The iPod no longer drives key business results for Apple; that role is currently reserved for the iPhone. But Apple has updated the iPod Nano and iPod touch, anyway.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Apple iPods No Longer Drive Revenue for Apple, But Get Updated, Anyway
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.
Apple iPods No Longer Drive Revenue for Apple, But Get Updated, Anyway
The iPod no longer drives key business results for Apple; that role is currently reserved for the iPhone. But Apple has updated the iPod Nano and iPod touch, anyway.
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.
Apple has 435 Million iTunes Accounts
Apple says it now has 435 million accounts for iTunes. That also implies that Apple has active credit card information for all or most of those accounts. Think e-commerce.
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.
Apple launches iPhone 5
The new Apple Phone 5 features a 4-inch 1136 x 640 display in a 16:9 aspect ratio, LTE support and a design that’s thinner and lighter than prior models. Apple was able to improve the battery life however; key for LTE devices. No surprise. Full video 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.
3 Hong Kong Offers WhatsApp without Impact on User Data Cap
Mobile operator 3 Hong Kong will offer its subscribers a WhatsApp Roaming Pass for $8 ($1 USD) a month that gives them unlimited access to WhatsApp services without counting it against their data caps, or a $48 ($6.19 USD) daily pass offering unlimited WhatsApp use and 5MB of service in 78 destinations around the world.
You might wonder why a mobile service provider would promote a service that competes directly with its own messaging service. The answer is that so many people are doing so that 3 might as well try and extract some revenue from the service in an indirect way, namely by allowing usage of WhatsApp without counting the usage against a customer's data cap.
You might wonder why a mobile service provider would promote a service that competes directly with its own messaging service. The answer is that so many people are doing so that 3 might as well try and extract some revenue from the service in an indirect way, namely by allowing usage of WhatsApp without counting the usage against a customer's data cap.
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.
When "Unlimited" Makes Sense
From a consumer standpoint, there often is little to no actual difference between an"unlimited" and a "big enough" service plan for voice, messaging or Internet access. The reason is simply that most people don't actually use enough of any of those apps to "need" unlimited usage.
On the other hand, there frequently are good reasons for a service provider to offer "unlimited" access to voice, messaging or Internet access. That especially is the case when the carrier's own usage statistics indicate that most people will not use unusual amounts of capacity, whether that is voice, messaging or Internet access.
Under such conditions, provider safely can offer "unlimited" service with no danger of unusual stresses on the network.
In other words, "unlimited" is an excellent marketing platform when a service provider knows it can safely make the offer. And, in most cases, it is a good bet.
The overwhelming majority of customers on AT and T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon networks studied by NPD Connected Intelligence don't even use 2 GBytes worth of mobile data per month, which suggests most consumers do not need “unlimited” service plans.
NPD Connected Intelligence tracked users on 1,000 Android smart phones as part of the study.
T-Mobile USA has users who consume more, though. Some 11 percent of T-Mobile USA customers use more than 3 GBytes per month, compared to four percent of AT&T and Sprint customers who consume more than 3 Gbytes a month. About three percent of Verizon customers use more than 3 Gbytes a month
NPD Connected Intelligence analyst Eddie Hold says Apple iPhone usage is pretty similar to that of Android users.
And even when customers had unlimited data plans, most didn't take advantage of it, the study suggests. "In general, Sprint's usage is the same as the other networks and less than T-Mobile USA," Hold said.
Wi-Fi might now be a major part of the usage pattern, as it is possible users now know how to use offloading techniques to protect their mobile data usage buckets.
On average, smart phones are making eight Wi-Fi connections per day and offloading as much as 35 percent of total data consumption to a Wi-Fi network, while heavy users offload as much as 70 percent , according to Devicescape.
Devicescape surveyed one million smart phone devices as part of its study.
A couple of conclusions might be drawn. At the moment, most users don’t consume all that much data, so the value of an “unlimited” plan is questionable. On the other hand, “unlimited” is a useful marketing platform.
The other potential conclusion is that people might be using more data than is fully captured by their mobile usage in a typical month.
On the other hand, there frequently are good reasons for a service provider to offer "unlimited" access to voice, messaging or Internet access. That especially is the case when the carrier's own usage statistics indicate that most people will not use unusual amounts of capacity, whether that is voice, messaging or Internet access.
Under such conditions, provider safely can offer "unlimited" service with no danger of unusual stresses on the network.
In other words, "unlimited" is an excellent marketing platform when a service provider knows it can safely make the offer. And, in most cases, it is a good bet.
The overwhelming majority of customers on AT and T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon networks studied by NPD Connected Intelligence don't even use 2 GBytes worth of mobile data per month, which suggests most consumers do not need “unlimited” service plans.
NPD Connected Intelligence tracked users on 1,000 Android smart phones as part of the study.
T-Mobile USA has users who consume more, though. Some 11 percent of T-Mobile USA customers use more than 3 GBytes per month, compared to four percent of AT&T and Sprint customers who consume more than 3 Gbytes a month. About three percent of Verizon customers use more than 3 Gbytes a month
NPD Connected Intelligence analyst Eddie Hold says Apple iPhone usage is pretty similar to that of Android users.
And even when customers had unlimited data plans, most didn't take advantage of it, the study suggests. "In general, Sprint's usage is the same as the other networks and less than T-Mobile USA," Hold said.
Wi-Fi might now be a major part of the usage pattern, as it is possible users now know how to use offloading techniques to protect their mobile data usage buckets.
On average, smart phones are making eight Wi-Fi connections per day and offloading as much as 35 percent of total data consumption to a Wi-Fi network, while heavy users offload as much as 70 percent , according to Devicescape.
Devicescape surveyed one million smart phone devices as part of its study.
A couple of conclusions might be drawn. At the moment, most users don’t consume all that much data, so the value of an “unlimited” plan is questionable. On the other hand, “unlimited” is a useful marketing platform.
The other potential conclusion is that people might be using more data than is fully captured by their mobile usage in a typical month.
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.
20% of U.S. Mobile Phone Owners Pay More Per Month for Their Phone Service Than Groceries
Some 21 percent of U.S. adults using mobile phones say they pay more for their mobile phone service plan in a typical month than they do for groceries.
When asked which other typical expenses they spend less on their mobile phone service, 33 percent of respondents said water, gas and electric bills, 57 percent said their mobile bill was bigger than their cable TV bill, and 71 percent said their mobile service cost more than their Internet access service.
Nearly half (46 percent) of mobile phone owners surveyed pay $100 or more per month for their mobile phone service. Some13 percent pay $200 or more per month.
The survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Interactive on behalf of CouponCabin.com from September 4th to 6th, 2012 among 2,310 U.S. adults ages 18 and older.
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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