Among the nearly 118 million smartphone owners who plan to use their devices for holiday shopping, awareness is high of in-store beacons, even though that's a relatively new technology, said a Harris poll done for Placecast, a provider of location-based marketing programs for advertisers, mobile operators and payments companies. Beacons are small devices installed in stores that emit a Bluetooth low-energy signal that can be targeted directly to phones, Placecast said Thursday in a blog post. Beacons "can bring the analytics and targeting capabilities of the online experience to physical stores" by sending, for example, a discount for perfume to a 40-year-old woman who has recently done an online search for scents, it said. Harris canvassed 2,066 adult smartphone owners in mid-October and found that 52 percent had heard of in-store beacons, and that 15 percent have engaged with them, Placecast said. "Brands that embrace beacons are highly likely to see a spike in their sales in the coming shopping season and in general," Placecast said. "Consumers are clearly voting in favor of beacons due to stores promoting them and the value they deliver in couponing. While awareness seems high at 52 percent, this may be due to people wanting to identify with the coolness of new technologies, and certainly indicates huge promise for it."

Sonim Technologies said AT&T will be the first U.S. wireless carrier to offer its XP6 LTE smartphone. The Android-based phone was built to withstand difficult work environments, Sonim said Friday. The XP6 price is $149 with a two-year contract or $0 down and $17.50-$21.88 a month on AT&T’s Next installment plans.

Shares of smartphones with screen resolutions of HD and full HD will reach 33 percent and 34 percent, respectively, of sales next year largely on “robust demand” for the iPhone 6, according to DisplaySearch. Wide quad high definition (WQHD) displays (1400 x 2560) will account for 9 percent of the smartphone market in the coming year, DisplaySearch said. “Brands are finding it hard to differentiate their smartphone product lineup solely by increasing display resolution; however, that does not mean the trend toward higher resolutions is going to end,” said Tina Teng, smartphones senior analyst for DisplaySearch. WVGA (480 x 800) and FWVGA (480 x 854) growth, meanwhile, is slowing but they still represent a significant share of the smartphone market, Teng said. The mix of displays with less than 540 x 960 resolution is expected to shrink from 47 percent in 2014 to 34 percent next year, she said. In the past, when Apple launched new iPhone models, other brands would “launch high-end products with the highest display specification available,” Teng said, but due to market growth of mid- and low-end devices, only a handful of competitive models using WQHD were introduced in the second half of the year, including Samsung’s Note 4, the Note Edge, Motorola’s Nexus 6 and LG’s G3-LTE Dual, she said. Next year, she said, 4G smartphones priced between $100 and $150 are "highly likely" to adopt HD resolution.

Qualcomm shares closed down 8.6 percent Thursday at $70.58 on the company’s disclosure in its 10-K SEC filing the previous evening that it’s the subject of two new regulatory investigations into its competitive practices. The FTC notified the company Sept. 17 that it has launched a probe into Qualcomm's licensing business, including a possible "breach" of its commitment to license its technology on fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms, the 10-K said. Then on Oct. 15, the European Commission notified Qualcomm it was investigating the company’s sales and marketing of its baseband chipsets and possible irregularities in its use of rebates and other "financial incentives," the filing said. "We are fully cooperating with these agencies and believe our practices comply with the laws of our countries, but given that these matters are in their early stages, it is difficult to predict what, if anything, will come of them," CEO Steve Mollenkopf said on an earnings call Wednesday. The two new probes are in addition to a year-old investigation by China’s National Development and Reform Commission that Qualcomm may have violated Chinese anti-monopoly laws, the 10-K said. As key mobile technologies are increasingly becoming adopted into new categories, Qualcomm is "well-positioned" to exploit "these evolving opportunities," Mollenkopf said. Citing Gartner estimates that more than 8 billion smartphones will be sold globally through 2018, Qualcomm sees the smartphone as "representing the largest technology platform on which to innovate and drive upgrade opportunities," he said. "We believe the smartphone will be central to the growing number of connected things around us, and our focus is on aligning our resources to continue to capture these opportunities." Qualcomm is "very pleased with our design activity in the premium tier" of smartphone components, including "flagship devices" like the Snapdragon 805, Qualcomm’s first processor to offer "system-level Ultra HD support and 4K video capture and playback," he said.

Starwood’s Preferred Guest (SPG) program is offering members room entry via a Bluetooth-enabled smartphone app, the chain said in an email to members Tuesday. The SPG Keyless app allows SPG members to check in, get an assigned room number and unlock their doors at participating hotels. The app is available for iPads and generation 4s and later iPhones running iOS 8 and for Android devices running version 4.3 or later, Starwood said. After downloading the app, users are directed to register their device. To be eligible to use the features, users must have an spg.com account and login set up; have a valid email address, credit card and registered device; have a single room registered and booked through a Starwood channel; a device set to accept push notifications and have Bluetooth set to on, it said. Ten hotels were participating as of Tuesday, including W, Element and Aloft venues in Beijing; Cancun; Cupertino and West Hollywood, California; Hong Kong; New York; Qatar; and Singapore. Members were urged to check back often for additions to the list. Qualifiers include local regulations and rate plans, according to a FAQ section.

Major U.S. wireless carriers support handset unlocking and will adhere to six principles as part of a voluntary commitment made to provide enhanced transparency and disclosure of carriers’ device unlocking policies, said CTIA General Counsel Michael Altschul Monday in a blog post. Among the principles are full disclosure and development unlocking policies for postpaid and prepaid devices, Altschul said. Petitions were due Monday at the Library of Congress’ Copyright Office as it begins the sixth triennial “anti-circumvention” rulemaking proceeding under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, he said. “CTIA will observe the proceeding as it develops, and participate as appropriate, consistent with our commitment to unlocking," he said. "The exemption rules are revised every three years. Based on the prior proceedings, we anticipate that software used to 'lock' cellphones to a carrier’s network will be included in this proceeding."

More than eight in every 10 of the 320.4 million smartphones shipped globally in Q3 were Android devices, Strategy Analytics said Friday in a blog post. It estimated overall shipments jumped 27 percent from the 252.9 million smartphones shipped in Q3 a year earlier. "Smartphone growth continues to be driven by robust demand in emerging markets, particularly Asia and Africa Middle East," Strategy said. Android's domination of global smartphone shipments remained strong with an "impressive" 83.6 percent share, vs. 81.4 percent a year earlier, it said. Android's gain "came at the expense of every major rival platform," as BlackBerry's global smartphone share fell slightly to 0.7 percent from 1 percent a year earlier, it said. The iPhone’s share dipped to 12.3 percent from 13.4 percent "because of its limited presence at the lower end of the smartphone market," it said. Microsoft Windows Phone continued to struggle in China and Japan, and its global smartphone market share fell to 3.3 percent from 4.1 percent, Strategy said. "Android's leadership of the global smartphone market looks unbeatable at the moment. Its low-cost services and user-friendly software remain attractive to hardware makers, operators and consumers worldwide. However, challenges are emerging for Google. The Android platform is getting overcrowded with hundreds of hardware brands, Android smartphone prices are falling worldwide, and few Android device vendors make profits."

Larger smartphone screen sizes correlate with longer sessions of app usage, said a report from IHS and Mobidia Technology. The report covered more than 25 smartphone models and usage in the Germany, Japan, South Korea, the U.K. and U.S. Smartphones with higher-resolution screens have higher data consumption, but resolution is less important than physical screen size as an indicator of higher data use, the report said. "Companies building apps for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus need to know what greater engagement these large screen iPhones will deliver for their genre of app, because higher engagement means more revenues through in-app purchases and advertising," said Ian Fogg, IHS senior director-mobile & telecommunications. The prevalence of large screens within the Android world means that “Android becomes a significantly more attractive platform than in years past,” it said. Streaming video and social networking apps have a stronger link between increased data consumption and screen size than do mobile games or chat apps such as WeChat and WhatsApp, the report said.

The percentage of U.S. households that get broadband service at home increased from 20 percent in 2004 to 79 percent this year, a Leichtman Research Group survey found. Adults reported spending an average of 2.8 hours online at home a day, up from 2.2 hours per day in 2009, said a Friday Leichtman news release (http://bit.ly/1ruAw9b). Those aged 18 to 34 spent an average of 3.3 hours online at home daily, compared with 2.1 hours daily among those aged 55 and older, the release said. It said 63 percent of adults get Internet on a smartphone, up from 44 percent in 2012. The findings are based on a phone survey of 1,261 households in September.

Aftermarket mobile phone accessories will bring in $51.1 billion in revenue in 2014, a forecast from ABI research said (http://bit.ly/1tuRhp8). Protective carry cases are the largest accessory category for phones, at $13 billion, followed by supplemental chargers and memory cards, it said. Bluetooth accessories are expected to grow by 18 percent by 2019, ABI analyst Thomas McCourtie said. “Products such as the Beats by Dr. Dre Pill and the Creative D200 have become some of the most sought-after mobile accessories,” McCourtie said, adding that “people are willing to pay for quality audio and highly visual brands.”