NetZero Offers 4G Dongle and Wi-Fi Hotspot Service

NetZero Wireless has launched its “NetZero 4G Mobile Broadband,” a mobile broadband service using a PC dongle or stand-alone Wi-Fi personal hotspot.

Very-light users, who can live within a 200 Mbyte monthly usage limit, can get service free for one year, with the purchase of a device. NetZero offers a variety of plans starting at $9.95/ month for 500 Mbytes of usage, up to $50 for 4Gbytes of usage a month.

Users do not have to sign a  contract and there is no activation charge.

The NetZero 4G HotSpot simultaneously supports up to eight Wi-Fi-enabled devices. The NetZero 4G Stick supports a single laptop or netbook via a USB port. The NetZero 4G HotSpot costs $99.95 and the NetZero 4G Stick costs $49.95.

The service is available in over 80 cities nationwide, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Washington, D.C. and Miami, though coverage in some metro areas is spotty. Check the website to verify actual coverage in any metro area.

Apple to Initiate Dividend and Share Repurchase Program

In response to calls to "do something" about the excess cash Apple has been piling up (about $98 billion at the moment), Apple today plans to initiate a dividend and share repurchase program, starting later in 2012..


Apple plans to initiate a quarterly dividend of $2.65 per share sometime in the fourth quarter of its fiscal 2012, which begins on July 1, 2012. Apple also has authorized a $10 billion share repurchase program to start in the Apple's fiscal 2013 business year, which begins on September 30, 2012. 


The repurchase program is expected to be executed over three years, with the primary objective of neutralizing the impact of dilution from future employee equity grants and employee stock purchase programs.


You might argue that Apple alternatively could have plowed more of its cash back into building its business, but Apple in recent years has been cautious about undertaking large acquisitions, so the refusal to make a big, "game-changing" acquisition was not unexpected. 


The new plans might represent a cash outlay of about $15 billion a year. 

For Many Small Businesses, Facebook is Commerce

For 37 percent of small businesses surveyed by Payvment, Facebook is the sole online sales channel. That probably is because the survey is disproportionately weighted towards "online-only" or "online mostly" businesses. 


The fact that using Facebook is "easy" apparently accounts for much of its popularity. 

Verizon Applies Coding to Save Bandwidth

Verizon Wireless has developed software technology that cuts video traffic by transmitting only the parts of an image that change, Verizon Communications  Anthony Melone, chief technology officer said. It isn't immediately clear whether the coding is done "on the fly" or required pre-processing video. 


That doesn't mean Verizon will not eventually need more bandwidth, but does indicate the range of options and activities service providers are engaging in, to better manage bandwidth. 


Engineers working to develop high-definition television early hit upon the idea of transmitting only the portion of scenes that change, which allows lower bandwidth. Other techniques include the intentional "bit robbing" of information that the human eye cannot detect. The impairments are there, but people cannot see the impairments. 


"There are things that can be done that reduce the amount of bits without degrading quality the consumer can notice," according to Melone. 


Verizon Wireless also is using "multiple input, multiple output" (MIMO) techniques that help the firm economize on consumed bandwidth.


AT&T likewise is said to be working  with Intucell Ltd., whose software automatically assists wireless coverage areas, or cells, that are overloaded. That approach might not help reduce video bandwidth, but does better distribute the load. 

Tablets and E-Readers Changing News Experience?

Mobile devices including tablets and e-readers may be leading to a "deeper experience" with news than on the desktop/laptop computer, the Pew Research Center Project for Excellence in Journalism reports. 


For a light hearted but instructive look at the ways reading is "optimized" for different scenarios, on smart phones, e-readers and tablets, read this.


The study also confirms that audiences are growing fastest online, and that revenue likewise is growing fastest for online media. 


As sales of e-readers and tablet computers grow, Pew's early research has found consumers are reading more "immersively" on these devices than on desktop PCs, for example.


About 27 percent of U.S. residents now get news on mobile devices.


And these mobile news consumers are even more likely to turn to news organizations directly, through apps and home pages, rather than search or recommendations (social media), potentially strengthening the bond with traditional brands.


No more than 10 percent of digital news consumers follow news recommendations from Facebook or Twitter “very often,” the survey finds. And almost all of those who do are still using other ways like going directly to the news website or app as well.
 

The survey also suggests mobile is adding to, rather than replacing, people’s news consumption. Data tracking people’s behavior, for instance, finds that mobile devices increased traffic on major newspaper websites by an average of nine percent.


The technology may also be spreading this access to groups that were passed over by the first generation of digital. Some rural populations like Native Americans who largely missed the desktop generation, are now moving straight to mobile options that do not rely on broadband access.

Nearly Half of AT&T Subscribers Can Save Money by Switching to Metered Plans, Consumer Reports Argues

Close to half of AT&T customers with unlimited plans could save $10 a month by switching to a metered plan, Consumer Reports says.


Consumer Reports came to that conclusion after analyzing usage data provided to by Validas, a company that tracks wireless data coverage.


The data suggests that about 48 percent of AT&T unlimited-plan subscribers, who pay $30 a month for their data service, use no more than 300 megabytes of data a month, on average. 
AT&T's 300 MByte-a-month data plan costs $20 a month.


So subscribers who use little data could save more than $100 a year by switching to it. That is probably true, unless usage grows. And it would be an odd user that did not find gradually-increasing usage, over time. 

U.S. Business Fiber Penetration 32%

Some 32 percent of U.S. commercial locations with twenty or more employees now are able to buy fiber access services, according to Vertical Systems Group. That is up from 28 percent in 2010, Vertical Systems Group says. 


"Buildings" are the key concept here. Lots of smaller businesses are located in bigger buildings, so "connected buildings" are not the same as "connected" or "potentially connectable" organizations and firms. 


Still, one might conclude from the slow, gradual uptake that most buildings that offer enough revenue potential to serve with direct optical fiber connections already have that access. The issue now is how many of the less-desirable locations (in terms of payback potential) can be reached incrementally. 


You might argue that about 70 percent of locations actually are not very good candidates for a payback. 

Cable Got 82% of Net New Broadband Access Subs in 4th Quarter 2011

Cable modem service appears to retain its advantage as the preferred broadband access method for 82 percent of net new customers in the fourth quarter of 2011, according to the  Leichtman Research Group. 

The unanswered question is whether there is a pattern to the new adoptions, such as new customers disproportionately reflecting business customer purchases (either direct or reimbursable by an employer, for example).

Most of the new customers were added, as you would expect, by the 18 largest cable and telephone providers. Those 18 firms got about 93 percent of all the three million new customers.  

Perhaps the more telling statistic is that just two cable companies added 72 percent of those customers in 2011. The largest four firms added 89 percent of all new broadband customers for the full year 2011. 

Likewise, the top three telcos--AT&T, Verizon and CenturyLink--added 84 percent of all new net telco-supplied broadband access connections for the full year. But the largest seven telcos collectively added only 750,000 net new broadband subscribers for the full year 2011.

Broadband Internet Provider	Subscribers at End of 4Q 2011	Net Adds in 2011
Cable Companies
Comcast	18,147,000	1,159,000
Time Warner^	10,344,000	491,000
Cox*	4,500,000	130,000
Charter	3,654,600	252,900
Cablevision	2,965,000	73,000
Suddenlink	951,400	65,100
Mediacom	851,000	13,000
Insight^	550,000	25,500
Cable ONE	451,082	25,680
Other Major Private Cable Companies**	1,925,000	55,000
Total Top Cable	44,339,082	2,290,180
Telephone Companies
AT&T	16,427,000	117,000
Verizon	8,670,000	278,000
CenturyLink	5,554,000	238,000
Frontier^^	1,735,000	37,833
Windstream	1,355,300	53,600
FairPoint	314,135	24,390
Cincinnati Bell	257,300	1,200
Total Top Telephone Companies	34,312,735	750,023
Total Broadband	78,651,817	3,040,203

Sources: The Companies and Leichtman Research Group, Inc.
* LRG estimate
** Includes LRG estimates for Bright House Networks, and RCN
^ Totals prior to Time Warner Cable's acquisition of Insight completed on 2/29/2012
^^ LRG estimate does not include wireless subscribers
Company subscriber counts may not represent solely residential households
Totals reflect pro forma results from system sales and acquisitions
Top cable and telephone companies represent approximately 93% of all subscribers

What Will Cloud Mean for Enterprise Users, VAR Business?

By the end of 2013, consumer cloud services for accessing content will be integrated into 90 percent of all connected consumer devices, according to Gartner. Gartner managing vice president Andrew Johnson said that the emergence of personal clouds reflects the “4S experience”, consumers’ desire to store, synch, stream, and share their content on regardless of device or platform seamlessly.

That raises an interesting question. To the extent that enterprise and business technology increasingly is based on use of consumer tools, that means cloud apps and services will be better suited to business and in many cases enterprise application and information technology requirements.

So what might that mean for enterprise communications, enterprise data architectures and “business technology” in general? The answers of course have huge implications not only for enterprises, but for suppliers of all forms of “enterprise” voice, data and applications.

If in fact we certainly are leaving the PC era, and if the next era of computing architecture, for which we as yet have no name, includes a heavy reliance on both cloud computing and mobile technologies, there are certain to be new developments that essentially simplify and “flatten” business IT requirements.

We can't yet say with definitiveness that the next era of computing is defined by mobile devices, tablets, the Internet or cloud computing or even the fact that leadership is shifting more in the direction of applications and activities than computing appliances.

Those are big changes, indeed. But they are logical implications of a shift to cloud-based computing and mobile devices. More and more people will be able to work by interacting directly, from their mobile devices, with mission-critical business apps that are cloud based.

The need for intermediary and mediating technologies will not be necessary. Users will be able to use any broadband-connected device to access all the apps that formerly were resident on a local server. That could be a big shake up.

“The shift to the personal cloud will accelerate rapidly in 2012 as consumers learn how to use new services on their devices,” said Johnson.  “As cloud services become part of people’s lives, device vendors and platform providers must integrate cloud services in order to win customers in 2012 or risk being displaces by those that offer these services. Brands must stretch across multiple devices, platforms and services.”

According to Gartner’s definition, personal cloud allows consumers to seamlessly store, sync, stream and share using multiple connected devices such as smart phones, media tablets, televisions and PCs over the Internet.

In principle, there is no reason why enterprise apps could not be supported in precisely the same way.

Consumers have begun to adopt cloud-based services as part of their digital ecosystem, thanks to services such as Netflix, Google Apps, Amazon Music, Microsoft SkyDrive and Apple's iCloud. In a personal cloud, a TV show, for example, can be watched, left and resumed across multiple devices.

Might enterprises do the same? And if so, what happens to the business need for VARs and system integrators, when everything is in the cloud, and accessible directly on any device, especially mobile devices that communicate directly with the cloud services?

Small Business Big on Tablets

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. 

Can Anybody Unseat iPad?

Google is rumored to be preparing to launch a branded tablet of its own. The new "Nexus" tablet reportedly will have a seven-inch form factor, and be released mid-year, with a formal announcement coming potentially as early as May 2012.

The device would sell for as little as $149 in a Wi-Fi-only version. At that price point, Google would seem to be aiming directly at the Kindle Fire, which has been selling in volumes that make the Kindle Fire the first non-iPad device to get traction.

Some will argue the device will debut with a content ecosystem less well developed. So the issue might be "why" users buy the device. People buying the Kindle Fire arguably have been doing so for access to Amazon's rather rich content offerings.

On the other hand, some users will note that the Kindle Fire has been designed as a convenient gateway to Amazon content, but arguably does not work as well as a general-purpose tablet for web content.

The issue, some might say, is whether any such Nexus tablet will take on the iPad or only the Kindle Fire.

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.

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.

But Apple has managed to achieve an important distinction. By itself, Apple earns 62 percent or so of all smart phone supplier operating profit, according to Strategy Analytics.

Apple in the fourth quarter of 2011 shipped 37 million smart phones worldwide, up 117 percent from 17 million in the second quarter. This represented the strongest sequential quarterly growth among the top-five smart phone brands, according to IHS ISuppli.

The “nightmare” for all the other competitors is that Apple seems quite able to create new markets others have difficulty entering.

Few U.S. Consumers Have Experience with Mobile Commerce, Yet

Only five percent of Americans say that they have scanned their phone for admission to a movie or as an airline ticket, and fewer say they have done so to pay for clothing or electronics (three percent), admission to a concert, live theater or performance (three percent), to pay for a convenience item such as coffee (three percent) or something else (seven percent).

About 40 percent say they have never done so, and  45 percent say they do not own a smart phone with this capability. The Harris Poll survey of 2,056 adults surveyed online between February 6 and 13, 2012 by Harris Interactive, is a problem, right? Wrong.

There is a long history of proponents, suppliers, academics, policy wonks and others who have fretted that U.S. consumers were not taking advantage of some new technology that people in Japan or Western Europe were doing.
That was said about mobile phone ownership, use of text messaging, sometimes of fiber to the home, often about broadband speeds or use of mobile commerce applications. In fact, with the exception of smart phone, tablet and mobile applications, the United States is normally accused of being “behind” other countries in adoption of new technologies.

Those fears have proven to be unnecessary. When consumers have become convinced of the value of such innovations, adoption has been robust and rapid.

In essence, critics have been “blaming the consumer for being dumb,” when in fact consumers were quite rational. They were waiting for a value proposition that made sense, and then adopted rapidly and robustly. If consumers have not adopted some new innovation, it is because the value is not there, or possibly not perceived.

Some of us would argue the former, not the latter, has been the case. It isn’t that people “do not understand,” it is that suppliers haven’t provided the right mix of value and price. Show the value and even the price is not necessarily an issue.

While few may be actively engaging with these functions, there is also a divide on the levels of comfort associated with these behaviors as well. Just under half of Americans (47%) say they are comfortable using a mobile scan as an admission ticket to movies, concerts or live theater performances, while 38% are not comfortable with it-with 25% not at all comfortable; 15% are not sure. About the same number of people are comfortable (41%) and not comfortable (43%) using a mobile scan as an airline, train or other transportation ticket; 15% are again, not sure.

Slightly fewer are comfortable using a mobile app that would allow them to make purchases at a retailer or company as they would with a gift card (39%) while 47% are not comfortable with this and 14% are not sure. The only item where a majority opinion is seen, is with using a mobile app that would store credit card information, allowing people to make purchases at a retailer or company as they would with a credit card; 63% are not comfortable with this with over two in five (45%) not at all comfortable. Only one quarter (24%) of Americans are comfortable with this, and 13% are not sure.

People Say They Object to Personalized Ads. Do They, Really?

A recent Pew Internet & American Life survey asked respondents their views of search engines and other websites collecting information about them and using it to either shape their search results or target advertising to them.

Overall, attitudes toward these practices are mixed, but the majority of Internet and search users express disapproval.

The study of 2,253 adults found that 73 per cent of search-engine users didn't want their search results to be tailored to them based on past searches, even when used only to personalize their future search results.

Over two thirds of respondents didn't want sites to do targeted advertising that uses their Internet history, and just over half said they had noticed targeted advertising that was clearly using such data.

Some 68 percent of respondents have an unfavorable view of the practice, saying they are not okay with targeted advertising because they do not like having their online behavior tracked and analyzed.

Some 28 percent said they are okay with targeted advertising because it means they see advertisements and get information about things they are really interested in.

That should come as no surprise. In the abstract, people also say they “hate” advertising. Only in context can actual user behavior be assessed. For example, though people dislike advertising, they are more than willing to accept it in return for something of value.

One suspects the same is true of attitudes about some specific cases of privacy versus personalization. In other words, a user with high privacy choices will not get personalized offers or relevant advertising. That isn’t to say users should be unconcerned about privacy breaches.

But the issue is that relevance, targeting and offers that are highly relevant to each particular person cannot be delivered without setting a lower bar for “privacy” settings. It’s always a trade off. So the issue is whether most users are willing to make trade offs of some privacy to get relevant, personalized offers and messages.

One suspects actual behavior would be different, when users understand they get something of value for sharing some information that might be objectionable in the abstract.

“I actually don’t think people are that concerned about security,” says John Basso, Amadeus Consulting CTO. “They want you to protect them.”

What Cloud Computing Might Mean for Service Providers

The clear direction of computing architecture over the past few decades has been in the direction of networked computing using public network facilities, with obvious ramifications for service providers in terms of broadband access and transport revenues.

With no exceptions, the next big development--cloud based computing--should push users even more firmly in the direction of computing using public networks. In fact, argues Gartner, by 2014, the personal cloud will replace the personal computer at the center of users' digital lives.

The other big trend is the increasing number of devices used by any single consumer to access and use computing resources.

"Major trends in client computing have shifted the market away from a focus on personal computers to a broader device perspective that includes smartphones, tablets and other consumer devices," says Steve Kleynhans, Gartner VP. "Emerging cloud services will become the glue that connects the web of devices that users choose to access during the different aspects of their daily life."

To be sure, there also are ramifications for enterprise users as well as consumers. And that explains the huge interest in cloud computing, on the part of service and application providers.

Still, most of the revenue upside appears likely to accrue to hardware and software suppliers, according to a Morgan Stanley analysis. In the telecom space, the analysts expect key winners to include Rackspace, Equinix and competitive local exchange carriers and metro bandwidth suppliers.

Also, pubic cloud computing is likely to reduce traditional telco enterprise service revenues. Morgan Stanley further suggests that among IT decision makers, the large telcos remain behind Amazon and others in terms of “cloud mindshare.”

How much overlap there is between hosting and cloud computing services is an important issue for service providers. At one level, hosting is about server real estate and amenities. But cloud computing is about some other things, namely rental of computing cycles and storage, rental of operating systems and platforms, and rental of actual business apps.

Though service providers have embraced the hosting business and content delivery networks as “valued added parts of the transport and business,” it remains unclear how far they might ultimately go in the core cloud computing business.

The increasing number of devices used by any single consumer to access and use cloud computing resources means more access revenue, to be sure.

Gartner predicts that, by 2014, the personal cloud will replace the personal computer at the center of users' digital lives. That implies heavy and growing need for broadband access.

What also is clear is that service providers now see content delivery networks and cloud computing as new business opportunities, with ramifications for enterprise users as well as consumers. And that explains the huge interest in cloud computing, on the part of service and application providers.

Still, most of the revenue upside appears likely to accrue to hardware and software suppliers, according to a Morgan Stanley analysis, even as enterprises start to shift workloads to cloud approaches.

According to the Morgan Stanley survey, 79 percent of information technology workloads are running at on-premise data centers today, but over the next few  years, respondents expect that only 64 percent of workloads will run at in-house data centers.

What’s more, 51% of respondents are running their entire infrastructure on premises today, but in three years some 70 percent of companies will have moved at least some workloads to managed hosting or public cloud environments, including infrastructure as a service, (IaaS), platform as a service, (Paas) or software as a service (SaaS).

That does not mean each of those ways of “doing cloud computing” represents the same amount of potential revenue for suppliers of the services. In the relatively near term, software as a service probably will represent most of the actual revenue for suppliers of cloud computing apps and services.

In fact, one might ask whether, on a global basis, cloud computing will be a significant revenue driver for anything but software as a service. According to Forrester Research, for example, by 2020 SaaS might represent $133 billion in annual revenue, while the other forms of cloud computing will register only in single-digit billions or low double digits.

 
In a similar way, some will argue that hosting and CDN services are more of a  “value add” for connectivity services, rather than big new revenue drivers for service providers, in their own right.

The issue is which cloud computing suppliers or even data centers will benefit, particularly since cloud computing services today are more logically provided by Amazon and other suppliers, not “data center” suppliers.

On the other hand, AT&T hopes to capitalize on its position as a “one-stop shop” for IT and connectivity needs. The company has said that it is already number two in hosting globally, with more than 2.5 million square feet of data center space (38 data centers, with 15 outside the US, primarily in Europe and Asia).

Verizon’s  purchase of Terremark likewise is expected to boost Verizon’s connectivity sales, not simply “hosting” revenue, especially with small and mid-sized businesses. Verizon operates 220 data centers in 23 countries, as well.

Metro fiber providers and independent hosting firms also will benefit, it is reasonable to conclude. What isn’t so clear at the moment is how much share telcos might gain in the IaaS, PaaS and SaaS business segments, which are less “real estate” plays and more “computing services” offers.

Cloud computing gets lots of attention these days in the service provider business. But it might be helpful to keep in mind that the actual amount of new revenue data center hosting or cloud computing actually will generate is likely to be modest, from a service provider perspective.

The more important angle is the “value add” for the other core connectivity solutions. Essentially, data center hosting services and content delivery networks "make the bits more valuable." And value is the antidote to commodity pricing.

Which Industry Isn't Commonly Mentioned as Potentially Leading Mobile Payments?

Mobile service providers, retailers, app providers, banks, mobile device manufacturers and payment clearing networks are among the industries always mentioned as having key interests in mobile payments. 


But the mobile "payments" business has broadened to include a distinct "mobile wallet" segment, a point of sale segment. Of those segments, the wallet segment now has taken a sharp turn towards marketing, advertising and loyalty as the revenue driver. 


In that regard, the one possible new segment that hasn't asserted influence, so far, is the consumer packaged goods industry, which provides the source of funds for much of the advertising, marketing and offers business.


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