Mobiles reviews - uk retail

UK Retail: Vodafone to roll out another 50 stores

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 19:09:51 +0000

VFUK has announced plans to roll out another 50 stores over the forthcoming financial year - which will take it’s total to 400. The stores are being designed so customers can experience services before purchasing, and the extra staff required to show those off and operate the shops will mean 200 more jobs - definitely [...]

HTC Touch Pro - alternate UK sourcing

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 18:24:48 +0000

Following on from Will’s post, my fave UK mobile bits retailer Expansys has emailed me to tell me the Touch Pro is for sale, at the bargain price of £519.99! If that sounds a bit too much, they kindly point out that you can get it in contract, for a much-subsidised rate: You can also get [...]

UK: MVNO Lebara links up with Morrisons Supermarkets

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 13:10:21 +0000

Lebara Mobile (which is apparently a UK MVNO that provides lo-cost calls to the UK’s ethnice residents) has announced it has signed up to a partnership with Morrisons, one of the UK’s largest supermarket chains. This means that airtime from the MVNO will be sold through the supermarkets and petrol forecourts of Morissons locations. I have [...]

UK: Top 10 phones, commencing 1/8/08

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 18:00:50 +0000

It’s been a while since I did it, so I thought I would re-visit the “Top 1o” handsets in UK retail - with information kindly provided by Mobile Choice UK. So let’s take contract devices first: Not surprisingly the Tocco has made an appearance at the top of the chart, but it closely followed by Nokia’s [...]

UK: Woolworths says no CD singles, just downloads

Wed, 28 May 2008 10:00:40 +0000

UK: Woolworths announced yesterday a dual-change to it's current retailing of music and video - firstly, that from August, it would no longer sell CD singles in it's stores - and secondly that it was launching a digital download site for Mobiles. The new Woolworths site will offer ringtones, wallpapers, and Java games for mobiles, and [...]

Mobiles helping UK shopping malls track punters!

Wed, 28 May 2008 09:41:35 +0000

In the UK: Tracking technology created by Path Technologies is being used to watch how shoppers mobe around shopping malls, according to The Register. By installing their receivers in the shopping centre, Path are able to pick up comms between handsets and base stations, enabling location-fix to within a couple of metres. There are apparently two [...]

Orange UK launches it's Internet Radio

Fri, 23 May 2008 14:55:04 +0000

Orange UK has started to sell it's LiveRadio device, which utilises an ADSL connection and Streaming technology, to listen to up to 4000 internet radio stations. Because it's using WiFi, it's also not location-limited within/near to the user's house. The LiveRadio isn't a new concept - but the spin by Orange is that tracks users like [...]

Research: 17% of Brits would shop from their Mobile

Fri, 23 May 2008 13:59:01 +0000

Lightspeed Research has released the results of its survey of 1000 Britons to evaluate the likely take up of mobile internet shopping. With mobile phone penetration higher than that of PCs, shopping from the mobile phone has the potential to be the next big thing in retail. The survey results indicated a positive response to the [...]

UK: Phones4U looking at an investigation by Ofcom

Fri, 16 May 2008 22:21:37 +0000

Phones 4U, which is a popular highstreet retailer in the UK, is apparently facing an investigation for alleged misselling, according to the FT. Phones 4U has over 440 stores in the UK, generated sales of £755mn in 2007 - as you can see then, a major player….. Ofcom, the UK Telecoms regulator, has said that it [...]

Update: BT "ToGO" service launched in UK

Fri, 09 May 2008 18:53:59 +0000

Following on from Dusan's post, BT have released more details on their plan to give their broadband customers smartphones, so that they can capture more of the UK mobile market. The new "BT ToGO" handsets will work on home/public WiFi, and utilise mobile networks when WiFi isn't available. The two devices were named as the S620 [...]

UK: Nokia and Sagem PAYG handsets for £5 at Asda

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 22:20:47 +0000

Asda has announced Britain's lowest priced PAYG (Pay As You Go) mobile phones deal, selling handsets for £5! Apparently it's a "no strings" deal so you can buy just the device, without needing to buy an credit (although clearly you'd need some to make calls…..). Over 50,000 of the handset will be available at stores [...]

UK: Vodafone: knocks 10 squid off tariffs…

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 20:29:58 +0000

Vodafone UK is offering a £10/month discount on two of their tariffs (£35/month and £40/month) when customers sign up for 18 months - they have even done a bit of research to show why this is so important! Apparently, 52% of us Brits say that on at least one occasion, £10 had made a significant difference [...]

UK: Motorola Z10: Make a film and win one (and £10K!)

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 20:02:55 +0000

Motorola have gone live with an awesome competition for those of that are a bit creative with old digital video - how do you fancy winning (a) one Motorola Z10, and (b) £10,000? Yes? Then read on! The competition The competition is extremely easy to enter. Entrants should pick a ‘logline’ from the list below (‘logline’ being [...]

3 brings mobile gaming and movie headsets to UK

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 20:50:39 +0000

3UK customers are going to being offered the "Vuzix iWear AV920 3D headsets" from this month. This is apparently the equivalent of a 62-inch screen! Althoughthe iWear kit can be hooked up to any device that can play video, clearly 3's take is that owners of high-end devices will use their headsets with their phones [...]

UK: Tesco Mobile users are "hungry" for Ads…

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 08:48:14 +0000

UK: Tesco, the (primarily) food-retailing superstore, which also happens to run an MVNP, has been trialling a WAP advertising portal since May 2007 - Tesco says access to the portal has been growing, resulting in 300,000 unique visitors in December 07. The Ads were delivered as "traditional" banner Ads with a click-through, and included brands such [...]