Thursday, February 24, 2011

U.S. Mobile Banking Population Doubles

U.S. mobile banking adoption has experienced rapid growth in the past three years, more than doubling from five percent of online adults in 2007 to 12 percent in the second quarter of 2010.

By 2015, Forrester predicts that one in five U.S. adults will be using mobile banking. Much of that activity will be "informational," with consumers checking balances, for example.

Apple to launch iPad 2, Sources Say

Apple is poised to launch the second-generation of its popular iPad mobile tablet device on March 2, 2011, according to reports. The iPad 2 is said to be thinner, lighter, pack more memory and use a faster processor.

Motorola Xoom Launch

Tablets Displacing Smartphones and Netbooks in Enterprise Market?

The global tablet market was the hardware segment that had the highest growth rates in 2010, according to Frost & Sullivan. Almost 100 new tablets were launched in 2011, but Apple's iPad sold 18.3 million tablets in 2010, about 90 percent of all such devices sold globally.

In Brazil, about five percent of tablets were purchased by business enterprises. But Frost & Sullivan projects 30 percent of sales will be by businesses in 2015. The pioneer verticals in the use of the tablets are pharmaceutical, construction and consumer goods industries.

The logical question is whether tablets might, at least for a time, become the device that accounts for the bulk of new enterprise device buying, not smartphones or netbooks or other PC devices.

Foursquare Looks at Content to Enrich Experience

Multi-OS Mobile App Development Platform Kinoma

With some signs of developing conflict between app developers and app stores, some developers may want to hedge their bets by developing once, for multiple platforms, just in case, Kinoma claims to provide that environment.

Google Pulls Visual VoiceMail, In-App Payments the Reason?

Google has pulled the Visual VoiceMail app from Android Market, citing a violation of the developer payment rules.

Visual VoiceMail believes the reason is that the app does not for process in-app payments through Google Checkout.

What Makes for a Great Mobile App?

Mobile Internet Used Daily by 20% of Americans

Some 20 percent of U.S. mobile phone owners use the mobile Internet every day, according to the 2011 Mobile Internet Attitudes Report from Antenna Software.

The second annual survey conducted by YouGov measured the attitudes, preferences and behaviors of adult consumers in the United States and United Kingdom. Nearly half of respondents also said they would use the mobile Internet each day to stay in touch with friends through instant messaging (21 percent in the UK and 22 percent in the US) and social networking (27 percent).

Measuring Social Media Effectiveness

Roku as "Cable TV Disrupter"

Low to Negative Returns on Communications Network Investment?

Bernstein analyst Craig Moffett argues that, over the last decade, the returns on invested capital in communications networks in U.S. markets have been anemic, at best. He argues that economic value creation has been, in aggregate, barely positive.

Wireline networks have the weakest returns on invested capital with a 1.5 percent gain over the last decade. Wireless networks had a meager return of 0.3 percent. Cable garnered a 2.5 percent return. Satellite networks had the best return on invested capital at 5.5 percent. Others stocks --AT&T, Comcast, Dish, Sprint and Verizon -- have negative returns, he argues.

59 Percent of Universal Service Funds Used for 'Overhead?

The universal service program in the United States, despite its good intentions, is ineffective, inefficient, and inequitable, said Scott Wallsten , research vice president and senior fellow at the Technology Policy Institute.

Analyzing data submitted by about 1,400 recipients of high-cost subsidies from 1998 to 2008, Wallsten found that of each dollar distributed to recipient firms, about 59 cents goes to “general and administrative expenses” overhead such as planning, government relations, and personnel, rather than to making telephone services more affordable.

13 Percent of Immigrant Americans Own Tablets

Some 13 percent of immigrant Americans already own a tablet, representing approximately five million users, a study by Rebtel has found. The results were based on 1,340 responses from immigrants residing in the United States, which represent a consumer segment of approximately 38 million consumers. By way of comparison, Nielsen says only four percent of all Americans own a tablet.

French Americans claim the highest percentage of tablet owners (17 percent), followed by Mexican-Americans (15 percent), Nigerian-Americans, and Ghana-Americans at 14 percent respectively rounded out by Ethiopian-Americans at eight percent and Cuban-Americans at seven percent.

LightSquared Might Lease Sprint Facilities

LightSquared is in discussions to use Sprint Nextel Corp.’s cell sites and equipment to help build out its network, Businessweek reports.

The deal would allow LightSquared to roll out its network more quickly and at lower cost, but also could have ramifications for Clearwire. At least in principle, Sprint itself could use LightSquared facilities for Long Term Evolution traffic, if Sprint decides to add LTE as an air interface in the future (perhaps it is a foregone conclusion that Sprint will formally launch an LTE network, beginning sometime later in 2011 or early 2012).

Is Private Equity "Good" for the Housing Market?

Even many who support allowing market forces to work might question whether private equity involvement in the U.S. housing market “has bee...