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Tuesday, November 8, 2011
11/16 WEBINAR: Delivering the 'Optimal Mobile Backhaul' Experience
Rajesh Kumar Sundararajan is the Assistant Vice President for Data Communication products at Aricent, focusing on routing and switching solutions including Aricent's widely deployed Intelligent Switching Solution (ISS). He has over 16 years of industry experience in strategizing, managing and developing software for communications and network applications across multiple technologies which include ATM, LAN switching, Carrier and Metro Ethernet. He holds a bachelor's in electrical engineering from Bangalore University, India and a master's in telecommunications systems engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India.
Rajkumar Paulraj is the Technology Director for Data Communication products at Aricent, focusing on routing and switching solutions including Aricent's widely deployed Intelligent Switching Solution (ISS). He has over 15 years of industry experience in architecting, designing, and implementing routing and switching products for enterprise, mobile backhaul, broadband, and datacenter markets. He holds a bachelor's in computer science from NIT, Trichy and a master's in computer science from Texas A&M University, College Station, USA.
THURSDAY: Analyzing the Economics of Cloud Computing In Contact Centers
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Ken is responsible for all facets of marketing at Five9, including demand generation, product marketing, marketing communications, and public relations. He has more than fifteen years of experience in cloud computing, CRM and Enterprise software. Ken was previously at 
Drew Kraus is a research vice president for the worldwide enterprise communications applications team of Gartner's Technology & Service Provider Research group. His research covers contact centers, unified communications, and various contact center and converged technologies.
Chris DiMarco is a Web Editor for TMCnet. He holds a master's degree in journalism from Quinnipiac University. Prior to joining TMC Chris worked with e-commerce provider Suresource as a contact center representative and development analyst..
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Google Chairman Eric tells US senators Apple's Siri could pose 'competitive threat'
Eric Schmidt, Google's chairman and former chief executive,
admitted to the U.S. Senate antitrust subcommittee that Apple's new Siri
personal assistant technology is a "significant development" in search
and could pose a threat to his company's core business.
The comments came in the form of a statement to the subcommittee in response to questions from the senators after a hearing in September, as noted by Neowin.net. Schmidt's remarks, however, may be best taken with a grain of salt, as letter's objective is clearly to downplay Google's prominence, while highlighting its competitors.
The executive took special care to call out Siri as a new development that might supplant Google's search engine.
"Even in the few weeks since the hearing, Apple has launched an entirely new approach to search technology with Siri, its voice-activated search and task-completion service built into the iPhone 4S," he wrote.
Schmidt even went so far as to cite two publications for calling Siri a "Google killer" and Apple's "entry point" into the search engine business.
In the letter, Schmidt backpedaled from a previous statement in September 2010 where he had denied that Apple and Facebook were a "competitive threat."
"My statement was clearly wrong," he said. "Apple’s Siri is a significant development—a voice-activated means of accessing answers through iPhones that demonstrates the innovations in search."
"Google has many strong competitors and we sometimes fail to anticipate the competitive threat posed by new methods of accessing information," Schmidt added, noting that Google competes against search engines (Microsoft's Bing, Yahoo!), specialized search engines (Kayak, Amazon, WebMD, eBay), social networks (Facebook, Twitter), commercial software companies (Apple, Microsoft), mobile apps and direct navigation.
Apple unveiled Siri in October as a prominent new feature of the iPhone 4S. The software, which Apple originally purchased in 2010, is currently in beta, though, and has experienced some embarrassing outages in the first weeks of usage.
In what could be considered a confusing mixed message from Google executives, Android chief Andy Rubin dismissed Siri last month. He said he doesn't believe that phones should be assistants and doubted whether people should communicate with their phones.
To the disappointment of those who readily declare Android as a dominant winner, Schmidt denied in his letter that Google has a "dominant position in the smartphone market." He cited a recent study from research group comScore as saying that "Android operates on only 34.1 percent while Apple’s iOS runs on 43.1 percent."
In fact, his comment is misleading, as comScore's figures relate to the whole mobile and connected device market. The actual report noted that Android does have the highest share in the smartphone market, with 43.7 percent in August. That difference is largely due to the fact that Apple has an unchallenged lead in the tablet market, as Android tablets have failed to gain much traction.
Schmidt also downplayed Google's role in the search engine market, instead attributing it to hard work and luck.
"I would disagree that Google is dominant," he said after senators asserted that Google is approaching a monopoly. "By investing smartly, hiring extremely talented engineers, and working very, very hard (and with some good luck), Google has been blessed with a great deal of success."
For their part, senators maintain that Google's 65 percent market share of all U.S. Internet searches, 94 percent share of the European market, and 97 percent share of all smartphone searches give it substantial market power that approaches a monopoly.
The comments came in the form of a statement to the subcommittee in response to questions from the senators after a hearing in September, as noted by Neowin.net. Schmidt's remarks, however, may be best taken with a grain of salt, as letter's objective is clearly to downplay Google's prominence, while highlighting its competitors.
The executive took special care to call out Siri as a new development that might supplant Google's search engine.
"Even in the few weeks since the hearing, Apple has launched an entirely new approach to search technology with Siri, its voice-activated search and task-completion service built into the iPhone 4S," he wrote.
Schmidt even went so far as to cite two publications for calling Siri a "Google killer" and Apple's "entry point" into the search engine business.
In the letter, Schmidt backpedaled from a previous statement in September 2010 where he had denied that Apple and Facebook were a "competitive threat."
"My statement was clearly wrong," he said. "Apple’s Siri is a significant development—a voice-activated means of accessing answers through iPhones that demonstrates the innovations in search."
"Google has many strong competitors and we sometimes fail to anticipate the competitive threat posed by new methods of accessing information," Schmidt added, noting that Google competes against search engines (Microsoft's Bing, Yahoo!), specialized search engines (Kayak, Amazon, WebMD, eBay), social networks (Facebook, Twitter), commercial software companies (Apple, Microsoft), mobile apps and direct navigation.
Apple unveiled Siri in October as a prominent new feature of the iPhone 4S. The software, which Apple originally purchased in 2010, is currently in beta, though, and has experienced some embarrassing outages in the first weeks of usage.
In what could be considered a confusing mixed message from Google executives, Android chief Andy Rubin dismissed Siri last month. He said he doesn't believe that phones should be assistants and doubted whether people should communicate with their phones.
To the disappointment of those who readily declare Android as a dominant winner, Schmidt denied in his letter that Google has a "dominant position in the smartphone market." He cited a recent study from research group comScore as saying that "Android operates on only 34.1 percent while Apple’s iOS runs on 43.1 percent."
In fact, his comment is misleading, as comScore's figures relate to the whole mobile and connected device market. The actual report noted that Android does have the highest share in the smartphone market, with 43.7 percent in August. That difference is largely due to the fact that Apple has an unchallenged lead in the tablet market, as Android tablets have failed to gain much traction.
Schmidt also downplayed Google's role in the search engine market, instead attributing it to hard work and luck.
"I would disagree that Google is dominant," he said after senators asserted that Google is approaching a monopoly. "By investing smartly, hiring extremely talented engineers, and working very, very hard (and with some good luck), Google has been blessed with a great deal of success."
For their part, senators maintain that Google's 65 percent market share of all U.S. Internet searches, 94 percent share of the European market, and 97 percent share of all smartphone searches give it substantial market power that approaches a monopoly.
Microsoft puts up big Windows Phone display in New York City
For weeks, Microsoft has been touting some "big" events in New York City happening Monday.
The invitation, sent to press, includes a "backstage" event featuring Windows Phone President Andy Lees and Joe Belfiore, corporate vice president for Windows Phone program management. Then there's a public event at noon (Eastern time, 9 a.m. Seattle time) at NYC's Herald Square.
Apparently, at least part of what will be happening is the unveiling of a giant Windows Phone display near Macy's in Herald Square. WinRumors has a report, as well as photos of the display -- both covered and uncovered (from a Neowin member).
Microsoft has not said what it will be announcing at these events, though the expectation is it will be presenting the new Windows Phone 7.5 "Mango" handsets that have just hit U.S. store shelves. There's speculation, as well, that Microsoft will be announcing the price and availability in the U.S. of the HTC Titan, the big (that word again) 4.7-inch handset running Windows Phone Mango.
Microsoft, which currently holds about 2 percent of the global smartphone market and less than 6 percent of the U.S. market, has been pushing lately to make more people aware of Windows Phone. It's been holding Windows Phone parties featuring indie bands and Windows Phone Inner Circle events, where company reps provide hands-on opportunities with handsets. A Seattle Inner Circle event is scheduled for Nov. 21 at Pnk Ultra Lounge.
The invitation, sent to press, includes a "backstage" event featuring Windows Phone President Andy Lees and Joe Belfiore, corporate vice president for Windows Phone program management. Then there's a public event at noon (Eastern time, 9 a.m. Seattle time) at NYC's Herald Square.
Apparently, at least part of what will be happening is the unveiling of a giant Windows Phone display near Macy's in Herald Square. WinRumors has a report, as well as photos of the display -- both covered and uncovered (from a Neowin member).
Microsoft has not said what it will be announcing at these events, though the expectation is it will be presenting the new Windows Phone 7.5 "Mango" handsets that have just hit U.S. store shelves. There's speculation, as well, that Microsoft will be announcing the price and availability in the U.S. of the HTC Titan, the big (that word again) 4.7-inch handset running Windows Phone Mango.
Microsoft, which currently holds about 2 percent of the global smartphone market and less than 6 percent of the U.S. market, has been pushing lately to make more people aware of Windows Phone. It's been holding Windows Phone parties featuring indie bands and Windows Phone Inner Circle events, where company reps provide hands-on opportunities with handsets. A Seattle Inner Circle event is scheduled for Nov. 21 at Pnk Ultra Lounge.
List of free Prime eligible Kindle e-books
Prime members can now borrow certain e-books for free (one a month).
(Credit:
Amazon)
In case you missed it, Amazon recently launched the Kindle Owners' Lending Library, which allows Amazon Prime members to check out up to one e-book a month for free with no due date.
The only problem is that it wasn't so easy to find all the more than 5,000 titles in the Kindle Store that qualify for free borrowing. However, as one might expect, a somewhat helpful link has cropped up in the blogosphere.
Click on this link to get to the list.
The shortcut comes courtesy of Publishers Marketplace Automat, which I found via a Pubisher's Lunch tweet yesterday.
Curiously, the Publishers Marketplace Automat link misstates the number of titles--it says it "[l]ets You Browse 2,700 Prime Lending Titles Right On Their Site," when the actual number is currently showing as 5,377. Their Amazon link also directs you to the list of print books that are eligible for free Prime shipment--you need to click on the Kindle-specific link that I supplied above.
The default sort on the list is by popularity, but you can use the genre list on the left-hand side to filter accordingly.
It's important to remember that Prime-eligible loaners can only be read on Kindle hardware devices--you can't read them with Kindle apps on devices such as the iPad or Android smartphones and tablets, nor can you read them on your computer in the browser-based Kindle Cloud Reader. Likewise, you can't "send" loaners to Kindle devices from your Web browser, as you can with e-book purchases; you'll have to look up the book on the Kindle itself to download it.
That said, the link lets you browse Prime-eligible titles, so you can be sure that you won't be buying (or wish-listing) a title that you can otherwise read for free.
In other Kindle Owners' Lending Library news, not everybody is happy about Amazon's latest move. As expected, there's been some chatter from wary publishers as well as agents and authors wondering how authors will be properly compensated.
The compensation issue is full of questions because it's currently unclear how Amazon is stocking the titles in its Lending Library. Paid Content reports that Amazon is paying a lump sum to publishers that agreed to be part of the new program. But in other cases--according to Publishers Marketplace (registration required for full article)--Amazon isn't asking for consent and is simply paying the wholesale rate for the "free" book (about 50 percent off the list price) and taking the loss. (CNET hasn't independently verified any of the publishers' deals--or lack thereof--with Amazon Prime.) As this is new territory for publishers, it's unclear how all this plays out with authors' contracts.
In the meantime, though, it makes that $79 that many of us spend on Amazon Prime membership a better and better deal.
Quick Takes: Steve Jobs' bio tops sales charts
Walter Isaacson's biography of Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs leaped to the top of bestseller lists in its first week in book stores, flying off shelves to the tune of 379,000 copies, according to Nielsen's BookScan.
"Steve Jobs," which came out on Oct. 24 from publisher Simon & Schuster, sold three times more copies than the next-bestselling book, John Grisham's "The Litigators."
In its first week alone the book became one of the year's 20 bestsellers.
It has been a year since any book has sold more copies in its first week. Both former President George W. Bush's autobiography, "Decision Points," and Jeff Kinney's "Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth," sold more than 400,000 copies in their first week last November.
—reuters
Urban to have throat surgery
Keith Urban will undergo throat surgery this month to remove a polyp on his vocal chord, a spokesman for the country singer said.
Publicist Paul Freundlich said the surgery is a minor outpatient procedure. It will require complete vocal rest followed by an indefinite period of recuperation.
Urban has postponed his Jan. 18 "All For the Hall" concert to benefit the Country Music Hall of Fame and is substantially scaling back appearances that require him to sing multiple songs. They will be rescheduled in 2012.
—Associated Press
Painting with Nazi ties seized
U.S. authorities on Friday seized a nearly 500-year-old Italian painting that has been on display at a Florida museum, saying it was stolen by the Nazis from a Jewish family during World War II and should be returned to the family's heirs.
U.S. Atty. Pamela Marsh announced Friday that the federal government will hold on to the painting until a federal judge can determine the rightful owners.
The painting, "Christ Carrying the Cross Dragged by a Rogue" by Girolamo Romano, was one of 50 lent to the Mary Brogan Museum of Art & Science in Tallahassee by a Milan museum for an exhibit that closed earlier this year.
—Associated Press
Met conductor is sidelined
James Levine has canceled conducting the Metropolitan Opera's new production of Wagner's "Goetterdaemmerung" and is in danger of missing an entire season at the company for the first time since he made his debut in 1971.
The Met said Friday that new principal conductor Fabio Luisi will replace Levine in the final installment of Robert Lepage's staging of the Ring Cycle, which opens Jan. 27. Luisi also will replace Levine in an orchestra concert at Carnegie Hall on Jan. 15.
The 67-year-old Levine, who made his Met debut in June 1971, has led the most performances of any conductor in the company's history (2,442) but has not appeared since May 14, the final day of last season.
He canceled his participation in a tour of Japan that had been scheduled
to mark his 40th anniversary with the Met, and he
had operations to address spinal stenosis on May 31 and July 20.
He had another surgery on Sept. 1 after falling and damaging a vertebrae.
"He's feeling good. He's in rehab, and he continues to make improvements. He agrees and feels strongly that he wouldn't want to return until he's fully recovered," Met general manager Peter Gelb said in an interview. "I know that his doctors are optimistic that he will be able to eventually return, but there is no specific timetable."
—Associated Press
Lip syncing on 'X Factor'
Is "The X Factor" really about finding the next great Milli Vanilli? Simon Cowell's flashy singing competition series is catching some heat for lip syncing.
The scrutiny came after Thursday's episode when contestant Leroy Bell was heard singing before the microphone reached his mouth during an opening group medley.
An "X Factor" spokesperson said that such a practice is a common occurrence with ensemble performances.
"All survival songs are performed live, with just a backing track," the spokesperson said. "For the group ensemble performance, the vocals are prerecorded to allow acts to concentrate on preparing for their own live competitive performances on Wednesdays."
"American Idol" has also copped to using recorded vocals for group numbers.
—Yvonne Villarreal
N.Y. event raises money for AIDS
The annual Black Ball benefit concert in New York raised more than $3 million for children and families in Africa and India who are affected by HIV/AIDS.
The eighth Keep a Child Alive event included performances by Black Ball co-founder Alicia Keys and guests Usher, Norah Jones, will.i.am and others singing songs by former Beatle George Harrison, who was saluted on the 40th anniversary of the Concert for Bangladesh, the first rock music superstar benefit concert.
AT&T dials Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket, HTC Vivid LTE phones
AT&T Inc. this week released the first LTE capable smartphones for AT&T customers nationwide.
Devices include HTC Corp.’s HTC Vivid and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.’s Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket.
The HTC Vivid includes a 4.5-inch qHD display, 1.2Ghz Dual-Core CPU, 8MP camera with 1080p video recording at 60 frames-per-second, 16GB memory, and Google Inc.’s Android OS with HTC Sense at $199.99 with two-year contract.
The Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket includes a 4.5-inch SuperAMOLED Plus display, 1.5Ghz Dual-Core CPU, 8MP camera, 2MP front-facing camera, 1080p HD recording, 16GB memory, and Google Inc.’s Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread OS at $249.99 with two-year contract.
4G LTE service launched Nov. 6 in Boston, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, and Athens, Ga. It plans to reach 15 markets and 70 million Americans by the end of 2011.
AT&T in Oct. said it will release five new smartphones that include Google Inc.’s Android OS.
New devices include Motorola Mobility Inc.’s Atrix 2, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.’s Captivate Glide and Doubletime, Pantech Curitel’s Pantech Pocket, and ZTE Corp.’s AT&T Avail.
AT&T Oct. 14 began sale of Apple Inc.’s iPhone 4S.
It currently holds 96 million subscribers in the U.S.
Devices include HTC Corp.’s HTC Vivid and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.’s Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket.
The HTC Vivid includes a 4.5-inch qHD display, 1.2Ghz Dual-Core CPU, 8MP camera with 1080p video recording at 60 frames-per-second, 16GB memory, and Google Inc.’s Android OS with HTC Sense at $199.99 with two-year contract.
The Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket includes a 4.5-inch SuperAMOLED Plus display, 1.5Ghz Dual-Core CPU, 8MP camera, 2MP front-facing camera, 1080p HD recording, 16GB memory, and Google Inc.’s Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread OS at $249.99 with two-year contract.
4G LTE service launched Nov. 6 in Boston, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, and Athens, Ga. It plans to reach 15 markets and 70 million Americans by the end of 2011.
AT&T in Oct. said it will release five new smartphones that include Google Inc.’s Android OS.
New devices include Motorola Mobility Inc.’s Atrix 2, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.’s Captivate Glide and Doubletime, Pantech Curitel’s Pantech Pocket, and ZTE Corp.’s AT&T Avail.
AT&T Oct. 14 began sale of Apple Inc.’s iPhone 4S.
It currently holds 96 million subscribers in the U.S.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Not a CEO's Toy Anymore: Video Conferencing for every Organization
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Avi
Fisher co-founded SURF in 1996. Since then, he held the roles of CTO,
VP R&D and VP Marketing of SURF and is a member of the current Board
of Directors. An industry veteran, Avi has a rich experienced with
multimedia networks and protocols. Avi's expertise is in Digital Signal
Processing, Embedded Software and System Architecture. He issued several
patents and was the first contributor to the ITU V.150 standard for the
relay of modem signals over the IP.
Niv
Kagan is responsible for Product Management and Marketing at SURF
Communication Solutions. With a rich knowledge of multimedia
communication networks, Niv has been involved in the design,
implementation and deployment of multimedia projects and products
including Next-Generation voice systems, IMS multimedia services, and
Session Border Controller.
Peter
Bernstein is a seasoned writer and professional with deep experience in
the communications and IT industries. As a top-level industry analyst,
Peter has keynoted major technology events and has been cited numerous
times by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles
Times, USA Today, The Washington Post, Business Week, Fortune Magazine,
ComputerWorld, NetworkWorld, Communications Week, among other
publications.
Using Interactive Notifications to Improve Patient Care and Business Operations in the Healthcare Industry
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Tuesday, November 1, 2011
iPhones and Androids and IVRs: Customer Self-Service in the Smart Phone Age
iPhones and Androids and IVRs: Customer Self-Service in the Smart Phone Age
Thursday November 3, 2011
12:00pm EDT/ 9:00am PDT/ 5:00pm London
Interactive Voice Response and Voice Portals have long been the mainstay customer self-service solutions used to front-end and off-load contact center agents. As more and more people trade-up to smart phones, what is the impact on these traditional customer self-service solutions? Where does the lowly audio menu and touchtone interface fit into a communications continuum that now puts the broadband multimedia web in customer pockets? What are the new end user expectations for customer service and how can IVR solution providers enable their customers to meet them?
Join this webinar and learn about today's consumer preferences for customer service based on recent surveys by market research firm OVUM, and the implications for innovating self-service solutions such as IVR.
Speakers:
Daniel Hong
Lead Analyst, Customer Interaction OVUM
Daniel Hong is part of Ovum Telecom group's enterprise team where he heads the firm's global Customer Interaction research and consulting practice. As the program manager and lead analyst for Customer Interaction, Daniel is responsible for the direction of contact center, self-service and customer experience research. His work focuses on analyzing trends, strategies and practices for customer service technologies across CRM, enterprise, social media, mobile and ubiquitous computing environments. He has been quoted numerous times in Business 2.0, DestinationCRM, The Economist, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times and NPR and regularly contributes articles to Speech Technology Magazine and other publications.
Bud Walder
Marketing Director Dialogic Corporation
As marketing director for Dialogic, Bud Walder is responsible for unified communications and contact center market segment strategy and supporting activities. Dialogic is a leading provider of media and signaling platforms for the unified communications and contact center markets. The platforms enable service providers, developers and system integrators to create and deliver innovative and efficient communications services, content and applications.
Before joining Dialogic in 2006, Walder spent 20 years in enterprise communications systems sales and product management at Intel Corporation, Brother International Corp and Office Business Systems, Inc. Walder holds a BA degree in economics from Rutgers University.
Erik K Linask
Group Editorial Director TMCnet
Erik oversees the daily operation of TMCnet, which delivers news, information, videos, white papers, podcasts, and more to three million visitors each month. He is also a contributor to TMCnet as well as TMC’s IP Communications publications. Prior to joining the TMC team, several years ago, he was Managing Editor at Global Custodian, a global securities services publication, where he also managed the magazine’s survey research. Erik began his professional career at management consulting firm Leadership Research Institute.
Register Now!
Sponsors:
AT&T Launches Skyrocket for LTE; Vivid, too
"The two LTE-powered superphones will be our
20th and 21st Android devices in 2011, adding to an outstanding year of
Android success," said AT&T executive David Christopher. "We've far
exceeded our commitment to offer 12 new Android devices this year -- now
including our first 4G LTE smartphones." 
Sunday, Nov. 6, will be the date of AT&T 
's leap into LTE smartphone coverage as the carrier launches two new 4G , dual-core Android smartphones, one of which is cleverly dubbed the Skyrocket.
That phone by Samsung, part of its Galaxy family of devices, as well as HTC's Vivid, will put the network
AT&T launched in September to its biggest test, after weeks of long-term evolution coverage for mobile computer users.
But with its reputation for weak connectivity for Apple's iPhone, the company has a lot riding on smooth, high-speed data
operation. The company must also strive to avoid the kind of problem that beset Verizon Wireless when it faced a large-scale outage of its LTE network just five months after it launched, and as it prepared to add more smartphones.
Coverage Is Key
AT&T has insisted its network is better because it is backed up by a faster 3G
system, HSPA+, so that users who go in and out of an LTE coverage area
won't face jarring differences in speed. The Skyrocket and Vivid are
"the only smartphones able to utilize both LTE and HSPA+ 4G speeds, for a
consistently fast connection in and out of LTE areas," said AT&T in
marketing the devices. (When Verizon's network was down its HTC
Thunderbolt used a slower 1XRTT connection.)
"The idea is that the LTE network will be more reliable, however coverage will be key as the hand-off from LTE to 3G coverage could impact data speeds," said analyst Kirk Parsons of J.D. Power and Associates. "Early indications from the Verizon LTE experience has been positive but AT&T's coverage is not as robust as Verizon is now. That will change over time."
Along with the new phones AT&T is rolling out five new LTE coverage areas Sunday: Boston; Baltimore; Washington, D.C.; and Athens, Ga. The network is already active in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio. With two months left of the year, AT&T aims to reach 15 markets and 70 million Americans by the start of 2012.
The new devices highlight AT&T's growing commitment to phones running Google's Android operating system, growing worldwide in popularity, after losing its exclusive right to sell the iPhone earlier this year.
Plenty of Androids
"The two LTE-powered superphones will be our 20th and 21st Android devices in 2011, adding to an outstanding year of Android success," said David Christopher, chief marketing officer for AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets. "We've far exceeded our commitment to offer 12 new Android devices this year -- now including our first 4G LTE smartphones."
Both the Vivid and the Skyrocket (full name: Galaxy S II Skyrocket) have dual-core processors, with the latter slightly more powerful at 1.5 gigahertz compared with the former's 1.2 GHz. Both run Android 2.3.5, Gingerbread, and have 4.5-inch displays and 8-megapixel cameras. The Skyrocket also has a 2-megapixel front-facing camera.
The Skyrocket carries a premium price tag of $249 with a two-year voice
and data contract, while the Vivid is $50 cheaper.
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