Four of the main UK carriers have banded together to work on mobile commerce, pushing NFC payments, digital coupons and mobile advertising. Everything Everywhere - the combined T-Mobile and Orange - along with Telefonica UK (aka O2) and Vodafone UK have formed a joint venture which will handle the sales, delivery and payment on top of which each carrier will build their individual services.
Vodafone UK has cancelled plans to launch the Galaxy Tab 10.1v, the carrier-exclusive version of the Samsung Honeycomb tablet initially revealed at MWC 2011 in February. Instead, Vodafone has confirmed to pre-interest customers, it will be offering the newer, thinner Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, the second version of the slate which the company introduced in late March.
Vodafone UK has announced that it is no longer differentiating between on-device and tethered data use, hopefully marking the start of a trend that will cross the Atlantic and be copied by North American carriers. Customers must be on one of a new set of price plans, launching today, though existing subscribers can shift to a new plan with no contract extension, assuming it costs at least the same as they're already paying.
If you take your smartphone with you and head to a concert or other festival where you end up tweeting how all your pals should be there, shooting video and taking pics all with your phone you know how fast your battery can go dead. If you are in the UK and on the Vodafone network the company is going to 11 of the biggest festivals this year with a massive truck to keep its customers charged up and using data.
As expected, the HTC Sensation has made its official debut today on carrier Vodafone UK. The dual-core 4.3-inch Android 2.3 Gingerbread smartphone will ship out today to pre-order customers, as well as going on sale in stores priced from free with a new, two-year agreement on £35 or above monthly plans.
Vodafone has thrown open UK pre-orders for the HTC Sensation, the qHD dual-core Android smartphone announced last month. According to the pre-order page, the smartphone is scheduled to arrive by May 19.
Vodafone has become the first UK carrier to throw its hat into the BlackBerry Bold 9900 ring, confirming that it will offering the BlackBerry 7 OS smartphone later this year. The handset, announced at BlackBerry World 2011 yesterday, will be the first to run RIM's new smartphone OS, and has both a touchscreen and a QWERTY keyboard.
![Vodafone Taxis offer payment by phone [Updated]](https://c.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/vodafone_taxi-820x420.jpg)
Cash-coy Vodafone UK users won't have to worry about paying for taxis any more, as long as they can spot one of the carrier's sponsored cars. A fleet of "hundreds" of Vodafone-branded cabs will take to London's streets from today, offering not only in-car chargers for rejuicing your phone, but the ability to pay for the fare on your handset, just as long as you're a Vodafone customer.
This week's tech news roundup highlights the Apple and Samsung legal battle, our Samsung Galaxy SII extreme unboxing, cloud computing problems for both Amazon and the PlayStation Network, Apple's Q2 earnings, the white iPhone 4, the iPhone 5, and details on various smartphones and tablets including the BlackBerry Playbook, G-Slate, G2x, HTC Flyer, and the Acer Iconia Tab.
Just on the tail of news that supports an April 27th launch of the white iPhone 4, we now get photos of the actual device in its retail packaging thanks to a source from Engadget. The pictures were taken by a customer who claims to have purchased the unit from a Vodafone retail store in the UK.
Having been spotted in the wilds over the weekend, the Samsung Galaxy S Android 2.3 Gingerbread update has now splashed down in the UK. Carrier Vodafone is seemingly the first to offer the new firmware, which brings the updated Android keyboard, UI and other enhancements to the Super AMOLED smartphone.
Vodafone Europe has confirmed that, for the first time, mobile internet revenue for the carrier has exceeded SMS revenues. The news marks a significant milestone in the European mobile segment, which has historically seen particularly strong SMS revenues.
