Signs of Trouble in the Mobile Handset Business?

Trouble might be brewing in the mobile handset business, if one looks at profits in the industry. Apple is the outstanding winner, and Research in Motion isn't immediately troubled, either.

But Apple's growth seems to have come at the expense of other providers, and doesn't seem to have grown the market.

Industry profits dipped to a bit under $4 billion at the trough of the recession, and have recovered to nearly $6 billion in the holiday quarter last year. But the aggregate data hides a stunning shift of market share.

Motorola and Sony Ericsson had been losing money and only recently have reached breakeven status. LG turned negative in the second quarter of 2010.

Samsung has been consistently profitable and has gained market share.

But Apple and RIM now ern about 65 percent of all profits in the business.

asymco

Wireless is Different | AT&T Public Policy Blog

"Unrestricted access rules for wireless networks would hurt users more than help them. They just don’t realize it," writes Fortune.

"Net neutrality would be a serious problem for wireless networks, who all-but-have to prioritize certain types of data-hungry types like say, point-to-point streaming media, over others due to simultaneous usage and current bandwidth limitations," Fortune notes.

"We’ve been making this point for several months now but we can’t emphasize it enough: wireless is simply different," AT&T says on its policy blog.

Wireless is Different | AT&T Public Policy Blog

Fortune article

Verizon Likely Would Use 1 Gbps for B2B Apps

Verizon's recent tests of 1 Gbps service on its FiOS network, aside from marketing implications, might lead to use as mobile backhaul or enterprise access applications, more than a consumer offering, as the firm apparently believes there is little actual end user demand for such services.

Verizon already offers 50 Mbps consumer services and take rates have not apparently been spectacular, for Verizon or any other company that offers such services. You might notice no firm offering such services ever talks about take rates. That typically is because take rates are quite low.

Verizon Discusses 1-Gbit/s

Apple to Launch 7-inch IPad by Christmas?

Apple is readying another tablet similar to the iPad but with a seven-inch touchscreen. It might be launched in time for the Christmas selling season, according to a Taiwan-based Digitimes.

If the report proves correct, we'll get a better test of end user demand for smaller form factor tablets.

Report Says Apple to Launch 7-inch IPad by Christmas

Verizon Wireless Plans More Android Introductions

Verizon Wireless is preparing new Android-based devices for introduction, Boy Genius reports. The Motorola Droid Pro is said to have a 1.3GHz CPU, four-inch screen and global roaming capabilities, with a projected November 2010 launch.

Motorola also is said to be working with Verizon on a “slab form-factor” device that sort of looks like an old Motorola "Q" but features a full touchscreen and global roaming.

Global Android devices from Samsung and HTC also are expected. Samsung is said to be working on a seven-inch screen Android tablet with front-facing camera. Motorola is said to be working on a tablet with a 10-inch screen.

Verizon Wireless

Verizon might reap big iPhone harvest

poll suggests a large number of iPhone users would switch to Verizon if given a chance.
http://www.investorplace.com/investment-research/smartphones/changewave-research-apple-iphone-4users-want-verizon.html

T-Mobile USA May Delay LTE Launch for Two Years

T-Mobile USA does not expect to offer any LTE services for at least the next couple of years and will instead rely on its HSPA+ network. That would be in line with the dominant trend globally, where operators are upgrading now to HSPA+ and getting ready for Long Term Evolution.

'We'll get a fourth-generation wireless network either by buying spectrum or re-farming existing spectrum, or potentially leasing spectrum together with others,' Chief Executive Officer Rene Obermann said. 'I don't think we'll trail others in the next two years.'

T-Mobile USA May Delay LTE Launch for Two Years

Hollywood Opposes Title II Reclassification

Hollywood studios and some major unions say reclassifiying broadband access as a Title II telecom service is not necessary to achieve the open Internet they also support, and is not a desirable method of achieving that public policy goal.

But if the commission does go the Title II route, they argued, there needs to be clear, enforceable rules that give broadband-access providers unambiguous guidance on how to design their networks to avoid online theft without fear of running afoul of the FCC's new regs.

Piracy is the big issue for The Motion Picture Association of America, the Screen Actors Guild, Directors Guild of American, American Federation of Radio and Television Artists and International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees.

Apparently the groups think Title II would make it harder for ISPs to combat piracy.

Hollywood: Open Net Can't Be Pirate Haven - 2010-08-13 00:20:00 | Multichannel News

Hulu is Thinking about an Initial Public Offering

Sprint Football Live App Now Available

Sprint Football Live is a new free application available to all Sprint or Nextel customers with an "Everything Data" plan.

Football fans can follow their favorite college and pro football teams, manage their fantasy drafts, and keep up with fantasy updates with the new Sprint Football Live app.

With Sprint's 4G network, fans will experience live game viewing similar to what they see on a TV.

Sprint

Hulu Serving 3x as Many Ads as YouTube

Hulu generated 783 million video ad impressions in the month of July, more than three times the 219 million impressions generated by Google sites like YouTube.

There are a number of reasons for the disparity. YouTube does not try to display ads on all its inventory, while Hulu tries to.

Hulu features professionally-produced, branded video content with high end user interest. Not all YouTube content is of sufficient quality or interest to create much of an ad opportunity.

Also, Google advertising on YouTube also leans toward banner ads and AdSense text advertising rather than video spots, as Hulu features.

Hulu Serving 3x as Many Ads as YouTube

Smartphone Statistics

Nielsen reports smartphone sales accounting for 25 percent of the U.S. mobile phone market in Q2 2010, and the firm expects smartphones to become the majority by the end of 2011.

According to figures for 2009 released by Gartner, smartphones accounted for 172.4 million (14 percent) of the 1.211 billion mobile phones sold that year.  In the first quarter of 2010, smartphones represented 54.3 million (17 percent) of the 314.7 million mobile phones sold, a sales increase of 49 percent over the first quarter of  2009.

Morgan Stanley Research estimates sales of smartphones will exceed those of PCs in 2012.


http://www.email-marketing-reports.com/wireless-mobile/smartphone-statistics.htm

Startups Responsible for Virtually All New Job Growth

Small startups are not just essential for innovation, it turns out they may be entirely responsible for all job growth in the United States. Not some: all net new jobs.

The Kauffman Foundation has taken a look at job creation since 1977. Kauffman Senior Fellow Tim Kane says startups aren’t just an important contributor to job growth: they’re the only thing.

Without startups, there would be no net job growth in the U.S. economy.

From 1977 to 2005, existing companies were net job destroyers, losing one million net jobs per year. In contrast, new businesses in their first year added an average of three million jobs annually.

Startups Or Behemoths: Which Are We Going To Bet On?

AT&T defends Verizon-Google Wireless Agreement

AT&T hasn't said whether it supports the full set of agreements, but it does agree with the exemption for wireless networks, to nobody's surprise. Wireless networks do face tougher bandwidth constraints than fixed networks, but that isn't the only problem.

Mobile networks also have to hand off traffic between tower sites, between networks and between congested sites and non-congested sites. All that takes much more management, and arguably places a premium on the ability to maintain an existing voice session, for example, rather than admitting a new one, or grooming to give priority to voice and other real-time traffic.

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/08/14/att_defends_verizon_google_mobile_exemption_from_net_neutrality.html?utm_source=run&utm_medium=twitter

Apple Advertising Platform Praised

“iAds make it possible to communicate with users without interrupting them,” said Shravan Goli, President of Dictionary.com. In addition to "being relevant," that's likely one of the most important objectives an advertiser can achieve.

http://www.stockbriefings.com/apple-inc-nasdaqaapl-advertising-platform-praised/3171389