BlackBerry offering to pay $550 to iPhone owners who switch November 26, 2014 BLACKBERRY has taken an unusual step to push its new Passport smartphone into people’s hands, by paying them to swap their iPhone for it. In the US and Canada, BlackBerry is offering customers up to $550 (£348) to trade any iPhone since 2011 for the business-orientated Passport. The offer to pay people to take its [...]
Short sellers bet against a £10bn BT mobile deal November 25, 2014 SHARES in BT edged 0.4 per cent higher yesterday as investors continued to warm to the idea of the British telecoms giant splashing out a reported £10bn to acquire either O2 or EE in a move to bolster its foray into consumer mobile next year. But not everyone was convinced of a successful transaction as [...]
AO World eyeing Europe for new growth markets November 25, 2014 ONLINE white goods retailer AO World is eyeing up Belgium and the Netherlands after building out its infrastructure in Germany faster and cheaper than expected. The group yesterday reported half-year revenues that jumped 25 per cent to £217.1m during the six months to 30 September, while profits fell to £779,000, from £2.14m during the same [...]
Zoopla boss Alex Chesterman isn’t fazed by Agents’ Mutual launch November 25, 2014 Agents’ Mutual doesn’t faze the property portal boss Alex Chesterman isn’t worried by the upcoming launch of what could be Zoopla’s biggest challenge to date, Agents’ Mutual, a property site led by several major estate agents launching in January. “The majority of estate agents are not participating in Agents’ Mutual,” he says. “So far [it [...]
BT share price up as mobile network operators O2 and EE vie for £10bn deal November 24, 2014 British telecoms giant BT is set to play kingmaker as it prepares to buy either O2 or EE to jump-start its push into the consumer mobile market next year. BT yesterday confirmed deal talks with “two UK mobile network operators, of which one is O2”, but cautioned that talks remained “at a highly preliminary stage”. [...]
BT set to shake up the mobile market… again November 24, 2014 A decade after the British firm left mobile, it is back for more In the midst of what one BT insider described yesterday as a “financial mess” in the early 2000s the British telecoms giant spun off its BT Cellnet arm. The move in 2001 was quickly seen as a terrible strategic decision, [...]
As BT prepares to buy O2 or EE, Sky remains sceptical of need for mobile offering November 24, 2014 Pay TV group Sky, recently rebranded from BSkyB, remained unconvinced by the need for a mobile offering yesterday, after its biggest rival BT looked poised to buy either EE or O2 in a £10bn mobile deal. While Sky’s services include TV, broadband and fixed-line telephone in the UK, the £15.3bn group has yet to offer [...]
Amazon UK opening Shoreditch studio to boost fashion business November 23, 2014 Amazon is planning to step up its assault on rival online fashion retailers such as Asos and Next with the opening of a 46,000-square foot fashion photography studio in Shoreditch next year. The move comes as Amazon has been boosting its fashion efforts, signing up more than 100 brands in 2014, including Hugo Boss and [...]
Web providers to store device data under privacy bill November 23, 2014 Internet providers will be forced to store details of the devices on their network and the content they access online in a push to improve national security, under new laws to be introduced by Home Secretary Theresa May. She said the new Anti-Terrorism and Security Bill was “a step forward”, but fell short of the [...]
Broadband industry slams BT’s monopoly for stifling innovation November 23, 2014 A trade group comprised of a dozen British telecoms firms, including Sky, Vodafone and TalkTalk, yesterday labelled BT’s control of national infrastructure a “monopoly position” that blocked competition and restricted innovation. The UK Competitive Telecommunications Association (UKCTA) called on Ofcom to let its members lay their own cables in BT ducts, use their own equipment [...]
