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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, July 9, 2012

Last week at The Fonecast: 9th July 2012

MeeGo... and me come back again

Mark Bridge writes:

It was a good week for technology stories hitting the mainstream news, thanks to the apparent appearance of a Higgs boson, Sir Alan Sugar’s YouView online TV service and football goal-line technology.

Mobile-related news hasn’t been quite so big, although plenty of well-known names have turned up in the headlines. What’s also been turning up – rather more than usual – is the presence of WiFi.

It all started when communications infrastructure company Arqiva agreed to acquire Spectrum Interactive, the biggest WiFi hotspot provider you’ve never heard of. Spectrum provides WiFi services in more than 2,000 UK locations on a wholesale basis, which means the venue owner usually puts their name on the hotspot.

Next, a new report revealed the UK had broadband wireless services on more trains than any other European country. Right on time, Nomad Digital announced its plans to equip Northern Ireland’s trains with free WiFi – and it was followed by London’s eco-friendly minicab company greentomatocars offering free in-car WiFi.

You could argue that traditional mobile networks could be feeling a bit threatened by all this... but you could also argue that the traditional mobile network is adapting. Telefonica’s had a particularly busy week, expanding its mobile commerce deal with Visa Europe, signing billing agreements with some of the internet’s biggest players and adding an online sports club to its O2 UK loyalty scheme.

Telefonica was also in on Mozilla’s big announcement, which was that the ‘Firefox’ brand will be used for its forthcoming HTML5-based mobile operating system. Expect the first Alcatel and ZTE Firefox-powered smartphones to arrive on Telefonica’s Vivo network in Brazil next year

Talking of networks, there’s yet another in the UK. This one’s called Samba Mobile and is an ad-funded data-only MVNO. Consumers watch video ads to ‘top up’ their account with free credit – which is certainly one way to avoid ending up on the wrong tariff.

And along with a new virtual network, the world saw a new smartphone company. Jolla is based in Finland, from where it’s planning to adapt the MeeGo platform for a new device that’ll be released later this year.

However, not every bright idea involving a smartphone ends well – which is why I’m concluding this week’s newsletter with a warning. In fact, a double warning. Don’t try to dry a mobile phone in the microwave. And don’t try to cover up the fact you’ve tried to dry a mobile phone in the microwave.

Last month it was reported that a Samsung Galaxy SIII smartphone had apparently suffered a small explosion. After plenty of online speculation and an independent report, it now looks very much as though the damage was caused by one of the customer’s mates trying to cure some water damage.

Oops.

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.

The Fonecast is sponsored by 51Degrees.mobi. More details about advertising and sponsorship opportunities are available on the About Us section of our website.
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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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