Via, O2 More, an opt-in service for O2 customers; brands like Starbucks and L’Oreal will send the carrier’s users exclusive offers and information via SMS and MMS on their mobile phones when they are inside a geo-fenced area around a store or other location.

All of this is powered by Placecast’s ShopAlerts, which are location-triggered mobile text messages sent from brands to consumers. Consumers can opt-in to receiving text messages in a variety of ways—at the store, online, via text-message, mobile websites or on Facebook. Once the technology has been activated, consumers will be alerted when they are near a location that they are interested in or when the brand is offering sales and specials. ShopAlerts’ technology uses “geo-fences,” which are virtual boundaries that can be targeted via location-based marketing. Retailers can customize alerts to fit their brand and strategy.

Over 1 million O2 customers in the UK are opted-in to the service. And until now, O2 More’s messages were based on age, gender, and interests. But now Placecast has created over 1500 geo-fences around Starbucks and L’Oreal stores in the UK. For example, O2 will send an SMS alert to an opted-in users offering a 50 pence discount for its new line of coffee, VIA.

This is the first carrier partnership for Placecast, which has licensed ShopAlerts to a number of retail partners, including American Eagle Outfitters and the North Face.

The reports from a few days ago that the Jajah deal with O2 closed at $200 million were correct. Telefónica Europe (aka O2) just announced that it bought Jajah for 145 million Euros ($207 million) in an all-cash deal.

Jajah, which provides Internet calling services and thus competes with Skype, was on the block since at least November (which TechCrunch was first to report on), following Google’s purchase of much-smaller Gizmo5.

Jajah has 15 million subscribers and has served up more than 1 billion VoIP calls.

Jajah will continue to operate under its own brand. The sale was not a happy affair for everyone involved, however. The deal was largely driven by Jajah’s investors, particularly Sequoia. We hear CTO Amichay Oren has left the company because he and his engineering team in Israel didn’t get treated the same as their counterparts in the U.S. In these types of deals, not everyone ends up winning. Jajah turned out not to be the next $1 billion company in Sequoia’s portfolio.

Given the fact that it raised $33 million in total capital, a $200 million exit is a decent outcome.

It was believed that Microsoft and Cisco were two other companies that were vying to get the company. Back in June, the company served up its 1 billionth VoIP call. While the company has some 15 million subscribers of its own, many of the calls originate from Yahoo Messenger, which has used Jajah since 2008 for its VoIP calls. They also have a deal in place with Microsoft.

The company has raised over $30 million in funding over four rounds. They are backed by the likes of Sequoia and Intel Capital. O2 is the mobile arm of Telefónica Europe, and had been considered the company with only an outside shot at theacquisition, especially considering Microsoft’s partnership with Jajah. Earlier reports indicated the price could be driven as high as $400 million in a bidding war, instead it appears to have stayed on the low side.

We’ve reached out to Jajah for comment on the matter, and will update when we hear back.

Details are scarce at the moment, but Microsoft, Cisco Systems and Telefónica Europe (O2) are said to be looking to buy the venture capital-backed company for a price ranging from $200M to $400M. We’re digging for more information.

Jajah was founded back in 2005 and in March 2006 introduced the world to a pretty decent consumer service that allowed cellphone users access Jajah’s low-cost calling system through their mobile devices, over the Web. Jajah went on to raise $28 million in VC funding from investors like Sequoia Capital, Globespan Capital Partners, Deutsche Telekom and Intel.

The Skype rival amassed about 10 million users when in April 2008 they announced a deal that would bring its premium voice services to nearly 100 million Yahoo Messenger users more. The deal proved crucial for Jajah, which connected its 1 billionth call last Summer. And that was before it turned to Twitter to spread the voice service even more.

Jajah says it currently serves over 25 million consumers and business callers in more than 122 countries, and provides calling access to more than 200 destinations globally. It’s unclear how much revenue it is generating from these users, but it’s apparently enough – or has enough potential to scale and grow – to make for an interesting strategical acquisition target for companies with deep enough pockets to engage in a bidding war.

It’s odd to see O2 mentioned as one of the companies who’s sitting at the negotiation tables, and I consider Microsoft and Cisco to be more likely buyers. Both of them sit on heaps of cash and are undeniably acquisition-hungry, and Redmond has the added benefit of having entered into a partnership with Jajah on enterprise IP communication solutions.

The price range seems to be on the high end, but that’s what happens when a bidding war goes the way the company that’s on the table (and its financial backers) would want it to go.

We’re cataloging this as a solid, plausible rumor for now and will update with more information / confirmation as soon as it comes in.

If you’re part of the very, very, very small segment of Crunch readers who happens to live in Germany, and you’re an O2 customer, and you bought a TG01 – look out! Your new toy might make your computer feel a bit woozy inside.

They don’t have the how or why’s just yet, but O2 in Germany has verified that at least some of the TG01s they’ve sold were packed with a virus on the microSD card. Sales have been nixed, and anyone who bought the phone should give O2 Germany a ring.

We’ll update you as more details come in, but we’d expect O2 to stay pretty mum on this one. We can only assume that one of their computers at the processing plants got infected, and the virus was coded to throw itself onto any microSD card it detected. Hopefully the as-of-yet undetermined side effects aren’t too nasty.

[Via UnwiredView]

Christmas.

That’s right: by the time Palm pinches off the GSM Pre Apple will have probably released iPod Touches with cameras and the HTC Hero, an Android phone that I wouldn’t kick out of bed for eating crackers, will be dancing on the Sprint Pre’s grave. It’s like Palm wants to fail.

Palm webOS Phone to Arrive in UK, Ireland, Germany and Spain on Local Telefónica Networks

WINDSOR, England, Jul 07, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Palm, Inc. (Nasdaq:PALM) today announced that the Palm(R) Pre(TM) phone is scheduled to be available initially in the UK, Ireland and Germany exclusively on the O2 network, and in Spain exclusively on the Movistar network, in time for the holidays. Palm Pre, the first phone based on the new Palm webOS(TM) mobile platform, brings your information from the many places it resides – on your phone, at work or on the web – into one simple, integrated view.(1)
“Europe continues to be an important region for Palm, and we’re proud to work with O2 and Movistar to spread the excitement Palm Pre has already ignited in North America,” said Jon Rubinstein, Palm chairman and chief executive officer. “Since we showed Palm Pre at Mobile World Congress in February, there’s been a great deal of anticipation for an announcement about European availability, and that day is here.”
“We are fast becoming the home of the smartphone with the addition of the hotly-anticipated Palm Pre to our already extensive portfolio,” said Matthew Key, chairman and chief executive officer, Telefónica Europe. “Our customers will be the first outside of North America to experience one of the most successful mobile devices of the year.”
In its first weekend of availability in the United States, Palm Pre broke Sprint’s previous first-weekend sales records. Palm Pre also is scheduled to debut in Canada with Bell Mobility in the second half of 2009.
Palm Pre introduces a breakthrough user interface and hardware design that makes it one of the most integrated and user-friendly mobile phones on the market. Featuring a smooth, elegantly rounded ergonomic design and a physical keyboard that slides out only when needed, Palm Pre is engineered to feel natural in your hand and comfortably small in your pocket. When closed, Palm Pre is ideal for phone calls, web browsing, music, photos and videos; when open, Palm Pre is optimized for email and text messaging. It provides an exceptional experience for phone calls, whether held to your ear, over speakerphone or via Bluetooth.
With its curved slider and gesture-controlled touch interface, Palm Pre fuses exquisite design with the revolutionary webOS software for fast access to content on the device or web. Invented exclusively for mobile use, webOS offers an instinctive user experience that seems to anticipate your needs.

In case the last HTC Touch HD pics didn’t satisfy your craving, this massive gallery certainly will.

Also, the site causally mentions that O2 Germany will be the first carrier worldwide to launch the WME smartphone sometime in November with a 659 Euro price tag. No word when that exclusive deal is up though.

theunwired via wmpoweruser via BGR

Is it time to revise the old saw that everyone in the world is connected by just six degrees of separation? A study from French mobile carrier O2 has found that strangers are more connected to each other than they ever have been.

According to the study, the average person is now connected by just three degrees within a shared “interest” or social group instead of six. In fact, it found that people are usually a part of three main networks: family, friendship, and work.

O2 asked adults across three different age groups — 18-25, 35-45, 55+ — to make contact with random strangers from areas all across the globe using only personal connections. By linking their shared interests, the participants were able to connect to that person in three person-to-person links.

Stanley Milgram originally coined the term “six degrees of separation” in 1967 to show that everyone in the modern world was capable of connecting to another by linking people and interests. But in today’s world of social networking, links between strangers are closer than in Milgram’s day.

According to Jeff Rodrigues, a social networking specialist that carried out the study, 97 percent of the participants said they felt more connected to people today than they ever have in the past and for older respondents, email and mobile phones were the key factors in reducing the degrees of separation. But for those in the younger generation, Facebook was the main factor. Text messaging was also mentioned as an important component in reducing degrees of separation.

“What the study has brought to light is that the way we now interact means it’s never been easier to make connections and build networks of contacts,” Rodrigues said in an interview.

It should be noted that the research is not the epitome of a real scientific study—O2 paid for it, after all. And anyone who has a LinkedIn account knows that it is still easy to find plenty of people who are more than three degrees away from you. But the study does underscore something we all know:more so than ever before, everyone is connected (even if it is only tangentially).

Maybe it is time to revisit Milgram’s study in a more robust way. It could help silence the critics who believe Facebook and the rest are nothing more than places for kids to waste their time. Let’s face it – how often will you find one service or industry that can totally transform the way people are connected?

Anyway, back to the topic at hand, the iPhone 3G shortage. Wherever you go it seems that the iP3G is sold out and, let’s face it, cheaper hardware will do that sort of thing, but AT&T stores are a barren wasteland compared to Apple stores. Again, not their fault since Apple hordes them, but today they’ve gone ahead and updated their press site with info on inventory.

We’ve seen incredible demand for iPhone 3G since it launched — and subsequently sold out — on July 11. Many customers have opted to purchase iPhone 3G through direct fulfillment, which lets them purchase the device at their convenience and return to the store to pick it up as soon as it arrives in to the store. For those customers who have ordered through direct fulfillment, and have not yet received their iPhone 3G, here’s a quick update on our current inventory:

* As of July 23, direct fulfillment customers are receiving their iPhone 3G, on average, 13 or 14 days following purchase.
* Delivery times vary based on the specific model a customer chooses (8 GB, 16 GB white, 16 GB black).

AT&T handles direct fulfillment on a first-come, first-served basis, giving everyone an opportunity for stress-free shopping. As we receive new inventory from Apple, we are shipping it out immediately to fill customers’ orders. We hope to begin re-stocking our stores as soon as we can, but first priority goes to those customers who purchased through direct fulfillment.

Looks like I found a reason to rag on you, AT&T. It’s nice that you’ve updated the site regarding the iP3G shortage and all, but it’s sort of “whatever” if you don’t have a stock tracker for your chain of stores like Apple does. Look across the pond at O2 and take some notes. They’ve included a list of stores that have them in stock and update it daily. But hey, at least you’re trying. I can’t say the same for Apple.

Guess I didn’t think this one through all the way.

Aw, lucky!!! New O2 customers in the United Kingdom will be able to grab an 8GB iPhone 3G for free with monthly plans of £45 and up. The required contract is only 18 months, too. Mike Butcher of our TechCrunch UK site says…

The news is pretty astounding. From going from a device which costs over £300 to virtually free at POS will supercharge iPhone sales in the UK and make it a real contender for mobile web startups as a platform. It will also suck out early adopters from other networks.

Butcher also caught wind that new iPhones will be able to be ordered online from O2’s web site and “will be sent out as O2 gets them from Apple,” whereas it’s being reported that here in the US, the new iPhone won’t be sold online at first – you’ll have to camp out at an Apple store or an AT&T retail location to get one.

Rumor has it that O2 will sell the 3G iPhone for $193 or may give it away for free to folks who sign up on an $140/month service plan with 3,000 minutes of talk time and 500 text messages. They may also offer the iPhone for about $500 on a prepaid-plan and may offer a free upgrade to current iPhone owners if they renew for 18 months. That said, Crazy Spice may also star in a lurid shiesse film featuring corporphilia and watersports. Any or all of these things may, in fact, be true. We just don’t know.

First, Leander Kahney at Cult of Mac has a hot tip that the new iPhone will include the following:

3G
GPS
2 x memory (16GB and 32GB)
22 percent thinner
Better battery life

We’ve already suspected all of the above to be true except the 22 percent thinner part.

Second, UBS analysts are feel it in their bones that O2 will offer the upcoming handset for a mere £100 while the rest of Europe will see it for €99 sometime in July.

Head over to O2′s iPhone shop. They are no longer selling the 8GB and 16GB iPhones… but if you click on “Find out more” you can order a 16GB. What is going on here? Are we in Crazy Land among the Crazyputians? Is up down and down up? Perhaps we’ll never know.

The S730′s keyboard won some big-time praise as “one of the best HTC keyboards we’ve used,” according to the review, and the device’s form factor is described as “chunky yet comfortable”.

Connectivity options include 3G HSDPA at 3.6Mb/second, quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi.

The S730 got dinged for its slightly-sluggish 400MHz processor and 64MB of RAM, Home Screen UI quirkiness, and the fact that there’s no included hands-free kit — it must be purchased for £14.95. Also, the screen and battery life seem to be so-so.

HTC S730 Windows Mobile smartphone [Reg Hardware]

Pull a pint and twiddle your muff because Ireland’s O2 will be selling the iPhone (translation: “tha’ bleedin’ iPhone, ye ponce”) at $600 for the 8GB and $750 for the 16GB. For about $50 a month you get up to 1GB of data and the standard SMS and talk times. Don’t be a wee sleekit, cow’rin, tim’rous beastie! Get thee to the Carphone Warhouse!

[photopress:o2plans.png,thumb,pp_image]

O2 Confirms Winning Irish iPhone Exclusivity [Cellular-News]
O2

Thanks for sending this in, Chris.

European telecomm O2 is expecting 200,000 iPhone sold in the UK by the end of the year while analysts expect up to 400,000 in the next few months. It’s this news that buoyed O2′s hopes in Europe and made everyone — including big Steve — purdy happy. The real takeaway, however, is that O2 will be carrying the 3G iPhone in Europe.

O 2 has signed a multi-year deal with Apple for the iPhone and Mr Key insists Vodafone, for example, could not muscle in and take the 3G iPhone in the UK.

I’m sure Vodafone or T-Mo could grab the contract if they wanted to, but I suspect the iPhone will go unlocked in its next gen form, ensuring everybody gets to try that sweet, sweet Apple pie.

iPhone take-up the key as O2 targets Europe [FT]

While it’s true that they’d have to buy a new phone, the 18-month contract would not start over.

Undercover reporters were told the same thing at three out of the five stores. If they were to lose their phone, they’d have to buy a new one AND start their contract over from day one. They were also told at some stores that the insurance sold through Carphone Warehouse offered more coverage than the insurance sold by O2, the iPhone’s UK carrier. In reality, the level of coverage is the same.

Salespeople at Carphone Warehouse are offered extra commission for selling phone insurance and the company as a whole was fined £245,000 last year for similar insurance-related shenanigans.

Company representatives told the BBC that such reports might be due to "some element of confusion among an isolated number of sales consultants" and that such complaints aren’t reflective of the entire chain.

Carphone Warehouse misleading iPhone customers? [iLounge]

As there are only twenty thousand people in Britain at any one time — they’re too polite to push onto the island so most of them stay on Ibiza until it’s their turn to come back — this means the majority of the population owns an iPhone. Excellent work, O2!

iPhone sales are in line with expectations, says O2 chief [Guardian]

Do you live in London like Pete Doherty and have an iPod Touch? Well then! Leave that pipe at home and head out into the streets baby, ’cause you’ve got yourself some WiFi for that iPod Touch thanks to The Cloud. A new plan called Cloud Unlimited Music will be available today for £3.99 or ~$8 and allows iPod Touch users to access the internet as much as they want. Basically, it’s a pretty sweet deal.

Thinking of getting an iPhone when it comes out on O2? Well go ahead and get one, ’cause The Cloud and O2 have partnered to offer you the same damn plan for the same price. If only us Americans could get iPhone WiFi plans for $8 bucks a month. Sheesh.

The Cloud offers Wi-Fi access for iPod touch users [iLounge]