Good news for mobile phone users in Europe, the EU telecom ministers have come a to a decision to reduce prices of sending SMS while users travelled abroad within the limits of the Union. With this decision, carriers wont charge users more than 11 euros for each SMS, charge calls per second after the 31st second and the data downloads be charged at a euro per megabyte of download. EU Telecommunications Commissioner, Viviane Reding welcomed the decision, saying:

Ministers have answered the commission’s call for a speedy response to the SMS and data roaming rip-off very positively…I am confident that with parliament we will ensure that consumers travelling in the EU will save money when sending texts and surfing the web with a mobile phone as of July 1, 2009.

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Related Articles at Startup Meme:

We have no inside knowledge here.

We would, however, note that, having grown Google to $20 billion in revenue over seven years, Eric has certainly earned the right to take a break. We would also note that there are many other reasons why this might be a good time to exit stage left (although a year ago, when the stock was at $700, would have been a much better time). To wit:

• He might be getting bored
• He might be deciding that taking Google from $20 billion to $50 billion will be a much different job (and less fun) than taking it from $0 to $20 billion.
• He might be observing that the search product cycle is ending and Google has not yet found another product to drive the next wave of growth, which also might be less fun (especially if the company has to start firing people).
• Like Sergey and Larry, he might just be interested in doing something else--such as going into politics or solving the world's energy crisis.

Last year about this time, Larry Page held a conference call in which he announced that Google planned to launch a massive green energy initiative. As Larry described his thinking, it became clear that he wasn't just talking about putting solar panels on the roof--he actually wanted Google to solve the world's energy problems. When asked if this might be a bit far afield for a company in the Internet advertising business, Larry responded that if big companies wanted to get bigger they had to tackle big challenges (See Google's Crazy Christmas Gift to Microsoft and Yahoo).

For us, that was a wildly waving yellow flag: Life at Google had apparently been so easy for so long that the folks at the top had stopped thinking about how to kill their competitors and started thinking about how to solve the world's energy problems. Anytime that happens, the good times are likely coming to an end.

In the past 12 months, especially in the last 3 months, Google has been forced to refocus on the task at hand. This is unquestionably good for the company. But it may not be good for Eric, Larry, and Sergey.

Once you have mentally moved on to new challenges, it is hard to regain the tenacity and passion that got you in a position to move on in the first place. And solving the world's energy problems, though not a smart goal for an Internet search company, is certainly an admirable and worthy goal for anyone else. And folks as smart, talented, and wealthy as Eric, Larry, and Sergey are in a position to really make a difference.

All of which is to say: We would not be surprised to see Eric (or, for that matter, Larry or Sergey) step down from an operating role at Google next year to pursue other interests.

See Also:
Google's Crazy Christmas Gift to Microsoft and Yahoo: We're An Energy Company!

What is it? A growing, legal, video clip library from TV and news networks, such as CNBC, Reuters, the AP, AFP, etc. (The company says it's in the process of signing up pretty much everyone in the business.)

Via 1Cast's browser, you can build embeddable video "casts" about a certain topic -- a person like Barack Obama, a company like Citigroup, etc. -- which gather more clips over time, and put them on your Web site.

Some issues:

• The "casts" aren't all that useful yet. For instance, our "cast" about Mark Cuban -- embedded below -- only has two videos in it so far, one from AP and one from Reuters, both from Monday. (One is a news roundup that only briefly mentions Cuban at the end.) We're not sure if that's because 1Cast is still adding new content from partners -- isn't Mark Cuban's name on CNBC every 5 minutes this week? -- or if we did something wrong.
  
• Clips seem stale, and don't seem to make it to 1Cast in near-real time. Or if they do, we don't really have a way of knowing. There's no "most recently added" river, which would be very helpful. By the time a few hours have passed, news video has little value.
  
• There doesn't seem to be a way to easily embed a single video clip -- other than deleting all the other videos you've collected from a "cast." This is silly. People are used to embedding individual video clips from YouTube, Hulu, etc., and shouldn't have to go through the trouble to do that here.
  

The video quality is pretty good -- it looks like 1Cast is using Akamai (AKAM) to deliver the video, and relatively high bitrate Flash video. Each "cast" includes a pre-roll ad, which seems to be served up from ad network YuMeNetworks, and hover-over ads during the video.

Overall, a good start. But we'd like more content and better tools before we rely on 1Cast for news video to complement our coverage.

See Also:
Hey Bloggers: Redlasso May Be Dead, But Competitor 1Cast Is Coming
Web Clip Service Redlasso Shuts Down. Bloggers Weep
Fox, NBC, Make Good On Threat, Sue Web Clip Service Redlasso

China and Apple still in iPhone talks (photo: The Tenth Dragon)

China Mobile’s CEO Tuesday gave the latest hint Apple may still get its iPhone into the world’s largest marketplace by the end of 2008.

“China Mobile is still interested in [bringing the ] iPhone into China Mobile markets,” Marketwatch quoted Wang Jianzhou when addressing the GSMA Mobile Asia Conference. The carrier’s head didn’t provide details, citing a non-disclosure agreement with Apple.

China, with over 600 million mobile users, remains a highly-prized target for Apple. CEO Steve Jobs has said he expects to sell the iPhone in the Asian country by the end of the year.

A series of movements indicate recent activity in year-long negotiations that had been stymied by roadblocks over revenue sharing and technology. Last week, Apple posted a job opening for an iPhone Quality Engineer in Beijing. Cupertino, reportedly is under pressure to adopt China’s home-grown TD-SCDMA, rather than widely-used transmission technology. Such a restriction could cause Apple to release an iPhone for Chinese users devoid of Wi-Fi or 3G.

Although China talks appear to have reignited, a number of Asian countries have already announced plans to bring the iPhone to the area.

Monday, Taiwan’s largest mobile carrier Chunghwa Telecom announced it had inked a contract with Apple to distribute the iPhone 3G. Reports suggested Apple’s handset may be sold starting in December. When the iPhone does appear, Chunghwa will have to compete with grey-market iPhones coming from New Zealand, Hong Kong and the United States.

Last week, Thailand’s True Move, announced it had signed a deal with Apple. Although short on details, the company told Reuters it would begin selling the popular cell phone “in the coming months.”

In an possible attempt to head off blame for stalling the iPhone’s entry into China, Jianzhou said Tuesday the company is “open to all operators, all vendors, content providers and service providers,” according to MarketWatch.

The iPhone 3G will be officially arriving in Taiwan during the month of December, according to Kaddy Chung and Adam Hwang of Digitimes.

Chunghwa Telecom will be "exclusively" offering the phone for sale, but did not release any details about pricing or when exactly it will hit store shelves. Gray market handsets have been available in the country for as much as NT$28,500 (≈ US$865).

According to NetworkWorld, the iPhone might be next destined for China, as a release in Taiwan suggests that Chinese language support is finished (or nearly so).

[Via Cult of Mac.]

TUAWDecember: White-market iPhones coming to Taiwan originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 17 Nov 2008 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The battle to bring the iPhone to Taiwan became a bit more crowded as that Asian nation’s top carrier announced it will start selling iPhone service “before the end of the year.”

December is the tentative launch date for exclusive sales deal, Digitimes reported Monday.

In a brief statement released over the weekend, Chunghwa Telecom said it “has signed a contract with Apple, and it will provide third-generation iPhone services in Taiwan before the end of the year,” according to the Dow Jones News service.

IPhones from New Zealand, Hong Kong and the U.S. have been streaming into Taiwan. The 8GB version, for instance sells for between $667 to $755.

Although reports Monday described the Chunghwa deal as “exclusive,” last week another Taiwan carrier also claimed to have signed a pact with Apple for iPhone rights.

True Move, described as the country’s third-largest cell phone carrier, said “in the coming months” it would distribute iPhones, according to Reuters.

Has Apple granted an exclusive deal to Chungwha? So far, Apple has not responded to Cult of Mac requests for comment.

Interest over Taiwan comes as activity between Apple and China seems to have thawed somewhat. Friday, Apple advertised for an iPhone engineer in Beijing. Apple’s Steve Jobs has said he hoped to have the iPhone in Russian and China by the end of 2008.

In October, Cupertino signed an agreement with Russia, but talks have stalled over China’s requirement for its home-grown TD-SCDMA, a sticking point that could force the iPhone to be released without Wi-Fi or 3G in the world’s largest market.

• Director, Business Development - Kaboose
  
• Mobile Marketing Analyst - eMarketer
  
• Director of Online Ad Sales - ROBLOX
• Chair, Tisch School of the Arts - NYU
  
• Head of Online Advertising -Synacor

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