When rumors of the Apple Watch “really began to ramp up,” NPD observed “a tremendous surge in awareness” in the smartwatch category, NPD consumer electronics analyst Ben Arnold told a Display Week conference in San Francisco. Smartwatch awareness soon exceeded that of Fitbit devices, even though activity trackers are “the more mature product on the market,” Arnold said. NPD estimates more than twice as many U.S. consumers -- 16 percent vs. 7 percent -- own a Fitbit-like activity tracker than own a smartwatch, he said. There recently has been a “very healthy growth rate” in sales of activity trackers, Arnold said, citing NPD point-of-sale retail data. “There’s a lot of technology categories that would kill for 40-45 percent growth year on year,” he said. “So the idea that the Apple Watch would be a wearables killer, would be a Fitbit killer, if you will, hasn’t really played out in our data." Fitbit, in NPD’s estimations, owns about 80 percent of the activity-tracker market, said the analyst. If any company can give Fitbit a run for its money in the activity-tracker segment, Arnold is placing his bets on Microsoft, he said.

UBS rates T-Mobile as its top pick among the four major wireless carriers, analyst John Hodulik said Thursday in a note to investors. UBS maintains a buy rating on AT&T “given additional cost cutting opportunities associated with the DTV acquisition and potential upside from the bundling strategy.” UBS has a hold rating on Verizon and Sprint. It said the ongoing strike is now expected to have an effect on Verizon’s results. “1Q provided more evidence of low volumes, low churn and record profits. 1Q earnings played out as expected,” Hodulik wrote. “Upgrade rates reached an all-time low, postpaid churn and gross adds continued to fall, and despite sluggish top line performance … profitability and margins reached a record high, topping the prior record set just two quarters ago.”

Tensions are “at an ‘all time’ high," between carriers and tower companies, Wells Fargo analyst Jennifer Fritzsche said Thursday, reporting on a visit to the PCIA conference earlier in the week. “There was talk that the ‘ask’ from the carriers was for a fixed price on a [radiation] center,” she wrote. “The game of chicken that was going on earlier this year seems alive and well! All tower [companies] acknowledged that yes the carriers want to pay less for their service and are trying to ‘commoditize the infrastructure chain’ in such a way to lower prices.” Much of the talk was about small cells, Fritzsche wrote. "A main takeaway was that while small cells are going to be [a] clear focus for many, they are just a 'tool in the tool box' and should not be considered a threat to the tower model. We still heard a lot of questions about the returns on small cells."

Nokia asked the FCC for special temporary authority to test mobile phones aboard an unmanned aerial vehicle. “The proposed tests will measure radio frequency signal strength of a mobile network by using three AT&T commercial smart phones and a DRT receiver [a device that mimics a cell tower] installed on a drone,” said the STA request. Tests would be done in Kansas, including at the Kansas Speedway, for a three-month period starting in June, Nokia said.

Initial comments are due July 11 at the FCC on the text telephone (TTY) technology to real-time text (RTT) transition, the agency said in Wednesday's Federal Register. Replies are due July 25. The FCC approved an NPRM on the transition at its April 28 meeting (see 1604280055).

Microsoft will spend $200 million in severance payments to “streamline” its smartphone hardware business and eliminate up to 1,850 jobs, the company said in a Wednesday announcement. Up to 1,350 of the jobs cut will be at Microsoft Mobile Oy in Finland, plus up to 500 additional jobs globally, it said. “We are focusing our phone efforts where we have differentiation -- with enterprises that value security, manageability and our Continuum capability, and consumers who value the same,” CEO Satya Nadella said in a statement. “We will continue to innovate across devices and on our cloud services across all mobile platforms.” The latest action comes a week after Microsoft said it’s selling its feature phone business to Hon Hai/Foxconn subsidiary FIH Mobile and HMD global Oy for $350 million, which IHS said “highlights Microsoft’s continued failure in mobile” (see 1605180033).

Dedicated short range communications is poised for broad deployment after years of development and testing, and the FCC should move with care on the 5.9 GHz band, DSRC advocates said in a meeting with Public Safety Bureau Chief David Simpson and others at the agency. General Motors will deploy DSRC devices based on existing DSRC rules, “including the existing DSRC channelization requirement, in the Model Year 2017 Cadillac CTS,” the advocates said. “Such vehicles will be equipped with FCC-compliant DSRC radios and available for purchase during calendar year 2016 -- well in advance of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s anticipated mandate that all new light duty vehicles include DSRC devices.” DSRC “needs interference-free access to all 75 megahertz of the licensed 5.9 GHz DSRC spectrum,” said a filing in docket 13-49. Representatives of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, Association of Global Automakers, Cisco, Denso and Intelligent Transportation Society of America attended the meeting. The FCC is looking at rules that would allow use of the band for Wi-Fi.

The FCC fined a Chinese company $34.9 million for allegedly marketing 285 models of signal jamming devices to U.S. consumers. C.T.S. Technology marketed the devices through its Aiswa.com website, the FCC said. “These devices, which were advertised for sale to U.S. consumers, were designed to disrupt a variety of communications systems, including all major cellphone networks, Wi-Fi systems, and even Global Positioning System channels," said the forfeiture order approved by commissioners. “Some of the more dangerous devices were advertised as having the capacity to jam communications for a distance of over one-half mile.” The FCC said the company sold some of the devices to FCC investigators posing as consumers and shipped the equipment to the U.S. C.T.S. Technology didn't comment. When the fine was proposed, the FCC said it was the biggest in its history (see 1406200044).

The FCC fined a Florida man $48,000 for allegedly using an illegal cellphone jammer in his car during his daily commute from Seffner to Tampa, Florida. Jason Humphreys was featured in a 2014 article in Slate. He got fed up with seeing drivers using their cellphones contrary to Florida law and took matters into his own hands, creating a no-call zone around his vehicle, the publication reported. The FCC said it handed down a proposed fine in April 2014 and Humphreys never responded. “Mr. Humphreys’ illegal operation of the jamming device continued for up to two years, caused actual interference to cellular service along a significant portion of Interstate 4, and disrupted police and other emergency communications,” the FCC said in a notice. "Staff spoke to Mr. Humphreys once but was disconnected, and he did not answer staff’s call to him immediately thereafter," a footnote to the order said.

T-Mobile is buying 700 MHz spectrum from AT&T's Leap Licenseco covering 10.9 million people in the Chicago metro area, T-Mobile said Wednesday. The FCC must approve the deal. "T-Mobile will have 700MHz A-block spectrum that covers all of the top 10 US markets and is capable of covering 269 million Americans -- or 83 percent of the US population -- with Extended Range LTE,” T-Mobile said in a news release. T-Mobile said it has executed 23 different agreements to add A-block spectrum since it bought its first 700 MHz A-block spectrum form Verizon two years ago. “We already cover 309 million people with our blazing-fast LTE network, and now, T-Mobile Extended Range LTE will be in the 10 biggest markets in the country,” said CEO John Legere. “We won’t stop there.” BTIG analyst Walter Piecyk said the deal shows the intrinsic value of low-band spectrum. "Despite the threat of the incentive auction looming in the coming months and T-Mobile effectively being the ONLY real buyer for this spectrum, the seller was able to hold out for $420 million ($3.21/MHz/POP), which was more than twice the value paid for this license back in 2011," Piecyk wrote investors. "This underscores the intrinsic value of spectrum and why operators pay up to gain access to needed network coverage and capacity even when simply negotiating with a counter-party spectrum owner who does not intend to build [out] their license."