Blackberry to Release NewTouch Screen Smartphone

Research In Motion have announced a new Blackberry smartphone which does away with the traditional Blackberry design in favour of a touch screen. Blackberry's previous touch screen device the Storm received some mixed reviews with some complaining about the device's ease of use. The Torch 9800 (yes, Torch not Touch) will have a 3.2 inch touch screen albeit with a slide out keyboard also.



Blackberry's market share has been falling recently as they struggle to compete with Android Smartphones and the iPhone 4. Whilst Blackberry have always had great messaging features they have found it difficult to shift the image of a company that creates devices that are functional rather than fun.

The shift to a larger touch screen reflects the changing usage patterns brought about by the shift to 3g smart phones. Modern phones need provide a great web surfing experience in order to appeal to users and that can't be done with a small screen. A recent survey found that 50% of Blackberry users were 'interested' in buying an iPhone or Android device when their contract ended.

RIM are hoping that this device will be an iPhone killer (personally I don't think we're going to see one for quite some time). Avi Greengart of Current Analysis thinks that the device will be popular with users of previous RIM devices: "If you're a BlackBerry fan and you're looking for a great browsing experience and a better touch interface without losing the BlackBerry experience, the Torch will make many fans very happy."

Facebook and Google Top Mobile Internet Usage Charts

The GMSA and comScore have released the results of their first Mobile Media Metrics report. The report aims to investigate mobile internet usage including which sites are visited and by how many users. The first report has shown some very interesting usage patterns and statistics. Below is a quote from the GSMA explain how the data is collated:

"The GSMA Mobile Media Metrics service is based on anonymised, census-level data for mobile Internet usage across mobile networks, which is augmented with demographic data that has been collected with the consent of a representative sample of mobile Internet users. The Mobile Media Metrics service provides a rich, aggregated view of mobile Internet usage behaviour, enabling market-level analysis of site visitation and engagement metrics, such as page views, time spent on specific sites, and device types and features."

The report discovered that last December about 25% of the UK population accessed the internet via a mobile phone. This is quite a staggering statistic but doesn't come as a huge surprise when you consider that around a fifth of mobile phone subscribers (i.e those on a contract rather than those with a pay as you go mobiles) have a 'smart phone'.

The bulk of the traffic analyzed was unsurprisingly either to Facebook or Google sites. Below is a chart detailing the top 10 sites in terms of minutes spent online via mobile devices (via this Guardian article):

1 Facebook 2.2 bn
2 Google 396m
3 Microsoft Sites 166m
4 Orange Sites 139m
5 AOL (and Bebo) 106m
6 Apple 104m
7 Vodafone 89m
8 BBC sites 84m
9 Flirtomatic 55m
10 Yahoo 49m

Facebook's hits accounted for over a third of all internet visits via mobile phones although the presence of Google at #2 shows that users are going beyond sites they already know.

The State of the Internet

Here, for your reading please, is an interesting infographic about the state of the Internet in 2009. The data and fancy graphics are by Focus.

Edit: the image will not embed properly in Blogger so click here to view it.

Would You Browse for Furniture on your Phone?

Every company now seems to feel like they should have a Twitter account and an iPhone app. Where they were once hesitant about going online they are now desperate to appear cool by mastering the latest social networking craze or spending all their money on a fancy website. Having refused to get online until people stopped coming into their shops they are now reaching out via the web and learning fun phrases like Web 2.0, the Tipping Point and Crowd Sourcing.



Both House of Frasier and Ikea have released versions of their 2010 catalogs as iPhone apps. The apps let you browse through what is available in store although it is not actually possible to buy products via the Ikea one (Ikea only deliver to certain areas so online sales aren't their strong point). A lot of the items these companies sell would need to be seen in person (you wouldn't buy a sofa without seeing it) but the apps aim to give customers 'inspiration'.

Some have questioned the usefulness of a phone application when it comes to selling furniture. Bill Westerman, CTO of Create with Context believes that it is unlikely to be cost effective: "The enormous cost of development won’t always be financially sensible. The aim of any app is to tap into customer loyalty, keep shoppers interested in the brand and ultimately make money."



Most people in the UK wont have the ability to use an iPhone application so perhaps retailers would be better off trying to make a really great mobile site. Mobile sites are getting more hits than ever before as more and more phones become able to access the web. A great mobile site would need to be accessible to those with slower connections or at least have high and low bandwidth versions.

Mobile Phones: the Future of the Internet.

Mobile internet is growing fast with the release of more Android handsets (including the new HTC Hero) and the new iPhone leading the way. The bad old days of WAP connections and web pages incompatible with mobile browsing are on the way out. Mobile phones with full internet browsing capabilities are starting to emerge and mobile browsing looks to be the future.

Reportedly half of the world's population has a mobile phone with developing countries being the fastest growing markets. Mobile phone technology continues to improve and in the future those who cannot afford a fixed line connection will be able to connect via their mobile phone. As internet compatible handsets become more affordable and data charges are reduced the market continues to grow.

Improvements to the 3G infrastructure are needed in order for coverage to become more widespread but in larger cities a good signal is easy to come by. The availability of free wifi connections in public areas and coffee shops means that users can switch between wireless and 3G connections in order to get the most from their mobile device.

It seems that the idea of using a physical phone line to connect to the internet is fast becoming outdated. Good riddance to it.