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Monday, June 18, 2012

Last week at The Fonecast: 18th June 2012

What next for Nokia?

Mark Bridge writes:

Oh, how cheerful we were last Monday. Apple previewed iOS6, which will bring mobile tickets (and 200 other new features) to the iPhone and iPad this autumn. Vodafone cut the cost of using your phone in Europe with its flat-rate £3-per-day EuroTraveller deal and a few days later Three came up with its own ‘unlimited’ European data roaming.

Yet by the end of the week there were fewer smiles in the mobile industry. The biggest bombshell came from Nokia. In a series of announcements on Thursday it said 10,000 staff would be cut (including three of the leadership team), factories would be closed and its Vertu luxury phone brand would be sold. There’ll be a new focus on location-based services and photography, helped by the acquisition of technology, patents and staff from imaging business Scalado.

There was also a Nokia link to last week’s other big acquisition story. Mobile computing business Psion plc is being combined with the Enterprise Mobile Computing business of Motorola Solutions, assuming shareholders are happy with the price. Psion’s EPOC operating system was the forerunner of the Symbian OS, now nestling within... Nokia.

Fortunately, most of the week’s other headlines were relatively upbeat. For example, it’s been a good week for mobile financial services. iZettle released its API, enabling its card payment technology to be incorporated within other applications, and picked up £20 million in new funding. Customers of the Royal Bank of Scotland and NatWest were able to withdraw money from cash machines by using mobile phones instead of a bank card. And on the other side of the Atlantic, US-based mobile payment service Square said over two million individuals and businesses are now signed-up to use its app.

Supermarkets were busy moving further into mobile. Tesco took control of the WE7 online music service for a purchase price of £10.8 million, while Sainsbury’s spent much less on its eBook retailer. Just £1 gave it a 64% stake in Anobii Limited alongside HarperCollins, Penguin and Random House Group.

A different kind of selling was proposed by Everything Everywhere and Nokia Siemens Networks. They now have a machine-to-machine partnership that will allow vending machines to offer remote stock monitoring, location-based promotional messages and mobile payments.

Finally for now, our congratulations to Charles Dunstone and Dr Mike Short. Sir Charles of the Warehouse, as he’ll probably never be known, was awarded a knighthood in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List. Meanwhile Dr Short of Telefónica Europe, who’s also president of the Institution of Engineering & Technology and a supporter of many other mobile organisations, is to receive a CBE.

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. More details about advertising and sponsorship opportunities are available on the About Us section of our website.
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Opinion Articles

We interview Geoff Love of Esendex about business SMS messaging

Mark Bridge writes:

Nottingham-based Esendex Limited has been supporting businesses with messaging services for over ten years. Yet with SMS messaging celebrating its 20th birthday in the UK this year, it would be easy to think the no-nonsense short message is now being threatened by social networking, mobile email and picture messages.

That’s not the case, explained Geoff Love, Chief Commercial Officer of Esendex.

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Nokia can't stop talking - even when there’s nothing to say

Mark Bridge writes:

I still have my Nokia 2110. When the world is taken over by cockroaches and the MRSA bug, my Nokia 2110 will still be in working order. The MRSA-infected cockroaches will probably use it to build their own cellular network.

I loved the Nokia Communicator. It was a real game-changer, a device that paved the way for today’s smartphones.

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How to use the Olympics to boost your profits and make mobile work for you

Textlocal’s top tips on how to use the Olympics to boost your profits and make mobile work for you:

With only 80 days to go until the start of the Olympics 2012, most businesses will have already outlined their marketing strategies to reach out to the new audiences it will attract to the UK. Leading mobile company Textlocal explains how limited time isn’t an issue where mobile messaging is concerned.

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London NFC advertising disappoints

Mark Bridge writes:

It's a hard life being an early adopter. Last week in London I walked past a bus shelter that displayed a sequence of posters. Next to the changing display panel was a blue NFC logo.

“For advertiser links and travel information touch your NFC enabled phone above”

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Last week at The Fonecast: have RIM and Samsung done enough?

Mark Bridge writes:

What a week it was for mobile manufacturers. RIM revealed the BlackBerry 10 platform to its developers, while Samsung announced a new flagship Android phone. Both offer a number of distinctive features, with fans commending them and critics suggesting they didn’t go far enough.

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Podcast from Mobile World Congress 2015

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A month of mobile: O2 counts on 3, Microsoft counts to 10 and Apple counts its profits

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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?

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