35% of U.S. Mobile Subs Downloaded Apps in January 2011

In January 2011, 68 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers used text messaging on their mobile device, while browsers were used by 37 percent of subscribers (up 0.8 percentage points). Some 35 percent of subscribers downloaded applications, an increase of 1.6 percentage points. Accessing of social networking sites or blogs increased 1.1 percentage points, representing 25.3 percent of mobile subscribers. Playing games represented 23.7 percent of the mobile audience, while listening to music represented 16.5 percent (up 1.1 percentage points).

comScore Reports January 2011 U.S. Mobile Subscriber Market Share - comScore

"Go To Meeting" for Skype

Skype has announced a strategic partnership with Citrix, adding Citrix's "GoToMeeting" capabilities to the Skype Enterprise desktop experience.

Skype - Business blog - An Exciting Keynote for Skype at Enterprise Connect and News with Citrix

Is Best Buy Planning To Give iPads To All Its Sales Associates? - Elizabeth Woyke - Mobilized - Forbes

Best Buy reportedly is considering arming all its on-floor sales associates with iPads, at least in part to level the playing field with respect to smartphone and tablet-armed shoppers. The devices would allow sales personnel to provide information and possibly to help speed actual checkout operations.

Is Best Buy Planning To Give iPads To All Its Sales Associates? - Elizabeth Woyke - Mobilized - Forbes

1% of Social Media Users Create All the Content

The overwhlelming majority of social media users--90 percent--are "lurkers." They visit, they read and watch, but they don't post or comment. "Contributors" or "commenters" represent nine percent of social media visitors. "Creators" are the one percent of social media users who actually create content.

read more here

180 Million Tablets to be Sold in 2014?

There are just over 20 million tablets in use in early 2011, but sales are ramping so fast that some predict as many as 180 million will be sold in 2014.

Android Tablets Will Prevail Against iPads By 2014 | eWEEK Europe UK

Youth a Segment, or Lead Indicator?

Marketers often recommend segmentation of potential customer bases, for logical reasons. There nearly always are distinct preferences among generations, age and other "groups."

Beyond that, one might argue that technology behaviors now color traditional segmentation in new ways that make "youth" something more than an age segment.

"Young people have a pattern of discovering new methods, after which older generations later catch on and outnumber them," says Graham Brown, cofounder and partner of research firm Mobile Youth.

In that sense, "youth" segments simply are the "lead adopters" of new behaviors enabled by technology, that nevertheless become "typical" behaviors for people in every age demographic. Seen in that light, one might argue it is important to know technology-enabled behavior in the "youth" segment because it will spread, often quickly, to all the other age segments rather quickly.

Banks shouldn't act 'cool' with Gen Y consumers - Business - News

Will 99% of New TV Channels Be Hosted on YouTube?

"I think 995 of the next 1,000 TV channels will be created on YouTube," said Hunter Walk, YouTube's director of product management.

"The Web enables you to build the kinds of channels that wouldn't have made sense for cable, in the same way cable enabled you to build content that wouldn't have made sense for broadcast," said YouTube CEO Salar Kamangar. "We want to enable the next-generation MTV, the next-generation CNNs."

In YouTube, Google finds a nimble model to compete with Facebook - San Jose Mercury News

Texas Energy Network Works 4G Energy Niche

Texas Energy Network has gone live with its first 4G tower site in the Andrews County, Texas, the first of many TEN expects to build as it expands its wireless communications network dedicated to the oil and gas industry. At first blush, you might wonder why. Isn't the wireless space, including mobile broadband, rather well supplied? Well, yes and no. Lots of rural areas--including many aeras where energy companies operate--are in fact not well supplied with fast broadband of any sort, wireless or fixed.

That's a bit of a historical legacy: mobile service up until recently was a service used by people who needed to communicate with other people. Only recently has the notion of machine-to-machine communications arisen as a key growth area for mobile service providers.

"The oil field is a barren place, quite remote," says Greg Casey, Texas Energy Network CEO. There are lots of sensors in operation, and until now, most have been narrowband devices, using a variety of different networks for transport. TEN plans to use leased 4G spectrum to create a single wireless backhaul supporting all requirements of the telemetry, seismic data, pressure data that energy firms typically have to manage.

The advantages, aside from simplicity, include lots more bandwidth. Traditionally, energy company sensor networks have been forced to use networks supporting kilobytes, and now will have access to megabytes. Typically, that leads to creation of new apps, and oil service applications should not prove to be an exception to the rule.

In part, TEN is an outsourcing play. In the past, energy companies, like many other enterprises, have built their own networks. TEN proposes to offload those chores, provide enhanced utility, and cut costs. You might wonder how TEN sources its 4G spectrum. As it turns out, there typically is a third player, even in markets lead by AT&T or Verizon Wireless. Quite often, that spectrum is not yet in commercial use, or there is spare capacity (rural areas are less dense, and therefore have less loading of any available network, compared to urban networks).

For the most part, though, "we are going places where AT&T and Verizon do not go," says Casey. "We are off the beaten path, in the desert and so forth.

"TEN Office" provides a wireless broadband solution with service level agreements of a minimum of 1Mbps of symmetrical bandwidth.

"TEN SCADA" and "SCADA Plus" are designed for the collection of remote telemetry from the field. They are engineered and priced to be deployed in large numbers in remote areas lacking wireline, cellular or electricity. This turnkey communications solution provides an Ethernet and/or RS232 handoff and is designed for low bandwidth applications.

"TEN Alarm" offers the highest-possible SLAs  regarding packet priority and guaranteed bit rate for alarm data, and is offered in a fully-redundant configuration.

"TEN Secure" provides secure, remote monitoring capabilities of field assets that may be prone to trespass, theft, vandalism or require validated entry and remote logging of site access.

"TEN Mobile" is designed to support the communication needs of mobile remote field personnel and provides mobile wireless broadband services that turn any vehicle into a mobile Wi-Fi Hot Spot.

SEO Is No Longer A Viable Marketing Strategy For Startups

"I talk to lots of startups and almost none that I know of post-2008 have gained significant traction through SEO," says Hunch co-founder Chris Dixon. The problem includes ad-cluttered pages and inferior user experience, he says.

SEO Is No Longer A Viable Marketing Strategy For Startups

iPad 2 Impact on Evolving Media, Technology and Social App Trends

Analysts explore iPad 2 and its impact on the evolving media, technology and social application space.

China 4G Capex to Double in 2011

China’s investment in Long Term Evolution is set to double in 2011 as the country’s major telecom carriers move to upgrade services, according to new IHS iSuppli research.

Although capital expenditures in China for LTE now are at miniscule levels, spending by the carriers will rise rapidly during the years to come. Capital spending for LTE in 2011 is projected this year to reach $100 million, double the $50 million of 2010. It then will triple in size to $300 million next year, jump to $600 million the year after and hit $1.3 billion by 2014.



http://www.isuppli.com/China-Electronics-Supply-Chain/MarketWatch/Pages/China-Carriers-to-Double-4G-Capital-Expenditures-in-2011.aspx

28% of Mobile Users Have Scanned a QR Code

So is the Cover the Best Thing about iPad 2?

Viewsonic Tablet Runs both Android and Windows

Viewsonic’s ViewPad 10 is the first tablet to support Microsoft Inc.’s Windows 7 and Google’s Android 1.6 platforms, and it includes two USB ports.

DirecTV poised to launch premium video-on-demand as theater executives voice outrage [Updated] | Company Town | Los Angeles Times

DirecTV is in advanced talks to be Hollywood's first partner for early video-on-demand, The Los Angeles Times reports. DirecTV would likely be the first distributor to launch so-called premium VOD, through which consumers would pay about $30 to rent a movie using Internet delivery or cable 60 days after it opened in theaters and at least a month before it would become available on DVD.

DirecTV is looking to introduce its product by the end of June 2011 with movies from 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures and Warner Bros. Walt Disney Pictures is also in talks to join the initiative, while Paramount Pictures and Universal Pictures are not expected to participate initially.

The experiment obviously rankles movie theater operators, as the expedited release window will be seen as devaluing theatrical exhibition. In the existing release window, new releases are not available for DVD window until about 90 to 120 days after the end of theatrical run. The new proposed window might have some films being released to the new premium VOD window as early as a month to six weeks after the end of theatrical exhibition.

It's pretty obvious why the studios are willing to take a chance on disrupting their current release window structure. DVD sales have been a huge revenue contributor over the last decade. But that revenue contribution is eroding. Annual DVD revenues are down 30 percent from their peak in 2004, according to Adams Media Research. See http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/26/business/26steal.html.

DirecTV poised to launch premium video-on-demand as theater executives voice outrage [Updated] | Company Town | Los Angeles Times: