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Monday, July 1, 2013

Last week at The Fonecast: 1st July 2013

Good news from Sony Mobile, bad news from BlackBerry

Last week at The Fonecast: 1st July 2013

Mark Bridge writes:

I don’t know about you but I’m delighted to see Sony Mobile getting plenty of coverage for its new smart watch and giant smartphone. The company’s impressive presence at Mobile World Congress 2013 showed plenty of promise... and I’d say it’s now delivering.

Not only has Sony updated its original SmartWatch when other manufacturers are still working on their first, it’s also put Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 800 2.2GHz quad-core processor inside a ‘phablet’ with a 6.4-inch HD screen. It seems the Samsung Galaxy Note has a serious challenger.

Talking of Samsung, the Galaxy S4 range has a new addition. The Samsung Galaxy S4 LTE-A is – as its name suggests – equipped for the even faster 4G speeds of LTE-Advanced. Expect to see it on sale in South Korea, where the world’s first LTE-A network has launched, but probably never in the UK.

On the other side of the coin, bookseller Barnes & Noble said it’s going to stop making colour-screen Nook tablets. This isn’t the end for the Nook, though: B&N will keep developing monochrome eBook readers and will work with third-party manufacturers on future Nook tablets.

There was a clip round the ear for Vodafone last week, with the ASA ruling that the Vodafone web site didn’t explain pricing clearly enough, and another clip round another ear for Samsung’s ‘trade up’ offer to promote its Galaxy Note II.

Meanwhile T-Mobile ended up at the top of Ofcom’s ‘pay monthly’ complaint list for the first quarter of 2013, replacing its EE stable-mate Orange. Once again, O2 generated the least complaints.

Finally to the big corporate stuff. BlackBerry’s quarterly figures surprised many people by revealing a loss... and by not revealing overall subscriber numbers in the initial announcement... while Vodafone confirmed its plans to buy German cable TV company Kabel Deutschland and Telefonica agreed to sell O2 Ireland to Hutchison Whampoa’s Three brand.

And Carphone Warehouse is back in charge of the entire Carphone Warehouse business, having acquired Best Buy’s 50% share of CPW Europe. Andrew ‘Stat’ Harrison is due to become CEO of the Carphone Warehouse Group from this month’s AGM, while chairman Sir Charles Dunstone is expected to get more involved again in the business he co-founded. At the risk of appearing partisan once more, I think it sounds rather exciting to hear that.

On Monday mornings we summarise the past week’s mobile industry headlines in a newsletter that’s a lot like this article. To receive it, simply register your email address at TheFonecast.com by clicking the link at the top right-hand corner of our home page.
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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?

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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.

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Sounding good to me

Mark Bridge writes:

"Sounding good to me". So sang Charlie Dore, back in the day when radio stations started to realise that quality was as important as quantity. "AM, FM, I feel so ecstatic", opined Cliff Richard, although I’m betting he’d have preferred the lack of hiss and crackle on FM stations.

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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Recent Podcasts

Reviewing our 2015 mobile industry predictions... and looking forward to 2016

Podcast - 15th January 2016

Iain Graham, James Rosewell and Mark Bridge return to review their mobile industry predictions from last year. Which mergers, partnerships and developments did they forecast correctly... and which didn’t work out as planned?

Later in the programme, the team anticipates some of the topics that will be hitting the headlines during 2016.

Author: The Fonecast
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Podcast from Mobile World Congress 2015

Podcast - 6th March 2015

Mark Bridge learns about the mobile technology trends at Mobile World Congress 2015 by chatting to James Rosewell of 51Degrees, Dr Kevin Curran from the IEEE and Chris Millington of Doro.

They talk about wearable devices, wireless charging, mobile operating systems and much more... including some of their favourite products from the exhibition.

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Looking back at February: from security scares to multiple MVNOs

Podcast - 27th February 2015

We're taking a look back at the biggest mobile industry news stories from February 2015, including allegations that the UK's security service tried to breach SIM card security by hacking into one of the world's biggest SIM producers.

We also talk about the planned BT and EE merger, the creation of two new UK virtual networks, some acquisitions in the mobile payment arena and a new Ubuntu smartphone.

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Interview with Chris Millington of Doro about mobile retailing, wearables and technology for older consumers

Podcast - 24th February 2015

In today's programme Mark Bridge talks to Chris Millington, who's Managing Director for Doro UK and Ireland.

They discuss the state of mobile retailing in the UK, the future of wearable devices and - as you might expect - smartphones for seniors.

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A month of mobile: O2 counts on 3, Microsoft counts to 10 and Apple counts its profits

Podcast - 30th January 2015

We're back with a month of mobile industry news, including takeover talks and takeover rumours. O2 and Three are said to be discussing a merger... but is there any truth in the suggestions that BlackBerry could be up for grabs?

We also discuss Apple's record-breaking quarterly figures, the highlights of CES and the launch of Microsoft Windows 10, as well as saying farewell to the current version of Google Glass.

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