In advance of Apple’s release Monday of new details on its impending Apple Watch launch, consumers interested in wearable technology “have already started to form opinions whether they think they will buy one or whether they like some of the watch's features,” Accent Marketing said in a research report. "Our data shows that brand and product engagement can positively or negatively influence purchase decisions even long before a product is in market,” the company said. “It reinforces that companies need to offer and deliver an omni-channel engagement strategy early and often to build long-lasting relationships, as soon as consumers are exposed to a product, even a concept, all through the purchase cycle." The company polled online in February 1,000 consumers who already own at least one wearable device and found that four of every five had no plans to buy an Apple Watch, it said. Fifty-four percent view the Apple Watch as “an exciting use of technology,” though 51 percent believe the Apple Watch interface “will be too small to use,” it said. Other findings: (1) nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of wearable product consumers surveyed use their wearable tech device daily; (2) two out of three wearable product consumers want access to social media via their wearable devices; (3) three-quarters of millennials believe wearable tech devices are a new way consumer brands can engage with customers.

Wireless mic maker Shure said it needs to clarify its position on power levels after earlier comments may have been ambiguous, in comments filed in FCC docket 14-166. The comments address mics used in TV spectrum. “Shure does not support rule amendments that would reduce the existing 250 mW maximum output power limit for UHF wireless microphones,” it said. “Wireless microphones have successfully operated with up to 250 mW of output power in UHF broadcast television frequencies pursuant to Part 74 rules for many years.”

Rules proposed by CTIA for the 3.5 GHz band, which the FCC is considering as a band to test spectrum sharing, could undermine the usefulness of the band, Google said in a filing last week in docket 12-354. The FCC is moving toward final rules for spectrum sharing in the 3.5 GHz band and tweaking its rules after several rounds of comment (see 1502050049). “CTIA appears to be suggesting that (1) devices may rely on spectrum sensing alone, rather than [spectrum access system] management, and (2) service providers should not be required to exchange information about the usage of Citizens Band Radio Service devices on their networks,” Google said. “Accepting either of these premises would greatly compromise utilization” of the band, Google said. Assigning static frequencies for priority access licenses in the 3.5 GHz band, or permitting spectrum access systems to reside within a carrier’s network without protective conditions or restrictions are among the kinds of protections sought by CTIA that could undermine shared use of the band, said Federated Wireless, commenting in the docket. Interoperability is critical for the band and the FCC should make it a requirement, the company said.

The FCC shouldn't make further changes to the TV incentive auction rules to spur a more-competitive auction, said Free State Foundation Visiting Fellow Gregory Vogt in a blog post Friday. “Engineering competition to satisfy government whims is not ‘competition,’ but only an example of failed industrial policy,” Vogt said. “History is littered with industrial policy disasters, from 1970s price controls to crony capitalism, and, yes, even infiltrating communications markets such as failed UNE [unbundled network elements] policies and other competition-skewing policies.” In a recent blog post, T-Mobile CEO John Legere said the AWS-3 auction was a disaster for competition and the FCC should reserve 40 MHz of incentive auction spectrum in every market for competitive carriers. “Make no mistake about it, skewing auction results will not produce more competition," Vogt wrote. "It will only lower auction prices, and thus give smaller carriers an artificial cost advantage."

The National Radio Astronomy Observatory objected to iRobot’s pursuit of a waiver of FCC rules to allow outdoor use of robotic lawn mowers (RLMs) and their control beacons in the 6240-6740 MHz band. The observatory said 5925–6700 MHz is generally protected and iRobot’s commitment to label its RLMs as for “Consumer use only; use must be limited to residential areas,” won't offer adequate protection. The band is protected to allow “interference-free observation of the 6.66852 GHz spectral line of methanol (CH3OH) that is abundant in star-forming regions and serves as a galactic beacon of star-forming activity owing to its maser-like qualities,” the observatory said. This lets astronomers “do a kind of celestial cartography that measures distances to star-forming regions with high precision, charting the course of galactic evolution,” it said. The filing was posted Friday in docket 15-30.

Auctions for commercial bidders to receive exclusive use of spectrum "may become a thing of the past," said Defense Spectrum Organization Director Stuart Timerman at the 2015 Military Radar Summit, the Defense Information Systems Agency said in a news release Thursday. "The need for spectrum in the development of current and future military capabilities makes it nearly impossible" for these auctions to continue, he said. The Department of Defense, FCC, NTIA and industry have to work together to analyze and test spectrum sharing proposals, Timerman said. The National Advanced Spectrum and Communications Test Network established last year, includes federal, academic and commercial test facilities for simulations of spectrum sharing (see 1502050032), he said. Department of Defense systems will have "indefinite sharing" access for spectrum acquired in the AWS-3 auction and federal agencies that have to relocate or share spectrum will recover costs from auction proceeds, according to the Commercial Spectrum Enhancement Act, he said. Spectrum access systems (SAS) can help the government and commercial users with spectrum sharing by providing a database of processing utilization, Timerman said. SAS developed by commercial companies provide information about systems that are operated on which frequencies, he said. "This visibility can provide insight into what types of interference users may get and even provide the option of shutting down a system to avoid interference."

In Q4 2014, 43.6 percent of U.S. consumers with a smartphone owned an Apple iPhone, according to a survey by Nielsen. Samsung followed with 31 percent, LG at 7.6 percent, Motorola at 5.8 percent and HTC at 3.9 percent, all from the Android community. Windows Phone-based Nokia phones had 2.2 percent, and BlackBerry smartphones were 1.2 percent of the U.S. smartphone population, said Nielsen. Android was the leading operating system among U.S. smartphone owners, at 49.5 percent of users, it said. Sixteen percent of smartphone owners said they had acquired their handset within the past three months, bringing smartphone penetration to 77 percent of mobile phone owners in the U.S., said Nielsen. Among those who had recently acquired a phone, 91 percent chose a smartphone, compared with 82 percent in the year-ago quarter. Overall, smartphone penetration grew 8 percentage points over Q4 2013, it said. Nielsen’s Mobile Insights is a monthly survey of 30,000-plus mobile subscribers aged 13-plus in the U.S.

Amped Wireless announced a high-power plug-in Wi-Fi range extender said to boost Wi-Fi coverage by up to 10,000 feet, depending on operating environment. The REC33A ($159) is said to eliminate dead spots and improve Wi-Fi connections at speeds not previously achievable by a plug-in range extender. Powering the extender are a dozen amplifiers, an external high-gain dual antenna and a gigabit wired port to deliver speeds up to 450 Mbps in the 2.4GHz band and 1300 Mbps in the 5 GHz band, said the company.

The most important lesson from the AWS-3 auction is “the unquestionable demand for mobile broadband spectrum should not be underestimated,” said Competitive Carriers Association President Steve Berry, responding to an AT&T blog post (see 1503040036). “Competitive carriers, many of whom provide robust and sometimes the only service to rural and hard to reach areas of the U.S., must have the opportunity to bid on and win spectrum -- consumers in these areas should not be denied services comparable to their urban counterparts.” The most “dangerous” outcome would be letting AT&T and Verizon “walk away with the lion’s share” of the spectrum sold in the TV incentive auction, Berry said.

FirstNet is beefing up its technical management team in Boulder, Colorado, hiring wireless industry executives with backgrounds in devices, applications, testing and network engineering, FirstNet said in a news release. Joe Martinet, new director-devices, joins FirstNet from consultant IMRI. Mark Golaszewski, director-applications, also joins from IMRI. Both previously advised the network authority. Michael Van Zuiden, director-labs, joins FirstNet from Motorola Solutions, where he worked on LTE issues. Lynn Bashaw, director-network operations, was at Reliance Globalcom. Boulder is FirstNet's technical headquarters.