More than 400 million phablets will ship in 2019, up from 138 million forecast for this year, a Juniper Research report said. While the early success of the iPhone 6 has driven the category since its fall debut, budget phablets with 5.5- to 6.9-inch screens are expected to push the category into the mainstream market, the researcher said in a Wednesday news release. With smartphone screen sizes trending larger, many flagship smartphones are likely to be phablets by default within two to three years as consumers increasingly use smartphones for media consumption and gaming that benefit from the larger screens, Juniper said. The trend will have an impact on smaller-screen tablets that are closer to phablets in size and could affect sales of larger tablets, too, if consumers shun the larger, more expensive models, it said. The trend is likely to slow tablet adoption in markets where consumers already do most computing on smartphones, such as China, Juniper said. Stakeholders are likely to feel less of an impact from a shift away from tablets as the same chips are now powering the gamut of mobile devices ranging from smartphones to laptops, analyst James Moar said. "Hardware capabilities are blurring,” Moar said, adding that cellular-connected tablets, phablets and smartphones are all now including console-level graphics and sound systems. “This shifts device design parameters to budgets and use cases, rather than technological features." Among the report’s findings: Chinese vendors hoping to expand tablet and phablet offerings globally are likely to see slower growth due to “low-key marketing strategies” and online-only distribution. Juniper forecasts growing use of phablets at work, spurred by vendors offering productivity software standard with some devices.

FiberTower said it opened a millimeter wave spectrum technology laboratory in Silver Spring, Maryland. The lab will focus on "research and development in the wide-area licensed millimeter wave bands, and is especially focused on the revolutionary small cell backhaul and 5G mobile access technologies that are emerging in these bands,” the company said in a news release. “These bands are key to current 4G and LTE small infrastructure proliferation, and due to their low-latency and high spectrum re-use capabilities, such millimeter wave enabled sites will be the core infrastructure sites from which 5G operations will be deployed.” At its October meeting, the FCC approved a notice of inquiry on new technology developments that could increase the viability of operations above 24 GHz (see 1410170048) .

TracFone, the nation’s largest prepaid mobile provider, agreed to pay $40 million to settle FTC allegations that it didn’t deliver on promises to customers who bought “unlimited” data service. The complaint alleged TracFone has advertised since 2009 prepaid monthly mobile plans for about $45 per month offering “unlimited” data under various brands -- including Straight Talk, Net10, Simple Mobile and Telcel America, said an FTC Wednesday news release. “Despite emphasizing unlimited data in its advertisements, TracFone drastically slowed or cut off consumers’ mobile data after they used more than certain fixed limits in a 30-day period,” the FTC said. “The issue here is simple: when you promise consumers ‘unlimited,’ that means unlimited,” said Jessica Rich, director of the FTC Consumer Protection Bureau. The agency's proposed order was filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco. TracFone didn’t comment.

A sneak preview of T-Mobile’s Super Bowl ad, a spoof PSA featuring Kim Kardashian, is now online. “Each month millions of gigs of unused data are taken back by wireless companies. Tragic,” Kardashian intones, as she takes a series of selfies. “Data you paid for that could be used to see my makeup, my backhand, my outfits, my vacations and my outfits. Sadly, all lost. Please, help save the data.” A 30-second ad like the one from T-Mobile costs an estimated $4.5 million, according to news reports.

The FCC should adopt a “mobile-specific, Title I approach” to net neutrality rules, CTIA officials said in a meeting with Wireless Bureau Chief Roger Sherman. CTIA emphasized the level of competition in the wireless industry and the challenges of providing mobile versus fixed broadband, said an ex parte filing posted Tuesday in docket 14-28. “Wireless is different and the Commission was correct in 2010 in its decision not to subject mobile broadband to the same requirements as wireline broadband,” CTIA said. “Any additional rules that apply to wireless must take into account the unique competitive and technical attributes of wireless service and avoid impeding the differentiated offerings and choices mobile consumers enjoy today.”

The FCC issued a strong warning to hotels and businesses that they will face fines if they block Wi-Fi hot spots. The FCC said in October that Marriott International and its subsidiary, Marriott Hotel Services, had agreed to pay $600,000 to resolve an FCC investigation into whether Marriott intentionally interfered with and disabled Wi-Fi networks at a Tennessee convention center (see 1410060053). “Wi-Fi blocking violates Section 333 of the Communications Act, as amended,” said the public notice Tuesday. “The Enforcement Bureau has seen a disturbing trend in which hotels and other commercial establishments block wireless consumers from using their own personal Wi-Fi hot spots on the commercial establishment’s premises. As a result, the Bureau is protecting consumers by aggressively investigating and acting against such unlawful intentional interference.”

Google won't fix security flaws affecting about 60 percent of all Android users -- those who use Android 4.3 and earlier systems -- said Google Chief of Security for Android Adrian Ludwig. Google decided updating outdated browser versions was requiring hundreds of developers to write more than 5 million lines of code every month for just one browser, and in some cases “significant portions of the code” were changed, so it was no longer practical to make these changes. “Keeping software up to date is one of the greatest challenges in security,” Ludwig said in a Google Plus post, but a necessary one since using an “updatable browser will protect you from currently known security issues, and since it can be updated in the future it will also protect you against any issues that might be found in the future.” Google's decision is “is great news for criminals,” wrote Tod Beardsley, a software developer and blogger. “As a software developer, I know that supporting old versions of my software is a huge hassle,” he said. “I empathize with their decision to cut legacy software loose. However, a billion people don't rely on old versions of my software to manage and safeguard the most personal details of their lives. In that light, I'm hoping Google reconsiders if (when) the next privacy-busting vulnerability becomes public knowledge.”

Despite “saturation” in many well-developed Western European markets, unit smartphone shipments in Europe overall climbed nearly 14 percent last year to 200 million handsets, Futuresource Consulting said Monday in a report. The European tablet market also continues to grow, “but major markets have reached saturation point earlier than the industry expected,” Futuresource said. Although percentage growth in tablets equaled that of smartphones in 2014, growth in Western Europe “will slow further in 2015, with consumer shipments moving into decline by 2017,” it said. "We're seeing a smartphone growth bubble in Eastern Europe, perpetuated by the low level of ownership in many of its countries," the company said. "It's not all good news, as we expect growth to slow in 2015 as Russia -- the largest market in the region by some distance -- faces increasing economic uncertainty.” Across Europe, the Samsung and Apple “duopoly remains solid,” albeit with some market share being lost to Microsoft following its acquisition of Nokia’s devices business, the firm said. “This decline in smartphone prices was somewhat offset by a persistent shift towards higher-priced smartphones,” resulting in an overall increase in mobile handset average selling prices, it said. As for tablets, Apple and Samsung represented more than half of total units shipped in Europe last year, it said.

AT&T will emerge as the high bidder when results are eventually released from the AWS-3 auction, predicted analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. They said in a Monday research note that AT&T will spend “upward” of $22 billion in the auction: “We are looking for management commentary with regard to what effect, if any, this spending will have on dividend increases and future share repurchase programs."

Tom Power, former deputy U.S. chief technology officer, was hired by CTIA Monday as general counsel and senior vice president, effective immediately. Power is also former chief of staff at NTIA and a former FCC staffer. Power replaces Michael Altschul, who will stay at the group temporarily to help ease the transition. Altschul was one of now FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s first hires when he became president of CTIA. “Tom brings a great mix of public policy, telecom and business experience to the CTIA team,” said Meredith Baker, CTIA president, in a news release.