Over thirty companies worldwide represented at BSF meeting -- At its first meeting, the members of the Broadband Services Forum (BSF) set the direction of the group�s future initiatives. Project work on IPTV and dynamic and interactive services such as gaming and video were given top priority by a poll of the meeting�s attendees. Content-to-go was another area on which the BSF membership wanted to focus. These areas will top the BSF�s agenda in 2005. The input from a membership representing diverse industry segments within the broadband market is one of the greatest strengths of the BSF. �As the only industry group that represents the interests of service providers, content providers and technology vendors, the BSF is a unique position to address the profitable new services that are critical to all of these stakeholders,� said BSF Chairman Derek Kuhn. The keynote The Promise of IP Television was delivered by Amy Friedlander, SVP of Programming at SBC. In her presentation, Friedlander shared SBC�s services vision, and provided valuable insights into how service providers and their partners can work together to define and monetize new services.
The global smartphone market closed 2025 with a story less about recovery and more about transformation. Premium product, ecosystem lock-in, and manufacturing scale are now the forces shaping competition. For business and technology leaders, the latest IDC market study data confirms that smartphones remain a critical indicator of consumer demand, supply chain health, and AI commercialization at the edge. Smartphone Market Development Global smartphone shipments grew 2.3 percent year-over-year in Q4 2025, reaching 336.3 million units and bringing full-year volumes to 1.26 billion units — a modest 1.9 percent annual increase, according to IDC. This smartphone growth emerged despite a memory shortage crisis, tariff volatility, supply chain disruption, and macroeconomic headwinds. What stabilized demand? Two factors: sustained growth in premium devices and strong foldable momentum, combined with accelerated purchases as consumers bought ahead of anticipated price increases. Buyers weren...