Technology
Top 30 Telecom Operators – October 2009
Dec 6th
| Rank | Company | Country | Technology | Total Subscribers |
| 1 | China Mobile |  China (Mainland) |
GSM, GPRS, EDGE | 508,370,000 |
| 2 | Vodafone |  United Kingdom |
GSM, GPRS, EDGE | 427,990,000 |
| 3 | Telefonica / Movistar / O2 |  Spain |
GSM, GPRS, EDGE | 200,850,000 |
| 4 | America Movil |  Argentina |
GSM, GPRS, EDGE | 194,340,000 |
| 5 | Orange |  France |
GSM, GPRS, EDGE | 189,000,000 |
| 6 | Telenor |  Norway |
GSM, GPRS, EDGE | 172,000,000 |
| 7 | T-Mobile |  Germany |
GSM, GPRS, EDGE | 150,900,000 |
| 8 | TeliaSonera |  Sweden |
GSM, GPRS, EDGE | 143,900,000 |
| 9 | China Unicom | China (Mainland) |
GSM, GPRS, EDGE | 142,800,000 |
| 10 | Bharti Airtel |  India |
GSM, GPRS, EDGE | 116,160,000 |
| 11 | Orascom Telecom / WIND |  Egypt |
GSM, GPRS, EDGE | 110,600,000 |
| 12 | MTN Group |  South Africa |
GSM, GPRS, EDGE | 108,470,000 |
| 13 | MTS |  Russia |
GSM, GPRS, EDGE | 96,860,000 |
| 14 | Etisalat |  UAE |
GSM, GPRS, EDGE | 94,000,000 |
| 15 | Verizon Wireless |  USA |
cdmaOne | 89,000,000 |
| 16 | Reliance Communications | India |
GSM, GPRS | 88,930,000 |
| 17 | AT&T Mobility | USA |
GSM, GPRS, EDGE | 82,700,000 |
| 18 | Telkomsel |  Indonesia |
GSM, GPRS, EDGE | 79,770,000 |
| 19 | Telecom Italia / TIM |  Italy |
GSM, GPRS, EDGE | 71,500,000 |
| 20 | Zain |  Kuwait |
GSM, GPRS | 69,500,000 |
| 21 | VimpelCom | Russia |
GSM, GPRS, EDGE | 63,700,000 |
| 22 | Axiata Group Berhad |  Malaysia |
GSM, GPRS, EDGE | 62,820,000 |
| 23 | NTT docomo |  Japan |
GSM, GPRS, EDGE | 55,670,000 |
| 24 | BSNL | India |
GSM, GPRS, EDGE | 53,960,000 |
| 25 | Idea Cellular | India |
GSM, GPRS, EDGE | 53,350,000 |
| 26 | Qtel |  Qatar |
GSM, GPRS, EDGE | 52,540,000 |
| 27 | Tata Teleservices | India |
GSM, GPRS, EDGE | 51,730,000 |
| 28 | MegaFon | Russia |
GSM, GPRS, EDGE | 49,120,000 |
| 29 | Sprint Nextel | USA |
GSM, GPRS, EDGE | 48,300,000 |
| 30 | China Telecom | China (Mainland) |
GSM, GPRS, EDGE | 46,780,000 |
Great iPhone App : Knocking!
Dec 3rd
Knocking, a new application for the iPhone, got a pretty big “wow” out of me — it lets you share footage from your iPhone camera with friends who have the app.
Let’s say you’re at a store and you want to ask your spouse which product they like better. You could turn on Knocking, “knock” on their phone, then they would get a message saying you want to share. Then you just turn your camera on the different products you’re looking at, and it shows up on their phone. Here are a couple other examples offered by Brian Meehan, co-founder of Point Heads Software, the Danbury, Conn., development studio that created Knocking: If you’re fishing, you could use Knocking to share the great view, or if you’re stuck in traffic you could use the app to show family or coworkers how bad things are on the highway.
Knocking Application
I haven’t tried the application myself, but I have seen a live demo as well as a video, and both suggest the video quality is decent, if a little jerky, and is broadcast with only a few seconds’ delay. Neither fact undermines Knocking’s essential coolness.
Pointy Heads actually released a more limited version of the Knocking app in November, which focused on photo-sharing. The full version was rejected from the App Store due to some user interface features that Apple said fell afoul of its policies. (Meehan was a bit vague on the exact violation.)
It seems like this is becoming a common story among iPhone developers, but Meehan decided to take his concerns straight to the top — he sent an email to Apple chief executive Steve Jobs recounting his history as a lifelong Apple fan, and outlining his concerns with the decision, such as the fact that other apps live in the store seemed to offer the same feature that got Knocking rejected. Shortly afterward, Meehan said he got a call from Apple “upper management,” who said they were calling about his email to Jobs. A few more phone calls later and the app was approved without any revision from Point Heads.
“It was a great feeling to know that they are listening and they do care,” Meehan said.
Knocking is available as a free app for the first 50,000 users, and will then cost $2.99. Pointy Heads plans to demonstrate a version for Android phones at the Consumer Electronics Show next January.
Pointy Heads is self-funded.
First, Facebook and Yahoo hook up, Now Twitter and Google do the same
Dec 3rd
Who will be the web’s primary identity platform?
An announcement from Google today shows that it’s trying to stay in the fight by integrating Twitter across its 9 million Friend Connect web sites. That means you can log into a Google Friend Connect site with your Twitter profile and share that new membership with your friends along with other interesting content.
Keep in mind that most of those 9 million member sites are part of Google Blogger, which automatically got included in the platform when it launched. This will help those sites find new audiences and promote the Friend Connect identity to others.
What’s interesting is the timing of Google’s announcement. It comes on the same day Facebook announced a massive integration with Yahoo’s properties, handing the social network an additional way to reach 500 million people. A big win. Yahoo users can use their Facebook log-ins to see what friends are doing on its properties and share that activity with their social network.
Google, however, doesn’t really have a large sharing platform. It has Orkut and Google Reader, but those haven’t found the same traction as Twitter or Facebook have with audiences closing in on half a billion users. It also wants to prevent the growth of closed or unfriendly ecosystems. So it’s turning to Twitter in a reactive move against its emerging competitor Facebook.
But this gives Twitter and Facebook more of a duopoly on data around our identities and social relationships. Is this ultimately what we want?
Acer claim to become first to launch Chrome OS Netbook!
Dec 3rd
The world’s second-largest PC maker has designs on being the first to offer a Chrome OS Netbook.
Acer Chairman J.T. Wang said in an interview with Digitimes that he’s “confident” his company will be first out of the gate with Google’s open-source operating system pre-installed. The earliest it would be available is mid-2010, according to Digitimes’ unnamed sources.
Acer was just one of several hardware makers previously announced to be working with Google on implementing Chrome OS, along with Asus, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, and Toshiba. Dell, which hasn’t committed to it fully yet, has released an experimental version of Chrome OS based on the source code that will work on the Dell Mini 10v Netbook, though it’s not an official product.
Though Wang didn’t offer details or specifications for Acer’s Chrome OS Netbook, the guys behind Chrome OS have already let on what they’re expecting.
At the OS’s first public demonstration last month, Google said its vision includes slightly larger keyboards and screens than what’s currently available, x86 or ARM processors, solid-state drives, and 802.11(n) Wi-Fi chips.
Motorola Sholes Leaked Pics
Dec 3rd
It feels like rumors about the Motorola Sholes have been around forever, but the mysterious Android-based slate looks to be finally emerging from the geeky shadows. Mobile01 have acquired some images of the device, though not a full shot, together with some specifications: apparently the Sholes will have a 3.7-inch 854 x 480 touchscreen (just like the DROID) together with an 8-megapixel autofocus camera with Xenon flash and – in a first for an Android smartphone – an HDMI output.
That HDMI port will apparently be used to output 720p HD video (or perhaps even higher). There’ll also be a 3.5mm headphone jack while, under the hood, a TI OMAP 3430 Cortex A8 processor potentially clocking in at 800MHz should keep things running smoothly. There’s also multitouch support and Motorola’s Crystal Talk DSP system for voice calls, and while right now it’s running Android 2.0, the expectation is that it’ll get Android 2.1 by the time it launches.
Since it’s a slate rather than a slider like the DROID, the Sholes is tipped to be even thinner. Connectivity is apparently UMTS/HSPA – no word on bands – and we’d guess there’ll be WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS in there too. Given how impressive the DROID turned out to be, we’ve got high hopes for the Sholes.
