Thursday, November 4, 2010
24% Provide Mobile Social Network Updates
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.
Facebook "Single Sign On" Deepens Mobile Integration
Facebook's new "Single Sign On" capability means smartphone owners can sign up once on Facebook and then use those credentials on the device for any other application that supports the "single sign on" feature.
This works on any Android phone or any iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch device that supports multitasking (most iOS4 devices).
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.
Time Warner May Consider Longer Delay for Netflix, Redbox
Time Warner may consider extending the 28-day additional release window delay for new release movies. In recent days, Time Warner has allowed rental services such as Netflix Inc. and Coinstar Inc.’s Redbox kiosks to receive its DVDs 28 days earlier than content can be streamed to online viewers.
Time Warner apparently sees evidence that the 28-day delay has the expected effect: it pushes users to other modes of consumption, such as buying a DVD, which is probably the key upside for the studio. And that has Time Warner taking a look at the merits of a longer release window for streaming access.
“So far the 28-day window has clearly been a success versus no delay,” Time Warner Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bewkes says. “The question of whether we ought to go longer is very much under scrutiny. It may well be a good idea."
“So far the 28-day window has clearly been a success versus no delay,” Time Warner Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bewkes says. “The question of whether we ought to go longer is very much under scrutiny. It may well be a good idea."
All of this is important for video distributors as the release window--the amount of time lapsing between the end of theatrical exhibition and first availability through other channels--largely determines the volume of buys or rentals and the prices at which views cost. Delaying online viewing appears to have the effect of increasing DVD sales.
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.
Windows Phone 7 Seems to be a Top App Developer Platform
Among publishers and developers, iPhone, Android, iPad, RIM and Windows Mobile were the
top five mobile application platforms of choice in 2010, according to Millennial Media. The Android, iPad, Windows Mobile, and Symbian platforms saw the most growth from 2009. The iPhone and RIM platforms saw year-over-year decreases.
Windows Phone 7 is tied for second place with iPad as the platform that will be added to most publishers’ and developers’ plates in the coming year. At 29 percent interest, Android is challenging the Apple iPhone as the top development platform.
Of those advertisers and marketers developing applications, the entertainment vertical is the most-active sponsor of new mobile apps, followed by technology, media, retail and consumer packaged good verticals.
Only 6.7 percent of developers use an internal sales force, as you might guess. Instead, developers sell using app networks, and rely on advertising networks to generate revenue.
The results were generated by surveys of 600 digital and mobile industry professionals in November
2009 and August 2010. In 2010, 41 percent of survey respondents classified themselves as an agency advertiser or marketer, 30 percent as an application developer, and 29 percent as a publisher.
read more 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.
Smart Meters Might Not Deliver As Much Value as Many Believe
Smart metering is a not a cure-all for the utilities industry’s woes and there is a strong risk it will not deliver on some of its promises, Ovum finds. Smart meters should dramatically affect labor cost and operating costs, to the extent such devices automate data collection chores.
But there are other problems smart meters cannot directly address, such as carbon dixoide emissions, infrastructure requirements and higher raw materials costs.
Nor will smart meters directly address an aging workforce or demand issues caused by the sluggish economic recovery. Using such meters in a control capacity, to manage consumption, might hold more promise, if customers agree to such management.
But there are other problems smart meters cannot directly address, such as carbon dixoide emissions, infrastructure requirements and higher raw materials costs.
Nor will smart meters directly address an aging workforce or demand issues caused by the sluggish economic recovery. Using such meters in a control capacity, to manage consumption, might hold more promise, if customers agree to such management.
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.
Does Telco Revenue Future Require Bandwidth QoS?
That does not mean every entity can create a business case around mobility in a direct sense. Keep in mind that it is not simply telco executives who think this way, but significantly that media and content executives make the assumption.
Smaller providers might not be able to justify anything other than working with other mobile providers in one way or another. But tier-one providers virtually must be mobile providers, the survey suggests.
Second, future strategies to increase broadband access revenues virtually require the absence of regulatory rules that ban packet priorities and quality of service mechanisms. About 27 percent of respondents believe that telcos must find new revenue sources as a way of improving the economics of the broadband access business. More than 25 percent say more-efficient networks also are required.
Nearly a quarter of the 120 respondents also believe that one of the buest ways to create new revenue streams is to "charge upstream players for value-added services." Aside from building content delivery networks, it is difficult to envision how mobile service providers and fixed-access networks could add value directly to the access product without having the ability to prioritize traffic.
There are, of course, other potential ways to leverage customer relationships, customer data or billing capabilities in ways that partners might find useful. Still, a strict network neutrality regime would severely crimp the ability to add value in the basic access product.
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.
Time Warner Cable Loses 155,000 Video Subscribers
So far in the third quarter, both Comcast and Time Warner Cable have reported video subscriber losses. That in itself would not be unusual, given a market share shift in favor of telcos and satellite providers of late.
Comcast earlier reported a loss of 275,000 subscribers in the third quarter, while Time Warner Cable says it lost 155,000 video subscribers.
Those sorts of statistics sometimes are assumed to be evidence of video "cord cutting," though. It isn't possible yet to make a judgment of that sort, in part because the satellite providers have yet to report subscriber numbers. Only by adding up results at all the leading cable, telco and satellite providers can we determine whether the market is growing, flat or shrinking.
And even if the market is shrinking, as was the case in the second quarter, it isn't completely clear that customers are giving up on multichannel video service for streaming, for over-the-air TV, giving up TV itself, or temporarily suspending service to save some money. It might be years before we can determine whether there has been a permanent shift of behavior, or only a short-term decline because of tougher economic conditions, less new housing construction or a consolidation of households. All of those will put pressure on subscriptions by reducing the potential pool of buyers.
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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