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Ofcom says mobile contracts should ditch inflation-related price rises

Ofcom says mobile contracts should ditch inflation-related price rises

UK telecoms regulator Ofcom wants to ban inflation-related rises in phone and broadband contracts. Instead, it says any potential mid-contract price rises should be set out in pounds and pence.
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Global smartphone market is set for recovery, says new forecast

A new forecast from research specialists Canalys shows the smartphone market is set to recover next year. Worldwide shipments declined by 12% last year but that decline is expected to slow to 5% this year.
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Vodafone and Three plan to merge their UK businesses

Vodafone and Three plan to merge their UK businesses

New Hutchison/Vodafone network would be biggest UK operator

Vodafone Group plc and CK Hutchison Group Telecom Holdings Limited have agreed to combine their UK telecommunication businesses, respectively Vodafone UK and Three UK. The merger will create a large new network operator to compete with Virgin Media O2 and EE.
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UK mobile payment service Paym to close in March 2023

UK mobile payment service Paym will close on 7th March 2023. The service, which allowed users to make and receive payments using their mobile phone numbers, was launched in 2014.
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Qualcomm legal action moves forward in the UK

Qualcomm legal action moves forward in the UK

Which? seeks payout for Samsung and Apple smartphone owners

Consumer protection organisation Which? has been given permission by the UK's Competition Appeal Tribunal to represent Apple and Samsung smartphone buyers in a legal case against chip manufacturer Qualcomm.
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Opinion Articles

Monday, February 3, 2014

Last week at The Fonecast: 3rd February 2014

Patently obvious

Mark Bridge writes:

Patents were a very popular topic of conversation last week. Google sold its Motorola Mobility smartphone business to Lenovo but hung on to most of the patents. Does this mean the patents were the most valuable part of the business? Well, when you look at the difference between the original purchase price and the sale price, it seems a reasonable conclusion.

Meanwhile, Google also arranged a cross-licence patent agreement with Samsung... and Samsung agreed a patent licensing deal with Ericsson. Everyone happy?  Well, perhaps ‘sated’ is a better word.

And while we’re on the subject of Samsung, it’s asked Carphone Warehouse to run 60 of its stand-alone shops across Europe. All this, and illy coffee too.

Other cheering news came from Ofcom, which confirmed that all the UK’s major mobile networks now offered 90% 3G coverage. Mobile marketing and mobile wallet venture Weve launched a beta version of its mobile display advertising service in the UK. And new rules from the Office of Fair Trading have clarified in-app payments, which promises to be good news for parents who’ve given their children an iPad. (26 million iPads shipped worldwide in the last quarter, says Apple, with IDC estimating that was a third of the global tablet market in Q4).

Finally, there were a few goodbyes last week. We said farewell to Inq Mobile, the Hutchison Whampoa handset manufacturer turned app producer. Azzurri Communications said goodbye to CEO Vim Vithaldas, who’s overseen a successful refinancing arrangement. And AT&T told us it wasn’t interested in taking over Vodafone. Not at the moment, anyway.

On Monday mornings we summarise the past week’s mobile industry headlines in an email newsletter that’s very much like this article. To receive it, simply register your email address at TheFonecast.com by clicking the link at the top right-hand corner of our home page.
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Recent Podcasts

Mobile World Congress, manufacturers, mergers and much more

Podcast - 5th March 2014

This week's programme begins with some of the biggest news stories that came out of Mobile World Congress.

Iain, James and Mark then move on to the other headlines from the past few days, including Boeing's secret agent smartphone, Apple's plans for mobile in-car entertainment, a new structure for Telefonica and new technology for mobile payments.

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Voice-enabled mCommerce with Tony Ballardie of Capito Systems

Podcast - 28th February 2014

London-based Capito Systems won a place on this year's Smart UK Project shortlist, guaranteeing them entry to Mobile World Congress 2014. And when they arrived, they won the international Barca Starta competition as well.

In this podcast we talk to CEO Tony Ballardie about the company’s 'natural language' voice control, which can be integrated into almost any mCommerce application... from gambling to ticket purchases.

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Dr Kevin Curran talks about the future of mobile technology

Podcast - 27th February 2014

Dr Kevin Curran, Reader in Computer Science at the University of Ulster, joined us during Mobile World Congress to offer his well-informed opinion about trends in mobile technology.

We talked about a wide range of topics, including battery life, disposable tablets, wearables, m-health, 4G fragmentation, connected furniture, M2M security, the rise of video and the IEEE.

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Mobile World Congress 2014: an introduction

Podcast - 25th February 2014

James Rosewell and Mark Bridge report from Mobile World Congress 2014 in Barcelona.

In this podcast they talk about all the major mobile manufacturer announcements, including Nokia's new Android-based phones and Sony's newest high-spec devices.

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James Corden at the Global Mobile Awards

Podcast - 25th February 2014

One of the highlights of Mobile World Congress is the Global Mobile Awards - and this year the event was hosted by James Corden: actor, comedian, TV presenter and one-time promoter of Windows Phone.

Here's how he introduced the ceremony, with jokes about Facebook, BlackBerry, Steve Jobs and the gestures required to control an iPhone.

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