Movielink and Verizon announced the launch of a co-branded movie downloading service for Verizon Online's consumer broadband subscribers -- "Verizon Online's consumer DSL and FiOS Internet Service customers can now purchase and download movies to watch at home or on-the-go through this special agreement with Movielink. The new service offers a full library of titles, including a special selection of hit films for 99 cents or less from Movielink, the first broadband video-on-demand (VOD) service to offer hundreds of major motion pictures for legitimate download. A broadband connection is required to download the movie, but once it's on their hard drive, users can view it at any time from home or on the road without being connected."
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...