Verizon announced the availability of the MiFi 7730L Jetpack, a new global LTE mobile hotspot that allows customers to share a secure connection with up to 15 devices simultaneously. The MiFi 7730L is equipped with LTE-Advanced carrier aggregation and dual band WiFi technology as well as Quick Charge, and comes with a 2.4-inch color touch screen to change settings.
The device is available now for $199.99 retail or $99.99 with a two-year contract.
New data from Flurry indicates app usage in 2016 increased 11 percent from the year prior, while time spent in apps grew by 69 percent. The largest gains were made by messaging and social and sports applications – which saw 44 percent and 43 percent growth year over year. Business and finance, as well as shopping and health and fitness apps also saw usage increase (30 percent, 25 percent, and 18 percent, respectively), while personalization, game, and news and magazine apps all ceded ground (losses of 46 percent, 15 percent, and 5 percent, respectively).
Flurry’s data also reflected changes in form factor distribution, noting the growth of phablets from 33 percent of the market share in the first quarter 2016 to 41 percent by the end of the year. The vast majority of that growth came at the expense of medium-sized phones, which started the year with 50 percent of the market share and ended it with just 44 percent.
Kantar Worldpanel ComTech this week said its latest smartphone OS sales data indicates iOS made gains in the three months ended November 2016, while Android sales in the United States, Great Britain, and France declined.
According to Kantar, Android’s U.S. market share dropped to 55.3 percent during that period, down from 60.4 percent in the same period the year prior. Meanwhile, Apple’s iOS made gains to reach 31.3 percent of the stateside OS market share.
But a separate report from Smaato indicated Android made gains in a different space in the third quarter 2016: mobile advertising. According to the report, Android surpassed iOS for the first time, accounting for 55 percent of global mobile ad revenue generated by publishers compared to iOS’ 41 percent share.
Smaato’s report also noted in-app accounted for 81 percent of the global mobile ad spend in the third quarter. Overall, Smaato said worldwide mobile ad spending rose 64 percent year over year during the period.
President-elect Donald Trump has added former Sprint counsel Carolyn Roddy to his FCC transition team. Roddy previously served as an attorney at the Federal Communications Commission as well as regional regulatory counsel for Sprint Communications Company in the Southeast. She has also served as Counsel at Troutman Sanders, LLP in Atlanta and Director of Regulatory Affairs of the Satellite Industry Association in Washington, D.C.
Roddy is the fifth member of Trump’s FCC transition team, joining David Morken, Jeffrey Eisenach, Mark Jamison, and Roslyn Layton.
