mobile devices Archives ⋆ Page 20 of 53 ⋆ Mobile Commerce Press

Tag: mobile devices

Mobile technology is the latest prison currency

Julie Campbell | February 12, 2015

The stereotype may be cigarettes, but courts are finding that inmates are now trading illegal cell phones.

A new case before the Ipswich Crown Court has placed the spotlight on the one of the latest currencies to make their way into prisons, which involves mobile technology, typically in the form of illegal cell phones.

The case involved a man named Jason Brown, who was caught attempting to smuggle SIM cards into prison.

Brown was caught trying to smuggle a small quantity of cannabis, in addition to two SIM cards to be used in mobile technology devices, into a jail in order to give them to a serving prisoner. The 19-year old revealed to investigators that he had been required to bring the banned items into the prison last year on September 20, because he owed someone money and that individual was forcing him to transport the items as payment.

This case had a broader importance, which was to place the spotlight on the role of illegal mobile technology in jail.

Mobile Technology - Jail Brown managed to bring the SIM cards into the jail, but was caught taking something in a crisp packet out of his pocket and handing it over to a prisoner. The intervention by the staff was immediate and brown was detained. What was discovered in the packet was cannabis, the SIM cards for mobile devices, and a touch of spice that is believed to have been added in order to help to cover the odor of the drug.

According to prosecuting attorney, Andrew Jackson, in jail, various types of cell phone, smartphone, and associated accessories, such as SIM cards, are used as a “healthy currency”. On the other hand, Joanne Eley, the defending attorney, explained that although Brown had several prior convictions, there weren’t any that had anything to do with drug use or dealing. He had been dropped off at the prison and was informed that he would need to make his own arrangements to get home again.

Brown claimed that he did not know that drugs or mobile technology were contained within the package. In fact, according to Eley, Brown didn’t even know which inmate would be receiving the delivery. He gave a guilty plea for two offenses of having brought prohibited items into a jail.

In mobile devices, Samsung’s lead in Indian phones is sliding

Lucy | February 12, 2015

The market in the country has belonged to that Korean manufacturer, but it is losing its grip.

Samsung is continuing to hold the lead in the cell phone segment of the mobile devices market in India, but at the same time, the Korean handset maker is starting to lose ground as it faces a growing amount of competition from rivals that are driving forward at full tilt.

Among the competitors that are moving forward in that market are Microsoft (Nokia), Karbonn, Micromax, and Lava.

CyberMedia Research (CMR) has recently released data that has stated that Samsung is currently “losing its earlier firm grip”. It has watched its share in India fall from having been 20.3 percent at the start of 2014, to reach a much lower 16.5 percent by the close of December. The firm’s data was published within its India Monthly Mobile Handsets Market Review, for last year. In the country, mobile devices increased by 4 percent to reach 257 million units more having been shipped in 2014 over the same figure for 2013.

Of all of the shipments of cell phone mobile devices, Samsung shipped 16.5 percent in India.

Mobile Devices - Samsung phones losing ground in India Microsoft (Nokia) and Micromax each shipped 13.3 percent of the total shipments. That said, CMR released a statement that indicated that “However, Samsung was seen to be losing its earlier firm grip on market, as its share of the market showed a downward trend during the year, as compared to Micromax that gained primarily in April-June 2014, but then continued to remain flat during the rest of the year.”

When the data was collected for that market for the January through March quarter, last year, Samsung had held onto a 20.3 percent share of the shipments, while Microsoft (Nokia) had 17.6 percent of the shipments, and Micromax had 11.2 percent in India.

Approximately 77 million smartphones had been shipped by Samsung last year, making up about 30 percent of the entire cell phone mobile devices market in India. That segment of devices as a whole experienced a growth of 46 percent when compared to the shipments that it had experienced the year before.