Just a number? Lucky Japanese cell phone numbers worth Millions!

Many of us take our cell phone numbers for granted. Sure, it’s nice to get an easy-to-remember number, or something with a nice flow to it, but in Japan, it seems that a cell phone number is a lot more than JUST a number. It can also be worth a LOT of money.

In fact, cell phone numbers containing special sequences of numbers like “123…”, sequences of numbers considered lucky to the Japanese, or cell numbers with repeating digits in the last 4 to 8 numbers are highly desirable and are often sought by company bosses and business people as a status symbol akin to an expensive watch, a flash sports car or… a yacht!?

…and they are selling for a fortune online, typically for 10’s of thousands of Yen (10,000 Yen = USD85 approx), but sometimes for hundreds of millions (100,000,000 Yen = USD854,000 approx)!.

Cell numbers containing the number 7 are thought to be very lucky, since the Japanese have the Seven Gods of Good luck, Shichifukujin. The number 8 is also favored as it is associated with good fortune. The tetraphobic Japanese regard sequences of the numeral 4 as not so lucky, however, since it is widely associated with death (“shi” in Japanese is a close homonym for the word for death).

The buying/selling of these ‘lucky’ numbers on all of Japan’s carriers has accelerated in recent times - MSN/Mainichi reports:

The prices of both au and Vodafone phone numbers have reportedly risen to two or three times the normal price recently. It is thought that people are buying the numbers before the number portability system is introduced in October, aiming to switch the numbers to NTT DoCoMo phones after the system is introduced so the price of the numbers rises even further.

“The really good numbers could sell for prices in the range of 1 billion yen,”

NTT DoCoMo, who holds more than half of Japan’s cellular market with more than 50 million customers has the numbers that are most sought after.

1 Billion Yen, eh? That’s more than 8.5 Million USD! Next time you sign up for a new cell service, take your time and choose your number wisely….you never know, this may just catch on!

[Source MSN/Mainichi]

3rd World Country Tops USA in Texting! 12 Other Interesting Facts

Here’s a selection of ‘hard to believe’ useless, but interesting stats and facts from all corners of the web concerning mobile phone usage. $100 Million worth of ringtones sold per year in India alone? C’mon…

• 13.5 million people have downloaded a mobile game from April to June of ‘06. [Link]
• The revenues for the above was $46.9 million USD, and since Q3 of ‘05 revenues have gone up 63 percent. [Link]
• Tendonitis and carpal tunnel have been tied to excessive text messaging. Learn to be a switch hitter! [Link]
• 7 million US cell phone customers will watch TV on their cell phone this year, and 24 million by 2010. [Link]
• China has 425.37 million cell phone subscribers, that 1.5 times of the US population. [Link]
• 35 billion text messages were sent in June alone in China, averaging 2.75 texts per phone per day. [Link]
• USA is 22.6 times the population of Ecuador and 10 times the wealth, yet Ecuador sends four times as many text messages as Americans. [Link]
• Cell phone users from India download ringtones worth $100 million USD a year. [Link]
• 67 percent of India’s GDP is made up of consumer spending, they are second to the US which is 70 percent.
• Verizon filters up to 50,000 text messages that are considered spam every day. [Link]
• 84 percent of parents want their children available via cell phone during school hours. [Link]
• ~44 percent of people who own a phone capable of playing music have not added any music files to their cell phones. [Link]

10 cool things you can do with your cell phone

Nowadays cell phones can do almost anything, but now there is more to add to the list. Some of these cool features may not be available yet or are for specific models only, but rest assured with the increase in cellular technology it is on the way.

1. ID that song: Next time you hear a catchy song on the radio, you don’t have to try to memorize the lyrics so you can Google it when you get home. Now all you need to do is dial a code number, hold the phone to the speaker for a few seconds and within moments you’ll see the artist, title and album appear. This is only available with select models.
2. Have your phone wake you with music: Tired of your normal buzzer alarm clock from the 1980s? With some new models, including the LG Chocolate, you can select music as your alarm.
3. Text message a landline phone: Companies are now starting to offer text to landline messaging. Your text message is sent from your cell phone to a landline and is converted to a voice message that is played back on the landline.There is a small charge for this, but nonetheless interesting.
4. Scan in a business card: Ever wanted to get someone info off of their business card, but they only had one? Ok probably not, but some models have features where you can take a picture of a business card and have the picture trasferred to your phone book.
5. Have your text messages read back to you: Vemail Voice Email 2.0 (http://www.nch.com.au/vemail/index.html) enables usuers to read e-mail and easily reply by speaking. This application is $28 but can sure be useful for people on the go. More…

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Nokia’s ’special’ SMS tone is morse code for SMS. More Nokia facts…

Trawling around, looking for something completely different, I stumbled across this bunch of Trivia facts on Wikipedia about the largest mobile phone manufacturer in the world - Nokia. Enjoy…

Apology: It has been brought to our attention that displaying the information we had gathered from Wikipedia’s article on Nokia may contravene Wikipedia’s usage policy and it appears we may have misunderstood this policy. For this we apologise. It was never our intention to display information that might breech any rules and so we have removed the full list. We apologise to those visitors who were expecting to find the full article here, but we had to do the right thing and remove it. Sorry. Thank’s to the Digg users for correcting us on this issue.

So, instead, here are a couple of trivia highlights from the wikipedia entry on Nokia, and we encourage people to take a look at the full contents of the article, which can be found here :

*The “Special” tone available to users of Nokia phones when receiving SMS messages is actually Morse code for “SMS”. Similarly, the “Ascending” SMS tone is Morse code for “Connecting People,” Nokia’s slogan. The “Standard” SMS tone is Morse code for “M” (Message).
* Nokia is currently the world’s largest digital camera manufacturer, as the sales of its camera-equipped mobile phones have exceeded those of any conventional camera manufacturer.
* Unlike other modern day handsets, Nokia phones do not automatically start the call timer when the call is connected, but start it when the call is initiated. (Except for Series 60 based handsets like the Nokia 6600)

[Extract from Nokia trivia on Wikipedia]

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• Nokia buys Loudeye for mobile music
• Nokia takes out honors for most stolen phone brand
• Cell phone emergency tricks and tips

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7th International Mobile Phone Throwing World Championships

Saturday 26 August saw the 7th International Mobile Phone Throwing World Championships wrap up 340km north of Helsinki in Savonlinna, Finland and this year the Gold was taken out by a Finn. Finland is of course the home of Nokia, the world’s largest manufacturer of mobile phones, and so it is only fitting that such an important event also be held there.

The new champion is Lassi Etelätalo, Finland with result 89,00 m. In the Original individual category, second was last year’s champion Mikko Lampi with 87,17 meters and the third was Tomi Kurvi with a result of 80,20 meters.

The new world champion in the Women’s category is Eija Laakso with a new world record of 50.83 meters. The men’s world record of 94.97 meters (more than 100 yards), set by Mikko Lampi from Vilppula, Finland during the 2005 World championships remains unbroken.

There are officially two categories in the Mobile Phone Throwing. Traditional style ie. over the shoulder throw, where the length of the throw is crucial. In Freestyle the style is free and the contestant gets points for aesthetics and creative choreographics from 4 to 10. In both categories the contestant with the highest score wins.

Mobile Phone Throwing is light and modern Finnish sport that suits for people of all ages. It combines recycling philosophy and fun spirit in active sport. A part of the philosophy is also a spiritual freedom from being available all the time.

Feeling inspired, but a bit out of shape? Not to worry, you have a year to prepare. The next championships will be held on the 25th of August next year - expect registrations to open around April.

Interesting fact about Nokia: In addition to being the world’s largest cell phone manuacturer, Nokia also takes out the honors as the world’s largest digital camera manufacturer on account of the number of cell phones they sell equipped with cameras, outselling any other traditional camera manufacturer.

[Get all the latest mobile phone throwing world championships news direct from savonlinnafestivals.com]

How much are you paying for going over your minutes?

A new survey from SimplySwitch.com reports that 8 out of 10 people don’t know how much a phone call would cost outside of their plan. Sure some people have plans that are only a few cents for a minute, but what about for an extra text message? An international call? They also discovered that half of everyone questioned have been overcharged by their provider in the past.

The biggest tip from Karen Darby, CEO at SimplySwitch, is to focus on your plan, not your phone.  When you are looking for a new  provider consider more than just your plan, look at the overage prices as well. If you go over, you willl no doubt see  a larger bill, but by doing a little shopping, you can minimize that cost.

[Check out more from TechDigest.com]

Cell phone emergency tricks and tips

Blogcritics.org has a short list of interesting things that cell phones are (apparently) capable of doing.

There are a few things that can be done in times of grave emergencies. Your mobile phone can actually be a lifesaver or an emergency tool for survival.

In no particular order…

1. Dialing 112 will contact emergency services in ANY country around the world.
2. Unlock your car with your keys over the phone (er…what? Seriously??)
3. Release extra battery power (at the expense of call quality)
4. IMEI code can be used to disable a stolen phone (Nokia handsets only apparently)

Full details available at Blogcritics.org.  I’m highly skeptical of point 2 (I mean, c’mon…) - but if you’ve tried it and know it to work (or otherwise!) post a comment here and let us know!

Digg2Phone - get your Digg fix on your fone

Digg2Phone is a new service allowing registered members to receive SMS alerts on stories currently doing the rounds on Digg.com. Use it to track your own stories, see when stories hit the home page, track new comments or see when a story gets buried etc.

As Digg2Phone say:

Digg2Phone is for the digg addicts who can’t watch the digg spy all day.

With Digg2Phone, you can choose which stories you want us to follow for you, and we’ll text message you when something happens.

The service is not yet available to the public, but they are looking for beta testers. No details yet on a public release. Another fun non-telephony way to use your handset…

[More from Digg2Phone]

Picture-in-picture . . . on your phone?

Samsung has released another new phone today that is capable of picture-in-picture. Yes, two pictures of completely different screens, on a phone.

The SCH-B470 also comes with a somewhat standard 2-megapixel camera as well as a music player. So now you won’t miss your favorite TV show while your friend is embarrassing himself in front of hundreds of spectators.

There is no word on the release date or price, but it is speculated that it will be released in Korea only.

Be frugal with your cell and use Frucall…

Frucall is a great new FREE service which gives buyers more confidence in making sure they are getting the best price on their purchases.  Another in a line of excellent ways of making use of your phone for non-telephony purposes while out and about.

From Frucall’s About Us page:

Frucall (http://www.frucall.com) is a free phone-based price-comparison shopping service for consumers to compare prices and purchase products using their cell phones, anywhere, anytime. Frucall blends the benefits of in-store shopping with the flexible nature of shopping online; providing consumers with a unique mobile shopping experience.

Buyers wishing to avail themselves of the service need only dial 1-800-DO-FRUCALL (1-800-363-7822), enter a few details from either the UPC or ISBN barcode of the product and bingo - online price comparisons for new and used, customer ratings etc for that same product across the web from retailers such as Amazon.com read out to them over the phone.

Next Frucall are hoping to add the ability to buy products through the same call - brilliant!
[Read more at Frucall.com]

Welsh shop worker fired by SMS

21 yr old Kate Tanner, a shop worker at Blue Banana (a clothing store) in Cardiff, Wales was recently fired from her job by SMS.

The company defended the decision by saying that they had tried to call Ms Tanner several times before texting to say that since her performance hadn’t been up to scratch they had to let her go. Although not their general policy the company explained that it was an appropriate last resort method of communicating their decision given the circumstances and because SMS messaging is considered such a large part of “youth culture”.

The terminating text:

“Hi katy its alex from the shop. Sorry 2 do this by text but ive been trying to call u + ur phones been switched off. Ive had a meeting with jon + ian and weve reviewed your sales figures and they’re not really up to the level we need. As a result we will not require your services any more. You will receive your last pay packet on friday 28th july. Thank you for your time with us”

What next? Your boss putting comments on your Blog or your MySpace profile? How about a slightly more personal message from your boss on YouTube?

[Full story from icWales]

Struggling for cell signal, do what this guy did

Graeme over at Earth: Mostly Harmless devised an ingenious way of extending cell phone coverage to the darkest corners of his home…MacGyver style. That’s right, from a few bits and pieces retrieved from some Wi-fi equipment, some wire, a few clips and some mesh a signal boosting antenna was born, extending the reach of T-Mobile’s cell signal to the areas that were once in shadow.

Where there’s a will there’s a way…Nice work.

[Read more]