The battle of the pricing plans is well underway with mobile phone company Meteor the latest to announce its iPad microsim deals.
After months of speculation as to when the iPad would be sold in Ireland it went on sale here last Friday. Consumers who faced uncertainty on which model to go for, now have a choice of data plans to choose from, if they plumped for the Wifi + 3G model.

Last Tuesday Vodafone and O2 revealed their pricing plans, followed by 3 on Wednesday and Meteor on Monday. First off the blocks with Micro Sim data plans was Cubic Telecom. The Irish headquartered mobile network operator, Cubic Telecom launched what it says is Europe’s first SIM card for the new iPad 3G, in May. The SIM card costs €75 and comes pre loaded with 50MB of data.
Meteor currently seems to come out best on its daily tariff for Micro Sim data at €2.99 per day on prepay and free on billpay for customers who sign up to Broadband to Go plans. This deal also includes access to Eircom’s wifi hotspots, which is good news for anybody with a Wi-Fi-only version of the iPad
02’s iPad data tariffs will be available without a minimum term contract and include free access to Bitbuzz Wi-Fi hotspots in Ireland. The tariffs are 500MB for €3.97 a day (for 24hrs) and 5GB for €19.90 monthly (for 30 days).
Similarly, all of Vodafone Ireland’s data plans will be available without a contract. It has launched two commitment-free plans specifically tailored for iPad Wi-Fi + 3G models, a 1 day and 30 day plan - available to customers using Vodafone Micro SIMs. The 1 Day Plan is ideal for customers who want to use mobile broadband on their iPad occasionally and the 30 Day Plan caters for customers who want to browse the web, download music and update apps on their iPad while on the move throughout the month. The 1 day plan costs €3.99 for 500MB of data per day and the 30 day plan, €20 for 5GB of data per month
3 is also offering data plans without a contract -  €9.99 a month for 1GB and €19.99 for 15 GB of data a month.

Not sure how to get an app to market? The answer could be warehousing. According to a recently released in-depth report from GoMo News, which has offices in Ireland and has been reporting on mobile strategy for the last four years, there is a growing trend of selling applications through distributed shopfronts. This model is called the ‘warehouse’, because all of the shopfronts are supplied from a central source.

Cian O’Sullivan, GoMo News Chief Reporter, explains that the Apple Store and the Google Market are “Direct-to-Consumer” (D2C) application shops. “This means that they allow Google and Apple to sell apps to smartphone owners with no middle-men. However, it’s also an incredibly resource-heavy way to sell applications. It requires a lot of employees and man hours dedicated to creating the tools and environment that developers need to profit from your platform.”
Both companies created their own platforms to sell applications on, he adds. “In contrast, warehouses aren’t tied to their own platform. They store and sell applications for any mobile platform or device. Warehouses invite developers to pool their apps in a central location – the ‘warehouse’ – and from here the apps can be sold through any number of shopfronts.”
The report examines the business models, strategies and successes of three different warehouse sellers: GetJar, Djuzz and Apprupt.
In response to requests from its readers and mobile companies to offer more detailed insights, GoMo News decided to carry out research and create a series of reports. The warehouse report is the first in a series of in-depth looks into segments of the mobile industry
For more details, graphs and an in-depth look into the warehouse model, see the full report on http://www.gomonews.com/category/mobile-industry-reports.
Over four years of reporting on mobile strategy, GoMo News has built up a strong industry following and insight into the mobile arena. It is open to suggestions and requests for report topics, both in partnership or as paid research.

As any non-iPhone smartphone owner will know, just because an app is available on one device doesn’t mean it’s immediately available on every device.
However, a Waterford-based company, FeedHenry is to take away the pain felt by developers and companies having to start over every time they want to develop an app for a different platform.
FeedHenry is a spin out company from Waterford-based research institute, TSSG (Telecommunications Software and Systems Group) and is a pay-as-you-go cloud solutions provider of business applications for smartphones and social networks.

Claire Phelan, Online Services Manager at the company, which also has offices in Boston and Silicon Valley, explains FeedHenry has taken the research and expertise within TSSG and applied this to its offering which addresses challenges in the mobile apps environment.
Phelan says that the mobile apps scene in particular has exploded over the last few years but other device manufacturers and operator are catching up with leader Apple. “What is now happening is there are a lot of different platforms being used for the development of apps.” Phelan explains if somebody wants to develop an app for another platform they need to recreate or start from scratch every time because they are all written in different languages.
“The solution we provide is based on web-based technologies. It means you can write an app once and deploy anywhere across all different types of mobile from Nokia to Apple through to social media sites through to your desktop,” she explains.
“Instead of targeting your iPhone users you can now target a market. You’re not restricted any more by costs or resources, you don’t have to buy in software and hardware. You literally can just log in to the FeedHenry platform, develop your app, see how it works. We’ll help you if you need the support.”
FeedHenry, she says, has addressed very thoroughly the issue of fragmentation in the industry and the issue of convergence.
FeedHenry provides the environment for developers to write and test apps and also provides professional services for those that don’t have experience in this area. Examples of how the solution can be used include: integrating an app with backend systems for enterprises or deploying them into Facebook or Twitter or the Apple store or Vodafone 360 store. It also is able to switch on advertising within apps.
FeedHenry recently won an award at CTIA WIRELESS 2010 in Las Vegas. Founded by Barry Downes, the company’s CEO is Cathal McGloin who is mostly based in the US.

See http://feedhenry.eventbrite.com to sign up for a free interactive session on the FeedHenry cloud platform to be held from 7pm to 9pm on Wednesday may 19th in the Science Gallery in Dublin.

Two Dubliners who plan to launch a mobile network this year in Ireland have taken a non-traditional approach to their impending company launch.
Rather than doing the classic press release on the various stages to the launch of their business, Just Mobile, Stuart Kelly and Donal Lawless have decided use social media as the seed for their idea and spread news of their company out that way.

“Instead of starting with Just Mobile from the get go, because nobody knows who that is or what that is yet, we thought let’s create some sort of channel for that interim period that’s fun and get people talking about it,” Kelly told Prosperity’s digital ezine. The result is the recently launched arewemad.ie website, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube profiles.

Arewemad.ie is also, Kelly says, a way for himself and Lawless to share their journey via multimedia online; to show people what’s involved in setting up a mobile network, the part of their project plan they are at and give people a chance to influence what they do.
Via arewemad.ie Kelly and Lawless will be asking for people to help shape ultimately, what the brand will look like by the time it is launched so that by the time it is launched people will feel “that’s a part of me in there”.
It has taken three years for the business partners who have telecommunications and financial backgrounds to get to this point in their business.
Arewemad.ie will also evolve with feedback from visitors to the site. Mad Dog Digital created the campaign, ‘are you mad’, the style of the site and branding and then brought Owens DDB in for off line and Caboom in for video and social media. Mad Dog Digital also did the teaser site design, main site design and micro site designs.
In the first few days since the launch of the website its founders have received feedback from both friends and strangers their likes and dislikes with current mobile operators. “There are things technologically that may not be doable but we’ll be up front and say that’s not doable yet,” comments Kelly.
Proof in the pudding of the non-traditional approach is that the arewemad.ie website came to Prosperity’s attention via a tweet.

The mystifying square black and white 2D matrix codes that you may see popping up everywhere from butter tubs to advertising have a name: they’re called QR codes.
The codes, once scanned by smartphone owners that have installed appropriate QR code-scanning apps will provide access to instant and extra information on their handsets.
Invented in 1994 in Japan, QR codes, which are already available in North America and mainland Europe are set to become ubiquitous in Ireland.
Mobile services company Digital Reach Group (DRG) has signed a deal with Scanbuy, a leading global provider of these mobile barcode solutions, to begin offering the service exclusively in Ireland, through its system ScanLife.
The Scanlife app is available for download on most popular phones including Nokia, iPhone, Samsung and handsets using Google’s Android system.

Consumers in Ireland can expect to find these barcodes displayed alongside a printed ad, editorial, on merchandise or displays. Informative content, competitions, promotions, timetables, music and games can now be easily accessed by pointing and scanning.
DRG’s CEO Colm Grealy says: “With mobile internet and smartphones becoming the norm there is an increasing expectation from the public to be able to get the information they have on the internet at home straight to their handset quickly and with no fuss. The service we are bringing to Ireland will truly integrate mobile internet browsing into consumer’s daily lives.”
The company is already in discussions with a major publisher to start using the system to offer additional value to printed ads and editorial content.
According to DRG, the system is set to give print advertising in Ireland boost by making ads truly interactive and rewarding audiences with content they want.
“QR codes are a very exciting development for print and outdoor advertising. For example, we can enhance a movie ad that will allow for someone to see a trailer on their phone instantly, download a movie wall paper and also find out where the next showing of the film will be.”
The service is aimed at advertisers, ad agencies, retailers and traditional media publishers. QR codes can be bought as an add-on to traditional ad campaigns, packaging and merchandise displays.