Motopia kicks off trial of new conversion cloud platform

Melbourne-based mobile marketing services provider Motopia has started BETA testing of its new ConvertU2 cloud platform. The firm said the cloud platform allowed it to leverage its 2SQL marketing conversion technology and market trends around migration of access databases via web, mobile devices and Microsoft .NET software applications. Motopia said that the delivery of its 2SQL software-as-a-service offered customers the capability of connecting to and facilitation of complete access database migration projects.

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Mobile phones not causing rise in brain tumours: NZ study

The risk of brain tumours has not changed significantly through increased mobile phone usage, according to new research by the University of Auckland. The Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association highlighted the finding on its website, citing a paper published in the Australia and New Zealand Journal of Public Health on trends in primary brain cancer instances in New Zealand between 1995 and 2010. 

The research, which was carried out by epidemiologist professor Mark Elwood, found no general increase in brain tumours. Elwood said there had been concerns about whether the use of mobile phones could lead to rise in the occurrence of brain tumours. 

His team examined the yearly incidence of brain cancers, both in total and in those sub-types highlighted in some other studies, in New Zealand from 1995 to 2010, using data from the New Zealand national cancer registry. “There has been no general increase,” said Elwood. “In fact, for the wide age range 10 to 69 years, there has been a decrease of about one percent per year.”

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Lollipop sees sticky takeup numbers: Google

According to figures released by Google, its new Android 5.0 mobile OS is right now running on less than a 0.1% chunk of mobile phones.  Nick-named Lollipop, the software upgrade came on stream in early November and carriers are in the process of deploying it to their users, in line with their own specific timeframes.

It would appear that the less than impressive adoption of Android’s fifth upgrade hits on a more pervasive issue in the mobile area, namely that of fragmentation.  Other examples along similar lines include Windows Phone 8.1 taken almost six months to hit the 50% market share mark, and Apple reportedly seeing slower takeup of its new iOS 8 than some commentators had predicted.

Reports suggest that Lollipop is seeing growing numbers of over-the-air updates,  which potentially might boost its market share numbers.  And yet, should Lollipop manage to grow its share of the Android install base through the end of the year, it will still in all probablity hit an adoption ceiling. As things stand, Android’s most popular version remains KitKat, or Android 4.4 commanding a solid 33.9% market share.

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Bell Canada to acquire mobile phone distributor Glentel

Bell Canada has signed an agreement to purchase Canadian multi-carrier mobile phone distributor Glentel for about C$670 million. Bell noted that the deal underpinned its strategy to “accelerate wireless and improve customer service… while providing additional value to Glentel shareholders.” Glentel operates 494 retail locations across Canada, offering wireless products and services from carriers such as Bell Mobility, Chatr, SaskTel, and Virgin Mobile. 

In addition, Glentel owns, operates and franchises some 735 retail outlets in the US as well as 147 POS in Australia and the Philippines. Expected to complete by the end of Q1 2015, the deal is subject to customary closing conditions such as court, shareholder and competition approvals.

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