New HTC Sensation Offers Improved Video, Audio, Sense Interface

The new HTC "Sensation" will be available on the T-Mobile USA network, and is said to offer better video and audio quality, plus a new version of the "Sense" interface.

Over-the-Top Video Seen as a DVR, Accenture Survey Shows

Users seem to using much of their non-TV viewing, especially over-the-top, as a substitute for digital video recorders. That is to say, they see online video as a 'catch up' service that allows them to watch a program they have missed when it was shown on some linear TV service, according to a new Accenture survey.

When it comes to choosing their favorite Internet broadband features, the largest number of respondents (40 percent) said "catch-up TV," which enables them to watch content that they may have missed, provided the greatest value. Only 14 percent of respondents said the top feature was Web surfing on their televisions and only 11 percent desire interactive and social networking functionality on a TV.

Those findings might surprise some, who have suggested that large numbers of consumers want advanced new interactive features on TVs. The survey actually indicates what people want is the ability to watch programs on their own schedule, which arguably has been a high driver of end user value for decades, with VCRs being an early indicator.

The Accenture survey suggests that, by whatever means, viewers want to "watch what they want, when they want it," a trend that has been clear for decades.

Over-the-Top Video Seen as a DVR, Accenture Survey Shows

Apple Ready To Launch Video Service?

Apple is preparing to launch a video service taking on Netflix, argues Jefferies analyst Peter Misek. Misek says Apple will use its new massive data center in North Carolina to offer an advanced web-based video subscription product, and likely will use a revenue sharing model similar to the App Store, giving content owners 70 percent of the revenue.

Apple will likely prove a formidable competitor if it does so, for one reason. As it has done in the past, Apple is likely to use the service to sell more of its devices. As elsewhere these days, the most dangerous competitors are those who are willing to essentially give away or merchandise something of value because doing so helps a firm sell more of what it really make its money doing. In Apple's case, music, apps and video are just interesting bits of software that help it sell more devices.

That obviously is dangerous for other providers, including cable companies and Netflix, that make their money from video subscriptions.

HTC also is launching its own mobile video service, for the same reasons.

Apple Ready To Launch "Far Reaching" Video Service That Will Disrupt Traditional TV Business

LivingSocial & Next Jump Partner

Within the next few months, LivingSocial deals will be available through Next Jump's loyalty and rewards programs, currently in place with more than 90,000 networks such as MasterCard MarketPlace and Hilton HHonors. The deal gives LivingSocial reach of more than 100 million eligible users.

In addition to handpicked deals, customers will also have the opportunity to earn Next Jump "WOWPoints" for each offer.

LivingSocial & Next Jump Partner to Bring Daily Deals to More Than 100 Million Users - Yahoo! Finance

HTC to launch new mobile video service

HTC is launching its own mobile video on demand service, with Vodafone in Europe and T-Mobile USA.

The "HTC Watch" service enables users to watch videos from a library of the latest movies and TV shows without having to wait for the content to finish downloading. The service will offer the choice of renting or buying videos, and, if purchased, lets users watch them on up to five different HTC devices.

HTC to launch new video service phone on Vodafone | Reuters

LTE "As Good as Fixed Line"

Tests recently conducted by Epitiro on TeliaSonera Finland's Long Term Evolution network confirm what some hope, and some fear: “Based on our observations, this LTE rollout is directly comparable to high-speed fixed line services,” said Jon Curley, CTO, Epitiro. “Further, the low latency times measured indicate the Finnish LTE service is capable of handling the most demanding of web-based applications including VoIP, video streaming and even HD IPTV."

In other words, given enough bandwidth, an LTE network performs as well as a fixed-line network.

Thw rests recorded peak broadband download speeds of 48Mbps (36.1Mbps mean). Mean latency was just 23 milliseconds.

Epitiro simultaneously tested TeliaSonera’s legacy 3G network and found that LTE delivered mean download speeds nine times faster (3G=4.1Mbps) and its latency was five times better (3G=117 ms).

Analysis of IP calls to the United Kingdom, made using voice over LTE (VoLTE), found the quality to be ‘excellent’ on average; measured according to ITU-T PESQ MOS analysis algorithms, with only 1 call in 298 being of inferior quality.

http://www.epitiro.com/index.php?id=267

Starbucks by the Numbers

Don't you love "infographics?"
[Source: Online MBA]

Small Businesses Own 9 Million Tablets

Small businesses are using 8.9 million tablets, according to Techaisle, surveyed 1,356 small and medium businesses before making its estimate. Techaisle estimates that slightly over half of tablets have been purchased by consumers and used for business purposes.

Surprisingly, given the rather informal way smaller businesses handle information technology decisions, 48 percent of respondents said they already have policies in place regarding tablets.

The Apple iPad, given its early launch, dominates among very-small businesses but Android is making inroads among medium-sized organizations. About 64 percent of respondents say they use only a single operating system.

You might not be surprised that 71 percent of respondents are using tablets as a supplement to existing PCs, rather than as a replacement. Mid-sized organizations, on the other hand, report a greater willingness to replace PCs with tablets.

The survey suggests that lighter notebooks, with better battery life and instant-on capabilities will be seen as direct substitutes for tablets. That is an interesting finding. More than anything else, the instant-on feature, plus longer battery life and light weight seem to be key advantages that business owners and managers seem to clearly understand.

But security, lack of a keyboard and compatibility with the rest of existing software and hardware also seem to be key inhibitors to more-robust tablet adoption.

So far, as you also might expect, initial purchases have been for the use of owners and top managers.

read more here

How Much Will People Pay for Music?

A new survey by Nielsen suggests there is reasonable hope that some percentage of users will pay for online or mobile music. The bad news is that an overwhelming majority of consumers in every age category say they are not willing to do so, over the next three months.

It isn't clear whether the percentages would be meaningfully higher if the respondents were asked whether they would be paying for music any time during the next 12 months.

Especially among digital music’s early adopter 20 to 24 year old segment, the mobile phone is fast becoming the mainstay of how they stay connected to the world and how they listen to and increasingly buy music.

The good news is that nearly one in four (24 percent) of the 20 to 24 year old segment globally indicated they aer prepared to pay to download music videos on their mobile phone. According to the Nielsen survey, males aged between 20 to 24 clearly are the global early adopters for digital music consumption.

The bad news is that more than 75 percent of respondents claim they will not pay for any online or mobile music, streamed or downloaded, over the next three-month period. Up to this point, buyers have proven comfortable with a 99-cent price for a single song, extrapolated from, or to, roughly that same amount per song, for a compact disc.

But lots of executives in the media business still see more hope for subscription products of one sort or another, compared to any form of pay per view or downloads.

Twitter Investor Says Twitter's Valuation Is "Ridiculous"

Henry Blodget, who doesn't think we are in the middle of a tech bubble, says he asked a Twitter investor what the Twitter investor thought of Twitter's current private-market valuation.

"It's ridiculous," the Twitter investor said, given that private market benchmarks put the company's value at between 30 times and 50 times revenue. But Twitter is not your run of the mill application startup, either. Lots of other firms with "social" as part of their pitch will never amount to anything. If you had to bet, and clearly some people are, you'd likely think Facebook and Twitter will be survivors, after the inevitable shakeouts happen.

Twitter Investor Says Twitter's Valuation Is "Ridiculous"

"Mobile Wallet" Tutorial

This "mobile wallet" tutorial points out why application providers, mobile service providers and traditional payment providers all are working on mobile payment and mobile banking applications, at least in terms of the "payment transaction" parts of mobile payments.

Some of us are pretty sure it is all the other stuff that ultimately going to be more important. In part that's because the current business of making money supplying payment services using credit cards and debit cards is likely going to face regulatory pressure in any case, shrinking the total size of that business.

But there are lots of substantial businesses that can be transformed by better application of smart phone capabilities, ranging from advertising and promotion to loyalty programs and in-store promotion, not to mention actual retail shopping.

read more here

Best Buy Lags Online Sites

It probably was inevitable that Best Buy would start to feel the impact of competition from online sites. It now appears as though the serious pressure has arrived.

While Best Buy remains the largest electronics retailer, consumers these days are used to having multiple options for everything, and many of the other retailers are rapidly encroaching on the space. It goes without saying that the competition is online.

Simplicity, for Sprint Means Unlimited Usage

Sprint has been pushing the value of "simplicity" for its unlimited usage plans. It still is.

Survey Shows Growth of Brand-Sponsored Media

Ignoring for the moment the somewhat odd way of displaying trend data, for which the convention normally is to display chronological data left to right, the amount of money brands are spending to create original content of various types keeps growing.

If you hadn't thought about it much, this shift is part of the broader shift in "media." Where once it was publishers, film makers, record labels, newspapers and other traditional entities that created media, these days it is that, plus millions of consumers creating videos, blog posts, Facebook entries and Twitter posts that also are a new form of media.

Among the other changes, brands themselves are becoming more active content creators, blurring the line between traditional and new forms of media.

read more here

Google Buys PushLife

Google has purchased PushLife, a Canadian company that provides Apple iTunes functionality. Presumably the assets will be used to create a more robust music store capability.