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Sunday, August 21, 2011

Didn't predict the recent events at Google, Motorola and HP? Don't worry about it

Mark Bridge writes:

Let’s face it, last week’s Google/Motorola deal wasn’t widely predicted. Stasys Bielinis of Unwired View deserves a round of applause but I don’t remember hearing anyone else suggesting this radical move.

The HP/webOS situation was arguably easier to call, although the overall changes at HP are much bigger than most people expected.

Even Microsoft & Nokia’s partnership seemed the stuff of fantasy less than twelve months ago.

All these recent events reminded me of Charles Dunstone’s appearance at the Google Think Mobile event at the end of June.

Charles, who - I’m sure you know - co-founded The Carphone Warehouse, described his early days as “just stumbling around trying to make a living” within a minute of walking onto the stage.

He went on to talk about the early days of mobile, when the idea of 1% UK mobile penetration was considered “insane” - and the success of SMS was an “accident”.

“All the way through mobile, everyone has failed to understand its potential and then has also failed to capitalise on its potential”, he said, noting that “generally what happens in the mobile business is not ever what anyone has anticipated”.

“It’s a very, very confusing environment and there’s absolutely no-one who really knows where it’s headed and in the end who’s ultimately going to own and who’s going to be the most powerful people within this marketplace”.

I find all this reassuring. After all, if the CEO of one of the UK’s longest-established and best-loved mobile phone businesses isn’t trying to predict the future, I probably shouldn’t worry about it either.

[YouTube: Charles Dunstone at Think Mobile]

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Opinion Articles

A Sure Signal from Vodafone

Mark Bridge writes:

Today I've been using my mobile phone at home. For many people that’s not an unusual thing to do – but it is for me because, around here, coverage indoors isn’t particularly good. Downstairs it’s previously been non-existent. But this morning everything changed.

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Physician uses cell phones to bring health care to the poor

Natalia Ardanza of voanews.com writes:

In Africa there is another use for mobile phones. Public Health workers in Kenya are now using mobile phones to gather health information from patients in remote areas and upload it to the internet for instant analysis at distant centers. And it is all happening thanks to Dr Joel Selanikio.

Author: The Fonecast
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Making dumb touchscreen phones was a smart move

Mark Bridge writes:

I remember a report from last year that said ‘non-smart’ touchscreen handsets – generally those without a popular operating system – would be bad news for mobile operators.

Conventional touchscreen smartphones tended to result in higher-than-average ARPU thanks to their early-adopting tech-loving users, their web-friendly browsers, their email programs, their app-friendly operating systems and their fast 3G connectivity. However, dumber touchscreen devices – those with a manufacturer’s own proprietary OS and perhaps a clumsier browser – could generate 23% less ARPU than smarter phones. So, if touchscreen dumbphones weren’t good for networks… and weren’t really good for consumers either… manufacturers wouldn’t really bother with them. Right?

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"Hello Nexus One" I say...

James Rosewell writes:

Mark’s been encouraging me to write an opinion piece on the Nexus One for the last few days and I’m finally putting fingers to keyboard to share my experiences. It’s taken so long because this phone has so many features. On a positive note I could go into details about the gorgeous screen, the Android Marketplace that will out-sell Apple’s over the next 18 months, the built-in satellite navigation service and the speedy processor that makes everything run smoothly in real time. Or on a less positive note, the touch screen keyboard that sucks (think carefully about this if you’re a heavy texter or emailer, it’s even worse than the original iPhone), the lack of ActiveSync for Calendars and Tasks, no support for WMA music files or the clunky zoom functions on the web browser.

However I’m going to focus on voice dictation. Nexus One is the first phone I’ve used with this feature.

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The Amazon Kindle prepares to fight the Apple iPhone and Tablet

Mark Bridge writes:

Here’s a curious thing. Firstly, Amazon creates the Kindle. It starts selling the Kindle in the USA with a mobile deal that lets users download electronic books and newspapers wherever they are. Then it starts selling the Kindle to us in the UK, although – hang on a moment – it’s not talking about a UK mobile deal. Instead it still seems to be ‘roaming’ from the AT&T network. Next comes the larger-screen Kindle DX – also roaming away when it reaches our shores. And now Amazon is talking about third-party downloadable applications for the Kindle. Yes, a mobile device with downloadable apps. Hold that thought; I’ll be returning to it.

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