aninews.in - Washington, Feb.2 (ANI): Payments made via mobile devices have reportedly increased by 55 percent over last year, amounting to19.5 percent of all transactions processed worldwide in December by Amsterdam's Adyen.
While payments made by mobile phones were mainly from smartphones, Apple iPads and iPhones were the most used devices among the lot.
According to the PC World, iPad accounted for 41 percent of mobile transactions during the busy September-December period and Apple iPhone acquired the second place with 31.6 percent of mobile-payment transactions.
Meanwhile, Android smartphones recorded 20 percent and Android tablets at just 6.6 percent, whereas, Microsoft Windows Mobile and BlackBerry devices each accounted for less than 1 percent. (ANI)

marketwatch.com - For the third straight year, Sprint [NYSE:S] has been recognized as having the best phone buyback program among all major U.S. carriers by Compass Intelligence , a market analytics and consulting firm, who released its latest report today, "Buyback and Trade-in Program Market Assessment." The report provides a comprehensive assessment of mobile device trade-in programs and assessed carriers based on program capabilities and customers' experience.
The convenience of Sprint's Buyback program , significant presence in-store and online, as well as its commitment to reclaiming devices earning such accolades as breaking a Guinness World Record , led to the recognition. Sprint continues to highlight the environmental benefits of phone recycling and to raise awareness around the financial benefits of its phone trade-in program, for which customers can receive up to a $300 account credit. To date, Sprint Buyback and the company's other wireless device recycling programs have collected more than 50 million devices.
"Sprint earns the highest ranking among all major U.S. carriers for its mobile phone buyback program due to its creative use of partnerships, promotions and customer messaging," said Kate Pearce, strategist and senior consultant at Compass Intelligence. "The carrier continues to demonstrate leadership in this area and is committed to an eco-focused approach in the way it does business."
"We're honored to be recognized for these efforts," said Darren Beck, director of Sprint's environmental initiatives. "Sprint is committed to providing customers with convenient and rewarding options for recycling their mobile devices. Our buyback program can help customers offset some of the cost of their next device and helps Sprint avoid substantial operating costs by reusing most of the devices we collect. It also helps our communities; reducing electronics in landfills and reducing the resources, energy and emissions required to produce even more new devices."
Compass Intelligence predicts that by the end of 2014, there will be roughly 396 million idle or inactive mobile devices in the U.S. Of those, only about 80 million will be recycled. As wireless devices continue to penetrate the market, carriers are looking to reclaim those devices to extend their value.
Sprint was among the first wireless carriers to establish a phone buyback program in 2001, and has since been the longtime leader in cellphone reclamation - ensuring financial and bottom-line benefits to customers and its business. Today, more than four out of every 10 customers in Sprint retail stores participate in the buyback program. These recycling programs put back more than $100 million in customers' pockets last year alone and to date, have helped create more than $1 billion in cost avoidance for the company.
Offering certified pre-owned phones to customers at a fraction of the price benefits customers and is a successful business model for Sprint. Today nine of every 10 devices that come back through the Sprint Buyback program get reused, not just recycled . The last 10 percent of phones that are "recycled" are separated into parts that can be recycled as raw materials for a surprising number of goods, from jewelry to battery packs to car parts.
As part of its industry-leading Electronics Stewardship Policy , which highlights Sprint's efforts to work with only third-party certified recyclers to achieve their aggressive recycling goals, Sprint aims to collect an average of nine devices for every 10 devices sold by 2017. With Sprint's new Framily plan , customers who choose the upgrade option will help Sprint achieve this goal as customers give back their device should they choose to upgrade every 12 months.
Sprint continues to receive recognition for its leadership in environmental practices. Sprint was recently honored as the most "eco-focused" wireless carrier by Compass Intelligence and has been widely recognized for its environmental commitments to decrease energy use, enable more eco-friendly mobile solutions, and offer industry-leading wireless recycling programs.
Last year, Sprint was the only telecommunications services company named to CDP's S&P 500 Climate Performance Leadership Index (CPLI) , which highlights companies that demonstrate strategies committed to improving their impact on the environment. Sprint was also named for the third consecutive year to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) North America , which tracks the corporate sustainability performance of the top 20 percent of the 600 largest companies by industry in the United States and Canada.

fiercemobileit.com - Mobility is transforming the relationship between the chief information officer and the chief marketing officer, observes Robert Dayton, executive vice president of business analytics and optimization at consulting firm MindStream Analytics.
Dayton cites an IBM survey, which found that CIOs and CMOs are being forced to cooperate in dealing with the changes being brought about by mobile and social technologies, according to a report by Mobile Marketer.
"When IBM had those global events [for CMOs and CIOs], they could not count how many times attendees would come up and say they had finally met the CIO or the CMO in their own company at the event. That social and mobile can bridge this relationship is very powerful. It just has not happened to this degree before," Dayton relates.
CMOs in particular are feeling overwhelmed by the adoption of mobile technology by consumers. "Consumers are now being influenced by their networks that consist of people they know but also people they are never going to meet. Under these circumstances, it is essential that the speed inside a corporation has to change dramatically as they engage with customers in these new ways," Dayton relates.
Consumers are willing to share information but they want personalized and customized communications as a result. But companies have to safeguard that information to retain customer trust. "When you put together mobile and social, security outweighs everything. There is a pronounced impact if we don't build in security from the beginning," Dayton adds.

mobileworldlive.com - The creation of a single telecoms market in Europe moved closer to becoming a reality after the European Parliament's Industry and Research Committee approved the package.
The Telecoms Single Market Package was proposed by the European Commission in September 2013 and includes an end to roaming charges, coordinating spectrum licensing for wireless broadband and provisions to make it easier for consumers to switch service providers.
The next stage for the regulation is a vote in plenary by all MEPs on 3 April.
EU member states are currently discussing the regulation in working groups and the Commission expects final agreement of the regulation to take place by the end of the year.
EU digital commissioner Neelie Kroes, who is driving the regulation, welcomed the news, saying the package was about "ensuring a dynamic, healthy, competitive telecoms sector, fit to face the future".
"It's about arming every European business with the tools and networks they need to innovate and grow. And giving every European citizen the seamless connectivity they have come to demand - without unfair practices like blocked services or roaming charges," she added.
Kroes' rationale for the single telecoms market is that Europe's telecoms and ICT sectors are not as competitive as they once were, as they are hampered by border checkpoints, with the rest of the world "racing ahead".
Last summer, Kroes said a single telecoms market could provide a €110 billion annual boost to the EU economy.
More recently she outlined how the legislation would overhaul how mobile operators enter new markets by replacing 28 different registration requirements with a single point of authorisation and notification in the EU.
Mobile industry association the GSMA recently outlined the key elements it believes are essential in the creation of a single European telecoms market, with modernisation of telecoms regulation, an evolution of Europe's antitrust regulation and a reform of spectrum assets cited as requirements.

mobileworldlive.com - Revenue from mobile data exceeded voice in the US for the first time during the final quarter of 2013, according to research firm Chetan Sharma.
US mobile data service revenue grew 20 per cent year-on-year to reach $24.8 billion in Q4 2013. For 2013 as a whole, mobile data revenue reached $90 billion, with Chetan Sharma expecting the market to be the first to pass $100 billion in 2014.
The US accounted for 22 per cent of all data revenue globally, with closest rivals China and Japan some way behind. The country is the seventh to see data revenue surpass voice after Japan became the first in 2011.
Verizon Wireless and AT&T together took 68 per cent of mobile data service revenue and held 67 per cent of the subscriber base. During 2013, mobile data consumption per capita increased from 690MB to 1.2GB.
In addition, Chetan Sharma found that US operators added more than 12 million subscriptions last year. Verizon Wireless had a 36 per cent share of new subscriptions, followed by the resurgent T-Mobile, with 34 per cent.
The majority (89 per cent) of new subscriptions came from devices that weren't phones, with tablets accounting for 49 per cent of connected devices sold.
Despite this, smartphone penetration reached 66 per cent during the year, with 92 per cent of all phones sold now categorised as smartphones.
Other findings included iOS regaining the top position in terms of smartphone market share, with 49 per cent of devices in the fourth quarter. For 2013 as a whole, iOS and Android were tied on 48 per cent market share each.

gulfnews.com - Dubai: The year 2013 was a disappointing year for personal computer sales in the UAE and 2014 is shaping up to be another bad year due to the strong growth in mobile devices like tablets and smartphones.
Total PC shipments this year is expected to be 1.84 million units compared to 2.04 million units last year, registering a fall of 9.73 per cent.
"The overall market is expected to decline over the next four years. It is the same case for all key markets in the region, including Saudi Arabia, Turkey and South Africa," Fouad R. Charakla, research manager at International Data Corporation (IDC), said in an exclusive to Gulf News.
He said some of the desktop users are shifting to notebooks and notebook users are shifting to tablets, especially in the consumer segment while some users are not upgrading their machines and are instead spending more on smartphones. Smartphones and tablets are providing low-cost alternatives for many users.
"The PC market will be stagnant for the next couple of years but there will still be some business happening in the market. Around 300 million units are expected to be sold globally every year and that is still a sizeable market, said Santosh Varghese, General Manager for Toshiba Gulf.
However, he said that most of the PC business will take place on the notebooks segment but not the traditional notebooks. Form factors like convertibles and ultra-thin notebooks will gain more market share.
4K or ultra-high definition boasts a pixel format of 3840 x 2160 pixels, four times that of current 1920x1080p Full HD displays.
Last year's sales
In 2013, 372,050 units of desktops and 1.66 million notebooks were sold in the UAE. This year, 357,998 units of desktops and 1.48 million notebooks are expected to be sold.
Consumers who used to access Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms with their notebooks are now accessing it through smartphones. They are spending more time on their smartphones, which eventually justifies their increased spending on smartphones.
Fouad said that ultra-slim notebooks, two-in-one devices (tablet-laptop combo) and touch-enabled devices will grow slightly in the consumer segment this year.
In 2018, ultra-slim notebooks will overtake "traditional notebooks."
The share of consumer segment is falling while the share of commercial segment is growing slightly. "More than 25 per cent of the notebooks in the UAE are re-exported," Fouad said.
In the fourth quarter of last year, PC shipments fell eight per cent to 449,675 units compared to 488,642 units during the same period last year. Notebooks fell 10 per cent year on year while desktops remained flat.
The total market value was $304.80 million in the fourth quarter compared to $332.95 million during the same period last year, registering a fall of 8.45 per cent.

marketwatch.com - With mobile Internet traffic predicted to grow 11-fold over the next four years and reach an annual run rate of 190 exabytes by 2018, Cisco CSCO -1.56% today revealed that more than 200 global service providers are now using Cisco(R) carrier-grade Wi-Fi technology to drive new business benefits and enable exciting new experiences for their subscribers.
Service providers are incorporating carrier-grade Wi-Fi into their network infrastructures and are seeing results within their consumer business -- in the form of reduced customer churn and increased mobile data offload -- and across enterprise verticals such as retail, event venues, and stadiums by directly impacting business outcomes.
The vast majority of new business opportunities are centered on the growing trend of "data-in-motion," real-time and near real-time data generated by billions of connections between people, things, objects and processes, which are intrinsic to Wi-Fi mobile networks. According to the Cisco Visual Networking Index (VNI) Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast, by 2018, 52 percent of global mobile traffic will be offloaded onto Wi-Fi and small cell networks, up from 45 percent in 2013.
Highlights/Key Facts Cisco has achieved several milestones to advance its global leadership in Wi-Fi technology. They are:
Global service providers are recognizing the importance of using an intelligent mobile network to deliver new experiences and expand revenue opportunities. Cisco is enabling PT Telkom in Indonesia to deploy 100,000 access points across the country, which is expected to be one of the largest deployments of Wi-Fi access points by a single service provider in Asia. In addition, PT Telkom and Cisco designed, planned and built a high speed, high-density Wi-Fi network for the The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit, a prestigious global meeting of thought-leaders, leaders of industries, countries and economies. Attendees were able to access the network with a single-sign-on (SSO) service set identification (SSID) from any Wi-Fi enabled device across multiple APEC hosting venues, including the airport, convention centers and 51 hotels.
"The APEC Wi-Fi engagement is the embodiment of our great collaboration with Cisco and we look forward to expanding this relationship across the rest of the industries and future events in Indonesia. We have received tremendous positive feedback from the APEC participants including the CEO of Air Asia, the Menteri Negara BUMN Dahlan Iskan, our regional press as well as the President and Director of PT Telkom, Arief Yahya, as you can see from this article on Detik.com," said Pramasaleh Utomo, executive general manager of PT Telkom's Division for Wireless Broadband. "Telkom has subsequently offered similar support for a growing list of high profile events in Bali, including the World Trade Organization event in December 2013 and many more scheduled for 2014."
The broadband cable industry has been at the forefront of Wi-Fi adoption and use. Telecable, a leading quadruple player in Spain, selected the Cisco Service Provider Wi-Fi solution to deploy a robust "core" Wi-Fi network, extending the mobile data service that was previously only available through the cellular network. Telecable will use the Cisco solution to offload data traffic from the cellular network to the Wi-Fi network. This additional capacity will allow Telecable to offer its customers high-speed access over the Asturias, Spain, region and enable a better user experience.
"As a leading cable provider in Asturias, we are committed to further strengthen the capacity and availability of our network through Wi-Fi service adoption to provide innovative services to our customers, who wish to access the Internet, TV, video-on-demand, email, instant messaging and other multimedia applications through high-speed mobile access," said Jesus Perez Iglesias, strategy, products and services managing director, Telecable. "Adopting the Cisco Service Provider Wi-Fi solution with the Cisco Aggregation Services Router 5000 Series enables us to achieve this goal by optimizing the user experience, making a smooth transition from Wi-Fi to LTE and responding to future network demands."
Telecom New Zealand (Telecom NZ) is rolling out the Cisco Service Provider Wi-Fi solution in supermarkets, stadiums, telephone boxes, ski fields and transportation hubs as part of its Ultra Mobile brand initiative. This allows it to keep its customers connected when they are mobile and to attract new customers with the network's superior Wi-Fi speeds using the latest 802.11ac technology. Telecom NZ is also at the forefront of delivering new location-based services and advertising that also allows it to monetize its carrier-grade Wi-Fi network. Telecom NZ chose to collaborate with Cisco because the company offered an end-to-end solution that can be integrated into Telecom NZ's mobile packet core due to Cisco's expertise in delivering location-based services.
"Telecom New Zealand has been rolling out a Wi-Fi network for a little over a year, from trialing an early conceptual business case to growing an important future-oriented product," said Kerry Trevett, head of Wi-Fi, Telecom Digital Ventures, Telecom NZ Ltd. "Cisco Connected Mobile Experiences and location-based service technologies are proving to be important differentiators who can add value for our partners as we move from a solely phone box-based network to one hosted across a variety of mediums. We are currently partnering with site owners to grow our solution into high-demand spaces, and we anticipate using Cisco infrastructure will also enable future integration with our Mobile network."
SONIFI Solutions, a leader in connectivity solutions for the hospitality industry for more than 30 years, sees Wi-Fi as a Trojan horse for the digital guest experience.
"SONIFI Solutions is excited about our collaboration with Cisco in making it easier for our key hospitality partners to simplify the complexity of providing a consistently connected guest entertainment experience in 1.4 million rooms," said Janis Nakano Spivack, senior vice president of product and consumer marketing, SONIFI Solutions. "SONIFI and Cisco will continue to deliver increasingly flexible, customizable and intelligent solutions as the demands for mobility among the 461.5 million travelers we reach increases exponentially."

citeworld.com - At Mobile World Congress last month, Samsung announced the second iteration of its KNOX security platform for Android, which it plans to ship in the coming months. The release will include a range of new security features and updated enterprise mobility management capabilities. Despite the delays of Samsung's initial rollout last year, there remains an intense interest in the platform on the part of IT and security professionals and there is much in KNOX 2.0 to like from a security and management point of view.
The announcement coincided with Apple's release of a range of IT-oriented resources about iOS, tweaks to the company's app licensing system, and a much more streamlined process for deploying highly managed iOS devices to enterprise users. The moves make it clear that Apple is adapting to the needs of enterprise IT and that it will not give up ground in enterprise mobility without a fight.
The big difference: Containerization
The biggest difference between KNOX and iOS is the approach taken to separate corporate and personal data. From the outset, Samsung designed the KNOX container to be a separate and highly managed environment. This approach not only secures work-related apps and content, it creates a user experience in which work and personal use is clearly defined as separate.
Apple's managed app approach, which includes the ability to set basic rules about how or if managed (work) and unmanaged (personal) apps can share content with each other, is far less defined. As a result, the user experience remains the same regardless of the app type. Apple's system is functional, but it stops short of creating a truly containerized environment unless a third-party containerization solution, such as those from Good, MobileIron, or other vendors. It's worth noting, however, that KNOX relies on EMM solution for activation and management of its secure container and that as part of the KNOX 2.0 announcement, Samsung launched its own cloud-based EMM offering.
It's also worth mentioning that while containerization is often seen as a best-in-class EMM model, it may not be appropriate in some circumstances. One of the themes of last year's CITE Conference was the discussion of when or how to implement containerization or dual-persona devices.
Head-to-head feature comparison
The following are 14 enterprise, IT, or security-focused features and capabilities touted by Samsung or Apple along with how each platform delivers them (or doesn't). This is meant to provide a broad overview of what each platform offers, and is not the result of exhaustive testing. Where both platforms offer a similar but not identical feature, this article does not attempt to judge which approach is better.
EMM costs -- Activation and management of KNOX requires requires a KNOX-specific license fee on top of the license fee charged by an EMM vendor. iOS and non-KNOX Android device management doesn't incur this fee, potentially making KNOX management more expensive. Advantage iOS.
Upgrade processes -- OS upgrades or updates for KNOX devices relies on the standard Android release process, meaning that mobile carriers are part of the upgrade process. As a result, there can be inconsistent release timelines as is the case for Android as a whole. Apple delivers updates directly to users, either over-the-air or through iTunes, and all supported devices can be updated as soon as Apple releases an update. Within three months of its release, 74% of iOS devices had been upgraded to iOS 7. Advantage iOS.
Range of devices supported -- KNOX-capable devices represent a subset of Samsung's mobile product line, which itself is a subset of all Android devices on the market. Even though research shows that about half of Android devices used in enterprise environments are Samsung devices, that means that half of them aren't, and the security and EMM capabilities of them can vary. In contrast, all iOS devices are made by Apple and offer the same set of EMM functionality. Advantage iOS.
Support for older devices -- The Galaxy S III, introduced less than two years ago, is the oldest Samsung device to support KNOX. By contrast iOS 7 is supported on devices as old as the iPhone 4, which was released in 2010, making its security and management capabilities available to a wider range of older devices. Advantage iOS.
Biometric or two-factor authentication -- Both the iPhone 5s, which shipped last fall, and the Galaxy S5, which Samsung announced last month but has yet to ship, include fingerprint scanners. Apple has kept the focus of the scanner and its Touch ID feature very narrow by allowing it only to serve as a proxy or shortcut to a user's passcode when unlocking a device or making iTunes/App purchases. Samsung plans a much broader implementation including two-factor authentication that uses both a fingerprint scan as well as a passcode. Advantage KNOX.
Multiple APN support -- KNOX 2.0 will include support for multiple APN settings for a single device. This means that a device can be associated with more than one wireless carrier account, allowing a single device to have separate billing for business and personal usage. iOS offers no such feature. Advantage KNOX.
Granular EMM policies -- Although Apple has expanded the range of device management policies since it launched MDM support in iOS 4, those policy options are typically broad device feature or app restrictions. Incorporating Samsung's SAFE program, KNOX delivers 300+ granular policy options. Advantage KNOX.
Secure Boot -- Both KNOX and iOS include a secure or trusted boot process that verifies the integrity of the OS at startup and that will prevent a device from starting up if the OS has been compromised. Even.
Ease of enrollment/management -- Both KNOX and iOS can be enrolled in mobile device management solutions from a wide range of vendors. The enrollment process can be accomplished by IT or by end users (including BYOD users). Apple recently began to offer a program that can pre-enroll devices purchased by an organization, while Samsung has announced its own EMM platform for managing KNOX devices. Even.
Per-app VPN -- Both platforms offer the ability to create per-app VPN connections, which increases privacy during personal use, decreases the load on an organization's VPN service, and typically delivers increased connection speed to non-VPN apps. Use of this feature requires a supported VPN solution. Even.
Secure key storage and certificate management -- Both platforms implement protected storage and secure management of cryptographic keys and both offer enterprise certificate management capabilities. Even.
Enterprise single sign-on -- Both KNOX 2.0 and iOS 7 support integration with enterprise identity systems like Active Directory for single sign-on, allowing users to access enterprise resources, websites, and apps without the need to enter a username and password at each access. Even.
Secure app data automatically -- Both platforms incorporate technology designed to ensure that app data is stored in a secure or encrypted form even if an app hasn't been designed to do so. Even.
Runtime security -- Both KNOX 2.0 and iOS 7 include runtime security components that maintain the integrity of their operating environment. KNOX uses real-time monitoring to achieve this functionality while iOS 7 employs a series of technologies including code signing and app sandboxing. Even.
Additional details about the underpinnings and security/management features of KNOX and iOS 7 can be found on Samsung's KNOX website and Apple's iOS 7 for business site as well as in Samsung's recent KNOX white paper and Apple's iOS Security guide, both of which were released late last month.

digitaljournal.com - Mobile networks around the globe, generate more than 50 Exabytes of traffic annually. The immense volume of traffic together with the growing adoption of open source Operating System (OS) platforms such as Android has opened up new security threats. Mobile malware, SMS spam, cyber attacks and unlawful eavesdropping are an ever-increasing problem for enterprises, consumers and mobile network operators around the globe.
This has in turn led to significant investments in integrated security appliances and content security gateways by both enterprises and mobile network operators, besides opening doors for emerging submarkets such as mobile Security as a Service (SEaaS).
On the devices front, installation of Anti-Malware/Anti-Virus client software is fast becoming a de-facto requirement for most smartphones and tablets. Furthermore, mobile device OEMs are also integrating advanced biometrics such as fingerprint sensing into their smartphones and tablets, amid growing popularity of security sensitive opportunities such as mobile payments.
Driven by the thriving ecosystem, the research estimates that mobile device and network security investments will account for nearly $9 Billion in 2013 alone. The market is further expected to grow at a CAGR of nearly 21% over the next 7 years.

ecumenicalnews.com - Google Inc.'s platform Android is the operating system for the majority of smartphones, taking ownership of the market share by 51.7 percent, an article in The State Column reports.
A recent study by comScore Inc. revealed a surprising result. The study, which ran from November 2013 to January 2014, aimed to rank the big players in the mobile device area in terms of market share. It presented Apple Inc. as the ruler in the actual smartphone sphere, while Google's Android is the main player in the OS field.
Operating System
Google currently holds the gold in the operating system race, courtesy of its Android platform which operates a majority of smartphones out there - from Samsung's devices to Motorola and HTC phones.
Apple surprisingly comes tailing Android with its iOS representing a 41.6 percent market share. Unlike Android, that gains prominence by spreading across different smartphones, iOS is exclusively installed on Apple's iPhones and iPads.
Taking more than 90 percent of the mobile OS market, Google and Apple have left a very small portion for other players. Microsoft comes third with the Windows Phone OS, taking a 3.2 percent share. Following close and almost equal to Microsoft is Blackberry OS, which comes in at fourth place with 3.1 percent market share.
Mobile Devices
Collectively, Apple's iPhones gives the company a commanding share of the market with a 41.6 percent share. In contrast its archrival, South Korean phone maker Samsung, had a 26.7 percent share, as per comScore's study. Other phone manufacturers were left far behind by the two giant manufacturers, with LG landing on third place with a 6.9 percent share.
Factors
Critics of the study points out that during the time when study was commenced in November 2013, Apple had released its latest model just two months earlier. However, to those who have been following the mobile computing world closely, Apple's dominance in the smartphone marketplace did not come as a surprise.

cnet.com - T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless have an increasingly complicated relationship.
The two companies are in the middle of closing a deal in which T-Mobile would get valuable wireless spectrum for $3.3 billion, a move that would aid its ability to offer coverage in rural and less populated regions of the country. Yet that isn't stopping T-Mobile from directing its sights at Verizon.
The latest attack: questioning the validity of Verizon's long-running campaign featuring coverage maps of all four carriers (of which Verizon, unsurprisingly, comes out looking far better than its competitors).
"I want to decimate that ad campaign from Verizon," T-Mobile Chief Technology Officer Neville Ray said to CNET in an interview Thursday.
T-Mobile is going about it in two ways. The first, most direct, route is through legal means. The company is arguing that the ads don't accurately reflect the full coverage of T-Mobile's network. By selectively choosing to only highlight LTE coverage, Verizon gives itself an advantage, Ray said. He added that the data, which is taken from T-Mobile's own site, is outdated.
"It's deceptive," he said. "That's the piece we're challenging."
He called the map campaign and focus on LTE markets covered a "deflection tactic," noting that Verizon has had its own issues with LTE coverage even as T-Mobile has laid claim to the nation's fastest LTE network.
To be fair, Verizon's commercials clearly state that the maps are comparing LTE coverage. It's a campaign that's been utilized for a long time as well. The company wouldn't comment directly on the lawsuit.
"We prefer to compete in the marketplace, not in the courts. Our customers know what a true nationwide 4G LTE network experience feels like, map or not," said a Verizon representative.
But Ray argues that the map suggests that those few T-Mobile dots on the map represent all of the carrier's coverage, and excludes its 2G Edge network, as well as its HSPA+ coverage, which T-Mobile considers 4G.
That goes back to the years-long debate about whether HSPA+ is truly 4G or "faux G," although this argument has quieted down recently as everyone has moved to LTE.
Secondly, T-Mobile and Ray hope to combat that map by building out the network. Earlier Thursday, T-Mobile said it would upgrade its slower network by adding 4G LTE on top of its 2G Edge network. In addition, the company will use spectrum it is acquiring from Verizon to expand into new areas that it previously couldn't, because the spectrum it is getting has the ability to stretch over great distances.
Ray wouldn't discuss specific timing for the utilization of the 700MHz Verizon spectrum, but said that handsets compatible with the network will be released in the fourth quarter. He expects T-Mobile to close the deal with Verizon in the second quarter.
As for the 2G upgrade, Ray said he is working on upgrading the backhaul part of the network, or the ground lines connecting cell towers to the core network, with faster fiber-optic lines. T-Mobile also will be swapping out equipment and adding radios that will pick up both the 2G and 4G LTE network.
This is all a move to shore up T-Mobile's biggest weakness: its breadth of coverage. T-Mobile has largely focused on providing coverage in the biggest market, but it remains weak in rural and less populated areas -- parts where Verizon or AT&T do offer service.
"I'm not going to say we're going to fill out that map, but where it matters most to consumers, we're going to take care of it," he said.
T-Mobile has a goal to cover 250 million people by the end of the year, but Ray said he wants to push it to 280 million sometime next year.
"This time next year, we'll be in a far better place," Ray said.

business2community.com - Whether across the seven seas, in the air, or on roadways, every Enterprise Mobility: Shaping The Future Of Transportation And Logistics image 272420 h ergb s gltransportation and logistics operator has something in common - a need for customer-centric services and processes. And it's the ability to execute across these areas that drives profitability. To stay ahead, operators are empowering their workforce and enhancing processes with information. Doing so helps ensure that all parts of the operation are working together harmoniously and delivering more profitable services.
For operators, managing assets - such as locomotives, ships, vehicles, aircraft, and rail track - is an area ripe for improvement. Through better management of spare parts and more effective scheduling of asset maintenance, operators can realize dramatic cost savings.
Another reality is the fluctuating - and even skyrocketing - cost of fuel. Whether the price dramatically rises or plummets, the overall operation is always impacted. This forces operators to focus on process flexibility and delivery of accurate and timely business insight to make informed decisions for containing costs.
And for contract logistics, the ability to tailor and support the warehouse needs of customers requires flexibility and sophisticated process support to deliver advanced services, such as batch management, serialization, and catch weight.
Nevertheless, revenue growth and profit are no longer the only benchmarks for success. Operators also need to stand out in crowded and highly competitive markets. The pace of business is relentless, and today's innovation inevitably becomes tomorrow's status quo.

usatoday.com - Q: Just when I thought I had it all going on with regard to my website, it turns out that I am now supposed to have a mobile version of my site, right? Is this really necessary? I have more important things to spend my time on, don't you agree? -- T.J.
A. I would like to agree, but unfortunately, I cannot. Consider, just for starters, these statistics I recently saw from Visual.ly:
• Mobile search has grown five times in the past two years.
• 52% of all local searches are done on a mobile phone.
• Nine out of 10 mobile searches end in a purchase.
So, no, you cannot ignore your mobile website; indeed, for most small businesses, it needs to become a priority.
Look, we live in a world where mobile is taking over (or has taken over.) More and more, people are using smartphones and tablets as their main access point for the Web, and that means that sites that are not optimized for mobile devices have a problem. If your site is a disorganized mess when someone tries to pull it up on their phone, chances are you are going to lose a potential customer pretty quickly.
Luckily, there a few basic rules that you can follow to make sure that your site is ready for mobile. If you are Web savvy, you can implement these rules on your own site, and if not, be sure to discuss them with your webmaster or whomever it is who is in charge of your site.
Rule No. 1: If it doesn't fit, they will omit (you): This is basic, but vital. One of the worst problems you can have on a mobile site is having information that sits off-screen where nobody can see it. Your mobile site should present the user with everything they need without forcing them to scroll to find what they're looking for.
This is especially true with calls to action. If folks cannot see your call to action, chances are they will leave without doing anything at all.
Rule No 2: Keep it simple: You may want to load your mobile site with gobs of information for your visitor, but don't. On mobile websites, less is more.
Distill your message to its core points, and then highlight those. Utilize white space to make sure your page doesn't seem like a cluttered mess.
Rule No. 3: Consider spacing: In keeping with the previous tip, you also need to consider the fact that most smartphones are touchscreens, and then plan your interface accordingly. Half a dozen drop-down menus may look good on your real site, but on mobile they are just going to frustrate visitors.
In the same vein, if you place buttons too close together, physically navigating your mobile site will be difficult.
Rule No. 4: Be sure it scales: There are a plethora of devices on the market with variety of different screen sizes, and your mobile site needs to scale to fit them all. If you set up your design to only fit one screen size, other users are going to be left either squinting to see your tiny site or confused by the fact that your site is going off the edge of the page.
Rule No. 5: Optimize for speed: Speed can often be an issue when it comes to phones and tablets, and that same Visual.ly survey indicates that five seconds is all you got -- if your site doesn't load by then, people surf on.
Given that mobile users already have to deal with speed issues from bad cell zones, and that Wi-Fi is not readily available in many places, you do want your site to be part of the problem. So work to identify those parts of your site that can be optimized to reduce load times and help ensure that your mobile site is loading as fast as possible.
Given that mobile phones are now how most of us get our digital fix, it would really behoove you to make your business site as mobile friendly as possible.
Today's tip: Ever feel stuck in your business? Most of us do at one time or another. So, what do you do about it? My friend and colleague Barry Moltz might just have the answer. In his great new book How to Get Unstuck, Barry shares 25 ways to get your business unstuck. Check it out.

tech.co - Mobile networks constantly evolve. In the 1980s, when wireless technology began to go mainstream, the 1G (first generation) analog networks supported the bulky, brick-like mobile phones from that era. The 90s saw the introduction of 2G digital networks, when Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) moved mobile phones beyond voice transmission into data and text messaging. Around 2001, third generation (3G) devices appeared, first in Japan, and then in the US, offering the high-speed data transfer and Internet connection used in the earliest smartphones. The first 4G LTE and WiMAX networks appeared in 2011.
Given the natural decade-long development cycle, fifth generation (5G) networks are due around 2021. But South Korea, the world's most enthusiastic adaptor of mobile technology, is pushing the envelope and plans to roll out a 5G network as early as 2017, with full availability by 2020. What does this technological push mean for savvy smartphone users?
What is a 5G Network?
Truthfully, no one really knows at this point because no standards have been formalized. The big players are focused on increasing both coverage and data speeds. Mobile communication occupies a relatively small frequency spectrum, between 600 MHz and 3 GHz, which means that 5G technology needs to improve the efficiency of the usable spectrum. Right now, the most promising advance is multiple input multiple output (MiMo) technology, which uses multiple small antennae to service each individual data stream. Samsung successfully tested advanced MiMo antennae with data speeds at 1 gigabyte per second in May, 2013.
Who Is Developing 5G Networks?
South Korea recently announced a $1.5 billion investment in 5G infrastructure upgrades, and intends to roll out a limited trial network by 2017, with full availability by 2020. South Korea is an ideal testing ground for mobile technology, given its dense, compact geography and mobile phone usage: Nearly 80 percent of the general population - including 97.7 percent of 18-24 year olds - use smartphones. The United States, Japan, and the EU are also testing 5G technology, but South Korea's investment and commitment dwarfs other efforts.
How Fast is 5G Technology?
In Seoul, South Korea, home of the fastest Internet speeds in the world, you can download an 800-megabyte movie in just 40 seconds on their advanced 4G networks. In comparison, if T-Mobile adopted 5G technology in the US, for example, that time would decrease to a jaw-dropping one second for an entire movie download. In addition, 5G networks would allow users to access the Internet even while traveling at speeds of up to 300 miles per hour, almost double current capabilities.
How Much Will 5G Networks Cost?
It's impossible to know yet how 5G technology will affect mobile phone and data rates, but South Korea's Minister of Engineering, Science and Technology estimates that private companies will spend over $300 billion in 5G infrastructure and technology over the coming decade to take 5G worldwide, and competition will be fierce. Data prices have continuously fallen over the past decade, from about 46 cents per megabyte in 2008 to between 2 and 3 cents currently. Industry watchers say that a successful 5G network would provide 50 gigabytes of data per person per month.
What Will Be Different?
Right now, there are no 5G phones and devices to use the new technology, although manufacturers like Samsung, LG, and HTC are experimenting with new designs. No one knows for sure what features a 5G phone or device will have. In addition, companies like Netflix will have to decide whether they want to make their data available at 5G speeds, so there are a lot of variables affecting the future of mobile technology.
While the specifics are unclear, the 5G concept is mind-boggling and complex. Once implemented worldwide, mobile industry experts say the network will have space for over 7 trillion connected devices in the coming decade-and each individual will have at least 10 connections, including smartphones, tablets and smart appliances. The 2G network focused on voice, 3G on data, and 4G on video; the new 5G network will be all about connections.

fiercemobileit.com - Not wanting to cede enterprise momentum to Samsung, Apple recently unveiled a number of new initiatives to expand enterprise use of iOS, including its device enrollment program.
The device enrollment program enables IT to configure devices for mobile device management (MDM) without having to physically interact with them using Apple Configurator.
Apple explains that the device enrollment program enables IT to "streamline the on boarding of institutionally owned devices [and] enroll devices in MDM during activation and skip basic setup steps to get users up and running quickly."
Using the program, IT can install non-removable MDM profiles, which is a "critical requirement" for corporate-owned personally enabled (COPE) devices, explains VDC Research analyst Kathryn Nassberg in a blog.
"In addition to an over-the-air approach that lends itself better to a COPE-style of mobile deployment, Apple has also gained a significant enterprise edge by changing its volume purchase and licensing programs to enable businesses to purchase apps in bulk without the need of a credit card," relates Nassberg.
The program ends the staging and provisioning process, which streamlines the deployment process. It makes MDM device enrollment part of the setup process, easing the enrollment process for employees. "All these create a powerful enterprise advantage, especially when paired with the recent changes to its volume purchase program," she adds.
Ryan Fass with CITE World calls the program "one of the most groundbreaking iOS management additions since Apple introduced MDM support nearly four years ago." He agrees that it is important for enterprises to use the COPE model, as opposed to the BYOD model in which employees owned their devices.
Apple's changes come hot on the heels of Samsung's enterprise-targeted announcements at Mobile World Congress last month. Samsung unveiled its Galaxy S5 with a high rating for dust and water resistance and a beefed up version of its Knox mobile security platform.

english.yonhapnews.co.kr - Stock transactions via mobile devices have continued to rise sharply as more retail investors opted to use their smartphones and tablet PCs for stock trading, the bourse operator said Monday.
Stock trading via mobile gadgets made up for some 25 percent of the total transactions on the country's main bourse last month, compared with 21 percent tallied a year earlier, according to the Korea Exchange (KRX).
Comparable figures for 2012 and 2011 were 14.45 percent and 7.55 percent, the data showed.
The monthly value of mobile device-based trading reached some 13.8 trillion won (US$12.9 billion) last month, the KRX said.
Market watchers said a rise in the use of the mobile trading system mainly came as the number of smartphone users increased sharply over the past few years in South Korea.
In contrast, stock transactions via the home trading system accounted for 74 percent of the total trading last month, down from 78.25 percent a year earlier, the KRX added.

gulfnews.com - Dubai: The year 2013 was a disappointing year for personal computer sales in the UAE and 2014 is shaping up to be another bad year due to the strong growth in mobile devices like tablets and smartphones.
Total PC shipments this year is expected to be 1.84 million units compared to 2.04 million units last year, registering a fall of 9.73 per cent.
"The overall market is expected to decline over the next four years. It is the same case for all key markets in the region, including Saudi Arabia, Turkey and South Africa," Fouad R. Charakla, research manager at International Data Corporation (IDC), said in an exclusive to Gulf News.
He said some of the desktop users are shifting to notebooks and notebook users are shifting to tablets, especially in the consumer segment while some users are not upgrading their machines and are instead spending more on smartphones. Smartphones and tablets are providing low-cost alternatives for many users.
"The PC market will be stagnant for the next couple of years but there will still be some business happening in the market. Around 300 million units are expected to be sold globally every year and that is still a sizeable market, said Santosh Varghese, General Manager for Toshiba Gulf.
However, he said that most of the PC business will take place on the notebooks segment but not the traditional notebooks. Form factors like convertibles and ultra-thin notebooks will gain more market share.
4K or ultra-high definition boasts a pixel format of 3840 x 2160 pixels, four times that of current 1920x1080p Full HD displays.
Last year's sales
In 2013, 372,050 units of desktops and 1.66 million notebooks were sold in the UAE. This year, 357,998 units of desktops and 1.48 million notebooks are expected to be sold.
Consumers who used to access Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms with their notebooks are now accessing it through smartphones. They are spending more time on their smartphones, which eventually justifies their increased spending on smartphones.
Fouad said that ultra-slim notebooks, two-in-one devices (tablet-laptop combo) and touch-enabled devices will grow slightly in the consumer segment this year.
In 2018, ultra-slim notebooks will overtake "traditional notebooks."
The share of consumer segment is falling while the share of commercial segment is growing slightly. "More than 25 per cent of the notebooks in the UAE are re-exported," Fouad said.
In the fourth quarter of last year, PC shipments fell eight per cent to 449,675 units compared to 488,642 units during the same period last year. Notebooks fell 10 per cent year on year while desktops remained flat.
The total market value was $304.80 million in the fourth quarter compared to $332.95 million during the same period last year, registering a fall of 8.45 per cent.

ca.reuters.com - T-Mobile US expects to engage in some form of cellular industry consolidation, the CFO of the United States' fourth-largest carrier said on Monday, boosting investor expectations that a merger with Sprint Corp could be on the horizon.
"It is not a question of if, it is a question of when," Braxton Carter said about the company's prospects for consolidation at a media, internet and telecom conference.
"To take a third-scale national player that has the scale benefits with the right business model could be very competitively enhancing in the U.S.," he said.
The comments come on the eve of an address by the president of SoftBank Corp, which owns 80 percent of Sprint, to investors and technology policymakers in Washington on Tuesday.
Hopes for a merger between Sprint and T-Mobile, the No.3 and No.4 U.S. mobile service providers, faded last month when reports surfaced that the U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Communications Commission would look skeptically on a merger.
U.S. regulators previously rejected AT&T Inc's $39 billion takeover bid for T-Mobile US in 2011. They have since argued that T-Mobile US has grown stronger, proving that the market can sustain four companies.
Carter said that if the government wants to preserve competition it must prevent the country's two largest carriers, AT&T and Verizon, from dominating spectrum auctions.
"The government can't have their cake and eat it too. If they think there really needs to be four players in this market on a nationwide basis, they are going to have to put some structural protections to ensure an adequate distribution of spectrum," he said.

mobileworldlive.com - HP made a concerted push into the budget "phablet" market with the launch of HP 8. Retailing for just $170, Engadget reports the device as having an Android-powered quadcore processor chip, designed by ARM and made by Chinese firm Allwinner.
Other features include a 7.85-inch LCD display with 1024 x 768 resolution, a Tegra 3 processor, as well as 1GB RAM and 16GB of internal storage.
Battery power, running on Android 4.2.2 Jellybean, extends up to 8 hours of usage.
Android Authority dubs HP 8 as nothing more than a re-branded US launch of the Compaq 8 that was launched in China last year.
The HP 8 is almost half the price of its 8-inch "Slate" device and, according to Android Authority, is one of the least expensive 8-inch tablets on the market.
In January, HP announced Slate6 VoiceTab and Slate7 VoiceTab - the numbers relate to screen size (inches).
According to the vendor, "consumers are looking to consolidate their phones and tablets, which is propelling the voice tablet market".

mobileworldlive.com - The GSMA set out the key elements that the industry association believes are essential for the successful creation of a single European telecoms market.
Anne Bouverot, director general of the GSMA, sent an open letter to Neelie Kroes, the vice president of the European Commission, outlining the elements needed for a single market to drive growth and employment. Kroes has been pushing for a single telecoms market in the region for some time.
The letter is endorsed by the CEOs of Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telecom Italia, Telefonica, Telekom Austria Group, Telenor, TeliaSonera, VimpelCom and Vodafone, as well as the deputy chairman of Hutchison Whampoa Europe.
The GSMA shares the European Commission's view that a competitive telecoms single market will help the mobile industry tackle the challenges around mobile broadband deployment and falling revenue, while also underpinning growth, employment and citizen welfare across the European Union.
The first element needed, according to Bouverot, is the modernisation of regulation to remove "outdated and unnecessary layers of regulation" and to harmonise at a European level. There should also be consistent application of the rules regardless of the technology used, service provider or location of individuals.
The next element is for Europe's antitrust framework to evolve to support market-driven restructuring and consolidation that will be needed to redefine the investment climate.
In addition, the management of Europe's spectrum assets should be reformed to focus on the "timely release of new capacity that is harmonised across the single market" and to allow for allocation that can drive long-term growth and investment.
Bouverot also called for a level playing field in terms of regulation, so all players have opportunities to offer competing and "innovative, interoperable and secure" telecommunications services.
As part of this operators must have commercial freedom to develop new business models, and innovate with their networks and services.
Finally, the "current patchwork of regulations" around privacy and security must be addressed as they compromise the protection of consumers. This is "fundamental to building trust and confidence in the uptake and use of new digital services by EU citizens", Bouverot wrote.

midsizeinsider.com - Health care providers are using tablets to work more efficiently. According to a new survey by HIMSS Analytics, mobile devices are becoming more prevalent in the workforce, and this trend is changing the way IT professionals enforce security policies.
Enhancing Care
Featured in InformationWeek, the HIMSS survey found that, of the 170 health care and IT professionals surveyed, nearly 60 percent have already integrated mobile technology solutions in the workplace, and almost 30 percent are planning to address mobility integration soon.
As more physicians and health care providers deliver patient care via their mobile devices, IT professionals must deal with the management and security of those devices. A majority of organizations - 95 percent - use at least one security tool to protect data. However, that means 5 percent have yet to employ security measures, which leaves sensitive patient information at risk. That risk is in violation of HIPAA regulations and can breach patient trust.
The study further suggests that solutions that balance simple access with government mandates, industry best practices and organizational requirements for securing data will perform best. Something as simple as reducing the complexity of user passwords across different devices and applications can save precious time. That time can amount to up to 20 minutes per day that could be better spent with patients.
Midsize Use
Health care companies often fall into the category of midsize firms as well. On top of stretching time and resources, the IT professionals at these organizations also have to consider various regulations and government policies that must be strictly followed. Tablets and other mobile devices are finding their place within various industries to help workers become more productive. Securing them is the new challenge in the face of growing cyber crime threats. Health care organizations and midsize firms alike are constantly seeking the latest IT solutions to help them innovate and save money.
To reach their productivity and business goals, midsize firms turn to experienced vendors to help them ensure that they are implementing the right software and hardware to connect the mobile workplace. Security and policy are intertwined; smaller firms have neither the time nor the budget to commit errors when implementing a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) security plan. Even one small error in implementation might lead to a data breach that could cost a firm more money than it would to have invested in the proper tools and counsel in the first place.
Experienced vendors have a grasp on the new solutions in the market that are best suited to a growing firm. Mobile device management, encryption, cloud computing and big data analytics are a few game-changing technologies that can be implemented to securely optimize the new mobile workforce.

droidreport.com - Google Android and Apple are two of the most well known and main platforms. Both combined, these platforms made up 95.7% of smartphone shipments, up from 91.2%. Smartphone shipments had nearly doubled from 17.5 million to 33.4 million between 2012 and 2013. The current market gain in share amounted to 2.4% to 3.3%.
Android is substantial in the mobile platform market. Android surpassed 80 percent market share in the third quarter of 2013 within the mobile OS market. Most of sales were derived from China with Samsung the only non-Chinese vendor for China. Whitebox Yulong was the third largest Android vendor in China. Xiaomi gained 4.3 percent sales.
Organizations use Android mobile platforms to make executive decisions. Internal tools with social media for digital mobile sites such as have allowed organizations to host their profiles, customize social media experiences and engage with customers. Having knowledge of these platforms and the tools offered, being able to adapt to the innovations is a key skill in being able to capitalize on mobile platforms.
The consumer mobile platform market is led by Android and iOS but Microsoft is also poised to gain market share. Microsoft grew 123 percent in the third quarter of 2013. Microsoft also recently announced the possible acquisition of Nokia's mobile devices and services. The company launched its first touch-based operating system, Windows 8 late last year. But Windows 8 could not provide a positive boost to the PC market.
Google and Apple's platforms combined had over 90% of market share captured for close to two years. Android OS still remains dominant in the smartphone market. Strong demand for smartphones across all geographies will drive much of this growth as worldwide smartphone shipments are expected to surpass 1 billion units for the first time in a single year, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker. Android OS shares may decline due to market maturity and competition. Google's Android OS is leading the Android smartphone market. Low cost smartphone device revenues still remain strong in emerging markets.
Dominant smartphone platforms continue to grow. Android powers hundreds of millions of mobile devices in more than 190 countries around the world. It's the largest installed base of any mobile platform and growing fast-every day another million users power up their Android devices for the first time and start looking for apps, games, and other digital content. Android gives users a world-class platform for creating apps and games for Android users everywhere, as well as an open marketplace.

seasidecourier.com - Regardless of where you work-whether it's a Fortune 500 company or a five-person office-it's generally understood that with larger budgets comes a more robust selection of office technology. Large enterprises have long been able to purchase high-end devices with features that small-to-medium-sized businesses (SMBs) simply can't afford.
When choosing technology for your SMB, however, you can think big. Here are three major considerations:
• Enhance your mobile capabilities-In today's world, business moves fast-whether it's in the office or on the go. What if you need to print away from your desk? Although mobile printing is growing rapidly on a year-over-year basis, both tablet and smartphone users need help to print from their devices. According to the technology media, events and research company IDC, more than 50 percent of smartphone users and 35 percent of tablet users say they don't know how to print from their mobile devices. Now, industry leaders are answering the call of the mobile customer. That is why they launched the Mopria Alliance with the goal of promoting, simplifying and increasing wireless printing from mobile devices. Small-business owners can consider the HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M476, the first Mopria-certified printer for SMBs, which brings enterprise-grade mobile print capabilities to let users print or access content, anytime, anywhere, from any device.
• Invest in security solutions-According to Good Technology, 75.5 percent of companies support BYOD (Bring Your Own Device), the practice of using personal mobile devices for work. As this trend is expected to continue, it's essential that businesses have a comprehensive security and management strategy in place. Make sure to invest in the necessary security solutions to help protect sensitive information sent from mobile devices across your network of printers; for example, secure pull printing, access controls and other authentication measures.
• Increase productivity with workflow solutions-Document workflow solutions are key to improving productivity. Cloud solutions such as HP Flow CM Professional-accessible directly from the HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M476-bring enterprise-grade content management capabilities to growing businesses, furthering collaboration and productivity for SMBs without forfeiting security. The cloud presents a unique opportunity for SMBs, as 50 percent agree that cloud computing will become more important for businesses like their own. Investing in cloud-based solutions can help streamline processes, improve accessibility, increase flexibility and globalize any workforce.

winsupersite.com - According to the market researchers at Gartner, sales of tablets based on Google's Android mobile OS dramatically surpassed those of the slowing iPad. And while Windows-based tablets are still just a tiny part of the market, Microsoft got a tidbit of good news: They were responsible for the biggest growth by far.
Overall tablet sales grew pretty dramatically in 2013, jumping to 195 million units from 116 million in 2012. That's 68 percent growth.
And while Android already controls 80 percent of the market for smart phones, Gartner says it now owns 62 percent of the tablet market too, a big increase from its 46 percent market share in 2012. Windows is a distant third with 2.1 percent market share.
The big news here, of course, is the rise of Android. According to Gartner, hardware makers shipped 121 million Android-based tablets in 2013, up from 53 million in 2012 and a unit shipment of over double. Meanwhile, while sales of Apple's iPad lineup did grow from 61 million to 70 million units in the same timeframe, that's just a 15 percent bump in unit shipments.
The 16.8 percentage point drop in iPad market share was attributed to both the improved quality of smaller low-cost tablets from branded vendors like Samsung and Amazon, and grow in emerging markets, where cheap "white box" vendors reign.
On the Windows side of the fence, sales grew to 4 million units, up over three times from the 1.2 million hardware makers delivered in 2012, the biggest growth in the group. It's not clear what Gartner is measuring here, though the firm calls out Lenovo and its Yoga products, which are hybrid PCs (or 2-in-1s, or transforming PCs, depending on who you ask) and not just tablets. (The firm notes that it includes "hybrids and clamshells" in its tablet count. Are these all multi-touch devices?)
Speaking of Lenovo, Gartner reports that the top five tablet vendors in 2013 were Apple, Samsung, ASUS, Amazon and Lenovo. Apple sold 70 million iPads, good for 36 percent share as noted, and down from 53 percent the previous year. But number two Samsung surged: It sold 37 million units, with 19 percent market share, up from 8.6 million units and 7.4 percent market share in 2012. That's an astonishing leap of 4.3x, and suggests that Samsung is on track to overtake Apple in the tablet market in the same way it did in smart phones. Could Samsung surpass Apple as soon as this year?
The remainder of the top five all have single digit markets share-11 million units and 5.6 percent market share for ASUS, 9.4 million and 4.8 percent for Amazon and 6.5 million and 3.3 percent for Lenovo, respectively-and only Lenovo saw major growth year-over-year. That firm jumped from 1.9 percent of the market to 3.3 percent in 2013.
Looking over the numbers, it's pretty hard to imagine Microsoft and Windows making huge strides here. Fast growth is easy to achieve when you start from a small place-just witness the Mac-but that doesn't always translate into big market share gains down the road (again, witness the Mac). Windows 8.1 has apparently had a bit of an impact on sales, but I'd guess that improved designs from hardware makers had even more of an impact. Which of course explains the cheaper new licensing for low-cost Windows devices: If you can't convince customers with software design, go for the pocketbooks. This, I suspect, will be the trend to watch in 2014, whether consumers will fall for very cheap Windows tablets.

winsupersite.com - Enterprise mobile management or 'EMM' will be an especially important skill for IT pros to master over the next few years. Mobile device management and the BYOD trend introduce all sorts of new challenges and security risks that can't be ignored. In addition, mobile app developers face their own set of challenges, learning to work in a "3 by 3" world.
In a recent blog post, Gartner distinguished analyst Nick Jones outlined 10 mobile technologies and skills that organizations need to master over the next two to three years. Additional training for enterprise IT staff will be especially critical during this time since mobile technology is evolving so quickly, with new risks as well as new capabilities emerging.
Here's a quick run-down of the top 10 mobile technologies and related capabilities that Gartner and Jones say will be critical to master by the end of 2016:
1. Multi-platform/Multi-architecture App Development Tools
Jones predicts most organizations will need application development tools that support what he calls a "3 x 3" future. That means support for the three key platforms (Android, Windows, and iOS) and three application architectures (native, mobile Web, and hybrid).
"Tool selection will be a complex balancing act," he writes, trading off many technical and nontechnical issues, such as productivity versus vendor stability. Jones suggests that most large organizations will need a variety of different tools to be able to accommodate the various platforms, and therefore, developers as well as IT support staff will need to be proficient with multiple platforms and multiple architecture types.
2. Enterprise Mobile Management
This is a big one, especially for our readers, and closely related to the much-talked about BYOD or 'bring your own device' trend. For effective enterprise mobile management (EMM), IT staffers need the ability to manage and secure data across whichever mobile devices are being used throughout the enterprise, including PCs, tablets, and smartphones. Employees bringing their own devices with them can be a huge help for productivity, but also a huge hindrance to data security, presenting a whole new set of risk management tasks for the IT department.
Skills needed for enterprise mobile management include "mobile device management (MDM), mobile application management, application wrapping and containerization, and some elements of enterprise file synchronization and sharing," Jones writes.
3. HTML5 Markup Language
HTML5 is the fifth iteration of the HTML markup language used for writing Web pages and structuring Internet content. While advances in HTML5 should make it easier to port mobile apps to different platforms, the new version also brings new challenges. Since HTML5 is still fragmented and relatively immature, Jones says, it poses many implementation and security risks.
However, he adds, as HTML5 and its development tools mature, the popularity of the mobile Web and hybrid applications will increase. Therefore, despite its many challenges, HTML5 will be an essential tool for organizations that need to deliver applications across multiple platforms.

fiercemobileit.com - Samsung unveiled its Galaxy S5 and the second version of its Knox mobile security platform at the Mobile World Congress as part of an effort to gain a greater share of the enterprise mobility market--a market left open by BlackBerry's stumbles.
Samsung is betting that it can leverage the popularity of the Android platform in the consumer market to gain a greater share of the enterprise mobility market. Some industry observers, such as Bill Seibel, CEO of Mobiquity, believe Apple has the upper hand in the battle for the enterprise (see FierceMobileIT's exclusive interview with Seibel.)
The new Galaxy S5 has a high rating for dust and water resistance and has a number of enterprise security features, such as two-factor authentication that uses password and fingerprint verification and Samsung's Knox mobile security platform.
Knox upgrades announced at MWC include cloud-based enterprise mobility management, support for third-party containers from Good, Fixmo and MobileIron, as well as an enterprise app marketplace for small and medium-sized business and a split-billing feature that separates charges for enterprise and personal use.
At the same time, uptake of Knox by enterprises has been slow. Despite selling more than 25 million Knox-enabled devices, only 1 million have been activated on the Knox platform. Samsung hopes to turn that around, boasting that 210,000 Knox-enabled devices are being activated per month.
"While the newest version of the solution does not require applications to be wrapped (due to kernel enhancements) in order to work with KNOX, we wonder whether apps will need to be modified in order to work, and whether this could pose a potential problem for Samsung down the road," explains Kathryn Nassberg, an analyst with VDC.
Samsung still has "considerable gaps on the service side" that it needs to overcome to be become a serious enterprise mobility player with multinational firms. The "firm needs to establish a more direct relationship, both with partners and with end-users," Nassberg advises.
The Korean firm faces competition in the enterprise, as BlackBerry is betting it can recapture the enterprise market and Apple and Microsoft are also maneuvering for the enterprise mobility market. The question remains whether Samsung can turn its strong position in the consumer smartphone market into a similar position in the enterprise.

mobileworldlive.com - Research firm Signals and Systems Telecom forecasts that the market for mobile health will reach nearly $9 billion this year, and will grow at a CAGR of nearly 40 per cent over the next six years.
Among the opportunities highlighted by the study are the use of 4G networks for remote doctor-patient consultation. Operators can also offer their networks for other latency and bandwidth-sensitive applications. The study gives an example of London's Air Ambulance which uses EE's LTE network for navigational support.
Enterprise applications might prove popular in the pharma industry, ranging from R&D to securing supply chains and supporting campaigns against counterfeit drugs.
Mobile health also promises cost savings. The study has put a very substantial figure on what is possible. It forecasts $250 billion in savings globally in annual healthcare costs by the end of 2014.
However there are barriers to take-up including regulation, patient acceptance and privacy concerns that need to be overcome, it said.

businessinsider.com - HTC plans to release the follow-up to its stunning HTC One smartphone on March 25, but we don't have to wait until then to get some of the juicy details.
A new leaked video shows off the new Android-running HTC One M8 and, at 12 minutes long, it covers a lot of the bases.
Here's what we know: The beautiful metal phone now comes in a dark charcoal color and has a dual camera. The reviewer emphasizes how "spectacular" the new camera is and takes us inside the menu, where we see that you'll be able to take photos and videos with the front and back camera at the same time, and use something called "Selfie" mode.
Software-wise, the reviewer says that HTC has improved Blinkfeed, its Flipboard-esque default home screen that pulls in photos and stories from FB and Twitter, as well as other news sources.
There's also a new micro SD card slot on the side, which means you'll be able to expand the memory (which you can't do with the HTC One), and it has a larger screen with smaller bevels. The headphone jack is now on the bottom.

businessinsider.com - Welcome to smartphone launch season.
Samsung has already announced its new flagship phone, and more from HTC and Nokia are reportedly on the way.
If you need to buy a new device now, here are the best ones.

businessinsider.com - We already know Android completely dominates the smartphone market by running on about 80% of all devices. Apple's iOS software for the iPhone is in a distant second.
Everyone else?
They barely register.
As we learned at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona last month, a lot of companies are trying to attack the so-called low end of the smartphone market by offering cheap devices in emerging markets like southeast Asia. But according to IDC, cheap smartphones from BlackBerry and those running Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 operating system will barely shift the market in 2014.

online.wsj.com - The mission of Seasons Hospice & Palliative Care is to honor life and offer hope. Doing so involves the complicated task of coordinating its vast clinical team members (physicians, nurses, hospice aids, chaplains, social workers, music therapists and volunteers) around the needs of its patients and their families in a decentralized environment. To manage this challenge, the community-based organization has turned to ClickSoftware (NasdaqGS: CKSW) to manage the complexities of patient appointment scheduling and caregiver efficiency in the field through the use of automated scheduling and real-time mobile collaboration capabilities.
"To provide the highest quality service to a large patient base, across a vast geography, we need to add efficiency and accuracy to our scheduling process to ensure we have the right resource, with the right patient, at the right time. We need a solution that offers information and visibility to reduce travel throughout our staff's day between patient visits, easily identify the right resource to increase the response time to patient and family needs, and shift as much of our staff's time from behind the wheel to the bedside of our patients. This can be made possible through optimization and visibility, and ClickSoftware's solution has the means to deliver our team just that," said Todd Stern, CEO of Seasons Hospice. "We evaluated the capabilities of several technology providers. ClickSoftware stood out for its superior functionality and commitment to understanding, and conforming to the specific needs of our organization. ClickSoftware makes the life of our workforce much easier. Instead of spending time on manual administrative processes, our caregivers can focus on what truly matters-our patients."
Seasons Hospice is collaborating with ClickSoftware, the leading provider of automated mobile workforce management and optimization solutions for the service industry. Seasons Hospice is leveraging key data from its electronic medical records to automate and optimize work order creation, patient appointment scheduling and call center dispatching, and to capture real-time status updates from the thousands of caregivers, including nurses, doctors, music therapists and social workers in the field.
ClickSoftware makes it possible to:
-- Centrally manage scheduling operations no matter how large the customer base or high-volume or complex the work requests.
-- Produce a simplified, prioritized schedule with step-by-step instructions for caregivers.
-- Streamline patient information into one workflow, including everything from enrollment information to daily patient requirements and updates.
-- Find the best driving routes to and from appointments, and receive detailed directions via smartphone.
-- Report task status updates and completions from the field.
-- Automatically incorporate caregiver information into timesheets, which are used to calculate payroll and reimburse caregivers for hours worked and miles traveled.
-- Easily handle urgent scheduling decisions.
"With more industries now relying on mobile workers, especially the patient-facing healthcare sector, ClickSoftware's ability to provide real-time communication and work prioritization is critical," said Dr. Moshe BenBassat, Founder and CEO of ClickSoftware. "ClickSoftware will help Seasons Hospice improve its patient services and the company's bottom line by quickly and accurately prioritizing field work, allocating job resources, scheduling and routing appointments, as well as exchanging field data to communicate in real-time via HTML5 supported mobile devices."
"Seasons Hospice opted for an on-premise solution representing companies for whom the classic IT, non-cloud, computing environment is a better fit. Simultaneously we continue to see large companies shifting to cloud based solutions, and the fact that ClickSoftware offers both modes of deployment is a unique differentiator," BenBassat concluded.

datamation.com - While the iPad remains popular in the workplace, the latest tablet sales statistics from Gartner indicate that businesses will want to give Android the same attention, if not more, as they manage their BYOD programs.
Apple's reign of the mobile device market came to a definitive end last year as rival vendors outsold the iPad with tablets based on the Google's Android operating system. Android already dominates smartphone sales.
Gartner today announced that vendors had sold 195.4 million tablets in 2013, a hefty 68 percent gain over 2012. Apple's share of the tablet market slipped to 36 percent, allowing Android to claim the top spot with 62 percent.
Thanks to a wide selection of not only affordable but also quite capable Android devices, "tablets became a mainstream phenomenon" last year, said Gartner research director Roberta Cozza in a statement. This year, she cautions, vendors will need to shift from their race-to-the-bottom pricing strategy.
"As the Android tablet market becomes highly commoditized, in 2014, it will be critical for vendors to focus on device experience and meaningful technology and ecosystem value - beyond just hardware and cost - to ensure brand loyalty and improved margins," added Cozza.
And don't count Apple out. "Apple's tablets remain strong in the higher end of the market and, Apple's approach will continue to force vendors to compete with full ecosystem offerings, even in the smaller-screen market as the iPad mini sees a greater share," said Cozza.
Despite losing the crown to Android, the Cupertino, Calif.-based device maker nonetheless managed to rack up more tablet sales than its rivals.
Apple placed first in the 2013 tablet sales race with 70.4 million iPads sold, nearly 9 million more units than the year prior. Samsung took the number two spot with 37.4 million and 19.1 percent of the market. Rounding out the top five are Asus, Amazon and Lenovo.
Tablet based on Microsoft's Windows OS fared better in 2013, but still are a blip on the radar.
All told, 4 million Windows tablets were sold in 2013 for 2.1 percent of the market compared to 1.1 million units and a 1 percent share in 2012. Cozza notes that despite Microsoft' rapid-fire rate of Windows updates, consumer interest remains low. "To compete, Microsoft needs to create compelling ecosystem proposition for consumers and developers across all mobile devices, as tablets and smartphones become key devices for delivering applications and services to users beyond the PC," she advised.
There is a silver lining. Due to Microsoft's pursuit of business-flavored convertible and hybrid devices, the software giant "enjoys better shares in ultramobiles that are more productivity oriented, where its partners are ramping up new form factors and designs," stated Gartner.

digitaljournal.com - Over the years, traditional printers have dominated the global IT infrastructure market. Due to ongoing enterprise developments such as rise in mobile workforce, integration of printers through wireless technologies & cloud computing, and high demand for compact printers, the demand for mobile / portable printers continues to increase, globally. The global mobile / portable printers market is highly dominated by the retail sector, followed by transportation & transit, and hospitality sectors. In the retail sector, mobile / portable printers market is driven majorly by emerging online retailing, facilitating business proprietors to track sales, cash flow and information on stock keeping. Other major contributors to mobile / portable printers market include global air travel and railway equipment & supply industries. Portable printers supplied to air travel and railway sectors are predominantly used for issuing tickets.
According to the recently published report by TechSci Research "Global Mobile / portable Printers Market Forecast & Opportunities, 2018", the global mobile / portable printers market is projected to reach USD11.87 billion by 2018. Asia-Pacific is the leading revenue generating region for the global mobile / portable printers market, wherein Japan, China and Korea are the key contributors. During 2009-12, North American and European countries, witnessed tepid growth in mobile / portable printers market, primarily due to global economic slowdown. In the Middle East and Africa, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, UAE, South Africa and Morocco offer the highest growth potential.
Major players in the global mobile / portable printers market include Seiko Epson, Toshiba TEC, Zebra Technologies, Brother Industries and Citizen Holdings. As an extension to their global strategy, some multinational brands such as LG, Ricoh Imaging, Polaroid and Canon are planning to introduce receipt and barcode label printers.
"Amongst all the printing technologies, the thermal based mobile / portable printers segment accounts for a major pie of the global market share in revenue terms, with the segment expected to maintain its dominance in the coming years. Thermal mobile / portable printers don't use ribbon or cartridges to print, they employ a special type of thermal paper for printing. As a result, they reduce the replacement or refilling cost that a user has to bear in case of traditional printers.", said Mr. Karan Chechi, Research Director with TechSci Research, a research based global management consulting firm.
"Global Mobile / portable Printers Market Forecast & Opportunities, 2018" has evaluated the future growth potential of global mobile / portable printers market, and provides statistics and information on market structure, market trends, market size & share, etc. The report includes market projections and demand forecasting for the global mobile / portable printers market. The report is intended to provide cutting-edge market intelligence and help decision makers to take sound investment evaluation. Besides, the report also identifies and analyzes the emerging trends along with essential drivers, challenges and opportunities in accordance with existing and evolving technologies in the global mobile / portable printers market.

digitaljournal.com - BlackBerry will launch a new version of its enterprise management server software later this year that the company hopes will strengthen its business with major corporations and help turn around its fortunes.
The software lets corporate IT managers handle deployment of services and manage security on BlackBerry phones used within their companies.
The new version, BlackBerry Enterprise Service version 12, is the first that handles all three iterations of its smartphone operating system: BlackBerry OS 5, OS 7, and OS 10. Until now, companies had been forced to run two versions of the software: BES 5 for the older OS 5 and OS 7 devices and BES 10 for the newer BlackBerry 10 smartphones.
"We listened to customers, they didn't want two infrastructures, they wanted one," John Chen, BlackBerry's CEO, said during a news conference at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
Like its predecessor, BES 12 can also handle Google Android and Apple iOS devices and the new version adds support for Microsoft Windows Phone 8 phones. Although still negligible in the U.S., the Microsoft operating system is gaining customers in Europe and developing markets.
BlackBerry's smartphones and enterprise management software was the gold standard in corporate IT for years, but when the company started stumbling and failed to keep up with smartphone innovations by Apple and Android phone makers, it started losing business to competing mobile device management (MDM) vendors.
"I'm hoping that we'll go after and take back some of the market share we lost while we were preoccupied," said Chen. "We are here to compete and take back some lost ground."
BES 12 will be available to customers by 2015.
In the meantime, BlackBerry said it will offer free upgrades to customers currently running any version of its BES product to BES 10. Companies running software from competitors that switch to BES 10 will also be offered free use for the remainder of the year.
After that there will be two price plans: "Silver" pricing of $19 per user per year and "Gold" pricing of $60 per user per year.
Silver provides device, application, email, and security management for BlackBerry, iOS, and Android devices. Gold is targeted at regulated industries, adds the company's Secure Work Space containerization software for iOS and Android, and adds more advanced BlackBerry 10 management and security features.
Also targeted at enterprise users, a series of enhancements will be rolled out for the BBM messaging software. The first, BBM Protected, will be a secure messaging client with end-to-end encryption of messages aimed at regulated industries that need to keep logs of instant messages between employees.

mirror.co.uk - Hear are the top 10 things you can expect to see coming out of Barcelona over the next few days
Mobile World Congress 2014 began yesterday in Barcelona - lifting the lid on the smartphones and tablets you'll be using in the future.
The mammoth showfloor also features a whole host of related tech from accessories to apps and the growing convergence between mobile technology and motoring.
So what can you expect to see and hear coming out of sunny Spain? Here's 10 things to watch for...
Samsung Galaxy S5
Talking of watches, Samsung has started early with an announcement already of two near Galaxy Gear smartwatch models. But it will be its news around the flagship S5 smartphone that will really make waves and set the scene for the rest of the event to follow.
Facebook chat
Mark Zuckerberg is due to make a keynote address to MWC on Monday night. It's a timely speech given the social network's purchase of WhatsApp last week. Whether he'll address its downtime yesterday remains to be seen, but it could give us some clues to as Facebook's future mobile direction.
New smartphones
MWC always throws up a few new key models and this year the rumour mill is in overdrive as to the arrival of the Sony Xperia Z2, the HTC One 2, the Nokia X budget Android handset and many more. But also MWC is just as often notable for some high profile launches held back so as not to be lost in the crowd.
Internet of Things
With mobiles and tablets key to operating the IoT, there is bound to be a rash of ideas on the floor on how our appliances and devices will become more connected. After all, LG, Sony and Samsung don't just make phones. They also make pretty much everything else electronic around our homes too.
No Apple
Apple never appear at MWC. It prefers to keep its own counsel and launch when it's ready at its own events. One thing to look for is whether the trend continues for larger screen smartphones and so-called Phablets. If there are greater numbers of these devices appearing then it's a fair bet that the next iPhone will have to scale up its display.
Mobile payments
This comes up every year at MWC but it's been a hotter topic recently. No-one has yet cracked swapping our wallets for tapping our phones when it comes to purchasing on the high street but it's sure to be a topic of debate yet again as the two begin to meet on a more integrated level.
4G connectivity
With 4G beginning to fly around Europe, a series of announcements coming from Huawei about the superfast mobile broadband is worth keeping an eye on. It makes the little internet dongles many networks brand up and sell to us so any advance the Chinese company makes in this area is one to take note of.
Mobile on the road
The boss of Ford in Europe is another big name making a keynote speech and after the motor manufacturer announced a raft of in-car tech at MWC last year, we're bound to hear more future-thinking ideas this time around. Connected cars are the next big frontier, whether embedding a 4G Sim in the dashboard or pulling it direct from your smartphone to enable everything from sat-nav to streaming music to updates of the car's own operating system over the air.
More tech to wear
As well as the two new Galaxy Gear smartwatches, we are set for more mobile gadgets you can adorn about your person from Samsung's rivals as rumours both LG and HTC are creating their own. These may not see the light of day this week but expect to see other advances in wearable mobile technology, which is still the tech topic of the moment.
Tablet treats
Archos has some interesting tablet-based products to announce at MWC while Samsung is rumoured to have a flexible concept to show off. Away from the smartphone headlines, Sony could unveil the Xperia Tablet Z2 and perhaps we'll get some hints about the Google Nexus 10 2 too!

digitaljournal.com - For those who love technology, 2014 promises to offer an abundance of new gadgets that would please even the biggest tech snobs. Wireless Zone® Franchise, the nation's largest Verizon Wireless franchisor, is uniquely positioned to roll out the newest and most in-demand products with its existing franchise network, making this year the perfect time to combine owning a branded technology business with the excitement of being a part of the tech explosion.
The company, which recently celebrated its 25th anniversary, continues to see ongoing retail success in an industry with so much change and innovation.
"The move to an increasingly mobile world is an exciting opportunity for entrepreneurs. Nearly everyone has a smartphone or tablet with them at all times, and everyone wants the latest gadgets as soon as they come out," said Clay Neff, executive director of franchise development for Wireless Zone® Franchise. "We feel confident that consumers will be excited to try out these hot new tablets and smartphones, and that franchisees will see a big boost to their sales as a result."
Potential Wireless Zone® franchisees can feel extra confident about investing in the industry, because the company makes it easy for anyone to own a wireless retail business, even without prior expertise in technology, thanks to extensive training and support. Plus, Wireless Zone® franchises are backed by the Verizon Wireless name, meaning they get all the latest and greatest technology, products, and plans backed by one of the biggest and best-known names in the mobile industry.
Technology is always a topic of interest, and 2014 promises to be no different. Wearable devices like glasses, fitness devices, and smart watches are hot items, and tech experts expect to see curved smartphones and devices that seamlessly convert from phone to tablet hit the market soon.
"We're excited to see all the new mobile technology hitting the market this year," said Neff. "We are already researching and planning on offering some of these state-of-the-art items in our stores nationwide."

digitaljournal.com - LIVE FROM GSMA MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS 2014: Samsung unveiled its latest flagship smartphone, and chief rival to the iPhone, the Galaxy S5, with the dramatic tones of the Barcelona Opera Chamber Orchestra setting the scene.
The focus of the vast Unpacked 5 event was on giving consumers what they want rather than technology that adds little value to the user.
"Consumers do not want eye-popping technology or the most complex technology," said J K Shin, head of the South Korean company's mobile business.
Instead consumers want "durable design, a simple and yet powerful camera, faster and seamless connectivity, and a phone that can help them stay fit", the executive continued.
The new device has a 5.1-inch super AMOLED full HD screen that features an adaptive display that adjusts according to the amount of outside light. The camera meanwhile has the quickest auto focus function of any smartphone, at 0.3 seconds.
This metal-bodied device is powered by a 2.5GHz quad-core processor and has a user interface that has been simplified, with larger icons and shortcuts for favourite apps. Samsung touted the fact that the device is water and dust resistant.
The S5 has a 2,800mAh battery that supports 10 hours of web browsing on LTE or 12 hours of video playback. Its Ultra Power Saving Mode can make the phone last 24 hours on standby when it has just 10 per cent battery left by turning off non-essential functions.
In terms of connectivity, the Galaxy S5 supports LTE (Category 4 standard and covering up to eight bands) and the latest generation of Wi-Fi, and can make use of both at the same time as part of the Download Booster feature.
A fingerprint sensor can be used to unlock the phone, access certain functions and even complete payment transactions.
Samsung said the device will be available globally through Samsung's retail, e-commerce and operator channels in April.
Looking at the fitness side of things, the new Samsung halo device includes an on-board heart rate monitor, which the company said is the first of its kind.
It also features an enhanced S Health application for use with the Samsung wearable devices announced a few days ago (the Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo) and the newly-unveiled Gear Fit smart band.
Gear Fit has what Samsung claims is the world's first curved super AMOLED screen to fit comfortably on the wrist, and can be paired with 20 different Galaxy devices.
Along with several standard features familiar to other smart bands, such as a pedometer and calorie counter, it includes a heart rate monitor. It also provides instant notifications from the user's smartphone, including incoming calls, emails, SMS and third party apps.

businessinsider.com - We just spent some time chatting with Benedict Evans on the floor of MWC, the huge mobile industry conference in Barcelona.
Evans is an analyst who works at VC firm Andreessen Horowitz. He's one of the sharpest minds in the industry, and a keen observer of emerging trends. He's been coming to MWC for 15 years now.
We asked him for the big theme he's noticing walking the floors.
He says he's impressed by the improvement in quality by little known Chinese smartphone manufacturers.
Last year, there were plenty of obscure phone makers cranking out Android-based phones, but for the most part the phone quality was low, and the implementation of Android was weak. This year, the phone quality is higher, Android is better, and the branding is stronger.
It's like they went back home and hired a bunch of marketers, says Evans. They looked around at the big booths from HTC, Samsung, Lenovo, and others, and realized that they needed to develop better brands, better design, and better marketing.
Now, there are a bunch of Chinese manufacturers cranking out ~$100 smartphones running on a variant of Android. Testing the phones on the floor, they seem to be pretty good.
So what does this mean for the industry?
Evans couldn't (or wouldn't) say definitively. He said everything is settled with iOS and Android winning the platform wars. But nothing is settled because Android is evolving dramatically. In five years, who knows what Android will be? It's getting forked and fragmented like crazy by all these sub-brands.
He quoted someone from a Qualcomm presentation he saw. This person said that the smartphone industry is like a barbell, with Apple and Samsung on one end, and a bunch of Chinese manufacturers on the other end. In the middle, in the skinny bar section, you have HTC, Nokia, Sony, and others, trying to figure out what they're doing.
It seems like this trend is not good for Samsung. There are a lot of companies making phones that look exactly like Samsung's phones. Evans noted that all you'd have to do is screen a Samsung logo on some of them, and you wouldn't think to yourself, "This is a cheap Chinese phone." You'd believe it was a Samsung phone.
The key differentiation is that Samsung is spending millions every quarter on distribution and marketing. These no-name companies can't compete with that. So, they're flooding South America and India with cheap phones, hoping to gain traction.