Today's Top Stories The scandal around the National Security Agency (NSA) could work to the benefit of Canadian firm BlackBerry, especially among foreign governments. One example of the NSA effect is the German government's decision to use only encrypted mobile phones to handle "official correspondence," according to a report by The Local: Germany's News in English. The German government's move, which is part of negotiations between the parties forming a coalition government, comes in response to report that the NSA had been snooping on German Chancellor Angela Merkel's phone conversations. German government officials will have to use encrypted phones approved by the German information security office, which means BlackBerry phones because they are the only phones that can run the encryption software approved by the office, notes George Kesarios in a Seeking Alpha blog. Earlier this year, the German government ordered 40,000 secure BlackBerry Z10 phones, according to a report by eWeek. "The Secusmart device allows the BlackBerry to act as a typical smartphone, while encrypting all communications with other secure systems," explains Wayne Rush. In the U.K., Apple's iPads have been based from Cabinet meetings because of snooping fears, The Telegraph reports. "It is feared China, Russia, Iran and Pakistan have developed the ability to turn mobiles into microphones and turn them into transmitters even when they are turned off, using a Trojan computer virus," writes Matthew Holehouse. For more:
- see The Local report
- read eWeek's article
- check out The Telegraph report Related Articles:
Pfizer looks to cut its dosage of BlackBerry
BlackBerry's new CEO is committed Read more about: NSA, German government
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We are in the midst of a connectivity revolution, and CIOs need critical insights in order to manage this new mobile environment. That is the message of a new report from Macheen, a mobile cloud application service provider. In its report, "The Connectivity Revolution: Ten Critical Insights for the New Mobile Reality," Macheen explores the scope of mobility, cloud and the adoption of technologies to support mobile device connectivity. Richard Schwartz, Macheen founder and chief strategy officer, speaks with FierceMobileIT about the report, which was published last month. Schwartz says the company was interested in learning more about the impact of cloud computing and mobile computing converging. Macheen took a close look at the impact of BYOD and corporate-owned personally enabled devices on organizations. Schwartz says that while the company has been observing various mobile technology and cloud computing trends for the past couple of years, this is the first time that the firm has done a comprehensive study of the two together. Some of the findings will sound very familiar, and reinforce what other studies have noted. Other points may surprise readers. "Innovative business models and solutions are essential to enable enterprises to succeed in the new mobile reality," Schwartz says. "This report demonstrates the need for alignment between the goals of the enterprise and technological advancements by vendors, carriers and device makers. Macheen believes the approach requires the ability to uniquely connect people and devices to just the sites, services and applications needed, for the specified devices, anywhere in the world. We have branded this effort the 'connectivity revolution,'" he adds. Central to the report are what Schwartz says are the top 10 critical insights that CIOs need to recognize when it comes to the mobile market. They are: • Mobile is global--Global mobile penetration is nearly complete (91 percent), Schwartz says, with workers, consumers and employers connecting in vast, accelerating numbers (6.5 billion subscriptions). • Workers are untethered--Schwartz cites IDC research that the worldwide mobile workforce will encompass 1.3 billion people by 2015, which represents 37 percent of all workers. • Devices are proliferating--"Within just seven years, the global data network will encompass more than 13.3 quadrillion distinct connections," Schwartz notes. Furthermore, "99.4 percent of the items that could be eventually linked to the Internet of Everything are unconnected today." • Consumer devices are going to work--By 2014, 90 percent if employers will support mobility by making company applications accessible via personal devices, according to the Macheen report. • Mobility fuels productivity--"Mobility can have a tremendous positive impact by increasing productivity and lowering costs," Schwartz says. He cites productivity gains of up to two hours per week for 36 percent of employees. • Mobile users are overpaying--According to the Macheen report, separate studies conducted in 2013 found that nearly three quarters (74 percent) of consumers overpay for wireless services, and the average enterprise overpays for those same services by 38 percent. • Mobile security is a top concern--Security worries are not going away anytime soon, Schwartz says. The Macheen study reveals that 84 percent of global IT executives and 63 percent of consumers still cite security as their top concern regarding mobile technology. • The cloud is expanding rapidly--Migration to the cloud is accelerating, Schwartz says, a trend confirmed by numerous recent studies. Schwartz cites Macheen cloud activity growth projections through 2016 of 46 among consumers, 37 percent among businesses and 111 percent for personal cloud data traffic. • The cloud is becoming more essential--"The cloud is playing an increasingly essential role for businesses and consumers, with a rapid shift of business-critical applications to the cloud and the personal cloud predicted to displace the PC at the center of consumers' digital lives by 2014," Schwartz predicts. • The cloud is creating historical opportunity--Finally, Schwartz sees "a historic transition is now underway, creating unparalleled opportunity based on consumers' voracious appetite for connected devices, and demand for enhanced integrated experiences when using them." He says there is tremendous untapped potential for cloud and mobile technology to impact business results, but that potential is currently 57 percent unrealized. Schwartz says this connectivity revolution has both generated disruptive change, but also substantial opportunity. "Understanding key insights can help individuals and enterprises alike navigate this change and realize the unprecedented opportunity it represents," Schwartz says. Related Articles:
Majority of employees prefer using personal devices at work when they can
Mobility is transforming enterprise content management, says Ovum
Most enterprises to up investment in mobility next year, study finds Read more about: mobile technology, cloud market
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Huawei regained second place from NEC among microwave gear vendors in the third quarter of 2013, with Ericsson holding onto first place, according to the latest research from Infonetics Research. 
Microwave equipment is used for point-to-point communications. Wireless carriers use microwave gear for mobile backhaul to connect cell sites to the core network. The microwave gear market totaled $1.2 billion in the third quarter of 2013, up 2 percent from the second quarter but down 7 percent from the year ago quarter. All-packet microwave accounted for around 23 percent of total microwave equipment revenue. "Though 3Q13 marks the second straight quarter of marginal growth in the microwave equipment market, we're still projecting an overall decline for the full year 2013 due to price erosion in the hybrid equipment segment in particular," says Richard Webb, directing analyst for microwave and carrier Wi-Fi at Infonetics Research. The research firm expects the microwave equipment market to grow at an anemic 1.4 percent compound annual growth rate through 017, as growth in Ethernet microwave is matched by the decline in the TDM microwave and dual Ethernet/TDM microwave segments. "The next round of backhaul market growth will be driven by macro LTE-A upgrades and small cell deployments, both of which will require very low latency solutions. This will begin to make an impact from 2014 and boost the market for a few years," predicts Webb. For more:
- see Infonetics' release Related Articles:
Enterprises increasingly use femtocells to expand wireless coverage
Huawei, Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent, NEC control 70 percent of microwave transmission market, says Dell'Oro
Read more about: Infonetics, microwave equipment
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Mobile sales surged 43 percent year-over-year on Black Friday, accounting for 21.8 percent of total online sales, according to the latest stats from IBM. To compile its stats, IBM tracked millions of transactions and terabytes of data from approximately 800 U.S. retail websites. Retailers sent 37 percent more push notifications to mobile devices during the two-day period over Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday compared to daily averages over the previous two months. Average daily retail app installations increased by 23 percent in the same period. Users of iOS devices spent $127.92 per order on Black Friday compared to $105.20 per order for users of Android devices; iOS traffic reached 28.2 percent of all online traffic, compared to 11.4 percent for Android. Retailers who use mobile effectively will be well positioned to capture a significant chunk of an expected $78.7 billion in online holiday sales this season, according to Forrester Research analyst Sucharita Mulpuru. The research firm estimates that 167 million shoppers will shop online this season, spending an average of $472. "Strong economic growth and low unemployment rates project a healthy playing field for online holiday sales and outweigh any lingering dampening effect of the government shutdown," says Mulpuru. While having a mobile strategy will help retailers this holiday season, price is still king for consumers. In a recent Forrester survey, half of U.S. adults said they would consider buying from an online retailer that they had never bought from before if it offered the lowest shipping cost or free shipping, while 42 percent said the best deal offers would determine their buying decision. "As the web channel has become synonymous with value, retailers should expect consumers to be avidly searching for deals through a variety of touchpoints, at home and in-store on mobile devices," Mulpuru writes in a blog. "Availability of web content across devices will be critical: Forrester estimates that cross-channel sales (transactions that are influenced by the web in some way but are completed in stores) will account for $247 billion this holiday season," he adds. For more:
- see IBM's release
- check out Forrester's release
- read Mulpuru's blog Related Articles:
Holiday sales should get big boost from mobile
Retailers report surging mobile commerce sales Read more about: Mobile Devices, holiday sales
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