Early Tablet Adopters Were Different in Lots of Ways

Early adopters of Apple iPads and tablet devices of various types, including e-readers, are, as you  might suspect, more likely to be "high consumers" compared to the rest of the population.

Much the same pattern holds for other forms of media as well: tablet owners consume more of everything. Tablet owners report they watch 48 hours of TV a week, compared to 37 hours for non-tablet owners. Table owners listen to 11 hours of radio a week, compared to eight hours for non-tablet owners.

Tablet owners listen to 11 hours of music a week, compared to 6.6 hours for non-tablet owners. Tablet owners watch 10 hours worth of movies, compared to four hours for non-tablet owners. Tablet owners paly 18 hours a week worth of games, compared to six hours for non-tablet owners. Tablet owners report consumng 14 hours worth of published material, compared to eight hours for non-tablet owners.

In fact, L.E.K. argues that online digital media consumption actually is declining for nontablet owners, while digital consumption is surging for tablet owners. Over the last 12 months, the study of 2,000 respondents suggests, 19 percent of non-tablet owners say their consumption of online newspaper content has declined. Likewise, 20 percent of non-tablet owners reported that their online book consumption has decreased over the last year. Also, 20 percent of non-tablet owners reported that their consumption of digital magazines has declined as well, over the last 12 months.

By way of contrast, 28 percent of tablet owners reported more consumption of online newspaper content, 30 percent reported higher e-book readership and 29 percent said they were consuming more online magazine content.

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7% Of Video Subs Thinking About Dropping Service?

Though perhaps just 1.4 percent of consumers have "cut the cord" in the last two years, abandoning multichannel TV services, about seven percent of current subscribers are considering canceling their service, according to a survey to be published in the May issue of Consumer Reports. See Survey: 7% Of Pay-TV Subs Pondering Pulling The Plug - 2011-04-05 12:32:28 | Multichannel News.

But L.E.K. surveys recently found little actual evidence of increased cord cutting, though. To date, only two percent of

L.E.K. survey respondents are cord cutting.

A more serious issue facing cable and satellite providers is “cord trimming,” the term for consumers who keep – but reduce –

their monthly cable or satellite TV services. L.E.K. found that 16% of consumers reported reducing their monthly pay TV bills

during the past year. Those cord trimmers reduced their pay TV bills by an average of 25 percent.

http://www.lek.com/sites/default/files/l.e.k._hidden_opps_media_survey_ei_2011.pdf

Mobile Data Sharing Under Review

Internet applications are lightly regulated. But that is not to say regulation will not occur, albeit taking the form of antitrust investigations or consumer protection. With talk of Google becoming "too big," and Pandora being looked at as part of a wider probe, it appears a potential new wave of application regulation might be coming.

LivingSocial Raises $400 Million

LivingSocial, the number two player in the burgeoning daily coupon website market, has raised $400 million to help fuel its expansion and keep up with rival Groupon Inc., the Wall Street Journal reports.

The investment round, raised from existing investors Lightspeed Venture Partners and Amazon.com, and new ones such as Institutional Venture Partners, values the three-year old company at around $ 3 billion.

You can argue there is a "bubble" going on for Internet ventures, or you can argue that the next great wave of Internet companies is coming into view. You might argue both propositions are true. Even if there is a valuation bubble, the last great Internet bubble nevertheless produced the current leading companies of the Internet application space. That is likely to be the case for some companies of the current wave, even if current valuations do not hold up, over the longer term.

LivingSocial Raises $400 Million To Fuel Expansion - WSJ.com:

Tests inaccurate, Sprint says

It's own tests do not confirm recent tests suggesting its 4G network isn't so fast.

http://www.google.com/reader/i/?source=mog&gl=us#stream/user%2F05579064408535224496%2Fstate%2Fcom.google%2Freading-list

Gmail Ads Get "More Targeted"

Google plans changes to the way it inserts ads in Gmail user messages, and should result in fewer ads being shown, use of Gmail’s importance ranking applied to ads and a new emphasis or availability on offers and coupons for Gmail recipients in their local area.

Sprint Plans 2011 Launch of Mobile Payments

Sprint Nextel Corp. plans to launch its own mobile payments system using near field communications in 2011, beating Isis, the consortium of AT&T, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile USA by possibly six months or more, Bloomberg reports.

Perhaps significantly, Sprint is evaluating a business model that would not take a percentage of each transaction, as Isis plans. Instead, Sprint might decide to focus on marketing services and advertising, perhaps taking a share in revenue from sales of coupons sent to its customers’ handsets or targeted advertising.

It appears Sprint has decided to partner with credit card and debit card issuers for handling the money transfer parts of the service.

Sprint Plans Tap-And-Go Payment Service in 2011, Ahead of Rivals - Bloomberg