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Monday, April 15, 2013

Last week at The Fonecast: 15th April 2013

Going up...

Mark Bridge writes:

It’s claimed there’s recently been some dodgy equine activity in the mobile industry. No, I’m not talking about the dancing pony that promoted Three UK. I’m not even making lasagne jokes. I’m talking about the ‘Trojan horse’ threatening to monopolise the mobile marketplace.

That Trojan horse is the Android platform, according to a complaint to the European Commission… and those companies doing the complaining include Microsoft, Nokia and Oracle. They’re part of a coalition called FairSearch, describing Google’s distribution of Android as “predatory”. It’ll be interesting to see what happens next.

Sticking with legal activity, the UK’s Office of Fair Trading has launched an investigation to find out whether some free mobile applications and web-based games for children are breaking the law.

It’s not saying anyone is; it’s just checking because consumer protection law doesn’t allow products to include a ‘direct exhortation’ encouraging children to make a purchase. The results of its fact-finding are due to be published later this year.

In other news from the past seven days, a lot of things appear to be going up. Worldwide tablet shipments are expected to increase 38% this year, the number of mobile HTML5 browsers is forecast to rise by 87% this year and app downloads are already up by 11% since the end of 2012.

Also increasing is the UK’s spending on mobile advertising – up 148% to £526 million in 2012 – along with global spending on location-based ads.

4G data speeds are on the way up, too. EE says it’s going to double the speed and the capacity of its UK network, introducing maximum data speeds of over 80Mbps.

And one final increase: a large-screen smartphone from Samsung. This new ‘phablet’ is packing the biggest screen ever seen on a Samsung phone; bigger than the Galaxy S4 and the Note II. It’s equipped with a 6.3-inch display and is called the Samsung Mega. Yes, Mega. Well, with a screen that size it was hardly going to be subtle, was it?

Every Monday morning we summarise the past week’s mobile industry headlines in a 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

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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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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