One doesn’t hear quite so much about “digital divides” as was common a decade ago. One suspects that is because the supply of communications, both voice and data, is a problem the world seems capable of solving.
Some of us can remember great "handwringing" an concern in international policy circles about how to bring telephone service to two billion people who never had made a phone call. You don't hear such concern anymore, since we rapidly are solving that problem with mobile communications, a solution not envisioned in the 1970s and 1980s.
Two decades ago the question largely had shifted to the problem of how to get computing into the hands of the next three billion people. There was some work around the notion of special devices optimized for rural villagers that would be low cost, perhaps $150 or so.
For many at the time, likely most knowledgeable observers, the prevailing thinking was that it couldn't really be done. And that remained true even as recently as the middle of the 2000 decade.
But as we stumbled upon a solution to the problem of getting communications to people at prices they could afford, we are about to solve the problem of getting computers to people, also at prices they can afford.
The notion, for some time, has been that in many parts of the world, the smart phone would be "the computer" most people used. That might turn out to be largely correct, for at least a time.
But it also now is possible that we know how to create and sell computers to people that cost no more than $150. Consider that the prototype "One Laptop Per Child" device had a screen of 7.5 inches diagonal and flash memory, with no keyboard.and used Wi-Fi for Internet connectivity.
Oh, that's right, we now call that a tablet, and it is made and sold commercially by the likes of Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and soon Google and likely Apple.
One might note a similar process at work even in the area of rural broadband access. Does it make sense to spend up to $50,000 per home to provide broadband access service to less than 200,000 U.S. rural locations, when at least two other approaches are already available?
The Federal Communications Commission, for example, conducted a gap analysis that suggested $13.4 billion in subsidies would be required to expand availability to only 250,000 of the highest cost homes (0.19 percent of all U.S. homes).
According to the FCC, those homes would require subsidies of about $53,600 – on top of what service providers would expect to spend to connect a typical home.
Excluding the cost of serving these 250,000 homes, the cost of connecting the remaining 6.75 million homes would entail a subsidy of about $1,500 per home passed.
Keep in mind that the “broadband gap” affects less than five percent of U.S. homes. The Federal Communications Commission itself estimates that seven million U.S. households do not have access to terrestrial broadband service, representing about 5.4 percent of the 129 million U.S. homes.
Additionally, analysis assumes those households actually are occupied, but they are not. Some percentage is unoccupied, and some are used only partly as vacation homes.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, about 18 million of the 130 million units are not occupied (about 14 percent).
On average, the gap estimated by the Commission is $3,357 per home passed, note Dr. George Ford, Phoenix Center chief economist, and Lawrence J. Spiwak, Phoenix Center president.
Even the then director of the National Broadband Plan, Blair Levin, said it will be too expensive to provide service to the last two percent of home using terrestrial facilities. Therefore, those homes should be served by satellite broadband.
A more reasonable approach to satellite broadband at the time might have been that if it costs $50,000 to provide a 4:1 Mbps terrestrial broadband service to a household, then is it reasonable to accept a “lower” service level by a network that already reaches those locations?
The situation has also changed since that analysis. ViaSat’s “Exede” satellite broadband service already has been offering speeds up to 12 Mbps downstream and up to 3 Mbps upstream, for $50 per month, since early 2012.
The HughesNet service, which has launched a new satellite of its own, will begin offering faster service beginning this month. Since both the ViaSat and HughesNet services use exactly the same satellites, it would be reasonable to assume that HughesNet will offer speeds comparable to that of Exede.
In fact, the National Broadband Plan explicitly recognized that the cost of ubiquitous coverage of terrestrial broadband could not be justified and furthermore recommended the use of “satellite broadband” as an alternative, as it is ubiquitously available, Phoenix Center argues.
The cost picture has changed dramatically since the FCC conducted its gap analysis. Though the original plan called for a 4 Mbps capability, Exede already sells a 12-Mbps service for $50 a month. As of Aug. 13, 2012, Hughesnet has not announced firm pricing and speeds.
But there is no reason to believe HughesNet will offer speeds any less than offered by Exede. The point is that by spending an abundance of money, the government simply does not make sense at the margin.
The point is that one has to be careful about interpreting Internet or broadband usage trends. In past years, some observers have argued there is a significant “digital divide,” using statistics about Internet or broadband usage (people who buy and use that product or capability) rather than broadband or Internet “availability” (the service actually is available to purchase).
A decade ago, access mostly was measured by activity occurring only on the fixed networks, as well.
The point is that the difference between whether a product is available, and whether a consumer chooses to buy it, is highly significant. A “digital divide” argument assumes that a product such as broadband access is statistically “unavailable,” meaning there is an “access to the product” problem. Lower availability in rural or sparsely-populated areas is one form of the argument.
The latest study of mobile broadband behavior shows the relevance of the distinction between “available to buy” and “I want to buy it.”
About 17 percent of mobile phone owners do most of their online browsing on their phone, rather than a computer or other device, the Pew Center Internet & American Life Project reports.
Young adults and non-whites are especially likely to use their mobile phones for the majority of their online activity, the researchers say.
Nearly half of all 18 to 29 year olds (45 percent) who use the Internet on their mobile phones do most of their online browsing on their mobile device, the study found.
Half (51 percent) of African-American mobile Internet users do most of their online browsing on their phone, double the proportion for whites (24 percent). Two in five Latino cell internet users (42 percent) also fall into the “cell-mostly” category.
Digital marketing specialist Troy Brown, president of one50one thinks Hispanics generate 50 percent of their Internet traffic from mobile phones.
The important implications here are that people might prefer to use mobile Internet and mobile broadband, rather than fixed access, in numbers that are significant.
Additionally, those with an annual household income of less than $50,000 per year and those who have not graduated college are more likely than those with higher levels of income and education to use their phones for most of their online browsing, Pew researchers say.
In that sense, the adoption of mobile broadband might be a rational choice, similar to adoption of mobile “as voice,” when people choose to use a mobile exclusively for their voice service. In fact, we might already have reached the point where further growth of fixed network broadband connections is limited or slowed because users have better mobile alternatives.
The Pew data also suggests that mobile broadband has been particularly important to populations that in the past have “under-indexed” for use of fixed network broadband. The point is that, aside from buyer preferences being at play, fixed network broadband purchases increasingly are not suitable measures of “broadband adoption.”
When 17 percent of mobile users report “mostly” using their mobiles for Internet access, any metrics of adoption that ignore mobile access will be misleading.
On a larger level, one might make the argument that the digital divide, and the communications divide, simply are problems we are solving.
Monday, August 20, 2012
No Digital Divide?
Gary Kim was cited as a global "Power Mobile Influencer" by Forbes, ranked second in the world for coverage of the mobile business, and as a "top 10" telecom analyst. He is a member of Mensa, the international organization for people with IQs in the top two percent.
O2 Customers Talk 12 Minutes a Day
On average, U.K. mobile service provider O2 has found, smart phone owners now spend over two hours a day using their devices, but talk only 12 minutes, and text only 10 minutes.
Smart phone users spend more time browsing the internet (25 minutes a day), social networking (17 minutes a day), playing games (13 minutes a day) and listening to music (16 minutes a day) than they do making calls (12 minutes), O2 says.
That illustrates the multi-function nature of smart phones, as well as the key role smart phones now play in a full range of "Internet access" activities.
Checking or writing emails represents 11 minutes of activity a day. Watching video consumes 9.4 minutes a day, while reading books represents about 9.3 minutes a day.
People spend about 3.4 minutes a day tacking pictures, as well.
For many people, the smartphone is replacing other possessions including alarm clocks, watches, cameras, diaries and even laptops and TVs as they become more intuitive and easier to use for things “beyond calls”.
Smart phone users spend more time browsing the internet (25 minutes a day), social networking (17 minutes a day), playing games (13 minutes a day) and listening to music (16 minutes a day) than they do making calls (12 minutes), O2 says.
That illustrates the multi-function nature of smart phones, as well as the key role smart phones now play in a full range of "Internet access" activities.
Checking or writing emails represents 11 minutes of activity a day. Watching video consumes 9.4 minutes a day, while reading books represents about 9.3 minutes a day.
People spend about 3.4 minutes a day tacking pictures, as well.
For many people, the smartphone is replacing other possessions including alarm clocks, watches, cameras, diaries and even laptops and TVs as they become more intuitive and easier to use for things “beyond calls”.
Gary Kim was cited as a global "Power Mobile Influencer" by Forbes, ranked second in the world for coverage of the mobile business, and as a "top 10" telecom analyst. He is a member of Mensa, the international organization for people with IQs in the top two percent.
"How to Compete" with Over the Top is a Key Mobile Service Provider Issue
Some would argue that a war over “interpersonal communications,” separate from the earlier messaging formats of email, instant messaging, chat and text messaging, is about to break out among three of the over the top application platforms, namely Google, Facebook and Apple.
For mobile service providers, that poses an issue, namely the future of their text messaging revenue streams, since historically mobile service providers have not make money directly from email or chat.
Facebook’s unified Chat / Messages / Email; Apple’s cross-device iMessage system and Google’s Gmail / GChat / Hangouts are something different,some would argue, as those platforms blend email, messaging chat and even video conferencing.
For mobile service providers, “how to compete” is the issue. A reasonable person might argue that no mobile service provider is fully equipped to compete in the “interpersonal communications” space dominated by those three application providers.
But every mobile service provider has an indirect interest in all those applications. Email was the killer app that drove adoption of dial-up Internet services. BlackBerry made mobile access to email a revenue driver for mobile data plans.
Messaging remains a pillar of the emerging “interpersonal communications” business, and incorporates the value of text messaging, which is the direct revenue stream mobile service providers have dominated.
Chat traditionally has been a feature users have valued as part of social networking platforms, and many would argue that mobile use of social networks is a key part of the value proposition for buying a mobile data plan.
At some level, then, sales of mobile data plans will be a direct benefit mobile service providers can expect, no matter which messaging platform “wins.”
On the other hand, SMS revenues could suffer if users start to migrate their short message activities to one or more of the application platforms.
Some of us would argue that among the advantages of the new Verizon Wireless “Share Everything” service plans is the ability to preserve much of the value and revenue once provided by discrete voice and text messaging plans, even as users migrate to the newer “interpersonal communications” platforms.
Others will argue that mobile service providers have to jump into the over the top voice and messaging business on a branded basis.
Over the top mobile voice and texting apps now affect traffic for almost 75 percent of mobile service providers operating in 68 countries surveyed by mobileSquared as part of a project sponsored by Tyntec.
But the potential danger will vary from country to country. Service providers in smaller countries, where lots of cross-border calling or messaging occurs, with high tariffs for cross-border traffic, will experience more danger than large countries with larger internal populations that can call quite some distance without crossing a border.
OTT apps and services also will cannibalize international calling revenues in any country with a large migrant population outside the home country. Think Filipinos working in the Middle East, or Indians living in the United States.
Likewise, mobile service providers might be able to create a mediating role that bridges a closed OTT community by enabling third party access to some other third party community using the mobile phone number.
For mobile service providers, that poses an issue, namely the future of their text messaging revenue streams, since historically mobile service providers have not make money directly from email or chat.
Facebook’s unified Chat / Messages / Email; Apple’s cross-device iMessage system and Google’s Gmail / GChat / Hangouts are something different,some would argue, as those platforms blend email, messaging chat and even video conferencing.
For mobile service providers, “how to compete” is the issue. A reasonable person might argue that no mobile service provider is fully equipped to compete in the “interpersonal communications” space dominated by those three application providers.
But every mobile service provider has an indirect interest in all those applications. Email was the killer app that drove adoption of dial-up Internet services. BlackBerry made mobile access to email a revenue driver for mobile data plans.
Messaging remains a pillar of the emerging “interpersonal communications” business, and incorporates the value of text messaging, which is the direct revenue stream mobile service providers have dominated.
Chat traditionally has been a feature users have valued as part of social networking platforms, and many would argue that mobile use of social networks is a key part of the value proposition for buying a mobile data plan.
At some level, then, sales of mobile data plans will be a direct benefit mobile service providers can expect, no matter which messaging platform “wins.”
On the other hand, SMS revenues could suffer if users start to migrate their short message activities to one or more of the application platforms.
Some of us would argue that among the advantages of the new Verizon Wireless “Share Everything” service plans is the ability to preserve much of the value and revenue once provided by discrete voice and text messaging plans, even as users migrate to the newer “interpersonal communications” platforms.
Others will argue that mobile service providers have to jump into the over the top voice and messaging business on a branded basis.
Over the top mobile voice and texting apps now affect traffic for almost 75 percent of mobile service providers operating in 68 countries surveyed by mobileSquared as part of a project sponsored by Tyntec.
But the potential danger will vary from country to country. Service providers in smaller countries, where lots of cross-border calling or messaging occurs, with high tariffs for cross-border traffic, will experience more danger than large countries with larger internal populations that can call quite some distance without crossing a border.
OTT apps and services also will cannibalize international calling revenues in any country with a large migrant population outside the home country. Think Filipinos working in the Middle East, or Indians living in the United States.
On the other hand, retail packaging can alleviate some of the potential risk, as Verizon Wireless is doing with its "Share Everything" plans.
About 52.1 percent of respondents estimate over the top mobile apps have displaced about one percent to 20 percent of traffic in 2012. That’s a clear issue since traffic lost means lost revenue as well.
Almost 33 percent of respondents expect one percent to 10 percent of their customers will
be using OTT services by the end of 2012, with 57 percent of respondents believe 11 percent to 40 percent of their customers will be using OTT services in 2012.
But 10.5 percent of service providers anticipate more than 40 percent of the user base will be using OTT services by the end of 2012.
In 2016, 100 percent of respondents believe at least 11 percent of their customers will be using OTT services. In fact, 42 percent of operators believe that over 40 percent of their customer base will be using OTT services in 2016.
The issue is what to do about the threat. In some countries, it might be legal for mobile operators to block use of OTT apps, as some carriers blocked use of VoIP. You can make your own judgment about whether that is a long-term possibility.
There are direct and indirect ways to respond, though. It is at least conceivable that some mobile service providers can legally create separate fees for consumer use of over the top voice and messaging apps. In other cases service providers will have to recapture some of the lost revenue by increasing mobile data charges in some way.
Verizon Wireless protects its voice and texting revenue streams by essentially changing voice and texting services into the equivalent of a connection fee to use the network. Verizon charges a flat monthly fee for unlimited domestic voice and texting.
The harder questions revolve around whether any service provider should create its own OTT voice and messaging apps, even if those apps compete with carrier services. Aside from potentially cannibalizing carrier voice and data services, this approach arguably does take some share from rival OTT providers.
On the other hand, it is a defensive approach that essentially concedes declining revenue, with some amount of ability to capture revenue in the “OTT voice and messaging” space.
Some larger service providers might find they are able to consider a partnering strategy with leading OTT players. To some extent, this also is a defensive move aimed at recouping some lost voice and messaging revenues. In other words, if a customer is determined to switch to OTT voice and data, the revenue from such usage ought to flow to the mobile service provider, if possible.
But there is a notable difference to the branded carrier OTT app approach. In principle, such OTT apps can be a way of extending a brand’s service footprint outside its historic licensed areas, into countries where it is not currently licensed.
Instead of functioning as a defensive tactic that recoups some share of OTT revenue in territory, OTT voice and messaging can be viewed as an offensive way of providing voice and messaging services out of region, says Thorsten Trapp, Tyntec CTO.
Over the longer term, it might also be possible for mobile service providers to replicate the network effect that makes today’s voice and messaging so appealing, namely the ability to contact anybody with a phone, anywhere, without having to worry about whether the contacted party is “on the network” or “in the community” or not. The RCS-e/Joyn effort is an example of that approach.
Likewise, mobile service providers might be able to create a mediating role that bridges a closed OTT community by enabling third party access to some other third party community using the mobile phone number.
Gary Kim was cited as a global "Power Mobile Influencer" by Forbes, ranked second in the world for coverage of the mobile business, and as a "top 10" telecom analyst. He is a member of Mensa, the international organization for people with IQs in the top two percent.
Subscription Video Take Rates Still at 87%
Despite growing threats of online competition, some 87 percent of U.S. households nationwide subscribe to some form of multichannel video subscription service, according to Leichtman Research Group.
That is up from 80 percent take rates in 2004. As you might suspect, income plays a part in non-adoption.
The mean annual household income of multichannel video subscribers is 53 percent higher than the household income of non-subscribers.
Nationwide, six percent of homes with annual incomes over $75,000 do not subscribe to a multichannel video service, compared to 12 percent with incomes of $30,000-$75,000, and 27 percent of homes with incomes under $30,000.
Of those figures, the perhaps increasingly-important number is the percentage of homes that can afford the product, who choose, for some reason, not to buy. There is a growing sense that many such households include younger Millennial consumers, who do not appear to have the same propensity to buy the service as older users tend to exhibit.
The findings are based on a telephone survey of 1,369 households from throughout the United States, and are part of a new LRG study.
The other issue is the impact a sluggish economy might be having. Some 42 percent of surveyed individuals agree that changes in the economy have negatively impacted their household in the past year.
About 39 percent of those negatively impacted by the economy agree that they reduced spending on TV, Internet, and phone in the past year.
Also, some 32 percent of those negatively impacted by the economy agree that they will likely reduce spending in the next six months.
About 16 percent of those negatively impacted by the economy report they are likely to switch video providers in the next six months.
On the other hand, men 18 to 34 are now spending more time streaming video than watching live TV, one third visit YouTube multiple times a day, half subscribe to a YouTube channel, and two thirds shared YouTube videos in the past week, according to Generation V , a comprehensive YouTube study of consumer video trends,
The study also finds that 40 percent of women 25 to 49 have subscribed to a YouTube channel, half shared a video this past week, and one third regularly share online video with their kids or parents.
Those changes in viewership illustrate just one aspect of the range of underlying changes that are needed before over the top online video can seriously challenge traditional TV and subscription video services.
Those changes obviously include extensive availability of high-speed broadband access service good enough to support consistently high quality video experiences. Consumers have to create new habits about watching TV and video, including willingness to consume on a variety of devices and screens, with the Internet being the delivery mechanism.
At some point, the ability to view Internet-delivered video on any screen must include easy viewing on the largest screens in a home, and that means further development of in-home devices that make this possible.
Also, users will have to create new habits relating to the sorts of programs they want to watch. The traditional difference between user-generated amateur video and professionally-produced programs will have to narrow.
That could happen in a couple of ways. People could decide they prefer the over the top programming, or traditional programmers could start making their content available for over the top consumption.
Also, artists and performers could themselves start to create programming directly for over the top delivery, narrowing the gap between traditional and newer formats. YouTube, for example, is trying to bridge the gap.
YouTube formats for original programming include themes that resemble traditional video subscription networks. In other words, YouTube will deliberately try to create online versions of traditional cable TV channels, at least to the degree that “channels” and “networks” have a theme.
Revenue sources will develop rather naturally as all those elements come into existence on a significant scale.
In a sense, over the top alternatives represent the latest fragmentation of the TV audience that began decades ago with the advent of the VCR and cable TV. Online video is only the next great wave of audience fragmentation.
That is up from 80 percent take rates in 2004. As you might suspect, income plays a part in non-adoption.
The mean annual household income of multichannel video subscribers is 53 percent higher than the household income of non-subscribers.
Nationwide, six percent of homes with annual incomes over $75,000 do not subscribe to a multichannel video service, compared to 12 percent with incomes of $30,000-$75,000, and 27 percent of homes with incomes under $30,000.
Of those figures, the perhaps increasingly-important number is the percentage of homes that can afford the product, who choose, for some reason, not to buy. There is a growing sense that many such households include younger Millennial consumers, who do not appear to have the same propensity to buy the service as older users tend to exhibit.
The findings are based on a telephone survey of 1,369 households from throughout the United States, and are part of a new LRG study.
The other issue is the impact a sluggish economy might be having. Some 42 percent of surveyed individuals agree that changes in the economy have negatively impacted their household in the past year.
About 39 percent of those negatively impacted by the economy agree that they reduced spending on TV, Internet, and phone in the past year.
Also, some 32 percent of those negatively impacted by the economy agree that they will likely reduce spending in the next six months.
About 16 percent of those negatively impacted by the economy report they are likely to switch video providers in the next six months.
On the other hand, men 18 to 34 are now spending more time streaming video than watching live TV, one third visit YouTube multiple times a day, half subscribe to a YouTube channel, and two thirds shared YouTube videos in the past week, according to Generation V , a comprehensive YouTube study of consumer video trends,
The study also finds that 40 percent of women 25 to 49 have subscribed to a YouTube channel, half shared a video this past week, and one third regularly share online video with their kids or parents.
Those changes in viewership illustrate just one aspect of the range of underlying changes that are needed before over the top online video can seriously challenge traditional TV and subscription video services.
Those changes obviously include extensive availability of high-speed broadband access service good enough to support consistently high quality video experiences. Consumers have to create new habits about watching TV and video, including willingness to consume on a variety of devices and screens, with the Internet being the delivery mechanism.
At some point, the ability to view Internet-delivered video on any screen must include easy viewing on the largest screens in a home, and that means further development of in-home devices that make this possible.
Also, users will have to create new habits relating to the sorts of programs they want to watch. The traditional difference between user-generated amateur video and professionally-produced programs will have to narrow.
That could happen in a couple of ways. People could decide they prefer the over the top programming, or traditional programmers could start making their content available for over the top consumption.
Also, artists and performers could themselves start to create programming directly for over the top delivery, narrowing the gap between traditional and newer formats. YouTube, for example, is trying to bridge the gap.
YouTube formats for original programming include themes that resemble traditional video subscription networks. In other words, YouTube will deliberately try to create online versions of traditional cable TV channels, at least to the degree that “channels” and “networks” have a theme.
Revenue sources will develop rather naturally as all those elements come into existence on a significant scale.
In a sense, over the top alternatives represent the latest fragmentation of the TV audience that began decades ago with the advent of the VCR and cable TV. Online video is only the next great wave of audience fragmentation.
Gary Kim was cited as a global "Power Mobile Influencer" by Forbes, ranked second in the world for coverage of the mobile business, and as a "top 10" telecom analyst. He is a member of Mensa, the international organization for people with IQs in the top two percent.
Carrier Ethernet Revenue to Double in 3 Years
U.S. enterprises and consumers are expected to spend more than $47 billion over the next five years on Ethernet services provided by carriers, according to a new market research study from The Insight Research Corporation.
With metro-area and wide-area Ethernet services readily available from virtually all major data service providers, industry revenue is expected to grow from nearly $5 billion in 2012 to reach just over $11 billion by 2017.
However, year over year spending growth is expected to gradually stall and by 2017 the annual revenue growth rate will be half of what it is today, Insight Research says.
According to the study, Ethernet's central driver continues to be its ability to meet seemingly endlessly growing bandwidth demands at lower cost and with greater flexibility than competing services.
A major growth driver in years past had been the large-scale migration of wireless backhaul cell sites from TDM to Ethernet, and though still a contributory growth factor, backhaul growth will start to moderate as LTE deployments are completed.
"Wireless backhaul had been a major factor in this fast-growing telecommunications services sector, but with much of the conversion of TDM to Ethernet completed, we are forecasting that spending on Ethernet will moderate," says Robert Rosenberg, president of Insight Research. "Over the five year forecast period we project a compounded annual revenue growth rate of 17 percent, with growth slowing by 2016 to be more in the range of 12 to 15 percent.”
With metro-area and wide-area Ethernet services readily available from virtually all major data service providers, industry revenue is expected to grow from nearly $5 billion in 2012 to reach just over $11 billion by 2017.
However, year over year spending growth is expected to gradually stall and by 2017 the annual revenue growth rate will be half of what it is today, Insight Research says.
According to the study, Ethernet's central driver continues to be its ability to meet seemingly endlessly growing bandwidth demands at lower cost and with greater flexibility than competing services.
A major growth driver in years past had been the large-scale migration of wireless backhaul cell sites from TDM to Ethernet, and though still a contributory growth factor, backhaul growth will start to moderate as LTE deployments are completed.
"Wireless backhaul had been a major factor in this fast-growing telecommunications services sector, but with much of the conversion of TDM to Ethernet completed, we are forecasting that spending on Ethernet will moderate," says Robert Rosenberg, president of Insight Research. "Over the five year forecast period we project a compounded annual revenue growth rate of 17 percent, with growth slowing by 2016 to be more in the range of 12 to 15 percent.”
Gary Kim was cited as a global "Power Mobile Influencer" by Forbes, ranked second in the world for coverage of the mobile business, and as a "top 10" telecom analyst. He is a member of Mensa, the international organization for people with IQs in the top two percent.
Mobile Calling Falls for First Time in U.K. Market
Overall time spent using voice communications fell by five percent in 2011, Ofcom, the U.K. communications regulator, reports. “This reflects a 10 percent fall in the volume of calls from landlines, and for the first time ever, a fall in the volume of mobile calls (by just over one percent, in 2011,” Ofcom reports.
Text-based communications are surpassing traditional phone calls or meeting face to face as the most frequent ways of keeping in touch, for U.K. adults, Ofcom, the U.K. communications regulator, says.
The average UK consumer now sends 50 texts a week, more than doubled in four years, with over 150 billion text messages sent in 2011.
Almost another 90 minutes per week is spent using social networking sites and e-mail or using a mobile to access the Internet.
According to Ofcom, 96 percent users 16 to 24 are using some form of text based application on a daily basis to communicate with friends and family; with 90 percent using texts and nearly three quarters (73 percent) using social networking sites.
By comparison, talking on the phone is less popular among this younger age group, with 67 percent making mobile phone calls on a daily basis, and only 63 percent talking face to face.
Text-based communications are surpassing traditional phone calls or meeting face to face as the most frequent ways of keeping in touch, for U.K. adults, Ofcom, the U.K. communications regulator, says.
The average UK consumer now sends 50 texts a week, more than doubled in four years, with over 150 billion text messages sent in 2011.
Almost another 90 minutes per week is spent using social networking sites and e-mail or using a mobile to access the Internet.
According to Ofcom, 96 percent users 16 to 24 are using some form of text based application on a daily basis to communicate with friends and family; with 90 percent using texts and nearly three quarters (73 percent) using social networking sites.
By comparison, talking on the phone is less popular among this younger age group, with 67 percent making mobile phone calls on a daily basis, and only 63 percent talking face to face.
Gary Kim was cited as a global "Power Mobile Influencer" by Forbes, ranked second in the world for coverage of the mobile business, and as a "top 10" telecom analyst. He is a member of Mensa, the international organization for people with IQs in the top two percent.
SIP Trunking Saves 33%
Among enterprises, use of SIP trunking has provided an average 33 percent cost savings over legacy access methods, a study conducted by Webtorials, and sponsored by Sonus Networks, has found.
For 73 percent of respondents, “saving money” was among the key drivers for adoption. But roughly half indicated that ability to use “SIP-specific” features also was an adoption driver.
SIP Trunking, by contrast, is still in the early stages of deployment. In fact, roughly two-thirds of the respondents reported either "Significant Use" or "Extensive Use" of VoIP, while only about one-third of the respondents reported either "Significant Use" or "Extensive Use" of SIP Trunks. Among those using SIP Trunks, significant cost savings have been realized, with an average savings on the order of 33%, Sonus Networks reports.
Some 68 percent of respondents indicated their decisions are driven "mostly by cost savings" or "about equally" by cost and capabilities.
VoIP (89 percent), Unified Communications (69 percent) and video conferencing (65 percent) are the most important types of media to be controlled using SIP.
For 73 percent of respondents, “saving money” was among the key drivers for adoption. But roughly half indicated that ability to use “SIP-specific” features also was an adoption driver.
SIP Trunking, by contrast, is still in the early stages of deployment. In fact, roughly two-thirds of the respondents reported either "Significant Use" or "Extensive Use" of VoIP, while only about one-third of the respondents reported either "Significant Use" or "Extensive Use" of SIP Trunks. Among those using SIP Trunks, significant cost savings have been realized, with an average savings on the order of 33%, Sonus Networks reports.
Some 68 percent of respondents indicated their decisions are driven "mostly by cost savings" or "about equally" by cost and capabilities.
VoIP (89 percent), Unified Communications (69 percent) and video conferencing (65 percent) are the most important types of media to be controlled using SIP.
Gary Kim was cited as a global "Power Mobile Influencer" by Forbes, ranked second in the world for coverage of the mobile business, and as a "top 10" telecom analyst. He is a member of Mensa, the international organization for people with IQs in the top two percent.
Leading French Mobile Ops are Between a Rock and a Hard Place
French mobile service providers are between a rock and a hard place. Facing significant competitive pressure that is hitting gross revenues, the incumbent mobile service providers also need to reduce costs to maintain profit margins. But they do not have complete freedom where it comes to those cost cuts.
The French Ministry for the Digital Economy has warned French telecom service providers they may make no job cuts as they restructure to meet the competition.
Iliad, which launched its “Free Mobile” service in January 2012 in France, has been wrecking havoc on its competitors France Telecom, SFR and Bouygues Telecom.
Precisely how the French service providers can make cuts, without touching personnel costs, is a key question, since presumably regulators also do not want any slackening of network capital investment.
Small wonder that many mobile service providers are looking to unload other international assets, in part to reduce debt burdens. But one also wonders whether reducing debt loads is part of an effort to slice operating costs as well.
The French Ministry for the Digital Economy has warned French telecom service providers they may make no job cuts as they restructure to meet the competition.
Iliad, which launched its “Free Mobile” service in January 2012 in France, has been wrecking havoc on its competitors France Telecom, SFR and Bouygues Telecom.
Precisely how the French service providers can make cuts, without touching personnel costs, is a key question, since presumably regulators also do not want any slackening of network capital investment.
Small wonder that many mobile service providers are looking to unload other international assets, in part to reduce debt burdens. But one also wonders whether reducing debt loads is part of an effort to slice operating costs as well.
Gary Kim was cited as a global "Power Mobile Influencer" by Forbes, ranked second in the world for coverage of the mobile business, and as a "top 10" telecom analyst. He is a member of Mensa, the international organization for people with IQs in the top two percent.
Is Broadband Access One Market, or Many?
It isn't always easy to figure out what a "product" is, for purposes of plotting that "product's" life cycle. Is landline voice "one product," or a series of products that have been offered over the years? Similarly, is "Internet access" one product, or several?
The answer matters, as we can assume any product, including broadband access, will have a product life cycle. But we have to agree on what “the product” is, before we can figure out how to understand the life cycle.
Some might argue that “Internet access” is the product, with successive new generations of products simply reflecting better ways of supplying “Internet access.”
That view would make dial-up, slower speed DSL or cable modem services and now 300 Mbps services products one category. Product managers might not agree, and for good reason. One can plot the rise and fall of "dial-up" Internet access quite distinctly from the adoption of high-speed access services.
The precedent, one might argue, is “voice service.” Over time, the industry has evolved through various types of switching and access technology, but the product category always has been “fixed network voice.”
In a business sense, we can count the number of subscribers served by specific switch technologies, but the business-relevant distinction has remained “total number of lines in service” (access lines in service).
Using that analogy, all forms of Internet access represent one product category. But few are likely to accept that definition so readily.
For starters, there is the simple matter of lead applications for various types of Internet access.
The "killer app" for “dial-up Internet access” was email. That isn't exactly true for the early generations of broadband services, which tended to shift the lead apps to visual Web apps.
Now, streaming video and audio seem to be the lead applications, even though a variety of apps are used by most broadband customers. But as we push to speeds routinely above 20 Mbps, it is likely new lead apps will develop.
Also, there is the matter of mobile broadband access, which arguably gets used in different ways than fixed access. Are those examples of two distinct markets, or one market with segments?
The answer might matter since, In many developed markets, the “fixed network Internet access” product is reaching saturation, where every consumer who wants the product already is buying it. To refresh product lines, and earn more revenue, service providers are relying on faster speed services that sell for higher prices.
But the faster-growing segment is mobile broadband. China, for example, has seen fewer fixed broadband subscribers over the past year, instead of growing.
In other words, fixed broadband accounts actually declined, as users apparently decided to spend their money on mobile broadband, rather than fixed broadband.
Chinese Internet users reached 530 million over the past six months, but the broadband subscriber base actually shrank as mobile became the most popular way for users to get online for the first time, a report by the Chinese government suggests.
Of those users, some 380 million were fixed broadband users, down from 396 million in December 2011, and 388 million were mobile internet users, up from 356 million.
So “mobile broadband access” appears to be a substitute and new product, with a different life cycle, than fixed broadband.
The answer matters, as we can assume any product, including broadband access, will have a product life cycle. But we have to agree on what “the product” is, before we can figure out how to understand the life cycle.
Some might argue that “Internet access” is the product, with successive new generations of products simply reflecting better ways of supplying “Internet access.”
That view would make dial-up, slower speed DSL or cable modem services and now 300 Mbps services products one category. Product managers might not agree, and for good reason. One can plot the rise and fall of "dial-up" Internet access quite distinctly from the adoption of high-speed access services.
The precedent, one might argue, is “voice service.” Over time, the industry has evolved through various types of switching and access technology, but the product category always has been “fixed network voice.”
In a business sense, we can count the number of subscribers served by specific switch technologies, but the business-relevant distinction has remained “total number of lines in service” (access lines in service).
Using that analogy, all forms of Internet access represent one product category. But few are likely to accept that definition so readily.
For starters, there is the simple matter of lead applications for various types of Internet access.
The "killer app" for “dial-up Internet access” was email. That isn't exactly true for the early generations of broadband services, which tended to shift the lead apps to visual Web apps.
Now, streaming video and audio seem to be the lead applications, even though a variety of apps are used by most broadband customers. But as we push to speeds routinely above 20 Mbps, it is likely new lead apps will develop.
Also, there is the matter of mobile broadband access, which arguably gets used in different ways than fixed access. Are those examples of two distinct markets, or one market with segments?
The answer might matter since, In many developed markets, the “fixed network Internet access” product is reaching saturation, where every consumer who wants the product already is buying it. To refresh product lines, and earn more revenue, service providers are relying on faster speed services that sell for higher prices.
But the faster-growing segment is mobile broadband. China, for example, has seen fewer fixed broadband subscribers over the past year, instead of growing.
In other words, fixed broadband accounts actually declined, as users apparently decided to spend their money on mobile broadband, rather than fixed broadband.
Chinese Internet users reached 530 million over the past six months, but the broadband subscriber base actually shrank as mobile became the most popular way for users to get online for the first time, a report by the Chinese government suggests.
Of those users, some 380 million were fixed broadband users, down from 396 million in December 2011, and 388 million were mobile internet users, up from 356 million.
So “mobile broadband access” appears to be a substitute and new product, with a different life cycle, than fixed broadband.
Gary Kim was cited as a global "Power Mobile Influencer" by Forbes, ranked second in the world for coverage of the mobile business, and as a "top 10" telecom analyst. He is a member of Mensa, the international organization for people with IQs in the top two percent.
Hosted IP PBX Services Will Grow 300% to 2016
U.S. spending on unified communications technologies will increase by an average of 10 percent per year, led by spending on hosted IP telephony services, which will almost triple between 2011 and 2016, estimates InfoTrack.
Separately, Infonetics Research predicts the number of seats for hosted business VoIP and unified communications services is on track to more than double between 2012 and 2016. Note that forecast includes both hosted IP telephony and UC.
Among U.S. enterprises, defined as firms with 500 or more employees, spending on hosted IPT will grow at an average rate of 27 percent, which is almost two times faster than the average increase among U.S. SMBs (firms with fewer than 500 employees), InfoTrack says.
But over the next five years, the growth of SMB spending on UC apps will be more than twice the rate of U.S. enterprises, which represents the mirror image of what we project happening in the hosted IPT sector," said Ken Dolsky, Senior Program Director for InfoTrack.
As always, one has to keep the size of the installed base in mind when pondering such forecasts. Other researchers, including Parallels, have estimated that small and medium business hosted IP telephony penetration is still relatively small.
The global market for hosted PBX (hosted IP telephony) services averaged between four percent and seven percent in the largest SMB markets, Parallels noted, as recently as late 2011.
Infonetics Research separately has forecast that the global SMB VoIP services market would grow to $76.1 billion in 2015 with total subscribers of 262 million. Keep in mind that the total global telecom services business accounts for about $2 trillion in annual revenue in 2012.
So hosted IP telephony would represent about four percent of global revenues.
In the United States, it has been estimated that around 500,000 SMBs currently use a hosted PBX service, representing an $800 million market. In a U.S. telecom service business of about $336 billion in annual revenue, hosted IP telephony represents about two-tenths of one percent of total industry revenue.
However, Parallels estimates that the majority of the current in-house PBX systems will migrate to hosted mechanisms over time, representing $3.9 billion potential market for hosted PBX.
US Hosted PBX Market – Source: Parallels SMB Cloud Insights Report, 2011
Separately, Infonetics Research predicts the number of seats for hosted business VoIP and unified communications services is on track to more than double between 2012 and 2016. Note that forecast includes both hosted IP telephony and UC.
Among U.S. enterprises, defined as firms with 500 or more employees, spending on hosted IPT will grow at an average rate of 27 percent, which is almost two times faster than the average increase among U.S. SMBs (firms with fewer than 500 employees), InfoTrack says.
These days, though, estimating the size of the global market for business IP telephony services offered by service providers is a hard question to answer. For starters, IP telephony can include sales of IP private branch exchanges, unified communications solutions and services, hosted IP telephony services, access services such as SIP trunking and fees earned for managing premises business phone systems.
With all of this, the global business IP telephony market will reach $20.8 billion by the year 2018, according to Global Industry Analysts. The problem, of course, is that it is tough to make sense of global estimates, especially without knowing in some detail which specific products are included in that figure.
The global market for hosted PBX (hosted IP telephony) services averaged between four percent and seven percent in the largest SMB markets, Parallels noted, as recently as late 2011.
The global market for hosted PBX (hosted IP telephony) services averaged between four percent and seven percent in the largest SMB markets, Parallels noted, as recently as late 2011.
Infonetics Research separately has forecast that the global SMB VoIP services market would grow to $76.1 billion in 2015 with total subscribers of 262 million. Keep in mind that the total global telecom services business accounts for about $2 trillion in annual revenue in 2012.
So hosted IP telephony would represent about four percent of global revenue.
In the United States, it has been estimated that around 500,000 SMBs currently use a hosted PBX service, representing an $800 million market. In a U.S. telecom service business of about $336 billion in annual revenue, hosted IP telephony represents about two-tenths of one percent of total industry revenue.
In the United States, it has been estimated that around 500,000 SMBs currently use a hosted PBX service, representing an $800 million market. In a U.S. telecom service business of about $336 billion in annual revenue, hosted IP telephony represents about two-tenths of one percent of total industry revenue.
However, Parallels estimates that the majority of the current in-house PBX systems will migrate to hosted mechanisms over time, representing $3.9 billion potential market for hosted PBX.
At the moment, it remains the case that most business IP telephony is supplied by premises-based solutions.
So how big is the business IP telephony? It depends on who you ask, and what the assumptions are.
"In 2011, SMBs represented 46 percent of the U.S. installed base of IPT lines, but accounted for only 30 percent of the spending on UC applications,” InfoTrack says. But over the next five years, the growth of SMB spending on UC apps will be more than twice the rate of U.S. enterprises, which represents the mirror image of what we project happening in the hosted IPT sector," said Ken Dolsky, Senior Program Director for InfoTrack.
As always, one has to keep the size of the installed base in mind when pondering such forecasts. Other researchers, including Parallels, have estimated that small and medium business hosted IP telephony penetration is still relatively small.
The global market for hosted PBX (hosted IP telephony) services averaged between four percent and seven percent in the largest SMB markets, Parallels noted, as recently as late 2011.
Infonetics Research separately has forecast that the global SMB VoIP services market would grow to $76.1 billion in 2015 with total subscribers of 262 million. Keep in mind that the total global telecom services business accounts for about $2 trillion in annual revenue in 2012.
So hosted IP telephony would represent about four percent of global revenues.
In the United States, it has been estimated that around 500,000 SMBs currently use a hosted PBX service, representing an $800 million market. In a U.S. telecom service business of about $336 billion in annual revenue, hosted IP telephony represents about two-tenths of one percent of total industry revenue.
However, Parallels estimates that the majority of the current in-house PBX systems will migrate to hosted mechanisms over time, representing $3.9 billion potential market for hosted PBX.
US Hosted PBX Market – Source: Parallels SMB Cloud Insights Report, 2011
Gary Kim was cited as a global "Power Mobile Influencer" by Forbes, ranked second in the world for coverage of the mobile business, and as a "top 10" telecom analyst. He is a member of Mensa, the international organization for people with IQs in the top two percent.
Mobile Industry Will Reach Milestone Sometime After 2016
Data revenue will grow to 65 percent of total U.S. wireless service revenue as voice declines to 35 percent in 2016, according to Hugues de la Vergne, principal research analyst at Gartner. That might not seem so significant, but keep in mind that, in recent decades, voice has represented at least 70 percent of all industry revenues.
A replacement of voice revenues by data revenues at that level would be a key milestone for an industry that has for some time been grappling with the issue of how to replace lost voice revenue and profit margin.
Growing adoption of smart phones, with the new and significant data plan revenue, will play a key role, of course. Almost by definition, a smart phone activation will come with a boost in monthly revenue, from data access, of $20 to $40 a month.
But different retail packaging likely will play a key role. New shared data plans offered by AT&T and Verizon Wireless are intended to lift overall revenues while creating a usage-based data revenue model, while encouraging users to add tablets to their accounts for mobile broadband access.
What remains unclear is the extent of demand for such plans. Some think the entire industry eventually will move in that direction, as was the case with some earlier packaging innovations, including the mobile industry's abolition of domestic long distance with AT&T's Digital One Rate, or the adoption of family plans for domestic voice and texting.
But that is far from a universal view. T-Mobile USA, for example, has argued that the plans are not advantageous for consumers. And there are many subtleties. Most believe that the new plans primarily will encourage smart phone adoption, and secondarily tablet mobile connections.
Some of us might argue it is possible that the big secondary effect will be to lift personal mobile hotspot service sales, not the additional mobile network connections for tablets. The reason is that a personal mobile hotspot capability solves the same problem as a paid mobile connection for a tablet, and also has additional value.
When the personal hotspot capability is provided by the smart phone, there is no need to carry another device, such as a dongle or discrete hotspot device. Also, the personal hotspot conveniently can connect multiple devices, where a dongle connects only one device.
But that isn’t the only potential way data revenues might grow. As the number of devices with mobile network modems increases, so will the number of instances where it makes sense to have mobile network broadband.
The issue is whether that also will lead to demand for multi-device data rate plans, as Gartner believes.
The disagreement about adoption probably will not be decided, one way or the other, for some time. The reason is that the current structure of the shared data plans does not offer significantly better economics for users, compared to what they already can buy.
There are some marginal advantages and inducements to add tablet devices, for example, but the price advantage might not be so obvious to most users, or valuable.
But Gartner believes multi-device rate plans will be a key driving factor in the expansion of U.S. data revenue from $81.4 billion in 2011 to $151.9 billion in 2016.
Voice represents something on the order of 72 percent percent of total mobile service provider revenue, according to ABI Research estimates.
Messaging represents about 21 percent of total revenue, so declining messaging revenue is less a problem than lost voice revenue.
Mobile Internet revenue still is growing, in every market, so there is more time to react to the eventual maturation of that market, which at the moment only represents about six percent of total mobile service provider revenue globally, by ABI Research estimates.
The rate of mobile data revenue growth is important because voice revenues are declining. ABI Research also forecasts annual mobile voice revenues to reach $580 billion in 2010.
From 2011 on, rising subscriber saturation will increasingly erode mobile voice revenues, not just in developed markets but also in a number of emerging markets. By 2014, mobile voice revenues will have contracted by 9.6 percent.
While mobile operators have received a substantial boost from value-added services such as messaging and mobile Internet, competition is squeezing margins for a variety of services and carriers. Total mobile data services should generate $169 million in 2009 and will grow at a compound annual growth rate of nine percent until 2014.
By the end of 2009 the declines in annual average revenue per user (ARPU) will have been felt most severely in Asia-Pacific (-8.7% to $105) and Africa (-7.8% to $134). ARPU in 2009 in North America will have contracted, but only by -0.6% to $526).
All that means mobile service providers will have to work to resist voice revenue erosion while simultaneously growing data revenues.
A replacement of voice revenues by data revenues at that level would be a key milestone for an industry that has for some time been grappling with the issue of how to replace lost voice revenue and profit margin.
Growing adoption of smart phones, with the new and significant data plan revenue, will play a key role, of course. Almost by definition, a smart phone activation will come with a boost in monthly revenue, from data access, of $20 to $40 a month.
But different retail packaging likely will play a key role. New shared data plans offered by AT&T and Verizon Wireless are intended to lift overall revenues while creating a usage-based data revenue model, while encouraging users to add tablets to their accounts for mobile broadband access.
What remains unclear is the extent of demand for such plans. Some think the entire industry eventually will move in that direction, as was the case with some earlier packaging innovations, including the mobile industry's abolition of domestic long distance with AT&T's Digital One Rate, or the adoption of family plans for domestic voice and texting.
But that is far from a universal view. T-Mobile USA, for example, has argued that the plans are not advantageous for consumers. And there are many subtleties. Most believe that the new plans primarily will encourage smart phone adoption, and secondarily tablet mobile connections.
Some of us might argue it is possible that the big secondary effect will be to lift personal mobile hotspot service sales, not the additional mobile network connections for tablets. The reason is that a personal mobile hotspot capability solves the same problem as a paid mobile connection for a tablet, and also has additional value.
When the personal hotspot capability is provided by the smart phone, there is no need to carry another device, such as a dongle or discrete hotspot device. Also, the personal hotspot conveniently can connect multiple devices, where a dongle connects only one device.
But that isn’t the only potential way data revenues might grow. As the number of devices with mobile network modems increases, so will the number of instances where it makes sense to have mobile network broadband.
The issue is whether that also will lead to demand for multi-device data rate plans, as Gartner believes.
The disagreement about adoption probably will not be decided, one way or the other, for some time. The reason is that the current structure of the shared data plans does not offer significantly better economics for users, compared to what they already can buy.
There are some marginal advantages and inducements to add tablet devices, for example, but the price advantage might not be so obvious to most users, or valuable.
But Gartner believes multi-device rate plans will be a key driving factor in the expansion of U.S. data revenue from $81.4 billion in 2011 to $151.9 billion in 2016.
Voice represents something on the order of 72 percent percent of total mobile service provider revenue, according to ABI Research estimates.
Messaging represents about 21 percent of total revenue, so declining messaging revenue is less a problem than lost voice revenue.
Mobile Internet revenue still is growing, in every market, so there is more time to react to the eventual maturation of that market, which at the moment only represents about six percent of total mobile service provider revenue globally, by ABI Research estimates.
The rate of mobile data revenue growth is important because voice revenues are declining. ABI Research also forecasts annual mobile voice revenues to reach $580 billion in 2010.
From 2011 on, rising subscriber saturation will increasingly erode mobile voice revenues, not just in developed markets but also in a number of emerging markets. By 2014, mobile voice revenues will have contracted by 9.6 percent.
While mobile operators have received a substantial boost from value-added services such as messaging and mobile Internet, competition is squeezing margins for a variety of services and carriers. Total mobile data services should generate $169 million in 2009 and will grow at a compound annual growth rate of nine percent until 2014.
By the end of 2009 the declines in annual average revenue per user (ARPU) will have been felt most severely in Asia-Pacific (-8.7% to $105) and Africa (-7.8% to $134). ARPU in 2009 in North America will have contracted, but only by -0.6% to $526).
All that means mobile service providers will have to work to resist voice revenue erosion while simultaneously growing data revenues.
Gary Kim was cited as a global "Power Mobile Influencer" by Forbes, ranked second in the world for coverage of the mobile business, and as a "top 10" telecom analyst. He is a member of Mensa, the international organization for people with IQs in the top two percent.
Dunkin Donuts Launches Own Mobile Payment App
Dunkin’ Donuts has launched its first-ever mobile application for payment and gifting for iPhone, iPod touch and Android smartphones. With the new Dunkin’ App, paying for food, beverages, and merchandise at Dunkin’ Donuts restaurants throughout the U.S. is as simple and speedy as scanning a smart phone using a mobile Dunkin' Donuts Card in-store or at the drive-through, according to Mobile Commerce.
The "mGift" feature also allows users to send virtual gift cards using text message, email, and Facebook Connect.
The "mGift" feature also allows users to send virtual gift cards using text message, email, and Facebook Connect.
Gary Kim was cited as a global "Power Mobile Influencer" by Forbes, ranked second in the world for coverage of the mobile business, and as a "top 10" telecom analyst. He is a member of Mensa, the international organization for people with IQs in the top two percent.
Consumers Not So Hot on Network Connected Tablets, Apparently
According to Engadget, AT&T has ended its subsidies for tablets sold with mobile data plans. You can make your own decisions about why the program is ending, but there might be a parallel with the earlier carrier experiments with subsidized netbooks.
You might argue the value-price relationship is not perceived as adequate. You might argue that with pervasive Wi-Fi, people don't quite so often "need" a network-provided data plan. You might argue people prefer devices other than the ones AT&T had been offering.
You can argue all of those could be reasons for lukewarm customer interest. You might also argue that AT&T doesn't want to incur the financing cost.
Whatever your choice of reasons, there still does not seem to be a big move by consumers to pay for tablet mobile connections, even though some predict that will happen. Wi-Fi-only devices typically outsell units equipped for 3G access, for example.
The ratio of Wi-Fi-only tablets tablet sales with carrier network connections, for example, is highly skewed to Wi-Fi-only devices.
You might argue the value-price relationship is not perceived as adequate. You might argue that with pervasive Wi-Fi, people don't quite so often "need" a network-provided data plan. You might argue people prefer devices other than the ones AT&T had been offering.
You can argue all of those could be reasons for lukewarm customer interest. You might also argue that AT&T doesn't want to incur the financing cost.
Whatever your choice of reasons, there still does not seem to be a big move by consumers to pay for tablet mobile connections, even though some predict that will happen. Wi-Fi-only devices typically outsell units equipped for 3G access, for example.
The ratio of Wi-Fi-only tablets tablet sales with carrier network connections, for example, is highly skewed to Wi-Fi-only devices.
Consumers appear to avoid getting tablet mobile service plans, preferring to run tablets on Wi-Fi networks.
With nearly 50 million tablets in the U.S. market, carrier-networked devices constitute roughly eight percent of the total.
Gary Kim was cited as a global "Power Mobile Influencer" by Forbes, ranked second in the world for coverage of the mobile business, and as a "top 10" telecom analyst. He is a member of Mensa, the international organization for people with IQs in the top two percent.
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Barclays Expands ‘Pingit’ Service to Africa
Barclays has launched an international version of its "Pingit" mobile person to person payments system in Kenya.
Barclays launched Pingit in February 2012 for its 11.9 million current account customers, who download the bank's Pingit app to their smart phone and can make instant money transfers to anyone with a U.K.-based mobile phone and a current account with any U.K. bank.
In the U.K. market, the app works on Apple iPhones, Blackberry and Android devices. Users call the recipient's mobile number using the Pingit app, key in an amount between £1 and £300 and hit send. The money is moved between the two current accounts using the Faster Payments service, and takes as little as 30 seconds.
Barclays plans to launch launch the mobile-to-mobile service in Kenya, adding service to a number of other African countries, including South Africa, later in 2012.
Barclays also will launch in Spain, Italy, Portugal and France in 2013.
The bank estimates the service, which will be available to customers and non-customers, will reduce the cost of sending money to Africa by at least half.
Barclays will charge a commission on the currency exchange but no fee to use the service.
That suggests a £100 transfer will cost less than £3. Traditional money transfer providers typically charge both a fee and a spread on currency, which could mean a £5-£10 charge on a £100 transfer.
Barclays launched Pingit in February 2012 for its 11.9 million current account customers, who download the bank's Pingit app to their smart phone and can make instant money transfers to anyone with a U.K.-based mobile phone and a current account with any U.K. bank.
In the U.K. market, the app works on Apple iPhones, Blackberry and Android devices. Users call the recipient's mobile number using the Pingit app, key in an amount between £1 and £300 and hit send. The money is moved between the two current accounts using the Faster Payments service, and takes as little as 30 seconds.
Barclays plans to launch launch the mobile-to-mobile service in Kenya, adding service to a number of other African countries, including South Africa, later in 2012.
Barclays also will launch in Spain, Italy, Portugal and France in 2013.
The bank estimates the service, which will be available to customers and non-customers, will reduce the cost of sending money to Africa by at least half.
Barclays will charge a commission on the currency exchange but no fee to use the service.
That suggests a £100 transfer will cost less than £3. Traditional money transfer providers typically charge both a fee and a spread on currency, which could mean a £5-£10 charge on a £100 transfer.
Gary Kim was cited as a global "Power Mobile Influencer" by Forbes, ranked second in the world for coverage of the mobile business, and as a "top 10" telecom analyst. He is a member of Mensa, the international organization for people with IQs in the top two percent.
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