Ionut is looking to monetise the mobile application he developed. It’s called SmartCam and it turns a mobile phone with wifi/bluetooth and camera into a wireless PC webcam.

The project is open source and available here: http://sourceforge.net/projects/smartcam.

Here’s a screenshot:

Although there’s a GPL license available for SmartCam, Ionut is keen to hear from operators, handset manufacturers or any one else interested in doing business with him.

SmartCam is available for Symbian and J2ME/Java — along with Linux and Windows clients.

If this triggers a thought in your mind and you’d like to talk with Ionut, drop me a note — ewan@mobileindustryreview.com — and I’ll connect you.

A chipset has been unveiled by Broadcom, enabling WIFI in the shape of 802.11n for mobile phones.

Along with the new wireless network standard it also rocks up with FM radio onboard and Bluetooth, making it a strong all round contender for the next wave of handsets.

The ever so imaginatively entitled BCM4329 offers all this up without impacting on battery life and size, which is more than can be said for some we’re led to believe.

With a stat hitting us that in 2012, one third of all wireless devices shipping will be mobile phones it just goes to show how much of an impact handsets do have on the WIFI chipset market.

Broadcom also made a commitment of late to bring out a new chip every 60 days, so expect more of this nature to be on the horizon driving handset development.

With 802.11n being capable of 50 Mbit/s, with a typical throughput of 19 Mbit/s this is a good development and a darn welcome one at that. Hurrah!

The faster the downloading speed for files equals less power used over time on the handset, all making for a good combination in our book.

The BCM4329 also has both an FM transmitter onboard, besides that of a regular receiver. Effectively turning your mobile phone into a radio station, which some of the Sony Ericssons already do have we believe. Double Hurrah!

Broadcom are expecting the chip to hit production lines in 2009, so get ordering guys. We want to see 802.11n in phones today!

This time the leak wasn’t Nokia’s, it was Microsoft’s turn with the new mobile OS and also an emulator for IE 6 shows up.

The website Smartphonefrance has managed to obtain the first images of the upcoming OS, first uttered from the lips of Steve Ballmer at an Australian press conference on the tail end of last week.

From first impressions, it looks a lot different to version 6.1 that we’re using today. Other sites have drawn a comparison to the Zune in its appearance. Perhaps Microsoft are again standardising on a single OS view for all operating systems and upcoming releases, it would make sense after all.

We’re now wondering how they’re going to launch the mobile OS. For Windows Mobile 6.1 they announced it to the press on Aprils Fools day at the Comedy Store. I think we’re still waiting to get the joke; what’s the punch line Microsoft?

The other MS story almost falls on the coat tails of the Opera Mini 4.2 beta release, with news of an emulator now being available on Internet Explorer Mobile 6.

It was unveiled to an unsuspecting public at Microsoft’s EMEA TechEd developers conference in Spain.

Improvements have apparently been made around feature sets such as, text wrap, adobe flash integration, touch screen support, zoom levels and others too.

We couldn’t really get a complete feel for how it’s changed, as we didn’t have access to a previous emulator, which made it difficult to fairly gauge on the improvements.

Although it does look like an improvement as to what we’ve seen on current shipping handsets, with a much dated version of IE.

For more on the IE emulator see here, and for more on Smartphonefrance leaked images see here for a roughly translated English version

British company Virtuity known for a similar technology on laptops, has developed the BackStopp Mobile software which eviscerates data on a phone if stolen or lost.

If either of those two worst case scenarios come true, the company uses the mobiles own comms to track down said phone anywhere in the world.

When the handset has been discovered, BackStopp deletes all information on the phone wiping it completely clean and removing anything which could be used for duplicitous means.

After the nasty is taken care of, a report is made back to HQ on what exactly has been purged and even the location of the device.

The first run of the software will be around for Windows Mobile devices only, with Nokia Symbian platform being the basis of the next iteration.

BackStopps foundation can be traced back to a similar tool for laptops, where large quantities of sensitive information, both personal and commercial could be used for financial gain if lost or stolen.

This software has just under gone a rather significant upgrade of late with encryption integration, Wireless and RFID integration to boot.

Not a day goes by without someone creating a group on Facebook asking for mobile numbers, as they’ve lost their phone. So it’s about time someone developed a “dial D for detonating of data” on handsets.

No details were available at the time of going to press on the applications cost, but stay tuned to http://www.backstopp.com for more information and updates

Respecting developing countries and helping them getting their first footing on the mobile ladder, Nokia has come up with 7 handsets aimed at such markets.

They’re focussing this spate of devices on providing internet access, email, agriculture and education to those places in an effort “to bridge the digital divide”.

Besides offering their lowest cost phones to date, they’ve also curiously added integrated digital music players in the handset range.

Nokia is hoping these will have a retail price of around the 25 to 90 Euros mark, when they start to ship later on this year. But those with the power of the internet onboard will be arriving early next year.

Their Nokia Life Tools provide a series of agriculture information and education services aimed solely at rural and small town communities in those emerging markets.

These can help to combat the information constraints and provide farmers, students with timely and relevant information. All of which run off a GUI layout that can even offer up information displayed simultaneously in two languages.

The tools can also use the power of SMS to deliver critical information guaranteeing the service works wherever the mobile phone does, especially in those areas where GPRS coverage is thin on the ground.

Handsets supporting such services are the Nokia 2323 classic and 2330 classic expected to arrive next year.

Other phones in the series are the Nokia 7100 with a high resolution colour screen, FM radio and a 1.3 megapixel camera besides supporting email, at around 75 Euros.

Also on board for this market is the Nokia 5130 XpressMusic, their most affordable music phone to date with a 2 megapixel camera and FM radio. This is also expected to ship in Q1 of next year at around 90 Euros.

For the more up market look, they are offering up three phones: the Nokia 2320 classic, 2323 classic and 2330 classic all running from 40 to 50 Euros.

And lastly, the Nokia 1202 and 1661 value phones, at 25 and 30 Euros. With feature sets developed for people in rural areas; such as a flashlight, extended battery life, loud ringtones and a phone book for up to five users.

A new analysis of the NFC mobile payments opportunity forecasts that 700m mobile subscribers globally will have phones equipped with NFC contactless technology by 2013. NFC will enable users to make payments with their mobile phones for relatively low value purchases (such as refreshments, tickets and food).

There’s going to be a whole lot of money to be made in this area, if it’s done correctly. You can check out the full NFC report from Juniper via their site.

The new software will allow FON’s users – the ‘Foneros’, who make their home broadband connection available to other users in return for free web reciprocal access when they’re roaming – to turn their mobiles into modems and share the connection with up to five other users of their choice. The software should be out in the third quarter of this year.

If this mobile hotspot software follows the fixed broadband model, Foneros will get free mobile internet when they’re out and about. It’s a great business model – give a bit, get a bit back, everyone’s a winner. Presumably Joikusoft will come up with some clever way of preventing those piggybacking on other’s connections from hoovering up data allowances or there could be some bill shock on the way.

Have I lost you there?

The reason for this contemplation is an EU funded project called WISECOM. Portable mobile masts have been created and can be set up in a matter of minutes to help find people trapped under buildings after an earthquake and locate those swept away in a mud slide. Well, their phones anyway.

My Mum wants a mobile that put simply is idiot proof; but at the same time, she wants to maintain a look on a phone that doesn’t necessarily make it obvious that it is a simple mobile. She wants a camera (although she barely uses it), she doesn’t want a music player, and she wants nice big buttons so she can text me even more. Most importantly, she wants to get rid of all of the “crap” that she has no need for; which is everything other than the phonebook, messaging, and the camera. She doesn’t know how to use it, and she, has absolutely no need for it.

I’ve also been informed that a mobile phone should be made for my Grandparents too. My Grandma for instance, we’re out shopping, her mobile rings, and I’m telling her that her phone is ringing and she’s none-the-wiser. This all said, but it’s on the highest volume setting. Then when it comes to reading text messages! You would have thought from the amount of time it took, that she was reading a short novel.

Once again, my Grandparents use their mobile for two functions, sending and reading the occasional text, and phoning up people. They can barely see the screen, find the buttons too hard to navigate, and if you’re my Grandad, forget you even have it and walk into the sea with it in your back pocket.

These are some pretty basic and probably average examples of people you may know that have absolutely no clue what to do with their phone. And this is a particular problem for the very young (who shouldn’t have mobiles in the first place) and the elderly; or in my Mum’s case, the baffled. These groups of people all want a mobile which has a good look, so it doesn’t look out of place when they are out socialising; they all want practicality mainly over features, and they don’t want to feel intimidated by their handsets.

I know this has been said before, and I know that in Germany due to their increasing numbers of elderly people, a lot of money is being invested into simplified technology and devices. A similar aging of society is also happening here in the UK, and according to National Statistics, the number of young people are in decline, whilst the number of older people are increasing.

The elderly do have mobiles that are especially designed for them, I came across a company website called Matomobile, who specialise in selling mobiles for the elderly or disabled. The problem is, what about the segment of the population who don’t have access to the internet? Or, who like myself, don’t like buying online, and maybe for the self conscious, the style? These devices should be made available in the big retailers, not just because it’s kind to the elderly, but also because it’s a massive market.

But what about the baffled “normobs” like my Mum? She doesn’t want to resort to a clapped out old Nokia, or any of that. She still wants to maintain an element of style; she wants a mobile that is small, stylish, full of features useful for someone who can’t stand technology, and readily available on the high street. And there are no such mobiles, I know, I’ve looked for her. She loves her Sony W810i, but she has hardly any use for the majority of the inbuilt features, let alone the possibilities of downloadable applications.

I would have thought this is common sense. Not everyone is able to comprehend the fast paced life of technology, and I would have thought more attention would be paid to the population age changes. I know of many people who are just plain confused my mobiles and technology, so much so that they daren’t use one. Imagine the money and possibilities to be had in that yet unreached market?

In some aspects, may I be so bold to say that the mobile industry is moving too fast?

If you have any ideas for features that either you, or relatives, friends or whomever, need or want for their mobiles, send them into samantha@smstextnews.com and I’ll compile a list of them and post them next week.

According to new research by ICM Research and the London School of Economics (LSE) has suggested that nearly half of the UK mobile phone owners are checking it daily. 45 per cent (albeit the study doesn’t say of how many) check it daily and 24 per cent are checking sites such as Facebook on the mobile.

I’ve been known to access the web from the mobile but generally only in an emergency and always I always end up cursing the cost of doing so. In fact, the only person I know that does check it daily has a BlackBerry with an unlimited data package.

A quick straw poll of friends suggest that they simply wouldn’t. One cursed (you don’t want to hear his comments verbatim) the little, easy to press button on his Sony Ericsson that connected him to the web all too accidentally.

So is it true? Possibly, most of my friends didn’t know of Orange’s new plan which gives you unlimited web if you’re on a £35 or over package.

Still, either my friends and I are behind the times or there’s some survey bias – I’m hoping for the latter.