Tag: mobile phone

Students between the ages of 10 and 15 years have thrown their support behind banning classroom phone use.

A mobile phone ban in schools is a rapid way to drum up controversy. It has already caused many debates in the United States as well as other countries around the world. That said, in Swedish classrooms, students aged 10 to 15 years old have supported the decision to stop the use of phones at school.

With the rapid penetration of smartphones among students, the schools suddenly found themselves falling behind.

The school regulations were not keeping up with the massive rise in smartphone use among students. This allowed policies on the subject to be established on a class by class basis. That said, universal policies regarding phone usage in the classrooms were not created. It was up to the individual teachers. While some implemented an all-out mobile phone ban, the majority decided to simply turn a blind eye.

Many parents opposed a mobile phone ban as they wanted to be able to be in direct contact with their kids.

Over time, the trend toward a smartphone ban became greater among the schools. Still, the degree of the ban was different from one school to the next. Some were far more restrictive than others.

A Norwegian telecommunications company called Telnor recently conducted a survey. Results revealed only 6 percent of students between the ages of 10 and 15 years old in Sweden say smartphones are permitted in their classrooms. Though 53 percent said they can use mobile phones at school, this is not permitted within the class.

That said, there remains 40 percent of Swedish students aged 10 to 15 years who say their smartphones are not banned in any way. Among those, 57 percent support a ban. Only 14 percent feel a ban is bad.

There are many reasons for a mobile phone ban, according to Telnor. Lina Sundqvist is the person at Telnor’s who is responsible for the company’s Nätprat (‘net speak’) initiative and for consumer security. Sundqvist said “The reasons for the bans are many and seem to vary between different schools. Amongst other reasons are: to decrease distractions in the students’ working environments, to make students exercise more during recess, and to decrease internet bullying and abuse.”

Local rivals have been heading up-market while Samsung offers consumers an unbeatable price.

Apple experienced some disappointing news from the mobile device market in China. During the third quarter, the iPhone maker saw a 29 percent drop in revenue compared to the second quarter.

Apple’s revenues from China also saw a surprising drop by a huge 33 percent year over year.

Third financial quarter 2015 revenues had been $13.2 billion in the Chinese mobile device market. This year during the same quarter, there has been a plummet to a much lower $8.8 billion. Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, blamed the slowing growth of the country’s economy as a primary reason for the nosedive in revenues.

Apple had once held the coveted place as the “it” brand in the Chinese mobile device market.

However, local mobile device companies have been placing a massive focus on their brand image efforts. This has allowed many of them to grow from the level of cheap basic phone to upmarket premium smartphone models.

Among the top threats Apple is facing within the mobile phone marketplace in China is Xiaomi. That company has managed to clone a broad spectrum of Apple’s features, designs and even its marketing approach. It has been making every effort to replicate the appeal of Apple while knocking the pins out of the iPhone maker’s position at the same time.

In fact, it raced to replicate two anticipated upcoming iPhone features – that is, the dual cameras and OLED displays. Xiaomi then launched that device on the same day Apple was to announce its drooping revenue results. At the same time, Xiaomi has been working to appeal to the Chinese market to proudly buy local. It has strategically placed a series of billboard ads in the country calling its devices the “Made-in-China smartphones.” This, despite the fact that the majority of iPhones are, in fact, made in China as well.

That said, the Wall Street Journal identified another problem Apple is facing in the mobile phone market in China. Both Oppo and Huawei have launched attractive new premium smartphones to take on the iPhone. They have successfully given consumers another choice of high end device with a more affordable price tag. Following this successful positioning, they have been able to take a slice out of Apple, so to speak.

The American company now holds fifth place in the Chinese smartphone marketplace, behind Huawei, Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi. Samsung is rapidly approaching by offering its devices with competitive pricing.