A study conducted at the University of New Hampshire has found that college students use cell phones in class, despite knowing that it adversely affects their concentration.

In a universitywide study, student researchers at the UNH Whittemore School of Business and Economics found student cell phone users check their phones an average of one to five times during class. About half of students (51 per cent) say that cell phone use in class affects their ability to concentrate and the amount of information that they receive during class (52 per cent).

"Even though the majority of college students do not own a smartphone, those who do are much more active using their phones in class," said Chuck Martin, adjunct professor of marketing, whose class conducted the study.

Although students are aware that phone use is frowned upon in class, almost half (49 per cent) of those who check their phones during class attempt to conceal their use somewhat or extremely frequently, based on the study of 1,265 students.

The most commonly used phone feature was the clock, followed by texting. Students at the business school were the most active phone users, and they were also the highest percentage who owned smartphones (51 per cent vs. 33 per cent).

Class standing did not have a significant effect on the amount of times students checked their phones, at only a 3 per cent difference. However, 77 per cent of seniors check their phone's clock frequently or extremely frequently, while 42 per cent of freshmen check the clock on their phone at the same frequency.

Female students were found to be 7 per cent more likely to text, or more times per class period, and they are also 13 per cent more likely to frequently hide their phone use in class.

Female students are 5 per cent more likely to text frequently during class. Almost all (99 per cent) of college students own a cell phone, with 9 per cent owning multiple mobile devices.

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Read more: Mobile phones are a classroom distraction - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/relationships/parenting/Mobile-phones-are-a-classroom-distraction/articleshow/7166814.cms#ixzz19K10llmD

Windows Phone 7 Ships 1.5M Devices In First Six Weeks

Microsoft announced today that 1.5 million mobile devices running its Windows Phone 7 platform have been shipped to retailers in the six weeks since the operating system's launch November 8.

Corporate VP for Mobile Communications, Business and Marketing Achim Berg said this number was "in line with our expectations – especially when compared to other new platform introductions" and that customer momentum and retail presence were still building.

Berg also stressed that 18,000 developers have signed up to work on Windows Phone 7 -- including game developers such as Namco Bandai, Konami, THQ and Glu Mobile -- and have already provided more than 4,000 apps for the platform's online store.

Windows Phone 7's initial shipment rate puts the platform well behind current rates for other major mobile phone operating systems. Analysts estimate Apple sold 1.5 million iPhone 4's on the device's first day of release this year, while Google reports it's currently activating 300,000 Android-powered phones every day.

That said, the numbers are favorable compared to those for other first-generation phone platforms. The original iPhone took 74 days to sell its first million units when it launched back in early 2007. Motorola's Droid phone -- one of many models running the Android operating system -- took a similar amount of time to sell a million units when it launched this year.

"We introduced a new platform with Windows Phone 7, and when you do that it takes time to educate partners and consumers on what you’re delivering, and drive awareness and interest in your new offering," Berg said. "We’re comfortable with where we are, and we are here for the long run; Windows Phone 7 is just the beginning."

The sales rate for the first six weeks represents a slight slowdown from 40,000 reported sales on the platform's first day of availability. Microsoft has since tried to increase that rate by offering a free Xbox 360 game with every new Windows Phone 7 activation.

Chile has more mobile phones than people

Country is home to 19.4 million mobile phones, according to government statistics.

There are more cell phones in Chile than there are people, the government's INE statistics institute said Tuesday.

With 19.4 million cell phones distributed across the Andean nation as of October, there were nearly 1.1 cell phones for each of Chile's estimated 17.1 million inhabitants.

Highlighting the explosion in cell phone penetration, in 2006 there were only 11.9 million cell phones for Chile's then 16.4 million population, INE said.

Between 2000 and 2009, Chileans made 94.5 billion domestic calls on their cell phones, racking up 126.7 billion minutes, and 264 million international calls, for some 788 million minutes, according to INE.

Meanwhile, Chileans are expected to make 3.87 million local landline phone calls this year, totaling 8.93 million minutes, up from 6.84 million calls and 14.8 million minutes totaled in 1998, INE said.

For the first 10 months of the year, Chileans made 430 million domestic calls and 32 million international calls on landlines.

Meanwhile, in 2009 Chileans made 62,278 calls on public pay phones, totaling 59,131 minutes, compared to 114,518 calls made in 2004 for 136,915 minutes.

The local unit of Spain's Telefonica Moviles SA, Movistar, is the country's largest cell provider, with Entel PCS, a unit of Entel coming in second. Claro, owned by Mexico's America Movil is third, and Nextel holds a minority stake in the local wireless phone service market.

Chilean President Sebastian Pinera recently enacted a mobile and landline number portability law, which will allow users to change their operators without changing their phone number. The law will make it easier for users to switch companies and is expected to intensify competition.

http://www.totaltele.com/view.aspx?ID=461016

'Angry Birds' tops iPhone app downloads for 2010

'Angry Birds' was the most downloaded paid-for app on the iTunes store in 2010, reveals Apple.

It is a popular game in which cartoon birds are catapulted towards pigs balancing on teetering structures.

The 'Lite' version of the game, which allows people to try out the game before spending 59p on the full version, was the second most popular free app in 2010.

 

It was also the third highest-grossing app of the year, second only to two TomTom navigation applications that retailed for around 50 pounds.

Dropbox, which allows people to synchronise and share files across computers, via the Internet, and access these files from their mobile phones, and Nigella Lawson's cooking guide, were the other hot choices.

"Angry Birds has this amazing cross-over appeal that makes it as popular with hardcore gamers as casual gamers," the Telegraph quoted Guy Cocker, of videogames website Gamespot.

"It's a game that plays to the strengths of the iPhone and iPod touch - it's been designed specifically for that platform, and it just works incredibly well. 

"Whenever I catch the bus, there's always someone on there playing Angry Birds. It's got a low barrier to entry, and you really feel like you're getting a lot of game for your money. It's no surprise that Angry Birds has been nominated for some of this year's most prestigious gaming awards," he said. (ANI)

http://sify.com/news/angry-birds-tops-iphone-app-downloads-for-2010-news-scitech-kmlqEkahfag.html

Microsoft won't tell Windows Phone 7 sales figures

JUST HOW BAD are Windows Phone 7 (WP7) sales is the question on everyone's lips as Microsoft's WP7 chief repeatedly dodged questions on the matter.

Speaking to the master of lobbing softball questions Walt Mossberg at the D: Dive Into Mobile conference, Microsoft's director of Windows Phone program management Joe Belfiore bulldozed his way around questions of WP7 sales figures. First Belfiore said, "We are not talking [sales] numbers", but then he continued by admitting Microsoft's defeat by Apple.

Belfiore had the unenviable task of trying to avoid the question of how many WP7 phones the Vole has managed to flog in the last two months. Given the huge marketing effort, the number of similar devices, availability in over 25 countries and launching just prior to the Christmas sales period, Microsoft's decision not release sales figures only heightens speculation that the Vole's mobile effort is tanking.

Mossberg did press Belfiore on when he thought Microsoft would enjoy similar market share as Apple, only to be met with the vague answer of "maybe" when he put forward a two year timeframe.

The only reason Microsoft would be cagey about WP7 sales figures is if they have been poor. By this stage, given the aforementioned availability and marketing factors, anything less than several million would be deeply disappointing. The longer Microsoft skirts the issue, the more speculation will continue to rise.

Then again, why should the Vole bother? After all, it has already admitted defeat.

Read more: http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1930972/microsoft-wont-tell-windows-phone-sales-figures#ixzz17iTnorgx

Google Exec: Android is Profitable

Android's chief architect offers some good news about Android and some strong advice and some criticism for competitors.

SAN FRANCISCO: Google doesn't charge its carrier-, OEM- and developer partners a dime for its mobile operating system, but apparently the search giant is still making money in the mobile space. During a wide ranging talk at the D: Dive Into Mobile Conference. Google's VP of Mobile Platforms Andy Rubin, explained that the advertising on Android-based phones is a revenue stream for the search giant and, in fact, makes the Android enterprise within Google profitable all by itself.
Rubin didn't go into great detail about how Google makes advertising money on the Linux-based platform, but he did explain that even on phones where users do not have the Google search bar pre-installed (some carriers swap Bing for Google), a large number of people still type in Google.com to search on their phones, driving organic search on these Android phones, returning Google search results which, of course, feature Google-driven contextual ads.

When asked about the still sometimes clunky nature of the Android mobile OS, Rubin said he still sees Android as an early adopter platform built for tech enthusiasts, but expect that situation to start improving with the introduction of the tablet-oriented Honeycomb version of Android next year.

There are now, according to Rubin, 172 different phone SKUs offering Android, many of them modifying the interface and swapping in and out Google features and various propriety pieces of mobile software. Rubin said that this is the reality of offering an open platform. One host wondered if Android is becoming the "Microsoft of Mobile Phones," where partners take the OS and build whatever they want around it and put whatever software they want on the hardware. Rubin countered with "We're probably more like the Linux of phones"" a comment he almost instantly regretted.

Rubin also talked about the competition, and was generally complimentary to Apple, saying the company learned from its mistakes and that they "make great consumer products." In fact, he said the iPhone and Android share a distinct advantage: They're both new. Starting with a clean slate is, Rubin explained, a definite advantage. He then compared it to Windows Phone 7 which Rubin contends is built on 20 year-old Windows Mobile 1 code.

There was some praise for Microsoft's latest mobile accomplishment. Rubin likes the tiled screen and called Windows Phone 7 "a good 1.0 product."

Rubin also had some interesting advice for Blackberry manufacturer RIM. "What did [Motorola's] Razor do? It faded away. So what did Motorola do? Switched to Android."

BlackBerry vs. iPhone: What's in your pocket?

There was a time when BlackBerrys grew wild.
They were everywhere: boardrooms, restaurants and kitchen tables. The dark little devices would vibrate every time a new e-mail arrived, delivering a tiny thrill that millions of employees came to both loathe and desire. It wasn't long before the device earned its enduring nickname: CrackBerry.
The famously addictive device popularized e-mail on the go and turned its Canadian maker, Research in Motion Inc., into a $34-billion company and the business world's leading supplier of smart phones. It has 41 million users worldwide, and BlackBerrys represent more than half of all corporate smart phone users in the U.S., according to research firm ComScore Inc.
But now Apple Inc., the company that upended the music industry with its iPod and then the cellphone market with its iPhone, wants to gobble up a slice of BlackBerry's multibillion-dollar pie.

In September, after only three years on the market, the iPhone for the first time surpassed the BlackBerry in total quarterly sales with 14.1 million devices sold, compared with 12.1 million for Research in Motion, or RIM, as it is commonly known.
In its quest to become the de facto smart phone maker for business users — the company has already won about 23% of that market, ComScore said — Apple has hired a number of former RIM salespeople to help it sell its phones to corporate America.
Apple says the iPhone is more than a mere appliance for sending e-mail. The device, with its sleek touch screen and ability to run hundreds of thousands of Web-connected applications, games and utilities, can be used for nearly any purpose, business or personal, a line that Apple hopes to blur out of existence.
"Most people now want to use a single device to handle both their personal and professional lives," said Shaw Wu, an analyst at Kaufman Bros. "That's what Apple's really good at — and now RIM is playing catch-up."
For its part, RIM has begun appealing to consumers with an array of flashier, user-friendly devices. Newer models such as the Torch boast both an iPhone-like touch screen and a physical keyboard for die-hard Blackberry users accustomed to rapidly tapping out e-mail messages.
The company has also created an online app store, called App World, though it has only about 15,000 apps compared with Apple's 300,000.
RIM officials declined to be interviewed for this report.
For decades Apple has been the specialist in consumer electronics, with its iPod music player and Macintosh personal computers. It has never been more than a niche player in the corporate market.
Lately, though, the Cupertino, Calif., company is putting forth a novel argument: When it comes to smart phones and tablet computers, the distinction between a home and office device is becoming less necessary.
"We're not developing two different lines like many companies do with enterprise versions and consumer versions," Apple's chief operating officer, Tim Cook, said in an October conference call with investors. "This is another part of our simplistic approach to things that I think will pay us great dividends, and it's already starting to do so."
Apple says that 80% of Fortune 500 companies are trying out the iPhone to varying degrees, including General Electric Co., Procter & Gamble Co., Allstate Corp. and Pfizer Inc., though many of those are trials that involve small numbers of users.
Last year, drug maker Sanofi-Aventis gave iPhones and iPad tablet computers to 1,500 employees across the company and said it planned to continue moving employees to Apple's platform, giving workers the option of replacing their company-issued BlackBerrys.
With apps downloaded from Apple's App Store, Sanofi employees can use iPhones or iPads to monitor live data "dashboards" about sales of particular drugs and the performance of marketing initiatives. They can watch live Web presentations by colleagues, and they can communicate with groups of other employees via a company-specific social network called Yammer.
"True mobility is now kicking in," said Vic Rupinder, a senior technology manager at Sanofi. "You're no longer tied to your desktop, so you can do work while you're moving around."
San Francisco software maker Salesforce.com Inc. broke from standard corporate information technology practice this year: Instead of assigning smart phones to its 4,800 employees, it lets them bring their own. Under this new model — known as BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) — the employee buys the device and the employer pays the monthly voice and data bill.
That approach is catching on in the business community and has tended to favor Apple, which is already a favorite among consumers. At Salesforce, BlackBerry was the standard device before the new policy. Now 40% of the employees use iPhones while 60% still have BlackBerrys.