Mobile Phones Blog

O2 have officially announced that the current free/discounted MacBook/O2 Mobile Broadband rumour is just that. An O2 spokeswoman yesterday confirmed that there are “no such plans to launch an Apple MacBook laptop offer,” and that the rumours are “untrue”.

As we all know, O2, who along with Carphone Warehouse, hold exclusive carriage rights to the iPhone, were thought to have worked out a deal with Apple which would see them match the current slew of free laptop offers available from mobile broadband providers and network rivals T-Mobile, Vodafone, 3 Mobile and Orange.

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There is talk abroad of a deal brewing between Apple and O2 that could see customers who sign up for either of O2’s mobile and home broadband offerings getting MacBook or MacBook Pro laptop throw into the bargain.

The two companies, apparently still cosy in their iPhone relationship will be offering free hardware to subscribers in a bid to match the current free laptop offers available to Carphone Warehouse customers who sign up with Orange, 3 Mobile, Vodafone, and T-Mobile.

It is as of yet unknown whether the Macs will be available free, we presume, given that Apple stuff generally costs a pretty penny that the MacBook will either be available as a free gift, or at a lower cost that the Pro version.

The UK market is already one of the most competitive in the world for mobile services and now Swedish flatpack furniture store Ikea is likely to drive down prices still further. The company will launch its prepaid mobile offering, Ikea Family, initially to lure holders of its loyalty card with super-cheap rates and a SIM-only deal. However, next year it plans to offer the service to the general public, and move into 3G and web applications, and it has already added some low cost Nokia handsets for those who sign up online.

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Orange have announced a new laptop bundle deal with their mobile broadband contracts. The bundles, due to be released in August, are the latest in the ‘free laptops’ promotions on offer from the major UK ISPs and mobile retailers such as the Carphone Warehouse. Orange will be offering a range of mobile broadband packages which include a laptop and dongle on contracts over £25 a month.

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Back in 2007, Carphone Warehouse employee Paul Potts melted even the steely heart of Britian’s Got Talent judge Simon Cowell with his rendition of opera classic Nessun Dorma. This year he’s been combining his two roles as salesman and singer in a major TV advertising campaign for German telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom.

The first commercial uses a clip taken from Britain’s Got Talent, viewed 26 million times on YouTube, in which judges Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden and Piers Morgan are swept away by 37-year-old Potts’ winning performance of the Pavarotti classic. The advert then pans out to Germans from all walks of life who are captivated by the piece and welling up with emotion, finishing with the slogan “discover a connection.”

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Would-be iPhone punters have spent the weekend venting their spleens at O2’s mishandling of the 3G iPhone launch here in the UK. The demand for the shiny white new wunderkind was reportedly so much that O2’s activation system crashed under the strain of demand.

Customers were left standing around for hours in O2 shops as they waited for their newly purchased iPhones to be activated; when told that they could not come back and pick up their phones later, several customers angrily walked out in protest. O2 had previously admitted that interest for the new handset had outstripped expectations. Demand was reportedly “at unprecedented levels, far in excess of the original iPhone.”

Last week also saw the O2 site crash under the strain of pre-orders. “We’ve never seen any mobile device create the excitement and demand of the iPhone 3G,” said Ronan Dunne, CEO of O2 in the UK. We want to ensure that everyone who wants an iPhone 3G can get one so we’ll be working with Apple to continually replenish our supplies throughout the summer.”

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As if the thought of increased call charges for PAYG punters on two of the UK’s leading networks wasn’t enough, those hoping to hook up with a new 3G-capable iPhone on a non-contract basis this Friday are in for a shock - those after one are unfortunately going to have to hang on until Winterval and hope that there’s an iPhone-shaped present in their stocking.

The first iPhone was available on a strictly contract-only basis, from one network operator (O2) and so news that the new version would be available on PAYG was greeted with much fanfare, now muted by admissions from both O2 and the Carphone Warehouse that the phone would only be available for top-up “in time for Christmas”, rather than in time for the last few weeks of the summer holidays.

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Leading UK network O2 has come out top in a new study looking at broadband speeds in the UK.

O2’s broadband service, which utilises the super-fast ADSL2+ network of ISP Be Broadband, provides download speeds over 50% faster than broadband competitors in the UK, including converged mobile & broadband rival Orange.

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In the first wave of mobile internet devices, most content was reached via portals controlled by the operators. Now the companies that dominate the PC web portals are trying to repeat their success on the handset, and are often luring the same delivery partners that work with the carriers. AOL, which has lagged severely behind Google, Microsoft and Yahoo in this race, is now stepping up its efforts, and has signed an agreement with WIN in the UK, which will deliver a more consistent messaging and media experience to users across the PC and phone - and will serve as a template for AOL operations in other countries.

WIN will provide AOL (whose UK broadband ops are handled by the Carphone Warehouse) with a content platform for web and mobile devices, which it will host and manage. This will showcase and deliver entertainment, information and paid-for services to AOL users. It will also handle content aggregation, web and mobile portal design, and new service development focused on multimedia and video - as the internet player tries to narrow the headstart that Google and Yahoo have grabbed. As well as sourcing and managing content for AOL, WIN will integrate mobile delivery of the Instant Messenger service (AIM).

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Vodafone were hotly tipped to take over the residential broadband and voice services of Italian comms giant Tiscali at the end of the month, but a report published this week in the Financial Times suggest that the worlds biggest mobile network suddenly got cold feet and said arrivederci.

The two companies apparently failed to agree on a sum which would see Vodafone taking over Tiscali’s broadband businesses across Europe, which would have put Vodafone in a strong position in the UK market, as mobile rivals O2 and Orange both have broadband concerns of their own.

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