Punchkick Interactive Inc. » Verizon

AT&T, T-Mobile USA and Sprint respond to Verizon’s Unlimited Cell Phone Plans

ryan unger — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 03:56:09 +0000

AT&T is offering unlimited voice for $99 and unlimited connectivity and messaging for $35. One year contract is required for new subscribers and data plans are unchanged, though.
Analysts are expecting Sprint to, “offer flat-rate calling plans at up to 40 percent discount to it’s rivals” — bringing unlimited wireless minutes into the $60 range for sprint customers.
$99 buys you unlimited voice and text (including text, picture and IM) at T-Mobile. Previously, the Deutsche Telekom owned mobile operator has been selling unlimited text messaging for $14.99 and 5,000 minutes of calls for $129.99.

Verizon Wireless to Offer Unlimited Voice, Data, and Messaging Packages

ryan unger — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 17:41:42 +0000

Engadget reports that they have received a flood of tips stating that Verizon to offer unlimited voice, data, and messaging packages. It is reported that starting Tuesday, February 19th the following plans should be available:

$100 – Nationwide Unlimited (voice)
$120 – Nationwide Select Unlimited (voice, SMS, MMS)
$140 – Nationwide Premium (voice, SMS, MMS, VZNav, VCAST, email)
$150 – Nationwide Email and Messaging (voice, SMS, MMS, and data)
$170 – Nationwide Global Email and Messaging (voice, SMS, MMS, and international data)
$200 – Family plan with two lines, $100 per additional line

Additionally, the sources at Engadget claim that premium paying subscribers will also receive the following additional perks:

The 5GB cap on data will be lifted
The plans will be available on one or two year agreements
There will not be a contract extension for current customers
All plans include mobile Web 2.0 portal access
No roaming or long distance charges

584 Flash Capable Windows Mobile Devices in World’s Largest PDA Database

ryan unger — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 01:15:11 +0000

I stumbled across the self-proclaimed “World’s Largest PDA Database,” and as soon as I did I thought, “I can finally get a tally of how many Windows Mobile 2002, 2003 or 5.0 devices are on the market!” In total I found 584 devices. Unfortunately, however, there is no data on the penetration of these devices.

Why is this important? Adobe offers installers for Flash Lite 2.1 for Windows Mobile 5.0, Flash Player 7 for Pocket PC 2003, and the Flash Player 6 for Windows Mobile 2002. Although this does not have the mass market appeal of Verizon Wireless, it is certainly notable.

Flash is pre-installed on:

70 Nokia Phones (includes N96)
58 Sony Ericsson Phones
13 BREW Phones
6 Sony CLIE PDAs
All NTT Docomo handsets
All KDDI handsets

Flash can be installed on:

Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 for Pocket PC Phone Edition (166)
Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 for Pocket PC Premium Edition (52)
Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 for Pocket PC Professional Edition (10)
Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 for Smartphone (61)
Microsoft Windows Mobile 2003 for Pocket PC Phone Edition (25)
Microsoft Windows Mobile 2003 for Pocket PC Premium Edition (54)
Microsoft Windows Mobile 2003 for Pocket PC Professional Edition (6)
Microsoft Windows Mobile 2003 for Smartphone (11)
Microsoft Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition for Pocket PC Phone Edition (57)
Microsoft Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition for Pocket PC Premium Edition (41)
Microsoft Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition for Pocket PC Professional Edition (4)
Microsoft Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition for Smartphone (35)
Microsoft Pocket PC 2002 Phone Edition (20)
Microsoft Pocket PC 2002 Premium Edition (33)
Microsoft Pocket PC 2002 Professional Edition (2)
Microsoft Smartphone 2002 (7)

Note from Adobe.com:

Note: This version of Flash Player is for the individual use of developers of Pocket PC devices. For more information about Adobe’s Flash Player distribution policy read the FAQ.

When you download the free player, it is provided “as-is”—which means that Adobe will support it only for Windows Mobile 5 and Pocket PC 2003 OS devices through available online resources on our website. If you experience any problems for non-certified devices, you should discuss them with other developers in various forums.

The World’s Largest Handheld Database

A Bright Future for Flash Lite with More Than 460,000 Mobile Devices in 2008

ryan unger — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 04:53:47 +0000

Bill Perry (Mobile evangelist for Adobe) has just posted the Flash Lite install base forecasts for 2008 from the Strategy Analytics Flash-Enabled Handset Forecast from January 4, 2008. The forecast includes the installed base of Flash Lite devices by Region, Country and Version. Bill’s PDF highlighting the 91% Global Growth of Flash Lite in 2007 can be downloaded here.

Worldwide, the totals for 2008 add up to: 461,733,000 mobile devices with Flash Lite pre-installed.

The score card for 2008 reads:
1. APAC – 154,761,000
2. Western Europe – 107,832,000
3. Japan – 77,603,000
4. Americas – 64,561,000
5. CALA – 32,024,000
6. Central Europe – 24,952,000

What are the biggest surprises?
I truly did not expect the Flash Lite 2.x numbers to be so high. Adobe is forecasting that in 2008 the Americas and Western Europe will have higher Flash Lite 2.0 or 2.1 adoption than 1.1! Despite this, Flash Lite 1.1 will still most likely stay the obvious standard.

I am very excited to see that the Americas are so close in numbers to Japan. Additionally, they have more than double the numbers of Central America, Latin America, and Central Europe. It’s no surprise that Western Europe and APAC still top the charts.

What does this all mean?
As companies like Verizon continue to grow with Flash Lite, consumer adoption rates will no doubt go up as well. As a full service mobile marketing firm that is passionate about mobile and pushing the medium forward, we can continue to pursue Flash Lite development with our clients—knowing that one day in the near future it will become the mobile standard of third party development.

We have been working commercially with Flash Lite for some time. Our projects have ranged from oem user interface development, to consumer content such as custom applications and games. We couldn’t be happier about the news.

Open Mouth, Insert Foot

zdabbas — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 19:00:22 +0000

Every once in a while—perhaps as often as the solar equinox or emergence of the breeding cicadas—I open my mouth and say something I later regret. And when I do so, I feel it is my duty to own up to my mistake. So, with my sneaker on my plate, I apologize to all of you about my July 5th rant, Why a True Apple Fan Would Never Buy an iPhone.

Why, you ask? Allow me to explain.

I decided that I needed a smart phone with true email capabilities about two months ago. Looking around at the options out there, I wasn’t particularly blown away by any of the smart phones I played around with at the Verizon store. On second look, the iPhone started to seem like a phone I could (*ahem) learn to live with.

Fast forward two months.

My iPhone and I are best friends, and in some countries, possibly married. I absolutely cannot live without it. The email software is incredible and syncs perfectly with my .Mac account and IMAP business account. The camera is beautiful and I find myself constantly taking pictures with my phone—something I’ve never done in the 11+ years I’ve been a cell phone user. I use the iPhone religiously for iPod purposes, and my video podcasts have never looked better. And the Safari browser has proven to be a mid-argument-dispute-resolution miracle on more than one occasion.

Sure, the iPhone has some problems. Edge isn’t too quick, and 8 gigs just isn’t enough memory. But the goods FAR outweigh the bad. Software updates have even fixed a number of the issues I once complained about. Reading through my previous post, I’ve had to ask myself: Am I so jaded that a technical marvel like the iPhone can elicit a complaint from me?

Mr. Jobs, if you’re reading this, please accept my apology. Please continue to deliver me gadgets like the iPhone. And please forgive us tech-geeks when we are overly critical. We don’t mean it.

*Sometimes.

Learn more about Punchkick Interactive’s iPhone software development capabilities.

16 million Verizon Wireless subscribers can view Flash Lite content using 13 different phones

ryan unger — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 07:20:51 +0000

Via Bill, I recently learned that as of April 30 2007, 13 Flash Lite for BREW supported handsets represent 16 million active Verizon Wireless subscribers (reported by M:Metrics).

One of the many benefits with developing with Flash Lite is that you can target multiple devices with the same screen size using one FLA file. In the graphic below you can see how a developer would only need to create 3 FLA files to target all 13 supported Verizon Wireless handsets.

The phones that support the Flash Lite for BREW extension are: LG VX8100, LG VX8300, LG VX8500, LG VX8600, LG VX9800, LG VX9900, Motorola RAZR V3c, Motorola RAZR V3m, Motorola KRZR K1m, Samsung SCH-A930, Samsung SCH-A950, Samsung SCH-A970, and the Samsung SCH-A990.

Flash Lite’s role in the BREW ecosystem

ryan unger — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 22:35:21 +0000

fiercedeveloper.com wrote a short article about Flash Lite’s role in the BREW ecosystem citing the October 2006 deal between Verizon Wireless and Adobe. The article from fiercedeveloper.com can be seen as a sign that Flash Lite may be gaining more acceptance from the media, and that it may soon be seen as the standard for wireless development in the US and abroad.

“Verizon’s expanding selection of handsets, and Adobe’s support of Flash Lite for BREW, is a strong signal for developers considering Flash Lite.”

At the BREW 2007 conference, we expect Adobe and Verizon Wireless to be talking about Flash Lite’s impact on some 37.5 million Americans. Verizon Wireless was the first US operator to adopt Flash Lite to it’s network, and the first operator worldwide to offer Flash Lite for BREW.

If you have interest in developing Flash Lite for BREW for Verizon Wireless, you may want to read our Adobe.com article, Developing Flash Lite for BREW applications for Verizon Wireless

Adobe Developer Center article released: Developing Flash Lite for BREW applications for Verizon Wireless

ryan unger — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 23:04:42 +0000

Punchkick Interactive has authored it’s first article for Adobe.com. Zak Dabbas and myself (Ryan Unger) co-authored Developing Flash Lite for BREW applications for Verizon Wireless. This article covers not only the technical side of developing applications for BREW for Verizon Wireless, but also the marketing aspects of distributing content directly to Verizon Wireless or to a content catalog partner such as Atom Entertainment, FunMobility, or Smashing Ideas.

The article has three main sections:
1. Understanding the Flash Lite for BREW marketplace
2. Becoming an authorized Qualcomm BREW developer
3. Testing content on a Verizon Wireless handset

Read the full article on Adobe.com

Introduction
At the October 2006 Adobe MAX conference, Adobe and Verizon Wireless announced a partnership that would make Flash Lite content available to over 37.5 million Verizon Wireless subscribers. Flash Lite developers were understandably excited about the announcement, and teaching developers how to create content for Verizon Wireless became a central focus of the MAX conference.

This article will teach you how to develop Flash Lite for BREW content directly for Verizon Wireless. It will detail the process of becoming an authorized Qualcomm BREW developer, testing your Flash Lite for BREW content on a Verizon Wireless handset, and selling your content through Verizon Wireless.

In addition to understanding the technical specifics of creating Flash Lite for BREW content, this article will also discuss the pros and cons of using the direct model for developing and distributing Flash Lite for BREW content—including the real costs and anticipated returns on your development investment. It will also briefly cover the process of selling content through an content catalog partner, and the pros and cons associated with doing so.

Also, we would like to thank Phil Pastore for helping out with the headshots.

Learn more about Punchkick Interactive’s Flash Lite development capabilities.

Is Flyer worth the hype?

ryan unger — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 18:22:16 +0000

Polls – Take Our Poll

Felipe Andrade created Flyer for Flash Lite using Python for Nokia S60. The Flyer framework is great—it lets you access never before seen features with Flash Lite such as integrating with a mobile device’s camera, bluetooth, filesystem, (potentially) GPS, and much more. But is Flyer worth all the hype?

Flyer was built to extend Flash Lite 2.1 features with Python for S60. That’s quite a few prerequisites: Flash Lite 2.1 (the latest version of Flash Lite), Python (not preinstalled on phones), and a Nokia S60 device. I love what Flyer is trying to do, but I am reluctant to jump on the band wagon since the likelyhood of consumer adoption is low due to what is required to make this framework function.

When would I adopt Flyer? When it works on the current consumer standard version of Flash Lite. If your on Verizon, that would be version 2.1 However, Python for S60 is not synonymous with Python for BREW. And if your not on Verizon, that would be version 1.1.

My final thought is that I love what Flyer is doing—I just wish that it extended Flash Lite 1.1 and did not require a consumer to install Python and the Flyer framework (and yes, I realize that these are pipe dreams).

What are your thoughts? Vote, or comment on whether or not you think that Flyer is worth the hype.

Device profile update #1 for Adobe Device Central CS3 released

ryan unger — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 17:14:51 +0000

Bill recently announced that Adobe has made the first device profile update for Adobe Device Central CS3 avaiable.

There are 3 ways you can download the update (11.4MB):
- go to the direct URL in your browser from our new site, Adobe Device Central Online
- in the Device Central start window click the “device updates” button
- in the Device Central menu bar select Help > Updates…

This update contains 39 new device profiles from all regions of the world, many released between January to April 2007, as well as updates to 7 existing profiles. With this update you will have access to 265 device profiles as part of Device Central with most of them for supporting Flash Lite content in addition to other mobile media types.

New Device Profiles
DoCoMo Fujitsu F903i
DoCoMo Mitsubishi D903i
DoCoMo Motorola M702iG
DoCoMo Motorola M702iS
DoCoMo NEC N601i
DoCoMo NEC N703iD
DoCoMo NEC N903i
DoCoMo Panasonic P903i
DoCoMo Sony-Ericsson SO903i
KDDI Casio Hitachi E03CA
KDDI Casio Hitachi W43HII
KDDI Kyocera W44K
KDDI Sanyo W43SA
KDDI Sony-Ericsson W44S
KDDI Toshiba A5523T
KDDI Toshiba W46T
KDDI Toshiba W47T
Nokia E61i
Nokia E65
Nokia N77
Nokia N91
Nokia N95
Nokia 6290
Reigncom iriver Clix
Reigncom iriver U10
SoftBank Nokia 705NK
SoftBank Samsung 707SC
SoftBank Samsung 709SC
SoftBank Sharp 910SH
SoftBank Sharp 911SH
SoftBank Toshiba 811T
Sony-Ericsson W610i
Sony-Ericsson W880i
Verizon LG VX8100
Verizon LG VX8300
Verizon LG VX8500
Verizon LG VX9900
Verizon Samsung SCH-A930
Verizon Samsung SCH-A990
Expanded/Improved Device Profiles
DoCoMo Mitsubishi D701iWM
DoCoMo Mitsubishi D851iWM
DoCoMo NEC N506iSII
DoCoMo NEC N701iECO
DoCoMo Panasonic P506iCII
DoCoMo Panasonic P851i
DoCoMo Sony-Ericsson SO505i

Instructions on how to download and install the new device profiles are available on the device profile page.