SMS to the courts
The Dubai Public Prosecution has adopted the Dubai eGovernment’s SMS integrated service, which allows clients, including the transacting public, lawyers and prosecutors, to inquire about cases, times of sessions, resolutions and the status of proposals and requests drafted by the Public Prosecution. Users can simply send an SMS containing data on the nature of the query, such as the case type, date and serial number, at a nominal cost of 60 fils per text.
The service is currently undergoing its initial phase, which is limited to the Judiciary and Public Prosecution areas, but is expected to expand to include many other government authorities in the near future.
Mobile market stays afloat
Despite tough corporate and unemployment news making the headlines, the mobile handset-buying public did not head to the hills during the first quarter of 2009. Handset vendors had shipped 258 million handsets worldwide by the end of the quarter. Although that represents an 11 percent year-over-year decline, the result significantly exceeded the previous forecast of 253.5 million.
Distributors reduced their inventories in 4Q-2008 and 1Q-2009 as they prepared for economic Armageddon, but the market did not crash. ABI Research has introduced a note of mild optimism in its handset forecasts for YE-2009, revising them from minus 8.4 percent to minus 8 percent.
“As always there are winners and losers,” commented ABI Research Practice Director Kevin Burden. “Samsung and LG demonstrated healthy gains to take their market shares to 17.8 percent and 8.8 percent respectively. Another star performer was RIM which raised its share to three percent due largely to the success of its Blackberry Bold. It is a little curious that Apple’s market share is just 1.5 percent given the success of its AppStore. As popular as the iPhone3G has been, increased competition in the touchscreen segment and a lack of product differentiation may be dampening demand. ABI Research expects that by 2H-2009 the iPhone3G will have one or more siblings. That will allow Apple to accelerate growth.”
Nokia was beaten out by SonyEricsson for the dubious distinction of showing the largest contractions. Their shares now stand at 36.2 percent and 5.6 percent. Nokia will breathe a sigh of relief once its latest smartphone, the N97, gains market traction.
Despite the positive signs, ABI Research believes the industry should be cautious. The IMF has issued another sharp downgrade to its global outlook. Unemployment figures are also likely to continue creeping up. Buyers in the developed world are still concerned about debt and job security. Developing economies are expected to take a hit on the credit side which could have knock-on consequences on credit lines for purchases and stock levels.
Auction for .ME domains
The .com domain is the most popular worldwide, but now that all the best names in that domain have been registered, businesses are searching for other Internet addresses that will give them an edge online. This has resulted in consideration of certain country code top-level domains (ccTLD) and Montenegro has been one of the beneficiaries of the new name registration tactics.
The ccTLD for Montenegro is .ME. More than 225,000 .ME domains have been registered since they became available one year ago. The small European nation has been holding auctions to determine ownership of some of the most desirable of its Internet addresses. Two auctions were held last spring and another three auctions are being held this spring. The first of these was in March, the second began April 23 and the next starts May 14. Each auction lasts seven days.
The Sedo auction of the ME Registry in March featured 35 domains such as Rock.ME, Pay.ME, Test.ME and Bet.ME. Memorable names on the auction block now include Enlighten.ME, TalkTo.ME, Smile4.ME, Celebrate.ME, Excuse.ME and Wannabe.ME. To find a complete list of authorized registrars, domains available for auction and instructions on how to participate, go to: http://domain.me/policies/unallocated-sunrise-landrush-names.html.
Parental control resource
Parents rate Internet dangers higher on their list of concerns than drugs. According to the Norton Online Living Family Survey, conducted in March 2009, 56 percent of parents are concerned their kids may come across Internet dangers, which could include online predators and cyberbullies, versus drug-related threats (44 percent).
This week Symantec, the makers of Norton security software have launched of a new family safety service that takes a different approach to protecting kids online. Symantec is offering OnlineFamily.Norton, available at http://onlinefamily.norton.com, for free until 2010. The service is valued at $60 for a one year subscription.
OnlineFamily.Norton is not like traditional parental control products that focus on just blocking and monitoring kids’ online activities. The service goes a step further to help parents manage the gray areas of the Internet. While parents still need tools in place to help them protect their kids online, education and communication with their children are now just as important. OnlineFamily.Norton encourages discussion because parents and children set up the service together. Parents can view search words and phrases a child searches online. The service monitors a child’s activity on social networking sites. Kids can also send information to their parents in real-time about their intentions when attempting to visit a blocked website.