Shout About Mobiles

Steve Balmer (chief executive officer of Microsoft Corporation since January 2000) has been talking about the cost of making handsets and is making a point that Apple screens are too expensive for vendors (the manufacturers) to make.

However, there are few minor problems with this arguement.

The main being the fact that Apple are the vender. So I would presume that, during the design of the software and hardware, Apple would have had a discussion about cost. True, it is a fact that Apple may be more expensive than the average Windows Mobile device, but then again, the average Windows Mobile device costs more than the average LG or Samsung touchscreen device. In fact I am sure at the moment the cheapest touchscreen on the market is the LG cookie.

The arguement that Steve Balmer (and therefore Microsoft) are making, is that the screens that the Apple software use, costs a lot of money to make, and Apple have the option of using cheaper screens, making the phone cheaper overall. (The screen that Apple use is also preferred by Google’s Android and Palm’s new Web OS.)
However, I feel that customers are the ones that make the choice, and they chose to buy quality items. As a consumer,  I should have the option to splash out or go for the cheaper option. Microsoft stomping their foot about not beingable to comete is just silly.

The use of mobile internet data services including the search facility; has steadily increased, with US mobile internet search usage rising by 14 percent in 2008.

The increase in mobile searching is nearly double the increase in users who said they accessed mobile websites generally.

According to surveys conducted by ABI Research in 2007 and 2008, 70 percent of respondents used their mobile phones to access information through Internet search engines last year.

Senior ABI analyst Jeff Orr said:

“Mobile search represents a utility for information anytime and anywhere.

“With a few keywords, one can quickly identify movie times, the discography of a musical artist, recommendations for a local eatery and so much more.”

News, game downloads, music downloads, and video downloads accessed via mobile phones rose in popularity from 2007 to 2008.

Nokia is “looking very actively” into joining the laptop market, according to the company’s chief executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo.

The world’s largest mobile phone manufacturer is looking to branch out, Kallasvuo said in an interview with Finnish television station YLE. He said that the move was the natural progression of the increasing blurring of the lines between the mobile and PC industries.

Kallasvuo explained:

“We don’t have to look even for five years from now to see that what we know as a mobile phone and what we know as a PC are in many ways converging.

“Today we have hundreds of millions of people who are having their first Internet experience on the phone. This is a good indication.”

Kallasvuo didn’t specify whether the company would be producing a full-featured laptop or a slimmed down netbook.

O2, which is owned by Spanish telecoms giant Telefónica, has reported that it has sold more than one million iPhones in Britain since the exclusive partnership with Apple began in November 2007.

Chairman and chief executive of Telefónica Europe, Matthew Key said that O2 had gained 1.1 million mobile customers in 2008 taking its subscriber base to 19.5 million.

Mr Key said the network is attracting customers from all its rivals and the number of customers leaving the network is the lowest in the market.

“We have significantly outperformed Vodafone across 2008,” he added.

However, it has noticed a significant number of customers are looking for short term contracts such as rolling monthly tariffs or pay-as-you-go deals rather than 18-month fixed term contracts.
Key does not see this as a problem when he explains:

“In the middle-market, some have traded down but some have traded up… And frankly if you look at the iPhone there has not been anything as compelling before in the market for people to trade up to.”

There has been an announcement from Samsung about their new design handset – it’s called the ‘Samsung Blue Earth’, designed to be an eco-friendly phone as it comes with its own built in solar panels
in the back!

LG are also releasing one as well, however they have not yet gotten round to a naming it yet! LG have already finished the packaging design (which looks like an egg carton – boo!).

These phones are a huge step up from Nokia’s new eco-phone, the N73, which only tries to save the
environment by dropping the charger from the box. Which is okay if your old handset was a
Nokia and you have a spare charger from that, but if not then unlucky – no charger for you!

It is great to see that manufactures are thinking about more than just profit, the environment matters too. However, whether or not we will find any use for these phones in the rain soaked shores of the UK (they do come with normal travel chargers though) is anyone’s guess.

At the moment I can only really see a small selection of people going for these products (except for those people lucky enough to be going on a long holiday in the sun).

Vodafone is axing around 500 of its staff in a bid to save a massive £1bn in costs, it announced today.
The world’s biggest mobile phone company said handset sales had been hit here and abroad by the deepening recession.

Vodafone, which employs 10,000 workers in the UK, has call centres and offices in London, Hayes, Newark, Banbury, Theale, Trowbridge, Warrington and Stoke-on-Trent.

The job losses will include 170 back-office posts at the head office in Newbury, Berkshire. However, all the group’s operations are set to be affected, including a reorganisation of its call centres.

The move is the result of rising raw material prices and increasing competition as the group looks to make £1bn of cost savings worldwide by March 2011.

A Vodafone spokesperson commented:

“As customers look for best value in their mobile services, Vodafone intends to reduce its cost base whilst continuing to invest in new products and services to meet changing customer needs.”

Microsoft has attempted to challenge the dominance of Apple’s iPhone with the launch of a range of mobile phone services.

The technology corporation announced it was setting up Windows Marketplace, a rival to Apple’s leading iTunes Application service at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Mobile phone users will be able to visit Marketplace in order to download games, tools and programmes.

Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief executive, also announced that it was launching a new version of Windows Mobile operating system, with more efficient ways for users to transfer music, pictures and texts between their phone and computer.

Windows Mobile is a compact operating system combined with a suite of basic applications for mobile devices. Devices that run Windows Mobile include pocket PCs, smartphones and portable media centres.

Ballmer explained:

“We’re working with partners across the industry to deliver a new generation of Windows phones that break down the barriers between people, information and applications, and provide great end-to-end experiences that span your entire life, at work and at home.”

“We do so much better with a clear competitor in the space,” said Aaron Woodman, director of Windows Mobile consumer experiences at Microsoft.

He added:

“We recognise that consumers buy a phone, they don’t buy the software. For us, that’s very important, because it’s a recognition of a shift in our business. It marks a shift in our strategy.”

In addition to Windows Marketplace, Microsoft has outlined plans for a new version of its Windows Mobile operating system, which is used on millions of handsets worldwide.

Codenamed “Photon”, Windows Mobile 7 is a major upgrade that may be planned for release in 2010, with a beta is planned to be released to testers during November this year.

A number of years ago I went on my holidays to America. I had my new phone for a while and wasn’t really up on all of the costs of using my mobile abroad.

I did know that making calls from abroad can be extremely expensive, so I made the decision to only take incoming calls and speak to people who only ring me. That way surely my phone bill will be small and I won’t incur stupid charges. How wrong was I?

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Lance Batchelor, formely of Vodafone, has been appointed Telecoms CEO at Tesco after serving one year as UK Marketing Director at Tesco. He was the commercial director for four years when at Vodafone.

After joining Tesco just over a year ago he has since been put in charge of overseeing the development for all parts of the business including the mobile and internet divisions.

Batchelor said that Tesco offers the perfect propositions for the market and that his new role as CEO will allow him to provide strategic direction to make sure that the business develops and offers the best deal for customers.

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