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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

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Last week at The Fonecast: 23rd January 2012

Mark Bridge writes:

We’re starting the week with breaking (but not entirely unexpected) news that RIM has a new CEO. Just one, not two. We’ll be talking much more about him in Wednesday’s podcast. In fact, RIM’s announcement concludes a week that’s been packed with big names - and big money as well.

Google, Intel and Microsoft all released quarterly results last week. Intel and Google also had annual figures to crow about, although Google’s share price suffered a bit when ad revenues weren’t as good as some had expected. Intel’s quarterly revenue was $13.9 billion, Google’s was $10.6 billion and Microsoft’s was $20.9 billion, since you asked.

On the other side of the coin there’s Kodak apparently running out of cash. Oh, and there’s Sony Ericsson, which published financial results revealing it had made a loss in 2011. Fortunately, some might say, it’s likely to be the last report from the joint venture before it becomes a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony.

Vodafone was another company making headlines with money. In this case, India’s Supreme Court ruled that Vodafone wasn’t liable to pay taxes on its acquisition of Hutchison Essar in 2007. The country’s tax authorities had claimed a total of around £2.8 billion was due in taxes and penalty payments.

From big money to big numbers. Almost half of US mobile consumers now have smartphones, according to Nielsen research. (Mind you, the UK is already in the same position). InMobi says mobile advertising traffic more than doubled last year. Low-cost smartphone sales are expected to double this year. There’ll be 530 million mobile banking users next year. And there’ll be 365 million mobile machine-to-machine connections worldwide by 2016.

Finally, bringing things back to earth with a bump, we have good news for the clumsy and the careless. Nissan has created the world’s first self-healing iPhone case, which uses the Scratch Shield paint you can already choose as an option on some Nissan vehicles. Not just a publicity stunt, surely?

Meanwhile construction equipment manufacturer JCB put its name on a new limited edition version of the already-tough Motorola DEFY+ smartphone, giving it an assortment of practical apps and a protective sleeve with re-entrant geometry. Re-entrant-geometry?  Yup, that’s the technical description of a pattern that looks like a tractor tyre. Well, I suppose it gives the story an interesting angle.

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.
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Recent Podcasts

Mobile phones, mobile patents, mobile payments, mobile software... and more

Podcast - 27th November 2013

This week we're talking about two big announcements from BlackBerry: a luxury smartphone and some major management changes.

We also discuss the latest Samsung/Apple patent ruling, Vodafone's new mobile wallet, Android licensing, Doro's anti-virus deal, BYOD and the rise of the 'selfie'.

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Protecting children from text message cyber-bullying

Podcast - 22nd November 2013

With more than half of all pre-teen children reported to be using text messaging as their main form of mobile communication, it's not surprising to hear that bullies are taking advantage of SMS to attack their victims.

But what can mobile networks do to help these victims of cyber-bullying?  Louise O'Sullivan of Anam Technologies explains why she thinks network operators are apparently reluctant to take action - and why other organisations need to get involved.

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High-flying phones, hands-free phones, cash-free wallets and messaging madness

Podcast - 20th November 2013

This week's headline-grabbing product launch is the Motorola Moto G, which promises a decent Android smartphone at a very attractive price.

We also discuss new rules about mobile phones on planes, a new campaign to ban hands-free calls in cars, falling SMS revenue, mobile wallets and BlackBerry's $1 million investment.

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From the UK's newest smartphone manufacturer to the world's largest 4G tariff... and much more

Podcast - 13th November 2013

The past few days have been a good time for launches. Twitter has floated on the stock exchange, Kazam has revealed its smartphone range and EE has created a tariff with a million gigabytes of mobile data.

On the other side of the coin, Acer's CEO is quitting, Vodafone UK has missed its 3G coverage target and hackers can take control of your handset's camera to ascertain PIN codes.

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A new hope for BlackBerry... and a new challenge for Android

Podcast - 6th November 2013

It looks like BlackBerry is safe for the moment... but not with the takeover many had expected.

Meanwhile Google launches the Nexus 5, Nortel's patents are sent into battle, EE promises ever-faster 4G, the FAA allows electronic devices to be used throughout flights and we celebrate a record quarter for smartphone shipments.

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