Calls from mobile phones are predicted to outnumber those from landlines within the next 18 months. The number of landline calls has fallen dramatically as we are using mobile technology more and more. But we are not surprised since contracts offer so much value for us all.
There are over 70 million mobile phone contracts taken in the UK and this actually surpasses the actual population of the country, which is 60 million.
The mobile phone industry is looking into a cinema style system for mobile phone content. It is used really to stop children accessing material that may be unsuitable for them.
There are more and more children using mobile phones to get on the internet and access content. This has raised concerns about what it is they can actually view. Alarmingly there are more half of 9 year olds with a mobile phone and 95% of 15 year olds have a mobile phone.
It seems staff in o2 stores across the country have been warned formally that if they do not sell the new Apple iPhone 3G properly and follow head office rules then they will be sacked.
Even with Apple claiming that you cannot unlock the phone it seems that o2 think box breakers will be able to accomplish this. O2 staff are not allowed to sell more than one iPhone to a customer and if the phone is being bought with a phone contract it must be activated in store. Previously customers could buy the phone and then take it home and connect via iTunes. This was a big help to the box breakers.
The prepay upgrade scheme is another helpful loophole for the box breakers as staff have access via the in-store intranet to the Pre Pay Customer Management Tool (PCMT) this allows them to reward high spending customers with discounts of up to £100. It is quite easy to search through mobile phone numbers and find one with high usage patterns and use their discount for a friend.
O2 staff are extremely worried about their jobs because they cannot tell the difference between a genuine customer and a box breaker. So what is needed to prevent this? Ideally what should happen is this; if a customer is not prepared to put pen to paper for a contract then networks should not subsidize the price of the iPhone. Simple.