Friday, December 10, 2010
Google Tests Near Field Communications for Location Services
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.
CenturyLink Apparently Rekindles Qwest Video Interest
The CenturyLink acquisition of Qwest is bound to have lots of implications for Qwest and Qwest's former customers. It appears one of the possible changes is a new interest on the part of the new company to provide video entertainment services, something Qwest had tested, before concluding it did not provide a strong-enough business case.
Qwest decided to rely on partner DirecTV to offer the video portion of a triple-play offering. But CenturyLink routinely offers video services to its customers, so thinking appears to have changed.
But Qwest executives now are reported to be talking about getting a state-level video franchise that would allow it to offer multichannel video services in Colorado, for example. Qwest also had tried to get such a franchise three years ago, but failed to get enough lawmakers to agree.
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.
IP Backbone Traffic: Volume Up 54%, Price-Per-Bit Down, 25% Per Year
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 is Social Network Market Leader in 115 Countries
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.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
U.S. Broadband Access: Not as Bad as Some Believe
There's an interesting statistic in the Federal Communications Commission's latest report on the state of U.S. broadband access services. The FCC took a look at locations by zip code, and estimated that 48 percent of U.S. households had, at the end of 2009, the ability to buy downstream service of at least 3 Mbps and upstream service of more than 200 kbps from at least three fixed-network providers.
Some 44 percent had the ability to buy such service from at least two fixed-network providers.
Some 28 percent of households had the ability to buy service of at least 3 Mbps/768 kbps from at least three providers, while 48 percent had the ability to buy from at least two providers.
About 22 percent of househoulds could buy service of at least 6 Mbps/1.5 Mbps from at least two providers, while 57 percent could buy from at least one provider.
Some 20 percent of U.S. households could buy service of at least 10 Mbps from at least two providers, while 58 percent could buy service from at least one provider.
If one adds in wireless providers, the FCC found that 58 percent of U.S. homes could buy wireless service of at least 3 Mbps/200 kbps from at least three providers, while 35 percent could buy from at least two providers and six percent had at least one provider.
About 40 percent of U.S. households could buy service of at least 3 Mbps/768 kbps from at least three providers, while another 40 percent could buy service from at least two providers, and 17 percent could buy service from at least one provider.
That means 97 percent of U.S. homes can buy service of 3 Mbps/768 kbps from at least one provider in each area. In addition, 28 percent of those households could buy such service from at least three providers; 48 percent could buy from at least two providers and 21 percent could buy from at least one fixed provider.
About 80 percent of U.S. households can buy 6 Mbps/1.5 Mbps service from one to three network providers, and also 80 percent could buy service from at least one provider as well.
Some 79 percent of U.S. households could buy 10 Mbps/1.5 Mbps service from at least one provider.
You can argue more speed is needed, or that prices are too high: people do that. But that's a significant number of facilities-based competition for nearly 80 percent of U.S. households.
Some 44 percent had the ability to buy such service from at least two fixed-network providers.
Some 28 percent of households had the ability to buy service of at least 3 Mbps/768 kbps from at least three providers, while 48 percent had the ability to buy from at least two providers.
About 22 percent of househoulds could buy service of at least 6 Mbps/1.5 Mbps from at least two providers, while 57 percent could buy from at least one provider.
Some 20 percent of U.S. households could buy service of at least 10 Mbps from at least two providers, while 58 percent could buy service from at least one provider.
If one adds in wireless providers, the FCC found that 58 percent of U.S. homes could buy wireless service of at least 3 Mbps/200 kbps from at least three providers, while 35 percent could buy from at least two providers and six percent had at least one provider.
About 40 percent of U.S. households could buy service of at least 3 Mbps/768 kbps from at least three providers, while another 40 percent could buy service from at least two providers, and 17 percent could buy service from at least one provider.
That means 97 percent of U.S. homes can buy service of 3 Mbps/768 kbps from at least one provider in each area. In addition, 28 percent of those households could buy such service from at least three providers; 48 percent could buy from at least two providers and 21 percent could buy from at least one fixed provider.
About 80 percent of U.S. households can buy 6 Mbps/1.5 Mbps service from one to three network providers, and also 80 percent could buy service from at least one provider as well.
Some 79 percent of U.S. households could buy 10 Mbps/1.5 Mbps service from at least one provider.
You can argue more speed is needed, or that prices are too high: people do that. But that's a significant number of facilities-based competition for nearly 80 percent of U.S. households.
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.
96% Of Publishers Not Mobile-Enabled
Without a targeted site or call-to-action targeted to mobile devices (such as Chitika’s mobile ad unit, which targets mobile traffic on non-mobile sites), mobile traffic is nearly impossible to monetize, meaning that over 96 percent of the Internet is wasting a growing, potentially valuable segment of traffic.
The caveat is that part of the mobile Internet is just the same as the fixed Internet. That's what tablets are all about. A tablet ought to be able to render the traditional web, for example, nearly as well as a PC, with the glaring exception that tablets are designed for "touch" interfaces that could be quite clumsy without mouse navigation.
"Mobilization" is one issue websites have to contend with, but it isn't so clear that designing for touch interfaces will be less important, not so far into the future from now.
The additional issue, beyond simply "mobile optimization," is "touch interface optimization." You might argue mobile optimization--designing sites for smartphone access--is more important. That might be true, but not completely true. Increasingly, smartphones and other connected devices are fundamentally designed around a touch interface, and that might be a more-important consideration.
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.
Netflix Offers Digital Dimes, Time Warner Wants Dollars
Netflix is offering $50,000-$100,000 to stream current television shows, says Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes, but traditional channels still pay “millions of dollars” per episode. New online entrants, he said, would have to pay the same as traditional channels.
Though it is understandable that any traditionally prosperous, high-margin business would want to preserve its business model in changed circumstances, none of the rest of the media (music, print, radio, for example) is proving to be capable of sustaining the old business model.
The business will have to change. It won't change as fast as some would like, too fast for those who resist, but it will change.
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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