Archive for May 1st, 2010

Android gets official Twitter app

Already available on the iPhone and BlackBerry smartphones, the official Twitter mobile app is now also available for the Android platform. Twitter for Android just hit the Android Market which features full support for widgets with the ability to view tweets direct from the Quick Contact bar as well as upload images and videos straight from the gallery. As good as it sounds, it’s not perfect though. It lacks support for multiple Twitter accounts and is currently only compatible with Android 2.1 (Nexus One, Droid Incredible, etc) and above devices. Nonetheless, it’s a pretty good first offering albeit restricted to Android 2.1 and above powered handsets, and whatever limitations this version has can easily be addressed in future software updates. For now, those still using an Android 1.6 device will have to content themselves with 3rd party developed Twitter apps for Android or accessing the popular social networking site at mobile.twitter.com via the mobile web browser.

O2 stopped buying the Palm Pre

O2 and Carphone Warehouse have stopped buying Palm Pre phones, Mobile News exclusively reveal. O2 said it had stopped buying the handsets because it ‘has enough to meet the demands’ of its customers. Carphone Warehouse, which bought the Palm Pre directly from O2, confirmed it had also stopped buying the device.
Palm’s Pre handset, which was launched exclusively on O2 in December last year, has struggled to make an impact in the UK market, with retail staff complaining of poor sales.

The news comes on the day IT giant HP announced it was buying Palm for £657m.
An O2 spokesman said: ‘Yes we have stopped buying Palm Pres because at the moment we have enough to meet the demands of our customers.’
In a blog on the O2 website today, general manger of devices Steve Alder had written: ‘When we first announced our exclusive relationship to sell the Palm Pre we talked about how exciting the webOS platform was and how it was a breakthrough in bringing information from lots of different places together.’

Virgin Mobile customer base increases

Virgin Media increased its mobile customer base by 45 per cent in the first quarter of the year compared with the first quarter of 2009. It now has 1,030,900 subscribers with 81,200 net contract additions in the quarter, up 29 per cent. ARPU during the period was up 4.3 per cent to £13.70, while revenue dipped by 2.5 per cent year-on-year to £131.9 million.

The decline in revenues reflected a reduction in prepay mobile subscribers and the lower mobile termination rates which was introduced in April. Its net disconnections in the quarter for prepay was 196,100, which reflected its decision not to focus on prepay customers due to higher churn and lower overall lifetime value, it claimed.

Meanwhile, Virgin Media’s cable business also grew during the period with 41,700 new customers. ARPU also increased by 5.3 per cent to £45.01. Churn for its cable operations was at a record low of 1.1 per cent.

Virgin Media chief executive Neil Berkett said: "This quarter, we added cable customers at our fastest ever rate. A combination of higher gross additions, low churn and increased ARPU enabled us to deliver year-on-year cable revenue growth for the fourth consecutive quarter.

"We are developing our services to exploit our natural network advantage, both now and in the future. More customers than ever before are choosing faster broadband and every day millions of our customers are enjoying the benefits of the video-on-demand revolution we are leading.

"Finally, we have completed the last step of the refinancing of our debt, leaving us with a long term ‘fit for purpose’ capital structure that supports our ambitions to lead the market as the digital provider of choice."

Palm Pre sales are rubbish

Palm Pre sales have been a disaster, claim staff in O2 and Carphone Warehouse stores. This follows news that Palm is to be put up for sale. Many stores have registering zero sales.
An O2 spokesperson said: “Palm Pre sales are in line with our expectations.”

But one store manager said “Our store has sold hardly any Palm Pres, It never stood a chance against the iPhone and they both advertise themselves as doing the same things”.

A Carphone staffer added: “It is a good device but it doesn’t really have a place in the market. No one knows who Palm is.  So Nokia, Sony Ericsson and the iPhone will always be preferred.”

The Pre is available exclusively on O2 contracts. It was also launched on a premium £35 per month tariff but has since become free on all tariffs to “shift stock” staff claim. According to O2 forums, sales were so low many smaller stores stopped selling the Pre. Other shop staff have reported software and hardware issues including freezing, poor battery life, and faults with its slide track.