Latest Podcast



Featured Articles

Monday, November 11, 2013

Last week at The Fonecast: 11th November 2013

A $1 billion rescue and an £8 million tariff

Mark Bridge writes:

We started last week with a change of plan from BlackBerry. No, it’s not selling itself to Fairfax Financial. Instead it’s aiming to raise $1 billion from investors. Cynics might suggest there wasn’t enough interest for a takeover.

Another big name hitting the mainstream headlines was Twitter, which launched on the stock market. Not only was the initial share price higher than expected, the company’s value was up by over 70% by the end of the first day. That’s impressive, although it’s the longer-term picture that really counts.

Here in the UK, there was news about a new range of Android smartphones. Step forward Kazam, founded six months ago by a couple of chaps who’d previously worked at HTC. With the promise of a replacement screen if you damage your phone in the first year, it’s clear the company has a clear focus on customer service.

Also keen to help customers was EE, which revealed plans to bring LTE-Advanced to London and also started talking about a one million gigabyte 4G data bundle. According to EE, it would take one person 13 years of non-stop HD video streaming to burn their way through it. Yours for just £8 million.

However, not all the week’s news was good. Ofcom pointed its regulatory finger at Vodafone UK, noting that the network had fallen short of its 3G coverage target. Vodafone has promised to achieve 90% population coverage by the end of 2013, bring it into line with EE, O2 and Three.

And we saw two CEOs prepare for departure. As well as Thorsten Heins leaving BlackBerry when the new funding arrives, Acer CEO JT Wang is stepping down after poor financial results. There are some weighty names getting involved when they leave: former Sybase chief exec John Chen is taking over at BlackBerry, while Acer co-founders Stan Shih and George Huang are overseeing restructuring at Acer. Good luck to all.

On Monday mornings we summarise the past week’s mobile industry headlines in a newsletter that’s very much like this article. To receive it, simply register your email address 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

Opinion Articles

Recent Podcasts

Podcast - 11th June 2010

Ben Whitaker of Masabi talks about mobile ticketing, including his company's recent partnership with thetrainline.com that'll enable almost any mobile phone user to buy train tickets when they're on the move. (An extended version of the interview from Wednesday's podcast).
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

Podcast - 9th June 2010

Apple announces the iPhone 4, Iridium prepares 72 new satellites and Orange reveals a phone charger powered by hot feet. In addition there's a conversation with Ben Whitaker of Masabi about his company's plans to introduce rail tickets on mobile phones across the UK.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

Podcast - 2nd June 2010

HipLogic CEO Mark Anderson talks about his company's information and entertainment application, which is being preloaded onto mobile phones at The Carphone Warehouse. And, as usual, there's a look at all the week's other major mobile industry headlines.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

Podcast - 26th May 2010

Iain, James and Mark discuss the week's headlines, from the Nokia/Yahoo! partnership and Google's AdMob approval to one-sided phone calls. There's also an interview with Andrew Grieve and Paul Erickson from fSONA; a company that offers 'optical wireless' technology to relieve network capacity problems.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

Podcast - 19th May 2010

This week's podcast is dominated by the results from the Interphone 'brain cancer' mobile phone research, although there's also time for Iain, James and Mark to talk about Google, Bluechipworld, Vodafone MVNOs, giffgaff, 3D mobile video, HTC's legal action and houses without fixed-line phones.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating
RSS
First6566676870727374Last

Follow thefonecast.com

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

Archive Calendar

«October 2025»
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun
293012345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
272829303112
3456789

Archive

Terms Of Use | Privacy Statement