“Dad? You know that phone idea you had?”
How Sir Ernest Harrison’s son Michael sparked off a revolution in technology
Paul Withers
January 20, 2015
The last 12 months have seen some tectonic shifts not least with the disappearance of Phones 4u and Nokia (in handsets) from the mobile landscape and the formation of the new retail superpower we now know as Dixons Carphone. If you were on a long holiday, this is how Q2 panned out
April
Microsoft finally completed its £4.5 billion acquisition of Nokia’s mobile handset division, agreed in September 2013. Brightstar 20:20 signs multi million deal to manage Vodafone’s retail accessory business.
HTC said it expected to break records with the launch of its latest flagship, the One (M8) surpassing those of its predecessor which shifted an estimated five million.
Motorola Mobility UK boss Andrew Morley quits.
EE removes Orange and T-Mobile SIMs online, but brand remains in store. The deadline for a potential Carphone Warehouse and Dixons merger was extended to May 19. Phones 4u also linked with a possible merger with the retailer.
EE airtime distributor Midland Distribution announces plans to rebrand as Mdee as former Avenir Telecom and Brightstar Europe managing director Tanny Jeffrey joins.
May
Carphone Warehouse announced its 50/50 £3.5 billion merger with electronics retailer Dixons (Currys/PC World). Question marks were raised over the future of rival Phones 4u following the merger, which was due to complete in August.
Mobile News revealed IT and fixedline provider Chess Telecom was in pole position to purchase the 50,000 O2 and EE
connection base of Avenir Telecom. Former Vodafone commercial marketing director Peter Boucher made his return to the B2B channel when he joined dealer Excalibur Communications.
Ingram Micro (UK) aims to drive sales in the lucrative mobile device management (MDM) space – valued at £317m globally.
Olive Communications signs a unique and exclusive deal with Vodafone giving it full access to its B2B products and work more closely with in-house Vodafone staff.
Windows Phone saw its UK market share plummet by almost a fifth in the first three months of the year. Kantar Worldpanel ComTech OS figures said it held 9.1 per cent of the market, down from 11.3 per cent a year previously. Android dominated with 56.2 per cent of the market with iOS second on 32.1 per cent.
EE hit another 4G milestone with the connectivity available in 200 towns and cities. Population coverage increased to 72 per cent.
O2 announced it was to follow EE in launching a 4G service in Northern Ireland in the summer.
Distributor Exertis says its aims to become the leading distributor for the fast growing wearable technology market – expected to be worth £3.5 billion by 2016.
June
EE said it was close to resolving its revenue share issues that have seen commission payments to dealers subjected to severe delays for two years.
Dealers complained that they were owed tens of millions with EE saying dealers would be moved to a new system that would sort out the problems.
EE announced 4G numbers had reached 3.6 million with new connections now outpacing those to 3G.
O2 announced a major overhaul of its pay structure with most staff receiving an immediate 14 per cent pay rise.
Vodafone UK profits fall from £303 million to £187 million in its 2013/14 financial results. Its CFO Nick Read confirmed Vodafone would not be paying any UK corporation tax despite pressures.
BT announced it would sell 4G business tariffs through its EE MVNO within weeks ahead of a consumer launch in 2015.
Chess Telecom completed its much-rumoured and denied acquisition of Avenir Telecom.
Viacloud, an EE MVNA led by former Virgin Mobile founders Tom Alexander and Joe Steel, goes bust leaving investors £20 million out of pocket.
Windows Phone UK director Leila Martine said the OS will become the number one OS for B2B users within 12 months.
BlackBerry confirmed it would launch its first handset in more than a year. The BlackBerry Passport was slated for a September release.
The government denied speculation it was to impose a national roaming network on operators to tackle areas where mobile coverage is poor.
Mobile News reveals that Samsung UK and Ireland boss Simon Stanford had left the business after five years (a process that was intriguingly at first denied then later confirmed by the manufacturer).
Ingram Micro announced its first ever trade-in and buy-back programme for its reseller partners.
Brightstar 20:20 sales director Mike Hollis ‘leaves’ after just two months in the newly created role.