What Keeps Service Provider Executives Awake At Night? A Service Provider Survey by Metaswitch Networks - Thoughts on Carrier Evolution - Carrier Evolution

Service provider executives surveyed by Metaswitch Networks say uncertainty about new services and revenues, plus competition, remain the top concerns over the next decade. That has been true for most of the past decade, and the survey results confirm that the search for new revenue sources and the pressure of competition remain dominant facts of life in competitive and changing marketplaces.

The significant new difference is that telecom regulators—and what they might do—now are among the top three concerns. Of the three top concerns, though, only service innovation and the organizational response to competition are under direct control.

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What Keeps Service Provider Executives Awake At Night? A Service Provider Survey by Metaswitch Networks - Thoughts on Carrier Evolution - Carrier Evolution

Apple's iPhone 4 Update Won't Fix Reception

Apple is working on an update for the signal strength display on iPhone 4 models. There is a problem with the way the iPhone 4 display signal strength, and the update will mean the display corresponds to the received signal strength.

The software update will not fix the antenna reception problem, though. According to some wireless experts, there is an antenna design problem. Using a bumper seems to help.

Why Apple's iPhone 4 Update Won't Fix Your Reception Problem

Apple's IPad Getting Enterprise Traction

Despite its launch as a consumer device, the iPad, like the iPhone before it, is getting workplace adoption. That doesn't mean Apple is especially anxious to create enterprise products, but simply that the same attributes that appeal to consumers also appeal to business users.

Research in Motion and Microsoft are the two companies which have to worry about such trends, since those two companies tend to dominate corporate demand for smartphones and PCs.

Apple's IPad Wins Corporate Converts at Wells Fargo, SAP - Bloomberg

Twitter Has Changed the News Business

Public relations practitioners are already talking about ‘breaking’ news of an event (staged for commercial benefit) using Twitter, thereby bypassing any editorial scrutiny.

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Of course journalists themselves are being side-stepped by bloggers and citizen reporters, some would rightly note.

These are people who have little interest in what is viewed as “old-school” media practices that require investment of more time when researching stories. Even journalists would admit to relaxing their own rules for their blogs, Twitter feeds and other interweb media.

Twitter breaks news, but will it break journalism? | memeburn

Cisco Cius is First "Phone" Tablet

Cius, the new Cisco tablet PC, might seem an odd product for the networking company to introduce, but think of it as a new form factor for a business phone and you will get the idea.

Aimed at a business user, rather than consumer, the Cius is designed to act as a portable communications and collaboration platform, working as a phone with a screen that works with Cisco applications such as Telepresence or WebEx, and with Cisco’s Unified Communications manager, or as a tablet.

When the tablet is docked it provides the screen, and the base has USB ports, a wired Ethernet connection, and, of course, a telephone handset and speakerphone.

In fact, the Cius is the first tablet device specifically designed to work as a "phone," not a device for consuming Internet media.

Unified Communications Strategies Blog � If Unified Communications Could be Fun - Cius Demo at Ciscolive

132 Announced LTE Network Launches

2011 will be the year when LTE goes live in a big way, as Verizon in the United States and DoCoMo in Japan will begin wide-scale roll-outs by the end of 2010.

Don't call it the "year of LTE," as that will almost ensure it won't be, but it is noteworthy that of the 132 networks have reported trials or plans to launch LTE commercially, some 32 more carriers have declared their intentions over just the last six months.

Verizon has also hinted at the availability of LTE-based handsets by May 2011," says ABI Research analyst Bhavya Khanna. That means LTE initially will be a PC dongle and PC card service, not a voice handset network, for at least half a year.

LTE Trials Pick up Speed as the World Prepares to Go 4G; ABI Research Reports - Yahoo! Finance

Lobbyists Swarm FCC Meeting

Two of the biggest proponents of net neutrality rules for broadband providers involved in closed door congressional committee negotiations have hired 112 former government officials to lobby as Congress and the Federal Communications Commission have both pushed new broadband Internet policies.

For the first three months of 2010, 74 percent of the lobbyists hired by both Google and Microsoft have previous experience in government, according to data obtained from the Center for Responsive Politics and lobbyist disclosure forms. This is a very similar number when compared to the percentage of former government officials hired to lobby for the top six telecommunications organizations.

Key net neutrality supporters hire former government officials to lobby — Making Government Transparent and Accountable - Sunlight Foundation Blog

Display Advertising Explains "Google Me"

Google's rumored launch of its own social network "Google Me" might seem curious, but there is a good reason why the move would make business sense: display advertising.

According to ComScore, Google sites place sixth among web publishers for display ad impressions at 25.8 billion, the equivalent of 2.4 percent of the total impressions for the first quarter of 2010. Facebook easily dominated the display ad market for the same period at 16.2 percent or 176.3 billion impressions.

Google's Display Advertising Plans Include Gmail, YouTube - Advertising Age - Digital

Mobile Accounts for 17% of European Mobile Connections

Mobile broadband accounted for 17.3 percent of the total number of European broadband connections in Europe at the end of 2009, " according to a new research report from the analyst firm Berg Insight.

The North American market has so far evolved at a slower pace, with mobile broadband accounting for just 7.1 percent of the total number of connections, says Berg Insight.

The number of HSPA/LTE mobile broadband subscribers (connected PCs) grew by 71 percent year-on-year in 2009 to reach 25 million and is forecasted to continue to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 21.6 percent to 81 million by 2015.

Berg Insight

More than 50 percent of applications are priced below or equal to $2.00 in all stores, with the exception of BlackBerry App World and Windows Marketplace for Mobile, says Distimo.

The average price of all paid applications and the 100 most popular paid applications in the Apple App Store for iPad ($4.65) is higher than in the Apple App Store for iPhone ($4.01).

Google Android Market has the largest share of free applications (57 percent) and Windows Marketplace for Mobile has the smallest (22 percent).

Ethernet Access Now Cheaper than SONET

Domestic access Ethernet circuits now cost less, in most case, than traditional SDH/SONET leased circuits, says Owen Irving, vice president, Commercial, Asia Pacific at Cable & Wireless Worldwide, CommsDay reports.

“10M Ethernet appears to have settled at approximately two times E1 pricing, 50 Mbps Ethernet is often a lower price than DS3, while 100M is often a similar price to DS3," he says.

Required Reading

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America:

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

A citizen's required reading for July 4th: The Declaration of Independence (with music) | Top of the Ticket | Los Angeles Times

Required Reading

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America:

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

A citizen's required reading for July 4th: The Declaration of Independence (with music) | Top of the Ticket | Los Angeles Times

European Commission Inquiry on Net Neutrality

The European Commission is looking into such issues as whether Internet providers should be allowed to adopt certain traffic management practices, prioritizing one kind of Internet traffic over another and whether such traffic management practices may create problems and have unfair effects for users.

The EC also will look at whether the level of competition between different Internet service providers, transparency requirements and whether the EU needs to act further to ensure fairness in the Internet market, or whether industry should take the lead.

The consultation will feed into a Commission report on net neutrality, which should be producedby the end of this year.

EUROPA - Press Releases - Digital Agenda: Commission launches consultation on net neutrality

Consumer Reports Says iPhone 4 Signal Reception Not a Serious Problem

All mobile phones can encounter signal reception problems when the devices are held, notes Consumer Reports "Your hand, your head, or any other part of your body that comes between the phone's antenna and the nearest cell tower will interfere with reception, and devilishly well."

"Humans are mostly made of water, and water is very good at blocking phone signals."

Consumer Reports Electronics Blog: iPhone 4's supposed signal woes aren’t unique, and may not be serious