"Dumb Pipe" Makes the New York Times

It is not news to communications industry professionals, but the New York Times writes about the issues for mobile service providers as "eventually, everything migrates to a data channel,” as Brian Higgins, an executive at Verizon Wireless, says.

"Much of the value in communication now sits above basic connectivity,” says Charles S. Golvin, Forrester Research analyst. Applications such as instant messaging, video calling and web conferencing can be delivered to consumers by companies like Google, Apple and Cisco, not just the carriers, he notes.

The problem is that the enduring service of the future is "access" to the web and Internet. Everything else at the application level is going to be competitive. Anyway you look at it, the unique role for a mobile service provider is access. On top of that service providers obviously sell voice apps, text messaging and other apps as well.

In that sense, the argument about "dumb pipe" is a bit misleading. A mobile service provider cannot fail to offer "access" or it no longer is a mobile service provider. But up to this point, that access always has come bundled directly with applications. The new challenges exists in that applications and access increasingly are loosely coupled in the data world. As voice and other applications become apps delivered over a data connection, the terrain upon which apps and access are loosely associated will continue to grow.

Data Networks Force Wireless to Find New Income - NYTimes.com

South African mobile banking Up 17% Since 2010

Mobile banking in South Africa now is used by 44 percent of urban mobile phone users, up from 27 percent in 2010, according to a study by World Wide Worx.

In smaller towns, 27 percent now use cellphone banking, suggesting that rural areas lag urban users by about a year in take-up of these services. In total, 37 percent of South Africans in urban and rural areas aged 16 and above now use mobile banking.

The vast majority of mobile banking customers still use the basic services, such as balance enquiries (78 percent) and notifications (58 percent).

However, transactional services are for the first time major components of use, with half of respondents buying airtime, 24 percent paying accounts, and 17 percent transferring funds between accounts. Some 12 percent of users sendmoney to other individuals and 11 percent make purchases using their mobile phones.

Cellphone banking surges | World Wide Worx

Shopkick Illustates Online Plus Offline Trend

Shopkick’s location-aware smart phone app allows shoppers use their smartphones not just to shop online, but also to interact with stores in the real world. That's an illustration of the big trend that includes mobile payments, namely the effort to span the space between "online" and "physical" shopping and commerce.

Shopkick (iPhone, Android, Free) gives users points (called “kickbucks”) when they walk into participating stores (partners include Macys, Crate & Barrel, Best Buy, Macy’s, American Eagle and Target), pick up merchandise by scanning the barcodes with their smartphone cameras and make purchases. Kickbucks can then be redeemed for rewards like gift cards and merchandise.

Shopkick - location based service which bridges the worlds of mobile and physical retail

Mobile Advertising Hits Inflection Point

Mobile advertising remains a small part of overall spending on online advertising or advertising in general. But it is noteworthy that the Interactive Advertising Bureau now has started to track and report mobile advertising sales volume.

That is an indicator that mobile advertising has reached an inflection point.

One might argue that mobile advertising is just about 10 years behind online advertising in its development.

Mobile Advertising Hits Inflection Point

Mobile advertising remains a small part of overall spending on online advertising or advertising in general. But it is noteworthy that the Interactive Advertising Bureau now has started to track and report mobile advertising sales volume.

That is an indicator that mobile advertising has reached an inflection point.

One might argue that mobile advertising is just about 10 years behind online advertising in its development.

What Has Changed in Media, Entertainment Since 1975?

Since 1975, there have really been only three immediately significant changes in U.S. end user "time spent with media," clearly evident in this chart from Veronis Suhler Stevenson.

Though it now seems "everybody" plays video games, consumers actually spend far less time playing video games than they did in 1975.

The big gainer, in terms of time, is cable, satellite and telco TV, which shows a steadily growing time commitment.

Radio listening has been significant since 1975, but now is in a decline. Aside from those three media, most of the others have trended within a relatively finite range since 1975.

All of that might suggest one clear implication: any media that makes dramatic gains in the coming years will probably do so by taking time away from multichannel television services, radio and video games. That doesn't mean the alternatives have to mimic the value of the displaced services, simply that the rising services will have to become more compelling, compared to radio, multichannel TV services and video games.

PayPal Now 39% of eBay Revenue

PayPal now represents 39 percent of eBay’s total revenue, and nearly made $1 billion in revenue for the company in the first quarter of 2011, up 23 percent from the same quarter in the previous year.

Marketplaces brought in $1.5 billion, up 12 percent from the same quarter in 2010.

That would explain why eBay is interested both in mobile payments and local (offline) commerce: that's where the growth might be.

Connecting The Dots On eBay’s Local Shopping Strategy