Article source: http://www.cantondailyledger.com/news/x624591776/U-S-Cellular-announces-prepaid-service-and-phones-to-be-available-at-Canton-Wal-Mart

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The cellular market went wild this week. After years of milking us, stealing from us, sending us monthly bills of hundreds of shekels and more, suddenly a young French Jew by the name of Michael Golan appears who offers us a package of attractive services that includes calls and SMS without limit as well as Internet for just NIS 100 a month.

We hadn’t even gotten used to the idea when a second French Jew, Patrick Darhi, appears as a competitor and offers the same package for just NIS 89. Competition, as it is supposed to do, spurs the veteran cellular operators – Cellcom, Pelephone and Partner – to match them and cut the price of their service packages by tens of percent. Their offerings aren’t as attractive as the new providers, but it’s a start.

No doubt about it, the cellular market has undergone a dramatic change: From a market of monopoly players, in which three companies lived peacefully with one another, to a competitive and dynamic industry where the consumer is king.

Everyone – those who moved over to one of the new providers and those who didn’t – can save money, lots of the money, that their cell phones were costing them from this week on. It is a major victory in the struggle to bring down the cost of living in Israel and will only encourage consumers to demand the same from other monopolized sectors of the economy – to cut costs, let new players enter the market, let market forces play out and turn Israel into a consumer paradise. Is somewhere here over-excited?

To discuss the opening up of additional sectors of the economy such as banking, air travel, insurance and pensions, electricity, the ports, food and other fields to competition, we need first to understand what made the opening up of the cellular market possible. A series of unusual conditions did it, conditions that are not readily apparent.

Where to begin? Let’s start with the fact that competition in the cellular market could have started a decade ago instead of this week, but there was no ready to make it happen. Before Moshe Kahlon was appointed communications minister, there was no one occupying that post with the determination to defend the consumer. Instead, we had a series of ministers who preferred the cellular companies and their shareholders and had no courage to work for the simple caller. Kahlon had the courage.

When he took over the portfolio, he found the cellular companies cost-ridden, bloated, earning unreasonably high profits – an anti-consumer industry in terms of charges and exclusivity agreements that prevented subscribers from changing providers without paying costly penalties of thousands of shekels.

Kahlon opened up the market, broke down the barricades, published tenders for new players to enter the market (as well as virtual players who piggy-back of others’ networks ), all of which led to the explosion of consumer gains this week. Soon, Kahlon will open up the market for imports of handsets, which will bring further savings for users. He did all this despite the powerful forces arrayed against him.

Another reason for the revolution is connected directly to the behavior of the cell phone companies. The market over the past decade had become increasingly anti-competitive. On one side were company executives collecting princely salaries and shareholders enjoying outsized dividends; on the other side were consumers paying outrageous charges both for monthly services and to change providers.

This set-up gave the lie to the free market: It wasn’t free to the masses of consumers, just to the executives and shareholders. But this kind of piggishness couldn’t go on forever; the public understood it was being taken for a ride. Not for nothing had the cellular providers become among the most hated businesses in the country, even more so than the banks.

The opening of the market to competition is also directly related to the structure of the industry and the determination of those who regulate it. And this is what brings us to several features that characterize the cellular market and differentiate it from others.

The cellular industry is a young one whose origins date back no earlier than the 1980s, and whose rapid growth was connected to the breathtaking pace of technological development. It didn’t have to contend with powerful labor unions that can shut down an entire sector of the economy. When you look at other uncompetitive sectors of the economy, such as electricity and the ports, you find powerful works committees that don’t let free markets penetrate.

There’s no denying it: The opening of the cellular market to competition will come at the cost of people being fired. While the new players are recruiting staff, we are already seeing that the older companies are taking efficiency steps and laying off employees. It is hard to make the case to someone who has just been laid off that reform is good for him, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t.

The mathematics of the labor market say that lowering the cost of cellular communications by tens of percent will help small businesses and consumers. A business that reduces its costs and increases its profits can grow faster, recruit employees and invest more. Consumers who save hundreds of shekels a month on their cell phones will use the extra cash to buy other goods and services, giving an added impetus to economic growth.

Now we need only imagine how much more improved conditions would be for small businesses and consumers if the banks, pension funds, ports, electricity and aviation were opened to competition. It could change the entire cost structure of business and create new jobs.

If this isn’t happening, the blame can’t be placed entirely on the works committees preoccupied with their own survival. It must be shared with those who regulate industry and the government, whose job it is to advance the interests of the consumer and competition. But in the insurance and banking sectors, regulators are far more concerned with ensuring stability.

But it is possible to open these sectors to competition and preserve stability at the same time. What’s required is for these industries to become more efficient, to reorganize and put an end to cross-subsidies between one sector and another.

Those who are benefiting from the status quo and who have difficulty understanding how they can gain from competition need only open up their cell phone bill next month. They will see the kind of benefits that can emerge in so many other giant sectors of the economy.

Article source: http://www.haaretz.com/business/wanted-kahlons-for-banking-aviation-electricity-1.431177

Industry expert Gregory Glenn, Director of Product and RF Engineering with TriPower, will join SOLiD’s president, Seth Buechley, as Seth leads a discussion on making buildings safer in the session, Establishing Universal Indoor Public Safety Radio Coverage. The discussion will address how to fix Public Safety radio coverage where it is most needed: inside of buildings. The panel will explore why this problem exists and will propose a plan for addressing it through industry awareness, a national framework of building codes and a certification program for technicians who install and manage networks that support Public Safety.

Gregory Glenn, an APCO International member, has more than 30 years of RF system design experience and has been involved in in-building signal enhancement since the late 1980s. About 90% of his system designs have a public safety component. Glenn also holds a patent for work accomplished in gathering data in a mobile RF environment, General Class RadioTelephone license, as well as an amateur extra license.

About TriPower
TriPower’s unique knowledge of wireless infrastructure makes us one of the most qualified integrators of in-building coverage and enterprise wireless networks over a scalable Distributed Antenna System (DAS) in the nation. TriPower, a leading wireless system integrator, focuses on planning, designing, installing, and managing complex in-building coverage solutions for customers in healthcare, hospitality, government, public safety, enterprise, and public venue sectors. Working with leading technology providers, TriPower provides an integrated suite of wireless connectivity solutions including wireless data, cellular, public safety, and real time location services.

For additional information about TriPower, please visit www.tripower.com.

Cathy Cunha
TriPower
925-583-8239
cathy.cunha@tripower.com

Article source: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/tripower-participate-acis-5th-annual-170000356.html

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The new cellular operators are reeling in new customers at a scorching pace. Golan Telecom signed up 9,000 subscribers in just two days and the numbers for HOT Mobile are similar. For comparison, Cellcom added only 13,000 new customers for the entire first quarter of the year.

Most of the new Golan customers have signed up but have yet to receive their SIM card, and until it arrives in the mail they will not be able to use the new network or switch operators.

The virtual cellular operators are having a hard time meeting the new competition of Golan and HOT, which are offering NIS 99 and NIS 89 per month unlimited packages. The virtual network operators, which sell services but buy the air time from an existing cellular operator’s network, are continuing to sign up new customers, too.

Rami Levi Communications, which has about 50,000 customers, said it had added almost 1,000 new customers in the past two days since Golan and HOT launched their services. Home Cellular, the only other mobile virtual network operator for now, has been operating for three weeks and has only about 5,000 customers.

The fierce new competition in the cellular business sent the shares and bonds of the older communications firms plunging for the fourth day in a row. The TA-Communications index lost another 4.7% on Wednesday after dropping 7.5% on Tuesday. Shares of Cellcom and Partner dropped 9% and 7% respectively, after falling hard in previous sessions. Their bonds fell about 3.5%.

4,000 workers to lose jobs

While the consumer may be the biggest winner from the upheaval in the cellular sector, the employees of the three large, veteran cellular operators will be among the losers. Over the next year or two these companies will have to cut back by about 4,000 workers, and return to the workforce size of 2006. Partner has dropped from 7,500 employees seven months ago to only 5,700, and that was before the earthquake. The companies can slim down, however, with relatively few layoffs, allowing natural attrition and high turnover to do most of the work.

Leveraged tycoons

Nochi Dankner, Ilan Ben-Dov and Shaul Elovich, the controlling owners, respectively, of Cellcom, Partner and Pelephone, are also big losers, probably the biggest. They are highly leveraged and counted on huge dividends from their enormous profits to pay off the loans they took from the banks and the public to buy their companies. They counted on a steady cash flow for dividends, but the regulators decided otherwise and came down on the side of the consumer.

Ben-Dov has already realized that he may have to give up control of Partner and is looking for an investor – or even to sell off the company. Elovich, the owner of Bezeq and its Pelephone subsidiary, is in better shape as Bezeq is still a big cash cow – at least until the regulator comes after the landline market.

Israeli retirees may also feel the brunt of the change in the long run. Pension funds and other savings options are heavily invested in communications shares as the huge dividend streams caught their eye. Pension, provident, educational training and other funds put huge sums into shares of Bezeq, Cellcom and Partner, as well as in their bonds. The total damage is in the billions of shekels.

As for landline phones and companies, why do consumers need a phone from Bezeq anymore if they have unlimited calls for only NIS 99 a month? Probably only consumers’ natural conservatism is protecting Bezeq and HOT today; but their duopoly of control over the Internet infrastructure will at least compensate them for a while as they raise these prices while they still can.

The real hero: Kahlon

Other big losers in the scheme of things are the overseas long distance providers. If Golan can offer free calls to 29 countries as part of its unlimited plan, then where does it leave the international calling companies, which are also Internet service providers? They are on the verge of losing their reason for being and may very well wind up as small departments of some major communications giant, as has happened in other countries.

The possible winners from the burst of competition in this previously stagnant sector include the advertising industry. Competition always requires more ads, after the dramatic drop in the cellular advertising campaigns from NIS 200 million in 2009 to NIS 117 million in 2011.

The three veteran operators no longer fought among themselves and were able to save almost half their previous ad budgets. But if their revenues fall as much as predicted, then the companies may have little left for major ad campaigns and the cellular ad industry may still not see the expected growth ad agencies are hoping for.

The changes are also expected to send Israelis into the private electronics stores that sell cellular phones as more and more people wake up and realize they can save a lot by not buying phones from the operators and shopping around instead.

Finally, the big winner, or more properly the hero of the story, is Communications Minister Moshe Kahlon, who has fought for years to open the cellular market. The entry of the new cellular operators is the result of a long series of reforms he pushed. For 10 years, the ministry kept available frequencies on the shelf – but Kahlon was the one to put them out in a tender. Now that the elections have been put off until next year, there is still quite a bit more Kahlon can do to complete his revolution in the communications markets.

Nati Tucker contributed to this report.

Article source: http://www.haaretz.com/business/thousands-flock-to-discount-cellular-firms-1.430969

A program designed to launch text type messages for weather, presidential and AMBER alerts has taken shape, with ATT, Cellcom, Cricket, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular and Verizon Wireless already on board with CTIA the Wireless Association.

“It is similar to text messages, but not exactly a text,” a Federal Emergency Management Agency spokesperson said on Tuesday.

Wireless Emergency Alert service is free, with recipients able to opt out of weather and AMBER alerts, officials said.

Locally, Emergency Management Office officials have been using different forms of automated dialing systems to make similar announcements, which including landlines and cellular phones, usually with cellular customers requesting inclusion on the service.

Adding the WEA system will duplicate some of those efforts, but not all, said Mason County Emergency Manager Wayne Muse.

Mason County uses the One Call Now system which activates in cases of severe weather.

“It sounds great,” Muse said. “I would have to see how it works first. We know our system works.”

Though the WEA system sounded like a good thing, it does not cover all the area the Mason County system does, he said.

“We have to keep in mind, not everyone our system reaches has cellular phone service,” Muse said.

Alerts will be geographically located and not able to track a customer. The the closest cell phone tower will broadcast the warnings to all cell phones in that area.

For example, a cellular phone user from Ohio who travels to Tennessee will get a Tennessee alert.

The Federal Communications Commission coordinated licensing policies related to the project, with FEMA coordinating cooperation with cellular carriers, FCC officials said Tuesday.

The WEA system includes the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Department of Homeland Security, the National Weather Service and other agencies.

The weather alerts will be used specifically for weather warnings, not weather watches; earthquake, ice storm, damaging winds and flood information may also be sent by the alerts, officials said.

The automated system plan was announced a year ago and tested in New York City earlier this year.

Residents are still encouraged to monitor weather conditions or have a weather alert radio handy, should cellular services be interrupted in some storm situations.

They should also check with their cellular service provider to make sure their phone is capable of receiving WEA messaging, FEMA officials said.

Article source: http://www.maysville-online.com/news/local/de06500e-5758-5509-9c09-13f657004ca3.html

By whom? Your cell phone company.

“They know you were playing Angry Birds,” said Mark Johnson, of Loyalty Marketers Association. “They know that you drove by Sears. They know you drove by Domino’s Pizza, so they can take that, and take a very unique algorithm that can focus on your behavior. It’s very impactful.”

Many people have no idea this information is being collected, packaged with details about your age and gender, aggregated and sometimes sold to third parties. “It does seem creepy that companies are collecting all this information about consumers,” said Harrine Freeman, a smart phone user.

She is so creeped out, she turns off her GPS when she drives and shops. She also clears her browser history. “I think it’s an invasion of privacy. I don’t think cell phone companies should sell your information,” she said.

All the major cell phone carriers admit to collecting your info.

Verizon acknowledges it aggregates the information and sells it to businesses without personally identifying users.

The Cell Phone Trade Association would not agree to be interviewed on camera; however, some cellular companies say, there’s an advantage here. You get ads that are relevant and can save you money. “This is something that consumers are automatically,” said Rainey Reitman, of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Critics say cell phone companies tell customers what data they’re collecting by sending them privacy notices that may be difficult to understand and written in fine print.

They don’t like that consumers who don’t want to be tracked have to make the extra effort to “opt out”. “I don’t really think that most people are going to review every e-mail they get form their cell phone company, and then go through the extra step of opting out of this targeted advertisement,” said Reitman.

To see what your cell phone carrier is monitoring-log onto its Web site and read its privacy policy.

Johnson says be sure to read any updates your carrier sends, too, because this tracking technology keeps changing. “The amount of data these cell phone companies have has grown tremendously over the last three to four years. With the rapid rise and proliferation of cell phones it will only continue to grow,” said Johnson

Privacy experts say also be careful of third party apps you download that request to “use your location” if you don’t want to be tracked always press “no”.

Privacy Policies of Popular Cell Phone Providers:

ATT Privacy Policy

Verizon Privacy Policy

Sprint Privacy Policy

Motorola Privacy Policy

T-Mobile Privacy Policy

Metro PCS Privacy Policy

Boost Mobile Privacy Policy

Copyright 2012 WFLX. All Rights Reserved.

Article source: http://www.wflx.com/story/18375848/cell-phones-tracking-your-every-move

Enlarge image

Mitt Romney

Bill Pugliano/Getty Images

Mitt Romney, seen here on May 8 in Lansing, Michigan, said today that government deficits are hurting the nation’s economic recovery and President Barack Obama has made the situation worse.

Mitt Romney, seen here on May 8 in Lansing, Michigan, said today that government deficits are hurting the nation’s economic recovery and President Barack Obama has made the situation worse. Photographer: Bill Pugliano/Getty Images

Mitt Romney decried the ballooning of
the federal debt and said it “threatens what it means to be an
American,” as he argued that government deficits are hurting
the nation’s economic recovery and President Barack Obama has
made the situation worse.

“America counted on President Obama to rescue the economy,
tame the deficit and help create jobs,” the presumed Republican
presidential nominee told supporters today in Des Moines, Iowa.

Criticizing the $831 billion stimulus package enacted
shortly into Obama’s term and other administration actions,
Romney said the president “bailed out the public sector, gave
billions of your dollars to companies of his friends and added
almost as much debt to the country as all the prior presidents
combined.”

As a consequence, “we are now enduring the most tepid
recovery in modern history,” Romney said.

With his speech in Iowa, a battleground state in the
presidential race, Romney returned to the economic arguments he
wants to spotlight after several days during which the political
dialogue focused on Obama’s May 9 endorsement of gay marriage.
Romney used a speech May 12 at an evangelical Christian
university in Virginia — his last public appearance before
today — to reaffirm his opposition to same-sex marriage.

If elected, Romney said today he would streamline agencies
and lower federal spending to 20 percent of gross domestic
product, down from 24.3 percent as one way to spur economic
growth.

Obama Team’s Response

Lis Smith, a spokeswoman for Obama’s re-election campaign,
said Romney’s speech was “heavy on dishonest claims” about
Obama’s record, and that the former Massachusetts governor
should specify cuts he would make in federal spending.

“While President Obama has put forward a plan to reduce
the national debt by more than $4 trillion over the next decade,
Mitt Romney refuses to say what spending cuts or tax increases
he’d make to cover the cost of giving $5 trillion in tax breaks
to the wealthiest Americans,” she said in a statement.

The stop in Iowa was Romney’s first since he and his rivals
in the Republican race repeatedly visited it prior to the state
caucuses that kicked off the nomination contest on Jan. 3. Iowa
is one of about a dozen states that Democratic and Republican
strategists say are most likely to determine the outcome of
November’s election.

Romney, 65, was initially declared the winner of the Iowa
caucuses, before a subsequent review gave a 34-vote victory to
former Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania. Santorum, who
emerged as Romney’s main challenger, ended his bid for the
Republican nomination on April 10.

Today’s Primaries

Romney was favored to win more delegates to the Republican
National Convention in primaries today in Nebraska and Oregon.
Before today’s voting, Romney had 973 of the 1,144 delegates
needed for the nomination, according to an Associated Press
count.

In his speech, Romney mocked the federal government’s
bureaucracy, saying that, if Washington had been the sole
supplier of cellular phones, delays and less innovation would
have marked their development.

“When they’re finally approved, the contract to make them
would go to an Obama donor,” Romney said.

Romney pointed to former President Bill Clinton as a model
for Obama to more closely follow.

“Almost a generation ago, Bill Clinton announced that the
era of big government was over,” he said. “President Obama
tucked away the Clinton doctrine in his large drawer of
discarded ideas, along with transparency and bipartisanship.”

‘Personal Beef’

Romney added: “Maybe it was a personal beef with the
Clintons.”

Obama appointed Hillary Clinton, his chief rival in the
2008 Democratic presidential race and the former president’s
wife, as his secretary of state.

Comparing the nation’s debt to fire, Romney said children
and grandchildren are those who will get burned the most.

“Every day that we fail to act, that fire gets closer to
the homes and children we love,” he said. “I will lead us out
of this debt and spending inferno.”

Romney said that if interest rates rise, the federal
government’s problems will become even greater.

“The interest rate on that debt could go up like a rocket,
just like an adjustable mortgage goes up,” he said. “And
there’s also a good chance that this kind of debt could cause us
to hit a wall like they have in Greece, Spain and Italy.”

U.S. Debt

As of yesterday, the total federal debt was almost $15.7
trillion, up from $10.6 trillion on Jan. 20, 2009, when Obama
was inaugurated, according to the Treasury Department. The
annual budget deficit, and the accumulated debt, depend to a
large degree on policy choices and developments in the broader
economy that aren’t immediately affected by political change in
Washington.

The Obama administration also has pointed to Republican-
backed tax cuts in 2001 and 2003, which are still in effect, and
continuing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as policies from the
Bush administration that helped increase deficits.

The campaign for Iowa’s electoral votes will play out in a
state with a better economic environment than the national
picture. The state’s jobless rate in March was 5.2 percent,
below the current national average of 8.1 percent and down from
6.3 percent in November 2010.

Romney was scheduled to attend a fundraiser in a Chicago
suburb later today before heading to Florida to campaign there
tomorrow and May 17.

– With assistance from Bob Drummond in Washington. Editors: Don Frederick, Jim Rubin.

To contact the reporter on this story:
John McCormick in Des Moines, Iowa, at
jmccormick16@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Jeanne Cummings at
jcummings21@bloomberg.net

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Article source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-15/romney-focuses-on-u-s-debt-in-attacking-obama-for-slow-recovery.html

The AM7808 is a complete CMOS high-power transmit module for low-cost quad-band GSM/GPRS module handsets. Utilizing Amalfi’s proprietary AdaptiveRF™ architecture, the ultra-compact AM7808 generates high output power at high efficiency over a phone’s full operational range.

“Being selected by Samsung, the largest worldwide provider of mobile phones, is a significant achievement for Amalfi,” said Mark Foley, CEO and president at Amalfi. “It further validates our cost-effective, high performance CMOS power amplifier technology and our ability to service customers at very high volumes.”

The announcement marks another milestone for the startup as it continues to see strong adoption of its CMOS power amplifier technologies in next-generation handset applications for emerging markets. Amalfi anticipates shipping over 150 million units worldwide by the end of 2012.

“Our CMOS architecture offers mobile phone manufacturers excellent overall performance at an extremely competitive price point,” added Foley. “We look forward to working closely with Samsung to ensure its customers have the best possible mobile phone experience.”

AdaptiveRF:
The AdaptiveRF architecture is an advanced silicon platform that enables the development of highly integrated CMOS power amplifiers for cellular handsets and data terminals. This cost effective, high performance platform leverages a CMOS linear power amplifier core that achieves high Power Added Efficiency (PAE) under real-world operating conditions enabling extended battery life while decreasing the size and cost of front-end cellular handset designs. The AdaptiveRF architecture also leverages the availability of high volume, low cost CMOS foundry capacity, providing manufacturers with a lower risk, lower cost solution when ramping into high volume production.

About Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a global leader in semiconductor, telecommunication, digital media and digital convergence technologies with 2011 consolidated sales of US$143.1 billion. Employing approximately 206,000 people in 197 offices across 72 countries, the company operates two separate organizations to coordinate its nine independent business units: Digital Media Communications, comprising Visual Display, Mobile Communications, Telecommunication Systems, Digital Appliances, IT Solutions, and Digital Imaging; and Device Solutions, consisting of Memory, System LSI and LED. Recognized for its industry-leading performance across a range of economic, environmental and social criteria, Samsung Electronics was named the world’s most sustainable technology company in the 2011 Dow Jones Sustainability Index. For more information, please visit www.samsung.com.

About Amalfi Semiconductor, Inc.
Amalfi Semiconductor, Inc., is a fabless semiconductor company specializing in cost effective, high performance CMOS power amplifiers and transmit modules. The Company’s proprietary CMOS-based architecture, AdaptiveRF™, has proven to increase the battery life or talk time of cellular handsets while decreasing the size and cost of front-end cellular handset designs. The company has strong financial backing, with funding from industry leading venture capital companies — Battery Ventures, DCM, Globespan Capital Partners, and strategic investors. Amalfi Semiconductor can be contacted at their corporate headquarters in Los Gatos, Calif. at +1-408-399-5360 or at www.amalfi.com.

Amalfi® and AdaptiveRF™ are trademarks of Amalfi Semiconductor, Inc.

Article source: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/samsung-selects-amalfi-semiconductors-cmos-150000993.html

We Recommend…

ATLANTA– Just Cellular, Inc., a online source for refurbished cell phones, struck a new funding agreement with UPS Capital, the financial services arm of UPS. Under the agreement, a line of credit is provided to Just Cellular using the company’s in-transit inventory as collateral.

“In today’s economic environment small to medium size businesses are seeking creative ways to finance growth”

“In today’s economic environment small to medium size businesses are seeking creative ways to finance growth,” said Eric Kirkland, CEO and founder of Just Cellular. “Our agreement with UPS Capital is reassuring to our traditional banking partners, who are comfortable knowing that UPS’s visibility and tracking tools are on the other side of this transactional financing.”

The increased cash flow will enable Just Cellular to accelerate payment to its suppliers, who are mainly based in China. This in turn has allowed Just Cellular to negotiate more favorable terms with these suppliers. The agreement is also ideally suited for the Company’s international financing needs, as traditional business lenders typically do not advance funds against inventory that is not within the borders of their home countries.

To better coordinate its shipping and customer service, Just Cellular has integrated the UPS delivery system into its custom-designed enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. The ERP system provides sales analytics, forecasting, and customer data for maintaining ongoing customer relationships.

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Article source: http://atlanta.citybizlist.com/3/2012/5/15/UPS-Capital-Backs-Just-Cellular.aspx

ANN ARBOR, Mich.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–

Much like employment numbers, the ACSI continues on a path of steady but
mediocre growth, according to a report released today by the American
Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). Aggregate satisfaction is up 0.1% to
75.9 on a 0 to 100 scale, following gains in four of the last five
quarters of measurement.

“Stronger customer satisfaction, particularly with domestic goods and
services, would help spur economic growth, but only if household
discretionary income increases,” says Claes Fornell, ACSI founder and
author of The Satisfied Customer: Winners and Losers in the Battle
for Buyer Preference. “Even though private sector jobs are edging
back, public sector job losses continue, wages are stagnating, and
workers’ earnings—adjusted for inflation—are actually falling. In such a
climate, higher customer satisfaction can only contribute so much to
stronger demand.”

The first quarter 2012 uptick in aggregate customer satisfaction stems
from gains in the energy utility and health care sectors (reported on in
April) that more than offset a 0.6% decline for the information sector.

The ACSI’s May report covers eight industries: cell phones, computer
software, fixed-line and wireless telephone service, motion pictures,
newspapers, subscription TV service, and TV news. At 71.9, the
information sector earns the second-to-worst ACSI score next to
government services, and far more companies decline than improve.

Cell Phones Wireless Service: Apple’s Debut Changes the Game

Starting this year, the ACSI has expanded its coverage of the cell phone
industry, adding another four companies to the roster of cell phone
firms. Customer satisfaction with the cell phone industry (part of the
manufacturing/durable goods sector) slips 1.3% to 74, while wireless
service drops 1.4% to 70.

For many users, the advent of smartphone technology has dramatically
changed what they look for in a cell phone device. Two smartphones
makers, Apple and Research in Motion (RIM), enter the ACSI with very
different results. At 83, Apple (iPhone) leads the field by a long shot,
while RIM (Blackberry) lags behind as the least satisfying at 69.

“Companies with weak customer satisfaction often have weak stock
performance,” notes Fornell. “RIM’s sales are slumping amid a bevy of
problems, from hardware and software issues to server lapses that have
caused email and messaging outages. Over the past year, share price for
RIM has virtually collapsed.”

At 83, Apple’s iPhone is a game changer when it comes to customer
satisfaction. No other cell phone company has ever broken into the 80s.
Apple’s nearest competitors this year are three companies tied at 75:
Nokia (+3%) and ACSI newcomers LG and HTC.

Motorola declines 5% to 73 and ties the aggregate of smaller
manufacturers (-1%). This may be unwelcome news for Google as it hopes
to make the most of its Motorola acquisition and widen the user base for
its Android operating system. Samsung, another company that relies
heavily on Android, backtracks 4% to a below-average score of 71.

On the service side, the aggregation of smaller carriers (such as
TracFone and U.S. Cellular) maintains a strong lead at 76, despite a
small downturn (-1%). All companies show modest ACSI declines except for
ATT Mobility. Last year, customer satisfaction for ATT and T-Mobile
tumbled amid merger talks. This year, ATT recoups its loss (+5%), but
only to tie T-Mobile (-1%) at 69. On the other hand, ATT is now close
to rival Verizon (-3% to 70), whose score has dwindled over three years.
At 71, Sprint Nextel nominally grabs first place among the big carriers
and holds nearly steady (-1%) following three years of swift ACSI
progress (up from 56 in 2008).

Fixed-Line Phones: Decline Eliminates Advantage Over Wireless

For the first time in ACSI history, fixed-line phone service no longer
beats wireless when it comes to satisfying customers. With a sharp
decline of 4.1% to 70, fixed-line service now ties wireless and loses
its ACSI advantage. At 76, small providers win the game here, just as
they do in the wireless segment.

The fixed-line market is shrinking as more household opt for wireless
service only. Customers who choose to stick with their land lines,
however, are not happier—every major carrier is down this year. The
largest ACSI decline belongs to CenturyLink, plummeting 6% to an
industry low of 66 after its acquisition of Qwest. Comcast drops 3% to
67, while the rest of the industry huddles at scores of 70 to 71.

Subscription TV: Verizon FiOS Strengthens Its Lead

Subscription television service continues to underwhelm consumers, as
the industry overall is flat for a third year at the low score of 66.
Among 47 ACSI industries, only newspapers (64) and airlines (65) are
less satisfying than subscription TV.

“While the range of services offered by the industry is larger than
ever, reliability and cost are hurdles along the path to higher customer
satisfaction,” says Fornell. “Service providers need to improve
reliability without upping prices, which may be a tough balancing act in
an economy where the monthly cost of TV service can rival that of energy
utilities.”

There are a few gainers, however, among TV service providers. Up 3% to
an all-time industry high of 74, Verizon’s fiber optic service (FiOS) is
a clear leader. DISH Network, up 3% to 69, is a distant second place.
ATT’s U-Verse trails rival FiOS at an unchanged score of 68, while
DISH’s rival DIRECTV slips 1% to 68.

The industry’s low end belongs to cable TV, as Cox Communications takes
a big ACSI hit and falls 6% to 63. In 2011, Cox beat all of the other
cable competitors by 8 points. This year, Time Warner ties Cox with a 7%
surge to 63. Comcast gains 3% to 61, leaving Charter Communications
alone in last place at 59 (unchanged).

Computer Software: Dwindling Customer Satisfaction Across Industry

Customers continue to be more satisfied with computer software compared
to other information industries, but this year even software slips—down
1.3% to 77. Software makers—large or small—are losing ground in customer
satisfaction. Smaller software firms (like Adobe and Symantec) remain on
top, but at a reduced score of 77 (-3%). Meanwhile, Microsoft sees its
ACSI score contract 4% to 75. The lessening of customer satisfaction may
prove challenging for Microsoft as sales of its Windows software stall
amid a shrinking PC environment and a growing mobile computing market.

Information and Entertainment Media: Newspapers Keep Losing

Reader satisfaction with the waning newspaper industry deteriorates this
year with a 1.5% drop to 64—the worst score among the 47 industries
covered by the ACSI. Likewise, viewer satisfaction with network and
cable TV news programs retreats 3.9% to 74, which reverses last year’s
gain. Motion pictures, in contrast, show the lone industry-level
improvement in the information sector, up 4.1% to 76.

About ACSI

The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) is a national economic
indicator of customer evaluations of the quality of products and
services available to household consumers in the United States. The ACSI
uses data from interviews with roughly 70,000 customers annually as
inputs to an econometric model for measuring customer satisfaction with
more than 225 companies in 47 industries and 10 economic sectors, as
well as over 100 services, programs, and websites of federal government
agencies.

ACSI results are released on a monthly basis, with all measures reported
using a scale of 0 to 100. ACSI data have proven to be strongly related
to a number of essential indicators of micro and macroeconomic
performance. For example, firms with higher levels of customer
satisfaction tend to have higher earnings and stock returns relative to
competitors. Stock portfolios based on companies that show strong
performance in ACSI deliver excess returns in up markets as well as down
markets. And, at the macro level, customer satisfaction has been shown
to be predictive of both consumer spending and gross domestic product
growth. The Index was founded at the University of Michigan’s Ross
School of Business and is produced by ACSI LLC. The ACSI can be found on
the Web at www.theacsi.org.

Article source: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/aggregate-customer-satisfaction-rises-slightly-120000864.html