National Broadband Map is Released

You can play around with it at http://broadbandmap.gov/. Click on the image for a larger view.

One instructive bit of data is the typical downstream bandwidth of fixed networks compared to wireless networks.

At lower speeds one can make the argument that wireless is a substitute product, compared to fixed-line service, at speeds up to about 3 Mbps.

After that, fixed line service has a huge advantage. Of course, mobile bandwidth is increasing, with fourth generation networks. But fixed-line keeps growing as well, so the gap will remain.

Apple, Google Ramp Up Tablet Content Efforts

Apple and Google have stepped up their tablet content efforts. Google's new One Pass service allows consumers to use one account to pay for access to multiple publications on the Web and across a range of mobile devices.

The move comes one day after Apple laid out a subscription service for content sold through its iPhone and iPad devices, an offering that some publishers greeted skeptically. Apple would take a 30% cut on sales of subscriptions in its iTunes App Store.

http://online.wsj.com/public/page/news-tech-technology.html?mod=WSJ_topnav_tech_main#

U.S. is Now the 4G Laboratory

The rapid deployment of WiMAX, HSPA and LTE networks by six carriers makes the United States the most competitive 4G market in the world. This competition will drive innovative pricing plans, content and service policies, as well as provide a testing arena for the rest of the world.

The biggest questions revolve around the matter of new applications enabled by 4G. Mobile operators faced the same sorts of questions when they launched 3G services, and it took what in retrospect looks like an inordinately long time before the question was answered. Mobile web access has proven to be the big revenue difference between 3G and 2G. It might take a while before we can answer the same question about 4G.

Yankee Group :: Research ReportPublish Post

Apple’s 30% And Google’s 10% Fees Are Too High?

The most important outcome of this week’s emerging tussle between Apple and Google is that we are about to have an intense and financially difficult conversation about what a fair price is for delivering customers to developers, publishers, and producers.

Economically, this is one of the most critical issues that has to be resolved for the future of electronic content. Very soon, a majority of consumer experiences (that which we used to refer to as the media) will be digital. But not until the people who will develop those experiences have unambiguous, market-clearing rules for how they can expect to profit from those experiences.

The question comes down to this: Is 30% a fair price for Apple to charge?

Apple’s 30% And Google’s 10% Fees Are Too High | Forrester Blogs

Will Video Follow Music?

There are reasons to believe the video industry will not follow the music industry as the shift from physical media to online and mobile delivery occurs.

But it has to be worrisome that the great age of compact disc music resembles the great age of DVD sales and rentals.

Kaspersky Believes Android Will Get 80% Share

Computer security expert Eugene Kaspersky predicts Google's Android smart phone operating system will come to dominate the market, reducing Apple and BlackBerry to niche players. Android could wind up with 80 percent of the installed base, Kaspersky maintains.

Kaspersky argues there is only “one company, one operating system which follows Microsoft's strategy of the 1990s” when its Windows computer operating system became dominant on personal computers.

Of course, that view assumes the mobile computing market will mirror the desktop computing market, and many would contest that notion.

Kaspersky believes Android will dominate mobile market - The China Post

Google Search Gets More Social

Google is changing its search results algorithms to return more "social" results. To that end, Google will add new emphasis on results created by people that are a part of one's social networks.

Social search results will now be mixed throughout results based on their relevance (in the past they only appeared at the bottom). This means you’ll start seeing more from people like co-workers and friends, with annotations below the results they’ve shared or created.

Official Google Blog: An update to Google Social Search

"Last Year was Boring; Not 2011" at Mobile World Congress

Lots of new technology, devices and networks are part of the reason.

Debit Card Rule Will Harm Community Bank Customers

People who use debit cards issued by community banks will face higher costs and increased restrictions if a proposed Federal Reserve regulation goes into effect, according to a new survey of members of the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA).

The proposed Federal Reserve rule would implement the Durbin amendment of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. That amendment limits interchange fees to the tune of about $12 billion a year.

That means issuers will raise other fees, and impose new charges, to recoup the losses. An end to "free checking" is among the likely changes.



Survey: Fed Debit Card Rule Will Harm Community Bank Customers - pymnts.com

Are Handset Vendors Service Providers?

There used to be a clear division of labor in the mobile business. Handset vendors and device manufacturers focused on designing the best possible hardware, using specifications provided by the mobile network operators. More recently, software has emerged as a key differentiator. But the "service" was provided by the mobile operator.

But all that is changing. Handset vendors are trying to shift in the direction of providing an "experience" for their end users that necessarily has handsets providing some "services."

Think about Apple iTunes, App Store, MobileMe, iAd and FaceTime. All are services provided directly by Apple to end users, irrespective of network.

If you are thinking there is an inevitable shift of value and revenue towards the "over the top" services and apps delivered over broadband access services, you are right. That's what a loosely-coupled network, such as the Internet, implies. That is not to say fixed or mobile operators do not have a role in the value chain. They always will. The inevitable point, though, is that there is no reason why most of the newly-created value will remain in the "access" part of the ecosystem.

Mobile operators will have an easier time of this than fixed operators, but no access provider can hope to capture much more than a fraction of the new value and revenue created by application providers. That's what "layers" mean. Applications do not have to know much about the physical layer to "work." Nor will future application provider business models need to "know" much about the physical and lower layers of the software stack.

In the evolving ecosystem, even devices will become application providers.

Are Handset Vendors About to Become Service Providers? | VoIP SurvivorVoIP Survivor

Smartphones are Top U.S. Consumer Electronics Items in 2011

Consumers in the United States are more likely to buy a smartphone in 2011 than PCs, mobile phones, e-readers, media tablets and gaming products, according to a recent survey by Gartner.

U.S. smartphone sales are expected to grow from 67 million units in 2010 to 95 million units in 2011. By comparison, mobile PC shipments are forecast to total 50.9 million in the United States. in 2011, up from 45.6 million from 2010.

Gartner Survey Shows U.S. Consumers More Likely to Purchase a Smartphone Than Other Consumer Devices in 2011

How Twitter Pitches Potential Advertisers

"Social" Business Invoicing Using PayPal

Tradeshift declares invoicing social from venturecup.tv on Vimeo.

It's part of the broader trend of experimentation with mobile remittances, mobile payments, mobile banking, online payment, online banking, online money transfer and shopping.

"Why You Shouldn't Start a Company"

By serial entrepreneur Christian Lanng, Tradeshift CEO. 

Intel Moves Ahead with MeeGo, Despite Nokia Shift

Intel says it is moving ahead to commercialize MeeGo, the smartphone operating system Nokia recently abandoned in favor of Windows Mobile.