And I’m one of them.

Esoteric, meaning ‘only for the initiated’, is most definitely the description for this new service.

It doesn’t have a name. It doesn’t need one.

It’s mobile 3.0.

Or telephony 10.0.

This is the next generation of mobile telephony services that will offer me a significantly enhanced telephony experience, without the rubbish. It will enable me to completely use my mobile operator like a ‘bit pipe’. I’ll buy ‘unlimited’ landline calls and ‘unlimited’ data. That’s all I need. I won’t have to augment my experience with one or two providers that don’t *really* do what I need very well.

Whenever I walk out the door, I simply pick up one of my 10 devices running on an array of different networks. When I make a call, you’ll see one number calling you. One identity to rule them all. So whether I’m on my o2 iPhone, my Orange LG Renoir, my Vodafone Blackberry… whatever, when I call, provided you’ve got my identity in my phone book, you’ll always know it’s me.

Call me and every single one of my devices will ring concurrently. When I answer, the others will stop ringing. One key press and I can move you from my Vodafone Blackberry to my BT landline. Or to my Hotel phone. It’s so bleeding edge, when you’re on the train and those stupidly annoying beeps sound (you know, when the doors close), the service will strip out those sounds and an array of interference.

Another key press and I can put you into conference with the Mobile Industry Review editorial team. I just press ‘*5′ and woosh. Dan Lane, Ben Smith and James Whatley get a call from me. When they answer, they’ll get put straight into the call.

Or if I press *6, I can dial my wife, my two brothers, their partners, my mother and father (on both his mobile handsets) and put them straight into conference with us.

If you get cut off for any reason, just dial me. The system will recognise I’m on the conference call and stick you straight into the chat.

For those who don’t answer my pre-defined conference call request, they get a text message, from my ID, with a request to join.

And that’s another thing. Unified text messaging. Every text I send and receive is copied into my Google Mail.

Of course, setting up group chat, divert, push-one-for-help kind of things — all built straight into the service.

Indeed, pressing *8 immediately begins recording the call and streams it straight into an mp3 file on to the frontpage of Mobile Industry Review and into a blog post or out immediately on to Twitter. (It, er, does announce this to all parties and it requires me to confirm the action… just in case the phone slips or something.)

Instant public and globally available conference calls. Love it.

And voicemail? It’s automatically transcribed and the audio is emailed and available for query on 6 of the most popular mobile platforms a la Apple’s Voicemail system.

Did you say Vodafone Passport?

No?

Good.

Because I don’t need it any more. I can’t call the States from my Vodafone handset. I still haven’t phoned them up and ’switched’ that function on to allow me to pay some ridiculous rates. I dunno, 1.50 a minute? From my mobile?

No.

It costs nothing. Next to nothing. I get it at wholesale, whatever I call.

When I’m roaming — when I’m in the States, for example, I get exactly the same service. No roaming costs.

Annoyingly, it costs more for me to call the local pizza place, than it does to call New York. But it’s wholesale rates and it’s pittance.

If you’ve only got one handset and you’re on PAYG, this is not for you. It’s a service aimed at the planet’s ‘mobile global elite’. And I’m loving the concept.

I guarantee you haven’t ever heard of this provider. I doubt they’ll sell for a billion dollars. Their target market is just far too niche. But they don’t mind. They’re focusing on making the best possible mobile telephony experience, bar none.

I don’t imagine I’ll significantly reduce my mobile costs. That’s not really a concern for me in this context. Instead I expect I’ll be able to reduce my Vodafone spend from approximately 500 per month to about 50. I then reckon I’ll rack up about 50 quid’s worth of wholesale usage in a given month.

I should be able to begin using it in about two weeks. When I can, I’ll publish more details and I’ll get some demonstration video footage up.

Here’s a few screenshots:

Me approving Rax’s addition to my Latitude friends:

Here’s some of my friends:

When I quit Google Maps, I now get the option to continue to share my location information in the background. Nice.

Download it for your S60, Windows Mobile or J2ME device today at www.google.com/latitude. (Android and iPhone are coming soon).

Now, to the opinions and perspective. Some have delivered 140 characters (a Tweet’s worth) of viewpoint whilst others emailed me expanded viewpoints. If you’ve got a viewpoint you’d like included — drop it in an email to me right-away at ewan@mobileindustryreview.com or Tweet it to me at @ew4n and I’ll update.

Andrew Grill
Mobile Advertising Supremo
Once again Google ups the location ante with Latitude as the natural next step for them and will help sell location to the masses as cool (See Andrew’s post on the subject)

Dennis Bournique
Wap Review
Google’s foray into the mobile friend tracking arena will be huge with 100 million Gmail users one click away from using it. (Check out the post Dennis just made about Latitude).

Kerry Ritz
CEO, Palringo
Google Latitude is almost as useful as Palringo Local. We just to need launch our API

Stéphane Delbecque
Mobile Enthusiast (LinkedIn)
Ew4n I imagine Loopt is scared with Google Latitude being released. Will Yahoo! Fireagle be the next one?

Josh Russell
Webapp and next-gen WiMax Infrastructure Entrepreneur Josh Russell
Google hasn’t yet got it’s “friends” strategy organised, at least not publicly. I’m sure behind the scenes they’re very much aware of who our friends are, but for now, this is either not useful, or a tool for google to create those relationships. for google, all data is good, they’ll figure it out later. Google turns data into information, who it shares it with and to what level of detail is the business plan mystery that makes them what they are I’d speculate that Jyri of Jaiku might have something to do with this? Jaiku’s plan was to provide a live view of your contacts and allow you to do the most common tasks that you would do with your friends. No doubt they would have moved into location based services, anything that would have kept users in jaiku rather than dropping down into your phones standard OS, Jaiku was essentially making a play for the majority of the mobile attention economy.

iPhone? Well there are a few other apps on that platform. google isn’t worried, it has users.

Fireeagle? Well that’s Yahoo. Characteristically, their approach is to take a step back and create a backend framework, service as an API. It’s not a consideration for Google because it involves giving data away.

Dan Lane
Technical Contributor, Mobile Industry Review & Howler Tech
Does what it says on the tin, bit rough around edges. Hope they do machine readable feeds soon. Shame for similar services like BuddyPing!

Ben Smith
MIR Contributor & MIR Show presenter
Very positive – smart UI like iPhone, customisation options of S60. Modern & open. OTA links with Google services a killer feature.

David Carrington
Founder, Dabr
My new opinion, based on 2 minutes of Windows Mobile testing is that I Love the integration into standard Google Maps app. It has detected I’m in Maidenhead, but shows me just South of Togo (Africa) – which is probably the GPS coords 0,0. Seeing everyone else in London etc looks good though. Aha, and now it finally knows I’m in Maidenhead. Looking forward to real G1 support.

James Cooper
Mjelly
My first thought was “Goodbye Loopt” – they have raised $15m in funding and spent three years trying to get operator carriage deals for their location based social network with little real traction – along comes Google with Latitude and bam! – They’re finished!

Nihal Mehta
CEO, Buzzd

1) More attention in the space (good) — puts pressure on Microsoft, AOL, IAC, Nokia, RIM etc to either build or buy similar plans in the near term.
2) More of an issue for Loopt/Whrrl/Brightkite than for us since its based on the map interface and is about finding people
3) Google’s internal d2c efforts have been lukewarm at best, they have recently built and then acquired realizing they can’t build as good as someone else (eg goog video, then acquired youtube). Needless to say, they already have a significant install base so let’s hope they can leverage that and really give Loopt a run for their money.

Overall I’m happy since it brings serious attention to the space and could possibly make Loopt/Whrrl extinct unless they evolve their feature set asap.

Justin Davies
Co-Founder of NinetyTen
I downloaded it today on my blackberry, and I really like the simplicity of it. I think Google extending the use of location on the mobile is very exciting. It will be interesting to see how Latitude is used when it is released for the iPhone, and whether Google will open up the system into more networks.

Mr Operator
Senior Industry Insider — anonymous (See our Mr Operator features)
Complete surprise. Impressive gamechanger. Loopt/FireEagle now irrelevant. Add GTalk IM support, on J2ME devices, and it’s a killer.

Ewan Spence
Mobile Genius, All About Symbian
Its a very nice feature — but asking me what I think of Google Latitude is rather like asking me what I think of the ’settings’ on an application menu. Latitude isn’t standalone. It’s one of the bullet points added to Google Maps 3.0. There’s also quite a lot of PR spin going on. Google Maps is just a little bit better.

This is something Google have been doing for a while — minor tweaks regularly. If they’d released this feature in Google Maps two years ago we’d all have been blown away. But they’ve delivered a slow, precise, managed increase in feature set over the years. First maps, then maps with satellite view. Then the ‘my location’ feature. Now you can see where your friends are — and share your own location.

We’ll need to wait, what, 6 months until an API appears — so expect slow and measured progress. That is, of course, assuming Google knows what they’re doing. This is from a company who’s bought and effectively closed down Jaiku, Dodgeball and so on. They’ve turned these mobile acquisitions into menu entries!

Or, looking at it in another way, boiled them down and condensed their brilliant features into a menu entry.

Broadly speaking it’s good news. It’s whitelist — so if I give you permission to see my location, I don’t automatically see your location — and you’ve got varying degrees of privacy (e.g. just show my city).

Google’s going to continue to build up even more information about users — the walk-about data that they gain from Latitude will undoubtedly be valuable. And remember that the UK/European data protection acts don’t apply with Google. The data can be used for good and ‘evil’.

I also note the increased focus on pulling in users and building up traffic. Nokia have been doing this with Ovi, Apple with their App Store — the new currency is not handset sales or churn. With the networks relegated to ‘pipe mode’, it’s all about how many users you can get using your service — and Google Maps 3.0 looks like a winner in that regard.

But this is going to seriously impact the venture capital community. Take Loopt for example. What is it? 15 million dollars worth of investment and Google just made it free.

Although the Storm features a rather nifty App Store with an all encompassing 5 or 6 applications (“5 applications should be all any mobile user ever needs?”), the question of a generally available Blackberry App Store a la iTunes has been something I’ve spent the past few months nodding at when people ask.

“It’s coming,” I said. Sort of. I mean, goodness knows what they’ll dream up.

I hope it’s not some buy-your-mobile-app-with-a-credit-card-online a la o2 Litmus. (Incidentally, Litmus have got a LOT of explaining to do on that one).

The Dallas Morning News carries a report referencing the app store that will be useful to many in the MIR developer audience:

It [Blackberry] plans to open an online applications store for BlackBerry users in March, showcasing content deals with Slacker, an Internet radio device, and Shazam, a music recognition service.

I hope it’s as easy to develop for as iTunes or Android…

But I won’t hold my breath.

Sony Ericsson has just released a bunch of new panels for the Xperia X1 handset, just in time for it to arrive in the Americas.

These new additions to the phone’s UI act much the same way as many common place widgets do on other mobiles.

Besides a Facebook panel, they’ve also made public a Windows Live and Dashwire module too. Just to round off the new additions and it also saves launching just the one; obviously the announcement was all about the Facebook panel anyway.

The Dashwire pan-widget-el seems a nice bolt on and could complement the phone nicely. It’s from the site that offers syncing of a mobile’s content to its portal over the air. This is all with a view to share media on a range of social networking sites, plus having other funky features too.

Its Facebook module extends the basic abilities of m.facebook.com and x.facebook.com, by meeting half way towards the functions of the actual site. All this without killing your precious precious data allowance and bandwidth.

From a play around with the Windows Live panel, it also comes somewhere between the actual fully blown site and the lite mobile version. There’s a promise that other features of the Windows Live experience will be included later on, although we’re unsure if this will be updated over the air or with a new panel.

We were told by SE that they will be offering more panels within time for the handset, be on the lookout for more.

In the mean time, feel free to download and try these ones out here

Oh yes!

COME ON!

You know what a big fan I was of the Sonim XP1? Back in the day? They’re still superb indestructible phones.

There are two XP3 “Xtreme Performance” handsets on their way to MIR Towers and I can’t wait to see them. There is something ever-so-satisfying about being in possession of a handset that can handle it.

It’s the same feeling walking about the Earth with a SatPhone.

Although your average common-or-garden SatPhone can’t handle water. The Xp3 can. It can handle 1 metre’s worth of water for 30 minutes before it breaks a sweat. Or if you’d like to get technical, it’s IP-57 certified.

It’ll operate in -20 Celsius to +60.

It’s MILF accredited.

(That is MIL-810F certified against rain, fog and salt air — all those things that screw up your average Nokia).

And of course, it’s backed by Sonim’s 3 year unconditional guarantee. That is, if it breaks, they’ll replace it. Done. No arsing about, no lengthy messing around. They’ll give you a new one.

So I’ve been sent two.

They do this, Sonim. I’ve been given one to test. Right? That’s one to show to the cameras, one to talk about and whatnot. And the other one, I have to try and destroy.

Absolutely really try and destroy. (Read my attempts trying to destroy the XP1 outside the Four Seasons in Silicon Valley).

We’ll have copious content on the Xp3 up as soon as I get them.

Meantime… any suggestions for how we should try to destroy the handset on camera?

The glorious magnificent Curve 8900 AKA Javelin has just hit Germany, on T-Mobile. TBC for the UK.

RIM’s been a busy bee of late, with the Flip, the Storm and now the latest rendition of the Curve.

After a quick call to BlackBerry’s press office, and yes they are still speaking to us, it appears nothing has been confirmed as yet for Blighty. We were however prompted to keep our eyes open for something perhaps next week.

What’s been described to us as ‘the old Curve, but with the BlackBerry Bold’s screen’ is looking to be a winner. It could be ideal for those not wishing to go down the exec-looking route of the Bold, and wanting to stay clear of the oncoming Storm.

The only details we’ve really seen so far on the handset relates to it being of Quad band in nature, with a 2.4-inch screen, a 3.2MP camera, with GPS and WIFI onboard.

Depending where you are in the world, WIFI wasn’t built into the Curve from last year also there was only a 2MP camera onboard.

Other than that, it’s supposedly a tad thinner this time around but it’s still blighted by lack of 3G connectivity.

Currently it’s being rolled out from 4.95 Euros, on a 2-year contract and 359 Euros SIM free.

We’ll bring you more info when we know more info to be passed along as info to you.

Remembered the heady days of October the first when Virgin entered the mobile broadband market? Now they’ve only gone and launched the cheapest deal in UK at just a fiver a month.

There’s catch, as expected and there always is of course – you need to be on Virgin.

New and existing customers on their service, such as with the L or XL packages are only entitled to this deal.

Their 3G mobile connectivity rocks up in the form of a 1GB data allowance per month over a supplied USB modem, which can be plugged into a laptop, netbook or even a PC.

For £10 a month, users on the ‘M’ Virgin Media cable package can also have broadband internet on the move.

This all runs from the T-Mobile network, with a one off £25 fee offering up to 3.6Mbps speeds on a 12month contract. Going over the allotted gigabyte limit though will set you back a lofty 1.46p per megabyte, just for your info.
A good deal we believe for those already with the company and also great for enticing new customers along.

What’s this all about then?

Here’s what the text on the page says:

It’s coming soon. 13th November. It will change the way you use Facebook on your phone. Trust us, you don’t want to miss out. Be the first to find out more.

Can you say ‘Facebook phone?’

First, a glorious gratuitous full screen shot please:

And, when you tilt the device, how’s it look?

When you touch it, it feels like a button — so says Frank Rovekamp, CMO Vodafone. In fact if you’d like to see what he thinks of it, here then is a video — yes — a video, produced by Big Red — of him talking about the device:

I’m rather impressed. This is the kind of communication I’d like to see from other operators.

My biggest issue with the Storm is that it’s not necessarily a direct-upgrade-path from your traditional Blackberry with a QWERTY keyboard. Frank demonstrates the keyboard in the video — on-screen Pearl style keyboard if you hold the device vertically, QWERTY if you turn the device horizontal — and the screen feels buttonish. That should help. Here’s what Vodafone say about the screen:

The uniquely tactile 3.25” screen gives users a variety of different sense experiences. Despite its flat surface, users feel the sensation of actually pressing down on virtual keys which also light up when touched. This makes it quick and easy to type texts and emails as well as navigate through the phone’s functions. Customers will also have the choice of using a full QWERTY, SureType® or multi-tap keyboard.

There’s a lot of folk out there — a lot of traditional business people in smart suits — who can only just use a Blackberry. And they’ve ‘only just’ been using a Blackberry for years. They haven’t explored any of its features other than email, phone, contacts, calendar and … of course… the keyboard. They’re all USED to the keyboard.

So I’ve been somewhat alarmed when I hear companies automatically planning on upgrading their entire Blackberry fleet to the Storm. Test it first. Check it out, have a look. It’ll be mayhem in the Executive Suite if they don’t ‘get’ the on-screen keyboard.

This said, there’s a lot to admire on the Storm. 3.2MP camera — with video. Good news. You can directly upload pictures to Flickr. I’ve no doubt there will be a custom Facebook client — like the existing one.

3G of course. Glorious looking screen (480×360 pixels). Launch countries? Europe, India, Australia and New Zealand territories are getting the Storm. The scramble for the Storm starts next month.

I’d definitely like to take a look at one. And I’m particularly interested to try out the keyboard. That’s perhaps something I might be able to get comfortable with.

I do a lot of blogging — via Posterous (which is a stunning service, by the way) — from my Blackberry Curve. I write the post in an email and send it to Posterous — who convert it on-the-fly to my MIR Live blog. We then automatically pull from the RSS feed into the main Mobile Industry Review. Key to this experience is me being able to type fast. The only device that lets me do this is the Curve. No other mobile keyboard comes close. Yet.

So I’ll take a look at the Storm. But I have a feeling I might be better with a Blackberry Bold. As will the legions of lawyers and accountants — the mainstay corporate customers that keep Blackberry on 3 meals a day.

What about you? If you’re choosing… Bold or Storm?

(Read the full Voda Storm release here).

But is it any good> Well, I think with Swype, you need to see it to believe it.

I haven’t, yet. But I intend popping by their stand to find out more.

Swype will, it’s founders contend, change the way people input text on any screen at all. I’m well up for a good solution.

Here’s a bit more from Swype:

With one continuous finger or stylus motion across the screen keyboard, the patented technology enables users to input words faster and easier than other data input methods-at over 50 words per minute. The application is designed to work across a variety of devices such as phones, tablets, game consoles, kiosks, televisions, virtual screens and more.

In the history of text input, there have been two mainstream foundational technologies. First was the mechanical keyboard as represented by the typewriter and PC/laptop keyboards. Over one billion have shipped over the last 50 years. The second is predictive text, which rose to prominence along with SMS services on mobile keypads. Three billion phones have shipped in the past ten years using this technology. Swype is poised to become the third foundational platform for next five billion future touch and remote screen devices.

I really would like to see a better interface for text input on screens. I get really wound up by the fact that the QWERTY layout was originally intended to prevent keys from jamming in a mechanical typewriter. Why are we still using it?

Well. It’s, er, a little obvious. We’re … stuck with it for the time being.

I’m very interested to see what Swype have dreamt up though. If it’s anything like as smart as T9, it could be brilliant.