Mobile Augmented Reality: A Small Business by 2015

Mobile augmented reality applications and services will generate global revenues close to $1.5 billion by 2015, according to Juniper Research.

Of course, to keep things in perspective, consider that global ad spending is something on the order of $500 billion. See http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=147493, for example.

The installed base of AR-capable smartphones had increased from eight million in 2009 to more than 100 million in 2010. At the same time, AR apps that initially were the preserve of smaller development companies and researchers at technological institutes, are starting to get some use from larger brands.

Mobile Augmented Reality Attracts Leading Brands as Juniper Research forecasts $1.5 billion revenue stream by 2015:

Africa Mobile Advertising Grows19% Growth |in 90 Days

Mobile advertising views grew nearly 19 percent in just 90 days, says InMobi, breaking the three-billion impressions mark to reach 3.3 billion monthly impressions. Smartphones remain relatively nascent in the market, and 88 percent of all mobile ad impressions are on advanced feature phones.

Nokia strengthens its’ already dominant market position by gaining 2.7 share points. About two out of every three ad impressions in the region occur on Nokia devices.

InMobi report for Africa shows a further 19% growth

Phantom Data: How Big a Problem?

Phantom data usage being billed against customer accounts appears to be a growing problem.

Apple iPhones apparently have had the issue, a consultant study has found. Microsoft Windows Phone 7 users have complained of inexplicable data usage being charged to their cell data accounts. Microsoft tracked down the "phantom data" bug that they attributed to a third party.

Apple continues to remain silent and some customers of the iPhone in the U.S. and abroad continue to complain to their carriers about 'phantom data' usage.

No Jitter | blog | Apple iPhone: Phantom Data Outstrips Bandwidth Supply?

10 Common Misconceptions New Users Have About Skype

Skype has become, for many, one of the preferred modes of communication, particularly over long distances. For newer users, though, there are a few misconceptions. Here are 10 of those issues.

10 Common Misconceptions About Skype

66% of Enteprises Plan to Use Cloud Services in 2011

About 66 percent of 1,ooo enterprises who are customers of Ipswitch are making cloud computing investments in 2011. For security reasons, most are choosing either private cloud, or a hybrid public-private mix.

Not Planning Any Investment: Some 36 percent of respondents are not planning any cloud spending. About 29 percent will use a private cloud approach. Some 13 percent will use a public cloud approach (Amazon, Microsoft Azure or another computing infrastructure provider). About 21 percent will use a mix of public and private approaches.

Big Biz keep Cloud thoughts private • The Register

IPv6, IPv4 Address Exhaustion and Machine-to-Machine Internet

Internet address registrars will announce soon that that last set of internet addresses has been allocated, today, tomorrow or the next day. That means device addresses will be exhausted in a few months. Then begins the process of living with two address systems for some extended period of time, as new devices get assigned IPv6 addresses.

Whether this is a manageable problem, or something bigger, remains to be seen.

Without internet addresses, we won’t have an “internet of things”

Viacom More Positive on Hulu Prospects

Viacom wasn't happy having "The Daily Show" and "Colbert Report" shown on Hulu, but now seems to have changed its views. Hulu’s introduction of subscription plans and increased advertising base now seem to convince Viacom that having its content on Hulu can pay off.

Hulu’s subscriber count is expected to pass one million this year and Hulu Plus as a business will have a revenue run rate north of $200 million this year, observers predict.

And Hulu now has 30 million monthly users, traffic which Viacom simply cannot ignore.

The Daily Show And Colbert Report Return To Hulu Via New Viacom Content Partnership

Vodafone Milestone: Data Tops SMS Revenue For First Time

Vodafone Group has hit a milestone. Vodafone's latest quarter data revenue exceeded messaging revenue for the first time. Vodafone's emphasis on sales of smartphones and associated data plans seems to have been the driver.

Vodafone, the world's biggest mobile operator by revenue, posted a 2.1 percent uptick in group service revenue, underpinned by good growth in India, Turkey, the U.K. and South Africa. It is the fifth sequential quarter of improvement.

The company said data revenue continues to drive its growth strategy and grew 27 percent on the back of "strong smartphone and mobile connectivity sales."

Vodafone Revenue Rises On Increased Data Usage - WSJ.com (subscription required)

How Groupon Might Change Advertising

"Maybe you haven’t noticed, but media companies have changed their strategy of charging for advertising," says Gordon Borrell, Borrell Associates president. 'If it continues, the business model for media might change forever.'

Group deals have allowed local businesses to offload the risk of advertising onto the media company, Borrell argues. "Advertising has become 'free,' and the media company gets paid only when a sale is made.

"If this continues, it will transform media companies into marketing partners," he argues.

Borrell Associates, Inc: Local Interactive & Online Advertising Research and Consulting

Clay Christensen on Local Media Prospects

Timing the shift to Ethernet in mobile backhaul - FierceTelecom

Carriers are rapidly reducing TDM's role in mobile backhaul, says Jim Theodoras, Ethernet Forum president. An April 2010 Infonetics report illustrates the change in thinking.

The firm's August 2009 survey of 18 mobile operators and transport providers indicated that 60 percent were taking a hybrid approach to backhaul that leverages both Ethernet and TDM. At that time, only 47 percent intended to commit to pure Ethernet.

Infonetics' survey in March 2010--just six months later--showed a near flip in the ratio: 45 percent hybrid, 65 percent Ethernet-only.

Timing the shift to Ethernet in mobile backhaul - FierceTelecom

Android Getting In-App Billing

In-app billing is coming to the Android Market. The new service gives developers more ways to monetize their applications through new billing models including try-and-buy, virtual goods, upgrades, and more.

The In-app billing service manages billing transactions between apps and users, providing a consistent purchasing experience with familiar forms of payment across all apps. At the same time, it gives you full control over how your digital goods are purchased and tracked. You can let Android Market manage and track the purchases for you or you can integrate with your own back-end service to verify and track purchases in the way that's best for your app.

In-app billing will be available in stages. Google is now providing detailed documentation and a sample application to help developers get familiar with the service. Over the next few weeks Google will be rolling out updates to the Android Market client that will enable developers to test the apps using the service. Before the end of this quarter, the service will be live for users.

Android Developers Blog

Android Market Now on PCs, Auto Download to Mobiles

Starting today, says Google, the Android Market client for mobile devices will be available for desktops. Anyone can now easily find and share applications from their favorite browser. Once users select an application they want, it will automatically be downloaded to their Android-powered devices over-the-air.

Android Market on the Web dramatically expands the discoverability of applications through a rich browsing experience, suggestion-guided searching, deep linking, social sharing, and other merchandising features.

Google is releasing the initial version of Android Market on the Web in English and will be extending it to other languages in the weeks ahead.

Android Developers Blog

Google Hotpot: Discover Places You Like

Android 3.0, Honeycomb Designed to Drive Tablets

Honeycomb is the next version of the Android platform, designed from the ground up for devices with larger screen sizes, particularly tablets.

Honeycomb will feature a brand new, truly virtual and holographic user interface, refined multi-tasking, elegant notifications, access to over 100,000 apps on Android Market, home screen customization with a new 3D experience and redesigned widgets that are richer and more interactive, Google says.

The web browser includes tabbed browsing, form auto-fill, syncing with Google Chrome bookmarks, and incognito mode for private browsing.

A Sneak Peek of Android 3.0, Honeycomb - Official Google Mobile Blog