Mobile Money, Apps, Bandwidth: Upside for Mobile Ops

In a video, CCS Insight analyst Martin Garner shares his thoughts on how operators can capitalize on data traffic, applications and mobile money.

He says operators to shift from flat-rate to tiered-rate pricing plans in their data traffic solutions. Operators also can profit from mobile money services and mobile apps.

Mobile operators and mobile money, data traffic pricing & applications - Ericsson

Nokia Will Get "Billions" From Microsoft Deal

Nokia's decision to support the Microsoft Phone operating system will mean Microsoft pays "billions" to Nokia, the companies say.

Nokia will deliver mapping, navigation, and certain location-based services to the Windows Phone ecosystem. Nokia will build innovation on top of the Windows Phone platform in areas such as imaging, while contributing expertise on hardware design and language support, and helping to drive the development of the Windows Phone platform.

Microsoft will provide Bing search services across the Nokia device portfolio as well as contributing assets and expertise in productivity, advertising, gaming and social media. The combination of navigation with advertising and search will enable better monetization of Nokia’s navigation assets and completely new forms of advertising revenue, the companies believe.

GoPayment App for iPad

Intuit Inc. says its iPad-optimized "GoPayment" app is now available on the App Store. GoPayment is a mobile payment app that lets anyone who sells a product or service get paid on the spot, using the iPad and a debit or credit card.

This optimized version of the GoPayment app makes mobile payments easier with a new layout that takes full advantage of iPad's large, high-resolution display and "Multi-Touch" interface.

It also includes new features such as the ability to add product photos, making it easier to find a product and complete a sale. GoPayment is also compatible with the free Intuit Credit Card Reader letting users save time by swiping credit cards instead of entering card data manually.

GoPayment App for iPad Now Available on the App Store

10 Essential Twitter Stats

10 Essential Twitter Stats

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U.S. Smart Phone Users Concerned About Location Privacy

Fully 59 percent of smart phone users who use mobile apps say they are concerned about location information privacy, says Nielsen. About 52 percent of male users also say they are concerned about the privacy issues of location data.

More and more mobile applications allow consumers to share information about where they are by voluntarily “checking in” to a location or by having their GPS-enabled smartphone automatically transmit that information via the app. Some marketers reward consumers for sharing their location with loyalty points, discount coupons for nearby businesses, or other promotional “badges” and benefits.

Privacy Please! U.S. Smartphone App Users Concerned with Privacy When it Comes to Location | Nielsen Wire

U.S. Mobile Payments: $54 Billion in 2015

Mobile bill payment, in which consumers pay bills via mobile phone, currently makes up the bulk of the United States mobile payment industry. Mobile point of sale, in which a consumer’s phone is used as a point of sale device, accounts for just over five percent of activity, but is expected to grow by 127 percent in the next five years, to $54 billion in transactions. Mobile contactless is expected to grow 1,077 percent by 2015. The gross dollar volume of mobile payments overall is expected to grow 68 percent by 2015.

Mobile Payment Set to Dramatically Increase

Why Apple Tracks Your Location

If you are wondering why your iPhone and 3G-enabled iPad are storing your general location in an easily accessible database on your PC, the answer likely is that Apple uses this information to build a cell tower and Wi-Fi access point location database.

That information can be helpful in understanding where Wi-Fi coverage is dense, where signal or coverage issues might exist, and can be helpful in designing future devices and features, one might easily surmise.

Why Apple Tracks You Via iPhone: It's Not Why You Think - PCWorld

FiOS Now 54% of Verizon Fixed-Line Revenue

Though wireless lead Verizon's quarterly highlights, as typically is the case, the company also reported continued progress with its FiOS business. In fact, FiOS revenues now are 54 percent of total fixed-line revenues. Some observers might well note that it has proven harder than anticipated to convince customers of the value of fiber to the home service.

Verizon recorded 6.3 percent year-over-year increase in wireless service revenues in the first quarter of 2011, with data revenues up 22.3 percent. Service revenues in the quarter totaled $14.3 billion. Data revenues were $5.5 billion, up $1 billion year over year, and represent 38.1 percent of all wireless service revenues. Total revenues were $16.9 billion, up 10 percent year over year.

Retail postpaid ARPU grew 2.2 percent over first-quarter 2010, to $53.52. Retail postpaid data ARPU increased to $20.51, up 17.3 percent year over year. Retail service ARPU also grew 2.2 percent, to $51.88.

Verizon added 1.8 million net new accounts, including 906,000 retail postpaid net customer addition. Retail postpaid churn was one percent.

Verizon also added 207,000 net FiOS Internet and 192,000 net FiOS TV additions, for a total of 4.3 million total FiOS Internet connections and 3.7 million total FiOS TV connections.

FiOS consumer retail revenues now represent approximately 54 percent of total Verizon consumer revenues. The company also saw a 12.8 percent increase in "strategic" enterprise revenues, which now represent approximately 46 percent of total global enterprise revenues.

FiOS Internet penetration (subscribers as a percentage of potential subscribers) was 33.1 percent by the end of the first quarter, with the product available for sale to 13 million premises. This compares with 29 percent penetration at the end of first-quarter 2010.

FiOS TV penetration was 29 percent by the end of first-quarter 2011, with the product available for sale to 12.6 million premises. This compares with 25.4 percent and 11.5 million, respectively, at the end of first-quarter 2010.

Broadband connections totaled 8.5 million at the end of first-quarter 2011, a three percent year-over-year increase. FiOS Internet connections more than offset a decrease in DSL-based broadband connections, leading to a net increase of 98,000 broadband connections from fourth-quarter 2010.

These are the most broadband net additions since the second quarter of 2009. Total voice connections, which measures FiOS Digital Voice connections in addition to traditional switched access lines, declined 8.2 percent to 25.5 million -- the smallest year-over-year decline since first-quarter 2008, the company said.

read more here

iPhones Lead, iPods Decline, iPads Ramp

Apple sold 18.65 million iPhones in its latest quarter, representing 113 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. Apple also sold 9.02 million iPods during the quarter, representing a 17 percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter. The Company also sold 4.69 million iPads during the quarter.

Of note: half the company's revenue now comes from sales of iPhones.

Apple Reports Second Quarter Results

VoIP Infrastructure Market "Stabilizing," Dell'Oro Says

RIAA Switches Stance on FM Tuner Requirement for Phones

The Recording Industry Association of America seems to have switched its position on a proposed requirement to mandate FM radio tuners on mobile devices, a move that would have added manufacturing cost to every mobile device.

RIAA now is supporting Representative Darrell Issa's (R-CA) resolution asking Congress to 'oppose any mandate for the inclusion of terrestrial broadcast radio tuners in the manufacture or sale of mobile devices, which would stifle innovation, competition, and consumer choice.'

The resolution is co-sponsored by Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and would lessen chances the requirement would take effect.

Some observers might have noted that although the rule wouldn't have added much end user value, given the relatively light use of FM radio listening that typically occurs when a radio is convenient, in any case.

The average person spends between about two and a half to three hours or more each day with broadcast radio, some will note. See http://www.radioflag.com/social. The issue, from a handset supplier's perspective, is whether over-the-air FM tuner decisions should be mandated or voluntary.

Big Content now opposes FM tuner requirement for smart phones

Fixed-Mobile Convergence: 33% Growth in 2010

When is 33 percent annual growth a disappointment? When you thought it would be higher. Frost & Sullivan estimates that in 2010, the overall worldwide enterprise fixed-mobile convergence market reached 3.33 million FMC units shipped, growth of 32.7 percent year-over-year.

While this growth is significant, it’s lower than what Frost & Sullivan had anticipated, the company says Analysts suspect that emerging enterprise mobility solutions such as collaborative applications, team spaces, social tools and enterprise tablets with built-in mobility software clients are competing for the attention of both IT and technology vendors. Frost analysts suspect that diverted attention from FMC.

Frost defines a basic FMC solution as one that delivers first-level PBX-to-mobile extension, including such capabilities as single-number reach, simultaneous ring, single voicemail, and call-control features. An advanced FMC solution requires a mobile client to deliver call control and PBX features to the mobile device, as well as more advanced capabilities such as mobile and corporate IM/presence, unified messaging, conferencing, and dual-mode voice call handoff (manual or automatic) between networks.

In some ways, the slower than anticipated growth is not new. Most forms of enterprise IP telephony have been adopted more slowly than many of us had predicted.

FMC: Strong Growth, Despite Unmet Potential

Will Cloud Computing Change Volume Discounts?

A U.K. cloud computing service provider has become the first supplier to deal with the entire U.K. government as a single customer. Huddle said it has developed common terms and conditions and a pricing model for all of its business with government.

That implies a level of volume discounts and standardization of delivery that would have been difficult for suppliers in the past, given the greater labor intensity of legacy implementation methods. Volume discounts are standard in just about any business. What is new, in the software business, is the potential scale of the buyer base that might be aggregated for purposes of pricing discounts.

Government agrees terms with cloud supplier

Apple Earns Half its Revenue from iPhones

Apple now earns half its revenue from selling iPhones. Half. listen to the quarterly earnings call here.

That's why "Apple" isn't "Apple Computer" anymore.

Why is LTE Delayed in Europe?

Whereas LTE and LTE Advanced will surely be on the network upgrade paths for most operators, there are impediments to rapid and widespread switching in Europe.

Unavailability of new spectrum is the major temporary barrier, though there are other impediments as well. Spectrum caps will fragment bands and could prevent the full spectral-efficiency benefits that can be derived from large LTE channel widths of 20MHz or more.

HSPA-based technologies are continuously being improved to include many of the same capabilities that are in LTE and spectrum refaming in the 900 MHz band will be mainly with HSPA.

Whereas the U.S. auctioned off its 700MHz digital dividend spectrum- which became available with the switch from analogue to digital TV- in early 2008, Europeans have mostly yet to decide how to allocate their 800MHz digital dividend spectrum.

Mallinson: Why is LTE still delayed in most of Europe?