Features - 14 - Mobile News

Putting NFC to the test

Reporter Samantha Tomaszczyk heads to the ‘homeland’ of contactless near field communication (NFC) payments, the Slovakian capital of Bratislava, to check out the technology

Samantha Tomaszczyk

Elop heralds new dawn for mobile phone photography

€¢ New 41-megapixel Lumia 1020 opens ‘new chapter’ in smartphone photography – Nokia president and CEO €¢ Camera quality may struggle to capture the imaginations of consumers, analysts argue

BlackBerry on defensive as profits drop by £118m in Q1

Manufacturer’s share price plummets by 28 per cent as president and CEO Heins reveals Q1 financials

EE hails ‘world-beating’ 4G network as it ups speeds

Operator launches ‘double-speed’ 4G in 12 UK cities, with headline speeds of 150Mbps

All change at the top as Fonehouse eyes growth

After taking a less hands-on role at the end of last year, Fonehouse founder Clive Bayley is back as CEO with a new management team that he says can drive the firm’s plans forward, as Paul Withers reports

Huawei targets Samsung and Apple smartphone customers

Manufacturer claims new Ascend P6 smartphone can compete against the market’s elite

Daisy hints at further acquisitions at Wired? conference

Group CEO Riley admits it may dip into untouched £200 million banking facility in the right circumstances

O2 to tackle tech ‘skills gap’ with new schools initiative

Operator’s ‘Think Big Schools’ scheme aims to get 14- to 18-year-olds ‘workplace ready’

Samantha Tomaszczyk

How the £176 million IGB VAT scam was smashed

One year on since one of the UK’s biggest and most high-profile mobile phone VAT fraud cases came to an end, Mobile News takes a look back at how the complex scam involving 15 people and 20 firms was foiled

Mind the connectivity gap: rolling out 3G on the Tube

Politicians are calling for voice and data connectivity on the London Underground to support business and bring it in line with networks in other cities but operators are not keen, as Samantha Tomaszczyk reports

Samantha Tomaszczyk

HTC ‘firing on all cylinders’ to reverse financial slump

Year-on-year profits down by 91.5 per cent in Q1, but Q2 expected to show improvements

Samantha Tomaszczyk

Is BlackBerry ripe for a comeback?

BlackBerry is seemingly back from the dead with some ‘jaw-dropping’ Q4 results on the back of its first BB10 device launches. It is now aiming to supplant Samsung in the UK smartphone market, as Paul Withers hears

Value and affordability key to O2’s continued growth

O2 results reveal highest number of customer additions during Q1 for four years

NFC mobile payments – fixing the big issues

Uptake of NFC mobile payments in the UK is being hampered by deadlock between retailers, operators and finance firms over rolling out the necessary technology and processing payments, as Chris Donkin reports

Apple admits gross margins will decline further this year

Second quarter results show revenues rose but profits fell for the quarter as firm cut iPhone, iPad prices

Samantha Tomaszczyk

Gamma: Putting B2B dealers back in control

After establishing itself as a major fixed-line player, Gamma Telecom is looking to make its name in mobile. The firm’s head of mobile, Rob Davis, tells Michael Garwood how it plans to go about it

Michael Garwood

‘No crisis at Carphone, we are in a fantastic position’

Store closures, high-profile staff departures and redundancies have led some to wonder if the retailer is in trouble. However, its new retail director tells Michael Garwood the exact opposite is true

Decade of Three: the UK’s ugly duckling reaches 10

Three, the UK’s first 3G network, celebrates a decade in the mobile market this year. Samantha Tomaszczyk takes a look back at the operator’s metamorphosis from struggling fledgling to Ofcom exemplar in full flight

Samantha Tomaszczyk

Samsung unveils Galaxy S4 at star-studded NYC launch

Celebrity guests including rapper Jay-Z first to see device that can react to its owner’s eyes

Samantha Tomaszczyk

Best of British aiming to shine at MWC 2013

Samantha Tomaszczyk reports on the UK’s 20 ‘best of the best’ mobile start-ups selected by the government organisation UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) to appear at this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona

Samantha Tomaszczyk

February 26, 2013

GSMA previews biggest Mobile World Congress yet

Company behind the annual trade show gives an in-depth look into what to expect this week

February 23, 2013

Sony Mobile targets top three smartphone status

Sony has set itself the goal of being the world’s third biggest smartphone manufacturer by the end of 2013. Its president of North Western Europe, Pierre Perron, tells Paul Withers how cracking the UK market is key

February 15, 2013

BlackBerry admits new BB10 operating system is a ‘risk’

Manufacturer explored option of switching to a rival operating system, describing the decision to build its own as ‘difficult’, but says move has ‘reinvented’ the company

February 13, 2013

Are things starting to look up for Nokia?

Manufacturer makes first quarterly profit for 18 months as Windows Phone market share trebles in the UK year on year

February 13, 2013

2013 predictions: CCS Mobile MD Chris Lee

Lee says 4G will revolutionise the B2B market place this year, with Windows 8 tablets proving to be game changers

February 13, 2013

2013 predictions: CPWB head of partners Bob Sweetlove

Sweetlove thinks a price war as a result of increased competition in the handset space will be the main transaction catalyst, with the pricing of 4G by the networks proving to be a real point of interest

February 12, 2013

2013 predictions: Excalibur Group CEO James Phipps

Networks and partners who find new revenue streams will differentiate themselves in the market, according to Phipps, as BlackBerry 10 will see the manufacturer take market share off Android and iOS in the B2B market

February 12, 2013

2012: Year in Review

From the ongoing effects of the credit crunch to the launch of 4G, we look back at the stories that have defined the past 12 months

December 17, 2012

Texting turns 20 – but is SMS now doomed?

Text messaging has celebrated its 20th birthday, but a new wave of data-centric services for smartphones is threatening its existence

December 17, 2012

Dunne: latest outages won’t affect O2’s Christmas sales

UK CEO claims firm’s portfolio and loyalty services will help it ‘stand out’ on the high street

November 20, 2012

O2’s Dowd makes boosting UK retailers a top ‘Priority’

Operator to extend Priority Moments to all local independent retailers, whether O2 customers or not

Michael Garwood

November 8, 2012

Groundbreaking new 4GEE network impresses channel

Partners praise ‘competitive’ price points and ‘excellent’ branding as UK’s first LTE network launches

Samantha Tomaszczyk

November 8, 2012

Nokia’s Elop still optimistic despite gloomy Q3 results

Defiant CEO says partnership with Microsoft also in good shape ahead of Windows Phone 8 launch

November 8, 2012

4G launch nears, but what can we expect?

In all the hullabaloo surrounding Ofcom’s 4G spectrum auction, the benefits of ‘superfast’ broadband have tended to be drowned out. Chris Donkin investigates what the new services will actually be like

October 22, 2012

High street return’s ‘an A1 opportunity’

A1 Comms and BuyMobilePhones.net MD Paul Sisson is back on the high street after a six-year absence, having bought the Go Mobile retail estate from Shebang in July. He tells Paul Withers about his plans

October 8, 2012

Mobile News puts NFC on trial

Mobile News editor Michael Garwood heads to the Olympic Park to pick up some souvenirs paid for using Visa’s NFC service, payWave

Michael Garwood

September 28, 2012

Nokia Windows Phone 8 Lumias fail to persuade doubters

Nokia World device launch impresses some analysts but firm’s share price still tumbles

September 24, 2012

Will NFC ever connect with UK customers?

Near field communications (NFC) technology enabling mobile phone users to make contactless payments has not caught on in the UK in quite the way many were hoping. Chris Donkin investigates why this is

September 20, 2012

What can we expect from the iPhone 5?

With rumours rife that Apple is about to announce the latest version of its iconic high-end smartphone, Chris Donkin asks industry experts what it might be like

September 10, 2012

The industry reacts to Ofcom’s decision on 4G

Everything Everywhere’s rivals have expressed shock at the ruling that will see the operator launch 4G services in the UK this year, but Ofcom insists it will benefit consumers

August 28, 2012

How Caroline got her MOJO working

Original device manufacturer MOJO Maker has joined up with Micro-P to ensure its handsets and accessories dominate the youth market. The firm’s founder, Caroline Preston, tells Paul Withers about its future plans

August 28, 2012

Can Windows Phone 8 help the OS challenge Android and iOS?

With the release of Microsoft’s new desktop and mobile platforms imminent, Jasper Jackson asks industry experts how the software giant’s OS has fared so far and where they see it going from here

August 13, 2012

Has O2’s reputation been damaged after network outages?

After the operator’s eight million UK customers were hit by a network blackout this month, Jasper Jackson asks industry figures whether its name has been permanently tarnished

‘RIM’s survival hopes rest on BB10 success’

Things have gone from bad to worse for the BlackBerry manufacturer. As it announces yet more bad news, Chris Donkin talks to industry insiders and telecoms analysts to assess the firm’s chances of staying afloat

‘Desperate’ Nokia still has Window of hope

Windows Phone success the key to survival as redundancies top 40,000 in two years

Industry reacts to Vodafone and O2 network share deal

Key industry figures tell Paul Withers how the network sharing agreement will effect Vodafone and O2, the 4G roll-out debate and the future of the mobile industry

Is it time RIM exited the consumer mobile phone market?

With declining revenues, sales at their lowest since 2003, mass redundancies and damning headlines, RIM is a manufacturer in crisis. Reports it plans to focus on B2B rather than consumer have been dismissed. But can it still survive in both?

Vodafone and O2 agree to combine their assets

The rival operators are to form a partnership to create a ‘bigger, better’ network in a bid to meet data demand, save money and protect the environment. Michael Garwood finds out about the proposed JV from the companies’ CEOs

Michael Garwood