The website of Alex Kinch, live from London
Posts tagged Devices
O2 to get UK iPhone gig
Jul 5th
Link: BBC NEWS | Business | O2 ‘to get iPhone contract in UK’
The BBC are reporting this morning that O2 are about to sign an exclusive contract for selling the iPhone in the UK, with the handsets in stores ready for Christmas. Funnily enough an O2 spokesman “declined to comment on the reports”.
The agreement with O2 is reported to include Apple receiving a continuing share of the revenue generated for the network operator.
The handsets are expected to be sold for about £300 and O2 will be hoping that the lure of the fashionable phone is enough to win customers from rival networks.
Update: O2 have denied they’ve got the iPhone gig. See this blog entry for more details.
Chinese man killed by exploding mobile
Jul 4th
Link: Exploding mobile battery kills Chinese welder | The Register
Motorola and Chinese authorities are working together to discover just how an exploding mobile phone battery claimed the life of a welder at Yingpan Iron Ore Dressing Plant in Gansu’s Jinta county.
According to state news agency Xinhua, Xiao Jinpeng died on 19 June after “a Motorola cell phone in [his] chest pocket suddenly exploded” and emergency treatment at a local hospital failed. The victim suffered broken ribs, fragments of which pierced his heart.
T-Mobile get iPhone gig for Germany
Jul 3rd
Link: D.Telekom’s mobile unit clinches iPhone deal-paper | Breaking City News | Reuters.co.uk
Following on from the rumour about the 3G iPhone launch yesterday, it’s always good to take this with a pinch of salt. However, this story has been picked up on by a German daily newspaper, and onwards by the likes of Reuters – so hopefully there’s a bit of substance to it.
Without citing sources Rheinische Post said in a preview of a story to be published on Wednesday that T-Mobile is expected to sell the iPhone exclusively with a T-Mobile contract for around 450 euros ($612) starting Nov 1.
Deutsche Telekom and T-Mobile were not immediately available for comment.
So there you go. We’ll see what happens…
LG and YouTube to launch mobile handset
Jul 3rd
Link: Youtube, SKorea’s LG Electronics sign deal to develop mobile phone – Forbes.com
South Korea’s LG Electronics said Tuesday it has signed an agreement with YouTube, the world’s biggest video-sharing website, to develop a mobile phone that can operate the YouTube service. LG Electronics said the proposed model will enable users to upload, view and share video clips or user-created content (UCC) online freely without using computers.
‘LG Electronics will unveil a mobile handset that fully supports the YouTube service for the first time in Europe in the second half of this year,’ the South Korean firm said in a statement.business.
Europe to get free mobile internet
Jul 3rd
Link: Wireless gadget maker to offer on-the-move internet for free | The Register
Just caught this interesting story on The Register. They report that Canadian gadget company DataWind are launching their Pocket Surfer wireless web browser in Europe this month – and they’re promising “the internet anywhere… for free”.
DataWind pitches the price of the hardware low – just $200 for the device – but it also requires a $10 monthly fee for the company’s internet connectivity service. You can skip the regular payment with a one-off device purchase of $300.
DataWind’s USP as an ISP is its server-side data compression, which it claims significantly reduces the the amount of data it sends out to the handheld. It claims that “a customer can easily save over 200MB in bandwidth with the DataWind solution, in 20 hours of usage over a month – which could result in $20-80 in carrier data charges”.
So far so good. But how is it free? The device itself has no GSM or 3G radio functionality – instead it connects via Bluetooth to your mobile. So unless they’re planning to team up with an existing mobile operator to offer a new data tariff specifically for users of the unit, DataWind could have a problem on their hands justifying the ‘free’ tagline.
Update: According to the UK website for this product, the device does have quad band GSM radio built in. A little more digging reveals that there is apparently no other fees to pay in the first year (including data charges), then a minimum of £39.95 a year thereafter. Thanks to Darren for the tip.
Swedes love Nokia and Sony Ericsson handsets
Jul 3rd
Link: Top ten in mobile phone sales in Telia stores in June 2007
Swedish mobile operator Telia have released sales figures for handsets sold at their retail stores in June 2007, and unsurprisingly enough Sony Ericsson and Nokia feature heavily in the top ten.
- (New) PC card
- (New) USB modem
- (3) Sony Ericsson K810i
- (1) Nokia 1110i
- (4) Sony Ericsson W880i
- (2) Nokia N95
- (5) Nokia 5140i
- (New) Samsung X510
- (New) Sony Ericsson W610i
- (8) Sony Ericsson Z710i
The statistics are based on PC cards, USB modems and mobile handsets in Telia’s 75 retail stores in the country.
UK customs arrest 10 in mobile VAT fraud
Jul 3rd
Link: Ten People Arrested in Mobile Phone Tax Fraud
UK customs officers from HMRC have arrested 10 people across the UK in a clamp-down on missing trader VAT fraud, also known as carousel fraud.
As well as the arrests, 20 premises were searched across the UK, in the operation after an investigation into companies that fraudulently trade in mobile phones – purchasing them VAT-free from mainland Europe to supply to businesses in the UK without paying the VAT due on the sale to the government.
Commenting on the operation, codenamed “Varlet”, Director of Operations, Criminal Investigation for HMRC Euan Stewart said: “Missing trader fraud is a sustained attack on HMRC, and tackling it is HMRC’s top priority. Today’s arrests follow months of painstaking investigative work by dedicated officers. The level of sophistication of these frauds means that our investigations are becoming more complex, but we are committed to working with the Revenue and Customs Prosecutions Office to bring the criminals behind the frauds to justice and to recovering the money stolen from the British Taxpayer. This crime is not victimless; it is organised and causes real harm.”
Nokia offers mobile photo printing
Jun 29th
Link: Nokia offers mobile photo printing – vnunet.com
Nokia has launched a photo printing service to allow Nseries users to upload images and place an order directly from their smartphones.
Users can select the images in the phone’s gallery application and insert the postal address and other requested information. The order is then processed by CeWe Color and prints are delivered to the address
BBC checks out iPhone rivals
Jun 29th
Link: BBC NEWS | Technology | Apple iPhone faces serious rivals
It’s been the subject of more hype and hullabaloo than any other mobile phone – but the iPhone won’t be available in Britain until late 2007.
But phone manufacturers aren’t just sitting and waiting for the new arrival to storm their market. They claim they already have phones that are just as good looking as Apple’s baby and even smarter.
There’s an interesting video report on the story – worth a watch.
CBS review the iPhone
Jun 28th
American TV network CBS had a quick sneak peek and review of the iPhone this morning. It’s on YouTube for your viewing pleasure – unfortunately as embedding has been disabled I couldn’t post it here. Worth a watch though, even if it’s only to see some of the features that’ve been talked about before on here.
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