Companies in today’s briefs include: Cisco, Linksys, T-Mobile USA, Kineto Wireless, Spotigo, Smaato, Nuance Communications, TeleNav
Cisco subsidiary, Linksys announced the launch of a new router that supports cellular UMA services. Called the WRTU54G, its basically a standard Linksys Wireless-G broadband router with two added phone jacks, two internal SIM card slots for multiple phone lines and UMA client software. Linksys also announced that T-Mobile USA is using the WRTU54G for its T-Mobile @Home service. By partnering with UMA developer, Kineto Wireless, the WRTU54G router enables analog phone traffic to be carried over IP back to the operator's network. This expands the mobile operator's capability to not only use the network to service mobile calls but could also use the same network to deliver landline calls for a truly converged service.
Spotigo, an international B2B software and service provider for the mobile broadband and location-based services market, announced it has expanded its partnership with Smaato, a mobile advertising company. Smaato has been chosen to include their solution into Spotigo's Wi-Fi SmartClient software package. This package already contains a Wi-Fi connection manager, hotspot finder, content push capabilities and the Wi-Fi-based positioning solution. Smaato's mobile advertising platform SOMA allows integrating targeted ads into partner applications. By combining Smaato's technology and Spotigo's WiFi SmartClient, the companies expect to push the mobile broadband market as well as the market of location-based-services.
Nuance Communications, a provider of speech and imaging solutions, announced that TeleNav has selected Nuance Mobile to speech-enable its mobile device-based navigation service. Using the Nuance Mobile Speech Platform on select devices, TeleNav now promises the ability to enter destinations for driving directions and business category searches by voice, so that subscribers no longer need to use a telephone keypad. Users can simply state the destination address, or select from a database of more than 10 million points of interest by stating a category, such as "pharmacy," or by stating a specific business name, such as "Walgreens."