Convergence Conversation

• Mobile Platforms: Baidu forks Android, Samsung says no to WebOS
• Devices: Amazon Kindle tablet is here - not very much like a Kindle though
• Online Video: Apple iCloud - it's download not streaming
• Customer Data 2.0: Telefonica sold 190 million subs' data to Santander
• Cloud Computing: Google App Engine shock pricing row storm

[Ed. Welcome back if this is your first week in the office after the summer holidays - here are the top two Key Telco 2.0 items to note. 1. This week is your last chance to input to our Apple, Google, Facebook, Skype and Amazon research. We'll send you the survey results and a special deal on the report when it's out if you do. More...

It has always been predicted that small business expenditures on wireless communication services would someday exceed that of wireline voice communication.

That day will happen in 2012 -- as wireless service offerings becomes the largest category of telecommunications spending for small businesses, according to the latest market study by In-Stat.

Wireline data spending and cloud computing services round out the four high-growth spending categories.

"Connectivity has become the life blood of business efforts, but it is particularly crucial to small businesses as many operate without a brick-and-mortar presence to customers," says Greg Potter at In-Stat. More...

• Strategy & Finance: China Mobile: 7.4 million iPhones and no contract with Apple (yet)
• Technology Disruptions: HP cans TouchPad, Symbian-ises WebOS, sells PC business
• Devices: Apple, HTC cut chip orders as Recession 2.0 approaches
• Online Video: Fascinating report from Akamai
• Voice 2.0: New Walkman phone with "annoy dad" button, Skype camera

[Ed. After last week's coverage on Google/Motorola, have your say via our 2 minute survey here. Why did they do it, and who is it good/bad for? We'll publish the results next week. Also, August is often a great time for diary maintenance, so why not pencil in our next Brainstorms in New York (5th-6th October) and London (9th-10th November) run in collaboration with the World Economic Forum.]

China Mobile reported that it has 622 million subscribers at the end of the quarter. More...

Here's a 5 minute video on Russian operator MTS's and Roox's 'world-first' innovation - a personalised portal on Facebook that allows customers to interrogate their balance and change tariff plan for example.

In this concise interview, Pavel Roytberg, Internet Services Director MTS, and Andrei Beletsev, CEO Roox, explain how the innovation works and helps telcos 'go to where the customers are' - Facebook. See also our recent analysis Facebook: really 'worth' $30 billion max - $100 billion is hype and Facing up to Facebook.

More...

The mobile device applications market has grown rapidly, as a result of the addition of new products, players, and creative business models. This growth will continue, driven mainly by increased smartphone penetration, as well as growth in consumer mobile application libraries.

According to the latest market study by In-Stat, mobile application downloads are forecast to reach nearly 48 billion in 2015.

"The prevalence of handset touchscreens is a significant development impacting the mobile applications market," said Amy Cravens, Senior Analyst at In-Stat.

The projected rapid penetration of touchscreen-enabled devices will allow more users to easily interact with mobile apps, thereby driving growth. More...

It’s been estimated that 11m people in Britain are disabled, with around 7m of those being of working age. What’s more, there’s a significant (and rising) number of older people who may not think of themselves as disabled but who might have difficulty with their sight or hearing. So, at a time when an increasing number of contact points are being moved online, it’s clear that unless accessibility is embedded into communication strategies, organisations may be unwittingly creating a digital divide.

In December 2010, the British Standards Institution (BSI) launched a code of practice on web accessibility. More...

Here is a list of the conversations that we are planning for 2011.

The invitation for 05 May, including all details, will soon be circulated, but meanwhile please do let us know if you are interested in speaking at any of these sessions?

• Thursday 05 May:
  Data - transparency, obesity, and opportunity!
• Thursday 26 May: 
  Access not control.  Music, video and publishing 2.0
• Thursday 30 June: 
  3D, evolution or revolution?
• Thursday 28 July: 
  Advertising 2.0
• Thursday 25 August: 
  4G
• Thursday 29 September:
  mPayment and location based services
• Thursday 27 October:

More...

Source: Wall Street Journal  The other day when I saw this graphic in WSJ it reminded me, of a time when I was starting out in the field of Telecom as a junior engineer, the world look so brilliant. I could go work for so many Operators – wireless and wired! The world was going [...]

Amazon is probably the Internet's best retailer. As it launches its own AppStore, we provide a detailed analysis of its digital media business and pick out the key opportunities it offers to content owners, network service providers and manufacturers - click here to see the analysis on our research site.

Source: Amazon, STL Partners

'Growing the Mobile Internet' and 'Fostering Vibrant Ecosystems: Lessons from Apple' are also key session themes at our upcoming 'New Digital Economics' Brainstorms (next week in Palo Alto, 5-7 April, and London, 11-13 May). More...

People want to access video content across the various video-capable devices they own, and service providers, content owners, online video distributors and device manufacturers are all keen to provide it on different platforms.

However, new technologies are needed to secure multi-platform video content against piracy and unauthorized access, according to the latest market study by Heavy Reading.

"Content owners will not allow their content to be distributed on a platform that is vulnerable to piracy," says Aditya Kishore, senior analyst at Heavy Reading. "However, consumers want to be able to access copies of their purchased content across devices."

But content protection technology across different platforms is not always compatible, Kishore explains. More...