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Saturday, April 16, 2011

This week at The Fonecast: 16th April 2011

Mark Bridge writes:

We started this week with a story that grabbed plenty of attention. It was a report from Billmonitor.com that claimed we in the UK were wasting almost £5 billion every year by choosing the wrong mobile tariffs. Although I remained a little cynical about some of the detail, there’s no doubt that many consumers could be better off if they switched tariff - or even network. And now, with 1-day number porting available, it’s easier than ever.

Also hitting the mainstream press was Everything Everywhere, which was getting hassle for being the only UK operator charging charities to handle their text message donations. It’s since decided to give 100% of donations to 100% of charities; a pretty dramatic turnaround from two years ago when none of the UK networks were offering any significant concessions for SMS payments.

Talking of payments, American Express did a deal with mobile payment service Payfone to enhance its virtual wallet. The results are only available in the US at the moment, so don’t get too excited. Better news for the rest of us came from Juniper Research, forecasting almost 300 million NFC-capable smartphones around the globe by 2014; the equivalent of at least 1 in 5 worldwide.

There was UK-specific good news from Chinese telecoms firm Huawei, with plans to create 500 new UK jobs during the next three years - and many more through subcontracting. And I have no doubt that the company was also pleased to see the end of its legal dispute with Motorola, although it very much looks as though Huawei came out on top.

Other manufacturing news came from Nokia with two new smartphones and an updated version of Symbian, nicknamed Symbian Anna. (I suspect Symbian may not ever reach the end of the naming alphabet).

Apart from that, there wasn’t much unexpected. Google’s financial results showed it was doing okay. PC sales weren’t doing so well. Apple is expected to sell plenty of tablets. And some people don’t show very much online common sense when using their mobile phones.

Just try to make sure you’re not one of them!


Stay ahead by reading this weekly summary before everyone else!  Click the ‘register’ link in the top right-hand corner of our website and we’ll send you our news summary by email every week.

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5/31/2011 7:54 AM

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Opinion Articles

The cost of European roaming needn't be a worry

Mark Bridge writes:

Today’s podcast feature is a personal look at the cost of mobile ‘roaming’ in France.

At the beginning of July 2011 the rate for European roaming charges fell to a maximum of 38p per minute (incl. VAT) for calls made while abroad in the EU – and 12p per minute for calls received. There’s also a maximum 12p charge for sending text messages.

Author: The Fonecast
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This week at The Fonecast: 26th August 2011

Mark Bridge writes:

Today's news summary is a little early because I'm on holiday this afternoon. I'll be leaving Iain and James in charge... and, even though it's traditionally the "silly season", they'll have plenty to talk about in Wednesday's podcast.

A week ago, the big news in our podcast was Google's purchase of Motorola Mobility. This week it was HP's move away from webOS devices. And now we hear that Steve Jobs has stepped down from the CEO role at Apple, although he's remaining with the company as Chairman of the Board.

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Power your laptop by taking a walk

Rosanne Skirble of voanews.com writes:

Scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have developed a technology that turns human motion into electricity.

In this week's journal Nature Communications, they describe how to power a cell phone or other mobile device - like a laptop computer or GPS system - by simply taking a walk.

Author: The Fonecast
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Nokia prices: how low can you go?

Mark Bridge writes:

This week Nokia has announced the latest iteration of its Symbian software platform: Symbian Belle, which follows the alphabetical theme started by Symbian Anna. Whether we'll reach Symbian Zoe, Zara or Zsa-Zsa before Symbian support ends in 2016 is another matter. But I digress.

Along with Symbian Belle came three new phones - yet it was two other Nokia phones announced from Kenya on Thursday that caught my eye.

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Don't bother looking for a dramatically reduced HP TouchPad in the UK

Mark Bridge writes:

This weekend, you could have picked up a HP TouchPad webOS tablet for $99. Both the HP USA online store and Best Buy in Canada were selling the obsolescent devices at a substantial discount.

Yet over here in the UK, we've seen nothing except a prize draw from The Carphone Warehouse and a less-than-£90 discount from Amazon. And I don't expect anything much better in the short-term.

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