Kaskado - Mobile coupons made easy

Imagine walking into a shop and your mobile beeps. You look at it, and it's a coupon for some clothes matching your personal taste in the same store, and hence increasing the sales of the store.

We're not quite there yet, but the scenario presented above just got a bit closer.
I've tried Kaskado which gives you mobile coupons for real world purchases. It's easy to install the java app (enter your mobile number and follow a link) and I was up and running in no time.

When starting I had to choose my location, and then a couple of offers in my city was presented to me. The interface is good and I might even try one of the offers later today. The number of offers where a tad bit low, only four of them in a city of more than one million (Stockhom), one from a coffee chain having 5+ locations to choose from.

So what does it take to make this service a success? The installation process was easy enough, but I still think it's hard to get the main stream audience to install the application with that few coupons. I guess that can be explained by the fact that the service is pretty new, but that needs to be improved.
I also would like to have it automatically positioning me, so that I get offers only really close to my location. That probably isn't very interesting until they've got far more offers.
It would also be nifty to have it running in the background, maybe as a cell phone provider service to keep the users costs low, and simply signaling me when I'm close to an offer that really interests me.

I don't have any insight in Kaskado's plans, since I just heard of them, but I'd say that a great idea would be to go for the operators and have the service preinstalled or at least having the link as a predefined shortcut. Operators are always looking for ways to get new ways of income as well as advantages over their competitors, so it should be pretty easy to make such a deal.

Widsets API - Widsets gets more and more interesting!

Today I surfed around on the Widsets developer site, and it's obvious that it's a really competent API! Have a look, a great start is the Widsets Wiki.

I'm going to release a Widset myself within a month or so!

Widsets - back on my phone, I've missed it!

A while ago I installed Widsets on my cellphone, and I was a frequent user for a couple of months. Then I succeeded in hanging it by closing it at the wrong time. After that it hang my cellphone every time I tried to start it.

Well, even though I was a frequent user of widsets I started to use the Mobile Opera instead, which is the best mobile browser around, so I didn't reinstall the Widset app.

Now however, I reinstalled it for some reason, and man it is a great java app! Much better way to follow blogs and news feeds than through the Opera alternative.

So if you haven't already, give it a try, it fit my needs perfect and it's highly addictive!

Why I like Rebtel, Jajah, EQO and their likes!

I get a few recommendations on different voip operators now that I've written a couple of posts on web2.0 voip services. And I am impressed of both services and the ideas that companies as Rebtel, Jajah and EQO offers! I think like this:

• If it's possible, I want to do all my communication with my cellphone. I love java applications since it adds value to my cellphone usage, and also because the mobile browser is really crappy (well opera is pretty good, but my experience is that custom written java apps for mobiles is far better than a mobile web page).
  
• A unique number for every contact, that I can store in my ordinary contact list is the best way to make me happy!
  
• If mobile phones is not an option, or way more expensive than landlines, I'm willing to use my land line
  
• I think it's great to use web applications to set my preferences - It's easier that way than on a cellphone. Every tool should be used for what it's best at.
  
• I'm willing to use web applications to place calls if the price is much lower than that I get with a service where I don't have to use the web service.
  
• I like widgets where I can make it possible for people to reach me, without giving them my real phone number.
  
• I expect pretty OK sound quality from my calls.
  
• I don't want to download any new applications to my computer. Remember, I'm a web2.0 guy believing in the web application revolution. Actually, a downloadable executable will actually stop me from trying a service.
  
• I don't want to call with my computer. That means I need extra gadgets like headphones and microphones - I already have a phone for that.
  
• Value adding features are a great plus. A nice example of this is the Facebook app from Rebtel.
  
• I don't care about text message services
  
• Open API's would be cool - imagine all 3rd party solutions that would be created for you! But I haven't seen that yet.
  
• Ok, I lied about downloadable executables. I would try an app if it was an Adobe Air app.
  

What do you think? How do you think when it comes to services like these?

SonyEricsson, please let me customize my mobile!

I'm a big fan of Mobile2.0, I love testing new mobile [java] applications and I've even found a few of them really useful (Earth Beta, Gmail, Opera Mini and Widsets),.
I'm convinced that the future of the Internet is mobile.

I've tried a few different phones and for some reason ended up with a SonyEricsson Z610i. It's a phone of nice quality and it has pretty good features.

But what are SonyEricsson up to when it comes to customization?
When I install a new Java applet, I want to be able to make a direct shortcut to it and I want to be able to use any java applet as contact manager. Why isn't this possible?
Now my best choice is to make a shortcut to the program folder, and I end up with 6 clicks before reaching my favorite java application.

When I'm at it, I also want to be able to make my java application settings permanent so I don't get the "Do you give the program permission to communicate with the Internet" every time I start a program.

Anyone know how it works on Nokia or other phones?

Alpha release of Soocial within a week

Soocial is a web/mobile app for synchronizing and sharing contacts on your computer, PDA and phone. I'm really looking forward to this app and now it's about to go public in alpha mode. I'll write a review as soon as I've been using it for a short time come back in a week or so!

http://www.soocial.com

Give Opera a try (on your cellphone)

I installed opera yesterday and it is great, a whole lot better than the built in browser that come with my SonyEricsson.
I've just tested it for one day, and my initial impression is that it is a good program worth installing.

I'll keep you posted on my experiences of Opera so come back for a longer "review" later.

I admit it, I'm a Widset Junky

For some weeks now I've been testing Widsets on my cellphone, and it's great!
Now, whenever I have som few minutes to spare, I pull out my SonyEricsson and check the latest news, read some cartoons or play sudoku. I could do all that in my browser before Widsets entered my Cellular Life, but for some reason browsers on cellphones suck! I never browse on my phone unless I really have no other choice, when I can't remember a phone number, a location or something, but mobile surfing is a terrible experince.

Widsets on the other hand, have a great interface - the scrolling is smooth, my button moves actually make sence, and the load times are shorter. It's the second best mobile application right after the Gmail-application!

Actually I like Widset so much I had to get a better deal for my mobile surfing...