It’s been a landmark week for mobile broadband in the UK, with the launch of the first 4G (that’s fourth generation) network being officially unveiled by operator Everything Everywhere.

Everything Everywhere is a joint venture between the two parents companies of the T-Mobile and Orange mobile networks. The launch was not purely of new tech and spectrum usage, the company simultaneously released details of its new brand name of the 4G network – ‘EE’. Yep, just two little letters. 

The release of the new branding, name and logo created something of a debate amongst branding and marketing experts. As Brand Republic reported, some likened the logo to two ecstasy pills laid next to each other – suggesting the logo was born on a drug-fuelled night out. Another thought it would be read as ‘MM’ or ‘WW’ – depending on the logo’s orientation (clever clogs).

Brand Republic’s editorial staff also took to Twitter wondering how the new name was actually pronounced – is it E.E or Eeeeeeeee? Luckily, the company was on hand to provide some useful, and somewhat patronising, responses in the form of written and audio ‘guides’. See the visual guide below, or listen to the ‘audio version’ here (click the speaker button on the left).  For the record, it’s E.E.

Hmmm. Helpful, good natured Twitter banter, or outright patronising?

Being born out of a merger between Orange and T-Mobile, EE has some interesting brand heritage (anyone know if the T in T-Mobile stands for anything by the way?) But given they have the monopoly on 4G for the time being, anyone wanting to jump on net-gen mobile services should be very Eeeexcited. 

@simonhill

Last week we posted a piece for fans of mobile news consumption in the US, and now those of us in Europe are getting some of the action too.

After the The State of the News Media 2012 revealed an increase in mobile news gobbling in the US, ComScore thought ‘we need to get in on this surveying of mobile what-not business’. So here we are, a lovely survey showing how mobile news consumption is up in Europe as well.

And consume we do. You think those yanks like their news on the go? Well, over 46% of us smartphone owning Brits are accessing news through our devices, compared to the European average of 37%. Yep we’re ahead of the curve and beating the our nearest competition the French and Spanish, with 37% and 32% respectively (based on January 2012 numbers). I guess we just want news more, makes you proud to be British.

Source: ComScore website

There’s no word on tablet-based news gorging. Perhaps ComScore think us Europeans are a little behind the US when it comes to table usage. My own survey based on last week’s queues indicates 100% of ComScore employees did not walk past an Apple store last week. 

No insight as to how users are landing on the news pages through their phones either. They survey looked at a mixture of dedicated app and mobile browser traffic. Naturally dedicated app traffic is coming direct through apps, but it would be nice to see if smartphone users are tapping in website addresses or are wondering in through Twitter, Facebook and other social sites.

Regardless, these latest figures show the hunger for news on-the-go is increasing like the clappers on both sides of the pond.

@simonhill

Originally posted on CommsTalk

The Daily Telegraph is about to start charging for its editorial mobile apps, which until now have been free for anyone wanting to read the paper on the go.

In “the coming weeks”, iPhone and Android smartphone uses will have to start forking out £7 a week for the editorial apps as they are bundled into the paper subscription. Only those who already subscribe to the Telegraph print or the £9.99 a month iPad edition will continue to get the apps for free.   

Does this mean the paper is one step closer to erecting a paywall around its website content? There has been discussion of such an endeavour last year, following in the national paywall trend of the FT and The Times.

It’s also possible this is the beginning of a ‘ladder strategy’ for the paper, where web content is offered as the free lure followed up an up sell of the physical print paper and convenience of the mobile apps. That would make yet another variation of the national paywall model, coming in underneath the FT’s ‘you get a few articles a month for free, then pay’ and way below The Times’ ‘all or nothing’ payment approach.

Offering short form content that appeals to the mobile user, such as ESPN Premier League video highlights, suggests the Telegraph sees more of a market for this content amongst mobile device users – perhaps thinking they’re more likely to consume video on a commute or double screening at home. The slight drawback is relying on seasonal sports content puts you in danger of losing regular weekly subs during the off season period. 

Has the Telegraph found the paid content’s paywall sweet spot? It’s a big ask, but we might find out in ‘the coming weeks’.

@simonhill

With all the excitement of the Christmas break this little nugget of research information almost slipped past – almost.

A media habits survey by the Oliver & Ohlbaum consultancy found TV remains the news source of choice for consumers, with 75% of respondents turning on the tube for their daily updates. Online is only marginally lagging behind at 68%, and on average online readers are landing on 5.2 sites for their news intake – funnelled along by an RSS feed here and there presumably.

Online is outstripping the traditional print newspaper too, but sadly only a small fraction of respondents, 3.8%, are currently paying for online news. A low figure here is not surprising with so many sites offering their content for free – but sub 4% really is low.

Looking solely at mobiles and tablets, the number of payers jumps to 9% and 19% respectively. Paid Content puts this partly “down to the fact that tablet owners are early adopters, with more disposable income” and “the fact that those publishing for tablets have wised up after missing the boat with paid content on the wider Internet.”

Both good facts. It’s also worth considering readers may not begrudge paying for online news if it is mobile, following them on their phone and tablet wherever they wonder – much the way paying for digital music streaming seems more attractive when packaged with a mobile app and subscription.

Where does this leave those humble web editors trying to jazz up there online content? If converting the masses of online readers to paid content relies on readers owning a flash (that is fancy flash, not Flash the video format) tablet or smartphone and publishers putting up cash for device-orientated content, how do you reach the average laptop user who’s still tip-tapping at his keyboard?

Image source: Oliver & Ohlbaum via Paid Content

Headline pretty much says it all for this one. The BBC is updating its iPlayer mobile apps to allow users to view TV content on their iPad, iPhone or Android device over a 3G network.

Sounds likes like a very obvious thing to do, and maybe one you thought the Beeb already offered? Not so. In fact content playback on Android and iPad devices has, until now, been restricted to wireless connections only – the idea being to keep up the quality of viewing, keep data bills down and, probably most importantly, reduce the strain on the operators’ networks.

This is all in the past, according to a post on the BBC Internet Blog. David Madden, iPlayer mobile executive product manager, said “We have worked closely with the network operators… We have also done a lot of work to improve the playback experience on portable devices and have rolled out HLS (HTTP Live Streaming) video infrastructure for the apps, which uses adaptive bitrate technologies.”

Good things, those adaptive bitrate technologies. Imagine the strain on the cell network if everyone suddenly decided to stream the final of Strictly or Eastenders Christmas special - it boggles the mind.

Paid Content points out this is all part of the build up to the BBC’s coverage of the London 2012 Olympic Games, which will have a serious mobile component.  All good in theory, but chances are you’re going to see a serious network slowdown next summer, especially during events where Team GB is tipped for gold.

Of course, that’s not very many. But watch out for rowing, sailing and pretty much any sport that thrives in wet weather. We’re all over those.

The FT’s digital audience growth is going from strength to strength, with more readers logging on while off the desktop - both during breakfast and on commute home. That’s according to the below infographic, take a look for yourself:

Source: FT via Paid Content

brandfiller:

Here’s one unexpected side effect of the plethora of mobile devices hitting the market these days: A surge in demand for male hand models. In a sort of weird way, this makes perfect sense. Marketers usually want to show mobile devices in use, demonstrating how they make life easier or more…

As someone who has male hand modelled in the past, I feel the pain of my well nailed brethren.