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Monday, December 17, 2012

Last week at The Fonecast: 17th December 2012

Look to the future now...

Mark Bridge writes:

It’s the week before Christmas, which can only mean one thing for the mobile industry: plenty of research news. Yes, when there isn’t anything new to talk about, a survey or forecast is the perfect way to fill the silence.

Mind you, things haven’t been entirely quiet when it comes to mobile products and services.

Google brought out an iOS version of its mapping app, causing much rejoicing from Apple customers who felt they’d been left in the wilderness. In some cases, quite literally in the wilderness if they’d followed Apple Maps. EE announced the next places in line for 4G UK coverage, while CabWiFi prepared to turn London taxis into mobile hotspots and Twitter introduced photo filters to its iOS and Android apps. Watch out, Instagram.

STMicroelectronics said it planned to leave the ST-Ericsson partnership, which gives joint partner Ericsson a bit of a headache – and Ericsson faced disappointment in another business area when Huawei took over its role managing the network of Three UK.

Time for those studies now. Browser company Opera has been looking at mobile website preferences across Europe… and has discovered very few opportunities for humour based on national stereotypes. The UK doesn’t even have a weather-specific site in the top ten. However, we do like a spot of online shopping according to Ofcom – and we’ve bought a lot of smartphones, too.

Meanwhile, nearly two-thirds of mobile video in the USA is watched at home and, on a wider scale, mobile banking has taken hold around the globe. That’s according to Bain & Co and is also reflected in last Friday’s podcast interview with Gemalto.

ABI Research and Juniper Research both published a downloadable list of predictions about mobile technology in 2013 – we’ll be broadcasting ours in a special podcast on Wednesday – and, looking five years into the future, we’re told to expect one in seven mobile subscribers using VoIP, half of all smartphones costing less than £100 and over 4 million alarms connected to mobile networks in Europe.

Finally a couple of big-name appointments. UK entrepreneur Brent Hoberman, best known to many as the lastminute.com co-founder who wasn’t Martha Lane Fox, has joined the Shazam board of directors as an independent board member. And futurist/inventor/writer Ray Kurzweil has joined Google as its Director of Engineering. Which prompts the question: how many years will it be before Ray’s work means you can backup your brain to a Gmail account?  And what happens when you exceed your 10MB limit?

Receive our weekly newsletter about the biggest mobile industry news headlines every Monday morning. Simply register your email address at TheFonecast.com by clicking the link at the top right-hand corner of our home page. We’re taking a break for Christmas, so the next newsletter will be sent on 7th January.

All of us at The Fonecast wish our readers and supporters a very happy Christmas and a successful new year.
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Opinion Articles

Last week at The Fonecast: 23rd September 2013

Black days for BlackBerry

Mark Bridge writes:

There are bad weeks... and there are BAD weeks. Blackberry had one of the latter. It all started so well. The company announced a new flagship phablet – the Z30 – and said it would be launching its BBM instant messaging service for iOS and Android handsets at the weekend.

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Last week at The Fonecast: 16th September 2013

iPhone, iPhone, so good they made it twice

Mark Bridge writes:

iPhone, iPhone. Two of ‘em, one dearer than the other but neither especially cheap. One with a 64-bit look-at-me-I’m-fast processor, the other much like an iPhone 5 with a coloured rear panel.

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EC's Neelie Kroes says ‘we must act now’ to change European telecoms rules

Mark Bridge writes:

Following Wednesday’s ‘State of the Union’ speech by EC President Jose Manuel Barroso, EC Vice-President Neelie Kroes has emphasised the urgency of changing the way telecoms companies operate across Europe.

Ms Kroes wants to cut red tape, end roaming charges, reduce call costs and introduce ‘net neutrality’ across Europe.

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Last week at The Fonecast: 2nd September 2013

Breaking up is profitable to do

Mark Bridge writes:

So – we take a short break at the end of the August ‘silly season’ and one of the year’s biggest mobile-related rumours becomes fact. At least we’re back in time to report on the final stages of the Vodafone/Verizon deal. Yes, it looks as though Big Red will be picking up something like $130 billion for its 45% stake in Verizon Communications… possibly within the next few hours. Just don’t mention the tax, okay?

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GSMA not cowed after EC compares mobile calls with milk

Mark Bridge writes:

In this week’s podcast we talked about a recent European study into call costs that had been highlighted by European Commission Vice President Neelie Kroes.

We agreed the headline was shocking - but also said there were potentially many other tariff factors that weren’t being compared.

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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.

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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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