Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Vodafone annual results show a drop in revenue and profit

Vodafone has announced its results for the financial year that ended on 31st March 2013.

Revenue for the group was down 4.2% to £44.4 billion, while a drop in the value of the company’s Italian and Spanish businesses meant profits fell from over £7 billion last year to £673 million.

Monday, May 20, 2013

Yahoo! to acquire blogging and sharing business Tumblr

Yahoo! has agreed a deal to acquire blogging and media sharing platform Tumblr for approximately $1.1 billion (£724 million).

Tumblr will continue to operate as a separate business with David Karp as CEO.

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Mary Grant leaves role as Phones 4U CEO

Mary Grant, who was CEO of the Phones 4U retail business, is reported to have left the company for ‘personal reasons’.

Mobile News reports that Phones 4U Group CEO Tim Whiting is temporarily taking on her role in addition to his own work.

Friday, May 17, 2013

HP announces a convertible Android tablet

HP has announced a new Android device with a detachable keypad, enabling it to transform between notebook and tablet.

It’s called the HP SlateBook x2 and was revealed alongside a convertible Windows-based computer.

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Google launches streaming music service in the USA

Google has used its annual Google I/O developer conference to reveal a new streaming music subscription service called Google Play Music All Access.

At the moment it’s just available in the USA and will cost $9.99 per month, although early adopters receive a $2 discount. Customers can store up to 20,000 of their own songs and listen to them alongside millions of online tracks.

Opinion Articles

Monday, May 20, 2013

Last week at The Fonecast: 20th May 2013

New products from BlackBerry, Google, HP and Nokia

Mark Bridge writes:

Last year, the Google I/O developer conference gave us plenty of product announcements: Google Glass, the Nexus 7 tablet, the Nexus Q device and the Jelly Bean version of Android. This year’s announcements were less dramatic: a streaming music service, a Google-friendlier Galaxy S4 and some game development tools. Coincidentally (or perhaps not) Apple announced its 50 billionth app download in the middle of the event.

Friday, May 17, 2013

Reports about mobile phone calls cause an increase in blood pressure

Mark Bridge writes:

I was on the radio for a few minutes this morning. Nick Ferrari on LBC 97.3 FM was talking to me about a recent survey that noted a rise in blood pressure when people received calls on their mobile phones. As I waited to go on-air, a producer asked me what I thought. “Storm in a teacup”, I said. Well, it seemed better than “Makes my blood boil”.

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Device keeps internet on when power goes off

Michael Scaturro of voanews.com writes:

A team of Americans and Kenyans has developed a new Internet router - and it's creating buzz. That's because it is an affordable, reliable solution for people without consistent Internet access. It can run while plugged in or on battery power, jump between networks at will, and become a mobile hotspot for multiple devices. The team presented the device - called the Brck [pronounced Brick] - at the Re:publica tech conference in Berlin.

Recent Podcasts

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

New devices from BlackBerry, HP and Jolla... plus a new purchase for Yahoo

Podcast - 22nd May 2013

We start this week's podcast by talking about Yahoo and Tumblr before moving on to discuss Google's recent developer conference.

There are product announcements from BlackBerry, HP and the former MeeGo developers at Jolla... and there's some interesting mobile app news as well.

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Good news from Nokia, unwelcome headlines for EE and a profitable year at Sony

Podcast - 15th May 2013

Three new smartphones launched at three separate events. Yes, Nokia has definitely been busy in the past few days.

As well as talking about Finland's finest phones, we also discuss recent claims made about EE, annual results from Sony, smart metering, 5G technology, virus protection, Vodafone and the worldwide growth of mobile phones.

Wednesday, May 08, 2013

From airports to airtime... and from mobile ads to mobile apps

Podcast - 8th May 2013

We start today's programme with the promise of a faster roll-out for the UK's mobile broadband services.

Next on the agenda is tablet sales... followed by mobile security, mobile boarding passes, quarterly results, acquisitions, advertising and management succession.

Wednesday, May 01, 2013

Smartphone shipments, multiple messages and a Best Buy buy-out

Podcast - 1st May 2013

This week's news report begins with quarterly figures from Samsung and Apple - and a discussion about what the future may hold for iOS.

We also talk about instant messaging versus SMS, the end of Best Buy's European joint venture with Carphone Warehouse, patent wars, white spaces and connected cars.

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Hanging on the Telephone

Podcast - 30th April 2013

It feels like many people are hanging on to mobile advertising as the future of mobile marketing.

Yet there's much more to mobile marketing than the banner ad. In this podcast a panel of experts considers the latest trends and innovation that could change the future of marketing.