Categories
Close
Menu
Menu
Close
Search
Search

Featured Articles

RSS
123

Opinion Articles

Opinion

Last week at The Fonecast: 24th October 2011

Mark

Share:

Print

Rate article:

No rating
Rate this article:
No rating

Mark Bridge writes:

If there’s one theme that dominates the last seven days – and, let’s face it, I like to find a theme wherever possible – it’s new mobile devices.

We started the week with Apple having sold over four million units of the new iPhone 4S in the first three days since its launch. This was followed by Motorola Mobility reinvigorating its RAZR brand by applying it to a high-spec Android smartphone – which in turn was followed by Google and Samsung revealing the Galaxy Nexus. It’s the first phone specifically designed for Android 4.0, also known as ‘Ice Cream Sandwich’, and will start hitting the shops next month.

Finally, in terms of product announcements, Casio turned up at the end of the week with a new Android device... but it’s not a phone. It’s not a tablet, either. No, the VX100 is a cash register (or ‘business support terminal’, if you prefer). We await the first reports of retail staff playing Grand Theft Auto III on the till.

We’ve now moved into quarterly results season, with Apple, eBay, Microsoft and Nokia all publishing loads of big numbers. I’d say the only real surprise was that Nokia didn’t do as badly as many people expected. Still, with the company’s new Windows Phone launch expected at Nokia World in a couple of days, it’s the next few quarters that’ll be really interesting.

Research In Motion has been easing its way back into the affections of its customers, starting with a free app giveaway to compensate for the recent service failure and then moving on to the announcement of a brand new operating system. It’ll be called BBX, being a combination of the BlackBerry phone operating system and the QNX platform used by the PlayBook. We’ve not seen much detail yet; it’s still a case of ‘watch this space’.

And I’ll end with another couple of unresolved questions. One is a report from Denmark, where some new research has found that mobile phone use seems to result in no increased risks of tumours to the central nervous system. More research is, of course, needed before we can be sure this doesn’t just apply to Danes.

And the other unresolved question comes from Vodafone, which is closing down the Vodafone 360 service. Although it reminded me of the ‘Pop Idol’-loving Vizzavi and its fluffy chick, Vodafone 360 was much more about connectivity and sociability. It was, in many ways, a social network aggregator. So if that didn’t work, what’s next?

Last week’s special podcast feature looked into mobile financial services - from banking to NFC payments - with contributions from Gemalto. Listen on our website, via iTunes or by downloading the MP3 file.

You can receive this news summary by email every week. Simply register at TheFonecast.com by clicking the link at the top right-hand corner of our home page.

Comments

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

Recent Podcasts

ExclusivePodcast - 6th January 2012

Iain, James and Mark take a look back at the mobile industry's high points and low spots from 2011. Apple, Microsoft, Nokia, Samsung and RIM all come under the spotlight, along with legal action, mobile payments and tablet sales.

ExclusivePodcast - 4th January 2012

Iain, James and Mark look at all the top mobile industry headlines from the past couple of weeks... covering everything from BlackBerry results to tweeting in court. They'll be back on Friday with a review of 2011.

ExclusivePodcast - 21st December 2011

Iain, James and Mark do their best to predict what'll be happening in the mobile industry next year - and also take a look at how accurate their 2011 predictions were. Expect some surprises... and a few excuses, too!

ExclusivePodcast - 16th December 2011

We've brought together a handful of experts and business leaders to discover what they think will happen in the mobile telecom industry next year. Listen to predictions for 2012 from Hans Eriksson, Steve Litchfield, Mark Smith, Windsor Holden and Jack Wraith.

ExclusivePodcast - 14th December 2011

Iain, James and Mark discuss the week's mobile industry headlines... starting with HP and webOS, then mentioning Samsung, Panasonic, Ofcom, Jawbone, Everything Everywhere, RIM and Google, before ending with a new retail scheme from O2.

RSS
First4041424345474849Last

Follow thefonecast.com

Archive Calendar

«May 2026»
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun
27282930123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031
1234567

Archive