Monday, June 28, 2010

U.S. Wireless Spectrum to Double?

The amount of wireless spectrum available in the United States would nearly double over the next 10 years as the federal government prepares to gradually auction 500 megahertz of federal and commercial spectrum.

In past decades, new spectrum auctions have been the foundation for potential assaults on industry structure, allowing new contestants to enter the market. Whether that will be the case in the forthcoming auctions remains to be seen.

Clearwire and Sprint have plenty of spectrum, while AT&T and Verizon Wireless are launching new Long Term Evolution networks that are far more spectrally efficient than the third generation networks they will supplement and then replace.

T-Mobile USA needs more 4G spectrum, but probably cannot afford to buy new licenses. The issue is whether any truly-new contestants are willing to take a chance on disrupting the business.

Samsung Galaxy S to Debut On All 4 Big Carriers

Samsung's flagship Google Android smartphone, Galaxy S, will be available on the AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobileand Verizon Wireless networks.

The Samsung Galaxy S will be called the Samsung Fascinate on Verizon, Samsung Captivate on AT&T, Samsung Vibrant on T-Mobile, and Samsung Epic 4G on Sprint.

Is Apple an Annuity Business?
































Is Apple in the annuity business? You might draw that conclusion from the results of a survey of Apple iPhone 4 buyers, given that 77 percent already were iPhone uses, and 84 percent already were on the AT&T network. The caveat is that anybody buying a new device on the first couple of days is a "fan," almost by definition.

Should Nokia Abandon 90% of its Market?

One way you might read this is that Nokia needs to get "more social with its fans." The other way is that 90 percent of younger users are not fans. There are hazards either way. "Abandon" might be too strong a way of putting matters, but it is the obvious inverse of a strategy focused on the 10 percent of fans. 


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.

Friday, June 25, 2010

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.

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.

At Alphabet, AI Correlates with Higher Revenue

Though many of the revenue-lifting impacts of artificial intelligence arguably are indirect, as AI fuels the performance of products using ...