U.S. Fixed-Line Voice Lines Rose for First Time Since 2000 in 2008

Perhaps the most-significant finding contained in the latest Federal Communications Commission data on voice lines is that total voice lines in service actually grew in 2008, reversing a declining trend since 2000.

We will have to wait for 2009 data to see whether this is a new trend or an anomoly. Still, the news is that, for the first time since 2000, total fixed voice lines in service have grown, rather than contracted.

That doesn't mean the trend has reversed for incumbent telcos, though. All of the gain came from non-traditional suppliers, either cable companies or competitive local exchange carriers. But it seems clear cable companies were the clear winners.

The big jump between June 2008 and December 2008 were accounts provided over coaxial cable lines used by cable firms. Between June and December, coaxial cable VoIP accounts increased from slightly less than 10 million to 20 million.

At year-end 2008, there were 141 million end-user switched access lines in service and 21 million
VoIP subscriptions in the United States, or about 162 million wireline retail local telephone service connections in total.

Of these, 97 million were residential connections and 65 million were business connections.

By technology and customer type, the 162 million wireline retail local telephone service connections were: 48 percent residential switched access lines, 39 percent business switched access lines, 12 percent residential VoIP subscriptions, and one percent business VoIP subscriptions.

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Singaporeans Still Like Newspapers

If you're an advertiser who wants to reach the digital Singaporean consumer, you might well have to use a newspaper, says PricewaterhouseCoopers, which says advertisers spend almost 10 times as much on print media like newspapers as they do on Internet advertising in that market.

PricewaterhouseCoopers also expects growth in the amount spent on print ads to be vastly greater than the growth in digital over the next five years.

By 2014, print would still capture 49 per cent of advertisers' dollars and television 28 per cent, while Internet advertising would rise from 4 per cent to just 6 per cent of total spending.

TODAYonline | Singapore | All wired up - but Singaporeans still prefer a traditional newspaper

Jeff Bezos Says iPad is a Different Product Category

One of the big questions about tablet devices such as Apple's iPad is whether it represents a new product category, as was the iPod, or whether it is the first product representing a new segment of the PC market. The answer matters greatly for hardware designers and marketers of PCs and e-book readers.

Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO, clearly believes tablets are a new product category, separate from e-book readers and traditional PCs. That matters because, if correct, people are going to do different things with tablets than they do with other types of devices.

Apple might, or might not, agree. It appears the iPad already taken about 22 percent of the U.S. ebook content market, with downloads of five million books in the first 65 days of the iBooks store's existence.

" I think there are going to be a bunch of tablet-like devices," says Bezos. "It’s really a different product category."

Jeff Bezos On The iPad: “It’s Really A Different Product Category”

Consumers Like Map Apps on Mobiles

About 14 percent of mobile subscribers visited a mapping site on their smartphone or mobile device in April 2010, according to comScore. That represents more than 33 million consumers logging on to the mobile web for mapping information.

Smartphone map access increased by more than 175 percent year over year, according to comScore.

Nearly nine million users accessed mobile maps via a smartphone browser, a 93 percent increase year over year, while about 13 million used a mobile app. Most of those users (87 percent) do so from their cars, with 17 percent of exercisers (while walking, jogging, biking) also connecting to maps from their smartphones. Nearly 17 percent of public transit users also used mobile maps.

comScore: Consumers now mapping smartphones - Mobile Marketing - BizReport

What are Advertisers Planning for iAd?

Campbell Soup is preparing at least one game for its iAd campaign. It's testing an idea to allow users to physically "shake" the salt out of different soups and see the results.

Mobile: A Look at Who's Getting What on Apple's IAds - Advertising Age - Digital

Mobile TV Revenue Still Modest

Mobile TV revenues will reach about $2.5 billion, and should reach closer to $3 billion in 2011, according to ABI Research.

In 2012, worldwide mobile TV revenues will approach $7 billion, exceeding $10 billion in 2013 and $15 billion in 2014 before reaching $20 billion in 2015.

Recent data from The Nielsen Company indicates the average amount of time U.S. mobile subscribers spent viewing video on a mobile phone per month was about three hours and 37 minutes.

Mobile Growth Shifts to Content

Mobile revenue growth now is shifting to mobile broadband and data, as you would expect, with the saturation of basic voice connections.

The next wave of growth will come from commerce and content sales, PricewaterhouseCoopers now predicts.