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Monday, February 24, 2014

Last week at The Fonecast: 24th February 2014

Are you ready?

Mark Bridge writes:

Some companies have saved their big announcements for the week of Mobile World Congress. Samsung and Nokia, for example. Others have issued a press release in advance.

It would be easy to assume that the companies making pre-show announcements were worried their news might not get noticed. I don’t think this was the case for Facebook, which is spending £9.6 billion on instant messaging app WhatsApp. Much of that value was in Facebook shares but there’s plenty of real money changing hands as well. It’ll be interesting to hear what Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says during his keynote speech at MWC tonight.

Also making a splash before the show was Huawei, with a multi-product announcement yesterday afternoon. There was a mobile WiFi hotspot, two tablets, a smartphone with a 5 megapixel self-portrait camera and a wearable ‘TalkBand’, which combines fitness tracking with Bluetooth calling.

Microsoft had a Sunday announcement, too. It’s now working with nine new hardware partners for Windows Phone, which is likely to mean lower-priced devices targeting developing markets.

Other manufacturer news included new smartphones from Acer, Alcatel and Kazam (and a 3D-mapping prototype from Google), plus Jolla’s Sailfish OS was being readied for Android phones and Apple iOS needed a security update.

In the world of apps, both Visa and MasterCard talked about Host Card Emulation; a cloud-based security process for mobile payments that avoids the need for account details to be uploaded to a SIM card. And mobile payment/advertising partnership Weve announced Pouch, a mobile-based ‘loyalty card’ application.

Right, it’s time for me to head to the airport and join the crowds in Barcelona. Instead of our regular podcast this week there’ll be a series of interviews from MWC; you can keep up to date with all our programmes by bookmarking our website, subscribing free on iTunes, using our RSS feed or downloading the Stitcher.com mobile app.

On Monday mornings we summarise the past week’s mobile industry headlines in an email newsletter that’s very much 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

Last week at The Fonecast: 8th July 2013

Not all good news...

Mark Bridge writes:

The UK is beginning its week with news of a long-awaited sporting victory for Andy Murray. The telecoms world had its own much-anticipated good news last week, when European roaming rates fell again. And regardless of Neelie Kroes’ plans to abolish roaming rates completely, there’ll definitely be another roaming cut in 2014.

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The hidden benefits of 4G

Dan Grose of Phones 4u writes:

It’s been nearly 10 months since EE launched the UK’s first 4G network and an estimated 55% of the country is now enjoying its benefits. The fourth generation of mobile networks has brought speeds of between 10-12 megabytes per second to thousands of areas across Britain, creating somewhat of a revolution in super-fast mobile browsing.

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Nokia’s £13 phone still makes money for the company

Mark Bridge writes:

The UK mobile phone industry knows all about subsidised prices. Independent mobile dealers and high-street shops will happily offer a ‘free phone with free connection’ in order to tie a customer into a minimum-term contract.

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Easily upgrade your Android and iPhone app to access physical objects

Andrea Gerber of baimos technologies writes:

Mobile devices are becoming ever more prevalent in our daily lives and so it comes as no surprise that they are now being utilized in security-relevant scenarios such as car-sharing and shared parking. Mobility solutions such as these increasingly rely on smartphone applications, hence technologies arise that allow the smartphone to morph into a digital key.

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Last week at The Fonecast: 1st July 2013

Good news from Sony Mobile, bad news from BlackBerry

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.

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