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Wednesday, September 26, 2012

UK sales of SIM-only mobile contracts set a new record

Over 250,000 SIM-only mobile contracts were taken up in the UK during July 2012, the highest figure since research company GfK began keeping records. It means customers committed themselves to over 150,000 years of mobile phone use in that one month.

GfK says the increase in SIM-only sales is part of a trend away from pre-paid mobile phone deals and towards ‘pay monthly’ contracts, driven by the availability of tariffs costing less than £10 per month. It also noted that longer-term SIM-only contracts are becoming more popular, with 12-month deals overtaking one-month rolling contracts as the most popular tariff.

In addition, increasing smartphone penetration combined with financial concerns are leading some customers to save money by moving onto a SIM-only deal when their initial contract term is over but their smartphone remains desirable.

Ben Tutt, GfK account manager, said “As the economy remains uncertain, SIM only contracts are an attractive cheaper option than a new handset deal, or to shelling out a big upfront cost for a prepaid device. Furthermore, the networks are providing ever-cheaper SIM deals. These offer data, as well as minutes and texts, as post-paid customers provide more revenue than prepaid ones. As the telecoms industry advances, customers are becoming increasingly savvy to the technology, and networks are able to advertise SIM card deals without fear of confusing the viewer.”

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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.

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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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