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Monday, September 26, 2011

Last week at The Fonecast: 26th September 2011

Mark Bridge writes:

Welcome to a summary of last week’s mobile industry news from TheFonecast.com.

The biggest mobile-flavoured story from the past seven days was probably HP’s replacement of its president and CEO. Léo Apotheker is out after less than a year, replaced by former eBay CEO Meg Whitman. It’s not likely to affect the company’s plans for webOS tablets and phones… but it’ll be interesting to see what Ms Whitman does next.

More headline-grabbing news came from Facebook, which introduced a ‘Timeline’ feature that’ll let users display every aspect of their lives in a… well, a timeline, really. You’ll be able to fill your timeline automatically via ‘social apps’ on your desktop and mobile devices – from the music you play and the newspaper you read to the shopping you buy and the exercise you do. Somehow, I think a few people may be caught out by this.

Sticking with new products and services, Google Wallet went live (but only for US-based customers at the moment), Orange added a bada-powered smartphone to its 'Quick Tap' mobile payment service and Bambuser introduced a Google Map mash-up for its live broadcasts. Not quite so new was the introduction of MMS photo uploading to Twitter; the micro-blogging provider was very proud of it, despite Orange UK having introduced its own MMS tweeting service two years ago.

Under the ‘not-so-good’ heading last week we heard Ofcom say that complaint numbers from Three UK customers are rising. (No, not three customers but Three customers). The NPD Group revealed that 82% of smartphone users had no security products on their phones. UK virtual network Desi Mobile closed within a year of launch. And the Emporia Telme phone for older users was hit by a European injunction from rival Doro.

At the other end of the age range, internet security company Westcoastcloud had been looking at younger users. They reckon one in ten children under the age of 10 now owns an iPhone, with one in twenty children owning an iPad. Perhaps there’s an entire audience demographic we’re missing here at TheFonecast.com. Maybe we ought to ditch the podcast theme tune and replace it with Igglepiggle’s song instead.

Bye bye, everybody, bye bye.

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Opinion Articles

Review: BeeWi BBS020 solar-powered hands-free Bluetooth car kit

Mark Bridge writes:

Persuading mobile phone users not to hold their phone when they’re driving should be a simple task. It’s dangerous, it’s against the law and the penalties include a fine plus points on your licence.

But even then, there’s often an excuse about convenience and usability. Some people don’t like wearing headsets, some don’t like wires and some simply forget to charge the batteries.

That’s why a new hands-free Bluetooth loudspeaker from French company BeeWi caught my eye.

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The simple case of the disguised iPhone 4

Mark Bridge writes:

I remember the launch of Carweek back in the 1990s. It was a motoring magazine produced as a weekly glossy newspaper; a novel format, although one that probably led to its demise. 'Spy shots' of prototype cars seemed then – as now – to be much sought-after, despite them often not showing much resemblance to the finished product. Indeed, I often wondered how you could possibly road-test the handling of a new car when it was covered with unflattering body parts that served to disguise its shape.

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Maria Sharapova and the 'geek porn' of unboxing

Mark Bridge writes:

'Unboxing' is - or was - the new geek porn. We know this because The Register told us so in 2006, when the practice of video recording the unpacking of new consumer electronics products started to become popular. Just over two years later The Independent tried to tell us that unboxing was still the new geek porn but, by then, conventional porn had probably returned to... er... pole position.

Why do I mention this?  Well, Sony Ericsson has just published its own unboxing video featuring tennis player, model, charity worker and Sony Ericsson brand ambassador Maria Sharapova.

Author: The Fonecast
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Scaremongering news stories? There's an app for that

Mark Bridge writes:

Here’s a news headline that caught my eye.

Shotgun certificate up for renewal?  There's an app for that

Or, if you prefer…

Police to allow gun users renew licences with iPhone app

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Mobile payments: solutions get dumber while cards get smarter?

Mark Bridge writes:

Last week I spotted a couple of mobile-related news stories that involved payment company MasterCard. One came from CPI Card Group, which had introduced a “next-generation, MasterCard-approved payment tag” (a.k.a. 'sticker') that enabled “any mobile device to be used to make payments anywhere using the worldwide contactless MasterCard PayPass standard” (by sticking it on the back).

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In today's programme Mark Bridge talks to Chris Millington, who's Managing Director for Doro UK and Ireland.

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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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