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.