The Cell Phone Junkie

Internet company Tucows this week announced no-contract cell phone plans with mix and match options.  Customers must purchase a device for full price from the carrier, which range from $45 for the Samsung Reclaim to $545 for the Motorola Photon.  Plans are named from XS to XXL, and range from $0 to $126 depending on the number of minutes, texts and amount data desired.  For example, a 100 minute plan with 2000 SMS messages and 3GB of data is $71 per month, and a 500 minute plan with 1000 SMS messages and no data is only $14.  A $6 minimum per month is required to keep service active.  Ting is a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) that runs on the Sprint network.

Source: Ting via TechCrunch via Engadget

ComScore Thursday released its U.S. Mobile Subscriber Market Share findings for the last quarter of 2011.  On the phone vendor side, Samsung remained on top with a 25.3% market share, no change from the third quarter. LG dropped 0.6 points to a 20% share, followed by Motorola, who fell 0.5 points to 13.3%. Apple came in fourth with 12.4%, up 2.2 points, and RIM fell 0.4 points to a 6.7% share.

On the OS side, Android remains on top in the United States with a 47.3% share, that’s up 2.5 points from the third quarter.  iOS came next, up 2.2 points to a 29.6%.  BlackBerry, Windows and Symbian all fell, 2.9 points to 16%, 0.9 points to 4.7% and 0.4 points to 1.4% respectively.

97.9 million U.S. residents owned a smartphone during the three months ended December 2011, accounting for 40% of all mobile subscribers. comScore also said 234 million Americans over 13 own a mobile device.

Press Release:

comScore Reports December 2011 U.S. Mobile Subscriber Market Share

Smartphone Penetration Climbs Over 40 Percent during December Holiday Shopping Season

RESTON, VA, February 2, 2012 – comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released data from the comScore MobiLens service, reporting key trends in the U.S. mobile phone industry during the three month average period ending December 2011. The study surveyed more than 30,000 U.S. mobile subscribers and found Samsung to be the top handset manufacturer overall with 25.3 percent market share. Google Android strengthened its lead in the smartphone market to reach 47.3 percent market share.

OEM Market Share

For the three-month average period ending in December, 234 million Americans age 13 and older used mobile devices. Device manufacturer Samsung ranked as the top OEM with 25.3 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers, followed by LG with 20 percent share and Motorola with 13.3 percent share. Apple continued to gain ground in the OEM market with 12.4 percent share of total mobile subscribers (up 2.2 percentage points), while RIM rounded out the top five with 6.7 percent share.

Smartphone Platform Market Share

97.9 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones during the three months ending in December, representing 40 percent of all mobile subscribers. Google Android ranked as the top smartphone platform with 47.3 percent market share, up 2.5 percentage points from September. Apple maintained its #2 position, growing 2.2 percentage points to 29.6 percent of the smartphone market. RIM ranked third with 16 percent share, followed by Microsoft (4.7 percent) and Symbian (1.4 percent).

Mobile Content Usage

In December, 74.3 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers used text messaging on their mobile device, up 3.2 percentage points. Downloaded applications were used by 47.6 percent of subscribers (up 5.1 percentage points), while browsers were used by 47.5 percent (up 4.6 percentage points). Accessing of social networking sites or blogs increased 3.8 percentage points to 35.3 percent of mobile subscribers. Game-playing was done by 31.4 percent of the mobile audience (up 2.6 percentage points), while 23.8 percent listened to music on their phones (up 2.9 percentage points).

Source: BGR

IDC this week released Q4 numbers on the top mobile phone vendors worldwide, reflecting the sharp increase in unit shipments for Apple, and pushing them above LG into the third place slot.

Apple jumped into the third spot globally from the fifth spot last quarter thanks to a record-breaking quarter of shipments. That represents the Cupertino-based company’s highest-ever ranking on IDC’s Top 5 global mobile phone leaderboard. [...] Device sales in the U.S. and Japan were particularly strong given extra sales days in the quarter and carrier distribution.

According to the results, Nokia remained in the top spot with 113.5 million units shipped, followed by Samsung’s 97.6 million and Apple’s 37 million.

Source: IDC via iMore

Facebook announced plans to raise more than $5 billion through an initial public stock offering Wednesday.  That amount could be raised to as much as $10 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal.  With $3.7 billion in revenue and $1 billion in net income in 2011, the social media company will trade under the symbol FB, but the filing did not say whether the New York Stock Exchange or the Nasdaq Stock Market would be chosen, or when trading might start.  The company said it “may use a portion of the proceeds for acquisitions of complementary businesses, technologies or other assets.”

Source: iMore

Qualcomm Thursday announced the first reported voice call handoff from an LTE network to a WCDMA network using Single Radio Voice Call Continuity (SRVCC).  The SRVCC, part of the underlying technology for voice-over-LTE (VoLTE), is required for calls to switch back and forth between the two networks.  The call was done on December 23^rd, using an Ericsson network and a handset with a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 MSM8960 3G/LTE processor.  Demonstrations of the calls will be done at Mobile World Congress later this month.

Press Release:

SAN DIEGO – February 02, 2012 – Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) today announced that the Company, working with Ericsson, has successfully completed the first voice call handover from an LTE mobile network to a WCDMA network using Single Radio Voice Call Continuity (SRVCC). An important technology required for voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) support, SRVCC is a 3GPP specified feature that enables continuity of service by seamlessly switching to a WCDMA network when a consumer on a VoLTE call leaves the LTE network’s coverage area. This milestone occurred on December 23, 2011 with an Ericsson network using a handset which incorporated Qualcomm’s Snapdragon™ S4 MSM8960 3G/LTE multimode processor. A demonstration will be available at Qualcomm’s booth at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain February 27 – March 1, 2012.

“As LTE networks are deployed alongside 3G networks, the ability for multimode 3G/LTE mobile devices to connect to different network technologies will be an important part of providing the best possible mobile voice and data experience to consumers,” said Cristiano Amon, senior vice president of product management, Qualcomm. “Qualcomm is committed to the successful deployment of LTE networks worldwide in conjunction with 3G networks, and the milestone we’ve achieved with Ericsson is another step towards making VoLTE technology a commercial reality.”

SRVCC is the next logical step in the 4G LTE voice roadmap following the commercial launch of circuit-switched fallback technology (CSFB) on smartphones in 2011. CSFB allows a single radio in the handset to dynamically switch from an LTE data connection to a 3G connection when the user needs to make or receive a call. Similarly, SRVCC support enables a single radio in the handset to execute a seamless handover of a voice call from an LTE network to a 3G network. Furthermore, SRVCC and CSFB allow both LTE and 3G network connections to be supported on a single chip, eliminating the need for smartphones to use separate LTE and 3G radios and modems. This allows OEMs to design handsets with lower power consumption and component costs and a smaller size. Given that 3G networks will continue to be deployed in conjunction with LTE networks for quite some time, SRVCC and CSFB are essential to provide a seamless voice experience to customers using LTE multimode handsets once VoLTE is commercially deployed. Qualcomm is committed to ensuring the best voice performance to users in LTE networks through industry-leading CSFB and SRVCC technologies.

Source: The Verge

CNET reported Tuesday that Sprint has given LightSquared six weeks to obtain FCC approval for it’s planned LTE network.  According to the report:

A Sprint spokesman told Dow Jones that the company had given LightSquared until mid-March to resolve concerns that its network interferes with GPS receivers. Sprint had already given LightSquared a 30-day extension to get FCC approval at the end of 2011.

If the approval is not obtained during the timeframe, Sprint will terminate the 15-year network sharing deal between companies.

Source: CNET and Dow Jones Newswires

TmoNews Monday reported that beginning April 5^th, users will have limits on the amount of domestic data they can use, allotted by their specific plan.  A screenshot details the allotments and their respective limits, which by way of example, those with data buckets between 2GB-4.99GB are given 50MB of roaming data per month.  At the highest end, those with 10GB or more on a data plan are limited to at most 200MB for roaming.  Once that amount has been exceeded, no data use will be allowed until the next billing cycle.  T-Mobile will provide a text message to users when they’ve hit 80% and 100% of their cap.  The carrier says that certain users (including business accounts) will be exempt from the new caps.  Customers can expect notice via texts, emails and monthly bill inserts starting in February.

Source: TmoNews

MetroPCS this week confimed it had discontinued its $40 unlimited LTE plan when it stopped offering the Samsung Craft last month.  MetroPCS will offer smartphone customers unlimited voice, messaging, email and 1GB of streaming data for $50 per month, and add unlimited streaming and access to Rhapsody for an additional $10 per month.

UPDATE - MetroPCS a few days later that the $40 plan is still available for all 4G devices.

Source: Phonescoop

For the second year in a row, BlackBerry devices were named the most popular smartphones in the UK.  According to data firm GfK, the Canadian phone maker grabbed 27.7% of all UK smartphone sales during the year.  The United Kingdom now has 8.5 million active BlackBerry subscribers.

Press Release:

The latest results from data firm GfK show that BlackBerry® was the #1 selling smartphone in the British market for the second year running. It continues to dominate the market, grabbing 26.3% of December sales and averaging 27.7% through 2011.

The BlackBerry® global subscriber base grew 35% year on year in December to 75 million. The UK customer base is going from strength to strength with over eight and a half million active subscribers by the end of 2011.

BlackBerry® launched its latest operating system, BlackBerry® 7, in August 2011 introducing a portfolio of stylish new smartphones including the BlackBerry Bold 9900, Bold 9790, Torch 9860, Torch 9810, Curve 9380 and Curve 9360.

The update to BlackBerry® 7.1, announced earlier this month, will be rolled out in the coming months. This software update builds on the strengths of BlackBerry 7 to further enhance the mobile experience on BlackBerry®. It includes BlackBerry® Tag, the latest innovation in Near Field Communication (NFC), which allows users to share contacts, photos and files by tapping their devices together. Friends can be added to BBM, contact information exchanged, documents shared as well as multimedia content, all in an instant. Another key feature of 7.1 is that you can now turn your BlackBerry into a mobile hotspot that can be shared by up to 5 Wi-Fi®-enabled devices, including laptops and tablets such as the BlackBerry PlayBook.

PlayBook 2.0 was announced at this year’s CES show and will be available in February. The new software will allow customers to stay even more connected and productive in their personal and professional lives. Key features include native email with integrated social network messaging capabilities. Updates from popular social networking sites such as Twitter® and LinkedIn® will all appear in the integrated inbox. It also brings a wealth of apps with thousands more to choose from across gaming and lifestyle to business and productivity including Angry Birds, Cut the Rope, Groupon, Thomson Reuters, Zinio and many more.

Source: TracyandMatt