Beijing-based mobile network operator, China mobile is reportedly interested in investing in Africa to boost services in rural areas. Though the company has not specified neither the region, nor its potential acquisition targets on the continent, it has an ambitious goal to “push business for mobile payments” as stated by Jianzhou Wang Chairman of company.

It would be recalled that recently, the operator concluded a deal that enabled it to acquire a 20% stake in Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, a move expected to help boost its wireless payment and finance operations.

According to Dataxis Intelligence, China mobile is the world’s largest mobile operator with its 539 Million subscriber base of which 7.6 million using 3 G services at the end of March 2010.

The market for NFC (Near Field Communication) mobile payments in the U.S. is in the nascent stage with an adoption rate of only 1.7%; this represents a huge opportunity for early movers offering the same. Adopting NFC mobile payment will open new revenue channels for banks as well as mobile operators as more than 94% of the U.S. population owns a mobile phone, and 60% of these have a card slot in their mobile phone. With the help of NFC technology, banks will be able to tap micro transactions made by cash, representing around 20% of the total transactions in the U.S. This will also help banks to capture the growing GEN Y population as well as the huge underbanked and unbanked population.

T – Mobile has assured the Sony Ericsson users that it has stocked the Black variant Sony Ericsson Vivaz. The other colours in which this handset is available are red, blue and silver. These 4 different shades cater to choice of every kind of person. Contract Sony Ericsson Vivaz Deals on T – Mobile starts from £14.06 per month. You can get a free laptop if you opt for monthly contract of £27.92. Read the rest of this entry »

With Mobile phones becoming essential commodity in todays time. But the ever increasing mobile bills have added to agony of users. However, we now have a solution in terms of PAY as you mobile phones.

The pay as you go mobile phones come with plenty of benefits and options that give the users an opportunity to select appropriate mobile deals as per their specific needs. These handsets are a perfect idea for those who want to keep their eyes on the monthly expenses of their ever exceeding mobile bills.

Apparel Group Loyalty Program “Club Apparel” was launched few days ago in Dubai in cooperation with Imovation. Club Apparel is the first Mobile Loyalty Program in UAE and it’s based on globally patented Margento technology.
It enables local as well as international shoppers benefit from using their personal mobile phones to identify themselves at affiliated points of sale. Collecting and redeeming of points is done through a simple phone call. All transactions are quick and take very little effort, while still guaranteeing a high degree of security.

275 Apparel stores are part of the Club Apparel scheme and equipped with the Margento POS terminals. After successful launch, Apparel Club will role out to the group’s other stores across the Middle East.

Telargo’s Delivery manager is the first complete Android based delivery management application. Watch it in action on Google Nexus One phone.

It allows the user to optimize, verify, track, navigate to and report the statuses of a complete range of daily trip orders in real time.What looks to be a fancy user interface application is running on extensive Telargo system, that allows trip orders to be scheduled, optimized and tracked in the most demanding real time situations.

Some of the benefits of Delivery Manager for Android

1. Workflow support
2. Real time trip order execution
3. Integrated CRM data
4. Navigation
5. Proof of delivery signature capture
6. Bar code scanning

The Android based Delivery manager is running as an upgrade of the Telargo On-board hardware. A reliable and robust Telargo technology has been proven in some of the world’s most demanding environments, subject to the outages of GPS signal due to high buildings (Hong Kong, New York), tunnels (Alpine regions ) and weather influences (Dubai, Sumatra).

More about Telargo at: telargo.com

Startup application development company SimpLabs has released their first iPhone title Diet2Go, a free weight-loss application which introduces an innovative approach to managing your weight. After choosing your plan from a large database, you can adjust your meal schedule and have meal reminders integrated directly into your iPhone calendar.

The application offers additional weight-loss tips and tricks, as well as recommendations and success-estimates based on your physical characteristics, activity levels, and food preferences. The diets are created exclusively for this application, are updated weekly, and offer a wide range of weight-loss plans to suit all preferences. The Diet2Go plan manager is a successful dieting tool that will guide you through weight loss day by day, meal by meal.

Application highlights:

• The largest and constantly growing collection of diet plans for every lifestyle, taste, and preference
• Weight-loss estimates based on your physical characteristics and activity levels
• The Diet2Go plan manager that will guide you through your personal weight-loss plan day by day, meal by meal
• Meal reminders integrated into your phone’s calendar
• Lots of weight-loss Tips & Tricks
• Automatic diet updating
• New diet plans every week
• Supports imperial and metric units
• Twitter and Facebook integration
• Simple and intuitive user interface

Minimum Requirements:

• iPhone or iPod touch
• OS 3.1 or higher

Pricing and Availability:
Diet2Go is free and available exclusively through the App Store in the Healthcare & Fitness category.

MOBIQPONS Launches Free Environment-friendly Mobile Coupons Application for Blackberry Storm – MobiQpons announced the release and availability of its “Coupons for Shopping -MobiQpons” application for Blackberry Storm via Blackberry App World. This is in addition to its applications for iPhone and Android smart phones

MobiQpons Inc. today announced that its Mobile Coupons application “Coupons for Shopping -MobiQpons ” is now available for consumers to download from its website http://mobiqpons.com/

Mobile Marketing Coupons Gain Popularity – Tucked inside newspapers across the country this Sunday, SmartSource, the coupon insert, will tell readers in 68 million households how they can send a text message to get coupons sent to their mobile phones

Brooklyn Center-based Caribou Coffee used a mobile marketing couponing company called Cellfire to send coupons this year for its new Acacia Organic Blend and Northern Lite Latte.

“We looked at mobile marketing as a way for us to drive store traffic and gain trial for a new product launch,” marketing manager Jake Miller said. “If we can get trial, we know there is a good chance that guest will come back again.” He declined to give details on the results but said Caribou would use mobile marketing coupons again.

MixMobi, a Plymouth mobile marketing startup, is launching a technology platform that lets retailers build coupons that can be “tweeted” on the social media site Twitter, which appears on cell phones as well as computers.

MixMobi co-founder Lisa Foote is letting small marketing agencies experiment with the technology to work out the bugs before the launch. Sprout.mn in Minneapolis designed a coupon for the Seward Co-op advertising 50 cents off at the deli this weekend.

“I think the consumer definitely wants mobile couponing,” she said. “I think people are really hungry for deals, and more than 90 percent of Americans carry cell phones.”

To be sure, technologists have heralded mobile marketing coupons for several years with little effect.

But a sudden surge of interest by big- name retailers and packaged-goods companies, coupled with better technology, is creating buzz for the mobile marketing coupon this year.

Only 3 percent of consumers used a mobile marketing coupon in 2008, but more than half of them knew about them, Forrester Research, a technology consultancy, reported this year.

The recession has advanced coupon usage in all its forms, including online. Digital coupons were the fastest growing Web site category last November, with visitors to coupon sites up 32 percent over October 2008, said comScore Inc., another technology research company.

Put it all together, and advertisers see cell phones as 277 million tiny electronic billboards in every pocket or purse.

“It’s a big area of interest these days. I’ve been getting tons of calls about this,” said Evan Neufeld, a senior analyst for mobile communications for comScore Inc.

Mobile marketing coupons have become a buzzword inside the big packaged-goods companies, Neufeld said. “They all say they want a mobile strategy,” he said. These companies will insure consumers see more ads, he said.

The popularity of smart phones, with their larger, made-for-the-Web screens, is driving the trend, too. Coupons look better on bigger screens, marketers say.
Read the rest of this entry »

Save Money with Mobile Coupons – The new mobile coupon program can transform the average joe into a savvy shopper by saving time and money.

Looking for ways to save money during tight times, but don’t want to spend the time searching through the newspaper looking for coupons? Well you’re in luck… The future of coupons has arrived in an easy, organized application that can be downloaded straight from your Smartphone.

Target has announced the first ever scannable coupon program for mobile phones. The program will send coupons to your mobile device that can be scanned at checkout. The opt-in program will provide Target shoppers with a customized webpage on their mobile phones, with all offers scannable at checkout via a single barcode.

Target is the first to venture into the coupon program, but there will be many to follow. Coupons will benefit businesses and customers alike–promoting spending while saving money for consumers. In addition, the convenience and “Green” factor of digital coupons, particularly mobile coupons, make them especially appealing to consumers today.