Mobile Financial Services Up 54%

The report found that In the fourth quarter of 2010, 29.8 million Americans accessed financial services accounts (bank, credit card, or brokerage) using their mobile device, an increase of 54 percent from the fourth quarter of 2009, according to comScore.

Some 18.6 million users accessed their financial accounts via mobile browser in Q4 2010, up 58 percent from the previous year, 10.8 million accessed their accounts via applications, up 120 percent. SMS (text message) represented the smallest access point for financial service audiences with 8.1 million users, up 35 percent.

Mobile Financial Service Audience (Accessed Bank, Credit Card or Brokerage Account) 3 Month Avg. Ending Dec-2010 vs. 3 Month Avg. Ending Dec-2009 Total U.S. Mobile Subscribers Ages 13+ Source: comScore MobiLens
	Total Unique Audience (MM)
	Q4 2009	Q4 2010	Percent Change
Accessed Mobile Financial Services*	19.3	29.8	54%
Accessed via Mobile Browser	11.8	18.6	58%
Accessed via Application	4.9	10.8	120%
Accessed via SMS	6.0	8.1	35%

Number of U.S. Mobile Financial Account Users Surges 54 Percent to 30 Million in Past Year

Will Hotspots Kill LTE?

For as long as public Wi-Fi has been an issue, some have argued that public Wi-Fi would compete with 3G mobile broadband. These days, that same argument might be made about Wi-Fi cannibalizing fourth generation networks as well.

"With most of the public WiFi hotspots in the U.K. being offered by fixed operators, there is a potential value shift from mobile to fixed networks," says Telco 2.0. "As the hotspots grow and critically, once they become interconnected, there is an increasing risk to mobile operators in terms of the value of investment in expensive ‘4G’ and LTE spectrum."

It's just a guess at the moment, but I suspect the concern about cannibalization will be no more correct for 4G than it has proven to be for 3G. Wi-Fi used to be a radio tail to a fixed line network. These days, it might also be a radio tail to a radio network (mobile hotspot). There will continue to be application scenarios for fixed access, fixed access using a radio tail circuit, fully mobile broadband and untethered but not mobile access.

People will use "all of the above." In some markets, where a smartphone purchase also requires a minimal data plan, that will be even more true.

Public Wifi: Destroying LTE/Mobile Value? - STL Partners / Telco 2.0 Research

Infrastructure as a Service $10.5 Billion in 2014

Cloud infrastructure as a service (IaaS) is more likely to be purchased by an enterprise, while small businesses are more likely to buy "applications as a service." Still, the market for all types of cloud services is seminal. Today there is no standard, "one size fits all" offering and no single provider successfully addresses all segments of the market, according to Gartner. That is what one would expect in a new market.

Worldwide IaaS revenues were about $3.7 billion in 2011 and will reach $10.5 billion in 2014, Gartner now forecasts.

"We are still at the beginning of the adoption cycle for cloud compute IaaS," said Lydia Leong, Gartner research VP.

Cloud IaaS is the capability provided to the consumer to provision processing, storage, networks and other fundamental computing resources where the consumer is able to deploy and run arbitrary software, which can include operating systems and applications.

Gartner Maps Out the Rapidly Evolving Market for Cloud Infrastructure as a Service

Dish to Compete with Netflix?

YouTube to Create Channels

YouTube is getting ready to launch new "channels" featuring premium content, around topics such as arts and sports. YouTube is looking to introduce 20 or so "premium channels" that would each feature five to 10 hours of professionally-produced original programming a week.

YoutTube also is planning to spend as much as $100 million to commission the creation of original content for the premium channels.

Google to Revamp YouTube With 'Channels' - WSJ.com

Plan to Address LightSquared GPS Interference Issues Due June 15

Signal interference issues are not uncommon for any services using over-the-air spectrum. LightSquared, as part of its waiver to operate a hybrid satellite and terrestrial 4G network, has to work with other users of satellite spectrum that could face interference from the planned LightSquared network.

The Pentagon is among users concerned about LightSquared interference with GPS applications, for example.

The LightSquared L-Band terrestrial base stations broadcast on the adjacent frequency to the GPS satellites. The worry is that the much stronger signals from the earthbound LTE radios will stop terrestrial GPS receivers from locking on to the weaker signals from space. That is a well-founded concern.

By June 15, 2011, a working group report on such interference and how LightSquared will address the issues must be submitted. Typically, such interference issues are rectified using frequency filters or adjusting power levels or both. It might be difficult to reduce transmitting power from a terrestrial cell site enough to avoid interference with relatively-weak GPS signals, though. So filtering would seem to be the logical solution.

Light Reading Mobile - 4G/LTE - LightSquared GPS Fix Could Cost 'Billions' - Telecom News Analysis

When Rick Short, director of marketing communications for Indium Corporation, began thinking about his social media strategy, he started with keyword research. He identified 73 of the most important keywords his prospective customers would search for. Then he created 73 different blogs that focused on each keyword and assigned a dozen employees to write those blogs.

Once the blogs took off, customer contacts increased 600 percent in a single quarter. And everyone who contacted a blog author, commented on a blog post or downloaded a white paper opted in to the company’s customer database.

Not many companies can, or will, make that level of commitment. But the results are instructive.

Social Media Examiner: Your Guide to the Social Media Jungle