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Apr 23
Need for condensed, visual presentations mark slow...

Organizations across the world are starting to see the need for platforms that help them shorten presentations in dynamic and direct ways. While PowerPoint still has a 95% share of the presentation software market1, forward-thinking companies, like Apple, Amazon and Facebook, have already taken steps to retire their hour-long sales presentations and decks full of tech-speak and industry-speak in favor of new presentation styles, according to Sheffield Marketing Partners.

"This transition has been happening slowly for some time," says Joseph McCormack, Managing director and co-founder of Sheffield Marketing Partners. "The business world relied so heavily on PowerPoint for so long that it almost forgot how to communicate. Now, we’re finally seeing a change. Organizations are opting to simplify. They’re distilling messages into what really matters -- without the extra additives."

This idea is reinforced by burgeoning concepts like "information triage," which remind...

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Apr 23
Companies remain concerned about employee use of...

Employers continue to be concerned about the risk and liability posed by employee use of mobile devices while driving on the job. Seven in 10 companies have adopted written policies designed to curb employee distracted driving, but only 32% are confident that current enforcement methods are effective at achieving compliance.

These are among the new findings from Aegis Mobility’s third-annual survey of 547 fleet safety and risk management professionals. Key findings include:
"Hands-Free" and "Zero Tolerance" are most popular policies. Forty-five percent of existing employer policies prohibit all use, except hands-free. Forty-one percent prohibit all use, no exceptions. Twelve percent prohibit texting, emailing and browsing.

Efforts to enforce distracted driving policies remain steady. Eighty-six percent of companies report taking some steps to enforce distracted driving policies.

Confidence is lacking in current policy enforcement. Confidence in current...

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Apr 22
Integrated platforms increasingly important; rising to...

Mobile device design is increasingly reliant on integrated platforms, which are chipsets based on combinations of application processor, baseband processor, and wireless connectivity technologies, according to ABI Research (www.abiresearch.com). In 2012, 19% of handsets shipped were based on an integrated platform; set to more than double to 46% in 2018.

"Integrated solutions are used in many handsets from mass-market smartphones to flagship smartphones and will eventually find their way into feature phones," says research director Philip Solis. "One industry dynamic mitigating the need for integrated platforms are device reference designs and related services offered by semiconductor vendors."

One industry dynamic mitigating the need for integrated platforms are device reference designs and related services offered by semiconductor vendors, he adds. Qualcomm certainly benefits from its integrated...

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Apr 19
Mobile location-based advertising to be worth US$8.5...

According to a new research report from the analyst firm Berg Insight (www.berginsight.com), the total value of the global real-time mobile location-based advertising and marketing (LBA) market will grow from € 526 million in 2012 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 65% to € 6.5 billion (approximately US$8.5 billion) in 2017.

This will then correspond to 32.8% of all mobile advertising and marketing. This means that location-based advertising and marketing will represent around 5% of digital advertising, or more than 1 percent of the total global ad spend for all media. SMS, mobile search and coupons are today important high-volume LBA formats. The ability to precisely target prospective customers using real-time location is currently one of the most promising additions to the advertising toolbox.

"Key drivers for LBA include the growing adoption of both outdoor and indoor location...

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Apr 18
Mobile devices to generate data traffic equivalent to...

A new report from Juniper Research (www.juniperresearch.com) forecasts that the amount of mobile data traffic generated by smartphones, feature phones and tablets will exceed 90,000 Petabytes by 2017. That's equivalent to almost 42 quadrillion tweets or approximately 7 billion Blu-ray movies.

However, the report finds that only 40% of the data generated by these devices will reach the cellular network by 2017 The majority of the data traffic will be via the Wi-Fi network. The Juniper Research report finds that, despite 2012 being a breakthrough year for 4G LTE, operators will still need offloading technologies such as Wi-Fi and Small cells to augment 4G networks.

"The trend will continue and operators will make use of more integrated units of Wi-Fi and small cells. In the case of indoor cells, where most usage happens, you effectively have Wi-Fi as the pioneer and are in many ways the leader...

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Apr 17
Global cloud-based gaming market to grow at A CAGR Of...

Research and Markets (www.researchandmarkets.com) says the global cloud-based gaming market will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 15.9% from now through 2015.

One of the key factors contributing to this market growth is the increasing audience for social media games and mobile games, says the research group. The Global Cloud-based Gaming market has also been witnessing the increasing adoption of next-generation technologies. However, the requirement of high broadband speed could pose a challenge to the growth of this market, according to Research and Markets.

According to their report: ''Cloud-based gaming provides large opportunities to publishers for promotions and marketing. One such opportunity is the free-to-play business model, which is also known as the freemium model. It consists of the consumer playing the core loop of a game for free, but then eventually paying for...

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Apr 16
For mobile advertising networks, era of dominance is...

Mobile publishers such as Facebook, Pandora, and Twitter are rapidly taking over the mobile display advertising market in the United States.

Where in past years, ad networks such as Google, Millennial Media, and Apple received most of the spending on mobile display ads, now publishers control the segment, thanks to very strong sales growth in the past year. Facebook, Pandora, Twitter, and The Weather Channel all registered strong sales in 2012 and all (with the exception of Pandora) popped onto the scene from zero sales in 2011. As a result, publishers controlled 52% of U.S. mobile display ad spending in 2012, compared to the 39% they received in 2011. This is one of the results from a newly published report from the International Data Corporation (IDC) research group (www.idc.com).

"Mobile ad networks are losing market share to publishers, and we expect them to lose even more going forward," says Karsten Weide,...

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Apr 15
Enterprise users encounter problems when using open...

Univa (www.univa.com), a data center automation company, has announced the findings of its "2013 Open Source Software Use" survey.

Conducted online by uSAMP, the report finds that Free and Open Source software (FOSS) is prominent with businesses today with 76% of companies using FOSS, while 75% have experienced a problem with using it. Businesses are relying heavily on unsupported Open Source solutions; therefore 64% say they would pay for supported software should it solve their problems.
 
A lack of enterprise-grade support is the largest problem FOSS users experience in their company with 27% of respondents raising this as their top concern. Other troublesome issues include usability (24%), maintenance (20%), crashes (19%), bugs (18%), downtime (16%), loss off productivity (16%) and interoperability (16%).
 
Indeed FOSS’ importance today means that 64% are willing to pay for better quality,...

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Apr 12
Smartphones, fast networks drive mHealth growth

Mobile health (mHealth) applications are rapidly evolving to take advantage of new image support capabilities in mobile networks and devices, according to a new report from Strategy Analytics (www.strategyanalytics.com).

mHealth image-based applications range from remote interpretation of blood samples taken in a remote jungle clinic to sending fetal sonograms to the smartphones of friends and relatives. Remote diagnostics has seen significant growth in recent years, as it is a way to get around shortages or poor distribution of specialists, according to Strategy Analytics. In Egypt, for example, a partnership of Qualcomm, Mobinil, Click Diagnostics and the Ministry of Health allowed remote health clinics to send smartphone-captured images of skin conditions for diagnosis, by some of the country's few dermatologists.

"Smartphones and tablets have improved so much as image capture and...

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Apr 11
Early adopters of 3D printing could gain innovation...

3D printing is disrupting the design, prototyping and manufacturing processes in a wide range of industries, according to Gartner (www.gartner.com).

Enterprises should start experimenting with 3D printing technology to improve traditional product design and prototyping, with the potential to create new product lines and markets, according to the research group. 3D printing will also become available to consumers via kiosks or print-shop-style services, creating new opportunities for retailers and other businesses. 

"3D printing is a technology accelerating to mainstream adoption," says Pete Basiliere, research director at Gartner. "It is a technology of great interest to the general media, with demonstrations on science shows, on gadget websites and in other areas. From descriptions of exciting current uses in medical, manufacturing and other industries to futuristic ideas -- such as using 3D printers on...

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Apr 10
Kaazing Global study: real time web, mobile...

Kaazing, pioneers of HTML5 WebSocket and the leading web and mobile communication platform for live data delivery, have announced the findings of its annual Live Web and Mobile Communication research study. 

The survey, which was conducted in March 2013 with nearly 300 global IT professionals and developers worldwide, found that nearly nine out of 10 (86%) respondents consider real-time web and data communication to be a priority for them in 2013, with 81% saying they will apply that priority to their mobile strategy. Within the next 12 months respondents plan to enable two-way, real-time web applications, ranked as follows:

° Monitoring -- 33.8%;
° Push notifications -- 32.8%;
° Collaboration -- 30.4%;
° eCommerce -- 29.7%;
° Live chat -- 29.1%;
° Extending enterprise applications to the web -- 25.7%;
° Remote employee solutions -- 23.6%.

Countries outside of the U.S. also ranked online gaming and real-time voting as top...

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Apr 09
4G LTE mobile broadband subscribers to reach nearly...

A new report from Juniper Research (www.juniperresearch.com) forecasts a rapid uptake of 4G LTE mobile broadband technology in the next two years, with the subscriber number doubling from an estimated 105 million subscribers this year to nearly 220 million in 2014.

The new report finds that, with 2012 being a breakthrough year for LTE and deployments gaining momentum, subscribers will begin to sign up for services in volume this year (2013), but will still have a very limited global reach. The emerging factor that will and is driving the consumer take-up in the forecast and beyond is the embedding of LTE technology in consumer devices.

With LTE roll-outs gaining momentum, primarily in developed markets, Juniper Research acknowledges that while migration to 4G is expected to follow an evolutionary path, there is a genuine opportunity for many operators in developing countries to completely...

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Apr 08
Google, Netflix in war for global content-market...

The Internet content delivery market will undergo huge changes over the next decade as major telcos and Internet giants -- including Google, Amazon, Netflix and Microsoft -- wrangle over the continuing over-the-top (OTT) Internet traffic content boom, according to a new Informa Telecoms & Media report Internet Innovation.
 
The Internet Innovation report details how the Internet giants are trying to fulfill their ambitions of becoming globally dominant digital content providers by building their own Internet infrastructure that will provide them with low-cost high-quality digital content distribution.
 
Google, Amazon, Netflix and Microsoft are working towards delivering their digital content in premium condition to their customers using techniques such as edge caching on operator networks and using Internet Exchange Points (IXPs). By building out their own extensive Internet distribution networks, these Internet giants also hope to alleviate the telcos...

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Apr 05
Real time web, mobile communications an enterprise...

Kaazing (www.kaazing.com), a web and mobile communication platform for live data delivery, has announced the findings of its annual "Modern Architectures for Mobile Enterprises Survey."

The survey, which was conducted in March 2013 with nearly 300 global IT professionals and developers worldwide, found that nearly nine out of 10 (86%) respondents consider real-time web and data communication to be a priority for them in 2013, with 81% saying they will apply that priority to their mobile strategy.
 
Within the next 12 months respondents plan to enable two-way, real-time web applications, ranked as follows: monitoring – 33.8%; push notifications – 32.8%; collaboration – 30.4%; eCommerce – 29.7%; live chat – 29.1%; extending enterprise applications to web – 25.7%; and remote employee solutions – 23.6%.
 
Countries outside of the U.S. also ranked online gaming and real-time voting as top...

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Apr 04
Infoentics: LTE smartphones up 151% in fourth quarter

Infonetics Research (www.infonetics.com) says global smartphone market totaled $247 billion in 2012, up 51% from 2011 -- and that the number of LTE smartphones increased by 151%.

Owing to the introduction of the iPhone 5, Apple regained its lead in smartphone revenue market share in 4Q12 with 37%. It was followed by Samsung with 29%; Samsung maintains its lead in smartphone unit share.

Sales of tablets reached US$42 billion worldwide in 2012, jumping 281% over 2011. In 2012, shipments of standalone USB mobile broadband cards grew steadily, driven by W-CDMA shipments in developing countries and LTE growth in developed markets

Meanwhile, embedded cards declined as the more functional tablet segment overshadowed embedded PCs and mobile internet devices (MIDs) Infonetics expects the number of global mobile broadband subscribers (phone and PC) to grow from 1.2 billion in 2012 to close to 3 billion by...

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Apr 03
Global mobile data will exceed 40% of total service...

Global mobile data service revenue, made up of mobile internet and messaging revenue, will rise by 21.4% between 2012 and 2014 to represent 40.4% of the US$1 trillion mobile customers will be spending on their mobile phone services, according to new data from ABI Research (www.abiresearch.com).

Thanks to strong commitments to LTE network deployment in Latin America and Africa, not just the developed markets, growth rates in the regions will be substantially faster as the increase in usage outstrips mobile data pricing decline. This represents a significant opportunity for regional mobile content and application developers, which will stimulate a very nascent mobile apps and content market-place, says ABI Research. North America will be the first region to see mobile data service revenue eclipse voice revenue in 2016.

"By offering unlimited voice calls and texts, while making data the only component...

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Apr 02
App-connected vehicles to reach 20% of consumer cars...

A new report from Juniper Research (www.juniperresearch.com) has found that advancements in entertainment head-units and higher smartphone penetration will result in app-capability reaching a fifth of all consumer vehicles in the developed markets of North America and Western Europe by 2017.

The success of new standards such as MirrorLink will be instrumental in creating the foundations for the connected car ecosystem to flourish, finds the report. Though Juniper Research also forecasts robust growth in more traditional embedded consumer telematics services, the success of smartphone tethering and in-vehicle apps is expected to exert downward pressure on the price of vehicle manufacturers’ own embedded telematics infotainment services.

The report notes that "big data" derived from telematics service provision is also likely to emerge as an unexpected revenue driver for telematics companies...

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Apr 01
The Northern Spy: there's no truth to the rumor...

By Rick Sutcliffe

There is no truth to the rumour

° That Apple has become a third bidder in the suddenly interesting battle to gain control of Dell. Michael Dell himself began the process by trying to take the company private under his own personal leadership, but has hit a roadblock in the form of a second suitor who would likely show him the door. Apple was said to be ready to close the company, wind up its affairs, turn the assets into cash, and give the money back to the shareholders.

That Apple intends to buy Sony, Sharp, Panasonic, and/or RIM out of petty cash. A far better bet is the acquisition of IBM. After all, Apple makes money from computing devices and software, whereas IBM makes most of its money showing business people how to use them. "No one needs to explain our devices to seven-year-olds, but there are people out there who need a helping hand," said Apple's manager of acquisitions. "A...

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Apr 01
Prime Time is peak time for mobile gaming and social...

Mobile gamers and social networkers spend the most time playing games or posting updates during TV prime time -- weekdays from 8-10 pm -- according to an hour-by-hour analysis of Arbitron Mobile smartphone panelists (www.abitron.com) in the United States during the fourth quarter 2012.

Five functions -- –voice calls, messaging, browsing, social networking, and gaming -- dominate weekday smartphone use by Arbitron Mobile panelists in the U.S. The average time per hour for each of the five top smartphone functions rises sharply until the 9-10 am hour when messaging, browsing, social networking, and gaming enter a late morning plateau.

The plateau exception: mobile voice calls. Average time per hour continues to increase until noon, when it sags slightly over the lunch break, and then accelerates again to a 5 pm peak. Both mobile social media and mobile gaming see a slow increase in their average time per hour...

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Mar 29
U.S. broadband households want TV YouTube on-demand...

New online research from Parks Associates (www.parksassociates.com) reveals consumers want to be able to access online video as part of their pay-TV service.

More than one-half of U.S. broadband households would like to have a YouTube on-demand feature with their pay-TV services. The new research is based on multiple nationwide surveys of over 2,000 U.S. broadband households and examines the impact of carriage disputes, which have prompted pay-TV providers like DirecTV, Dish Network, and Time Warner to drop channels such as AMC, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, and MTV as part of ongoing fee and licensing struggles between service and content providers.

"U.S. pay-TV operators enjoy higher ARPU [average revenue per user] than their counterparts in other countries, allowing them to test and deploy a variety of new services, although many international providers are making similar moves," Brett...

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Mar 28
67% of smartphone owners use devices for shopping

The results from the Strategy Analytics consumer survey (www.strategyanalytics.com), conducted in the US, UK and China, showed that smartphone owners were much more likely than feature phone owners to use their devices either while shopping or for shopping.

Usage at home demonstrates that smartphones are frequently used for research on products. Sixty-one percent of smartphone owners use the device for shopping at home. Usage while out and about shows a very similar pattern to usage at home, although slightly more users overall have used their smartphone while out and about (67% compared to 61%). The least popular shopping activity on all devices is the actual point of purchase itself.

"Brick and mortar retailers are not waiting for carriers or OEMs [original equipment manufacturers] to roll out mobile payments and are leveraging mobile solutions already in the market, such as mobile...

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Mar 27
Global LTE traffic will grow by over 200% in 2013

Total mobile data traffic had amounted to 13,412 petabytes by the end of 2012; an increase of 69% year-on-year, according to ABI Research (www.abiresearch.com).

3G data usage occupied 46% of the total with an increase of 130% year-on-year. 4G LTE traffic is accelerating, with a growth rate of 207% in 2013 compared to 99% for 3G traffic.

According to ABI Research, underpinning mobile data usage are smartphone apps; their downloads, and the traffic usage they generate, has become a significant contributor to mobile data traffic. Smartphone app downloads were 36.2 billion for 2012, up 88% compared to 2011.

Asia-Pacific has overtaken North America (25%), with 39% of total smartphone app downloads. IP/web browsing constitutes 51% of total mobile data traffic in 2012. However, by 2018, large mobile device screens and 4G data-speeds will stimulate mobile video streaming/downloads to account for 56...

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Mar 26
3D experience to revolutionize the mobile device...

The improvised 3D experience in smartphones, tablets, notebooks, computers, cars, etc. is set to revolutionize the mobile device market and other GPS-enabled device market by broadening the horizons for the users to locate things easily using any device, according to new data from Reportlinker.com, a web site that covers "industry reports, company data and country profiles."

The past decade witnessed a giant leap in various industries, with 3D technology being implemented in various electronic devices and other objects. The need for 3D mapping arose after an attempt to make 2D maps more advanced and look more real. This was done by introducing sensors, cameras, scanners, GPS components, and other acquisition devices to capture the real time 3D images which are created into models incorporated into maps. This type of technology is often used in modern computer programs to provide a lifelike view of a place or thing on a map.

Portable GPS devices use 3D mapping...

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Mar 25
Is there a mobile spectrum shortage?

Market research firm Infonetics Research has released excerpts from a Mobile Spectrum market size and forecast report, which analyzes radio frequency spectrum allocation and needs in the world’s top economies.

"Seven years ago the ITU predicted the world would need twice as much radio frequency spectrum as is allocated now, and that was even before the advent of the data-hungry iPhone," reports Stéphane Téral, principal analyst for mobile infrastructure and carrier economics at Infonetics Research. "But if the ITU forecast had held true, all mobile networks with significant mobile broadband usage would have crashed by now."

HSPA+ and LTE are two of the primary reasons operators have been able to squeeze more and more bits out of limited spectrum, Téral adds. HSPA/HSPA+ and LTE improve spectral efficiency so significantly that the need for spectrum has been greatly reduced, often by at least half. LTE technology is not only resistant to interference between cells but...

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Mar 22
Problems abound in recovering data if IT systems go...

Many people would take an unreasonably long time to recover their data if their IT systems were to go down, and tape backups still have an important part to play. These are the findings of a survey carried out for Norwegian storage experts.

Proact (www.proact.eu) charts Norwegian companies’ attitudes towards information management every year. This survey, carried out by an independent body, involves telephone interviews with 200 decision makers and provides an insight into what Norwegian companies are thinking as regards storage and information management.

Seven in 10 respondents reckon that their departments are receiving enough resources to meet demands in terms of quality and uptime. Six in 10 are concerned about what business information employees can store using external cloud services such as Dropbox, Google Drive, Apple iCloud and suchlike. Fifty-five percent have refused to allow staff to connect private...

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Mar 21
Unseen business risks can cripple data centers and...

Two major "unseen" risks threaten businesses that use data centers -- the "data factories" that power "the Cloud," the government and every major business. A peer group of senior data center professionals last week discovered that these major risk factors are often not considered until after a data centre has been built -- in a sub-optimal country, with very serious adverse implications.

This was one of the major surprise findings when 70 C-level executives -- between them responsible for tens of thousands of data centers around the globe -- met together with legal and tax specialists to pool expertise on the risks that face multinational companies from the design, location and operation of these business-critical systems.
 
Nicola Hayes, managing director of research analysts DCD Intelligence -- which planned the event based on their recent research findings -- said, data centers now operate just about everything we do -- from running our offices factories and...

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Mar 19
80% of mobile subscribers will be in developing...

Over the next five years, the worldwide base of mobile subscriptions will rise to 8.9 billion, and four out of five of these will be in developing countries.

According to "Worldwide Cellular User Forecasts, 2012-2017," the most recent forecast from Strategy Analytics' Wireless Operator Strategies (WOS) service, subscriptions in developing countries will grow at a compound annual rate of 7.5%, substantially faster than the 2.8% growth that will be seen in developed countries.

With worldwide mobile service revenue growth slowing to about 2% per year through 2017, developing countries like Nigeria, where revenue is growing at twice that rate, can be very attractive markets to international players. Phil Kendall , director of WOS, notes that "the Middle East and Africa will generate an impressive 28% revenue growth between 2012 and 2017, confirming its significance to investors from outside the region such as Airtel, Orange and Vodafone."

The developing countries...

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Mar 19
There's a need for mobile wallets, services...

SAP AG (www.sap.com) has announced the findings of its third consecutive GSMA Mobile World Congress survey, which found that 53% of industry leaders believed that improving customers' retail experience would be essential to creating a successful mobile payments scheme.

The survey is aimed at addressing top issues facing mobile commerce service providers and reflects the sentiments of mobile operators, fixed telecommunication providers, over-the-top (OTT) players and other global mobile industry executives.

Survey results revealed that the "secret sauce" for creating a better retail experience includes location-based point-of-sale offerings (24%), point-of-sale services such as near field communication (NFC) (28%) and facilitating universal acceptance of mobile payments (25%). Less popular services included targeted offers based on consumer preferences and shopping history (12%) and integration with mass transit (...

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Mar 18
Mobile operator share of content market plummets

Revenues from mobile content, monetized through direct carrier billing, is expected to rise from US$2 billion last year to more than $13 billion by 2017, according to a report from Juniper Research (www.juniperresearch.com).

The report notes that operator storefronts and portals now accounted for just 6% of content downloads worldwide, with Google Play and Apple’s App Store now comprising nearly 70% between them. Indeed, the report noted that the increasing popularity of OTT (Over The Top) stores had led to many operators closing their own storefronts.

However, the report found that by offering carrier billing to third-party storefronts, operators could more than offset the continued decline in portal revenues. According to Juniper Research, storefronts that have already integrated carrier billing solutions have seen a 5-6x increase in conversion rates compared with credit card billing,...

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Mar 15
European cable companies winning in broadband, losing...

Europe's leading cable companies score higher than their rivals in customer satisfaction with broadband service, but trail them in television service, according to the latest research from Strategy Analytics' ConsumerMetrix service (www.strategyanalytics.com).

The report, "European Cable: Customer Satisfaction and Profiles," found that customers of cable companies give them a net promoter satisfaction rating of 66% for their broadband service but only 37% for their television service. In spite of this, satisfaction with both television and broadband cable services improved during 2012, and improved significantly since 2010.

"The European cable industry, like its US counterpart, faces the challenge of striking the right strategic balance between its highly profitable broadband services and its more marginal television activities," notes David Mercer, vice president, Digital Consumer...

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Mar 14
Tips to consider when deciding between iOS, Android...

In 2013, retailers are increasingly shifting their point-of-sale to mobile devices in response to the explosive growth of smartphone adoption and the demand for a seamless shopping experience across all channels.

According to mobile POS solution provider Infinite Peripherals, Inc. (http://www.ipcprint.com), which has products in 30% of the top 20 U.S. retailers and more than 250,000 mobile POS devices on the market, enterprises should carefully weigh pros and cons before choosing between iOS and Android.

Independent research firm IDC believes that, by the end of the year, iOS will be the top operating system in the enterprise among companies that deploy mobile products to employees. IPC -- the first to market to add mobile POS functionality to the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad products -- has identified key points retailers must consider when choosing between iOS and Android. These include:

...

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Mar 13
Jumptap predicts how mobile share trends will evolve

In its newly released MobileSTAT report, Jumptap, Inc., an audience targeting platform -- reports on how top mobile share trends will evolve in the comings months.

Among other predictions, Jumptap sees Samsung’s share among Android handset brands climbing to 59% in 2013, while HTC and LG get grouped closely together, but in a distant second place.

"As Samsung creates more distance between itself and other Android handset brands, it may begin to pose a threat to Google’s multi-device model," says Matt Duffy, vice president of Marketing at Jumptap. "Regardless of whether Google puts more muscle behind any other Android handset brand, we believe Samsung will increase its dominance of the Android device market in 2013."

Tablet share more than doubled on the Jumptap network in 2012, while feature phone share dropped significantly. This polarizing movement will continue over the coming months, with tablet share predicted to grab 29% of Jumptap network traffic, while...

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Mar 12
Smartphone eventually to become a utility product?

Despite its phenomenal growth -- which will continue for many years to come -- the smartphone is set to eventually become a utility product, according to Research and Markets (www.researchandmarkets.com).

This will first emerge in the developed markets, where smartphone penetration is now reaching levels of 60%-75%. This is mainly driven by Samsung and other Android-based smartphones, with Apple operating at the top end in the market, where people are prepared to pay a premium for the iPhone.

Touchscreen tablets have also become very popular; with the most widely known being the Apple iPad. The iPad has competitive threats however from the multitude of tablet devices now on the market and the rising threat of Android.

According to Research and Markets, smart phones still only account for around 18% of mobile device connections globally in 2013, leaving much room for growth over...

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Mar 08
Wi-Fi is the data beast of burden among smartphone...

Wi-Fi remains the leading data network for on-the-go data consumption in the five leading Arbitron Mobile-based smartphone panels, according to new research by iResearch Consulting (www

Even as carriers aggressively promote their newest generation of cellular data networking, the Arbitron smartphone panelists in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, and China, still consume nearly two-thirds of their mobile data through public and private Wi-Fi networks.

The United States and United Kingdom have the heaviest users of mobile data in their Arbitron smartphone panels. A substantial share of the data consumption -- 61 and 69% respectively -- relies on Wi-Fi networks. China and France have the lightest users of mobile data in their Arbitron Mobile-based smartphone panels, both in terms of the average monthly data consumed and the share of the panel who consume more the 1,000 MB a month. However, their respective share of Wi-Fi networks as a data source...

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Mar 08
Quarterly Ethernet switch, router tracker shows...

The worldwide Ethernet switch (Layer 2/3) revenues reached US$5.7 billion in the fourth quarter of 2012 (4Q12), representing growth of 7.0% sequentially and 0.5% year over year.

Meanwhile, the worldwide router market increased 5.6% quarter over quarter even though it declined 0.2% year over year in 4Q12, according to the "International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Ethernet Switch and Router Tracker" (www.idc.com).

The 4Q12 results also show that the Ethernet switch market was particularly strong in Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) with 15.6% year-over-year growth, Middle East and Africa (MEA) (13.8%), and Latin America (12.0%). Meanwhile, continued weakness in Western Europe continued to weigh heavily on the overall market with its 12.0% year-over-year decline. From other major regions, Japan increased 3.5% year-over-year and North America declined slightly (-1.1%) in 4Q12.

"While growth in the...

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Mar 07
Mobile gaming market grows to $9 billion

As Obscene Interactive and its partners enhance the new beta version of their debut gaming app, Phantasmic, the market that awaits the game is growing even faster than the company could have anticipated.

According to a new publication by mobile gaming market research firm Newzoo, there are now more than 500 million mobile gamers worldwide -- and they’re spending more than $9 billion annually on their favorite hobby.

"The mobile gaming market’s annual growth is now at 32%, and the revenue this industry generated in the U.S. alone increased by 16% year-on-year in 2012," says OBJE CEO Paul Watson. "That makes mobile games one of the fastest-growing industries on the planet, and we’re doing all we can to capitalize on this unprecedented growth."

Just five short years ago, computer monitors, arcade cabinets and television sets were the only places video games could be seen and played. Thanks to the explosion of smartphones and tablet computers, the time and money...

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Mar 06
Don’t move your wallet onto your phone yet

Mobile banking on Android phones could put consumers at risk of fraud and cost banks millions a year global IT security firm MWR InfoSecurity has warned.

MWR Labs, the research arm of MWR InfoSecurity, investigated the security standards of leading Android mobile phone brands to determine the overall exposure to risk of consumers who use mobile devices phones for online banking. Recent research has shown that Android is now the leading phone platform with over 50% market share, driving the development of mobile banking apps for the Android Environment. Results indicated that on some handsets as many as 64% of manufacturer added applications were exposing users to serious security issues.

"We found that while banking apps were generally well written and had very few security issues, the integrity of consumer phones was often compromised by software provided by the phone manufacturer or additional software added by the network provider, exposing online banking customers...

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Mar 05
44% of broadband households want troubleshooting,...

Parks Associates (www.parksassociates.com) has announced new connected appliance research that shows 44% of U.S. broadband households would allow utilities to manage and monitor their home appliances in order to save money by reducing their energy consumption.

Manufacturers are developing connected appliances to stay competitive in a mature market, where connectivity can differentiate products and add value through remote monitoring, enhanced functionality, and energy savings, says Tom Kerber, director, Research, Home Controls and Energy, Parks Associates. Appliance manufacturers LG and Samsung have launched Wi-Fi-enabled appliances, and most major manufacturers are launching new connected products in 2013, which will continue to increase consumer awareness and strengthen the value proposition of connected appliances, he adds.

"Our research shows more consumers value remote monitoring of...

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Mar 01
Survey: HTML5 trumps native as top choice for cross-...

Kendo UI, a division of Telerik, has announced results from its new Global Developer Survey in which more than 5,000 developers, CIOs and technology executives weighed in on HTML5, actual adoption versus hype, and platform preferences.

Findings reveal new developer priorities in building apps, trends evolving in the Native vs. HTML5 debate, and preferences for existing and emerging mobile platforms. Survey results show HTML5 beating out Native SDKs as the preferred choice for developers across the board, regardless of company size. New HTML5-centric platforms Windows 8 and Chrome OS are capturing developer interest in 2013, while BlackBerry 10 and Tizen OS struggle to find favor.

The full report can be downloaded at http://www.kendoui.com/surveys/global-developer-survey-2013.aspx. Key findings include:

° Fifty...

| Read more »
Mar 01
The Northern Spy: stock in trade

By Rick Sutcliffe

Apple's stock continues to behave strangely, but with more explanation in recent weeks. Seems a couple of large hedge funds sold billions in Apple shares over a short period, driving the price down. More recently, another fund manager speculated on a stock split, which caused a short rally in the shares. Yet another wants to extract cash from Apple's hoard into his own pocket.

All these moves are both short-sighted and self-serving. Indeed, it seems to the Spy that any plans to sell large dollar values of a stock should be reportable, even as are ones to trade in large percentages. What if a billion in shares is less than a quarter of a percent? Surely transactions that large should be regarded as insider trading, for shares are obviously sensitive to such dumps. It's not every day that someone is ready and able to increase their holdings by several billion dollars.

Speculating on a stock split is like speculating on what new...

| Read more »
Feb 28
Samsung loses SEP lawsuit against Apple in Japan

As noted by "FOSS Patents" (http://tinyurl.com/bmadw5u), various news agencies including AFP report on a statement that Samsung sent to the media, according to which statement the company lost a cellular standard-essential patent (SEP) lawsuit against Apple in Japan.

No infringement was found, which suggests that the patent wasn't as essential as Samsung thought it was, notes "FOSS Patents." Of the 25 SEP assertions by Samsung against Apple that have either been dropped or come to judgment by now, only three have been successfu

This is all part of the ongoing, global legal battle. Apple and Samsung have filed more than 30 lawsuits against each other across four continents. For example, Apple alleges that Samsung copied the slide-to-unlock technology of its iPhone and iPad devices.

| Read more »
Feb 28
Adoption of cyber security arsenal is 'alarmingly...

A study from a cybersecurity analyst firm, Big Data Analytics in Cyber Defense, confirms that big data analytics offer a powerful arsenal for cyber security, but adoption is alarmingly slow. The report, released by Teradata Corp., the analytic data solutions company, and the Ponemon Institute, contains several key findings:

° Cyber-attacks are getting worse but only 20% say their organizations are more effective at stopping them. The greatest areas of cyber security risk are caused by mobility, lack of visibility and multiple global interconnected network systems.

° Fifty-six percent are aware of the technologies that provide big data analytics and 61% say they will solve pressing security issues, but only 35% have them. The 61% say big data analytics is in their future.

° Less than half of organizations are vigilant in preventing (42% anomalous and potentially malicious traffic from entering networks or detecting such traffic (49%) in their networks.

° ...

| Read more »
Feb 28
Tablet gamers to spend over $3 billion on on in-app...

A new study by Juniper Research (www.juniperresearch.com) into the fast moving mobile and tablet games market has highlighted the pivotal role of tablet devices in the future growth of the sector.

The rapid take-up of tablets, combined with the growing acceptance of in-game purchasing and virtual currencies will result in an estimated US$3.03 billion of sales in 2016, reaching over 10 times the $301 million figure calculated for 2012, according to the research group.

The report, which investigates the impact of mobile games on the wider video games industry, found that there had been a clear migration of users from dedicated portable gaming devices across to tablets, and to some extent, smartphones. The freemium model, which is being embraced by tablet users, cannot be implemented as easily on portable gaming devices, as games have to be purchased upfront and the devices themselves often do...

| Read more »
Feb 27
Emails across industries inch closer to mobile tipping...

A new report estimates the share of commercial emails opened on mobile devices will surpass 50%in the next six to 12 months, according to new research from data and digital messaging solutions provider Knotice.

The "Knotice Mobile Email Opens Report: 2nd Half 2012" reveals that most brands will likely see at least half of their commercial emails opened via mobile devices by the end of 2013. Currently, 41% of commercial emails are opened on mobile devices, up from a 27% mobile email open rate a year earlier. Key findings include:

° The number of emails opened on a mobile device (smartphone and/or tablet) during the second half of 2012 rose to 41%. This is a 51% increase over the former mobile email open rate of 36% from the second half of 2012. Data shows the steady, strong increase in mobile open rates continues, which underscores the importance of having a mobile-first mindset.

° Nearly half of all emails opened in the consumer services industry were opened...

| Read more »
Feb 26
Look for proliferation of mobile devices in K-12...

With the proliferation of mobile devices throughout the general population, it is natural for teachers, students, administrators and parents to look for extensions of these tools for K-12 classrooms.

While desktop computers and computer labs have been around for decades, it has only been within the past three-to-four years, and the past 12 months especially, that mobile devices have gained a foothold in the education market, according to Markets Reports Online.

iPads and Chromebooks represent two competing technologies for online education. While iPads have had a significant head start in terms of time-to-market, Chromebooks are quickly catching up, in large part due to their simplistic administration and very low cost.

Both Apple and Google are unveiling new programs and tools for the K-12 education sector, harnessing the vast amount of data and information available through online media for increased student knowledge and exposure to new resources,...

| Read more »
Feb 25
Hardcopy peripherals poised to begin slow recovery

Despite a 10% year-over-year increase for the full year 2012, the color laser multifunction peripheral (MFP) market declined 1% in the fourth quarter of 2012 (4Q12) as ongoing weakness in the global economy finally caught up with this segment. This marks the first quarter where color laser MFP contracted year over year to 995K units.

Overall, the worldwide hardcopy peripherals market declined 11.2% year over year in 4Q12 to 31.1 million units, according to the "International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Hardcopy Peripherals Tracker."

"The inkjet market is largely responsible for the declines due to weak consumer demand. However, business inkjet growth is solid, and these premium-priced products are helping vendors to overcome some of their consumer revenue declines. IDC expects the market will slowly begin to recover as consumer confidence returns, but growth rates will be in the single digits," says Phuong Hang, program manager, "Worldwide Hardcopy...

| Read more »
Feb 21
4G LTE service revenue to exceed $340 billion by 2017

A new report from Juniper Research (www.juniperresearch.com) finds that 4G LTE revenues are set to grow rapidly, reaching more than US$340 billion by 2017 globally, compared to just over $75 billion this year.

This figure will represent approximately 31% of total service revenues from all mobile services of all generations (2G/3G/4G) at that time, and reflects the continued success of LTE in serving higher value subscribers. The new report finds that with LTE gaining momentum over the past 12 months, initially dominated by the enterprise segment, consumer subscribers will begin to sign up for services in volume this year (2013) and will overtake the enterprise subscriber numbers in 2015.  

The new Juniper report, "4G LTE: Subscribers, Devices, Infrastructure & Service Revenue 2013-2017," found that with the increased penetration of LTE capable smartphones and other connected devices,...

| Read more »
Feb 21
Actix looks at the state of the RAN (radio access...

Using real-world data from eight network operators across four continents, a new study by Actix (www.actix.com) reveals how the dynamic interplay of people, places and devices is impacting mobile networks across the world. It highlights the critical importance of accurate customer handset and location data for targeting network investments, improving customer experience where it matters and coping with the influx of new devices.

Smartphones on 3G networks spend almost 85% of their active time generating data traffic, and only 10% of it on voice. The radio access network is responsible for between 80-85% of poor quality voice whilst data sessions in congested areas often fall below video-ready speeds. LTE networks deliver on performance claims but the real challenge will come when these networks become heavily loaded.

"The data performance on today’s network varies greatly and is far behind the high speeds that...

| Read more »
Feb 19
.com likely to continue to dominate domain disputes

While the imminent arrival of more than a thousand new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) has stoked concerns that cybersquatting will skyrocket, a new report analyzing 2012 domain dispute trends indicates America’s big brands have their hands full dealing with existing domains like .com.

The "Melbourne IT Digital Brand Services’ (DBS) Report" -- which analyzed domain dispute data from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), shows that .com was the domain most recovered from cybersquatters by brands, with more than 3,475 domain names -- nearly triple the number of disputes in all other gTLDs combined. The first full year of operation for the .xxx domain yielded only 16 disputes filed with WIPO.

'The domain industry and America’s big brands have been looking for evidence to shed light on the predictions that the arrival of potential new gTLDs such as .web, .home and .sucks will drive cybersquatting to new highs, and the first year of .xxx has been closely...

| Read more »
Feb 18
Insurance decision makers very concerned about cyber...

A survey of perceptions about cyber risk sponsored by the American International Group, Inc. (AIG) found that among corporate executives, more are concerned about cyber threats than about other major business risks.

More than 85% of the 258 decision-makers surveyed said they were very or somewhat concerned about cyber risks to their organizations, compared with the group’s response to six other areas of risk, including income loss (82% of executives were very or somewhat concerned), property damage (80%), and securities and investment risk (76%).

Additional survey results, which include input from insurance brokers, found high demand among executives and brokers for information about cyber threats, with 80% indicating that they find it difficult to keep pace because the cyber threat is evolving so rapidly. Other findings of note provide further insight into the pervasiveness of cyber risk concern among executives and brokers:

° More than two out of three (69%)...

| Read more »
 

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Dropbox is a file hosting service that provides cloud storage, file synchronization, personal cloud, and client software. It is a modern workspace that allows you to get to all of your files, manage... Read more
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Deeper is a personalization utility for macOS which allows you to enable and disable the hidden functions of the Finder, Dock, QuickTime, Safari, iTunes, login window, Spotlight, and many of Apple's... Read more
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OnyX is a multifunction utility that you can use to verify the startup disk and the structure of its system files, to run miscellaneous maintenance and cleaning tasks, to configure parameters in the... Read more
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Zenless Zone Zero opens entries for its...
miHoYo, aka HoYoverse, has become such a big name in mobile gaming that it's hard to believe that arguably their flagship title, Genshin Impact, is only three and a half years old. Now, they continue the road to the next title in their world, with... | Read more »
Live, Playdate, Live! – The TouchArcade...
In this week’s episode of The TouchArcade Show we kick things off by talking about all the games I splurged on during the recent Playdate Catalog one-year anniversary sale, including the new Lucas Pope jam Mars After Midnight. We haven’t played any... | Read more »
TouchArcade Game of the Week: ‘Vroomies’
So here’s a thing: Vroomies from developer Alex Taber aka Unordered Games is the Game of the Week! Except… Vroomies came out an entire month ago. It wasn’t on my radar until this week, which is why I included it in our weekly new games round-up, but... | Read more »
SwitchArcade Round-Up: ‘MLB The Show 24’...
Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for March 15th, 2024. We’re closing out the week with a bunch of new games, with Sony’s baseball franchise MLB The Show up to bat yet again. There are several other interesting games to... | Read more »
Steam Deck Weekly: WWE 2K24 and Summerho...
Welcome to this week’s edition of the Steam Deck Weekly. The busy season has begun with games we’ve been looking forward to playing including Dragon’s Dogma 2, Horizon Forbidden West Complete Edition, and also console exclusives like Rise of the... | Read more »
Steam Spring Sale 2024 – The 10 Best Ste...
The Steam Spring Sale 2024 began last night, and while it isn’t as big of a deal as say the Steam Winter Sale, you may as well take advantage of it to save money on some games you were planning to buy. I obviously recommend checking out your own... | Read more »
New ‘SaGa Emerald Beyond’ Gameplay Showc...
Last month, Square Enix posted a Let’s Play video featuring SaGa Localization Director Neil Broadley who showcased the worlds, companions, and more from the upcoming and highly-anticipated RPG SaGa Emerald Beyond. | Read more »
Choose Your Side in the Latest ‘Marvel S...
Last month, Marvel Snap (Free) held its very first “imbalance" event in honor of Valentine’s Day. For a limited time, certain well-known couples were given special boosts when conditions were right. It must have gone over well, because we’ve got a... | Read more »
Warframe welcomes the arrival of a new s...
As a Warframe player one of the best things about it launching on iOS, despite it being arguably the best way to play the game if you have a controller, is that I can now be paid to talk about it. To whit, we are gearing up to receive the first... | Read more »
Apple Arcade Weekly Round-Up: Updates an...
Following the new releases earlier in the month and April 2024’s games being revealed by Apple, this week has seen some notable game updates and events go live for Apple Arcade. What The Golf? has an April Fool’s Day celebration event going live “... | Read more »

Price Scanner via MacPrices.net

Apple Education is offering $100 discounts on...
If you’re a student, teacher, or staff member at any educational institution, you can use your .edu email address when ordering at Apple Education to take $100 off the price of a new M3 MacBook Air.... Read more
Apple Watch Ultra 2 with Blood Oxygen feature...
Best Buy is offering Apple Watch Ultra 2 models for $50 off MSRP on their online store this week. Sale prices available for online orders only, in-store prices may vary. Order online, and choose... Read more
New promo at Sams Club: Apple HomePods for $2...
Sams Club has Apple HomePods on sale for $259 through March 31, 2024. Their price is $40 off Apple’s MSRP, and both Space Gray and White colors are available. Sale price is for online orders only, in... Read more
Get Apple’s 2nd generation Apple Pencil for $...
Apple’s Pencil (2nd generation) works with the 12″ iPad Pro (3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th generation), 11″ iPad Pro (1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th generation), iPad Air (4th and 5th generation), and iPad mini (... Read more
10th generation Apple iPads on sale for $100...
Best Buy has Apple’s 10th-generation WiFi iPads back on sale for $100 off MSRP on their online store, starting at only $349. With the discount, Best Buy’s prices are the lowest currently available... Read more
iPad Airs on sale again starting at $449 on B...
Best Buy has 10.9″ M1 WiFi iPad Airs on record-low sale prices again for $150 off Apple’s MSRP, starting at $449. Sale prices for online orders only, in-store price may vary. Order online, and choose... Read more
Best Buy is blowing out clearance 13-inch M1...
Best Buy is blowing out clearance Apple 13″ M1 MacBook Airs this weekend for only $649.99, or $350 off Apple’s original MSRP. Sale prices for online orders only, in-store prices may vary. Order... Read more
Low price alert! You can now get a 13-inch M1...
Walmart has, for the first time, begun offering new Apple MacBooks for sale on their online store, albeit clearance previous-generation models. They now have the 13″ M1 MacBook Air (8GB RAM, 256GB... Read more
Best Apple MacBook deal this weekend: Get the...
Apple has 13″ M2 MacBook Airs available for only $849 today in their Certified Refurbished store. These are the cheapest M2-powered MacBooks for sale at Apple. Apple’s one-year warranty is included,... Read more
New 15-inch M3 MacBook Air (Midnight) on sale...
Amazon has the new 15″ M3 MacBook Air (8GB RAM/256GB SSD/Midnight) in stock and on sale today for $1249.99 including free shipping. Their price is $50 off MSRP, and it’s the lowest price currently... Read more

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