BROWSING: Opinion

Reader Forum: 10 best practices for large-scale mobile app deployment in 2012 Reader Forum: 10 best practices for large-scale mobile app deployment in 2012

The first wave of early-stage mobilization has hit the enterprise, and the growth rates continue to escalate. Industry analyst group IDC predicts the worldwide mobile worker population to hit 1.19 billion in 2013, accounting for 34.9% of the workforce.

Worst of the Week: Mythical rumors

The rumor mills seem to be running overtime in cranking out news Apple iPad related. This includes the name for the device (iPad 3? How original), specifications (faster, smaller, bigger) and release dates (tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, never).

Reader Forum (MWC 2012 Preview): Anticipating the big trends at Mobile World Congress 2012

With Mobile World Congress 2012 this week, analysts on the judging panel of this year’s GSMA Global Mobile Awards have predicted the hot topics and themes to come from Barcelona, Spain.

Analyst Angle: Sit. Browse. View.

As 4G smartphones and tablets become more prevalent, iGR has noted a change in consumer behavior – more people are likely to stay stationary while using the new devices. Contrast this behavior with the typical cellular users who, for the last 25 years or so, have moved-and-talked, usually while driving.

Analyst Angle: Winning strategies in multiple-SIM markets

The prevalence of multiple-SIM use remains one of the most critical issues for mobile operators in emerging markets. It is driven broadly by consumer choice and potential manipulation by retail partners, and brings with it the double difficulties of stagnating voice revenue and eroding subscriber valuation.

Reality Check: The future of mobile malware

While mobile malware grew substantially in 2011, most of the attacks lacked sophistication and the ability to make money for cyber-criminals.

Reality Check: Eight Brazilian telecom issues to watch

The Brazilian telecommunications market will over the next two years will face its best time since its opening to private initiatives. Here are eight issues, facts or trends, that deserve attention.

Worst of the Week: So many puns, so little time … or light

What can possibly be said about LightSquared at this point, besides bad puns? I know that the company is not “dead” dead, but it seems that the hill it has been climbing in trying to launch a wireless service just received a new helping of lubrication. And that lubricant was delivered with GPS-like accuracy. ZING!

Analyst Angle: The democratization of devices

Ever get a feeling of déjà vu? The longer I spend in the wireless industry (2012 will be 20 years), the more it seems that history repeats itself. This has become apparent recently as we have been looking at the developments in the smartphone market.

Worst of the Week: Be careful what you wish for

Sprint Nextel released fourth quarter and full-year 2011 results this week, wrapping up the financial reporting for the nation’s three largest wireless operators and highlighting an interesting fact about the industry: people like Apple’s iPhone.

Analyst Angle: Regulator redux – Telecom commissioners talk policy

The annual Pacific Telecom Council (PTC) conference is known as the "Davos of Telecom.” For 34 years, CEO's and telecom regulators descend on Hawaii to sip mai tai cocktails and spar over policy.

Analyst Angle: Ford, carmakers set up shop in Silicon Valley

In an earlier article we discussed how the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show had a highly visible new presence from the major automakers this year, and how this revealed their strategy to defend the in car infotainment market opportunity by re-inventing themselves as technology firms, and providing improved in car infotainment solutions.

Reality Check: Mobile search – The Holy Grail of getting the right answer, right away

Smartphones are now the majority of mobile phones in countries such as the United States, and at the end of 2011, nearly 15% of U.S. consumers went online using a tablet,

Reader Forum: Crossing the chasm – A mature market is an intelligent one

Just as cable and wireline telecommunications providers did before them, wireless network operators are getting smarter. They’re recognizing the need to make their networks smarter as well.

Worst of the Week: Apple pie

To the chagrin of some, Apple has recently come under attack (again) for its history of sourcing its profit-heavy hardware from factories in China that have a history of questionable working conditions.

Analyst Angle (Special Edition): Car makers becoming CE tech companies

At this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, there was a new category of product making its debut as consumer electronics, and it was the automobile.

Analyst Angle: LTE spectrum auctions – A mobile market accelerator

The LTE spectrum auctions are changing competitive dynamics in mobile markets. Leading mobile operators are paying billions to achieve long-term spectrum dominance, while challengers are hoping to use acquired spectrum to deploy smart network solutions and boost their competitiveness. In this article, we assess who may be the winners and the losers of the spectrum poker.

Reader Forum: Think like a hacker

Editor’s Note: Welcome to our weekly Reader Forum section. In an attempt to broaden our interaction with our readers, we have created this forum for those with something meaningful to say to the wireless industry. We want to keep this as open as possible, but we...

Analyst Angle: Why small is the next big thing for mobile networks

The case for deploying smaller cell configurations – such as picocells, microcells and femtocells – to supplement traditional macro-cell-network architectures, both for LTE and existing 3G networks, is becoming more compelling as traditional macro cells will soon not be able to cope with traffic demand in urban areas.

Reality Check: Brazil’s mobile broadband scenario in 2011

Editor’s Note: Welcome to our weekly Reality Check column. We’ve gathered a group of visionaries and veterans in the mobile industry to give their insights into the marketplace. Brazilian Picture The number of mobile broadband capable accesses in Brazil grew 82.18% last year, totalizing 18.6 million new devices, according...

2012 Predictions: Messaging to drive business, technology

2011 was another year of diversity for the mobile industry. With a raft of new smart devices, tablets, applications, services and new pricing plans, consumers and enterprises alike have had more choice than ever when making use of the mobile device.

2012 Predictions: The battle to be your personal assistant

The enthusiastic acceptance of Apple’s Siri, with its combination of speech recognition and natural language understanding, has demonstrated the practicality and attractiveness of a voice-enabled personal assistant user interface.

Reader Forum: How to sustain the expected 83% growth in the smartphone market and the resulting traffic

Editor’s Note: Welcome to our weekly Reader Forum section. In an attempt to broaden our interaction with our readers, we have created this forum for those with something meaningful to say to the wireless industry. We want to keep this as open as possible, but we...

Reader Forum: Helping operators and subscribers end mobile data usage confusion

Operators have reacted to the swell in data usage with a variety of strategies that include volume-based tiers, usage caps, time-of-day usage pricing and data-speed throttling. While this may address the immediate challenge of preserving network integrity for the majority of users, it has also led to increased customer confusion and “bill shock,” higher support costs and, ultimately, higher customer churn.