Did Your Phone Ring For You Yesterday?

Did you miss that important business call or appointment yesterday? We all rely so much on mobile connectivity it can be a real issue, or alternatively a joy, when its not available.

Yesterday millions of calls where 'lost', people looked at their phones and were unable to make calls as O2 customers across the South-east of England and east London were unable to make calls or send text messages for most of the day. The problem was due to network equipment owned by O2 having been stolen in the early hours of the morning.O2 users in Kent, West Sussex, North and east London were without service for up to 17 hours.

O2 said it would not be issuing compensation but they will be obviously taking a bit more care of their equipment in the future.

iPhone Goes Orange in the UK

Orange is to sell Apple's iPhone in the UK. This move which has been widely expected clearly ends the exclusive deal Apple had with O2 which has been good for O2 but some would argue bad for Apple.

If the planned merger between Orange and Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile goes through and creates a 28.4 million customer business and becomes the UK's largest provider, it certainly would open the flood gates to many more iPhones being taken up.
It is estimated that some 75% of the UK market would be able to have an iPhone and with the Pre and other competitors struggling to catch up the iPhone could become a category killer in the UK.

It has also been announced today that the iPhone app store has just clocked up its 2 billionth download. It is only a few months since they announced that they achieved 1 billion! The others are clearly way back in the dust.

The other interesting thing to watch is the reaction of the other non iPhone carriers who are already struggling to offer exciting models and now find themselves squeezed by the big boys. Some suggest you will be able to get an iPhone through the other carriers on a ‘special deal’ and that these exist already. Whatever the case the iPhone could be the phone most people are using this Christmas and New Year to phone friends and family.

iPhone Goes Orange in the UK

Orange is to sell Apple's iPhone in the UK. This move which has been widely expected clearly ends the exclusive deal Apple had with O2 which has been good for O2 but some would argue bad for Apple.

If the planned merger between Orange and Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile goes through and creates a 28.4 million customer business and becomes the UK's largest provider, it certainly would open the flood gates to many more iPhones being taken up.
It is estimated that some 75% of the UK market would be able to have an iPhone and with the Pre and other competitors struggling to catch up the iPhone could become a category killer in the UK.

The other interesting thing to watch is the reaction of the other non iPhone carriers who are already struggling to offer exciting models and now find themselves squeezed by the big boys. Some suggest you will be able to get an iPhone through the other carriers on a ‘special deal’ and that these exist already. Whatever the case the iPhone could be the phone most people are using this Christmas and New Year to phone friends and family.

Exclusive Deals Are Anti Consumer

O2 looks certain to loose its exclusive iPhone deal in the UK on October 9th. Does this mean prices will drop? Well there may be some variance but it is hardly likely to be significant. What is more interesting is that it appears that O2 will retain an exclusive on the new 3GS so what you gain on the swings you loose on the roundabouts.

This obsession with exclusive deals is good for the winning network but bad for consumers. By restricting the iPhone to one network in countries such as the UK and US it can adversely suppress demand, force many into unwanted contracts and eventually, as others catch up create alternatives which are often more open. However, the Palm Pre has followed the exclusive approach and even been stupid enough to select the same network so creating little choice and marginalising the market further.

How are likely to be winners out of this madness? One sure winner is likely to be Google who have chosen a different and more inclusive approach and all the other manufacturers may lack apps but may not be that far behind , or even ahead on everything else.

Wake up Apple it time to exploit not restrict your asset.

Apps Stores: Fad or the Future?

Last week Apple’s app store reached another milestone with 1.5 billion downloads and now supports over 65,000 applications.

So on the same day that O2 launches a £10,000 prize for the best iPhone application voted by its iPhone members, Google believe the app store days are numbered and others say that the app craze is going to just go on getting bigger. Who is right and who is wrong? What are the issues driving this demand and is it a fad or the start of something big?

In a drive to incentivise and reward developers and grow customer loyalty O2 has launched a two month, £10,000 prize competition to select the best iPhone app. The key criteria for the winner will be an app that can ‘help build a lasting relationship between O2 and its iPhone customers.’

Ilja Laurs, CEO of GetJar, a leading independent application predicts that there will be a peak of around 100,000 apps by the end of the year, but with a failure rate of some 90%, he questions whether the lack of revenue will force a rethinking of the current development environment. Will consumers pay and play once, or adopt the apps into their lifestyle? Are apps essential tools and fulfilling real demand, or mere novelty and fashion fads

Symbian’s Lee Williams believes that the app store model is flawed in that it offers too much unwanted stuff and not enough relevant content and applications that will help enrich or add value to a user’s life.


Vic Gundotra, Google's engineering VP believes the app store is a fad and that the focus will shift to powerful browsers. Obviously Google is investing heavily in the Chrome browser, the Android operating system and search, all of which they see as platform and device independent. Therefore it makes sense for them to dismiss apps as a fad.

The question today appears to be one of mobile bandwidth and the lack of interoperability of applications, making development a nightmare and consumer choice complex. Tomorrow the game would appear to be moving towards one app across multiple platforms, devices, carriers, but this requires that all so elusive collaborative thinking and approach that is often lost in today’s ‘exclusive’ world.

What is clear is that app development is a gambling business today and one many will loose their shirt on and one that a few will find very rewarding.

Apple To Let Other Operators Carry the iPhone?

According to Mobile Today, Orange and T-Mobile will be allowed to sell iPhones in the UK in six weeks' time when O2's two-year deal comes to an end. However, before everyone jumps up for joy, O2 will be given exclusive rights to sell the faster iPhone 3GS model. The Palm Pre currently is restricted to O2 under another exclusive deal.

Is it just another Apple rumour. or are we finally going to see the iPhone unlocked just in time for Christmas. Forget the Kindle coming to the UK, the unlocking of the exclusive with O2 may be a far bigger generator of revenue as many may upgrade and stay with their current carrier and the device offers far more for all.

The move will also push the Apple app store, iTunes and of course the resultant bandwidth usage. The other mobile manufacturers have so far failed to dent Apple’s iconic ‘must have’ status and opening up the iPhone is just as much about the pull of the app store as much as the device itself.

Apple now must open its offer up to more. We see its biggest competitive threat being that other new player on the block, Google and their Android offer and we all know that they will play with anyone and everyone.

IPhone 'Stock Dumping' Fuels Runours

Play.com is selling unlocked iPhones in the UK. The unlocked device is sold SIM-free, enabling users to be able to run the handset on any mobile phone network of their choice. However the privilege comes at a price with the unlocked 8GB iPhone costing £549.99 and the 16GB £599.99 with stocks already sold ou of the 16GB.

Carphone Warehouse recently confirmed that it would start giving away the 16GB iPhone for free when customers sign up to a two-year O2 contract for £34.26 per month.It appears that old stock is certainly being cleared to make way for the model expected in June.

BoyGeniusReport claim that Apple is also set to a $99 3G Apple Netbook this summer. At this price Apple will have to make changes and it is rumoured that the Netbook will possibly ship with Apple's own iPhone OS 3.0. Apple may be going for a cut down Netbook that will not compete with its cheapest Macbook, at least not for now. Maybe a iPhone OS based netbook with a keyboard and that much rumoured 10.1-inch touchscreen giving us a large version of the iPod Touch and a compelling device that would live between the laptops and the mobiles and certainly a ebook competitor to rival any eink player with Apple apps to boot!

Mobile iNews

The mobile operator O2 appears to be in the thick of a lot of interesting news and speculation.

A representative from Telefonica, O2’s parent company, is reported in the Spanish newspaper ‘Expansion’, that O2 had been given exclusive rights to the Palm Pre in the UK, Spain and Latin America. The device is being widely viewed as a rival to Apple’s iPhone. If O2 did win the exclusive right to launch the Palm Pre in the UK it would have both the exclusive rights to the iPhone and the Palm Pre in the UK. This may be a view by some as not in the consumer’s best interests restricting both devices to a single network and effectively minimising their market by pitching the two to the same set of customers.

Apple is widely expected to launch a third-generation version of its iPhone this summer. The next generation device is scheduled to be announced next Tuesday in Cupertino. Rumours speculate as to the expected features with SMS forwarding and the provision of cut and paste facilities being top of most guess lists along with the ability to ‘tether’ and act as a wireless internet connection for a computer and the ability to run multiple applications and have background applications. Chinese companies also claim to have accessories for a small-size ‘Nano’ iPhone.

O2 recently announced the sale of the one-millionth iPhone in the UK. ‘Mobile Today’ report that O2 wants to reduce its inventory before new iPhones arrive and will introduce new pricing in May reducing existing 16GB version from being free on a £75 per month contract and the 8GB version free on £75 and £45 per-month plans to being free on £35 and £45 per-month plans.

This like a its going to be a good year for O2 and May a good month to pick up a cheap iPhone in the UK.

For Those who have Everything

Have you every wondered who dreams up some of the solutions that sound good at a glance but just lack real substance when examined more closely. We remember the phone that could receive email and text, those earliy word processors with tiny one line screens and many more devices usually found in an Inovations syle mail order catalogue. Now O2 has launched a new internet device which it claims will become ‘the centrepiece of family life’.

The Joggler, is an internet and messaging centre, which stores appointments, can , take notes and deliver the latest news and traffic reports via its 800 x 480 touch screen interface. The Joggler can also connect to the home network but lacks a built-in SIM card.The Joggler can receive text messages from any UK mobile network and customers can send 50 free SMS messages from the device every month.

The question we would ask is why we need this when we have mobiles that are synchronised to our ‘office’ and all the features and much more on most smartphones, every PC. This is a classic toy for those who have everything and money to spend.

Mobile and iPhone Growth

Its interesting that on the same day we read that O2, who own the exclusive contract on iphones in the UK, is reporting that it has sold a million iPhones in the UK. O2's iPhone sales helped it get 390,000 new users in the last quarter of 2008 and now gives it 19.5 million total users on its network. Despite the current economic climate, O2 expects the growth in the smartphone market to continue throughout 2009. Given the number of new smartphones, the new applications and the positive consumer perceptions its easy to agree.

According to The International Telecommunication Union, a UN agency, who survey activity in 154 countries around 60% of the world's population now use mobile phones. That is some 4.1 billion mobile-phone annual subscriptions and an fourfold increase from 2002. They also report internet usage is now at approximately 23% of the world's population, up from 11% in 2002.

Mobile News

O2 Xda Flint

O2 has announced the O2 Xda Flint, specifically targeted at the education sector. The Flint can accommodate eBooks, capture electronic notes, read or review documents download digital learning applications, content and courses from VLEs and more. The pocket-size device has 16GB of internal flash memory, WiFi and can host applications such as Bluetooth V2.0, Internet Explorer, Opera 9 browser and Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional.

However after the wow come the reality check. It’s expensive at nearly £500 and why wouldn’t someone buy a proper netbook? Some may say that this is convergence too far and time to rethink what the consumer’s want and what price they will pay.

The HTC Sapphire

Speculation is rife over HTC's next Android mobile with reports that the handheld has no physical keyboard, unlike the current T-Mobile G1. The phone features the same design cues and trackball raises the posibility that the G2 will run on a new version of Android OS that will support a onscreen virtual keyboard.

With manufacturers such as Motorola, Sony-Ericsson, Toshiba and Asus all expected to launch Android OS devices this year and are set to chase HTC, which manufactured the first Google phone.