The iconic Apple iPhone got an internal makeover but not much else this week--no radical redesign, no iPhone 5 name change. Fashion-conscious consumers weren't very happy, but iPhone-toting CEOs should be pleased with the iPhone 4S. They might even cheer Apple for leaving out a flashy upgrade.
These days, it is almost impossible to meet someone who doesn't own a cell phone. More specifically, smart phones, whether it be the trendy iPhone, corporate favored Blackberry or modern Windows Mobile, almost everyone has joined the smart phone frenzy - and with good reason. A smart phone offers more advanced computing ability and connectivity than a contemporary phone.
The bad news: At some point, your cell phone is likely to go missing. Whether it falls out of your pocket in a cab, or you leave it unattended in a public place for a few seconds only to have it swiped by someone with sticky fingers and low moral fiber, your phone is vulnerable. In fact, according to a report from security software company Symantec, 36 percent of U.S. consumers have had a cell phone disappear on them.
Anyone hoping for a scrappy underdog to knock the <a href="http://www.networkworld.com/news/2010/111910-apple-ipad-resources.html">iPad</a> off its perch as the world's top tablet will have to wait a long time, says analyst firm Gartner.
Product launches at the IFA consumer electronics fair in Berlin are giving consumers an unprecedented choice of screen sizes. But analysts are questioning whether consumers can learn to love them all.
Apple for years rallied around its charismatic co-founder, Steve Jobs, so it's only natural now to question whether the company can retain its market dominance and magic with a new leader.
Last week BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion (RIM) held a first-of-its-kind BlackBerry developer event, called the "BBM Hackathon," in which a group of talented mobile software developers packed into New York City's swanky Ace Hotel for a few days, to share ideas and information and build the best BlackBerry applications that integrate with RIM's popular BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) IM app as quickly as possible.
With most acquisitions, there are winners and losers. Google's buy of Motorola is no different, but in this case, neither of those companies comes out a winner, analysts say. "
Google's $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility is far and away Google's biggest-ever purchase -- in fact, it's greater than Google's next 10 biggest acquisitions combined and only its third above a billion dollars.
A retail manufacturer wanted to replace a 3-ring, 4-inch thick binder carried by field sales reps with an iPhone app, recalls Quinton Alsbury, co-founder of Mellmo, maker of mobile BI app Roambi. But the manufacturer fell into a common trap: creating a monster app that is virtually impossible for users to navigate on the iPhone's 3.5-inch touchscreen.
Like cleaning the windows, IT security can be a thankless task because they only notice when you don't do it. But to get the job done in the era of virtualization, smartphones and cloud computing, you've got to avoid technical and political mistakes. In particular, here are five security mistakes to avoid:
An Android app and the ability to order a drink from a mobile phone are coming soon, an executive from Starbucks said as he shared lessons and tips from his company's experience offering mobile applications.
Let's say you scored a boondoggle to Los Angeles for a business conference, and instead sneaked off to nearby Disneyland with the family for a vacation on the corporate dime. Or maybe you simply told your boss you were meeting a client, but hit the golf links with your buddies.
The APAC smartphone market will double in size by 2016, according to a new forecast by telecommunications analyst Ovum.
Ovum predicts the APAC market will hit shipments of 200 million by 2016, accounting for 30 percent of the global number of 653 million shipments.
Android will be the main responsible for this growth and will outperform Apple, with a 20 percent lead on market share, Ovum adds.
“The smartphone market will see significant growth over the next five years, once again outperforming the wider mobile phone market. We will see dramatic shifts in dominance for smartphone software platforms, with Android storming into the lead with 38 per cent market share, compared to Apple iOS’ 19 per cent, by 2016 in AP alone,” says Ovum principal analyst Adam Leach.
“The success of the Android platform is being driven by the sheer number of hardware vendors supporting it at both the high and low ends of the market."
The Windows Phone platform will be just behind Apple iOS, with 22 percent market share by 2016, followed by the BlackBerry OS, with 9 percent market share.
“We expect at least one other platform to achieve mainstream success within the forecast period. This could be an existing player in the market such as Bada, WebOS, or MeeGo, or it could be a new entrant to the market place,” adds Leach.
According to the analyst, the partnership between Nokia and Microsoft has redrawn the smartphone market and will result in a significant reduction in shipments of Symbian-based handsets as Nokia transitions to Windows Phone as its primary smartphone platform.
“For Microsoft the deal provides a committed handset partner that has the potential to make Windows Phone a mainstream smartphone platform. The risk to Microsoft is that other handset makers may choose not to compete with Nokia and may turn their backs on Windows Phone,” adds the analyst.
A recent study reveals the irony of smartphones -- they are so "smart" that consumers are having difficulty using them. And service providers are challenged supporting their users.