Mobile Phone Insurance News

Spinvox the UK firm which converts voicmail messages into text messages has been bought by speech recognition company Nuance for £64m.

The deal is about 30% down on the rumoured price tag. Nuance have said it is too early to say what will happen to the 230 staff presently employed by Spinvox and they also wouldn’t say if Christina Domecq and Daniel Doulton would stay on the board.

At the start of 2009 Spinvox was one of this countries most promising technology companies but 12 months on and it has been sold at a knock down price which means investors are not going to see much return.

An industry expert said ‘Nuance is likely to have been more interested in Spinvox’s contracts with major firms like Telefonica rather than its technology’.

The Conservative party have gone on the attack over the number of mobile phones being smuggled into UK prisons.

Official figures show that almost 9000 mobile phones and sims were discovered and taken from prisoners in 2008 which is more than 5800 up on the figures in 2006.

While the Tories say that there could be a serious security threat if terrorism convicts get hold of a smuggled phone Labour say this is just propaganda and prisons were doing all they could.

Mobile phones in prisons is a big worldwide problem and they are used to organise the delivery of drugs into prisons, to organise crimes and in 2007 a convicted Al-Qaeda supporter was caught using a mobile to build a website.

All prisons in this country use body scanners but they are also working on a system to block the mobile signals within the prison walls.

Ofcom, the telecoms regulator, wants the time it takes to switch a mobile number from one operator to another to be reduced from two days to two hours.

They hope to stimulate competition between networks in the customers favour. It is felt that customers are put off switching by the thought of a 48 hour delay. There are already strong incentives to move to other networks simply based on the very competitive tariffs avaialble but Ofcom want to back this up with a much faster switching process.

The move is likely to be resisted by the operators and retailers, all of whom would have to invest time and energy in systems and processes were they to be forced to speed up this process. It would undoubtedly create a cleaner purer market but operators are likely to argue that the extra cost involved in introducing such a system would mean increased costs that would have to be passed onto the consumer.

The news comes on the eve of a year that is likely to see alot of developments in the industry most notably the much publicised merger between Orange and T-Mobile which will create a network giant with almost 30 million customers, nearly half the population of the UK.

Intek and Go Mobile to Merge

There are reports in the industry that independent retailers Intek and Go Mobile are planning to merge in the New Year.

The merger, if true, would create a chain of 73 mobile phone stores. Go Mobile has 48 and Intek 24 based mainly in the west country.

Air goes for growth

Air Telecom the unified communications specialists created in June 2009 and has done over a 1000 new business connections since it started trading.

As a direct result of the number of new connections the company was promoted to a Yes Telecom ‘gold’ partner 15 months ahead of plan

The company is based in Birmingham and has plans to expand over the coming 12 months by opening offices in Warrington, Reading and Manchester.

3 to extend Spotify to more handsets

3 look to be offering more customers the option of using Spotify. The operator announced recently that a Spotify tariff will be available on the HTC Hero. However, existing contract customers will be able to download Spotify for Symbian application.

Customers will be able to use the application at a cost of £9.99 a month for six months and will be available on a range of Nokia handsets and the Sony Ericsson Satio.

2010 – the year for growth

Many people in the mobile industry are optimistic that 2010 will see large growth in sales despite the penetration of mobiles being well over 100%. The move to Smartphones will drive this growth throughout the year. Good news if you are a retailer who can offer the iPhone. Other manufacturers are racing to launch handsets with similar functionality as the iPhone. Rumours are that Google are testing a handset of their own by letting employees trial the unit.

Insurance2go offers Insurance on all mobile phones including all the new Smartphones.

Apple is expected to start the new year with the launch of a gadget designed to bridge the gap between mobile phone and laptop computer.

The long awaited ‘tablet’ is expected to be unveiled next month. Websites across the world are reporting that Apple is going to call the devise the iSlate and the rights to the internet domain name iSlate.com have been bought in anticipation.

The product is expected to be similar to the iPod Touch but with a bigger 10 inch screen making it easier to watch video, search the internet and read digital books.

Speculation about the launch helped shares in Apple rise to an all time high on Christmas eve. They closed up 3.4% at $209.06 valuing the company at $188 billion. The shares have risen 145% this year.

Ofcom expects the volume of mobile phone calls made in the UK to overtake the volume of calls made from fixed line telephones next year.

The regulator has issued a review of developments in the mobile phone market over the past decade.

It said that in 1999 mobile useage was still quite low despite services being available since 1985. Since then, the mobile phone has become an essential part of most people’s lives with an amazing 77 million in use in the UK at the last count with 44% of all telephone calls made via a mobile phone.

Alot of people don’t have a landline and rely on their mobile. We always recommend customers consider mobile phone insurance as the replacement costs can be very expensive.

Mobile phone maker Research in Motion Ltd have reported that customers in North and South America have been experiencing delays. They also said that they are working hard to resolve the issue.

Research in Motion Ltd is a Canadian company and their Blackberry mobile phones are one of the world’s most popular type of smartphone.

The nature of the Blackberry range means that they can be very expensive to repair or replace. Here at www.insurance2go.co.uk we can insure customers Blackberries from just £4.49 per month with 3 months free. We always recommend customers shop around for their mobile phone insurance as the insurance offered to customers at point of sale can be very expensive.

The Mobile Phone market in India is the fastest growing market in the world. As a result from January 14th 2010 the Governement will begin auctioning off third Generation wirelss spectrum.

Analysts expect phone operators to spend $1.5 billion on 3G auctions. The Indian company Tata have urged the government to allocate spectrum to all winners of the auctions at the same time.

Panasonic has taken a controlling share in Sanyo Electric making it one of the world’s largest makers of electronic goods. The aquisition gives Panasonic access of Sanyo’s solar panel and rechargeable technology.

Australia’s Telstra warned Friday that its first-half sales revenue would be down on year and it cut its full year guidance amid increasingly tough competition in its home market.

Separately, the Australian telecommunications giant and the Australian government reached an agreement on a broad framework under which Telstra could migrate its customers to a planned multibillion-dollar national high-speed Internet network.

Finally, Orange have introduced a Relaxation line

Customers can call into a standard rate number and choose from one of five ambient sounds: the “traditional hubbub of an English village green”,a woodland forest, waves lapping on a beach, a crackling log fire, and birdsong.

The company says that the service was based on studies conducted by behavioural therapists and surveys to find sounds thought to be the most relaxing. The service is free for Orange customers, while standard network charges will apply for other users.

The sounds were recorded last month at Brighton Beach, Brighton Nature Reserve, Open House and Canterbury Aviary.

Vodafone will be offering the iPhone mobile phone from the 14th January to both consumers and business customers.

The tariffs for both types of customer will start at £30 a month on a 24 month contract and the handset is available from today on pre order.

Vodafone is looking to target SME customers and they will be selling directly and through a network of 20 dealers across the country.

Anyone who pre orders or who has already registered an interest will get special treatment - free vodafone to vodafone calls for the life of their initial contract.

Customers will be able to buy an iphone mobile phone through Vodafone’s 400 stores or through Apple, Carphone Warehouse and Phones4U.

At www.insurance2go.co.uk we will be able to insure customers iphones (both consumer and business) and as always we recommend that customers shop around before taking the insurance offered at point of sale.

Mobile phone retailer Orange is to add 8 more concessions to Asda superstores during the first 3 months of 2010.

This will bring the total number up to 8 after the trial of 2 was successful. The partnership between the supermarket and the mobile retailer was announced in October with the first concession opening on the 8th October.

A full range of mobile phones will be available in all of the concessions including the iPhone.

Here at www.insurance2go.co.uk we are happy and able to insure customers phones bought at Asda/ Orange or both and we always recommend customers shop around before buying insurance at point of sale.