Category Archives: Featured
Monitise stock soars on Visa deal and fund manager’s endorsement
Shares in Aim-listed, mobile money firm Monitise leapt nearly 9 per cent in early trading today following a double whammy of upbeat news.
First, it was revealed that the company had completed a final contract with Visa Europe to deploy mobile money payments and commerce services for Europe’s financial institutions, ratifying an earlier announcement. Monitise also said it was granting Visa Europe – already its major shareholder – a warrant to purchase 43 million ordinary shares at a price of 36.25 pence. Continue reading
7 Indian mobile OEMs sign with Opera for Android
Opera Mini to be pre-installed on Android phones, phablets and tablets
Seven Indian mobile OEMs have signed with Opera to preinstall the Opera Mini mobile web browser on upcoming Android handsets, phablets and tablets. The Mini browser will appear on all Android devices by Celkon, Karbonn, Lava and Intex plus it will also be preinstalled on select Android devices by Fly and Zen along with HCL ME tablets. India is, of course, one of the fastest growing countries for adoption of mobile Internet. It also continues to be home to the largest number of Opera Mini users in the world. Continue reading
HotSpot 2.0 support found inside Samsung Galaxy S4
It’s Wi-fi Jim, but not as you know it
Chatting to our friends at Ruckus Wireless, it slipped out in conversation that Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S4 (which only just went on sale in the USA last week (April 2013) has got built in support for something known as HotSpot 2.0 (HS 2.0). Ruckus casually describe HS 2.0 as “‘next big thing’ in the networked world.” GoMo News thinks the company is absolutely right because it has major implications for both major enterprises/organisations. Basically they should be able to sell connectivity on their high-speed WLANs to the MNOs (Mobile Network Operators). Continue reading
The iWatch might look something like this …
Okay. We’re winding you up it’s just an iPhone 5 accessory
When GoMo News first spotted the photo (left), we really thought it might have something to do with the much-rumoured Apple iWatch. After all, the Cupertino based supplier really does need to come out with a new product line fast. However, it turns out to be simply a high quality timepiece for the iPhone 5 – made by the PTB Design Corporation in Vancouver, Canada. The firm appears to use the brand name Bissol to make it sounds luxurious. Actually, the product name is Calibre 788. Just don’t try to buy one just yet. Continue reading
The eyeballs are moving to mobile says Adfonic’s Malachard
Rating: GoMo discusses mobile advertising with Adfonic’s CEO
A while back, GoMo News had the chance to sit down and have a cosy chat with Victor Malachard who is CEO and co-founder with Adfonic – almost certainly one of the world’s largest specialists in the mobile advertising sector. For example, Victor says his company can boast circa 100 billion impressions per month. That’s very definitely not chicken feed. As he says, “The eyballs are moving to mobile” and the mobile advertising is going to be the sector to watch – not just in digital and online advertising but in terms of advertising in its entirety. Continue reading
MegaFon billionaire revealed as Britain’s richest man
Has more wealth than Duke of Westminster
MegaFon boss Alisher Usmanov has emerged as Britain’s richest man with a £13.3 billion fortune, up £985 million in just 12 months. Usmanov, 59, and who also co-owns Arsenal football club, floated 15 per cent of the Russia-based telco on the London Stock Exchange in November last year and owns Sutton Place – the former Surrey mansion of the late oil baron J Paul Getty. He also has a £48 million mansion in North London.
Now Usmanov has been hailed as the UK’s wealthiest person in a list compiled by The Sunday Times. It puts him way ahead of the highest-placed British billionaire, the Duke of Westminster, who is ranked eighth with £7.8 billion. Continue reading
Telefónica goes for fast handset upgrade with O2 Refresh
Rating: Abandon your handset before it becomes retro
It seems that Telefónica/O2 in the UK has finally woken up to the dangers of 24 month contracts which it needs to offer in order to remain competitive with its rivals. 24 months might make sense to accountants but it makes little sense to consumers. In terms of technology, an Internet year equates to three months. So by the time today’s contract subscribers have reached the end of their contract, their smartphones is seven years out of date. To counteract this, O2 has launched a new tariff aimed at enabling customers to get the latest phone whenever they want. It’s called O2 Refresh and GoMo News suspects that rival operators will be watching closely to try to evaluate the effectiveness of this new tariff. Continue reading
Guest Post: Why Micromax’s strategy is working in India
by Asif Iqbal Shaik, a consumer electronics expert with MySmartPrice
Micromax, probably the most famous local smartphone brand in India, is turning quite a few heads these days. According to the latest figurers, it has surpassed all other smartphone brands except Samsung and is hovering in second place according to IDC. We’re talking about smartphones here, not mobile phones. Micromax currently sells only Android based smartphones in India and nearby countries in the Indian sub continent. A brand, which no one knew about three to four years ago, growing to such a strong market share is hard to believe. Let’s have a look at three good reasons why Micromax is successful in India. Continue reading
ZTE launches the ZTE GEEK with Intel Inside @ IDF 2013
First ZTE smartphone powered by Intel’s new 32nm Atom processor
Press release
April 10th 2013. ZTE www.ztedevices.com, a publicly-listed global provider of telecommunications equipment, network solutions and mobile devices, has debuted the ZTE GEEK, the first ZTE smartphone powered by Intel’s new 32nm Atom processor Z2580, at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) in Beijing, China. Continue reading
Video of Galaxy S4 emerges from Phones 4u
Rating: UK distributor has criticisms as well as praise
Phones 4u contacted GoMo News Towers to say that it was working closely with market leading handset manufacturer, Samsung, ahead of the launch of the much anticipated Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone. We still can’t believe the Korean company has gone ahead with the S4 name because 4 is such an unlucky number in that country. It’s a bit like an iPhone 13 (if the US based company is lucky enough to get that far). Anyway, Samsung has granted UK mainstream distributor, Phones 4u, exclusive access to the handset and consequently the company has created video shown below. Continue reading
BlackBerry demands probe into ‘misleading claims’ over Z10 customer returns
Lack of apps and poor user interface cited for returns
Claims that some retailers are finding more customers are returning their BlackBerry Z10 phones than the outlets are actually selling has prompted demands by the manufacturer for an investigation into the research company involved. The troubled Canadian firm is to ask the Securities and Exchange Commission and Ontario Securities Commission to probe what it says is “a false and misleading report” about retail return rates. The report, by Boston-based Detwiler Fenton, initially sparked a fall in the value of BlackBerry shares, though at close on Nasdaq last night the price had recovered slightly to $13.64 – albeit still well below its January peak of $18.32. Continue reading
Apple losing its bite as Samsung and Nokia named most coveted handset brands in emerging markets
New report finds Mobile Network Operators will be ‘King Makers’ as leading handset manufacturers turn to emerging markets for next billion customers
Press release
March 15th 2013. With eyes set on how the launch of Samsung’s Galaxy S4 and new handsets from Nokia will impact Apple’s Western dominance, a new report points to mobile network operators as the new ‘king makers’ in emerging markets, as smartphone giants adapt their strategies and handset functionality to acquire their next billion customers from these regions. The 2013 Emerging Markets Mobile Attitudes Report from marketing technology company Upstream, which commissioned YouGov and Vanson Bourne to poll the views of a representative sample of 3,670 adults in Brazil, India, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia. Continue reading
GoMo updates its Windows Phone 7.8 OS
Rating: Absolutely no idea what the benefits are
Here at GoMo Towers we just happened to pop a SIM card back into our Nokia Lumia 800 smartphone which we updated to Windows Phone 7.8 a while ago. This time we had the completely opposite experience to our earlier upgrade back in February [2013] see here ‘Nokia WP7.8 OTA upgrade notification fails.’ This time we had an OTA (Over-The-Air) notification that an upgrade was available if we plugged the handset into a computer (and used Zune). Continue reading
Fun & games over iPad mini trademark
Rating: In the UK we think a mini is a car
Well, there has been fun and games after the revelation that Apple’s preliminary attempts to trademark the term iPad Mini were turned down by US regulators. Initially, commentators were of the opinion that this would unleash a tide of tablet producers – obviously mainly based in Asia, introducing tablet devices with very similar names. Now they all seem to be backtracking and admit that Apple has simply failed to jump the first hurdle but could easily ready itself and try again. GoMo News is, however, is tickled by the thought that Apple might try to trademark the word mini in the UK. Continue reading
Spreadtrum announces strategic partnership with Orange
Global operator teams with mobile platform provider across broad device portfolio to make high quality, feature-rich mobile handsets and smartphones more broadly affordable
Press release
March 27th 2013. Spreadtrum Communications (NASDAQ: SPRD; “Spreadtrum” or the “Company”), a leading fabless semiconductor provider in China with advanced technology in 2G, 3G and 4G wireless communications standards, together with Orange, one of the world’s leading telecommunications operators, today announced that Orange has established a strategic partnership with Spreadtrum to use its low-cost mobile platforms for the delivery of a broad portfolio of cost-effective, feature-rich mobile handsets and smartphones to consumers in Orange’s European and African markets. Continue reading
