Who Will Defect to Sprint Because of New "Half Off" Offer?

This chart tells you why some analysts are queasy about Sprint's new half off offer for current subscribers of T-Mobile US, Verizon or AT&T mobile services. 

Some might note that the half-off offer had initially be restricted to consumers on AT&T and Verizon networks. 

The latest offer adds T-Mobile US. 

So some might argue that the likely impact will potentially be felt most by T-Mobile US, the reason being that customers of AT&T and Verizon who found the half-off offer compelling already would have taken advantage of the offer. 

Mobile Represents 94% of Internet Accounts in India

In India, fixed networks support about six percent of Indian Internet access connections, while mobile supports about 93.5 percent of such connections. Since growth rates for mobile Internet are vastly higher than for fixed networks, it is self evident that mobile is the primary platform for Internet access in India.

There were in October 2015 some 375 million Internet users in India, according to the

Internet and Mobile Association of India.

According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, there were in March 2015 about 15.5 million broadband fixed line Internet access accounts and some 3.6 million narrowband accounts, for a total fixed network Internet access base of about 18.9 million.

In March 2015 there were about 83.2 million mobile broadband customers (3G, mostly) and some 199.6 million narrowband mobile consumers (2G), representing some 282.8 million mobile Internet customers.

So fixed Internet access represents about two percent of the narrowband Internet access accounts. Mobile represents 98 percent of narrowband Internet access accounts.

Fixed broadband accounts represent about 16 percent of total Indian broadband Internet accounts. Mobile represents about 84 percent of broadband Internet access accounts.

source: TRAI

source: eMarketer

PTC16 is Coming in January 2016

PTC16 is coming! 


PTC'16: A Truly Unique Industry Experience from PTC-TV on Vimeo.

Moore's Law Not Broken, Intel Says

Moore's Law is not exhausted, Intel says. That matters for all matters related to computing power and storage and the cost of computing and storage.

Moore’s Law, formulated in the 1960s by Intel chairman emeritus Gordon Moore, predicts that the number of transistors on a chip will double roughly every 18 months to 24 months.

That trend has enabled better, faster, smaller and cheaper tech products, and it has allowed miniaturization to proceed so that the gap between circuits is now only 14 nanometers, or 14 billionths of a meter. That has been an issue, though.

Production yields for 14-nanometer chips have been difficult and are behind where Intel wanted to be. But yields are improving. "14-nm is harder than we thought, but we do not see a long-term difference in what we were able to see in the past and what we can achieve in the future,” said Bill Holt, Intel EVP.

So Intel is comfortable the linear trend associated with Moore's Law can continue.

Comcast Stream TV Usage Does Not Count As "Usage" for Internet Access Customers, Nor Should It

“Stream TV” is a managed video service sold by Comcast. For that reason, Comcast high speed Internet access customers are not charged for usage when they watch Stream TV content, any more than they are charged data usage when watching linear TV.

Consumer managed services that happen to use IP are exempt from all network neutrality rules. That applies to carrier voice or messaging, as well, for example.

In some quarters, zero rating is viewed as a violation of network neutrality rules, not in the sense of violating the rule about “best effort” access, but because, some say, zero rating does not “treat all bits equally,” in a business model sense.

For such reasons, some object to T-Mobile US allowing access to all compliant streaming audio or streaming video services without any charges against a mobile Internet service plan bucket, despite the obvious consumer benefits.

Some might argue network neutrality does not--or should not--apply to business models, pricing, terms and conditions for Internet access services.

Will Cloud Services Be Bigger Revenue Driver than Ads, for Google?

Google, most would agree, is viewed as a laggard in the enterprise cloud infrastructure market. But Urs Hölzle, the head of Google’s cloud business, believes it is possible that, within the next five years, the Google Cloud Platform revenues could surpass Google's advertising revenue.

That would be a huge development. Google was the first technology business to have an advertising business model. But many have asked “what comes next.” 

Coud services might be part of the answer.

source: Business Insider

Will Internet Content Business Eventually Face Regulation?

Historically, content businesses in the United States have tended to develop in “vertically integrated” form, and then are subjected to regulation to prevent full integration. That is why there are ownership restrictions on movie studies owning theatrical exhibition assets, or limits on TV networks owning local broadcast TV stations.

Online content markets are too new to have developed major political pushback against integration.

But content ecosystem roles are evolving in ways that mimic older forms of vertical integration, and might eventually lead to new restrictions on such integration. For that moment, that remains a distant probability.

In the older model, while some degree of multi-role ownership is permitted, roles were fairly separated. TV networks were mostly relegated to program development, while others handled distribution.

The emerging online markets have yet to take full form. But one notable trend is that, in most cases, ecosystem contestants are attempting to operate in multiple roles. Google might mostly be a platform, but it also has become a distributor and an access provider. So far, Google has made fewer strides toward a content producer or packager role, compared to Amazon, but that seems to be on the horizon.

Netflix and Amazon mostly are distributors, but also partly content developers. Verizon and BT mostly have been distributors and access providers, but are moving into other roles in content packaging.

Such blurring of ecosystem roles also is characteristic of any unstable industry, especially those undergoing technology change and business model evolution. Typically, contestants first move into the adjacent roles. Content creators (studios and producers) look at packaging (Hulu).

Packagers move into content creation (Amazon or Netflix). In fact, in an online delivery context, the roles of packaging and distribution fuse, in many cases. Netflix both packages and distributes.

In the case of Amazon producing its Kindle devices, a further move into user interface also has occurred. In an online ecosystem, the role of “platform” likely also must be added, something Facebook and Google best exemplify.

Apple would occupy the primary role of user interface, but also became a packager and distributor with iTunes.

As always, vertical integration makes sense for a content business. Just as inevitably, at some point, regulators step in. That will be quite messy.  

source: Jeffrey Funk