Archives January 2013

This TechCrunch column about the differences between B2C and B2B start-ups reminded me of one issue that I’ve been pondering lately, as part of our mobile application storefronts research. (Yes, I rather dogmatically keep calling them app or application storefronts and not simply “app stores”, just to distinct the term from Apple’s, eh, app store ...

The IPv4 – IPv6 debate has almost exclusively focused on when the internet addresses will actually run out. Vendors and technical standards organizations have done most of the groundwork to facilitate a smooth transition. Further than that however, many businesses have not really thought about the implications of this transition. And they should be because ...

In the middle of last year, this market research company published a report (RR-TWEEN-12) on top-end smartphones suggesting a possible new segmentation within the mobile device market. Phablets, or larger-than-usual smartphones, are those measuring between 4.6 and 6.5 inches diagonally across the touchscreen. Some may point back to Dell's attempt at a ...

For much of 2011 and 2012, it looked like mobile carriers were just the utility companies for the Web 2.0 economy. Apple with Siri, Google with its mapping and search capabilities, Facebook with its social networking clout… but we are now starting to see carriers fight back. The first time I started to hear ...

The embers of the heated WCIT ITR negotiation last month have barely cooled and yet they are being fanned once more with anti-ITU sentiment. I came across the De-fund the ITU campaign, accompanied by a US petition to reduce USG direct funding of the ITU from $11M to $22k. Far be it from me to ...

DISH Network Corporation, the North American direct satellite broadcaster, has put a recent spanner (“wrench” in American English) in the works for Sprint's acquisition of the remaining 49.6% of Clearwire, the U.S. wholesale 4G LTE and retail WiMAX service provider. Will it succeed?

Very unlikely. Sprint's market share and stock market ...

My Contactless Experience Thus Far

I received my contactless debit card around 6 months ago and wanted to share my contactless payments experience, concluding on how the setup of a contactless terminal can make or break the experience and what if anything can be done to improve the experience?

To date there are a number ...

In the input market, mobile network operators demand spectrum, which is essentially a factor of production; in the output market, they supply cellular services. One can imagine how the market structure in the former influences that in the latter. The controversy surrounding the spectrum screen review in the United States presents a case in point ...

PA Consulting Group develops Time And Relative Dimension In Space, fits a 30ft base station into a 3 inch Raspberry Pi.  As for the Pi, a BBC fan would tell you, “It’s bigger on the inside!” 

Well… not really a TARDIS, but they do demonstrate call ...