The city police booked their first-ever case of phone cloning recently— where security data from one phone was reprogrammed into another, so that calls could be made from both phones but only the original would be billed.

Source: Geek nabbed for cloning mobiles

Call centers became contact centers once email entered the equation. Some people answer phones, others answer email. The next challenge may be to integrate cameraphones into the process.

Some people, however, are beginning to think about ways to redesign contact centers in the age of cameraphones. It’s not hard to see how this could be very useful. As the old joke goes, in the digital age, a picture is worth 1024 words. Sometimes it’s difficult to explain what’s happening in words, when a picture would make it clear immediately. If you’re having a problem with something, and you can add a visual aid that can be immensely helpful. This also goes two ways. If the contact center can send out graphical information back to the caller, that could save a lot of time talking.

Source: How Contact Centers Need To Change In The Age Of The Cameraphone

According to this story, Reliance Infocomm will soon start charging for services offered through ‘R World’. Have been threatening to do it since last two years. Lets see if they really mean it this time.

I don’t fully understand their concerns and the resultant delay in making a section of R World paid. Majority of Reliance phones are R World enabled. Their users have atleast tasted, if not addicted to, the offerings. If Mahesh Prasad is serious about going paid this time, it could well be rooted in the realisation that GSM providers like Orange are making 2-3% of their revenues from VAS.