Speaking of the UK, mobile carrier Vodafone has announced that Jelly Bean is now available to subscribers who own a Galaxy S III. According to Pocket-lint, the OTA update has started, but it’s going to be a tiered release. Owners will be notified when the update is available.

You can upgrade via a PC right now if you just can’t wait. Like always, the upgrade is available through Samsung Kies. This method is available only to subscribers of Vodafone and Three in the UK.

What about Galaxy S III owners in the US? We still have to wait anywhere between a few weeks and a few months for the update. It will be rolled out in waves across different carriers with each carrier deciding when to send out the upgrade. None of the carriers have thus far announced their plans either.

Google wants to get everybody caught up to the latest version of Android, but the large number of carriers and devices makes such a task incredibly hard. Couple that with carriers that renege on their promise to bring updates to older phones, and you have an Android ecosystem that can’t get away from the phantom of Android 2.3.

According to Vodafone’s statement, issued this morning, Vodafone will pay Cable & Wireless Worldwide’s investors 32 pence per share, which is a sizable percentage of CWW’s current share price.

Speaking on the deal, Cable & Wireless Worldwide Chairman John Barton said that while the struggling company had formulated it’s own strategy to improve its position, this deal would “enable shareholders to crystallise a value, in case, that represents a significant premium to recent trading levels and avoid exposure to the risks inevitably presented by executing a medium-term improvement strategy.” The deal would also, he said, provide Cable & Wireless Worldwide’s customers access to the various products and services offered by Vodafone.

Meanwhile, Vodafone CEO Vittorio Colao praised the deal, which he said “creates a leading integrated player in the enterprise segment of the UK communications market.”

Though the two companies have reached an agreement on the terms of the deal, it still faces regulatory approval.

The ad in question was for Britain’s Vodafone mobile carrier, and focused on some of Siri’s unique capabilities. Here’s the text of the ad:

Simply ask Siri to help you send messages, set reminders or search for information. It understands not only what you say but also what you mean, so you can speak naturally. It can even use information from your iPhone – such as your location, contacts, and contact relationships – to provide intelligent, personal assistance.

A disclaimer on the ad emphasized that “Siri may not be available in all languages or in all areas, and features may vary by area.”

The complainant felt that this ad was misleading, as it failed to make Siri’s limitations in the UK sufficiently clear. Since the actual ad copy came from Apple, not Vodafone, the carrier deferred their defense to Apple. Apple insisted that the ad was not misleading and that Siri does use certain location services in Britain, but that the ad does not say or imply that users in the UK can use Siri to look up business. Apple also said that they had carefully avoided using map images in their British advertising for Siri, in light of the fact that Siri does not have access to map data in the UK.

The ASA agreed with Apple that the ad did not suggest that Siri could do things it couldn’t in the UK. The ASA ruled that it was neither Apple’s nor Vodafone’s fault if British iPhone users construed advertising in the UK based on their knowledge of what Siri can do in the U.S.

Siri’s capabilities – or lack thereof – has caused frustration for iPhone users. While the implementation of Siri on U.S. iPhones is generally quite good, the personal assistant software is notoriously bad with accents. Speaking U.S. English with a foreign accent (or U.K English with a Scottish accent) causes all sorts of problems ranging from the hilarious to the infuriating.

Is the ad misleading? Is Apple (or the carrier) responsible for making it clear just what Siri can and can’t do in a given country? Let us know what you think in the comments.

It’s been out for at least a few days, but given the Internet’s love for Star Wars, I’m surprised it hasn’t gotten more exposure than it has by now. Here it is:

Microsoft’s Keith Combs pitches it as “Yoda comes out of retirement for Windows Phone”.

Good to see they avoided using a droid to sell a Windows phone. It is worth noting, however, that the Red Box service supports Android and iOS as well as Windows Phone.

According to Michelle Donegan, Vodafone CEO Vittorio Colao showed during his keynote address at the Mobile World Congress that many companies compete within different parts of the mobile sphere.  Then he presented a slide related to search and advertising with just Google’s and Yahoo’s names on it.

Colao stated at that point, "In search and advertising management, there is 70 percent to 80 percent, maybe more, concentration [of players].  From a policy perspective, this should be looked into.  We need to ensure choice and avoid concentration before it’s too late."

This could be bad news for Google.  Colao’s corporation isn’t some small firm with a skewed view of the market (it has a market cap of $115 billion and owns 45 percent of Verizon), and his decision to criticize the search giant at such a public moment indicates that he’s quite serious about taking it down a couple of notches.

As for Google’s side of things, Eric Schmidt is supposed to speak later today at the Mobile World Congress, so we may get to hear an executive-level rebuttal.