Google Chrome:Tabs on Steroids

If the download times are any indication, the 7-Mbyte Google Chrome browser is getting lots of downloads today. The download is slow. First reaction: the tabbed browsing feature, which is the reason many of us seem to prefer Mozilla's Firefox, is really noticeable. Google provides much-more extensive browsing history.

I've only used it briefly today, so although I can't assess perceived browser speed on an extended basis, which is supposed to be one of the advantages, it does seem to be executing faster.

I suspect the ability to isolate a single tab malfunction from paralyzing the whole browser might be useful. I haven't had a crash yet while using Web pages.

Rogers iPhone Usage Data: 91% Use Less than 100 Mbytes

First month data on iPhone user data consumption show that 1.2 percent of iPhone customers used more than 1 GByte of data, 95 percent used less than 500 MBytes, and 91.2% used less than 100 MBytes, says Elizabeth Hamilton, Rogers Wireless director, and reported by by Sean Cooper, of engadget mobile.

Usage patterns might change with time. They typically do. But so far, at least, there doesn't seem to be a mismatch between usage caps and end user behavior. Over time, that likely will get to be a bigger problem, as consumption tends to rise with time and experience.

Roughly the same thing can be said of wired network broadband usage. Over time, usage will drift higher as more users start to routinely consume video.

Google Chrome has Launched

Google's new "Chrome" browser is available for download now.

Business Model Transformation Coming? It Came

ITU Telecom Chairman Dr A Reza Jafari says the global telecom industry is in the midst of a fundamental business model transformation whose most-obvious element is mobility.

According to the Federal Communications Commission data on end-user revenues earned by telephone companies, that certainly is the case.

In 1997 about 16 percent of revenues came from mobility services. In 2007, more than 49 percent of end user revenue came from mobility services.

Likewise, in 1997 more than 47 percent of revenue came from long distance services. In 2007 just 18 percent of end user revenues came from long distance.

In 1997 about 37 percent of total revenues came from local service, while in 2007 about 33 percent was provided by local services.

One way of looking at matters is that the global industry already has lived through two major shifts in revenue: first the collapse of long distance and second the rise of wireless. If you want to know why legacy AT&T and MCI ceased to be dominant independent companies, the collapse of long distance revenues from 47 percent to just 18 percent explains it.

And if you want some idea of where things have gone, wireless has replaced long distance as the provider of nearly half of all revenues. Local services have dipped a bit from 37 percent to 33 percent.

In all likelihood, the next change will involve revenues not even captured by the 1997 and 2007 data, and go beyond wireless. Telco moves into multi-channel video entertainment are but one example.

Are you Discomgoogolated?

About 44 percent of Britons say they are "discomgoogolation sufferers", while 27 percent say they have rising stress levels when they are unable to go online. The results of a survey commissioned by U.K.-based YouGov attempted to measure the importance of immediate access to information made possible by Google and the Web.

The term comes from "discombobulate," which means to confuse or frustrate, and "Google".

The survey attempted to gauge the degree of reliance on instant answers to information provided by Google and other search engines and portals.

The survey also found 76 percent of Britons could not live without the Internet, with over half of the population using the Web between one and four hours a day and 19 percent of people spending more time online than with their family in a week.

The survey results provide testimony about the importance Web and Internet access now have assumed in peoples' lives.

Microsoft to Create App Marketplace?

AppleInsider says Microsoft is looking for a product manager who could help bring to market a widget directory for Windows Mobile similar to the iTunes App Store for the iPhone.

Calling the store "Skymarket", Microsoft suggested the store will open sometime in 2009. The new product manager would have to define "the product offering, pricing, business model and policies that will make the Windows Mobile marketplace 'the place to be' for developers wishing to distribute and monetize their Windows Mobile applications."

It is simply one more example of the importance third party software developers now have become for success in a world of digital content and applications. Whether one is looking at the value provided by a mobile device, portal, enterprise application or many types of hardware appliances, third party innovation now has become as important as proponents of open platforms and IP networks suggested it would be.

AT&T, Verizon Ramp Up DSL Marketing

It is starting to appear that a dramatic second-quarter fall-off in net new broadband access customers at AT&T, Verizon and Qwest was due to marketing inattention by telcos and brisk activity by cable companies. At least, that's what one would surmise based on ramped-up marketing programs AT&T and Verizon now are rolling out.

Verizon Communications Inc., in the second quarter the first telco ever to see a drop in DSL subscribers, now is offering customers six months of DSL service free if they sign up for the company's phone and Internet package. AT&T now is guaranteeing its current rates for two years.

Wall Street Journal staff writer Vishesh Kumar reports that "while the most generous offers are coming from the phone companies, some analysts expect cable companies will also become more aggressive in their own promotions as they compete to retain customers."

Cable and phone companies added 887,000 new broadband customers during the second quarter, half the number they added a year earlier, according to research from Leichtman Research Group.

It wasn't immediately clear, when the second quarter acquisition numbers appeared, what had happened. Basically, Verizon and AT&T experiences an unusual order of magnitude drop in net broadband adds, something completely at odds with several years worth of quarterly additions.

One conceivable explanation was a sudden shift in consumer preferences for cable modem service as compared to DSL. Another partial answer in Verizon's case was that broadband adds increasingly were shifting to FiOS, and away from DSL.

Also, aggressive promotioinal activity by cable companies undoubtedly played a role, combined with some sort of inattention to broadband marketing on the part of the telcos. Whatever the causes, it now appears marketing efforts by telcos will be much more aggressive in the third quarter.