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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

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Geography meets Social Media on 'Geosocial' sites

Ted Landphair of voanews.com writes:

There’s a well-worn phrase in real estate: “location, location, location,” meaning that where a property is located, alone, means more than anything else when it comes to assessing its value.

But ‘location’ is getting new meanings in these days of smartphones and other hand-held devices.

When satellite-based global positioning and tracking became commonly available on computers and smartphones, sales of maps and requests for directions from strangers took a nosedive. We know of people who hardly go out of the house without first checking for GPS directions.

Some apps, or phone applications, even provide real-time alerts about traffic jams, accidents, and detours.

A new study by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project finds that 28% of adults use what it calls mobile and social-media ‘location services’ every day. And not just to plan trips and get directions.

“Smartphone owners are using their phones to get fast access to location-relevant information on-the-go," said Kathryn Zickuhr, co-author of the Pew report.

What does that mean?  Lots of smartphone owners get recommendations for restaurants, museums and theaters based on where they happen to be at the time. Young adults use so-called ‘geosocial’ check-in services such as Foursquare and Gowalla, to keep track of friends’ whereabouts and pick places to meet and eat.

Foursquare users can play a game in which rivals compete to become what they call the ‘mayor’ of a place - even an office building or a post office - just by sending out a signal that they’re in that particular location.

We’re told that a security guard here, for instance, was the ‘mayor’ of the Voice of America for a time, reviewing our visitors’ tour and even the quality of our cafeteria food. We’re scrolling our smartphones frantically to read that.

Originally published on voanews.com
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Recent Podcasts

Operating Systems: a new set of Davids emerge to challenge the incumbent Goliaths

Podcast - 22nd July 2013

This panel discussion about new mobile operating systems was recorded at Mobile Monday London on 15th July 2013.

It's chaired by Geoff Blaber of CCS Insight with contributions from the GSMA's Alex Sinclair, David Wood of Delta Wisdom (and formerly of Symbian), Andreas Constantinou from Vision Mobile, Victor Palau of Canonical and Christian Heilmann from Mozilla Corporation.

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Nokia, Microsoft, BlackBerry, Telefonica and much more... all in this week's podcast

Podcast - 17th July 2013

There's big news from big names this week as Nokia announces a new smartphone, Microsoft announces a new structure and Research In Motion announces a new name.

We also talk about O2 UK's backhaul deal, Apple's eBook court case, a complaint about advertising and plenty more as well.

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A security scare, a new mobile payment service, some quarterly results and loads of money

Podcast - 10th July 2013

We start this week's podcast by talking about an Android security risk - before moving on to new 4G services from EE, a drop in Nook tablet prices and a couple of quarterly results that disappointed the stock market.

In addition we discuss insurance complaints, Bluetooth Smart technology, a new multi-million investment in Shazam and some research about the future of apps.

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Will mobile data kill SMS, does all-IP mean less security - and what's the future for mobile networks?

Podcast - 5th July 2013

Robin Kent, operations director at Adax Europe, talks to Mark Bridge about some of the challenges facing mobile network operators as data usage increases.

They discuss how networks can differentiate their services, how can they monetise the app phenomenon, whether mobile data will kill voice and SMS... and the privacy concerns that arise around all-IP communication.

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New mobile products from Sony, Firefox and Sainsbury's

Podcast - 3rd July 2013

In our podcast this week we're discussing the new SmartWatch from Sony, talking about Firefox OS smartphones and contemplating Vodafone's partnership with Sainsbury's.

We're also looking at complaint figures, roaming charges, pay as you go pricing, joint ventures, BlackBerry's recent results and the future of Windows Phone.

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