The mobile phone operator O2 has just launched a new service called O2 Travel. It gives customers going to Europe 25mb of data for £1.99 and they also get reduced call charges.

O2 have been quick off the mark because the EU have only just put roaming caps in place. Under the new deal contract and business customers will be charged 50p a call for calls made in Europe and minutes will be taken from their bundle.

Prepay customers do still get the 25mb of data for £1.99 but their calls will be charged at 29p a minute and 8p to receive a call.

O2 have said that they have put this together so that their customers aren’t worried about getting back from holiday to a massive unexpected bill.

Apparently 60% of people from the UK now use mobile data while abroad and the amount of data being used is doubling every year.

The mobile operator Three are in the news again, this time it’s because they have just announced that they will no longer be offering their customers a mobile phone insurance policy when they sign up to a new phone.

The last time they were in the news it was because they announced a split with the high street retailer Phones4U and this latest bit of news could be linked. Insurance claims used to be handled by Lifestyle Services Group which is part of the group that owns Phones4U. Others in the industry are suggesting that the decision to put a stop to phone insurance is more to do with fraud, especially on smart phones like the Apple iPhone, than anything to do with the Phones4U situation.

Three are suggesting that this is just a temporary measure while they do a review and that they will be back with a new insurance product sooner rather than later.

The good news for Three customers is that they can get insurance for their phones elsewhere and a quick search on google will give customers the option of signing up with specialist mobile insurance providers that offer the same cover that Three offered but at a much more competitive price.

Here at Insurance2go we are more than happy to look after and cover customers that have bought their handsets from Three, or any other retailer or network for that matter.

The relationship between the high street mobile phone retailer Phones4U and the network operator Three has ended, so customers can no longer sign up to a Three contract in a Phones4U shop.

This of course is not the first time a network and a high street retailer have gone their separate ways. Back in 2006 Vodafone had a bit of a strop with The Carphone Warehouse and suddenly ended the relationship with them. This caused a right fuss at the time but they got back together just a year and a half later.

The networks of course would rather deal with all of their customers directly. Firstly they don’t have to pay the retailer a commission but they also then have that direct relationship with the customer that makes dealing with upgrades etc a lot easier. To encourage this all the operators now have quite a large number of stores on the high street and now with Three falling out with Phones4U it will be interesting to see if they split from anyone else. It may also prompt the others to have a think about their 3rd party relationships.

There are loads of stories speculating on the launch date of the iPhone 5 and more and more of them are talking about a launch date of June this year!

The latest June rumour is coming from Korea. ETNews seem to think that Apple might well use the Apple World Wide Developers Conference that takes place in June in sunny San Francisco to launch their new phone.

It’s not just the launch date that has got people talking. Word on the street is that the iconic iPhone could be launched with a brand spanking new design. Apparently the glass case that’s on the iPhone 4s could be replaced with an ‘aluminum unibody’ casing that will make the new phone lighter and slimmer. This sounds reasonable because Apple recently bought the rights to the type of technology that would make this possible.

If it’s June, July or August (or even later) and no matter what the casing is made of you will be able to insure your new iPhone 5 when it launches here at Insurance2go.

Apple the makers of the iPhone, the iPad and the iPod are going to start paying their investors a dividend every quarter over the next 3 years.

They have a problem that many others companies would love to have – they have got more money than they know what to do with!

This is yet another sign that Apple are still miles ahead of the competition, especially when it comes to making smartphones and tablets. The very successful recent launch of the iPad 3 proves that and their pile of cash will no doubt grow some more when the iPhone 5 launches later this year.

The reason that some investors aren’t jumping for joy about the billions of dollars being paid back in dividends is that despite the big numbers the dividend yield will only be 1.8%. Apple are holding on to some of their stockpile some think so they can make some acquisitions others think so they can spend even more money on research and development.

Whatever you think about Apple there is always a buzz when a new product is about the launch. 2 things in the pipeline at present are Apple TV and the iPhone 5. If we hear anything on either we will let you know.

Here at Insurance2go we have decided to run a very generous promotion to give our new glasses insurance product a kick start.

If you have a pair of glasses worth up to £400 you can insure them for 12 months for only £19.99. However if you use the discount code ‘disc5′ between now and the 30th June 2012 you will get a £5 discount bringing the price for 12 months down to only £14.99. That’s a massive 25% off.

If your spectacles are worth even more than that (between £400 and £750) then the premium for a year is slightly more at £29.99. The discount code is still valid ‘disc5′ which brings the price down to £24.99.

We believe our glasses insurance which is available though our sister site www.insureyourglasses.com is the best value for money glasses insurance available anywhere in the UK.

To find out more check out our glasses insurance page at www.insurance2go.co.uk/glasses-insurance.

The website lovemoney.com have written an article highlighting 10 types of insurance you may not have heard of before.

The 10 are specs, pets, caravans, weddings, chancel liability, games consoles, sat navs, headphones, bicycles and specialist car insurance.

Insurance2go are mentioned as we offer glasses insurance through Insureyourglasses.com. We set up this insurance product because the research we did told us that there was demand for glasses insurance but it was very difficult to find an insurance company that offered it. If your glasses are worth less than £400 you can insure them for 12 months for just £19.99. If they are worth between £400 and £750 the annual premium is just £29.99.

We also now offer bicycle insurance although this wasn’t mentioned in the report. We actually work with cycleguard as having researched the market we think that these guys offer the best value for money and the best policies.

Below is the link to the full article written by Robert Powell:

http://www.lovemoney.com/news/insurance/buying-insurance/14994/10-types-of-insurance-youve-never-heard-of?source=uoofolrf0010002

Moody’s the rating agency have said that the increase in stores could be a financial risk to mobile phone retailer Phones4U.

They opened 55 stores in 2010 and 84 in 2011. Many of these stores were in Dixons as concession stores. Quite obviously there are costs incurred when stores are opened and Moody’s are concerned that these costs are reducing the margins at Phones4U.

In their report they go on to say that they think the retailer will actually start reducing the number of stores they have in the next few years.

Phones4U will always try to sell their mobile phone insurance when customers purchase phones from them. Here at Insurance2go we always recommend that customers get quotes from other companies before making a decision on their insurance requirements. Signing up online will normally save customers loads of money compared to what they will pay if they sign up with the company that sells them the phone.

More than 100 people queued up in central Bath this morning to get their hands on Apple’s
new iPad.

Some gadget fans had been waiting outside the Southgate store since 3am to be the first to
own the new tablet computer, which starts at £399.

The chilly overnight temperatures hadn’t deterred hardcore fans from being at the store
when the doors were flung open for business at 8am.

iPad insurance specialists www.insurance2go.co.uk were on hand to keep people in the
queue entertained, and to tell them how to protect their new favourite Apple device.
Insurance2go boss Duncan Spencer said the turnout at the Bath store was proof Apple was
still the number one gadget firm.

He said: “It was fantastic to see so many people in Bath at the Southgate store, no other
computer launch attracts this level of interest – Apple really are still in a league of their own,
it’s a real event.

“With so many top flight publishing firms here in Bath it's perhaps no surprise that there’s so
much interest in the iPad, which has after all revolutionised the publishing industry.”

John Powell was one of the first people in line for the new iPad and had been queuing since
4am. 

He said: “I was here a couple of years ago when the iPad 2 was launched and I was
determined to be one of the first in Bath to get the new iPad this time around.
“They’re just so much fun to use, so creative and entertaining. I can’t wait to get it home now
out of the box and start playing with it – and showing it off a little of course!”

After weeks of speculation the new iPad has been unveiled and will be in the shops on Friday the 16th March.

After the iPhone 5 turned out to be the iPhone 4S a lot of the speculation was about the name of the new iPad. At first everyone thought it would be the iPad 3 but then a couple of days before the press conference a strong rumour suggested it might be called the iPad HD. As it turns out Apple seem to be just calling it the ‘New iPad’. I’m not sure how this is going to work in practice, will the next version of this amazingly popular tablet be called the ‘Newest iPad’?

Anyway whatever people decide to call it, Apple as usual have created quite a buzz so if you’ve got an Apple store nearby you can expect to see big queues a week on Friday.

The display is 2048 x 1536 pixels, it’s got an A5X chip which improves the performance of the graphics, the camera has a 5 megapixel camera sensor and it can work on 4G networks. It’s slightly thicker than the iPad 2 but otherwise looks pretty similar.

Prices start at £399 for the 16gb WIFI only iPad and go up to £659 for the 64gb 4G and WIFI enabled tablet. If you are thinking about insuring your new iPad all versions will cost just £4.49 a month or £49.99 a year with us here at Insurance2go with the exception being the 64gb WIFI and 4G model which will cost just a fraction more at £4.81 a month or £52.72.