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1.  

   As my father would say

   

   WirelessGuy, Jul 14th, 2006 @ 10:24am

   
   

   This falls in the "Who gives a crap" category.... Do they claim they are lost so that they can then get a new one? Left on a bus at the airport? I think that math might work for those people who lose multiple units per year. Just like some European countries who report 180% penetration.

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2.  

   brewing hostility over replacement phone costs

   

   telecom rep, Jul 14th, 2006 @ 10:24am

   
   

   I work for a major telecom, and i don't use a cellphone cuz the services and devices are way overpriced for the services you get. Replacement phones are a bitter subject for customers. They don't realize those handsets are expensive with their little chipsets and screens, and their cost is subsidized by the contract length. Lose your phone and you'll pay full retail price for a replacement (read: hundreds of dollars). Or pay the insurance rate of about $5 monthly, if you lose your phone you still have to pay a $35-50 deductible, and guess what: you don't get a new handset anyways, you get a REFURBISHED handset. http://www.telecommer.com

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3.  

   

   Anonymous Coward, Jul 14th, 2006 @ 10:47am

   
   

   Thats pretty funny, Gene Koprosky is a piece of work. He is one lazy writer.

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4.  

   OR...

   

   NSMike, Jul 14th, 2006 @ 10:49am

   
   

   Or perhaps the writer assumed that readers would guess that if you don't have a mobile phone, you can't lose it, so that 65% would automatically include only OWNERS of mobile phones.

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5.  

   Lost is not always lost?

   

   Andrew, Jul 14th, 2006 @ 10:54am

   
   

   Perhaps the figures include those (like me) who mis-lay their phone somewhere for a short period of time, then get it back. No replacement cost at least. Still, the piece does seem rather un-researched, and unsupported by figures. Simply dividing replacement cost by cost of an average phone can tell you something is off by one or two decimal places pretty quickly.

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6.  

   

   Anonymous Coward, Jul 14th, 2006 @ 11:17am

   
   

   Does this number include the people that "lose" their phone when its becomes old, and their cell phone insurance buys them a new one?

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7.  

   Stats...

   

   VoicesInMyHead, Jul 14th, 2006 @ 11:21am

   
   

   83.6% of all statistics are made up on the spot......

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8.  

   BS

   

   ehrichweiss, Jul 14th, 2006 @ 11:24am

   
   

   Ever seen the Penn and Teller show, Bullshit! ? This past season they did an episode on how statistics can be manipulated to trick you. It was quite informative, especially when you see the guy who generates the questions for polls that many of these statistics are based on. By changing a simple question he could make someone contradict themselves who had previously stated, for example, that they hated Bush or whatever.
   
   On that note, there was a study done a few years ago where people were shown a video of a car hitting another. Two groups were then asked two different questions that only varied ever so slightly. "How fast was the car going when they collided into one another?" and "How fast was the car going when they smashed into one another?" Without fail the second question got 10-20mph faster speeds reported. Think about that next time you are in a courtroom....

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9.  

   More useless stats

   

   Jedi Wannabe, Jul 14th, 2006 @ 11:31am

   
   

   As the Tee-Shirt says:
   
   5 / 4 people have trouble with fractions

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10.  

    Where the cellphones went.

    

    Gabriel Tane (profile), Jul 14th, 2006 @ 11:37am

    
    

    All the lost Left Socks stole the phones to help communicate their plan for world domination.
    
    FIREBOMB YOUR SOCK DRAWER BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!!!

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11.  

    Re: More useless stats

    

    VoicesInMyHead, Jul 14th, 2006 @ 11:46am

    
    

    Ya know, there are only 3 kinds of people: Those who can count, and those who can't.

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12.  

    statistics

    

    I. P. Freely, Jul 14th, 2006 @ 11:49am

    
    

    Did you know 35% of all statistics are made up on the spot.

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13.  

    

    Anonymous Coward, Jul 14th, 2006 @ 11:54am

    
    

    or my fav:
    
    There are 10 kinds of people in the world. Those who understand binary, and those who don't.

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14.  

    Re:

    

    His Boss, Jul 14th, 2006 @ 12:01pm

    
    

    I fired him right after reading this. Fucking moron.

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15.  

    I emailed the author

    

    hehe, Jul 14th, 2006 @ 12:13pm

    
    

    Your article about lost cell phones has...well...lost me.
    
    Wireless World: A looming 'cell hell'
    
    http://www.upi.com/Hi-Tech/view.php?StoryID=20060714-095151-4783r
    
    So I'm reading this article and the first thing that jumps out at me is "Research shows that 65 percent of Americans lost their cell phones last year -- and it cost $600 million to replace them".
    
    Ok theres roughly 300million people in the US...65% of that is 195,000,000...$600m spread out over them equally is roughly $3 a cell phone.
    
    then I said "wait thats not right because not everyone in the US owns a cell phone!"
    
    And of course they don't cost $3. Although, maybe everyone signed up for a new calling plan each time they replaced their phone and the provider gave them a discount..but usually providers make you wait until your contract is almost up before they give you another discount.
    
    So lets try and increase that $3 figure so our statistics look better. Pretend 70% of 300m americans own a cell phone. thats still 210m people but maybe your meant to say 65% of cell phone owners lost their cell phones..thats only 136.5m phones...er people...
    
    so then each phone would cost about...$4.40??? no that can't be...
    
    How many phones were even sold in the US in 2005?
    
    Please remove your article from the website.
    
    Thanks,
    Brad

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16.  

    

    Mikester, Jul 14th, 2006 @ 12:14pm

    
    

    There's lies, damn lies, and then there's statistics.

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17.  

    Re: I emailed the author

    

    Mikester, Jul 14th, 2006 @ 12:15pm

    
    

    On the remote chance you get a response, I'm sure the rest of us here would be interested in reading it.

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18.  

    

    Anonymous Coward, Jul 14th, 2006 @ 12:22pm

    
    

    If you understood Binary number 11 you would know that the statement is true.

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19.  

    Re: Re: I emailed the author

    

    Anonymous Coward, Jul 14th, 2006 @ 12:30pm

    
    

    The address the author provided, [email protected] failed but I CC'd it to 7 other addresses at UPI. I'll post if anything comes of it.

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20.  

    Nice :D

    

    Daniel Bjorndahl, Jul 14th, 2006 @ 12:30pm

    
    

    Thanks Carlo!

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21.  

    Thanks Carlo

    

    Anonymous Bum, Jul 14th, 2006 @ 12:42pm

    
    

    Just another example of the "I can't prove it, but I can say it" crowd.

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22.  

    

    Anonymous Coward, Jul 14th, 2006 @ 12:44pm

    
    

    Here is the lazy bastards email address.
    
    [email protected]
    
    I once pitched him a story with an expert, and 30 mins. later I saw a ProfNet Query on that subject from him.
    
    Lazy bastard.

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23.  

    Re: Stats...

    

    Anonymous Coward, Jul 14th, 2006 @ 1:01pm

    
    

    >>83.6% of all statistics are made up on the spot......
    
    That number gets bigger every time I see it.

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24.  

    Re:

    

    drkkgt, Jul 14th, 2006 @ 1:13pm

    
    

    There are 10 types of people. Those who can count in trinary, those that don't, and those that confuse it with binary.

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25.  

    Re: I emailed the author

    

    Anonymous Coward, Jul 14th, 2006 @ 1:33pm

    
    

    I think you are forgetting about handset insurance claims being included in this...That fun little fee that people sometimes pay per month so that they can lose, destroy their device at a whim.

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26.  

    More interesting statistics

    

    Ponderer, Jul 14th, 2006 @ 2:06pm

    
    

    87% of all murders committed in the US last year were by persons who own refrigerators! Hmmmm....

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27.  

    where's that remote

    

    paul westenkirchner, Jul 14th, 2006 @ 2:34pm

    
    

    i think i'm going to write an article saying that 10,000% of americans lost their remote last year.

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28.  

    

    Cat, Jul 14th, 2006 @ 2:44pm

    
    

    95% of all statistics.... are made up.
    
    Make that 96%.

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29.  

    hahahah

    

    jeff, Jul 14th, 2006 @ 7:34pm

    
    

    way to spread 3 posts across 26

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30.  

    Reading the stats in context

    

    Stats Suck, But, Jul 14th, 2006 @ 11:51pm

    
    

    You gotta read the stats in the article in context:
    
    (1) "65 percent of Americans lost their cell phones last year" -- this isn't 65% of all Americans (you can't lose a cell phone if you don't own one) Nearly two-thirds of us lose a cell phone every year?! I've heard of only a single cell phone lost in our IT department in the past three years.
    
    (2) Yes, the math for cost per user to replace them is horribly wrong.
    
    (3) "if you are among the 45 percent of mobile phone owners who don't lose their phones on an annual basis" -- this statistic has nothing to do with the first one (this is of repeat losers -- probably making up for a lot of stat #1)

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31.  

    Re: Reading the stats in context

    

    Anonymous Coward, Jul 15th, 2006 @ 11:36am

    
    

    You gotta read the stats in the article in context:

    Oh, I see, it's like Enron accounting.

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32.  

    Counters

    

    Anonymous Nerd, Jul 16th, 2006 @ 7:28pm

    
    

    There are 10 types of people in the world - those who can understand binary, and those who can't.

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33.  

    Oops...

    

    Anonymous Nerd, Jul 16th, 2006 @ 7:32pm

    
    

    I just noticed a little issue with the posting box - look again at "save me a cookie". Think about it...
    
    "Save me a cookie before those kids finish them off".

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34.  

    Re: More interesting statistics

    

    Tyshaun, Jul 17th, 2006 @ 7:30am

    
    

    87% of all murders committed in the US last year were by persons who own refrigerators! Hmmmm
    
    So that means 13% of all murderrs don't have modern refrigeration? What are they using ice-boxes? If they were a Jeffrey Dahmer type, where are they putting the body parts?

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35.  

    Re:

    

    bob, Jul 17th, 2006 @ 8:54am

    
    

    there are 10 kinds of people in the world. Those who understand binary, and those who have friends.

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36.  

    

    Quangaroo, Jul 21st, 2006 @ 12:59pm

    
    

    Save me two cookies, please.....and some milk.

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