GeneralThe Year of the New Mobile Operating System

The entrance of two new operating systems from well-known brands shakes up the plans of some mobile operators and indicates some fundamental changes in the mobile industry.

Recommend this story? Yes No Please Wait... 2007 could be called the year of the mobile operating system. Since Microsoft entered the scene around five years ago, the smartphone operating system industry has been fairly stable. Symbian, Linux, Research in Motion and Windows Mobile make up the bulk of smartphone software, each to varying degrees of success in different regions. But in 2007, Apple introduced the iPhone, which runs its own brand of software, and Google announced that next year its Android mobile operating system platform will come out. The entrance of two new operating systems from well-known brands shakes up the plans of some mobile operators, creates some headaches for end users, presents bigger challenges for application developers and indicates some fundamental changes in the mobile industry.Smartphone Market Share To put the discussion in perspective, realize that smartphones make up a relatively small portion of overall mobile phone sales. In 2006, 8 percent of phones sold were smartphones, said Chris Hazelton, an analyst with IDC. That's set to grow in 2007, but will likely only hit the low double digits, he said. Why all the interest then? The industry has high hopes that existing phone owners, who now make up a large part of the overall population in developed countries, will want to move on to the next generation of more capable smartphones. In addition, operators are gradually indicating that... [ Read more on www.pcworld.com ]

GeneralIT managers fear influx of Xmas gadgets on network

IT managers are getting twitchy about the Xmas gadgets expected to be brought into work by employees. Such devices can potentially spread viruses, crash networks and cause data breaches.

GeneralPhoto Contest: Hot Pics for December

Subscribers to Dave Johnson's Digital Focus took these shots; read Dave's January 1, 2008 column for the Hot Pic of the Month winner.