WiMAX Effort Did Not Bring Benefits As Great As Once Hoped, Says Sprint CEO

Sprint had hoped to build a bigger market lead by launching fourth-generation services in 2008. In a sense, it partly encouraged Verizon Wireless to launch its own 4G network sooner, and fro that reason 4G no longer appears to give Sprint an automatic marketing advantage.

Where Did the Lost DVD Buyers Go?

As important as DVDs have been, and remain, as a key part of the movie revenue ecosystem, studios no longer make as much from DVDs as they used to.

U.S. consumer spending on DVDs is down about 20 percent in 2010 from 2009, to $7.8 billion, according to media-tracking firm IHS Screen Digest. DVD spending is down 43 percent from its 2006 peak of $13.7 billion.

At the same time, consumer spending on video-on-demand services rose 17 percent in 2010 from 2009, to $1.4 billion, according to IHS. So that leaves a gap of up to $4.5 billion that simply seems to have disappeared.

One would have to conclude that consumers have found other ways to spend that money. Netflix could not have gotten it all. Netflix annual revenue might be somewhere in the $1.7 billion range.

First-Run Movies at Home—for $20,000 - WSJ.com (subscription required)

Typical Comcast User Consumes 2 Gbytes to 4 Gbytes a Month

The typical Comcast residential broadband user consumes 2 Gbytes to 4 GBytes of bandwidth per month.

So the reason ISPs are worried about the impact of increased online video consumption is that that level of usage is roughly equivalent to two or three or iTunes-sized movies per month, some argue.

A widespread shift to significant movie viewing online would disrupt usage patterns fairly quickly.

It isn't a customer's problem to figure out how the additional network capacity is added. That is the ISP's problem.

But if video has the potential to suddenly increase network demand, it could affect user experience even for users who don't watch video, since most of the ISP's facilities are shared.

One shouldn't expect any user to be happy about costs that roughly reflect usage, whether the product is water, electricity, gas or Internet access. But neither should any user suspect that any provider can, over the long term, simply ignore the impact of higher demand.

Comcast Doesn't Plan To Charge Bandwidth Hogs Extra... Yet

Google Shows First Chrome OS Laptops

One thing about an Internet-optimized laptop, such as the coming Chrome-powered devices: they won't do much if they aren't connected to the Internet. So look for Verizon-supported Chrome notebooks to be sold in the same way e-readers are: with built-in Internet capability.

To ensure that Chrome laptops always stay online, Google said it is working with Verizon Wireless to offer free wireless Internet connectivity, allowing users to send and receive up to 100 megabytes of data every month for two years. More robust Verizon data plans are available for purchase starting at $9.99 a month, Google said.

Google Shows First Chrome OS Laptops - WSJ.com (subscription required)

Visa Mobile Contactless Payments Solution Certified for Commercial Use

Visa says its mobile contactless payments system, enabled by DeviceFidelity's In2Pay microSD solution, is ready for deployment in the United States.

Following 18 months of technology development in partnership with Texas-based DeviceFidelity, and trials with leading financial institutions in the United States, Europe and Asia, Visa has tested and supports commercialization of In2Pay microSD for use with leading smart phones.

Smartphone models compatible for use with this landmark technology include the BlackBerry Bold 9650, the iPhone 4, the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 3G, and the Android based Samsung Vibrant Galaxy S.

Visa expects to add additional phone models for use with this technology, including phones based on the Symbian and Windows operating systems.

Visa Mobile Contactless Payments Solution Certified for Commercial Use

Verizon to Pay for iPhone Semi-Exclusivity?

Kaufman Bros. analyst Shaw Wu believes Verizon will pay extra as part of its deal to get the Apple iPhone to make sure that it and AT&T remain the only U.S. iPhone carriers for now.

Verizon apparently does not want iPhone, the hottest selling smartphone, available on T-Mobile USA or Sprint networks and may be willing to pay for exclusivity to itself and AT&T.

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Verizon Sees 4G as Substitute for Premium Home Services

Verizon Communications Chief Executive Officer Ivan Seidenberg said its next-generation wireless network could become a "modest substitute" for other home-entertainment services such as traditional cable or Internet access.

Seidenberg, speaking from the experience of the U.S. telco industry, says the first reaction an industry's executives have to the notion that demand for their most-important legacy product is declining, is "denial." Sooner or later the trend becomes clear enough, though.

That there is little conclusive evidence about video cord cutting so far, it will manifest itself eventually, he thinks. While relatively newer technology such as wireless access is initially additive, it eventually starts to cut into discretionary spending for other services, particularly premium ones.

In fact, one might argue that Netflix streaming and DVD rental services clearly have cannibalized "premium cable" services such as Home Box Office, Starz or Showtime. Eventually, Seidenberg believes, that will extend more directly to traditional "basic cable" services as well.

Verizon Sees 4G as Substitute for Premium Home Services - WSJ.com (subscription required)