Daily Archives: January 15, 2016

UK watchdog clears BT’s EE acquisition

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After giving it a provisional nod back in October last year, UK’s competition watchdog CMA (Competition and Markets Authority) has given a green signal to the BT-EE deal.

Formally announced back in February 2015, the deal will see the British telecommunications giant acquiring UK’s leading mobile carrier for a total of $19 billion (£12.5 billion), creating a communications giant offering services like broadband, fixed-line, mobile, and TV.

When CMA gave the merger a provisional nod last year, the watchdog said it’ll publish a final report in January 2016. The only hurdle for the deal at that time was competitors’ (Vodafone and TalkTalk) objection to BT retaining its Openreach broadband infrastructure service. However, the deal has been cleared without conditions.

As one would expect, BT has welcomed the decision. “The combined BT and EE will be a digital champion for the UK, providing high levels of investment and driving innovation in a highly competitive market,” said BT Chief Executive Gavin Patterson.

“I have no doubt that consumers, businesses and communities will benefit as we combine the power of fibre broadband with the convenience of leading edge mobile services. I look forward to welcoming EE into the BT family.”

The company expects the merger to be complete in the coming weeks, following which it says EE owners Deutsche Telekom and Orange will have 12% and 4% of BT shares, respectively. A representative of Deutsche Telekom will also be appointed to the BT Board.

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Oppo F1 now official with 8MP front-facing camera, metal body

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If you really like taking selfies, Oppo is here to give you the ability to take good ones to share to your heart’s content on social media. They’re calling it the “Selfie Expert,” but its actual name is the F1, and it’s available to pre-order in Europe right now.

The main feature of the F1 is its front-facing camera, which is an 8-megapixel shooter with f/2.0 aperture and 1/4 inch sensor size. The software will help alter the photo as well. It’s called Beautify 3.0, and it “brightens your skin and seamlessly removes blemishes.” There are three beautification modes to choose from. Oppo included filters, too, because who can take a photo these days without a filter?

The F1 is equipped with a 5-inch display with a resolution of 1280×720. On the back, there’s a 13MP camera with an f/2.2 aperture. It features an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 616 processor, 3GB of RAM, and 16GB of built-in storage with a microSD card slot to expand that by 128GB. The battery is measured in at 2500mAh, and it’s running Android 5.1 along with Oppo’s proprietary ColorOS 2.1.

As far as pricing goes, it’ll retail for €229, or about $250 USD. Those in Europe can pre-order the device right now for only €5, and for anyone that does pre-order, Oppo will include a selfie stick, too.

What do you think of the Oppo F1?

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Developers at long last gain the ability to issue promo codes in Google Play

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While this likely isn’t going to change the world for the average Android user, I have little doubt that many developers are thrilled to finally see the option to send out promo codes for apps or in-app purchases in the Google Play developer console. This has always been one of those mystifying omissions for Android developers, but better late than never.

Developers have fairly extensive control over the promo codes, although they are limited to a total of 500 promo codes for a given app per quarter, with the ability to split that out however they wish between codes for a full app or specific in-app purchases. Subscription promo codes are one of the only things that remain a no-go at the moment.

Developers can set promo periods for up to one year and they have the ability to pause a promotion and update either a start or end date if they wish to do so.

We look forward to seeing developers take advantage of this long awaited functionality.

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How Algorithms Are Delivering Better Customer Experience

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Let’s say you oversee a retail call center and the busy holiday season is over. Perhaps you’re evaluating how the system and staff performed over the past couple months. Plus, it’s only January, so maybe you’re still busy with product returns and complaints from folks who are just getting around to dealing with their less-than-perfect gifts. Now may be a good time to take stock of your call center’s performance, and to see just how much analytics can improve it.

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Read A Year’s Worth Of Microsoft Spinning Xbox One NPD Sales

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It’s that time of the month again, where NPD numbers come out and console manufacturers try to spin them to their benefit. One party who consistently partakes in the ritual is Microsoft, which on cue every month, sends out a carefully crafted statement from VP of Xbox Marketing, Mike Nichols. I’ve been getting this monthly statement consistently for about a year now, and I thought it was time for a retrospective, diving into the fabulous world of “PR speak.”

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