Aurelius Internet Radio Show, the
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SecureCARE Technologies,

U.S. Urged Korea to Adopt U.S. Wireless
Internet Standard

North Korea Operates Internet Portal
Site

KOREA: Internet portals expand
competition to wireless

South Korea hires OFWs via Internet --
POEA

Japan, S Korea, China to build Internet
tech

North Korea Slowly Rising To Internet
Challenge

North Korea Slowly Rising to Internet
Challenge

German entrepreneur plans to bring
Internet to N Korea

South Korea to Launch Campaign for
'Healthier' Internet

S. Korea Settles With U.S. Over Wireless
Internet Platform: Gov't

OpenNet Initiative: Advisory 001 ::
OpenNet Initiative :: Documenting
Internet Content Filtering Worldwide

opennetinitiative.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=arti cle&sid=9
track this site | 4 links

Pride Communication Services, #1
Reseller of Krusell Leather Cell Phone
Cases, to Begin Selling Identity-Theft
Conscious Horizontic Plus Cell Phone
Case in April

Research and Markets: Players and
Investors in the Prepaid Market: Pay
Attention to This Analysis of the
Prepaid Sector 2005-2009

Alpha Telecom, the leading player in the
UK prepaid telephony market, has
migrated its prepaid services to the
AutoCarrier® technology of European
Computer Telecoms (ECT)

Iowa phone company tries to block
incoming cell phone calls

Quick-'n-Dirty methods to determine
which competing label is better: "Cell
Phone" or "Mobile Phone"?

On the SIGIA-L mailing list, Stephanie Berger recently asked: "My cohorts are not sure whether to use "cell phone" or "mobile phone". Any evidence that one is better than the other, or one is used more often than the other?"

This is a good example of the kind of labeling questions information architects face all the time. The answer to these labeling questions will depend on the target audience (a better label for whom?), on business requirements (maybe the business want to promote one term over the other) and on the context in which the label will be used.

I'll discuss the conversation that followed here and afterwards point to some useful tools for if you have a labeling question yourself.

Andres Sulleiro: "Without any empirical data I will go with my own opinion. [...] A quick survey of the phone carriers seems to suggest that "wireless" (as in "wireless phone", "wireless customer") is most common among US carriers, though you see some references to "mobile" as well. T-mobile, a European company, uses "mobile" which is more common in Europe as well as being the name of the carrier."

Method: check what other websites call it.

Jason Cho: "I think "cell" is more widespread in the US as Andrés noted. "Call my mobile" can sound pretentious to Yankee ears. But I would think everyone understands the term "mobile" on a business card."

Method: personal experience.

Peter Van Dijck (and others): "Google for "cell phone" (including quotes): 6,230,000, Google for "mobile phone": 6,360,000. Looks like a tie, assuming your audience is similar. Just pick one and make sure your search engine knows both terms."
Christina Wodtke: "Y ahoo for cell phone : 16,800,000, yahoo for mobile phone: 21,200,000. What does this really tell you? you'd have to know who each engine indexes, how much of the web, etc.. better to use a magic 8 ball. ;-)"

Method: check popularity of the terms on the web.

Peter Van Dijck: "My next step would be to find out what people search for on your site,
or if not available, on the web (assuming that's more or less your audience). Google adwords can help."

Method: Find out what people (preferably your target audience) search for.

Dave: "I like "mobile" for the reason that Christina stated (forward compatibility); USers and non-USers will equally understand it. Also, it is more interoperable w/ most of the vCard based addressbook programs out there. I don't know any that are using "cell" or "cellphone" ... I also like the clear and easy two word approach of "mobile phone" ... I'm always wanting to say "cellphone" where "cell phone" is really the more correct version. "cell" though just doesn't feel like a real word b/c the "cell" doesn't fit a meaning to me. I know what it means if I am forced to think about it, but it really doesn't mean anything to me at all."

Method: personal experience, check what software programs use.

Christina Wodtke: "> As can Ove rture's keyword tool (couldn't find URL straight away).

You also might consider some adaptation of the freelisting technique on a subset of your target. E.G., a write in survey: what portable electronics do you own, then analyze for use of "cell phone" and mobile phone".

Method: freelisting technique.

Eric Reiss: "Having worked closely with several telecommunications companies, including Tellabs (US), Nortel (Canada), ADVA (Germany), and NetTest (Denmark), this discussion is one I've heard before. Europeans generally don't recognize the term "cell phone." North Americans seem to accept both "cell" and "mobile." ATT insists on promoting the term "wireless." In most instances, we've agreed on the word "mobile" since it is understood by the widest audience. Nortel, for instance, used "cell" almost exclusively until the late 90s, but now leans toward "mobile." I think there is a trend here."

Method: ask the subject matter experts.

Pabini Gabriel-Petit: "There's also Wordtracker.
[...]
In this vein, you might try just walking up to people, holding up your cell/mobile phone, and asking them what they call it."

Method: Analyze what people search for.

Method: Find out what labels your users use.

Quick-'n-Dirty methods to determine which competing label is better.

So, as a review, here are some of the methods used to determine which label is better.

1. What do you think?
Method: personal experience/insights.

2. What do your users think?
Method: freelisting technique.
Method: Find out what labels your users use: show them the item you're trying to label and ask them what it is. (You could build an online tool for this).
Method: Find out what people (preferably your target audience) search for / check popularity of the terms on the web. Ove rture's keyword tool. Google adwords. Wordtracker. Google and Yahoo both list how often a term is used on the web (use quotes around your terms!).

3. What do the experts think?
Method: ask the subject matter experts.
Method: check what other websites/software call it.

Gotcha's: be careful when using these techniques. You are looking for a label that works for your audience and your business requirements. Most of these techniques use audiences that may be very different from yours, and most are indicative only (ie: they're not hard science). Use your judgement.

FreeHeadset.org launches program to
promote wireless phone safety by giving
away free cell phone headsets.

Cell Phone Users Interrupt Sex for Phone
Calls

consumeraffairs.com/news04/2005/cell_sex.html
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OpenNet Initiative

openNet: open network services

Cell Phone Zen

You could have a 3G cell phone already

A Cell Phone in Every Pot

Ce ll Phones Sales Skyrocket

"The worldwide market for cell phones is outstripping even the most enthusiastic predictions from the beginning of the year, as consumers continue to snap up handsets at a dizzying rate, according to research released Monday by Gartner.

Handset vendors sold 132.8 million units in the third quarter of this year, up 22 percent from last year's third-quarter shipments of 108.8 million units, says Ben Wood, an analyst with Gartner based in London. Gartner calculated the figures using the number of units sold to end users, rather than units shipped into the channel.

'The total market is on fire,' he says. 'We had predicted about 470 million units for the year, but it's going to be about 500 million this year.'

Mature cell phone markets such as western Europe and the U.S. are going through a replacement cycle, as consumers with older black-and-white phones are trading them in for new models with color screens and cameras , Wood says.

'We're getting to a point where a mobile phone is as much about fashion as anything,' he says." [PCWorld.com]

It won't be much longer before purchasing a mobile phone will be as much about utility (staying connected to the internet) as anything.

Cell-Phone Wars

Cell Phone Tombstone

This might be the saddest tombstone I've ever seen. If this isn't the inventor of the cellphone—something I'm not sure I'd want looming over me in the afterlife, anyway—then I'd really like to dig him up and steal all the moldering gadgets with which he was inevitably buried.

I'm pretty sure I've seen this in come corner of the internet before. Has anyone seen a better quality image? I want to read the inscription.

Israeli Mobile Phone Headstone [UnwiredNews via LiveDIgitally]

Did ya know I named my cell phone?

Get first aid instructions in your cell
phone

(Though, be warned, the midlet costs 7€! Something that which Helsingin Sanomat completely forgets to mention (boo hiss, this is stupid), but that is declared on Red Cross's page...)

Just in time for the holidays, I would say.

(Via Helsingin Sanomat. Lisää tietoa Punaisen ristin sivuilta.)

16 mln US teens have a cell phone

Cell phone joins TV, PC

Cell Phone Directory

Cell phone directory gets hoots, hollers: This seems like a no-brainer to me.

The days of searching in vain for someone's cell phone number are almost over. Starting early next year, you'll be able to call directory assistance to get a mobile number.

However, some people object:

"These devices are considered much more personal than landline (phones)," says Chris Hoofnagle of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. "People tend to carry them everywhere and answer them when they ring."

What's more, cell phone subscribers pay for incoming calls, even unwanted ones.

Such concerns prompted Verizon Wireless, the No. 1 wireless company, to keep its 40 million subscribers out of the directory.

Isn't it interesting how cell phones have made phone numbers personal? A phone number used to be associated with a family ot a business — a group of people. But now, everyone in my family can have a cell phone, and therefore a phone number associated with them personally.

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Keep on rockin' with your cell phone

Wi-Fi Hot, TV Not for Cell Phone Users

Cell Phone Viruses

Cell phone lockdown.

Cell phone lockdown

Cell phone users and sex

The highest incidence of cellular interruptus was found in Germany and Spain, where 22 percent of users interrupted sex to answer their cell phones; the lowest was in Italy, where only 7 percent reported doing so. In the U.S., the figure was 15 percent, the magazine said, citing a study conducted by BBDO Worldwide and Proximity Worldwide.

Cell Phone Booth

Another day, another artist complaining about the lack of respect/personal interaction from those pesky cell phone users. At least Nick Rodrigues bothered to wear a suit as he showed off his personal cell phone booth, designed to illustrate how disrespectful people are when they dare call their friends and family in public.

Remember the good ol' days, when people would go into Conversation Booths before speaking, preserving the sanctity of the commons' silence? No, I really don't either.

Performa nce Sculpture [SensoryImpact]

The Souped-Up Cell Phone

New Cell Phone Tactics

You CAN take your cell-phone number with
you

U.S. intelligence: N. Korea using Internet to indoctrinate the masses