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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

Monday, September 24, 2012

Last week at The Fonecast: 24th September 2012

Apple loses Google Maps… and quite a few major landmarks

Mark Bridge writes:

Oooh, a new phone. It’s running a powerful new processor, it has a large edge-to-edge toughened glass display and its model name bears the familiar ‘i’ suffix. Hang on a moment. Suffix?  Yes, suffix. This isn’t a new Apple device but Motorola Mobility’s first Intel-powered Android smartphone, the RAZR i.

Arguably it wasn’t a great week for Motorola’s launch, what with HTC’s new flagship handsets and the iPhone 5 going on sale.

HTC presented us with the Windows Phone 8X and the Windows Phone 8S, both of which are expected to hit the shops from November. An exceptionally close relationship with Microsoft is hinted at by the appearance of ‘Windows Phone 8’ in their names. Wonder if Nokia is jealous?

It’s certainly not unhappy with some of the fuss surrounding Apple’s iPhone 5, which went on sale last Friday. A couple of days earlier the iOS 6 operating system saw an official release – and the replacement of Google Maps with Apple’s own mapping service has drawn many an unfavourable comparison. Apple’s data seems significantly less detailed to the offerings from Google and Nokia, causing much amusement amongst naysayers.

There was also slightly worrying news for fans of machine-to-machine communications – M2M isn’t being implemented as quickly as some had forecast, according to new research – and for lovers of QR codes, who found the UK was lagging behind the rest of Europe when it came to adoption and usage. Conversely, tablet sales were doing much better than expected.

Sticking with good news, we learned that a Norwegian study had found no scientific evidence that radiation from mobile phones causes adverse health effects and we heard that high-speed broadband services could be available in aircraft fairly soon.

Discount service Groupon moved into the mobile payment arena, Google acquired another photo software company, Good Technology introduced professional services to help businesses move to a ‘Bring Your Own Device’ scheme and O2 snuggled up with augmented reality platform Aurasma.

However, if you really want an unexpected tech partnership, you need UK artist Dominic Wilcox, technologist Becky Stewart and shoe maker Stamp Shoes. Together they’ve created ‘No Place Like Home’, a pair of leather shoes that’ll guide you home via built-in GPS and LED indicators. You activate them – much like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz – by clicking the heels together.

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

Podcast - 24th June 2009

We're talking about plenty of new products and services in this week's podcast, including the iPhone 3GS, augmented reality browsers and stealth headsets. Meanwhile, Faisal Sheikh from Fone Doctors tells us that consumers are now looking at operating systems, not brand names, when they choose a new phone.

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Podcast - 17th June 2009

This week the team takes a look at mobile web browser security... and explains why your bank's recommended browser isn't as safe as you might expect. Plus, as usual, there's an in-depth look at the week's industry headlines.

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Podcast - 10th June 2009

Iain, Mark and James look at the new iPhone and talk to Ethelbert Williams about the Nokia Point & Find service. Plus there's room for the rest of the week's mobile industry headlines.

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Podcast - 5th June 2009

In this special extended interview, Suneet Singh Tuli talks to Iain Graham about the PocketSurfer device. They discuss form factors, flat-rate charging for data, roaming charges, convergence, consumer acceptance - and the forthcoming PocketSurfer3.

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