Expedia is giving a free HTC smartphone to customers who sign up for a new or two-year activation with “select service plans” on the Sprint and Verizon networks, Expedia said. Customers can earn triple reward points in Expedia's loyalty program when they use the Expedia smartphone app to book flights and hotels, it said.
Virgin Mobile was to begin offering no-contract data-sharing plans Saturday starting at $30 per line, available exclusively at Walmart. The data-sharing plans are “some of the most aggressive shared-line plans ever launched,” Angela Rittgers, Sprint Prepaid vice president, said. Four 4G LTE smartphones are part of the plan initially -- the HTC Desire 510 ($99), LG Tribute ($79), LG Volt ($149) and Samsung Galaxy Core Prime ($129) -- and the phones are preloaded with an app that enables customers to manage data sharing from the device, Virgin Mobile said. Every multiline plan will also come with a free Mobile Hotspot feature, the carrier said. Data buy-up options start at $10 per month for 1 GB, it said. A $20 starter kit is required to activate each new line of service and includes two months of unlimited music streaming without counting against the customer’s data allotment, Virgin Mobile said, and for $5 per month subscribers can get unlimited use of social media and music streaming apps, including Facebook, Instagram, Pandora and Twitter, without counting against the monthly data allotment. The plan will be available on more devices at the end of February, it said.
The FCC reminded nationwide wireless carriers they must publicly indicate by March 2 their status on whether they consent to the use of each consumer signal booster that has received agency certification. “This obligation is intended to "provide the Commission with valuable information regarding providers’ treatment of Consumer Signal Boosters, including the level of consumer access,” the FCC said in a Thursday public notice. “This information will inform our decision whether it is necessary to revisit our Consumer Signal Booster authorization mechanism.”
Petitions the FCC is considering to grant exemptions on Telephone Consumer Protection Act regulations affecting automated dialing calls to cellphones (see 1501140045) would “open the floodgates for ‘wrong number’ calls to cell phones,” said 80 groups, including Free Press, the National Association of Consumer Advocates, the National Association for State Utility Consumer Advocates and Public Knowledge, in a letter to the agency Thursday. “This would not only be an improper interpretation of the TCPA, but it would gut essential privacy rights of cell phone users,” the groups said.
Marriott International “listens to its customers” and will no longer block guests from using their personal Wi-Fi devices at any of the hotels the company manages, it said in a statement posted on its website Wednesday. “Marriott remains committed to protecting the security of Wi-Fi access in meeting and conference areas at our hotels,” the company said. “We will continue to look to the FCC to clarify appropriate security measures network operators can take to protect customer data, and will continue to work with the industry and others to find appropriate market solutions that do not involve the blocking of Wi-Fi devices.” In August, Marriott, joined by the American Hospitality and Lodging Association and Ryman Hospitality Properties, asked the agency for clarity on the extent to which companies can manage networks on their properties without violating FCC rules, and the FCC sought comment (see 1501010001). In October, Marriott agreed to pay $600,000 to resolve an FCC investigation into whether the company intentionally interfered with and disabled Wi-Fi networks at its Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville (see 1410060066).
Mobile Future encouraged the FCC to look at spectrum bands above 24 GHz, in comments the group filed Thursday reacting to a notice of inquiry (see 1410170048). But Mobile Future also said the pursuit of high-band spectrum shouldn’t “delay or supersede” efforts to make other spectrum available for commercial use. “Clearing and reallocating low- and mid-band spectrum for exclusive licensed use by commercial operators continues to hold the most promise for the continued innovation, investment, and deployment of mobile broadband networks,” Mobile Future said.
Nearly “every big tech company” at CES used the event to announce a product “that can be worn close to or on the body,” Riddhi Patel, DisplaySearch research director-consumer insights, said Wednesday in a blog post. Wearables “are available in all shapes and sizes,” whether buckled onto the wrist or “stuck to the body” with adhesives, and they’re capable of “monitoring everything from movement of the body to vital medical information to sleep patterns,” she said. “However, we are no closer to answering the question of what problem these devices really solve, or indeed what their enduring value will be.” Contrary to speculation last fall that the Apple Watch would deliver a killer app, the product, as introduced, “did not result in a Eureka moment,” she said. “These are exciting times, and all this leads me to believe that the near future holds a lot of promise for both consumers and the wearable value chain. Maybe the next CES will see some players dropping out of the market, some having more established plans, and some emerging as clear leaders as the industry slowly discovers where lasting value lies.”
Certification services for the burgeoning wearables category appear to be springing up nearly as frequently as new smart watch introductions. Months after services like Intertek and TUV Rheinland introduced new certification services for smart watches and other types of wearables (see 1407080027), UL Consumer Technology announced the launch of a “comprehensive service” for wearables that it said will include “customized product validation, advisory, testing, risk mitigation, interoperability and global market access services.” UL’s program “will help to assist manufacturers in supplying consumers with safer and more reliable wearable products while reducing the time to market,” the company said in a statement Wednesday. With global sales of wearables projected to reach $100 billion by 2018, it’s “critical for manufacturers to understand the mandatory evaluation and testing considerations applicable to the components and materials used in wearable technology products,” UL said. “In addition to regulatory compliance issues, meeting product performance and reliability expectations are essential for widespread acceptance in the marketplace. User safety is paramount for wearable technology products as they are used for a prolonged period in direct contact with the human skin and rely on wireless technologies to transmit and receive personal information.” Lacking the “appropriate testing,” many brands could fall victim to recalls, returns and damaged reputations, it said.
The FCC is on the right track as it moves forward on new location accuracy rules for wireless calls made indoors, said Thera Bradshaw, executive director of Hawaii’s Enhanced 9-1-1 Board, in an email. Bradshaw said she has been a public safety official for more than 30 years and supports Chairman Tom Wheeler’s approach on location accuracy (see 1501130062). “I welcome the opportunity to work with a proactive FCC that is really passionate about tackling location accuracy in order to find people when they need help,” she said. “This Wheeler led FCC is doing just that in their efforts to produce meaningful accurate indoor and outdoor location to achieve a dispatchable address. By putting aside efforts to establish blame and staying the course, bringing all stakeholders into the discussion, the Commission will succeed in attaining the goal of an accurate location when people call 911, sooner rather than later.”
Smartphone and tablet apps are becoming the norm during in-store shopping, said a Cisco study released at the National Retail Federation convention. Nearly half of U.S. consumers, and 42 percent in the U.K., said they’re using smartphones to augment their shopping experience, Cisco said. A third of U.S. shoppers are using independent shopping apps on a mobile device at least once a week, it said, and 55 percent of U.S. shoppers use retailer-specific apps while shopping. Lisa Fretwell, Cisco Consulting Services managing director-retail, said consumers are interested more in a “hyper-relevant” shopping experience than in a “hyper-personalized” experience, where they receive what they want when they want it versus a personalized experience of “knowing your name.” Consumers are becoming more accepting about giving up personal information as more connected devices enter their lives, Fretwell told us. To get offers relevant to them in a “value exchange,” consumers are increasingly willing to share purchase history and location data, she said. As part of the survey of 1,240 retail consumers in the U.S. and U.K. during October and November, Cisco tested shopping concepts with consumers to help determine the Internet of Things “value that is up for grabs” in terms of revenue “uplift” and employee productivity. Some 53 percent of consumers were interested in same-day home delivery of orders placed online and were willing to pay up to $5 per delivery, Cisco said. Four in 10 said they’d be willing to use a secure locker to pick up orders they had placed online, it said. Nearly three-fourths of respondents said they’d use a smartphone to scan products for customized offers and promotions in stores, and 63 percent were interested in “augmented reality apps” to help locate products in a store. Nearly 60 percent said they’d use augmented reality apps to get more product information such as online consumer reviews, it said. Six in 10 of those surveyed said they would like to scan barcodes on items while shopping to track items and pay at a self-service checkout terminal, said the study. Nearly half wanted to be able to store several payment cards on smartphones and smart watches so they could pay in stores by swiping the device at checkout, Cisco said,