Mobile Phone information.

For those of you who aren’t familiar, the walled garden is a term used to describe the situation where carriers control all content that goes to their device. Being able to sell directly to consumers is a very costly service that few can afford.

The walled garden is dealing some serious blows to the industry right now. Depending on what carrier you’re with, even if you buy a game from a site that sends you an SMS with an html link to get the game, some carriers will go as far as to block this SMS link or the download. This makes absolutely sure that the games can only be purchased through their deck. The fact that these small start up game developers aren’t able to sell directly to the consumer, means that they have an incredibly hard time getting their games out. This process is really stifling industry growth.

Let’s just say that you are one of the lucky publishers who gets their game onto a game deck. The only way to sell your game on that deck is to hope that somebody knows of your game and is looking for it specifically, or that they will select your game based on its catchy title. If the title is your only selling potential, then you better make sure that the game is called “Aabaa’s Adventure” because chances are that the customer won’t be searching through the entire game deck. Too bad for the developer who makes an amazing game but calls it “Zworf” (I don’t know why you would call it that anyways).

Okay, so you’ve got a good game and it has a catchy name at the beginning of the alphabet. What other problems will you incur? Firstly, the waiting times to get your game on a carrier’s deck are incredibly long compared to the time it takes to actually develop the game. It’s common for a game that took 3 months to develop to wait 8 months before their game is on the deck. This causes serious cash flow issues.

Speaking of long waiting times, let’s just say you accidentally shipped the game with a bug. We all know this would NEVER happen (wink), but just hypothetically what if? It would take a relatively long time to get your game updated because you have to go through the bureaucracy of the carrier system. Not only that, but everyone who has the unupdated games will have to repurchase the software because their carriers will demand they buy the game again.

It’s obvious why carriers are so reluctant to give up the market to more direct to consumer publishers. Although the revenue they make from game sales is relatively minor to their other competencies; carriers still receive huge revenues from controlling all content that moves through their phone. It is very hard to convince them to give up these profits in exchange for better gaming. This is not to say that it will never happen. Developers such as Gameloft have negotiated with carriers to be allowed the right to offer direct to consumer sales off their website in exchange for a limited time of exclusivity on the carrier’s game deck. These developers have demonstrated that negotiating direct to consumer sales can be a very successful part of a developer’s business strategy. We will never see the end of the walled garden in North America until the mobile game industry bands together and forces carriers to open their decks. Europe and Asia have pioneered this movement and America can benefit from similar action.

QuicklyBored is a blog that reviews mobile games as well as reports on the mobile games industry. Visit us at http://www.quicklybored.com

Tags: bell, blackberry, cell, Cingular, gadget, game, Games, Mobile, motorola, phone, quicklybored, Razr, telusbell, blackberry, cell, Cingular, gadget, game, Games, Mobile, motorola, phone, quicklybored, Razr, telus

Share This

Wallpaper, as my grandmother describes, is something that you can use to make your room look good and leave a lasting impression on anyone visiting. You should really choose the paper with care, so as to reflect your taste and temperament.

The concept of Wallpaper has evolved drastically since those dark ages of our grandparents. “Wallpaper” has become a very important part of the vocabulary in the past three years or so. Today everyone knows “Wallpaper” by what their computer screens show on the background when they start up and more recently when their mobile phones are switched on.

Time has moved on and so has the usage. These wallpapers or for that matter any accessory, should be selected with utmost care, since you would be looking at it or hearing it more than anyone else (no one will come visiting as in the dark ages). My idea is that it should be soothing to your senses, relaxing to your vision and most importantly, should pep you up. Again, this is just my idea, but ideally one should rather go by instinct and use according to their personal appeal i.e. what appeals to their senses the most.

The technology movement has made this software like wallpapers, ringtones, screensavers, logos etc. available to almost all mobile phones today. These tools serve, not only as incentives to buy a mobile phone but also to make the use of these gadgets interactive and interesting.

Today, irrespective of the mobile phone brand (many are available viz. Nokia, Motorola, Siemens, Samsung, Panasonic, Sagem, Sharp, Alcatel, LG, Mitsubishi etc.) that you own or buy, these software are available to all, be it as a built in feature or through download from various sites on the internet or from your mobile service provider, either free of cost or at a nominal charge. However you should take a little care (as follows), when you procure or download software for your mobile phones.

For Wallpapers, firstly check the resolution that your mobile phone supports and download only those that can be displayed.

For Ringtones, check if your mobile phone supports polyphonic ringtones, if it does you can download any tones, otherwise download only those tones which are not polyphonic.

For Screensavers, just check the resolution of your mobile phone and download any screen saver that is equal to or less than that specified.

For Logos, follow the same rules as the screensavers.

These add-ons are also very easy to use. You could change your ringtone, wallpaper, screensaver or logo in less than one minute on any mobile phone once you get the hang of it. Why, you can change them everyday like your clothes. The accessories instill newness in a mobile phone user’s life when their daily chores have become habitual.

Their (the add-ons) beauty does not lie in their usage or in the simplicity of usage, but in the relevant fact that they bring freshness to one’s otherwise routine life.

In today’s life of scientific diversity and extreme competition, a mobile phone has become an irreplaceable part of our lives and lifestyle. And similarly, the ringtones, logos, screensavers and wallpapers have become absolutely indispensable part of our mobile phone’s life.

In the world of pretty, pleasing, small, colorful, camera laden mobile phones vanity has taken a front seat in the war for better, sleeker, feature laden gadgets in the users psyche. The software is not far behind. The developers are striving harder to achieve more and more compatible, smaller and good quality wallpapers, ringtones, logos and screensavers. All this to make our mobile phone usage more fun, interactive, entertaining and easier.

In support for the cause of all (you, us, the developers and most importantly your mobile phones) and to pep up your mobile phones with the latest software visit http://www.theunlocker.co.uk

NOTE: This article may be freely reprinted in your ezines, ebooks, off-line publications, or on your websites. We only require that the entire article - including the clickable links, and the resource box remain unchanged.

Wayne Brown, is Webmaster of http://www.theunlocker.co.uk which offers free downloads and resources for mobile phones.

Tags: Games, Mobile, phones, polyphonic, ringtones, screensavers, themes, wallpaperGames, Mobile, phones, polyphonic, ringtones, screensavers, themes, wallpaper

Share This

When was the last time you heard a Tring..Tring! The genuine sound (ringtone as we say today) of a TELEPHONE ringing (TELEPHONE as in Alexander Graham Bell). Long time I guess.. 3 years more?

Communication technology in the past 100 years has come a long way, gone far beyond a common man’s expectations giving or gifting him the toys to communicate on the move. Be it laptops, palmtops, mobile phones, satellite phones and the wireless internet. What else can we expect in the next 100 years of existence? Hard to imagine, harder to believe. Whoever believed in a mobile phone 20-25 years back?

Well, the gizmos have arrived and are here to stay. We’d better get used to them before we are left far behind in the past. In order to stay abreast of mobile technologies and mobile gadgets one needs a simple basic know how of using a telephone. Believe it or not, despite all advertisements and promos (with feature lists) that we see everyday for mobile phones, they are very, very easy and simple to use. The fun lies here.

Apart from being a basic telephone, the mobile phone has evolved into a personal accessory which speaks a lot about the person who carries it. Thereby, it also carries a snob value, because of which a person always tends to have the latest, with the best features despite the cost of procuring or replacement.

Once a mobile phone has evolved into a personal accessory, a lot of customization goes into it. Therefore the need for software and content viz. ringtones, wallpapers, screensavers, logos, games, themes, headsets, facia, software, comes to the fore. Thank god we’ve always had a resource called the “Internet”, the source of all information, be it the basic phones or the content or the software.

Customization of a mobile phone to suit your personal tastes is not the work for an engineer. You can do it yourself, if you fiddle around with one for a couple of days or so. Every mobile phone model is different in itself as far as looks, features, menus etc go, but basically the same. It only takes some getting used to.

A mobile phone’s future is that it wants to grow to be a computer. Well, pretty much so when we see PDA’s evolving from mobile phones and computers shrinking to Palm tops. You know where you are headed, just use a little compu-sense when you use your mobile, you will get off to a flying start.

Let’s get on a little “What is” on these features

Wallpaper: A background picture that you see when you look at the LCD of your mobile phone.

Ringtones: The sound that is played by your mobile phone when someone calls you.

Games: Gaming software that you can load into your mobile phone to play when you are free.

Themes: Wallpaper, ringtone, logo, color schemes etc all rolled into one so that you don’t have to set them individually.

WAP: Internet access settings for your mobile phone, these have to be set manually as per your service operator specifications.

Software: Miscellaneous stuff viz. games etc. Other software to lock, unlock your phones, diagnosing problems etc.

A mobile phone now-a-days comes with a lot of features like a built in camera, an MP3 player, a voice recorder etc. You can use all the features, or you can learn to use all the features, alternatively decide on what features you need and make a buying decision.

Believe it or not, many people want to say that their mobile phone has a camera, many people use it regularly, and most people who have a mobile phone with a camera hardly use it after the first week. Imagine that they must have spent at least

Tags: Games, logos, Mobile, phone, polyphonc, ringtones, themes, wallpaper, wapGames, logos, Mobile, phone, polyphonc, ringtones, themes, wallpaper, wap

Share This