Add to del.icio.us    Digg this    Get a great Ubuntu Linux dedicated server for less than $3 a day!

Tweet Share on Twitter

December 23, 2011

Japan's three largest wireless carriers-- DoCoMo, KDDI and Softbank have joined together to ensure that mobile subscribers can transition from the outdated FeliCa platform to the modern NFC (near field communications) payment system. The decision imitates that of other mobile service operators around the globe, who have realized that if they're going to prevent Google (and perhaps even Apple) from dominating mobile payments, then they're going to have to provide cross-operator standards for companies interested in developing NFC applications.

In the United States, Verizon Wireless, AT&T Mobility and T-Mobile formed a consortium called ISIS last year, while in the United Kingdom, wireless operators are still trying to come up with something similar.

Japan have settled on "The Japanese Mobile NFC Consortium". When a bank in Japan decides to deploy a phone-based version of its credit card, it only has to create one app which can then be distributed to any network operator, just as Japanese banks can already do with the proprietary FeliCa platform, which is only compatible with the rapidly growing Near Field Communications standard.

For its part, Google is already handling application distribution to its NFC Android handsets, supporting applications from Visa and MasterCard in its Google Wallet, though so far only Google itself, and Citibank, have created suitable applications.

But nevertheless, the FeliCa platform is still worthy of attention, as it already supports a range of other payment applications which are likely to find their way into the NFC ecosystem anyway, such as airline boarding passes and customer loyalty programs.

Those are the applications from which wireless carriers hope to make money from, having largely given up trying to collect a percentage of every transaction, and leaving that to the banks which are better equipped and prepared for that.

In other mobile news

Various hacktivists have released what looks like a manipulated version of a popular Android application to commemorate a Tunisian man whose Jihad suicide triggered anti-government protests in his country in late 2010.

Twenty-six year old Mohamed Bouazi set himself on fire after local government officials refused to meet him and discuss his grievances.

Bouazi's self-immolation propelled Tunisians' general frustration with their politicians into a wave of protests that forced out President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in early January. Ben Ali was the first Middle East dictator to be tossed out of office by the "Arab Spring" protest movement that spread to Egypt, Libya and to several other Middle East countries.

Altered versions of the popular Android app Al Salah, which calculates prayer times and orientates believers towards Mecca, have begun appearing on various forums dedicated to Middle Eastern issues. The Trojanised builds of the software sends links to a tribute to Bouazi as SMS messages to everyone on the contact list of an infected phone.

The process occurs silently in the background and without victims knowing about it, and it's not asking for permission to spread the martyr's message.

Analysis of the Trojan virus by Symantec suggests it doesn't do anything especially malign. Curiously, if an infected smartphone is located in Bahrain, the application attempts to download a PDF file onto the phone's SD card.

"Overall, the PDF file was examined and does not contain any malicious code or exploits," writes Symantec's Irfan Asrar. "The report itself is a fact-finding inquiry by the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry on allegations of human rights violations."

"There has been a lot of discussion regarding the impact of the internet, social media, and even the availability of cheap mobile phones on the uprisings in the Middle East. In a way, this threat is a testament to the rise of Hacktisivm 2.0."

Symantec's Norton Mobile Security detects the threat as Android-Arspam. Self-immolation as a form of extreme political protest is a centuries-old tradition in some cultures. A number of Buddhist monks, including most famously Thich Quang Duc, set fire to themselves as a protest against the persecution of Buddhists under the Roman Catholic administration of South Vietnam.

The practice spread to the former Soviet bloc, with the self-immolation of Czech student Jan Palach, and more recently to the Middle East and North Africa. Bouazi's death inspired a number of copycat protests both in Tunisia, Egypt and elsewhere.

In other mobile news

Mobile device testing company Metrico yesterday released its full-year report on the state of LTE technology and the customer's overall experience (or lack thereof) for this year. The review gauges several aspects of LTE-capable devices: data, video, voice and web browsing, on both AT&T and Verizon Wireless' networks.

And the results can vary greatly depending on which device is used and on which network.

For its analyzis, Metrico tested the HTC Vivid and Samsung Galaxy II smartphones on AT&T’s LTE network. Metrico also tested LTE performance on the HTC Thunderbolt, Samsung Droid Charge and Motorola Droid Bionic on Verizon Wireless’ LTE network.

Metrico's researchers found that data and Web performance on LTE networks show at least a five-time improvement when compared to equivalent performance of smartphones measured on the wireless carriers’ respective 3G networks. And that was largely expected since LTE is 4G technology, not 3G, and LTE (therefore 4G) uses wireless spectrum a lot more efficiently.

For the most part, data performance on both AT&T and Verizon’s networks, as measured by stationary HTTP download and upload speeds, was relatively comparable. All devices under the various tests achieved a mean stationary data download speed exceeding 10 Mbps. And maximum download speeds above 30 Mbps were observed on both networks.

Although AT&T’s results are slightly higher than those of Verizon, Metrico says the small discrepancy could be attributed to Verizon’s offering being on the market longer and subsequently more loaded with subscribers. Verizon launched its LTE network on Dec. 5, 2010. What's more, data speeds didn’t necessarily translate to a better user experience either.

On average, video showed significant variations in performance on the live network depending on the actual device used. The Samsung Droid Charge on Verizon's network showed the highest frame rate, while the Motorola Droid Bionic on the same network showed the lowest frame delivery rate.

Metrico also noted that overall performance didn't correlate with specific data and Web performance of these devices, indicating that onboard video processor and rendering software play a key role in the subscriber’s video experience.

In terms of power, overall battery life varied by device and by application used, based on the specific resources, such as the display, required for different applications.

In a comparison of the Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket on AT&T and the Motorola Droid Bionic on Verizon, battery life of the devices varied significantly by application used.

Whereas the Skyrocket showed higher battery life than the Bionic for email use, SMS, web browsing and video streaming, it lagged significantly when it came to circuit-switched voice calling.

Mobile apps in turn vary in their demands of the battery based on the resources they required. For example, the applications where the Skyrocket perform better also require the use of the display.

Metrico concludes that the subscriber experience is not simply driven by the network or the device, but by the combination of the two.

Even mobile devices with similar specs connected to similar LTE network technologies still demonstrate wide variations in overall performance, underlighting the criticality of measuring performance at the subscriber level.

In other mobile news

Leap Wireless said earlier today that it has launched its first LTE service in Tucson, Arizona this morning, marking the start of what the company described as a multi-year transition to its 4G mobile broadband technology. The news was long anticipated by some wireless industry obervers.

Leap's new LTE service will eventually cover about 90 percent of the Tucson market, and will be expanded to nearby Nogales, Arizona, sometime in mid-2012.

Leap said in October it would launch its first LTE trial markets before the end of this year. Its LTE service is slated to cover about 25 million users by the end of 2012, eventually blanketing about 65 percent of its network footprint.

The company has not provided further details about its planned market launches. Leap did not release specifics about the new service’s upload and download rates, but said its LTE data speeds “ranged from 5 to 10 times faster than current 3G data speeds.”

Verizon Wireless’ LTE network averages 5 to 12 Mbps on the downlink and 2 to 5 Mbps on the uplink. So far, Leap is only offering one device compatible with the service, the dual-mode Huawei Boltz USB modem. The modem runs on Leap’s LTE and CDMA EV-DO networks and is expected to retail for about $150.

Leap subscribers can choose from two monthly rates, a $50 plan that offers 5 GB of data with download speeds of up to 3 Mbps, and a $60 plan that also offers 5 GB of data, but with faster download speeds of up to 6 Mbps.

The debut of the new high-speed wireless service will help Leap better compete against prepaid providers MetroPCS and T-Mobile USA, who both offer services marketed as 4G through their respective LTE and HSPA+ networks. The speeds of MetroPCS' LTE service are somewhat restricted by its limited spectrum holdings.

As a prepaid wireless provider, Leap must keep a tight rein on spending to avoid raising prices. Its capital expenditures are expected to be between $425 million and $475 million this year on the cost of its LTE network build up and ongoing maintenance of its older 3G service.

Leap CEO Doug Hutcheson said in a statement that the company would roll out its new LTE netowrk "in a thoughtful manner and on a timeline that is appropriate for our value conscious customers."

Leap made plans last spring to use LightSquared's proposed wholesale LTE network for roaming. That strategy is likely now on the backburner, since the launch of LightSquared's network has been delayed after it was found to cause widespread blackouts in GPS service. Wireless Industry News has extensive coverage of this going back several months.

Add to del.icio.us    Digg this    Get a great Ubuntu Linux dedicated server for less than $3 a day!

Tweet Share on Twitter

Source: DoCoMo.

    This article was featured on Business 5.0 and on Tech Blog.