Click below to
find interesting
information from our
June 2010
newsletter
relating to:
Roaming
Travel
Mobile phones
Roaming
Telstra
hikes
roaming
prices
Telstra has
announced new
roaming prices,
to apply from
June 15th 2010.
The bad news is
it's a swingeing
price hike. SMS
prices are the
hardest hit,
with all
countries now
priced at 75
cents.
Previously you
could send an
SMS from, say,
the UK for 32
cents. Prices
have risen in
every country.
Voice calls
haven't escaped.
Generally prices
are set to the
highest
previously
charged for any
of the roaming
networks, and
then increased
again.
Previously it
was possible to
call back to
Australia from
New Zealand for
$1.52 per
minute, now it's
$2.80. From
China, calling
home could cost
$3.11, now it's
$4.47. Prices in
every country,
for most call
types, have
risen on average
by 12% on our
preliminary
analysis.
There's a little
bit of good news
- Telstra
announced the
prices in
advance this
time. And it's
simpler, there's
only a single
price for each
country (rather
than previously
with different
prices for each
overseas
network). It's
also more
complete, with
third-country
calls now having
prices
published. This
is very
non-intuitive
though - in many
countries (e.g.
the UK, China,
Germany, Japan,
Russia and many
more) it is
cheaper to call
everywhere else
in the world
than to call
Australia!
This is
Telstra's third
roaming price
rise in 18
months.
vRoam hasn't
increased its
vSIM
prices.
Travel
Volcanic
ash
With the
current and
continuing
flight delays
due to Icelandic
volcanic
eruptions, we
thought we might
look at the
history of
aviation-related
ash incidents.
The most famous
was British
Airways Flight 9
in 1982, a 747
en-route to
Australia which
inadvertently
flew into the
ash cloud of Mt
Galunggung near
Jakarta.
All
four engines
failed,
prompting what
may be the most
famous
understated
in-flight
announcement
ever: "Ladies
and gentlemen,
this is your
captain
speaking. We
have a small
problem. All
four engines
have stopped. We
are doing our
damnedest to get
them under
control. I trust
you are not in
too much
distress".
The engines
were eventually
restarted once
the 747
descended below
the ash cloud
(the aircraft
lost most of its
altitude), and
an emergency
landing
completed at
Jakarta. The
windscreen was
so badly
scratched that
the landing was
made entirely on
instruments, and
the aircraft
could not be
taxied due as
the airport
lights could not
be seen by the
crew.
We hope you
weren't too
badly affected
by any ash
disruptions
recently.
Mobile phones
Phone sales
The numbers
are out for 2009
sales of
mobile-phone
handsets.
Globally, nearly
300 million new
handsets were
sold, 22% higher
than the
previous year.
Handset sales
2009:
| Brand |
Volumes
(millions) |
Market
Share |
| Nokia |
108 |
37% |
| Samsung |
64 |
22% |
| LG |
27 |
9% |
| RIM
(BlackBerry) |
11 |
3.6% |
| Sony-Ericsson |
11 |
4.6% |
| Others |
75 |
16% |
| Total |
295 |
100% |
Nokia is still the largest manufacturer, with the Koreans catching up.
Losers are
Motorola (which
dropped out of
the top five),
and
Sony-Ericsson.
The biggest
markets are the
booming
populations of
China and India
(which each sell
more handsets in
a month than
have EVER been
sold in
Australia). The
growth is
tapering off -
expectations are
for only an 11%
global increase
this year. Those
numbers are for
all handsets,
but a particular
fast-growing
segment is
exercising many
minds - smartphones:
Smartphone
2009 sales:
| Brand |
Volumes
(millions) |
Market
Share |
| Nokia |
22 |
39% |
| RIM
(BlackBerry) |
11 |
19% |
|
Apple (iPhone) |
9 |
16% |
| HTC |
2.6 |
5% |
|
Motorola |
2.3 |
4% |
| Others |
9 |
16% |
| Total |
55 |
100% |
Somewhat
unexpectedly (to
those exposed
just to PR)
Nokia also sells
more smartphones
than any other
manufacturer,
however Apple's
iPhone is
growing at a
faster rate.
Obscured by
these numbers is
the "Android"
story - an
operating system
for smartphones
used in (some)
HTC and (most)
Motorola
smartphones
which is claimed
(by Google - the
authors of
Android) to be
currently
outselling
iPhone handsets.
Other
manufacturers
are jumping on
the smartphone
operating-system
bandwagon.
Samsung is
developing its "Bada"
opeating system,
Palm with its
WebOS platform
that has just
been bought by
HP, and Linux
Mobile (not to
be confused with
Android which is
a variant of
Linux) is also
being developed
by
manufacturers.
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