itweb.co.za - ICT research firm International Data Corporation (IDC) has called 2014 the "year of the enterprise", as it outlined top expectations in Africa's telecoms market.
The firm has compiled an annual list of its most anticipated predictions for the market and says telecoms service providers will re-strategise in response to pressure on consumer revenues.
Spiwe Chireka, senior telecoms analyst at IDC, says telecoms companies are expected to add IT services to their portfolios as they seek to reposition themselves in a competitive market. "The next best alternative for telecoms service providers to counter shrinking consumer revenue and profitability lies partly in IT telecoms convergence," she says.
Government policies will be key in increasing connectivity in rural areas, but the IDC notes some African nations are likely to partner with telecoms companies to meet service delivery mandates.

mobileworldlive.com - Shareholders in Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group gave the green-light to the sale of Vodafone's stake in Verizon Wireless, paving the way for the megadeal to go ahead next month.
The companies are expecting the deal to complete "on or around 21 February 2014".
According to Vodafone, shareholders representing 68.55 per cent of shares in issue voted overwhelmingly (99.8 per cent) in support of the transaction, which will see its 45 per cent stake in Verizon Wireless sold to Verizon Communications.
The deal will also see Vodafone acquiring Verizon's minority stake in Vodafone Italy.
And shareholders in Verizon approved the company's issue of 1.28 billion shares of common stock to Vodafone shareholders to complete the deal.
"Acquiring Vodafone's stake in Verizon Wireless will provide Verizon with greater financial flexibility to invest in new technologies and address evolving customer demands. This is critical because we believe that, when it comes to wireless growth, we are just getting started," Lowell McAdam, Verizon chairman and CEO, said.
When announced in September 2013, the deal had a price tag of $130 billion on it, in a mixture of cash, stock, and the Vodafone Italy stake.
Vodafone is set to use a chunk of the proceeds in a wide-ranging investment programme called Project Spring, which includes a significant network upgrade element.
In a statement, Verizon noted that the transaction is still subject to approval from the High Court of Justice of England and Wales, and "other customary closing conditions".

mobileworldlive.com - One Mobile Healthcare Summit participant who has embraced the transformation taking place in the world of health care is Dr. Kendall Ho, the director of the eHealth strategy office for the UBC faculty of medicine. Dr. Ho described his experience of using mobile applications to make healthcare more cooperative, and ultimately to make patients healthier. To these ends, Ho has taken to prescribing mobile health apps to his patients.
In fact, Dr. Ho was himself a convert to the use of such mobile technologies before he took to recommending them to others. Through his use of a heart monitor app and a calorie counter, he reduced his caffeine intake and lost weight. These applications "changed my life," says Dr. Ho.
Smartphone technology has further changed the way Dr. Ho makes recommendations to patients he sees in the emergency department at the Vancouver General Hospital. Most people carry smartphones these days, he knows, and one in four of those deploys an app or two in pursuit of health and fitness. When Ho sees a patient come into the emergency room looking at a phone, he knows he might be meeting someone who has already learned something about the symptoms and conditions that caused him or her to seek medical attention.
Dr. Ho recommends the use of mobile health apps to both patients and other doctors. To win such a recommendation, an app must be useful, easy to use, safe, and low-cost. The inevitable privacy trade-off must be minimal. Dr. Ho urges other physicians to try one app per month and to ask their patients about the apps they use. He tells doctors and patients this is clearly a sign of a new, transformed way of thinking about medicine. It is a privilege, says Dr. Ho, to be taking part in the Mobile Healthcare Summit, and more generally to be practicing medicine at a time of collaboration and cooperation, where new and better solutions will make a healthier world.

websitemagazine.com - Employees in most businesses are relying more and more on smartphones and tablets to get work done. Sure, laptops and PCs are still widely used, but mobile devices have been added to the mix at a rapid rate. Enterprise mobile application development can help you boost employee productivity, improve customer engagement, enhance marketing and branding, and eventually give you an edge over the competition.
Mobile apps, when integrated with your ERP and other backend systems, can extend the capabilities of your business. The biggest benefits are: more employee productivity and better customer engagement. Mobility makes critical business data available anytime, anywhere, and allows your business to respond faster. Formulating a clear and comprehensive strategy will help you avoid making costly mistakes and secure the success of your enterprise mobility efforts.

business2community.com - How an organization's mobile workforce performs is critical to the customer relationship, which in turn is a significant factor in profitability. Arrive late or fail to resolve a customer's issues the first time and your brand image may be diminished, with customers seeking competitors to meet their needs.
To prevent this, best-in-class field service organizations are investing in the fundamentals of a strong field services structure - workers, technology, data, and execution. Organizations with a strong grasp of these elements stand to outpace the competition and boost profits.
Goals and Challenges
In AberdeenGroup's Field Service Workforce Management Guide, 56% of field organizations cited increasing revenue as a high priority, while 52% and 45% cited improving customer satisfaction and increasing productivity/utilization respectively as strategic goals. Yet 25% of customer issues are not resolved, which erodes customer confidence and reflects the need for better systems and improved worker training.
Best-in-class organizations understand the ramifications of having an under-trained, under-qualified workforce. When a company sends a worker on a field service call, the worker needs to resolve the issue the first time, every time. To achieve this, organizations must invest in tools that empower their workers and enhance productivity while regulating budgets and controlling labor costs.
Best-in class organizations integrate the statistics and data these tools provide into usable information through predictive analysis. By compiling and analyzing reports on miles driven, traffic patterns, time on site, proximity between driver stops, idle times and fuel use - among other data points - leaders can spot patterns and identify areas in need of improvement. In fact, best-in-class companies are nearly 40% more likely to use workforce management solutions such as performance management to optimize resources and work management processes.
Organizations implementing technology like a workforce management solution realize significant benefits, including real-time visibility into the work schedule and activities of their mobile workers, which facilitates real-time scheduling and routing decisions to optimize workloads and reduce overtime costs.
Operating in conjunction with workforce management are technological solutions such as fleet management and driver safety that optimize travel time, projected time of arrival and allotted time to complete a job. With dispatchers communicating through in-vehicle or handheld devices, field workers have the information they need, when they need it, to enhance performance and productivity.
When properly used, solutions like workforce and fleet management can capture large volumes of information to deliver invaluable insights. Using technology such as workforce management with its performance management capability is paramount to evaluating field worker performance and determining who delivers the best results.
Workforce management software also can be configured according to an organization's strategic initiatives, whether that is responding to customer calls faster, fuel efficiency, reducing overtime or managing performance.

thesearchagents.com - Looking back at 2013, Q4 capped off the year with substantial gains for mobile devices in the world of paid search. We recently published our State of Paid Search Report for Q4 of 2013, and the data tells the story of mobile's gradual ascension over the course of the year. This rings especially true for smartphones, which saw spend jump 109.5% from the previous year.

businessinsider.com - It's no longer a question of when and how mobile will emerge as a payments platform.
The habit of paying for things on smartphones and tablets is already ingrained in modern consumer society, particularly among young demographics. In the same way digital payments companies like PayPal helped usher in the PC-based e-commerce explosion, mobile-focused companies are exploring how to make these transactions easier, for shoppers and merchants, at physical stores and online.
In a recent report from BI Intelligence, we put numbers to the trends and explain why mobile transaction volume is growing so explosively. A significant portion of card-powered e-commerce transactions take place on tablet or smartphone devices. Tablets and smartphones are also powering card-based transactions at physical stores through apps, scannable QR codes, and attachable card readers that transform devices into cash registers.

computerweekly.com - NHS doctors and nurses are using the latest mobile technology across Scotland to speed up admin tasks and spend more time with patients.
A £1m Scottish Government fund has been used to purchase a range of technologies, including digital pens, tablets, iPads and mobile devices.
The use of these devices allows community-based staff to access important patient information and update patient records electronically. This reduces the amount of time spent on administration, freeing up time for staff to spend with patients.
The NHS in the Western Isles of Scotland has been able to spend 50% more time with patients following the roll-out of digital pen technology.
"Technology is invaluable for staff who work in community settings, and I set up this fund to enable these staff to choose what device works best for them," said health secretary Alex Neil.
"Traditionally, community nurses had to wait until they returned to the hospital to update patient records, but now they can be updated automatically."

mashable.com - iOS 7 now runs on 80% of iOS devices, according to new numbers Apple released on Monday.
This is an increase from the 74% rate Apple reported in early December. The latest numbers, which were posted on the App Store's developer support center page, show the operating system is continuing to broaden its reach four and a half months after its release.
Apple's most recent numbers are based on App Store data gathered during the week of Jan. 19. According to the report, just 17% of iOS users are still using iOS 6 and 3% are using iOS 5 or earlier 3% are using iOS 5 or earlier.
iOS 7 first rolled out in September 2013. It appears that widespread initial complaints about the OS were negligible; its growth has already outpaced that of iOS 6.
It took iOS 6 nearly six months to reach just over 83% of iOS devices, according to a report from Chitika.
Android, however, remains much more fragmented. Just 1.4% of Android users run KitKat, the most recent version of Android.
Just over 60% of Android users continue to run Jelly Bean, the previous version of Android, and more than 20% still use Gingerbread, which will be three years old in February.

forbes.com - Forget Gorilla Glass. Apple has its own patented method of affixing a sapphire substrate to a touch screen. According to a report on the Chinese language Apple Daily blog (translated via Google and Apple Insider), Apple's OEM partner Hon Hai/Foxconn Technology Group has succeeded in making 100 prototypes of the large-screen iPhone 6 with a super-hard "sapphire substrate" that serves as "a surface protective screen of the iPhone."
Looking at this manufacturing advance in light of the report from The Wall Street Journal last Friday about Apple aggressively pursuing mobile payment technology and the Cowen and Company investor's note last Wednesday that said that the next version of iOS will introduce "key software innovations" that will take advantage of iBeacon, Touch ID and Passbook "as part of a push into new services with mobile payments," I think there is a case for payments to fuel another Apple growth episode. Cupertino has successfully evaded entropy for many years by introducing major new product lines that provide the growth to keep Apple's overall S-curve from flattening.
Here's how this scenario works. I will make two assumptions. First, that the convenience and (relative) security of Touch ID is an important part of Apple's mobile payment solution. Second, that the sapphire covering of the Touch ID sensor is a key and patently defensible feature of Apple's fingerprint scanning technology. If we run this thought experiment we see Touch ID enabled iOS devices (led by the iPhone) providing an order of magnitude better checkout experience than anything else widely available. The combination of less time waiting on line and a significant reduction in the risk of Target-style point of sale data theft-and the social status conferred on those such enabled (think priority lines at airport checkin)-will be a big hit with consumers and prompt higher adoption rates for Apple products.
The significance of the sapphire coating goes beyond screen protection. If the conductive properties of sapphire are necessary for Touch ID, then a full screen so protected could enable a fingerprint recognition sensor to be placed beneath the screen instead of in the home button. This would be useful if Apple were to decide to forego the physical home button at some point. Some iPhone 6 concepts (for instance #AFPL member Martin Hajek) show Apple achieving a larger screen in the same form factor as the current iPhones by pushing the screen edge-to-edge on the sides and significantly reducing the size of the top and bottom "bumpers" by removing the home button.
The elusive iWatch could have a role in all of this as well. Knowing that Apple can not only apply sapphire to an iPhone touchscreen but also to flexible touchscreens, raises the possibility that this wearable could someday include a Touch ID sensor. Go the extra mile and imagine that this iWatch could also be compatible with non iOS devices and you have a formula, following the iTunes model, where Apple could command the leading share of mobile payments worldwide for many years.
Given Apple's intense interest in sapphire and the fact that the only real fact that Tim Cook divulged in has ABC Good Morning America interview with David Muir last week was "a huge investment in Arizona" for "the sapphire," it is hard not to connect the dots with Touch ID and mobile payments. The electronic wallet has been the holy grail of mobile computing and it is intriguing to think that Apple may have it within its grasp.

theguardian.com - The need for businesses to be mobile friendly is becoming more and more apparent. Making it quick and easy for consumers to be able to purchase your products and services via mobile devices provides businesses with a whole new way to generate sales and connect with customers. However, according to research by EPiServer, 80% of UK companies are still ignoring the mobile revolution.
According to Google's director of mobile and social advertising sales, Ian Carrington, most retailers attribute very little value to mobile technology, unless it is the channel that is used to make a purchase, and this is despite the important role that mobiles often play in the sales 'journey'.
Ofcom reports that over half of adults in the UK own a smartphone, making mobiles an outlet for your business that should not be ignored. While they are a great tool for you to reach out to current and potential customers, they are also a perfect way for customers to contact you.
It is vital to remember here that despite the buzz around mobile commerce - referred to as m-commerce - which focuses upon optimising websites for mobile devices, apps and making mobile payments, mobile phones are first and foremost a device for voice communication. So there is always going to be a need for businesses to ensure they are easily contactable, and to provide excellent customer service and support over the phone.
With easy access to social media from mobile handsets, consumers are using these more and more as a quick and easy way to contact their chosen business. They are able to inquire and complain direct to your Twitter or Facebook page for free, in plain view of the digital world. This makes it extremely important to monitor all of your social media channels closely, to ensure that you respond to every inquiry or comment (including the bad ones), and to interact with people who are talking about your products or services online.
Most consumers would tell you that if they had to contact a business at any time within a mobile transaction, they would prefer to do so via voice communication. The value of human interaction is being increasingly underestimated by businesses as mobile technology grows. Being able to actually speak to someone at your business lets the consumer know that you care about them, and usually means that their query will be dealt with a lot more quickly. But there's evidence that consumers are put off from calling because of the use of higher rate phone numbers which can see call charges reach up to 41 pence per minute from mobiles.
Higher rate numbers have enjoyed quite a few column inches recently, but not for the right reasons. More and more companies and organisations are getting behind calls to ban them from being used as customer service lines. It is clear that customers are unhappy with being charged to make a call to inquire about a product or service, and are especially displeased about being charged to complain, making consumers turn to social media to have their say ... in view of thousands of other potential customers.
OK, using such non-geographic numbers is a brilliant way to give your business a nationwide presence so that you can appeal to customers across the country, but it also means that consumers calling you from mobiles will incur high call charges. It's something which could put many people off approaching your business and you will be the one to lose out.
Ofcom introduced 03 numbers to provide a mobile-friendly non-geographic number range for businesses and to answer the demand for lower call costs. Low rate call charging, and minutes included within mobile minute bundles, mean that consumers are catered for, while businesses are able to grow their incoming call volume and, in turn, their revenue.
It's also important to mention the site SayNoTo0870, which lets the consumer look for an alternative lower priced number to call, and apps such as BT's SmartTalk, which includes higher rate calls in a customer's service plan. Once you have given consumers what they want - a cheap and easy way to speak to someone at your business - it is up to you to maximise your revenue from this.
From experience, it is clear that actually conversing with consumers, informing them about your products and being given the opportunity to persuade them to buy something more expensive vastly increases your possibilities of revenue growth. Ensuring that your business offers excellent customer service is of paramount importance for that reason.

mobileworldlive.com - MVNO Virgin Mobile Latin America (VMLA) aims to launch a commercial service in Mexico over the next few months and is waiting on regulatory approval in Brazil.
VMLA has already launched in two of the region's smaller markets, starting in 2012 with Chile and followed subsequently by Colombia.
In Mexico, the MVNO is putting the sales, marketing and customer service machinery in place for a commercial launch shortly. It is using the cellular network of Telefonica, the country's second-largest mobile operator, to deliver its service.
The country's government moved last year to liberalise its mobile market, a factor that attracted VMLA, it has been reported.
In Brazil, the venture is waiting on approval from the telecoms regulator Anatel, having made a MVNO licence request this week. It has already signed a wholesale agreement with Vivo, another Telefonica-backed player which is the country's market leader.
VMLA was set up in 2010. Virgin Group has previously said that Virgin-branded MVNOs in Latin America will be developed in partnership with a company called Tribe Mobile, which has run MVNOs elsewhere in the world including the Middle East and North Africa. The partners have the backing of institutional investors.
The founder and chairman of Tribe Mobile is Phil Wallace, a former BellSouth executive who is also chairman of VMLA.
Interestingly, former Telefonica chairman and CEO Juan Villalonga is also on the VMLA board.
VMLA CEO Peter Macnee has previously mentioned Argentina and Peru as potential launch markets, in addition to the bigger targets of Brazil and Mexico.

businessinsider.com - AN APP WORLD: Gartner released a new report discussing its predictions for the future of the mobile app ecosystem. They believe that by 2017 apps will have been downloaded more than 268 billion times and have generated cumulative revenue of $77 billion. And apps are only going to become more pervasive in the next few years. Soon, Gartner thinks that mobile users will be relaying their personal data streams across nearly 100 mobile apps and services each day. Meaning, app ecosystems will expand beyond simply smartphones and tablets and will soon include robust markets for wearables, connected cars, and automated home appliances. (Look out for an upcoming report from BI Intelligence on the wearable app ecosystem.)
For brands, apps will represent the primary vehicle to directly reach out to and engage with consumers. And as more apps debut and adoption increases, brands will be able to capture even more data about consumers and then use it to improve content and app experiences. Gartner calls it cognizant computing; the idea that the data collected through apps and the subsequent analytics processing of this data become more and more valuable as consumers become increasingly app-centric. Through that, cognizant computing can then provide intelligent, personalized actions within apps based on user preferences and behavior history. Brands are already using smartphones and tablets to reach out to the consumer, but they should soon be prepared for consumers cycling through a multitude of apps across a number of devices on a daily basis. (Gartner)
OPERA STATE OF MOBILE ADVERTISING REPORT: "We expect to see Android's share of revenue continue to grow, but given how far ahead Apple is in the tablet space, we do not expect Android to take the lead for cross-platform monetization in 2014." Opera's latest report shows that Apple continues to dominate mobile traffic despite significant growth from Android. iOS remains the premier platform for monetization. (The Next Web)
MORE MOBILE ADS: Jonah Peretti, CEO of viral Web content aggregator Buzzfeed, thinks all companies should refocus more of their advertising efforts toward mobile. Buzzfeed, in particular, saw better engagement on mobile and Peretti claimed Buzzfeed mobile ads were clicked and shared more than desktop ads and that users are even consuming more of Buzzfeed's longform content on mobile than they are on the desktop site. Clearly, mobile continues to disrupt digital advertising for prominent media companies. (Adweek)
WELCOME, INSIDERS: The Mobile Insights newsletter is now Mobile Insider, a reflection of our increasing emphasis on the day's most important topics in mobile, as well as news exclusives of interest to industry insiders. We look forward to the newsletter becoming an even more important part of your morning routine.
LUMIA SALES FALL: This will be Nokia's final earnings report as owner and operator of its smartphone business before handing over to Microsoft, and Nokia is reporting that Lumia sales actually may have declined in the fourth quarter. These results may give some vindication to Nokia's decision to sell its Lumia division to Microsoft. Nonetheless, Lumia sales had been gaining greater traction throughout 2013, particularly in North America. (TechCrunch)
NEUTRAL NETFLIX: During the company's earnings call yesterday, Netflix discussed the roadblocks the end of net neutrality could present to its video streaming product. The company believes Netflix customers are best served under strong neutral networks and that should Internet service providers become too quick to impede bandwidth-heavy traffic, more government regulation will be needed. (Business Insider)
FACEBOOK MOBILE AD NETWORK: Facebook is running a test to deliver Facebook ads within third-party mobile apps as a way to help improve mobile monetization for developers across the board. It seems Facebook may capitalize on its extensive network of user data to become the top ad network for mobile ad targeting. (Facebook)
SNAPCHAT SECURITY FAILS AGAIN: Snapchat made a visual verification test for new users in order to hopefully weed out potential new spam robots from the app. Unfortunately, the new security system has been called a "joke" by multiple security experts and one hacker, Steven Hickson, has already laid out how to break through. Snapchat has several security issues to work out before it can get back on track. (TechCrunch)
LENOVO BUYS IBM SERVERS: Lenovo has agreed to purchase the server unit of IBM's business for about $2.3 billion. After becoming the top PC maker in the world, and crashing the smartphone market party, Lenovo will use IBM's server business as a way to pad margins. It's another step toward Lenovo's plan to focus on enterprise. (Bloomberg)

businessinsider.com - Banks compete vigorously to gain new customers and enlarge their deposit base. And mobile has become the most important new battleground where this competition is playing out. Banks are rolling out the latest and greatest smartphone and tablets apps and mobile site features to gain an edge on the competition.
Mobile banking features also help banks make inroads with younger consumers, who may be banking for the first time and could become lifelong customers. The banks that establish a reputation for mobile innovation are likely to benefit in the future from greater market share and more engaged - and high-margin - customers.
In a recent report from BI Intelligence, we take a look at some banking app pioneers and cutting-edge features, detail the competition to develop the best mobile banking tools, examine mobile banking's growth spurt, and analyze consumer adoption behavior and barriers.

businessinsider.com - Banks compete vigorously to gain new customers and enlarge their deposit base. And mobile has become the most important new battleground where this competition is playing out. Banks are rolling out the latest and greatest smartphone and tablets apps and mobile site features to gain an edge on the competition.
Mobile banking features also help banks make inroads with younger consumers, who may be banking for the first time and could become lifelong customers. The banks that establish a reputation for mobile innovation are likely to benefit in the future from greater market share and more engaged - and high-margin - customers.
In a recent report from BI Intelligence, we take a look at some banking app pioneers and cutting-edge features, detail the competition to develop the best mobile banking tools, examine mobile banking's growth spurt, and analyze consumer adoption behavior and barriers.

businessinsider.com - We are entering the late stages of smartphone adoption across the globe.
Going forward, future shipments growth will come from emerging markets like China, India, and their surrounding regions.
There are still a multitude of mobile subscribers in developing regions who either haven't had enough incentive to upgrade to smartphones or have been trapped under limited network connections that made smartphones unattractive. But 3G and 4G networks are becoming more and more pervasive around the world. To keep up, multiple vendors are upping their presence in these new growth markets with competitively-priced handsets, which will drive new demand.
In a new report from BI Intelligence, we forecast out the next five years of smartphone shipments, break down where most of this future growth will come from, and examine smartphone innovation in the context of all this late-stage growth to decide whether innovation will be sustainable, or if the market will be so commoditized that all competition will boil down to price.

mobileworldlive.com - There was continued speculation that Nokia will offer an Android-powered device positioned below its Windows Phone portfolio, although the latest reports seem to indicate that the device will share a family resemblance to its Microsoft-powered siblings.
According to what are purported to be leaked images, the device - codenamed Normandy - has hardware which fits with the company's Lumia portfolio. But more interestingly, it features a user interface that looks more like Windows Phone's tiles, and includes Microsoft and Nokia's services placed front and centre - including Skype and Here Maps.
This is similar to the path Amazon has followed with its Kindle Fire devices, which see Google's services stripped-out in favour of the online retailer's own propositions. While this enables it to benefit from a large degree of commonality with Android - it previously said that 75 per cent of Android apps work on its platform with no additional work - it also effectively gives it its own platform with reduced influence from Google, and differentiated from other Android vendors.
While it has widely been perceived as odd that a company set to be acquired by Microsoft is set to bring an Android-powered smartphone to market, such a move would help Nokia address a shortcoming in Nokia's portfolio - the weakness of its aging Series 40 platform and its variants when compared to Android.
By looking to leverage existing support for Android across the board - from components through to its developer base - it will be able to deliver a more compelling proposition than by going it alone.
And looking at it pragmatically, Microsoft stands to gain a lot from such a strategy. On a device level, it will enable it to target entry-level smartphone users with the potential aim of moving them up to a Windows Phone device in future within the Nokia brand - creating higher-value users.
But, perhaps more significantly, it will enable it to bring new users to Microsoft's content and services, including customers coming online for the first time. This is a similar strategy to that of Google with Android - to bring new customers into the fold at the earliest opportunity, in the hope of driving loyalty as they move up through the smartphone ranks.

mobileworldlive.com - Fast-rising enterprise mobility vendor AirWatch is to be snapped up by cloud software giant VMware for US$1.54 billion.
Privately held and headquartered in Atlanta, AirWatch claims more than 10,000 enterprise customers globally and more than 1,600 employees across nine offices. The Atlanta site is expected to expand and be the center of VMware's mobile operations.
AirWatch raised a US$200 million Series-A funding round last year from Insight Venture Partners and Accel Partners and turned heads at last year's Mobile World Congress with one of the event's largest exhibitor stands. It touts itself as "the world's largest mobile security and enterprise mobility management provider."
The AirWatch team will continue to report to founder and chief executive officer John Marshall as part of VMware's End-User Computing group, led by Sanjay Poonen, EVP and GM. Alan Dabbiere, AirWatch's co-founder and chairman, will be overseeing a new AirWatch operating board which will report to Pat Gelsinger, VMware's chief executive officer.
The acquisition - made up of US$1.175 billion in cash and US$365 million of installment payments and assumed unvested equity - is expected to close by the end of this current quarter, subject to regulatory approvals.
The price tag caught the attention of analysts. "This is a very high valuation for a company of AirWatch's size, but given the massive valuations of companies being acquired these days, not particularly unusual," noted Jack E. Gold of J.Gold Associates.
VMware's move will extend its vision of using software to manage the surge of mobile devices in the workplace and will bring fresh competition to the space. "This acquisition is a direct shot across the bow aimed at SAP, IBM, Citrix, Oracle and others that VMWare see as a threat to their mobile cloud and virtualisation ambitions," commented Gold.

multichannelmerchant.com - In a data-centric and driven era, brands are being pressured to interact and collect more feedback and dig deeper into the mind of consumers. Small, focused, brand recruited, loyal and engaged groups are becoming much more valuable.
It's not a repeat of 2013 and the buzzword big data but for 2014 think along the lines of smart data. What conclusions can you draw from analyzing your data? How will you deliver something from your data? By analyzing behaviors and trends our messages can be targeted and we can finally part with sending a generic "blanket message" to everyone.
A traditional tool for capturing consumer sentiments and wishes are surveys. The survey has evolved and now presents an interaction at the point of emotion with the consumer. Quick polls and surveys to smartphones can put us right there to gather the feelings consumers have when they are viewing products or even making purchases.
Mobile technology has not only increased the effectiveness of the survey - it also reshaped the way we build our surveys. Mobile surveys are very different than traditional surveys. The nature of the smartphone and touch environment is different than being on your computer.
The entire procedure from the initial reach out to the consumer until their action is completed has been changed. The way we design the mobile survey is different. They are shorter and deliver a more enjoyable user experience.
Emails are not the channel to connect with smartphone users in real time. To reach them while they are out and about - think push notifications, social media and rewards/incentives moving forward. Last year, over 50% of millennials said they would give up their personal information in exchange for incentives (USC Annenberg).
Collecting feedback from the point of action allows you to improve and deliver a more personalized brand experience. More importantly it enables you to deliver the brand experience your real life consumers want. Whether it's while they are browsing shelves in a store or using your mobile application you can now have a channel to reach them through.
An unprecedented view can also be captured into what consumers are really doing and what drove them to do it. Smartphones are being coined to be an extension of us. Real time consumer data isn't limited to just surveys; passive data collection can be used to monitor apps running, accelerometer data, location tracking, battery life and more.
Businesses a step ahead of the curve are beginning to draw feedback at the point of contact and emotion a consumer has with their brand (i.e. Apple). This point of emotion information offers real time data from real people in real places.
As experimented with in the past, consumers' actions are very hard to track after the fact leading to high recall rates in feedback received. Until recently, many pilot tests of mobile surveys incorporating geofencing took place throughout 2012 and 2013. Relying on GPS alone did not turn out to be as accurate or effective as we wished it were. GPS draws a radius of approximate location making it hard to tell exactly where someone may be or if they are even in the physical location you set.
Apple's iBeacon aka "next-gen indoor positioning systems" have already launched and this technology is quickly improving and developing to the next level. In all 254 of Apple's US stores visitors with iPhones will receive important and well-timed information on special offers, events and products.
What about consumers' privacy values on their data? It is important not to overwhelm or abuse the values of your consumers with the new technology we have available. Xbox One's Kinect received many red flags in regards to consumers' privacy values in 2013. The next generation system acts as a data feed right in the consumers home with capabilities to track how many people are in a room, what their names are, the sound of their voices, what they are watching and more. Consumers feel this is a sign that "everything you do will be watched, cataloged, and added to metrics data - as long as your Xbox One is on (GameSkinny)."
This past holiday season, PS4 was the clear choice for shoppers. Gamers also indicated they value game quality more than anything when it comes to making decisions on upgrading their console (qSample).
By law, an agreement to collect data must be included and confirmed in a brand's Terms of Service. Some consumers may not fully read the terms; while others may not understand this new technology and that their data is being collected.

traveldailynews.com - AT&T announced that it was selected as the "Best Global Phone/Data Provider" in the 2013 Best in Business Travel Awards, conducted by Business Traveler (BT) magazine. The annual survey gives readers the chance to voice their opinions in support of companies that have made their business travel easier and more efficient. This is the second consecutive year that AT&T has claimed the top spot.
"We are honored that Business Traveler readers recognize our ongoing commitment to provide our customers with a best-in-class mobile experience when traveling abroad," said Bill Hague, executive vice president, International Alliances & Integrations, AT&T Mobility.
AT&T delivers the following benefits to global travelers:
Broad international voice and data coverage. AT&T offers the broadest international voice and data coverage of any U.S. carrier, with voice roaming service in more than 225 countries and data roaming service in more than 210 countries and 3G voice and data roaming in more than 175 countries.
Access to 4G LTE Speeds. AT&T is the first and only U.S. carrier to have launched international LTE roaming. Currently, AT&T customers can enjoy 4G LTE wireless speeds when roaming on available networks in Canada, the UK, Switzerland and South Korea.
Voice and data coverage on more than 250 major cruise ships, including Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, Disney and Celebrity Cruise Lines.
Extensive portfolio of world devices. AT&T offers an extensive selection of quad-band world devices - those that work on 850/900/1800/1900 MHz frequencies, along with a great selection of 3G devices that also operate on 2100 MHz, for use in Japan and S. Korea. AT&T customers also enjoy a great selection of LTE devices, a growing number of which will operate on LTE bands outside North America.
Easy to use. AT&T's network uses GSM technology - the worldwide standard for wireless, which makes it more convenient to stay in touch with family, friends and business colleagues while abroad - all on the same device and wireless number used at home.
True smartphone multi-tasking. AT&T customers can use both voice and data at the same time on their device - both in the United States and internationally.
International packages that deliver more choice and value. AT&T offers several international discount packages for voice, data and messaging. For example, AT&T Data Global Add-On Packages let customers take advantage of discounted international data rates while traveling in over 150 countries. AT&T also offers discounted packages for cruise ship travelers as well as students and faculty studying abroad.
Also, AT&T and Sabre announced they will jointly explore solutions which could usher in a more personalised, stress-free trip experience for travellers. The two companies are developing and testing solutions that take advantage of AT&T's newly enhanced Location Information Services (LIS) - Hybrid, which allows developers to build geo-aware mobile applications. They are exploring how device-based location information services can help airlines, airport retailers, and other travel-related companies deliver intelligent, predictive and personalised services throughout a traveller's journey.
AT&T LIS Hybrid has the ability to define custom geo-fences (a virtual boundary within a geographic area) in any shape or size, both indoors and out, using mobile, GPS and WiFi information shared by the user from their device. Knowing when a traveller enters or leaves a pre-defined geo-fence would allow travel suppliers to provide personalised services and relevant offers based on the traveller's real-time location.
"By applying cutting edge technologies with data analytics and better intelligence, we can give travellers the personalised experience they have come to expect in today's connected world," said Sarah Kennedy, director, Sabre Labs, the technology incubator and research lab at Sabre. "Together with AT&T, we will explore the role advanced location-based services can have in helping travel suppliers provide better, more personal service to their customers."
Imagine an app that can alert airline staff when a high-status passenger is still clearing security when her flight is due to depart; or that notifies travellers of special promotions as they approach an airport bookstore; or warns a passenger if he is in the wrong terminal for his connecting flight. The two companies are exploring technology that could underpin these types of apps across almost all types of smartphones, tablets and operating systems. Any services developed as part of the trial will meet location services best practices guidelines when it comes to customer privacy including customer opt-in.
"Our application programming interface, or API, and software development kit allows companies like Sabre to build multi-carrier geo-aware mobile applications," said Laura Merling, vice president of Ecosystem Development and Platform Solutions, AT&T. "AT&T LIS Hybrid works with WiFi as well as existing mobile device-based information location services such as GPS, to deliver near-precise device location information indoors and outdoors."

mobileworldlive.com - Sony is to offer a version of its Xperia Z Ultra phablet without mobile connectivity, positioning the Japanese-market device as an easy-to-carry tablet device.
With its 6.4-inch screen the device is knocking on the door of the 7-inch tablets used by rival vendors, and is indeed at the upper end of the phablet scale.
The Wi-Fi-only unit shares the bulk of its specifications with its phablet sibling. It has a 2.2GHz quadcore Qualcomm processor, runs Android 4.2, and includes an 8-megapixel camera.
Quite how big the market is for the 'tablet' Z Ultra is unclear. For users looking for a portable tablet device without mobile connectivity, there are a number of 7-inch devices which will be competitors.
And while the slightly smaller size may boost its portability, the trade-off of losing mobile connectivity will reduce the Ultra Z's functionality in terms of being an on-the-move tablet.

mobileworldlive.com - The extent that mobile usage is displacing traditional banking practices was shown by a Bank of America statistic that nine per cent of all its cheques deposited now go through iPads and mobile phones.
The figure was cited by Brian Moynihan (pictured), the bank's president and CEO, on a conference call with analysts following the company's Q4 2013 results.
He said the figure had grown to nine per cent from seven per cent in Q3, 2013, a significant take-up for a service that only launched a year earlier.
The bank has seen a shrinking number of physical branches as more customers opt for online and mobile banking.
That take-up will shape the bank's investment priorities, said Moynihan: "So we have probably a half a billion dollars we put in the online and mobile platform across the last three or four years, and we'll continue to invest at that rate."

mobileworldlive.com - Sprint, the third-largest mobile operator in the US, has received proposals from at least two banks on how it might finance a takeover bid for smaller rival T-Mobile US, according to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ).
Sources say terms of a bid have yet to be firmed up, but the enterprise value (takeover price) of T-Mobile US is pegged at around $50 billion.
The sum is arrived at by paying about $31 billion for T-Mobile, plus a possible refinancing to the tune of $20 billion in existing T-Mobile debt.
The WSJ report says having funds at hand to cover T-Mobile's existing debt would be necessary since debt holders could cash in their bonds if the company changes ownership.
As speculation of a Sprint takeover has grown, so too has the value of T-Mobile shares. They have risen nearly 28 per cent since it was reported last month that Sprint, majority-owned by Japan's SoftBank, was stepping up its efforts to buy T-Mobile US (67 per cent owned by Deutsche Telekom).
T-Mobile US now has a market cap value of about $26 billion.
Fuelling takeover speculation is Deutsche Telekom's transfer of its T-Mobile US stake from a German holding company to a Dutch holding company.
BTIG analyst Walter Piecyk said in a research note, quoted by Reuters, that Deutsche Telekom could be transferring ownership for tax reasons related to a potential T-Mobile US sale.
Deutsche Telekom claims the transfer is part of a larger internal restructuring to simplify its business structure, and no more should be read into it.
A tie-up between the third and fourth-largest mobile operators in the US would likely face intense regulatory scrutiny, but WSJ sources say both operators - if a deal were to be reached - would prefer it to happen before a major auction of spectrum expected in mid-2015.
It's widely thought that winning regulatory approval could take between 12 and 18 months, although that may not be forthcoming.
Another potential stumbling block is that regulators rather like the "uncarrier" strategy of T-Mobile US, which has seen the operator ramp up net additions.
At the CES show in Las Vegas, however, T-Mobile US boss John Legere suggested that the T-Mobile US way would still prevail - even after a merger.
A deal with Sprint "would provide significant scale and capability," he said, but "the T-Mobile Uncarrier business, the people, the brand, the attitude is here to stay."
If a merger did go ahead, the new combination would have approximately 101 million connections against 110 million connections for AT&T and 118 million for Verizon Wireless (GSMA Intelligence, Q4 2013).

ciol.com - 2014 will mark another year in which digital money continues to forge forward.
NXT-ID is prepared to take full advantage of digital currency's rising popularity, as the company will release its much-anticipated "smart wallet", the Wocket in the first quarter of this year. The Wocket is a next generation platform that is designed to provide consumers with the convenience of packaging all cards in your wallet into one dynamic card. This includes debit, credit, loyalty cards, coupons and more. The Wocket will also avoid any assimilation obstacles, as it will work wherever credit cards are accepted.
"It's been heavily publicized that the U.S. is using outdated credit card technology," wrote Julie May of the Tennessean. "But not for long, because digital wallets such as COIN and The Wocket will be hitting the market in 2014. Digital wallets aggregate multiple credit cards and, in some cases, personal identification onto one card that can be used for purchases anywhere that accepts credit cards. They provide an additional level of security over current credit cards."
NXT-ID Inc.'s innovative MobileBio solution mitigates consumer risks associated with mobile computing, m-commerce and smart OS-enabled devices. The company is focused on the growing m-commerce market, launching its innovative MobileBio suite of biometric solutions that secure consumers' mobile platforms. The company's first product is the Wocket. NXT-ID's wholly owned subsidiary, 3D-ID LLC, is engaged in biometric identification has 22 licensed patents in the field of 3D facial recognition.
MacRumors has discovered a batch of new Apple Inc. patent applications, included 17 published last Thursday, related to the use of Liquidmetal Technologies Inc. alloys. The applications cover button/switch pressure sensors, tamper-resistant screws, and touch sensor substrates, among other potential use cases. Liquidmetal shares, which made new 52-week highs last week before retreating, have rallied again on the pink sheets. Shares also moved higher in November in response to Apple patent applications covering Liquidmetal usage.
Telefonica and NII Holdings have signed agreements whereby Telefonica will provide NII's subsidiaries, operating under the Nextel brand in Brazil and Mexico, nationwide voice and data coverage services on Telefonica's 3G wireless networks. When implemented, the agreements will expand the areas in which Nextel customers using 3G services in Brazil and Mexico can access voice and data services, supporting NII's growth strategy. Both companies will work closely to implement the agreements as soon as possible. Telefonica and NII's subsidiaries will continue to manage their spectrum and network assets separately to provide competing services.
Elliott Management Corp., which owns 6.2 percent of the common stock of Juniper Networks, Inc., filed a Schedule 13D and released a presentation Monday entitled "Juniper Networks: Elliott Management's Perspectives." "Juniper's new CEO along with its existing management team and Board have a unique opportunity to immediately unlock significant value at the Company through three straightforward and much-requested courses of action," said Jesse Cohn, portfolio manager at Elliott. "Investors and Street analysts have been calling for Juniper to implement these value-creation initiatives for years, and we believe the three-pronged approach laid out in today's presentation would be very well received."
ClickSoftware Technologies Ltd., the automated workforce management and optimization solutions ptovider for the service industry, announced that it expects record revenues of approximately $30.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2013, exceeding its guidance of $26 to $28 million. For the full year 2013 revenues are expected to reach approximately $103 million. Based on preliminary estimates of operating costs it is also expected that profitability will be achieved in fourth quarter of 2013. Cash, cash-equivalents, short and long-term investments continued to grow, increasing by about $2.3 million during the fourth quarter, reaching about $58 million as of December 31, 2013.

fiercemobileit.com - According to IDC's report China Enterprise Mobility Solution Analysis by Key Verticals (IDC #CH2673812V), along with the popularization of smartphones and driven by consumer mobile applications, mobile applications have been widely applied in various vertical markets, and many industry customers have regarded mobile applications as the emphasis for next-step IT construction. However, affected by factors such as the level of IT hardware and software readiness, mode of business, the importance customers attach to them, and the maturity of vendor's solution, the progress of mobile applications in various industries are different.
The research of IDC shows that the following characteristics are embodied in mobile applications within the industry market:
(1) Mobile applications for marketing and customer service are more popular. Enterprises in modern service industries, represented by banks, insurances, telecommunications, and transportation and logistics, take the lead in releasing B2C mobile applications targeted at consumer customers, such as mobile banking, mobile insurance, and mobile business office. Some consumers tend to transact businesses through smartphones so as to avoid queuing at a business office. Along with increasingly fierce market competition, and in order to promote customer service level and improve customer satisfaction, all enterprise customers in various industries will address the usage behaviors of consumer users so as to expand new mobile channel for marketing services.
(2) The scale of field service staff is large. Universal mobile application demands exist among front-line staff or field service groups, such as managers, after-sale service team, governmental law enforcement staff, patrols and other types of user groups. In the industries of FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods), transportation and logistics, governments, and power and energy, mobile applications can effectively support the fieldwork of front-line users. Mobile terminal equipment is adopted to collect field information, including market dynamics, equipment assets, urban condition, and customer information, and field information can be rapidly uploaded to the back end systems at the headquarters; at the same time, the field staff can also search in real time for related information to carry out the work. These user groups, which cannot be covered by the traditional IT system, can now be comprehensively supported by the mobile applications. The informatization construction opens a new chapter in the mobile Internet era.
(3) The general solution, represented by mobile office, is applicable to various industry users, which is the most popular application type at present. However, as the customers gradually understand mobility trends, mobile applications will be expanded to specific business scenarios in various industries, and many emerging and unique mobile applications will appear to cover broader user groups, change the traditional work pattern, and improve the working efficiency and the customer service quality. At present, a batch of new and typical mobile applications has appeared among part of the customers in industries of transportation and FMCG. This has allowed the working efficiency of staff and the operation management ability of enterprises to improve significantly.
According to IDC's research, the industries of banks, insurances, FMCG, transportation and logistics, and governments have mobile applications with higher construction maturity.
"Most industry users still hold a wait-and-see attitude towards mobile applications as an emerging technical solution. As industry mobile solutions mature and increase understanding of mobile applications from customers, IDC expects more mobile applications to be built in the coming years. It is predicted that a large-scale industry will be formed in 2017, and the market size of enterprise mobile solution in 2017 will reach US$ 4.67 billion," says Andy Wang, Research Manager, Enterprise System and Software Research, IDC China.
"At the same time, security concerns and investments in mobile equipment are two major inhibitors that hinder the development of enterprise mobile applications. As an emerging technical trend, mobile application solutions are not mature yet, and mobile security is not perfect. Some industry customers, such as banks and governments will not deploy mobile application solutions in core business fields in large scale and in the short term.
"In addition, besides the software cost, the industry customers need to invest significantly in mobile terminals, and when there is a larger user scale, the cost of hardware purchasing and maintenance will become huge expenses. With limited investment, the hardware cost will account for a big portion, further squeezing the investment in mobile application. That affects the final delivery result and is the reason why many mobile projects failed at the early phase," Wang adds.

autorentalnews.com - Avis Car Rental and Budget Car Rental customers can now purchase mobile phone chargers at participating U.S. locations, according to Avis Budget Group Inc. This can help them stay connected throughout their travels.
The mobile phone accessories include a universal car charger with dual USB ports, a retractable car charger for use with Android devices (that includes an adapter that supports the iPhone 4/S, iPad and iPod), an iPhone 5 lightening cable and a universal wall charger with dual USB ports.
The products are available at Avis and Budget rental facilities at the nation's top airports, including Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Fort Lauderdale, Los Angeles, Honolulu, Houston, Miami, New York, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Tampa and Washington, D.C.
In addition, these mobile phone accessories will also be for sale at select off-airport locations, says Avis.
"Preparation before a trip can sometimes be chaotic and travelers sometimes forget their mobile phone chargers," said Tom Gartland, president, North America, Avis Budget Group. "Often, our customers are relying on many different features of their phone in order to enjoy their travels and be productive. Our new product offering is another way we 'put the customer first' and help business and leisure travelers stay connected while on the go."

pe.com - Companies need to be cognizant of what is out there in cyberspace about their particular company, their competitors and their employees.
It is estimated that “In 2016, two-thirds of the mobile workforce will own a Smartphone, and 40 percent of the workforce will be mobile” (Gartner, 2013). These figures are staggering considering the impact they will have on the market. You can post something to Facebook or LinkedIn and it will go viral in minutes.
Companies are using social media sites to find employees and potential employees are using it to find jobs. But people also are not getting jobs because of what they have posted on their Facebook page or even lose a job because of activities against company policy. For example, calling out sick and then posting pictures about your day at the beach is a bad idea.
Savvy employers will Google prospective employees and search for their Facebook page before they make a job offer and sometimes even before an interview. They are looking to see what kind of an image that candidate will portray to clients and if they appear to have a lifestyle that is conducive to being a good, reliable employee.
People and companies need to protect their online image in order to protect their livelihood. I recommend that you discuss the possible pitfalls of social media with your employees. You cannot necessarily tell them what they can and cannot post or what is acceptable to do in their free time. But letting them know the downside of social media and how their online actions can and will affect their professional life is a good idea, for them and you.

metrocorpcounsel.com - As the world of mobile devices continues to evolve, so has their ability to create, store, and transmit electronic communications and other forms of electronically stored information (ESI). Mobile devices are no longer seen as a "gadget" or "toy" only used by technology-savvy executives. It is becoming increasingly common for corporate employees at all levels to rely on a tablet, smartphone, or other mobile device as their primary means of corporate communications. In some cases, employees are choosing to ditch the PC or laptop altogether, making the mobile device a significant source of unique ESI that may be relevant to investigations, litigation, or government inquiries.
As a result, the field of digital forensics has needed to keep pace with this rapid evolution of mobile devices, cloud services, and mobile applications. Mobile device security, preserving and collecting evidence from devices, and the basics of ESI analysis are critical components in any mobile device forensic investigation. As corporate counsel, it is important that you understand how this new frontier of mobile device forensics may impact your next investigation or litigation.
Device Security
As employees continue to store more and more sensitive corporate documents and communications on their mobile devices, the need for securing them with strong passwords and device encryption is essential in helping prevent the theft or loss of this confidential information. While methods of device protection such as PINs, swipe patterns, or biometric security (fingerprint, voice and facial recognition, etc.) are the most convenient, they are the least secure.
Often considered best practice is an enterprise mobile device management (MDM) solution, which can be used to enforce device security policies, including setting password strength requirements and offering additional encryption options. MDM solutions work on both corporate and employee-owned devices and can provide the ancillary ability to locate, lock, or even wipe a mobile device if it has been lost or stolen.
Unfortunately, this same best practice of securing mobile devices also presents one of the biggest challenges to preserving and collecting ESI. If an MDM is used, the device can be remotely unlocked before data is collected from the device. However, without an MDM, it may be necessary to have the employee reset, turn over, or even clear his or her password prior to collection. If the employee is unavailable or refuses to cooperate, the only remaining option for collecting ESI from a secured mobile device is to use special tools or methods to bypass the security measures.
While bypassing security measures may only require a few clicks in the forensics software for some devices, the success rate will depend on the specific make, model, operating system version, and mobile device configuration. In addition, bypassing device security can introduce legal and privacy implications, especially if the device is employee owned (bring your own device or "BYOD") and if there is not a clear corporate device usage policy in place.
Device Collection
Mobile device collection, in the simplest of terms, is the process of extracting ESI from a specific smartphone, tablet, or other mobile device for purposes of preservation, analysis, review, and/or production. In addition to the mobile device security discussed above, the vast number of device types and operating system versions (Apple's iOS, Google's Android, Microsoft's Windows Phone, etc.) further complicate the device collection process. Knowing details such as the specific make, model, operating system version, storage capacity, connection type, device configuration, and even the supported cellular technology (e.g. CDMA, GSM, LTE) will help your forensics team select the best options for preserving and collecting ESI from a device. Furthermore, it is important to evaluate which categories of ESI are uniquely stored on a mobile device and are not replicated or synchronized with corporate resources. The primary mobile device collection options are the following:
Physical Collection - a complete bit-by-bit copy of the mobile device's flash memory, including hidden, protected, and deleted content;
Logical Collection - a copy of only the live files found on the mobile device; does not include hidden, protected, or deleted content;
Targeted Collection - a copy of selected files found on the mobile device;
Backup Collection - extracting content from a mobile device backup, which is often found on a PC or Mac that has been synchronized with the device;
Corporate Sources - collecting data from corporate sources including email and file servers, document management systems, cloud-based services, and other information management solutions that may store a complete synchronized copy of the ESI that is on the mobile device.
The more complete the collection method, the more likely that device "alteration" will need to be performed. For example, to perform a full physical collection from some devices, the device must first be "rooted" or "jail broken." This essentially means hacking the device's operating system to allow the collection technique to be used. Some of these methods can leave a permanent trace or fingerprint on the device and may even violate the device manufacturer's licensing agreement. In these situations, it is necessary to assess the requirements of the specific matter, the specific mobile devices, and the currently available collection options to come up with the best solution. It is always advisable to select the least intrusive method that can still preserve the relevant ESI.
ESI Analysis
Once the ESI has been collected from a mobile device, the next step is to analyze and extract the relevant content for review and, if applicable, production. It is impossible to anticipate all types of ESI that will be found on a specific device given the vast number of applications available and the nature in which those applications are used. It is likely that analysis will find emails, text messages (SMS), call logs, contacts, calendar entries, and photos for most devices. Some devices, including recent versions of Apple's iPhone and iPad, prevent the collection of email unless the operating system is altered or jail broken.
Other potential sources of ESI may come from social media applications such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Instagram, or Snapchat; file synchronization applications such as Dropbox, SugarSync, or Google Drive; and communication or chat applications, which include Skype, AIM, Yahoo Messenger, or Blackberry Messenger. Additional relevant ESI may include Internet browsing history, bookmarks, and website cookies.
While the above list seems extensive, there is also the possibility of finding ESI created by new, or less common, applications. New mobile applications are being created almost daily and may not yet be supported by mobile device forensics software. As a result, it may be necessary to develop a customized solution to support the analysis and production of these sources of ESI.
Additionally, sensitive personal information is increasingly being recorded and stored on mobile devices. Information such as the user's location, travel speed, elevation, and even fingerprints can be recorded by the vast number of sensors built into mobile devices, which include touch screens, cameras, microphones, fingerprint readers, barometers, GPSs, accelerometers, compasses, gyroscopes, proximity sensors, light sensors, and thermometers. Even cellular and Wi-Fi radios, which are found in almost all mobile devices now, can be used to record location information from nearby cellular towers and wireless access points. Additional sensors can be worn by the user and can record personal health information such as heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, and vital signs in the case of remote patient monitoring (RPM) solutions.
The collection and analysis of this sensitive and personal ESI can have significant and even unintentional implications. We have all heard of cases where a suspect's location information was used to place them at the scene of a crime or to show that an individual was texting while driving. It is extremely important to know what information may be stored on a device, or embedded within a document or photo, prior to producing it to another party. Clearly, with such detailed personal and potentially regulated information, security and privacy are paramount.
The world of mobile devices will continue to evolve just as rapidly as the myriad applications that run on them. Mobile devices are no longer just for content consumption; they have become very capable content creation solutions. Because of this, it is important that you understand the basics of mobile device security and collections, as well as know what types of ESI to expect. The digital forensics experts at iDiscovery Solutions are uniquely qualified to assist you when mobile devices become relevant in your next investigation or litigation.

worldfinance.com - While Latin America has maintained solid macroeconomics, to keep ahead of the curve the region's banking industry now has to adapt to mobile technology
Many banks in Latin America are facing major challenges, while going through one of the most prosperous economic periods in recent history. Despite the global turmoil affecting the US, Asia and most of Europe, Latin America has maintained stable fiscal results.
In this region, portfolios are growing at a constant double-digit rate. At Banco Occidental de Descuento (BOD), we have observed a strengthening of the equity base, which has increased corporate income and profitability, while maintaining margins to deal with adversity.
The prudence of Latin American bankers is to - among other factors - maintain enough liquid reserves to allow a positive response to national and international economic downturns by being precautious. These precautions have allowed greater capitalisation and an increase in credit and regional bank expansion, according to the latest reports by the Latin American Banks Federation, Felaban.

bizreport.com - A whopping 83% of Travel Technology Europe's survey respondents said they expect their customers to spend more on new technology this year and almost three-quarters (72%) of that spend will be on mobile technology. Just 17% of firms said they would be spending less on technology this in 2014. "Interestingly, not only is the travel technology world gearing up for the year of mobile, it is planning the relevant investments to deliver what is expected to be a real step change," said Travel Technology Europe event manager, Sarina Patel. Survey respondents also picked mobile apps as the biggest trend for travel technology firms this year (42%), more so than personalization engines, cloud computing or targeted and behavioral marketing. Second to mobile, analytics and business intelligence was another area in which technology spend is set to rise, cited by 48% of respondents, followed by social (44%), customer relationship management (43%) and front end websites (38%). The 2014 Travel Technology Europe trade show takes place on 4 and 5 February, 2014, at Earls Court 2 in London.

mobileenterprise.edgl.com - We sat down with Onyeka Nchege, VP and CIO of Coca-Cola Company Consolidated, which is the nation's largest independent Coca-Colabottler, with over 6,000 employees and $1.4 billion in revenue.
ME Mobile Enterprise: What are some of the key mobile solutions you are leveraging?
ON Onyeka Nchege: The first is a sales force automation (SFA) tool, which allows sales people to go out and work with customers and access the tools they need remotely.
We built a mobile app that runs on tablets and laptops and accesses our backend SFA system. This app can be used in the field and back at the plants so supervisors can monitor what's going on out in the field. Most of our folks have Panasonic tablets, running Windows 7. We also have people on premise and out in the field using iPads and some using laptops.
Sales people can access new promotions and other information on products. The device serves as a point of sale as well, so our reps can take orders. We have around 1,200 users on that app, in different roles and using different form factors and operating systems.
ME Talk about the use cases and benefits.
ON We built the app ourselves to use the Windows-based tablets and laptops. For the iPad we outsourced to a third party to build the app to access the same SFA backend. When we first starting using iPad, we got some additional benefits from the "wow" factor.
Our sales people used to go out to meet with restaurant owners before opening time, carrying a binder full of sales information, and following the owner around to show him or her what we have. As you can imagine, the owners are mostly thinking about all the details of opening the restaurant, so they tended not to pay much attention to our reps.
However, three years ago, when we gave our folks the tablet, loaded with the very same information as the binder, as soon as the rep walked in the door, the customer would immediately walk over and say, "Is that an iPad?"
All of a sudden, the same restaurant owners who wouldn't stand still for our reps would ask to have a look. The more professional looking app got their undivided attention and we were able to easily walk them through our offerings. We saw an uptick in sales just from the introduction of the tablet solution.
Of course, that effect was not sustainable. At some point the novelty wears off. We're always trying to find new ways to enhance the presentation of our mobile apps because it enhances our credibility with our customers.
Aside from the SFA tool, we also have other apps running on iOS to support account managers.
ME What are some of those new ways you are using mobile technology?
ON We're looking at new ways of using mobility to help folks on the manufacturing floor. Today when supervisors are out on the floor and they get a call from either a delivery person or a sales person wanting to know inventory levels, they have to make their way back to their office to check. This takes a few minutes, and it's a distraction.
We're working through the requirements for an app that will allow supervisors to stay on the floor and respond to these kinds of requests from whatever device they happen to have, whether that be a smartphone or tablet. They'll have information at their fingertips, which will allow them to respond faster, and won't take them away from what they we're doing on the floor.
We're going to be developing this mobile frontend ourselves, rather than outsourcing it or trying to get something off the shelf. The app is going to access backend software. We aren't starting from scratch. Mostly what we'll do is enable some existing business intelligence that accesses Microsoft's Enterprise Data Warehouse through Sharepoint.
ME How can IT be proactive in supporting the different businesses with mobility needs?
ON One of the things that happens in most organizations, is that the CEO gets on a plane and sits next to somebody who shows his latest toys. The CEO then comes back to the CIO and says, "You know I was talking to this guy, Joe, on the plane, and he showed me the latest mobile tools. Why don't we have that?"
The same problem is caused by the consumerization of IT. There isn't much that people do at home that they don't want to do in the office.
What those of us in IT have to be good at is helping our partners understand why they can or cannot have something "Joe" from the plane has - what Joe has in his organization may not fit very well in our landscape.
To address this issue, I ended up creating an enterprise mobility advisory group to go out and help educate our users and our business partners on mobility. The positive effect of this was that somebody now owns mobility.
Before, everybody owned mobility, because each group has a different set of problems. We put a box around it by deciding to create this cross-functional group, which includes somebody from hardware, somebody from software, a training manager, a user manager, and so on.
Mobility is primarily about the experience the user has. Much of the success of mobile projects lies with training and education. You can have a great piece of hardware and a great app, but if the workforce doesn't know how to use it, it's a waste of time and money.
The mobility advisory group has made a tremendous difference in our organization. Executives now get off the plane after sitting next to Joe and come to us with better questions. They're still inspired by Joe, but they now understand our landscape and can more easily see how the newest toys fit in, or how they don't.

mobileworldlive.com - AT&T is taking on the likes of Square with a new service that enables field technicians or restaurant staff to process user payments using a smartphone or tablet.
Developed in partnership with payment processor Vantiv, pricing starts at $15 per month for the new service which is delivered over the operator's 4G network.
The partners are offering businesses the ability to accept payments in-store or in the field, as well as access to their real-time sales history.
The service also enables businesses to manage inventory across a number of stores, in addition to employee records such as timekeeping.
AT&T and Vantiv said the new services also promise quicker access to funds for businesses.
The services are available as a mobile app for a card reader that can be used to swipe debit or credit cards when attached to a smartphone or tablet, or a cloud-based tablet solution that allows payment processing and access to business data.

mobileworldlive.com - Telefonica is enhancing its Wi-Fi support across multinational and enterprise markets with the launch of a new service dubbed 'Universal Wi-Fi.'
An extension of Telefonica's Managed Mobility portfolio which provides connectivity services for business customers, the new initiative claims to offer a global Wi-Fi network consisting of 1.3 million hotspots in 110 countries thanks to support from partners including iPass, DTAG and Swisscom.
The network should remove complex connectivity processes involved when connecting to Wi-Fi hotspots around the world, according to Telefonica.
Jose Gamo, CEO of the multinationals business within Telefonica Global Solutions, said the network should support the increasing data usage of customers "with an excellent user experience and fixed data costs".
The use of Wi-Fi to carry data for mobile devices is becoming more important as mobile networks struggle to cope with the huge increase in data they are expected to carry.
A report published by the Wireless Broadband Alliance in November said tier one mobile operators believe Wi-Fi offload will provide 22 per cent of all additional data capacity during 2013 and 2014.
Data offload currently accounts for an average of 20 per cent of a mobile operator's data traffic.
Just over half of respondents to the research said they are more confident about investing in Wi-Fi to supplement cellular networks than they were a year ago. This confidence was attributed to an increase in hotspot deployments and more ambitious business plans from some operators.
Of the respondents planning to launch a next-generation hotspot network, data offload was cited as the most pressing driver for investment.
The European Commission recommended in August 2012 that more spectrum be set aside for Wi-Fi to ease pressure on 3G and 4G networks.
Ofcom, the UK telecoms regulator, also warned there will be a growing demand for Wi-Fi capacity with it becoming "increasingly difficult" to find significant amounts of additional spectrum that can be fully cleared for Wi-Fi and mobile broadband.

businessinsider.com - Mobile commerce is exploding. On Black Friday this past year, sales on mobile devices accounted for more than 20% of U.S. e-commerce spending. Traffic from mobile was even bigger, accounting for almost 40% of total online shopping visits that day.
The biggest reason for this huge uptick in mobile commerce is the sheer number of people now equipped with smartphones and tablets. But there are some important ways retailers are also driving and harnessing the mobile commerce boom.
In a recent report from BI Intelligence, we examine the main reasons why mobile commerce is exploding, and analyze the new mobile merchandising trends contributing to this growth.

businessinsider.com - A deal to sell iPhones on China Mobile's vast network is a "watershed" moment,Apple CEO Tim Cook told CNBC on Wednesday.
China Mobile will start selling iPhones in China this Friday. The premium, 16-gigabyte, 5S model will be priced at 5,288 yuan, or about $874, the world's largest mobile company said. The 64-gigabyte 5S will be priced at 6,888 yuan ($1,139) and the 5C model will be priced at 4,488 yuan for the 16-gigabyte model.
A long-awaited deal between Apple and China Mobile was announced last month. Access to China Mobile's network of an estimated 760 million subscribers - the largest in the world - is seen as a crucial next step for Apple.
"This is a watershed day," said Cook, who is in Beijing ahead of Friday's launch. He referred to China Mobile as a great cellphone firm with a "very fast network."
"It's a huge announcement...we're incredibly impressed with them, we have deep respect for them," Cook said. "We see this as bringing the world's best smartphone to the largest and now fastest network in China."
China Mobile said it did not have exact sales estimates for the iPhone. But the firm added that as of January 13, it had received 1.2 million pre-orders or 60,000 per day since December 25.
Shebly Seyrafi, an analyst at FBN Securities predicted after the announcement in December that Apple would sell an incremental 17 million units to China Mobile, on top of the roughly 42 million China Mobile subscribers that already use the iPhone.
The deal with China Mobile means that the iPhone will now be available through all state-run telecom carriers in China, home to the world's biggest population and a growing class of consumers.
The two latest iPhones have been sold by rivals China Unicom and China Telecom since they were launched last year. Both firms have trimmed contract prices for the iPhone to keep existing customers and tempt new ones away from China Mobile, according to media reports.
China Mobile said it was not releasing details of subsidies, which will be released with its annual results in March.
The pricing of the iPhone on China Mobile's network was seen as key since it's likely to impact profitability and potential sales for the two tech heavyweights.
While Apple gets access to China Mobile's vast network of customers, the tech firm also faces stiff competition from the like of Samsungand Lenovo.
Apple shares have risen in recent months each time a report suggested a China Mobile deal was near, only to fall when a deal did not materialize - highlighting the importance of the deal to the U.S. tech firm.
The deal between Apple and China Mobile will not be limited to handsets, but also involve broader co-operation between the two firms, China Mobile Chairman Xi Guohua was quoted saying by the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday.
Apple's shares jumped 3.84 percent a day after the deal was announced on December 22, but has since given up most of those gains. Shares of the China Mobile listed in Hong Kong meanwhile have slipped almost 5 percent.
FBN Securities raised their price target on Apple after December's announcement from $625 to $650 and maintained its "outperform" rating. Another research frim, Trefis, said the deal could add $45 billion to Apple's value if China Mobile is able to lead the race into 3G and 4G network technology in the same way it has dominated 2G.

mobileworldlive.com - Research firm Gartner reckons the Android OS will be shipped in 1.1 billion devices during 2014, a 26 per cent increase from 2013 (see table).
"There is no doubt that there is a volume versus value equation, with Android users also purchasing lower-cost devices compared to Apple users," said Annette Zimmerman, principal analyst at Gartner.
Gartner said Android holds by far the largest number of installed-base devices, with 1.9 billion in use at the beginning of 2014. That compares with the installed base of 682 million for OS/Mac OS devices.
Worldwide, Gartner expects the combined shipment of devices (PCs, tablets, "ultramobiles" and mobile phones) to reach 2.5 billion units in 2014, a 7.6 per cent increase from 2013.
"The device market continues to evolve, with buyers deciding which combination of devices is required to meet their wants and needs," said Ranjit Atwal, research director at Gartner. "Mobile phones are a must have and will continue to grow but at a slower pace, with opportunities moving away from the top-end premium devices to mid-end basic products."
(By 2017, Gartner reckons more than 75 per cent of Android's volumes will come from emerging markets.)
Mobile phones are expected to dominate overall device shipments in 2014, with 1.9 billion shipped in 2014 (a 5 per cent increase from 2013).
The research firm expects so-called ultramobiles, which include tablets, hybrids and clamshells, to take over as the main driver of growth in the devices market from 2014, with a growth rate of 54 per cent.
"Complimentary smaller tablets will take over from the larger tablet form factors, providing the added mobility that consumers desire at a lower cost and will compete with hybrids for consumer attention," added Atwal.

mobileworldlive.com - A new study by market research firm Parks Associates found that over 40 million consumers in the US, or 20 per cent of all smartphone owners, used at least one mobile wallet app in 2013.
The report said usage would increase to nearly 113 million, or 43 per cent of all smartphone users, by 2017.
The firm's definition of wallet app covers both proximity payments in locations such as shops or restaurants, as well as payments on e-commerce sites.
"After years in development, the mobile wallet market is making progress towards viability," said Jennifer Kent, senior analyst, Parks Associates.
"Mobile wallet apps exist at the intersection of marketing and payment, and because of this unique position, they are valuable and insightful tools for merchants and advertisers," she added.
"Previously, market watchers used the success or failure of NFC as a barometer for the potential of the mobile wallet market, but barcode-based apps, not NFC, dominate current in-person use," Kent said.
Among proximity payments, the firm lists barcode-based apps ahead of both tab-based apps (such as Square Wallet) and NFC-based services (such as Google Wallet).
"With the rise of barcode, cloud, and Bluetooth-based wallets, the mobile wallet market no longer depends so exclusively on one technology. This diversification, while messy for the consumer, will help developers and industry stakeholders hone in on the best value propositions for both consumers and merchants," said Kent.

businessinsider.com - Mobile advertising has carved out a significant share of advertising revenues faster than many expected. But until recently, increased spending had not made the mobile ad ecosystem any less complex.
A wave of deals is starting to change that. Partnerships and acquisitions are beginning to streamline the industry. Mobile ad companies are all beginning to resemble one another: Ad networks, ad exchanges, real-time bidding platforms, and many other self-styled mobile ad "solutions," as big players are gobbling up smaller, more specialized players. The last companies standing will be those with the best data, the best and most varied targeting technologies, and access to the most premium sites and apps.
In a new report from BI Intelligence, we cut through the noise, identify the most meaningful shifts in the mobile ad landscape, discuss the biggest M&A deals, and demystify the actual role played by the different entities and technologies, explaining each player's strengths and weakness. We also look at how the rise of programmatic buying will affect buyers and sellers across the mobile landscape.

businessinsider.com - LG's curved smartphone, the G Flex, is here on display at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
The 6-inch G Flex is LG's first-ever curved screen phone. It runs on Android and has a special plastic backing that can heal itself from scratches.
The G Flex is already available in some markets overseas, but LG just recently announced that the phone will launch on AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile during the first quarter of this year.
It hasn't yet announced the price, but it likely won't be cheap, as the global edition of the phone sells for about $940 off-contract. The iPhone 5S, on the other hand, starts at $649 off-contract.

businessinsider.com - Samsung will launch its next flagship Android phone, the Galaxy S5, by the end of April, according executive vice president Lee Young Hee in an interview with Bloomberg.
Hee also said Samsung will launch a new version of its Galaxy Gear smart watch with a slimmer design along with the Galaxy S5.
As far as features go, Hee said the Samsung might add an iris sensor, which would unlock the phone by scanning your eyes. Last year, Apple put a fingerprint sensor in its new iPhone 5S that lets you unlock the phone without a passcode.
It's not the first time we've heard about the iris scanner. Early rumors about the Galaxy S5 said the phone would have both a fingerprint and iris scanner. There's also a chance Samsung will release a high-end and low-end version of the phone. The high-end model could have a metal casing while the low-end will still use plastic like all other Samsung's phones. Critics have not been fans of Samsung's use of plastic in its high-end devices. Rivals HTC and Apple make their flagship phones out of metal.
The Galaxy Gear smart watch could use a refresh too, even though it's only been out for a few months. The device launched to poor reviews because of its limited capabilities, poor battery life, and bulky design. Still, Samsung says it has shipped at least 800,000 units. It's unclear how many it has sold to customers.

businessinsider.com - The most memorable AT&T story from this week's CES technology conference might be when it kicked out T-Mobile's colorful CEO John Legere from its party. But an announcement from earlier in the week has the potential to be industry-changing.
AT&T announced a Sponsored Data plan that will allow brands to subsidize user data so that streaming their content would not cut into monthly data allotments. It will likely be available by the end of the first quarter of this year.
Here's a hypothetical example: Netflix signs onto this plan. A user subscribed to the Sponsored Data plan will be able to watch all the shows and movies he wants on his phone without it counting against his monthly data.
The sponsored content will be signified by an icon, and subscribers will have a list of Sponsored Data content on their monthly bill, according to CNET.
Data is expensive. AT&T currently offers a mobile data plan for smartphones that charges $55 per month for 2 GB of data. That barely gets an hour of HD video streaming.
AT&T, which has said data caps are now necessary for the size of it network, likened its subsidized program to toll-free 1-800 numbers.
United Health Group, app development platform provider Kony Solutions, and the startup Aquto are the first companies who have signed on.
AT&T states that the payment plan will provide a compelling option for users stressed out by their data limitations. Its critics say that despite its allure, it will end up upsetting the entire mobile market.
The Verge's Nilay Patel sees it as a threat to fair competition, and one that will not benefit the consumer in the long-run:
...if sponsored data becomes a de facto cost of business in the exploding mobile market, those costs will just get passed right back to customers. That "free" $4.99 "Elysium" rental will just end up costing $5.99...
The digital rights group Public Knowledge is also against it. Its acting co-president Michael Weinberg told Adweek:
In addition to being a ripoff for both consumers and content creators, AT&T's plan erects a massive barrier in front of anyone hoping to be the next big thing online.
And these fears may have merit. The FCC wants to see how it will play out, and will monitor the new service to see if it creates an anticompetitive marketplace and interferes with access to the Internet.
"Make no mistake, we're ready to intervene," said FCC chairman Tom Wheeler at CES.
FCC commissioner Ajit Pai added, however, that it would be imprudent for his organization to dismiss a business model before it even went into practice.
Keep in mind that the FCC chose to exempt wireless broadband from its net neutrality regulations in 2010, which prevented broadband providers from discriminating between different content providers.

international.to - The global smartphones market is growing at a brisk pace, already accounting for 14% of the global mobile phone market. This high growth has been backed by rapid technology developments such as high-speed internet browsing, sophisticated personal and professional data management, and the evolution of 3G and 4G network technologies.
According to a new market research report, 'World Mobile phone & Smartphone Market (2010 - 2015)', published by MarketsandMarkets, the total global mobile handset market is expected to reach US$341.4 billion by 2015 while smartphone sales will account for 75.8% of the overall mobile handset revenue at US$258.9 billion in the same year. Apple is expected to lead the growth till 2015 commanding largest share of the overall mobile handset revenue with 25.8% market share while Nokia will be at the second place with 21% market share. The global smartphone market is expected to register higher CAGR (24.9%) as compared to overall mobile handset market (14.7%) during 2010 and 2015.
Browse over 108 market data tables and in-depth TOC on Mobile Phone & Smartphone Market.
Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report.
After facing a dip of 6.1% revenue-wise and 2.8% shipment-wise in 2009, the global mobile handset market has come back strongly to register 12.2% growth in terms of revenue and 11.8% shipment growth in 2010. There were 1,278 million mobile handsets shipped which worth US$172.2 billion in 2010. The growth in mobile handset market was enabled by increased consumer interest in high end smartphone, reduction of smartphone prices, improved network coverage along with introduction of key technologies including 3G and expected 4G roll outs in emerging markets and aggressive expansion plans on the part of key suppliers.
The global smartphone market registered growth at a brisk pace, accounting for 22% of the global mobile handset sales in 2010. This high growth has been backed by rapid technology developments such as high-speed internet browsing, sophisticated personal and professional data management, and the evolution of 3G and 4G network technologies. The Asian region, especially, India and China have emerged as smartphone hotspot with the continuous development of cellular markets and the increasing 3G penetrations and expenditure on consumer electronics across the region. In relatively saturated markets, such as the North America and Europe, operator's subsidies and carrier wars has been fuelling the growth of the smartphone market in the region. The global smartphone market is estimated to reach $258.9 billion in 2015 from about $85.1 billion in 2010.
Global Smartphone market was one of the very few markets which remained insulated during the economic recession. The smartphone market cornered annual growth rate of 29.5% in 2009 over 2008 which further increased to 59.3% in 2010 over 2009 to reach $85.1 billion.
The global smartphone device market is generally classified into business smartphone and consumer smartphone; consumer is the larger and fastest-growing market, accounting for approximately 3/4th of the global smartphone revenue. However, the business smartphone segment is expected to be the dominating one in the future particularly due to the increasing traction of mobility among enterprises. In terms of interface touchscreen has emerged as the preferred one, representing 39.6% of global shipments, followed by keypad input type with a 31.2% share.
Each sub-segment of the global Smartphone market is calculated for the four geographical regions of North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and ROW. Europe is leading the market in 2010 with a 33.8% shipment share; Asia-Pacific is expected to closely follow the European market in near future with large mobile subscriber base in Chinese and Indian markets and high smartphone adoption rates. The Asia-Pacific smartphone market shipment stood at 87.8 million in 2010 which is expected to reach 294.1 million in 2015 growing at a CAGR of 27.3% during 2010 - 2015.
Market participants' strategies vary by geography due to differing method of payments, subsidies, and levels of competition among vendors and operators. Players in prepaid subscriber market (and without handset subsidies) are focusing on promoting value-added services and subsidized data plans. In competitive post-paid subscribers markets (with handset subsidies), players are offering attractive unlimited data plans and a large variety of smartphone models with exclusive distribution strategies.

infoworld.com - Take a step back from your iPad, iPhone, Galaxy, or whatever for a moment. What you hold in your hand today should undergo serious improvements in 2014, given the groundwork laid in 2013. For some people, taking advantage of those improvements will mean getting new devices, but many current device owners -- especially those who bought Apple's latest models -- will access them in what they already own.
1. 64-bit apps
iOS 7 debuted with the 64-bit Apple A7 processor in the iPhone 5s, iPad Air, and iPad Mini with Retina display. Apple's Xcode 5 IDE allows creation of 64-bit apps from existing code, so the iOS world will see 64-bit apps become common in 2014. As with the transition to 64-bit apps in Mac OS X Snow Leopard, most apps won't really take advantage of the greater processing and memory capabilities in their first 64-bit versions, both because developers won't have figured out how to get the maximum effect in the first go-round, and because they won't want the 32-bit versions of their apps used on older devices to be radically inferior until enough of the market has 64-bit devices.
After Apple debuted the A7 in September, several Android smartphone makers said they too would ship 64-bit devices, likely using a recent ARM reference design. But that won't do much for them until Google has a 64-bit version of Android to run on it. Expect that in the second half of 2014, giving iOS nearly a year's lead time in 64-bitness.
2. Spatial sensitivity
Motorola Mobility debuted its X8 motion coprocessor in the Moto X this year, and Apple followed up with its own M8 motion coprocessor in the iPhone 5s, iPad Air, and Retina iPad Mini. You won't find these coprocessors in a PC, which tend not to be used in motion or with devices that move. But smartphones and tablets are used on the go and for items in motion, such as fitness monitors and navigation devices.
A motion coprocessor will make it easier for mobile devices to incorporate tracking of their own motion as well as that of peripherals into their computing. Using a coprocessor means there's less drag on (and power usage from) the main processor, so apps that use spatial sensitivty derived from motion can run all day -- even when the device is asleep. If you use GPS on your mobile device and see how it burns through your battery in minutes, you know avoiding that drainage is critical to making it a capability you'll leave turned on.
As motion processing is built into more devices, apps and peripherals that can take imaginative use of them will proliferate -- it's not just for runners and those trying to lose weight. Again, the iOS world will have a good year's lead time on this technology because motion processing is now standard in all new Apple devices, whereas only Motorola and parent company Google have it (so far) in the Android world.
3. Beacons
They're in your neighborhood Apple Store, and they're coming to sports stadia, shopping malls, and perhaps downtowns. These little devices use Bluetooth to communicate with your mobile device and a Wi-Fi or Ethernet connection to connect to the Internet, serving as an information waystation. That may sound like just a Wi-Fi access point, but it's not -- in fact, beacons aren't access points at all.
Instead, they're location-specific points of contact. That means they serve a small area -- Bluetooth's roughly 30-foot range -- to provide custom interaction related to that specific area. For example, a walking tour, zoo, or museum could use them to know what you're looking at and provide links to relevant details or to play an audio or video for that tour segment. A stadium could use them to know where you are so that the food you ordered gets to you faster or to tell you the nearest restroom's location. A store's online help or inventory system would know what department you're shopping in.
Beacons don't require interaction, of course -- they can simply record the Bluetooth network addresses of devices that come in range to build a model of foot traffic, where people tend to linger, and so on, all of which would be of great interest to retailers, urban planners, and police. But the interesting applications for individual users will involve websites and apps that interact with beacons to know where you are, then customize content and services accordingly. There's a lot of potential for innovation with beacons, as well as potential for marketing and other privacy abuses.

mumbaimirror.com - A look at the telecom market for this year - some rumours, hard truths and gadgets to watch out for... vThere's going to be one buzzword in 2014 and you better get ready for it: 4G. The major telecom operators are expected to start rolling out 4G services in the country, giving a boost to mobile internet usage. 4G, or fourth generation mobile telecommunications standards, raise the bar on internet speeds on mobile phones.
There's going to be a lot of jargon thrown around once the tech starts rolling out, like TD LTE, FD LTE, LTE Advanced, IPv6 support, etc. But most of it is not going to affect you, the end consumer, in how you use a mobile phone so don't bother too much with that. Where it will matter is in compatibility and the only jargon you need to remember is this: TD-LTE in 2300MHz.
The bad news about 4G is that most of the current line-up of phones will not work with it. Different countries use a different frequency for 4G and India has decided to go with the 2.3GHz band, so you will need phones that have an antenna for it. You will almost certainly have to buy a new device, unless your handset already supports TD-LTE in 2300MHz - in our knowledge, only the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c support that in India at the moment.
Airtel has already started testing its 4G technology in select cities like Kolkata and Pune, and has planned a wider rollout in 2014. But the major player to step into the market is Reliance Jio Infocomm, which is the only firm with a pan-India license for 4G.
Of course, smartphones will not be the only thing that lets you access 4G. In fact, carriers are making a push through USB dongles and Mi-Fi hotspot devices, which will give affordable 4G access.
The prices of 4G tariff will not be too different from what 3G was, starting at Rs 450 for 2GB of data.
Of course, with 4G rolling out, you will get a bunch of new smartphones that come with 4G antennas from all the major mobile manufacturers in India. Expect the first lot of these to be 4G-compatible iterations of current handsets.
The next year will also see flexible phones coming to India, with the LG G Flex announced to hit here in February. Samsung has also globally announced its Galaxy Round, although there's no official word on when it'll hit India.
There's also movement on the lowcost Android market, as smartphones with quad-core processors come closer to the Rs 5,000 mark. In 2013, companies like Micromax and Lava introduced high-spec phones for extremely low prices, and the trend will continue in 2014 as prices fall further.
Recently, there have also been reports that Nokia, which was bought by Microsoft a few months ago, is looking at launching a phone with a forked version of Android - which means it would be a custom operating system that lets you install Android apps on it. But remember, it's just a rumour, so don't get your hopes up for it.
Finally, 2014 should see a lot of movement on accessories that pair with your mobile phones, whether it is smartwatches, smart glasses or anything else.
There are already quite a few of those out, but with these wearable gadgets gaining traction, the next year might just see them become more ubiquitous.
And in the coming year, expect a bigger push on gaming accessories on the mobile front, whether it's gamepads for your phone, custom cases and docks that introduce controllers, or the ability to play on your tablet and stream it to your TV.

fiercemobileit.com - Samsung is the top vendor when it comes to enterprise smartphone offerings, edging out Apple for the honor, says ABI Research.
ABI ranked nine smartphone vendors based on 18 enterprise-friendly criteria, including workspace management solutions, partnerships and business customer adoption.
Samsung beat out Apple by less than a single point because it has a large and diversified partner network and it was the first Android vendor to provide an integrated enterprise solution. In addition, Samsung performed well in terms of innovation and security, notes ABI.
Apple scored big based on popularity--its iPhone is the most activated device within enterprise mobility management/mobile device management platforms, explains ABI.
Surprisingly, BlackBerry is hanging tough, edging out Nokia for the third spot, despite its financial troubles and decision to throttle back on smartphone production. BlackBerry impressed ABI researchers with its innovation and world-class enterprise security provided by its BES platform. ABI boldly predicts that BlackBerry will regain market share and improve its ranking. With fresh capital from Microsoft, Nokia is expected to gain market share as well.
"There are two sets of OEM battles that need to be watched closely: Apple and Samsung and Nokia and BlackBerry. Apple and Samsung are quite interesting considering Apple's smartphone innovations drove its lead in the enterprise over Samsung. But Samsung has learned quickly and has stolen the innovator role from Apple," comments ABI senior analyst Jason McNicol.
"With the maturing of the smartphone market, we expect OEMs to increasingly broaden their enterprise offerings. The result is that the rankings earned by Samsung, Apple, and BlackBerry will both shift and be challenged as enterprise becomes more reliant on mobile devices, apps, and services," adds ABI practice director Dan Shey.

smallbusiness.foxbusiness.com - Small business owners, get ready. In 2014, new mobile gear will help you connect with customers, sell your product and stay productive wherever you are. In other words, these four burgeoning mobile technologies are primed to change how you do business in the new year.
Phablets
If you don't already own a megasized smartphone/tablet hybrid - often called phablets - you might by the end of 2014. Over the past two years, smartphones have been getting bigger and bigger. In 2013, phablets, such as the 5.7-inch Galaxy Note 3, saw huge success, and scores of huge smartphones are set to debut next year. Business users in particular can benefit from the extra screen real estate afforded on a phablet. Their big displays are more comfortable for Web browsing, compared with the cramped screens on smaller devices. And they offer the space business users need to view or edit documents and spreadsheets on their smartphone. In other words, owning a phablet means you can do real work on your phone.
True mobile multitasking
Mobile operating systems such as Android and iOS were designed to display one app on-screen at once. Real mobile multitasking, however, requires the ability to view two or more apps at the same time. This year saw the debut of the productivity-boosting feature on Android phones from makers such as Samsung and LG. The rise of large phablets have made it more practical to work in multiple windows at the same time on your phone, but the feature is also available on more modestly sized handsets like the 4.9-inch Samsung Galaxy S4. Meanwhile, the proliferation of Windows 8 tablets has helped bring true mobile multitasking to larger slates. That's a plus for the mobile business user who wants to check their email while browsing the Web, for example. Expect more devices to ship with side-by-side multitasking this year.
Smartwatches
The first big smartwatches launched in 2013, but 2014 could be the year they hit the mainstream. A string of wrist-ready devices launched this fall, and heavy hitters, including Google and Apple, are rumored to be readying smartwatches for release in 2014.The wearable gadgets aren't just a novelty; they could have major benefits for business users. The existing models pair with your smartphone, then scan your accounts to notify you of incoming email, text messages, calendar events and more. That means business users are less likely to miss an important email, phone call or meeting because the notifications are right on your wrist. Some models feature a built-in microphone to let users dictate notes or perform hands-free searches on the fly.
Tablet/laptop hybrids
It's the return of the netbook. Tablets that pair with keyboard accessories aren't new, but they are becoming more popular. More importantly for business users, 2013 was the year when tablets finally became powerful enough to replace your laptop for real work. Powerful slates such Microsoft's Surface Pro 2 actually have more in common with Ultrabooks than most tablets. Not only that, but the rise of Windows 8 tablets means business users finally have access to a desktop operating system on a tablet - the same operating system they probably use in the office every day. Meanwhile, tablet hybrids such as the ASUS Transformer Book T100 prove you don't have to break the bank to get a keyboard-equipped, business-ready tablet. Expect more of the same in 2014.

smallbusiness.foxbusiness.com - Enterprise mobility projects will increase domination of the global IT agenda in 2014-and beyond, according to a recent survey from the Enterprise Mobility Exchange. The accompanying report, "The Global State of Enterprise Mobility: A Look to the Past, Present and Future," provides a comprehensive perspective of enterprise mobility, including best practices for acquisition and implementation, which we've included here. Ultimately, with the appropriate buy-in from stakeholders, many CIOs will get approval to make greater investments in applications, devices and mobile device management (MDM). At the same time, however, CIOs and their IT teams must work closely with users to ensure they can get the most out of bring your own device (BYOD) products and apps, while not increasing security risks. (CIOs should also take similar, proactive steps in partnering with third parties who are introduced into the mobile-enterprise landscape.) More than 150 mobile professionals, including IT purchase decision-makers, project managers and solution providers, participated in the research.

mobileworldlive.com - Ambitious Chinese smartphone vendor Lenovo unveiled its first LTE smartphone, called Vibe Z, as part of a wider portfolio refresh designed to "complement Lenovo's existing portfolio of phones ranging from feature phones to premium smartphones across multiple price points".
Vibe Z (pictured) is a "razor thin" (7.9mm) device with 5.5-inch full HD display and 400 pixel-per-inch density. It is powered by a 2.2GHz quadcore Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, and runs Android 4.3.
Other features include a 13MP main camera with f1.8 aperture lens "to defy low light situations", 16GB of onboard storage, and Lenovo-specific software supporting motion and gestures for better one-handed usage on large-screen devices.
Pricing for Vibe Z "starts at $549" and the device will be available from next month in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Philippines.
Also unveiled by the vendor were two devices in its 'S Series' line, which share many common features including "the Vibe Z's silver body and laser-etched fabric-fee rear cover".
The larger devices, S930, has a 6-inch HD (720p) touchscreen, and is said to "perfectly satisfy the most voracious of media mavens with its high definition and audio enhanced movie and gaming experience", while the smaller 4.7-inch screen S650 device is described as "a powerful pocket-sized media device".
Both smartphones are powered by a 1.3GHz quadcore MediaTek processor, run Android 4.2, include 8MP main cameras, and will be available with dual-SIM support.
The S930 also includes twin speakers and Dolby Digital Plus audio.
Pricing for the S Series devices starts at $319 for the S930 and $229 for the S650, and they are available now "in countries where Lenovo smartphones are sold".
Finally, the company unveiled its A859, which it said is "a high-performance Android smartphone with a crisp 5-inch HD (720p) display and ultra-wide 178-degree viewing angle making it perfect for watching videos on the go".
The device is powered by a 1.3GHz quadcore MediaTek processor, 8MP main camera, and 8GB of storage. It will be available with dual-SIM support.
Pricing for this smartphone starts at $219, with immediate availability.

mobileworldlive.com - Telefonica, under pressure to loosen its grip on Brazil's mobile market, is reportedly hatching a plan to sell TIM Participacoes to rivals.
According to Il Sole 24 Ore, quoting unnamed but "reliable sources", Telefonica is close to setting up a financial vehicle to split up TIM Participacoes, the second-largest mobile operator in Brazil, and sell it to Claro (owned by Carlos Slim's America Movil) and Oi.
The deal, should it go through, will necessarily involve the break-up of TIM Brasil. TIM Brasil, owned by a Telecom Italia holding company, controls TIM Participacoes.
According to Reuters' reading of the Il Sole 24 Ore report, Telefonica is looking to set up the investment vehicle with Claro and Oi.
The complicated manoeuvring follows last month's decision by Cade, Brazil's antitrust watchdog, that Telefonica must either exit its stakeholdings in TIM Brasil or get a new partner for its Vivo mobile subsidiary.
The Spanish and Latin American giant irked Cade by breaking a 2010 agreement not to raise its stake in Telecom Italia (TIM Brasil's parent company).
By increasing its stake in Telco, which owns 22.4 per cent equity in Telecom Italia, Telefonica gained effective control of the Italian incumbent.
And given Telefonica also wholly-owns Vivo, Brazil's largest mobile operator in terms of subscribers, it claims more than half the country's mobile market when taking into account its direct and indirect stakes in TIM Brasil.
A TIM sale should therefore placate Brazil's regulator.
Although shares in Telecom Italia rose after the report by the Italian newspaper, the country's incumbent has insisted in the past it would be unwilling to sell and that the Brazilian operator was a strategic asset.
It is a position Telecom Italia repeated in a statement today (3 January), quoted by Reuters, in which the Italian incumbent added it was not aware that any offer had been made for its unit in Brazil.
Other details to emerge from the Il Sole 24 Ore report, cited by Reuters, is that investment bank Pactual is said to be working on the deal.
The financial vehicle, adds the paper, could also receive financing from state-owned banks to promote consolidation in the sector.
An offer for TIM Brasil could be ready before the end of the month, reveal Il Sole 24 Ore sources.
The Telefonica board may meet as early as next Monday (6 January) to discuss the matter.

businessinsider.com - At Business Insider Intelligence, we produced over 340 charts and accompanying datasets this year that dug into all sorts of mobile industry topics, including the smartphone and tablet markets, wearables, mobile advertising, mobile commerce, and the world of apps and app stores.
Here's a slideshow of the charts that our thousands of individual and corporate subscribers across tech, digital media, finance, and telecoms considered the most important in 2013, as judged by our analytics that tell us which of our daily charts the greatest number of subscribers opened and read. You can click the link at the bottom of this post to view the slideshow, or click to view as one page to the right.

businessinsider.com - It's no longer a question of when and how mobile will emerge as a payments platform.
The habit of paying for things on smartphones and tablets is already ingrained in modern consumer society, particularly among young demographics. In the same way digital payments companies like PayPal helped usher in the PC-based e-commerce explosion, mobile-focused companies are exploring how to make these transactions easier, for shoppers and merchants, at physical stores and online.
In a recent report from BI Intelligence, we put numbers to the trends and explain why mobile transaction volume is growing so explosively. A significant portion of card-powered e-commerce transactions take place on tablet or smartphone devices. Tablets and smartphones are also powering card-based transactions at physical stores through apps, scannable QR codes, and attachable card readers that transform devices into cash registers.

businessinsider.com - It's no longer a question of when and how mobile will emerge as a payments platform.
The habit of paying for things on smartphones and tablets is already ingrained in modern consumer society, particularly among young demographics. In the same way digital payments companies like PayPal helped usher in the PC-based e-commerce explosion, mobile-focused companies are exploring how to make these transactions easier, for shoppers and merchants, at physical stores and online.
In a recent report from BI Intelligence, we put numbers to the trends and explain why mobile transaction volume is growing so explosively. A significant portion of card-powered e-commerce transactions take place on tablet or smartphone devices. Tablets and smartphones are also powering card-based transactions at physical stores through apps, scannable QR codes, and attachable card readers that transform devices into cash registers.