Shai Berger Pitches Fonolo to Investors

http://www.shaiberger.com/2010/11/video-pitching-fonolo-on-the-pitch/ You have less than 10 minutes to convince three potential investment groups your idea is among those they should fund. This is how Shai Berger, Fonolo founder, handles the task.

In-Game Micro-Payments To Fuel Mobile Gaming Revenues To $11B In 2015

Juniper Research estimates mobile gaming revenue will grow to $11 billion in 2015 on the strength of in-game micro-payments and Apple’s in-app billing mechanism.

Juniper also estimates in-game purchases will overtake the traditional pay-per-download model as the primary source of monetizing mobile games by 2013.

In-Game Micro-Payments To Fuel Mobile Gaming Revenues To $11B In 2015

Mobile Payments Will Move Inside Apps

Peering Dispute Between Comcast and Level 3 is Not Unusual

Despite the colorful nature of the Level 3 Communications dispute with Comcast over interconnection arrangements, the dispute is a rather typical commercial dispute between interconnection partners.

In the past, when traffic exchanged between the Comcast network and Level 3 was roughly equal, it made sense to peer the networks on a "settlement-free" basis. Now that traffic flows are about to become quite unbalanced, that won't work.

With the massive new Netflix CDN deal where Netflix is currently the largest source of traffic in North America, Level 3 will likely start sending five times more traffic to Comcast than it receives.

When that happens, a "settlement-free" peering arrangement often becomes a "for-fee" transit agreement, where the network imposing an unequal traffic load pays the other network.

That's the situation here, where a business relationship that worked well when traffic exchange was equal becomes untenable as traffic flows become highly unequal. Settlement-free peering works for the former, not the latter. So Comcast wants a transit style agreement where it gets paid for carrying the excess traffic.

Level 3 would prefer not to pay, and it is not alone in that desire. Unequal traffic flows do not lend themselves to settlement-free peering agreements.

Digital Society Level 3 outbid Akamai on Netflix

For-Fee Online Video Demand Still Nascent

A new study by Ipsos finds that some viewers are willing to pay for online video, though much depends on the payment model and the actual type of content.

In a survey of 18-to-34-year olds, Ipsos found that 51 percent of respondents were interested in fee-based models from Hulu, Netflix or iTunes.

Ipsos OTX MediaCT created a scenario where free alternatives were not available and TV was available from Netflix at $9 a month, iTunes at $1 a download with no ads, and Hulu at $1 with ads.

While 17 percent of the younger demo was interested in a pay-per-episode Hulu model, only 11 percent of those 35 and older wanted to buy that way. Overall 49 percent of youth had no interest in pay models while 70 percent of the 35+ group suggested they were not interested in such fee-based offerings.

Eagerness to use the Web to catch up on or re-experience TV content varies a bit from genre to genre and even more from show to show. People are more likely to want to re-watch comedies than other genres, but a subscription service like Netflix was more appealing for its run of dramas since viewers wanted access to whole season.

MediaPost Publications Young Video Viewers Will Pay for Their Online TV 11/30/2010

Google Wants Groupon Because Social Ads Are the Future: Tech News «

http://gigaom.com/2010/11/30/google-wants-groupon-because-social-ads-are-the-future/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OmMalik+%28GigaOM%3A+Tech%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Is email growing or shrinking?

Both, it seems.

http://www.marketingcharts.com/direct/inboxcom-gmail-show-impressive-annual-growth-15170/?utm_campaign=rssfeed&utm_source=mc&utm_medium=textlink

And you thought net neutrality couldn't get more convoluted

Now interconnection agreements get tarred.

http://www.digitalsociety.org/2010/11/comcast-level-3-net-neutrality-the-new-fire-in-a-movie-theater/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=comcast-level-3-net-neutrality-the-new-fire-in-a-movie-theater

Interconnection now gets sucked up with "net neutrality"

Peering and transit agreements aren't net neutrality issues.

http://247wallst.com/2010/11/30/the-next-round-of-fighting-over-net-neutrality-nflx-lvlt-cmcsa-ge-vz-goog/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+typepad%2FRyNm+%2824%2F7+Wall+St.%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Clearwire races towards target of 120m POPs - Rethink Wireless

So much for the couple of years headstart over other 4G providers.

http://www.rethink-wireless.com/2010/11/30/clearwire-races-towards-target-120m-pops.htm

Who Wins in Tablet Business?

Apple, Google, Motorola, Samsung and HTC could be early winners as tablets start to cannibalize the PC market, some might argue.

Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Acer could be losers, some think.

Tablets Will Displace PCs: Picking Winners and Losers -- Seeking Alpha

Verizon FiOS Broadband Penetration?

Analysts at Trefis expect the penetration of FiOS broadband to reach 81 percent of Verizon broadband subscribers by 2016, up from about 49 percent in 2010. In other words, of Verizon customers who buy broadband access, 81 percent will buy FiOS, while the remaining 19 percent will be on digital subscriber line platforms.

Verizon FiOS Penetration Rising -- Seeking Alpha

Entertainment Video Accounts for 37% of Peak-Hour Bandwidth

As much as 37 percent of peak-hour Internet traffic might be entertainment video.

Mary Meeker Internet Trends presentation

Is Level 3-Comcast Dispute a Typical Spat Over Peering Fees?

Thomas Stortz, Chief Legal Officer of Level 3, says Comcast has demanded, and is getting, payments from Level 3 related to delivery of Internet traffic from the Level 3 network to Comcast's network. It isn't immediately clear whether this is simply a commercial dispute between networks that exchange unequal amounts of traffic, or a possible violation of "Internet Freedoms" principles.

That's one of the difficulties with "network neutrality." It sometimes is difficult to separate out "content discrimination" from simple commercial agreements to exchange traffic between networks.

Stortz says taht “on November 19, 2010, Comcast informed Level 3 that, for the first time, it will demand a recurring fee from Level 3 to transmit Internet online movies and other content to Comcast’s customers who request such content."

“On November 22, after being informed by Comcast that its demand for payment was ‘take it or leave it,’ Level 3 agreed to the terms, under protest, in order to ensure customers did not experience any disruptions," says Stortz.

Press Release - Level 3 Communications

Microsoft in talks for new online TV service

Microsoft Corp has held talks with media companies to license TV networks for a new online pay-television subscription service through devices such as its Xbox video game console, says Reuters.

The maker of the Windows operating system has proposed a range of possibilities in these early talks including creating a 'virtual cable operator' delivered over the Internet for which users pay a monthly fee.

Microsoft in talks for new TV service: sources | Reuters