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Saturday, March 31, 2012

RIM is still committed to the consumer market... like there was ever any doubt

Mark Bridge writes:

There are times I feel like turning my back on the mobile phone industry and joining a monastery. That’s probably not going to happen, given the monks’ tradition of not admitting wives. But yesterday was another of those frustrating occasions. Let me tell you why.

Poor old RIM. It’s been through a rough patch. In fact, it’s in a rough patch right now. BlackBerry sales haven’t been going as well as expected.

So what’s it going to do?

It’s planning “to refocus on the enterprise business”. That’s the phrase CEO Thorsten Heins used. He said the company can’t be all things to all people, so it’ll build on its strengths and go after targeted consumer segments. It’s likely to scale back its consumer-oriented value-added services business.

And it’s going to stop selling phones to consumers.

Oh, hang on, no. No, he didn’t say that.

So why did we end up with headlines reading BlackBerry firm quits consumer race and BlackBerry giving up on the consumer market, along with news stories asking “I've just agreed a 24-month contract. Will I be affected?”.

I can only guess. People being in a hurry to write a story, people looking for an online headline that’ll generate plenty of clicks, people not bothering to read the announcement or listen to what Mr Heins actually said...

...and perhaps RIM should have made things clearer. Anyway, it now has.

The company has issued a statement that says “To be really clear, we are fully committed to the consumer market. In fact, we are aggressively focusing on delivering a unique and compelling user experience to all of our customers to enhance the way people engage, produce content, and manage data via mobile computing.”

It goes on to say RIM will be focussing on parts of the consumer market where BlackBerry excels, commenting that it’s uniquely positioned to deliver a smartphone for personal and professional use.

Which is pretty much what it said in the first place.

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Opinion Articles

iPhone users are optimists while BlackBerry users are pessimists... apparently

Mark Bridge writes:

At the end of our weekly podcast covering the latest mobile industry news, we usually finish with an “And finally...” report. Something that’s lighter that the rest of the headlines. You know the kind of thing; kittens using mobile phones, puppy-powered mobile phone chargers...

Author: The Fonecast
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Indian mobile phone app aims to thwart sexual assaults

Kurt Achin of voanews.com writes:

In India's burgeoning economy, more and more women are going to work in offices - exposing them to what can sometimes be dangerous urban conditions. Now, a new technological initiative aims to protect women against sexual assault.

Author: The Fonecast
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Promote your business at Mobile World Congress with The Fonecast

Mark Bridge writes:

Another year, another Mobile World Congress!

It’s something of a cliché to talk about the months flying by, how it seems like yesterday when everyone in Barcelona had a Nokia handset and the dancers on the CBOSS stand were all wearing full-length evening dresses. Yet it’s also true. Except for that part about the dancers, anyway.

Here at TheFonecast.com we’ve had a busy 12 months that have seen us talking to more and more people, gaining a much larger audience and watching the mobile industry grow dramatically.

Author: The Fonecast
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Will the CES trend for larger screens lead to poorer mobile web sites?

James Rosewell writes:

This year’s CES event in Las Vegas promises to be the biggest yet. There’ll be mobile phones, there’ll be tablets, there’ll be gaming devices, there’ll be sat nav – and there’ll be many other products that now include their own mobile data connection.

When you’ve got mobile data, it’s usually an obvious step to add a browser... and before you know it, consumers are browsing the internet from a device that was never really intended to visit conventional web sites.

Author: The Fonecast
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Carnival of the Mobilists #256

Mark Bridge writes:

Happy New Year and welcome to the travelling circus better known as the Carnival of the Mobilists. If you’re looking for the best mobile-related blog posts from the past couple of weeks, you’ve come to the right place. (If you’re wondering about the name of Beyonce’s baby, you need to try somewhere else).

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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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