October 2011 Archives

Since the launch of its own brand of phones in 2006, Taiwan based HTC Corp has managed to become the 5th biggest smartphone manufacturer in the world by volume. Previously the company contract manufactured mobile phones for other brands. With the aim of increasing its market share and improving its patent profile, over the past year the company has spent over $700 million on acquiring small firms. In spite of the expenditure, the company remains keen on buying.

That annoying pain, that irritating kink, those tight muscles, your neck is trying to tell you something… it’s time to get a headset.

Over the past year here at Digitcom we have seen an exponential increase in the number of wireless headset and wired Headset inquiries, and being the curious sort that I am, I’ve tried to figure out why. Perhaps it’s some sort of widespread epiphany that using a wireless headset at works frees up both hands; enabling people to type, write, open files, and do other things more easily while on the phone, increasing overall productivity by streamlining the communications process.

Or perhaps the increase in headset sales is health related, as people, especially those who use the phone frequently, have come to realize that holding your head and neck at an angle as you nestle the handset between your shoulder and ear for extended periods of time simply isn’t good for you, resulting in those irritating kinks and tight muscles that continue to plague you long after the work day is over.

Or perhaps it has nothing to do with the office or with your health at all, but with that exorbitantly expensive ticket you’re holding in your hand after being caught talking or texting while driving, bringing you to the realization that it’s not only dangerous and illegal to talk and drive, but more costly than a bluetooth headset as well.

It’s the week that everyone waits for, when American tech and telecommunications companies post their Q3 results. Who am I kidding? No one waits for this. But as expected, in a fiscal quarter—ending September 24^th—that saw no new iPhone release and no significant other new smartphone options, AT&T’s revenues took a hit, dropping from $12.3 billion in Q3 2010, to $3.6 billion in this quarter (Verizon’s fiscal report will be released today).

While other companies continue to work hard on producing enterprise specific tablet hardware, unified communications company Polycom has decided to take another route, turning your iPad or Android tablet into an enterprise ready device. Earlier this week the company unveiled its new videoconferencing application, RealPresence Mobile, which will allow users to turn their existing consumer tablet devices into business ready communication platforms.

For Polycom’s closest competitors the answer to the enterprise tablet question has so far exclusively been hardware related, with Cisco developing the Cius business tablet, Avaya creating its entire Flare experience, and more recently Motorola Solutions developing the ET1 enterprise ready tablet.

With Polycom bringing many of those same enterprise-ready features to the very tablet many of us are holding in our hands, could we already be witnessing a shift away from enterprise specific devices towards products that unify both the enterprise and consumer markets?