Tuesday, July 31, 2012

M-Commerce Growing to 24% of Total E-Commerce by 2017

The mobile commerce market is expected to account for 24.4 percent of overall e-commerce revenues by the end of 2017, according to ABI Research.

In 2011, the mobile online commerce market doubled in size to $65.6 billion in transaction volume.
Still, mobile commerce is a relatively small percentage of the overall e-commerce market, though growing at a much faster rate.

Tablet Ownership Now at 34%

Some 58 percent of American consumers now use smart phones (76 percent among those under age 44), while tablet usage has grown from 0 to 34 percent in two years, according to Frank N. Magid Associates.


By mid 2013, the smart phone audience will increase 53 percent from 99 million to 151 million users, and the tablet audiences will more than double, from 51 million to 106 million users, Frank N. Magid Associates predicts. 


Among consumers planning to purchase mobile devices in the next 12 months, 51 percent already own a tablet, while 75 percent already own a smart phone.

BT Sees 13 Percent Olympics Traffic Spike

BT has reported a 13 percent increase in traffic on its national infrastructure over the last seven days, as the Olympic Games traffic has surged. Average peak traffic on the BT London 2012 network was estimated to be over 6 Gbps, BT says.

So far, at least, fears of bandwidth bottlenecks have not really emerged, with the exception of O2 having trouble sending Olympic cycling results.

FreedomPop Free Wireless Internet Now for iPod Touch

FreedomPop, which offers a freemium model mobile broadband service, now is supporting Apple iPod Touch devices.

FreedomPop buys capacity from Clearwire, and offers a free 500 Mbyte access, with pricing of additional gigabytes at $10 per gigabyte. Apparently the notion is that many users, especially pre-teens and teenagers, will want to use their iPod Touch devices on the network.

6 Mobile Payment Myths, According to Intuit

Mobile Payments Myths

London 2012 Summer Olympics Streaming Stats

After a slow start on Friday and Saturday, Sunday was the day that the streaming of Olympics video  In the United States accelerated, with several networks reaching 34 percent of overall bandwidth, while volume grew by more than 100 percent over the initial two days of events,  Procera reports.

Monday, July 30, 2012

How Big are Google Fiber Subsidies?

Google says it aims to make a profit offering Google Fiber services in Kansas City, Kan. and Kansas City, Mo., despite offering symmetrical 1-Gbps broadband access at $70 a month, and free access at 5 Mbps for a minimum of seven years (users of the free service pay the
$300 drop installation and connection fee). 



Some have wondered whether Google Fiber can achieve its goals, and if so, what the "secrets" of its cost savings might be. It appears there are some savings, though it is not by any means clear how important those savings might be. 


Google gets free central office space; free power; no charge for access to the City’s assets and infrastructure; no charge for rights of way, permits and inspection fees; settlement-free interconnections with anchor institutions; free marketing and direct mail, and even free office space for Google employees. 


Some might argue that Google has shifted much of the cost of its business to the Kansas City taxpayers, some would argue. Some of those savings mostly affect the one-time cost of network construction. 


The free facilities will save some money, and the ability to avoid paying for power likewise will help control operating costs. Google also will presumably gain some benefit on the marketing front. 


Still, none of those categories would seem to offer a decisive cost advantage. Also, Google Fiber is talking on some costs for which it will receive no revenue, especially the free 5 Mbps it plans to offer for seven years. 

More Computation, Not Data Center Energy Consumption is the Real Issue

Many observers raise key concerns about power consumption of data centers in the era of artificial intelligence.  According to a study by t...