Hutchison3
Latest
3 teams up with Royal College of Art for phones of the future
When the mobile industry turns to college programs for design guidance, the results can be... shall we say, unusual. British carrier 3 recently enlisted the help of the Royal College of Art for a look at what phones of the future might look like and do, and needless to say, the results span the full gamut from mild to wild; on the mild side, for example, is the MÜ slider (pictured) that takes social networking to an extreme by showing all of the user's networks as points on a sphere -- totally realistic, totally believable, and probably destined for reality in the not-too-distant future. Moving to the wild end of the spectrum, the Auxo actually changes shape based on your profile. We don't see that one hitting shelves any time soon, but hey, keep on dreaming, guys.[Via Shiny Shiny]
T-Mobile, 3 holding hands for 3G
Despite an ongoing spat between the UK's 3 and the whole lot of its larger rivals, the scrappy 3G-focused carrier has managed to bury the hatchet long enough with T-Mobile to ink an agreement to share some towers. Virtually every carrier across the world with WCDMA capability is struggling to find the balance between buildout -- an extraordinarily expensive proposition -- and profit, and it seems that collaborating with even the fiercest rivals might be the way to go in the interest of expanding footprint rapidly, keeping existing customers happy, and winning the occasional data-hungry conquest. Not to mention that Orange and Vodafone have already gone public with a similar agreement, and when you're competing with a juggernaut like Voda in any segment, joining forces sounds like a good idea.
UK carriers ganging up on 3?
The underdog in Britain's mobile market, 3, is accusing its larger rivals of trying to shut it out of the market to the tune of £250 million (about $500 million), taking its sob story all the way to the UK's court system. The claim revolves around a series of meetings in 2005 of the Operator Steering Group -- a group to which Vodafone, T-Mobile, Orange, O2, and 3 all belonged -- in which everyone but 3 voted to keep the nation's number transfer delay at five days, despite the fact that the process takes mere hours in other European countries. 3 claims that the larger carriers are using this excruciatingly long window to convince folks porting their numbers to 3 to stay by throwing fantastic discount packages their way. On the surface it all sounds like a plea for government help when the little guy finds itself unable to compete, but who knows, maybe there's some actual collusion going on here.[Via textually.org]
3 Skypephone is free in the UK
Right on schedule, you're looking at the just announced co-branded Skype phone: the 3 Skypephone. Sure, mobile Skype clients are already in worldwide use. This, however, marks the first time a carrier has fully embraced Skype which traditionally has been seen as a threat to carrier tariff schemes. Under 3's plan, Skype VoIP calls and IMs are free to any other Skype user just as long as you're under contract or top up your pay as your go account with at least £10 (about $21) each month. The £49 (about $101) 3G phone with 2 megapixel camera and microSD slot will be available in the UK on Friday; Australia, Austria, Denmark, Hong Kong, Italy, Ireland, Macau and Sweden sometime later in the year. Wanna see it in a video? Sure you do, locked-and-loaded right after the break. [Via T3]
Skype and 3 team up for mobile internet phone
Details are pretty light on this one, but Reuters is now reporting that Skype and UK cellphone operator 3 are currently working on a new handset that promises to "make Internet calls mobile." According to Reuters, the phone is expected to "work in the normal way," but also include an option to let users bypass all those hefty cellphone charges and contact other Skype users directly in order to save a few bucks. We assume that means Skype will operate over 3G data, although that's yet to be confirmed by either party. We should know more soon enough, however, as the handset is apparently on track to be released before the end of the year.
3 cutting HSDPA pricing in UK?
In much of Europe, 3G data is traditionally as expensive as it is plentiful -- a safe haven of wireless email for businessfolk with a corporate card, yes, but that's about it. T-Mobile UK, for example, charges £29 (about $57) for its cheapest unlimited laptop data plan, likely keeping it out of reach of a good fraction of the otherwise interested masses. 3 may be changing the game next month, though, on rumors that it'll roll out a handful of data plans significantly cheaper than its closest competition. Monthly plans of £10 for 1GB, £15 for 3GB, and £25 for 7GB (about $20, $30, and $50, respectively) are said to be in the cards, taking advantage of HSDPA's generous (and now largely underused) capacity. Even better, 3 will allow subscribers to tether their handsets at these rates or pick up a modem; it's not known how much the modem will cost, but a nice, round "naught" is getting tossed around as a possibility for existing customers. All things considered, it looks like carriers are poised to take a different approach to recouping their 3G investments -- popularity over high price -- and we'd say that's a good thing.[Via GigaOM]
LG's U300 flip for the 3G masses
The concept of entry-level 3G is starting to pick up a good head of steam in some parts of the world, and manufacturers are standing at the ready. LG is next to the party, dropping its stylish U300 clamshell exclusively on Hutchison's 3 network this month. Phones like the U300 aren't likely to cause a commotion in Europe where UMTS and UMTS-capable handsets are seemingly omnipresent, but golly, what we'd do to get our American paws on this: dual color displays, 1.3 megapixel camera, MicroSD slot, and A2DP support are all included in the phone's very attractive packaging. And when you consider that the U300 will likely go for a song on contract -- well, it's all we can do to contain our jealous rage.[Via T3]
