Virgin Media banks on 100 Mbps

At the end of September 2010 the number of customers subscribing to the top tiers (20 Mbps and 50 Mbps) increased by 40.7 per cent to reach 708,300, says Virgin Media, with 91,600 of those taking the flagship 50 Mbps service, an increase of 23.8 per cent over June 2010).

Virgin claims that 10,000 customers signed up for the 100 Mbps service on the first day of launch.

Virgin Media banks on 100Mbit/s broadband for growth

Game Consoles Expand Video Streaming Services

Netflix has reported a recent increase in the uptake of their streaming service with subscribers, with 66 per cent of subscribers watching more than 15 minutes of content online in the third quarter of 2010, compared to 41 per cent of subscribers during the same period last year, suggesting its improved online movies and TV shows line-up is strengthening the service's appeal.

Netflix and other streaming services also are making efforts to integrate more centrally with game playing platforms, in an attempt to position the game player as a hub for premium content delivery.

Although Netflix is not yet causing subscription TV customers to cut the cord (that is, end their traditional pay-TV subscription), it is now an essential content partner for any connected device platform in the United States, say researchers at Screen Digest.

Game Consoles Expand Video Streaming Services

Video on Demand: After 25 Years, Still Not that Big a Deal

Despite all the attention now paid to online delivery of movie and video programming, after 25 years, consumers globally still show an overwhelming preference for renting shows using some form of physical media.

Video-on-demand services, which have been available for 25 years, continue to lag other methods of delivery, DVD rentals and purchases being the dominant method.

The other significant issue is that demand for all forms of on-demand video seems to have flattened out, globally. That suggests displacement, not growth, is the strategic imperative. For VOD providers, the issue remains: can VOD grab more share of the market than developing online delivery methods?

Google is the World's Most Successful Ad-Funded Software Company

Google represents 91.4percent of all global searches, according to Pingdom, 98.3 percent of mobile searches, 69 percent of online advertising and 59 percent of web analytics. Google's YouTube business represents 53 percent of all online embedded video and audio.

Then there's Android, Chrome, Gmail, Google Docs, Blogger, Google Maps and Google's own content delivery network. Google is working on a Chrome operating system, has released Google TV and operates its own public domain name server network as well.

The point, Pingdom notes, is that Google has has an enormous presence on the Web and the Internet, and advertising drives it. Among other things, Google the world's most successful ad-funded software company.

How Google dominates the Web

PayPal To Launch Payment Service Using iPhone

Sprint Will be Shutting Down a Network, But it is iDEN

Sprint and Clearwire have been testing Long Term Evolution as an air interface using fallow spectrum. obviously raising questions about whether Sprint Nextel and Clearwire might ditch WiMAX for LTE.

Sprint CEO Dan Hesse says the only networks that are slated for replacement at some point are Sprint Nextel's legacy networks, ranging from iDEN, used for the Nextel part of the operation, to the older second-generation and third-generation networks Sprint also supports.

LTE isn't necessarily on Sprint's roadmap, Hesse says, though it is conceivable Sprint Nextel might be interested in supporting dual-mode "WiMAX-plus-LTE handsets.

It is a simple fact that each generation of mobile networks gets replaced, about every 10 years, though the transition periods can last longer. Hesse notes that “2G will eventually come to an end; CDMA will come to an end; GSM will come to an end and iDEN will come to an end.”

“Over time, as fewer customers are using our 2G networks, we can use that spectrum for the CDMA/EVDO network.” Even the current iDEN spectrum might eventually be switched over to support CDMA and EVDO on that band of frequencies, especially to support voice services.

read more here

Device Demographics Show User Segments

With the caveat that demographics quite often are "blunt" predictors of end user behavior, the Yankee Group says males favor "HTC" devices, while females favor "Google"-branded devices, even when those devices are made by HTC.

Apparently, brand affects hardware preferences.

LG, Samsung and Sony Ericsson have a decidedly female bias, though it isn't entirely clear why. Devices made by LG, Samsung and Sony Ericsson are available in a wide range of prices, which could affect purchasing statistics, as 52 percent of all people in the United States are female.

Apple, Nokia, Palm and RIM products are equally attractive to both genders, the Yankee Group says. Despite Apple’s and RIM’s skew toward young buyers, their products appeal almost equally to both genders.

Perhaps the next step for device manufacturers is a more-direct effort to identify lead applications and the design of devices specifically optimized for those apps.

Yankee Group Research Report

Mobile Needs to Focus on Pipe; Won't Be Much of a Factor in Apps

You would be very hard pressed to find a single mobile executive who actually will say in public that providing "dumb pipe" services is the key to their future prospects. Up to a point, this is correct. Most service providers already are preparing, testing or deploying new services that add new "services" to "access" products.

But there might be clear limits to how much service providers can escape, or should want to escape, their fundamental position in the ecosystem. "Access" is the unique contribution service providers make in the Internet ecosystem and value chain. That does not mean service providers cannot, or should not, attempt to occupy other roles within the ecosystem as well.

But one can question how much success can be found in some of the adjacencies. Most end users won’t need much help from service providers to to discovering and use their preferred Web content on mobile phones and portable computers, says Declan Lonergan, Yankee Group analyst. In other words, there might be limited opportunity in the web apps area.

At the same time, though, dependency on mobile Web access increases as hosted, in-the-cloud services replace on-the-device apps. Perhaps there is more opportunity in focusing on "connectivity" than many believe, including both packaging innovations, quality of service features and integration with wired networks.

Customers’ mobile content and Web experiences will be delivered almost exclusively by others in the ecosystem, regardless of whether consumers are using apps or browsers as their primary means of access.

The issue with some ideas and concepts is that unstated assumptions are associated with the ideas. Service provider executives hear the phrase "peering" and they understand it as "settlement-free" interconnection. That has financial implications entirely distinct from the issue of manner of connection. Service provider executives hear the phrase "dumb pipe" and think "commodity-like, low-margin service."

But "dumb pipe" does not necessarily mean "low margin, lower price, undifferentiated" pipe. "Dumb pipe" might just mean "access."

The point is that service providers now are suppliers of a number of values, including simple access to the Internet and web, as well as other services that are managed. Entertainment video, voice, mobile voice and texting are the primary examples.

Telcos, cable companies and satellite companies cannot escape their place in the ecosystem, which is network access. In addition to access, they provider other services, applications and value as well, but all are built, fundamentally, on access.

As always is the case, participants in any value chain will fight for a bigger share of total profits from the ecosystem. It is no surprise others want "access" to be as affordable as possible, as that is better for the other participants. But "access" is the one, unique, irreplaceable value that service providers supply. Everything else they might do hinges on access.

Yankee Group Research Report

The Social Media Bubble

Some might argue we are in the middle of a social media bubble, with all that implies for the fortunes of companies and the behavior of end users.

That isn't to say social media is going to vaporize. Like any other "bubble-infected" product, there is real demand. It is just that, in a bubble, there is wasteful over-investment and speculation that is unsustainable. If there is a bubble, and then it bursts, we should expect that the long-term demand will settle back down to a sustainable level.

But people won't be panicked about "needing to be on Facebook or use Twitter" they way they sometimes think they must, today. Some firms will be able to make good use of social media; others will find it works, but in different ways than they currently believe.

The "crazy" thinking will die down and this relatively new set of marketing tools will take their place in the marketing mix. Those who do it right and for the right reasons, will remain. Social media has enabled us to connect with more people both personally and professionally. It has enabled brands to build a certain level of relationship with individuals, and this has changed the face of marketing.

What will come next is a better understanding of how social media enhances most other forms of media and marketing.

The Future of Social Media Is Real | jatiN mahindrA doT coM

Will Tablets Depress Mobile Broadband Sales?

It's too early to tell, but one wonders whether tablet sales actually will depress some amount of mobile broadband data plan sales int he short term, even though logic suggests they will increase demand, long term.

It has become routine over the last two years to hear executives at cable and telecom companies point to the sluggish economy and low housing starts as the reason for similarly stubborn consumer resistance to spending more money on some services.

It looks like nothing has changed since the start of 2009. That's significant because it suggests consumers are making deliberate choices in spending on tablets that basically come down to funding tablet purchases by not spending elsewhere in the household budgets. 

It might only be slight issue at the moment, or a near term issue, but one wonders whether a shift to Wi-Fi-using mobile devices is beginning to lessen demand for smartphones, higher-end smartphones and data plans. And, if so, the related question is whether the substitution is just a temporary issue.

Most reports seem to suggest that most iPads, for example, are Wi-Fi units, not 3G-connected. If tablet popularity grows, and at this point it seems to be growing, then more discretionary end user income could be shifted to device purchases and reliance on Wi-Fi, and away from smartphone data plans or PC dongles.

It won't take a user long to figure out that he or she can buy an iPad for about 10 months worth of a 3G mobile data plan costing $60 a month, or an Android tablet for the equivalent of 10 months of smartphone service at $30 a month.

For many users, that will be a trade off that seems logical, since at least half of all iPad use seems to occur at home, where most people have Wi-Fi, while perhaps 10 percent to 25 percent takes place at work, where there often is Wi-Fi. It does not appear that many people actually use their iPads "in transit."

Long term, one suspects tablet ownership will increase appetite for, and use of, mobile broadband services. Ironically, such demand might also lessen appetite for sizable smartphone data plans. Some users might conclude that a Mi-Fi type service, which can supply Wi-Fi for a tablet, smartphone and notebook, all at once, works well enough.

YouTube: 1 Billion Subscriptions

YouTube says it now has more than a billion subscriptions to YouTube channels, used by business as well as consumer entities.

To make it easier, YouTube has developed a new widget that any video-maker can embed on a website or blog. It lets people subscribe to a YouTube channel with a single click, without having to leave the website site to log into YouTube or confirm a subscription. The entire process happens in the widget.

You can embed the code below into the source code of your website or blog, in the same way you embed a YouTube video.

YouTube Blog: 1 billion subscriptions and counting

Sprint Benefits from iPad

Sprint doesn't sell the iPad, nor does it have the right to sell 3G connections for iPads. Nevertheless, Sprint says it is benefitting from demand for Apple’s device. The reason is that most iPads seem to be of the Wi-Fi-only variety, and that means a wireless hotspot service adds value.

Dan Hesse, Sprint Nextel chief executive officer says Sprint Nextel has seen an uptick in demand for its "Overdrive MiFi" wireless-hotspot device, as people use it to connect their iPads to the Internet when on the go.

Sprint CEO: The iPad Has Been Good to Us

Google Maps On Android: Key Location Based Service

"The combination and integration of Google Maps, Places Pages, Street View and Navigation (with the phone and contacts) has created a kind of LBS juggernaut on the Android device that will increasingly prove challenging to compete with," says Greg Sterling, a Contributing Editor at Search Engine Land.

Right now, no such combination of services exists on the iPhone, which makes it a more “open” playing field for location-based services and local publishers, he argues.

"I use the Google services on my Evo almost exclusively now to find local information and directions," says Sterling. "And yesterday Google updated Maps for Android to make Place Pages on the device look and operate more like Places on the PC."

I'd have to agree that the navigation and mapping features of the Evo are the top reason the Evo has value, though I would rank "voice search" number two.

Google Maps On Android Becoming An LBS Juggernaut

How Is Desktop Videoconferencing Used?

At the moment, it appears that enterprise workers who use desktop videoconferencing are mostly the same people who used any other form of room-based technology, at least so far, Forrester Research analyst T.J. Klett says.

"We find that while 29 percent of workers use videoconferencing technology, only 15 percent have access to desktop video technology.

\The bulk of those using this tool are not the rank-and-file, but the managers and executives who have historically been the users of videoconferencing services.

How Is Desktop Videoconferencing Being Used In Your Business? | Forrester Blogs

Broadband stimulus flows disproportionately to Commerce Committee members

Over 40 percent of stimulus funds that the Commerce Department doled out for broadband went to or was shared by districts represented by House Energy and Commerce Committee members, according to an analysis by Communications Daily. The committee oversees telecom issues.

That's despite the fact that these members only make up 14 percent of the House, the analysis said. National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) records show that committee members' districts took in all or part of nearly $1.9 billion in grants, the report said.

The committee members whose districts were awarded the the most funding were Reps. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.) with $128 million, Joe Pitts (R-Pa.) with $128 million, George Radanovich (R-Calif.) with $128 million, Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) with $123 million and John Sarbanes (D-Md.) with $115 million, according to the report, which drew from grant descriptions posted on the NTIA website.

Report: Broadband stimulus flows disproportionately to Commerce Committee members - The Hill's Hillicon Valley