Sprint Adds Kyocera Echo,with 2 Screens

Sprint Nextel Corp. unveiled a smartphone late Monday that includes a twin set of touch screens that give the device a pseudo-tablet design. That approach might appear even on some PCs, as the touch interface gains more traction.

The device, called the Echo and made by the U.S. unit of Kyocera Corp., features two 3.5-inch touch screens that can be stacked side by side. It will be available in the spring for $199.99.

Users can accomplish multiple tasks on the two screens, or drag items from one screen to the other. The phone, which runs on Google Inc.'s Android software, uses a pivot hinge that allows one screen to be tucked under the other, transforming it into a more conventional touch-screen phone.

Sprint Adds Kyocera Echo, a Two-Screen Smartphone - WSJ.com (subscription required)

Death of Apps?

Not everybody believes mobile apps are the future. "Apps are going to die away in favor of simple mobile websites," says Mark Ferdman, chief executive of Pushkart, a start-up in the mobile coupon and group buying business. "Steve Jobs has done a great job of creating a marketplace that is unnecessary."

That might be a minority view at the moment, though.

Reporter's Notebook: Entrepreneurs Debate Death of Apps - WSJ.com (subscription required)

Dodd-Frank Bill Poses Issues for Mobile and Most Other Payment Providers

The new Dodd-Frank bank regulations impose a transaction fee cap of 12 cents per transaction. If the rules stand, there are business implications for mobile payments firms that promise "lower transaction costs." The typical assumption is that a new provider can provide the retailer with a lower transaction cost, but that might not be the case.

Square, whose one-inch-square card swipe device attaches to an iPhone, iPad, or Android device, charges 2.75 percent plus 15 cents for each swiped transaction; typed-in transactions cost slightly more. A standard debit card transaction might cost less, at 1.75 percent.

Sage Mobile Payments offers a credit card reader that plugs into the audio jack of a smartphone. The company plans to charge customers a set-up fee and then a monthly fee starting at $10.95, but no transaction fees.

Intuit's GoPayment, which works with iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and BlackBerry devices and will be one of the first mobile payment apps available on Android 3.0-based tablets, provides a free card reader but charges 15 cents per transaction along with 2.7 percent per swiped transaction or 3.7 percent per keyed transaction for low volumes; businesses that process more than $1,000 a month pay $12.95 per month and 30 cents per transaction as well as 1.7 percent for swiped transactions, 2.7 percent per keyed transaction.

If new providers cannot offer lower fees, there will have to be some other value driver.

Can Square, Intuit and Other Mobile Payment Providers Compete With A 12-Cent Debit Card Transaction? - Bank Systems & Technology

Apple's New iPad in Production

The new Apple iPad is coming, and will be thinner and lighter than the first model, the Wall Street Journal reports. It will have at least one camera on the front of the device for features like video-conferencing, but the resolution of the display will be similar to the first iPad. It will also have more memory and a more powerful graphics processor.

The new iPad will be available from AT&T and Verizon Wireless, but not Sprint or T-Mobile USA.

Apple's New iPad in Production - WSJ.com (subscription required)

Google Steps Up Mobile Ad Sales Efforts

Google is ramping up its efforts in mobile advertising sales efforts. Apparently, sales forces are trying to get existing advertising clients to extend their campaigns to mobile devices.

'I don't see any reason why mobile advertising won't be relevant to every single advertiser,' said Karim Temsamani, Google's head of mobile advertising."

Google Steps Up Mobile Advertising Business - Mobiledia

Mozilla Firefox 4 Beta Adds "Do Not Track"

The latest Firefox 4 Beta includes a “Do Not Track” privacy feature to provide more control over online behavioral tracking.

Mozilla Firefox 4 Beta, now including “Do Not Track” capabilities | The Mozilla Blog

Zong Integrated with Android

Mobile Payment Trial Finds More Transactions, Higher Average Purchase Value

A mobile payments trial including more than 1,500 customers of both mobile network operator Telefónica and La Caixa bank, using Samsung S5230 NFC phones loaded with la Caixa Visa cards, with 500 participating merchants, has found that customers used the Visa cards stored on their NFC phones to carry out 30 percent more transactions, with a 23 percent increase in the average purchase value, than they had with their traditional plastic cards.

Users mostly made micro-payments with their phones: 60 percent of the purchases were for amounts equal to or less than €20. Some 75 percent of transactions took place during the working week.

Consumers made the largest number of purchases at supermarkets (57 percent) and restaurants (14 percent).

The average age of customers using their mobile phone to pay for their purchases was 46. Some 90 percent of users said they would continue to use their mobile phone for payments.

Read more here.

70% of Sprint’s Devices to be Android-Based

Sprint’s Fared Adib, who replaced Kevin Packingham, Sprint VP, says that 70 percent of Sprint devices would also be running Android in 2011. That's what a company does when it cannot sell the Apple iPhone. It worked for Verizon, and AT&T, without iPhone exclusivity, plans to ramp up Android device sales as well.

70% of Sprint’s Devices to be Android-Based, Bigger 4G Push in 2011

Social Sign-In Works

Allowing online consumers to conduct social sign-in for an e-commerce site rather than create a new user account can produce higher levels of spending and customer satisifaction, according to a new survey from social user management platform provider Janrain and Blue Research.

Data from “Importance of Identity Solutions” indicates that during the 2010 holiday season, 21 percent of those who consider social sign-in desirable (fans) expected to spend more than in 2009, compared to 16 percent of critics.

Survey data also shows that 75 percent of consumers will avoid creating a new user account for an e-commerce site, with 54 percent leaving the site or not returning, 17 percent going to a different site if possible, and four percent leaving or avoiding the site.

Furthermore, of consumers who have created a new user account, 76 percent admit to giving incomplete or incorrect information. About 55 percent of consumers agree they are more likely to return to a site that automatically recognizes them.

Social Sign-In Produces Profits

Multichannel Video Cord Cutting Still Rare?

You can get a robust argument about the future of multichannel video, but less argument about the current amount of such cord cutting. Some would argue the danger still remains low. The issue, just about anybody would argue, is what lies ahead.

The Multichannel Cord Cutting Mystery

Power Track for Monitoring Tweet Traffic

Many brands now monitor social media streams, such as provided by Twitter, to monitor conversations about their brands. But that can be a daunting task, if conducted manually. A new commercial Twitter product called Power Track, supplied by Gnip, automates those chores.

Power Track allows keyword-based filtering of the full Twitter stream, providing 100 percent coverage over a stream.

In addition to keyword based filters, Power Track also supports boolean operators and many of the custom operators allowed on Twitter Search API. With Power Track, companies and developers can define the precise slice of the Twitter stream they need and be confident they’re getting every Tweet, without worrying about volume restrictions.

Announcing Power Track – Full Firehose filtering for the Tweets you want

3% of SMBs Accept Mobile Payments

The SMB Group, a research firm focused on the small and medium size business market says three percent of SMBs accept mobile payments today and this number will increase to seven percent in the next 12 months, and 16 percent by the end of 2012.

Can Square, Intuit and Other Mobile Payment Providers Compete With A 12-Cent Debit Card Transaction? - Bank Systems & Technology

Android US Mobile Market Share Jumps 34%

While Google Android remained the second-most-popular US smartphone platform in the three-month-average ending December 2010 with 28.7 percent market share, that share improved about 34 percent from 21.4 percent in the three-month-average ending September 2010, according to new comScore data.

In contrast, number one RIM saw its market share drop 15 percent, from 37.3 percent to 31.6 percent. Apple’s share of the US smartphone platform market grew about three percent, from 24.3 percent to 25 percent.

Android US Mobile Market Share Jumps 34%

OpenX Upgrades Ad Platform

OpenX, a provider of digital advertising technology for Web publishers such as Groupon, has updated the ad technology platform in use by Groupon, Orange-France Telecom and Excite Japan.

OpenX ad-serving products are used by more than 200,000 websites in more than 100 countries, and serve more than 350 billion ads monthly.

OpenX Upgrades Ad Technology Platform