Nokia (NOK) made its biggest positive media splash in years by unveiling a new mapping service today. The Here.net service is going to be available on Apple’s (AAPL) App Store, there will be a toolkit for Android developers and a Firefox OS project. Nokia is buying a company called earthmine in order to speed up 3D mapping development. By next year, Nokia will be collecting 3D mapping info in more than 30 countries. A Nokia app called City Lens is already enabling Lumia users to dabble with augmented reality. Point your phone to a restaurant and see customer reviews pop up. More →
Launched in May 2011, Google Wallet was supposed to revolutionize shopping and replace cash and credit cards with NFC-enabled smartphones. While the idea was and still is ambitious, Google (GOOG) Wallet has been hampered by the reluctance of retailers and small businesses to upgrade their point-of-sale systems to support NFC. Last week, Android Police published what were alleged screenshots of Google’s plans for a “Google Wallet card” (GWC). Unlike the Google Wallet app for Android smartphones, the GWC doesn’t have any kind of NFC tech in it. It reportedly works just like the Google Wallet app and stores all of your credit cards in it, only you swipe it at checkout. More →
Amazon’s (AMZN) Prime service has been a huge draw for the retailer, and it looks as though it will soon announce a new subscription model to take on the likes of Netflix (NFLX) and Hulu+. Previously priced at $79 per year, Hacking Netflix reports that Amazon will be moving to a monthly subscription plan that allows customers to pay $7.99 each month for Amazon Prime service, which affords free two-day express shipping on all eligible items, free movie and TV show streaming from Amazon’s Prime library, free Kindle book borrowing and other perks. While paying $7.99 each month ups the annual cost of Prime service to $95.88, customers who pay for 12 months of service up front will reportedly receive a 20% discount, dropping the annual cost to $76.70 — less than a year of Prime service at the old yearly rate. The monthly subscription option had been removed from Amazon’s website at the time of this writing.
Apple (AAPL) just dropped a fascinating data point: 300 billion iMessages sent since the system debuted in the autumn of 2011. This is certainly an impressive number, but it also gives us a sense of how far ahead the tiny messaging startup called WhatsApp is right now. In August 2012, WhatsApp announced it is handling 10 billion messages a day. That equates to roughly 300 billion messages every month. More →
RIM (RIMM) is making some headway in getting carrier support for its mobile device solution services, as Sprint (S) announced on Thursday that it would support RIM’s BlackBerry Mobile Fusion. The key feature of Mobile Fusion is that it doesn’t just help companies manage BlackBerry devices but iOS and Android devices as well, thus giving it appeal for longtime BlackBerry enterprise customers who want to branch out and allow more devices on their networks. Sprint’s full press release is posted below.
Major League Baseball is a big fan of Apple (AAPL) when it comes to the company’s Passbook application in iOS 6. In the final two weeks of the regular season, four teams tested Passbook and found that fans were quick to utilize the service. Out of all e-ticket buyers, 1,500, or 12%, chose to receive their tickets through Passbook when given the opportunity, Market Watch reported. “That adoption rate really floored us – there is no question our fans want digital tickets,” CEO of MLB Advance Media Bob Bowman said. “Fans can use the tickets, forward them to a friend, resell them, or even donate them to charity – and they never get lost or left at home.” More →
Major League Baseball is a big fan of Apple (AAPL) when it comes to the company’s Passbook application in iOS 6. In the final two weeks of the regular season, four teams tested Passbook and found that fans were quick to utilize the service. Out of all e-ticket buyers, 1,500, or 12%, chose to receive their tickets through Passbook when given the opportunity, Market Watch reported. “That adoption rate really floored us – there is no question our fans want digital tickets,” CEO of MLB Advance Media Bob Bowman said. “Fans can use the tickets, forward them to a friend, resell them, or even donate them to charity – and they never get lost or left at home.” More →
eBay (EBAY) announced on Wednesday the launch of its redesigned website alongside a new simpler logo. The new eBay site draws on cues popularized by social photo-sharing site Pinterest. The most noticeable addition is the eBay Feed, a section dedicated to provide improved product discovery features. The Feed will suggest items that a user might be interested in based on pre-selected likes, eBay history or Facebook (FB) interests. Recommended items will populate the Feed’s stream and users can then instantly choose to buy the item or watch it. Users can even follow other user feeds to get more ideas. eBay users who want to get in on the Feed early can turn it on here. More →
It seems like companies are doing everything they can to squeeze extra revenue out of their customers these days by taking advantage of the personal usage data they collect. Google (GOOG) and Facebook (FB) are likely the two tech companies that are most often associated with turning usage data into dollars — Google isn’t even shy about it anymore — but plenty of other companies collect data from their users and use it to make money in a variety of ways. Two such companies, as it turns out, are Verizon Wireless (VZ) and AT&T (T).
UPDATE: A Verizon Wireless spokesperson contacted BGR to confirm that data collected is “anonymous and aggregated,” and to note that users have 30 days from the date they activate a new phone to make an initial decision, but they can then change their privacy settings later at any time. More →
Microsoft (MSFT) will reportedly launch its Xbox Music service on October 26th and will make it available free of charge, The Verge reports. The streaming service will be offered as either a free ad-supported model or a subscription-based plan similar to the company’s Zune Music Pass, which is available for $10 a month or $100 a year. Xbox Music won’t just be limited to Microsoft’s gaming console, however, as the service will also be available on Windows Phone and Windows 8. More →
Google (GOOG) was offered a large number of incentives from the government of Kansas City to bring its fiber optic service to its neighborhoods. The Internet giant was allowed to skirt regulations and provided with special privileges such as discounted services, free fiber and access to government employees, buildings and infrastructure. According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, Time Warner Cable (TWC) and AT&T (T) have been in negotiations with Kansas City officials for a “parity agreement” granting the two companies the same benefits Google received. More →
Nokia (NOK) on Monday announced an agreement with Oracle (ORCL) that will see the company’s Fusion Middleware Mapviewer integrated with the Nokia Location Platform. The deal will also provide enterprise customers a chance to license the Nokia Location Platform for use in their Oracle-based applications. More →
