RIM Still Has Largest U.S. Smartphone Installed Base

Some 61.5 million people in the United States owned smartphones during the three months ending in November, up 10 percent from the preceding three-month period, as RIM led with 33.5 percent market share of smartphones, according to comScore.

After several months of strong growth, Google Android captured the number-two ranking among smartphone platforms in November with 26 percent of U.S. smartphone subscribers. Apple accounted for 25 percent of smartphone subscribers (up 0.8 percentage points), followed by Microsoft with nine percent and Palm with 3.9 percent.

comScore Reports November 2010 U.S. Mobile Subscriber Market Share

Verizon iPhone Announcement Jan. 11?

Verizon Wireless has scheduled a press conference next Tuesday, Jan. 11, in New York, and the quick consensus is that this is finally when Verizon will announce the Verizon iPhone.

Quickly, people on Twitter are wondering why Steve Jobs would let Verizon announce this, instead of an Apple-hosted event. Simple answer: Because this isn't a new product.

Here's Why Steve Jobs Would Let Verizon Announce The Verizon iPhone

FCC Chairman Predicts 35-Fold Mobile Bandwidth Increase Next 5 Years

The amount of spectrum available for mobile broadband represents about a

threefold increase over where we were a few years ago, says Federal Communications Commission chairman Julius Genachowski. "Sounds good, until you see the forecasts of a 35 times increase in mobile broadband traffic over the next five years."

"And I believe that projection is conservative, not fully accounting for the explosive growth of tablets and what I predict we’ll see from 4G."

http://www.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2011/db0107/DOC-303984A1.pdf

Verizon FiOS TV: IP Migration Enables Multi-Device Consumption

Verizon executive Joe Ambeault says there are some clear multi-device implications for migrating Verizon FiOS TV to IP delivery.

Consumers watching traditional FiOS TV should never see a difference, but by transitioning to IP, Verizon will have an opportunity to deliver its television service to a wide range of web-connected gadgets in the form of an app.

In other words, FiOS TV could become another service a consumer can buy in an app store, accessible across multiple screens and delivery platforms. In theory, consumers could even bring their own broadband to the table (FiOS or otherwise) and just layer FiOS TV on top, some might argue.

What If Verizon FiOS TV Was an App?

Common Mobile App Mistakes Many Brands Make

Some day we probably will look back on the early days of mobile apps and have something of the same sense we did early in the development of the World Wide Web, when companies did things such as posting electronic versions of their brochures online, and basically left it at that.

So what are some common issues that Macroview Labs encounters when engaging with big brands that want to create mobile apps?

Common mistakes include duplicating a web site on the mobile screen. That does not take advantage of the capabilities a mobile has, such as cameras, bar code scanning, accelerometers and GPS, for example.

Companies design for the wrong users, the wrong devices or for use cases where mobile signal coverage is going to be an issue. Brands tend to want to recreate an ad experience, when the key thing is to engage users.

Aron Ezra, MacroView Labs CEO, has quite a lot of experience engaging with, and creating applications for, large organizations and brands ranging from major Las Vegas casinos to NASCAR, Elitch Gardens and the city of Arlington, Texas.

“Artwork is really important,” says Ezra, something you can verify yourself at http://www.macroviewlabs.com/work/sample. “Fresh content also is important, because you have to give people reasons to come back.”

Mobile Marketing and Technology

Facebook "Transparency" as Seen by Jon Stewart

Jon Stewart on Mark Zuckerberg's concerns about transparency. Steward captures the irony.

‘The Daily Show’ Weighs In On The Facebook Investment Frenzy [Video]

Apple Launches Mac App Store

Apple has launched its new Mac App Store with more than 1,000 free and paid apps in the catalog. Apps can be bought them using an iTunes account.

The Mac App Store offers apps in Education, Games, Graphics & Design, Lifestyle, Productivity, Utilities and other categories. Users can browse new and noteworthy apps, find out what’s hot, see staff favorites, search categories and look up top charts for paid and free apps, as well as user ratings and reviews.

Apple’s Mac App Store Opens for Business

What's Hot at Consumer Electronics Show

Verizon CEO Touts 4G

It's fast. It might be pricey, not in terms of formal price ($50a  month for PC dongle service, with a 5 Gbyte cap, $80 for a 10-Gbyte cap), but if it encourages people to watch lots of video on their PCs, using the air cards, that they might not have in the past, it could get expensive.

International long-distance slumps, while Skype soars

Growth in international call traffic has slumped while international traffic routed using Skype continues to accelerate, says TeleGeography Research.

International phone traffic grew an estimated four percent in 2010, to 413 billion minutes, down from five-percent growth in 2009, and a far cry from the 15 percent average growth rate achieved during the previous two decades.

Of course, traffic is only part of the story. International long distance, as well as most other forms of long distance service, also have been affected by lower per-minute pricing as well.

International long-distance slumps, while Skype soars: CommsUpdate : TeleGeography Research

Gartner Says Worldwide IT Spending to Grow 5.1 Percent in 2011

The telecom equipment market is poised for strong growth in 2011, with worldwide telecom equipment spending forecast to grow 9.1 percent, according to Gartner. Strong sales of mobile devices are largely responsible.

In absolute terms the most significant change occurred in the mobile services forecast. A combination of updated connection data, increased average revenue per unit in certain countries and stronger local currencies resulted in an upward revision of our mobile service forecast across 2010 through 2014. The CAGR for global mobile services revenue from 2009 through 2014 has been increased to 7 percent, up from 5.3 percent.

Gartner Says Worldwide IT Spending to Grow 5.1 Percent in 2011

Gartner Says Business Intelligence Will Go Mobile

By 2013, 33 percent of business intelligence functionality used by enterprise workers will be consumed via handheld devices, says Gartner.

Also, by 2014, Gartner expects 40 percent of spending on business analytics will go to system integrators, not software vendors. That would be a significant change.

Traditionally, organizations bought products almost exclusively from software companies and system integrators then helped the buyer to implement them.

However, the growth of user-driven initiatives, external information sources and the integration of unstructured content make this traditional approach increasingly risky and potentially uncompetitive.

Buyers can now evaluate solutions – for example marketing campaign effectiveness in financial services, as total packages, and select a lead provider, often a service provider, to deliver it. That leaves lots of room for changes in the supply infrastructure, with app providers becoming integrators.

At first, mobile business intelligence will largely consist of existing reports and dashboards ported to the mobile device but by 2012, Gartner predicts that organizations and vendors will develop mobile analytic applications for specific tasks or domains.

Gartner Says New Relationships Will Change Business Intelligence and Analytics

Near Field Communications for Retail: 3 Basic Modes

Some idea of the things near field communications might mean for mobile payments in retail settings can be gleaned from the three basic communication modes. In "passive" mode, the mobile device sends data to a terminal (cash register or card reader). That's the same sort of thing people do today with automated toll booth readers. Obviously there are some basic payment functions this will work for.

In "active" mode the NFC device can exchange data with another powered NFC device. Obviously one can image many more things that would be possible in active mode, from authentication to in-store messaging and queries.

In card emulation mode, NFC can replicate the functional capabilities of payment cards, mass transit ticketing cards, building entry cards and others. Data flows from the NFC device to the card-reading device—a contactless point of sale (PoS) terminal, turnstile or building entry device.

In active reader mode, NFC can grab information from passive NFC tags to run applications, visit Web sites, call people or perform any other number of actions executable by a mobile phone. Data flows from the tag to the NFC device.

In peer-to-peer mode, an NFC device can link to other NFC devices in much the same way Bluetooth currently does, but it has greater security. The greatest number of in-store loyalty and other apps will use P2P.

Yankee Group :: Research Report

Cisco Videoscape Suggests How Hard Cable Operators Are Working at Integrating Online Video

Cisco today announced the release of Cisco Videoscape, a TV platform for service providers that brings together digital TV and online content with social media and communications applications. Videoscape is part of Cisco's overall video strategy to provide the next generation of TV that is simpler for consumers, and is intended to support cable operators anxious to integrate online video with linear video.

Cisco is currently working with several major global service provider customers, including Telstra, to enable next-generation video experiences through the Videoscape platform.

Cisco and Service Providers Aim to Reinvent the TV Experience with 'Videoscape' -> Cisco News

Cisco's View of the Video Future