Google pays Apple $1bn – network operators get ?
Surprise, surprise! Google pays Apple $1 billion per annum to make sure it is the default search engine on all those millions of iOS devices out there. Money for jam you might say? After all, what other search engine could Apple promote as their default? Oh yes, there’s Bing, but that belongs to the other [...]
Living in a lead-lined cave
Ovum’s latest survey into consumer concerns about privacy and use of personal data may just be the tip of the iceberg. As more disclosures of data collection and storage become public knowledge, the backlash may throw many organizations that rely on the sale of this data into disarray. In the last two weeks, The Insider has [...]
Facebook gets voice, telcos go mute
It might just be time for CSPs worldwide to get serious, really serious about the threat to the traditional revenues from the likes of Skype, Facebook, Google and another thousand or so messaging and VOIP players nibbling away at their core revenues. Nothing, it appears, is sacred in the rush for OTT players to offer [...]
Free vs Google – first salvo in internet war?
More information has come to light on a recent article about the strange goings on in French ISPs. The ‘feisty finger-pointing’ started when internet users reported a marked slow-down in delivery speeds from certain video sources, especially YouTube. Laurent Perche from Thailand, quite the expert in all things French and internet-related, was quick to point out that [...]
Skype swallowed up, who’s next?
The rumor mill has been running overtime this last week in the telecoms industry. Perhaps the most prominent, and certainly the most vocal are those claiming that Skype is about to be acquired – AGAIN! You will remember back in October 2005 that Skype’s private shareholders enjoyed a big payout when Skype was first bought [...]
European operators ‘playing possum’?
Fixed-line and mobile operators in Europe are facing quite a dilemma. On the one hand they are being pressured by European Commissioner Neelie Kroes to improve their network broadband speeds and capacity and that they are not investing enough to meet EU targets. On the other, their customers are wanting to use their internet connections [...]
Apple violating my privacy? What bloody privacy?
Apple featured big in this week’s headlines. Firstly for its seemingly endless sales and profit performances and secondly for its ‘evil’ activities recording every iPhone’s location history in hidden file. Or course, the amount of evil actually being perpetrated depends on which news story you read. If you happen to have missed all the hoo-hah, [...]
Malware paranoia sets in
One of the great joys, and most under-rated features, of the iPhone when it first launched was the ability to update its operating systems and firmware via iTunes. If, like me, you had bought one or more mobile ‘lemons’ over the years, that had to be returned to a ‘service centre’ for reprogramming, you’ll know [...]
Mobile advertising’s money myth
During a webinar I presented on ‘monetizing bandwidth’ on Tuesday I played down the potential revenues mobile operators would see from mobile advertising. This was picked up during the Q&A session by a few attendees asking why, with all the press on the growing value of mobile advertising, I did not see its worth. My [...]
Knock-knock Nokia, anybody home?
Nokia has been hitting the headlines in the past week, but not always for the right reasons. Firstly, speculation in the NewYork Times about an enhanced alliance with Microsoft (the first was announced back in 2009 but little came of it except that the Microsoft executive involved is now Nokia’s CEO) surprisingly lifted its share price four [...]