So Far, it Appears Nothing is Better than an iPad

Every competitor's fear in the PC devices space is that Apple will own the tablet market like it owns the iPod market.

Most people might argue that no Apple competitor has started selling anything that clearly answers a fundamental question: “Why should somebody buy this instead of an iPad?”

Sales figures for tablets show that when consumers compare the iPad to other choices, an overwhelming percentage conclude that the iPad is the best option. You can probably point to a number of differences between iPads and specific other tablets, but many would argue that nothing so far is distinctive enough to drive a breakthrough.

“Why Should Somebody Buy This Instead of an iPad?”

Android Share in U.S. to Drop?

After Google's Android experienced its first loss of market share in a region since 2009 during the March quarter, Needham & Co. analyst Charlie Wolf predicted Android would regain share in the June and September quarters before a "material decline" in the December quarter following the expected launch of the iPhone 5. "In our opinion, this is just the beginning of Android’s share loss in the U.S.," Wolf says.

Android's share of the U.S. smartphone market fell from 52.4 percent in the December quarter to 49.5 percent last quarter. It could be worse. Look at what has happened to Research in Motion.

Analyst: Android US smartphone share drop to continue

Verizon Moving to Tiered Data Plans in July 2011

Verizon Wireless says new tiered mobile data plans will be standard, beginning about July 7, 2011.

Droid Life reports that Verizon will offer plans ranging from $30 a month for 2 GBytes of data to $80 a month for 10 GBytes of data, with tethering to other devices available for an additional $20, including an extra 2 GBytes of data.

Verizon Confirms Tiered Data Plans Coming Next Month

Executive Summary: Reimagining IT: The 2011 CIO Agenda

"Becoming a next-generation digital enterprise means generating a greater percentage of enterprise revenue via information and Internet technologies," say analysts at Gartner. It might be hard to find anybody who would disagree with the general formulation.

This contrasts with the first wave of the digital revolution, which measured how digital an enterprise was based on its Web presence, Gartner says.

By the new definition, most enterprises have to become digital from the front office to the back office, which gives them the opportunity to reimagine IT as the center of the next digital revolution.

Reimagining IT: The 2011 CIO Agenda

XConnect Launches Video Interconnection Exchange

XConnect has launched a global "Video Interconnection Exchange" (VIE) said to be the world's first neutral federation for exchanging video calls across networks, operators, service providers, B2B exchanges and vendors.

Video calling is a service where network effects are key, meaning that unless it is easy to make a video call with just about anyone, there are big barriers to adoption. Today, video calling is fragmented among many communities, exchanges, networks and devices, and XConnect believes VIE will help.

VIE hopes to make video calling as easy as making a voice call, whether using a laptop, desktop, tablet or mobile phone, from anywhere in the world. VIE launches with five operators, based in the United States and EMEA. Members include telepresence providers, as well as fixed, mobile and Web 2.0 video service providers."

XConnect Launches Video Interconnection Exchange (VIE) to Accelerate Adoption of Global Video Calling

LightSquared Says it Can Fix GPS Interference Problem

LightSquared says it has a solution to the problem of interference with Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers that will allow LightSquared to proceed with its business plan. 


LightSquared says 99.5 percent of U.S. GPS receivers will be interference-free, while there are technical solutions for the other 0.5 percent Of GPS receivers. 


One of LightSquared’s 10-MHz blocks of frequencies poses interference to many GPS receivers, and happens to be the spectrum LightSquared originally hoped to use to launch it service initially. 

LightSquared says it can use another 10-MHz block of the spectrum lower on the spectrum band and located further away from the GPS frequencies, greatly reducing the risk for interference. That move requires negotiations with Inmarsat, the satellite company that controls the alternative block of spectrum in the L Band, but LIghtSquared says it has such agreeement. If I understand correctly, that means shifting to the left hand red frequencies, rather than the right hand red frequencies, as illustrated in the first chart. 


See http://www.lightsquared.com/press-room/press-releases/. 


The generic problem is that radio signals, even when carrying digital information, are analog sine waves. As the second chart shows, a signal on a center frequency also emits lesser amounts of energy off frequency. If LightSquared shifts its frequencies away from any of the GPS center frequencies, it will reduce the amount of potential interference. 


LightSquared also says it will modify its Federal Communications Commission license to reduce the maximum authorized power of its base-station transmitters by over 50 percent. This move will provide additional protection to GPS receivers. 


LightSquared believes it still will have enough spectrum to serve its customer base for the next several years.


See also  http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/20/lightsquared-announces-solution-for-gps-issue-says-lte-networ/. 

One Billion Tweets Every 6 Days

It took three years to send the first billion tweets; today, one billion tweets are sent every six days.



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