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EE slashes prices ahead of 4G battle with O2 and Vodafone – 3rd July
Mobile pricing is becoming a hotter topic than ever and as the democratisation of 4G in the UK dawns ever closer, EE has slashed pricing on its 4G contracts. It’s all a lot of muscle flexing from the companies that are yet to get their hands on 4G cables and EE that has. Its initial monopoly has allowed EE to cash in so far and achieve its target in terms of sign-ups, announcing last week that it had almost hit 700,000 subscribers, putting it on target for one million by 2013. One thing is for sure – people clearly want 4G. But, another interesting undercutting war awaits as operators decide the best pricing strategies to maximise their slice of the 4G pie.
Women own most of the tablet computers in the UK – 18th July
According to YouGov’s latest Tablet Tracker report, females own 52% of the tablets in the UK. It is thought that this trend is partly down to the influx of smaller tablets such as the Google Nexus and iPad Mini making tablet use more appealing to women. As reported by the BBC, the figures have changed dramatically since last year when women were only occupying 43% of the tablets in Britain. Guys, if you’ve recently lost your tablet – check your girlfriend’s handbag.
ARM shares jump on strong demand for latest microchips – 24th July
It’s been a good month for Cambridge-based technology company, ARM, which has experienced a significant growth in sales thanks to huge demand for its smartphone chips. ARM, which dominates the market for smartphone processors doing business with the likes of Apple and Samsung, reported first-half profits of £82.1m, compared to £106.2m last year. Only this month, our own client Wolfson proved that demand is high for specialist smartphone chips, inking a deal with Sharp to ‘break the Qualcomm bundle’ and include its specialist audio chips in the next generation of LTE Sharp handsets. The Japanese manufacturer will be the first to include a specialist audio chip in its handset as opposed to Qualcomm’s audio processor, which is bundled with its LTE baseband modem and application processor.
HTC One Mini launches with Android – 18th July
HTC has launched its latest version of the HTC One, a 4G-compatible handset standing at a mere 4.3 inches with a 730p HD display. We seem to be seeing lots of minis being launched recently – people’s thumbs must be getting smaller or something. The other trend HTC’s latest launch follows is affordability. Finnish manufacturer Nokia launched the Lumia 520 this month. This is even more of a mini than HTC’s mini – just four inches worth of phone. The price tag is rather mini too with a starting price of just £70. I think I’ve spent more than that in Nando’s before. But, I’ve never racked up £364.98 in a chicken shop before, which is what a HTC One mini will set you back.