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Saturday, April 9, 2011

This week at The Fonecast: 9th April 2011

Mark Bridge writes:

We head into the weekend with the News of the World admitting voicemail hacking was more widespread than previously thought. Mobile networks had already made it much harder to access voicemail remotely… and now the NotW is saying sorry and preparing to pay compensation.

Talking of illicit activities, British police ‘on the beat’ have been given the ability to identify stolen mobile phones within seconds. Access to the National Mobile Phone Register has been added to the handheld computers used by thousands of officers, thanks to Recipero.

On to other partnerships now, and the biggest news of the week was Vodafone’s decision to sell its stake in French network SFR. What’ll this mean for its Verizon partnership in the USA?  Probably not much in the short-term, to be honest.

In Ireland, Telefonica O2 Ireland and the eircom Group announced a new mobile network sharing arrangement. And here in the UK, Everything Everywhere added another 3 MVNOs to its network. That’ll be a total of 21.

Facebook was talking technical this week. First came an announcement that it was moving to a mobile internet platform that would automatically tailor the appearance of its web site to suit the visiting phone – much like our own mobile site at thefonecast.com – and later in the week it revealed a new server centre in the USA.

Okay, let’s return to basics. Time for some sales figures. In the last few days we’ve seen research that emphasises the growth in ‘smart’ mobile technology. Worldwide cameraphone sales are expected to exceed 1 billion units this year… and almost half the world's new smartphones will be running Android by the end of next year.

Of course, all those smartphones won’t be much use without decent tariffs. This week The Carphone Warehouse stepped into the space already occupied by Three UK and giffgaff by introducing an unlimited internet tariff. At the moment it’s only available for purchases within the next month – but I’m hoping it’s a sign that the bigger networks might also be thinking of relaxing a bit. Well, you never know.


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Opinion Articles

Last week at The Fonecast: 4th March 2013

What happened at Mobile World Congress?

Mark Bridge writes:

We’re back from Mobile World Congress – and what a show it was. Located at a new site that saw more visitors than ever before, the show had everything… except any particularly obvious theme from hardware manufacturers. Last year was the year of the quad-core smartphone, this year there was plenty of incremental innovation but nothing truly startling.

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Cell phone use increasing pedestrian danger

Faiza Elmasry of voanews.com writes:

Teenagers are often warned against texting on their cell phones while they are behind the wheel of a car, since distracted driving can lead to serious automobile accidents.

Many teens, however, are not aware that distracted walking can be just as dangerous.

Author: The Fonecast
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Mobile phone shopping tips from Mark Bridge on Britain's Secret Shoppers

Mark Bridge writes:

I like a challenge. I like learning. Ask me to do a spot of research and I’ll happily pore over books, trawl the internet and have lengthy conversations into the night.

So I was more than happy to help when Optomen Television, the company behind “Britain’s Secret Shoppers” on Channel 4, asked me for a few tips that would help viewers get a good deal on a mobile phone.

Author: The Fonecast
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Article rating: 5.0
What's wrong with Android?

What's wrong with Android?

and why 2.3 is still the most popular version

James Rosewell writes:

8 months ago I moved my main smartphone from Android to Windows Phone. I had entered a simpler world. There were less applications, no tethering option, voice dictation sucked and I couldn’t get a multi-SIM device. But overall I survived.

Then I started travelling more. I moved back to Android a few weeks ago... and what a disappointment.

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Last week at The Fonecast: 18th February 2013

There's only one MWC...

Mark Bridge writes:

As the final days before this year’s Mobile World Congress approach, we discover there are two types of scheduled news announcements from the wireless telecoms industry.

There are the announcements delayed until MWC begins because the company wants to be part of the buzz at Barcelona. And there are the announcements made in the fortnight beforehand because they don’t want their story to get lost.

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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.

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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.

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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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