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A Visual View of Video Cord Cutting

Video cord cutting really isn't a major reality yet, and major distributors will do everything they can to tie on-demand, over-the-top video to continued buying of subscription services. There are two different problems. Distributors can lose customers who used to buy cable TV, satellite TV or telco TV.


Perhaps the bigger problem is the apparently growing number of younger consumers who simply don't find the value proposition compelling. Those consumers do not object to the price. They simply don't find the product something they want or need. Even cord cutting assumes a consumer "used" to buy the product. 

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Android is Top U.S. Smart Phone OS

Android is the top U.S. smart phone operating system, comScore says. Some of us might say the more interesting finding is the degree of web browsing, app and social networking usage. 


Android top OS

More Bids for PAETEC?

At least some investors seem to be expecting additional offers to buy Paetec Holding Corporation, which had seemed to be selling to Windstream Corp.

In a research note, FBR Capital Markets analyst David Dixon said a higher bid for Paetec from from Level 3 Communications would be justified. Such a deal would make "greater strategic sense."

In a broad sense, the bid or bids are part of an on-going consolidation of every part of the communications business. For Windstream, the potential rival bid could spell trouble for that company's hoped-for expansion strategy in the business customer segments.

Paetec shares pop above value of Windstream offer

Thanks, Steve

Steve Jobs Dies

Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple, died Oct. 5 at age 56. I wish I didn't have to write this. The world owes him quite a lot, and still can learn quite a lot. Just very sad.
 
Story here.

Sprint confirms unlimited 3G data plans for iPhone

Sprint confirmed on Wednesday that it still plans to offer unlimited data on the iPhone 4 and 4S when they launch on the network the week of Oct. 10, 2011.

Sprint confirms unlimited 3G data plans for iPhone

Why the Mobile Wallet Might Get More Traction than Mobile Payments

The "mobile wallet" (essentially, stored credentials and accounts on a smart lphone) might find greater success than mobile payments (using the mobile to complete a retail transaction) in the near term, a new study of Millennials might suggest. 

Using a mobile device as a substitute for carrying a plastic loyalty card is the top requested mobile payment application for Millennials (over 25 percent  expressed interest). Only 10 percent of  Millennials surveyed expressed interest in using a mobile device as a credit or debit card.

Millenial interest in loyalty programs also suggests a wallet approach might have more value than mobile payments.



Millennials respond to loyalty offers, the study sponsored by Aimia and conducted by Harris Interactive  has found. The online study found that more than 75 percent of U.S. consumers surveyed participate in loyalty and reward programs.



And more than 75 per cent of Millennials say they are more likely to choose a brand that offers a loyalty or reward program over a brand that doesn't offer one. Some 78 percent of U.S. respondents also indicated they would be more likely to do business with a company after earning a reward as well.,



In unprompted responses, Millennials rate loyalty rewards as the top incentive they look for in exchange for sharing personal information with marketers.



Nearly half of Millennials are willing to promote products or brands through social media in exchange for rewards.



Millennials view the option to download coupons or reward certificates as most enticing reason to use a rewards program application on a smart phone.



Some 57 percent of U.S. Millennials use mobile devices to perform price comparisons before making a purchase in a store.



What Millennials value

Samsung aims to block iPhone 4S sales in Italy, France

Samsung plans to file patent infringement claims against Apple’s new iPhone 4S and stop it from being sold in France and Italy, the latest move in a wide-ranging commercial dispute around patent infringement that also includes Apple suing to block the sale of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia on grounds that it violated Apple’s patents.


Apple has refused settlement offers with Samsung in hopes of blocking the Tab 10.1′s Australian launch altogether.

Some of us would continue to say that though there are legitimate issues of intellectual property protection, the patent process itself shows severe signs of misuse. Some would argue business success ought to emerge from decisions made by consumers, not lawyers, and that this increasingly seems not to be the case.

Samsung aims to block iPhone 4S sales in Italy, France

Mobile Operator Econet Wireless Launches Mobile Banking Service

Zimbabwean mobile operator, Econet Wireless has launched its mobile money transfer service, Eco-Cash.

Strive Masiyiwa, Econet Wireless Founder 

Eco-Cash officially was launched on 30 September 2011.

According to SWRadioAfrica, Econet, which has a subscriber base of more than 5 million customers, launched this service last week. Information on its website says the mobile cash transfer facility does not mean a subscriber has to open a bank account.

The new service will allow users to send and receive money, buy airtime, and make other payments using their mobile phones. Customers using EcoCash can also move money across different Zimbabwean mobile networks.

Econet Wireless launches mobile banking

VeriFone CEO on Mobile Payments

Douglas Bergeron, chief executive officer of VeriFone Systems, talks about the company's mobile payment technology and expansion plans.



VeriFone CEO on Mobile Payments

OfficeMax goes live with Google Wallet at 100 stores

Customers can now use near field communications mobile phones to make payments, redeem coupons and receive rewards using Google "SingleTap" terminals installed at more than one hundred of the company's stores in the United States. Office Max operates about 1,000 retail stores.

The new terminals are available in stores throughout the greater New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington DC regions.

OfficeMax goes live with Google Wallet

AT&T Will Sell iPhone 3GS "Free" on 2-Year Contract

AT&T will be able to sell the Apple 3GS to customers in the United States "for no incremental cost" ("free") on two-year service contracts that must include a data plan.

Four years ago, the cheapest iPhone cost $400. Today, it's free, at least on the U.S. AT&T network. The move shows that growth in smart phone adoption now is moving rapidly into the mainstream, with most of the sales volume coming from mainstream feature phone users.

AT&T Only U.S. Wireless Carrier To Get iPhone 3GS

Microcells and Backhaul will Have to be Cheap

Whichever technology is used to backhaul small cells, it has to be cheap, "it has to be massively cheap," said Andy Sutton, Everything Everywhere principal architect, access transport. "We have a financial envelope for small cells and it's challenging."

Cost is so important because small cells will have relatively low usage compared to a macrocell and there will be lots of sites to support. Compared with macrocells, small cells will cover distance of about 50 square meters or 538 square feet. That's an area about 23 feet by 23 feet.

One way to look at matters is that this is an area smaller than the range of a consumer's home Wi-Fi router.

Small-Cell Backhaul Must Be Cheap

Paramount Offers Streaming of "Transformers: Dark of the Moon"

Don't hold your breath in expectation that a revolution in online delivery of streamed new release movies is at hand, Paramount Pictures is experimenting with a new digital distribution model for the most recently released Transformers movie. 


This is just a test, not the forerunner of a new service offering. But like an army gearing up for a battle it expects, without full knowledge of where the foe is, Paramount is probing and testing, trying to gain more experience with a delivery system that could erupt into a full battle at some point. 


By offering its own marketplace for customers to purchase the streaming video, Paramount’s parent company Viacom is essentially cutting out “middlemen” services like Netflix, Vudu and others, keeping a bigger cut of the overall revenue.


"Transformers: Dark of the Moon" can be rented in standard definition for $3.99. Windows users have the option of renting an HD version for $4.99. The movie is available to watch for 48-hours after making the purchase.

The promotion was emailed to an MTV mailing list. The offer will last through the end of February 2012, marking the first extended direct-to-consumer online streaming rental offered by Paramount. Paramount to test streaming

Google has no Ability to Dominate New Markets, Some Would Argue

Legislating and regulating "problems" that are just about to solve themselves is a real problem in either national economic "planning" or regulation. Most of you are too young to remember the real and serious debates and dialogues held by telecom policymakers back in the 1970s and 1980s about how to provide telephone service to "one billion people who have never made a phone call."

The daunting problem seemed intractable. But policymakers back then had no idea "mobile service" was about to revolutionize communications, making it now a silly question to worry about how to provide communications service to those billion people. These days, most people in developing regions have, or soon will have, mobile phone service.

Some might argue we more recently, in the United States, thought the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the first major reform of the U.S. telecom framework since 1934, would introduce more competition in communications, and promote innovation.

That was just about the point that the Internet, broadband, mobility and applications were about to cause wholesale changes in user experience, user expectations and the product life cycles of any number of products, including fixed line voice services.

These days, you would be hard pressed to find a highly-placed telecommunications executive who would argue that voice revenues in the future will be anything but smaller than they are today, both in the fixed line and the mobile environments.

Despite the good intentions, policymakers tried to stimulate competition in voice services right at the point that voice services were about to reach the peak of the product life cycle, and then enter the declining stage.

Some might argue that growing scrutiny of Microsoft a decade ago likewise was misplaced. Microsoft was about to hit a period when Internet-based applications were going to undermine its potential "monopoly" in any case. Regulators honestly worried that Microsoft's dominance of PC operating systems would lead to domination of browsers.

These days regulators seem to worry that Google's presence in PC-based search advertising will give it "unfair" advantage in mobile services, mobile banking or mobile advertising and social networks. There is not much evidence that Google has actually been so successful at dominating the many other potential businesses it seeks to enter, or has entered.

"While it's true that Google's stranglehold on mobile search and associated ad spending is near 100 per cent, according to recent reports, it's equally true that most of the "search" consumers do on their mobile devices isn't the kind that Google controls," the Register notes.

In fact, the common thinking now is that Facebook and other social sites are becoming the way people use search in a mobile context.

Why grill Google over web dominance? It has none

New Features for Apple iOS 5, Due Oct. 12, 2011

Though it will be overshadowed today by news about the iPhone 4S and delay of iPhone 5, Apple's latest version of iOS 5 arrives on October 12, 2012.

New support for digital publications, Twitter integration and notifications are among the features.

10 Features Coming To iOS 5

As an Incentive, Virtual Currency Works

Marketers often think of advertising as a trade off for consumers: People watch ads in exchange for free or subsidized content. 


But a new study suggests giving consumers social currency or virtual currency as a reward for spending time with a brand message is a powerful incentive. 


But some digital ads are now explicitly offer social currency rewards rather than access to free content.


For example, a brand may sponsor a social game, and make a reward of virtual currency contingent on watching a display ad. These incentivized ads, research from digital advertising technology company SocialVibe and KN Dimestore found, can be very effective, even when consumers just watched to get the incentive.

Social currency rewards boost ad effectiveness

Consumers Want to Know What Others Think about Brands

New research by NM Incite, a Nielsen/McKinsey Company shows that the number-one thing consumers use social media for as it relates to their favorite brands is to find out what others are saying about brands and services.

Perhaps the surprising finding is that the top reason for using social networks, in relationship to brands, is not to get coupons or discounts, or to get information about new products or even to provide feedback of their own, be it postive or negative.

Consumers use social media to read reviews

American Bankers Association Cals for Regulation of FarmVille’s Virtual Currency

It was only a matter of time before the banking industry began to ask for regulation of "social currency" and "virtual currency" as "real money" transactions are regulated.

In a letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the American Bankers Association has asked the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to consider regulating virtual currencies, like those used on FarmVille and Second Life.

“We understand that in some instances virtual currencies, which were initially developed to help individuals manage virtual credits earned through online games, have also been used to pay developers of applications, and their use can be expected to expand even further,” the ABA wrote.

The move was highly predictable, and eventually, as use of social currencies and virtual currencies become mainstream, those calls for regulation will grow louder. It is hard to argue that social currency and virtual currency will not wind up more regulated than today.

Bankers want regulation of FarmVille’s "Virtual Currency"