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

Monday, April 2, 2012

Last week at The Fonecast: 2nd April 2012

Mark Bridge writes:

It’s always a relief when April Fool’s Day doesn’t fall on a work day, isn’t it?  Still, that didn’t stop the jokes. Even though the mobile industry traditionally tends to head to the pub for a roast dinner and a pint on Sunday, there was many a prank in the morning of April 1st. Our friends at 51Degrees.mobi revealed left-handed device detection, Google prepared to run mobile ads on phones with dials, Phones 4U introduced Gnomes 4U femtocells, Nokia made a Windows Phone device out of ice… and so on.

Back to reality now – and with a bump.

BlackBerry manufacturer Research In Motion reported quarterly results that weren’t as good as previously hoped. CEO Thorsten Heins talked about a ‘refocus’ on enterprise users, which led a number of journalists to assume the company was about to drop its offering to individual consumers. Not true.

On a positive financial note, UK-based mobile commerce business Monitise plc agreed to acquire US-based mobile banking company Clairmail Inc. The deal values Clairmail at approximately £109 million.

The other big headline-grabber of the week was the European Commission, which moved closer to seeing its new roaming rules becoming law. It wants price caps on data use from this summer, along with the ability to choose a separate contract for mobile use abroad from July 2014. Call me a cynic but I can’t see this running smoothly.

While we’re talking about networks, O2 UK introduced a new tariff called On & On. It offers unlimited calls and text messages, along with a fixed data allowance. O2 isn’t the first network to do this, so it’s beginning to look like a trend.

Meanwhile T-Mobile UK has announced that it’ll be increasing some of its prices from May. Customers on most ‘pay monthly’ contracts will have their basic monthly charge increased by 3.7%. It’s a somewhat gentler announcement than last year’s Orange price rise.

Mind you, network operators need every penny they can get. Juniper Research has calculated that the mobile telecommunications industry lost more than $58 billion last year due to inadequate Fraud Management and Revenue Assurance processes. The figure is the equivalent of over 6% of global industry revenue. And that’s no joke.

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.
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

A week of mobile industry news, including the latest security and privacy concerns

Podcast - 16th April 2014

We begin this week's podcast with a discussion about the Heartbleed bug, the effect it's having on the mobile industry and the wider issues for all internet users.

We're also talking about the future of BlackBerry, UK 4G coverage, new CEOs, Bluetooth connectivity, privacy concerns and the next generation of mobile processors.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

A new mobile move from Microsoft, a roaming revolution in Europe... and much more

Podcast - 9th April 2014

This week's podcast starts with news from Microsoft about an update to its Windows Phone platform and a cost-free OS offer to hardware manufacturers.

There's also a new flagship smartphone from Nokia, a roaming announcement from the European Parliament, a UK virtual mobile network from The Co-operative Group, a change at the top for Mozilla, retail expansion for Vodafone and an awkward end to BlackBerry's relationship with T-Mobile in the USA.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

Acquisitions, banking, complaints... and the rest of the week's mobile industry news

Podcast - 2nd April 2014

Acquisition announcements from Facebook and Intel are the first stories in this week's look at the latest UK mobile industry headlines.

They're followed by news about mobile payments, mobile banking, a phone with an invisible solar panel, customer complaints, low-cost 4G smartphones, productivity apps and an intriguing case of WhatsApp-itis.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

Smartphones, smart watches and SMS spam: all the week's mobile industry news headlines

Podcast - 26th March 2014

Iain Graham, James Rosewell and Mark Bridge are reunited for their regular weekly look at the latest UK mobile industry headlines.

Today they're talking about smart watches, an Apple iPhone announcement, the new HTC One M8, the closure of Ovivo Mobile, text spam, peer-to-peer messaging, government hacking and mergers.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

Designing mobile phones for seniors: we talk to Doro and Emporia Telecom

Podcast - 21st March 2014

Producing mobile phones for older customers requires much more than big buttons and a simple interface. At Mobile World Congress last month we spoke to two major players in this growing sector: Swedish company Doro and Austria's Emporia Telecom.

Our first conversation was with Harald Obereder, Chief Technology Officer at Emporia, who spoke to Mark Bridge about handset design and user interface design. This was followed by an interview with Chris Millington, Managing Director for Doro UK and Ireland, about research and development in the 'senior tech' market.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating
RSS
First45679111213Last

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