BROWSING: Smartphone
New platform uses analytics to define device trade-in values
LAS VEGAS – With smartphones becoming ubiquitous, carriers and device retailers are finding it increasingly difficult to get repeat business. The trade-in market for handsets so far has done little to help.
At this week's CTIA Super Mobility event, Inhance Technology debuted a cloud-based solution...
RF MEMS maker raises $36M
Cavendish Kinetics, maker of tunable radio frequency micro-eletromechanical systems, has closed on $36 million in funding that it expects to use for advancing its technology a generation and developing RF switches for a more efficient, simplified RF front end that can support the numerous bands that...
Nokia making moves for mobile return
Last month there was speculation about Nokia getting back into the handset business. Now, there is solid evidence that the company is indeed heading in that direction.
Nokia is reportedly looking for sales partners and testing new products that indicate a return to the mobile...
Motorola unveils new flagship smartphones
Motorola Moto X Style and Moto X Play run on Qualcomm chipset
Motorola this week held simultaneous events in New York, London, Mexico City and Sao Paulo to unveil the latest flagship smartphones, the Moto X Style and Moto X Play.
The Moto X Play will hit...
Will Nokia return to smartphone market?
Corporate blog post suggests return to device market with come via brand-licensing model
With building speculation, a Nokia spokesman addressed rumors about the Finnish networking gear – and former device – powerhouse returning to the lucrative smartphone market.
Last year Nokia sold its smartphone market for...
By 2020, 70% of global population will use smartphones
Ericsson Mobility Report: As the decade ends, 90% of the globe will have access to mobile broadband networks
In the mobile technology landscape, 2020 is poised to be a big year. The latest Ericsson Mobility Report projects that by the end of the decade, 70%...
Reality Check: It’s an Android World (May 2015 edition)
There has been no shortage of news affecting the telecom and wireless industries. First, as many expected, a three-way merger among Charter, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks was announced last Tuesday. Many, if not most, of you are versed on the details of...
Smartphone sales hit record $96B in Q1
Report: Record-setting sales represents an 8% year-over-year increase
Market analytics firm GfK reports record-setting smartphone sales in the first quarter of 2015; consumers spent some $96 billion on smartphones, an 8% increase over the same quarter in 2014, according to the analysis.
GfK, which based its...
New phone case uses Wi-Fi, LTE for wireless charging
Cases convert RF into usable power; Kickstarter funding campaign coming soon
Research and development firm Nikola Labs is set to launch a crowd-funding campaign to bring to market a new smartphone case that purportedly turns energy from Wi-Fi, LTE and Bluetooth into direct current power...
1 in 5 Android apps contains malware
Report from security firm tallies apps containing malware that steal data among other negatives
U.S.-based Internet security firm Symantec released a report showing one in five apps for Google's Android operating system contain malware or "greyware."
Symantec came to this conclusion after using Norton’s Mobile Insight...
China Telecom, Alibaba to boost mobile commerce
Rural penetration goal of China Telecom, Alibaba partnership
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba has partnered with compatriot state-run mobile operator China Telecom to boost the adoption of mobile commerce in rural and isolated localities across China.
Under the agreement, Alibaba and China Telecom will offer 14 models of mobile phones, named...
Control social media history with new app
Former Bush aide derailed career with questionable tweets; creates app for that
WASHINGTON – Ethan Czahor, a former aide for politician Jeb Bush, wants to make it easy for you to erase your more crass comments and embarrassing pics from social media.
Czahor developed a new...
Mobilegeddon coming from Google search change
Google starts favoring mobile optimized websites in search algorithms
Today Google made a major change in how its proprietary search algorithms rank Web search results; now websites that have been optimized for mobile viewing will be ranked higher than sites that aren’t designed to be...
Manufacturers resist push to enable FM on smartphones
FM chip on smartphone is usually not active but could be valuable in an emergency
Remember FM radio? The National Association of Broadcasters certainly does and, because many mobile manufacturers disable FM on smartphones, there’s tension brewing.
Samsung, Apple and LG phones, for example, could function...
Brazil posts record smartphone sales
Smartphone sales soar in Brazil
Brazil's smartphone market is growing rapidly, which could also push demand for data services.
Last year, smartphones sales were up 55% compared to 2013, totaling 54.5 million units, according to a survey conducted by IDC. When adding feature phones to the count, 70.3...
Google’s Project Ara gets boost from Ingram Micro Mobility
Pilot of Project Ara set for Puerto Rico
Google plans to launch its Project Ara, a modular, customizable smartphone platform, later this year in Puerto Rico, partnering with Ingram Micro Mobility on forward logistics.
Google describes Project Ara on its website as: “The smartphone is one...
India targeted by smartphone manufacturers
Huawei, Microsoft producing low-cost smartphone tailored for Indian market
WASHINGTON – Driven in part by the ongoing wireless revolution, India, a country marred by the fallout of colonialism and stagnated by populist economics, is poised to leave the past behind and emerge as an economic...
EMEA: Kyocera eyes the future in Europe
Kyocera Torque durability demonstrated at MWC 2015
BARCELONA, Spain – Kyocera may not be a company associated with handsets in Europe, but it's looking to change that perception. With the recent announcement of Kyocera’s entry into this market with the Torque, a ruggedized LTE smartphone certified...
#MWC15: Celistics’ revenue boosted by smartphone growth, logistics systems launch
BARCELONA, Spain — The growth in smartphone penetration and adoption of 3G services benefited logistics company Celistics. The company, which is focused on Latin America, said it managed 192 million device units last year, which was a 50% increase compared to 2013, and helped...
#MWC15: Samsung Galaxy S6, Galaxy Edge unveiled
Samsung Galaxy S6 features wireless charging
BARCELONA, Spain – Samsung unveiled its lasted Galaxy models in the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy Edge smartphones at an event prior to the kick-off of Mobile World Congress 2015 in Barcelona, Spain.
Samsung President and CEO JK Shin said the new smartphones are the...
Generation Wireless: Parents be good to your children
In my Generation Wireless columns I generally share the viewpoint of the post-Internet generation, colloquially called “millennials,” on the emerging trends and the ebbs and flows of wireless technology. Sometimes I find myself drawn from the purely business or technological implications of the rapidly evolving...
Smartphone sales from Apple, Samsung lead in 2014
Chinese manufacturers are six of top 10
In 2014, smartphone sales totaled some 1.167 billion, an increase of 25.9% from 2013, according to a new report from market research and analysis firm TrendForce.
TrendForce’s Global Smartphone Analyst Avril Wu points out in the report, released Jan....
Sonim tackles the ruggedized smartphone market
Smartphones are now practically everywhere, having penetrated the consumer and enterprise markets early on and are now taking aim at the ruggedized environments.
A handful of such devices have been rolled out by devicemakers big and small, with some providing mere lip service (Samsung), while...
Xiaomi: The world’s most valuable tech startup?
Is Xiaomi the world's most valuable tech startup?
Xiaomi, the Chinese hardware company that recently cracked the top five for smartphone vendors, raised $1.1 billion in new funding. Xiaomi co-founder Bin Lin revealed in a Facebook post that the company now has a valuation of...