According to the New York State Attorney General, AOL's policy to discourage dial-up customers from disconnecting service resulted in bad judgement -- Every company wants to retain customers. But AOL Inc. went too far when it tied employee compensation to minimum �save� percentages. So says New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, who this week announced a $1.25 million settlement with the online giant. The deal resolves a probe into complaints that AOL�s telereps failed to honor cancellation requests. The payment, covering $1.2 million in penalties and $50,000 in investigative costs, is the least of it: The company will also have to restructure its bonus plan. And it will have to implement third-party verification of member�s consent to continue services. Finally, it must repay New York customers for up to four months of improper post-cancellation charges. How did AOL get into this mess? AOL�s retention program has long been based on persuading people who call to cancel into staying. That entails finding the �sweet spot� that will appeal to individual subscribers, and is similar to others in the online industry, says spokesperson Nicholas Graham.
The semiconductor and smartphone industry stands on the brink of a transformative era, driven by the rapid integration of Generative AI (GenAI) technology into mobile devices. According to the latest global market study by International Data Corporation (IDC), GenAI smartphone shipments are forecast to grow by 363.6 percent in 2024 alone, reaching 234.2 million units. This surge represents 19 percent of the overall smartphone market. As we look toward the future, the adoption of GenAI is anticipated to redefine mobile device user interaction. GenAI Smartphone Market Development GenAI smartphones are defined by their ability to run on-device generative AI models efficiently, thanks to a system-on-a-chip (SoC) featuring a neural processing unit (NPU) with a performance capability of 30 tera operations per second (TOPS) or more, using the int-8 data type. This technological advancement promises to enhance the mobile user experience by enabling more personalized and proactive GenAI tool f