Communications Crossroads - Fall 2008 - (Page 8)

telebites MILLENIALS TURN TO MOBILE SOCIAL NETWORKS The Millenial generation will soon conduct their entire social networking experience from a handset— including blogging, photo and video sharing, games, SMS and IM—says researcher In-Stat. Some key points: • More than 229.5 million mobile subscribers globally could be using mobile social networking services by 2012. • Despite being in the early stages, social network advertising 2008 revenues are predicted to be over $1.5 billon. • The iPhone has enabled even non-tech-savvy users to surf the Internet, download and play music, take pictures, send messages and record videos, all on a mobile device. © Iofoto | Dreamstime.com QUICK HITS • Consumer interest in “quadruple-play” services— wireline voice, IP-video, Internet, and wireless—has jumped substantially over the last year to 43 percent of respondents expressing strong interest in such an option, according to industry research ﬁrm Compete. • A survey by Forrester Research shows that online retail sales, excluding travel purchases, could grow to $204 billion in 2008, up from $174.5 billion in 2007. Leading that spike are apparel, computers and vehicles purchased online. • U.S. consumers have spoken— and have picked smartphones as their mobile device of choice in a survey comparing the ultra-mobile PC (UMPC), the mobile Internet device (MID), smartphones, and smartphones with mobile companions. According to In-Stat, nearly half the respondents chose the smartphone. FIXED MOBILE CONVERGENCE STILL ON THE FRINGE Despite the obvious beneﬁts of seamless roaming between wireline and wireless networks, it may be a while before ﬁ xed mobile convergence (FMC) is widely deployed, according to In-Stat. One major problem? Finding a good business case for wireless carriers, for whom FMC is a revenue threat. Another challenge is whether FMC itself will be revenue-generating, or whether it will be simply an add-on to traditional services. Nonetheless, InStat predicts dual-mode cellular/Wi-Fi handset shipments will increase over the next several years. (www.in-stat.com) 8 COMMUNICATIONS CROSSROADS www.ustelecom.org http://www.in-stat.com http://www.ustelecom.org

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Communications Crossroads - Fall 2008 Up Front Contents TeleBites The Urge to Merge The 700 MHZ Auction: Results and Speculation Industry Calendar Advertisers DotCom Index to Advertisers People Straight Talk

Communications Crossroads - Fall 2008

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