Yahoo! at CommunicAsia 2008
I had the opportunity to attend CommunicAsia 2008 (my first time) last Tuesday, June 17 and had a great time going around Singapore Expo and checking the booths of various companies from different countries, all presenting the latest in the IT industry. I went there after lunch and thought there wasn't as many people as I expected. Then again, maybe it was because Singapore Expo was so big. According to reports, around 56,000 guests from all over the world attended this event.
There was a lot of mobile stuff that was presented and even Yahoo!'s focus here was on our mobile services. The Yahoo! Mobile Team made several announcements during the event and demonstrated them to the visitors. Here's a rundown of what was announced:
Yahoo! oneSearch: Five new Yahoo! oneSearch partnerships with leading mobile operators in the Asia Pacific region. This brings the total number of mobile search deals signed by Yahoo! worldwide in the last 18 months to more than 60. New partnerships include: Smart Communications Inc., Digital Mobile Phlis, Inc. (SUN Cellular), Mahanagar Telephon Nigam Limited (MTNL, India), Hong Kong CSL Limited (CSL), and Vibo Telecom Inc. (Vibo, Taiwan).
Monetization: Mobile advertising partnerships with Idea Cellular Ltd. (India) and Maxis Communications Bhd (Malaysia). These two mobile operators plan to carry a variety of graphical advertisements sold and served by Yahoo!. These partnerships reinforce Yahoo!’s global mobile advertising leadership and build on similar advertising partnerships with AT&T, T-Mobile International and Vodafone UK.
Yahoo! Go 3.0: Localized versions of Yahoo!’s flagship mobile offering, Yahoo! Go 3.0, for India, Australia and Southeast Asia, including a local language version for Indonesia, and Yahoo! oneSearch with voice for English that recognizes regional accents for speakers in Singapore and India.
Mobile Widgets: New mobile widgets for the Asia Pacific region including Yahoo! Cricket, Yahoo! Answers, Showtimes (Yahoo! India Movies), and a MTV Asia mobile widget featuring news updates and music charts.
For more info, you can check out http://mobile.yahoo.com/newsroom. Congrats to the Yahoo! Mobile Team for the really cool booth, no wonder it was overflowing with traffic during the event. My first CommunicAsia will definitely not be my last. 
For more photos of the event, check out Flickr.
Texts on a Plane
Mike Sachoff in Webpronews recently blogged about how Americans prefer silence for in-flight mobile use. This is based on a survey commissioned by Yahoo! and conducted by Harris Interactive which showed that 74 percent of the respondents favor the use of cell phones being restricted to non-talking features only like texting and games.
The survey further showed that 69 percent said that if talking on cell phones were permitted, they want designated areas for talking. Also, 43 percent of 35-44 year olds would want to be able to check their email on their mobile, while 62 percent of 18-34 year olds would want to text and 29 percent would want to instant message.
I wonder what the results will be if a similar survey was conducted among Pinoys. We are surely more mobile-savvy than other and it goes without saying that the cell phone has become an indispensable part of our daily lives. Personally, I would want to be able to use my phone when on the plane. Maybe not primarily for calling (although I agree with having a designated area for it), but more for texting, maybe taking some photos, checking my email and most likely for twittering.
If you can use your mobile phone while on a plane, what function would you most likely use? Calling, texting, instant messaging, email, surfing the web, twittering, taking a photo, playing games, maybe even blogging? I'm sure texting will be on top of the list. Then again, with the many functions of mobile phones nowadays, I maybe wrong.
Free Intel Workshop Series, Win an Intel PC!
I got this really good news from my colleague Iggy (better known as Tarugoman) who blogged about Intel's FREE workshops on how to make your own movie using Machinima, the latest film-making technique that makes PC/Video games usable for making movies and commercials. Aside from that, workshop participants will get a chance to win Intel Gift Certificates, Granado Espada starter kits, an iPod Touch and an Intel Core 2 Quad PC!
This will happen this coming December 15 and 16, 2007 at the Meeting room 10, Ascott Makati (formerly Oakwood Hotel), Glorietta 4, Makati City. For more information, click the link above or you may contact Jill at 0916-8263969 or Paula at 0917-8111086 or email jilljcaria@yahoo.com or group3-b@seinc.com.ph.