Editor’s Note: RCR Wireless News goes all in for “Throwback Thursdays,” tapping into our archives to resuscitate the top headlines from the past. Fire up the time machine, put on the sepia-tinted shades, set the date for #TBT and enjoy the memories!
Almost 20% of smartphone owners use apps ‘several times a day’ :O
Are you prepared for the second wave of apps? A new Forrester Research report aims to answer this question. “We believe the market is poised for a second wave of consumer apps that are more personalized and contextual,” Thomas Husson, Forrester Research principal analyst, wrote in a blog post. By 2016, smartphones and tablets will put power in the pockets of a billion global consumers, and it will be necessary to help firms empower their customers, partners and employees with context-aware apps and smart products. Husson argues that companies now need to approach their apps as products and define their life cycles. Forrester Research reports that a third of European online consumers who are 18 and older and own a smartphone are using apps daily or even more frequently; 17% are using apps several times a day. The stickiness of the apps and frequency of usage vary tremendously from one app category to the other. … Read more
Leaping into the iPhone fray
Leap Wireless joined the growing number of regional operators offering Apple’s iconic iPhone device, though as has been the case for much of its history, the carrier is adding a unique twist: no contract required. Leap, which operates its flat-rate, unlimited wireless offering under the Cricket brand, said it would begin selling a pair of iPhone models beginning June 22, sans contract. The carrier will offer the iPhone 4S model for $500 and the previous generation iPhone 4 for $400. To secure the device, Leap said it has committed $900 million over the next three years to purchase the devices from Apple. The price is a substantial step up from the carrier’s current smartphone lineup that is dominated by Android-powered devices that top out at $150 after rebates. … Read more
Android takes over
Google is gobbling up a growing share of the smartphone operating system market, according to the latest report from ComScore. The market research firm says that for the three months ending in February, Google’s Android operating system had just over half the U.S. smartphone subscribers. That’s up from 47% during the previous three months. The most popular Android phones in the United States were those made by Samsung, which had a 25.6% of the overall mobile phone market (smartphones and feature phones) during the three month period. Apple’s iPhone had 13.5% of the mobile phone market, up more than two percentage points from the previous three-month period. Rounding out the top five mobile phone original equipment manufacturers were LG (19.4%), Motorola (12.8%) and HTC (6.3%). In the smartphone space, Apple has a 30.2% market share, up from 28.7% during the previous three months. … Read more
Sprint preps for its first LTE device
Sprint Nextel (S) said it will begin offering its first LTE-enabled device later this month, with pre-orders scheduled to begin April 12. The LG Viper 4G LTE is set to retail for $100 with a contract and after rebates. The device will include a 4-inch display, 5-megapixel rear and VGA-quality front cameras, embedded support for near field communications technology and Google Wallet m-payment, a 1.2 GHz dual-core processor and run Google’s Android 2.3 operating system. Sprint Nextel also noted that the device will include a handful of “eco-friendly” attributes, including ULE Platinum certification; a casing constructed of 50% recycled plastics; does not use polyvinyl chloride, brominated flame retardants, halogen, beryllium, phthalates and nickel; and will come in recyclable packaging. The device will also include 50 gigabytes of free online storage through Box for devices purchased by July 22. The carrier claims that feature is a $240 per year value. … Read more
RIM in shaky territory
Following days of reports predicting job cuts, Research In Motion said it expects to report an operating loss for its first fiscal quarter ending June 2 due to continued slow sales of its core BlackBerry products. The news follows a $125 million loss posted by the Canadian firm during its fourth fiscal quarter of 2012. In a press release, RIM’s CEO Thorsten Heins said that while the company continues to face challenges in the market, it expects to bolster the $2.1 billion cash position RIM took into its current quarter. “In terms of challenges, as I mentioned on the March financial results conference call, RIM is going through a significant transformation as we move towards the BlackBerry 10 launch, and our financial performance will continue to be challenging for the next few quarters,” Heins said. … Read more
Virgin Mobile heads south
Virgin Mobile Latin America (VMLA) expects to launch mobile virtual network operators (MVNO) in Colombia and Brazil over the next 18 months, according to Jeffery Buckwalter, VMLA’s senior vice president for business development, speaking at this week’s MVNO Industry Summit Latam (chek all stories). The company has been working throughout the region in cooperation with local partners, regulators and mobile network operators (MNOs). Last April, VMLA launched operations in Chile. Colombia is set to be its second market, and the launch might happen this year, while Brazil is expected to be third, with a VMLA launch by 2013. Virgin Mobile’s experience in Chile will be valuable as the company’s focus moves on to launches in Brazil and Colombia. … Read more
Tick-tock, tick-tock, iDEN’s on the clock
Sprint Nextel’s Network Vision program added some important numbers today as the carrier announced the date it would terminate service across its iDEN network as well as a new credit facility to purchase equipment for the extensive network upgrade. Sprint Nextel said its current iDEN service would be shuttered as early as June 30, 2013, a move that will free up spectrum resources in the 800 MHz band for its CDMA network and eventually its LTE operations. The carrier said it will send notices to business and government customers beginning this Friday regarding the planned shutdown, as well as offers to facilitate a transition to the carrier’s CDMA-based service that also offers push-to-talk capabilities. The timing of the move coincides with a previous agreement with Motorola to continue supplying equipment and support for the iDEN network through 2013. … Read more
iPhone users rely on more Wi-Fi
To the potential delight of wireless operators, a new report from ComScore shows that a significantly higher percentage of iPhone users in the United States and United Kingdom rely on their device’s Wi-Fi capabilities than customers with Android-powered smartphones. This would be positive news as Apple’s (AAPL) iconic device has shown robust sales growth across most operators that offer the device and has traditionally boasted the highest mobile Internet usage. Across the United States, ComScore found that 29% of iPhone users access the Internet from their device using only a cellular connection, while 68% of Android-powered devices used that same connection choice. Results from the United Kingdom found 13% of iPhone users stuck only to their cellular connection compared with 43% of Android users. The results also showed a higher propensity of U.K. smartphone (69%) users to tap into Wi-Fi networks than their U.S. counterparts (38%). … Read more
Check out the RCR Wireless News Archives for more stories from the past.
