Today's consumers are focusing more on mobile technology and the benefits it delivers than ever before. Whether simply calling friends and playing games or employing a full-fledged BYOD policy in the workplace, the simple fact is that more people want mobile tech and are willing to pay top dollar for the privilege. As a result, the mobile industry is constantly releasing new products and changing strategies to take advantage of this market. Here are some of the latest developments from the past week that have made headlines.
Mobile phone carrier Verizon Wireless recently released a new “Smart Rewards” loyalty program, which offers subscribers points for every dollar they spend on their phone service. These points can then be used to get discounts on a variety of products from over 200 brands with free shipping, however many customers seem concerned that such a program gives Verizon too much information on their spending habits and even location tracking, since it also includes a program that tracks users' Internet use as well as location data to improve ad targeting.
Meanwhile, NVIDIA released two new products in the past week: the SHIELD Tablet and a SHIELD wireless controller. The SHIELD tablet is meant to compete with and outperform most other tablets on the market, with an eight-inch profile and a 1900 x 1200 resolution display screen. Two gigabytes of RAM and a QuadCore 2.2 GHz A15 CPU are the engines that make the tablet perform so well, and the company is also looking to release a customized SHIELD wireless controller to go with the device. These clearly show that the NVIDIA SHIELD will offer an exciting option in the form of a portable mobile gaming platform.
In other news, BlackBerry has selected Marty Beard as the company's New Chief Operating Officer. Beard has served in several positions ranging from leadership and marketing positions to customer service as well as product development, including his most recent position at LiveOps Inc. where he served as Chairman and CEO. This extensive breadth of experience makes him suitable for a wide range of duties including app development and customer care and quality, which he will be covering from his new position as COO.
Finally, Microsoft announced the future availability of the Lumia 530 smartphone, which seeks to be both highly functional and affordable. The planned retail price of the product will be around only $115, yet it still offers a 854 x 480 pixel display screen, backed u by a 1.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 processor and 512 megabytes of RAM.
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