But if you go back to the very start when Modu was everywhere on the 2008 MWC, throughout those days after the latest congress, Modu’s future is still unclear to say the least.
The Company started with a big promise and today it is selling a 2.5G device in developing countries, and as for the second generation, the CEO Dov Moran holds one device in his pocket, the reports says, but it was never shown to the public.
But there is more fundamental issue, the smartphone scene is blooming whereas feature phones are slowly going out of the picture.
That is the main problem of Modu from my point of view, the concept of one base device with the ability to change “identities”  is not working, not in a time when all mobile manufactures are building one device that does all.
I was very pleased to hear  that Modu is going to adopt Android as it OS, but as it seems Modu did not stand up to the peace.
Furthermore the world is not waiting for Modu, SK just announced a sim card that includes a OS, CPU and a gigabyte of flash storage is it sound familiar?

Click here to view the embedded video.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Modu To Adopt Android (talkingmobile.com)
• Modu To Hit A Iceberg? (talkingmobile.com)

One of the smoothest solutions to all-around phone communications comes from Israeli company Tjat, which has phone client solutions for the full range of traditional PC-style communications – e-mail, instant messaging, and social networking.
Most of Tjat’s services are for operators, but you can check out their take on IM on your phone at wap.tjat.com, or by installing Opera Mobile for Windows Mobile and Series 60 phones.

And while there are other applications you can use on most platforms to access IM and and social networking, Tjat’s is tops – evidenced by the fact that the company has signed a deal with Qualcomm, with the company installing Tjat IM widgets for its Plaza Mobile Internet platform. The blessed event took place Wednesday at GSMA.

“Our solution is turning into the standard in the world market in providing text solutions for leading edge users,” said Dr. Oleg Golobrodsky, executive vice president of Tjat Systems.
“The deal with Qualcomm, in addition to our deal with Opera, will allow us to provide services to users around the world and open doors to enable us to reach cellphone operators who can provide our solutions to hundreds of millions of customers.”
Tjat is hot stuff!

Related articles by Zemanta

• Opera and Tjat to showcase new generation of mobile-messaging widgets at Mobile World Congress (opera.com)
• Special: 72 Israeli Companies Exhibit at the 2010 Mobile World Congress (vccafe.com)

Tunewiki was fully launched on the OVI store and fully completed a race to a “cross platform” app (except WinMo and WebOS, yes that’s a hint).
The new version of Tunewiki includes a Twitter like feature that allows users to share their musical taste with others by displaying the playlist of songs they have played.
Secondly Tunewiki have worked with Flyscreen (a company that lets users place widgets on top of the homepage screen) for a Tunewiki widget.
We think that Tunewiki social essence is just starting to really pay off for the users, and the social info is now more useful, although we think that there is still a place for innovation.
For the new “cross platform” we wish that more OS’s will be added as the time passes by and more users can tune-in.

watch the new feature attach:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Smartphones are even more complex with the versatility of installed applications and made the self-service initiatives of the operators almost redundant. the smartphones also present an opportunity to support the device by remote control over the air. Operator’s representatives can take control over the device wherever the subscriber is (so they do not need to go to a service center) and fix the problems with the device.

OTA (over the air) remote control is a good solution to evaluate and maybe even fix problems with the device but raise questions about privacy.

Communitake has solved this problem by letting the operators to pre-installed Communitake’s client on the devices and remote control them when needed.
Comunitake has raised 1 million dollars and it has about 15 employees.
Today it disclosed a deal with the fast growing operator Pelephone that has recently upgraded to a GSM infrastructure.

We have no information how the process is handled to prevent privacy problems. With the iPhone coming to all 3 big operators in Israel in a matter of weeks, and the obligations of the operators to Apple to sell a big amount of devices, there is no room for too many devices. Unless something in the agreement with Apple changes or something dramatic happens, we see a stagnation in the Israeli mobile devices market. So unless Pelephone and Communitake aim to offer the service for iPhone, there is a good chance not too many devices will have the client installed.

Fortunately, Israel’s situation with the choking of the device market doesn’t represent what happens in the world and Communitake’s solution seems on paper as a good way to try and tackle the problem of problems and settings errors in smartphones.

Modu2 looked like a specially built device for the Android OS, therefore I bet that Modu will abandon its OS and will use the core of the Android operation system from now on until they have other options.
For dessert Modu mentioned that an Android based Netbook will also be released. Nokia watch out you are not alone anymore.

Mobile developers get a lot of attention from many sources including phone manufacturers (Nokia, Apple) and mobile OS companies (Symbian, Microsoft, Sun for J2ME, Apple, Google etc).

Apple’s iPhone is a unique device as it has an OS that supports only one device so compatibility is not an issue. In all other cases, developers face problems due to the fragmented nature of the device market. Every device has its attributes that deffer from one device to another (even when they have the same OS) thus applications need to be tested and adjusted per device. Developers that created an application in J2ME, for example, are usually required by the operators to support at least 10 devices and even more. In order to test the applications and adjust them to all relevant devices, and to keep up with the new models that are released to the market, developers need to get all the devices or to use a service that provides them a remote testing service that holds all the relevant devices.

Perfecto Mobile provides web access to real mobile handsets. Such a service enables developers to access devices and test their applications on them without the need to physically have them near them. Another company that offers such a service is Device Anywhere that was founded in 2003.
PerfectoMobile have recently raised 7 million dollars for its QA service.
PerfectoMobile completed raising funds just in time, time when developers get more attention and resources from the different companies to try and attract them to use their platform and their devices.

When writing these lines, we entered Perfecto Moibile’s website and found that the service is very unstable at the moment with error 503 on every landing (update: it is now back online).

We are glad we are not developers who need the service immediately and hope that some of the money raised will be used to eliminate denial of service situations.

Since Modu’s soft-launch in Israel Modu kept its cards very close the the chest. We only know that about 500 devices were sold (actually it was given free because users had to provide feedback about the product). Modu did not share information about its future deals, about expected launch time of the modu2, and of course no real details about the soft launch in Israel at all. Modu did share with us that users’ feedback claimed it is “the real thing” somehow i find it very hard to imagine people’s reaction to a very poor featured but small device is that this is the real thing. especially if the demographics of these users is youngsters who have no money. And how much can you appreciate a feedback you get from someone who got something for free and is obliged to provide you with a feedback?!
Today we are informed that Globe Telecom, the second largest operator in the Philippines is about to launch the Modu. It is said that the company will run an ad campaign of 1 million dollars. In an interview to Pocket-Lint, Modu’s CEO, Dov Moran stated that “The device just isn’t good enough for demanding Brits and Americans who like to surf the internet and stay connected”. Moran forgot to mention that the launch in Israel is more a friendly gesture than a public demand for the device.

In other words in most countries a device which lacks 3G connectivity is not welcome, that is not the situation in developing countries and this is why Modu will launch there.

[via Calcalist]

Edelweiss to flower that will never flourish?

Emblaze financial report

[via Calcalist]

The portal provides an immediate access to news casts, weather information, and a live stream of news. The live video is delivered when a live news show is broadcasted and in special events such as breaking news. It is a great challenge to deliver a good live stream video over IVVR in real-time but this new portal presents an unparallel video quality.

Idan Gafni, owner of Ugunduzi IVVR Services said: “The partnership between Ugunduzi, DSPV, and Teleclal provides our customers a comprehensive IVVR solution combined with market understanding, and services innovations, development, and hosting. We use the technology and our knowledge to launch services for media companies, advertisement agencies, content providers, financial institutions, and customer service centers. We launched the first commercial IVVR service in Israel and lead the market since then. We now aim to replicate the success we have in Israel to other countries starting in European countries.”

The unique combination of Israel’s strength in technology with the IVVR potential understanding pushed Israel to be a leading country in IVVR services. IVVR services usage in Israel increases with every launched service and shows a constant growth since the beginning of 2009.

In the U.S., video calls were never deployed so the market had no choice and mobile portals are based on the mobile web, making the American market irrelevant for video calls-based services (at the moment).

In Europe, where 3G penetration is higher in most countries, users are accustomed to use the mobile web. Will the market education, to move users from mobile web to richer experience using IVVR, that succeeded in Israel have the same success?! There is a limited opportunity before the market fixates on mobile web and forgets the potential and the promise of the IVVR technology.