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Mobile Breakfast Series – March 10th February 2, 2010

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The upcoming MBS program is shaping up nicely. We are fortunate to have two great speakers:

Rob Glaser, Chairman, Real Networks who will be discussing “Mobile Media Innovation” His insights are always quite interesting, so really looking forward to his talk.

Kevin Martin, former FCC Chairman and partner Patton Boggs will be talking about the hottest topic at the FCC – Spectrum Crisis? Trends in Wireless. Given all that is going on with the national Broadband plan and the issues with spectrum, this talk will be particularly insightful.

More details at http://mobilebreakfastseries.com/ Register early and often

As always, thanks to our generous sponsors - Motricity, Openwave, WDSGlobal, and Clearwire

In case you missed ..

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Stories from Jan 2010

NYTimes - The iPad - To 3G or Not to 3G?

Businessweek - Apple iPad Adds to Pressure on AT&T

NYTimes - As Devices Pull More Data, Patience May Be Required

GigaOM - How AT&T Will Deal with iPad Data Traffic

Businessweek - iPad: Pushing More Americans to Pay More for Wireless Service

Businessweek - Mobile-Ad M&A Frenzy May Continue

Businessweek - Verizon Wireless-AT&T ‘Price War’ May Boost Revenues

GigaOM - In Q4, Data Was Mobile’s Hot Spot

RCR Wireless - RCR WIreless Digital Edition Jan 2010

Reuters - Are pico projectors the next big cellphone trend?

Mediapost - Verizon Cuts Voice Pricing, Streamlines Data Plans

MobileFuture - Net Neutrality Regulatory Proposals

Mercury News - Apple and Google: It’s a mobile turf war

GigaOM - How Microsoft Can Get Back in the Mobile Game

GigaOM - Wireless Pricing from Verizon Wireless

Mediapost - Survey: Mobile Execs See Big Ad Gains in 2010

GigaOM - China Mobile Data Gold Rush Begins

Plastics News - Consumers like their phones mobile, smart

Partner Event: Paid Content 2010 coming up January 30, 2010

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paidContent 2010 - square logo

Our media partner moconews is putting together a pretty good event on Paid Content. Given all the commotion around pay walls and monetization of content, should be a pretty good discussion. The speaker line up is terrific.

Roster includes Hilary Schneider, EVP for Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) North America, who will take part in a Q&A; Steven Brill, Co-Founder, Journalism Online; Bruce Campbell, President, Digital Media and Corporate Development, Discovery Communications; (NSDQ: DISCA) Rio Caraeff, CEO, Vevo; Josh Cohen, Senior Business Product Manager, Google (NSDQ: GOOG) News; Shawn Colo, Co-Founder, Demand Media; Bart Decrem, Co-Founder and CEO, Tapulous; Kenneth ‘KC’ Estenson, SVP and GM, CNN.com; Rob Grimshaw, Managing Director, FT.com; Cella Irvine, President and CEO, The About Group; Patrick Keane, CEO, Associated Content; Marty Moe, SVP, AOL (NYSE: AOL) Money & Finance; Quincy Smith, partner, Code Advisors and former head of CBS Interactive; (NYSE: CBS) and John Squires, Interim Managing Director, Next Issue Media.

Date: Feb 19th.

Tickets are selling fast so please register now. The $895 Early Bird ends Jan. 31; the price increases to $1,195 on Feb. 1. We can provide a discount for groups of three or more; contact paidContent2010@ContentNext.com for more details.

New Whitepaper: Role of Optical Wireless Broadband in the Evolving Mobile Ecosystem January 27, 2010

Posted by chetan in : 3G, 4G, AORTA, ARPU, BRIC, Carriers, Devices, European Wireless Market, Indian Wireless Market, Infrastructure, Location Based Services, M&A, Microsoft Mobile, Mobile Applications, Mobile Content, Mobile Ecosystem, Mobile Entertainment, US Wireless Market, Wi-Fi, WiMax, Wireless Value Chain, Worldwide Wireless Market , 1 comment so far

Role of Optical Wireless Broadband in the Evolving Mobile Ecosystem

http://www.chetansharma.com/opticalwirelessbroadband.htm

Sponsored by Skyfiber

These are exciting times in the wireless industry. The innovation in technology, services, and business models is driving the global industry to new heights. While the global markets were feeling the pain of a brutal recession, the wireless industry for the most part sidestepped the crisis, especially the US and Asian markets. In the US, 2009 was a banner year for the mobile data services and applications. Each of the four quarters exceeded $10 billion in mobile data services revenue and the subscription penetration was approximately 93% by the end of the year.

The mobile industry is going through significant transition from being voice-centric to data-centric, from consumers spending 90% of their time talking to 80% of the time spending on mobile data and games. The main drivers of such an evolution are: better devices like the iPhone, Droid, Pre, Bold, etc., higher capacity networks such as WCDMA, HSPA+, and EV-DO Rev A, flat rate data pricing, and a heightened consumer awareness of mobile applications and services. This has boosted both the consumer engagement and the revenues from data services.

However, this increased usage comes at a cost. As users are becoming accustomed to an always-on, always-connected world of mobile, they are consuming tremendous amount of data that is putting significant burden on the networks especially the backhaul. Further, as the need for the bandwidth rises exponentially, we are approaching what FCC’s Chairman Genachowski termed as “a looming spectrum crisis.” In light of such infrastructure challenges, the industry needs to think outside-the-spectrum-box and think long-term else we will be in a perpetual cycle of crises. Traditional transmission technologies like Fiber and Microwave will benefit from complimentary technologies such as Optical Wireless Broadband (OWB), which enhances the operator’s toolbox to build out efficient broadband connectivity.

This paper discusses the mobile data growth, the backhaul demands, and the looming spectrum crisis in more detail. Further, the paper discusses the requirements for backhaul to support next generation traffic and the role of new technologies such as Optical Wireless Broadband to provide backhaul capacity solutions that are both economical as well as future-proof.

Download Paper (pdf)

Mobile-Ad M&A Frenzy May Continue January 26, 2010

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Talked to Businessweek about the Mobile Advertising M&A frenzy and what to expect in 2010

Note: There is a small error in the quote, it should be 10c for online CPM and not $10

Mobile-Ad M&A Frenzy May Continue

Google’s purchase of mobile-ad company AdMob could be the first of many deals in this hot sector

By Olga Kharif

Michael Bayle has been fielding a lot of phone calls in the two months since Google bought mobile-ad company AdMob for $750 million. Bayle is a vice-president at Amobee, also in the business of placing ads on wireless handsets. "Our phone has been ring-ringing off the hook," Bayle says. "We are speaking to a number of parties."

Startups that specialize in mobile advertising are getting a lot of phone calls these days. Possible acquirers are gunning for a slice of an industry that according to ABI Research may generate $1.14 billion in sales this year, almost four times the $297 million spent in 2008. "Mobile ads are [one of] the hottest areas in technology right now," says M&A expert Tom Taulli.

There’s especially high demand for so-called mobile-ad networks, such as Amobee, which act as middlemen between advertisers and wireless service providers to broker the placement of ads in games, videos, and other mobile content. Then there are mobile-ad exchanges, such as RingRing, which often get involved earlier in the process, helping connect advertisers with mobile-ad networks.

On Jan. 20, mobile Web browser software provider Opera bought ad exchange AdMarvel. Earlier this month, Apple (AAPL) snapped up mobile-ad network Quattro Wireless for $275 million to $300 million, according to published reports. AdMob was Google’s (GOOG) third-biggest acquisition to date. Other mobile-ad companies may fetch far less than $250 million, Taulli speculates. Still, the dealmaking is far from over.

Analysts say potential targets include ad networks Millennial Media, Jumptap, Greystripe, and Tapjoy, and ad exchanges such as Mobclix. "The AdMob acquisition blew the roof off [valuations]," says Sunil Verma, co-founder of Mobclix, which soon expects to close a funding round. "It validates the market size and potential, and that’s sparked a trickle-down effect on others." Verma declined to discuss funding details. To date, Mobclix has received $4 million to $5 million in angel funding from investors, including Verma and three other founders.

DE RIGUEUR FOR MANY ADVERTISERS

Millennial Media is the largest of the potential targets. It received a $16 million funding round in November and aims for an initial public share sale in 2011 or later but would consider a buyout sooner for the right price, Millennial Media CEO Paul Palmieri says.

After years of overoptimistic projections, advertisers are finally boosting spending on mobile ads as consumers step up purchases of smartphones that are better-equipped than cell phones for Web surfing. Jumptap’s revenue last year increased five times over its 2008 figure, says CEO Dan Olschwang. "More [advertisers] now treat mobile as a must-have component in their media mix," he says.

In November 2009, 61.5 million U.S. users accessed the Internet via mobile devices, up from 46.6 million a year earlier, according to Nielsen Mobile. Within five years, more people will access the Web via mobile devices than personal computers, Morgan Stanley (MS) analyst Mary Meeker said in a recent report.

Mobile ads may also be more effective, researchers say. Mobile ads have a higher so-called click-through rate, a measure of the rate at which an ad is clicked on by a person who views it. The rate for mobile ads is 2% to 5%, compared with 0.2% for PC-based online advertising, according to Chetan Sharma, an independent wireless industry analyst. Mobile ads are also less expensive, costing as little as $1 to $6 per 1,000 impressions, while a PC Web banner costs closer to $10, Sharma says.

EXPONENTIAL GROWTH

Coca-Cola (KO), Honda (HMC), Intel (INTC), Motorola (MOT), and National Geographic are among companies now advertising on mobile phones. "The number of advertisers doing mobile programs has grown exponentially," says Paul Kultgen, a director at Nielsen. The researcher’s November survey showed that more than 1,000 advertisers now put out mobile display ads, a fivefold increase over a year earlier.

AOL (AOL), Microsoft (MSFT), Yahoo! (YHOO), and Nokia (NOK) have acquired mobile-ad companies in the past several years and may make more purchases, analysts say. Representatives of all four companies declined to comment for this story. Handset makers such as Samsung and Motorola may also join the buying, analysts speculated. Representatives of both companies declined to comment. Online retailers Amazon (AMZN) and eBay (EBAY) are also potential acquirers, says Olschwang of Jumptap. An eBay representative declined to comment, while an Amazon representative declined to comment.

Meantime, even potential targets are turning into acquirers. On Jan. 13, Amobee bought London-based RingRing Media for an undisclosed sum. Bayle says Amobee may make other purchases.

Kharif is a reporter for Bloomberg BusinessWeek in Portland, Ore.

How Apple can (will) redefine Mobile Advertising? January 21, 2010

Posted by chetan in : US Wireless Market , 1 comment so far

The predictions for mobile advertising M&A are finally coming true esp. the big ones with Google getting Admob and Apple snapping up Quattro, and there are others that are being planned right now, but who sets the tone going forward, who redefines the next evolutionary phase of mobile advertising, who sets the bar, who attracts the most campaigns and developers?

In our Mobile Advertising book, we had introduced the 5 point framework to think about mobile advertising. Since then, it has been adopted by major mobile advertising players and advertisers as a way to plan, manage, and monitor their efforts and campaigns.

The key elements of the framework are: Reach, Engagement, Targeting, Viral, and Transactions. Reach is always important and will remain the first filter applied to most campaigns, engagement has gotten better but many campaigns are still in dark ages, targeting has improved but still way below its potential, am still surprised that companies don’t embed a way to share in each and every aspect of the campaigns, and as far as the transaction is concerned, we are not even closed. Very few companies have “closed the loop.”

1. Reach - How many unique customers can you reach?

2. Targeting - Mobile thrives on targeting. Ad networks that can provide targeting beyond country, carrier, and handsets to location, demographic and context will be the ones offering more value to both the advertisers and the publishers. Table below lists some of the options available from some of the leading players in the ecosystem.

3. Engagement - One has to move away from just counting the number of clicks or the number landing page impressions and quickly start measuring engagements in the form of time spent, number of times content was saved or forwarded across the many mobile channels.

4. Viral - One of the key features of mobile is its ability of one-click sharing. If something is "good," it will catch-on fast. One has to only target the 1% power-users to reach 20-50% of the subscriber base. Such capability should be built into every campaign and measured accurately to determine its true effectiveness.

5. Transactions - As we mentioned before, mobile enables a closed loop functionality like no other medium. Transactions is essentially to measure the "true" ROA.

I have long argued that w/o the “closed loop,” advertising is a lot of waste with no real ROI. Advertisers can feel good about the creatives but if it is not yielding results, what are you smoking? If it is giving results, but you can’t measure it, then how can someone be trusted with yet another multi-million dollar campaign. I know this is the way things have been done for decades but over the last 24 months, things have been tilting towards digital, towards measurability, towards accountability. A number of big brands have stopped, i mean completely stopped spending money on print, radio and moving to digital.

This brings us back to the original question – who redefines the mobile advertising ecosystem and it very well might be Apple and the reason will be the iTunes platform, for the same reason Apple Appstore crushes every single appstore out there, the reason Google Android Marketplace hasn’t been successful – it is the billing, stupid.

By having a good control over the billing piece, Apple can provide an excellent end-to-end user experience and on the back-end measure every bit of information that can inform the developer, advertiser, Apple of what’s going on, discover trends much before the mainstream media does.

Apple can do the same thing with advertising – by providing a much more rich platform for engagement advertising i.e. the ads become much more engaging than the stale banner ads that go no where, you don’t loose the original page or app while navigating to an add.

It is quite likely, Apple will build a solid advertising platform that empowers developers and advertisers to truly harness the power of mobile advertising by providing the closed loop lab for experimenting and learning while keeping competitors at bay. So, who can compete with this strong proposition – Google and Carriers but Google Checkout has had limited success and integrating with Carrier billing is not straightforward.

So, just like how Apple redefined the music industry, redefined the device industry, redefined the apps industry, it might very well redefine the mobile advertising industry. It has got the smarts, the vision, and the arsenal to make it all happen.

Mobile Breakfast Series: March 10th January 11, 2010

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Very excited about our keynotes this coming march. Get ready for terrific insights and discussion.

Have you registered yet?

March 10, 2010 7:30-11am. Location: TBD

Registration

Kevin Martin, Partner, Patton Boggs and former FCC Chairman

Kevin Martin is a former Chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and co-chair of Patton Boggs’ technology and communications practice. Mr. Martin has nearly two decades experience as a lawyer and policymaker in the telecommunications field, including his tenure as FCC Chairman from March 2005 to January 2009 when the industry was undergoing a period of unprecedented growth and innovation. Using his vast knowledge of the telecommunications industry, Mr. Martin helps clients take advantage of wireless and broadband opportunities, counseling businesses on their strategic business initiatives and the nuances of FCC regulations and communications policies.

While Mr. Martin was FCC Chairman, the Commission created a regulatory environment that encouraged infrastructure investment and broadband competition, leading to greater coverage and decreased prices for Americans. The number of broadband lines in the country doubled to more that 100 million. Under Mr. Martin’s leadership, the FCC conducted the two most successful and profitable spectrum auctions in U.S. history, raising almost $20 billion in 2008 alone. Mr. Martin also spearheaded the FCC’s initiative to dedicate more than $400 million to the construction of broadband networks for state-wide and regional health care networks reaching more than 6,000 health care facilities.

As FCC Chairman, Mr. Martin also represented the U.S. in dozens of bilateral negotiations and addressed numerous international conferences as a global leader on telecommunications and technology policy.

Before joining the FCC as a Commissioner in 2001, Mr. Martin was a Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and served on the staff of the National Economic Council, focusing on commerce and technology policy issues. He served as the official U.S. government representative to the G-8’s Digital Opportunity Task Force. Mr. Martin was Deputy General Counsel on the Bush-Cheney 2000 Presidential campaign and also previously served as a counsel to a Commissioner at the FCC.

Rob Glaser, Founder, Chairman and CEO, RealNetworks Inc

Rob Glaser, Founder, Chairman and CEO of RealNetworks, Inc., has long been intrigued with the nexus of media, computing, communication and the Internet. Since founding Real in 1994, Mr. Glaser has played an integral role in the transformation of the Internet into the next great mass medium. In 1995 under Mr. Glaser’s direction, Real introduced the groundbreaking RealAudio. Followed by RealVideo, RealPlayer and the systems to distribute audio and video including the Helix technologies, RealNetworks has continued to innovate and bring technologies to market. Additionally in 2000, RealNetworks began offering aggregated premium content online directly to consumers in a subscription service. In 2003, RealNetworks purchased Listen.com and built the Rhapsody music service into the leading music subscription service. With the combination of technology and business systems for monetizing media, RealNetworks and Mr. Glaser are at the forefront of the Internet media revolution. Prior to founding RealNetworks, Inc., Mr. Glaser worked for Microsoft for 10 years in a number of executive positions, including Vice President of Multimedia and Consumer Systems. Mr. Glaser has served on several non-profit boards and committees, including his appointment by President Clinton to the Advisory Committee on Public Interest Obligations of Digital Television Broadcasters. Mr. Glaser is a graduate of Yale University, with a B.A. and an M.A. in Economics and a B.S. in Computer Science.

2010 Mobile Industry Predictions Survey January 3, 2010

Posted by chetan in : 3G, 4G, AORTA, ARPU, BRIC, CTIA, Carnival of Mobilists, Carriers, Devices, Enterprise Mobility, European Wireless Market, Federal, Gaming, General, IP, IP Strategy, India, Indian Wireless Market, Infrastructure, Intellectual Property, International Trade, Japan Wireless Market, Location Based Services, M&A, MVNO, Mergers and Acquisitions, Messaging, Microsoft Mobile, Middleware, Mobile Advertising, Mobile Applications, Mobile Content, Mobile Ecosystem, Mobile Entertainment, Mobile Gaming, Mobile Search, Mobile TV, Mobile Traffic, Mobile Usability, Mobile Users, Mobile Wallet, Music Player, Networks, Partnership, Patent Strategies, Patent Strategy, Patents, Privacy, Smart Phones, Speaking Engagements, Speech Recognition, Storage, Strategy, US Wireless Market, Uncategorized, Unified Messaging, Usability, Wi-Fi, WiMax, Wireless Value Chain, Worldwide Wireless Market , 5 comments

2010 Mobile Industry Predictions Survey

http://www.chetansharma.com/MobilePredictions2010.htm

Mobile Predictions Survey (pdf)

Mobile Predictions Survey (ppt)

First things first. From all of us at Chetan Sharma Consulting, we wish you and yours a very happy, healthy, and prosperous 2010. Thanks to all who participated in our 2010 Mobile Predictions Annual Survey. We have found it is the best way to think about the trends coming our way.

Before we dive into the survey results, let’s do a quick wrap-up of the year that was. Well, since we just completed one heck of a mobile decade, let’s do a quick jog down the memory lane.

The Last Decade: 2000-2009

Each new decade brings its own consumer and technology trends. During the 2000s mobile cemented its place in the global society fabric, the use of mobility became addictive and pervasive, to be without mobile seemed a curse and innovation blossomed and took user expectations to new heights.

From a pure statistical point of view, the global mobile subscription penetration grew from 12% in 2000 to approximately 68% in 2009 - phenomenal by any measure. The overall revenues grew over 400%, the data revenue grew 32,600% and the total subscriptions grew 563%. NTT DoCoMo paved the way with the i-mode launch in 1999 and they were the operator to emulate throughout the last decade, leading every single year in data revenues, in new application and service revenue sources, and in innovation and risk taking. They tried to export the success to other regions with little reward but DoCoMo clearly led the industry in taking mobile devices where they have never gone before.

China and India were late to the party but during the second half of the decade caught up with the western world and eventually surpassed all nations becoming number one and two nations by subscriptions respectively. In 2006, China Mobile became the most valuable operator passing Vodafone.

Mobile devices went significant transformation as well. From the early Bluetooth, camera, and music phones to the iPhones, the Storms, and the Androids, the industry was transformed by the introduction of Apple’s iPhone in 2007. While Bluetooth, sleek designs, camera phone defined the first half of the decade, the second half was all about the applications and the mobile web. While Nokia dominated the entire decade in terms of the sales and profits, having missed the touch revolution, it leaves the decade a bit battered and a bit behind playing catch-up to the newcomers who profoundly disturbed the status quo.

Razr carried Motorola through 2006 when its global share peaked but was left to reinvent itself during the second half. It seems to have redeemed itself with the successful launch of Droid and upcoming Android devices. While many in the industry predicted RIM’s demise, the company has only gotten stronger and is looking good for the 2010s. The emergence of Samsung and LG as strong players in the mobile ecosystem was also a big story of the decade with Samsung increasing its share by 380% and LG by 575% becoming the number 2 and 3 players respectively.

While Microsoft’s Windows Mobile had an early start and the enterprise market share, it lost its way through several missteps and is on dialysis as we enter the new decade. One shouldn’t count WM out though but there is a lot of work to be done before it can capture the imagination of the ecosystem which has been sequestered away by iPhone and Android.

While many new application areas were introduced during 2000s, none was able to displace SMS as the leading app category by usage and revenues. However, it’s relative share has started to come down especially in North America and Western Europe.

As data usage grew, so did the data traffic bringing many data networks to their knees. We expect the data traffic consumption to only accelerate. Many people are underestimating the growth rates (as they did previously) and the strain the increase in consumption will put on the unprepared networks. Projector phones will take media consumption to a new level. Data management is going to be big business in the 2010s.

Overall, the mobile industry became a trillion dollar industry in 2008 and the data revenues are increasing in almost all regions. Voice is being commoditized at fast pace and that has put the traditional economics and ecosystem wealth distribution in topsy-turvy.

The US market also experienced tremendous growth with mobile data service revenues climbing 21,327% and becoming a mainstay in the mobile economy. In 2008 it crossed Japan as the most valuable mobile data market. US was late in adopting SMS but caught fire once American Idol started using it and even played a good role in the 2008 Presidential election in showcasing the power of mobile. Verizon started the decade being the number one operator and after trading places with Cingular and ATT grabbed the title back in 2009 (after the Alltel acquisition) to become the most dominant carrier in North America. Many smaller players competed by being innovative with Cincinnati Bell launching the fist UMA device, Sprint the first mobile eReader, and TMO launched the hotspot business which has now become an essential component of an operator strategy going forward.

Mobile is also replacing landline at a much faster pace than expected and within the first half of the new decade, we will have majority of the users using mobile vs. landline. Just like the last decade, this one starts with a new standard deployment of LTE that will keep operators and vendors busy throughout the decade. However, a lot of the developing markets will still be deploying 3G during the first half of the decade.

Infrastructure providers suffered the most in the decade bookended by the two recessions. Consolidation of giants (Alcatel Lucent, Nokia Siemens), bankruptcies of the famous (Nortel), and uprising of the upstarts (Huawei) pretty much defined the decade for the segment. Ericsson and Huawei enter the new decade from a strong position and looking to dominate the global markets.

The last decade was also marked by some prominent IP battles such as RIM vs. NTP, Qualcomm vs. Broadcom, Sony Ericsson vs. Samsung, Upaid vs. Satyam etc. (disclaimer: we worked on some of these cases and testified as an expert)

Here is our “subjective” list of movers and shakers of the last decade

2000-2009

2010-2019

Operator of the Decade

NTT DoCoMo

DCM led the way in almost all new category of apps and services. Its data service revenue was highest in each of the last 10 years

DCM will continue to lead along with KDDI and SKT. However, it might be the carriers with tremendous scale who will have the calling cards in the new decade. Watch for China Mobile, Vodafone/Verizon, Telefonica, Orange, Bharti, Unicom, Singtel

OEM of the Decade

Nokia

Nokia dominated in sales and revenues in each of the 10 years and while the last couple of years took some shine off its glorious past, the company nevertheless came out ahead

RIM, Apple, Nokia, Samsung

Smartphone OEM of the Decade

Apple

Smartphones as we know them were introduced by RIM but Apple defined the category and the subsequent ecosystem

This space will be very competitive with Apple still the gold standard to beat

Infrastructure Provider of the Decade

Ericsson

Its prime rivals struggled to stay afloat while Ericsson grabbed most of the revenues from infrastructure contracts and is very well positioned for the next decade

Ericsson is joined by Huawei as the two top infrastructure provider with Huawei giving tough competition for LTE contracts. ZTE and other Chinese infrastructure providers will also replace some of the incumbents

Nation that led in mobile data

Japan

This is a no brainer. Japan led with Korea a close second. Finland, UK also impressed

US, China, and India are well positioned to make an impression but most likely during the second half. Japan will still be a major player

Device of the decade

iPhone followed by Razr

iPhone impressed with form and function while Razr with its global sales making it a top selling device of all times

The field might get more crowded as all OEMs focusing on the smartphone category. However, OEMs who also focus on the 90% of the market w/o smartphones might win the top prize

The year 2009

Apple continued to dominate the headlines for the third straight year - whether it was the launch of 3GS or the upcoming introduction of the fabled tablet. Google too kept the ecosystem active. It has executed on its mobile strategy with brilliant acumen though causing significant consternation amongst its partners who it needs to be successful. It has been often misunderstood by competitors, regulators, and partners. Often, they have focused on Google’s tactics vs. its strategy. Look for these two players to be very aggressive as they try to fight for the mantle and the mindshare.

While Nokia leads the OEM space by a good distance, its momentum in the smartphone space left a lot of question marks. Motorola made a credible comeback with Cliq and Droid. Samsung and LG continued to innovate and expanded on their share of shipments and revenues.

India outpaced China in net-adds and crossed 500M though it is still quite behind China’s 750M. The M&A and the consolidation process became active in Asia with several of the big regional operators looking to flex muscles in the international markets. After several delays, China started deploying 3G while India again fumbled and postponed its 3G auction.

US mobile data market continued its pace in 2009 with each of the four quarters exceeding $10B in data service revenues. The gap between the top two operators and the rest grew to be the biggest in the decade and the industry weathered the recession with ease. There was a clear shift towards prepaid especially for Sprint, T-Mobile, and the tier 2/3 operators.

2009 was also defined by significant activity on the application front. With Facebook eclipsing 100M subscribers and Appstore exceeding 2.5B downloads, sky is the limit.

The year also saw an unprecedented growth in mobile data consumption. As we had predicted, for some of the networks, the growth proved to be a double-edged sword. Many in the industry are banking on LTE to help relieve the pain but will be surprised that depending solely on the upgrade strategy will not be enough. Declaring spectrum as a looming crisis, FCC also started tinkering with the mobile industry and the broadband plan.

Japan exceeded 90% in 3G penetration while US subscriptions ventured into the 90% territory. Most of western Europe is way past 130%.

All in all, a terrific year considering that we went through one of the worst recessions in a generation. As we bid goodbye to the last decade, Nexus One and iTablet only serve to whet our appetite of what’s to come.

On a personal note, we started our consulting practice this last decade as we were coming out of the bubble recession and have been fortunate to work with some of the brightest brains and companies in the global ecosystem. We also had a chance to work on some key initiatives that impacted the ecosystem in profound ways. Many thanks to our clients, colleagues, friends, and readers. We will be involved with many new initiatives over the next decade and are looking forward to the conversations through the research notes, books, speeches, panels, whitepapers, blog posts, facebook and twitter feeds, and more.

Thanks and Happy New Year. May the upcoming decade leave you happier, healthier, and more successful than the previous one.

As we eluded to earlier, 2010 will be a pretty eventful year from several perspectives: business models, user experience and expectations, ecosystem posturing, disruption, and friction. How are things going to shape up? What will be hot and what will fade into oblivion? How will competition shape up the new sub-segments?

We put some of the questions to our colleagues in the industry. We were able to glean some valuable insights from their choices and comments. This survey is different from some of the others in the sense that it includes industry movers and shakers participation. Executives and insiders (n=150) from leading mobile companies across the value chain and around the world opined to help us see what 2010 might bring.

11 names were randomly drawn for 3 special prizes. The winners are:

Claire Boonstra, Cofounder, Layar- INQMobile 3G Chat device
Michael Libes, CTO, GroundTruth - Open Mobile Book
Henri Moissinac, Head of Mobile, Facebook - Open Mobile Book
Subba Rao, CEO, TataDoCoMo - Open Mobile Book
Saumil Gandhi, Product Manager, Microsoft - Open Mobile Book
Sarah Reedy, Senior Editor, Connected Planet - Open Mobile Book
Mike Vanderwoude, VP & GM, Cincinnati Bell Wireless - 2010 Mobile Almanac
Pinney Colton, VP, GfK - 2010 Mobile Almanac
Tim Chang, Principal, Norwest Ventures - 2010 Mobile Almanac
Laura Marriott, President - 2010 Mobile Almanac
Asha Vellaikal, Director, Orange - 2010 Mobile Almanac

Thanks to INQMobile and my friend Ajit Jaokar for contributing the prize gifts.

Despite conventional wisdom, what will not happen in 2010?

There were many. Sampling - Verizon iPhone, Microsoft Phone, Sprint will not be bought, Femtocells won’t gain traction, RCS will not happen, Google will not enter handset market directly, iPhone won’t lose steam, Android won’t bring coherence, NFC won’t take off, WiMAX won’t disappear, Nokia won’t bounce back, Palm won’t die, “Year of Mobile” noise won’t subside, carriers won’t be delegated as dumb-pipes.

It is hard to cover the mobile industry in 20 questions. As pointed out by our panelists, there are a number of other issues and opportunities that will help shape our ecosystem - monetization of social networks, augmented reality, the fight for mobile advertising dollars, continued impact of globalization, security and privacy, NFC, IMS, VoIP, enterprise apps beyond email, battery improvements, new interaction modalities, health risks of RF radiation, Mobile 3.0, LTE, single purpose devices, 3G in India, Bada, app vs web, developer turmoil, featurephones, smart grids, M2M, Chrome, etc.

However, be rest assured, we will be tracking these and much more throughout the year and sharing them through various channels.

Thanks again to everyone who contributed. We will be calling on you again next year. We are clearly living in "interesting times" with never a dull moment in our dynamic industry. It has been a terrific year for us here at Chetan Sharma Consulting and we are looking forward to the next decade and seeing many of you along the way.

We hope you enjoyed gaining from the collective wisdom. Your feedback is always welcome.

Be well, Do Cool Work, Stay in touch.

Thanks.

With warm wishes,

Chetan Sharma

Disclaimer: Some of the companies mentioned in this note are our clients.

Now onto the 2010 Mobile Industry Predictions Survey Results

The panel comprised of movers and shakers from around the world

What will be the biggest stories of 2010?

Jan seems to be the Google Phone vs. Apple Tablet matchup. Our panel though voted for the continued growth in mobile data as the top story.

Have we recovered from the recession? (Please select one)

Majority thought we are out of it though some might still feel the pinch

Who will be the most open player in the mobile ecosystem in 2010? (Please select one)

Google has done a great job at maintaining its image as THE open leader

Will Android handset sales exceed iPhone’s in 2010? (Please select one)

Despite Androids coming in droves, iPhone will still be the king of the hill

When will we see tiered pricing plans for smartphones in the US from tier 1 operators? (Please select one)

There are indications that this might happen sooner rather than later

What will happen to the mobile prepaid subscriber base in the US? (Please select one)

Prepaid made a strong comeback in 2009 and a good majority thought that the trend is likely to continue

By how much will the mobile advertising ad-spend increase in 2010? (Please select one)

Mobile Advertising was the only advertising segment with positive growth last year so it is no surprise that folks expect it to more than double this year

What will be the impact of the FCC’s national broadband plan on the mobile industry in 2010? (Please select one)

Not much is expected from the various rulings that might come this year with most expecting the courts to have the final word.

Who will be the mobile comeback story of 2010?

Having bet its future on Android, Motorola was voted as the comeback kid of 2010

What will be the impact of Google Phone?

It’s pretty clear, Google and Apple are duking it out for the developer mindshare. Google wins in either case.

Which areas will feel the most impact from FCC?

Net neutrality is the area where they will have the most impact

Which solutions will gain the most traction for managing mobile data broadband consumption?

While only a holistic approach can provide complete relief, tiered mobile data pricing might have the most impact

When will the carrier-branded appstores lose steam? (Please select one)

Most expect carrier-branded appstores to be a thing of the past in 2010

What will help mobile cloud computing gain traction in 2010?

Mobile cloud computing is gaining steam and the reason is storage and media

What will be the most successful non-mobile-phone category in 2010? (Please select one)

Netbooks seem to be the strongest category followed by eReaders, Tablet, and M2M

What will be the breakthrough category in mobile in 2010? (Please select one)

Mobile Advertising and Mobile Payments share the top honors

By the end of 2010, which will have more subscribers? (Please select one)

LTE might have the momentum but WiMAX has the subscribers

How will Netbooks do through the operator channel? (Please select one)

No major impact from the operator channel

Which standards will gain traction?

No major impact from the standards

What mode of mobile payments will get any traction in North America and Western Europe in 2010?

The category will expand in different ways with more items being charged on the operator bill

Chetan Sharma Consulting in the news in 2009 January 1, 2010

Posted by chetan in : US Wireless Market , add a comment

Happy New Year y’all. Hope you had a terrific celebration as we venture into the new decade. Here are some of the articles and news items we contributed to in 2009. Thanks to all who reached out. Here’s to a terrific 2010.

December

AdAge - Can Google Sell — and Market — a Smartphone?

MobileHealthNews - The 15 wireless health VC deals of 2009

RCRWireless - The untapped mobile data opportunity

BusinessWeek - Managing the Wireless Data Deluge

Yahoo Tech Blog - Surprise! AT&T wins in 3G mega test

Christian Computing Magazine - What is 4G?

MediaPost - Mobile Phone Rebound in 2010

Telephony Online - Mobile data set to explode

NY Times - AT&T takes the blame, even for iPhone’s fault

NY Times - AT&T to Urge Customers to Use Less Wireless Data

BusinessWeek - AT&T Price Moves May Backfire

Yahoo Tech Blog - No matter the carrier, US 3G service is nothing to shout about

Moconews - The Sorry State of 3G In the US

Telephony Online - Open to alternatives

Telephony Online - Breaking down the walled garden

Moconews - Mobile Broadband is causing problems on all sides of the equation

GigaOM - Clash of the titans in the mobile ecosystem

November

AdAge - Verizon Wins Round 1 in Legal Spat with AT&T

Mediapost - Judge Sees No Evidence

Globe and Mail - Convergence at last

IBM - Tough Times Call for Superior Customer Care

Reuters - Demand for fast networks forces telcos to team up

GigaOM - With Wireless Data, Smaller Carriers Must Mind the Gap

Telephony Online - Carriers must be open to compete

FierceMobileContent - US mobile data revenues grow to $11.3B in Q3

Mediapost - Madison Avenue Backs Google-Admob Deal

RCRWireless - Solutions for the Broadband World

Telecom Paper - US mobile data market grows 27% in Q3

Reuters - Les opérateurs télécoms forcés de s’allier pour suivre le rythme

October

AdAge - Could the Droid Be the Device That Finally Dethrones the iPhone?

SNS - FireGlobal - West Coast CTO Challenge

Xconomy - Highlights from FiReGlobal

TelecomsEurope - Getting it right on mobile broadband

RCRWireless - Defining Mobile Broadband

Mobile Marketer - Mobile CPM measurement standards are essential

September

Fiercewireless - Mobile advertising measurements still lack standardization

GigaOM - US leading the Global Mobile Data Boom

GigaOM - Mobile Advertising Metrics: What matters most?

Moconews - Full speed ahead as US carriers invest billions, is it too much?

AdAge - Mobile Video Gets Ready for the Masses

MIT Technology Review - The New Faces of Android

NewTeeVee - With MediaFLO disappointing, Qualcomm wants to become a Mobile CDN

GigaOM - Don’t Neglect the Network, The Ultraband Panel

NY Times - Customers angered as iPhones overload AT&T

RCR Wireless - The RCR Ecosystem - An Overview

IT Business Edge - The Death of the Early Adopter

GigaOM - New Metrics for Mobile Ad Networks

GigaOM - How the iPhone is driving a wireless bandwidth boom

August

Fortune - Bandwidth hogs - iPhone and other smartphones

Telecompaper - US mobile data market grows over 30% in Q2

Mediapost - Prepaid: Too much of a good thing?

GigaOM - State of the US Wireless Market Q2 2008

IT Business Edge - Data Helps Wireless Carriers Work Through the Recession

FierceBroadbandWireless - Report: 3G penetration about 40% in 2Q

FierceMobileContent - US mobile data service revenues jump to $10.6B in Q2

IT Business Edge - Good Times Ahead for Telecom Vendors

Mercury News - FCC probes Apple’s rejection of Google Voice for iPhone

IT Business Edge - Cellular Data Explodes, Even in Bad Economy

Wireless and Mobile News - The worst is over says Chetan Sharma

July

WSJ - Big Phone Companies Are Unlikely US Antitrust Target

GigaOM - Mobile Broadband Will Trigger Global Innovation

BusinessWeek - The Wireless Data Boom Will Cost the Carriers

Xchange - Unwired

Gestion - Del compromiso a la compra (in Spanish)

BusinessWeek - AT&T’s Designs for the Wireless Market

Mediapost - IAB Unveils Mobile Media Buying Guide

Xconomy - A Yotta Insights on Making Money in Mobile

Mediapost - AT&T Wants Devices To Expand Use of Wireless Networks

June

Wireless Week - Tough Times Call for Superior Customer Care

BusinessWeek - The iPhone’s Wary New Rivals

GigaOM - How iPhone 3.0 Will Impact Wireless Networks

AdAge - Where to Find the Marketer Opportunities in the new iPhone

NY Times - Cellphone Locator System Needs No Satellite

Washington Post - Skyhook Wireless Hopes to Maintain Early Lead in Location Finding

TMCnet - Mobile ARPU Drops Globally, Traffic Grows

EConsultancy - Why ATT cares more about new iPhone users than existing ones

May

Business Week - GigaOM to Begin Subscription Service

GigaOM - Meet GigaOM Pro, Our Subscription-Only Research Service

TMCnet - AT&T Considers Cheaper iPhone Service, Device

Poynter - Summer 2009 Could Be Right Time to Expand Mobile News Services

Telephony - Verizon Wireless not messing with prepaid

Boston Globe - Surreptitious success

Business Week - Cheaper iPhone Plans from AT&T?

TMCnet - Smartphones Contribute to Mobile Ad Growth

BizReport - US mobile revenue tops $10 million

NY Times - US Pulls Ahead in Mobile Data Revenue

BusinessWeek - Wireless Industry: Engaged in Double Counting?

Washington Post - US Wireless Data Revenues Hit $10 Billion For the First Time Ever

TMCnet - US Mobile Data Services Revenues Top $10 Billion in Q1

Mediapost - Mobile Marketing Company Velti Acquires Ad Infuse

Telappliant VoIP News - US mobile broadband market grew by 24% in 2008

GigaOM - The iPhone Will Not Destroy the Wireless Business

FierceMobileContent - US mobile data revenues cross $10 billion milestone

Mediapost - US Mobile Data Revenue Hits $10 Billion in Q1

TelephonyOnline - Is prepaid growth an illusion?

Telephony - Verizon, Google duke it out for employees

Moconews - Dying or Thriving? The Debate Over CDMA

April

MIT Technology Review - A New Breed of Netbook?

Advertising Age - Who Needs the iPhone? Verizon beats AT&T in new customers

BusinessWeek - Wireless Carriers: Your New PC Retailer?

MIT Technology Review - Gmail Sidesteps the App Store

WIRED - Smartphone War Heats Up, Google Phones Still MIA

WIRED - Concept Phones go on Display at Wireless Trade Show

Washington Post - Is the Rush to Develop iPhone Apps Creating A Bubble?

FierceDeveloper - Gmail upgrade heralds leap mobile web apps

March

BusinessWeek - Prepaid Takes Off

NYTimes - Apple Shows Off Next Version of iPhone Software

Mercury News - Your phone, your life: New apps change how you use mobile devices

CNNMoney - US Wireless Data Revenues on the Brink

GigaOM - After Solid 2008, US Wireless Data Revenues may Slow

FierceMobileContent - US mobile data revenues grow to $34B in 2008

MediaPost - US Mobile Data Grew 39% in 2008

TelecomAsia - iPhone driving mobile data boom, says survey

TMCnet - Mobile Data Up, Data Cards Slipping a Bit

February

Advertising Age - Wireless-Phone Companies Fight Rising Churn Rates

GigaOM - With Latitude, Google Fires Another Shot at the Mobile Operators

Businessweek - Sprint Nextel: The Canary in Wireless’s Coal Mine?

January

MobileMarketer - Economy makes business case for mobile advertising more compelling

iMEDIA - Mobile ad spend may fall flat in 2009

MobileMarketingToday - Chetan Sharma Consulting Survey: Respondents See Glass Half Full for Mobile Advertising in 2009

New Whitepaper: The Untapped Mobile Data Opportunity December 16, 2009

Posted by chetan in : 3G, 4G, AORTA, ARPU, BRIC, Carriers, Enterprise Mobility, European Wireless Market, General, IP, IP Strategy, India, Indian Wireless Market, Infrastructure, Intellectual Property, International Trade, Japan Wireless Market, Location Based Services, M&A, MVNO, Microsoft Mobile, Mobile Advertising, Mobile Applications, Mobile Content, Mobile Ecosystem, Mobile Entertainment, Mobile Gaming, Mobile Search, Mobile TV, Mobile Usability, Mobile Users, Networks, Smart Phones, Speech Recognition, Storage, US Wireless Market, Unified Messaging, Wi-Fi, WiMax, Wireless Value Chain, Worldwide Wireless Market , 3 comments

http://www.chetansharma.com/untappedmobiledataopportunity.htm

The Untapped Mobile Data Opportunity

Request for participation: 2010 Mobile Industry Predictions December 15, 2009

Posted by chetan in : US Wireless Market , add a comment

Greetings everyone.

What a year 2009 has been. Despite the recession, the industry continued to grow, innovation prospered and prospects for a terrific 2010 look better than ever. To help us figure out what might happen, we are doing our Annual Mobile Industry Predictions Survey (20 questions) to gather insights from the collective brain trust – our readers, colleagues, and friends from around the globe. I am hoping you will again help us out with your insights (Last year’s results here). All answers are kept confidential.

If you leave your email address, we will enter you in the drawing for winning some mind-stretching/thumb-numbing prizes:

INQ Mini Intro

Mobile Phone: INQMobile’s newest social networking device – the INQ Chat 3G from the company that won the best mobile handset at the Mobile World Congress 2009 in Barcelona
Book: Open Mobile Understanding the Impact of Open Mobile: Implications for Telecoms/Devices, Web, Social Networks, Media and Personal Privacy by Ajit V Jaokar (FutureText) and Anna Gatti (Google)
Book: Tomi Ahonen Almanac 2010

We will share the results during the first week of 2010.

Please click here to start responding. It will take less than 5 minutes of your time. If the link doesn’t work for you, please let us know.

Survey ends Dec 28th.

The questions are:

1. What will be the biggest stories of 2010?

2. Have we recovered from the recession?

3. Who will be the most open player in the mobile ecosystem in 2010?

4. Will Android handset sales exceed iPhone’s in 2010?

5. When will we see tiered pricing plans for smartphones in the US from tier 1 operators?

6. What will happen to the mobile prepaid subscriber base in the US?

7. By how much will the mobile advertising ad-spend increase in 2010?

8. What will be the impact of the FCC’s national broadband plan on the mobile industry in 2010?

9. Who will be the mobile comeback story of 2010?

10. What will be the impact of Google Phone?

11. Which areas will feel the most impact from FCC?

12. Which solution will gain the most traction for managing mobile data broadband consumption?

13. When will the carrier-branded appstores lose steam?

14. What will help mobile cloud computing gain traction in 2010?

15. What will be the most successful non-mobile-phone category in 2010?

16. What will be the breakthrough category in mobile in 2010?

17. By the end of 2010, which will have more subscribers?

18. How will Netbooks do through the operator channel?

19. Which standards will gain traction?

20. What mode of mobile payments will get any traction in North America and Western Europe in 2010?

21. For bonus points, Despite conventional wisdom, what will not happen in 2010?

Please feel free to pass this on to anyone who might be interested or has something to say.

Wishing you a prosperous 2010.

Kind regards,

Chetan Sharma

NYTimes article on mobile data consumption woes December 13, 2009

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Continued the discussion with Prof. Stross at the NYTimes on the mobile broadband data traffic question. Article will appear in tomorrow’s Sunday paper. Another discussion with BusinessWeek here.

Pop Quiz

1. Which solution will gain the most traction for managing mobile data broadband consumption?

1. Tiered pricing

2. Policy management

3. Mobile offload

4. 4G

5. Optimization

6. Backhaul upgrades

7. Others

NYT looked at the work done by Root Wireless and our “State of the Mobile Broadband Nation” paper that was released earlier this week. As the Google Phone (not surprising) news started to emerge earlier today, we are looking for a very interesting Q1 2010. We will have more thoughts and research in the space in the coming weeks. Stay tuned.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

DIGITAL DOMAIN

AT&T Takes the Blame, Even for the iPhone’s Faults

By RANDALL STROSS

I LOVE my iPhone. I just wish it were matched with Verizon Wireless, the carrier with the most envied reputation as fast, ubiquitous, reliable, nigh perfect.

Consumer Reports has just released its annual survey of cellphone service, and its respondents collectively agree with me about the rankings: AT&T occupies the bottom and Verizon, the top.

My sense of Verizon’s superiority is confirmed every time I see a “there’s a map for that” Verizon commercial, graphically showing how far more extensive Verizon’s 3G network coverage is in less populated areas. And it is reinforced when AT&T executives publicly confess — as Ralph de la Vega, the chief executive and president of AT&T mobility and consumer markets, did last week at an industry conference — that the company’s wireless service in New York and San Francisco was “below our standards.”

When I set about looking for independent data, however, to confirm the superior performance of Verizon’s network, I was astonished to discover that I had managed to get things exactly wrong. Despite the well-publicized problems in New York and San Francisco, AT&T seems to have the superior network nationwide.

And the iPhone itself may not be so great after all. Its design is contributing to performance problems.

Roger Entner, senior vice president for telecommunications research at Nielsen, said the iPhone’s “air interface,” the electronics in the phone that connect it to the cell towers, had shortcomings that “affect both voice and data.” He said that in the eyes of the consumer, “the iPhone has the nimbus of infallibility, ergo, it’s AT&T’s fault.” AT&T does not publicly defend itself because it will not criticize Apple under any circumstances, he said. AT&T and Apple both declined to comment on Mr. Entner’s assessments.

Neither AT&T nor Verizon was willing to reveal its internal data on performance. But Global Wireless Solutions, one of the third-party services that run network tests for the major carriers, shared some of its current findings. The service dispatches drivers across the country with phones and laptops equipped with data cards. They have covered more than three million miles of roads this year, while running almost two million wireless data sessions and placing more than three million voice calls, said Paul Carter, the president.

The results place AT&T’s data network not just on top, but well ahead of everyone else. “AT&T’s data throughput is 40 to 50 percent higher than the competition, including Verizon,” Mr. Carter said. AT&T is a client and Verizon is not, he added.

More evidence that AT&T’s data network is head-and-shoulders above Verizon’s comes from Root Wireless, a start-up in Bellevue, Wash., that is developing software for consumers to install on their smartphones to do continuous network tests. This generates empirical data for consumers who “today are buried under opinions and advertising slogans,” said Paul Griff, the chief executive. Root Wireless has no business relationship with any carrier.

This year, Root Wireless ran 4.7 million tests on smartphones for each of the four major carriers, spread across seven metropolitan areas: Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles/Orange County, New York, Seattle/Tacoma, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Washington. In every market, AT&T had faster average download speeds and had signal strength of 75 percent or better more frequently than did Verizon. (A Verizon spokesman declined to comment about these test results or those of Global Wireless Solutions.)

I asked Ron Dicklin, chief technology officer at Root Wireless, how these results, showing AT&T as the clear leader, could be reconciled with the negative appraisal of Consumer Reports’ respondents. He explained that his company’s tests of AT&T’s data network were done with handsets other than the iPhone, which does not allow non-Apple programs like his to run in the background.

AT&T’s besting of Verizon in these tests is all the more remarkable considering the sudden jump in the volume of mobile data that its network has had to handle with the introduction of the iPhone 3G in 2008: approximately 4,000 percent.

Chetan Sharma, a telecommunications consultant whose clients have included AT&T and Verizon, said that when the network and the handset were improved, customers “just used it all the more.” AT&T didn’t anticipate the rate of growth and didn’t upgrade fast enough in some markets, he said. “Other operators have the luxury of watching and learning from AT&T,” he said, “which has the most number of next-generation smartphones, with full browsers and built-in video players.”

The data seem incontrovertible: AT&T, while meeting 4,000 percent growth in data use, has acquitted itself quite nicely. But the company is saddled with an awful public image as the perennial laggard.

AT&T and Apple could both gain by swapping talent.

Apple, send your marketing wizards to lend your partner a hand. It sorely needs help.

AT&T, send some engineers to redesign the iPhone to make better use of the country’s fastest wireless network.

Randall Stross is an author based in Silicon Valley and a professor of business at San Jose State University. E-mail: stross@nytimes.com.

Business Week article on tiered pricing December 12, 2009

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Tiered pricing will be the hot topic for the next few months

AT&T Possible Price Moves May Backfire

Potential efforts to charge more for heavy data usage may alienate customers and stymie innovation and growth in the wireless Web

By Olga Kharif

AT&T giveth and AT&T taketh away. The wireless service provider that has mastered all-you-can-eat monthly service packages for its mobile-phone customers is having second thoughts. Concerned that some customers are consuming more than their share of data over wireless networks, the company plans to offer some subscribers "incentives" to "reduce or modify their usage" of bandwidth, AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la Vega said on Dec. 9. Analysts and consumer advocates say the changes may backfire.

De la Vega, speaking at a conference in New York sponsored by investment bank UBS (UBS), didn’t specify the company’s plans, but said one step will be giving users more information on how much data they’ve consumed. Analysts speculate AT&T may move to a tiered pricing scheme where subscribers are charged more depending on how much bandwidth they use—say, through downloading videos or sending and receiving big documents. Some carriers in other countries, including Canada and Australia, already use tiered pricing.

Yet in a market where customers have grown accustomed to paying a single fee no matter how much data they consume, a switch by AT&T, the largest U.S. mobile-phone operator, may backfire. Analysts and consumer advocates say the move may curb demand for smartphones and wireless data products, stymie development by programmers who specialize in mobile applications, and push subscribers into the arms of rivals, such as Verizon Wireless, that currently charge flat fees. "This notion that customers must now curb their Internet usage or pay up is not only unfair to consumers, it puts up a roadblock to wireless innovation," says Craig Aaron, senior program director at Free Press, a nonprofit group that advocates for unfettered access to communications.

BLOW TO MOBILE DEMAND

Demand for mobile data is expected to keep rising, though possibly at a slower pace, as carriers take steps to discourage heavy bandwidth use, says Chetan Sharma, an independent wireless consultant based in Issaquah, Wash. Limits on data usage or higher prices may also slow adoption of smartphones, one of the fastest-growing areas of the wireless industry, analysts say.

AT&T declined to elaborate on de la Vega’s comments. Verizon Wireless declined to comment.

Companies that specialize in mobile-Web services and products would also suffer from a drop-off in demand growth for wireless Internet access, investors and analysts speculate. These range from startups such as Ustream, which makes a tool that lets Apple (AAPL) iPhone users orchestrate their own live broadcasts of video captured on the device’s camera, to bigger players such as Skype, a provider of Internet-based calling services.

Developers may need to slash prices on games, e-books, and other tools sold in online bazaars such as the Apple App Store, says Richard Murphy, an analyst at IDC. App developers may also need to change how they make money, relying more on advertising rather than one-time fees or subscriptions over time.

A wide range of service providers would be affected. "Mobile is absolutely central [to our growth]," says Tim Westergren, founder of Internet radio service Pandora, which sells applications that put its streaming stations onto the iPhone, Research In Motion’s (RIMM) BlackBerry, and other smartphones. "It accounts for half of our new listeners and a third of our listening hours. Clearly, the more expensive the [mobile] bandwidth, the worse it is for us."

NETWORK CHALLENGE

In the U.S., AT&T is the exclusive carrier of the Apple iPhone. About 3% of AT&T’s iPhone users generate 40% of all the traffic over AT&T Mobility’s network, the company contends. Heavy demand by a small proportion of the user base erodes margins, says Craig Moffett, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein (AB).

AT&T supporters contend that unless it changes the way it charges some users for data, customers across the board will end up with worse service. "The alternative is having the network collapse," says Michael Mace, a principal at Rubicon Consulting. AT&T says it is trying to upgrade its network to make it more capable of handling heavy traffic.

But critics say the company shouldn’t penalize customers for what they say is AT&T’s failure to anticipate surging demand for smartphone data. "AT&T’s wireless profits are sky-high, but it still wants an excuse to charge consumers more and continue to advertise a network experience it can’t deliver," says Aaron at Free Press. In December, Consumer Reports reported that AT&T came in last in consumer satisfaction in more than a dozen large cities. The report noted: "If you’re readying to buy Apple’s phone, prepare for possible disappointment with its service."

Kharif is a senior writer for BusinessWeek.com in Portland, Ore.

NY Times article: AT&T to Urge Customers to Use Less Wireless Data December 10, 2009

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I have long said that the current unlimited pricing on full browser smartphones is not sustainable. Over the last couple of years, I have written and talked extensively about the problem and solutions needed to address this issue (some thoughts were discussed with Business Week, GigaOM, NYTimes and others) and then in more detail in the Yottabyte whitepaper). Looks like industry is coming around to that realization and we might see some pricing structure changes in Q1 2010. Glad to see the industry is moving in the right direction by acknowledging the issues and coming up with relevant technical and business solutions. We still need a more holistic approach but at least this is a start. Some of the things Mr. De La Vega said yesterday at the UBS conference were straight from our whitepaper recommendations. Much more to come on the subject and this topic will stay in the news in 2010.

AT&T to Urge Customers to Use Less Wireless Data

By JENNA WORTHAM

Published: December 9, 2009

AT&T is considering ways to encourage customers to use less wireless data as its network struggles to keep up with demand, a company executive said Wednesday.

“What we are seeing in the U.S. today in terms of smartphone penetration, 3G data, nobody else is seeing in the rest of the planet,” Ralph de la Vega, president and chief executive for mobility and consumer markets at AT&T, told analysts at a conference in New York. “The amount of growth and data that we are seeing in wireless data is unprecedented.”

AT&T is the exclusive United States carrier for the iPhone, whose owners are big users of network capacity as they surf the Web and download videos.

The company has been criticized by owners of the phone for delayed text and voice messages, sluggish download speeds and other network problems.

Mr. de la Vega cited the heaviest data users, saying that 40 percent of AT&T’s data traffic came from just 3 percent of its smartphone customers.

But he emphasized that the company would first focus on educating consumers about their data consumption in the hope that doing so would encourage them to cut back, even though they are paying for unlimited data use.

“We’re going to try to focus on making sure we give incentives to those small percentages to either reduce or modify their usage, so they don’t crowd out the customers on those same cell sites,” he said.

The company might consider a “pricing scheme that addresses the usage,” Mr. de la Vega said. But he said that would be determined by regulatory factors and industry competition, among other issues.

Although the company declined to provide further details, analysts speculated that AT&T could be talking about a tiered pricing structure, not unlike a voice plan.

“You use more minutes, you pay more,” said Chetan Sharma, an independent wireless analyst. Mr. Sharma pointed out that carriers in other countries put data-use limits on iPhone customers to manage demand.

Still, Mr. Sharma said pricing plans based on use were only part of the answer to AT&T’s network congestion.

“They still have to improve things on the back end so they can deal with the issues of multiple users on the network at the same time,” he said.

AT&T has announced a goal of adding 2,000 cell sites to improve its network this year. And this week it released an iPhone application called Mark the Spot that lets users report data problems, dropped calls and spotty coverage.

All wireless carriers are preparing for growth in the use of smartphones and mobile computers that will place high data demands on their networks, said James Brehm, a senior mobile consultant with market research firm Frost & Sullivan.

“AT&T and other service providers want to be smarter about how they bill customers and maximize all streams of revenue, while growing the number of connected devices and data traffic at the same time,” Mr. Brehm said.

Mr. de la Vega acknowledged the company’s difficulties in meeting the demands of its customers, but said things were improving in some areas. “In New York, I think we’ve turned a corner,” he said.

State of the (Mobile) Broadband Nation – A Benchmarking Study December 8, 2009

Posted by chetan in : US Wireless Market , 1 comment so far

http://www.chetansharma.com/stateofthebroadbandnation09.htm

State of the (Mobile) Broadband Nation - a benchmarking study

We live in an information society that is driven by a knowledge economy. A nation’s competitiveness is directly dependent on its information infrastructure, which includes access to and availability of broadband at a low price. Availability of broadband decreases the digital divide and allows consumers access at a much faster rate, changes user behavior, and has a positive impact on the local, regional, and national economies.

Broadband networks reduce the disadvantages of low population densities in rural areas. New applications such as telemedicine, e-government, public safety, e-commerce, small business assistance, and entertainment can be launched and adopted. As a result, new jobs are created and often new or offshoot industries are created as well. The economic benefits of broadband can also be attributed to indirect factors, including increased commerce, reduction in commute times, increased consumption of entertainment, and savings in health care as a result of sophisticated telemedicine. In the United States, several studies have been released that detail the prevailing economic benefits of broadband deployment.[1]^,[2]

Broadband availability becomes ever more important in the global society in which the end-points of any solution can be anywhere. In an interconnected world, for example, healthcare delivery will be much more decentralized and distributed. The local clinic might be responsible for monitoring a patient’s vital signs but the analysis and prognosis might come from a physician thousands of miles away. One might be lying down on a bed in Kuala Lumpur but the surgeon doing the surgery might be in Stockholm on video conference with experts from Cambridge and Chennai.

Given the importance of broadband in fostering the US competitiveness and the economic well-being, the FCC is required by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to submit a National Broadband Plan to Congress that looks at the broadband policy by Feb 2010. The key initiatives and principles adopted by the FCC will not only impact the US market but will also have wider ecosystem repercussions. In its interim findings, one of the seven gaps that FCC identified is Consumer Information Gap.[3]

To understand the state of the US mobile broadband market, we undertook a benchmarking study with the help of our colleagues at Root Wireless who have developed an innovative approach to collect mobile performance data. Root provided us with copious amounts of data from the urban routes in seven big markets for all four major US carriers. Other benchmarking studies have typically focused only on the data cards[4] and have used limited data samples (though some have covered more cities). This study used over 4.7 million data points for analyzing the mobile broadband performance in the US. Since smartphones are the most important and the fastest growing segment of the US mobile industry, for our analysis, we primarily focused on the smartphones as very little analysis has been done and scant performance metrics have been reported on such devices.

Our goal was to benchmark the state of the US mobile broadband market with respect to the signal quality, realistic mobile broadband speeds, and 3G availability. This paper presents the findings from the study.

Download Paper (1MB)

[1] Examples of such studies: Robert Crandall and Charles Jackson, ‘‘The $500 Billion Opportunity: The Potential Economic Benefit of Widespread Diffusion of Broadband Internet Access 2001,’’ ‘‘Broadband Bringing Home the Bits,’’ National Academy Press, 2002. In addition, there have been several local and regional studies looking at the impact of broadband to their economies such as ‘‘George Ford and Thomas Koutsky, Broadband and Economic Development: A Municipal Case Study from Florida,’’ 2005.

[2] For more discussion on the subject, please see Chapter 2, Fotheringham, Sharma, Wireless Broadband: Conflict and Convergence, IEEE Press/John Wiley & Sons, Nov 2008

[3] http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-294706A1.pdf

[4] http://www.pcworld.com/article/167391/a_day_in_the_life_of_3g.html

Open Mobile December 7, 2009

Posted by chetan in : US Wireless Market , 1 comment so far

Telephony Online does an in-depth study of Open Mobile. I talked to Sarah Reedy on the subject. Some of the articles below. you can catch the entire issue here

Open to alternatives

Dec 1, 2009 12:00 PM, Sarah Reedy

Breaking Down the Walled Garden

Dec 1, 2009 12:00 PM, Sarah Reedy

Roundup of second Mobile Breakfast Series event – Mobile Broadband December 6, 2009

Posted by chetan in : 3G, AORTA, ARPU, CTIA, Carriers, Indian Wireless Market, Infrastructure, Location Based Services, Mergers and Acquisitions, Mobile Advertising, Mobile Applications, Mobile Content, Mobile Ecosystem, Mobile Entertainment, Mobile Search, Mobile TV, Mobile Users, Mobile Wallet, Networks, Speaking Engagements, US Wireless Market, Wi-Fi, WiMax, Wireless Value Chain, Worldwide Wireless Market , 3 comments

The second Mobile Breakfast Series Event was held at the picturesque Harbor Club in downtown Seattle on Dec 4th. The topic was “The Impact and Evolution of Mobile Broadband.” The lineup of speakers was awesome with who’s who of the mobile broadband world opining about the state of the industry, the opportunities, and challenges posed by the growth in mobile broadband:

Neville Ray, Senior Vice President of Engineering, T-Mobile USA

Hank Skorny, Senior Vice President, Media Cloud Computing and Services, Real Networks

Ken Denman, CEO, Openwave

Dow Draper, Vice President, Technology Partnerships, Clearwire

Charlie Martin, Wireless CTO, Huawei Technologies

Stacey Higginbotham, Senior Writer, GigaOM (moderator)

First of all, a big thanks to our generous sponsors: Motricity, Openwave, and Clearwire of supporting the event series. I am happy to report that Motricity has signed up to be the sponsor for the entire 2010 season. So, thanks Jennifer Moranz and Brendan Benzing. Thanks also to Ken Denman and Lupe Downing at Openwave, and Jeff Giard and Scott Richardson at Clearwire for their support. Thanks also to our esteemed panelists who have taken the time out of their busy schedules to be here with us this morning, esp. Ken, Charlie, and Stacey who had to hop on a plane to be at the event. Also, thanks to GigaOM and Moconews for being such terrific media sponsors.

As our operators continue to enhance the infrastructure both in the US as well as abroad, it is creating new opportunities and challenges for the industry. As you know, our friends at the FCC are also very consumed by the task of creating a National Broadband Policy and mobile is a key component of that proposal.

It was one of the best discussions on mobile broadband I have heard all year long. Panelists were really frank and insightful.

The salient points of the 90 minute discussions were:

The disparity between the available bandwidth and the bandwidth demand is becoming apparent and the industry is scrambling to find solutions to stay ahead of the curve.
Even at these high usage rates, mobile data is quite profitable for the operators. Vendors typically don’t a full grasp of the carrier economics and end up making some product choices that are not that directly relevant or useful for the carriers.
Consumers are willing to pay more for better access, higher speeds, and good content and significant opportunities await us in the coming years.
There is no such thing as “free lunch” and someone has to pay for the bandwidth. Sometimes it feels that the pie is not big enough to feed all the hands that are the in the revenue share pot.
Spectrum and capacity is king and whoever has a good spectrum tends to benefit competitively.
Out of necessity, companies come up with innovative solutions e.g. T-Mobile focusing on WiFi in the early days when AT&T didn’t want to touch it and Verizon mocked it. Now WiFi is central to their mobile data strategy.
Traffic from non-phones will exceed that from the typical feature and smartphones.
Business and revenue models that will help sustain the industry are going to come from outside the industry.
With so much at stake, carriers will figure out ways to participate the appstore value chain.
Browsers have shattered the control of the ecosystem and we are just at the tip of the iceberg.
We will soon see the return of the tier-ing price plans. QoS will enter the picture soon. Likely to have platinum vs. gold service concept emerge
Solutions – mobile analytics, video optimization, traffic shaping – it comes down the “art of delivering a packet”
Apps are not a zero-sum game.
There will be a metamorphosis of physics and economics of mobile data, new group of players will emerge.
Carriers have historically not done a good job of picking winning applications but they will figure ways to participate in the new ecosystem.
Compared to the online Internet market, mobile Internet market is quite nascent and we are expected to see significant opportunities emerge in the next couple of years.
While iPhone has been a great device, it is the Google applications that make it so popular.
Presence, social networking, and connectedness will all help in creating a brave new world of mobile data services.
More Carrier branded solutions to come.
If carriers are cut of the revenue stream, they might have less incentive to upgrade their networks.
Technographics, Psychographics, and Demographics data very useful for application developers and we can expect operators to open up consumer information gradually for the ecosystem.
Some see Android getting more closed with each release, OEMs need to open up the device for app developers to take full advantage of capabilities.
T-Mobile has been rapidly expanding their 3G footprint with expected coverage increase to 200M by end of the year.
The levers operators can use to control data usage – pricing, QoS
FCC’s action is having a positive impact on the industry though we need a lot of work (and a lot of spectrum)

Also, Tricia Duryee does a good summary of the discussion at Moconews

Our next event is looking to be another sellout affair with tech titan Rob Glaser, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Real Networks headlining the event. Be sure to register early to avoid any sellout blues. Date: March 10, 2010.

Until then, a very happy new year to you and yours and have a terrific holiday season that helps you prepare for a successful 2010.

The Impact and Evolution of Mobile Broadband December 3, 2009

Posted by chetan in : US Wireless Market , add a comment

Super excited about the event tomorrow. We have a terrific lineup. Like last time, we are completely sold out. In fact, registrations jumped 21% from the first one.

See you guys at The Harbor Club bright and early.

Many thanks to our sponsors

and the media sponsors

Topic: The Impact and Evolution of Mobile Broadband

Stacey Higginbotham, Senior Writer, GigaOM

Stacey has over ten years of experience reporting on business and technology, most recently as reporter with top technology blog GigaOM. There she covers both the infrastructure that allows companies to deliver services via the web, as well as the services themselves. Prior to GigaOM Stacey wrote about technology and finance for The Deal, a finance publication out of New York, and launched its coverage of angel-backed and seed-stage companies. She joined The Deal from the Austin Business Journal which she wrote for after her return from New York City, where she worked at publications that included The Bond Buyer and BusinessWeek. Stacey graduated with a degree in journalism from the University of Texas at Austin.

Dow Draper, Vice President, Technology Partnerships, Clearwire

Dow Draper recently joined Clearwire as Vice President of Product Development and Innovation where he is responsible for strategy and development of WiMAX-based devices and services, and for product marketing of new customer solutions. Dow spent the past four years at Alltel Corporation where he held both marketing and finance roles: Most recently as Senior Vice President of Voice and Data Solutions and prior to that as Senior Vice President of Financial Planning and Analysis where he played a key role in several acquisitions and in Alltel’s sale to Goldman Sachs and TPG. Prior to joining Alltel, Dow spent several years in the Seattle area, first as a consultant with McKinsey and Company working in the aerospace, automotive and wireless telecommunications industries, and second working for Western Wireless (prior to its acquisition by Alltel) as Executive Director of Financial Planning and Analysis. Dow has an MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an undergraduate degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Charlie Martin, Wireless CTO, Huawei Technologies

Charlie Martin is the Wireless Chief Technology Officer for Huawei Technologies (North America). Martin has more than 20 years of experience in wireless communications and has spent the past nine years in product management, business development and technology development. Previously, Martin served as Nortel’s Director of WiMAX Network and Systems Product Line Management, and, prior to that, as Director of Wireless Technology and Product Strategy for the company. Before joining Nortel, Martin held positions at two service provider companies. At GTE Business Data Products, Martin was a member of a five person product management team responsible for rolling out a nationwide ADSL service in more than 330 central offices in 1998. At Sprint PCS, Martin served as the Manager of RF Design for the Dallas/Fort Worth Engineering and Operations team, which rolled out CDMA service in 1996. Martin earned a Bachelor of Science degree in physics from the University of Maryland.

Neville Ray, Senior Vice President of Engineering, T-Mobile USA

A professional in the telecommunications industry for more than 20 years, Neville Ray has specific experience in the design, deployment and operational management of GSM and WCDMA networks in the United States and worldwide. Mr. Ray is responsible for the management of the national T-Mobile network in the USA, covering in excess of 260M pops, serving 32 million customers and encompassing 43,000+ cell site facilities. HSDPA services were launched in 2008 across all major metro areas of this network. This year T-Mobile rapidly strengthened and grew its 3G network to reach approximately two-thirds of the U.S. population by the end of the year. The faster HSPA 7.2 standard will be enabled across the entire 3G network by year-end. The company also announced it will be the first carrier to launch HSPA+ in the U.S. and conducted a trial in Philadelphia , gearing up for broad deployment by mid-2010 to deliver throughput speeds three to five times faster than today’s 3G networks – with theoretical peak download speeds of 21Mbps (depending on device and other factors).

Prior to assuming his current national role at T-Mobile USA, Mr. Ray held the position of Vice President of Network Engineering and Operations for the Northeast region of T-Mobile USA where he led the network through the 9/11 terrorist attacks, receiving significant recognition from the New York Police Department, New York state agencies and the Federal Communications Commission.

Ken Denman, CEO, Openwave

Ken Denman is chief executive officer for Openwave Systems (NASDAQ: OPWV) where he is focused on executing Openwave’s corporate strategy and growing the company’s global market share with innovative software infrastructure products and services for mobile and broadband operators. Ken’s career spans more than 20 years in the global telecommunications and IT industries. Before Openwave, Ken served as chairman and CEO of iPass, a world leader in platform-based enterprise mobility services where he guided the company in leveraging the explosion in new broadband and wireless access technologies to make them real and globally available to any enterprise or service provider. Under Mr. Denman’s leadership, iPass grew its revenue by 200 percent and went public in 2003.
Before joining iPass, Ken was the founder, president and CEO of AuraServ Communications, a managed service provider of broadband voice and data applications. Earlier, he served as senior vice president at MediaOne’s National Markets Group (now part of Comcast) where his teams exceeded new subscriber growth targets and dramatically reduced customer churn. He also served as chief operating officer of MediaOne’s International Wireless Group, leading international joint ventures including what would become the leading wireless providers in Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic. Ken also serves on the board of ShoreTel, Inc., (NASDAQ: SHOR), a leading provider of Pure IP unified communications systems headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. Ken holds an MBA from the University of Washington and a BS in accounting from Central Washington University.

Hank Skorny, Senior Vice President, Media Cloud Computing and Services, Real Networks

At Real Networks, Hank Skorny is leading a new effort to place media into the cloud, offering the ability to protect and access it anywhere. This will allow users to organize, explore and socialize with their media like never before.Hank has nearly 25 years of executive marketing, business development, and engineering experience. Hank had been a successful entrepreneur, serving as CEO of Thumbspeed Inc. which was acquired by OZ Communications Inc. which was subsequently acquired by Nokia. Prior to Thumbspeed, Hank held senior executive positions at Infospace Mobile and AOL Mobile. His career has included general management, senior product management and engineering positions at Adobe Systems, Microsoft and Apple Computer.

Hank also serves as Chairman of Zipwhip, Inc., a leader in internet based text messaging over the web. He serves on the board of Enterprise Ireland and takes an active role in philanthropy organizations that focus on education and stimulating entrepreneurship. Hank studied at Drexel University where he was awarded a scholarship for his early novel research in Xenon Fluorides and by GlaxoSmithKline for his research in computer modeling of reactions involving complex three-dimensional proteins and glycopeptides.

Mobile Analytics at Mobile Marketing Forum – LA November 10, 2009

Posted by chetan in : US Wireless Market , 1 comment so far

I got invited to participate in two compelling sessions at MMF in LA next week. The topic is something that is close to my heart – Mobile Analytics.

Mobile Analytics Workshop, Sheraton Downtown Los Angeles

Mobile Marketing Forum Workshop
Mobile Analytics Workshop, Sheraton Downtown Los Angeles
Monday, November 16, 2009, 2-5pm

The recent rise in mobile data uptake has not yet translated into increased demand for mobile advertising. Mobile carriers have long owned the richest source of raw data to drive effective targeted advertising. However, the industry lacks a proven method of turning the raw data into valuable insights and standardizing the interface between carrier and advertising systems. A contextually-aware data mediation platform is the essential link between carrier and advertiser – the spark the mobile ad marketplace needs to get rolling.
Sponsored by Openwave Systems, Inc.

Presenters:
Anurag Patnaik: Director of Product Management, Analytics, Openwave Systems, Inc.
Eswar Priyadarshan: CTO, Quattro Wireless
Chetan Sharma: President, Chetan Sharma Consulting
Zaw Thet: CEO, 4Info
Track:
Mobile Analytics
Session:
Data Mediation and the Advertising Ecosystem
Title:
Sharing the Carriers’ 360-degree-view of the Subscriber with the rest of the Mobile Advertising Ecosystem
The recent increase in mobile internet usage is a result of the following key factors: flat-rate and pay-as-you-go billing models, which are easier for the subscriber to understand; larger, touch-sensitive screens pioneered by the likes of the iPhone and other smartphones; and netbooks, data cards, and other internet-ready devices. But this sharp rise in mobile data uptake has not yet translated into increased demand for mobile advertising.

One of the fundamental ingredients in an effective internet advertising solution is the ability to leverage behavioral data for optimal ad selection. Because of its close relationship with the subscriber, mobile carriers own the richest source of data to drive effective targeted advertising in any channel. However, the industry lacks a proven method of turning the raw data into valuable insights, and standardizing the interface between carriers and advertising systems.
According to Anurag Patnaik, Openwave’s director of product management, the mobile analytics platforms embedded in mobile carrier environments play a key role in translating rich behavioral data to actionable insights. More importantly, there has to be seamless mediation between such insights and the adverting marketplace.

Ad targeting systems should be able to leverage subscriber data in an anonymous way and optimize the match between specific ad campaigns and available profiles. The result will be higher eCPMs and a growth in the overall appetite for mobile advertising. A contextually-aware data mediation platform is the essential link between carrier and advertiser – the spark the mobile ad marketplace needs to get rolling.

In this session, Mr. Patnaik along with ecosystem partners will discuss the mobile data mediation opportunity. They will explore challenges the different players within the ecosystem are facing and possible solutions. The panel will address the following questions:

What are the biggest challenges preventing mobile advertising from realizing its potential?
What is the function of a mobile data mediation platform and what is the specific integration with advertising networks and technologies?
What kind of insights are needed to fulfill the current demand at ad networks?
How do operators view the mobile data mediation opportunity?
How can developers and publishers leverage mobile data mediation?

The next day, we will be doing a panel discussion

Panel: Mobile Analytics
The recent rise in mobile data uptake has not yet translated into increased demand for mobile advertising. Mobile carriers have long owned the richest source of raw data to drive effective targeted advertising. However, the industry lacks a proven method of turning the raw data into valuable insights and standardizing the interface between carrier and advertising systems. A contextually-aware data mediation platform is the essential link between carrier and advertiser – the spark the mobile ad marketplace needs to get rolling.
Sponsored by Openwave Systems, Inc.

Moderator: Anand Chandrasekaran: Director of Product Management, Openwave Systems, Inc.
Zaw Thet: CEO, 4Info
Chetan Sharma: President, Chetan Sharma Consulting
Marcus Startzel: SVP of Sales, Millennial Media
Steven Rosenblatt: SVP, Quattro Wireless (invited)

Hope to see my mobile advertising friends there

Colleagues can register via the event website and include (25%MMF09) in the VIP Code box at: www.mobilemarketingforum.com

In case you missed

Posted by chetan in : US Wireless Market , add a comment

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