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Ofcom helps protect customers against unexpected roaming charges

Ofcom helps protect customers against unexpected roaming charges

UK service providers must notify customers when they connect to a different network

New rules from UK telecoms regulator Ofcom will protect customers when they use their mobile phone on a foreign network. In addition, customers will be alerted if they are inadvertently roaming, perhaps because they're near an international border.
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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, October 10, 2011

Last week at The Fonecast: 10th October 2011

Mark Bridge takes a look back at last week’s mobile industry headlines.

Rest in peace, Steve. The death of Apple co-founder Steven Paul Jobs following several years of illness has seen the kind of public grieving usually reserved for pop stars and princesses. There’s not much I can say that hasn’t already been said; it’s hard to argue with Tim Cook’s statement that “Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.”

The sad news helps to explain some of the understatement surrounding the launch of Apple’s new iPhone 4S. Wot, no iPhone 5?  Nope, although the Siri intelligent voice control looks set to be a much talked-about feature. No pun intended.

In other Apple-related news, Samsung has announced legal action against the iPhone 4S in France and Italy, while version 2 of Alien Dalvik promises to get Android apps running on iPads. Can’t imagine that’ll go down too well.

Talking of Android, Samsung has added chargeable ‘premium’ apps to its UK application store and HTC is under the spotlight for security vulnerability on some of its Android devices.

4G has finally arrived in the UK, with the BT Wholesale and Everything Everywhere trial in Cornwall going live. Unfortunately the news arrived in the same week that Ofcom admitted its 4G auction would be delayed, which rather took the shine off things. In the meantime, UK chancellor George Osborne has announced plans to invest up to £150 million on sites for mobile phone masts and base stations in a bid to improve the nation’s connectivity.

Staying with home news, we learn that you can only describe your mobile data deals as ‘truly unlimited internet’ if they really are unlimited. That’s why T-Mobile has been given a clip round the ear by the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority.

And finally for now, from home news to a homecoming of sorts. Back in the 1990s, Cliff Kushler was one of the people who pretty much invented predictive text. He and his colleagues founded a company called Tegic, with the Tegic T9 software later sold to AOL and then sold again to Nuance. Meanwhile, Cliff went off and helped create Swype, which was a type of predictive text for touchscreen keyboards. Now Nuance has spent around $100 million to acquire Swype, bringing both of Cliff’s developments together. Nuance itself is big in speech recognition… so watch out, Siri!

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. And if you’d like to download our mobile industry podcasts automatically, simply pick up our RSS feed or find us on iTunes.
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Recent Podcasts

Mobile Monday London: Acceleration and Finance

Podcast - 21st February 2014

This podcast takes a look at the issue of finance for start-ups - and, in particular, at Accelerators for tech-based companies.

It's a discussion that was recorded at Mobile Monday London earlier this week with a panel including Jon Bradford of Techstars, Simon Devonshire from Telefonica's Wayra, Diane Perlman from Microsoft Ventures and Simon Cook of DFJ Esprit.

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From smartphones to security... and from wireless charging to connected machines

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We start this week's report with two new smartphones: a flagship Android device from LG and a dual-boot handset from Geeksphone.

We also talk about the health effects of mobile phones, a new mobile loyalty app, wireless charging, machine-to-machine connections, the purchase of Viber and a recent acquisition by Google.

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SMS security and text message spam

Podcast - 14th February 2014

In the past few months, the topics of security and privacy have gripped the mobile industry. The humble SMS text message has been subjected to particular attention, both on its own and in association with smartphone apps.

John Murtagh, CTO at text message specialist Anam Technologies, explains more about the risks involved with SMS, the challenges for mobile network operators and the solutions that can protect consumers.

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Big changes for Microsoft, Sony and Brightstar... plus the rest of the week's mobile industry news

Podcast - 12th February 2014

After catching up with last week's Microsoft announcement about new CEO Satya Nadella, we go on to talk about big changes for Brightstar and Sony as well.

There's also mobile payment news from MasterCard and Weve, some patent agreements, a warning about second-hand smartphone sales, a forecast of mobile data growth and a report about app developers.

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Searching for the UK's Most Innovative Mobile Company with the Smart UK Project

Podcast - 9th February 2014

The Smart UK project is an annual government-supported competition looking for the UK's Most Innovative Mobile Company.

A few days ago, all 20 companies on the competition shortlist gave a short presentation to the Smart UK panel of judges. Afterwards, Mark Bridge spoke to some of the entrants to discover exactly what they had to offer - and how they planned to disrupt the mobile industry.

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