Mark Bridge writes:
On Monday there seemed to be a dearth of mobile news as the industry held its breath and waited for Steve Jobs to speak.
Why there was quite so much breath-holding beats me, because Apple had already told us what the announcement was going to cover. Anyway, we learned about iOS 5, which will arrive in the autumn, and its 200 new features – including a new messaging service called iMessage. Will it kill SMS? I think not. And where on earth do they get the names from?
In other product news, HP announced its webOS tablet will arrive in July with a retail price of around £399. I’ll be honest, there doesn’t seem to be quite as much excitement here.
Now to legal issues – but for a change we’re not talking who’s suing who. Or whom. Two former employees of T-Mobile UK who stole customer information and sold it to other businesses have told to pay a total of £73,700 in fines and confiscation costs. They’ll only be jailed if they don’t pay up quickly, which may be a disappointment to the Information Commissioner who’d previously said a prison sentence was required as a deterrent.
Elsewhere, there are complaints that Ofcom’s planned 4G auction could be illegal – which could mean delays to the launch of LTE in the UK – and other complaints that the merging of Orange and T-Mobile’s UK networks breaches a contract with infrastructure firm Arqiva.
Talking of Everything Everywhere, it’s planning 30 new own-brand shops. Looks like the five store trial went well.
And finally to departures. Last week we heard that Three UK CEO Kevin Russell was heading back to Australia. Now Marc Allera, the company’s sales and marketing director, is off. Coincidence? I’ve got no idea. And leaving the GSMA after 12 years is Rob Conway. The organisation doesn’t have a successor confirmed at the moment.
Good luck, chaps. I’m sure this isn’t the last we’ve heard of you.
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