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Saturday, April 16, 2011

This week at The Fonecast: 16th April 2011

Mark Bridge writes:

We started this week with a story that grabbed plenty of attention. It was a report from Billmonitor.com that claimed we in the UK were wasting almost £5 billion every year by choosing the wrong mobile tariffs. Although I remained a little cynical about some of the detail, there’s no doubt that many consumers could be better off if they switched tariff - or even network. And now, with 1-day number porting available, it’s easier than ever.

Also hitting the mainstream press was Everything Everywhere, which was getting hassle for being the only UK operator charging charities to handle their text message donations. It’s since decided to give 100% of donations to 100% of charities; a pretty dramatic turnaround from two years ago when none of the UK networks were offering any significant concessions for SMS payments.

Talking of payments, American Express did a deal with mobile payment service Payfone to enhance its virtual wallet. The results are only available in the US at the moment, so don’t get too excited. Better news for the rest of us came from Juniper Research, forecasting almost 300 million NFC-capable smartphones around the globe by 2014; the equivalent of at least 1 in 5 worldwide.

There was UK-specific good news from Chinese telecoms firm Huawei, with plans to create 500 new UK jobs during the next three years - and many more through subcontracting. And I have no doubt that the company was also pleased to see the end of its legal dispute with Motorola, although it very much looks as though Huawei came out on top.

Other manufacturing news came from Nokia with two new smartphones and an updated version of Symbian, nicknamed Symbian Anna. (I suspect Symbian may not ever reach the end of the naming alphabet).

Apart from that, there wasn’t much unexpected. Google’s financial results showed it was doing okay. PC sales weren’t doing so well. Apple is expected to sell plenty of tablets. And some people don’t show very much online common sense when using their mobile phones.

Just try to make sure you’re not one of them!


Stay ahead by reading this weekly summary before everyone else!  Click the ‘register’ link in the top right-hand corner of our website and we’ll send you our news summary by email every week.

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5/31/2011 7:54 AM

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Opinion Articles

And our survey said...

Mark Bridge writes:

The coolest person in the country admires the French president's wife and lives in East London. Oh, and they use a BlackBerry by day but an iPhone by night. That's what recent surveys say. Nonsense, isn’t it?

Author: The Fonecast
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The mobile phone tries to grow up

Mark Bridge writes:

The end of civilisation. The dawn of the future. Mobile phones are somewhere in the middle. Once seen as novelties for people with too much money, the mobile phone is now ubiquitous. And with that ubiquity comes an acceptance that they’re just tools. Doesn't it?

Which is why I was surprised to see a news article from Voice, a trade union that wants mobile phones banned from nurseries because of concern about inappropriate photographs.

Author: The Fonecast
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Sounding good to me

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Yet no-one’s really thought much about the quality of a phone call. Until now.

Author: The Fonecast
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The landline phone may be fading... but its number still remains

Mark Bridge writes:

In last weekend’s Sunday Times, Ali Hussain asked "Is this the end for the landline phone?"

He pointed out that the average mobile bill almost halved between 2003 and 2008, while landline bills fell by less than a fifth – which has meant the average mobile bill is now lower than the average landline bill. He went on to list fibre-optic broadband, mobile broadband, mobile calls, VoIP calls and satellite phones as alternatives to using fixed-line phones.

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Mixed verdict on mobile phones as cancer cause

Art Chimes of voanews.com writes:

Nearly two-thirds of the people on Earth now use mobile telephones, according to a study by the International Telecommunications Union. But how safe are those phones? Scientists still aren't sure, but some evidence is starting to suggest there may be danger along with the convenience.

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