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Monday, July 16, 2012

Last week at The Fonecast: 16th July 2012

Black days for BlackBerry?

Mark Bridge writes:

BlackBerry and bad news seem inextricably linked at the moment. RIM’s CEO admits he’s “not satisfied” with recent company performance and warns of challenging times ahead... and then the company is hit by a $147 million dollar damages order for patent infringement.

Mind you, Research In Motion wasn’t the only mobile company bringing disappointment into the mainstream news last week. O2 UK suffered over half a day of disruption that left millions of its customers unable to use their phones while Chinese manufacturer ZTE said half-year profits could be down by up to 80% due to postponed domestic deals and currency issues in the Eurozone.

A legal battle between Samsung and Apple in the UK resulted in positives and negatives for both sides. A judge ruled that Samsung’s Galaxy Tab family didn’t infringe Apple’s iPad design (hoorah for Samsung!) because the Samsung tablets were clearly not as cool as the iPad (hoorah for Apple!).

Technology distributors Brightstar and Tech Data were claiming a win-win deal with an announcement that Brightstar Corporation was selling its 50% share of jointly-run Brightstar Europe to Tech Data. Tech Data will then have its own European distributor, while Brightstar will continue operations in Europe under a wholly-owned subsidiary.

While we’re talking about partnerships, Vodafone Ireland and Three Ireland have agreed to set up a 50/50 joint venture company to share their physical network and site infrastructure across the country. Back in the UK, Telefonica has extended its partnership with G4S Utility Services and will now be providing up to 1.4 million O2 SIM cards for ‘smart’ gas & electricity meters. And Telefonica was also in on the global machine-to-machine alliance that’s designed to help network operators with cross-border M2M deals.

Finally, in a world where – as Iain Graham often points out – every phone is becoming a smartphone, it’s clear that accessories are becoming more sophisticated as well. A new report from Juniper Research says ‘smart accessories’ will become a major new market for manufacturers over the next five years, with this year’s total of 10 million task-specific smart devices expected to be dwarfed by the 2017 total of over 100 million units.

Mind you, with ‘smart paper’ and ‘smart covers’ already on the market, perhaps that’s not really so surprising.

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

UK riots hit the mobile industry

Mark Bridge writes:

Having just returned from a week's holiday in a part of the country where mobile coverage was surprisingly sparse, it struck me how much mobile phones were linked to the recent English riots and looting.

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Rhona Cashman from OtterBox explains the secrets of mobile phone cases

Mark Bridge writes:

A mobile phone case is often seen simply as a revenue opportunity for retailers. But, as you might expect, there's a lot more to this type of accessory than first meets the eye.

I started this week's podcast feature by asking Rhona Cashman from protective case manufacturer OtterBox why mobile phone dealers should be discerning about the cases they sell.

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Steve Ballmer and Rupert Murdoch - both troubled by their one-percent businesses

Mark Bridge writes:

Last month, News Corporation's Rupert Murdoch said the News of the World had accounted for just 1% of his global business. It's a figure that put the overall size of News Corp into perspective.

This week, some analysis of Microsoft's financial results seems to suggest Windows Phone is only generating a similarly small percentage for its parent.

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Google claims 'hostile campaign' against Android by Microsoft and Apple

Mark Bridge writes:

David Drummond, Google's Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer, has just written a blog post that describes an 'anti-competitive strategy' against Android by companies including Apple, Microsoft and Oracle. Entitled "When patents attack Android", it points out that more than 550,000 Android devices are now activated every day... and says this has resulted in "a hostile, organized campaign against Android".

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I'm unconvinced about the new T-Mobile hybrid tariff

Mark Bridge writes:

I don't like marketing spin. You know, the kind of thing where the small print contradicts the headlines or where an embarrassing u-turn becomes a benefit. Given my chosen profession, I find it tends to stand out.

And so I turn my attention to T-Mobile's new 'You Fix' tariff. Sounds rather like T-Mobile's 2005 'U-Fix' tariff, but that may be coincidence. You pay a fixed monthly fee and - if you use all of your inclusive calls - you can add an additional allowance during the month by paying a bit more. Rather like buying a top-up on a prepay phone.

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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.

They talk about wearable devices, wireless charging, mobile operating systems and much more... including some of their favourite products from the exhibition.

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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.

They discuss the state of mobile retailing in the UK, the future of wearable devices and - as you might expect - smartphones for seniors.

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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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