Posts Tagged ‘Smartphones’
HTC Boasts Its Outpacing Other Smartphone Makers in US Market
HTC is proud of their accomplishments lately – most notably HTC CEO Peter Chou, who told the Wall Street Journal that the company is growing in the U.S. market “faster than others.”
According to the Journal, HTC shipped 5.5 million to 6 million smartphones to the United States in 2009, and Chou claims those estimates will grow in 2010, but he doesn’t provide any specifics.
One of HTC’s main hurdles, however, is brand recognition. That has been overturned somewhat by help from partnerships with Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile. They’ve also gained a lot of attention thanks to the partnership with Google on creating the Nexus One, but Google seems to reap the PR benefits from that more than HTC does.
The WSJ notes that HTC’s preference for the Google Android system in general could be prove to be a problem following the Goog’s recent withdrawal from China. One possible remedy, Chou says, is the use of an alternative search engine on smartphones but still retaining the Android OS.
There’s no arguing that HTC has grown significantly in the last year, in both sales numbers and brand name recognition around the world. But Chou doesn’t offer any statistics on the growth (or lack thereof) on other companies to see just how impressive HTC’s numbers are or not.
Nonetheless, with several new smartphone models on the way this year, there should be plenty of HTC-related news in the coming months, and they definitely could beat last year’s sales numbers if they keep the pace up.
Think Before You Download on Internet
Are you downloading your favourite game or a particular application that allows you to share pictures, videos and information? These days, we have various gaming applications and individual developers coming out with unique and interesting downloadable applications. But, you need to make sure you are not inviting virus to disrupt your mobile handset. You should know that Internet/ mobile applications, if certified, can be trusted; if not, they can hamper your mobile data.
Worms, trojans, viruses and hackers – they not just threaten for your home PC or laptop anymore. As per Trend Micro, an Internet security firm, cyber crooks are on their way into your pocket. The popularity of smartphones like the Blackberry, iPhone and the emerging Droid is on a boom and that’s making them a lucrative target for cyber crooks to cause mischief.
The possibility of someone hacking cellphone became public knowledge when Paris Hilton’s mobile was hacked. Unfortunately for her, numbers of all her celebrity friends were also placed on the Internet – resulting in a barrage of calls to each of them. This was one of the highlighted cases of phone hacking through extracting personal information from the mobile handset.
The ingenuity of cyber criminals to come up with new social engineering angles seems endless. Mobile worms and viruses are similar to those that infect PCs. An unsuspecting user can be tricked into installing a harmless-looking file that infects a device and seeks additional mobile phones to target, often disrupting the phone’s operations.
What can a mobile hacker do? There are quite a number of things that can be done by the mobile hacker. Depending on intent, their main targets are:
Steal your number: Your phone number can be accessed and obtained by hacking. This allows them to make calls and have it charged on your account.
Extract your information: Mobile hacking allows a hacker to contact your cellphone, without your knowledge, and to download your addresses and other information you might have on your phone. Many hackers are not content to just getting your information. Some will even change all your phone numbers! Be sure that you keep a backup of your information somewhere. All you have to do is to ensure that the handset is malware-protected. Here are some quick and easy points a user should keep in mind when downloading applications on mobile phones.
First, identify the source from where you are downloading the application. A general community site that does not have any face is not contactable. For example, download.com is the worst place to get the software from. You can download applications like our P2P software on your mobile.
Check the software for security certificates. Try not to use any unsigned application. These are third-party signatures from Verisign, Symbian and Sun. Absence of any trusted signature can make the application very dangerous. The only warning that you will get is when you install and load the application. So, go for trusted applications.
Once the signature is there, visit the company site to verify application that you have downloaded. Check for warnings, known bugs and the functions that it would provide. This may help you understand the resources the application will take, such as memory, CPU, etc. Applications like file share, Voip, etc use some core OS functionality. In case of a bug, such an application can disrupt other functionalities of the phone.
Social media-based applications that download the files can also bring in a virus-infected file to your handset. In such a case, one should have some anti-virus software installed in the system or the application should check for MIME-type before it allows the download of the content. But, make sure that you protect your handset with anti-virus software to ensure that even if by chance you have downloaded a non-trusted application, security solution providers like Trend Micro or McAfee have anti-virus solutions for you.
Check for your data plan before you start to use an application that uses some sort of data transfers. An application like mBit p2p can generate huge data transfers. The user is advised to get in touch with the customer care to identify an appropriate plan for it. The user can tell the customer support about the desired application and an appropriate plan for the same.
Follow these simple steps and you’ll ahve a happy downloading session. So, treat your smart phones like your laptops or computers, and not a landline phone.
Skype Available for Nokia Smartphones on Ovi
Skype and Nokia have jointly announced the release of Skype for Symbian, a Skype client for Nokia smartphones based on the Symbian platform. Skype for Symbian will allow Nokia smartphone users worldwide to use Skype on the move, over either a WiFi or mobile data connection (GPRS, EDGE, 3G). It is now downloadable for free from the Ovi Store.
“With Symbian’s global reach, Skype is that much closer to becoming the ubiquitous real-time communications platform for hundreds of millions of Symbian-based mobile users.”
Skype for Symbian enables Nokia smartphone users to:
•Make free Skype-to-Skype calls to other Skype users anywhere in the world*
•Save money on calls and texts (SMS) to phones abroad.
•Send and receive instant messages to and from individuals or groups
•Share pictures, videos and other files.
•Receive calls to their existing online number
•See when Skype contacts are online and available to call or IM
•Easily import names and numbers from the phone’s address book
Skype for Symbian will run on any Nokia smartphone using Symbian ^1, the latest version of the Symbian platform. Skype will soon introduce this client to Symbian mobile devices from other manufacturers, including Sony Ericsson.
The initial Skype for Symbian application is compatible with the following Nokia touchscreen models: Nokia N97, Nokia N97 mini, Nokia X6, Nokia 5800 XpressMusic and Nokia 5530 and the following non-touch devices: Nokia E72, Nokia E71, Nokia E90, Nokia E63, Nokia E66, Nokia E51, Nokia N96, Nokia N95, Nokia N95 8Gb, Nokia N85, Nokia N82, Nokia N81, Nokia N81 8 Gb, Nokia N79, Nokia N78, Nokia 6220 classic, Nokia 6210 Navigator, Nokia 5320.
Swisscom Releases faster mobile broadband Services
Swisscom, the leading telecommunications service provider in Switzerland, will soon offer its mobile broadband subscribers improved data speeds and faster access to broadband services. The operator is upgrading its 2G and 3G networks to prepare for growth in data traffic driven by increased use of smartphones, and has selected Nokia Siemens Networks to upgrade its mobile packet core network.
We are seeing mobile broadband traffic throughput doubles every eight months, which is putting a lot of strain on our existing network capacity,said Guido Garrone, head of network and IT, Swisscom. Therefore, we decided we needed a future-proof network that can be scaled to keep pace with the tremendous growth we see coming in data traffic. We’ve asked Nokia Siemens Networks to deliver the network components like GGSN and RADIUS AAA against a tough deadline, and to integrate the new system into our live network without any service interruption for our subscribers.
While operators must focus on improving end-users service experience and rolling out new applications, they also need to rein in costs to stay competitive,said Dietmar Appeltauer, head of the central and east European region at Nokia Siemens Networks. Our offerings will help Swisscom reduce its operational expenses through consolidation of its mobile broadband infrastructure, and will enable it to scale up its network and move to next-generation technologies via simple upgrades.
Swisscom will replace its existing authentication, authorization, and accounting system with Nokia Siemens Networks One-AAA server that allows the operator to manage subscriber access to new, customized services. By employing economical, off-the-shelf, hardware the platform lets Swisscom offer its mobile broadband services to an increasing number of users very efficiently.
Nokia Siemens Networks will also provide its Flexi Network Gateway (Flexi NG) packet core platform to boost network capacity for efficiently handling the growing demand for high speed mobile data services. The Flexi NG offers optimally balanced and highly scalable throughput, signaling capacity with integrated service awareness capabilities.Nokia Siemens Networks will provide its network management system, NetAct, for improving Swisscom operational efficiency and ensuring high-quality services. Delivery of the overall network upgrade has begun and will be complete later this year.
4 Out of 10 iPhones Sold to Business Users
Who was it, again, who said Apple’s iPhone “doesn’t appeal to business because it doesn’t have a keyboard”?
Because the device clearly does appeal to business. In fact, quite a few of the iPhones sold today are purchased by business users, according to Ron Spears, chief of AT&T’s Business Solutions unit.
“Four out of 10 sales of the iPhone are made to enterprise users,” Spears said at an investor conference Thursday. “When the iPhone came out, what most people heard in the first year from ’07 to ’08 was ‘oh my God, it’s not BlackBerry secure. This is not going to work on the enterprise space.’ At the end of the day, it’s just software. That’s all it is.”
Elaborating on the history of adoption of the iPhone by business users, Spears notes, “And by the time the 3G came out in ’08 [Apple] had solved about 80 percent of the security issues. By the time the 3GS came out last summer, most CIOs will tell you today they have very few issues around the security that they need provided, as they have come to know that RIM can do it because of the way RIM provides their solution. So enterprises today view the iPhone as a mobile computer.”
Evidently, Apple has succeeded in overcoming enterprise’s early misgivings about the iPhone’s security and business-readiness. Recall that last fall, the device scored highest in both the consumer and business categories of JD Power’s Smartphone Satisfaction Study. The iPhone scored 803 points out of a possible 1,000. That’s 79 points more than Research in Motion’s BlackBerry, which took second place with a score of 724 points, the industry average.
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