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What is RCS and how is it different from SMS and iMessage?
This week, Apple announced it would offer RCS support starting in 2024. Here's what that means for the future of chat between iOS and Android devices.
Google tries to send Apple an RCS message with Drake’s ‘Texts Go Green’
Google just shared an “unofficial lyric explainer video” for “Texts Go Green” that uses the song to push Apple to adopt RCS
Mobile World Congress will ban some Russian companies from 2022 show
Mobile World Congress organizers are banning some Russian companies from exhibiting following the country's invasion of Ukraine.
Samsung won’t attend MWC in Barcelona this summer
Samsung won't have a physical presence at MWC 2021 in Barcelona.
Plans for an in-person MWC continue as Sony, Nokia and Ericsson bow out
After scuttling one massive international trade show last year, the GSMA is sticking to plans for an in-person Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this June — just without a few marquee names. A handful of companies, including Oracle, smartphone maker Sony, and networking firms Nokia and Ericsson, have all confirmed that they will not be attending the show in the flesh.
MWC 2021 has been pushed back to late June
The 2020 Mobile World Conference (MWC) in Barcelona was one of the first tech casualties of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the February date canceled after a lot of debate. The next event was ambitiously scheduled for March of 2021, but that event has now been postponed as well. The GSMA, the industry association behind MWC, has announced that it will now be now be held from June 28th to July 1st, 2021.
MWC 2020 is canceled due to coronavirus concerns
MWC, the smartphone industry's biggest annual trade show, won't happen this year. On Wednesday, the GSMA, the organization that puts together the event, said it's cancelling MWC 2020 over coronavirus-related concerns. The trade show was scheduled to run between February 24th and 27th.
AT&T and Verizon agree to change their eSIM practices
Two years ago, the Department of Justice launched an investigation into whether AT&T, Verizon (Engadget's parent company) and the GSM Association (GSMA) worked together to limit eSIM technology. Today, The New York Times reports that the DOJ is closing the investigation and has found no evidence of wrongdoing.
GSMA puts eSIM work 'on hold' due to US collusion investigation
Don't expect to see embedded SIM technology in your phone any time soon. The GSMA, which oversees key cellular standards, has placed eSIM spec work "on hold" while the US Department of Justice investigates the possibility of collusion between AT&T, Verizon and the GSMA to stifle the card-free technology. The GSMA didn't offer an explanation of why it was pausing development, and instead stressed that American eSIM users would need to "explicitly consent" to a carrier-locked eSIM (such buying a phone on contract).
Global carriers adopt Google's SMS standard
Google is trying to move Android from the ancient SMS messaging system over to Rich Communication Services (RCS), and last year bought a company called Jibe Mobile to speed up the process. That appears to have paid off, as numerous global operators, including Sprint, Deutsche Telekom and Vodafone have agreed to adopt the standard. RCS has often been compared to iMessage,offering features like group chat, high-res photo sharing and read receipts. Carrier adoption means that users will get "a consistent and interoperable messaging experience between all Android devices and across all operators worldwide," according to the group.
The TUAW Daily Update Podcast for February 25, 2014
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get some the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the player at the top of the page. The Daily Update has been moved to a new podcast host in the past few days. Current listeners should delete the old podcast subscription and subscribe to the new feed in the iTunes Store here.
GSMA awards the iPad Air as Best Mobile Tablet of 2014
Since its founding in 1995, the GSM Association (GSMA) has been the leading trade group for the mobile technology industry. Made up of operators and mobile related companies, the group connects businesses, including software and equipment developers, from over 220 countries. This past week the GSMA held its 19th Annual Global Mobile awards, celebrating outstanding examples of innovation and creativity across the mobile landscape. Among the myriad of awards presented -- congratulations to Spain for winning the award for Economic Policy for Sustainable Mobile Growth -- there was good news for Apple. The iPad Air came out on top as the best mobile tablet of 2014. Here's the GSMA's loving review of the product. Precision-engineered to weigh just one pound, iPad Air is 20 percent thinner and 28 percent lighter than the fourth generation iPad, and with a 43 percent narrower bezel the borders of iPad Air are dramatically thinner. iPad Air's Retina display makes web pages, text, images and video look incredibly sharp and realistic, and the new power-efficient A7 chip allows the battery to be even smaller, helping reduce the overall volume by 24 percent from the previous generation while doubling its performance and maintaining its up to 10-hour battery life. Ultimately, however, that's just a description of why it made it into consideration. What did the judges think about the iPad Air? Judges' comments The iPad Air packs class-leading performance in an attractive and svelte frame, while its ecosystem has an undisputed advantage in the number of format-optimized apps We can't really argue with that estimation. Head over to the Global Mobile Awards website for a complete rundown of this year's winners. It's an interesting look at the global mobile landscape, even outside of the world of iOS.
Facebook joins the GSM Association to stay in sync with carriers
Facebook has a vested interest in the phone world between its hundreds of millions of mobile users and the Home interface. It's only fitting, then, that the social network has just joined the GSM Association. The company tells FierceWireless that it wants to play an "active role" in the GSMA as an associate member. The move should help Facebook both maintain its cozy relationships with carriers and understand their concerns. Membership could also be useful for Facebook's attempts to democratize internet access through Internet.org -- when it's already enlisting the help of wireless providers, a formal alliance with those networks is only logical.
MetroPCS intros first Rich Communication Services on LTE, touts universal contacts and chat (video)
Smartphone users are well immersed in a world of contact syncing, media sharing, VoIP and video calls. They're just not used to finding everything in one place, let alone guaranteeing that any carrier-level features will work with other phones and providers. MetroPCS is hoping to put itself ahead on that front by offering a potentially universal fix. It's the first carrier anywhere to launch the Rich Communication Services standard on LTE, which provides a perpetually synced contact list that serves as the launching pad for everything else. Early adopters of the Joyn-branded service can chat through text, share media (including during calls) and start up WiFi voice or video calls without needing yet another specialized service and the extra sign-in that goes with it. Right now, the very young state of RCS on LTE leaves it behaving more like the isolated services it's trying to replace -- on MetroPCS, only those with the Galaxy Attain 4G and an after-the-fact Joyn app download can get the experience as intended. As long as more devices and carriers come onboard, though, the technology might be the long-term key to pulling us away from fenced-off conversations in Google Talk or Skype.
Mobile app store WAC gets whacked: sells assets, is absorbed into GSMA
After struggling for over two years to get its mobile app store off the ground, the Wholesale Applications Community has decided to give up on its efforts, selling its assets and calling it a day. Established by the likes of Verizon, AT&T and Vodafone, the GSMA has agreed to continue offering the service to its membership, although its relatively recent payments system API (an asset that's now being sold off) might prove to be one of the last additions.
24 wireless operators agree on data roaming alert mechanisms, do nothing about actual roaming rates
GSMA, also known as the entity that produces Mobile World Congress and Mobile Asia Expo each year, seems to be onto something. And by "something," we mean "getting 24 carriers around the globe to agree on a single point." That's no easy feat, mind you, and the latest release from Shanghai asserts that 24 operator groups have agreed to implement new measures in order to better inform jetsetters about data roaming rates when they land. America Movil, AT&T, China Mobile, China Unicom, Deutsche Telekom, France Telecom-Orange, Hutchison 3 Group, SoftBank Mobile Corp., Verizon Communications, VimpelCom and Vodafone Group (among others) are all onboard, with the following measures to go into effect by the end of 2012. For one, texts will be sent to remind customers of their data roaming tariffs when they arrive in another country, and there will also be a monthly data roaming spending limit paired with the ability to "temporarily suspend" one's data when usage exceeds said threshold. Of course, alerting users to how they're about to be hosed only seems like part of the issue. Till that's addressed, we'll keep carrying an Xcom Global MiFi or hunting for a local SIM upon arrival.
GSMA and WBA team up to develop WiFi roaming framework for cellphones, tablets
Many phones have WiFi, and there are hotspots in all sorts of places these days, so wouldn't it be cool if you could use them for roaming, regardless of provider? Well, if a new collaboration between the GSMA and the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) has any say in the matter, one day you might be able to do just that. The goal is to simplify how cellphones can connect to those hotspots, by developing a technical framework for seamless WiFi roaming. The new standard will be based on the WBA's "Next Generation Hotspot" initiative and the WiFi Alliance's "Passpoint certification" system, taking cues from the GSMA's established roaming experience. The basic principles have already been laid down, and just require network formalities such as security and billing to be taken care of. No peep on when we might start seeing dividends, alas, so for now your subway ride can continue in (relative) peace.
AT&T announces home automation platform, eco-ratings for consumer devices
Today, AT&T revealed that it's working on a new home monitoring and automation platform known as Digital Life. While it'll be marketed toward service providers, the IP-based system will allow business and residential users alike to remotely monitor cameras, lighting, thermostats, motion detectors, window and door sensors, along with a litany of other devices. It'll be demonstrated next week in Barcelona as part of the GSM Association's Connected Home experience. As you'd expect, we'll be there to bring you a peek of AT&T's handiwork.The company has also announced that, later this year, customers will find eco-rating labels on AT&T-branded mobile devices. With this initiative, shoppers may evaluate criteria such as a product's energy efficiency, the percentage of recycled materials used in manufacture, and the inclusion of metals such as lead, cadmium and mercury. These factors and more will be presented as a composite score that evaluates the sustainability attributes of each device -- think of it as an easy way to get your green in gear. You'll find the PR for both announcements after the break.
SIM-based NFC gains global support from 45 mobile carriers, all huddled around GSMA's standard
You knew that NFC hardware can be embedded into SIM cards, right? Right? Regardless of whether you've been paying attention, the practice is about to become a whole lot more common, as 45 of the world's largest mobile operators have extended their support for the GSM Association's standard. Among the networks, you'll find heavy hitters such as China Mobile and China Unicom (which account for nearly 800 million subscribers between the two), along with familiar names such as America Movil, AT&T, Deutsche Telecom, KPN, Orange, Rogers, SFR, SK Telecom, Softbank, Telus, Verizon and Vodafone. Even Isis, the unholy mobile payment lovechild of AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon, has pledged its support... in hopes of taking your money, that is. The new standard is expected to drive the proliferation of NFC across the globe, with Anne Bouverot, Director General of the GSMA commenting, "Mobile operators, working together, are ideally positioned to roll out services based on the requirements published by the GSMA, providing proven security and interoperability, global reach and customer care for consumers and businesses and a secure platform for service providers." Now, as you'd expect, we just wanna see it happen. For a complete list of the cooperating carriers, check out the PR after the break. [SIM card photo via Shutterstock]
65 percent of connected apps run iOS in UK
The GSMA released its April Mobile Metrics report, which shows that 65% of devices using connected applications in the UK are powered by iOS; about 30% of devices run Android, and a meager 1% use Symbian. This report measures the number of wireless devices that have internet-connected applications. It does not take into account users who fire up their phone to make phone calls and play local games only. A broader metric from comScore shows a similar trend with the iPhone grabbing 27.6% and Android snagging 24.7% market share in April. Symbian slides into the number three slot with 23.6% of the market, and RIM is number four with 18.1% market share. Together these two reports show that Apple iOS devices are selling well in the UK, and owners are actively using them on the internet. Numbers like this should be a wake-up call for UK developers looking to break into the mobile app market. iOS should be your primary target, Android your backup.
