Wi-Fi Calling Contest Winners

We had great fun around the office recently judging the videos submitted for our Wi-Fi Calling video contest. The creative and earnest messages really impressed us, and it was hard to decide who would win new Android smartphones. We had put a call out for videos from people who love or need Wi-Fi calling, how and where they use it, or how it's changed their lives. We asked people to capture their enthusiasm and passion for Wi-Fi calling/UMA, and did they ever! Some of them truly made me laugh out loud.

We ask our three lucky winners to send us their wish lists of new Android smartphones, and we are sending each of them one of their top choice phones:

• Caleb Greenwood's Not Just Calling, Wifi Calling
• Hunter Lyon's Wi-Fi Calling Rap
• Robert Holloway's Wi-Fi Kidnapping Thriller

Maybe it was the holiday spirit, but we found it difficult to pare down the submissions to just three. We were feeling generous, so we took it a little further and awarded two more winners with honorable mentions. Kaya Smith and Jacob Garcia both get their choice of an LG Optimus or Motorola Defy.

On top of all that, we also awarded an Android to one winner of our simultaneous Twitter contest. Congratulations to @android_flash.

Congratulations to all our winners. Haven't watched the videos yet? Go check them out at WiFiCalling.net. Which one is your favorite? Let us know what you think in the comments here or tweet us @kinetowireless.

Guest Blogger: Jeff Brown, Kineto Wireless

Thankful

During a long Thanksgiving weekend here in the US, I had time to reflect on Kineto's opportunity. I spent the previous three weeks in Europe and Asia visiting mobile operators of all shapes and sizes, and I realize Kineto has a lot to be thankful for.

To begin with, everywhere I went smartphones dominated the discussion. Product plans for 2011 were heavily weighted to smartphones, with feature phones quickly playing a marginalized role. Smartphones for the high-end; the mid-tier; even entry level; plus post and pre-paid…it seemed like everyone wanted to talk smartphones.

Of the platforms, Android continues to have an outsized share. I often refer to a Gartner report from November 2010 which shows Android growing from 3% to 25% of the total smartphone market share in just one year. This is staggering growth, made even more impressive because the overall market doubled in the same timeframe.

And finally, mobile operators have fully embraced Wi-Fi. It seemed that any discussion about smartphones and/or Android included Wi-Fi. It isn't a question of whether Wi-Fi technology will play a role in the mobile internet, it's just a question of how big the role will be.

With this foundation, Kineto's Smart Wi-Fi products are being embraced with open arms. Smart Wi-Fi takes the benefits of Wi-Fi to the next level, enabling operators to deliver improved coverage to their subscribers -- something that isn't available with basic Wi-Fi.

Kineto's Smart Wi-Fi Application is now available on 10 different handsets from operators in North America and Europe. Smart Wi-Fi is the right product at the right time, and Kineto has plenty to be thankful for.