More Activity on Sharing of User Data with 3rd Parties

U.S. Sensators John McCain and John Kerry plan to introduce an "online privacy bill of rights" that will give consumers the right to limit how their usage and personal data can be shared with third parties.

The Kerry-McCain bill would cover data ranging from names and addresses to fingerprints and unique IDs assigned to individuals' cellphones or computers.

It would also establish a program to certify companies with high privacy standards. Those companies would be allowed to sell personal data to outsiders without seeking permission in each instance.

Mr. McCain, an Arizona Republican, and Mr. Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat, are backing a bill that would require companies to seek a person's permission to share data about him with outsiders. It would also give people the right to see the data collected on them. The bill is expected to be introduced ahead of a Senate Commerce Committee hearing next Wednesday on online privacy.

Proposed Privacy Bill Would Put Curbs on Data Gathering - WSJ.com (subscription required)

83% of PayPal Merchants Say Sales Have Increased

Among online merchants who are able to track the transactions, sales have increased an average of 18 percent since adding PayPal’s Express Checkout service. Eight in ten (83 percent) merchants have noticed a bump in sales, while just 17 percent say they haven’t noticed an increase.

Eight in ten (84 percent) of those who noticed an increase in sales say it happened within the first 3 months after offering PayPal. Others say it took four to six months (eight percent) or longer (eight percent) before they noticed an increase in sales.

Since offering PayPal, merchants claim that 22 percent of their total revenue comes from PayPal’s Express Checkout. In fact, 25 percent of revenue coming from new customers is channeled through PayPal’s Express Checkout, suggesting that this payment method is helping to secure new business as well as retain existing clients.

The study was conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs.

Eight in Ten (83%) PayPal Merchants Say Sales Have Increased Since Offering Popular Payment Method | Ipsos

Most Smartphone Users Experience Problems, Survey Finds

 Eighty six percent of smartphone users in the United States reported experiencing problems while using multimedia applications on their mobile phone.

In the United Kingdom, 86 percent also reported experiencing issues, and in Germany, 77 percent reported experiencing issues.

More than 75 percent of U.S. smartphone users who perform Internet searches, download data, use other applications, search for or watch videos, and make updates via social networking sites reported having issues.

More than 60 percent of U.K. smartphone users overall reported having issues with Internet searches, texting and using other applications.

read more here

Verifone Says Square Isn't Secure

Sprint, Lightsquared Partners On LTE Build?

There is some possibility that Lightsquared will work with Sprint to build out the Lightsquared cell site network. Broadband Reports says the original terrestrial network plan, which has Nokia Siemens Networks handling the construction, now is replaced, and that other vendors, namely Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson AB and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. will be doing the work.

That would suggest Lightsquared is working with Sprint, since those same vendors are revamping Sprint's network.

But Nokia Siemens Networks has suggested the rumor is perhaps untrue, or perhaps is premature. "We continue to work hard with LightSquared to help it ready its first markets and meet its commitments to customers and to other stakeholders," an NSN spokesman said, according to Light Reading.

That could be read several ways. It is possible NSN continues to work only because it hasn't been notified of a change, that it is continues to work until an end point it already knows about, or that the story about the switch is simply untrue. The statement does not read like a categorical denial, though, does it?

http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=205448&f_src=lightreading_gnews

Source: Sprint, Lightsquared Partners On LTE Build - Lightsquared Meetings Illuminate Sprint 'Project Freedom' | DSLReports.com, ISP Information

New in Gmail Labs: Smart Labels

Google is launching a new feature in Gmail Labs called "Smart Labels," which helps users classify and organize their email. Once it is turned on from the "Labs" tab in "Settings," Smart Labels automatically categorizes incoming "Bulk," "Notification" and "Forum" messages, and labels them as such.

“Bulk” mail includes any kind of mass mailing (such as newsletters and promotional email) and gets filtered out of your inbox by default (where you can easily read it later), “Notifications” are messages sent to you directly (like account statements and receipts), and email from group mailing lists gets labeled as “Forums.”"

New in Gmail Labs: Smart Labels - Official Gmail Blog

PayPal Talks About Convergence of Social Networking, Mobility and Local Activities

Live video chat by Ustream

Zite, Personalized Content on iPad

Zite: Personalized Magazine for iPad from zite.com on Vimeo.

Cloud Affects the Whole Ecosystem, and Then Some

"Cloud services...will touch every aspect of the software ecosystem, be it developers, vendors, buyers, users, service providers, and the channel," IDC says. That also means a shift to cloud-based computing is going to affect other ecosystems as well, particularly the communications ecosystem, since remote computing obviously increases the wide area communications and networking intensity of all computing applications.

"The cloud has moved from being on the periphery of both IT buyers and IT vendors to being a core issue for both parties," said David Bradshaw, IDC research manager. "IT buyers are looking for ways for cloud to increase agility while reducing cost, while many IT vendors, not least the software vendors, are scrambling to get their cloud offerings into the market before it is too late."

IDC - Press Release - prDK22728011:

Android Grows 1580% in Western Europe in 4Q 2010

Shipments of smartphones in Western Europe in the fourth quarter of 2010 increased to 25.6 million units, 99 percent higher than in the fourth quarter of 2009. Feature phone shipments declined to 33.1 million units, down 25 percent from the same quarter of 2009.

Android grew 1,580 percent year-over-year to 7.9 million units, up from 470 thousand units a year ago. The Apple iOS increased 66 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010 from the same quarter of 2009.

"The Western European mobile phone market will be dominated by smartphones, and Android will be the king of the hill," said Francisco Jeronimo, European mobile devices research manager, IDC. "

Android surged from four percent to 31 percent market share in less than a year to become the market leader in the fourth quarter of 2010 and the fastest growing operating system ever.

IDC estimates at that Android will grow at a 37 percent compound annual growth rate between 2010 and 2015 in Western Europe, overtaking the overall market growth in the period and that of its direct competitor, the iOS from Apple.

IDC - Press Release - prUK22729011

Secondary Market for Groupon Coupons Emerges

Sites like DealsGoRound, CoupRecoup and Lifesta give consumers a place to sell Groupon and other coupons. The emergence of a secondary market for social shopping instruments shows just how much activity now occurs.

Lifesta charges sellers 99 cents plus 8 percent of the sale price to sell a coupon. DealsGoRound levies a flat 10 percent of the sale price and CoupRecoup is free to use. CoupRecoup cofounder Aren Sandersen said the site is not charging, but is “looking to find revenue options at the end of this year.’’

Market for ‘Groupon remorse’ allows users to unload coupons - The Boston Globe

Cookies, Warnings as Competitive Disadvantages

European Union websites, starting on May 25, 2011, will have to ask permission to install "cookies" on user machines. Too late, it seems, website operators are discovering that they likely are going to face greater end user refusal, and consequently less ability to monetize user engagement, compared to similar and competing sites that do not have to comply with the EU rules.

'If we are suddenly required to put big pop-up boxes warning people that they are going to be tracked, even if they are for benign reasons, the user won't read the warning and will just go to a US site that does not have that same warning," says Nick Halstead of Mediasift.

"Do Not Track" is being considered in the United States as well. But there are unintended consequences, as EU websites apparently are about to discover.

BBC - dot.Rory: Cookie madness or consumer protection?:

Another Step Towards "Personalized Media"

Facebook Online Video is a Commerce Play

The video itself is arguably less important than providing traction for Facebook Credits, Facebook's way of monetizing sales of products using the payment method.

U.S. Mobile Market Share Shifts Since 2006 Drive Consolidation Talk

Though no early deal likely is possible, in part because Sprint and T-Mobile USA do not appear to agree about the respective valuation of their firms, you can see why the discussions apparently are "on again," after having been rumored in the past.

It isn't simply that AT&T and Verizon Wireless are substantially bigger than Sprint and T-Mobile USA, it is that recently the two bigger firms have accelerated away from the two smaller companies, in terms of subscriber growth. In the mobile business, market share has been directly related to profitability, not just gross revenue.