Google, Apple, Microsoft Trusted by Half of Adults, Just 8% Trust Media

Nearly half (49 percent) of U.S. adults trust Apple, Microsoft and Google, according to a new Zogby Interactive survey.

About 13 percent of respondents trust Facebook.

Almost nobody trusts traditional media or Twitter, each of which had a trust level of eight percent.

Google And Apple Trusted More Than Facebook And Twitter | jatiN mahindrA doT coM

RIM and Android Eat into Apple's Mobile Ad Dominance

Mobile ad impressions from smartphone devices running Google's Android OS and RIM OS grew in May, while those from Apple devices fell considerably, according to data from Millennial Media.

The mobile ad network reported ad impressions across its network from Apple smartphones fell 14 percent between April and May, while Android and RIM devices saw growth of five percentage points and two percentage points, respectively.

Most people are used to thinking about Google when it comes to Internet-related ad revenues. In the mobile space, Apple is the clear leader, with about 48 percent of impressions.

RIM and Android Eat into Apple's Mobile Ad Dominance - ClickZ

Apple Has Sold 3 Million iPads In Less Than Three Months

Apple announced today that it has sold over 3 million iPads in just 80 days. This shatters most analyst expectations for the iPad. Just last week Katy Huberty at Morgan Stanley forecasted 3 million iPads sold for the entire quarter. Apple beat that by a few weeks.

It appears Apple has succeeded in once again creating a new device category.

Apple Has Sold 3 Million iPads In Less Than Three Months

Congress to Hold Closed Door Meetings on Communications Policy

Communications policy will be examined by the U.S. House and Senate behind closed doors June 25, 2010. Presumably among the issues to be examined are the Federal Communications Commission's proposed common carrier regulation of broadband access, which a majority of Congress already say they oppose.

Among the organizers include Senator John D. Rockefeller IV, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation; Rep. Henry A. Waxman, Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce; Senator John F. Kerry, Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet; Rep. Rick Boucher, Chairman, of the House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet.

BroadbandBreakfast.com: Congress to Hold Closed Door Meetings on Communications Policy Issues

BT Has Same Cost Problem as AT&T, Verizon, CenturyLink

BT has said that there is a commercial case for it to upgrade about two thirds of its national network to fiber-to-the-cabinet and fiber-to-the-premises networks. The rest of the country, though, is too sparsely populated to justify wholly private investment, BT insists.

People sometimes forget how sensitive infrastructure costs are to the vagaries of population density, terrain, soil composition and duct or pole access. In the United States, as elsewhere, loop length (distance from customer location to the nearest central office) is inversely proportional to population density. So are capital requirements. The cost of serving the last 10 percent of customers is extraordinarily high compared to the cost of reaching the most-dense 30 percent of locations (click on image for larger view).

Whitehall invites broadband subsidy goldrush • The Register:

Smartphone Navigation Features Up 10X in 2010

Smartphone-based navigation systems are set to grow by a factor of 10 in 2010 and boom by nearly 40 times in 2014, iSuppli Corp. predicts.

The number of smart-phone-based OEM and aftermarket on-board navigation systems is projected to rise to 81 million units in 2010, up from 8 million in 2009. By 2014, usage will increase to 297 million.

“Smartphones over the next decade will rival PCs as a market for hardware, software, communications and location based services,” said Danny Kim, analyst and global manager for automotive research at iSuppli. “In the last two years alone, the smart phone has become the most important platform for map and navigation usage. With maps becoming a standard feature in a growing number of smart phones, the number of smart phone map users is increasing sharply.”

Smart Phones Become the New Location Based Services (LBS) Battleground

Verizon Offers new FiOS Customers "No Contract: Service

Verizon Communications now will allow customers to sign up for its FiOS television and Internet services on a month-to-month basis at the same price as long-term contracts and without early termination fees. Though Verizon might have preferred the revenue stability contracts tend to provide, consumers hate them, especially the early termination fees.

And though many observers do not believe there is sufficient competition in the fixed broadband access market, the Verizon move seems clearly a result of marketing by its cable competitors blasting the Verizon requirements and touting the ability cable TV customers have to buy without contracts or early termination fees.

Verizon in January 2010 raised the early termination fees for FiOS customers to $360 from $179. To be sure, Verizon's economic rationale was the cost to activate a location. But that's a business issue Verizon has to deal with, as all providers incur additional expense to activate a customer.

But market pressure seems to have had effect. Effective immediately, all new Verizon FiOS customers can opt to pay for a bundle on a month-to-month basis, at the same prices charged to customers purchasing a term contract, and receive price protection for one year without an early-termination fee.

New FiOS consumers who order a Verizon bundle as part of a two-year contract can take advantage of the "Worry-Free Guarantee," allowing them to cancel their service within 30 days of the date of activation, with no termination fee.

The month-to-month option and "Worry-Free Guarantee" expand upon offers introduced earlier this year in Florida and Pennsylvania and that have met with very favorable customer response. It's hard to imagine those offers getting anything less than that reception, given the distaste consumers have for contracts and termination fees, despite the "goodies" that sometimes are part of the overall offers.

http://newscenter.verizon.com/press-releases/verizon/2010/new-verizon-fios-customers.html