Apple with iPhone (running iOS) is the highly vertically integrated establishment that brings just a few types of smartphones to market. Google’s Android is the establishment that works with multiple handset manufacturers to bring an unending list of smartphones to market. In the last year or so, Android phones have become very popular and sometimes [...]
Archive of posts filed under the Gadgets category.
Top devices for watching Video
The Broadband Revolution of the last 15 years was supposed to forever change our media consumption habits. The arrival of mobile or portable form-factors that facilitate viewing video was going to cement that. Broadband has penetrated more than half the population (54 percent of the population has an active mobile broadband subscription in the US, [...]
3G Tablets losing out to WiFi Tablets
Recently the NPD group reported that 65% of tablet users have a Wi-Fi tablet (as opposed to a cellular tablet). This couldn’t be music to the cellular carriers’ ears. Here are some reasons why WiFi tablet Sales far outstrip Cellular Tablet sales: The High Cost of cellular data plans & lock-in Availability of Wi-Fi in [...]
The Tablet market will continue to boom – Android still behind Apple
According to Gartner, worldwide tablet sales will skyrocket to 326 million units. Apple or iOS will still lead the way, followed by an up and coming Android OS tablets. The following chart shows the leading OSs, namely, iOS, Android, Microsoft, and QNX The following table shows the forecast for all major (and minor) OSs. Table [...]
An afterlife for smartphones
Smartphones are clearly becoming a commonplace phenomenon. In the USA, smart-phones now comprise more than 20% of all cellular phones, and this number is expected to rise to more than 40% in a few years. What’s most interesting about smartphones is that, unlike feature phones, smartphones can have a useful second life.
Vonage watch out! T-Mobile Extends Cellphone Service to Home Phones
T-Mobile USA has launched a wired phone service for $10 a month, plus taxes and fees, to its wireless subscribers in the Seattle and Dallas-Fort Worth areas. The service, called “Talk Forever Home Phone”, comes with unlimited local and domestic long distance calls. This is a VoIP service that runs over a broadband connection, and [...]
Will Amazon Kindle a better MVNO model?
The Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) business in the U.S. is hardly making any headlines these days. That’s because some of the biggest MVNO’s have lately kicked the bucket. First, there was Amp’d Mobile where the management engineered a spectacular demise by burning cash and providing service to those who didn’t pay (a cellular sub-prime [...]
Qualcomm gets a breather in patent fight against Broadcomm and stay on Ban on importing 3G cellular handsets
Qualcomm got a breather now, and so did a number of its key customers. The Ban on the importation of new 3G handsets containing Qualcomm chips is stayed while an appeals court reviews the merits of the case. The United States International Trade Commission had imposed the ban in June as a remedy to its [...]
Soon you may be able to access an ATM from your cellular phone
Diebold and NCR Corporation, leading players in the automated teller machines market, are developing technologies to enable cell phones or PDA’s/Smartphones to transact with an ATM. NCR has been developing technology for linking hand-held communications devices with ATMs since 2001. NCR already uses such technology in Denmark and Singapore. Over the past 18 months, Diebold [...]
European iPhone partners to be out soon
When we first talked about Apple going with T-Mobile as the wireless service provider for the iPhone in Germany, it was just a rumor. Now, T-Mobile, the wireless arm of Deutsche Telekom has confirmed that they have had talks with Apple about selling the iPhone in Germany. Discussion of the iPhone’s arrival in Europe intensified [...]
