Smartphones are gaining speed as the world's most purchased mobile device, according to the latest Ericsson Mobility Report. The report, formerly known as the Ericsson Traffic and Market Report, reveals that approximately 40% of all phones sold globally in Q3 2012 were smartphones. The report also found that data traffic doubled between Q3 2011and Q3 2012, and is expected to grow 12 times between 2012 and 2018. Total mobile subscriptions are expected to reach 6.6 billion in 2012 and 9.3 billion in 2018.
Technology is taking the companion animal stage in the 21st Century as mobile apps to find veterinary practices, behavior train and even translate animal sounds emerge. The latest app release relevant to the industry is Pintofeed, an intelligent pet feeder, designed to allow pet owners to feed their animals as well as monitor their intake from anywhere in the world.
With the Pintofeed, feedings can be scheduled remotely vis SMS and Internet connected devices. The system 'learns' pet's eating habits and adjusts accordingly to enable the healthiest feeding regime possible. Pintofeed co-founder and president, Carlos Herrera, contends that this system will lead to both healthier pets and more well-informed owners. "An estimated 54 per cent of dogs and cats in the United States are overweight or obese directly due to overeating," said Herrera. "One of the main reasons this disturbing trends continues is because the bulk of today's pet owners cannot consistently monitor their pets eating habits. Pintofeed, with its intelligent programming and remote access capabilities, is a solution that not only improves feeding habits but also fits into pet owner's lifestyles." Like existing automated feeders, Pintofeed can be set to dispense food at set times and intervals but also connects via a smartphone app, which offers feeding as well as monitoring options.
Western Financial Insurance Company (Petsecure) announced today the release of its new Vet Locator app.
The Petsecure Vet Locator app allows users to locate the nearest veterinary practice based on current location. The app lists contact details of nearby practices and users can call to make an appointment, get instant directions or save the listing to their favourites to bring up quickly at a later time. Petsecure is the first pet health insurance company in Canada to develop an app for Canadian pet owners. "This is just the start of Petsecure venturing into the world of mobile," said Petsecure's Mike Giardin, E-Commerce manager. "Easy to use with a simple format, the app will grow over time to include new features and expanded capabilities. We'll be listening to our customers to see where they want us to take this."
The Petsecure Vet Locator app is compatible with iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad and is available as a free download on iTunes. Petsecure plans to follow shortly with a Blackberry and Android app.
According to the new Cisco Visual Networking Index (VNI) Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast for 2011 to 2016, worldwide mobile data traffic will increase 18-fold over the next five years, reaching 10.8 exabytes per month – or an annual run rate of 130 exabytes – by 2016.
Cisco reports that the expected sharp increase in mobile traffic is due, in part, to a projected surge in the number of mobile Internet-connected devices, which will exceed the number of people on earth.
During 2011-2016, Cisco anticipates that global mobile data traffic will outgrow global fixed data traffic by three times.
