• Hanoi Telecom Mobile Company, a joint venture between Hanoi Telecommunications and Hutchison Telecommunication Vietnam, has signed a $600 million contract with Ericsson and Huawei Technologies to expand its GSM network. According to the agreement, Ericsson and Huawei, which won $400 million and $200 million respectively, will help HT Mobile deploy more than 500 base transceiver stations across Vietnam. HT Mobile switched to GSM technology from CDMA technology in June and will launch the e-GMS network in Vietnam next year.
• AOL’s Platform-A has launched a solution for targeting advertising to iPhone users. Offered through Third Screen Media, the solution detects and delivers optimized ads on iPhones browsing the Web. When an iPhone user is browsing sites within the Third Screen Media mobile network, the Advertising.com Web network, or any of AOL’s media properties, Third Screen Media’s targeting technology will serve an ad specifically optimized for viewing on an iPhone. Third Screen Media also can redirect iPhone users to special versions of marketers’ sites that are optimized for the iPhone experience.
• Sprint is providing an upgrade to Vanderbilt University and Medical Center’s (VUMC) existing system, including additional network coverage on both the Nationwide Sprint Network and the Nextel National Network covering eight buildings on campus, an area of 3.8 million square feet. In 2004, Sprint installed an in-building system throughout the university’s medical center, including four CDMA and two iDEN towers on campus, a Sprint retail location on-site and a dedicated account sales and support team housed on the campus. With the new expansion of Sprint’s in-building solutions, VUMC employees and staff will have access to Sprint’s suite of differentiated solutions, including Sprint Mobile Broadband, Group Connect and Nextel Direct Connect.
• FunMobility has released MoMoney, a free mobile content widget that lets bloggers and Web publishers integrate personalized mobile content into their blog pages, Websites and social media profiles. MoMoney also can be used as a traffic generation and revenue maximization tool, giving both existing and future license holders the ability to make money on either a per-click or per-impression basis.
• Life360 was selected as a winner in the Google Android Developer Challenge, an international competition that vetted the best applications for the upcoming Android mobile operating system. Life360 was one of the top 10 companies to be awarded $275,000. Life360’s application automatically notifies families about emergency events and can send messages to selected family members even if most infrastructure has failed. Unlike alerts from previous notification systems, Life360 alerts are customized to each user. For example, the messages can convey the location of the nearest shelter via turn-by-turn locations to the site using the phone’s GPS. The GPS system also allows users to track their family members’ locations in real-time. Life360 is currently testing its alpha product and will release a beta version to the public later this year.
• Powerwave Technologies has launched its new family of Nexus RT digital repeaters for commercial frequencies. Optimized for both indoor and outdoor use, the repeaters are designed to increase the coverage and capacity of existing wireless networks.
• Vollee, a 3G streaming services provider, said its mobile open beta application for Second Life, the 3D virtual world platform created by Linden Lab, has been downloaded by users in more than 98 countries, across more than 253 mobile operators’ networks for 70 supported handset models.
