Android Market and Honeycomb

Most purchases, half of transactions to be mobile by 2015, Google says

"Two thirds of all purchases and half of transactions will occur on mobile devices by 2015," Google executives say. Consumer coupons will also transition from their current rate of 80 percent push to 80 percent opt-in four years from now, said David Shapiro, Google's director of small business marketing.

Consumers will also digest 80 percent of all visual content through digital by 2015, he added. Shapiro said 1.9 billion people globally were active on the Internet by the end of last year, while 5 billion people were mobile subscribers and more than 800 exabytes of digital information were created. Google predicted that 5 billion people will be active on the Web by 2020, while 10 billion people will be mobile subscribers, and 53 zettabytes of digital information will have been created.

“Mobile will be bigger than desktop in five years,” Shapiro added. “Mobile searches grew five times in the last two years."

Most purchases, half of transactions to be mobile by 2015: Google - Direct Marketing News

Smartphone Sales Grew 72 Percent in 2010

Worldwide mobile device sales to end users totaled 1.6 billion units in 2010, a 31.8 percent increase from 2009, according to Gartner. Smartphone sales to end users were up 72.1 percent from 2009 and accounted for 19 percent of total mobile communications device sales in 2010.

"Strong smartphone sales in the fourth quarter of 2010 pushed Apple and Research In Motion (RIM) up in our 2010 worldwide ranking of mobile device manufacturers to the No. 5 and No. 4 positions, respectively, displacing Sony Ericsson and Motorola,' said Carolina Milanesi, research vice president at Gartner. "Nokia and LG saw their market share erode in 2010 as they came under increasing pressure to refine their smartphone strategies."

Gartner Says Worldwide Mobile Device Sales to End Users Reached 1.6 Billion Units in 2010; Smartphone Sales Grew 72 Percent in 2010

Wi-Fi Will Never Be a Replacement for Mobile Networks

One occasionally will still hear communications industry observers bemoaning or hoping for a future where Wi-Fi is both ubiquitous, affordable and interoperable, so users will not need to buy mobile services. One hears that a lot less than 10 years ago, but the sentiment still is expressed now and then.

The idea of seamless connectivity between Wi-Fi networks on the move is not even a possibility, panelists recently said at NetEvents. In large part, that is because the superficial similarities between mobile broadband networks and local Wi-Fi networks masks the fundamental difference. Mobile networks, though often used by stationary users, are intentionally designed to support session hand-off over wide areas.

Wi-Fi networks are simply wireless tails to a fixed connection. The two types of networks appear similar on the surface. They are completely different at the logical level.

Wi-Fi will never be seamless, experts claim

MasterCard Creates Payments API

The new MasterCard "Payments API," which suggests MasterCard sees creation of a developer ecosystem as crucial for its future payments efforts, will allow developers to create web and mobile applications that include the processing of credit card transactions around the world on the MasterCard network.

Developers can use the service to find their users deals and discounts. The Offers API also provides the ability to construct a more detailed search for an offer. For example, you can filter offers by category or display offers near a certain location or point on the map.

Ambitious MasterCard Includes Payments in Beta APIs

Mobile Users Increase Mobile Shopping, Mobile Payments

More mobile and Internet users are using existing online accounts to buy things, uploading credit card information to the phone to make purchases, using third-party accounts such as PayPal or Obopay to make purchases. Perhaps significantly, the percentage using their mobiles to access bank account information on the phone to make purchases from online retailers did not grow.

Yankee Group :: Research Report

Mobile Couponing Grew in 2010

Consumer use of mobile coupons has shifted radically from 2009 to 2010, say researchers at the Yankee Group. In 2009, just eight percent of respondents who expressed interest in mobile coupons using text messaging or multimedia message service had actually used a service such as Groupon.

Click on image for a larger view.

This figure more than doubled for 2010, to 19 percent of subscribers. Similarly, applications facilitating the real-time scanning of images or bar codes to receive more information or to compare prices increased in usage from five percent of consumers with an interest in mobile coupons in 2009 to 14 percent in 2010.

Yankee Group :: Research Report

Bill to Mobile Isn't That Popular with Consumers

Consumers do not seem especially anxious to make payments in a retail environment while adding those transactions to a monthly wireless bill.

This is not good news for mobile operators, which are universally struggling with how they will insert themselves into the well-established payments value chain, researchers at the Yankee Group say.

Yankee Group

Japanese and Korean Telcos Announce NFC Roaming

Japan’s biggest mobile operator, NTT DoCoMo, has agreed with Korea’s second-largest telco, KT Corp., to develop cross-border payment, ticketing and other services using standard NFC.

In the announcement, DoCoMo said that these are NFC services that the two telcos will 'launch in their respective markets of Japan and South Korea from around the end of 2012.

Data from the U.S. market is scanty, as few consumers yet have had a chance to use NFC or other mobile payment applications and services.

Researchers at the Yankee Group note that 2010 was the first year tests were run. Click on image for a larger view.

Japanese and Korean Telcos Announce NFC Roaming–Rollouts Expected

Sprint Kyocera Echo Launched

See segments two and three here: http://www.androidcentral.com/sprint-kyocera-echo-presentation

AT&T Introduces Unlimited Calling to any U.S. Mobile

AT&T has introduced unlimited mobile calling to any mobile number in America. "Unlimited Mobile to Any Mobile" is available to AT&T customers with an unlimited messaging plan and a qualifying voice plan, basically those voice plans that include unlimited messaging.

Existing customers with an unlimited messaging plan can activate "Mobile to Any Mobile" by visiting www.att.com/anymobile. The URL will be available beginning Thursday, Feb. 10, 2011.

It is likely no accident that the new offer becomes active on the day Verizon Wireless starts officially selling the Apple iPhone.

How Digital Media Might Affect Education Business

A look at how mobiles and e-book readers might affect the education business.

http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/HR2011.pdf

Nokia Admits Difficulties

"The first iPhone shipped in 2007, and we still don't have a product that is close to their experience," says Nokia CEO Stephen Elop. "Android came on the scene just over two years ago, and this week they took our leadership position in smartphone volumes. Unbelievable."

"There is intense heat coming from our competitors, more rapidly than we ever expected," Elop says. "Apple disrupted the market by redefining the smartphone and attracting developers to a closed, but very powerful ecosystem. They changed the game, and today, Apple owns the high-end range."

Also, "Google has become a gravitational force, drawing much of the industry's innovation to its core."

At the same time, "Symbian is proving to be an increasingly difficult environment in which to develop to meet the continuously expanding consumer requirements."

"Our competitors aren't taking our market share with devices; they are taking our market share with an entire ecosystem."

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop rallies troops in brutally honest 'burning platform' memo?

Visa to Buy Online Commerce Platform

Visa is buying online payments company PlaySpan Inc for $190 million, expanding Visa's its e-commerce and mobile payments capabilities.

Privately-held PlaySpan processes transactions for online games and virtual goods sold on social networking websites. It is based in Santa Clara, California, and backed by several venture funds, including Easton Capital, Menlo Ventures, TimeWarner Investments, Vodafone Ventures and GE Asset Management.

Visa to buy PlaySpan for $190 mln | Reuters

Card Issuers Face $25 Billion Hit, Implications for Mobile Payments

New credit card and debit card regulations could cost U.S. card issuers up to $25 billion a year in lost revenue, according to a study from Boston Consulting Group. That has implications for mobile payments providers who expect to build business models built on payment fees.

For starters, the business, though lucrative, will be smaller than it has been in the past. Also, to the extent that the market leaders create the price umbrella under which all other contestants must operate, lower fees mean discounts offered by would-be competitors also must be lower.

The other issue is that there has been pressure in the retail payments business for other reasons. Since 2008, payment revenues have fallen about four percent annually, despite volume growth. Revenues are expected by BCG to grow about six percent, but remain the peak 2007 level of $162 billion globally. Many will note that the "real money" in payments is in "interchange" fees, the "percentage of transaction" revenues that processors earn.

Credit card issuer revenue was down about 18 percent in 2010. And the sword of Damocles hanging over the industry is the threat of further action to reduce the key interchange revenue stream. 

The other approach is simply to price the upstart services higher than currently imposed by the major card issuers, but then the value issue immediately becomes more obvious. What incentive will a retailer have to switch if transaction costs actually are higher? There are answers, but nearly all the answers have to do with additional value beyond transaction costs.

The consulting group said various changes from the CARD Act, the Durbin amendment and Regulation E will take away 29 percent of the revenue that U.S. issuers, mostly retail banks, collect from retail card transactions. Moreover, the new rules may open the door for more regulations, including possible changes to credit cards.

The consultants said that, in response, issuers will transform the card industry, selling more products to each consumer and moving further into mobile banking. In large part, that is because the credit card portion of the business has reached an inflection point, according to BCG.

In response, banks will have to shift strategies, spending more time creating value around mobile location, customer features such as real-time alerts, location, remote deposit, product reviews, loyalty and other features possible when users can take advantage of smartphone capabilities. See http://www.bcg.com/documents/file71194.pdf

Study Says Card Issuers Face $25 Billion Hit - WSJ.com (subscription required)