Mobile Insight Vol: 9 Issue 381 September 24th 2007
Ofcom to claw back 900 MHz spectrum
Not content with taking a cool £22.5 billion off mobile operators for
their 3G licenses, UK industry watchdog – Ofcom – now wants to snatch
some spectrum back in the 900 MHz range...More
O2 picked for UK iPhone
Apple has selected O2 as it network partner for the November 9th launch of the Iphone in the UK. This had been predicted here at Mobile Software Insight.
The cost will be £269 (inc VAT) for an 8GB model...More
O2 UK admits EDGE coverage
Despite numerous flames telling us we were wrong, O2 has indeed rolled out
support for EDGE thanks to the iPhone, as we said it would.
An O2 spokesman confirmed this to Mobile Software Insight ...More
4 UK networks unite against Reding
The UK's Big Four mobile network operators – that's everyone except 3 –
have joined forces to protest at the EC's imposition of roaming charges – the Eurotariff
- across the European Union...More
3 UK runs of of 3G modems
3 UK has totally sold out of its
allocation of USB 3G modems. Which isn't bad going since the product was
only really launched back on 4th September. A 3 spokesman wasn't that
unhappy...More
Bluetoothed video clip traps idiot
An idiot who ran over the roof of a Lamborghini has been caught after
friends circulated an incriminating video via Bluetooth in a pub. The video
footage seems to havenow disappeared from Youtube...More
Google looks for in-house wireless people
Google is putting together a major team to develop mobile phone apps judging
from the jobs it is advertising on its site. And one of the teams will be based
in London. There's at least ten jobs up for grabs...More
3 and T-Mobile plan RAN share
A spokesman for 3 UK, the 3G network specialist, has confirmed rumours
that his company and rival operator, T-Mobile, are in early stages of
negotiations over sharing their radio networks...More
O2 rationalises on content providers
O2 may have bitten off more than it can chew with its recent iPhone deal. It's
apparently cutting back on the number of content suppliers it deals directly
with. The actual percentage struck by O2 is unknown...More
More leaks on Voda/Orange RAN share
Vodafone is proceeding with its proposed RAN (Radio Access network)
sharing agreement with Orange. However, the whole thing has still got to
get passed the UK's OFT (Office of Fair Trading)...More
Snippets
France Telecom's CEO, Didier Lombard, announced its
deal with Apple over the iPhone at a telecommunications conference in
Hanoi. Along with the announcement from T-Mobile in Germany, that makes all
three of Mobile Software Insight's predictions come true.
www.apple.com/iphone/
Mobile Software Insight recommends the St Albans-based site,
Lemonrock, which carries details of all the music gigs it can
possibly find. You can feed your postcode into Lemonrock's search engine
and find out who's playing near your home. Available via WAP by
typing in 'lemonrock.com' or 'lemonrock.mobi'.
www.lemonrock.com
In Site of the Week (by Tony Dennis)
This week
Honda F1 Mobile
For a site described as "One of the most exciting and informative mobile WAP sites in the automotive sector to date", you'd expect something special.
Sadly Honda's F1 WAP site is hugely disappointing.
So what does it offer? Video clips from the last race at Monaco? Results and summary of performance from the Monaco GP?
Predictions for the next race? None of the above. What it does have are three pathetic F1 style ringtones and three wallpapers showing Jenson Button plus Rubens Barrichello.
The best part is probably the chance to win a tour of the Honda F1 factory in
GB.
For a company which offers state of the art technology, you might expect Honda to have tied location based techniques to displaying where the nearest Honda garage is located.
But, no. Surfers find the nearest Honda dealer by typing in their postcode.
Unfortunately the site's provider – the Mobile Interactive Group (MIG)– seems to think the site is industry leading.
This site definitely does nothing for the Honda brand. But at least it wasn't foolish enough to utilise a dotmobi (.mobi) address for the site.
