On 1 July Google announced that it intends to buy flight search provider ITA Software for $700 million in cash. ITA is one of the leading providers of flight search information and bookings, competing with Amadeus, Sabre, Expedia and others. It has agreements with a large number of airlines and travel search sites including Fly.com, [...]

I recently attended a conference focused on mobile phones for the ageing population. I went with high expectations of learning more about a subject that I’ve developed a keen interest in over the past couple of years.

At Mobile World Congress I was profoundly affected by the challenges facing older users and wrote about my experiences. [...]

I’m sure the average buyer walking into a phone shop considers a number of factors when deciding which device to buy. They might like the look of it, or its colour. Perhaps they favour one manufacturer over another. Or maybe there’s just an attractive offer with a good price.

But what about the phone’s name? I [...]

Last week I was lucky enough to go away on a skiing holiday. As always, I left my packing to the last minute. On the evening before departure I found myself scrabbling around the office for a Nokia S60 phone to take with me, as I wanted to use the excellent Sports Tracker software while [...]

I had a humbling experience yesterday. I learned what it means to get old. It was a grim realisation.

I’ve always been interested in devices that allow elderly, infirm or disabled people the opportunity to enjoy all the benefits of mobile technology. In 2006 I bought a phone from Emporia, a little-known family-run Austrian firm, after [...]

Just before Christmas we spoke to some of Tieto’s Telecoms and Media group for an update on their mobile strategy. We found them emerging successfully from a transition year. Tieto is an IT services company of around 16,000 people, of which 6,000 are in the Telecoms and Media group. In the past, the focus for [...]

One of the big stories to come out of Nokia’s Capital Markets Day was the revelation that it plans to cut its smartphone portfolio in half (see CCS Hotline about the event here). It set me thinking, “Is this a bold move?”

It’s quite easy to argue that it probably is. Why? Because it risks opening [...]

As a self-confessed phone addict I was one of those who got up early on 26 May to be among the first to experience Nokia’s new Ovi Store. As it turned out I needn’t have bothered, as the launch gremlins conspired to create a series of problems for the service. Nokia’s PR company distributed the [...]

Last week I spent a few days in Italy catching up with friends and visiting relatives. As you’d expect, I ate and drank well. When I wasn’t at the dinner table, I walked into a few high-street retailers and checked out the mobile phone section.

I noticed that the Nokia 5800 is available in Italy with [...]

I’m off to a wedding this weekend, and it’s prompted me to think about hitching hardware and software.

Let’s rewind back to 1998. The Nokia 5110, shown on the right, had just been launched. It married great hardware — the groundbreaking Navi key, solid battery life and changeable covers — with fantastic software — a user [...]