Mobile Broadband Significantly Boosts Service Provider ARPU

Although mobile broadband ARPU (average revenue per user) has not completely offset declines in voice revenue for mobile operators at the global level, it has gone some way to stabilise falling blended ARPUs for those operators who have deployed mobile broadband networks and built up a high level of smartphone penetration within their customer base, Wireless Intelligence reports.

A global study of the difference in blended ARPU between mobile broadband operators and those operators that do not provide mobile broadband services shows that the latter group have seen their average blended ARPU decrease at twice the rate of that of the former over the past five years.

Blended ARPU, mobile broadband operators and non-mobile broadband operators, 2005–11
Source: Wireless Intelligence

2011 Appears to Have Been an Inflection Point for Streaming Movie Rentals

It looks as though 2011 was an inflection point for U.S. users watching movie content. 


Online movie viewing was fairly negligible from 2007 2010, but seems to shifted to a different and higher profile in 2011, according to IHS Screen Digest.

It isn't clear how much the new Netflix emphasis on streaming has contributed to the new trend.
But Netflix streaming accounts now outnumber disc rental accounts.

US Movie transactions: online vs disc
Units: billions

Data source: IHS Screen Digest

More Consumers Cord "Shaving"

"Cord cutting," the abandonment of video entertainment services by consumers who might substitute online video, broadcast TV or "no TV" for their former subscriptions are a continuing concern for all video subscription providers.

Most studies continue to show that the threat has not become a serious reality. Just 3.7 percent of the 1,000 Americans surveyed by Altman Vilandrie & Co., for example, reported actually cutting the cord and stopping their subscription to TV service.

But 20 percent of consumers say they now "shave," spending less money on cable TV service compared to the previous year, thanks to the wealth of online video.

At least 20 percent of those under 44 say they have "seriously considered" cutting the cord, however, the survey also found. More Consumers 'Shaving' Cable

Longer term, this is going to be a bigger problem, though. At some point, a combination of more content available online, higher subscription prices and more content licensing by content owners will start to tip the scales. Major change will not happen, though, until the owners of the most-popular network TV fare decide to make their content available without requiring "sell through," where a consumer has to buy a full video subscription first, before becoming eligible to watch streamed video on other devices, inside the house or outside the home.

Google Files for Patents on Ability to Deliver Ads that Incorporate Noise, Temperature, Light Indicators

Mobile devices are interesting to marketers of all types because of the feedback and context such devices can provide, compared to any other medium.

The mobile capabilities of note for for advertising include all the sensors a mobile phone can include, building on location, but possibly including other background factors such as local temperature, ambient sound and light.


Google, in fact, has filed for U.S. patent 8,138,930, describing ways that a phone, or other device, can detect local temperature as well as the ambient sound and light levels, all of which could aid message targeting.

Many Small Businesses Don't Need a Website?

Though a branded website might once have been an essential marketing tool for most small businesses, some now argue it is less essential. It might go too far to say it is "unnecessary." But it might be true to say that, in some cases, where a firm is active on social media, a branded website requires less support, because it is less important.

Social media is the reason. Yes, you do need something for potential customers to bring up in their browsers when they type in "yourcompanynamedotcom."

But small businesses that are active on other sites with social capabilities might well find that they can get their messages out on third party sites, about as effectively as on their own sites.

According to a Citibank study, that is precisely what many small businesses are doing. Although the vast majority (70 percent) of business owners use their company website for marketing purposes, more than 40 percent of small business owners now use social media channels (including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) to reach consumers.Those tactics are not exclusive, but simply indicate the expanded range of options small businesses now possess.

Only 6% of iPad App Sessions Use Mobile Broadband

Only about six percent of Apple iPad sessions appear to use a mobile broadband connection, according to Localytics. Recent estimates indicate that a larger proportion of new iPads are being sold with the ability to use mobile broadband. But it still appears that most people, most of the time, use Wi-Fi.

Anecdotal reports suggest one of the reasons why Wi-Fi seems to dominate tablet use: users simply run through their data allotments too quickly when watching video on their tablets. Also, few users so far seem to want to spend the extra money on one more mobile broadband connection.

When a user owns multiple mobile devices, all of which benefit from mobile broadband, and when all require a mobile broadband plan, costs become significant fairly quickly. The fixed network broadband model of "one connection, many devices" seems to make more sense than the "each device, a separate connection fee" model now used by mobile service providers.

Google says "Write for People," Not Algorithms

Google search executive Matt Cutts recently made a telling statement about the "problem" of search engine optimization, or more precisely, the abuse of SEO.

Cutts said that sites would be penalized if they “throw too many keywords on the page, exchange way too many links, whatever they’re doing to go beyond what a normal person would expect.“ For some of us, that is a welcome development, as too much attention has been paid, in recent years, to writing to suit Google and other search algorithms, not people.

Write for people, not the search engines. Over the coming years, Google will reward that sort of behavior. It's a welcome change. Now we can get back to writing for other human beings, without the distractions of all the SEO optimization stuff we are "supposed to do."