iPhone Penetration Broadening Sharply

The trend can't be identified with any precision yet, but some end users might be adopting a new form of "substitutional" behavior of the sort mobility seems to be causing to wired phone lines.

Since June 2008 3G iPhone use rose 48 percent among those earning between $25,000 and $50,000 per year and by 46 percent among those earning between $25,000 and $75,000.

These growth rates are three times that of those earning more than $100,000 per year, the original "early adopter" population.

The reason it is not clear whether a new trend is emerging or not is that some of these users, perhaps most, are buying $200 subsidized phones, which puts the devices into a range many might be able and willing to pay for some other sort of smart phone.

And while the cost of a stand-alone, single-device and single-user account might be fairly hefty for users in the fast-growing income ranges, it is conceivable that many are on family or group plans of some sort that do not represent new monthly charges as much as $70 a month.

Still, there is a suggestion here that some users might be choosing to use use a single device for a music player, email device, voice and Internet access platform, possibly cannibalizing some amount of broadband access and wireline voice service in the process.

Mobile Usage Up

Over 54 percent of those surveyed said their mobile phone usage had increased by more than 25 percent over the last two years, and one in five respondents said it had increased by more than 50 percent, says Azuki Systems, Inc.
About 62 percent of respondents say they either own or will own a smart phone in the next 12 months.

ABI Lowers Mobile Handset Sales Forecast

ABI Research has revised its expectations for fourth quarter 2008 mobile handset sales to 7.5 percent growth from the 10.4 percent it earlier expected.

Call that the expected impact of tougher economic conditions.

Year over year annual growth is therefore likely to be between 10.5 percent and 11 percent, to close out the year at around 1.27 billion.

Handset sales grew 8.2 percent during the third quarter, year over year.

Expect to see aggressive marketing and promotional activities from operators and vendors alike as they strive to lure end-users to upgrade their handsets before the year’s end, ABI predicts.

Orange Gets 72% TV Growth

France Telecom has grown subscriber take-up by 72 percent over the last 12 months As of September 30, 2008 the Orange-branded service had 1.746 million subscribers compared with 1.017 million just 12 months earlier. 211,000 customers were signed in the third quarter of 2008.

Stats like that are one reason executives at Comcast see AT&T and Verizon as their primary competitors.

Negative Growth in Third Quarter, Commerce Dept. Reports

The Commerce Department has released its preliminary estimate of U.S. third quarter gross domestic product, showing a decline to -0.3 percent. If the fourth quarter follows suit, we will be safe in saying we officially have entered a recession.

Consumer spending fell by -3.1 percent. Business investment fell by -1.0 percent, final sales were down by -0.8 percent. Disposable income came in at -8.7 percent.

The odd thing is that despite the generally-tough tone since perhaps the summer of 2007, growth has been positive through the second quarter of 2008.

Hulu Finds Less is More

Hulu, the online video site, finds that when it comes to advertising, less is more. In contrast to the multiple-ad format used by broadcast TV, only one ad is shown during each segment break on Hulu.

In a customer survey commissioned by Hulu and conducted in July and August, 76 percent of nearly 18,000 respondents said that the site had the right amount of ads given the "no incremental cost to view" format, according to the New York Times.

Just over 17 percent said there was less advertising than they expected. The survey also found a 22 percent increase in advertiser message association and a 28 percent increase in intent to purchase among users.

There might be some "novelty" element driving the findings, so everyone will have to wait and see whether ad effectiveness of this sort continues, on Hulu and other sites that may choose the same format.

Only one finding remains consistently true: consumers tend to say they "hate ads." They also prefer getting free content and will tolerate ads if that is the price of getting the content at no additional charge.

Hulu has another advantage, however. The ads are short, and there is no way to zip past them, as would be the case if viewing on a digital video recorder.

$3 Trillion Global Service Provider Revenue is Forecast

Between now and 2013, a time when global communications service provider revenue will climb from $2 trillion to about $3 trillion, wireless is going to be a key factor.

Whatever else happens, mobility services in developing regions are going to play a big part in that growth.

In developed regions, pressure on landline voice revenues will be the challenge. In developed regions, service providers will have to create new services based on wireless and broadband, especially services that combine formerly-separate experiences such as voice, image, video, audio, text, presence, location independence and devices.

Nothing is certain, in that regard. History suggests that service providers, even those deemed to the most slow-moving, can replace their revenue mainstays. Wired telephone services providers, generally considered the slowest-moving contestants, already have twice done so.

They made a transition from "dial tone" to "long distance" as the revenue mainstay. Then they made a transition from "long distance to wireless." The next transition will be to replace wireless, as inconceivable that might seem. IP services are part of the answer. Video and content are parts of the answer. Software and information technology services are part of the answer. Personal broadband is part of the answer.

It remains unclear whether, in the next iteration of industry business models, there will be a single revenue source that clearly underpins all the others, even though this has been the classic model. The only thing that is clear is that, as important as wireless is, it also will someday fade as the key industry revenue driver.