Amazon's Prime Streaming Will Disrupt Netflix

Analysts tend to agree that Amazon has about 10 million "Prime" members. Of those, it is estimated that 60 percent are paying members. If that's true, Amazon brings in $474M a year in revenue from Prime subscriptions, says Dan Rayburn.

If Amazon could add five million paying Prime members this year, they would generate nearly a billion dollars in revenue from about 10 million Prime members. There's your revenue stream.

Amazon's Prime Streaming Will DEFINITELY Disrupt Netflix

Mobile Phones and Your Brain

A good reason to use speakerphone when you can, perhaps.

Amazon Gets into Video Streaming

Data Warehousing at Inflection Point?

This year, 2011, might be an inflection point for data warehousing, according to Gartner.

"In 2011, we are seeing data warehouse platforms evolve from an information store supporting traditional business intelligence (BI) platforms to a broader analytics infrastructure supporting operational analytics, corporate performance management and other new applications and uses, such as operational BI and performance management," said Donald Feinberg, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner.

Gartner Says Data Warehousing Reaching Its Most Significant Inflection Point Since Its Inception

Apple Cuts Minimum iAd Price

Apple's iAd platfrom started out with a $1 million minimum advertiser commitment. Now iAd campaigns can be bought for $500,000. One can argue the move makes iAd available to smaller advertisers or campaigns. One might also argue that the move suggests some resistance to the original prices.

Apple Halves Minimum iAd Buy

Mobile Banking Gets Investment

Hannes van Rensburg, the CEO of Fundamo, a South African firm that has built 50 mobile payment systems for operators in Uganda, Pakistan and others, says margins on mobile payment projects are much more attractive in emerging markets.

"In the U.S. and Europe, you have to compete with the established credit card system, which is already very efficient," he said. "There is more money to be made in emerging economies."

Analysis: Telcos battle tech, banking titans in mobile payment | Reuters

Android's Indirect Business Model

In just one year, Android's share of the smartphone operating system market rocketed to 30 percent from five percent in late 2009. But the whole business model is indirect, as Google gives away Android for use by mobile handset suppliers, some of which clearly have benefited.

Android has returned Motorola and Sony Ericsson back to profitability. it can be argued. HTC, an early proponent of Android, is now considered a major handset player in the United States as well.

Millennial Media reported that in Android continued to lead in mobile ad impressions after overtaking iOS in December of 2010. Millennial, whose ads reach approximately 80 percent of U.S. mobile web users, reported that Android's ad impression increased by eight percent to 54 percent in January while iOS dropped four percent to 28 percent and RIM fell two percent to 14 percent.

Android applications have doubled since August 2010 as well.

Google makes money on advertising and app sales based on the popularity of Android devices, but nothing directly from Android itself, which is an open source product at this point.

Android: Google's Secret Weapon - Seeking Alpha