BlackBerry To Introduce First Touchscreen Devices to Rival iPhone

I loved my BlackBerry when I first began using one years ago. Over time, my business reasons for using a smartphone have changed, with the biggest change being that email is no longer mission critical, but web apps are way more important. As much as I have loved composing text messages on a BlackBerry, the web experience has simply gotten to be painful.

Maybe RIM's new line will fix that. I'm not saying I'd go back, as I am more intrigued by Android devices. I do miss my keyboard, though.

AT&T Issues First Warning About Common Carrier Regulation

The great danger of the Federal Communications Commission's drive to regulate broadband access as a common carrier service is that it will choke off investment that is needed if we are to get the 100-Mbps network the FCC says it wants to see built.

Now AT&T has fired the first warning shot, saying it will reevaluate spending on its broadband access networks if the Federal Communications Commission decides to regulate broadband access as a common carrier service, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The warning can hardly come as a surprise. Both policy advocates and financial analysts already have warned that a capital strike is precisely what will happen if Title II regulations are imposed on broadband access.

"We would expect a profoundly negative impact on capital investment," warns Stanford Bernstein analyst Craig Moffett in a research note to clients.  "The only potential winners are the satellite providers, DirecTV and Dish Network, for whom incremental broadband regulation would dramatically reduce the risk of competitive foreclosure in the video business at the hands of bottleneck broadband providers," he says.

Former FCC Commissioner Harold Furchgott-Roth says the Federal Communications Commission's drive to reclassify broadband access as a common carrier service is "reckless" and "risky," will lead to a dampening of investment in networks, years of legal challenge and replaces an investment climate with a "casino" environment.

Of course, the drive to regulate broadband access as a common carrier service, despite being described as a targeted "third way" between unregulated information services and regulated common carrier services can be no such thing. The service either is an unregulated data service or it is a common carrier service under Title II. There is no permanent middle ground, as the FCC can later apply virtually any Title II common carrier obligations if it so desires, once the change is made.

In fact, the FCC's latest effort is the fourth time the FCC has launched inquiries into the status of information services, concluding three times before (Computer Inquiry I, II and III) that information or enhanced services are in fact to remain unregulated.

"The uncertainty the proposal creates will create a dampening effect on investment in the broadband business,"
says Furchgott-Roth, former FCC commissioner. Companies aren't sure what will happen and will delay
investment until there is certainty, he says.

If the FCC proceeds, and succeeds, "things will be tied up in courts for years an investors will gravitate to areas with greater certainty and opportunity for profit.

"There is a very clear correlation between certainty and investment," says Furchgott-Roth. "Unfortunately, both regulation and uncertainty is where we appear to be headed."

Some policy advocates will dismiss the AT&T threat as bluffing. "If this Title II regulation looks imminent, we have to reevaluate whether we put shovels in the ground," AT&T Chief Executive Randall Stephenson says, according to the Wall Street Journal.

AT&T could cut back spending on its U-Verse home television and Internet service, a move that would damage the FCC's other initiatives to spur more-rapid broadband adoption, at speeds up to 100 Mbps, for 100 million U.S. households.

U-verse service based on AT&T's fiber-to-curb archtiecture now is available to 24 million homes, and AT&T has a target of making it available to 30 million by the end of 2011. But AT&T warns that those plans could grind to a halt if common carrier changes the economics of fiber plant upgrades, which many observers believe is likely.

The reason is simple: common carrier regulation, even if touted as initially having a "light touch," would reverse decades of policymaking in the data services business and give the FCC ability to apply price regulations and wholesale obligations with mandatory pricing. The last time the FCC did that, in the wake of the Telecom Act of 1996, carriers put the brakes on new investment. In fact, Verizon did not begin its aggressive FiOS build until price controls were lifted.

Though the FCC says it won't invoke the most onerous Title II rules, such as regulating pricing, telecom companies worries that posture could be changed easily. And why wouldn't they?

"I'm a 3-2 vote away from the next guy coming in and saying I disagree with that, I take it away," Mr. Stephenson says.

If the FCC is counting on private capital to build the 100-Mbps new networks, and it is, then the drive to impose common carrier regulations virtually everyone expects will dry up investment is an unwise move. Whether the FCC understands this any better than it did in 1996 is questionable.

Users Now Spend 22% of Their Online Time With Social Media

Three of the world’s most popular brands online are social-media related (Facebook, YouTube and Wikipedia) and the world now spends over 110 billion minutes on social networks and blog sites, according to Nielsen.

This equates to 22 percent of all time online or one in every four and half minutes. For the first time ever, social network or blog sites are visited by three quarters of global consumers who go online, after the numbers of people visiting these sites increased by 24 percent over last year.

;The average visitor spends 66 percent more time on these sites than a year ago, almost 6 hours in April 2010 versus 3 hours, 31 minutes last year.

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Digital Content 1/3 of Total by 2014

By 2014, digital spending will make up one-third of total spending, up from 24 percent last year, according to PriceWaterhouseCoopers. The recession, the firm says, only accelerated the shift to digital, with digital spending increasing 10.2 percent and non-digital spending dropping 6.4 percent last year.

But with offline spending still accounting for 66 percent of the total even four years from now, the firm says the industry needs to “embrace digital not as a competitor to traditional analog services, but as a complement."

Google TV Demo

You can draw your own conclusions about the success Google TV will have. But there's little mystery about how it is supposed to work.

Mobile App Store Downloads 7X Bigger by 2014

Mobile app store downloads will increase by a factor of seven between 2009 and 2014, according to Pyramid Research. In 2010 Pyramid Research projects that 36 percent of paid apps will be downloaded through app stores and 86 percent of free downloads will take place through them.

App stores have become an important element in the mobile value chain in part because a wide range of easily accessible apps has quickly become a prerequisite for handset and platform vendors. Vendors also gain a new revenue stream, a powerful customer loyalty tool, an important gateway to additional revenue streams and an attractive resource for potential operator partnerships.

Advertising revenue is expected to play a big role in allowing developers to create revenue streams from free apps.

Developers will be the biggest winners, not only as they gain a higher portion of revenue but also because competition among stores will greatly improve support, payment terms and transparency.

Most third-party stores and aggregators will lose out over time to vendor and operator-sponsored stores, though Getjar might be the salient example of an exception to the rule.

Android Outsells iPhone in First Quarter

Smartphones carrying Google’s Android operating system outsold the iPhone in the first quarter of 2010, say researchers at NPD Group. During the quarter, Android handsets accounted for 28 percent of smartphone sales, beating out iPhone OS and its 21 percent share.

BlackBerry remains the bestselling OS, with its devices capturing 36 percent of the market. NPD attributes the shift to strong sales of the Motorola Droid and Droid Eris.

Strong sales of the Droid, Droid Eris, and Blackberry Curve via these promotions helped keep Verizon Wireless's smartphone sales on par with AT&T in the first quarter. According to NPD, smartphone sales at AT&T comprised nearly a third of the entire smartphone market (32 percent), followed by Verizon Wireless (30 percent), T-Mobile (17 percent) and Sprint (15 percent).

The continued popularity of messaging phones and smartphones resulted in slightly higher prices for all mobile phones, despite an overall drop in the number of mobile phones purchased in the first quarter. The average selling price for all mobile phones in the first quarter reached $88, which is a five percent increase from the first quarter of 2009. Smartphone unit prices, by comparison, averaged $151 in the first quarter of 2010, which is a three percent decrease over the previous year.

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Latest Motorola Droid?

It appears Motorola is getting ready to launch the next version of its "Droid" device, called by some the "X," by others the "Shadow." It reportedly features a metal frame, as the iPhone 4 does. The Droid "Xtreme" supposedly features a 4.3-inch screen, as does the HTC Evo, has "HDMI Out,"  as does the Evo, but will ship with Android 2.1, a new version of Motoblur, and a 750Mhz OMAP processor, unlike the 1-GHz processor the Evo ships with.

You might get an argument about screen size. Some argue the X will have a larger screen than the Evo. It doesn't sound like that will be the case, though (not that a 4.3-inch screen is inadequate by any means). Some think the X will have a larger screen than the Evo, but so far the leaks suggest a same-size screen.

Some worry about the overall size of the device, but I haven't noticed the Evo is a problem in the pocket. Lots of people seem to be more adept at typing on a smaller screen, but I'm not one of them, so the larger screen helps when doing data entry. Others notice the heft of the device, as is true of the Motorola Droid, or Incredible. I also don't find that to be an issue.

But that's the whole point of having lots of devices with different form factors, isn't it? We all get to pick devices that make different design trade-offs.

Online Ads Will Overtake Newspapers by 2014

PriceWaterhouseCoopers says online advertising will become the second-largest advertising medium in the United States, after television, within the next four years, and will increase by over $10 billion in that same time frame.

Online advertising will increase from $24.2 billion in 2009 to $34.4 billion in 2014 to overtake newspapers which will continue to lose ad revenue over the next four years, falling from $24.82 billion in 2009 to $22.3 billion in 2014.

That explains the interest firms such as News Corp. have in e-book readers.

Report predicts online advertising spending will increase by $10 Billion in next 4 years

Free Phones from T-Mobile on June 19

T-Mobile USA plans to give free phones to customers who sign up for group calling plans at its retail stores on Saturday June 19, 2010,  just days before rival At&T will start selling Apple's latest iPhone. Starting at 8 a.m., new customers will be able to get as many as five free handsets of their choice by signing up for a "family plan," which is a calling plan that has at least two users.

Current T-Mobile customers can convert a single-user plan into a family plan by adding at least one user, or adding lines to a family plan they already have. Customers using that option can get up to five free phones with a single family plan, though each will come with a two-year contract.

The promotion includes T-Mobile's newest smart phones running Google Inc.'s Android operating software, such as the HTC myTouch 3G Slide, which usually sells for $180 with a two-year contract and rebate, and Garminfone, which usually costs $200 with a two-year contract and rebate.

U.S. Smartphone Penetration Climbs to 20 Percent

Smartphone penetration in the United States has grown from 11 percent of mobile subscribers in April 2009 to more than 20 percent in April 2010, nearly doubling in just one year. The total number of smartphone subscribers now totals more than 48 million.

The biggest player in the smartphone market remains RIM, with more than 40 percent share of smartphone subscribers. Apple is second with 25 percent share of mobile subscribers, up from 20 percent in April 2009.

Apple’s market share has stabilized at 25 percent in recent months. Google’s Android platform in April 2010 captured 12 percent market share, up from just three percent six months ago. Android is inching closer to the number-three spot currently held by Microsoft at 15 percent, and could overtake Microsoft in a few months.

Americans Get “Smart”: iPhone, Android and the Accelerating Adoption of Smartphones (comScore Voices)

Verizon Wireless LTE Coverage Will Match 3G by 2013

Verizon Wireless says it is on track to complete its fourth-generation wireless network by by 2013, at which point the Long Term Evolution coverage map will match it's current 3G coverage. The company still plans to launch commercially in 25 to 30 markets in 2010, covering 100 million people.

Verizon Wireless: LTE on track and coverage to match 3G by 2013 | LteWorld

Global Broadband and Video Revenue to Grow Robustly

Spending on wired and mobile Internet access will rise from $228 billion in 2009 to $351 billion in 2014, PriceWaterhouseCoopers now predicts, representing growth of about 54 percent. Video subscriptions will grow as well.

The global television subscription and license fee market will increase from $185.9 billion in 2009 to $258.1 billion in 2014, a compount annual growth rate of 6.8 per cent. This will outpace TV advertising, which will grow at a CAGR of 5.7 per cent.

The biggest component of this market is subscription spending and this will increase at 7.5 per cent CAGR to $210.8 billion in 2014. Asia Pacific will be the fastest-growing region with a 10 per cent compund annual increase rising to $47.1 billion in 2014 from $29.2 billion in 2009.

Total global spending on consumer magazines fell by 10.6 percent in 2009, PwC says. The firm projects an additional 2.7 per cent decrease in 2010, a flat market in 2011, and modest growth during 2012–14. As a result, spending will total $74 billion in 2014, up 0.7 percent compounded annually from $71.5 billion in 2009.

Electronic educational books will grow at a CAGR of 36.5 per cent globally throughout the forecast period yet will still only account for less than six per cent of global spend on educational books in 2014.

As a whole, the media and entertainment market will grow by five percent compounded annually for the entire forecast period to 2014 reaching $1.7 trillion, up from $1.3 trillion in 2009. The fastest-growing region throughout the forecast period is Latin America growing at 8.8 per cent compound annual rate during the next five years to $77 billion in 2014.

Asia Pacific is next at 6.4 per cent CAR through to 2014 to US$475 billion. Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) follows at 4.6 per cent to US$581 billion in 2014. The largest, but slowest growing market is North America growing at 3.9 per cent CAR taking it from $460 billion in 2009 to $558 billion in 2014.

Natal Now is Kinect

Kinect, formerly Project Natal, uses a camera for Xbox 360 that tracks a game player in three-dimensional space, tracking 48 points on a body and providing a more-realistic gaming input capability. The infrared camera improves the quality of input to a game program in somewhat the same way that a Wii controller does.

Think of tracking user response to a volleyball lob, for example.

What Is Xbox 360 Kinect?

Android Market Growing Pains

Google probably is learning as much from Android Market feedback as it apparently did in thinking it could sell unlocked Android devices direct to consumers from a website, without the normal retail store and call center support. As it turns out, end users are comfortable with retail store experiences and do expect a fairly robust level of customer support from call centers and retail personnel.

In terms of the Android Market, perhaps Google is learning that it has to communicate better with developers; that throwing up apps to see what happens is just not going to work when dealing with third party developers.

As it turns out, some developers have been complaining that app download counts tracked by the Market have been inaccurate. For any developer that sells apps, that's lost revenue. For developers providing free apps, the apparent loss of downloads can affect ranking, hence the quantity of future downloads, and therefore the size of an end-user base and any upside revenue that might accrue from having a large user base.

Other users have noted that sometimes apps are hard to find when using the Market's own search process. One developer could locate his app when conducting a direct query, but that the app was not visible in search results.

"What disturbs me deeply is that there's really no support system for the Android Market," says Bo Stone of the AndroidGuys. "There's no bug tracking, no support phone or even email or any way to file a problem ticket."

The Android Market does have a help forum, but not many end users or developers are likely to find that a reasonable solution. Developers are customers, and customers have certain expecations about levels of support.

It appears that Android Market does not yet operate as a retail software outlet normally must.

Some developers report that the total number of downloads for their respective applications had in some cases dropped by several thousand, for example. Google will get better at this, but the issues illustrate the growing pains any firm, no matter how accomplished, can experience when moving into a more traditional and direct retail environment.

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Android Guys

Bing,Grows Share of U.S. Searches by 50 Percent

A year after the official relaunch of its search product under the "Bing" brand, Microsoft's share of U.S. searches has grown by 50 percent, according to data from comScore.

The firm estimates Microsoft's sites accounted for eight percent of U.S. searches in May 2009, but that the company grew its share to 12.1 percent of searches in May 2010. That represents a year-over-year growth rate of over 50 percent.

Over the same period, searches on Google and Yahoo properties dropped by 1.3 percentage points and 1.8 percentage points, respectively, with Ask and AOL sites also losing searches. Data for Google sites does not include searches on its video site YouTube.

With Bing, Microsoft Grows Share of U.S. Searches by 50 Percent - ClickZ

Skype CEO Envisions Switching Devices During Calls - PCWorld

Skype eventually will give users the ability to seamlessly switch devices between calls at the push of a button, says Skype CEO Josh Silverman. That would allow a user to start a conference call on a desktop PC switch to a mobile phone and then to his in-car navigation system without dropping the call.

Currently, Skype users can transfer calls to contacts or phones using the software's call transfer feature, but that feature doesn't yet allow users to transfer calls between devices using the same account.

Skype CEO Envisions Switching Devices During Calls - PCWorld

Google Earth Updates For PC & Mobile

Google has announced Google Earth 5.2 for the PC and 3 for iOS with native iPad support. The PC version now includes the ability to open a browser within Google Earth.

You can click a button on the top nav and a full browser appears. Anything that you would then do in a browser can be done within Google Earth. It's convenient, and an example of the current trend to embed more functions natively within a single important application.

http://www.gearthblog.com/

Sprint May Throttle Heavy Roaming Users

Sprint Nextel Corp. says laptop customers using an excessive amount of mobile data while roaming could have their accounts temporarily suspended, though the carrier still doesn't plan to limit the wireless connection for its high-volume smartphone customers, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The key issue here is heavy roaming use, off the core Sprint network, and the primary reason appears to be that Sprint obviously incurs direct incremental costs when users are on partner networks.

Sprint is changing its policies for data service for laptops users with mobile broadband cards or USB modems will not apply to smartphones.

Sprint already has a cap of 5 gigabytes of data usage within the network, and 300 megabytes of roaming data. Starting July 11, excessive data roaming by mobile laptop users could lead to Sprint suspending the off-network service until the customer's next billing cycle, unless the customer opts into a plan with extra charges for off-network usage.

Sprint says it will notify broadband customers by text message or email when they hit 75 percent and 90 percent of the roaming data limit. The plans include 5 cents per megabyte on the Sprint network and 25 cents when roaming.

The threat of suspension doesn't apply to usage on Sprint's 3G network or the 4G network run by partner Clearwire Corp., says Sprint spokesman Mark Elliott. "Sprint does not, nor plan to limit speeds, nor change a customer's ability to use any particular application or Internet site."

Analysts are expecting an industry-wide shift to control the amount of data traffic consumed by users, so the Sprint move is not unexpected, though Clearwire continues to say it will not cap data usage.

The issue is whether the new move will complicate Sprint's "simplicity" and "simply everything" marketing message.

T Mobile USA already has in place policies to throttle users who exceed the 5 gigabyte monthly cap. AT&T has adopted new caps of 200 megabytes and 2 gigabytes.

Verizon Wireless has not yet made any specific announcements about changes.

RIM Readying Tablet PC, New BlackBerry OS

Research In Motion Ltd. is  testing a touch-screen smartphone with a slide-out keyboard, the Wall Street Journal reports. The phone runs on a new version of the BlackBerry operating system and works much like an iPhone, letting users swipe through screens and expand images with their fingers. It also has a universal search bar that lets users scour all the phone's data and some data online as well.

RIM is also is reported to be experimenting with a tablet device to serve as a larger-screen companion to its BlackBerry phone. That device, which is in an early stage of development, will connect to cellular networks when tethered to a BlackBerry phone.

The new offerings come as RIM faces increased competition from devices built by Apple and those that run on the Android operating system from Google Inc.

RIM still sells more smartphones globally than any company besides Nokia Corp., and last year grabbed 19 percent of the world market for smartphones, according to  Strategy Analytics. But RIM's share of the North American market is slipping.

RIM's share of the North American smartphone market by shipments dropped to 38 percent in the March 2010 quarter from 54 percent in the first quarter of 2009.

Apple's share climbed from 18 percent to 23 percent over the same period.

The new slate device comes with four gigabytes of storage space and a five megapixel camera, the Wall Street Journal reports.

RIM is also readying a new Internet browser that renders Web pages much faster than the current browser, and allows users to access more than one Web page at a time, people familiar with the device said.