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Mobile payments coming to Mexico
Like Canada, Mexico's getting mobile payments, too, but these are just a bit different in two very important respects. One, this is a full-fledged service being underwritten by Telefonica, Iusacell, Citibank, and BBVA -- not just a trial. Two, unlike the NFC-based Canadian system, this one will rely on text messages to get the cash flowing. The service is expected to launch in the next few months and get backing from restaurants, stores, and taxis, all places where we can recall specific times when we would've rather kept our wallets in our pockets when the time came to pony up. Of course, considering how miserably unsuccessful mobile payments have been across North America so far (we've still got our fingers crossed that NFC is going to take off one of these days), this one could die off as quickly as it started unless it catches a break and goes big.
Chris Ziegler08.29.2008
August 22: Big day for iPhone abroad
Mark your calendars for August 22, when many countries will start offering the iPhone 3G for sale. Here's a list of the countries that are expecting launches that Friday (and their associated carriers, in parentheses): Argentina (America Movil) Chile (Claro/America Movil, Movistar/Telefonica) Colombia (America Movil) Czech Republic (Telefonica O2, T-Mobile, Vodafone) Thanks, Luke and Tom! Ecuador (Porta/America Movil, Movistar/Telefonica) Thanks, Andy! El Salvador (America Movil) Estonia (TeliaSonera, EMT) Guatemala (America Movil) Greece (Vodafone Hellas) Honduras (America Movil) Hungary (T-Mobile) India (Bharti Airtel, Vodafone) Latvia (TeliaSonera) Lithuania (TeliaSonera) Paraguay (America Movil) Peru (Claro/America Movil, Movistar/Telefonica) Philippines (Globe Telecom) Poland (Orange, Era) Romania (Orange) Slovakia (T-Mobile, Orange) Thanks, Hannah and Bulu! Uruguay (America Movil) Apple said last month that 20 countries would be getting iPhone 3G on the 22nd. Singapore is also rumored to be releasing the iPhone 3G that day, but SingTel hasn't confirmed their participation yet. In other news, Virgin Mobile is now offering iPhone 3G service in Australia. This addition gives the country four providers to choose from: Vodafone, Optus, and Telstra are the other three. Sadly -- according to this article, they're already out of stock. [Compiled with help from setteB.it, VentureBeat and AppleInsider.]
Robert Palmer08.06.2008
Cinpolis and RealD to bring 3D cinema to more of Mexico
Funny story -- so just four months back, we were seriously wondering if 3D theaters could truly thrive. Here we are just a season later, and the answer is looking clearer all the time. Cinépolis, the planet's fifth largest cinema exhibitor, has just announced in conjunction with RealD a new partnership that will bring 500 new 3D screens to locales in Mexico, South America and Central America. Six of the new screens have already been installed, while the remainder will continue to be rolled out until 2010. Exact cities weren't mentioned, but we are told that those who get 'em before December can expect to see Disney's BOLT in eye-popping 3D this Christmas.[Image courtesy of HomeTheaterBlog]
Darren Murph07.26.2008
World of Warcraft en espaol hits retail July 25th
The Latin American-localized version of World of Warcraft, which was first announced in March, will finally reach store shelves on the 25th of this month. Initially, it will be available in México, Argentina, and Chile; no word yet on when other countries will get it too. Both the original game and its expansion, The Burning Crusade, will be on sale, along with 60-day prepaid gametime cards.Spanish language servers will be provided for new Latin America subscribers, but those already playing on the North American servers can download a Latin American Spanish "language pack," and even transfer to the new servers if they want to. Check out the FAQ for more info.Oh, and Blizzard will be hosting a midnight launch party on the 25th at the Blockbuster at Av. Universidad #697 en México, D.F., followed by another event at Plaza Satelite in Estado de México. ¡Diviértase!
Samuel Axon07.18.2008
Telcel's iPhone pricing in Mexico: not bad
The strategies carriers around the world are employing to price the iPhone 3G and its plans seem to be varying pretty wildly -- a side-effect of the newfound freedom Apple is giving them with the new model -- but in Mexico, where Telcel's signed up to release it, the strategy isn't too terribly different from AT&T's. Plans will run between MXN $399.60 and $876.90 (also available in US Dollar denominations of $41 to $90.85 after tax), and the phones will be priced on a graduated scale accordingly. The 8GB goes from MXN $3,199 down to free, while the 16GB will hit your wallet for anywhere between MXN $4,459 and $1,259. In US greenbacks, that works out to $311, free (because free's free in any currency, after all), $433, and $122, respectively. So yes, at the cheapest plan price, both models cost over $100 more than their US equivalents, but the plan's only $41 at that level, which nets you 200 voice minutes, 100 messages, and 100MB of data. Extra texts are 74 centavos (about 8 cents) and extra data -- a very real necessity -- runs 5 centavos per KB, which is a pretty immeasurably small amount of cash until you do the math and realize that you're going to be shelling out about USD $4.86 per megabyte. Be careful there![Via Engadget Spanish]
Chris Ziegler06.29.2008
Mario's Mexican brother you never knew about
Look closely at the above image. Doesn't it remind you of something (hint: this)? The graphic is from a restaurant in Acapulco, Mexico, by the name of Pancho Bigotes. Pretty blatant rip-off, wouldn't you say?Frankly, we always thought Mario strictly stuck to the vegetables, what with the mushrooms and leaves he's always eating (that might explain his recent trip into bat country), so it's kind of odd to see him holding a plate full of meat and a mug of beer.
David Hinkle06.05.2008
Second Life places: Visit Mexico Ruta Maya
The Visit Mexico Ruta Maya sims are sponsored by the Mexican Tourism Board. And they've done a great job -- so many sponsored sites are like someone has tried to create a real-world expo and transport it to Second Life. Visit Mexico Ruta Maya is not like that at all. It presents a solid Second Life experience, that happens to make you want to go to Mexico and find out what it's like with scent, touch and taste. %Gallery-23630%
Tateru Nino05.25.2008
Apple's iPhone coming to Latin America on America Movil
Just a day after we heard that Vodafone was taking the iPhone on a world tour, in comes word that Apple's darling will be headed to Latin America via America Movil. We aren't told if the deal is one of exclusive nature, nor were we given a specific launch date, but residents of 16 countries in Latin America will have their shot at latching onto an iPhone sometime "this year." Huzzah! [Thanks, Jesus]
Darren Murph05.07.2008
Celebrating Cinco de Mayo in Guild Wars
Player-driven in-game events are a sign of not only a healthy MMO community, but also a solid game. This is always the case when it comes to Guild Wars and its largest guild and alliance community: LaZy Nation, who is throwing their very own Cinco de Mayo celebration this week.Most appropriate for an event such as this, celebrating Mexican heritage, is the environment of the Asuran Lands which most-closely resemble those of the Incas in Mexico. For this reason, the Cinco de Mayo celebrations in-game will take place in Rata Sum, International District 1 on Saturday May 3rd, 2008 from 4pm to 6pm Eastern. Come show your support for not only this event, but also LaZy Nation for being one of the most charitable and community-driven guilds and alliances in the game.
Shawn Schuster05.01.2008
Mexican attach attempts to make off with White House BlackBerrys
We're a bit frightened by the fact that high-ranking political officials are told to leave their BlackBerrys outside in an unguarded basket during high-level meetings (really, it's "common practice"), but nevertheless, one chap who tried to take advantage of the situation didn't quite make it out undiscovered. During a recent political meetup in New Orleans, a Mexican press attaché managed to slip a half dozen or so BlackBerrys into his pocket before darting to the airport with visions of black market markups in his head. Before he could exit the country, however, Secret Service had tracked him down after catching him via surveillance footage. As it stands, the responsible individual has been fired from his post, but there's been no word on whether the US will take any further actions. Reevaluating the whole "leaving them out in the open" practice may be a good start -- just sayin'. [Via The Boy Genius Report]
Darren Murph04.25.2008
Blue Palm Centro in the mix, but not in the US
Seems a little bizarre that AT&T would choose to launch white and lime over this more conservative choice -- but they did, and our Mexican friends get to reap the benefits. The blue variant of the GSM Centro is available via Telcel and Movistar -- exclusivity's apparently not an issue here -- and offers specs that are otherwise unchanged from its international cousins. Eh, on second thought, we think we like the white better anyway.[Via IntoMobile and Palm Infocenter]
Chris Ziegler04.04.2008
Raids in Mexico seize 28,800 pirated games
There's a gritty side to Mexico's booming game industry, shown today as the ESA celebrated the efforts of Mexican law enforcement. 500 officers from the Procuraduría General de la República (PGR) and the Agencia Federal de Investigacion (AFI) teamed up to knock on a few doors down in Mexico City's 'notorious' Tepito district. By the end of the day, four pirate hideouts and three booty stashes were raided, netting roughly 290 DVD/CD burners, 28,800 illegal copies of games and more than 900,000 game cover inserts."Mexico is an important market for ESA members due to the enormous popularity of entertainment software," said Ric Hirsch, senior vice president for Intellectual Property Enforcement at the ESA. "Unfortunately, Mexico also has an alarmingly high rate of game software piracy that by our estimates reaches 88%." Sounds like those federales have a few more doors to knock on.
James Ransom-Wiley03.17.2008
Report: Mexican game industry worth $1B by 2010
Mexico is often treated as the neglected stepchild of the North American video game market, trying its best to garner the attention of publishers while the U.S. and Canada get showered with releases just for existing. That situation might not last for long, though, as the analysts at Research and Markets say the Mexican video game business could be worth over $1 billion by the end of the decade.Of course they have good reason to talk up the Mexican sector, as they're trying to sell a new, expensive report about it. But they make a good argument that an aging population of Mexican "young, unmarried gamers, or YUGS" could drive growth. In short, Mexican youths are getting married older and older on average, meaning they live with their parents longer and have more disposable income to use on games -- what the report calls "a decade of cash-flush YUGGIES of prime gaming age." Just what we need ... another country full of socially reclusive gamers living in their parents' basements.
Kyle Orland03.14.2008
Nintendo turns to U.S. government to fight piracy
Having established that the United States is not rife with pirates, Nintendo has made a request to the U.S. government to assist in the fight against piracy of Nintendo products. The company has asked the U.S. Trade Representative to convey messages to other governments with rampant piracy issues, encouraging them to tighten their laws. Nintendo is asking, specifically, China, Hong Kong, Korea, Mexico, Brazil, and Paraguay's governments to be more aggressive against software pirates. Nintendo is asking China to prosecute the large-scale producers of pirated materials, while Korean "service providers" on whose networks software is traded are the target of the censure in that country. Nintendo's complaints against the Latin American governments are much more interesting, as they call for an end to violence against anti-piracy law enforcement officials in Mexico, a crackdown on corruption in Paraguay, and the reduction of high tariffs on retail games in Brazil.Jodi Daugherty, Nintendo's senior director of anti-piracy, said "The unprecedented momentum enjoyed by Nintendo DS and Wii makes Nintendo an attractive target for counterfeiters." Nintendo estimates the lost sales caused by piracy to be around $975 million worldwide.
JC Fletcher02.14.2008
Bill Gates: philanthropist, nerd, beer baron
Being the shrewd businessman that he is, Bill Gates has just invested a significant amount of money in one of the few products consumed during both good times and bad: alcohol. Actually Femsa, the Mexican brewery in which Gates now owns a $392 million stake through his Cascade Investment LLC fund, does a lot more than just brew booze: according to Reuters, it's also the world's second-largest Coke bottler as well as operator of Oxxo, Latin America's largest convenience store chain. When asked how he felt about the Microsoft founder moving in on his home turf, fellow billionaire Carlos Slim reportedly shrugged off the threat, boasting, "Not only am I a wealthier man than Mr. Gates, but he couldn't even make it through half a Power Hour with his nueva cerveza."
Evan Blass12.21.2007
Telemundo kicks off HD production in Mexico
Spanish-language network Telemundo is adding to our slate of telenovelas as it's just started production of El Engaño (The Betrayal) in HD. Telemundo has been airing in HD in some areas for a few months now, but this is the network's first HDTV production done in Mexico.
Richard Lawler11.22.2007
Hola Mexico! New Apple Online Store
Finally! After years of waiting, Mexico has its own online Apple Store. The new online store promises a better values for Mexican shoppers, who no longer have to shop at the US store. And, as part of the grand opening, you can win a MacBook each day and an iPod nano each hour--assuming that I, a non-Spanish speaker, have interpreted this page correctly.Thanks to everyone who sent this in.
Erica Sadun11.20.2007
Mexican police nab over 4,500 counterfeit discs
On Friday, Mexican police stormed 12 different suspected counterfeiters. They managed to come away with 15,000 counterfeit Nintendo products, including over 4,500 counterfeit Wii discs. Going down in a major "fayuca" (contraband) market in Guadalajara, it's yet another campaign against crime in the territory as customs agents also recently nabbed over 5,000 counterfeit products entering Manzanillo, from China."Mexico is Nintendo's largest market in Latin America, where the problem of video game piracy is widespread," said Jodi Daugherty, Nintendo of America's senior director of anti-piracy. "Since January, Nintendo has worked with law enforcement agencies worldwide to seize 100,000 counterfeit Wii games." [Via press release]
David Hinkle08.20.2007
Talking 'aboot' Xbox price drops, Canada gets $100 off, eh?
Canada blessed the United States with The Kids in the Hall, and now Microsoft is returning the favor by giving Canada $100 off their Xbox 360s. Now, that's $100 CDN and not USD before all those near the border go running north for cheap prescription drugs, maple syrup, miniature pet caribous and Xboxen. The new prices are $399 for the Premium, $299 for Core and $499 for Elite. Canada will also receive the Halo 3 Xbox for $449. Oh, in case any Americans are thinking that the Canadians are getting a deal ... they aren't. The $349 Premium in the States would roughly convert to $365 CDN.Heck, while we're at it, Mexico got a price drop too! You can now get the Premium in Mexico for $5,199 pesos. Which means our brothers and sisters to the south actually pay $479 dollars for what the US gets at $349. That's ridiculous and something Mexican gamers should seek amnesty for.
Alexander Sliwinski08.08.2007
Carlos Slim to hook Mexico up with 'millions' of laptops
Carlos Slim, who is (debatably) the richest man on the face of the planet, has recently pledged to do some good with all that fundage, and we'd say that donating "250,000 low-cost laptops to children by the end of the year and as many as one million in 2008" is a fine start. Noting "digital education" as the key for turning much of Mexico around, he is aiming to "initially put the laptops in libraries and schools" and hand them out to students afterwards. Moreover, he suggested that his company (Telmex) would be there to help set up wireless networks for the machines to connect to, and as if these plans were enormous enough, he's also looking to establish "early stimulation" preschools within four years to give "poor children training at a young age in math, language, and computers."[Via Wired]
Darren Murph08.03.2007