Sky goes mobile and Apple makes record money in CNET UK podcast 419
Sky goes mobile and Apple makes record money in CNET UK podcast 419
33:12

Sky goes mobile and Apple makes record money in CNET UK podcast 419

Culture
[MUSIC] [MUSIC]. Hello and welcome. You're listening to CNET UK Podcast. This is episode 419 for Friday the 30th of January 2015. Reach for the sky. Sky is getting into the mobile game. Plus, Sony. Decides music streaming is someone elses problem now, and there's more to drones than missile strikes and crashing the White House. They could save the rainforest, and could even save your life. I'm Rich Trenholm, and joining me in our high tech London studio this week is Luke Westaway. Hello. Hello, thanks for glossing over the fact I said rainforest. [LAUGH] I wasn't even listening. [LAUGH] And also Andy [UNKNOWN] > Hello. I like that. He wasn't gonna cross over. That's why- No. I was gonna, I was gonna, I was gonna have a go and I'm asking to do it again just to waste time. Importantly today Friday, my birthday. [CROSSTALK] No, I'm pretty sure nothing important happens. You can expect that I won't be mentioning that several times throughout this podcast. Okay. We're filming this podcast, as always, to see what Andy looks like on the day of his 44th birthday. [CROSSTALK]. Today, not my birthday, but when the podcast comes out, tomorrow on Friday, that. That doesn't count. Yeah, but that's when people will listen to this and they can be like, oh, happy birthday. Yeah, but they'll be listening to it and they'll know that that what they're hearing is the words of a lying man. No, today when people are listening to it, and they're hearing the day after today. [CROSSTALK] Anyway. To see the video, youtube.com/cnet or on cnet.com. Right, let's kick off- Can you leave 90/60? I know, right? Let's kick off with the news. [MUSIC] Starting off with some very good news for Apple. Yup. Super good news for Apple in fact. Mm-hm. It is basically had an incredibly good first, sorry, fourth quarter from last year. That's right. It's, it's given out its figures. It has made $18 billion. That is not only record breaking for Apple. Mm-mm. That is the most that any company has ever earned in a quarter. Holy crap. Wow. So what was the previous holder of that? Previous was Exxon Mobile. Mm-hm. Which was 15.9 billion. So Apple cleanly beat them. Beaten by a long way then. Yeah, wow. So is there anything interesting that we need to know about these results? Yeah, there's a few things. I mean, mostly it's really all about the iPhone. In fact 69% of it's sales came from the iPhone. That's a lot. Yeah, that's really. And any, any new stuff come out this year that we can look forward to? Yeah, yeah, a lot. [CROSSTALK] That is due to go on sale in April. [CROSSTALK] So yeah, keep your eyes peeled. That is for the US, so if you're watching this in the US, howdy. [LAUGH] [CROSSTALK] Howdy. unfortunately, we don't know yet when it's coming out in the. Coming out in the UK. Horrible expression that, isn't it? Keep your eyes peeled. I suppose it is, yes. Imagine having your eyes peeled. Ew. [LAUGH] Any, do you have any thoughts on this particular subject apart from- All I can think about now is having my eyes peeled. [LAUGH] Okay. yeah, yes. I do have source, actually, Rich. Mm-hm. Good. I think its interesting to compare Apple today- Mm-hm. With how Apple was two years ago or at least the perceptions of the company. Yeah. Because if you just look back just a little way- Mm. So it's like in the, in the. The year following Steve Jobs' death we have like the Apple Maps debacle. Yeah. This was all 2012. Mm-hm And Samsung was just sorta like powering straight in there. That's right. very, very quickly became the world's biggest. Is SmartPhone maker. Mhmm. And I think that a lot of people were, were saying that Apple may have peaked, but [LAUGH] it turned out we were wrong. In 20, 2014 fiscal period, they made even more money. Money than you thought was possible, and you, your company, more company than any company has ever made. It's made all the money, and it sold all of the iPhones. And [UNKNOWN] and mentioning something as well, the fact that something that kind of, came and took over the mobile phone market and became the biggest mobile phone manufacturer in the world, took over from Korea and sort of beating Apple in terms of market share, but now. Samsung is in real trouble. They've had their fifth consecutive quarter of losses. This announced this week the same time as Apple. Yeah, yeah. Hm. And more importantly in terms of global market, smart phone market share. Yes. They're both neck and neck. Which is very exciting because Samsung was on 30% and they've dropped to 20%, and Apple was on 18% and they've come up to 20%. So they're both on 20%. Crikey For all to [UNKNOWN]. All those. But, but it's worth bearing in mind that that market share is an interesting one because markets. Get bigger so, you can have a smaller market share and sell some more phones, but anyway, so they're neck and neck is the important thing. That's very interesting and like there, there are some sort of notes of caution in this new, we got more money than. He's got all the money there is. Yeah. Yeah. And that is that it's all down to the iPhone so some people have said well, what about, what if the iPhone suddenly becomes unpopular. Yep. Which is you know, could happen. Hasn't happened yet. But could, could happen. Commenters however have Apple's back. RichieM at. Richie Mix. Rich Mix. Go, Richie Mix. Rich Mix. Yeah. Whoo! What's he doing? Haven't seen him in a while. What's going on in the rich mix. [LAUGH] That's what- That's how he, that's what he says when he enters a room. [LAUGH] He's got Richie and the room is his mix. [LAUGH]. [LAUGH] What's going on in route to mix? Anyway- I know that's what you've been saying. Kudos to Apple, they've been able to market the heck out of an aging concept and continue to milk it for all it has. Glad to see the American dream still works. Absolutely. I like [INAUDIBLE]. That's a bit of a backhanded compliment. Isn't it? [LAUGH] Well yes, milking it for all it's worth It's like congratulations making all the money and this awful system that keeps us all. If that's not the American dream, then. Hurrah. meanwhile, xyz1981555. Oh, how is old xyz1981555. Still a robot. Yeah, he still owes me a tenner, actually. I am xy, yeah, says, Apple is gonna keep innovating year after year, unlike Microsoft. Ooh, burn, not based on logical facts or anything. I think that's a little harsh. Just as well as Microsoft obviously Microsoft did tend to sort of get most of things wrong and things like that but, but. Oh Microsoft. It did, it did, Microsoft. [LAUGH] It did do this week Windows 10 and Hollowlink which was kind of interesting and. They've completely skipped over Windows nine, how's that for innovating. It's because Windows seven ate nine. [LAUGH] Yeah, they've forgotten. Apparently there's a good reason for there not being a Windows nine. It's so in Germany they won't think it's Windows nein. [LAUGH] [LAUGH] I'm sure there's a real reason. I'll wait for Windows Yes. [LAUGH] It's, apparently it's because there's loads of sort of software, like, older stuff, that just looks for Windows 9 in sort of lines of code and things. Keeps looking for Windows 95, 98. Things, things like that. Oh, okay. And so as soon as it sees an, oh, as soon as it sees Windows 9, regardless of what comes after it. Mm. It's like, whoa, okay! I know what we're running. An old thing. All right. And it freaks out. So- It's like Millennium Bug, it shuts everything down [INAUDIBLE] Basically, yeah. It would be absolutely classic Microsoft if they successfully. Did the millennium bug 15 years later. [UNKNOWN] The end of the world late. Where just [UNKNOWN] is like one. You know, put it at the beginning of the list. Like it does with all my. Be all my music and things. On the subject of Microsoft innovating there is they did. We, we we kinda missed this last week because the podcast recorded on the day that it was announced. But there was Windows 10 and the HoloLens, that kinda thing. HoloLens, yes. And if you wanna know more about the HoloLens there is a very good video by this man over here Luke Westaway. Mm. Mm-hm. Luke and Mark who you never see. Yup, exactly. We hooked up. yeah, it's five things you need to know about [UNKNOWN], so it explains everything. [UNKNOWN] Search for [UNKNOWN] on CNET. [CROSSTALK] Why don't we move on to the next news story [CROSSTALK] I'm gonna talk a bit about Sony right now cuz it's killed off Music Unlimited. Hm. That was Sony's own music streaming service. Yes. Basically ,. It's a rival to Spotify. And oddly, it has partnered with Spotify to put Spotify on the PlayStation. Oh, okay. So it's killed off its own service and partnered up with their rival. Music Unlimited never really happened. It sparked a lot of curiosity. It never really picked up, this Music Unlimited. Really. It was, it was available in 19 countries and it's gonna be replaced by Music Unlimited. Which is basically just Spotify with a, like a, a PlayStation sticker on it, and that's going to be available in 41 countries. It feels quite significant that Sony couldn't make music streaming work. Exactly. Being a record company. Yeah. Hm. They own it end to end. They've got their own artists and they've got the distribution platform console, [INAUDIBLE] console. It's end to end solution. Yeah. But they couldn't make it work then who could. It just goes to show you, that like, your third parties like your Spotifys and that kind of thing, they're, they're the kind of people who would have. You know, in charge of music. So yeah, if you're a subscriber of Music Unlimited, then that will continue to the end of March, about a month, and you'll get this last month for free and then you'll be offered some free Spotify monies to have a go on that and Musical Unlimited, I'm sorry, Playstation Music is going to start in spring. So, there you go, read a few reactions. T.G. Lane says, I love. Spotify. But I only use the free version on my desktop, or shuffle through my phone. If they team up with PlayStation and the free version isn't available. It may be enough to make me make the jump to Spotify Premium. Well, there you go. I think the most interesti- It's almost certainly what they'll be hoping. The most interesting Spotify, is there is at least one customer waiting to be snapped up. That's what you have to do, knock off the free version, don't be. Would be nice going hardball. That is how to win.>> Well you recommend the ruthless approach. [INAUDIBLE] There was a free version of music unlimited. I think the most interesting thing about this is probably is that [INAUDIBLE] you can have Spotify music playing as you're playing your games which is kinda cool I think. Yeah. What about if you've got good soundtracks from the games already? That'd be annoying. Yeah but what if you don't? Well what that kind of beeby boopy music they have on the video games. Yeah, yeah exactly that's rubbish. That's what all of the pop music is. [LAUGH] Bieber's new album is just chip tunes. It's just noise it's just noise yeah. Well let's move on. Yeah. If that's, if that's okay by. The, the two of you? That's probably best, yeah. Luke, are you okay with that? I think so. Sweet, I'm going to do that then. BBC has a new service. It's called Taster. Yup. And, as the name kind of suggests, it's basically a service that lets you sorta experience. BBC's new sort of experiment in things. A little like Google used to do with Labs, really I think. That's right. Google was fun, but yeah, the idea with this is that you can sort of use these services and then vote for the one that you think. Think are best. That's right, so I went along to BBC Broadcasting House. Way! Way! Which was a bit of a childhood, exciting, thing, thing I- Which one was that? Not Television Center, not the round one, because that's closed now. That's like flat- Because that's where I was the other day. Right. Yeah. [CROSSTALK] No, no, no [CROSSTALK] media center is just, is just round the corner from it. Still operational. okay. But broadcasting houses now [INAUDIBLE] I was more [INAUDIBLE] real old one that was in there. But yes, I went along to have a look at this and it's kind of interesting. Well it's basically a website where you can kind of rate these experiments that previously the BBC would've done. Try that, and then you might have never ever seen them. But so there's kind of interactive ways of kind of interacting with their content. So it's stuff like for example if there's a video. You know, if there's an interview filmed for the for News Night or The Culture Show or something like that. They'll just go and they've gotta chat for ages, but then you'll only see sort of five minutes of actually on, on News Night. So to cut to the chase, so what they do is they kind of, they've come up with this way of presenting it to you in sort of bite size way. So if you like the particular interviewee. And then it's, the example they've got on live at the moment is, Lena Dunham being interviewed by Jennifer Saunders. You can just go along and you can, see them chatting away. There's, stuff like, interactive tour guides, Benjamin Zephaniah, who's a poet, a few other things. There's a thing where you can kinda create a timeline of BBC News stories of your life. Which is kinda cool. Don't you think? That's neat, yeah. So it's it's kind of interesting. It's, it's aimed mostly at kids. It's not a particularly serious thing. There was one particular thing, that's, it's called R1OT, where the i is with a, a one. And it's this thing where you can kind of go and vote for things on Radio 1, Radio 1 listeners go [INAUDIBLE] .>> We're one off. . Yeah, yeah, i thought that So what was great about the demonstration, they were like [inaudible], for example its radio one listeners and fans, and they can vote for whos gonna present the [inaudible], the breakfast shows Who? Ne, Next week, and I was like "Thats a pretty big deal, using VJ's for the breakfast show, and they said "Are you really gonna do that, that's pretty cool and they said". Yeah, no. We're not doing that. Oh, come on. So it's probably gonna be used for more things like which artist you like so that they might, you know, who are they gonna play next and that kind of thing. Yeah. Right. But it's, it's, you know, it's kinda funny there. So there will be these sort of interactive mash up things aimed at kids that you can sort of pick up. Yeah. Could be worse because Radio One does a lot of like, live. Is my own stuff- Hm. And invites artists in. So maybe you could like vote for whoever's more popular. Get them in I mean- Hm. It will just be Bieber week after week won't it? Well, I think. One of the things I really liked actually- Yip, yip, loop, loop, loop! [LAUGH] One of the things I did really like was the, the thing where- Come swifties in. Where you it's, it's called. [LAUGH] It's called [UNKNOWN] and it's basically like, it takes who's coming, who's physically coming to the BBC each day. So instead of like looking at each individual radio station and only seeing what's on that radio station, you get a sense of all different pop stars and experts and presenters and, and, and personalities and poets and writers and all, and all these kind of people who are kind of going in and out at the BBC on any given day. Which I thought I was quite interesting because that's what the BBC's for. All that kind of broad range of stuff which is pretty cool. Yeah. Yeah, it's what we ,. We, i mean, we pay for it? Exactly. You get as much can out? Exactly. Laugh, I knew you'd pay my license fee. So, yeah. Pay your license fee cause, anyway. [LAUGH]. Do pay your license fee. Come on. Yeah. Just, just, just pay it. [CROSSTALK]. Don't, don't know. [CROSSTALK]. No, please. Just pay it. Right, right. I have paid it, so thank you very much. Cuz they know where you live apart from anything else. Yeah. Anyway. Anyway, yeah. People wanting to stock their friends, look at photos of food, or sought casual sex were angry this week because Facebook, Instagram. Angry every week. And Tinder were all down. Hm. Oh. Now this was I had a lot of people saying that it's, the services have been hacked, but now apparently it was an alarm problem. Caused by their own engineers probably like cutting their own ethernet cable. Probably yeah. Cut through a cable. Tripped over the power cord. It's all back up now. >.And won't get too far away from the wall. If the cord came out the cord fell out of the back. Well this is the thing. This is like the longest outage for over about four years now. I think what this kind of shows is the kind of danger of the social graph. Facebook wants to be at the heart of, of everything. And it wants you to use your Facebook credentials to sign in to everything. And, and it wants to have almost like a layer, an extra layer on top of the internet, where every site you go to has some kinda Facebook presence. Hm. Whether it's comments, or signing in, or whatever. But that does mean that if you, if you, you know, if all the kind of ,. Not power. He's actually, but if the sort of, if they're kind of, influence and importance is placed in one place and it goes down because someone trips over a plug or whatever it is. Or even just has a typo in some code or something, then- It all goes wrong. everything goes wrong. Was it because Instagram and Tinder, that you login to those services. By Facebook. Exactly yeah. So when Facebook went down it meant you couldn't use their services. Cuz those, those aren't owned and operated by Facebook. They're. Insta, Instagram is owned by Facebook. [CROSSTALK] But Tinder isn't. Tinder isn't but because you have to use Facebook to use Tinder to swipe and, and find people you want to do. You're awfully convergent with that, with Tinder for someone who's in a committed long term relationship.>> I've had enough people sitting there showing me apps, here's what. And then they are. They're likely so. Well it is your birthday I suppose. It's your one day of the year. [LAUGH] And what are our listeners or tweeters and listeners saying about this particular situation. This terrible disaster that's had us all for an hour. Well actually you know I kind of imagined when you said basically went down for an hour. You know the last Matrix film where at the end Neo and Trinity just for a brief moment fly the spaceship like over the clouds. And it's still like blue skies. I can't remember that. [CROSSTALK] In the real world, like a, above this sort noxious like fumes that cover it the rest of the time. Yeah. Okay. It was a bit like that. I picture, I picture people running and screaming and things being on fire. [CROSSTALK] Oh, oh yeah. So yeah, so we have some. Yes [UNKNOWN] barefoot, [UNKNOWN] barefoot? I'm not sure that's sanitary. Exactly. Exactly. But I'm hoping that's his initials. P. E. Bear. It's one of the most [UNKNOWN] things you can do. Is it? I'm a doctor. Good for athlete's foot. Yep. [LAUGH] That's horrible. So what does Steve [UNKNOWN] say? [LAUGH] Says, this is why I do not use Facebook to log in to any other site. [INAUDIBLE] [LAUGH] [INAUDIBLE] Pretty bad. [LAUGH] And finally. Oh, I got [INAUDIBLE] finally and not more about [UNKNOWN] It's, it's, it's some drones- It is, yes. A there was a bit of panic when a a quadracopter crashed in the grounds of the White House. Mm. Now that of course did mean that the entire building basically went into lock down. Oh, no, what's happening here? This is an attack. Is something happening? White House down all over again? No what actually happened now was I love this story it was a drone kinda crashed into it and I'm not sure what happened but a droned crashed into it and it wasn't a big panic but it kinda landed in the grounds and there not sure what and the next day some guy got up and when yea I was a little bit drunk last night and I was messing with the drone and I think it may have went over the White House fence. I'm sorry about that [LAUGH] Did he come around all sheepish with his mum all behind him [CROSSTALK]. What happened to Friends. What, what's going with this one it's a term. It's the fourth time this week. If it happens again we're keeping it. [LAUGH] So obviously DTI who make the the phantom touch one of the, the best known. [CROSSTALK]. They've actually done a software update in, in response to this but where the White House or a certain area of Washington D.C. is now a no-fly zone. So when it's flying. I'm surprise they haven't already. So if you try and fly, if it, the software knows it's a no-fly zone. If you try and fly into the no-fly zone, what does it do? It'll [UNKNOWN] return back to. Blows up. [LAUGH] Blows up. That doesn't sound very. Cute. [LAUGH] That's like the one thing he won't do. I think it's, I think it's. Not do. Like the end of Robocop where it's, like, prime directive, do not know what to do. [INAUDIBLE] And then it, like, crashes. And it brings, it returns back to you, ' cuz it's on the GPS. It knows where you're standing. So it won't go in there. But I think also. Accusing [INAUDIBLE]. Yeah, and it blows up. I'm surprised I'm surprised why has the government buildings aren't already on that because it did our airports are now no-fly zones in response. Mm. To when somebody flew a DJI into Heathrow a while ago. Yes. Yeah. And got in the flight path of planes so a lot of sort of- Be careful with your drones- Yeah, do be careful. But there's, there's [INAUDIBLE] so the, with this week we also covered Drones for Good which is this $1 million competition for people who have got these students and you know, the academic experts and that kind of thing. People who have come up with the ideas for using drones and unmanned aerial vehicles to do cool things to. Help people out. Like what? Uh,so for example, there's a drone that's it's complete drone design. And what it does is it flies above, it flies above like, former war zones and it can detect, landmines from the air and,. There's also a couple of different versions [CROSSTALK] that are can work with coast guards. So that they can, they can not only fly out and cover larger search areas, fly ahead of the rescue boats and cover search area. They can also, if need be, the can ditch in the water and they've got handles and placation tank. So if they, if the find a survivor and it's going to take a while for the boat to arrive they can ditch into the water and you can just grab onto them and then they go and I think. They don't drop, rings. They, they can, that's one thing they could you, yeah totally, so the, the, one of my, my favorites though is that, it kinda flies over deforested areas and it fires. Nutrient rich seed pods into the ground. Oh, alright. And reforest large areas which is really cool. What about- Those robots go crazy and accidentally reforest like, central Asia. I think that'll be okay, that's fine. That's that's not a problem. Giving back to the earth. There's, there's what, one hon, honorable mention as well for this, this last one isn't it. Guy who thought a little bit outside the box, and he didn't come up with a design for a drone,. He came up with an idea for a way of actually helping drones delivering things. So you know how Amazon are talking about maybe delivering packages on drones. Yeah. Yeah. But they can't just fly over and start dropping drone, packages out of the sky willy nilly. You don't want shoeboxes hitting you in the head. Well you can. You only want seed pods. That's how I got my new fridge delivered. Yeah. I just delivered by catapult. Yeah, it was straight to the ceiling, enough to lug it up the stairs or anything. All your food is now in the garden, but there you go. If you don't have a garden, what you do, so it's come with this idea that of a big net, basically and you guys can see it on the screen there. It's just a big net. It's got five [UNKNOWN] on it. It's an actual net. It's an actual net. So the drone comes down. Popped the thing in there. It's on the outside of your house or your flat, so you don't even need a garden. It's got a net in there to protect it. It's got a bar code to make sure that it's doing at the right place and it is called SkyNet. What could possibly go wrong? But there you go. So, have a look at that. Drones are good [INAUDIBLE] that's kinda cool. All right. Well, that's enough news, let's move onto this week's feature. [MUSIC] So twenty fifteen is the thirtieth anniversary of the british mobile phone industry and it's fitting then that this year is seeing some of the biggest shakeups we've ever seen. First BT and that was following by EE. Then Three announces buying Oh-two. And now Sky is getting involved too, announcing it'll create its own mobile network in 2016. Sky's network will be powered by Telephonica, the current owners of Oh-two. So why are all these changes happening? it's all to do with what they call in the industry quad-play. A four-prong strategy where telecoms companies offer you a package of. Broadband, land line, TV and a mobile phone. BT and Sky, already rivals in the world of broadband, TV and land lines will now complete the package with their mobile networks. Just a few years ago there were five major players and now there's going to be three, so what's going to happen next? Luke, you have some thoughts on this, don't you? Yes, I do. First I'd just like to. Suppose to certainly appreciate the majesty that is quarter play. [LAUGH] My favorite buzz word. [LAUGH] Quarter play. Quarter play. Quarter play. It sounds so boring and yet so like professional. Yes. [LAUGH] Quarter play. It does have a certain majesty to it. It sounds like a, it sounds like a technique in squash. [LAUGH] You know like mate, you need to work on your quarter play. [LAUGH]. The comments, commentator's like, and that's fantastic piece of quad-play there. Quad play, classic quad play. He's always been so good at quad play, especially on this turf. So is anyone missing out in this, in all these industry maneuvers. Yes. So this is, what's basically happening now is all the companies are racing to, to get this quad play thing up and running. Mm. But some people aren't doing so well at it. Notably Vodafone. Yes. Vodafone, yeah. Which [LAUGH] poor old Vodafone only a few months ago was just one of the major UK mobile providers- Hm. And now suddenly is looking in a rather shaky position- Hm. Because. It doesn't offer all of those things. It doesn't have the full four quads. [LAUGHING] It doesn't have the four prongs of the quad place. It only has three of the, of the prongs? That's right, and no one cares. It's not triple-play. Well, that's what it's called, but yeah, no one cares about that anymore. No one cares about that. It's all about quad-play. Yeah, so. Basically, the question is, what's going to happen to both sites. I mean, I, like Sky's mobile is kind of interesting. It's not going to happen until next year, and we don't know anything about prices yet or stuff like that. So at the minute, this is all kind of. Interesting sort of what's happening to all the companies that are also forming these weird alliances. The landscape is shifting it's crazy. It certainly is. Industry consolidation. Yes. So Andy how do you feel about this, are you happy? Surprised? Glad? frightened? I'm just gonna say throw out the phone might. Team up with Sky, still. Might buy Sky. Just happened. Well, some people have said, Vodaphone go- Sky seems to big for Vodaphone to- In my mind- just buy, because Sky's got so many- No-one's too big for Vodaphone to buy. Vodaphone is a, it's not just a British network remember. It started off as a British network, but it is now an additional thing. It could buy you and everyone you care about. In fact it probably already has. But Sky. [INAUDIBLE] I could see it the other way around, maybe. Skye buying [UNKNOWN] How do you, how do you feel about quad play then? So, it seems a bit confusing. Like, do people really understand. What's confusing about quad play, Andy? Well, exactly, you treat it as a term, like do people really. [CROSSTALK] Gets. Really gets all the benefit if there is a benefit to be had with that. So maybe it'll take it a little while for that- Would you like work out anything? [UNKNOWN] I wouldn't cuz I, I, I don't want this. Cuz I, I don't want I don't have TV. I have a TV, but I use streaming services. And I don't have a landline phone. I don't know anyone who has a landline phone. So for me- I do, but only because my my phone, my mobile phone signal in my flat is rubbish. Sure, so for me, my quadplay just does not work as, as a concept. OK So I'd rather have. A dedicated mobile phone service. Which I actually think Vodafone, it could be in a good position to, as a, to be like a niche provider where it is only doing one thing. But it can specialize in it and really know what to do as just a phone provider like- So- There's a, there is a benefit there of offering service. And it does have things like Spotify and Sky Sports. But it's offering when it's same with its bundles all ready. So, it's still got a decent position. It also will be good to have a, more competition as well. Because we're going from five major players to three. Yeah. That's kind of a worry in terms of competition pricing and that thing. But it's a long way off though. It's going to take it a little while. Yes and all of this, like all these big acquisitions which, and by the way Andy I'm with you. I think quadplay is sort of, yeah it's bit confusing. Do you definitely want all those four things? How do you know if you're getting a good deal when you're paying for so many things at once. Yeah. Yup. That sort of thing. but, this is all still a little way off because at the BTE deal is subject. It's to regulatory approval. Mm. So is the thing between '02 and 3's owner. Mm-hm. That's between Telefonica. Hutcheson. And Hutcheson, Whampoa. Whampoa, yeah. Incredible name. yeah. So, so, it's all, it's all subject to, to approval so it won't definitely happen, but. the, the European Commission would be get the final say so on, on the O2 and the EE deals. But there was, they agreed to a similar deal in Germany last year. Which might make it more likely that these are gonna be pushed through, because that sets a precedent. Okay. Of it basically being okay. Yeah, but everyone in German will be like hang on. [LAUGH] Hang on, and that. It, It could be, It could be that that Ofcom might say that well you know, you've got to sell off a few bits of your business and then you won't be too big when you're- And yeah like it's going to be so complicated. Because, for example O2 and Vodaphone have a massed sharing. agreement, things like that. Like, all of the companies, already have these weird sort of informal Yes. They're very intertwined, aren't they? Yeah, yeah, it's all very, ver complicated and very [UNKNOWN]. And that's gonna be a, it's gonna make it even more confusing for shoppers, because. You know, you're gonna sort of go for, you can be going for like, orange and not realizing that you're sort of like, actually tying yourself to BT, which is just so weird. Hm, yeah. 'Cuz you use orange. You see really well. Well, well speaking of which, one, one of our, one of the first first reactions from readers, listeners, viewers, and other. Human beings. Well, James Bidwell on the Facebook. Hello James. Says, Scarborough Band is the worst slow router, slow internet, not even free broadband for a year could convince me to stay with them. Oh okay. Now on BT fiber with a much better router and no. Correct. Well, there you go. Right. That's pretty damning. Good stuff, James. George Buyer says, ew. [LAUGH] Cancel everything to do with Sky. I thought it was just ew. E-W, ew. [LAUGH] [CROSSTALK] actually be our nightmare. Yeah, yeah. The first timer like you release, you tell the world about your new service. Yeah. And they're like, ew. [LAUGH] Oh, ew, ew. Well- [INAUDIBLE] [LAUGH] Well let us know how you feel about about the about these new maneuverings and whether you'll be sticking with your current provider when things all get thrown up in the air and it'll come down and land in completely different shapes. Yeah. So yeah, keep us posted. And for now we're gonna move onto the quiz. [MUSIC] Yes it's time for the quiz once again, and the leaderboard currently stands at Jason six, Andy six, Luke six. This is very exciting. It is neck and neck. You cant split a hair between them or something. Anyway this week Luke sounds like this And Andy sounds like this [NOISE] excellent so. One of us has a relevent topical buzzer. That's right because we are gonna talk about. [CROSSTALK] It's not Andy cuz this quiz isn't about clowns. But we are clowns. We are gonna be talking about the mobile phone networks of the past. Due to the you know, changings around in the industry, it's a thing, it's mobiles phones and networks gone past. It's a thing. So fingers on buzzers, fastest finger first. Question one. It wasn't best known as a telecoms company, but which company owned the largest private telecoms network in Britain. And at 17,000 kilometers of fiber optic and copper cable connecting every major city and town, and it linked to Europe through the channel tunnel. Luke. Was there something like the post office? I. Or like royal mail or something? That's, that's not the correct answer that I'm looking for. Just kinda, kind, trying to see where you're going. And [INAUDIBLE], all right. Fine. This is I mean, it was kinda similar because that was privatized and now this. But you, some people say when the company is privatized, it goes off the rails, so you know Andy. [CROSSTALK] Was it pretty frail? You've got to buzz in mate. [LAUGH] Was it British Rail? Yes it was British Rail, it was the largest telecom company in the country, so there you go. Fascinating stuff isn't it. Yeah the Post Office was the original name for British Telecom, it was the GPO, General Post Office. Oh. It was all part of the same thing, but then yeah, it all split up. It's very complicated actually, the history of British- I thought you were flipping me the bird there. [LAUGH] You were holding up, but you were holding up a finger one moment. I was trying to get one moment. Yeah, did I get that point, then? You did get that point. Yah. Andy got that point. Yeah, right ok. It's a bit cruel for Luke, because there was a big clue from you. Yeah, well. You needed all the help you could get. I'm going to get a big clue this time. Question two, Vodafone made the first mobile phone call 30 years ago this year and also, the first text message, but what did the first text say? Luke. Happy birthday? That's the right answer, yes, this is a high scoring round. You got a big clue because it's my birthday. That was a bigger clue for you. It's all been playing into your hands. It's not your birthday. [LAUGH] That wasn't actually a clue. That's just what it said. Right. Question three. [LAUGH] Question three it's all to play for. This is exciting. All right. [INAUDIBLE] I can't handle it. I can't handle it. I can't handle it. I quit. [INAUDIBLE] Which of today's networks began life as Mercury's One to One? [NOISE] Andy. T-Mobile. It was T-mobile. Oh. That's the correct answer, with that Andy wins. It use to be on, they used to be on one to one. Wow. In fact. There you go, and pressing 1-2-1 calls your answerphone, although actually it does Vodaphone now, so that's weird. Hm. Anyway, good stuff, so I won. The Cybruary question would have been, it doesn't matter, but the Cybruary would have been, [UNKNOWN] when was cable and wireless was established, and the answer may surprise you. 1997. The answer may surprise you. Luke. 1066. [LAUGH] It was somewhere in between. Is this what that battle was about? [LAUGH] 1992. They let the phone ring, no it was 1934, so that's. That doesn't, okay fine. How did they even know they knew what wireless was? Well, everybody has to have wireless. Yeah, it was like the first infrastructure company, telegraphs and stuff. [INAUDIBLE] Got to have wires. Like I said, Andy, Andy is on seven, that was very exciting. [INAUDIBLE] Come back next week to see what's clapping', and next up, let's hear the feedback. [MUSIC] So, let's see what you guys have been saying, or, should I say, you guy because we're a little short on feedback. No, there's loads of feedback, there's loads and loads of feedback! We might only time for one, though. Oh, we've only got time for one? It's a shame. Andrew Winter says I recently gave into pressure from society and bought a pair of Beats headphones. This was a compromise, as I couldn't find anything that fit my audio needs. What I really wanted was a pair of wireless, as my past eight head, earphones have broken at the jack. In-ear earphones. Without the stupid sporty bits. Connected together by a wire, as I would undoubtedly lose one. Okay. With decent sound quality. Yep. I'm no audiophile. Well who is? And around 50 pounds to 100 pounds. If such things exist, I would love to know so that I can self-criticize my decisions. Okay. So I point out here, first of all, that Andrew's not looking really to buy a 5C. The kindest thing we could do is to say there aren't any and that you made the right purchasing decision. You made the right decision, Andrew. You made the right decision. Don't, don't worry about anything, everything is fine. Just don't overthink it, but again, if you are determined to punish yourself, I would recommend that you search CNet best sports headphones. Yes. Because we have a roundup of many headphones. Just what you want with all those kinds of things that seem to be within that price range. Something else I point out, don't don't forever abandon the like wired earphones because lots of headphones these days increasingly have replaceable wires. That's true. Which is, which is good. Mm-hm. Okay, yeah. So it doesn't matter if the wire gets- Any thoughts on this Randy? yeah. Well cuz he mentioned just like this the, the. Sporty bits, like, like the clips and stuff. But that's actually really important, particularly on wireless, on wireless sport headphones, because all the the, the bluetooth connectivity and everything, and the batteries, of course, are held in the earpieces. They're really, really heavy. Will fall out quite easily, particularly if you are running. So you do, you kinda do need those, those clips. Okay. All right. It's just this one [INAUDIBLE] All right. So which bit of feedback should we do next? Should we do the marriage proposal or the- Well, there's a load, there's loads. There's some dark confessions ,- I don't know if we can. Can do that. I think it was like. Hang on just getting in my ear. There's no more time. What a shame. Mark you will never see is making at us some kind of chopping gesture. I'm not ure if that's he's saying we're running out of time or he's gonna kill us when it finished I'm not really sure. Thank you for the feedback. Yeah if he is saying he's gonna kill us when we're finished it'd be in our interest to keep it going. Yeah you know. It could be like Bead. We could sort of send like signals. Tweets to the audience so like. If this podcast drops below 31 words a minute, we will be killed by our producer. Please keep the feedback coming folks by emailing us at our email address which cnetukpodcast@cbsi.com or you can find us on Facebook and Twitter. You know how to use the internet. [CROSSTALK] You're, you're all experts. Thank you very much Nick. Thank you Andy. Thanks. Thanks to our producer Mark who you will never see. Right, we're off to play our drones at the Big Ben. See you next week. [MUSIC]

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