Mobile phones

A smart system featuring an application for mobile handsets will provide real-time information about the traffic environment in Bulgaria, according to Regional Development Minister Lilyana Pavlova.

The application is to be released in October.

A stolen cell phone, taken from a 25-year-old Greek college student in the middle of Bologna, continued to send photographs to its previous owner’s email account — allowing the man to track the lives of the person or persons that were in its possession.

As the photographs show, the stolen device wound in …Morocco, and in “Rick Blaine’s” old stomping grounds no less: Casablanca!

According to online shopping website hepsiburada.com, one of every two orders is completed through handheld devices while 62 percent of its website traffic comes through such devices during weekends and holidays, showing the popularity of mobile shopping is rising rapidly in Turkey.

After saying additional import taxes on electronic goods, mainly mobile phones, would be imposed, Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci backtracked on Aug. 17.

"There won't be any additional customs duties or compensatory taxes on tablets and mobile phones," Reuters quoted Zeybekci as saying during a speech at the Turkey-Iraq Business Forum meeting in Istanbul. 

An expected increase of the customs tax on mobile phones in Turkey will cause a rise of mobile phones brought from abroad, according to sector representatives. 

South Korean giant Samsung Electronics posted an 8.0 percent fall in second quarter net profit July 30 and promised "flexible" pricing of its new flagship smartphone after less than stellar sales contributed to a slump in its mobile unit's earnings.

After the Turkish military allowed thousands of annual new recruits to use mobile phones in their barracks, the demand for out-of-date, inexpensive phones, dubbed ?dumb phones,? has boomed in the country. 

The military?s announcement on April 13 to remove the mobile phone ban created a surge in demand for these non-smart phones. 

Google's updated Android mobile software seeks to make the smartphone smarter, while keeping the search titan relevant in a world where people rely on apps on the go.

Apple has topped Forbes? most valuable brands list for a fifth straight year with a brand value of $145.3 billion, after selling 74.8 million smartphones worldwide in the fourth quarter of 2014.

The magazine said the Apple brand?s $145.3 billion value was up 17 percent over 2014. 

Spring not only brings good weather to Istanbul, it also brings many technology summits and events. One of the must-go-to events of these days was the Digital Age Summit that took place at Raffles in Istanbul on May 12-13.