This series is brought to you by SmartBrief Mobile. The SmartBrief Google Android application extends the reach of the SmartBrief e-mail service by allowing you to read, manage, save and share top news stories pertinent to your industry. Download the FREE SmartBrief app!
This post is by Andy Grossman, a SmartBrief contributing editor covering telecommunications and technology.
Shortly before BlackBerry tablet PlayBook launched in April, we defended Research In Motion against naysayers and critics who dismissed the device out of hand, in part because of a lack of native applications such as e-mail and calendars.
It was too early to assess PlayBook’s prospects because the enterprise market for tablets has barely gotten off the dime. Crunch time will come later this year and in early 2012, when the spread of long-term evolution networks dramatically increases the download rate of mobile computers and smartphones.
Our argument in April was that RIM would sell PlayBook largely on the backs of its hard-core loyalty among enterprise users, providing the company time to build native apps needed to lure consumers. (read more…)
This series is brought to you by SmartBrief Mobile. The SmartBrief Google Android app extends the reach of the SmartBrief e-mail service by allowing you to read, manage, save and share top news stories pertinent to your industry. Download the FREE SmartBrief Android app today!
This post is by Andy Grossman, a SmartBrief contributing editor covering telecommunication and technology.
Microsoft’s $8.5 billion purchase of Internet-protocol voice carrier Skype Technologies tells a tale of a pending symbiotic relationship under which a desktop-oriented software giant tries to play catch-up after it was caught napping upon the ascent of mobile and other broadband-communication services.
Think of Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer as the 1980s-era George Steinbrenner trying to win the New York Yankees a pennant with one huge and costly free-agent signing. As any Yankee fan will tell you, many of those acquisitions — how many World Series did Dave Winfield win? — didn’t quite pan out. (read more…)
This series is brought to you by SmartBrief Mobile. The SmartBrief Android App extends the reach of the SmartBrief e-mail service by allowing you to read, manage, save and share top news stories pertinent to your industry. Download the FREE SmartBrief Android App today!
This post is by Andy Grossman, a SmartBrief contributing editor covering telecommunications and technology.
Much to my daughter’s chagrin, last year I offered her my old i335 Motorola handset, a basic phone with a screen barely larger than a stamp. “This can’t do anything,” she said in disgust.
“You’d be surprised,” I replied and showed her the native applications store embedded in the phone. She wouldn’t be alone in answering with such disdain.
While smartphones have gotten all the glory, the rising tide of technology that is turning mobile devices into mini-computers has, in turn, sexed up feature phones and turned them into an important weapon for carriers to reach customers who can’t afford more costly handsets. (read more…)
This series is brought to you by SmartBrief Mobile. The SmartBrief Android App extends the reach of the SmartBrief e-mail service by allowing you to read, manage, save and share top news stories pertinent to your industry. Download the FREE SmartBrief Android App today!
This post is by Andy Grossman, a SmartBrief contributing editor covering telecommunications and technology.
Americans love rivalries. Yankees vs. Red Sox. Coke vs. Pepsi. Democrat vs. Republican. No room for a third party here. Similarly, pundits and the media like to view things in terms of black and white; there’s little room for shades of gray. Dichotomies rule. Corporate chiefs like to keep it simple as well. To keep the troops fired up and their eyes on the prize, execs love to play the “Us vs. Them” game.
Last summer, Google and Apple partook in this little exercise in the new arena of mobile advertising. Lots of trash talk all around. (read more…)
The earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan last week is once again proving the mobile phone has become a viable tool in raising funds to support relief efforts. Millions of dollars were raised via text to aid people following last year’s devastating earthquake in Haiti, and the response to the disaster in Japan is on the same track. To sort out this growing trend and to figure out where social media can play a role, SmartBrief’s Susan Rush turned to Jenifer Snyder, executive director of The mGive Foundation, which helps nonprofits execute mobile giving campaigns.
Why is mobile becoming such a force for people to help during disasters?
The Haiti disaster was really the tipping point in the evolution of mobile donations. Mobile provides a convenient, quick, easy and accessible way for people to donate in small and large increments alike. The technology can connect people on a global scale by engaging them in relief efforts, rather than sitting passively on the sidelines. (read more…)
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