Ashley Towns is the first person to have created an iPhone virus, or so he claims. He does not regret writing it and he made sure to remind people that Rick Astley is here to stay. The iPhone virus is called “ikee” and it changes the wallpaper of iPhones to a picture of 80’s pop singer Rick Astley. A message on top of the wallpaper states “ikee is never going to give you up,” a pun on Astley’s popular song “Never Going To Give You Up.”
Towns, 21, said he created the virus out of boredom and curiosity. “I had just formatted my iPhone and it told me to set the password in bold, big letters and I wondered how many people have actually done that,” stated Towns in an e-mail to ComputerWorld. “So I ran a scan on my [Optus] 3G network and there was 26 phones running the service that’s vulnerable, and out of that 26, 25 hadn’t changed their passwords.”
Then he scanned the Optus 3G network and found 26 phones that were vulnerable. Of those 26 phones, 25 of them did not have changed passwords. Many jailbroken iPhones have a Unix utility running called SSH (Secure Shell). SSH runs using the iPhone default password, “alpine.”
Towns stands by his virus because it does not do anything malicious, even though it is a form of vandalism. He initially started by spreading the virus on the Optus network in Australia, but then he started targeting networks on Vodafone and Telstra. Towns even claimed he heard a report about his virus hitting a phone in China too.
Vodafone will be selling the BlackBerry Storm2 phone on October 26 for pre-order. The phone will be free as long as you sign up for a monthly contract at £35+. The specs of the Storm2 includes a 3.25″ 360×480 pixel capacitive SurePress display, 802.11b/g WiFi, 256MB flash memory, 2100MHz UMTS/HSPA data, 2GB memory, Bluetooth 2.1, and a battery that supports 6 hours of 3G talk-time. The phone will be powered by the BlackBerry OS 5 operating system. On October 15 the phone will be available in Ireland, Germany, The Netherlands, Spain, France, Italy, South Africa, and the U.K.
Vodafone wants you to connect your contacts to social networks and offer consumers another app store and mobile music downloading service. The new service is called Vodafone 360. The Vodafone 360 web service will be available on the Samsung H1 and the Samsung M1.
Both the Samsung M1 and the Samsung H1 run on the LiMo operating system. Some Symbian handsets will also have the Vodafone 360 mobile service installed. Vodafone has about 315 million customers in 31 different markets.
Vodafone and Warner Music Group has signed a deal that will allow the telecommunications company to sell music published by the major label. By signing Warner Music Group, Vodafone has gained the rights to sell music published by the four major music labels in the world. The four major companies include Universal Music Group, Sony Music, EMI Group, and Warner Music.
Warner Music Group artists include James Blunt, Seal, Fleetwood Mac, Shinedown, and Eric Clapton. The music provided by Warner Music Group will be DRM-free too. This means that the music bought between the Vodafone-Warner Music partnership can be copied to iPods too.
Looks like Vodafone customers will soon be able to get their hands on the BlackBerry Storm 9250. Benezblog.de spotted an image of the Vodafone-powered BlackBerry made for Germany. This smartphone will have WiFi, European-spec 3G, touchscreen with RIM’s ClickThrough system, and 3.2 megapixel camera. The BlackBerry Storm 9250 is expected to Europe in October which will be around the same time it also arrives in the U.S. on Verizon.
Vodafone is planning to release a set of APIs that will give developers the opportunity to build applications with capabilities to directly charge consumers for micro-payments and has the ability to detect location. Developers will be able to reach Vodafone’s 289 million customers through the selling of games and other applications.
Vodafone will allow developers to use direct billing capabilities for customers to pay for application services wirelessly through pre- and post-paid accounts.
Another fortunate opportunity for developers through Vodafone is access to the Joint Innovation Lab (JIL) SDK. The JIL is a partnership between Softbank Corporation, Vodafone, and China Mobile Limited. This will allow developers to create widgets for a total customer base of up to one billion consumers. JIL will be launching a formal website and the SDK this summer.
Vodafone Spain has become the first provider to start selling the HTC Magic, powered by Google Android. According to BGR, the cost of the Magic ranges from 19€ with a 62€ monthly plan to 199€ with a 21€ monthly plan. Anyone that wants one of these in the U.S. can expect the phone find its way to T-Mobile sometime in the near future too.
ITT Corporation (NYSE:ITT) has filed a lawsuit against Verizon Wireless, Nokia, Motorola, Qualcomm, Kyocera, and LG Electronics for infringing on their GPS patent. The lawsuit was dated March 23 and it was filed at the U.S. District Court in Wilmington, Delaware. ITT stated that Verizon Wireless and Vodafone Group Plc is infringing their patent by selling mobile phones that assist with GPS technology and the phone can automatically detect the user’s location.
The patent in question is #5,365,450, “Hybrid GPS/data line unit for rapid, precise, and robust position determination.” ITT asked the court for a permanent injunction against violation of the patent except to the extent to support 911 emergency services. ITT wants damages equivalent to a “reasonable royalty” and interest.
A Nokia spokesperson stated that the company “will vigorously defend itself in this matter and ensure its rights are fully protected.” Other companies related to the lawsuit were not available for comment.
Qatar, an Arab emirate in Southwest Asia will see a new IPO coming soon. Vodafone’s Qatar division won the country’s second mobile telephone license last year. Now it will be selling 40% stake on the Doha stock exchange. The IPO subscription period will run from April 12 until April 26.
HSBC Bank Middle East and Qatar National Banks are the lead financial advisors for the IPO. Initial public offerings this year have been pretty rare so it is quite refreshing to see Vodafone take this action. Vodafone won the second mobile phone license in Qatar around June 2008.
Vodafone and the Formula 1 team Mercedes McLaren have partnered to develop an application for the BlackBerry Storm that can actually drive a real race car.
Engineers Simon and Steve used an accelerometer/gyroscope application built for the Storm, powered Bluetooth to steer and accelerate an RC car initially. They put together a race track around their office and stuck that video on YouTube. After that succeeded, they were contacted by the Formula 1 team to try it out on a real race car. World champion Lewis Hamilton used the BlackBerry to control the McLaren Formula 1 car.
This is the type of video that makes you think, “ain’t technology somethin’?”
Vodafone Group Plc (NYSE:VOD) is currently in the Beta testing phase of a new Facebook application that they are calling Vodafone Connect to Friends. This application enables Facebook members to send text messages and pictures to mobile phones. The application currently only works for those in the U.K. Below is a screenshot of the application: Sending a text message takes up 1 credit and a photo MMS takes up 3 credits. Credits expire after 30 days. Below are the prices of the Vodafone credits: The application does not connect profile pages so if you want to install the application and monitor your credits, it is best to bookmark the site. What I would like to see is American telecomm companies embracing social media. I’m sure Verizon, Sprint, or AT&T can create something fancy around Facebook.
Amobee Media Systems, a mobile advertising company has raised $22 million. The $22 million round was led by Motorola Inc. (NYSE:MOT) and Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO). Amobee raised a total of $52 million thus far. Previous investors in Amobee includes Telefonica, Accel Partners, Vodafone, Sequoia Capital, and Globespan.
Amobee’s goal is to help fund telecommunication companies through advertising. Vodafone Spain is using Amobee to insert advertisements into Vodafone’s mobile site.
“We have built the first and only telco- grade ad-serving solution specifically designed to address the unique needs and requirements of the mobile operator across multiple channels and services,” states Amobee’s Operators page.
Amobee was founded in 2005 and launched in Feb. 2006. Amobee’s headquarters are in Redwood City, Calif. and has research and development based in Herzliya, Israel. Amobee is lead by CEO Zohar Levkovitz.
Amit Chowdhry | November 14, 2006 | 482 views | Comments Categorized under Vodafone, Yahoo!
Yahoo! and Vodafone have officially signed an agreement that gives Yahoo! an edge of the UK mobile market for advertising. Vodafone is a telecommunication group that spans across 27 countries, has 33 network partners, and a customer base of 186.8 million as of June 2006. Yahoo! will be the exclusive advertisement provider for Vodafone networks. This initiative will be rolled out in early 2007.
Customers will have the option to have these advertisements displayed and if they agree, they may reap the benefits of Vodafone service discounts. “Since we announced our intention to develop revenue from mobile advertising as part of our mobile plus strategy unveiled in May, we have carried out extensive customer trials,” stated Nick Read, a chief executive of Vodafone UK. “We will now use the experience to determine with Yahoo! how best to ensure customers, who choose to receive targeted messages, get better value as well as a richer mobile experience. This will also ensure that advertisers are given a compelling proposition.”
Partnering with Vodafone gives Yahoo! a strong competitive over other wireless advertisement competitors, Google and Microsoft. There definetely seems to be an intensity of rivalry between these three companies in seizing continental markets. I wonder which of the three will establish a strong presence the Asian, African, South American, and Australian continents.
