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Sunday, February 12, 2012

Last week at The Fonecast: 13th February 2012

Mark Bridge writes:

It’s not been a good week for Nokia staff, with 4000 of them likely to lose their jobs from factories in Finland, Hungary and Mexico. The company says it’s moving device assembly to Asia, where it’ll be closer to component manufacturers. The three scaled-down factories will remain open with a new focus on smartphone customisation.

A cheerier note came from O2 UK, which asked head office staff to test its flexible working arrangements on Wednesday. Around 3,000 people didn’t turn up for work, leaving the security guards to race around the empty offices in swivel chairs. Or something like that.

We’re still in quarterly results season; last week’s figures came from HTC, Vodafone and Virgin Media. The latter revealed that its ‘pay monthly’ mobile users had overtaken the number of prepay customers for the first time.

Talking of contracts, Phones 4u launched a new scheme to let customers upgrade every six months. It’s called JUMP – Just Upgrade My Phone – and splits the traditional monthly contract into separate network and phone contracts. JUMP has been running in around 100 shops as a trial since last May.

And while we’re on the subject of upgrades, Cellebrite – the company whose kit disappoints Yoda by transferring contact details between different models of mobile phone – has recently enhanced its touch-screen tablet with a diagnostic option. It’s designed to help in-store staff differentiate between faulty phones and confused customers.

A different kind of problem befell Google, when a flaw in its US mobile payment service was discovered. Rather took the shine off its Chrome mobile browser announcement from earlier in the week. Problems too for satellite phone owners, who learned that their calls could – theoretically, at least – be hacked.

Mind you, GSM calls have been open to hackers for a while... and that’s hardly dented sales, has it?

Why not start your week with a reminder of the latest mobile headlines?  Simply register at TheFonecast.com by clicking the link at the top right-hand corner of our home page and we’ll send you this weekly news summary by email.

The Fonecast is sponsored by 51Degrees.mobi. You’ll find more about advertising and sponsorship opportunities on the About us section of our website.

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Opinion Articles

SpinVox visit offers a few clues about the technology

Mark Bridge writes:

So, dear reader, let’s start at the beginning. Once upon a time, a mere five years ago, there was SpinVox. A company created with help from entrepreneur Christina Domecq – whose surname offers a clue to her family’s background – and Daniel Doulton, the man behind the Psion series 5. (Sherry and portable computers; two of my favourite products. But I digress).

The company’s promise was simple: to turn voicemail messages into SMS text messages.

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That just about covers it

Mark Bridge writes:

In my last article I looked forward to a world of cyborgs… but feared that decent battery life could stifle my dreams. And this week I’m on a similar theme, despairing that the UK’s mobile coverage problems probably won’t be solved before the Silver Jubilee of Vodafone and Cellnet’s networks.

To illustrate my worries, let me tell you a story.

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What price for a hands-free conversation?

Iain Graham writes:

When you get up tomorrow morning and get in the car, why don't you screw up three £20 notes and lob 'em out of the window?!  Oh, and whilst you are at it, take out your driving licence, and put three points in the penalties column!!

Why would you do that, I hear you ask?

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The Singularity is… errm… on its way, I think

Mark Bridge writes:

I’m an optimist. I’m not quite sure why I’m wired that way but I’m perfectly happy with it. Much as you’d expect, I suppose. And although I tend not to tap-dance in the gutter when it’s raining, I firmly believe that life is like a musical.

That’s probably why I’m such a fan of what’s become known as ‘the Singularity’; a point when technology and evolution are expected to combine. As computers become smarter, so they’ll be able to build smarter computers themselves – and before you know it they’ll be repairing people and improving the design. If all goes well I’ll look like a combination of Robocop and Jude Law.

“Fascinating”, I hear you say. “Bring on the medical nanobots. But what’s all this got to do with mobile phones?”

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Web Browser vs. Application Stores

James Rosewell writes:

Anyone involved in the mobile industry will have hardly failed to notice the hype surrounding mobile application stores led by Apple. Application stores provide a really simple way for consumers to install applications on their mobile phones. They’re so simple I heard Iain Graham had used one the other week!

However they don’t solve the fundamental problem of handset compatibility.

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