Google Announces Video Chat for Android 2.3 Devices

Google is launching an update to Android Gingerbread, version 2.3.4, enabling video chat using GTalk on Android smart phones. This is the same functionality offered as part of Honeycomb, version 3.0, and allows any Android phone with the proper version of Gingerbread to conduct a video chat with anyone using a compatible (Honeycomb) Android tablet, their smartphone, or GTalk on their desktop.

Google Announces Video Chat for Android 2.3 Devices, Says ‘Surprise is Still to Come

RIM: Weaker Guidance, Near Term

Research In Motion has updated its financial guidance and said it expects to sell fewer BlackBerry smartphones than it previously estimated. "RIM now expects fully diluted earnings per share for Q1 to be in the range of $1.30-$1.37, lower than the range of $1.47-$1.55 previously forecasted by RIM on March 24, 2011," RIM said.

"This shortfall is primarily due to shipment volumes of BlackBerry smartphones that are now expected to be at the lower end of the range of 13.5-14.5 million forecasted in March and a shift in the expected mix of devices shipped towards handsets with lower average selling prices," RIM noted.

RIM still expects “strong revenue growth” in the third and fourth quarter thanks to the introduction of new BlackBerry smartphones. The near-term shipments aren't really the issue.

The problem is that with Apple and Android leading the smart phone market, plus the expected revitalization of Microsoft, given its alliance with Nokia, there is precious little room left in the smart phone market for player number four, whomever that might be. Unless you conclude that Microsoft, which now will count Nokia as part of its ecosystem, falls further, RIM is the provider likely to be bumped down into the fourth spot.

RIM: We’ll ship fewer BlackBerry phones than we thought:

Mobile Content Ecosystem to Shift?

Mobile operators in emerging markets need to make urgent adjustments to content strategies if they are to adapt to rapid shifts in the market, according to Ovum analysts.

While mobile service providers currently are the dominant force in the emerging markets mobile content space, this is set to change due to strong competition from new platforms such as application stores.

“Unless telcos make rapid changes to their strategy and execution, their dominance is set to be challenged,' says Angel Dobardziev, Ovum analyst.

Some might argue that no matter what telcos do, that will happen anyway, given that the leading application stores are operated by device manufacturers such as Apple, independent providers such as GetJar or operating system providers such as Google.

“We have found that once a consumer has bought a data access plan, they begin to move away from telco services,' says Dobardziev. 'This will ultimately reduce the role of mobile operators to little more than providers of bandwidth.”

Some might argue that Dobardziev already has answered the original question.

Mobile Content Ecosystem to Shift? - Thoughts on Carrier Evolution - Carrier Evolution

Dilbert Isn't Fiction; Neither is This

LG G-Slate: Walt Mossberg Still Prefers iPad 2

"I’ve been testing the (LG produced) G-Slate, and in my view, it performs pretty well overall—about as well as the first Honeycomb tablet, the Xoom. But it isn’t nearly as good a choice as the iPad 2," says technology reviewer Walt Mossberg.

"Of its three big differentiators, the only clear winner is the 4G cellular capability, which is much speedier than cellular data on the iPad, or on any other Honeycomb tablet I know of," says Mossberg.

"The 3-D feature, which requires the use of 1950s-style colored glasses, seems like a parlor trick to me," Mossberg adds. "And the in-between size, while potentially attractive for one-handed use, is undercut by the fact that, somehow, despite being smaller, the G-Slate is actually a bit heavier than the iPad 2, and a third thicker."

As has been the case recently for other tablet devices, the Apple iPad in its Wi-Fi-only, 16-gigabyte version costs just $499. If you buy the G-Slate without a phone contract, it costs $750. The comparable iPad 2, with the same 32 gigabytes of memory offered by the G-Slate, both Wi-Fi and cellular connectivity, plus its bigger screen, is $729.

Aside from price, the relatively undeveloped state of the apps available for Android devices is an issue, though that is a problem that corrects itself over time, as was the case for the Android Market for smart phones.

Honeycomb Tablet Has 4G and 3-D But Is No iPad

Cable's Future Network Will be Flatter

Mobile Shopping Search Grows 181% in U.K.

In the first quarter of 2011, total retail search volumes grew by 29 percent compared with the first quarter of 2010, the British Retail Consortium reports, while mobile retail search traffic grew by 181 percent over the same period.

Mobile searches accounted for 11 percent of total retail searches in the first quarter of 2011, the BRC says.

Retail searches grew fastest for multi-channel retailers, usually those using physical stores and the internet, with search growth of 42 percent, year over year. Searches for online-only retailers grew 19 percent, year over year.

The number of overseas consumers searching for U.K. retailers grew by 27 percent in the first quarter of 2011, year over year, while the number of UK consumers searching for overseas retailers grew by 21 percent in the first quarter of 2011, year over year.

same period a year earlier.

http://www.brc.org.uk/brc_show_document.asp?id=4231&moid=7379

Android Market Eclipses Apple App Store for Free Apps

The Google Android Market eclipsed the Apple App Store for iPhone in terms of free applications and now has 134,342 free applications, while the Apple App Store iPhone has 121,845 free applications, Distimo reports.

If all application stores maintain their current growth pace, approximately five months from now Google Android Market will be the largest store in terms of number of applications followed by the Apple App Store for iPhone and iPad, Windows Phone 7 Marketplace, BlackBerry App World and Nokia Ovi Store.

The rise of Windows Phone 7 and the relative decline of BlackBerry and Nokia as leaders in the smartphone category might have something to do with the state of the respective app stores. Some observers would say that the Microsoft deal with Nokia, which has Nokia essentially abandoning Symbian for Windows Phone 7, will vault Microsoft into position number three in the smart phone OS market, eclipsing RIM.

Looking at history, one would be hard pressed to imagine why RIM would remain a force, or perhaps even viable, in a market so dominated by the iPhone and Android, with Microsoft claiming the third spot, in terms of share. There is not much precedent for a viable "number four or five" provider in the mobile OS ecosystem. So as shocking as the assertion might be, it appears RIM's best days, even its existence as an independent company, are at grave risk.

The Windows Phone 7 Marketplace will also be larger than the Nokia Ovi Store and BlackBerry App World prior to the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace being available for even a full year, Distimo says.
One year after launching the iPad, Apple will be confronted with its first serious competition as both BlackBerry and Google enter the emerging tablet market.

Apple has already seized momentum and grown the App Store for iPad in the first year to 75,755 applications developed by 21,975 publishers. Daily downloads in the "Top 100 Overall" paid and free applications for iPad combined exceed 500,000, while the daily revenue in the Top 100 paid is approximately $400,000 excluding in-app purchases.

http://www.distimo.com/publications/

Studios Split on Selling Content to YouTube

Hollywood’s major studios do not always march in lockstep over key industry issues. It appears they are divided over licensing of content to YouTube for its new movie on demand service.

Fox and Paramount have said they will “not move forward with any deal at this time." Disney hasn't said anything final, one way or the other, while Warner Bros., Sony and Universal have just concluded deals to license content to YouTube for rental.

Executives at the hold-out studios reportedly are not opposed to a deal, but want more assurance from Google that it will take a harder line on piracy, specifically linking to pirate sites in Google searches or selling advertising on such sites.

But it seems likely all the studios ultimately will want to work with YouTube. Its 130 million potential buyers represent a huge audience, and are especially interesting demographically. YouTube viewers skew younger, and probably are the sorts of viewers unaccustomed to buying video and might be only lukewarm about the theater experience.

In the online video business, it often is the content owners who dictate the pace of movement, even when other partners are willing.

Why Fox, Paramount, Disney Are Holding Out on the YouTube Deal | The Wrap Movies

Social Shopping: What's the Big Deal?

How do you use 1Gbps Internet links? Chattanooga residents find out

With the caveat that much will depend on how Google prices its symmetrical 1-Gbps service in Kansas City, Kan., results from Chattanooga, Tenn. suggest that prices will have to be substantially lower than anything consumers yet have seen, to entice people to pay for a full 1-Gbps worth of capability. See http://chattanoogagig.com/.

EPB's fiber network currently covers all 600 square miles serviced by the community-owned Electric Power Board, which has also provided electricity for decades. EPB rolled out a 1-Gbps upgrade in the fall of 2010, but it "hasn't been flooded with calls" for the service, says David Wade, EPB COO.

Indeed, even this may be overstating current demand; only six or seven Chattanooga residents and "several businesses" have ordered the high-end service, which launched with a $350 per month price tag.

Most customers likely are buying the typical triple-play packages of video, phone and broadband access at speeds up to about 30 Mbps that EPB sells for about $120 a month. EPB also sells 50 Mbps connections and 100 Mbps connections as well as the top-end 1-Gbps service.

In November 2010, EPB said it was "ahead of our business plan projections. Since our launch last September (2009), we have signed up 18,873 homes to our EPB fiber optics services."

That is a 15.5 percent take rate. The EPB goal is a 35 percent take rate, and EPB believed in November 2010 that it would reach that level by 2012 or early 2013. See http://www.muninetworks.org/tags-90.

So Google faces a bit of a quandry. Does it really want to make money providing access, or does it want to provide a testing ground for new applications and consumer behaviors. The goals might be contradictory.

How do you use 1Gbps Internet links? Chattanooga residents find out

Comcast's Over-the-Top Dilemma

Comcast Corp. executives are talking about the possibility of selling its own programming to subscribers outside its cable footprint, Senior Vice President of Video Distribution Mark Hess says.

But there are obvious internal struggles over that potential policy. While its programming arm, which now includes NBCUniversal LLC , could benefit from an over-the-top play, Comcast's cable operation is focused on selling a triple play of video, high-speed data and voice to subscribers within its own franchise areas, he says.

So Comcast faces the same issues other content owners have to contend with, namely fostering growth in the emerging online distribution business while protecting the existing multichannel video distributor channel.

Light Reading Cable - IP & Convergence - Comcast's Over-the-Top Dilemma - Telecom News Analysis:

500 million people worldwide to use their mobiles as metro and bus tickets by 2015

Half a billion people worldwide will use their mobile devices as travel tickets on metros, subways and buses by 2015, according to Juniper Research. This is over five times the number generated last year.

Significantly, Juniper expects usage to spread widely from the current concentration of users and providers in Japan and several European countries.

Outside Japan, systems in operation typically use SMS or bar codes, but near field communications is expected to start driving usage by 2013.

That makes sense, as transit tickets represent one of the most-obvious scenarios where a mobile device makes great sense as a mobile payment method. It is a repeated, routine type of purchase involving relatively small amount of money, in a setting where people are moving about, often in a hurry, and where a simple "waive and go" purchase method saves lots of time.

500 million people worldwide to use their mobiles as metro and bus tickets by 2015

Verizon Tweets: "We're aware of an issue with 4G, LTE"

VerizonWireless Verizon Wireless 

We're aware of an issue with #4G #LTE connections & our network engineers are working to resolve quickly. Will update here.

3 hours ago Favorite Undo Retweet Reply

Verizon Wireless Says 4G Network Is Down

"Verizon Wireless said its 4G network was suffering an outage April 27, 2011.

It's the first major problem for Verizon's 4G wireless network, which launched late in 2010.

"Our 4G LTE customers are experiencing connection issues to the LTE network," said a Verizon spokesman.

It's unclear how widespread the problem is, but it might be a nationwide problem.

UPDATE: Verizon Wireless Says 4G Network Is Down - WSJ.com