Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Mapping Twitter and Flickr Geo-Location
Geolocation data for Flickr and Twitter posts. Flickr data is shown in orange and Twitter data is displayed in blue. Not every tweet or Flickr post has geo-location data attached, but it is becoming a more-common practice, it seems.
Gary Kim has been a digital infra analyst and journalist for more than 30 years, covering the business impact of technology, pre- and post-internet. He sees a similar evolution coming with AI. General-purpose technologies do not come along very often, but when they do, they change life, economies and industries.
Windows Phone 7 OS Market Share Gains Still A Ways Off
A growing number of analysts may be forecasting that Windows Phone 7 could overtake every mobile platform except Android within a few years, but Microsoft is "managing expectations." CEO Steve Ballmer admitted to the firm's Worldwide Partner Conference that the new operating system has had limited impact so far. 'In a year, we've gone from very small to …. very small."
Many think the Nokia deal, replacing Symbian with Windows Phone 7, will change all that, and in dramatic fashion, giving the WP7 operating system a huge boost in sales volume. Pyramid Research even believes WP7 will overtake Android, on the strength of Nokia's sales volume.
Of course, Microsoft's coziness with Nokia is likely to lead other traditional licensees to back off a bit, as it appears Nokia will have unusual rights to modify the way WP7 operates, compared to other licensees.
Wisely, or fortuitously, Microsoft did not decide to strike the Nokia deal with Research in Motion, as many had been suggesting for years. RIM has been losing market share since 2008, in large part because of perceived weakness in the broader smart phone area, despite the historic strength in business-focused messaging devices.
Gary Kim has been a digital infra analyst and journalist for more than 30 years, covering the business impact of technology, pre- and post-internet. He sees a similar evolution coming with AI. General-purpose technologies do not come along very often, but when they do, they change life, economies and industries.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Australian Consumer Attitudes Show Mobile Payments Issues
A survey conducted by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) confirms one fundamental element of the mobile payments business. People in developed countries do not think they have a compelling need for some convenient, trusted new way to pay for things online or in retail stores. That means mobile payments have to provide new value, rather than simply displacing payment systems that consumers find satisfactory.
It also is important, one might add, to demonstrate some compelling value for retailers who will have to invest in new equipment and software to support mobile payments.
Australians surveyed by the ACMA are generally satisfied with the electronic payment systems that are currently available in Australia, including debit and credit cards, internet transfers and payment services including BPay and PayPal because they offer convenient, quick methods for making purchases in store and over the internet.
The study also suggests that Australian consumers associate mobile payments with ways to purchase digital content such as ringtones for their mobile phone, or a method of voting on TV shows or entering competitions.
The research indicated that any new mobile payment service will need to offer some advantages over current payment methods. For example, mobile payment services will need to be easier, more convenient or quicker than current electronic payments. The technology will also need to be easy for people to adopt.
Mobile payment services that are processed by banking institutions, as opposed to telcos or mobile payment services, are perceived as more trustworthy. Respondents did not believe that telcos or mobile payment service companies have the same level of guarantees in place to protect against fraud and misuse of personal data as banks do.
The research findings showed that users were more likely to consider payment methods that only give access to limited funds. People felt more comfortable about payments that were linked to a pre-loaded account or that only allowed the user to spend funds they have, such as with a debit card.
But there are some “early adopter” mobile payment scenarios that make sense to people. “On the go” transactions involving micro-payments are areas where respondents see value and convenience.
There is also an opportunity for mobile payments to offer transactions that are instant and can be completed anywhere. There was a positive response to the idea of buying tickets by text message.
Respondents also had strong concerns about adding payments directly to a mobile bill linked to a credit card. They also worried that mobile payment services would involve extra charges.
Read the report here.
It also is important, one might add, to demonstrate some compelling value for retailers who will have to invest in new equipment and software to support mobile payments.
Australians surveyed by the ACMA are generally satisfied with the electronic payment systems that are currently available in Australia, including debit and credit cards, internet transfers and payment services including BPay and PayPal because they offer convenient, quick methods for making purchases in store and over the internet.
The study also suggests that Australian consumers associate mobile payments with ways to purchase digital content such as ringtones for their mobile phone, or a method of voting on TV shows or entering competitions.
The research indicated that any new mobile payment service will need to offer some advantages over current payment methods. For example, mobile payment services will need to be easier, more convenient or quicker than current electronic payments. The technology will also need to be easy for people to adopt.
Mobile payment services that are processed by banking institutions, as opposed to telcos or mobile payment services, are perceived as more trustworthy. Respondents did not believe that telcos or mobile payment service companies have the same level of guarantees in place to protect against fraud and misuse of personal data as banks do.
The research findings showed that users were more likely to consider payment methods that only give access to limited funds. People felt more comfortable about payments that were linked to a pre-loaded account or that only allowed the user to spend funds they have, such as with a debit card.
But there are some “early adopter” mobile payment scenarios that make sense to people. “On the go” transactions involving micro-payments are areas where respondents see value and convenience.There is also an opportunity for mobile payments to offer transactions that are instant and can be completed anywhere. There was a positive response to the idea of buying tickets by text message.
Respondents also had strong concerns about adding payments directly to a mobile bill linked to a credit card. They also worried that mobile payment services would involve extra charges.
Read the report here.
Gary Kim has been a digital infra analyst and journalist for more than 30 years, covering the business impact of technology, pre- and post-internet. He sees a similar evolution coming with AI. General-purpose technologies do not come along very often, but when they do, they change life, economies and industries.
$1 Billion to be Spent in 2011 on Mobile Ads
U.S. advertisers will spend more than $1 billion this year on mobile display and search ads to reach consumers who will make more than $8 billion in retail purchases on their mobile phones, according to Forrester Research.
Gary Kim has been a digital infra analyst and journalist for more than 30 years, covering the business impact of technology, pre- and post-internet. He sees a similar evolution coming with AI. General-purpose technologies do not come along very often, but when they do, they change life, economies and industries.
74% Happy with Fiber to Home Access
Overall satisfaction among fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) subscribers reached a new high in 2011, with 74 percent stating they are "very satisfied" in a new study conducted by the FTTH Council. This compares favorably to customer satisfaction for cable users at 54 percent and 51 percent for DSL. Perhaps the only surprise is that "only" 74 percent were "very satisfied." Read more here.
The study also indicates that 54 percent of cable modem subscribers are "very satisfied," while 51 percent of digital subscriber line customers are "very satisfied." Read more.
The study further estimates there are about 162,500 U.S. subscribers buying broadband access at 50 Mbps, and about 69,700 buying services at 100 Mbps. One would suspect that most of those users are "business" users rather than consumer users. One possible hint about that pattern is that 67 percent of users with 50 Mbps connections say they "ever work from home." About 30 percent of all FTTH users say they "ever work from home."
One might guess that 67 percent of 50 Mbps users say they "work from home" because they use connections subsidized by their employers. Only about
22 percent of users of 50 Mbps services (or higher) say they have "home-based" businesses. About 12 percent of all FTTH subscribers say they operate a home-based business. The take-away is that most at-home 50 Mbps connections are not supporting a home-based business.
The survey of more than 2,000 broadband subscribers, drawn randomly from a nationally balanced panel of more than 3.2 million consumers by the market research firm RVA LLC also found that overall satisfaction among FTTH users continues to lead that of other broadband subscribers, with those answering "very satisfied" at 74 percent - up from 71 percent a year ago - compared to 54 percent for cable users and 51 percent for DSL.
As of April 2011, fiber to the home services were available to more than 18 percent of North American homes and were connected to more than seven million of them. RVA estimates that there are now 170,000 North American households receiving FTTH service with connection speeds of at least 100 megabits per second, and a total of 347,000 receiving 50 Mbps service. Both of these figures were more than double those from last year's survey report.
With regard to cost of service relative to download connection speed, the RVA survey results showed FTTH subscribers paying $2.91 a month per megabit of bandwidth, compared to $3.83 for cable subscribers, $16.40 for DSL, and $49.38 per megabit for fixed wireless services.
Gary Kim has been a digital infra analyst and journalist for more than 30 years, covering the business impact of technology, pre- and post-internet. He sees a similar evolution coming with AI. General-purpose technologies do not come along very often, but when they do, they change life, economies and industries.
YouTube Launches "Cosmic Panda"
Gary Kim has been a digital infra analyst and journalist for more than 30 years, covering the business impact of technology, pre- and post-internet. He sees a similar evolution coming with AI. General-purpose technologies do not come along very often, but when they do, they change life, economies and industries.
Google+ Fastest-Growing Social Network, Ever?
"I predict that Google will go from 0 to 100,000,000 users faster than any other service in history," says Bill Gross, founder and CEO of Technology Incubator Idealab.
Gross thinks Google+ already could be the fastest-growing social network, ever.
Gross thinks Google+ already could be the fastest-growing social network, ever.
Gary Kim has been a digital infra analyst and journalist for more than 30 years, covering the business impact of technology, pre- and post-internet. He sees a similar evolution coming with AI. General-purpose technologies do not come along very often, but when they do, they change life, economies and industries.
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