Mark Bridge writes:
We’re moving into that time of year where product announcements are replaced by promotional campaigns and sales figures. Apple revealed it had sold three million assorted iPad tablets in just three days, while Samsung said its Galaxy SIII smartphone had sold more than 30 million units since its launch in May.
In fact, research from Strategy Analytics showed that the Samsung Galaxy SIII had overtaken Apple’s iPhone 4S to become the world’s best-selling smartphone last quarter – although it also says this lead is unlikely to last for long.
Age UK launched its own mobile phone deal via virtual mobile network CyCell, the forthcoming BlackBerry 10 platform was certified for use by government departments in the USA and 10,000 new wireless charging points were being planned for public places in Japan next year.
Mobile payments were making headlines in the UK and abroad, with the newly-rebranded EE shops starting to sell iZettle’s chip-card reader and MasterCard launching a mobile payment trial with ING in the Netherlands.
Finally, as PC and mobile messaging gets ever more sophisticated, it’s time to say goodbye to two strangely-shaped blue and green figures. No, this isn’t a scene from Avatar 2 but the end of Microsoft’s Live Messenger instant messaging platform. Born as MSN Messenger 13 years ago, it’s going to be replaced by Microsoft’s Skype service next year. Off you go, chaps. Say hello to Clippy for me.
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