COVID-19 has wreaked havoc globally, taking lives and livelihoods on its path, and seriously impacting global economy. During this time, as a company and SMB, we have stayed focused on: keeping our employees and their loved ones healthy and employed, continuing to provide unparalleled service to our customers and partners and helping our first responders and fellow countrymen with our resources. Via this blog, I want to share some of the best practices in which our management team and employees collaborated to implement.

We’re living through difficult times right now. From social distancing to self-isolation, quarantining, wearing masks, using gloves while grocery shopping, and what seems like new videos daily to watch on how to wash your hands, people are doing anything and everything to stay safe. The COVID-19 pandemic has germ awareness top of mind as we are all embracing the importance of taking every possible precaution to help reduce the spread of infection and remain healthy.

The impact that coronavirus has had on the world is truly shocking. It has robbed families of loved ones, disrupted global economies and generated tremendous levels of fear and anxiety. It has most certainly affected the global mobile device industry. Since the virus emanated in China, Chinese production lines for electronic devices have been significantly disrupted – factories and retail stores have closed while authorities work fast to stem its spread.

Customers are hanging onto their phones longer than ever, with the average consumer now waiting about 3 years before trading in their phones. What this means is that when a user finally does trade in their phone, it's hard drive potentially contains more information than ever – information that could be used to steal customer identities or commit other data crimes. Smartphone trade-ins might be a valuable source of revenue, but how can carrier, retailers and OEMs protect customer privacy?

5G is now a commercial reality in many countries around the world. We are also at a global tipping point – the number of 5G devices being purchased and activated is set to accelerate dramatically. Ericsson predicted that 13 million 5G devices would have been shipped by the end of 2019 – and will increase to a staggering 160 million units by the end of 2020.

Increasingly, your workforce cannot get their jobs done without mobile devices. Retail workers use mobile devices to check inventory in stores or check out customers at the front desk. Rideshare drivers use apps to track their mileage and get directions. Workers all over the country use their mobile devices to work remotely. Given that so many workers rely on mobile devices for their jobs, shouldn’t they have the best devices available?

Each quarter, we publish insights into the most-traded devices, which devices have the highest trade-in values, how old devices are when they’re returned, the amount of money returned to consumers through trade-in programs, and more. The Q4 2019 data can be reviewed here and shows this past quarter to be the strongest quarter of the year.

It’s difficult to understand how many smartphones are purchased online versus how many are purchased in brick-and-mortar stores. However, it’s easy to infer based on two other statistics. First, global demand for smartphones is slowing, and secondly, retail and electronics sales have also shown a sharp decline as of October 2019.

Over the last couple of years, CES has been a central hub for all-things 5G. The hype has been building for years and as we approach CES 2020, you can be sure that there will be no shortage of 5G news once again.

The holiday season truly is the most wonderful time of the year for the mobile device industry. During the holiday shopping season, consumers are more likely to upgrade to the latest smartphone models—and carriers, OEMs, and retailers are right there with creative promotions to make it easier.