Texting and driving is dangerous. Talking on your cellphone and driving is dangerous. Both put you and innocent bystanders, drivers, passengers and others at serious risk. We’re seeing more and more bans on driving while using a cellphone, and California’s 2009 ban on in-vehicle text messaging is no different. Results recently posted by the Automobile…
Strategy Analytics: Modest growth for mobile in emerging markets
Second quarter results from major operators across emerging markets in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe show modest growth in subscriptions and usage. According to a recent report from Strategy Analytics, after three successive flat or declining quarters, average minutes of use (MOU) for a basket of 26 key operators climbed 5% in…
Consumers see Palm Pre as best alternative to iPhone 3GS
Quick, what’s the first smartphone to come to mind as the best alternative to the iPhone 3GS? If you’re like many consumers, you probably answered “Palm Pre.” A new report from Interpret highlights the Palm Pre’s success in climbing the mindshare-ladder, especially since Palm Pre sales volume isn’t exactly mindblowing. According to the study, the…
Juniper Research: Green handset shipments could reach 500 million units globally by 2014
Latest Juniper Research’s report titled “Green Mobile Handsets & Applications: Strategies, Scenarios & Forecasts 2009-2014” says that as consumer demand for environmentally sustainable mobile devices grow, green handset shipments could reach 485 million units within next 5 years. More precisely, the research company argues that numbers will grow from a quarter of million shipments in…
Report: US smartphone mobile app market to pass $4 billion mark by 2013
The mobile applications space is booming. Apple’s AppStore saw almost 1,400 iPhone apps launching in just a single day, that, in and of itself, could be taken as evidence that mobile apps are hot. And, with the increasing popularity of smartphones, mobile apps will continue to be a hot topic. So hot, in fact, that…
InMobi Survey Reveals High Mobile Ad Engagement Among Youth in India
InMobi has released a survey revealing nuances of mobile internet usage patterns in India. The survey was conducted at IIT School of Management and surveyed 205 college-aged consumers. Although a very specific sample group, the results do offer some insight into India’s youth generation who make up the largest population sector in the country. According…
Apple looking into iPhone OS 3.1 battery drain reports
Apple’s latest iPhone OS 3.1 update was initially welcomed with open arms. The new iPhone OS promised genius mixes, phone number copy/paste, improved video editing, remote lock (via MobileMe) and better Exchange support. Alas, iPhone OS 3.1 proved to be a headache for Exchange users on older iPhone hardware (iPhone, iPhone 3G). And, there are…
JD Power declares T-Mobile customer care tops, again!
T-Mobile’s 3G network may be sparse and their indoor reception lacking, but if there’s one thing T-Mobile USA always delivers, it’s high-performance customer service. J.D. Power and Associates have just released the second volume of their 2009 Wireless Retail Sales Satisfaction Study, and the results give T-Mobile USA top billing as the nation’s most satisfying…
BlackBerry Tour Return Rates High Due to Trackball Malfunction
Ruh-roh. Sprint’s BlackBerry Tour return rates “have been climbing toward 50%” due to trackball difficulties, according to an analyst note from TownHall Investment Research. As CDMA carriers’ flagship BlackBerry device, this is bad news. Mounting anecdotal evidence supports the seriousness of the problem, although I personally didn’t have any issues during my two weeks with…
Apple eats up world’s NAND flash memory supplies, again
Apple’s got a pretty big appetite for NAND flash memory modules. Now that the iPhone 3GS boasts 32GB of onboard storage, and is headed to China Unicom’s massive subscriber-base, Apple is gobbling up flash memory chips faster than suppliers can punch them out. DigiTimes is reporting that the world’s main NAND manufacturers are prioritizing Apple’s…