Typical Worker Carries 3.5 Devices

The typical worker now carries 3.5 devices, up from 2.7 in 2011. So whether tablets are displacing PCs of all types, or not, the typical mobile worker seems to feel a need to use more devices, than before, according to a new study by iPass.

Perhaps astoundingly, the study suggests 64 percent of enterprise mobile workers now carry a tablet, and could grow to nearly 80 percent within the next six months if respondents follow through on plans to buy tablets.

	2012	2011
Tablets	0.54	0.27
Laptops/Notebooks	1.32	1.01
Smartphones	1.05	0.97
Mobile Phones	0.37	0.32
Netbooks/Ultra	0.12	0.11
Other	0.07	n/a
Total	3.47	2.68

Figure 1. How many of each mobile device do you personally use for work?

The study still shows that the notebook PC remains the most effective device for multitasking for 62 percent of respondents.  Some 51 percent named the smart phone the best multitasking tool, while and tablets were seen as effective only in combination with another device for multitasking.


So much for the notion that one device can do it all. 

New iPad Supports Long Term Evolution

The new Apple iPad does support Long Term Evolution fourth generation networks operated by AT&T and Verizon Wireless. 


And though we have all been calling the device the iPad 3, Apple does not. 



That feature won't be used, in all likelihood, by most buyers of the new device. 

By some estimates about 25 percent of iPads have been sold with the 3G access capability. That doesn't mean the users all activated the 3G mobile broadband service, only that the devices were capable of doing so. 


Still, some believe the higher-resolution and faster connections will convince more users to buy new Long Term Evolution mobile broadband service. The sharper "Retina" display offers resolution some will argue is better than HDTV, for example. 

Big Divestiture of Rural Lines Coming at AT&T?

Randall L. Stephenson, AT&T chairman and CEO, has a problem Verizon also faces, namely “under-performing assets.” Among those assets are rural operations, especially given the need to upgrade substantially for broadband access services.

“We've all been trying to find a broadband solution that was economically viable to get out to rural America and we're not finding one to be quite candid,” Stephenson said during AT&T’s fourth quarter 2011 quarterly earnings call.

“The best opportunity we have is LTE,” he said. If that sounds familiar, it should.

Verizon Wireless recently launched its HomeFusion service, which will offer fixed broadband access using the Long Term Evolution network initially in Dallas, Nashville, Tenn., and Birmingham, Ala., ultimately will provide a facilities-based fixed wireless service anywhere Verizon’s fourth generation network operates. service.

So what is the broadband solution for AT&T’s rural customers? “We don't have one right now,” he said. Since fiber to the home exists, that answer essentially means AT&T has concluded the economics won’t work.

“We're going to have to either completely restructure those businesses,” he said. “ The cost structure has to change, not only the wage and benefit cost structure but just the cost structure associated with the technology, legacy TDM infrastructure out there.”

Those “fundamental changes” will be addressed “in short order,” Stephenson said. Many would not be surprised if those changes involved significant divestment of rural operations, as Verizon has done.

So some might characterize the HomeFusion service as a facilities-based way for Verizon to sell fixed broadband outside the areas where it already provides FiOS or other fixed network service. One wonders whether AT&T might also think about that approach.

What it means, perhaps, is that the Verizon Wireless national Long Term Evolution network represents a facilities-based network that can be used to sell fixed broadband connections, to many consumers, “out of region” with respect to Verizon’s fixed line service territory. And that out of region business might represent 80 percent of U.S. homes.

For both AT&T and Verizon, though, it also appears that ownership of smaller and rural exchanges simply does not make sense anymore. Whether another owner, with a different cost structure, could deploy fiber to the home or some other broadband access network, and earn an adequate return, is the issue.

Can Any Competitors Catch the iPad?

Apple's competitors in the tablet market have to be wondering whether Apple will do it again, namely create a brand new consumer device category it "owns." In truth, that has been the concern ever since the iPad was released. 


And there is reason to worry, one might argue.


Apple iPad penetration in the United States will nearly double from 2011 to 2013, from just over 12 percent of internet users to 22 percent. But other suppliers will whittle Apple's market share from 83 percent in 2011 to 68 percent at the end of 2014, eMarketer predicts, those market share figures might not provide much comfort. 

There will be 54.8 million tablet users in the United States by the end of 2012, eMarketer predicts By the end of 2014, that number will nearly double to 89.5 million. 

The adage that "there is no tablet market, only an iPad market" is no longer as true as it was a few years ago. But it still might be fair to say there is an iPad market, and then a tablet market. When one supplier has 70 percent market share, it is analogous to the MP3 player market, which wound up being an iPod market, with some other providers. 


In 2011, for example, Apple continued to hold 78 percent of the music player market. That is what "terrifies" other competitors. Apple has more than once showed an ability to dominate a new consumer electronics category. 


The mobile phone market is more complicated, as Apple does not compete in the feature phone category. In the smart phone category, Apple has about 30 percent share, globally. 


More tellingly, Apple seems to be, far and away, the most profitable smart phone manufacturer. Right now, one has to wonder whether Apple has done it again, creating a new category which it dominates. 

Apple iPad Ownership Doubles in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, U.K.

Apple iPad ownership seems to be growing just as fast in Europe's five leading economies as it has been adopted in the U.S. market.

More than 11.4 million people in those countries now own an iPad (January 2012), comScore says.

That is almost double the number of people who owned an iPad in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom in February 2011. 

Sprint May End Deal With LightSquared in Mid-March

Not that it will come as a shock, but Sprint Nextel Corp. is ready to end a network-sharing agreement with LightSquared, according to Bloomberg. 

Under terms of the deal that would have had Sprint hosting the LightSquared network, LightSquared was required to get Federal Communications Commission approval to use its spectrum.


LightSquared hasn't been able to do so. Some might say LightSquared still has a chance to move ahead. But aside from experts hired by LightSquared, its executives or others with a business relationship with LightSquared, there doesn't seem to be much thinking that will happen. 


In a larger sense, the difficulties illustrate a larger issue, namely that venture capitalists and technologists sometimes vastly underestimate the highly-political aspects of the communications business. 


That accounts for the much-higher profile the technology industry now pays to wooing decision-makers and other influencers in Washington, D.C., for example. 

iPad 3...Only Issue is U.S. LTE Support

Verizon, has been installing LTE equipment in U.S. Apple retail stores ahead of the iPad 3 launch, cult of mac reports. 


Apple faces LTE issues for reasons related to the vast array of frequencies used around the world to support existing Long Term Evolution fourth generation mobile networks. 


As Apple resisted developing a CDMA version of the iPad for quite some time, preferring to build only models supporting the global GSM frequencies and networks, so it now will have to contend with an arguably more varied global landscape for LTE spectrum. 


Just in the United States, Apple would have to create different models for AT&T and Verizon Wireless, for example.


There's a third international model which does double duty on 3G and  CDMA/GSM model .


Manufacturing cost is the real implication. But there isn't much any firm can do, long term. Networks using Long Term Evolution are the future, globally. 

Tablet TV Viewing to Reach 3 Hours Per Month in 2014: Will It Matter for VOD?

Tablet TV viewing will reach 186 minutes per month in 2014, according to Juniper Research.
The increase will be most apparent in North America where there is already significant mobile TV usage, and where internet TV services such as Hulu and Netflix are extremely popular, Juniper Research says.

The number of users of streamed mobile TV services on smart phones also will increase by 2.8 times between 2011 and 2016, Juniper Research says.

In a perhaps-significant prediction, Juniper Research forecasts that subscriptions, not on-demand viewing,  will make up the vast majority of mobile TV revenues. Video on demand has had three decades to make its case, and still is a relatively small revenue contributor.

According to a new report released by The Diffusion Group (TDG), video-on-demand services provided by PayTV operators should be, but are not, generating significantly higher viewing and advertising revenue. Total VOD use is small, representing only one percent of all U.S. TV viewing.

By some measures, VOD is doing better. Magna Global has estimated that U.S. homes with VOD, a "category that includes both traditional multichannel VOD offerings and over the top services," will hit 70.1 million homes, about 57 percent of all TV homes at the end of 2016.

But note the conflation of traditional VOD and over the top services and apps. Some of us would not classify over-the-stop streaming as VOD, just as time-shifted viewing on a digital video recorder is not VOD, and Netflix streaming is not VOD.

Still, even availability is not the same thing as "usage." Hundreds of TV channels are available on cable, satellite and telco subscription video services. That doesn't mean those channels are viewed by most people. Much as fixed line voice service is available to most homes, but isn't necessarily purchased by all those homes, so too for-fee or ad-supported VOD is available relatively widely, but isn't used much.

TDG attributes that failure as a reflection of VOD's inadequate advertising support and awkward program guides that limit availability and viewing of ad-supported video-on-demand content. VOD hampered

Some of us might argue that "inattention" not withstanding VOD never has gotten much traction in the U.S. market and that the problem is lack of interest and demand on the part of consumers.

Service provider lack of attention to ad-supported VOD is the problem, TDG argues.

According to Bill Niemeyer, TDG senior analyst, "operators have failed to take advantage of VOD to build subscriber satisfaction, generate ad revenues, and head off competition from over-the-top (OTT) providers like Netflix."

Niemeyer estimates in the fourth quarter 2011, Netflix U.S. subscribers watched 80 percent more streaming video hours than were viewed in the same period on all U.S. PayTV VOD.

Some of us might argue that marginal failures to market and support VOD could be an issue. But there is a reason service providers do not market VOD so intensively. VOD simply does not contribute significant revenue for a service provider.

VOD in recent years has contributed about $2 billion a year worth of revenue for U.S. video entertainment providers. U.S. cable TV companies alone booked about $98 billion in 2011 revenue. That doesn't include the sizable revenue earned by satellite and telco providers as well.

The point is that VOD, as a service, has been a modest success, though it has had three decades to make its case.  Whether viewing on tablets will change that remains to be seen.

Small Business Tablet Adoption 34% in 2011

Small business adoption of tablets has jumped from nine percent in 2010 to 34 percent in 2011, indicating that the iPad is the fastest growing technology among the U.S. small and medium-sized business market, a study by The Business Journals has found.

About 75 percent of small business owners report said they are "very or somewhat familiar" with the device.

Godfrey Phillips, vice president of research at The Business Journals, says the adoption is fueled by smaller business executives and managers needing access to their business information and data, anytime and anywhere.

But smart phones and cloud computing also are among the trends that also correspond to that need.

"The iPad, as well as smartphones and cloud computing, are all part of this new trend and are experiencing significant growth as a result of that need," he said.

The study found that iPad users in the small business community are tech-savvy and financially successful. They also are highly educated, with 72 percent having a college education. The segment's annual household incomes averaged $176,000. Their companies are also well-established, having existed for an average of 28 years and averaging $9.2 million in annual sales.

In U.S. Market, Samsung is Top Device, Android Top OS

Samsung was the top handset manufacturer in the U.S. market in the fourth quarter of 2011, with 25.4 percent market share. Google Android continued to grow its share in the smart phone operating system market, accounting for 48.6 percent of user devices.

Apple undoubtedly will be found to have made the most profit, though. That has been true for some time.

Between them, Apple and Samsung earned fully 81 percent of all profits in the mobile handset business, on a global basis.

The number of U.S. smart phone subscribers surpassed the 100-million mark in January 2012, up 13 percent since October to 101.3 million subscribers, according to comScore. 

Google Android ranked as the top smart phone platform with 48.6 percent market share (up 2.3 percentage points) followed by Apple with 29.5 percent market share (up 1.4 percentage points). RIM ranked third with 15.2 percent share, followed by Microsoft (4.4 percent) and Symbian (1.5 percent).

But profitability, more than anything else, now is shaping the global smart phone business, one might argue after considering the latest estimate by Strategy Analytics of market share in the global handset business.

Globally, Apple and Samsung have, over the last 12 months, surged to the top of the charts in terms of smart phone sales volume. In the past, the “smart phone” category has not been significant, as all devices were feature phones or basic phones.

As the market begins to shift to a smart phone buyer pattern, differences in firm strategy and execution have lead to a rapid change in market leadership.

In the past, Nokia has been the global share leader, but Nokia has not been able to translate that prior success into smart phone success, where Apple has changed the game and Samsung apparently has been able to keep pace.

Apple overtook Samsung to become the world’s largest smart phone vendor by volume with 24 percent market share. Apple’s global smart phone shipments surged 128 percent annually to 37.0 million units, as distribution of the iPhone family expanded across numerous countries, dozens of operators and multiple price points.”

Apple took the top spot for share on a quarterly basis, but Samsung became the market leader in annual terms for the first time with 20 percent global share during 2011. With global smartphone shipments nearing half a billion units in 2011, Samsung is now well positioned alongside Apple in a two-horse race at the forefront of one of the world’s largest and most valuable consumer electronics markets, Strategy Analytics says.

In contrast, Nokia’s smart phone market share was cut in half from 2011 to 2011, dropping from 33 percent in 2010 to 16 percent in 2011.

That is one reason there has been so much focus on the Nokia partnership with Microsoft, as many would argue the Windows Mobile operating system represents the best shot Nokia will have to avoid collapse.

The other observation of note would be that profitability might now be emerging as the key differentiator, even though design and consumer demand clearly are driving the market overall.

Samsung’s most-recent quarterly earnings also set records. Samsung Electronics Co declared $4.7 billion in quarterly operating profit. jumping 76 percent year over year.

Top Mobile OEMs 3 Month Avg. Ending Jan. 2012 vs. 3 Month Avg. Ending Oct. 2011 Total U.S. Mobile Subscribers (Smartphone & Non-Smartphone) Ages 13+ Source: comScore MobiLens
	Share (%) of Mobile Subscribers
	Oct-11	Jan-12	Point Change
Total Mobile Subscribers	100.0%	100.0%	N/A
Samsung	25.5%	25.4%	-0.1
LG	20.6%	19.7%	-0.9
Motorola	13.6%	13.2%	-0.4
Apple	10.8%	12.8%	2.0
RIM	6.6%	6.6%	0.0

Top Smartphone Platforms 3 Month Avg. Ending Jan. 2012 vs. 3 Month Avg. Ending Oct. 2011 Total U.S. Smartphone Subscribers Ages 13+ Source: comScore MobiLens
	Share (%) of Smartphone Subscribers
	Oct-11	Jan-12	Point Change
Total Smartphone Subscribers	100.0%	100.0%	N/A
Google	46.3%	48.6%	2.3
Apple	28.1%	29.5%	1.4
RIM	17.2%	15.2%	-2.0
Microsoft	5.4%	4.4%	-1.0
Symbian	1.6%	1.5%	-0.1

Google Play Replaces Android Market

Google has launched Google Play, an integrated destination for apps, books, movies, and music, accessible to users on Android devices and to anyone on the Web, that also replaces the Android Market.

Google Play illustrates, as well as anything might, the growing role commerce is playing in the mobile device and applications ecosystems. The new branding obviously focuses attention on "Google" rather than "Android," as well.

To be sure, Android Market was a "commerce" vehicle before. In the future, Google Play will be more of a "shopping" venue as well.

Apple iPad Still Leads Tablet Market Share, but Kindle Fire is Pressing

To the extent that the Android operating system lies underneath the Amazon Kindle Fire, Android remains the operating system that is chasing Apple iOS for market share. In fact, one might argue that Android has passed iOS> 

No "Wallet War?" Really?

According to Michael Abbott, Isis CEO, “there is no mobile wallet war out there. ” The statement will strike some as a bit of bluster, good manners or delusion. But there always is a time, early in the development of a market, when it is helpful for lots of firms to enter the business.


The existence of multiple competitors helps to legitimize the market. That is probably the sense in which Abbott says there is no wallet war. It obviously is not based on a lack of substantial would-be competitors. 


Also, at the moment, there are niches within the broad mobile commerce space, including "payments" systems, wallet or credentials systems, point of sale systems and money transfer systems, for example. 


Those somewhat distinct niches will blur, over time, once the market begins to take more definite form. It won't be so easy to distinguish between payment, wallet, money transfer or terminal roles, for example. 


Nor will it be so easy to distinguish between firms that engage in online commerce, or brick and mortar retail. 


At the same time, many contestants will gain one footfhold in the market, and then use those positions to add other market roles, as Square is doing, for example.