How Will Comcast Compete, in the Future?

Sky to Build Own U.K. Broadband Access Network?

Sky, the U.K. ISP, has become the first major U.K. ISP to sign up for a duct-and-pole-sharing trial with BT. Typically, agreements of that sort are necessary when a service provider is getting ready to build a new network, so one must assume Sky is getting ready to build a facilities-based fixed network.

ISPs in the United Kingdom also have the ability to buy wholesale services from Openreach, rather than investing in their own access facilities. So the strategic choices for U.K. ISPs are the typical "build versus buy" alternatives. If it builds its own access network, Sky will have more control over its own pricing and packaging, as it will not be limited, cost-wise, by the built-in wholesale cost of its inputs.

If Sky wants to under-price BT retail products, for example, it can more easily do so if it fully controls price inputs on its owned infrastructure. Likewise, if Sky wants to create new packages that are differentiated from BT's, or those of wholesale customers using the BT wholesale access products, Sky can more easily do so on its owned infrastructure.

BT also signed up business internet service provider Call Flow for a three-month trial to test out the system and assess "real costs" connected with ISPs deploying their own broadband network using BT's wholesale "Openreach" infrastructure.

Sky in surprise duct-and-pole-sharing trial with BT

"Average" U.S. Broadband Speed 5.1 Mbps

The overall average (presumably the arithmetic "mean,") broadband access speed for the United States as a whole in the fourth quarter of 2010 was 5.1 Mbps, according to Akamai.  Consistent with the prior three quarters, the "average" connection speed was exceeded by 21 states and the District of Columbia.

Across the whole country, 43 states and the District of Columbia saw average connection speeds increase year-over-year, with growth rates ranging from a significant 44 percent increase in Montana to a scant 0.7 percent increase in New York. For the seven states that saw average connection speeds decline year-over-year, the losses were fairly modest, ranging from a drop of 0.2 percent in Pennsylvania to a drop of 8.5 percent in Mississippi, Akamai says.

The overall average peak connection speed calculated by Akamai for the United States as a whole for the fourth
quarter was just over 20 Mbps. This was once again met or exceeded by 21 states and the District of Columbia.

read more here

Nearly 100 Million HH Online By 2016

An estimated 99.4 million U.S. households will be online by the end of 2016, of which 97.9 million will have broadband services, according to a new forecast from Interpublic Group's Magna Global.

As of the end of the fourth quarter of 2010, about 84.7 million homes, or 71.5% of the total, were online, while 90 percent of these homes accessed the Web using broadband services.

Magna now predicts that 61.9 million U.S. homes, or 50 percent of the total, will subscribe to DVR services by the end of 2016, which would be up from 39.2 million (33.5 percent) at the end of last year.

By 2016, Magna expects that video On demand, including all over-the-top services, will reach 70.1 million households, or about 57 percent of all TV-viewing households.

MediaPost Publications Nearly 100 Million HH Online By '16, Mobile Ads To Grow 60%

Google Releases Smartphone Data

How Do Users Find Content?

While search still represents 41 percent of the sources leading users to content, social apps are gaining, and now represent about 11 percent of sources, according to a new study by Outbrain.

Of six content verticals examined, stories in the news, entertainment and lifestyle categories are the most likely to receive traffic from social sources.

Traffic coming from social media sources has the highest tendency to bounce, or result in very-brief stays on a site.

Readers who go from one content site to another, moving from one content site to another, are most likely to be engaged in what they’re reading, presumably because they are already in content consumption mode.

Facebook delivers a more diverse audience than Twitter, Outbrain suggests.

Outbrain Study Gives Insight Into Content Discovery Trends

Android 2.3.4 could have video calling

Android 2.3.4 might get video calling as a standard feature, a rumor suggests. Honeycomb (3.0) does support video chat using Google Talk.

That feature is one example of the way that applications once thought of as being services provided for a fee are becoming applications used on devices that support the feature natively. It is a fairly broad trend and isn't likely to halt.

Whatever the adjustments that are being made to existing industries and business models, over time more features and apps that once were viewed as services bought from providers have become "just one more app" a communications device using the Internet can support.

Android 2.3.4 could have video calling

AT&T Cracking Down on Tethering Using MyWi

It is in many ways understandable that some consumers think they ought to be able to use applications that allow a standard mobile device with a data plan to be used as a portable Wi-Fi hotspot. It perhaps also is understandable that any mobile service provider wants to protect a new line of business providing that feature as a separate revenue driver.

AT&T most recently appears to be notifying users that they cannot use MyWi, an application that can allow the iPhone to be used as a mobile hotspot when the device is jailbroken.

The same sort of conflict arose years ago when many users argued they should be allowed to use the broadband connections that already had paid for to use VoIP apps. Over time, these things tend to get resolved in ways that are not fully the "best" for either users or providers, but they do tend to get settled.

AT&T Still Cracking Down on Tethering via MyWi

A Predictable Story, Given High Gas Prices and Earth Day

Some stories are predictable. Gas prices rise 100 percent and we start seeing stories showing gas signs and stories about what people are doing to avoid driving. That's not unusual or unexpected. Stories get written around seasons, important events, weather and news of the day.

So it is that Bob McCandless, CEO of BrightCom, a telepresence and video conferencing manufacturer, argues that "one reason why sales are falling at gas stations in the midst of increasing prices is due to the rate of enterprises becoming aware and adopting telecommuting solutions including telepresence and video conferencing to help minimize executive and employee travel."

Whenever gas prices get this high, we see stories about how telecommuting and related underpinnings of telecommuting are helpful.

BrightCom: Telepresence Relieves Pressure at the Pumps - PR.com:

Sony Announces “Sony Tablet” with Android 3.0 in 2 Form Factors

The new “Sony Tablet” to be available in the fall of 2011 will feature two form factors, including S1 (codename) which is optimized for rich media entertainment and S2 (codename) which is designed for mobile communication and entertainment.

The “Sony Tablet” will use Android 3.0. The S1 uses a relatively standard a 9.4-inch display. The
S2 has two 5.5-inch displays, in a clam shell configuration that is intended for more-mobile use, as the folding screens will collapse into a smaller overall package.

Sony Announces “Sony Tablet” with Android 3.0

IP Could Change Conditional Access and Need for Dedicated Decoders

 

OfferedApp Blends Social Shopping with Ad-Supported Apps

The idea of giving consumers something of value in exchange for the right to send or show advertising is not new. In fact, communication service or app providers have periodically experimented with the idea for years. The idea of offering free voice calls in exchange for listening to a few seconds worth of ads has been tried more than once, for example.

More recently, social shopping sites have plumbed a slightly different idea, aggregating groups of potential buyers before triggering an offer. A firm called "OfferedApp" works in both veins, offering users "free" apps that normally sell in app stores, in exchange for the right to show those consumers advertising. It's sort of like Groupon, but with the twist of offering free access to "paid" apps in return for the right to deliver advertising.

http://www.offeredapp.com/

Optimum Link: Stream PC Content to TV, Using the Network

The executives at Cablevision Systems Corp. long have had a reputation within the U.S. cable industry of doing things just a bit differently than most. That also extends to applications and services that allow consumers to display PC-delivered content on their TVs.

"Optimum Link," a new service available to Cablevision subscribers, offers the ability to view online content on the subscriber's TVs for $4.95 a month. The feature is included with the "Optimum Ultra" package.

Optimum Link obviously can be used to view videos, pictures, music and other web content, for example.

"If you have iO TV and Optimum Online you can send images and more from your computer to your TV with Optimum Link," Cablevision says. "Just download the Optimum Link software, follow the simple instructions, and turn to iO TV Channel 641."

This is a "service" version of capabilities consumers can obtain using some gameplaying consoles and dedicated set-top boxes, and is conceptually in line with the "network DVR" concept Cablevision fought so hard to create and offer.

Optimum Online - TV - Optimum Link

How long does it take for a Facebook post to beoome stale? - Social Marketing - BizReport

After one hour and 20 minutes a post on Facebook will have already attracted 50 percent of its total "Likes" and comments, a study by Visibli has found.

By the seventh hour 80 percent of "Likes" and comments have been left and 22 hours later 95 percent of all activity already has occurred.

In essence, that means that if you want maximum exposure post every one hour and 20 minutes but if you want to reach as many on your social graph as possible, one post a day will suffice.

How long does it take for a Facebook post to beoome stale?

How long does it take for a Facebook post to beoome stale? - Social Marketing - BizReport

After one hour and 20 minutes a post on Facebook will have already attracted 50 percent of its total "Likes" and comments, a study by Visibli has found.

By the seventh hour 80 percent of "Likes" and comments have been left and 22 hours later 95 percent of all activity already has occurred.

In essence, that means that if you want maximum exposure post every one hour and 20 minutes but if you want to reach as many on your social graph as possible, one post a day will suffice.

How long does it take for a Facebook post to beoome stale?