Buzzin Mobiles

Smirnoff & Time Out iPhone app

Smirnoff have joined up with the London publication Time Out magazine to introduce a brand new iPhone app that is set to transform Londoner’s social lives.

The Smirnoff & Time Out iPhone app is launched on December 14th and features up to the minute Time Out content on one-of-a-kind events and experiences in London. The information will include the best nightlife, culture and dining out experiences in the capital as picked out by Time Out’s expert team of editors.

Every month Smirnoff & Time Out will offer the chance to explore exceptional nightlife and entertainment around the world through competitions that can be entered either through the iPhone app or the microsite, beginning in December 2009 with the chance to win a trip to New York.

Lovers of unique nightlife and culture without iPhones can also access the information at www.timeout.com/smirnoff. Content will include the ‘Smirnoff Hot Picks’ round-up of the weeks can’t miss events, a ‘booking ahead’ service and a unique library featuring some of London’s most iconic past events.

The Smirnoff & Time Out app features:

Geo-location technology that allows users to view Time Out & Smirnoff recommended activities around their exact position within seconds, complete with event previews.

Up-to-the-minute recommendations and event information, with functionality to send preferred event picks to friends.

Functionality to  add favourite cinemas, restaurants, venues and areas, allowing users to keep-up-to-date with what’s on in their favourite places.

The Smirnoff & Time Out iPhone app can be downloaded free here.

In the run up to Christmas, UK has seen a huge rise in the increase in popularity of mobile broadband suppliers offering free laptop deals to entice new business, but a report from Broadband Expert suggests that despite the credit crunch many mobile providers and retailers are turning away fifty percent of potential customers due to stringent credit checks.

In fact Broadband Expert say that one, perhaps over zealous provider is rejecting 75% of sales after running the necessary credit checks.

Many mobile providers are offering the mobile broadband and free laptop deals over a contract period of 18 to 24 months with a typical monthly cost of  £25 to£40. These contracts require no down payment from the customer and represent a significant risk to the retailer.

Rob Webber Commercial Director at Broadband Expert said;

“Companies are spending huge amounts on advertising campaigns promoting these offers yet when the consumer comes to sign up, there is a strong chance they will be refused based on a credit check. The stringency of credit checks is an interesting barometer of the confidence retailers have in consumers meeting repayments with many only unwilling to extend these deals to those without a very good credit rating.”

Webber also adds that the mobile deals are “particularly popular with students and those on lower incomes who can not afford the upfront costs of a new laptop, yet these are the people most likely to be excluded from these offers.” He also notes that the “rejection rates demonstrate a different strategy with some companies prepared to take a more of a gamble to fill their order books and others choosing to play it safe by only targeting better off consumers they perceive as being low risk.”

three generations of iPhone

Supermarket giant Tesco are the latest in a line of companies that have announced they will be offering Apple’s iPhone for sale in the UK, the superstore says that it is hoping to offer the phone “in time for Christmas.”

In September it was announced that O2 would no longer be the exclusive sales agent in the UK for the iPhone, despite having sole rights since the introduction of the smartphone in 2007.

Other service providers Orange and Vodafone quickly signed deals to allow them to sell the mobiles through their own networks, although Vodafone will not be offering the product until early 2010. Orange, who have  already started selling the touchscreen, said it sold more than 30,000 handsets on the first day of offering the phone.

Tesco Mobile is a joint venture with O2 and offers both pay as you go and contract phones via its retail outlets and online, they have around 2 million existing customers. Tesco has yet to announce tariff details for the phone, but said that its prices would be competitive.

Nokia X6

It has been announced that Nokia’s latest phone the Nokia X6, is to arrive in the UK this week and is the mobile to have if you’re a lover of music.

The phone pack has a standard 6GB of memory, 32GB internal, 4GB on a microSD card, fantastic for all of you who want more music on the move.

The mobile features a 3.2 inch reactive interface and 16:9 touchscreen, a 5-megapixel camera with a dual flash and a Carl Zeiss lens and includes full access to the Ovi Application Store.

The phone can be pre-ordered at a price of around £449 SIM-free or it is to be available at Phones4U stores from Friday 27 November.  The handset will be free, costing around £25 a month or if you trade in an N-Series handset on the Orange Network, costing around £35 a month.

Nokia’s much anticipated E72 device is now available through the usual retail outlets.

Nokia E72

The Nokia E72 is a device tailor made for business and personal messaging that builds on the company’s most successful full QWERTY keyboard device the E71.

The E72 adds full functionality such as desktop-like email and chat experiences, where the E71 stopped short, and the new model comes complete with the latest version of Ovi Maps with A-GPS navigation and compass, an optical navi key and 5 megapixel camera are all packed into the sleek, beautifully-designed handset.

The Nokia E72 also comes with Nokia’s push consumer email service, Nokia Messaging, and now for the first time people can set up instant messaging (IM) directly from the homescreen, accessing communities such as Windows Live(TM) Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, Google Talk and Ovi Chat. Just like chatting via the desktop, people can respond to friends and colleagues across multiple communities in real-time.

The Nokia E72 can also accommodate multiple work and personal email accounts and, with separate profiles for work and play, allows people to be flexible when it comes to choosing how, when, where and who to respond to.

Nokia have also revealed search results that show that more people rely on e mails than on traditional phone calls or text messaging when sending and responding to critical information.

Nokia vice president Ukko Lappalainen said;

“The research shows that people are spending an average of five full days per year – equivalent to a full work week – responding to emails. Half of us (46 percent) choose email over voice or text to send and receive important information. The Nokia E72 was designed exactly with this kind of person in mind – it allows the owner to be more responsive and communicate how they want, whenever they want and wherever they are.”

However business managers should be aware that according to the Nokia survey 49% of us prioritise e mails from our partners, ahead of our bosses or managers (29%), colleagues (23%) and surprisingly customers (31%).