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Angry Birds dev Rovio rolling out in-app payment platform with carrier integration
We're sure Finnish software shop Rovio is looking for every way imaginable to capitalize on the immense success of the Angry Birds franchise, and part of that will apparently involve in-app purchases, presumably to buy and download additional content on the fly -- but it sounds like they won't be using any third-party frameworks to do that. Instead, the company's putting together its own micropayment framework and partnering up with carriers to cut them in on the profit, turning first to Finnish network Elisa with new content for Angry Birds' Android build in early 2011. Rovio's saying that other developers are going to be welcome to use the system, and that they've seen "strong interest" for the product, presumably over the prospect that carriers will have an opportunity to profit off an app ecosystem that they've been largely shut out of thus far. Frankly, we wouldn't mind paying 99 cents just to get past a couple levels in the original Angry Birds at this point.
Finnish broadband provider Elisa to sell unlocked iPhone 4 starting tomorrow
People who are anxious to get an iPhone 4 without a carrier lock-in in the land of Nokia will now have an opportunity to get an unlocked device. Finnish broadcaster YLE is reporting that broadband provider Elisa will start selling unlocked iPhone 4s on Thursday, September 30th. The iPhone 4 is currently being sold in Finland with a contract by mobile carrier TeliaSonera. The pricing for the unlocked phones is €589 for the 16GB model and €689 for the 32GB version. And in case you're wondering what those words below the iPhone 4 banner in the picture above mean? "Coming soon."
Finland ready to rock LTE at "lower cost" 1800MHz
2.6GHz is fast emerging as a favored slot for LTE spectrum in Europe, but Finland's bucking the trend with an auction of some space in the 1800MHz band -- space that carriers TeliaSonera, Elisa, and DNA have snapped up. The frequency is touted as effectively being a lower-cost option for 4G deployment because it's better suited for range and penetration, meaning fewer base stations need to be deployed. Theoretically, the net effect should be that LTE networks get deployed faster in the country, but as we know all too well from 3G deployments, spectrum diversity always leads to fractured hardware availability; of course, with Nokia right in the backyard, we bet 1800 ends up getting all the support it needs to be successful.
Option completes world's first UMTS 900 call
We think 3G is great, we really do. Be it EV-DO, UMTS, HSDPA, HSUPA, the long-forgotten EV-DV... it's all good in our books. But if there's one thing that we don't like, it's adding yet another band into the mix. Yes, we understand that GSM 900 is already well-established across much of the world, and it only makes sense for Belgium's Option to be working with networks to develop UMTS 900 hardware for overlays -- but still, someone has to put their foot down and stop the madness before we're all stuck waiting for phones with six-band radios. (Whew, we feel a little better now.) Anyhoo, it looks like Option has hooked up with Finland's Elisa to successfully place the world's first UMTS 900 call and demonstrate simultaneous voice / data services. The test has also caught the interest of Nokia -- possibly on account of Elisa hanging out in their backyard, which looks at UMTS 900 as a way to fast-track wireless broadband to Finland's rural areas. No word on when the requisite hardware might be in production, but between this and the newly-coined 1700 band, our heads are spinning just a bit.
