Convergence Conversation

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...

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  

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...

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...

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...

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.

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...

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...

Telco 2.0 Top Stories

• More Googlemania/phobia: Hot Androids, Nexus One stalled by OSS, AdMob deal cleared, Google TV launches
• Broadband Connectivity: $10m HSPA software upgrade = twice the iPhones?
• Technology Disruptions: Telstra firsts dual-carrier HSPA
• Strategy & Finance: Indian spectrum auction - first the madness, now the, er, madness...

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...

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...