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The Future of Advertising

20 Aug 2010 17:54 No comments

In the lead-up to the Convergence Conversation, 26 August, on the changing world of advertising, here are some interesting links to look at.

1. Nielsen's top 5 advertising trends for 2010

2. The semantic web, augmented reality, neural networks, and other drivers of advertising

3. But what does the future hold for advertising agencies?

4. Is the point of advertising is transactions? Do all roads lead to eCommerce

5. Or, if the point of advertising is to generate buzz, here are some nice ones:

Is this man the future of advertising?

Millions decide fate of BT couple

6. And of course, advertising meets mobile

In the news.... More...

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Smartphone wars - the battle of the OS?

2 Aug 2010 09:37 No comments

Interesting article by Tomi T Ahonen (ex Nokia), who says that the smartphone war is being fought not over handsets or even brands, but over OS.

http://communities-dominate.blogs.com/brands/2010/07/understanding-smartphone-market-share-battle-not-for-phones-is-for-platform.html  

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iPad owners are power-hungry *******s

30 Jul 2010 16:40 No comments

ME reports about a survey undertaken by the Daily Mail to 20000 people on iPad owners. The key conclusion, the report states, is that (I quote) iPad users are "six times more likely to be wealthy, well-educated, power-hungry, over-achieving, sophisticated, unkind and non-altruistic 30-50-year-olds.

I encourage you to go and read the article for a laugh. As I was reading it, I started to wonder about a legitimate survey methodology that would allow you to actually extract this kind of result. Here's what I came up with:

Q15. Which of the following qualifiers most applies to you:

a. a self-centered git
b. More...

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Convergence + Divergence = FiWi

7 Jul 2010 15:16 No comments
Only a few days ago, someone very techy I have known for a long while said during a conversation about fat pipes, "I still haven't worked out what the killer app will be". My instant response was video as I strongly believe that we are heading towards a virtual reality scenario where making a video call will become as natural as making a mobile call now is for the vast majority of the world. Perhaps we should call this 'virtual naturality'?

However, we should not even be thinking of the term "killer app" any more. The term came from the world of commerce who saw it as the golden goose which would lay the most profitable egg. More...
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81 Million USB Wireless Modems to Ship in 2010

5 Jul 2010 09:26 No comments
Wireless modem devices come in a variety of form factors -- including USB modems, PC cards, embedded modules, and wireless routers. Among the external devices, USB modems have become one of the most popular wireless communication products.

So popular, in fact, that ABI Research forecasts shipments of nearly 81 million this year.

Today, the majority of wireless broadband subscribers enjoying portable connectivity use USB ports. The alternative, the PC Card slot, has rapidly been displaced since the introduction of USB in 2006.

"The main reason for USB modem popularity is versatility at a low price," says Jeff Orr, principal analyst, mobile devices at ABI Research. More...
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Put the iPhone down, and step away from the Kool Aid dispenser

8 Jun 2010 10:25 2 comments
I have a tremendous amount of respect for Apple and all it has achieved in design and market creation, as well as the precipitous rise in its market cap, which The Dear Leader recently described as "surreal." I have never encountered a CEO of any company who didn't believe (at least in public) that his/her company was undervalued, so this remark in itself is surreal and has a vague whiff of short-bait about it.

Another thing I find increasingly surreal is how, every time Mr. Jobs speaks, otherwise intelligent people seem to suffer a rapid onset of cerebral paralysis. Last night, as I watched the euphoric Twitsteria flowing from the Jobstown compound, I saw a couple of comments along the lines of "Two deaf people signing to each other over the iPhone - Apple just leapfrogged everyone," and (my favorite), "Future - we are here."

The last time I checked, the future started about eight years ago. More...
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Optimised Internet apps. vs. RCS vs. multi-headed clients

3 Jun 2010 11:48 No comments
I'm currently digging into IMS/RCS for what may turn into an "epitaph" research paper. My current spoken and blogged views on it are well-known, but I feel it is worthy of a more weighty and analytical piece.

I'm currently sifting through assorted vendors' websites, GSMA RCS specs, YouTube video demos and so forth.

I'm struck by one very clear question:

On a half-decent phone, why would anyone want to use a multi-headed / aggregated app, hooked into various social networks and messaging services, rather than an optimised one from the underlying Internet service?

For example: More...
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Will a shift to gesture based computing via tablets and apps help get the final third online? A guest blog

28 May 2010 11:33 No comments
On the day the iPad is launched in the UK, a guest blog from Brian Williamson of Plum Consulting considers what impact a shift to this type of device, with simpler, more intuitive interfaces and utilising mobile connectivity, could have on internet adoption.

“A report by Plum Consulting for Vodafone examines internet use and barriers to use, market changes and policy possible approach to get more people online. In terms of use the report finds that education, workforce participation and age are key considerations in explaining internet use.

Older US citizens are significantly more likely to use the internet than those in Korea or Europe, whilst those in Northern European Countries are significantly more likely to use the internet than their Southern European counterparts (consistent with the level of economic development and education at the time they were at school). More...

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Telco 2.0 News Review

24 May 2010 18:07 2 comments

Telco 2.0 Top Stories

A striking feature of the latest world smartphone sales numbers, other than the criticism of the methodology, is that they're growing strongly and Androids are going like hot cakes. The latest version of Android is also out, and Google have also been speaking about the difficulties of getting Nexus One to market, getting into trouble over WLAN mapping, getting approval for their acquisition of AdMob (the Mobile Advertising platform), and launching a new TV service. More...

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A problem with WiFi-based offload?

16 May 2010 16:40 No comments
In general, I'm a fan of using WiFi to reduce load on 3G macro networks, especially for laptops used with 3G USB dongles and smartphones like the iPhone. Where the connection manager works well, there are various models which can permit the device to connect to home/office or public WiFi.

In particular, I'm seeing a fair amount of mobile operators use their own, or partners' networks of public WiFi APs. Most notably, AT&T acquired Wayport and has other footprint for use in iPhone offload, while Vodafone has cut a deal with BT OpenZone in the UK.

However, there is one problem as the density of such offload points increases. More...
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