Categories
Close
Menu
Menu
Close
Search
Search

Featured Articles

Opinion

Last week at The Fonecast: 19th March 2012

Mark

Share:

Print

Rate article:

No rating
Rate this article:
No rating

Mark Bridge writes:

Mobile financial services were making the headlines yet again last week. Not once. Not twice. No, we noticed at least three separate (and all pretty big) stories to talk about.

First came Nokia’s planned withdrawal from its mobile money service, which will leave around a million people in India looking for a new mobile wallet. Then there was mobile payment business BOKU announcing $35 million in new funding, including a sizeable investment from Telefónica. And finally along came PayPal Here and its plans to reclaim the iPhone-as-Point-of-Sale-terminal market from US rival Square. PayPal’s service is launching in the United States, Canada, Australia and Hong Kong... and it’s using a card reader that’s triangular to avoid any possible confusion with its rival. Expect a Square vs PayPal vs iZettle debate between me and James in Wednesday’s podcast.

Talking of podcasts, it’s been a busy week for those as well. Two of the discussions we recorded during Mobile World Congress are now online; you’ll find a recording of the ‘Heroes of Emerging Markets’ panel on our website - and it’ll soon be joined by the MEF Privacy in Mobile Apps roundtable (which you can currently hear at the MEF blog).

In network news, Ofcom says it’s happy with Everything Everywhere’s proposal to use existing 1800MHz GSM spectrum for 4G services in the UK. There’ll now be a four week consultation to see if all the other networks are happy with this (no, they’re not) and - more importantly - to see if they’ll produce a solid argument against it.

Virgin Media announced a partnership with London Underground that’ll introduce WiFi internet access to over 80 Tube stations by the summer. Service will be free during the launch period, so load up your preferred mobile VoIP service and prepare to frustrate your fellow passengers. Meanwhile, a company that would have appreciated an alternative network is MVNO giffgaff; it had an unhappy end to the week when water damage to computer systems took its mobile service offline for several hours.

Last week’s notable product announcements came from medical device manufacturer Boston Scientific, now working with Vodafone to offer real-time heart monitoring devices, and Sony Mobile Communications. Its new Android-powered Xperia sola smartphone offers ‘floating touch’ navigation, enabling you to browse the web without touching the screen. Gimmick or practical feature?  That’s probably for consumers to device. Much like mobile payments, it could be argued.

Start your week with a reminder of the latest mobile headlines. Simply register at TheFonecast.com by clicking the link at the top right-hand corner of our home page and we’ll send you this weekly news summary by email.

The Fonecast is sponsored by 51Degrees.mobi. More details about advertising and sponsorship opportunities are available on the About us section of our website.

Comments

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

Opinion Articles

ExclusiveLast week at The Fonecast: 12th August 2013

Mark Bridge writes:

August is traditionally known as the ‘silly season’… but last week’s mobile industry news was all very serious. Apple started with a move designed to reassure customers about unsafe iPhone chargers by arranging a discounted exchange scheme – and it ended the week with a patent victory in the USA.

ExclusiveDual Core Smartphones only £7.70pm... whatever that means

Mark Bridge writes:

Don't sell the steak – sell the sizzle!  That's the mantra of many salespeople. It's all about emphasising the benefits of a product rather than its features. You don't tell people about the 13 megapixel camera when they ask about the new LG smartphone, you tell them it'll capture the first steps of their precious young nephew in pin-sharp accuracy. Or something like that.

ExclusiveMobile retailers waste over £21.6 million a year on unnecessarily sending mobile phones for repair

David Heled of Cellebrite writes:

Smartphones are now by far and away the communication, payment and information device of choice for consumers and enterprises. Sales are set to overtake those of traditional feature phones this year for the first time. However, the increasing complexity of the devices’ technology means that there’s a lot more that can go wrong, and make it harder for mobile retailers to identify potential problems – and it’s costing them millions per every year.

ExclusiveLast week at The Fonecast: 29th July 2013

Mark Bridge writes:

Google’s big announcement last week involved the company introducing Android v4.3 (as expected), launching a new Nexus 7 tablet (as expected) and also revealing a ‘Chromecast’ HDMI adaptor that’ll stream from most portable devices. That was more of a surprise.

RSS
First1213141517192021Last

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