will use to host our new community and, FireHost is providing hosting on the site that we are currently building. We already have over 7 cities confirmed for the event with the expectation of having several cities participating in the event itself via live streaming from their physical locations. We will host separate events in Seattle, San Francisco, New York, Austin, London, Singapore, and Toronto. The first event will be in Seattle on August 19, 2009. With three weeks until the event, we are almost “sold out” for the first event.

The soon-to-be-released MoDevCamp website will have facilities for local events to organize as well.

MoDevCamp Dates

• Seattle on 8/19
  Venue: Microsoft Campus in Redmond, Washington in the Cascade Auditorium
• Dates will soon be
  announced for the following additional locations: Austin, London, New York, San
  Francisco, Toronto, and Singapore.
• Microsoft’s MoDevCamp organizers encourage mobile developers to host their own events on the same dates.

Register for Microsoft MoDevCamp

Registration: Eventbright will be utilized so that registrations are broken down by
city. Contact the MoDevCamp coordinators (giovanni [at] gallucci.net) to set up your city for an event so they can provide you with the necessary registration pages and subdomain on the (not-yet-live) website.

The events are inspired by BarCamp, SuperHappyDevHouse, and MacHack, and the original
iPhoneDevCamp to develop applications (local and web based) for mobile devices that
run the Windows Mobile 6.5 Operating System.

According to Microsoft, attendees will include mobile developers, web developers, .Net Developers, UI designers, and testers, all working together. Development projects will include both
solo and team efforts. While some attendees will wish to work solo during the event, the MoDevCamp coordinators encourage attendees to team up, based on expertise, to work in ad-hoc project development teams. All attendees should be prepared to work on a development project during the event.

Microsoft MoDevCamp Attendees will:

• Create new applications for the Windows Mobile Platform.
• Meet and work side-by-side with team members from the Microsoft Mobile
  Developer Experience team.
• Migrate existing mobile applications from the iPhone, Blackberry and Palm Pre
  to the Windows Mobile Platform.
• Create applications to support Windows Enterprise Applications.
• Test and optimize applications for Windows Mobile 6.5.

This blog entry is part of Carnival of the Mobilists (computer link), a weekly roundup of mobile blog posts.

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Do you own or represent a business? Or are you a regular person who likes to write about your hobbies? If so, there has never been a better time to be at the forefront of a technical phenomenon. As usual, I’m talking about the mobile web.

You see, domain name investors have finally figured out that there is no money to be made in cluttering up the mobile internet with empty websites that show only advertisements. So, they’ve abandoned many of their mobile domain names. This blasts the door wide open for businesses and regular people to register short, memorable mobi domain names for their business or blog to reach well, essentially the entire world. It’s a great way to build your brand on the mobile web.

Here are some recent examples of mobi domain names that have been abandoned (dropped) and are ready for you to register. If you are on a computer, iPhone or smartphone, you may go to the GoDaddy.com site to register .MOBI Domains from GoDaddy.com. If you plan to register many names, consider the GoDaddy.com Discount Domain Club. These names are of course one of a kind, and once they’re gone, they’re gone, so act quickly if you want one.

• logbooks.mobi (for a company that makes logbooks)
• dartboards.mobi (for a company that makes dart boards, or a directory site of pubs where you can play darts)
• drinkme.mobi (for a beverage manufacturer or drink recipe site)
• antimicrobial.mobi (for a scientific site or hand sanitizer company)
• gelatin.mobi (for a Jell-O site, or for scientific gelatin supplier)
• potbellys.mobi (for a wood burning stove company or enthusiast)
• remake.mobi (for a fan site about movie and song remakes)
• watchbands.mobi (for a company that makes custom or replacement watch bands)
• convoys.mobi (for a social media site for truck drivers)
• cubicles.mobi (for a company that makes cubicles or a social media site for cubicle-dwellers)
• drumkit.mobi (for a company that makes drums)
• chairlift.mobi (for a company that makes accessible chair lifts)
• sundaes.mobi (for an ice cream company, or ice cream recipe website)
• birdwatcher.mobi (for an informational site, or a directory of bird watching clubs, or an environmental site)
• earpiercing.mobi (for a directory of where to get ears pierced, or for a company that makes earrings or does ear piercing)

mobiEnthusiast.mobi recommends you check with your attorney or international patent website to make sure you aren’t at risk for infringement. If you need more ideas, you might enjoy the Power to the Small Business podcast, where I’ve described my interpretation of mobile marketing trends and best uses of mobile websites.

Enjoy! If you build a site on one of these mobi domain names, let us know about it. If it passes ready.mobi, we may feature it in an upcoming blog post here on mobiEnthusiast.mobi.

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Most of the time on mobiEnthusiast.mobi, we highlight existing mobile websites. This time, you have a chance to make your own mobile website with keywords that match the audience you hope to reach. The following names have expired from their current owners and are available to register by anyone on a first come, first served basis.

If you are on a computer, iPhone or smartphone, you may go to the GoDaddy.com site to register .MOBI Domains from GoDaddy.com. If you plan to register many names, consider the GoDaddy.com Discount Domain Club.
.

• troublemaker.mobi
• floridavacationrental.mobi
• flunk.moi
• suppers.mobi
• forgiving.mobi
• tastings.mobi
• helipad.mobi
• housemaid.mobi
• lutherans.mobi
• mummify.mobi
• musketeer.mobi
• mustache.mobi
• tiramisu.mobi
• aristocracy.mobi
• neatness.mobi
• vestido.mobi
• auras.mobi
• nominee.mobi
• organza.mobi
• blemish.mobi
• borscht.mobi
• businessidea.mobi
• pdafinder.mobi
• petfish.mobi
• calle.mobi
• careless.mobi
• pooled.mobi
• pretend.mobi
• childish.mobi
• chewable.mobi
• cinnabar.mobi
• cheapusedcar.mobi
• colorchart.mobi
• dolor.mobi
• calf.mobi
• frontdesk.mobi
• yachtsman.mobi
• folksinger.mobi / folksingers.mobi
• frying.mobi
• fryer.mobi
• fueled.mobi
• founded.mobi
• gauze.mobi
• geckos.mobi
• remediation.mobi
• gooey.mobi
• ghostly.mobi
• goblets.mobi
• goatee.mobi

Good luck! If you need a developer, please send an email to information [at] mobienthusiast.mobi for a referral.

Disclaimer: These mobi domain names were listed as available at the time of publication. It does not seek to contain every available mobi domain name. MobiEnthusiast.mobi claims no responsibility for availability of a particular domain name. MobiEnthusiast.mobi also recommends avoiding trademark conflicts by checking your country’s and international filed trademarks before investing.

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Here’s something exciting for iPhone users: Free WiFi at participating Starbucks with AT&T hotspots. According to Kevin Shawver at the Starbucks Blog (computer link) (transcoded mobile link), here’s how to get started:

• Activate Wi-Fi from the settings icon on your iPhone
• Select “attwifi” from the list of available networks
• Enter your 10-digit mobile number and check the box to agree to the Acceptable Use Policy. Tap ‘continue’
• You will receive a text message from AT&T with a secure link to the AT&T Wi-Fi hotspot. You will not be charged for the text message.
• The SMS link will be valid for 24 hours at the location it was requested. Another request must be submitted when using another hotspot location.
• Open the text message and tap on the link for 24-hour access to the AT&T Wi-Fi hotspot

This does have some critics wondering why Starbucks is going this route, especially since iPhone users on the AT&T network can access the internet on their unlimited data plans via their mobile phone network. No mention was made of whether this service would apply to the iPod touch or other brands of mobile phones.

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US Election Results Sites – Mobile

Election Day is winding down in the United States with many of the states’ polls closed and others open for just a few more hours. Who will win? The whole world is watching, and so are we — from our mobile phones. The following is a small sampling of mobile website covering the election results. Please feel free to add your own in the comments section.

News Sites

Here are some .mobi sites with election headlines and stories:

• ThePresidency.mobi
• BusinessWeek.mobi
• MSN.mobi
• FoxNews.mobi
• Signon.mobi, San Diego Union-Tribune
• WichitaEagle.mobi Wichita, Kansas

Candidates’ Microblogs

If you’d like to read what the candidates have to say in real time, they are both microblogging on Twitter. Here’s the mobile version of their messages:

John McCain’s Twitter Timeline
Barack Obama’s Twitter Timeline

Election Video

Mippin has video in 3gp format for smartphones, including iphones.

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Now mobile internet users can get their US Economy news in one place with US-Economy.mobi. The mobile site shows US Economy news stories including economic indicators such as real estate markets, jobless claims, and federal budget news. While the site doesn’t present every story on the topic – that would be impossible – it does offer the reader a snapshot of what’s happening in a mobile format.

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