Electronix Express Newsletter

May 2007 Issue

Welcome to the May 2007 Issue of the Electronix Express Newsletter

STORIES

Mobile Users Frustrated with Complexity, Usability

Malicious Code With Rootkit Features Projected to Rise Another 40% in 2007

Why Canada Leads in Monthly Hours Online

Cisco Launches New Unified Communications Products

Mobile Palm-based Computers?

Microsoft vs Cybersquatters

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1. Mobile Users Frustrated with Complexity, Usability

Funded by the CMO Council's Forum to Advance the Mobile Experience (FAME) Group and sponsored by Palm, the survey of 15,000 mobile consumers in 37 countries was conducted by GMI. With an estimated 1 billion cell phones being shipped in 2006 (according to IDC data) and an estimated 2.5 billion cell phones in use worldwide right now, the subject matter coming from the study is of importance to the industry and the mobile user community around the world, said Dave Murray, director of the CMO Council's FAME Group. Overall, the number one problem end-users have is what the study dubbed function fatigue. Handsets tend to have too many features that consumers either don't use or don't know how to use. The report found that consumers are frustrated by the lack of product demonstrations and hands-on use of devices at the point of sale, but they're also irritated by a lack of knowledgeable sales staff and slow service.

One interesting discovery of the report is that the biggest power users of mobile technology are now in emerging markets such as Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America. Respondents to the survey also mentioned hidden costs and high roaming charges as sources of irritation.

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2. Malicious Code With Rootkit Features Projected to Rise Another 40% in 2007

PandaLabs, Panda Software's malware detection laboratory, has detected a significant increase in the amount of malicious code using rootkit techniques. Rootkits are programs that use stealth techniques to prevent malicious code from being detected by security and system administration software. As it is hidden, the malicious code can then act with complete secrecy. Rootkits can also hide processes, files and even modifications to the Windows registry.

In 2006 there was a 62 percent annual increase and the forecast for 2007 is equally pessimistic. Given that in the first two months of the year the laboratory has already detected almost 25 percent of last year's total, the overall increase this year is expected to be around 40 percent. As rootkits can evade detection by traditional security systems, proactive protection is needed to identify the program's behavior and detect malicious code using these techniques.

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3. Why Canada Leads in Monthly Hours Online

Canadians spent an average of 39.6 hours online during the month of January and around 41.3 hours were spent among broadband users, according to a study by comScore Networks, a global Internet information provider.

Michelle Warren, a Toronto-based industry analyst, said that there are a number of reasons why Canada led the way in terms of the amount of time spent online. "In Canada, we have an extremely good telephone/network infrastructure and as a result we've got tremendous broadband coverage across the country," she said. "We've been a leader in broadband coverage for years, but the comScore study is a testament to our network infrastructure and technology." Canada's time spent online has also benefited from the low costs of acquiring PCs, where prices tended to be on par with the U.S.

Israel, South Korea, the U.S. and the U.K. rounded out the top five of the ten countries ranked by average hours online per visitor for January 2007. All of these countries have high broadband penetration and in fact, for each of the top 10 countries, the time spent online by users with a broadband connection was substantially greater than the time spent by users with a narrowband or dial-up connection.

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4. Cisco Launches New Unified Communications Products

The big announcement for Cisco around mobility is the launch of the Cisco Unified Mobile Communicator, which provides users with access to their unified communications features from mobile phones through a graphical interface. The product offers end-users the ability to view voicemail messages and select messages from a list for individual playback. It also enables them to see present status for their contacts through their mobile devices. In addition, users have the ability to access enterprise directories, send secure text messages and query call logs. Cisco Unified Mobile Communicator offers single number capabilities so that when someone calls an employee's desk, their mobile phone will ring simultaneously.

Built using technology Cisco acquired when it purchased Orative, Unified Mobile Communicator was designed to be used on just about any type of cellular network (including GSM and CDMA), using any mobile operating system and with just about any carrier around the world.

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5. Mobile Palm-based Computers?

Speciality distributor ScanSource, Inc. has added Cold Spring Harbor, NY.-based Janam Technologies LLC to its line card. Janam makes rugged mobile computers that scan barcodes, and its XP Series is a fully featured industrial Palm OS-based product line.

With the addition of Janam Technologies, ScanSource reseller customers now have access to the first feature-filled mobile computer that scans barcodes and runs the latest version of the Palm OS platform. Palm OS enables users to customize their Palm-powered smart devices to meet their specific mission-critical application needs for retail, healthcare, hospitality, logistics and manufacturing environments.

"Janam Technologies' rugged handheld devices allow our resellers to expand their mobile technology offerings by delivering a high-quality product that is also armed with Palm's productivity enhancing software," said Jeff Yelton, vice president of merchandising, ScanSource.

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6. Microsoft vs Cybersquatters

Microsoft Corp. has announced new legal actions against cybersquatters in the United Kingdom and the United States, which include expansion of a lawsuit filed in Seattle in August and the filing of a new federal lawsuit against the U.S. company Maltuzi LLC for trademark infringement.

Cybersquatters register Internet domain names (such as winowslivemessenger.com and www.micr0soft.co.uk) containing not only widely recognized trademarked names and brands but also misspelled variations of them, which often result in tricking unsuspecting computer users and illegally profiting from them through online ad networks. Screens filled with pay-per-click advertisements greet visitors to these Web sites, which can generate revenue for the registered domain owner and the online ad network. Microsoft has reclaimed more than 1,100 infringing domain names worldwide in the past six months with the help of Microsoft researchers.

Aaron Kornblum, senior attorney with Microsoft said, "These sites confuse visitors who are trying to reach genuine company Web sites, which can negatively affect corporate brands and reputations as well as impair the end-users' experience online." "With every ad hyperlink clicked, a registrant or ad network harvests cash at the trademark owner's expense, while derailing legitimate efforts by computer users who are trying to go to a specific Web site."

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