If the trend is to raise the price of subscription platforms, Google does not want to be left behind. Disney+ is more expensive from today, Netflix no longer has a basic plan and we are still waiting for the arrival of Max in Spain with the, surely, consequent price increase.
However, it is not the only thing that is increasing, since in July Google announced a price increase for YouTube Premium. It was only produced in the United States, but we already mentioned that we had to keep an eye on the movement and, now, YouTube Premium rises again in countries in Europe, Asia and South America.
Spain, for the moment, is free from the YouTube Premium price increase
A few weeks ago we learned about the disappearance of the YouTube Lite account, so the cheapest modality is no longer available and we can only access Individual for 11.99 euros per month, the family for 17.99 euros or the student rate.
It did not imply a price increase, but this movement, together with the one announced a few hours ago, makes us suspect that we will soon have a more expensive subscription in our country.
And, as we read in SamaGame, starting this November 1, the monthly subscription in Argentina, Australia, Austria, Chile, Germany, Poland and Turkey It is more expensive in both the individual plan, the family plan and the student plan.
At the moment, Spain is not on the listbut if we already look with suspicion at the rise in Premium in the United States, now even more so, since it is much closer to us.
According to YouTube, The increase will allow us to continue improving the service, referring to both Premium features and the platform’s support for creators and artists. Now, we just have to wait for the announcement of a price increase for Spain, since it is a possibility that is closer than ever.
The Civil Guard has seized thousands of kilos of meat products such as sausages and hams, fish and seafood, and thousands of liters of oil within the framework of an international macro-operation against food fraud. The agents have already arrested 13 people and another 87 are being investigated, while more than 2,000 inspections have already been carried out in distribution centers, warehouses, means of transport, ports and airports in the national territory.
The OPSON IGP).
Among the criminal infractions, as explained by the Civil Guard this Wednesday in a statement, there are several ‘modus operandi’ that range from the falsification of documents for the importation of deficient products or those that do not comply with the legal requirements existing in Spain, to the falsification of stamped effects or seals of the containers themselves. In addition, SEPRONA has detected up to 1,294 administrative violations.
More than 2,000 inspections throughout Spain
Numerous operations have been carried out in our territory. The points where these fraudulent products have been found so far are:
Albacete. SEPRONA has managed to clarify a crime of document falsification and three people and two companies have been investigated. They exported grape derivatives and concentrated grape juice to South Africa, products that were actually invert sugar, which managed to multiply their price. selling. More than a million kilos of this sugar have been immobilized.
Seville. The Civil Guard is investigating two people for crimes against public health, document falsification and fraud; they sold hams without traceability, without seals and manipulating the expiration date. Specifically, 48 thousand kilos of hams and sausages have been seized, as well as another three thousand pieces.
Saragossa. The Zaragoza Command is also investigating another criminal group for marketing expired products, specifically these are products of both meat and fish and seafood origin, which did not have the required authorizations and had falsified labels. In total, eight people have been arrested and 48 are under investigation. In addition, 25,000 kilos of food products have been destroyed.
Badajoz. Here, SEPRONA has proceeded to dismantle an organized group that was dedicated to the fraudulent marketing of olive oil in Andalusia and Extremadura, investigating a total of nine people for crimes against public health and seizing 67,000 liters of oil.
Alicante and Murcia. The last of the operations in our country has taken place in several livestock farms located in Alicante and Murcia for falsifying documents, against public health, simulation of a crime and reception, for which nine people have been investigated and 305 sheep and cattle have been immobilized. goats.
Arrests and searches across Europe
During the operation, a total of 25 countries have participated, 18 of which are member states of the European Union and seven are European, and between all of them, up to 143 arrest warrants have been issued and 168 searches have been carried out. In addition, a total of 119 people have been reported and six criminal organizations have been dismantled.
All this with the support of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), the Directorate General of Health and Food Safety of the European Commission (DG SANTE), the Directorate General of Agriculture and Rural Development of the European Commission (DG AGRI ) and the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), as well as national food regulatory authorities and private sector partners.
Chery’s plans to produce in Barcelona continue and, according to , are very close to completion. The Chinese giant intends to produce vehicles in the plant that Nissan had in Barcelona and seems to be very close to reaching a final agreement.
Information from the economic media assures that the automobile group has sent two emissaries to Barcelona to meet with the D-Hub consortium, which has managed the Nissan facilities since the Japanese firm abandoned its soil and, ultimately, a large part of their expectations in the European market.
Since then, who and why kept the Nissan facilities in the Barcelona Free Trade Zone has been a mass of rumors. Along the way there was talk that the Chinese Great Wall Motors could take over the facilities but, finally, everything ended with a refusal. The one who put the most effort was the D-Hubwho stayed with it and which is now key.
Some fringes to close
The D-Hub is a project led by QEV Technologies and B-Tech with Goodman as partners. After months of tensions over the financial responsibilities of each of them in the reindustrialization of the facilities, last March the Barcelona city council handed over the keys to the plant.
The approval allows QEV and B-Tech the operation of the facilities for 50 years and comes after different projects related to electric mobility have been confirmed. For example, QEV has already agreed to produce 1,500 electric vans for Bimbo to make its deliveries in Mexico.
The creation of the Zeroid brand of commercial vehicles has also been announced and the intention is to reborn Ebro as a brand of completely electric pick-ups. There is also talk of producing Silence electric mopeds. And, now, it is Chery that seems to give a definitive boost to the reindustrialization process.
The Chinese automobile giant has confirmed that it is looking for facilities in Spain (and, more specifically, in Barcelona) to produce its new vehicles in our country, coinciding with the trip of the emissaries which was signed up from.
The manufacturer will enter our country with Omoda, a brand that intends to fight for the lower part of the market with SUVs with combustion engines and, later, electric ones. The example of MG, which has in the MG4 Electric one of the best-selling electric cars in Spain and has positioned the MG ZS as the best-selling last August, shows that there is a niche in our country for low-cost vehicles.
At the moment, according to the economic newspaper, it remains to be decided what the production of the units that Chery will assemble in our country will be like. It remains to be discussed whether all assembly line It will be based on Spanish soil or, on the contrary, the cars will arrive partially assembled and will end up being assembled in Barcelona.
Chery’s intentions seem to be to produce 15,000 units per year, which could be expanded to a total of 30,000 cars each year. They also point out that the Asian giant plans to launch up to five different brands and 15 models of its vehicles in our country, in long-term plans that have the combustion, hybrid and low-priced vehicle as their main attraction.
When we make a conventional voice call, we use the mobile network offered by telephone antennas. But what happens when there is no coverage and there is no signal? Can’t make voice calls? The short answer is no, but the long answer is yes, as long as we have access to a WiFi network. thanks to VoWiFi technology.
VoWiFi allows you to make calls to any mobile or landline phone without having to have coverage, just have the mobile connected to a WiFi network. It looks good, but at the moment it is not available in all carriers or in all smartphone models. It’s not exactly the same as WhatsApp or Telegram voice calls, for example. Thus, a series of doubts arise which we will resolve.
What are WiFi or VoWiFi calls
As we said before, VoWiFi calls (Voice over WiFi) they are voice calls we make through a WiFi connection instead of going through the conventional network. Although there are few places in Spain where there is no mobile coverage, this technology allows you to make calls if there is a WiFi access point, regardless of the technology (fiber , ADSL, etc.). If there is WiFi, calls can be made.
The most obvious difference with VoLTE or VoIP is that with VoLTE calls we use the 4G network (it does not consume megabytes), while VoIP calls use any internet access point. VoIP, for example, are WhatsApp or Telegram calls. Like VoLTE calls, VoWiFi calls do not consume megabytes of the tariff. It is also not necessary that the other party is connected to a WiFi network.You can receive the call if you are connected to the mobile network.
Although the call is made via WiFi, when using the service, the same restrictions as in our tariff. What does it mean? Among others, the following:
We call with our own number.
VoWiFi calls are billed at the same price as a normal call (zero euros if you have a rate with unlimited calls) and the minutes consumed are deducted from any bonuses that can be activated.
International calls are billed at the same price, as are special rate numbers.
Emergency calls can be made.
Roaming will depend on each operator.
That said, it should be noted that not all operators offer VoWiFi service in Spain, so let’s see who does it. Likewise, WiFi calling is not available on all smartphones, so we will also see which devices do.
Operators offering WiFi calls in Spain
Currently, the operators offering the VoWiFi service in Spain are Orange, Amena, Movistar and O2. Vodafone and the MásMóvil group are excluded, at least for the moment. And is this VoWiFi service is relatively new, to the point that Orange activated it last May and Movistar in September 2019. It is not a very widespread technology, in a word.
The conditions depend on each operator, so we’ll look at them separately:
Orange: VoWiFi service is included in all residential contracts free of charge. In the case of business customers, the service is available to freelancers and companies with less than five lines. It is not available for those using the Eco card or for prepaid customers. They also cannot be used outside of Spain.
Menace: The green operator shares Orange’s conditions, which means that the VoWiFi service is included free of charge in the rates. VoWiFi calls cannot be made outside of Spain.
Movistar: The service is included in the rate at no additional cost and activated for all customers under contract, but not prepaid.
O2: the service is included in the price at no additional cost. Roaming with WiFi calls follows the same rules as a traditional roaming call and the cost depends on the country to which the called number belongs.
VoWiFi compatible phones
If your carrier is listed above, it means that you have access to the WiFi calling service, but now you need to consider another thing: the smartphone model. Not all cellphones on the market are compatible with WiFi calls and each operator has different devices. Operators have compatible mobile phones listed on their websites, but the list may not be up to date. If in doubt, a simple call to customer service to request your model should resolve the issue.
By the way, even if VoWiFi calls are activated in the tariffs, they must also be enabled on the device itself. On Android, the route will depend on each smartphone and the manufacturer’s personalization layer. On iOS, it’s always the same:
Android: Settings> Connections> WiFi calls and activate the corresponding box. If you can’t find it on your mobile, use the search engine in the settings app and search for the term “WiFi calls”.
iOS: Settings> Phone> WiFi calls and check the box.
Movistar
For the moment, the latest official information from Movistar indicates that the only devices compatible with the VoWiFi service are the Samsung Galaxy S9, Galaxy S9 +, Galaxy S10, Galaxy S10e, Galaxy S10 + et Samsung Galaxy Note 9. From SamaGame, we have contacted the company to see if there is a newer list and will update when we receive a response.
O2
O2 has two requirements. The first is a compatible mobile and the second is have a certain SV-VoLTE version or higher. It depends on each model in particular, but to know the SV-VoLTE version of your smartphone, just check the IMEI. Dial the code *#06# on the mobile dashboard. The IMEI (15 digits) and a one or two digit number will appear next to it. This number is the SV-VoLTE version. That said, the compatible mobiles are as follows.
Huawei
Samsung
Apple
IPhone 6s or higher is supported, but the service has not yet been activated. They are working on it, but there is no news about it.
Orange
Orange is by far the one that supports the most models. The list is long, so for a tip, try using Ctrl + F to find your model in the list. The specific devices are:
Samsung
Huawei / Honor
LG
Sony
OPPO
Xiaomi
Apple
iPhone 5S and later.
Apple Watch S3 from now on.
Wiko
Orange
Orange Dive 71 (ZTE BLADE A506)
Orange Neva 80 (ZTE V770)
Orange Rise 52 (5044P)
Orange Rise 54 (5033Y)
Menace
Amena claims on its website that the service is compatible for all iPhone models as well as all Android devices, whether purchased with Amena or on the open market.
Differences from other apps offering WiFi calling
At this point, it should be noted the main differences between VoWiFi calls and the calls we can make on WhatsApp or Telegram, to give a few examples. The main difference is that when we make VoWiFi calls, we use our mobile line. Although the connection is established via WiFi, for convenience, this is a normal call and current and we can do it on any mobile or landline phone, connected or not to a WiFi network.
When we call through a VoIP service such as WhatsApp or Telegram, the call is passed from one customer (the application that we have installed on the mobile) to another similar customer (the application that is installed on the mobile of our contact). Both people must use the same appThat is why you cannot call a mobile number from WhatsApp, but you call “a WhatsApp account”, so that we understand each other.
So, in the case of using a mobile network, these calls consume data on our tariff and they are not deducted from our monthly minute limit or our minute bonus (yes gigas bonus). With WiFi, this is not a problem, because it is a package. And now that we are on the topic of WiFi, VoIP calls from WhatsApp or Telegram that are made over WiFi do not have roaming restrictions, so they can be used to talk to people from or from abroad without fear of a bill. .
This year Apple has surprised us with the prices of the iPhone 15: all of them are cheaper than their predecessors. That does not mean that we are faced with a smartphone that is still expensive at the same time. from 959 euros in Spain.
Precisely that is a particularly interesting point, because in reality how cheap or expensive the iPhone is for those who buy it depends not only on the price, but on what that price represents in each person’s economy. And that is where a unique ranking appears: where is an iPhone 15 most expensive or cheapest?
Well, logically, it is cheaper for those who earn more money, and more expensive for those who earn less. At CompareDial they wanted to carry out a study that precisely tries to reflect how expensive or cheap the iPhone 15 is in different countries around the world.
In their list they have analyzed 85 countries, and in each of them the fundamental factor that reflects how cheap or expensive the iPhone is for its citizens is the average annual salary in these countries. The countries with the best average salaries on average enjoy a fundamental advantage over those with the lowest salaries, and that gives an idea of how expensive the iPhone 15 may seem to those who buy it depending on the country where they live.
Source: CompareDial
That table shows a curious “iPhone 15 index” on the right side in percentage form. That percentage represents the percentage of annual salary What the iPhone 15 costs for each citizen of each country, based on the average annual salary in that country.
The data comes from Our World in Data, World DataBank and data published by each country. On the comparison website you can click on any country to display the specific statistics for that country, and that allows us to quickly get an idea of how expensive or cheap the iPhone 15 is in each of the economies included in the comparison. study.
According to these data, it is easy to see how someone who works in Spain has to spend 4.83% of your annual salary to buy the iPhone 15 in its base model with 128 GB capacity. That annual salary in Spain has a median—remember, different from the average—$21,308.85 according to the study data.
The cost of that iPhone according to the data from this study is $1,029.66. It is a conversion quite close to the 959 euros that it officially costs here, which at the current euro-dollar exchange rate is equivalent to 1,024.58 dollars.
In the United States, for example, that index is 1.69%: Someone who works there has to spend on average that percentage of their annual salary—the median of which is $50,371.33—to be able to buy an iPhone. There, by the way, the cost in dollars is also significantly lower, since with taxes included – although they vary by state – they indicate that the base iPhone 15 costs $849.73.
What does that mean? That someone who works with that reference salary in the United States earns a significantly higher figure according to that median and therefore for him the iPhone 15 is “cheaper.” In fact, it is if one also looks at the price difference once taxes and the euro-dollar exchange rate have been applied, but that median income reveals that The iPhone is more or less three times more expensive in Spain than in the United States according to that index.
There are, of course, many more possible comparisons: the iPhone 15 is only cheaper in Luxembourg and Switzerland than in the US, while the cost is absolutely exorbitant for a large number of countries in which this index is greater than 20% of the annual salary.
In Mexico (median salary, $5,922.89) the rate is 19.24%: a worker there spends almost a fifth of his annual salary on an iPhone. In Argentina the situation is even more terrible. Although the median salary is somewhat higher, 6,793.32, the price of the iPhone 15 is the highest in the world: equivalent to $2,048.27, something motivated by high inflation and restrictions on imports. That makes the iPhone rate there 30.15%: the cost of that mobile phone is almost a third of the annual salary in the country.
This data also includes countries like China (rate of 11.58%) for whose citizens the iPhone 15 “costs” more than double what it costs us in Spain. These figures seem to be misleading, because in 2022 Apple became the second in mobile phone sales in the Asian giant, according to CounterPoint Research.
India, the most populous country in the world and Apple’s great commercial objective for the future, is another contradictory example of the situation of their mobile phones: there the rate is 38.60%, so theoretically a 128 GB iPhone 15 costs Indian citizens almost 2/5 of their annual salary. Even so, quarterly sales in the last quarter of 2022 were two million units according to CMR, which seems to reflect the great economic inequality of the country, which has more than 1.4 billion inhabitants.
Apple has just presented at the event that ended just a few moments ago what is its new range of iPhone: iPhone 12 mini, 12, 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max, in an event broadcast from Apple Park in which some of those in charge of the development of these new terminals together with Tim Cook have participated.
With all the new members already present, it’s time to review what their prices are, so read on if you want to know how much the new iPhone 12 cost in Spain.
This is the price of all the iPhone 12 for the Spanish market
Those from Cupertino have just presented 4 different iPhone models, 3 in the sizes that we had already known, a smaller room called mini with a 5.4-inch screen, something that had not happened to date in any event, Let’s see what price they start from.
iPhone 12 mini
iPhone 12 mini 64GB: € 809.00
iPhone 12 mini 128GB: € 859.00
iPhone 12 mini 256GB: € 979.00
iPhone 12
iPhone 12 64GB: € 909.00
iPhone 12 128GB: € 959.00
iPhone 12 256GB: € 1,079.00
iPhone 12 Pro
iPhone 12 Pro 128GB: € 1,159.00
iPhone 12 Pro 256GB: € 1,279.00
iPhone 12 Pro 512GB: € 1,579.00
iPhone 12 Pro Max
iPhone 12 Pro Max 128GB: € 1,259.00
iPhone 12 Pro Max 256GB: € 1,370.00
iPhone 12 Pro Max 512GB: € 1609.00
Some prices have changed this year to include a new model in the iPhone range. It should be noted the new base memories of the iPhone 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max, which now start from 128GB maintaining the starting price of the iPhone 11 Pro, and an increase of € 100.00 on the iPhone 12 compared to 11, possibly due to the introduction of 5G technology.
Now we just have to wait for Apple to open the reservations of the new devices, which will happen next October 16 for the 6.1-inch iPhone 12 and 12 Pro and November 6 for the iPhone 12 mini and 12 Pro Max. The new devices will hit stores on October 23 in the case of the iPhone 12 and 12 Pro and on November 13 in the case of the iPhone 12 mini and 12 Pro Max.
Any Spanish collector of films in physical format was already smelling it, but it never hurts to have this sad certainty: the brutal ‘John Wick 4’ is left without a physical edition, since the distributor Diamond Films He has recalled that he does not plan to publish any of his films on DVD, Blu-ray or 4K Ultra HD, justifying this decision with “”.
Demand is very low
The truth is that no Diamond Films film has been published in physical format in our country for a long time, so the only thing we needed was an official explanation from him. We finally got it, and this is what it says:
Since we started our activity in Spain, we are committed to the creation and distribution of DVDs and Blu-Ray. Unfortunately, the company in charge of manufacturing and logistics ceased its activity permanently, due to the low demand for these products, so we had no choice but to stop editing our films in these formats. We understand that there are still some collectors who continued to bet on the physical format and we are very grateful that you are interested in keeping it, but we hope you understand that the demand is so low that its manufacture is not economically viable.
That the physical market in Spain is not going through its best moment is something indisputable. Gone are the years of strength in which there were countless buyers. Many of them were disappearing with the rise of streaming and something tells me that the obsession created around 50% offers, very common a few years ago and rarely seen today, does not help to be profitable either. Now it seems that the only thing that really sells are steelbooks – and I am the first to give them priority over simple editions.
All in all, movies continue to be released in our country and there are distributors like Reel One Entertainment that subsist solely on DVD and Blu-ray sales, so profits should continue to give. Perhaps few and very focused on certain titles –I don’t have the slightest doubt about the good sales of ‘John Wick 4’, but what about the rest of the releases?-, so one can understand that they have opted for other sources of income. Which is it? I suspect that the exclusivity that Diamond Films titles have for a time with Prime Video when they are released on streaming must be more profitable than what they could earn without it and the extra of the physical format.
Obviously, ‘John Wick 4’ is not the only title affected -the same will happen with the recent ‘Talk to me’, the polarizing ‘Beau is afraid’ or the still pending release ‘The last trip of Demeter’-, but surely the most striking. Let’s not forget all the trouble that occurred with the physical format edition of its first installment, which did not appear for sale in our country until this very 2023. By the way, this will also affect future releases, so if ‘John Wick 5’ has just been done, you can count on the same thing to happen.
