Press watchdog looks to regulate journalists' Twitter activity
The PCC is assessing whether journalists’ and newspaper Twitter feeds just should come under its remit and be considered as part of the newspaper’s editorial content. The move would significantly increase the PCC’s remit and would be the first time the media watchdog had included any form of social media content under its jurisdiction. Many journalists working for a newspaper or media organisation say that they are tweeting their own thoughts and not their employer’s, but Iain Connor, a partner at media and entertainment specialist law firm Pinsent Masons, said this defence was weak. “I think given the interest [in most journalists’ Twitter feeds’] is likely to arise because of their journalist profession, it would be difficult to argue that they are genuinely tweeting in a personal capacity and that’s probably the reason why the PCC is considering this extension to its remit.”
'New age' of charity donations by text message
Although major charities such as Comic Relief have had access to text message donation services for some time, prohibitive costs have excluded smaller charities. Now collaboration between website JustGiving.com and Vodafone has resulted in JustTextGiving, which will allow any of the UK’s 184,000 charities to set themselves up to receive donations via text, with no commission taken by suppliers. According to a specially commissioned survey, charities have so far struggled to motivate younger donors, with just 44 per cent of 18-24 year olds making donations. This compares with 80 per cent of over 65 year olds. Think tank Respublica estimates that text donations could be worth £96 million annually by 2014, but seven in ten charities said the cost of setting up such a service was a key barrier. Cancer Research UK's director of supporter marketing, Natasha Hill, said “We believe the use of mobile devices for charitable giving has the potential to tap into a new demographic and create a new age of giving."
Nokia's slide worsens as Android and Apple thrive in western Europe
More evidence of Nokia's deepening problems have emerged, with new data showing that in the first three months of 2011 it was pushed into second place by Samsung as the biggest vendor of mobile handsets in western Europe, and overtaken by Apple for first place in the smartphone market in the region. But Android was the clear winner overall, propelling handset makers which offered it to enormous growth and leaping from fourth place last year to take the lead for smartphone OS share in the quarter. (Tables of the figures are at the end of this post.) The data from IDC shows Finnish handset maker Nokia's overall sales in western Europe slipping by 10 per cent year-on-year in a market that grew by five per cent to 45m handsets, with Samsung bagging the top place with 13.2m, a 29.3 per cent share. Nokia was second with 12.6m, and Apple came third overall with its smartphone-only iPhone range, selling 4.4m. Research in Motion (RIM) and HTC had 3.5m. All except Nokia grew at least as fast as the market, with HTC tripling its sales and Apple and RIM both growing by nearly 50 per cent.
Windows Phone to overtake Android by 2015 claims Pyramid Research
Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 platform has been subject to continual speculation about poor handset sales in recent months, but one analyst thinks the company is set for big success in the coming years. Pyramid Research's latest smartphone forecasts report includes the prediction that by 2015, Windows Phone will overtake Google's Android OS to become the most popular smartphone OS. More generally, Pyramid thinks that 1.46 billion handsets will be sold to end users (as opposed to merely shipped) in 2011, with 27% of them being smartphones - 394.2 million. However, in 2015, Pyramid thinks smartphones will account for 53% of all handset sales, although it cites 'demand for inexpensive Android models' as one of the key factors, rather than the surge in Windows Phone sales.
Apple is the World's Most Valuable Brand
Apple has ousted Google to become the world’s most valuable brand, according to the results of the sixth annual BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands study, conducted by Millward Brown Optimor and commissioned by its parent company, WPP. According to the ranking, Apple’s value now stands at $153.3bn (£93.6bn), having registered an 859 per cent increase in value since 2006, and an 84 per cent increase over the past year alone. The study identifies and ranks the world’s most valuable 100 brands by their dollar value, with the analysis based on financial data, combined with consumer measures of brand equity. Google is in second place on $111.5bn, having seen the value of its brand fall by 2 per cent since last year’s study. Two other mobile firms appear in the top 10; AT&T is in 7th place and China Mobile in 9th. Microsoft also makes an appearance in 5th place.
Sony Ericsson launches two Xperia Minis
Sony Ericsson unveiled a refresh of the Xperia X10 Mini and Mini Pro that were launched at MWC 2010. Rather confusingly, all SE has done is drop the X10 from the branding of what look like quite similar handsets. Once more we have a relatively small phone with a three in screen, and the difference between the Mini and the Mini Pro is a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. The main upgrades seem to be a move to a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon, having had a 600 MHz chip previously, and the installation of Android 2.3, as opposed to the version 1.6 the older phones were stuck with. "We wanted to provide consumers even greater choice across the Xperi range, while building on the success of the original mini series," said Steve Walker, head of marketing at Sony Ericsson. "These turbo-charged smartphones now contain even more power, enhanced functionality, a larger screen and premium features unique to Sony Ericsson."
Giant egg lands at Future Minds show in London
A giant audiovisual 'egg', a 3D printed face and a shopping trolley armchair are among ten innovations hand-picked by a panel of celebrity curators to "shape lives in cities of the future", showcased this week in a pop-up exhibition at London's Southbank. DJs Lauren Laverne and Jo Whiley, Times architecture critic Tom Dyckhoff and fashion designer William Tempest were among the curators of the Future Minds event, which runs until 16th May. The projects, drawn from the categories of 'culture and society', 'media and IT' and 'science, architecture and design' are on display in the exhibition, have been selected for promoting a sense of community and making every urban life more positive and sustainable. Among the exhibits is a slightly creepy plastic face mask produced using 3D printing by technology company Inition, whose Thinglab provides a new spin on old-fashioned office party photocopier antics by exhorting users to "scan and print your face!"
Carriers no match for credit card companies in mobile payments: report
Isis, the collaborative mobile payments venture initiated by three major US telecom carriers, is scaling back its efforts to compete with the credit card industry. Created in a joint effort by T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T, Isis first aimed to allow customers to pay for purchases at retailers by using their smartphones, with a network of payments independent of credit card companies. Purchases and account information would have been handled by the carriers. Instead, Isis now has its sights set somewhat lower. According to sources who talked to The Wall Street Journal, Isis is now working to produce a sort of "mobile wallet". Customers will still use their smartphones to pay for purchases, but instead of an independent payment network ran by the carriers, the phones will use your existing credit card information.
San Francisco backtracks on tough mobile phone laws
San Francisco has decided that it does not really need to tell its citizens how their mobile phones are melting their kids' brains or turning their inner ears to jelly. The city was all set to force telcos to tell punters how much radiation their gadgets produced, but suddenly got cold feet after it was told that it might be sued into the Pacific Ocean by cash rich telcos. The San Francisco Chronicle said that the mobile phone radiation disclosure bill has been put on "indefinite hold," and a "watered-down version" will probably be enacted instead.
MTN South Africa planning LTE network
MTN South Africa is rolling out a pilot LTE network in Gauteng, the company’s MD, Karel Pienaar, has told South African tech site TechCentral. As many as 100 base stations are to be upgraded by the end of the year, operating at 1800MHz. The company also hopes to gain access to 2.6GHz and 800MHz frequencies once the industry regulator, the Independent Communications Authority of SA, begins the local spectrum auction. However, the 800MHz spectrum will not be freed until the end of December 2013 when local analogue TV is switched to digital.
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