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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: 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.

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O2 and the iPhone 5: when is a a pre-order not a pre-order?

Mark Bridge writes:

Last week I pointed out that picking the best bits from other people’s tech reviews didn’t look good when the full version was pretty uncomplimentary. And today I’ve discovered another mobile network guilty of tripping itself up with words.

Author: The Fonecast
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Cars and medicine are expected to be major M2M drivers next year

Machine-to-machine (M2M) communication is offering mobile networks an unrivalled opportunity to dramatically increase their connection figures. At the moment, over 100 million M2M-enabled devices - from vending machines to smoke alarms - are providing information automatically, with mobile networks carrying the majority of this traffic

Jürgen Hase, Vice President of the M2M Competence Center at Deutsche Telekom and Chairman of the M2M Alliance, offers his M2M predictions for 2013.

Author: The Fonecast
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Last week at The Fonecast: 10th December 2012

From Christmas SMS to customer service

Mark Bridge writes:

We started last week with a 20th birthday party for the SMS text message, which was first used as an alternative Christmas card by Neil Papworth in 1992. Since then, mobile data has been transformed from the familiar dit-dit-dit dah-dah dit-dit-dit of Nokia phones to non-stop internet connectivity on smart devices.

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Vodafone Smart Tab II: painfully positive spin

Mark Bridge writes:

There are some things I don’t want to accept. Events that have rocked my perception of the world. Dave Lee Travis being arrested. The death of Amy Winehouse. Visiting a pork pie factory. I now have a new one on my list: Vodafone’s blog post today about the Smart Tab II.

Author: The Fonecast
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Article rating: 5.0
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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.

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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.

Author: The Fonecast
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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.

Author: The Fonecast
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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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