The Federal Communications Commission, whether it is wrong or right, is signaling that it may try to undo what consumers and providers, operating through their own willing to pay, have voted with their wallets, arguing essentially that concentration in the wireless market is now a problem.
The problem is that AT&T and Verizon Wireless have grown for logical reasons. They have more capital to spend to grow their businesses, Sprint shot itself with poor customer service and T-Mobile USA simply has not invested in its business to the same degree the other contestants have.
FCC may try to set new rules to “protect” the smaller companies in the cellular business, but, if they need protection, it is because they have been badly run or have not spent enough money to win over customers.
It is true that AT&T and Verizon have the ability to bundle other products to create triple play and quadruple play offers. Sprint and T-Mobile USA do not have similar ability. But that hasn't stopped Dish Network and DirecTV from taking share from the leading fixed line providers in the multi-channel video markets.
Google declares war on Apple, setting up about as big a contest between "open" and "closed" development approaches as one could imagine. Not since 1985 have we seen images and philosophical differences such as this.
One still gets the feeling we are still a bit early for mass adoption of Internet-delivered, TV set displayed video, though we are lots closer than we used to be. But this is an entertaining video, anyhow.
To be sure, Google has assembled quite an ecosystem, Sony, Logitech, Intel, Dish and Best Buy. But it probably is worth remembering that Apple itself describes Apple TV as "a hobby." The point is that lots of companies over the last 10 years have tried to create a mass market appliance that captures Web video and delivers it to the main household viewing screen.
That doesn't mean it will not happen. Someday it will. The issue is whether Google TV can crack the code, or whether content rights agreements still have further to go. Some people will appreciate being able to watch YouTube videos on a high-definition TV. But most people probably do not want to spend several hundred dollars for the ability to do so.
What it seems people do wish to do is watch YouTube and other video on a handheld device, including smartphones and devices such as the iPad, as well as PCs.
Google CEO Eric Schmidt says “we’ve been waiting a long, long time for this day." The issue is whether we'll still be waiting.
Sony will provide the one-stop experience with Sony Internet TV built into an HDTV or a a set-top box with a Blu-ray Disc drive. Logitech plans to offer set-top box that will “seamlessly” add Google TV to current HDTV sets.
Dish Network will be supporting the ecosystem as well, allowing subscribers to add web video to their regular multi-channel video options.
Android and Chrome devices are expected to allow communication between Internet-connected TVs and Android or Chrome-based mobile devices. Users should be able to push content on the phone to the TV.
Best Buy will provide a venue for selling all the new boxes.
Location-based local search and information services will be used by nearly 1.5 billion mobile users by 2014, according to Juniper Research. Total revenues from all mobile location-based services are expected to reach $12.7 billion by 2014.
It's difficult to know whether Google TV can stoke the market for Internet-aware TV viewing, but the company has assembled quite an ecosystem. It's difficult to know whether Google TV can stoke the market for Internet-aware TV viewing, but the company has assembled quite an ecosystem.
A few mobile services providers are taking clear steps to insert themselves a bit more forcefully into the handset operating system and device business, as Verizon Wireless, Orange and Korea's SKT introducing LiMO-based handsets in 2010. .
For Verizon, LiMo is expected to help create sales volume for high-end mobile Web devices with a Verizon brand. As with the moves by carriers to create a carrier-centric applications community, the move represents an effort to gain more clout in the important device and application space where other partners now dominate.
The LiMO smartphone software platform, unlike the vendor controlled Android, Symbian and Windows, is largely driven by carriers. Therefore, it fits neatly with other operator initiatives to swing the balance of power in mobile services their own way, notably the new Wholesale Applications Community (WAC).
The German spectrum auction has ended, raising about half the expected revenue. Observers think the credit crunch and huge overspending in the 3G auctions helped ratchet down amounts contestants were willing to spend.
A total of €4.38bn ($5.5bn) was spent on the new spectrum blocks, while analysts at KPMG had forecast income of €8bn for the government as a result of the sales.
As you might expect, the three largest mobile operators, O2, Vodafone and Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile, each won two paired 5 MHz chunks of spectrum in the 800MHz band, prized because of its propagation characteristics, allowing greater coverage at lower cost, including better signal strength inside buildings.
