Facebook Has More Than 600 Million Users

Users aren't "revenue," and neither are "eyeballs." But it can help. Facebook has 600 million monthly active users, according to a document Goldman Sachs is showing clients interested in investing in Facebook.

To the extent that Facebook increasingly is seen as a useful advertising venue, those users or eyeballs are going to be important, at some point.

Facebook Has More Than 600 Million Users, Goldman Tells Clients

Is Google Now Microsoft? Facebook Bull Thinks So

Rare is the company that keep up hyper levels of revenue growth forever. Even if you agree with this view, Facebook itself is going to be "legacy," sooner or later.

Tablets, Internet TVs will Lead Consumer Electronics Show

Not all Consumer Electronics Innovations Get Adopted

By some rough estimates, only about 20 percent of new consumer electronics products actually succeed in a significant way, in terms of sales. Here are some that, in the past, didn't make it.

U.S. Consumer Technology Sales: Smartphones, Tablets, E-Readers Gain

U.S. consumer technology holiday sales declined five percent in 2010 totaling $10.3 billion, according to the NPD Group.

The traditional categories felt significant spending pressure from smartphones, tablet and e-reader sales, as well as the rebound in the video game market. Overall NPD estimates that 2010 sales for the 9 week sales period will total $14.9 billion down 4 percent from last year.

What is significant here is that all three of the strong categories are mobile products.

Notebook unit volume fell 9 percent with little to no discounting, as average selling prices remained flat. Netbook unit volume declined 38 percent compared to the 2009 season and accounted for 19 percent of Windows' notebook sales, down from 27 percent of last year's volume. Desktop sales also took a hit dropping 16 percent in units.

U.S. Consumer Technology Holiday Sales Drop 5 Percent in 2010, According to NPD

Mobile Payment Among Top-5 Trends for 2011

Mobile payments are expected to be among the top-five trends in the payments business in 2011. Mobile devices are poised to become a primary form of payment for millions of people around the world, according to the Aite Group.

Mobile bill payments will reach $214 billion in gross dollar volume in 2015, up from $16 billion in 2010, which represents a 68 percent compound annual growth rate. A November 2010 Aite Group report stated “Over the past 12 to 18 months, the United States has begun to move closer to a tipping point that will lead to the popularization of mobile payments.

Five payment trends to watch in 2011 | VentureBeat

Frontier plans big FiOS TV rate hike

Frontier Communications Corp. plans a big rate hike for some of its FiOS cable TV customers in Oregon and Washington.

Rates will rise 46 percent or more for standard cable plans, the result, Frontier says, of rate hikes by the cable networks. If you ever wanted an illustration of the impact content rights have on smaller firms, this is it. Verizon obviously is able to negotiate lower content rights rates, as it has more volume, and programming rates are tiered based on volume.

The higher rates won't immediately affect customers who have Frontier FiOS TV contracts. But for customers without a contract, and customers whose contracts are expiring, the rate hikes will be steep.

For example, the monthly cost of Frontier's standard, 220-channel package will rise from $65 to $95 a month -- a 46 percent increase. The higher rates kicked in Monday for new customers, and start February 18 for existing customers without a service contract.

Frontier plans massive FiOS cable TV rate hike | OregonLive.com