March 2009 Archives

Are you a moofer? If so then take part in our photo competition to win a Sony digital camera.



All you have to do is send us pics of you working on the move. We are obviously looking for imagination, so great locations and innovative use of technology will all count in your favour in the judging process.

For full details of the competition then see our competition entry page and flick through the photo story to stimulate ideas.

Apple with its iPhone apps store may have created the blueprint for opening up your software platform to mobile software developers and then reaping the rewards in more iPhone sales.

So its hardly surprising that Microsoft has started to develop its own apps store for its version 6.5 mobile operating system to be released later this year. Microsoft's mobile apps marketplace will demo'd at the up-and-coming CTIA Wireless 2009 show that opens in Las Vegas tomorrow (1 April) and they have already signed up multiple software partners, including Facebook, music servioce Pandora and games publisher EA.

Others are said to be following suit with Research In Motions's Blackberry also expected to launch its mobile apps store at CTIA.

So there you are. Like a growing number of people you've just got yourself a nice mobile computing deal where for around £30 a month for the next two years you have mobile broadband via a dongle that goes into the nice, shiny (typically not Linux-based) netbook computer that the operator has thrown in.  

You know what you get because you're paying, well, so much per Gigabyte per month and yet after the first month you get a rather unpleasant surprise. Namely, a bill. A rather expensive bill at that. How come? You more than likely exceeded download limits that you weren't aware of.

When it comes to broadband, fixed as well as mobile broadband, there has always been a tendency to rely on the tale of the tape. That is to say  relying on absolute measurements, especially in terms of bandwidth and cost.

 

There's a lot more to mobile broadband though and a couple of recent surveys really put paid to these are the be all and end all.

 

For example, in a survey of UK mobile broadband services by comparison service Which? Virgin Mobile came out top in three categories namely mobile usability, mobile broadband customer service and set-up.

 

A YouGov survey of 1,958 mobile computing users carried out in January 2009 ranked T-Mobile ranked first in nine of 13 categories that including reliability, network coverage, connectivity and value for money instead of just base cost and  speed.

 

And between these all these criteria the two awards are some great benchmarks to ask those who's take your money. Mobile broadband is en vogue right now but don't forget you're usually making a two year commitment and what you buy just has to be good for your business

 

If you can't get satisfaction in terms of usability, customer service, set-up, reliability, network coverage, connectivity and value for money it won't matter at all how cheap or fast the mobile broadband service is

Finding these days a head of communications or of IT that has made a decision as to which future mobile broadband standard to use is as hard as to find a juggler with friends.  

Okay, maybe not quite that hard.

But not important it would seem WiMAX and LTE camps who, ignoring the small thing that is the current recession and the not-so-universal coverage of the existing and rather cheaper to roll out wireless broadband services available, have spent the last few post-Mobile World Congress weeks slugging it out like Ali and Foreman in the Rumble in the Jungle or Nokia and Qualcomm in the courts last year (before the sprit of Barca made them kiss and make up).

Even though we're usually absolutely loath to give free product plugs, we think that it's nevertheless incumbent on us to mention that 3 is offering a free mobile dongle right now. Well not for long though.

 

Those interested in joining the mobile broadband revolution for nowt should visit http://www.three.co.uk/biggiveaway before 10:00 am tomorrow to stand a chance of being one of a lucky 1,000 randomly chosen recipients of a ZTE MF627 modem. 

 

The 'free' offer forms part of a push for mobile broadband in a rather crowded market. Normal price for the dongle is £29.35 and as part of an updated Ready-to-Go mobile broadband package, 3 is offering 3 GBytes of data, said to last up to 3 months, along with the dongle at a price of £58.71. A year's worth of 12 Gbytes costs £97.86. So, feeling lucky?

Of all the industries feeling the heat in the current recession, PC retail must be as close as any to the centre of the flames. 

According to reports in leading IT channel bible Microscope, the PC market in 2009 will achieve the unenviable milestone of the sharpest sales downturn in the history of the industry. 

PC dealers have traditionally been under great pressure to make a living over the last decade but the recession is piling on the pressure even more. Yet there is a bright spot among the gloom: the small form factor notebook segment - in particular netbooks.