Tag: fcc

Even though consumers continue to worry that their private data is not entirely safe, they’re still shopping on smartphones.

The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) has released the result of a recent study and data analysis that has revealed that there is a growing number of people who are looking to mobile commerce as a part of their overall shopping process, regardless of the fact that worries about privacy remain high.

The research showed that 7 out of 10 people will use their smartphones for information while shopping.

While not all of those activities involve actually making a purchase, these mobile commerce behaviors remain quite important to the process that will eventually lead consumers to a purchase decision. For instance, the CEA found that about 70 percent of mobile device using shoppers will conduct an internet search using that smartphone in order to learn more information about a product while shopping.

Over half of shoppers were found to have preferred mobile commerce for learning about products while shopping.

That 58 percent said that looking something up on a smartphone or tablet was preferable to speaking to an employee while in store. This was particularly true among male shoppers as well as among those between the ages of 25 and 44.

The CES report also pointed out that even though consumers were using m-commerce tools despite the fact that about 61 percent of them also expressed concerns about privacy, and 58 percent were worried about security when using their smartphones while they shopped inside a brick and mortar store.

The CEA directory of industry and analysis, Steve Koenig, said that “Quick and reliable access to product information, availability and comparisons are the driving forces behind this trend.” He also added that “Mobile is undoubtedly changing the way consumers shop, but also likely redefining the role of salespeople at retail.”

The report, entitled “Managing the Consumerization of IT: Mobile Access for the BYOD World,” showed the following additional key mobile commerce usage findings:

• 70 percent of consumers use smartphones to find product information as they shop.
• 69 percent use their devices for a general search online while shopping.
• 52 percent would visit a website specific to the store while shopping.
• 47 percent would visit an app specific to the store while they shopped.
• 46 percent would visit a website specific to a manufacturer while shopping.

Wireless companies have been asked to begin making the alterations following a device theft study.

While smartphones are incredible and convenient, a recent study on the theft of these devices has caused the FCC to start requesting that mobile security changes be made by wireless companies in order to help to better protect consumers.

Thefts of smartphones have become increasingly common and increasingly devastating to the owners.

As theft is on the rise with smartphones, the FCC has been seeking out ways to provide better mobile security in order to protect consumers when their devices leave their hands and end up in the hands of someone whose intentions aren’t good ones. Earlier in 2014, the FCC created a working group that has been analyzing data on the subject of mobile device theft. Last week, they issued a massive 140 page report on the topic that included a number of key findings about the handling of smartphone theft as well as about its prevention.

This type of mobile security research was a challenging undertaking, as nationwide data has never been made available.

National level data about smartphone theft has never existed before. The data about stolen mobile devices has been broken down into the approximately 18,000 different law enforcement agencies that operate across the United States. This made a notable challenge out of aggregating the data. Conversely, the total number of incidents may not be as high as the best estimates that have been created by consumer advocates. However, there could also be many thefts that have occurred but that have not been reported.

The next challenge that was faced was in terms of discovering what happens to stolen smartphones. Clear data was not available outside of anecdotal evidence, that suggested that a notable proportion of stolen smartphones are resold in countries “that are both geographically and politically remote from the U.S,” said the report from the FCC. This means that the issue of reducing this problem would require considerable international cooperation.

The FCC is now recommending that wireless companies take a number of mobile security steps, which include: making restore/wipe/lock functions a default on all devices sold, add electronic unique identifiers (like fingerprints) for phones to make it harder for thieves to re-flash them, making sure that employees double-check appropriate databases to ensure that new customers aren’t activating previously stolen property, and keeping those databases up to date.