U.S. Users Watched 30.3 Billion Videos in April 2010

U.S. Internet users watched 30.3 billion videos in April, with Google Sites ranking as the top video property with 13.1 billion videos, representing 43.2 percent of all videos viewed online.

YouTube accounted for the vast majority of videos viewed at the property. Hulu ranked second with 958 million videos, or 3.2 percent of all online videos viewed. Microsoft Sites ranked third with 644 million (2.1 percent), followed by Viacom Digital with 384 million (1.3 percent) and Yahoo! Sites with 371 million (1.2 percent).

Some 178 million U.S. Internet users watched online video during the month. Recently launched in December 2009, Vevo (which includes viewing from the Vevo channel on YouTube) attracted 43.6 million viewers in April, representing a quarter of the U.S. online video audience.

comScore Releases April 2010 U.S. Online Video Rankings - comScore, Inc

Yota LTE Shift Raises Questions About Mobile WiMAX

Russian operator Yota says it will cover its next 15 cities with Long Term Evolution instead of WiMAX, and that it would cover Moscow and St. Petersburg with LTE by the end of 2011.

Many industry watchers assumed that Yota would deploy TD-LTE. However, Yota may have acquired additional spectrum to deploy FD-LTE instead.

“If the speculation that Yota is considering FD-LTE deployment and that it will continue running its WiMAX networks in the meantime is true, this shows Yota’s intent to use LTE for fully mobile applications with international roaming," ABI Research practice director Philip Solis says.

Debated Shift from WiMAX to LTE: Yota is First to Move from Talk to Action, According to ABI Research | Business Wire

Latest Version of Junaio Augmented Reality App Now at Android Market

  Junaio, Metaio’s free Augmented Reality Browser for mobile devices, is available for download in the Android Market and a new vesion will soon be available at the Apple App store as well.

The latest version allows users to take and submit images of objects to a centralized server, where these images are identified using software and a result is returned. For example, a user could take a picture of a book and submit that image for decoding. The response returned could be the book title or other information about the book.

As you might expect, this approach is a bit more complex than tagging items with 2D barcodes, which return a web page. The Junaio approach uses image recognition and object tracking to identify an object through the phone’s camera, access object relevant information through visual search and then virtually “glue” such information displays onto the object itself.

By moving the object or the camera the user is able to intuitively interact with the “glued on” augmented reality layer in order to navigate through information, rotate 3D displays, issue game commands or provide feedback.

HTC Evo Has a Bigger Battery: It Has To

Thanks to its 4.3-inch screen and 4G, Sprint's HTC Evo needs a 23 percent larger battery than the iPhone 3GS just to get similar battery life to the iPhone, a new analysis suggests. The battery is also about 15 percent larger than that of a Droid Incredible and seven percent larger than the pack in a Nexus One.

All that likely is true. It's the price of a larger screen.

HTC Evo 4G torn down, compared to iPhone | Electronista

Businesses Really Cannot Quantify Return From Hosted Services

Many organizations talk about the return on their software investments, but most of them are just jawboning, says Forrester Research analyst Michael Maoz. "They have no clue, really," he says.

And that goes for “software as a service” or cloud computing apps as well, he argues.

At least 90 percent of large organizations using sales automation in a SaaS model cannot show a true and accurate five year picture of spend on their SaaS system versus what an alternative would have cost them, he says.

Social CRM and ROI don’t go together necessarily

21 Billion Mobile App Store Downloads in 2013

Mobile application downloads will  reach four billion in 2010, rising to 21 billion by 2013, says Gartner. Those downloads will be driven by worldwide smartphone shipments surpassing 390 million by 2013, growing at a rate of 20.9 percent per year.

According to Gartner consumers will spend $6.2 billion in mobile app stores during 2010, about 20 percent of all apps downloaded. There will also be $600 million dollars worth of advertising revenues generated by those downloads.

Gartner forecasts the total download revenue will increase to nearly $30 billion by 2013. The number of free or
ad-funded apps will increase to 87 percent by 2013. There also will be an increase of business models where the download is free, but there are additional charges associated with use of the applications.

In some cases users will have free access for a period, to be followed by purchase. In other cases users can use the free version, with limited functionality, but can get access to full functionality by upgrading for a fee.

Subscription services, or charging for content within an application are other revenue models. Some apps might also charge for access to new levels or areas within the application.

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Business Marketing Shifts, Social Gains

Business marketing always embraces activities other than advertising, but there is growing evidence that some amount of advertising budgets are being shifted to other marketing channels, including various types of social media. Outsell estimates that marketing on social networks will grow 43.3 percent in 2010. Forrester Research predicts that B2B firms will spend $54 million on social media marketing in 2014, up from just $11 million in 2009.

And though some business spending is shifting to advertising on social networks, banners, text ads and search advertising, as well as the more targeted advertising being deployed by Facebook and MySpace, is a small portion of B2B marketers’ social spending.

When companies budget for social media marketing in 2010 and beyond, a substantial portion of their expenses will go toward other initiatives, such as creating and maintaining a branded profile page, managing promotions or public relations outreach within a social network, and measuring the effect of a social network presence on brand health and sales, says Evelyn Jung, eMarketer researcher.

In 2009, B2B marketers spent the largest portion of their social media budgets on customer communities, followed by podcasts and blogs. These tactics allow B2B marketers to share more relevant product or service information with their customers than they could with other social tools.

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When Links are Useful; and When They Are Not

Links are useful, up to a point, some might argue. The link is a technologically advanced form of a footnote. It's also, distraction-wise, a more-intrusive form of a footnote.

People who read hypertext comprehend and learn less, studies show, than those who read the same material in printed form. The more links in a piece of writing, the bigger the hit on comprehension.

Rough Type: Nicholas Carr's Blog: Experiments in delinkification

Space Between Smartphone and Laptop Still in Flux

Suppliers have been trying to figure out the demand for, and requirements of, devices somewhere between high-end phones and lower-end PCs for some time, using the general "mobile internet devices" moniker.

In January 2010 much attention was focused on "smartbooks," positioned somewhere below "netbooks" at the low end of the PC category. Those devices tend to feature keyboards.

Post-iPad, the attention has turned squarely to tablet devices, using touchscreen interfaces only. Still, the ultimate shape of end user demand remains unsettled enough that a variety of form factors, operating systems and processor approaches will continue to be tested.

“This market between the phone and the laptop is an area that is undefined,” says Steve Mollenkopf, a Qualcomm executive vice president who is also president of its chip unit. “You will see a proliferation of different devices.”

Some devices will use smartphone processors or operating systems and move up. Other devices might take PC processors and operating systems and move them down into the tablet space. But application use cases are ultimately likely to matter more.

Touchscreen devices likely will prove to be accepted for some uses, but not for others.  Content consumption might be the key use case for some users, while simple email and web browsing might emerge as the key application for others.

4G Confusion Coming as iPhone "4G" Launches

Things are about to get a bit confusing. Apple's next version of the iPhone is being called "4G," though that is not related to fourth-generation mobile networks such as WiMAX and Long Term Evolution. Maybe Apple won't release it with a retail moniker of "4G," but if it does, the term is likely to cause a bit of consumer confusion about 4G.

The other issue is what people will discover 4G means, even when they do start buying, and using devices built for 4G networks.

But there's less to 4G than meets the eye, at least initially. It does support higher bandwidth, but that is more like the difference between a 3 Mbps connection and a 6 Mbps connection. More, but possibly not qualitatively a distinct experience.

The Associated Press: 4G wireless: It's fast, but outstripped by hype

Google's Wi-Fi Gaffe

As Google prepares to defend itself against allegations of Wi-Fi spying, it has said very little about exactly what kind of personal data it gathered as part of its Street View project.

Last week, Google also declined to provide executives willing to speak on the record about how one of the most monumental oversights in its history occurred: the inadvertent gathering of 'payload' data by Wi-Fi sniffers mapping hotspots while recording street scenes for Google Street View.

Google admitted on May 14 that it had been "mistakenly collecting samples of payload data from open (i.e. non-password-protected) Wi-Fi networks" for three years. Payload data is distinct from a "header," which contains mostly benign information about the network itself: The payload is the actual data that is being transmitted over the network.

However, Google's store of personal data might not be quite the treasure trove it may seem. Data sent back and forth between encrypted Web sites (password logins, online banking, credit-card transactions, or anything with https:// in the URL) would not be collected. Mobile workers signed into VPNs would also not be affected.

In addition, it's not totally clear how much data Google would be able to capture with a Street View car moving at about 25 miles per hour along the streets of cities and towns around the world. Google said the data was "fragmented," implying that piecing together any coherent image from that data would be difficult.

Deciphering Google's Wi-Fi headache (FAQ) | Relevant Results - CNET News

Social E-Commerce is More Marketing Than Commerce

It isn't clear yet whether social commerce sites such as Groupon.com, Buywithme.com, Lifebooker.com and livingsocial.com are a fad or a permanent trend in e-commerce. These sites offer discounts to groups of buyers that may or may not depend on how many people respond to a specific offer.

Typically, a group coupon site operates in multiple cities and features one merchant's discount per day per city in an e-mail to subscribers.

Merchants set a minimum number of customers who must sign up for an offer to work.

If the deal doesn't get enough interest in the allotted period, would-be buyers get their money back. But some 90 percent of Groupon deals do go through. So shoppers may feel they need to rush to sign up before the quota fills, which generates a marketing buzz for the stores and sites.

But the social commerce deals might be seen primarily as marketing campaigns, more than a way to move merchandise. The websites typically give retailers half the money they get selling the deals. That means there is little to no profit from a deal.

What the deals succeed in doing is creating an opportunity to attract new customes, though.

A half-off coupon, for instance, typically brings the retailer just one-fourth the price it usually charges for a given item and could end up costing the business money.

Real Heroes

We thank you.

Bandwidth and Revenue: Something's Gotta Give

Fully 73 percent of industry executives surveyed by Telcordia expect to see either network-enforced hard limits, tiered services or a combination of both to manage data traffic.

The survey of industry professionals across more than 75 countries by Telcordia simply confirms that data traffic, and therefore network cost, is increasing faster than revenue to pay for supplying that bandwidth.

"CSPs need to insert themselves in the mobile broadband value chain and leverage billing and charging assets to manage network costs and to add innovative value-added offers and services to both subscribers and over-the-top content third parties," says Pat McCarthy, Telcordia VP.

"All-you-can-eat data plans are not a sustainable business model, and policy-based bandwidth management and real-time charging provide CSPs and their subscribers with the necessary flexibility to try new services while keeping costs in line," says McCarthy.

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HTC Evo Running Android 2.2

Some people are going to find the HTC Evo's "massive screen" annoying, to the extent that it makes the device bigger (slightly bigger than the comparable Verizon HTC Incredible, but it has some advantages.

The Evo doesn't use the OLED screen found on the Nexus One, but instead uses a TFT display which means the Evo will be easier to use in daylight.

more here

What is Yahoo's Strategy?

I admit I'm not sure I describe, with certainty, Yahoo or AOL strategies. To be sure, I'm not sure I could adequately describe Google's fundamental strategy, either. Maybe it doesn't matter whether I understand it. But it typically does matter when a company is a bit fuzzy about telling its own story. You can be the judge of whether this is clear enough.

link to video

New Skype for the iPhone

A new version of Skype for the iPhone supports voice calls over 3G. I don't know about you, but I still find voice over 3G a challenging and non-predictable experience.

A recent call I was on was flaky enough that we reverted back to the public switched network.

New Skype 2.0 app for the iPhone allows voice calls over 3G -- Engadget:

WiMax 2: 100 Mbps Downstream Bandwidth

A second-generation standard for WiMAX now under development by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers promises 100 Mbps downstream bandwidth.

The 802.16m standard will significantly boost first-generation WiMAX speeds. Sprint's Xohm network generally supports speeds between 3.7 Mbps to 5 Mbps.

Significantly, the speed boost will be possible over the same distances WiMAX now operates over. WiMAX covers about 31 square miles from each access point.

WiMax vs LTE: What WiMax 2 promises - Feature - Techworld.com:

Web Browser Preferred Over Content Apps On The iPad

"I've tried a few content apps on the iPad, including the much discussed Wired app. But I don't like reading content via apps on the iPad and I gravitate to the Safari browser," says Fred Wilson, Union Square Ventures partner.

Among the reasons: the apps treat pages as monolithic objects so users cannot cut and paste text, follow links to other content apps, keep multiple pages open, use a common interface, or connect with social media.

Content apps do not allow use of search functions and cannot be aggreated using apps such as techmeme.

I Prefer The Web Browser Over Content Apps On The iPad:

Are Location-Based Services All Hype?

Location is a feature, not a business. Real-time and location-based marketing in all its forms might be the huge business many expect.But much attention at the moment is focused on the "research project" aspects of location, and not on the crucial issues of how to sustain the use of such features on a wide basis over time, and how to make it useful for average users. We aren't there yet.

Are Location-Based Services All Hype?

Some Spend 48.5 Hours a Week Playing Console and PC Games

About four percent of gamers spend 48.5 hours a week playing games on consoles and PCs, according to NPD Group. Overall, U.S. gamers ages 2 and older spend 13 hours per week playing games, up from 12.3 hours in 2009.

Hours spent playing both console and PC games showed a marked increase over last year's study, with console games increasing nine percent and PC games increasing six percent. The number of hours gamers spent playing portable games saw a decline of 16 percent.

The average age of gamers increased slightly over last year from 31 years of age in the 2009 study to 32 years in this year’s study. Avid PC Gamers and Offline PC Gamers, comprising 11 percent and 8 percent of the gaming population, respectively, are the oldest segments with an average age for both of 42 years.

EXTREME GAMERS SPEND TWO FULL DAYS
PER WEEK PLAYING VIDEO GAMES:

Leading Indicator Falls to 39-Week Low

A measure of future U.S. economic growth fell to a 39-week low in the latest week, pointing to a slowdown in economic growth, The Economic Cycle Research Institute, a New York-based independent forecasting group, says.

As reported by Reuters, the ECRI's "Weekly Leading Index" fell to 125.6 in the week ended May 21, down from a revised 127.2 the previous week, originally reported as 127.3, the lowest level since Aug. 21, 2009, when the index stood at 125.3.

The index's annualized growth rate tumbled to a 47-week low of 5.1 percent from 9.0 percent a week ago. That's the worst level since June 26, 2009, when it stood at 4.6 percent.

'The downturn in WLI growth evident since early 2010 has recently intensified, so it should be no surprise when U.S. economic growth slows noticeably in the months ahead,' says Lakshman Achuthan, managing director of ECRI."

That doesn't necessarily mean we are headed for the dreaded double-dip recession, but it is not good news. Drat.

ECRI | News | Media Coverage

New York Dead Zones Are Just a Fact of Life

For the 20 million people living in the greater New York area, spotty cellular service is a constant source of frustration. To document the extent of the problem, The Wall Street Journal examined data on dropped and unsuccessful calls compiled by the Nielsen Co., which sends out equipment-filled vans to make 140,000 test calls a year across the five boroughs, Long Island, northern New Jersey and southern Connecticut.

The results raise a pressing question: Why is the most populous metropolitan area in the U.S. plagued with dead zones?

Carriers deserve only part of the blame, the Wall Street Journal says.  The city is one of their highest-profile markets, and even as they cut capital spending nationwide during the recession, they kept budgets high in New York, even if that spending didn't always keep up with the pace of smartphone sales.

Ask the people who build and maintain the city's networks, and they'll give you a dozen alternative excuses: Too many people. Too many buildings. Too much reflective glass. Too much water. Each plays a role, the Wall Street Journal says.

It all adds up to wireless dead zones dotting the city and its surrounding suburbs.

Take the West Side Highway, a notorious trouble spot where Nielsen recorded eight failed calls up and down Manhattan. There, phones get a signal only on one side of the road, from cell towers high atop office buildings. (The Hudson River is on the other side.) So when there's a hiccup with a connection to the cell tower on the Manhattan side of the river, there's no other tower to back it up, and the call drops.

Dropped calls also happen because of quirks in the way carriers have set up their networks. For example, AT&T Inc. routes calls south of 59th Street in Manhattan to a switch downtown. North of 59th, calls go to a facility in Westchester. So when an AT&T customer crosses 59th, calls can get dropped as the network reshuffles from one switch to the other. Nielsen recorded three fails on or near that dividing line. AT&T declined to discuss coverage at 59th in further detail.

Sometimes, there just aren't enough cell sites to handle the load.  But it always is difficult to get authority to put up new towers, anyplace. In New York, it is harder because of the fragmented ownership of buildings. Outside New York, it often is possible to negotiate once with an owner of hundreds of buildings.

The upshot? Service issues are likely to continue to be an irritant.

$431 Average Unlocked Mobile Phone Cost

The average price of an unlocked mobile phone in April 2010 was $431.49, up from a March average of $387.22. ABI Research found the average subsidized April smartphone price from retailers (not mobile operators) to be $43.64.

In contrast, the subsidized average price available from operators (the big “top four” plus three Tier Two operators) was $117.08. The price differential between the largest four operators is about 18 percent.

The point, if you remember your college economics, is that lower prices for any product lead to higher demand. 

Average Subsidized Smartphone Price from US Operators Rises to $117.08 in April | Press Release | ABI Research

$100 to $150 Android Tablets Coming This Year

Via Technologies Inc., the Taiwanese computer-processor company, expects $100 tablet devices containing its chips to reach the U.S. in the second half of 2010, offering a cheaper alternative to the iPad.

About five different models, ranging in price from $100 to $150, will be available.

Just Another Mobile Phone Blog: Via Says $100 Android Tablets Will Challenge the IPad This Year

Technology Helps Workers Do "More with Less:" It Has To

Nearly one in two Americans (48 percent) who use technology in their everyday jobs say that they are now required to do more work with fewer resources due to the current economic climate. As an example, nearly one third (30 percent) feel that they need to stay connected to work 24/7, even during weekends, breaks or holidays, according to a new survey by Intercall.

That is likely one reason why the United States has the highest percentage of mobile workers in its workforce, according to February 2010 data from IDC, with 75.5 percent of the workforce, or 119.7 million people, expected to be mobile by 2013.

And 79 percent of them plan on taking their work-related devices with them on vacation, according to  Osterman Research.

Fully 72 percent say that advanced technology, such as conferencing and collaboration tools, enables them to work faster, better and improves their morale – because they see the company providing them with the right resources and tools to "do more with less," according to Intercall.

One in two American workers (48 percent) report being constantly required to do more with less, while 39 percent report that they’ve been doing the job of two people because of the impact of the economic recession, Intercall reports. The issue, of course, is if, when and how that will change in the future.

One in two workers say that taking time off of work is increasingly challenging, while one in three
workers say that they feel like they need to stay connected to their work 24/7.

The Intercall survey was conducted online among a national sample of 2500 Americans 18+.

Interall survey results here

see related article here

LTE is About Cost of Providing Service, As Much as Bandwidth

The cost of carrying one megabyte of data over its LTE network would be half to one third the cost of carrying the same data over the company’s current 3G network, Lowell McAdam, Verizon Wireless’ CEO, says. That is going to be good news both for users and mobile services providers.

Bandwidth services providers universally need to improve the efficiency of their networks, since increased data consumption typically involves non-linear revenue effects. In other words, providers earn less money, on a revenue-per-bit basis, the higher the amount of bandwidth they provide.

And though consumers will not likely appreciate a gradual shift to buckets of usage, so long as the plans, pricing and consumption patterns are relatively closely matched, people can adapt. People are used to buckets of voice and text messaging, for example.

But key to crafting such plans is that they are viewed as fair. A lower cost, higher capacity network that works better for key applications such as voice and video is a likely prerequisite.

User patterns also are changing. Unlimited plans work quite well for users and providers when consumption is low. But most users consume more bandwidth over time, driven especially by video use, which requires an order of magnitude to two orders of magnitude more capacity than voice, for example.

Verizon's coming shift to buckets of usage for multiple devices also makes sense. As users shift to use of broadband for multiple devices, they will not prefer paying for access to each discrete device. Also, usage profiles vary by device.

Cameras and e-book readers will not typically demand much bandwidth. Nor will voice applications. Smartphone web browsing will consume more, but smartphone data consumption typically is far less than from a PC. Blending usage from a range of devices, and allowing consumers to pay once, for access on all the devices, will save users money and provide more value while at the same time allowing service providers to offer service on terms that are sustainable.

FT.com / Telecoms - Verizon to offer 4G customers ‘buckets’ of data

Wi-Fi-Capable Version of Skype for Smartphones Coming Later This Year

A fully-featured Android client from Skype will be available "later this year," Skype says, and that version will include video support and be usable across all mobile networks, unlike the more restricted mode Skype now finds itself using on the Apple iPhone and Verizon Droid, for example, meaning among other things that Wi-Fi support will be available.

That isn't supported today on AT&T or Verizon networks and devices, although there may be times when users are happy their Skype voice sessions on a Droid actually are laundered through the Verizon voice network, for reasons of stability and voice quality.

The move will not dramatically alter the economics of mobile voice services, at least at first. But there isn't much doubt that mobile VoIP will, over time, erode the amount of money and profit margin voice represents for the mobile industry, forcing mobile operators to change their revenue and business models, just as fixed-line operators now are having to adjust.

iPad is What You Want, Not What You Need

Though we are far from knowing the ultimate success or impact of the tablet PC movement, there is some evidence that Apple is, in fact, creating yet another new market, rather than simply reshaping or displacing an older market.

Gartner Group analyst Carolina Milanesi says "I am also more convinced that this is a device that you want and not a device that you need." That is an instructive comment, as it suggests users may be finding the iPad less a full substitute for a notebook PC or netbook and more a "different" device that might be used in different ways.

"Between my iPhone and my MacBook Pro I have to consciously decide to use my iPad to do anything but read a book, which is the only thing I cannot do with the Pro and I would rather not do on the iPhone because of the screen."

The use case here is, as Apple hoped, something potentially different from a smartphone or a notebook PC.

iPad goes on sale today across key markets in Europe

How are Telcos Like the London Times?

"Newspapers have found that chasing page views in the hope that advertising will save them is hopeless," says John Gapper, Financial Times columnist. And the newspaper industry's encounter with the Internet is very-much akin to the telecom, publishing, music and retailing industry's similar encounter: aside from removing a good deal of profit margin from the legacy business, the new Internet ecosystem will force providers to embrace new revenue models that supplement the traditional sources.

Where newspapers have had two sources--subscribers and advertisers--in the future they might require additional sources. Think about Bloomberg, for instance, which offers business information services but also television, radio, the Internet and printed publications.

Likewise, where most telecom providers have in the past had only one major revenue source, namely subscribers, in the future they likely must create additional revenue streams by providing valuable services to business partners, thus becoming "two-sided" or "multiple revenue stream" operations.

The point is that the Internet undermines the old revenue ecosystem and demands creation of a new model. It typically is the characteristics of success using the new model that remain murky.

Giving up on Internet-driven readership, News Corp. will soon put The London-based Times behind a firewall and even will prevent Google and other search engines from indexing the paywall content. television, radio, the Internet and printed publications.

The point is that News Corp has concluded there is no viable business model in the new Internet distribution system, save the closed model that essentially retrenches from wide Internet distribution.

Some might argue that is fundamentally what will happen with most service provider revenue from voice services as well. It will not prove viable except as a more-limited service more focused on some higher-paying customers, as much traffic bleeds off to free and low-cost alternatives made possible by the broadband accessed Internet.

News Corp estimates that the marginal revenue from an occasional browser is less than one tenth of a penny a year. Group M, the media buying agency of WPP, refers to the bulk of news surfers as “useless tourists” who not only pay nothing but have little advertising potential.

“Free distribution of premium content is like eating your babies," says Group M. "You will give value away until you go bust.” It's recommened strategy to avoid what it calls a “permanent oversupply of digital inventory” on the open web is by using a paywall to “lift the publisher out of remnant inventory and restore a much smaller but aggregated audience.”

Trade wide distribution for a smaller number of customers willing to pay, in other words. "Nice to have" must become "must have" for the strategy to work.

News Corp seems clearly to have concluded there is little money in online news, given the number of "free" providers. Providers in other industries, including telecommunications, will face different tactical issues, but the same strategic issue.

Over time, choices will have to be made about where it is possible to provide value, and where revenue streams therefore can be created and sustained. Willy nilly embrace of new channels likely will work no better than it has for most newspapers that have gone "online."

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I'm Afraid Greasy Screens are Just a New Fact of LIfe

Touchscreens on tablets, smartphones, MP3 players and all sorts of other gadgets just seem to be the way things are going. It's just a new maintenance chore we have to deal with.

Sprint Will Hit it Out of the Park with Evo

I think Sprint is going to hit it out of the park with the Sprint Evo.

Mobile Ads Up to 5X More Effective Than Online, Study Finds

Mobile ad campaign norms are four-and-a-half to five times more effective than online norms on measures of unaided awareness, aided awareness, ad awareness, message association, brand favorability and purchase intent, according to InsightExpress.

InsightExpress also says mobile media outperforms online media in ability to drive purchase intent (170 percent increase) and brand favorability (85 percent increase).

50 Million Femtocells by 2014?

More than 50 percent of mobile data sessions originate indoors, say researchers at the Yankee Group.

And since 40 percent to 60 percent of mobile operator operational expense is attributable to backhaul transmission costs, Jennifer Pigg, Yankee Group analyst, expects data offload solutions, ranging from femtocells to Wi-Fi,  to be a growing area of interest.

Indeed, 60 carriers are in femto trials, with 13 commitments and nine commercial services already launched (AT&T, Vodafone, SFR, China Unicom, DoCoMo, SoftBank, Optimus, StarHub, Sprint and Verizon).

Acer to Market Tablet and E-Reader

Acer Inc. will start selling its first e-reader later this summer and also a touchscreen tablet computer in September or October, according to the Wall Street Journal. The e-book reader features a six-inch display, while the tablet PC will feature a seven-inch screen, and is powered by Android.

The interesting angle here is that consumers will have a choice of form factors. Apple's iPad uses a screen that is almost 10 inches diagonally, while Dell will sell a device with a five-inch screen. Acer is in the middle with a seven-inch screen on its tablet.

The issue, beyond the broad issue of whether tablet PCs represent a new PC segment or a new device category, partly hinges on what people decide they want to do with such devices.

Smaller screen devices such as the Dell might be seen as functionally similar to smartphones, in terms of portability. Large-screen devices cannot be conveniently carried in pockets or purses, and likely will compete more with netbooks or notebooks.

The Acer e-reader, dubbed "LumiRead," has a six-inch display and is equipped with two-gigabytes of flash memory, which allow it to store up to 1,500 books. Acer, which shipped more PCs than any company except Hewlett-Packard Co. in the first quarter, will sell its e-reader first in the U.S., China and Germany.

Why E-Book Readers are Like Netbooks

In some ways, e-book readers are in a situation similar to netbooks, which is to say, they both are product categories that face substitute products. E-book readers are going to be pressured by tablet PCs and even smartphones, while netbooks are going to be pressured from one side by tablets such as the iPad and notebooks whose better features and prices will continue to make them suitable substitutes for netbooks in perhaps seven out of 10 cases.

According to the latest research from Informa Telecoms & Media e-reader sales are expected to peak at 14 million in 2013, before falling by seven percent in 2014 as the segment faces increased  competition from  a wide range of consumer electronic devices.

Multi-function devices notably mobile phones and tablet-form-factor computing devices are the chief competing types of devices e-book readers will face.

This is likely to lead to a segmentation of the e-reader market into two groups; low-price, low-feature models and higher-price devices with advanced features, Informa predicts.

In order to survive, there are a number of approaches that vendors can take. They can develop low-cost e-readers with minimal features that can be used in conjunction with a PC or USB dongle to access additional content. E-readers like the Kobo ($148), may appeal to the cost-conscious reader, for example, Informa suggests.

Alternatively, high-end e-readers will start to resemble tablet computing devices. These will in effect become more like smartbooks than e-readers. Early steps in this direction include Barnes & Noble's latest software update for the Nook which adds games and a more open web browsing functionality.

Many e-reader companies are already looking to develop an electronic reading platform, initially based on their e-reader devices, but that will extend across e-readers, mobile phones, netbooks, note-books and desktop PCs.

The point is that netbook and e-book product segments likely will change as more tablets and smartphones provide end-user functionality that competes with e-book readers and netbooks.

Speakeasy Free Phone Offer Extended

Speakeasy has extended its "free phone" offer, which the company launched in March to apparent great success.

The company has been offering free Polycom SoundPoint IP 321 VoIP-enabled phones to new business customers who purchase unlimited or global Hosted Voice calling plans and have a minimum of five lines.

The promotion was so successful that Speakeasy has extended the promotion through the end of June.

Any way you look at it, merchandising tends to work.

World's 2nd-Largest WiMAX Network Switches to LTE

Russia's Yota network, which connects 300,000 people over WiMAX technology, is switching to LTE, and plans to spend $2 billion migrating its network to the different air interface.

Backed heavily by Intel, which hoped to make WiMAX as ubiquitous as Wi-Fi, the tide turned in favor of LTE when virtually all the world's mobile service providers decided to back LTE instead of WiMAX.

WiMAX had a headstart getting to market, but LTE now has closed the gap. Early adopters argued that they had to get to market fast, so WiMAX made sense. But the rival LTE air interface now stands to garner so much production volume that it now makes more sense, going forward, even for early adopters such as Yota.

Yota should be able to upgrade using software, some argue, as the Samsung-supplied base stations Yota uses can support both FDD-LTE and TD-LTE, and Yota uses spectrum well suited to the time division variant of LTE.

The new LTE network will start in Kazan, Novosibirsk and Samara, with Moscow and St. Petersburg to follow by the end of 2011. The 15 cities previously scheduled for WiMAX deployment will go straight to LTE.

Buckets for Verizon LTE, No "Unlimited" Plans

Verizon Wireless CEO Lowell McAdam says Verizon's 4G network will not offer unlimited broadband access plans, but will instead feature "buckets of usage" similar to the way most consumers now buy voice service and text messaging services.

Want 105 Mbps? Comcast Will Sell it to You

Want 105 Mbps Internet access? You soon will be able to buy it from Comcast Corp. "Extreme 105" will cost $200 per month after an installation fee of $249. This service is expected to be available in early June. The new “Extreme 105” will support 105 Mbps download and 10 Mbps upload speed.

Comcast predicts that all of its residential networks will be upgraded to for such service by mid-2010.

The existing residential-tier “Extreme” offers 50 Mbps downstream and 10 Mbps upstream speed for a price of $99.95 per month.

Comcast Moves to Becomes Fastest Internet Provider -- Seeking Alpha:

Japanese Consumers Really Are Different

Japan often is looked to as a hothouse for new consumer electronics trends, especially in mobile, that migrate to Europe and then to the United States. There is much truth to that observation, but it is harder to explain why that might be the case.

Some observers would say Japanese consumers actually behave differently from consumers in other parts of the world. Consider that while Japanese companies remain major global players in flat-panel televisions, digital cameras and videogame systems, they have almost no presence outside of Japan in personal computers, mobile phones or home appliances, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Some analysts say a good part of the reason is that Japanese buyers are detail-oriented and prefer products packed with features. Furthermore, they will read thick instruction manuals from cover  to cover, and seem to prefer products made in Japan.

Most buyers outside of Japan expect new products to be simple and intuitive, and they are less concerned about a product's point of origin.

"The consumer in Japan thinks very differently than the global consumer," says Atul Goyal, an analyst at brokerage firm CLSA. "Once Japanese companies try to sell things to a global market, they need to understand how a global consumer reacts."

So it is something of a sea change that the Apple iPad seems to be resonating with Japanese consumers, as the iPad emphasizes ease of use.

Netbooks Squeezed Between iPads and Laptops

A new survey by Retrevo suggests netbook sales are getting pressure from iPads and notebooks, and the iPad might have gotten as much as 30 percent of potential netbook sales so far this year.

The Retrevo survey also suggests that consumers who were debating buying either an iPad or a netbook have decisively decided to buy an iPad. According to Retrevo, 78 percent of respondents who indicated they were waiving between an iPad and a netbook ultimately decided to buy an iPad.

Laptops are not as “portable” as netbooks but are getting cheaper. Of those consumers who wrestled with the decision to buy a netbook or laptop, 65 percent chose the laptop and 35 percent chose a netbook over a laptop.

Looking ahead, about 35 percent of consumers who say they are now considering a laptop or netbook purchase over the coming year say they are leaning toward a netbook over a laptop, while 65 percent are leaning toward a laptop over a netbook.

Retrevo therefore predicts netbook sales will get squeezed from two sides and will not be able to maintain past growth rates.

None of this yet settles the question of whether the iPad is "merely" a new form factor for mobile PCs or a new product category.

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Buy Dawn. Help Birds in Gulf

Help birds. Buy Dawn. Then go to http.://www.dawn-dish.com/en_US/savingwildlife/home.do

86% of UK Youngsters Own a Mobile;' 73% Own Their Own Books

About 86 percent of young people in the United Kingdom own a mobile phone, while only 73 percent have books of their own, a study by National Literacy Trust suggests.

The study of over 17,000 young people reveals a strong link between both young people’s reading ability and access to books at home, the National Literacy Trust says.

National Literacy Trust research reveals more young people own a mobile phone than a book | National Literacy Trust

270 Degrees of Rotation for Android 2.2 Devices

Android version 2.2 supports 270 degrees of device rotation, with the display adjusting as the orientation changes, either left or right.

New Dell "Streak" Tablet

I have no idea how well this new tablet driven by Android and featuring a five-inch screen will fare, compared to the nearly-10-inch screen on the iPad. But it will be very interesting to see whether the vastly-different form factor is the same, or a different use case.

Apple Tops Microsoft Equity Value for First Time

You knew it would happen one day, and on May 26, 2010, it finally did: Apple's equity value eclipsed that of Microsoft, at least for the day. At the close of trading, a small decline in Apple shares combined with a 4% drop in Microsoft’s stock to leave Apple’s market value ahead — at nearly $223 billion compared with about $219 billion for Microsoft.

 Over the past year, Apple’s share price has nearly doubled to more than $244, as the computer and device maker has ridden a wave of success with its iPhone and new iPad.

The movement of Apple to the top position in market capitalization among technology companies perhaps reflects its growing stature in emerging product categories and services, ranging from new devices to mobile advertising.

Presumably, that is why regulators suddenly have taken an interest in Apple's market dominance as well.

Facebook Updates Privacy Rules

Basically, users will have more control over their own sharing.

Who is More Careful About Personal Information:Younger or Older People?

Though it is not intuitive, younger users might be more careful and active about curating their online information than older users are, a new study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project suggests.

Internet users between the ages of 18 to 29 are more likely than older adults to say they take steps to limit the amount of personal information available about them online. About 44 percent of young adult Internet users say this, compared with 33 percent of Internet users between the ages of 30 to 49, 25 percent of those 50 to 64 and 20 percent of those ages 65 and older.

Also, 71 percent of social networking users ages 18 to 29 have changed the privacy settings on their profile to limit what they share with others online. By comparison, just 55 percent of users ages 50 to 64 have done so.

Compared with older users, young adults are not only the most attentive to customizing their privacy settings and limiting what they share on their profiles, but they are also generally less trusting of the sites that host their content.

When asked how much of the time they think they can trust social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn, 28 percent of social networking site users ages 18 to 29 say “never.” By comparison, 19 percent of users ages 30 to 49 and 14 percent of those ages 50 to 64 say they never trust the sites.

See all the findings

Is the iPad Really a PC?

"The iPad is a new kind of PC, argues Sarah Rotman Epps, Forrester Research analyst. If so, it might be said to be so in the same way that a high-end smartphone also is a PC, which is to say an iPad both "is" and "isn't" a PC.

The iPad’s features don’t line up with what consumers think they want. The top features that consumers say they want in their next PC — DVD drives and burners, CD drives and burners,
and Webcams — are all absent from the iPad.

Click on the image for a larger view.

The features that the iPad does have, such as a touchscreen, are lower on the list of features buyers say they are looking for.

Two-thirds of U.S. online consumers say they want a DVD drive in their next PC, while only 22 percent want a touchscreen. This doesn’t mean that consumers won’t buy the iPad without these features, but it does mean that Apple will need to teach consumers that they can live without them in the device.

So a question yet to be answered is whether people will figure out "what" the tablet PC is, and how it can be used. Form factor might be important as users try to figure out what a device between a smartphone and a PC looks like, and what it must do to be useful.