Posts Tagged ‘Vodafone’

Vodafone does a 180 as its 360 handsets are canned – I'm not surprised

by Steve O'Hear

July 29th, 2010 | Posted in Mobile | Comments13 Comments

The hardware business is a tough one. And in the smartphone space an incredibly crowded, expensive and competitive one.

It’s perhaps noble then that Vodafone tried but ultimately failed with its bespoke Vodafone 360 handsets, which were based on the LiMo operating system and manufactured by Samsung. The mobile operator announced this week that while its “360” suite of mobile services would live on, it was getting out of the handset business. The upcoming Samsung H2 has been canceled.

I’m not surprised.

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Vodafone UK lands iPhone too but Apple unlikely to sanction a price war

by Steve O'Hear

September 29th, 2009 | Posted in Mobile | Comments1 Comment

iPhone-vodafoneFollowing yesterday’s news that mobile carrier Orange are to begin selling the iPhone here in the UK, Vodafone have announced that they too are jumping on the Cupertino bandwagon, albeit not till early 2010.

And with O2’s two-plus year monopoly on Apple’s iconic device therefore well and truly broken, overpaid analysts and most of the tech press/blogosphere have been quick to predict a pending price war for the iPhone and associated tariffs this side of the pond. However, I’m still not convinced that this will be the case.

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How I plan to use my HTC Magic Android phone

by Steve O'Hear

June 26th, 2009 | Posted in Mobile | Comments6 Comments

Vodafone HTC Magic running on zero SIM on three

Vodafone HTC Magic running on a SIM Zero contract on 3

As my obsession with mobile continues – the new frontier – I’ve made the decision to take out a second mobile phone contract. But with a twist. I don’t plan to make (or receive) a single call on handset number two. Instead, it will be used for data only (Web browsing, third-party Internet-connected apps and email).

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Vodafone Music's DRM-free move makes Apple and Nokia look bad

by Steve O'Hear

March 12th, 2009 | Posted in Audio, Mobile | CommentsNo Comments

Vodafone, which currently operates music download stores in over 20 countries, is to become the latest company to jump on the DRM-free bandwagon, announcing this week that it will soon be transitioning its music catalog away from the copy-protected WMA format to standard MP3s. Additionally, customers will be able to covert their existing Vodafone purchases to DRM-free versions at no extra charge, unlike Apple’s current iTunes arrangement where users wishing to ‘upgrade’ are effectively asked to pay twice.

That’s the good news as far as Vodafone is concerned. The bad: only three of the four major record labels are on board – Universal Music Group, Sony Music and EMI – with Warner, for now at least, refusing to join in the fun, and the whole DRM-free deal only applies to a la carte downloads not Vodafone’s MusicStation all-you-can eat subscription service.

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