Advertising and Commerce are Business Models for Many Apps, Just not Facebook, at the Moment

For applications and services that do not envision a "subscription" revenue model, and assuming "donations" is not feasible, either advertising or commerce (selling things) consistently are viewed as the best alternatives. 

Of course, what is necessary might not be sufficient. In other words, successful apps and services not using a "subscription" revenue model will mostly have to rely on either advertising, or commerce, or both. But not every firm that tries, will succeed.

So far, Facebook might be considered by some a firm that has not yet "succeeded" with its advertising or commerce models. That doesn't mean Facebook will fail, only that it has not yet clearly succeeded. 

According to the survey by youth marketing agency The Beans Group, 91 per cent of 16- to 24-year-olds in the United Kingdom say they are not interested in buying products or services directly through Facebook. 

The apparent  lack of confidence in Facebook commerce likely is a surprise to some brand marketers.  Ant Stone, content marketing manager at STA Travel, says: “We are making an assumption that everyone is on Facebook or Twitter and we want to provide the same sort of services that we provide outside these channels, so we are reflecting our retail space on Facebook.

“This study  might prioritize the areas we step into first. We might not go for the f-commerce route, we might spend more time and resource in the smartphone quarter,” he says. 

According to Vision Mobile, "purchasing,"  either in form of in-app purchases or an actual application purchase, are the two most popular revenue models for app store developers. 

iOS and Android Adoption Explodes Globally

The global smart phone business still appears to be a two horse race. In fact, the rate of iOS and Android device adoption has surpassed that of any consumer technology in history, according to Flurry.

In fact, smart device adoption is an order of magnitude faster than that of the 1980s PC rate of adoption, twice as fast as the 1990s Internet access adoption and three times faster than social network adoption.

Overall, Flurry estimates that there were over 640 million iOS and Android devices in use during the month of July 2012.

If Semiconductor Sector Contracts, Can Consumer Electronics Be Far Behind?

IHS iSuppli recently downgraded its outlook on the semiconductor market, from three percent growth for 2012 to a contraction of 0.1 percent. 

That would represent the first annual decline since 2009. “The expected decline in 2012 represents a major event for the global semiconductor market,” said Dale Ford, senior director at  IHS. 

Apple Patent Win Over Samsung: Only Slight Impact?

It might be too early to predict the actual impact of the largely successful Apple patent infringement suit against Samsung. Some think the whole Android ecosystem will be negatively affected; others think that is unlikely. Some think any Android supplier whose devices “look like” an iPhone will have trouble.

The win, for better or worse, is likely to maintain, if not intensify, the rate at which patent lawsuits in the mobile business are filed. Some might argue that could slow innovation in the handset business. Others thinks the desire to avoid such entanglements could increase the amount of innovation in the handset business.

Service providers might reasonably assume their exposure to Apple’s power in the ecosystem now is increased. That is likely to reinforce efforts by service providers to support rival operating systems, manufacturers and devices, a move that already is underway.

The cost of building many smart phones could increase, if Samsung and others have to start paying new royalties to Apple to avoid future patent infringement lawsuits.

Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster predicts "only minor impact" on Samsung and Google from the recent patent infringement win by Apple.

"We believe that Samsung is likely to make software modifications to devices to work around the patented software features in question," says Munster. "For devices that infringe on design patents, we believe those devices may no longer be sold in the US; however, it does not appear that newer devices, including the Galaxy SIII are impacted."

Other opinions span a range of predictions, some suggesting rather mild impact; others predicting more serious damage. JP Morgan is among firms that believe the patent infringement decision is a negative for the Android ecosystem as it likely puts more pressure on Android OEMs to clearly differentiate devices.

Barclays argues that “this event alone” will have a minimal near-term impact on Android’s global momentum in the smart phone arena. Samsung will face some issues, but most of the devices cited in the case are older models. Significantly, Samsung’s current flagship phone, the Galaxy S III, was not included in the infringing devices.

UBS thinks the decision could result in a royalty revenue stream of perhaps $250 million a year for Apple.

Macquarie Equities Research thinks the decision will negatively affect the search distribution arrangements between Google and Apple. But that testiness was evident even before.

YouTube will not be a native app on iOS 6, for example.

There also is the question of potential benefit for the hiccup will be beneficial for Nokia, Microsoft or others in the ecosystem that seem to significantly different from the Apple iOS “look and feel.”

Maybe Samsung's Patent Loss to Apple Won't Be That Big a Deal?

Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster predicts "only minor impact" on Samsung and Google from the recent patent infringement win by Apple.

"We believe that Samsung is likely to make software modifications to devices to work around the patented software features in question," says Munster. "For devices that infringe on design patents, we believe those devices may no longer be sold in the US; however, it does not appear that newer devices, including the Galaxy SIII are impacted."

But we still can speculate on whether the hiccup will be beneficial for Nokia, Microsoft or others. 

T-Mobile USA Expects 50 U.S. LTE Markets in Service by End of 2013

T-Mobile USA plans to have its new 4G Long Term Evolution service up and running in the vast majority of the top 50 markets in the United States by the end of 2013. T-Mobile USA will launch LTE on Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) spectrum next year and move its "High-Speed Packet Access-Plus (HSPA)" service, which is marketed as "4G," to 1900 MHz.

People Spend 35 Minutes on Social Networking, Consumers 40 Minutes Each Day

Business users spend an average of 35 minutes each day on business-related social networking sites, while consumers are spending an average of 40 minutes a day on social media sites, according to the Radicati Group.

The number of Social Media users worldwide is expected to rise from 1.6 billion users in 2012, to 2.3 billion by 2016, Radicati predicts.