Latest Podcast



Featured Articles

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.
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

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.
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating
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.
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

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.
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating
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.
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating
RSS

Opinion Articles

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Last week at The Fonecast: 21st November 2011

Mark Bridge writes:

Having read some of last week’s headlines, you might think the UK’s Communication Ombudsman has told mobile phone networks not to describe their data tariffs as ‘unlimited’ unless they really are. However, what’s actually happened is that one of the UK’s communication ombudsmen (ombudspeople?) has asked mobile operators to be clear about any limits, to stop unexpectedly high bills from building up and to tell customers before they exceed any limit. Better than nothing but hardly earth-shattering.

Perhaps I’m suffering from the Monday blues but it seems to me that many of the other mobile news stories from the last seven days were equally unexciting for the UK. Damp squib, anyone?

We had O2 switching on the UK’s largest 4G LTE network trial (or ‘the UK’s second 4G LTE trial’, as Everything Everywhere is more likely to call it). It’ll be running a 4G network in London for the next 9 months.

Google followed up its US-based beta Google Music service with a public version of the service. However, music licensing terms mean it’s not available in the UK yet.

But it’s not all completely bad news for UK music lovers. Now available in the UK is BlackBerry’s BBM Music, an app that makes you hope your friends have a similar taste in music but don’t like the same songs. Hmmm. And music discovery service Shazam is rolling out its LyricPlay feature across all its apps for iOS and Android devices, offering karaoke-style lyrics that are displayed in time with the music.

When it comes to mobile money, there’s plenty of news with potential for the UK... but nothing definite.

iZettle launched its ‘chip and PIN’ mobile payment service in Sweden, with some of the funding coming from Charles Dunstone. Intel and MasterCard announced a partnership that could well see NFC credit card readers built into laptops. Plus there was a digital wallet rival to PayPal called V.me, created by Visa and just available as a beta service in the USA and Canada at the moment.

All that was left to cheer me was the preview of next year’s International CES consumer electronics show… and after a couple of hours in the presence of the US Consumer Electronics Association I was reassured that the mobile industry was a good place to be. With mobile businesses - from augmented reality wizards Blippar to gaming accessory designers Fructel - touting their products and services, January’s CES show in Las Vegas promises to be an exciting event. All I need now is some kind of gambling success to finance my trip.

Stay up-to-date by receiving this news summary by email every week. Simply register at TheFonecast.com by clicking the link at the top right-hand corner of our home page.
Print
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Rate this article:
No rating

Leave a comment

This form collects your name, email, IP address and content so that we can keep track of the comments placed on the website. For more info check our Privacy Policy and Terms Of Use where you will get more info on where, how and why we store your data.
Add comment

Recent Podcasts

Motorola cuts jobs, Digia acquires Qt and Starbucks partners with Square

Podcast - 15th August 2012

This week's edition of The Fonecast starts with news that Motorola Mobility is to lose around a fifth of its staff worldwide. There's also more reorganisation at Nokia, which is passing its Qt software business to Digia.

In addition we're talking about a new US partnership between Starbucks and Square, some good news for Research In Motion, a worrying report for Samsung and a major milestone for Shazam.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

BlackBerry PlayBook, Vodafone's start-up plans, Google Wallet and more quarterly results

Podcast - 8th August 2012

We start this week's edition of The Fonecast with a new product from RIM: the mobile-enabled BlackBerry PlayBook. Next comes Vodafone's move to Tech City and Google moving its mobile wallet into the cloud.

You'll also find the latest batch of quarterly results, some mobile data research and a story about sheep sending SMS text messages.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

Samsung and Apple's quarterly results, smartphone sales figures and much more

Podcast - 1st August 2012

There are plenty of quarterly results to report in this week's edition of The Fonecast, including Samsung, Apple, Telefonica and Facebook. In addition, we have new research that shows how smartphone sales are racing ahead as feature phone sales slow down.

There's also news about mobile coverage in the Channel Tunnel, mobile application downloads and m-commerce.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

Doug Suriano of Tekelec talks about net neutrality for mobile networks

Podcast - 30th July 2012

In today's podcast we're talking to Doug Suriano, Chief Technology Officer at mobile broadband solutions company Tekelec, about net neutrality.

Net neutrality is the principle that consumers are not restricted in the ways they're able to use their internet connection. The topic is often in the headlines, either because some governments may want to prevent their citizens from viewing certain types of information - or because of commercial restrictions.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

Ofcom prepares the UK for 4G, WAC joins the GSMA and O2 talks about compensation

Podcast - 25th July 2012

We start this week's podcast with two news stories from Ofcom. Not only has the regulator announced its plans for the UK's 4G spectrum auction, it's also released research that shows we're texting more than we talk.

There's a look at the changing relationship between HTC and Beats Electronics, O2's apology for the network outage earlier this month and the Wholesale Applications Community's integration into the GSMA.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating
RSS
First2930313234363738Last

Follow thefonecast.com

Twitter @TheFonecast RSS podcast feed
Find us on Facebook Subscribe free via iTunes

Archive Calendar

«November 2024»
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun
28293031123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
2526272829301
2345678

Archive

Terms Of Use | Privacy Statement