| China Goes Ga-Ga Over Wireless |
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Source: iSuppli Corp. |
| Before the year ends, China’s domestic mobile handset shipments could reach 187 million units, up 22% from 153 million in 2006, according to analyst firm iSuppli. Handset shipments from licensed suppliers, including multinationals such as Nokia and domestics such as Lenovo, will hit 136 million units in 2007. Meanwhile, shipments from gray-market suppliers will amount to 51 million units. iSuppli forecasts that China’s domestic handset shipments will continue their upward trek to 206 million in 2008. |
SBO Survivors
Four in 10 (42%) of small business owners (SBOs) surveyed by AT&T say they could not survive – or it would be a major challenge to survive – without wireless technology. The operator expects this percentage to increase because more than 51% of the respondents said they rely on wireless technology more today than two years ago, and more than 55% said they expect to depend on it even more two years from now.
Other stats: Of the 41% of respondents who said they were very likely to conduct business while away from the office, more than half said the success of their business depends on wireless technologies, such as mobile phones, PDAs and PC data cards. Also 49% said they are optimistic about wireless technology giving their business a competitive advantage while only 16% of those polled disagreed with that statement.
Handsets Galore
In August, more than 90 new handsets hit the global market, according to Strategy Analytics.
LG and Samsung both announced 11 new handsets and Nokia offered eight. The top five handset vendors collectively introduced one-third of the new devices.
The research firm also found:
- Screen resolutions are trending toward four sizes, with QVGA (240x320 pixels) now being the resolution of choice.
- 79 of the 90 new handsets incorporate a camera, of which 49 are 2 megapixels or more. Three new handsets contain 5-megapixel cameras.
- Memory card slots can be found in 68 of the new phones, with Micro SD accounting for 60 of those.
- In the 23 phones where internal Flash memory is specified, 128 MB is the most common. The average memory content is 904 MB but this is skewed significantly by the two Nokia 8 GB devices. Excluding the N81 and N95 8GB versions, the average Flash memory content is 215 MB
IT Security Level: Orange
The severity level of information security breaches within organizations has risen over last year, according to research commissioned by CompTIA. Among organizations that reported a security breach in the past 12 months, the average severity level of the breach stood at 4.8 on a 0-10 scale (0 is not severe and 10 is very severe). The corresponding severity level rating for the past two years was at 2.3 and 2.6.
According to Brian McCarthy, CompTIA COO, the number of breaches may be down but the level of severity is on the rise. The survey found that the average cost of a security breach across all companies was $369,388, driven by a handful of companies that estimated costs in excess of $10 million, reflecting the higher risk that larger companies face. About one-half of all respondents estimated that the cost of security breaches in the last 12 months was $10,000 or less.
And the Grammy
Goes to... Viewers
Participation TV services have captivated TV audiences on a global scale. Carriers must love American Idol. According to Telescope, the voting platform for the singing competition, the show received 115 million votes, many of them from mobile devices, in its first year on the air; that number skyrocketed to 609 million this season. Look for more 2007-2008 TV shows to use Participation TV to build the relationship between viewers and network shows. And what is good for viewers and shows is great for mobile phones and traditional media and entertainment relationships.
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Organizations broke down their costs of security breaches:
- Employee productivity impacted – 35%
- Server or network downtime – 21%
- Revenue-generating activities impacted – 20%
- Physical assets impacted – 17%
- Legal fees and/or fines – 8%
Go Figure
334K
Number of postpaid subscribers Sprint Nextel expects to report as lost in 3Q.
$21.3M
Compensation paid to former Sprint Nextel CEO Gary Forsee in 2006.
$54M
Potential value of Forsee’s severance package.
$80M
Amount Vonage will pay Sprint to settle its patent infringement lawsuit.
$2.5B
Amount AT&T agreed to pay Aloha Partners L.P. for its spectrum in the 700 MHz range.
$8.1B
Amount Nokia agreed to pay to acquire map data specialist NAVTEQ. According to Nokia Pekka Kallasvuo, the acquisition is cornerstone of the its recently launched Web services strategy, dubbed Ovi, that also will offer music downloads, online photos and interactive games.