Amazon recently announced its Mobile Payments Service (MPS), which allows developers to add mobile payment functionality inside their mobile website or app.
The service consists of a set of APIs, and in addition to the 1-click buying feature that Amazon has pioneered, the service also allows for cancellations and refunds. In our view, this service should be interesting for mobile developers selling digital content, informational products, or those that would like to sell access to a service for a small fee (i.e. micro-payments).
The image below describes the basic user experience of a mobile site offering the MPS service to its users. Image Credit: Amazon.com
Anyone out there using MPS today? Let us know your experience and whether your users are taking advantage of it!
If you have not read or perhaps even experienced the success that mobile developers are having with the iPhone platform, I can only ask where you’ve been.
Now, if you’ve already convinced yourself you need to get started developing for the iPhone and are looking for some guidance in getting around the iPhone SDK, the Xcode IDE, interacting with a SQLite database, or just finding out where to start with your first iPhone app, you need to be reading Dean Collin’s material. He’s been on top of this iPhone stuff from the beginning, and now he and his colleagues (including Justin Roberts) are cranking out great information on dBlog.
dBlog breaks down the complex and makes it straightforward, and does it in an entertaining way. I know I’ve been reading their multi-part piece on the creation of the RSS Reader iPhone app, and it’s been key for me to better understand some key areas that I simply was not grasping before.
If you frequent some of the other mobile-related blogs and sites out there, chances are you’ve had the good fortune to run into mjelly.
Based in London, James and company do an excellent job of covering mobile news and perspective, including recent updates on the mjelly blog coming out of the Mobile World Congress. And of course, the mjelly site itself provides a wide variety of mobile websites, apps, and tools.
The mjelly team recently created a mobile version of the site, available here. Take a look and then strongly consider adding it to your mobile favorites.
Zong offers a mobile payment service, allowing merchants, bloggers, social app developers, and almost anyone else producing content on the web, to accept payments via mobile phone. Customers need only provide their mobile phone number to make a purchase, which is typically for small pieces of content or niche applications.
Many Facebook and MySpace application developers have already found Zong, and while they take a larger cut of each transaction, the improvement in conversion rates typically far outweighs the higher fees.
Have you used Zong either as a seller or a buyer? What did you think?
If you enjoy surfing the web from your phone and have not checked out the mobile version of Bitty Browser, you’re missing something.
Bitty Browser’s mobile version provides instant, one-click access to many of the most popular sites from around the web. It also lets you navigate directly to any URL you specify, all from your phone.
Do yourself a favor and fire up your mobile browser, then take it to the URL below. Let us know what you think!
That’s right. The most often talked about iPhone feature, visual voicemail, is now available for any Windows Mobile phone. But that’s just the beginning.
Dashwire has created an application for Windows Mobile phones that lets you manage your phone’s content (address book, text messages, photos, videos, etc.) from an online dashboard. This tool can be extremely useful for backing up your address book and other mobile content before switching wireless carriers.
The app is currently available on Windows Mobile 5.0 and 6.0, and rumor has it they are working on versions for the Blackberry and Symbian Series 60 devices as well.
Dashwire has received several awards for their innovative service, and you can check out their video here:
I’ve already heard from many folks that Dashwire has had a huge impact on how they use their phone, and I’m looking forward to using it myself.
Now you can send free text messages to your friends and family without using your text message credits on your wireless plan. You can even send the message anonymously if you like.
Here is an updated list of carriers supported:
Anyone involved in developing, testing, or deploying mobile software applications has a keen appreciation for how challenging and complex that process can be.
Cascada Mobile apparently has a good answer to that challenge. The idea is that mobile app developers can focus on writing their application once, and Cascada Mobile’s Breeze platform will take care of porting it to ensure it works on virtually any mobile phone.
If this can do what they say, there is definitely a big future for this company.
One of our loyal readers, pinetrees10, recently posted an excellent comment that included a list of ten free directory assistance numbers. That’s right – no more paying for your carrier’s 411 service! I’ve posted the comment below in it’s entirety, including those directory assistance numbers.
The original comment was made in regards to our April 16 post about free 411 services. I said at the time we would highlight it in a post later on, as many folks don’t get a chance to read all the comments from every post.
At long last, here are the 10 most useful free directory assistance (411) phone numbers out there today:
Don’t try just one….When it comes to free directory assistance, you have LOTS of choices. They differ in some important ways, so try them all out and see which one(s) you prefer. You may want to try them all every so often just to see what’s new! Grin!
I prefer the ones that have operators to help when the automation doesn’t recognize me, that get me ACCURATE information fast, and that also don’t restrict me to only business searches – sometimes I need to find people, too!
What do Yahoo! Finance, Scottrade, eTrade, and most other finance portals have in common? Their free stock quotes are all delayed by at least 10 minutes (Yahoo! Finance does offer a free trial for their service, but you must sign up for it).
Google Finance made a big leap forward today by announcing their quotes are now displayed in real-time. That’s impressive.
So what does this have to do with mobile, one might ask? You may be aware that Google offers a free SMS service, which includes providing stock quote information. Simply text message the ticker symbol to GOOGL (46645), and you will receive the current, real-time quote in a return message. I did multiple tests today, and each time I received a response within 18 seconds or less. That’s much better than the 20 minute market delay you’ll find at Scottrade or eTrade — and those are on their regular website.
The original comment was made in regards to our 
