The industry expects that for good or bad, the new nano SIM design by Apple will be approved this month to become the official nano SIM standard. The controversial would-be standard caused quite a lot of criticism from other mobile vendors, who feel this is an attempt to twist their arms.

As we reported earlier, 4 companies have developed their own versions of nano SIMs and each of them is trying to make their design the new nano SIM standard. However, the chances of Apple to win in this battle are much higher than their competitors.

Apple Responds to Competitors’ Criticism

Apple isn’t known for paying attention to criticism from competitors but this time it listened and as unbelievable as it sounds, even made changes to its design in an attempt to respond to the criticism. The main concern of Nokia and the other competitors was that the proposed nano SIM design could be jammed into devices that have a micro SD slot.

To avoid this, Apples added small plastic edges to the card, thus making it hard, if possible at all, to place a nano SIM into a micro SD slot. This would have been great, if it didn’t affect the size of the card. Now the card isn’t much smaller than a micro SIM, which is ironic because the whole idea of the nano SIM was to replace the micro SIM with a smaller card.

This design decision looks pretty cumbersome at best. The nano SIM might be smaller than its predecessor but it isn’t small enough to save sufficient space inside the device, as the idea was. It seems that if the proposed design becomes the standard, we’ll have to wait a bit more till we get a really small card and a really thin phone.

The Decision for the Nano SIM – Fast or Too Fast?

ETSI (European Telecoms Standards Institute ), the organization that adopts new standards is now on the move. It’s expected that the decision whether the design proposed by Apple will become the new standard will be made by the end of May 2012.

Unlike its predecessor, the micro SIM, it looks like the nano SIM standard won’t need years to be approved. We all admire speed but not when it’s at the expense of quality.

Apple is pushing ETSI to adopt the new standard asap, so that it can be incorporated in future models soon. Of course, Apple’s competitors aren’t happy with this and feel that the pressure isn’t fair. To some extent, they are right because if the new standard gets accepted despite its shortcomings, this puts the whole industry at unease and it is easy to predict that soon we’ll be talking about another new standard to replace the nano SIM standard with a really small card.

Such frequent changes of standards don’t benefit us as users and this is what makes me think that such speedy changes aren’t necessarily beneficial for the industry as a whole.

The downward move for Nokia continues, while Samsung is going stronger and stronger and stronger. Actually, Nokia has been dethroned as the number one handset vendor.

The mobile market has always been mobile in terms of vendors going up, down, and out of the game but just a couple of years ago Nokia looked so firmly planted at the top that even those who didn’t like its devices, had to admit that Nokia was a league on its own. Nokia has been the global leader since the beginning of time – i.e. for almost a decade and a half.

However, things change and even though Nokia is still a top brand, it’s not the leader anymore. How could this happen?

Blame It on Android

The explanation is easy – while Nokia made a couple of bad decisions in the last year, the most notable of which was the suicidal decision to ditch Android as the operating system for their devices, Samsung bet on Android and won – big time at that! Nokia shipped 24% fewer smartphones on an annual base, while Samsung saw a 50% increase and Apple almost doubled its shipped volumes.

These figures speak that the volume of the mobile market is still growing at a fast pace – you just need to know how to make money on it.

Samsung Increases Its Profit by 98 Per Cent!

While management at Nokia could attempt to blame the poor results on the poor global economic situation rather than on its own decisions, the management at Samsung can be proud that despite the global economic situation, it managed to increase its profit by 98%. Galaxy Note and S II devices were the major reasons for these outstanding results and as the brands are going strong, it is a safe bet to predict that the results for 2012 will be even better.

Apple Is Still in the Game

Another big player on the mobile market that saw a rapid increase in profits is Apple. While the world was shaken by the untimely death of Steve Jobs, the company continued to gain new territories. Last year the battle for the first place was between Nokia and Samsung but this year it is very probable to see Samsung and Apple in a fight to be the leader.

According to reports from Juniper Research, Samsung and Apple ship 60% of all smartphones. Samsung outnumbers Apple at least for now in terms of shipped devices but in terms of profits Apple shows better results. This promises a very interesting fight to watch. Will Apple be able to dethrone Samsung or will Samsung manage to keep the first place? We’ll live, we’ll see.

Sources:

Samsung first quarter profits overtake Nokia

Samsung & Apple increase lead over smartphone rivals

The tiny nano SIMs might turn into a huge SIM war between Apple on one side and Nokia, Motorola, and RIM on the other. The battle is formally over the new nano SIM standard that is yet to be developed but actually it is about control over the future of the mobile market. The fight promises to be a bitter one!

What Is a Standard Nano SIM?

Well, this is basically what everything is about – which card will become the new nano SIM standard. There isn’t an official nano SIM standard yet, though 4 companies have developed their own nano SIMs. The size of Apple’s nano-SIM is 12.3 x 8.8mm, for Nokia the perfect dimensions are 10 x 8mm and RIM (supposedly) comes with a 11 x 9mm nano SIM.

Each of these companies would love to see its SIM become the new nano SIM standard because this will bring them money from licensing fees. Diversity is great but the market simply can’t take multiple standards – there is only one place for the winner. The steaks are high and this is what makes the SIM war a bitter one.

Apple Against Everybody Else

Each of the four companies is a name in the business but this only makes things worse because none of them wants to admit that their solution is technically inferior to the solution of their competitors. However, it looks like RIM and Nokia (and possibly Motorola) will have to swallow their pride and join forces in order to beat Apple.

We’ll hardly have to wait for long to know the winner, because it is supposed that later this week the arbiter in dispute – the European Telecoms Standards Institute will announce its decision which of the suggestions to become the standard.

In an attempt to win, Apple offered a royalty-free licensing of its technology but Nokia and the others aren’t buying it. Probably they are right because everybody knows there is no free lunch and when your competitor offers it for free, you are right to be suspicious.

I am not taking sides in this dispute. The only thing I want is a victory for the better solution because we as customers will benefit from it. I don’t care if the standard has been developed by Apple, Nokia, Motorola, etc. – the only thing I do care about is that it is a working solution that doesn’t cause me hassle and make it difficult to use.

Personal hotspot devices are always hot for everybody who is mobile and can’t live without an Internet connection. While some personal hotspot devices are too bulky to carry with you, the one developed by the German company called Nova Media is really tiny and easy to carry with you. For now, it is the smallest device of this kind but with the speed at which technology is developing, it is a safe bet that we won’t have to wait for long till we get an even smaller one.

The 3G USB XYFI Personal Router

This device is called XYFI and it looks very much like an ordinary USB stick. Its dimensions (80 mm x 29 mm x 12 mm, 30 g) make it really small and it not only fits in your pocket, it can even get lost there. However, behind its inconspicuous interface and stylish design, as seen from the image below, lies a lot of mobile power.

All you need to have in order to run the XYFI is a tablet or a phone with a USB port and an adapter. You can connect it to a computer, too but since a computer is definitely heavier than a tablet or a phone, why carry it?

Tiny But with Everything You Need

This tiny device can support from 1 to 8 users, so actually it is not for personal use only because you can set guest accounts for 7 more people. It even has a slot for a MicroSD card you can use as storage. It operates with HSPA and 3G UMTS for all 900/1900/2100 MHz mobile networks and Quad-Band EDGE, GPRS for all 850/900/1800/1900 MHz mobile networks.

With HSPA you can get up to 14.4 Mbit/s download and up to 5.76 Mbit/s upload speeds (at least in theory but it also depends on the capabilities of your provider) and with EDGE – up to 215 kbit/s download and up to 200 kbit/s upload (again, the speeds depend on your provider’s capabilities and on particular conditions). This bandwidth is quite OK for personal use for sure.

The XYFI router is easy to configure – all you need is a Web browser. However, if you are with iOS, things get even easier for you because Nova Media has developed and included in the package a special iOS application that sets everything for you.

SIM Not Locked to a Particular Provider

The technical parameters of the device are impressive enough but what I like most is that its SIM is not locked to a particular provider. Now, this is really portable! In the past I have reviewed other personal hotspots that were tied to a particular carrier, which for me is unacceptable.

However, the case with the XYFI isn’t this and you are free to use it with any SIM card you want. This means that if you are abroad, you can easily buy a SIM there and connect it to the device. This is of great importance because you really have the freedom to use the Net everywhere in the world!

Hackers are always on the watch out and a smartphone with its pics and data is a lucrative target, especially if it is a corporate smartphone and/or the owner is a celebrity. There are many ways in which you can protect your smartphone data from hackers and soon Vodafone users will have one more – a secure SIM.

Encryption Makes Your Data Secure

The secure SIM Vodafone plans to launch in June doesn’t use new technologies nobody has heard of. Rather, it uses good ol’ encryption to secure your data while stored on your device and while in transit. In the beginning, the secure SIM will be used mainly for identification but later on it will be able to encrypt calls and emails.

When you place the secure SIM in your device and you want to connect to the corporate network, a pair of security keys are exchanged. These keys are used to identify your card with the network. After that you enter your PIN and from then on you use your phone as you would use it with a normal SIM card.

What You Need to Make the Secure Solution Work

For now it is unclear if the general public will have access to the service or only corporate users will be able to take advantage of it but let’s hope if it becomes a success, it will get open to everybody. The solution has been developed together with a German security firm and it is not surprising that it will be first introduced in Germany. Hopefully, if everything goes well, soon other EU countries, including the UK will get the new SIMs.

The transition to the new secure SIM shouldn’t be very rough because basically all you need to do is replace your old SIM with the new one. There might be some smartphone models that won’t be able to work with the new card but the expectations are that 90% or more of existing devices will switch to the new secure level painlessly.

If there are problems, it is most likely they will affect iOS devices because Apple didn’t give the secure SIM developers full access to everything they needed to develop their solution. As for Android OS users, problems are unlikely to arise because the open source nature of the software left little to guesswork while developing the solution.

The new secure SIM will make the life of a company IT guy easier but still if you believe it will cut leakage, this will hardly happen. After all, the human factor, not only technology bugs, is the main security weakness.

Sources: Vodafone bid to protect smartphone security

Vodafone protects smartphone communications

It’s a mobile phone user’s worse nightmare. You receive your monthly mobile phone bill in the post or check it online to find out that it’s literally hundreds of pounds more than it should be. Countless consumers have been through this and I can vouch for being one of them. Though my situation has always been self inflicted, either knowingly using my mobile Internet abroad or sending excessive International messages. In this situation it is fair to say that I am responsible for the extremely expensive bill, however it doesn’t justify the extortionate pricing for using these services or the lack of help provided by operators.

Bill Shock

There are many people who are very much innocent and naïve when it comes to “bill shock” as what it is now referred to. Some take a relatively relaxed approached in the first place thinking that the cost of data roaming won’t be that much or if you are really unlucky and you are one of those people that have had their phone stolen then there really isn’t much you can do. This last situation is probably the most concerning. The owner of the mobile contract is liable to the full amount of the bill up until they report despite some unscrupulous individual has been using their phone.

Are caps and better communication the answer?

In a move to protect consumers against unexpected, enormous bills Ofcom, the telecoms regulator in the UK are urging companies to introduce a limit on mobile phone bills to prevent such situations.

Allowing customers to cap their phone bills will certainly go a long way in giving customers more control over what they spend and more importantly protect them against theft of their phone or SIM card where excessive usage is over a short space of time. In addition to this, the network operators must also notify customers when they are nearing the end of their allowances or cap.

Clearer information and a better communication with customers is what are also being called for by consumer organisations such as Which?

In my opinion, all customers should be clued up on the fact that using their phone abroad is going to cost them more money than normal and so should take preventive measures such as turning off data whilst abroad or using a local SIM card. The safest option of course is to just switch off your phone.

There may also be a gap in the market for hybrid contracts such that contract owners can top-up their contract with credit like PAYG when they have gone over their allowance or are using roaming services.

Have you been stung by an erroneous or excessive bill? Please let us know your experiences below.

Article sources: Ofcom acts to protect mobile users from ‘bill shock’

The annual Mobile World Congress is one of the biggest events in the mobile industry. It is an event where new devices and mobile technologies are premiered and this is why the industry expects it with great interest.

There were many novelties this year. For instance, the global SIM card from AT&T we already informed you about is just one of the many new technologies that deserve attention. Here is a roundup of some of the other important technologies and devices that were first shown to the world during MWC 2012.

Many, Many, Many New Smartphones and Tablets

It is not surprising that the world, or at least the Mobile World Congress revolves around new devices. There were so many of them that it is hard to mention even the most outstanding ones. In fact, every major manufacturer showed their new smartphones and tablets, so you guess how many devices this is.

One of the greatest news in the devices department is the mass adoption of the tetracore Tegra3 Nvidia processors. HTC One X, LG Optimus 4X, ZTE Era, K-Touch Treasure V8, and Fujitsu Ultra High Spec Smartphone all use this processor. The HTC One series – a new series of four phones, were also officially launched on the Congress.

It’s hard to mention all the new devices but some of them that have kind of revolutionary features, such as the new Asus Transformer Pad Infinity with a camera, the 41 megapixel Nokia 808 PureView smartphone, or the Samsung Galaxy Beam are worth noting.

The Asus tablet is remarkable for its 8 megapixel camera because generally tablets are camera-shy, while for smartphones this is a standard feature. Well, 8 megapixel isn’t very impressive, especially when compared to the 41 megapixel Nokia 808 PureView smartphone also demonstrated at the MWC but sure it is a good start. The Galaxy Beam is remarkable for being a phone and a projector (which in itself isn’t a brand new idea, the news here is that it is much more affordable than its predecessors).

Wireless Charging

LG in conjunction with the Wireless Power Consortium showed a device that is charged via a transparent handbag or in your car. While this is undoubtedly a very promising technology that will spare us the trouble to look for the charger, it is unclear when will be able to use this technology in our daily lives.

Boot to Gecko by Mozilla

If you are asking yourself if we need another mobile operating system, before answering the question, you must see the new Boot to Gecko platform by Mozilla. This project has been in development for years and now at MWC 2012 it was shown in its entirety.

Boot to Gecko is called by its developers “A Platform for Open Web Devices” and it is a completely Web-based platform written in HTML5 (you won’t guess this if you didn’t knew!). In fact, the platform is a huge browser with many applications that function as normal phone apps. The revolutionary here is that this is a conventional operating system, yet it isn’t that resource hungry and can be used on low-end devices, too.

No Windows 8 for Smartphones

Probably the biggest disappointment at the MWC was that there was no Windows 8 for smartphones. Yes, the beta was available for consumer testing but we expected a final version. Rumour goes that Windows 8 will be very similar to Windows Phone but still we all expected to see it in action. Unfortunately, this didn’t happen now and estimates are that it might not happen by the end of the year or even by early 2013.

The MWC is a huge event and it isn’t possible to present all the great things that were demonstrated there. This roundup is just a brief summary of some of the many new interesting things in mobile devices, mobile OS, and mobile technology as a whole that could be seen there.

T-Mobile have recently launched two new promotions for their Business customers available for a limited time only. Save up to £37.50 on mobile broadband and up to £90 over 12 months on a SIM-only contract.

USB stick Mobile Broadband Offer

This includes 3 months free on any 18 or 24 month mobile broadband contract starting from only £8.50 a month. There are two packages to choose from here with either 1GB or 3GB data allowances available at £8.50 and £12.50 a month, respectively. Each package comes with a free USB stick which also has space for a 32GB memory card. This particular USB stick, the MF192 is compatible with both Windows 7 and Mac OSX Lion 10.7.

The T-Mobile USB broadband dongle is a reliable and superfast piece of equipment that is great for people on-the-go and need something that is pocket-sized. Combined with 3G data speeds, a mobile broadband contract with T-Mobile is an option that shouldn’t be overlooked. Find out more online at the T-Mobile business store online.

25% off T-Mobile Business SIM only plans

You don’t often see this kind of discount being applied to any type of mobile contract so this one is not to be missed if you are a small to medium sized business. There are both 1 and 12 month tariffs available to choose from starting at just £7.50 a month inclusive of the discount. For this you can get 500 minutes plus 250 texts and a free flexible booster. This is something that is no longer available on the consumer tariffs so Business customers have much more flexibility to tailor the plan to your needs. So, whether you need Internet, more texts or an allowance for calling abroad, there is an option for you to take advantage of.

We’ve updated the deals on our site so you can compare them to the other plans offered by Vodafone, Orange and others. Alternatively you can go straight to the T-Mobile Business shop to find out more.

On Feb 27, during the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, AT&T announced their global SIM card, which will allow users to use the same SIM with different carriers all over the world. Though it is still unclear when the new global SIM will be globally available, you can bet that the UK will be one of the first countries (probably after the States) to have the new card.

No More SIM Switching When You Switch Countries?

The most revolutionary fact about the card is that it allows to be used in many countries. Now, when you go to a different country, you need to take out the SIM card you have been using in the country you left and put the SIM card for the country you are in. For frequent international travellers, this is quite of an inconvenience.

The new global platform from AT&T addresses this inconvenience. With the new global SIM card, you can use your mobile in the network of about 600 operators in various countries of the world without the need to switch cards. The new card offers global Internet, WiFi, satellite, and AT&T network coverage.

AT&T has spent long years on the development of the card. The new hardware is backed by worldwide monitoring and management services provided by AT&T Control Centre, so it is really a global solution on its own. The only unclarity is about the reaction of device manufacturers but most likely they will embrace the new card because it offers so much.

The Global SIM – a Nail in the Coffin for Small Carriers?

While consumers must be happy about the convenience the new card offers, for small carriers this might not be good news. If the conditions of AT&T are unacceptable for a small carrier, its only choice is to reject the deal. However, this could lead to loss of clients for whom the new global SIM is of vital importance.

Worldwide mobile deployment sounds great but when this cuts your market, it doesn’t look that bright. The new global SIM will certainly mean lost business for small regional carriers because they usually have international customers who buy their cards when in the country because using their foreign card in roaming is much more expensive. Now with the global SIM, this might change and international travellers will favour AT&T, no matter which country they are in.

Still, you can’t stop progress and the advantages of the new card for customers are indisputable. We might not be able to see the global SIM for some more time but it is a safe bet that it is coming and is here to stay.

Sources: Wireless Week: AT&T offer single SIM to multiple players 

It’s always exciting to get a new version of an operating system but it is even more exciting when all the cool features in it are working properly, rather than have the feeling we are lab mice who are testing something unfinished. In this relation news about forthcoming releases of major operating systems, such as Android, are met with mixed feelings – excitement about all the new and great stuff and caution that it will take time to make the software stable and by then we’ll be dealing with software that is crashing way too often.

Probably because of this, the rumor that the new version of Android, code named Jelly Bean, will be released in summer didn’t make us jump with joy. The release of Android 5 is scheduled for summer probably because the idea is to launch it before Windows 8, which is to be released in Q3.

Summer is not too far away and after all, the current version of Android (4, or Ice Cream Sandwich) hasn’t been around that long but unfortunately, its success hasn’t been that impressive either. So, let’s hope that with Jelly Bean Android will get back on the right track.

The Merge of Devices

It is hard to say which the most distinguishing feature of Android 5 is when there is only speculation rather than cold facts about what’s in it but it is a safe bet to say that Android 5 will be a step further to the merge of devices – i.e. the same code goes for tablets, netbooks, and laptops.

While this is reasonable because tablets are becoming as powerful as desktops and laptops, there are still differences between the devices (i.e. screen size) that make unification hard. However, if unification does happen, this will mean you will be able to use your favorite desktop apps on your mobile (and vice versa) without having to look for the mobile version, which might not exist.

The Arrival of Dual Boot Devices

Another cool feature that is supposed to be introduced with Android 5 is dual boot. Dual boot means you can have two operating systems on one device (i.e. Windows and Android). What is best, if the rumor is true, with Android you will be able to switch OS without rebooting – this is revolutionary and even PCs don’t have it.

What Else to Expect from Android 5

The fact that there are still only rumours and no official statement makes it hard to guess what else is inside Android 5 but some bloggers have suggested that this might be the Android version to accompany a new Google device (which isn’t unlikely, having in mind the recent acquisition of Motorola Mobile by Google) and the version that will introduce laptop dock mode (the ability to put the device into a laptop cradle and use it in conjunction with a laptop).

These two features are cool but they are also hard to implement, so unless Google has done most of the work on them by now, they won’t be available in such a short period of time. Still, there are great expectations about the new version of Android and hopefully soon we’ll see if they come true or not.