Monday, October 20, 2008

80% of Mobile Users Send Text Messages; or Do They?

The amount of time users spend doing things on their mobile phones is increasing. About the only issue is by how much. 

About 54 percent of mobile users surveyed in September 2008 reported their usage had increased by more than 25 percent over the past two years. One-fifth of respondents estimated their usage had increased by 50 percent or more. 

One third of respondents talked on their mobile phone more than 10 hours per week, and 34 percent of respondents ages 17 and under talked for more than 15 hours weekly.

Nearly four out of 10 mobile Internet users said they surfed the mobile Web for two or more hours every week. The key adjective there is "mobile Web" users. Other researchers have found that just about 16 percent of mobile users have the ability to access the Web from their mobiles. 

Some 62 percent of mobile users surveyed said they either already owned a smart phone or would own one within the next 12 months.

Text messaging is nearly universal, with 80 percent of mobile users saying they use that feature and 29 percent of those who did spent more than two hours every week on the activity, says Azuki Systems. 

Researchers at Nielsen Mobile don't think so. They report just 53 percent text messaging usage during the second quarter of 2008. 

Vonage Dodges a Bullet

Vonage has Vonage has signed definitive agreements to refinance its convertible debt, a move that virtually everybody assumed was essential for Vonage to stay in business, and about which there has been doubt in some quarters. 

The financing package consists of a $130.3 million senior secured first lien credit facility, a $72.0 million senior secured second lien credit facility, and the sale of $18.0 million of senior secured third lien convertible notes.

Vonage says it will use the net proceeds of the financing along with its own cash on hand to repurchase up to $253.5 million of the company's existing convertible notes in a tender offer commenced on July 30, 2008. 


Saturday, October 18, 2008

Verizon Has Fewest Dropped Calls

Verizon Wireless has the lowest percentage of dropped calls among all major U.S. service providers, according to ChangeWave.

Verizon subscribers report that, on average, just 2.7 percent of their calls were dropped over the past 90 days, nearly a percentage point better than AT&T (3.6 percent), their closest competitor.

Sprint/Nextel (4.4 percent) and T-Mobile (4.5 percent) were third and fourth respectively.

Importantly, one-in-five Verizon users (20 percent) say they didn't experience ANY dropped calls over the past three months, compared to 18 percent for T-Mobile, 17 percent for AT&T, and 10 percent for Sprint/Nextel.

In addition, 43 percent of Verizon's customers in the survey say they're "very satisfied" with Verizon's service.

New Versions of Chrome and Firefox are Faster

New beta versions of Firefox and Google Chrome now are available, and in recent tests, CNet found Firefox the fastest, with Chrome right behind, in executing JavaScript, which powers applications such as Gmail and Google Docs. 

The answer: both browsers made big strides, but Firefox still beats Chrome on one widely-used performance test, says  Stephen Shankland. CNet writer.

When Chrome was released, Shankland ran Google's JavaScript speed test on Firefox 3.0.1, the initial Chrome beta, Internet Explorer 7 and 8 beta 2, and Safari 3.1.2. 

He found Chrome led the speed test with an overall score of 1,851 and Firefox in second place at 205. 

Running the same test on the latest developer version of Chrome, 0.3.154.3, boosted the browser's score to 2,265, a 22 percent increase. And Firefox jumped 15 percent to 235. Firefox 3.1 beta one, he says. 

That test measures Firefox without its new TraceMonkey JavaScript engine enabled, though.

Faster execution matters for a couple of reasons. At some point, the browser will become the client for executing any number of consumer and enterprise applications that are not stored on a local hard drive. Speed will matter. 

Also, users simply like faster-executing Web pages.  Faster execution provides a higher end user experience. 

Friday, October 17, 2008

Telco Business Model Transformation? Been There; Done That

Some people think the global telecom industry is not lead by people capable of fundamental business model transformation. Nobody can say for sure whether that opinion is correct.

What might be useful to reflect on, though, is the fact that the global already has managed several fundamental shifts in its revenue. 

In 1995, for example, U.S. telcos earned about $19.49 a month selling consumers basic dial tone. But telcos earned $42 a month selling enhanced services and long distance. 

In other words, 68 percent of consumer revenue was generated not from the basic dial-tone product but from other services and applications. For an industry generally considered at that time to be an "access lines" business, the appellation already was inaccurate. 

In 1997, nearly half of all local telco revenue came from long distance alone. By 2007, long distance represented just 18 percent of total revenue.  So a business once based on "lines" then became a business based on long distance and enhanced services, only to be replaced by a business where half of all revenue was generated from wireless services.

Also, consider that over the last decade we have seen the broadband access business grow from single digits to "near saturation" levels. 

The point is that business model transformations have happened several times in industry history, sucessfully. The next transformation likely will involve wholesale and business partner services of various types, augmented by content services. 

One can argue telco executives can't make this next change, even if they have transformed themselves before. I would not bet on that. 

Life throws curve balls.

Life throws curve balls.  Patriots don't get the perfect season. Red Sox come from behind to keep their title hopes alive. It happens. 

Enterprise Mobility Demand Still Growing

Roughly half of all  business and consumer communications spending goes to wireless services. But there appear to be relatively-distinct niches within the enterprise mobile user base. The "information worker" segment, including sales, information technology and managers use real-time data, email, calendar and portal accessed applications, say reserachers at Forrester Research. There are lots of devices used and IT staff tends to have limited control over them.

"Task workers" such as supply chain personnel, medical personnel, manufacturers and others using line-of-business applications on a single device such as inventory scanners, data entry tablets. IT tends to have significant control over the limited range of supported devices. 

But there is an emerging demand from "wannabes," including just about any worker not represented in one of the two other segments. Wannabees likely will use a wide range of devices for email, calendar, product information management and basic portal access, for work and personal uses. IT will have to support a wide range of devices and will have limited control over them, Forrester argues.

So far, though 57 percent of smart phone users engage in work--related phone calls, 
48 percent check email and 42 percent acess the Internet or a company Intranet for work related information. Some 35 percent of users say they use their smart phones "only for personal purposes." Keep in mind that nearly seven out of 10 enterprise mobility users pay for their own service. 

At the moment, 69 percent of employees pay for their voice service, while 23 percent have mobile paid for by the employer, Forrester says. About eight percent of workers cost share with their employers. 

About 59 percent of employees pay for their own mobile data services. About 34 percent have their mobile data service paid for by their employers. About seven percent of workers have a cost share agreement with their employer. 

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