More from MWC, by no means all of what's been announced today, we'll get some more written up tonight for the morning, and we'll be back tomorrow with the news from Day 2…

Vodafone revealed that it has signed an agreement with Opera Software to develop a custom-made version of its Opera Mini mobile browser. Vodafone says the move is aimed at giving customers with low- and mid-priced handsets a high quality mobile Internet experience on the go.
Opera Mini will be available in Vodafone markets across Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa. Vodafone says the browser is particularly appealing to customers in developing countries, who are likely to experience the Internet for the first time through a mobile phone

Alcatel-Lucent announced the launch of a multi-industry initiative, the ng Connect Program, that is dedicated to establishing a rich and diverse ecosystem of infrastructure, devices, content and applications for both mobile and fixed broadband networks including 4G, Long Term Evolution (LTE), GPON and other ultra high bandwidth technologies. ng Connect will bring the benefits of a seamless broadband experience to mobile phones, computers, cars, gaming systems and more, enabling consumers to stream more content, run more sophisticated applications on-the-go. Founded by Alcatel-Lucent, the program has attracted initial members including HP, Samsung, 4DK, Buzznet, Chumby, Connect2Media, dimedis, FISHLABS, QNX, SIGNEXX, Total Immersion,
Alcatel-Lucent also revealed that it has completed a series of data calls – involving terminals from third-party suppliers – using LTE technology for Time Division Duplex (TDD) spectrum (TD-LTE), a mobile broadband standard that will be used by operators in China and across the globe.
The company has also introduced new capabilities for its Alcatel-Lucent Venture product solution, touchatag, formerly known as tikitag. These new enhancements include 2D barcode support, extended API, and new business solutions. This will assist application developers, businesses and consumers in creating contactless applications for touchatag that link real world objects to information and applications on the Internet, PC, Mac or mobile.

Tellabs released the results of a survey it commissioned research firm Nielsen to carry out. The survey of over 50,000 European and US mobile users found that consumers intend to dramatically increase their use of mobile data services over the next two years, with a significant ramp-up in the next 12 months.
The Tellabs-commissioned survey shows that up to 71% of consumers anticipate daily use of services such as mobile Internet. Yet mobile users continue to raise concerns about cost, speed and quality of service.
The research, conducted in the five larger Western European countries and the United States by Nielsen for Tellabs, analysed 10 mobile data services. It reveals that more than half of the approximately 200 million mobile data users in those countries expect to increase use in the next two years.

Roamware, which provides mobile roaming solutions, announced the launch of Data Tariff Advisor and Roaming Service Controller. Both products enable operators to meet proposed European Union regulations mandating the introduction of tariff transparency, control and safeguard mechanisms for roaming use of data services. The solutions seamlessly addresses the regulatory requirements, while transforming them into revenue-generating opportunities for operators; improving customer retention, increasing roaming data usage and reducing fraud.

On2 Technologies launched its latest video encoder, the Hantro 8270 1080p. The encoder, available for licensing in March, 2009, supports H.264 video as well as 16 megapixel JPEG still images. Designed for low-power chipsets, the 8270 delivers 30 frames per second 1080p video in less than 250MHz designs. The improvements in the encoder include proprietary Hantro technologies for video stabilization and automatic scene-change detection.

The GSM Association (GSMA) reported significant progress in the Rich Communication Suite (RCS) Initiative, a service providing interoperable, enriched communication capabilities such as in-call multimedia sharing, conversational messaging and presence-enhanced contact management, all accessible through a users mobile phone contact list.  The GSMA says the initiative has generated considerable momentum across a number of fronts since it brought RCS into its work programme in September 2008, including the delivery of the RCS Release 1 specification, the addition of new programme participants and the successful completion of interoperability tests.
The GSMA recently issued the first technical specification for RCS, defining the feature set for the first version of the service and ensuring that vendors will be able to develop standard, interoperable implementations. 

Bitstream revealed that its BOLT mobile browser is now available as a free public beta offering. Bitstream included 30,000 people in the private beta that started a month ago and made a number of other improvements and optimizations for certain phones in the public build that went live today. For example, the navigation of the pointer/cursor is more fluid on BlackBerry trackballs.
Bitstream says that BOLT will work on the majority of the mobile devices. Additionally, it says, BOLT is around 25% faster than its competitors when downloading for full real web pages and multimedia content. You can download BOLT here.

BuzzCity revealed the results of worldwide research conducted across its mobile advertising network. The research divulges when, how and why people use the mobile internet, as well as identifying global user demographics and activity patterns. The survey was conducted in Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America, among users of the 2,000 mobile publisher sites that form BuzzCitys mobile advertising network.
The study found that less than 6% of users use the mobile Internet when travelling or when outdoors. 70% of those polled surf the mobile web from home, while 11%  browse while at work. 
Users tend to access the mobile Internet regularly and often, with 87% accessing the mobile Internet more than once daily and more than half accessing it over five times a day. 81% of users surf for more than 15 minutes in one session, and this tends to be in the evening, with 36% logging on after their evening meal. Just under half of those surveyed (45%) access the mobile Internet from a Nokia device.
Typically, users access the mobile Internet to communicate with friends through online tools like chat, blogs and discussion groups, with 60% citing this as their main activity. 16% use the mobile Internet for entertainment purposes and 10% to find information.  

Rapid Mobile Media announced an agreement with MSHK Group, whose portfolio includes brands such as Ministry of Sound, Hed Kandi, Hard2Beat and Global Underground) to deliver a range of mobile applications that capture the style, fun and entertainment values associated with their music and entertainment brands. The interactive applications will enable MSHK Group to further extend its engagement with consumers through compelling content, designed to take advantage of contemporary handset capabilities.
Rap
id Mobiles ThinkPhone delivery platforms and Ad360 mobile advertising server will maximise reach for MSHK Groups service and provide additional branding and monetisation opportunities, whilst delivering the best possible user experience.

Mobixell Networks announced a multimedia messaging support package that enables iPhone users to send and receive MMS messages to and from any device. Mobixells MMS iPhone solution, an add-on to Mobixells Rich Media Service Centre (RMSC) which is already widely installed in mobile operators networks worldwide, encourages traffic increase for the operator by enabling an MMS-style experience via email for the end user. This includes retaining the original rich media presentation experience; the forwarding of email to MMS to any device; and retaining the iPhone profile usage for media adaptation. Separately, Mobixell announced a partnership with Spanish mobile advergaming company Unkasoft to deliver multi-channel, rich-media advertising campaigns, including in-game ads. The companies say the alliance will allow mobile operators and content providers to offer a comprehensive multi-channel mobile advertising solution to brand owners, which includes the option of ad-funded games. 

Mobile email provider Emoze revealed that it is partnering with India's largest enterprise communications service provider, Tulip Telecom. The partnership will see Tulip offer its business customers mobile business email, calendar and contacts information from Emoze.

Zain announced plans to bring mobile banking to over 100 million people in East Africa with the launch of its new service, Zap. The service will be available initially in Kenya and Tanzania, prior to launch in Uganda. Zain is partnering with leading international and regional banks, including Citigroup and Standard Chartered to launch Zap, which will allow Zain customers in the three countries to use their mobile phone to pay bills and pay for goods and services; receive money and send money to friends and family; send and receive money to the bank accounts; withdraw cash; top up their own airtime account or someone else's; send airtime to Zain customers in East Africa; and manage their bank accounts.

And finally, Voice On The Go announced the launch of additional new features to its Email by Voice solution. Mobile users can now leverage Email by Voice and SMS by Voice solutions to reply to, compose and forward email and SMS by voice, as text, without the need to type. Voice on the Go requires nothing more than a mobile phone from which users can access their email and SMS by voice
Voice on the Go is available in 60 countries and in seven language versions; English (US & UK), French, Spanish, Italian, German and Dutch.