Easy to Use Web Browser Impact

By now it is abundantly clear that smartphones with easy-to-use browsers encourage people to use the web when mobile.

To the extent that Symbian and Research in Motion devices have been harder to use, their web usage shows the impact of the barrier, while Apple and Android devices indicate what happens when the barrier is removed.

Some will say this poses a potential problem for mobile service providers. But there is one problem worse than dramatically increased data demand: insufficient demand.

World Cup Sets an Online Video Record

ESPN says 1.1 million people watched at least some of the USA-Algeria World Cup match. One suspects that is largely because the match was aired from 10 a.m. to noon EDT, during working hours for most of the United States.

One wonders what the impact was on enterprise Internet connections and local area networks.

ESPN Sets Records for Following USA Game Online - ABC News

Debt Now is THE Economic Problem

The debt-financed model has reached its limit, says the Economist. Most of the options for dealing with the debt overhang are unpalatable, but each government will have to find its own way of reducing the burden.

The battle between borrowers and creditors may be the defining struggle of the next generation. If you have children or grandchildren, this is why "debt" suddenly has exploded as a major political issue in all developed economies, though it typically has been a "snoozer" of a voter issue.

A special report on debt: Repent at leisure | The Economist

Net Neutrality is a Fight Over Ecosystem Revenue Share

The net neutrality debate is, at its heart, an argument about the distribution of future revenues in the broadband ecosystem. Sure, there are technical issues, such as how best to manage scarcity of bandwidth at times of congestion.

And there are legitimate concerns about potential anti-competitive behavior.

But at its heart the arguments are about gaining the best positioning with the new ecosystem. Were it not for mobile services, communication service providers would be in big financial trouble.

Broadband services have helped, but are a fraction of the voice revenue now dwindling away. To replace lost voice revenues, access provider broadband revenues would have to triple. To many observers, that must mean revenue shared with business partners, as it is hard to see end-user payments tripling.

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U.K. Regulator Not Initially Convinced Net Neutrality Rules Needed

Ofcom, the U.K. communications regulator, has opened an inquiry into network management and network neurality issues by suggesting it does not presently see evidence of anti-competitive behavior that requires "ex ante" (rules instituted before any obvious problems) regulation.

Ofcom's proceeding is noteworthy for its refreshing honesty about the "network neutrality" debate; namely that the stakes include the utlimate division of revenue and profit in the developing broadband ecosystem.


"As the telecommunications market, content sector and online sector change, points of friction will inevitably arise over who controls customer relationships and the rate of innovation," Ofcom said. "Firms across these sectors are also competing for a share of advertising revenues and consumers’ expenditure at a time when there are concerns about the sustainability of many of the existing business models, not just for traditional telco and content distribution businesses but also a surprisingly large number of online businesses."

"As the value chain is taking shape, network operators and content providers are bargaining over how future rents will be divided and technical measures such as DPI and DRM are being deployed in part to strengthen relative negotiating positions," Ofcom noted.

The situation is especially acute in the mobile space, where bandwidth consumed, and hence network cost, is growing far faster than revenue.


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RIM Co-CEO Promises "Quantum Leap"

BlackBerrry changed the experience of using a mobile once, and believes it can do so again. The BlackBerry 6 platform, and new devices based on it, will be available in the second half of 2010.

"You'll just be amazed that how it's a quantum leap over anything that's out there," says RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie. That's a pretty-big claim, but it will be interesting to see what RIM can deliver. Quantum leaps are about sudden and dramatic changes of physical form, on the order of water turning to ice or steam, for example.

That would be a big thing indeed, if RIM can deliver.

RIM Co-CEO Promises "Quantum Leap Over Anything That's Out There"

Phone Support as a Marketing Channel at Zappos

Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh thinks customer service and support can be an excellent marketing channel. "We believe the telephone is one of the best branding devices out there," he says. "We have the customer’s undivided attention for five to 10 minutes."

"If we get the interaction right, what we’ve found is that customers remember that for a very long time and tell their friends and family about us," says Hsieh.

One of the reasons such customer contacts, not typically thought of as a marketing channel, can have so much impact on a brand is that opinions about firms travel much more quickly in a social media context, he argues.

Happiness 101: Q and A with Tony Hsieh : The World :: American Express OPEN Forum