Little is 'Trivial' Where Mobile Payments are Concerned

Though some might scoff at the notion that applications, such as contactless payments in transportation or parking, or wallet applications such as “time to refill your prescription” notifications using text messaging that every mobile device can receive, are “trivial,” such applications are important, for a number of reasons, says Diarmuid Mallon, Sybase 365 head of product marketing.

For starters, applications that are not drop-dead simple, widely available and which do not provide “obvious” and immediate value will not be adopted quickly or broadly. Given growing fragmentation in both the mobile payments and mobile wallet spaces, that is an important issue.

But there is a reason apparently trivial applications are important. They often are the places where clear value is provided.

Can Carrier “App Stores” Beat Apple App Store or Google Play?

Carriers such as AT&T and Verizon may very well get into the app store space to compete with Apple and third-party app stores like Getjar, argues Infonetics Research analyst Shira Levine.

The carriers' differentiation would be the ability to offer Android and browser-based applications in a one-stop-shopping environment. "AT&T learned a valuable lesson with the iPhone," says Levine. "They’re not part of the revenue value chain."

As a result, she says, "[carriers] are envisioning OS-independent app stores, which consumers could access no matter what device you had and even do so across multiple devices."

That’s part of the thinking behind the Wholesale Applications Community. Will it work?

How Can Mobile Service Providers Compete with Facebook, Apple, Google "Messaging?"

Some would argue that a war over “interpersonal communications,” separate from the earlier messaging formats of email, instant messaging, chat and text messaging, is about to break out among three of the over the top application platforms, namely Google, Facebook and Apple.

For mobile service providers, that poses an issue, namely the future of their text messaging revenue streams, since historically mobile service providers have not make money directly from email or chat.

Facebook’s unified Chat / Messages / Email; Apple’s cross-device iMessage system and Google’s Gmail / GChat / Hangouts are something different, some would argue, as those platforms blend email, messaging chat and even video conferencing.

For mobile service providers, “how to compete” is the issue. A reasonable person might argue that no mobile service provider is fully equipped to compete in the “interpersonal communications” space dominated by those three application providers.

But mobile service providers can compete.

Video Audiences are Fragmenting

Men 18 to 34 are now spending more time streaming video than watching live TV, one third visit YouTube multiple times a day, half subscribe to a YouTube channel, and two thirds shared YouTube videos in the past week, according to Generation V, a YouTube study of consumer video trends.

The study also finds that 40 percent of women 25 to 49 have subscribed to a YouTube channel, half shared a video this past week, and one third regularly share online video with their kids or parents.

Those changes in viewership illustrate just one aspect of the range of underlying changes that are needed before over the top online video can seriously challenge traditional TV and subscription video services. There are many.

Would You Pay $600 for an Apple iPhone?

Leap Wireless and Virgin Mobile are betting that users will pay $500 to $600 for an Apple iPhone, at full retail prices. AT&T thinks they will not do so. It is possible, perhaps likely, that the actual answer will be that some users will do so, but that most will not want to do so.

The answer obviously matters greatly for Leap (Cricket) and Virgin Mobile, as well as for all other mobile service providers that clearly would prefer to reduce the amount of money they tie up in device subsidies.

Leap Wireless has committed to buy nearly $1 billion of iPhones over the next three years that it hopes to sell at a partially subsidized price of at least $400 for the iPhone 4 and $500 for the iPhone 4S.

BTIG Research believes that $200 will continue to be reasonable price point for high-end phones, though. If that proves to be true, Cricket and Virgin Mobile might take a hit to earnings, and mobile service providers will have to figure out some other way to attack the subsidy problem.

If Netflix Were a Cable Network, it Would be "the Most Viewed"

If Netflix were a subscription TV network, the amount of streaming conducted by Netflix users would make Netflix the most-watched subscription TV network, according to BTIG Research.

BTIG estimates that the "more than one billion hours" of streaming by Netflix customers in June 2012 would make Netflix the "most watched TV network overall including broadcast and cable.

In January 2012, BTIG noted that "Netflix streaming usage is exploding and is far, far bigger than traditional media executives give it credit for."


The "average" Netflix user now watches about 80 minutes of streamed content every day. 

Only a Supremely Self-Confident Company Would Post its Competitors' Current Prices in Store: Best Buy Might Do So

How many companies do you know that would be willing to post their competitor's prices, on the same merchandise, inside the store?

Best Buy might do so, suggesting that the company believes its prizes are close enough to Amazon that doing so will emphasize the value of shopping at Best Buy.

That points to an interesting perception problem Best Buy wants to overcome, namely that its prices "must be" higher than what is available online, and from online retailers such as Amazon.

That can lead to customer "showrooming," where consumers inspect merchandise at Best Buy and then purchase online.

That Best Buy might be willing to post current online prices indicates its belief that prices are competitive enough to allow it to do so.

Some observers already say Best Buy does offer prices that compare well or even better than the competition. Over the years, Best Buy has even considerably weakened Amazon’s sales tax advantage, the retail price advantage Amazon can offer in some states because it does not collect sales taxes.

Executive vice president Stephen Gillett, Best Buy’s new digital chief, recently told institutional investors the company might install screens throughout its stores that display real time prices on products offered by competitors like Wal-Mart and Amazon.

How many firms do you know of that would dare do such a thing?