It was a busy week for MobilityTechZone. Among industry announcements this week, Yottaa launched its Solution for Mobile Acceleration, LG unveiled an update for its Optimus Android interface, and telecommunications provider Mobily awarded a MVNE solution and services contract to XIUS.
Google announced this week that it now plans to give multiple mobile-device makers, rather than just one partner, early access to new releases of its Android mobile operating system and to sell those devices directly to consumers. The change might allow Google to bring a bit more consistency to Android apps across devices, addressing the “fragmentation” issue in the Android ecosystem.
U.S. Cellular revealed it will be putting a little extra life in its 4G LTE lineup with the addition of a new mobile hotspot, the Samsung SCH-LC11. It will allow for up to five Wi-Fi capable devices at once to utilize the hotspot, and once it’s hooked into a 4G LTE network, it will provide speeds up to 10 times faster than those of 3G.
Amtel announced this week it kills zombies. Wait, zombies? According to the company, a zombie phone describes a corporate issued phone that remains with employees, even as they move onto new jobs. The result of that move is that there’s a disconnect between the company and the carrier that is charging for that phone.
Samsung officially replaced Nokia this week as the world leader in cell phone manufacturing. According to a recent Gartner study, not only had Samsung moved ahead of Nokia to become the world’s largest cell phone maker, but that, following 10 consecutive quarters of growth, global sales had fallen fully two percent for Nokia in the January to March corridor.
Telefonica and the European Union announced this week efforts to reduce mobile data charges. The EU declared that prices for mobile data would be capped at EUR0.70 starting this summer, fall to EUR0.45 in 2013, and then finally level out at EUR0.20 in July of 2014.
Before this legislature, there was no cap on what European mobile service providers could charge users for data. The European Commission has estimated that the new caps on data surcharges will save a family of four up to EURO200 per year, though Telefonica’s new plan could save users even more.
Redknee, a provider of business-critical billing and charging software and solutions for communication service providers, announced that the expansion of LTE networks throughout the continent has driven the growth of its Tier 1 business. The Tier 1 business offers solutions that aim to help communication service providers (CSP) manage customer experience and monetize their LTE 4G services through new business models.
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