Categories
Close
Menu
Menu
Close
Search
Search

Featured Articles

Opinion

Last week at The Fonecast: 26th September 2011

Mark

Share:

Print

Rate article:

No rating
Rate this article:
No rating

Mark Bridge writes:

Welcome to a summary of last week’s mobile industry news from TheFonecast.com.

The biggest mobile-flavoured story from the past seven days was probably HP’s replacement of its president and CEO. Léo Apotheker is out after less than a year, replaced by former eBay CEO Meg Whitman. It’s not likely to affect the company’s plans for webOS tablets and phones… but it’ll be interesting to see what Ms Whitman does next.

More headline-grabbing news came from Facebook, which introduced a ‘Timeline’ feature that’ll let users display every aspect of their lives in a… well, a timeline, really. You’ll be able to fill your timeline automatically via ‘social apps’ on your desktop and mobile devices – from the music you play and the newspaper you read to the shopping you buy and the exercise you do. Somehow, I think a few people may be caught out by this.

Sticking with new products and services, Google Wallet went live (but only for US-based customers at the moment), Orange added a bada-powered smartphone to its 'Quick Tap' mobile payment service and Bambuser introduced a Google Map mash-up for its live broadcasts. Not quite so new was the introduction of MMS photo uploading to Twitter; the micro-blogging provider was very proud of it, despite Orange UK having introduced its own MMS tweeting service two years ago.

Under the ‘not-so-good’ heading last week we heard Ofcom say that complaint numbers from Three UK customers are rising. (No, not three customers but Three customers). The NPD Group revealed that 82% of smartphone users had no security products on their phones. UK virtual network Desi Mobile closed within a year of launch. And the Emporia Telme phone for older users was hit by a European injunction from rival Doro.

At the other end of the age range, internet security company Westcoastcloud had been looking at younger users. They reckon one in ten children under the age of 10 now owns an iPhone, with one in twenty children owning an iPad. Perhaps there’s an entire audience demographic we’re missing here at TheFonecast.com. Maybe we ought to ditch the podcast theme tune and replace it with Igglepiggle’s song instead.

Bye bye, everybody, bye bye.

Stay ahead of the crowd by receiving this weekly news summary from TheFonecast.com by email. Simply click the ‘register’ link at the top right-hand corner of our website and enter your details.

If you use an iPod, iPhone or iPad, it’s easy to find our weekly mobile industry podcasts on iTunes. Click here to subscribe... or search for ‘The Fonecast’ in the iTunes store.

Comments

Collapse Expand Comments (0)
You don't have permission to post comments.

Opinion Articles

ExclusiveHow long can Apple remain torn between two lovers?

Mark Bridge writes:

“Torn between two lovers, feeling like a fool, loving both of you is breaking all the rules”.

Mary McGregor sang those words in 1976 – and Apple would do well to bear them in mind today. Why?  Well, Rick Astley is to blame for it all.

Oh, alright, Rick’s not personally involved. It’s worm-writer ikee, along with the people who’ve followed him in creating security threats for the Apple iPhone. But why am I invoking the lyrics of Mary McGregor?  It’s because Apple has two loves... and it may be struggling to choose between them.

ExclusiveEveryone’s selling Android phones… but who’s selling Android?

Mark Bridge writes:

Samsung. Huawei. Acer. HTC. Motorola. LG. Toshiba. Sony Ericsson. INQ. Dell. They’re all after a slice of the Android cake. (The Android cake is an éclair at the moment. Not particularly good for slicing. But I digress).

And my, what advertisements we’ve seen. Most recently Motorola has been knocking the iPhone while HTC has been playing with marker pens.

But those ad campaigns are mainly about manufacturers and phones. As you’d expect, really. Not about Android.

Exclusive1 paisa for 1 second

James Rosewell writes:

One paisa is equivalent to 1/100 of an Indian rupee. In American dollars, a paisa is worth 0.00022 cents. For the British reading this, that’s 0.00013 pence.

Why is this important?

A company in India called MTS have launched a pay as you go SIM card that allows you to make on-network calls for ½ paisa per second...

ExclusiveTwo mobile operating systems to rule them all

Mark Bridge writes:

Cain and Abel. Price and Andre. Judge Dredd and Rico. History is full of pairings that didn’t work out. Two forces that started off together but ended up trying to destroy each other. And so it could be with mobile phone operating systems.

This week it’s been reported that Nokia will be dropping Symbian from its N-series devices by 2012, favouring Maemo instead.

ExclusiveWho ya gonna call when the phones go dead?

Mark Bridge writes:

This week there’s a government exercise taking place in London. A number of civil servants and private sector employees are simulating the failure of the UK’s fixed-line telephone network. Called “White Noise”, it imagines a scenario where telephone exchanges are destroyed by a giant subterranean monster that pulls really hard on all those underground cables.

RSS
First104105106107109111112113Last

Recent Podcasts

ExclusivePodcast from Mobile World Congress 2015

Mark Bridge learns about the mobile technology trends at Mobile World Congress 2015 by chatting to James Rosewell of 51Degrees, Dr Kevin Curran from the IEEE and Chris Millington of Doro.

They talk about wearable devices, wireless charging, mobile operating systems and much more... including some of their favourite products from the exhibition.

ExclusiveLooking back at February: from security scares to multiple MVNOs

We're taking a look back at the biggest mobile industry news stories from February 2015, including allegations that the UK's security service tried to breach SIM card security by hacking into one of the world's biggest SIM producers.

We also talk about the planned BT and EE merger, the creation of two new UK virtual networks, some acquisitions in the mobile payment arena and a new Ubuntu smartphone.

ExclusiveA month of mobile: O2 counts on 3, Microsoft counts to 10 and Apple counts its profits

We're back with a month of mobile industry news, including takeover talks and takeover rumours. O2 and Three are said to be discussing a merger... but is there any truth in the suggestions that BlackBerry could be up for grabs?

We also discuss Apple's record-breaking quarterly figures, the highlights of CES and the launch of Microsoft Windows 10, as well as saying farewell to the current version of Google Glass.

RSS
12345678910Last

Follow thefonecast.com

Archive Calendar

«May 2026»
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun
27282930123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031
1234567

Archive