Mark Bridge writes:
We’ve had a week packed with financial figures. Microsoft, Vodafone and Qualcomm were all relatively upbeat with their quarterly results. A ‘thrilled’ Apple shipped over 20 million iPhones in yet another record quarter, while Nokia shipped less than 17 million smartphones (and almost 72 million other mobile phones) in its disappointing quarter.
Talking of numbers, a new report from Juniper Research predicts that one billion smartphones will be shipped globally in 2016, a 230% increase from last year’s total of 302 million devices worldwide.
This week has also delivered surprising news for many people: Everything Everywhere, the parent of Orange and T-Mobile in the UK, is getting a new CEO. Tom Alexander, who’d previously been CEO of Orange, is handing over to Olaf Swantee at the end of August.
If that wasn’t surprising enough, Google has said it's going to close its Google Labs project – the ‘playground’ in which it developed a variety of prototype desktop and mobile products. Looks like little Google’s all grown-up now.
In the world of apps, GetTaxi has launched a service that’ll let you order a London taxi from an app. Better still, it’ll let you watch the taxi via an on-screen map as it heads towards you.
Three UK has introduced a Facebook mobile application for Java-based feature phones, along with six months of free use.
Arriva has issued mobile tickets for more than one million UK bus journeys.
And we’ve been talking to Sedgrid Lewis, who’s fighting the cyberbullies with an app called Bully Block.
Finally, if you ever wondered where the mobile king of the world might live, the GSMA has an answer for you. It’s Barcelona. Yes, the Catalan city has been named as the Mobile World Capital from 2012 to 2018. This means, amongst other things, it’ll be in a position to host the GSMA Mobile World Congress… which was hosted by Barcelona in 2011… and 2010… and 2009…
I wonder if anyone put money on its rivals?
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