Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Chrome Web Store Will Feature Games
The new Google-sponsored Chrome Web Store will feature games, at least initially.
Gary Kim has been a digital infra analyst and journalist for more than 30 years, covering the business impact of technology, pre- and post-internet. He sees a similar evolution coming with AI. General-purpose technologies do not come along very often, but when they do, they change life, economies and industries.
HSPA+ is Why You Might Want the Coming T-Mobile USA G2
The G2 will operate on T-Mobile USA's new HSPA+ network, which should run even faster than Clearwire's fourth generation WiMAX network.
Gary Kim has been a digital infra analyst and journalist for more than 30 years, covering the business impact of technology, pre- and post-internet. He sees a similar evolution coming with AI. General-purpose technologies do not come along very often, but when they do, they change life, economies and industries.
Public Wi-Fi Business Model is Changing
About 10 years ago, there were serious debates about whether public Wi-Fi hotspot networks could become a viable alternative to mobile broadband services. That might sound odd now, but it was a somewhat serious issue back then.
The more-immediate problem for public Wi-Fi businesses, though, was the business plan itself. It proved tough to entice enough users to pay for such "out and about" connections.
What ultimately happened was that public Wi-Fi access became, in part, a niche service for traveling workers and in part a retention tool for major cable and telco broadband providers.
In its latter configuration, fixed broadband customers got "no extra charge" Wi-Fi hotspot access as an amenity for being a customer. The indirect business model was enhanced customer retention.
These days, another evolution is occurring. In addition to helping service providers retain their existing customers, public Wi-Fi now is becoming a way to defray mobile network investment, shift huge amounts of traffic to the landline network and create more-affordable ways to support bandwidth-intensive services such as video.
To some extent, Wi-Fi hotspot availability also creates a platform for service creation, in particular services mobile operators want to support, but not too much. Mobile VoIP is one example.
AT&T, for example, allows mobile VoIP on the iPhone, but only from hot spots.
Verizon Wireless, on the other hand, takes the opposite approach and only enables use of its embedded Skype application on the wireless network, not Wi-Fi.
Either way, public Wi-Fi allows creation of services in a way that competes less directly with mobile voice, for example.
The point is that the public Wi-Fi business model is changing, again. Where one might have argued that the business model was "fixed broadband customer retention and acquisition," the additional, and possibly more-important model, is as a major wireless access method and service platform.
Gary Kim has been a digital infra analyst and journalist for more than 30 years, covering the business impact of technology, pre- and post-internet. He sees a similar evolution coming with AI. General-purpose technologies do not come along very often, but when they do, they change life, economies and industries.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Half of Fixed Broadband Users Consume Less than 2 Gbytes Per Month
A new study by the Federal Communications Commission confirms that "heavy users" are a distinct minority of users, and that half of all users consume less than two gigabytes a month. A small percentage of all users consumer very-large amounts of data, sometimes as much as a terabyte, the report says.
The most data-intensive one percent of residential consumers appear to account for roughly 25 percent of all traffic. The top three percent of users consume 40 percent of all bandwidth.
The top 10 percent of users consume 70 percent of all fixed broadband data, and the top 20 percent of users consume 80 percent of all data.
While half of all users consume less than 2 GByes per month, the last six percent of users consume more than 15 GBytes each month.
The average Internet user has been online for 10 years and spends roughly 29 hours per month online at home, double the amount in 2000.
Overall, per-person usage is growing about 30 percent to 35 percent per year.
There are four distinct use profiles among U.S. consumers, each with different usage
characteristics, the report suggests.
For these four use profiles, actual download speed demands range from 0.5 to 7 megabits per second. The report says 80 percent of broadband use today is by users in three profiles, and that those customers require actual download speeds of no more than 4 Mbps.
The FCC analysis shows that average (mean) actual speed consumers received was approximately 4 Mbps, while the median actual speed was roughly 3 Mbps in 2009 (half the connections ran faster, half ran slower).
FCC report here
The most data-intensive one percent of residential consumers appear to account for roughly 25 percent of all traffic. The top three percent of users consume 40 percent of all bandwidth.
The top 10 percent of users consume 70 percent of all fixed broadband data, and the top 20 percent of users consume 80 percent of all data.
While half of all users consume less than 2 GByes per month, the last six percent of users consume more than 15 GBytes each month.
The average Internet user has been online for 10 years and spends roughly 29 hours per month online at home, double the amount in 2000.
Overall, per-person usage is growing about 30 percent to 35 percent per year.
There are four distinct use profiles among U.S. consumers, each with different usage
characteristics, the report suggests.
For these four use profiles, actual download speed demands range from 0.5 to 7 megabits per second. The report says 80 percent of broadband use today is by users in three profiles, and that those customers require actual download speeds of no more than 4 Mbps.
The FCC analysis shows that average (mean) actual speed consumers received was approximately 4 Mbps, while the median actual speed was roughly 3 Mbps in 2009 (half the connections ran faster, half ran slower).
FCC report here
Gary Kim has been a digital infra analyst and journalist for more than 30 years, covering the business impact of technology, pre- and post-internet. He sees a similar evolution coming with AI. General-purpose technologies do not come along very often, but when they do, they change life, economies and industries.
Developers Will Get 95% of Chrome Web Store Revenue
If you are a developer looking for a really-attractive revenue split, the coming Chrome Web Store plans to give app developers 95 percent of revenue from application sales made through the store.
That rather stunning revenue split if one sign of Google's commitment to rapidly populating its store with Chrome apps. Most other stores give developers 70 percent of revenues.
Gary Kim has been a digital infra analyst and journalist for more than 30 years, covering the business impact of technology, pre- and post-internet. He sees a similar evolution coming with AI. General-purpose technologies do not come along very often, but when they do, they change life, economies and industries.
2.6 Billion Wi-Fi Consumer Devices by 2014
There will be an installed base of over 2.6 billion Wi-Fi enabled consumer devices by 2014, according to a report published by Strategy Analytics.
"Consumer demand for the 'everywhere web' will drive Wi-Fi adoption in mobile Internet devices," according to Peter King, Director of the Connected Home Device service at Strategy Analytics. "Even where 3G or 4G technologies are available, Wi-Fi will still be a preferred access route for many, as hot-spots and home networks proliferate."
"Consumer demand for the 'everywhere web' will drive Wi-Fi adoption in mobile Internet devices," according to Peter King, Director of the Connected Home Device service at Strategy Analytics. "Even where 3G or 4G technologies are available, Wi-Fi will still be a preferred access route for many, as hot-spots and home networks proliferate."
Gary Kim has been a digital infra analyst and journalist for more than 30 years, covering the business impact of technology, pre- and post-internet. He sees a similar evolution coming with AI. General-purpose technologies do not come along very often, but when they do, they change life, economies and industries.
Alcatel-Lucent book details $100 billion development 'shift'
Alcatel-Lucent has published a new book detailing its views on how telecom and service provider opportunities will develop in the future. You can order a copy here http://www.theshiftonline.com/.
The book contains predictions and advice such as the finding that users will pay 25 percent to 35 percent more for a service with three capabilities operating simultaneously, compared to a service with one capability, something network-based development can enable.
More than 50 percent of consumers are comfortable sharing sensitive profile information, such as location, presence and online behaviors, with their mobile provider.
Nearly 50 percent of commercial developers would use network-based APIs and are willing to pay twice as much for APIs bundled together versus those sold separately. Enterprise IP
developers will pay up to three times more.
A third of U.S. advertisers would use network services that enable them to deliver advertisements across social media sites based on user interests and behaviors.
More than 50 percent of consumers are comfortable sharing sensitive profile information, such as location, presence and online behaviors, with their mobile provider.
Nearly 50 percent of commercial developers would use network-based APIs and are willing to pay twice as much for APIs bundled together versus those sold separately. Enterprise IP
developers will pay up to three times more.
A third of U.S. advertisers would use network services that enable them to deliver advertisements across social media sites based on user interests and behaviors.
Gary Kim has been a digital infra analyst and journalist for more than 30 years, covering the business impact of technology, pre- and post-internet. He sees a similar evolution coming with AI. General-purpose technologies do not come along very often, but when they do, they change life, economies and industries.
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