Articles by Jeff Kagan

mHealth is an exciting new industry that blends healthcare and wireless. In the next couple of weeks, I will be meeting with many people representing companies and new ideas in the mHealth industry at the annual CTIA show in Orlando. Some of these are established large companies, while others are small and spunky startups, but all have some very hot ideas and technologies they want to talk about.

In this column, you will find answers to how Nokia and Microsoft can succeed in the smartphone marketplace, and even how RIM can be saved. First I'll explore the current problem, then offer my solution. Through the late 1990s Motorola led. It missed the change from analog to digital, though, and over the last decade, Nokia grew to become the No. 1...

Where should you invest, what should you avoid, why and when? These are the basic questions every investor wrestles with. There are so many companies in the wireless, telecom and healthcare industries, and they are no longer on the same track. Some are strong and growing rapidly and leading, while others are struggling. Even the leaders have things to be aware of.

As I prepare to attend the CTIA show in Orlando, Fla., next month, I am getting calls and emails from healthcare companies wanting to meet with me. That is amazing. The lines that separated healthcare and wireless are blurring. We are in the early stages of the healthcare industry working with the wireless and telecom industry to create an entirely new business segment with loads of new opportunities, risks and challenges.

Watch today as Verizon Wireless sells its first Apple iPhone: The media will change its focus from writing positive stories to negative stories. Over the next several days and weeks, we will read startling pieces about what is going wrong. This is the same news we have been so thrilled with over the last few weeks. So why the change -- and how long will it last?...

Which wireless provider is doing the best job? Listening to them gets confusing. It's like me saying that I am the slimmest, healthiest and best-looking wireless analyst on this airplane (I'm flying to the west coast to give a speech). Now that line has as much truth in it as a load of horse manure -- but technically, since I am the only wireless analyst on this plane, I guess it is true. Listening to the major wireless providers strut their stuff is much like that -- and that is the problem we have to solve.

Which wireless provider is doing the best job? Listening to them gets confusing. It's like me saying that I am the slimmest, healthiest and best-looking wireless analyst on this airplane (I'm flying to the west coast to give a speech). Now that line has as much truth in it as a load of horse manure -- but technically, since I am the only wireless analyst on this plane, I guess it is true. Listening to the major wireless providers strut their stuff is much like that -- and that is the problem we have to solve.

Which wireless provider is doing the best job? Listening to them gets confusing. It's like me saying that I am the slimmest, healthiest and best-looking wireless analyst on this airplane (I'm flying to the west coast to give a speech). Now that line has as much truth in it as a load of horse manure -- but technically, since I am the only wireless analyst on this plane, I guess it is true. Listening to the major wireless providers strut their stuff is much like that -- and that is the problem we have to solve.

Healthcare technology has really made incredible advances over the last several years. However, while there is an app for almost everything, much still seems to be stuck in the Fred Flintstone era. Doctors still carry around thick folders with years of patient history. Yesterday, this was the only way to capture all of a patient's information. How...

As I travel and speak at meetings around the country, one of the key topics that has been capturing a lot of attention is something I call "the Wave." This seems to be as interesting to the audience as it is to the executives who invited me to speak. In fact, I am often invited back to spend some one-on-one time with company leaders to discuss it further. I have been speaking for 25 years, and this seems to have hit a chord. Everyone wants to hear more. So what is the Wave to success all about? Let me give you a brief introduction.

Now it's official: All four major wireless networks are now claiming they are 4G. Oh really. Aha. Baloney. I really have learned to admire wireless marketing over the years, but there are a few parts that are just wrong. This is one of them. The wireless industry is crossing the line. If the carriers don't watch out, they may hurt themselves in the long run, when customers and investors will no longer believe the words coming out of their mouths.

The annual giant Consumer Electronics Show is happening this week in Las Vegas, and once again everything new in the electronics world is on display. I've been to a number of these CES events, and each seems bigger than the last. It is held not only in the very large Las Vegas Convention Center, but also at the Sands convention center and many other casino convention centers up and down the strip, between official and unofficial sites.

Taxes on all of the great new tech we just got? I was a guest on the Fox News show "Your World with Neil Cavuto" on Monday, and Brian Sullivan asked me about all the new taxes we better get ready for on all of our new holiday gifts. That's right. We better get ready for taxes galore. In fact, it's worse than we think. Instead of just one set of ta...

Which should companies focus on first -- investors, customers or workers? This is a question we have asked and answered so many times, you would think the answer would be obvious. However, we always see companies either doing well or struggling because they just don't get it. A look at a few of today's winners and losers may reveal why this is so.

The consumer electronics marketplace is changing. Will this year be better or worse, stronger or weaker? So far, the reports of holiday technology shopping sound pretty strong this year, with a few bumps in the road. One big bump comes from Best Buy, which delivered some disturbing news. While the rest of the market seems to be strengthening, Best...

Every opportunity has a life span. Think about its course like a line or a wave that goes up then it comes down again. Fortunes are created, then lost, then created again. New technologies replace old technologies, and then they are replaced by newer technologies. If you know what's coming next, and what point the wave is at, you can take advantage of these opportunities in your work or investments. Let me explain.

All I wanted to do was save a little money. Is that too much to ask? We have been hearing about the holiday shopping season for months. Bargains galore are finally here. So I decided to try something I never tried before. I went to check out the Black Friday sales at the local stores the morning after Thanksgiving. Yes, before sunrise. Actually in the middle of the night. Someone should have braced me for what I experienced. This was a raw, shop-a-holic, food-fighting frenzy.

Competition has been increasing in the cable television world in recent years, and we have been expecting prices to come down, but they haven't. I have been scratching my head wondering why competition from satellite and telephone companies wasn't working. Well, it's taken years, but apparently the wait is over. The cable television industry has f...

Verizon has shown solid growth in recent years, but there could be signs of weakness in its quarterly numbers. I saw this a few months ago and decided to keep my eye on it. Maybe I am wrong. Maybe this is nothing. Maybe it is a temporary blip that won't keep repeating itself -- but something doesn't seem right. Verizon seems to be having some problems, especially compared with AT&T. So what is happening, and should we be getting worried? ...

We have watched Clearwire build its 4G wireless Internet service from scratch over the last few years. It has successfully won a few million customers and has looked like one of the hot new companies and technologies. But now it is suddenly struggling with the enormous investment costs and is throttling back on sales. Is this temporary or a real long-term sign of trouble? Does it affect just Clearwire, or does it also affect other newcomers -- such as Towerstream and Lightsquared, which does not even offer service yet.