Many of us are excited or intrigued to really see what the G1, as the new Google Android phone from T-Mobile is commonly called. Well thanks to WDSGlobal you all can right now.

You get a tutorial of what and how to use the entire phone. It is all very well set out and clear.

Really very useful for us in the mobile internet industry so that we can conceptualize what exactly we can do with this new tool.. is Google a threat or a friend for the new social networks popping up or what will the G1 do for content models.. ?? Very nice toy from WDS Global.

More about WDSGlobal:

Since 1995, WDSGlobal has been focused on helping mobile operators, handset manufacturers and content providers meet their customers’ expectations for service and quality. From handset validation and readiness testing to mobile device management and end-user support, WDSGlobal today offers the mobile industry’s most complete solution for the management of subscribers, devices and services.

With dedicated support centers in the UK, USA, South Africa and Australia, no one gets a better view of the complete mobile user experience. Every day, WDSGlobal collects, validates and shares data about devices, services and user behavior, using it to feed GlobalMine – the industry’s most comprehensive knowledge base and foundation for the company’s portfolio of carrier-grade products and services.

The company currently counts over 100 customers, including most of the world’s largest handset manufacturer and mobile operator brands, and is headquartered in Poole, UK. For more information, please visit www.wdsglobal.com

Qik is a ground breaking video streaming service. Basically and very simply put they allow you to film from your mobile and stream directly to a central server which in turn broadcasts the stream to other mobile or web sites. They have a few competitors like Kyte and Flixwagon but have a significant lead.

Following is a simple diagram that demonstrates what it is that Qik does :

Here are some real life shots of what people stream. This is the most eloquent explanation of the rather trivial.. but actually kind of exciting and even scary possibilities that the mobile using Qik offers :

They have taken a rather interesting challenge to make this service available to the largest number of users by make a Java app that can be downloaded to non smart phones. It opens the doors to feature phones that a large audience uses.. and therefore make it possible that this could really go mass.. meaning the billions of Java enabled phones.. in Asia and South America.. along with Europe, Africa and of course the USA.

Here are the mobiles with which it is compatible in its Alpha launch :

Nokia handsets now supported: 5300, 6300, 6500 classic, 6500 slide, Nokia 6555, Nokia 8800 Arte

Sony Ericsson handsets now supported: K850, K858, W890, W910, W908, K660, G502, Z750

It will be interesting to see if there is really an up-take of this service as it could be very addictive. Lets watch and see.

Simon & Schuster, of Star Trek fame, has struck a deal with MPS Mobile’s Global Reader, which will distribute more than five hundred of the publisher’s bestselling and popular titles on its Global Reader mobile service. Simon & Schuster plans to make its entire eBook catalog available to the service in the coming months. For now, titles such as The Secret and books from the Star Trek series are available.

Books will be priced the same as they are in other digital formats–anywhere from $2.50-$10, depending on the title. Individual chapters will cost $0.99, which MPS Mobile says gives consumers a “low cost method” for “dipping” into a book to see if they want to buy it, or by giving them an easy way of accessing a specific chapter of a book they may have already bought in print or e-book format. Global Reader is available on over 75 mobile carriers in 160 different countries.

Ajit Joakar :

This is interesting .. and makes me think ..

Just because we WANT people to pay – does not mean that they WILL .. If the observation in this blog is true, it means that many a business plan based on paying for Context will also hit rough waters (considering that location is one of the most important elements of the Mobile context)

Consider some of the paid iPhone apps from the telegraph.

Vicinity (has got good reviews etc and also GPS based with wikipedia links and so on) is only £1.79??. Is that 1.79 per month or for all times??.

As far as I can see, it’s a £1.79 price as a one off charge.

Other paid iPhone apps are (from the Telegraph link above)

* Starmap Planetarium (£6.99): Astronomers and space nuts will love this – a stargazing guide that provides information about constellations, planets and even shooting stars, plus oodles of scientific details.

* Etch-a-Sketch (£2.99): Twiddle the virtual dials to start a sketch, or draw directly on screen using your finger. “Tilt technology” will be added soon to enable you to move the iPhone itself to create a drawing.

* Meal Splitter (£4.99): There will be no need to squabble over restaurant bills with this application, which precisely calculates what each diner owes based on the cost of the meal. Okay, so the iPhone’s in-built calculator could do pretty much the same thing, but this takes the pain out of the entire process; it will even work out how much the non-drinkers should pay compared to the drinkers.

* Vicinity (£1.79): Takes advantage of the iPhone 3G’s GPS to provide one-tap access to information about local services and amenities. It will even pull in relevant Wikipedia entries and Flickr photos.

* Band (£5.99): Compose your own music using the collection of virtual instruments.

* Stage Hand (£4.99): Control your Apple Keynote presentations using your iPhone or iPod touch, and read and review slides on its screen.

* Super Monkey Ball (£5.99): The pick of the bunch of new games for the iPhone and iPod touch. Tilt the device itself to control the progress of a monkey inside a transparent bubble. The graphics are first-rate, and the gameplay is highly addictive.

The games(super monkey Ball) seem to be valued higher as does niche apps

However, the business model does not seem to be so good based on this evidence since the useful apps like vicinity seem to be valued only at £1.79

We have all seen many many reports saying that LBS will be the big saviour, people will pay for location etc etc – and then we see a very good LBS application priced at only £1.79. This is in the same series of posts where I talked about taking the principles of better than free for mobile and also said that Google’s initiatives point to a pricepoint of free for mobile applications – for instance, if we contrast Vicinity to Google maps – then Google maps on mobile is free. And although Vicinity gives us some cool features like wikipedia integration which I love – it does point to a very low pricepoint if that becomes a precedent. Further, it points to a one off price point i.e. not a monthly fee ..

Nokia’s got a plan to sway a few potential iPhone buyers and it’s called the 5800 Xpressmusic.

With touch screen technology, the 5800 XpressMusic introduces the Media Bar, a drop down menu for access to music and entertainment such as tracks, videos and photos. With a single touch, users can track a digital history of recent text messages, emails, phone logs, photos and blog updates.

The 3.2-inch widescreen display offers up a 16 by 9 aspect ratio and 30 frames-per-second playback and recording. It features a 3.2-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens. Additional features include a virtual alphanumeric keypad, a virtual computer-style QWERTY keyboard, a pen stylus and a plectrum.

The music player includes a graphic equalizer, 8GB memory for up to 6000 tracks, a 3.5mm jack and support for digital music formats and built-in surround sound speakers.

The Finnish cell phone maker hopes to tap looking for a feature set and slim appeal of the iPhone without the steep hardware cost and will sell the 5800 XpressMusic for $395 or free from operators when signing up for a contract.

What I don’t understand is if Nokia and HTC and LG had all this technology to do touch phones and cools products like this.. why didn’t they do it before ? What did they have to wait for Apple, a novice to this market, to come along and show them how it is done… ? That is a mystery for me.