Dec 15 2009
Vodafone has updated its Irish website recently. The two changes that excite me the most are:
The timing of these changes is perfect for me to send all my Christmas greetings :)
May 21 2009
I regularly use my PDA to access Vodafone’s Irish website (www.vodafone.ie). I normally do this using a WiFi connection, and I often do it while I am abroad. The main reason I access the web site is to send free text messages.
However, accessing the website on my PDA is really awkward! Indeed, it is one of the worst web sites that I have ever experienced on my PDA! This is particularly surprising when you consider that Vodafone is in the mobile market!
My reasons for disliking the web site, and in particular the My Vodafone portal, are:
Ideally, it would be nice if Vodafone developed a mobile version of its portal! This could be used as a value added service to drive data revenues!
May 15 2009
I read last night that Vodafone is abolishing all roaming charges for the summer!
I think that this is brilliant, and I hope that it becomes permanent! Also, I hope that this is rolled-out across all Vodafone operations!
You can read more about this in Summer roaming promotion – mobile roaming service from Vodafone.
May 14 2009
Vodafone has announced that it is creating an online application store. I think that this is an interesting move, because as far as I am aware it is the first time that a mobile phone network operator has actually created its own application store.
This announcement is evidence of the shifting role of telcos from simple bit-carriers to providers of value-added applications and services. This is turn should increase revenues significantly, without incurring proportional costs.
I think that the advantages of this strategy to users are:
I think that the advantages of this strategy for developers are:
So it is a win-win-win situation!
For more details about this story see Voda joins app store wars with smart pipe approach.
Mar 18 2009
Today I am going to focus on the Irish involvement in another international standards body called the OMA (Open Mobile Alliance). Information about the history and goals of the OMA can be found in About OMA. There are 4 different levels of membership of the OMA, and these are described in OMA Membership. However, I am not going to distinguish between these membership types. I am basing my lists on the memberships lists in Current OMA Members.
The Irish companies that are currently members are:
The non-Irish companies that have technical operations in Ireland that are currently members are:
As always, it is difficult to determine if some of these multi-nations have a technical presence in Ireland.
Feb 11 2009
The Irish Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) published a report earlier this week covering the attitudes of Irish residential customers to ICT. The report is very easy to read, and it contains many interesting findings. My favourite findings are:
The full report can be downloaded from ComReg Residential ICT Services Survey Q4 2008.
Jan 20 2009
I previously wrote about the Irish Companies involved in W3C, so today I am going to list the Irish companies (and organisations) that are involved in the TM Forum. Again, I am basing these lists on the online membership list.
The Irish companies that are currently members are:
The non-Irish companies that have technical operations in Ireland that are currently members are:
At least I think that all of those companies have technical operations in Ireland. It can be very difficult to tell from their web pages.
Jan 08 2009
I am a big supporter of standards for technology, and I was reading some specifications from one of the many standards organisations today. I suspect, perhaps incorrectly, that there are many Irish companies involved in international standards organisations. I know that standards participation by Irish companies is something that Enterprise Ireland encourages.
Therefore, I decided to write a series of articles listing the Irish companies that are involved in international standards organisations that relate to information communication technologies. I will also include non-Irish companies that have technical operations in Ireland. (It would be nice if I could replicate this for the entire EU, but I do not have the time for that at the moment.)
I am going to start this series by looking at the W3C, because it is probably the prominent standards organisation in relation to the Internet. I am basing these lists on the online membership list.
The Irish companies that are currently members are:
The non-Irish companies that have technical operations in Ireland that are currently members are:
The Irish companies that appear to be members based on their own web pages even though they are not listed by the W3C:
That took me longer than I expected!
Nov 11 2008
I read an interesting article in The Irish Times over the weekend (but I was too busy to write about it then :o ) The article reports that the head of the Irish Police (known locally as Garda) has asked Vodafone Ireland to provide the Internet browsing details of all of its customers. Furthermore, he wants all of this information in real time! The full article is Garda chief asks mobile phone firm to retain web-browsing data. Apparently, Vodafone are being asked to do this as a “good citizen”, or as a small favour!
I think that this is a typical example of how things are often done in an unofficial way in Ireland, where the rules (or laws) are not seen to have any relevance! I can imagine the reported conversation between the Garda Commissioner and the Vodafone Representative:
Garda Commissioner: “Right lads - could you do us a favour? We need all the Internet browsing details of all your users in real-time.“
Vodafone Representative: “Do you have a warrant for that?“
Garda Commissioner: “Nah - don’t worry about warrants. Sure we are the Garda! That’ll be grand.“
Although the article is not very clear, I think that the police want the full contents of every webpage that is viewed. It is a mystery why they want this information in real-time. In fact, it is a mystery to me why they want this information at all! Surely a targeted approach (with warrants) would be more efficient!
There are also so many ways of circumventing this proposal using software that is readily available in the Internet. So I do not think that it will deter serious criminals.
All of this is especially pointless when you consider that one can (and criminals do) legally buy a prepaid mobile phone without providing any identity information.
So who is this new measure really targeting?
My take on it is that it is the bright idea of somebody who wants to grab headlines with a great new security measure, but that this person has no concept of the practical use or implications of the idea. It certainly would not be the first time this ever happened!
