UPDATED 07:38 EDT / JUNE 13 2012

Samsung Furthers NFC Campaign With Tec Tiles

Today’s mobile news round up features Siri getting behind the wheels of cars, Samsung’s new NFC stickers, Sony unveils new Xperia’s, and more.

Siri to be integrated in cars

At the WWDC, Apple announced that a number of vehicle manufacturing companies signed up to implement Siri’s Eyes Free feature into their vehicles.

“To be able to access it hands free and eyes free in the car will be an asset and will enable the Apple device to be continually more relevant in the car,” said Mark Boyadjis, infotainment analyst with IHS Automotive. “This is an important movement forward.”

BMW, General Motors, Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, Honda, and Audi will enable drivers to integrate Siri with their vehicle’s electronics system, and access the mobile assistant using a steering wheel button.

“The manufacturers are tying themselves to something that has a very positive impression with customers,” Boyadjis added. “For Apple, it helps to solidify market leadership with this technology.”

Samsung’s Tec Tiles

Samsung wants everyone to know about NFC technology, and their way of educating the masses is through stickers.  Yes, stickers – as in those things that you stick on to walls, doors or anything with a surface for “artistic” purposes or just to annoy your parents as a kid.

Tec Tiles, that’s what Samsung is calling them, are stickers embedded with NFC chips that would allow people to do a number of tasks with their phones, such as acquiring contact information and automatically save it on their device.

You can’t deny the fact that though NFC is quite popular, not everyone has an idea of its purpose.  Most of the time, people think that its sole purpose is for making purchases, but NFC technology can be used in a lot of ways to make everyday tasks easier.

In other Samsung news, AT&T is said to be introducing a red Samsung Galaxy SIII aside from its current available colors of pebble blue and marble white.

New Xperias from Sony

Speaking of new devices, Sony Mobile Communications announced two new Xperia smartphones, the Xperia miro and Xperia tipo.  The Xperia miro is a slim and stylish smartphone that’s integrated with Facebook contacts and photo galleries.  It also comes with a music player featuring Sony’s xLOUD audio technology for crisp and loud sound, and is available in a range of colors.  The Xperia tipo comes in a single and dual SIM versions and is designed for easy browsing.

“Xperia miro and Xperia tipo are for consumers looking for entertainment experiences and functionality traditionally associated with high-end Android smartphones”, said Calum MacDougall, Director Xperia Marketing at Sony Mobile Communications.” “Xperia miro is for those who want an integrated social media and a great music experience while Xperia tipo is for consumers who want to realise the benefits of a smartphone for the first time as they migrate from a feature phone.”

Nokia gives SHU freshmen Lumia 900

Nokia, AT&T, Microsoft and Seton Hall University announced a partnership that would be greatly appreciated by incoming freshmen as they would all receive a Nokia Lumia 900 that comes with SHUmobile, an app available across multiple platforms that provides access to campus news feeds, directories and maps.  SHU freshmen will also have access to a custom Freshmen Experience section that allows users to communicate with their freshmen peers, academic advisers, roommates and to view housing information.  SHU will use the Nokia Data Gather to conduct polls and gather other information from their students.

SHU’s entire class of 2016 will receive a Nokia Lumia 900 with a free service from AT&T for the fall semester but the students would have to foot the bill for the succeeding semesters or rely on Wi-Fi networks for their data needs.

“Nokia has a long history of innovation and their partnership with Microsoft allows us to extend the core academic and community resources of the University into the pocket of our students,” noted David Middleton, Executive Director, Center for Mobile Research and Innovation, and Assistant Vice President of Administration at Seton Hall University. “By providing our new incoming students with the Nokia Lumia 900, Seton Hall University can expand our existing Windows services and infrastructure while providing a unique, high quality, dynamic and engaging mobile experience.”


A message from John Furrier, co-founder of SiliconANGLE:

Your vote of support is important to us and it helps us keep the content FREE.

One click below supports our mission to provide free, deep, and relevant content.  

Join our community on YouTube

Join the community that includes more than 15,000 #CubeAlumni experts, including Amazon.com CEO Andy Jassy, Dell Technologies founder and CEO Michael Dell, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger, and many more luminaries and experts.

“TheCUBE is an important partner to the industry. You guys really are a part of our events and we really appreciate you coming and I know people appreciate the content you create as well” – Andy Jassy

THANK YOU