According to a recent, sensational survey from Samsung Mobile, 61 percent of lazy, distracted, and impossibly ignorant cellphone users over the age 18 say they would be comfortable casting their vote for President of the United States via a text message. Meanwhile, the totally serious and meaningful survey found that eight in ten (or 80 percent) of teens under the legal voting age would use their mobile devices to cast a ballot in the election. Additionally, Samsung Mobile discovered that 90 percent of cellphone users would like an ice cream cone, while another 87 percent would like an ice cream cone only after eating a quarter-pounder with cheese. Soon Samsung Mobile hopes to determine what percentage, if any, of the people surveyed know who is running for the office of president.

Sky Dayton, founder and chairman of the phantasmagorical Helio, has announced that he's stepping down as CEO to become chairman of the board of the last-man-standing MVNO. Helio's new CEO will be Wonhee Sull, formerly the company's president and COO, and obviously a direct conduit to co-owner SK Telecom. "Helio has reached a point in its development where I feel the timing is right for this change... As we have for the past three years, the two of us will continue to define Helio's direction and future," said Dayton. Whether Sky's really ready to move on or not we'll never know, but it's certainly possible that the recent influx of cash (and increased ownership) from from its Korean parents and dwindling marketshare of US MVNOs led SK to step in and get things on track.

Update: Lots of fun inaccuracies going on up in here, our bad. We ironed out the kinks, see above for the latest, correct edits to Helio's executive musical chairs.

Leaving analysts just a little baffled, Sony Ericsson president Miles Flint has stepped down after three years of fairly successful leadership. The consensus among members of the financial community seems to be that there's absolutely no way Flint was forced out; under his command, Sony Ericsson has seen consistent profitability and a steady increase in its market share (North America excepted, we might passive-aggressively note). The ex-prez says that he's looking to expand his horizons after 17 years under the Sony and Sony Ericsson brands, while Sony Electronics USA chairman Hideki Komiyama has been tapped to fill the huge shoes left behind. Analysts seem pretty convinced that he'll have a tough time doing any better than his predecessor, noting that low-end handsets seem like the next logical step to market share dominance despite the segment's virtually nonexistent margins. Might we recommend more North American love, Komiyama-san?

[Via mocoNews]

Qualcomm -- a company that's arguably more used to suing than being sued -- isn't finding much luck in its protracted quest to avoid a Broadcom-led ban of its 3G hardware from coming into the States. Following a recent denial of its motion to stay the ban in the court system, the President of The United States himself (or his administration, anyway) has swooped in to render an executive judgment, and it ain't looking any better for Qualcomm. Saying that the importance of protecting IP rights outweighs the inconvenience of the ban, the Bush folks have stood by the ITC's decision to impose the ban in the first place, making it seem all that much smarter now for Verizon to have sidestepped the whole ordeal and paid Broadcom itself. Barring any last minute antics, the ban gets enforced starting tomorrow.

According to an "exclusive" report by Telecoms Korea, Pantech CEO and Co-President Sung-Kyu Lee will be letting go of the company's reigns after a very short time at the helm -- fourteen months, to be exact. Paving significant inroads into the Americas (Helio and AT&T come immediately to mind) must have proven to be a terribly expensive venture, as poor financial performance is being tossed around as the likely reason behind the changing of the guard. Current Chairman Byeong-Yeop Park, who has thus far shared the presidency with Lee, will apparently take sole ownership of the title in addition to his present duties at the head of the board. For what it's worth, rumor has it that Lee's resignation was opposed by the board, and if this dude had anything to do with the Ocean, we're a little opposed, too.