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Rogers launches super-fast mobile service in Ontario
Itbusiness.ca
Rogers Wireless Inc. has pulled ahead in mobile data speeds by announcing the launch of High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) service on its cellular network in the Golden Horseshoe region of southern Ontario.
With access through the AirCard 860 from Sierra Wireless Inc. of Richmond, B.C., computers will be able to receive data at speeds of 600 kilobits per second to one megabit per second. The rival 1X Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO) technology offered by Bell Canada and Telus Corp. provides typical speeds of 400 to 700 kilobits per second. (The theoretical top speeds of both HSDPA and EV-DO are higher.)
Upstream speeds are lower. Mansell Nelson, vice-president of business development at Rogers, says HSDPA will let computers and other mobile devices transmit data to the network at around 300 kilobits per second.
The worldwide mobile phone market took another step towards reaching 1 bln units shipped for the year, with a total of 254.9 mln units shipped in the Q3 2006. According to IDC, worldwide shipments of mobile phones were up 7.9% from Q2 2006 and up an impressive 21.0% from Q3 2005.
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Mobile phone
shipments in Q3 2006
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Q3 2006
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Q3 2005
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Growth
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Vendor
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Shipments, mln.
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Share
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Shipments, mln.
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Share, %
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YTY
|
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Nokia
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88.5
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34.7%
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66.6
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31.6%
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32.9%
|
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Motorola
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53.7
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21.1%
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38.7
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18.4%
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38.8%
|
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Samsung
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30.7
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12.0%
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26.4
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12.6%
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16.1%
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Sony
Ericsson
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19.8
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7.8%
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13.9
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6.6%
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42.2%
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LG
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16.5
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6.5%
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15.5
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7.4%
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6.3%
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Others
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45.7
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17.9%
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49.6
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23.5%
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-7.8%
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Total
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254.9
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100.0%
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210.7
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100.0%
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21.0%
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Source:
IDC
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T-Mobile Unveils Phone with Keyboard, Wi-Fi
By Reuters
NEW YORK—T-Mobile USA, the No. 4 U.S. wireless service, said on Wednesday it will start to sell a mobile phone with computer-like features and WiFi, or short-range high-speed Internet links.
T-Mobile, owned by Deutsche Telekom AG, said the phone from Taiwan's High Tech Computer Corp. runs on a Microsoft Corp. operating system and has a minicomputer-like keyboard designed to make it easier for consumers to use the phone for e-mailing.
The phone, branded the T-Mobile Dash, went on sale on October 25 for $199 after rebates to people who sign two-year contracts. It is part of T-Mobile's bid to boost revenues by getting more customers to use phones for more than talking.
T-Mobile lags bigger rivals such as Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel Corp. in building nationwide high-speed cellular networks to support data services like mobile Web surfing aimed at boosting revenue amid falling phone-call prices.
T-Mobile currently offers high-speed wireless services mainly to laptop users through more than 7,200 hotspots or public Wi-Fi networks in venues such as coffee shops.
Its parent company said last week that it would spend $2.7 billion to build a national U.S. high-speed wireless network in the next few years.
Remote Workers Still Imperil Enterprise Security
By Matt Hines, eweek.com
Remote workers continue to expose their employers to a wide range of IT threats by using poor laptop etiquette and connecting to corporate systems using non-trusted wireless connections, according to a new report sponsored by Cisco Systems.
In a study conducted for Cisco by InsightExpress, based in Stamford, Conn., researchers interviewed 1,000 remote workers in 10 countries and found that many people continue to use poor judgment in adhering to security policies, despite having been warned of threats lurking on the Web and wireless networks.
While a vast majority of remote workers interviewed in the United States and elsewhere said they are cognizant of security issues while working outside the office, far fewer said they aggressively police their own computing activity to limit exposure to threats.
For instance, while 68 percent of the workers interviewed in the United States said they had been warned of the perils of risky laptop behavior, 30 percent said they still use their company-issued computers for personal tasks, with 46 percent admitting to using their computers to shop at e-commerce sites.
Although most users had been informed of the threats of e-mail-borne viruses after the outbreaks of the last several years, some 24 percent of users surveyed in the United States said they still open unknown messages, while 19 percent said they allow someone else to use their work computer.
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