iMac and iLife! Bringing More Colors to Your Life

Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled new iMacs with aluminum and glass exteriors, keeping the rumor mill honest this time. Apple's iMac is an all-in-one computer where the motherboard sits behind a flat-panel display, in a more streamlined approach to the traditional desktop PC.

The company also updated its software for home Mac users, known as the iLife suite. The five applications that make up iLife '08 aim to help Mac users organize "user-generated content"--that ubiquitous Web 2.0 phrase--for both internal consumption at home and showcases that can one-up the Jones' trip to Nepal.

It's been a busy year for Apple. From January to June, it seemed everything was about the iPhone, while in the interim the company has been scrambling to get Leopard, the next version of the Mac OS, ready to ship in October. However, Tuesday's event featured far less glitz and hype as Apple introduced new products for its audience of home-media enthusiasts.

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US Premium SMS Revenues Hit $273 Million

Premium SMS made up 32 percent of US mobile content revenue in the first quarter of this year, bringing in $273 million according to Telephia. Most of this revenue (79 percent or $215 million) was as payment for mobile content, while voting/sweepstake entries generated 13 percent of total revenues with $35 million—although this represented 47 percent of premium SMS volume, reports MediaPost. “NBC’s Deal or No Deal has translated into a premium SMS hit, generating nearly half of the volume and revenue of voting/sweepstakes entries in the first quarter of 2007,” said Telephia. According to the report in the US 29,544 pieces of mobile content were bought off-portal with premium SMS in the first quarter.

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KTF To Trial Pay-Buy System Before World Launch

This October KTF will trial the mobile payment system Pay-Buy Mobile in Seoul along with all the players in the value chain (banks, credit card companies, retail organizations, handset makers, etc) to check the viability of the system. If its successful the system will be expanded to 24 operators worldwide, including Cingular, China Mobile and NTT DoCoMo, reports The Korea Times. The big difference between Pay-Buy and many current mobile payment systems is that Pay-Buy will work in foreign countries and thus act more like an international credit card. The initiative is spear-headed by the GSM Association. While it’s true that the vast majority of mobile use is within a single country, probably even a single city, there’s a lot to be said for a standard system. If there isn’t much domestic difference between different mobile payment systems the one with roaming capabilities will be at an advantage—and the technology has already drawn the attention of some of the largest carriers in the world

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