Visit YouRenewSolutions.com to see an overview of our diverse set of products.

At YouRenew, we are excited to announce that we will be broadening our services to offer a trade-in solution for retail stores. This milestone marks the progression of our business that started exclusively as a consumer trade-in site (YouRenew.com), then added a corporate solution for device disposal (CorporateRenew), and now has expanded to retail stores. All three solutions are outlined on our new centralized site – YouRenewSolutions.com.

YouRenew is distinguished as a reputable and innovative provider of mobile lifecycle solutions. Our services have been marked by (1) proprietary software that provides a simple and straightforward approach, (2) exhaustive reporting for auditing purposes, (3) optimized logistics that provide a seamless and reliable fulfillment process, and (4) stringent data security procedures.

All of these benefits are available on the new retail platform. With the help of our  proprietary web portal, retail locations can access on-the-spot quotes, complementary shipping, and customer support by phone, email or live chat. The service will help stores attract new customers and incentivize device upgrades. If you own or manage a retail location, contact support@retailrenew.com to gain access to our web portal and receive a complementary shipping kit. (The website www.retailrenew.com is coming soon!)

Our diverse services now offer something for everyone. If you are a company turning over old devices, a store seeking to implement a trade-in program, or just an individual who wants cash for your old device – YouRenew has a solution for you.

The McKinsey Quarterly recently released a survey (“A Rising Role for IT”) aimed at learning more about the role of IT in large organizations. When executives were asked to name their priorities for the IT department, the responses were ranked:

(1) Improving effectiveness of business processes

(2) Improving efficiency of business processes

(3) Reducing IT costs

The problem with these three priorities is that implementing any one may often come at the expense of the of the other two. Improving efficiency and effectiveness will typically cost you money, improved efficiency may reduce the overall effectiveness of your processes, and so on.  But what sets our solution apart is that it can offset your IT costs without detracting from the efficiency or effectiveness of your business processes. In fact, our service can actually help with these first two priorities.

We have found that the money our clients receive for their old devices can help them upgrade technology without incurring too heavy a cost. If you turnover your devices before the “Terrible Two’s” (second hand value for mobiles typically plummets two years after its release) you put yourself in a position to receive meaningful value back – a strategy that can help your organization increase the rate of its device upgrades. With newer and better equipment you and your organization are in a more favorable position to address all of the priorities listed - efficiency, effectiveness, new products/services, security, etc.

Yesterday, HTC surpassed Nokia in market valuation. This result is indicative of the exploding smartphone market in which HTC has become a leader.

Part of HTC’s success has stemmed from its ability to produce cool phones that move at lightning speeds and have user friendly touch screens. But what may be even more critical to its growth is its successful adoption of the Google Android operating system.

Fred Wilson, a NYC-based venture capitalist, writes a daily blog that has become popular within the YouRenew office.  This year he has dedicated several posts to explaining why he thinks Android will become the dominant mobile operating system. To his credit, he had predicted Android’s rise back in October, and has so far been right.  (If you have not read his blog, it is insightful and a pleasure to read. I would suggest checking it out.)

But HTC’s success has also been a result of worldwide growth in the smartphone market. While Nokia was making cheap durable phones that were, until recently, popular in the developing world, HTC was producing high-end smartphones like the HTC Incredible. Global shipments of smartphones have grown at more than double the pace of the greater mobile device market according to Gartner (72% and 32% growth, respectively), creating opportunities for HTC as a leader in the smartphone space.

In a previous post, I wrote about the developing world’s current transition to smartphones from cheap phones with no internet access. This has largely been because these countries have an insignificant PC legacy and people in these markets have begun using mobiles as the primary means of accessing the internet. At YouRenew we have seen the growing international demand for used smartphones and do not expect this growth to recede anytime soon.

Nokia has been struggling to compete in the smartphone market, which should make their future uncertain as the rest of the world follows the developed countries in adopting the use of high end devices. The company has noted this weakness and has recently partnered with Microsoft in an attempt to improve their smartphone products.

Let me start by qualifying that I have no background in mergers and acquisitions. And our company operates largely on the periphery of wireless providers. That said, this acquisition is significant in the business community and the mobility world. Our two directors who attended the CTIA conference a week ago can attest to the buzz in the telecom community that is surrounding this deal.

First, the numbers: AT&T has offered $39 B for T-Mobile (or 7-times T-Mobile’s 2010 Ebitda) with a $3 B breakup fee. Certainly staggering numbers.

A lot of talk has centered around the $3 B breakup fee. Many believe that this merger will not receive government approval because it stifles competition and innovation. If approved, AT&T and Verizon would together share 80% of the market. And since AT&T and T-Mobile both use GSM technology (Sprint and Verizon use CDMA) this acquisition would result in only one major GSM carrier in the US.

Another interesting piece of this story is the varying stances from Verizon and Sprint. Sprint’s CEO Dan Hesse has come out vehemently against the deal (tactfully jabbing the AT&T CEO Ralph de la Vega at the recent CTIA conference) because if it goes through Sprint would be left in 3rd place, far behind the two giants. But Verizon has expressed ambivalence, not weighing in for or against the deal. The acquisition succeeding could eliminate the current price leader (T-Mobile) and give Verizon the opportunity to acquire assets that AT&T will likely have to divest due to regulatory requirements. If it fails, AT&T would be left distracted and marginalized.

These facts were not ignored by the stock market. While AT&T and Verizon stocks rose 2.4% and 1.4% respectfully, Sprint Nextel stock fell 3.4%.

This will not be our last post about this topic, so if you’re interested be sure to keep reading!

We have recently celebrated the two year anniversary of launching our YouRenew.com website.

In recognizing this milestone, we thought it would be cool to put together some metrics and real world examples that show how renewing all your old gadgets has made a positive environmental impact over these past two years.

We have reused or recycled enough devices to:

• Create energy savings that could power 236 US homes for a year
• Create air emission reductions that would equal taking 554 passenger vehicles off the road for a year
• Offset the hazardous waste that 223 US families produce over the course of a year
• Offset the daily municipal solid waste created by 6,963 Americans

Another great example of how little things, like renewing old gadgets, can make a huge impact on our environment!

(Statistics gathered from US Department of Energy, the EPA in conjunction with the US Department of Transportation, the EPA, and the Electronics Environmental Benefits Calculator made for the EPA by Abt Associates, Dillon Environmental Associates, and the University of Tennessee)