Android sales overtake Apple iPhones (UK)
Tesco Mobile, the UK based MVNO operated by the country’s largest food retailer has confirmed the trend being reported by most analysts – that Android based phones have overtaken sales of Apple iPhones.
Prior to Christmas, Tesco Mobile witnessed Apple iPhones outselling Android smartphones by two-to-one. However, January saw a rapid increase in Android smartphone sales which resulted in like-for-like sales. In February this year, Android smartphones overtook iPhone sales on the Tesco Mobile network.
According to Graham Harris, Chief Executive Officer of Tesco Telecoms and the Tesco Mobile MVNO, one of the UK’s leading operators, these sales are a useful barometer for smartphone trends. There is a lot of choice in the market and as a result, consumers are driving healthy competition between rival operating systems. Tesco Mobile prides itself on customer service and offering customers what they want, through a wide range of competitive deals on all platforms. However, they commend this healthy competition between operating systems as they observe that it offers consumer choice and flexibility.
AT&T iPhone ranks near the top on data download and upload speed (US)
Metrico Wireless, a Handset testing company has run a series of comparison trials between the AT&T and Verzion Wireless versions of Apple’s iPhone, and found that the AT&T iPhone experienced double the mean data download speed of the Verizon iPhone though the mean load time for an average Web page was about the same on both devices.
In addition, the findings showed that when the iPhone is mobile, the AT&T iPhone successfully completed around 10% more data download sessions than the Verizon iPhone. The results were opposite when the iPhones were stationary; the Verizon iPhone was more consistent uploading data when stationary in comparison to the AT&T iPhone, with a 10 percent better success rate.
Metrico also compared the AT&T iPhone to 22 other AT&T smartphones. When compared to other AT&T smartphones:
- The AT&T iPhone ranks near the top on data download and upload speed, with comparable performance to the Sony Ericsson Xperia, the LG Quantum and the HTC Surround.
- The AT&T iPhone ranks below average in Bluetooth speech quality behind top rated performers like the Blackberry Torch and Blackberry Curve.
- The AT&T iPhone ranks in the middle of the pack on call performance behind top rated performers like the Samsung Captivate and the HTC Aria.
When compared to 17 other Verizon smartphones:
- The Verizon iPhone ranks near the top in noise cancelling performance, joining the likes of the Motorola Droid X and the LG Ally.
- The iPhone ranks below average in data download speed relative to other Verizon smartphones like the HTC Incredible.
- The iPhone is comparable to the Verizon average in speech quality, behind top performers like the LG Fathom.
Motorola gets 28% of revenue from just one mobile network operator (USA)
Motorola Mobility has revealed that over a quarter (28%) of its revenues come from sales of phones to just one mobile network operator – Verizon Wireless.
In a list of risks that could affect the company, it noted that it may be difficult to replace or find new large customers, especially with increasing concentration in the USA where there are a limited number of carriers.
The company warned that if any significant customer, particularly Verizon or Sprint Nextel considerably reduced the quantity of handsets or even stopped altogether – then its profitability would be seriously reduced.
That Verizon Wireless has just started selling Apple’s iPhone in the USA is bound to cause concern about Motorola’s long term sales expectations with that specific carrier.
The company added that it does not have long-term exclusivity arrangements with its customers or commitments by them to purchase guaranteed volumes. Moreover, the mobile networks could cancel orders or contracts with little, if any, notice.
Motorola also stated that it’s future profitability could be at risk if Android-based smartphones do not remain competitive in the marketplace – which puts a lot of the company risk reliant on an uncontrolled 3rd-party with which Motorola has limited leverage.
The company noted that as part of its ongoing effort to improve the product portfolio, they have also been rationalizing the hardware platforms to reduce the complexity of the product platforms and system architecture. This allows Motorola to lower the costs to develop and produce future mobile devices.
Verizon Wireless staff expecting annual bonuses (USA)
The staff working for Verizon Wireless is to receive bonuses worth between 8-10% of their salary, as part of the annual bonus for company performance, including the recent efforts during the launch of the CDMA variant of Apple’s iPhone.
Besides this, next month, Verizon Wireless is expected to send out its annual profit sharing contribution to eligible employees, which is usually worth around 2.5% of their salary.
According to reports, Verizon Wireless customer service employees have an average salary of US$27,000 per year.
Verizon Wireless operates more than 2,000 stores nationwide.
Apple iPhone battery explodes
Apple iPhone has reportedly exploded when resting on a desk – with burn marks visible on the table after the phone had cooled down.
According to iPhone 4 owner Omar Huartas, his Apple smartphone actually explodedâ€.
The iDevice apparently became really hot while his wife was holding it, causing the battery to swell, the back cover to dislodge and the smartphone to catch fire. After being frightened near to dear, Huertas’ wife dropped the device on a table where it left visible burn marks. While most reports like this are usually a hoax, it actually appears true, with the moment being caught on camera.
Huartas has contacted Apple to see if, perhaps, he can get a new iPhone.
AT&T sued for overbilling charges (USA)
AT&T is facing a class-action lawsuit which is alleging that the company over charged customers for using mobile data services.
The lawsuit claims that AT&T’s billing system is like a rigged gas tank that charges pump that charges for a full gallon when it pumps only nine-tenths of a gallon into your car’s tank.
Patrick Hendrick is claiming in the lawsuit, for which he is the named plantiff, that AT&T’s overcharging of mobile data services was discovered by an independent analysis of the mobile traffic on his Apple iPhone. In one example, he stated that they downloaded a 50kb file, but the AT&T billing showed a 53.5kb file being downloaded. Whether they take into account the issue multiple server reconnections, which often accounts for a page taking longer to download than its headline size should require is not clear.
However, they are also claimed that AT&T is billing for mobile data traffic, even when all the mobile data services are disabled on the handset though.
According to the lawsuit, a freshly purchased phone had all its mobile data services disabled, the email left un-configured and all location data traffic turned off. The phone was left unused, but switched on for 10 days, over which time frame, AT&T billed them for 35 data traffic incidents, totally 2,292 kb.
Apple iPhone doesn’t work outdoors in Finland
Repeated complaints about Apple’s iPhone have caught the attention of the consumer affairs agency, Kuluttajavirasto which is investigating whether the smartphone complies with local legislation requiring portable devices to work in sub-zero temperatures.
Complaints by customers to Apple stores have been reportedly brushed aside by application of the small print, which stated that the phones were not designed to work in temperatures below zero. However, Finland’s Consumer Agency is investigating if customers were proactively told of this restriction in a country where temperatures are routinely below zero.
According to reports, consumers could be entitled to a refund if the Agency finds that Apple breached local consumer protection laws on the issue.
Most phones do work in sub-zero temperatures, and are often designed to be shipped in unpressurised air freight where the temperatures will drop considerably below zero. Obviously, they are not designed to work in unpressurised air freight though.
