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Saturday, May 28, 2011

This week at The Fonecast: 28th May 2011

Mark Bridge writes:

It’s often said that timing is everything. Or is it size?  I’m never sure.

Both came into play this week as online giant Google announced the forthcoming launch of its much-rumoured mobile payment service. Expect Google Wallet to arrive on the Nexus S 4G in the USA this summer. Is it a big deal?  Bearing in mind the lack of any UK information, I’m inclined to think it’s less exciting than the launch of Quick Tap last week... or the US-based clearXchange partnership.

Anyway, there wasn’t much time for Google to bask in the glory of its announcement. PayPal, while not mentioning Google Wallet specifically, is taking legal action against Google and two Google employees who’d previously worked at PayPal. Mobile payments, trade secrets and breached contracts are on the agenda.

Let’s head to Cornwall, where there’s news of a happier partnership. Everything Everywhere and BT Wholesale are planning trials of 4G LTE mobile broadband later this year. If you live in the St Newlyn East area of Newquay, you could be looking at speeds of up to 100Mbps.

If, however, you live elsewhere, you’d be more likely to get 1.5Mbps. That’s what Ofcom reckons the average UK mobile broadband speed is on dongles and datacards.

It may not be close to the maximum possible - but it’s a darn sight better than GPRS, which was launched in the UK just ten years ago. Talking of improvements, the latest J.D. Power Mobile Phone Customer Satisfaction Study shows that mobile phone customers in the UK are more satisfied this year than they were in 2010. Tesco Mobile topped the chart for prepay and post-pay service.

Finally this week, some operating system news. Microsoft announced the details of Mango, its forthcoming Windows Phone OS update. Apparently there are 500 new features - and there’ll also be new manufacturers. Joining Microsoft’s new best friend Nokia will be Acer, Fujitsu and ZTE.

Meanwhile there’s good and bad news for Symbian. Bad news that the EC has closed down the multi-million pound SYMBEOSE Symbian-based development project - but good news that Nokia will support Symbian until 2016 at the very earliest. Anyone splashing out 800 Euro on the brand new gold-plated Nokia Oro will undoubtedly be reassured.


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Opinion Articles

Is Android losing its impact for Google?

Mark Bridge writes:

Recent figures released by ABI Research have prompted the market intelligence company to ask whether Google is losing control of the Android ecosystem.

At first glance, Android dominated smartphone shipments for the final quarter of 2013. ABI Research says 77% of the 287 million smartphones shipped in Q4 2013 were running Android.

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It’s time to prepare for the upcoming surge in signaling traffic

Robin Kent writes:

After initially suffering from slow pick up by consumers, 4G has begun to accelerate, and is now well on the way to the forecasted one billion subscribers by 2017. In fact EE, owner of T-Mobile and Orange, recently announced the addition of 493,000 new 4G customers to its existing base of 1.2 million.

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Mobile phone coverage: is this as good as it gets?

Mark Bridge writes:

A new report has highlighted the issue of poor mobile phone coverage in rural Sussex villages. BBC Sussex invited me onto their ‘Sussex Breakfast’ radio show to explain what could be done - and, as usual, I made enough notes for a lecture rather than a three-minute interview.

Here’s what I would have liked to have said if I’d been given a disproportionate amount of time to talk.

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Last week at The Fonecast: 27th January 2014

Expecting the unexpected

Mark Bridge writes:

Great news for mobile phone users. Ofcom’s new rules preventing unexpected mid-contract price rises came into force last week, which means UK consumers can no longer be surprised by their subscription charge increasing while they’re still locked into a minimum-term deal.

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Ofcom changes the rules for mobile phone contracts... and so does O2

Mark Bridge writes:

This week, new Ofcom rules came into force. They’re designed to avoid unexpected price rises during the minimum term of a mobile phone contract. Yes, just because you signed a fixed-term contract doesn’t mean the charges can’t increase. Networks said they needed this option in case of inflation or regulatory changes. Customers felt trapped.

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