For those of you loyal readers who have been following and reading my blogs…. you no doubt noticed my propensity to provide you with industry and market statistics and information.

Keeping with this tradition, I came across a study – IT in the Toilet conducted by 11 Mark “View Infographic“… according to this report, we shouldn’t be surprised if we hear a toilet flush in the background while on the phone with friends or colleagues; as a whopping 3 out 4 in America use their cell phones while in the bathroom.

Approximately the same number of men and women have used the phone in the bathroom, according to a survey of 1,000 Americans… although men seem more tethered to IT in the toilet: 30 percent of men versus 20 percent of women agreed with the statement, “I don’t go to the bathroom without my mobile phone.”

Since only 14% of respondents reportedly cleanse their phones after a toilet session…  I would highly recommend protecting both their devices and ultimately themselves with iSkin protective accessories‘ revolutionary  Microban technology.  Built-in to products during the manufacturing process, Microban antimicrobial product protection inhibits the growth of microbes such as bacteria, mold and mildew that can cause stains , embarrassing odors and deterioration of both cell phones and other mobile devices.

Check out the following video for in-depth information on Microban iSkin protective cases and skins.

More than half the surveyed users (63 percent) said they have answered a phone call in the bathroom, and almost half (41 percent) reported initiating a phone call. That’s not all, however: What goes on behind the walls of the stalls is anything a mobile phone is capable of. Sixty-seven percent said they have read a text, and 39 percent have surfed the Web. Men work more from the bathroom—20 percent said they have participated in work-related calls, versus 13 percent of their female colleagues.

As expected, Gen Y respondents are the pacesetters in the “mobile everywhere” movement, with 91 percent using their phone in the bathroom. Still, older generations are not far behind. Eighty percent of Gen X reported using the phone in the bathroom, as did 65 percent of Baby Boomers and 47 percent of the Silent Generation.

While online, they are doing more than just surfing; 16 percent of Gen Y report they have made an online purchase while in the bathroom.  The study indicates that 87% of Droid users (Motorola Droid RAZR, Samsung Galaxy S 2, HTC Amaze, LG Optimus 2X) and 84% of Blackberry users (Bold 9900 Touch, Bold 9790 , Curve 9370) followed by  77% of iPhone users are particularly likely to browse and buy in the bathroom – 22 percent have made a purchase, versus 10 percent of Americans with mobile phones overall.

“The writing is on the stall,” said 11mark principal Nicole Burdette. “This study confirms what we all know: that the last private place is no longer private.”

Life is indeed good for LG… their LG Optimus cell phone series are extremely popular.  In fact, they recently boasted the sale of over one million LG Optimus LTE  worldwide since the device first launched last year.

The Optimus LTE made its international debut in LG’s native South Korea last October, before its December invasion of Japan and North America – where it is sold under the brand name of Spectrum at Verizon (where it is available for $199 on contract) and the Nitro HD at AT&T, while Canadians recognize it as the Bell Optimus Eye.

Leaving your valuable LG mobile devices unprotected is risky!  Discover the latest innovative protection solutions… stylish top brand bags, sleeves and cases specifically designed to protect your devices from scratches and blemishes.  Tough on the outside, sweet on the inside these brand name protection accessories combine complete device coverage with sleek artistic expression

In short the Optimus LTE delivers the ultimate HD multimedia environment through a 4.5 inch 1280 x 720 (16:9 ratio) True HD IPS display with lightening fast LTE connectivity.  The True HD IS display features an incredible 2.76 million sub-pixels as well as superior color accuracy, clarity, natural color and battery efficiency

The following video provides an excellent review on the LG Optimus LE

‘With brisk sales for a high-end smartphone the Optimus LTE reaffirms LG’s leadership in mobile LTE technology,” said Dr. Jon-seok Park, president and CEOof LG Mobile Communications Company.  “The combination of LTE connectivity coupled with LG’s True HD IPS display has resonated with the public regarding the potential of LTE technology.”

LG also confirms that consumers can enhance their mobility and turn LG devices into a power tool wither select accessories such as; stylus & pens, micro SD memory cards, batteries, docking stations, Bluetooth headsets, data cables and glider gloves all specifically designed to make LG devices functionally efficient and performance rich.

The world’s greatest tech show – CES 2012 – kicked off on Monday, January 9th… and will run until Friday January 13th.

With more than four decades of success, the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) reaches across global markets, connects the industry and enables CE innovations to grow and thrive. The show is produced by Consumer electronic Association, the preeminent trade association promoting growth in the $186 billion U.S. consumer technology industry. CEA represents more than 2,000 corporate members involved in the design, development, manufacturing, distribution and integration of consumer electronics products. All profits from CES are reinvested into industry services, including technical training and education, industry promotion, engineering standards development, market research and legislative advocacy.

This year’s show is held at the Hilton Casino and Hotel in Las Vegas and will cover more than 1.8 million square feet which is equivalent to 35 American football fields with over 2700 exhibitors and close to 200,000 attendees from across the globe.

Most of the leading smartphone and wireless mobile device (such as tablets) manufacturers and vendors will be unveiling their latest product and technology. In the same breath, these manufacturers will be showcasing their latest in innovative protection solutions… … stylish top brand bags, sleeves and cases specifically designed to protect your devices from scratches and blemishes. Tough on the outside, sweet on the inside these brand name protection accessories combine complete device coverage with sleek artistic expression.

The following capture the most important CES smartphone and wireless mobile device news and product video overview:

	LTE-packing Nokia Lumia 900 is finally official, exclusive to AT&T HTC Titan II vs. Nokia Lumia 900 vs. Samsung Focus S – the ultimate WP showdown [TABLE]  Nokia Lumia 900 – specs • hands-on
	New Samsung Series 9 ultrabook comes in 13.3″ and 15″ versions, the small one weighs just 1.16kg Samsung and AT&T unveil Note, Skyrocket HD and Exhilarate Android-powered webcam-like device, the Samsung inTouch, adds Smart TV magic to your boring HDTV Sprint unveils Samsung Galaxy Nexus LTE Verizon debuts Galaxy Tab LTE   Verizon Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 LTE- specs • hands-on • second hands-on AT&T Galaxy Note LTE – specs • hands-on • second hands-on Samsung Skyrocket HD – specs Samsung Exhilarate – specs Samsung Galaxy Nexus LTE – specs
	Sony Ericsson LiveView successor spotted at CES, announcement seems imminent The Sony Xperia ion coming to AT&T in Q2 2012 Sony announces Xperia S with a 12MP camera and HD screen  Sony Xperia ion – specs • hands-on Sony Xperia S – specs • hands-on
	LG brings a ton of new HDTV stuff to CES, 3D is everywhere, and there’s a motion-controlled remote with voice input LG Spectrum goes official, joins the Verizon LTE gang on Jan 19 Sprint unveils LG Viper  LG Viper- specs LG Spectrum – specs • hands-on
	HTC Titan II vs. Nokia Lumia 900 vs. Samsung Focus S – the ultimate WP showdown [TABLE] LTE HTC Titan II with 16 MP camera revealed, heads for AT&T HTC Titan II - specs • hands-on • camera samples
	Acer announces Aspire S5 and Aspire Timeline Ultra Ultrabooks, claims the former to be the world’s thinnest Acer showcases the new Iconia Tab A700, comes with a quad-core processor and a full HD display
	Verizon announces several Droid RAZRs  Motorola RAZR MAXX – specs • hands-on Motorola Droid 4 - specs • hands-on
	Lenovo continues CES invasion with IdeaCentre B-series all-in-ones and refreshed desktops Lenovo announces IdeaPad S200 and IdeaPad S206 netbooks, will launch in June Lenovo IdeaPad U310 and U410 new Ultrabook laptops get under the spotlight Lenovo unveils Ideapad S2, the S2 smartphone and K91 TV
	Huawei Ascend P1 and Ascend P1 S droid beasts announced  Huawei Ascend P1 – specs • hands-on Huawei Ascend P1 S – specs • hands-on
Misc	Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update starts rolling out for the ASUS Transformer Prime ASUS and NVidia CEOs show a 7-inch Tegra 3-powered tablet with ICS for $249 Gigabyte keeps Atom dream alive with Cedar Trail powered T1006M convertibe netbook and tablet, Windows 7 on board In case of emergency: The new SpareOne mobile phone promises to hold its charge for up to 15 years Fujitsu showcases quad-core Tegra 3 smartphone at CES Parrot shows AR.Drone 2.0 at CES – now with 720p video recording, easy sharing and sturdier hardware OCZ Lightfoot SSD boasts Thunderbolt connectivity, speeds beyond belief Canon PowerShot G1 X is a 14MP compact with a DSLR-sized 4:3 image sensor • Canon G1 X hands-on Fujifilm announced rangefinder-style, mirrorless X-Pro1 camera, to cost $1,700 at launch SanDisk unveils the world’s fastest SDXC card, promises write speeds of up to 45MB/sToshiba showcase three mysterious tablets at CES and tell us nothing about them Razer reveals Project Fiona, a tablet with controllers attached to it running on a Core i7 and Windows 8

Many thanks to GSM Arena for the above references and links.

Every brand and company has its shtick, its M.O., its press friendly sound bytes. Google is no different when espousing the virtues of its Google Android operating system at each event they are able to use a soapbox and spread their smartphone evangelism. The main gospel is the Android culture of openness and the lack of limitations is to the benefit of the consumer.

This is great PR spin. And this writer truly loves a good euphemism laced with truth. So, while Android is more open that its competitors, it is comparative. When held up to open-source software like Linux, it is actually quite closed. Hence, a Hollywoodesque Benniffer moniker is bound to catch: Clopen.

At the moment, Google makes the Android OS source code available to companies and individuals to customize to their liking. Very open and transparent, non? Flip side of this coin is the Google mobile suite: Gmail, Android Market, Google Maps, and the long list of “Google” stamped functions. These are closed sourced. The double talk is confusing for customers. Especially when end users purchase a no-Market Android device. Not good PR.

Throw in the custom skins and fragmentations used by the varied carriers and manufacturers and there is a varying standard of quality for the smartphones bearing the Android and Google names. This is damaging to a brand. In fact, Marketing Land’s Danny Sullivan wrote that these quality control discrepancies are resulting in customers with outdated devices in their hands. This particular quirk can be addressed with accessories (protective cases, upgraded screen skins etc), but what is under the hood is harder to resolve.

Case in point: the latest Android OS release, Ice Cream Sandwich. Various manufacturers have hedged and speculated about when the update would be available and on what phones and what carriers (at least with an unlocked phone, the customer will have more say in to get the latest Android OS). As of right now, only one physical device has the update on it. The flagship Android phone, Galaxy Nexus. Newer devices like the DROID RAZR, DROID Bionic, and the Rezound should see the update later in 2012, but there are many others like the LG Revolution (launched only 7 months ago) that will never get the ICS upgrade treatment because of the carrier (please see above note about unlocked phones!).

Luckily for customers, the Open Handset Alliance which encompasses major US players (LG, HTC, Motorola, T-Mobile, Verizon, Sprint, and AT&T to name a few) which has pledged with Google to bring an end to fragmentation and bring the latest Android OS to devices if the smartphone release is 18 months old or younger.

January 3, 2012

There are those moments where no news is good news. This is generally not the case in the technology world; in particular within mobile technology market space… which is constantly evolving, improving, and innovating to keep pace with a tech savvy and tech hungry consumer base.  A market base growing at an exponential rate as unlocked cell phones becomes more and more available to consumers in India, Africa and China. Thankfully the advent of tablets and a plethora of mobile accessories such as cases, skins,  screen protectors, desktop chargers as well as  Bluetooth Headsets keep our little hands busy while awaiting the latest smartphone relases.

With that in mind, the jury is still out on the lack of an LG Windows Phone release in the United States in 2011…. the last LG Windows Phone seen state side was the Quantum back in 2010. This handset wasn’t widely popular, perhaps because it was not available as an unlocked smartphone, instead it was tied to a carrier exclusive contract with AT&T.  Discover a massive selection of  SD Micro Memory cards.  Extend your mobile device memory to hold a huge inventory of images, songs and documents.

Trickles of a new release for the Windows OS are tickling the imaginations of the mobile world with a device going by the moniker LG Fantasy. As with any gossip mill, speculated details are flying with scant solid evidence or manufacturer announcements to give credence and weight to the words.   Discover  XMI Speakers; uncompromised sound quality and a revolutionary design accentuating  today’s interactive lifestyle.   In addition,  earpieces and headsets combine sophisticated style and precision engineering that deliver brilliant sound for your total listening pleasure.

The most likely sounding is that is has a four inch IPS display and this holds more veracity thanks to the leaked image of the smartphone. This image is indeed blurry (as can be seen in the picture above), but it is pretty evident that the handset has either a 5 megapixel or 8 megapixel camera. This seemingly harmless detail gives more heft to the talk that the Fantasy will join the ranks of Windows phones because this megapixel screen is what current Windows Phone users have with the 7.5 OS (aka Mango).

Leaving your valuable mobile devices unprotected is risky!  The latest stylish top  brand bags, sleeves and cases innovative protection solutions allow you to protect your devices from scratches and blemishes with our stylish top.  Tough on the outside, sweet on the inside these brand name protection accessories combine complete device coverage with sleek artistic expression.

What is markedly less clear is whether this particular device will see the light of American soil for its debut, but it is likely that a launch will occur sometime in 2012. LG is smart to keep up guessing and ramping up the free PR to fill the void between its Windows Phone releases, but will be sure to keep the juiciest details for the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in February.  Checkout the latest in mobile device accessories.

Statistical data continues to highlight the fact that cell phone and smart phone usage is still on the rise in Canada… you can find a study on both Canadian and USA stats here.

This trend has socio-economic consequences that look to be increasingly, well…consequential. A report released by comScore reflects that there are now 20.1 million Canadians who use either a feature phone or smartphone. The subtext is that these increases will more gradually reflect in increased usage of  protective solutions and premium electronic accessories as consumer’s realize the importance to protect, personalize and enhance their high-priced mobile devices .

One of the most shocking statistics was the 7% jump in Canadians who transitioned from a regular feature phone to a smartphone over the past 6 months.  Smartsphones now account for 40% of the market.  Moreover, this shift has also sparked an increase in horizontal markets including mobile accessories, applications, ringtones and other related products.  These delicious bits are the candy on the gingerbread house.

There is an escalating heavyweight competition is between device manufacturers and operating system developers.  So how did the manufacturers fare?  Samsung cell phones is the favoured consumer choice leading contenders with 25.2% of the Canadian market place.  They also have a great family of devices in the Samsung Galaxy S2X which are the most widely available at most retail stores.  After Samsung, LG cell phones had a strong showing of 20% market share, Blackberry cell phones (RIM) with 14.3%, Apple iPhone 4 S at 4th place and Nokia cell phones in dead last.  The role of accessories is becoming more and more important as both protection solutions as well for enhancing relative to turn your device into a power tool.

The greatest news from the manufacturing statistics is the number of options Canadians now have, especially with unlocked phones.  Now more than ever, consumers can easily personalize their mobile devices with the fashion trend setting accessories.

Beyond the device manufacturers, there is always tech buzz around the latest and greatest OS. No surprise those 6 months ago Canadian-based RIM was still at the top of the heap with a whopping 42% of smartphone subscribers on their OS.  Also not surprising is the rapid erosion of that market share the past six months as the company has hit some stumbling blocks.  RIM still owns its « Number One » spot, but by a smaller margin: 35.8%.

Canadians didn’t drop in the number of users. Nor did they migrage to Apple (which in the past 6 months has dropped for 31% to 30%). Symbian and Windows did not reap the benefits of RIM defection either. Instead, Google’s Android OS is winning over the business of the Canadian smartphone populace by almost doubling (12.2% in March of 2011, jumped an astounding 12.8%) in a six month span.

With an ear to the ground, it sounds like Canada isn’t just voting with their feet to join the Android Revolution – they are stampeding to get the latest innovative and technologically advanced accessories for their mobile devices.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are typically two of the biggest shopping days of the year, and as consumers continue to use mobile devices more frequently to make online purchases, 2011 is shaping up to be huge for online shopping. A new study from ad network InMobi found that an estimated 60 million people will use a mobile device for online bargain-hunting this coming Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and 21 million of them will make purchases on their devices and associated mobile accessories.

Typical deals are shoppers looking for

A new survey found that Black Friday bargain hunters will be on the lookout for tablets more so than any other mobile device next Friday. Among those polled, 32% said they would be hunting for a Black Friday deal on a tablet and tablet accessories this holiday season. 25% of respondents said they would scout for deals on HDTVs, 24% said they would be looking for deals on laptops and laptop accessories with the remaining 19% plan to hunt for deals on smartphones and cell phone accessories this Black Friday.

Holiday Gift Wishes

When asked about the one gadget respondents would most like to receive as a gift this holiday season, tablets and tablet accessories dominated yet again. Apple’s iPad and Amazon’s Kindle Fire were tied atop the list, each having been named by 10% of those surveyed. Smartphones and related cell phone accessories filled the No.2 spot with 9%, HDTVs were mentioned by 8% of respondents and laptops and digital cameras were tied with 6%. Only 4% of those polled said that an Amazon Kindle eReader was their ideal gift.

Accessories such as covers, cases, skins, earphones, headsets, chargers and batteries make nifty and inexpensive stocking stuffers.

Now SAVE 20% OFF all phone and mobile accessories during our exclusive Black Friday and Cyber Monday Sale!

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Pink Curve 9360

Telus is going to be donating $25 for every time they sell a Pink Curve 9360. The phone will be paying, which is the customary color for breast cancer research over the course of the last few years. The company first announced a few weeks ago that they would be introducing a pink version of the unlocked Blackberry phone, but did not announce exactly what their plans were at the time.

The announcement was made in conjunction with the highly popular breast cancer awareness month, which has been embraced by a number of pro-sporting organizations that have embraced it including the NFL. The NFL went as far as to allow players to wear pink wristbands, which has been against their policy for quite some time.

The TELUS donations are quite generous and should convince a lot of people to consider buying the phone. They have been able to put together an excellent offering that will definitely appeal to many different people and will also help them to donate a large amount of money to a good cause. They are expected to release the total figure once all of the cells have common they have donated their final amount to the companies involved. It will be interesting to see if they are going to be able to make a huge contribution as a result of the sales of a pink phone that they first launched and announced just a few months ago. Their donations will come from the entire month of October, the month that the phone is first released.

Breast Cancer

It will be interesting to see if they are going to be able to put together a good plan that will attract a lot of new users to their service through their generosity. This is the way that many companies have decided to promote themselves in recent times and should make for a very interesting promotional method for the company that has been growing at a very quick rate.

PureMobile carries a wide range of unlocked cell phone accessories and unlocked cell phones like unlocked Sony Ericsson XPERIA PLAY 3G, LG Mobile P970 Optimus, etc.

The ability to bring the Amber alert system to text messages is something that has been in the works for a while. The first carriers received over a year ago. Slowly but surely a number of other carriers have come into the equation and it looks as though it will be, a standard service from most carriers that users can often be ever alert service will give you text information about any child abductions in the area and allow you to text tips to the hotline if you think you may have some information that will allow you to helping to solve the incident.

The wireless amber program is something that they’ve been working on for a while and you can bet that it is going to be a very great tool to further the program. The fact that they’ve been able to put together an excellent program, that shows that they mean business, when they are looking to further the technology that is utilized throughout the amber alert system.

PureMobile carries a wide range of unlocked cell phone accessories and unlocked cell phones like unlocked LG Mobile P970 Optimus, Samsung Galaxy S Fascinate 4G, etc.

It will also be interesting to see how the company is going to be able to put together a service that is going to allow them to connect with their users. They spoke as the advantage of having more than 700 million users at all, and the fact that they are going to be able to market their new services directly to their already existing user base means that these services can grow much more quickly than you thought that they would in the past.

Facebook will be launching this new music service, and you can expect them to release more details about the music service at some point in the very near future. Now that word has gotten out to the large media sources, the company will be forced to comment on it. The company has pushed several other projects into speedier releases as a result of the launch of the Google+ operating system. It is not known if this was one of the services that they pushed forward in terms of watches, but you can bet that the launch of the Google+ operating system definitely had an effect on their decision.

PureMobile carries a wide range of unlocked cell phone accessories and unlocked cell phones like unlocked HTC Sensation 4G, LG Mobile P970 Optimus, etc.