THE DATA ADMINISTRATION NEWSLETTER – TDAN.com
ROBERT S. SEINER – PUBLISHER

We can do the pretty standard look back and look ahead column, but I don’t see a whole lot to look back on. The U.S. has been in a recession for the year; and on a lesser front, there are some clear challengers to the iPhone. So, let’s look ahead to what I hope will be better times. I believe we will continue to see our two much discussed market factors – conversion and personalization – continue to shape the future of the wireless and digital worlds. Smart devices will continue to take over the wireless world and will blur the functionality difference between the laptop and the smart device class of wireless devices. The groundswell toward LTE will continue as WiMAX looks to build out and attempt to gain in popularity and capability. Audio, video and good old-fashioned text will all form content that will continue to be personalized while providers work hard to deliver your content where you want and when you want it. Those factors will continue to direct the wireless and digital industries for 2009 and well into the future, but let’s focus in on the factors that will be in front of us in 2009. Then we’ll take a quick look beyond 2009.

Mark Lowenstein wrote a December 18, 2008, article titled Five themes for wireless in 2009 in FierceWireless. I think he is spot on with his five themes.

• Battle for the home
  
  
• Next phase of broadband wireless
  
  
• Consolidation
  
  
• Cost creates opportunities
  
  
• Search, navigation and advertising

Mark’s first theme centered around a “battle for the home.” He clearly laid out the battleground when he wrote “the economic situation is helping to accelerate a trend that has been developing for years: people giving up their landlines. This will take some interesting new twists in 2009. First, we will see much greater competition in ‘family’ plans, as wireless operators focus on household net present value. We have already seen this over the past couple of months, with aggressive and differentiated offerings from Sprint, T-Mobile and MetroPCS as they try to compete in an area dominated by AT&T and Verizon. Data plans, and how they figure into the ‘family share’ nomenclature, will be a focus of activity.”

Mark continued to zero in on key factors for 2009 when he brought in femtocell offerings and the consolidation of fixed and wireless by writing “we will also see the introduction of a number of femtocell-based offerings. The integrated telcos will attempt to leverage their fixed line (phone and Internet) businesses as part an effort to offer ‘household’ plans that make less of a distinction between fixed and wireless.”

I also agree with Mark when he wrote about how the economic situation will have an impact in 2009. He wrote – “Finally, users want greater flexibility in pricing plans. This is in part due to the economic situation – where we have seen a rise in prepaid and other non-contract options – as well as the increasing role of the device in the operator selection.”

The second theme in Mark’s article was about the “next phase of broadband wireless.” Mark focused in by writing, “The economy and continued high prices are contributing to a notable slowdown in the growth of PC-based broadband wireless services. But there will be lots of energy in this sector in 2009, driven by a host of new devices, such as the $100 Acer netbook being sold at RadioShack, and the continued expansion of 3G networks (AT&T, T-Mobile, Leap and MetroPCS). Also, as Clearwire builds out more markets, expect the cable companies to offer a mobile ‘extension’ to their home broadband customers. Expect ‘quad play’ offerings from the integrated telcos as well. I also believe there will be a wave of price competition for broadband wireless services, with new thresholds being set in the $30 range.”

Mark, you are right on again, and I love that $30 threshold possibility.

Mark then focused on a theme that I have written about for years – consolidation:

“Consolidation will be a broad-based industry theme in 2009, and will touch nearly every sector of the wireless economy:

• Operators. US Cellular, Leap, and MetroPCS are among the remaining ‘regional carriers,’ so expect some consolidation here. I also believe that data might drive the next wave of consolidation, as I don't think there's room for six or more 3G/4G networks in this country.
  
  
• Infrastructure. Several leading infrastructure players are experiencing tremendous difficulty, despite a still reasonably positive global wireless capex picture. With base station prices falling through the floor, and tremendous development around cheaper and alternative forms of wireless infrastructure, there are too many suppliers. It is also possible that the challenging economy will hasten the movement toward LTE as the primary platform for 4G networks, at least in North America and Western Europe.
  
  
• Operating systems/development platforms. Apple and Google have become an integral part of the application development environment over the past year. Developers are both energized, but also frustrated at the 10 or so operating systems that exist in wireless today. We are already seeing developers and device OEMs coalescing around a smaller number of platforms, which will result in attrition in 2009.”

Mark’s fourth theme is a “focus on ‘cost’ creates opportunities.”

“Operators would rather not slow down capex or product development spending, given the pace of data traffic growth and innovation in devices, content and applications. This creates opportunity for increased savings on the cost side of the business. Three areas of attention include:

• Backhaul. After many years of talking about cheaper backhaul, we'll see some action in 2009. Lower backhaul costs is one of the reasons operators in other geographies can have profitable businesses on much lower ARPU.
  
  
• Billing and customer care. There will be greater emphasis on the Web and on-device capabilities for self-care, so expensive calls to agents can be used for higher-order issues. One might also see operators seek alternatives for servicing issues that are afield from their core value proposition.
  
  
• Gateways/platforms. Wireless operators today run a dizzying number of platforms and gateways for different applications: SMS, email, voicemail, MMS, music, video, location, and so on. This silo approach is costly and complex to manage, and prevents a more integrated user experience. There is no quick solution here, but look for some attempts to integrate some of these platforms and reduce the number of vendors under management.”

Mark’s final theme talked about the “next chapter in search, navigation and advertising.”

He pushed on into browsers and searching by writing, “The past year has seen a dramatic improvement in mobile browsers, and the range of content available for mobile devices. But the ability to quickly and easily search, discover, organize and navigate to and within all of this content will be an exciting area of product development over the next couple of years, and will include:

• Intensified phone browser competition. Continued product evolution, led by Apple, Google, Microsoft, Mozilla, Nokia, Opera and Novarra.
  
  
• Improved voice search capabilities. There have been well-received voice search applications for the iPhone and the G1.
  
  
• On-device portals. Users can more quickly move between different applications, or snack-able content, without having to constantly load Web pages. Also, look for better ways to view content ‘offline.’
  
  
• Improved contextual search. The first phase of this focused on distinguishing between on- and off- deck content. We will see greater effort to deliver more relevant to results to the end-user, such mobile-optimized content, or more intelligent results based on the user's location, previous searches and categories of interest.“
  Mark, great job. I think you have touched upon significant areas of activity for 2009.

Okay, let’s take a peek into 2009 and beyond.

There are potentially far-reaching events that will germinate in 2009 and will have an impact for many years into the future. The first – the possibility is that the U.S. government could spend $44 billion to improve U.S. broadband infrastructure and extend that service into areas that are underserved. As reported by Grant Gross, IDG News Service, in a December 17, 2008, article a media reform advocacy, Free Press, is calling on the U.S. Congress and President-elect Barack Obama to approve new programs to deploy broadband more widely in the U.S. As Grant reported, “Earlier this month, Obama included broadband in his announcement of a plan for the largest government-funded infrastructure program since the interstate highway system in the 1950s. The new spending is necessary to stimulate the struggling U.S. economy, Obama said.”

Grant detailed the Free Press recommendations as:

“– $15 billion over three years for a Universal Service Broadband Infrastructure Fund, which would subsidize companies rolling out broadband in areas that do not now have it. Funding should only go to services providing at least 5 Mbits per second of broadband, with priority given to companies rolling out 50Mbps service, Free Press said.

– $5 billion for a new Universal Service Mobility Infrastructure Fund, which would fund the deployment of wireless broadband networks to rural areas and along highway corridors.

– $3 billion for a new E-Rate at home program. This program would be modeled after the E-Rate program providing Internet service for schools and libraries in poor areas, but would fund the purchase of laptops that can go home with students. The program would also fund the expansion of school and library WiFi networks out into the surrounding community.

– $1.5 billion for accelerated tax depreciation of infrastructure purchased by broadband providers, and another $1.5 billion for tax credits to companies rolling out broadband to unserved and underserved areas.”

Another significant force for beyond 2009 is a major movement in the high-bandwidth Ethernet market. As reported by Dan O’Shea in a FierceTelecom article, “The high-bandwidth Ethernet market – services at 10 Gbps, 40 Gbps and beyond – is poised for big things in the years ahead. Growth is expected, despite poor macroeconomic indicators that suggest lower enterprise IT spending, according to a new Infonetics Reasearch report. Service and equipment revenues for this particular segment will hit almost $9.5 billion by the end of 2008, with demand headed upward in the next four years.

That's good news for many carriers, especially Verizon Business, which just announced standardization for 10 Gbps service and made great strides testing 100 Gbps network capabilities. 100G may become a factor by 2012 or 2013.”

Brad Reed echoed this theme in a Network World article when he wrote, “The study [Infonetics Research] says that revenues for 10Gbps Ethernet services and equipment worldwide will hit nearly $9.5 billion by the end of 2008 (up 30% from $7.3 billion last year) and that demand for 40Gbps Ethernet services will grow rapidly over the next four years. Between 2007 and 2011, the study projects that 40G Ethernet revenue will see a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 59% as companies look to meet ever-higher demands for greater bandwidth capacity.

“A majority of service providers we've spoken to are expecting to invest in 40G until the 100G market is up and running," says Michael Howard, a co-founder and principal analyst at Infonetics. "Some providers are hoping to skip the 40G phase altogether, but we don't see that being a viable option, as growing traffic demands are outstripping current capacities and 100G won't reach reasonable price points until about 2012 or 2013."

As we end 2008, we hope that our country can rally and work together to improve the future for everyone. The problems ahead of us can sow the seeds of opportunity for the future. Some of those sees are: Bigger levels of Ethernet capacity. Better service to the home. Cheaper cost for services. That all adds up to a significant stepping stone into 2009 and beyond.

Tips and Techniques: Free Mobile and Embedded Database – SQL Anywhere Developer Edition

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T-Mobile devPartner Community

Sprint Application Developers Website

Factoid: U.S. Landline-less homes up 10%

According to an article in FierceTelecom, December 19, 2008:

The National Center for Health Statistics released its bi-annual study of landline abandonment today, and it shows more and more consumers are ditching their home phone service for wireless options. The study was conducted between January and June of this year, and it polled more than 30,000 adults and 11,000 minors under 18.

The study shows that 17.5 percent of households are now wireless-only, up 10 percent from its 2006 results. The largest cohort of wireless-only "household units" (any number of people, related or unrelated, living in a single dwelling) was unrelated roommates, with 63 percent of respondents in this category sticking with mobile only. Also, and not too surprisingly, homeowners were much more likely to still have a landline than renters, and impoverished households were nearly twice as likely to be wireless-only than more affluent households.

Those in the South and the Midwest were almost twice as likely to have abandoned their landline than people in the Northeast and West. There's probably some interesting geography (flat land vs. mountains) behind that.

Factoid: IDC: 2.2% Cell Phone Sales Contraction in 2009

According to an article in WirelessWeek FirstNews, December 18, 2008:

After finishing 2008 by shipping more than 1.2 billion units, up 7.3% from last year, the global mobile phone industry will sell 2.2% fewer devices in 2009 but will rebound with 7.7% in 2010, IDC said today.

Particularly telling is the gap between smartphones and traditional phones. Smartphones grew 27% this year, now accounting for around 12% of all cell phones, while growth continues at a slower rate of 8.9% in 2009. Feature phones grew just 4.9% this year and that market will contract by 3.8% in 2009.

In the United States, the smartphone market grew a massive 75.7% in 2008, but will only grow 3.1% next year. IDC defines a smartphone as any handset on which users can install aftermarket applications.

Sales of feature phones – a large portion of which do have smartphone-like capability such as address books and Web browsers – contracted by 9.8% this year and will shrink another 11.6% next year.

Announcements from component makers such as MediaTek, Qualcomm and Texas Instruments were an ominous sign, said senior analyst Ryan Reith, adding that markets are even shrinking for low-end phones in China and India. However, the market’s limited growth will mean lower prices for consumers, he added.

The market will see a limited rebound in 2010, Reith said.

Factoid: European data pricing stunts content growth

According to an article in FierceMobileContent, December 18, 2008:

Some European subscribers face data charges as high as €10 (about $14.58 U.S.) to download a single 2 MB song to their mobile handsets according to new research issued by mobile transaction solutions provider mBlox, which contends that data pricing varies so widely between operators that it's virtually impossible for consumers to make sense of applicable fees. The mBlox study notes that while some operators charge as little as 75p ($1.16) to download a track, the small print outlining ‘fair usage' within the Terms and Conditions can translate to considerably higher costs – while £10 (about $15.50 U.S.) represents the highest cost to download an average 2 MB song via pay-as-you-go tariff in the U.K., data can cost as much as €5 ($7.29 U.S.) per MB in France. Germany offers more reasonable alternatives, with several premier service providers offering data traffic at 0.24€ (34 cents U.S.) per MB.

mBlox argues that operators should respond by adopting a "sender pays" business model, with mobile content and services providers shouldering the burden for data transmission charges instead of the consumer. The company can then choose to include this cost in the overall price of their content or service, guaranteeing more transparent pricing for subscribers.

Factoid: Thumbplay’s Top Five

Courtesy of Thumbplay

If you have a question pertaining to a wireless topic or digital living that you would like to ask or share with our readers, send me an email and I will update everyone in a future column.

Wireless Nuggets of Knowledge

Following are a few interesting articles and discussions on wireless and digital living:

FierceWireless – December 19, 2008
Samsung launching Android phones in Q2 2009

Samsung will release its first phone based on Google's Android operating system in North America in the second quarter of 2009 for both Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile USA.

Samsung is said to have 80 people working on the development team for its Android phone. The news was first reported on the South Korean news site ET News.

"We are accelerating the development process for the Google phone in order to meet the specific need of local carriers," ET News quoted an anonymous Samsung official as saying. "We will be able to release the Google phone in the second quarter of the next year in the U.S. market."

The phone is said to look much like many of Samsung's other touchscreen phones, and will incorporate design factors from both the Omnia and Instinct. The news that it will run on both Sprint and T-Mobile's network indicates that Samsung will either include both a CDMA radio for Sprint customers and an HSDPA/UMTS radio for T-Mobile users, or make different versions for the different networks.

There is no exact release date or pricing details available. Currently, the T-Mobile G1, manufactured by HTC, is the only Android-based phone available in North America.

Huawei, which had announced that it was developing an Android phone for launch in 2009, indicated that it expected the launch to happen in the third quarter of 2009.

To read more, click here.

FierceTelecom – December 19, 2008
Middle East undersea cable cuts strike again

Internet service in Egypt, the UAE, India and other counries in the region was interrupted today when submarine cables in the Mediterranean Sea failed.

Cause of the failure is not known at this time, says operator Reliance GlobalCom. A total of three cables linking Italy and Egypt went down. A ship has been sent out to fix the problems.

Currently, services are being rerouted to backup cables and satellites. As rerouting measures fully kick in, services are expected to improve by early Saturday morning.

This isn't the first time that cable service to the region has failed. Earlier this year, five separate undersea cables were cut between late January and early February, interrupting service to a number of countries.

There's likely to be some serious failure analysis involved if we see some more pipes go off-line in the next week.

To read more, click here.

FierceMobileContent– December 19, 2008
ESPN: Mobile web surges during college football season

ESPN reports surging audience interest across its media platforms throughout the recent 2008 college football season, with the sports broadcasting giant's ESPN.com website and its mobile website both recording their most-trafficked year ever for college pigskin content. According to ESPN, mobile web traffic increased to 59.9 million visits during the fall, growing 185 percent year-over-year from the 639 million visits posted during the 2007 campaign. In addition, fans seeking college football information via mobile spent more than 7 minutes on average looking at content. Top games included the recent SEC Championship game pairing Alabama against Florida, which generated 7.5 million page views, and the instant-classic Texas versus Texas Tech matchup, with 6.7 million page views.

ESPN adds that on the wired web, ESPN.com's college football-related page views grew 6 percent to nearly 885 million, with total visits increasing 5 percent to 232 million. According to market research firm Hitwise, ESPN.com accounted for 25 percent of average Saturday visits to all online college football content destinations – interestingly, fans averaged 5 minutes per visit, two fewer minutes than mobile web users. The 2008-09 Bowl Schedule was the most-viewed single page, already registering more than 2.2 million page views.

The HSDPA phone, which features Windows Mobile 6.1, a built-in GPS radio with an optional TeleNav GPS Navigator, a 2-megapixel camera and is compatible with AT&T's Video Share service, costs $80 after a $100 mail-in rebate.

FierceBroadbandWireless – December 18, 2008
Delta launches in-flight Internet

Delta Air Lines officially launched Aircell's Gogo Inflight Internet service on six of its aircraft. In-flight Internet initially will be available on five MD-88 aircraft flying Delta Shuttle routes between New York's LaGuardia Airport and Boston's Logan and Washington’s Reagan airports plus one Boeing 757 flying throughout Delta’s domestic system, with service spreading to other Delta routes as additional aircraft are introduced.

"In-flight Internet access is one of the most popular requests we receive from our customers," noted Tim Mapes, Delta's senior vice president of marketing. To celebrate the launch, Delta passengers traveling on the Gogo-equipped MD-88 Shuttle aircraft will be treated to a holiday surprise with complimentary access to Gogo during a December 16- 31, 2008, promotional period.

A "WiFi hotspot" decal is prominently displayed adjacent to the boarding door of the MD-88 aircraft so customers will know Gogo Inflight Internet service is available on their flight. In addition, a Delta-Gogo instructional cards are available in each seatback, providing details on how to sign up for the service. Gogo representatives and Delta employees also are available at all three Delta Shuttle-served airports throughout the promotional period to provide information and assistance to customers traveling during this timeframe.

To read more, click here.

Wireless Week FirstNews – December 17, 2008
Inauguration Bringing Coverage Upgrades to D.C.

Verizon Wireless, soon to be the largest company when its acquisition of Alltel is complete, declined to discuss its plans. However, AT&T, Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile USA all made formal announcements.

The event is expected to draw more than 1 million people, possibly multiple millions, to the National Mall – more than any other event, from New Year’s Eve in Times Square to the Super Bowl.

AT&T said it is spending $4 million to boost network capacity for the event. The company is planning for an 80% boost in 3G capacity near the mall and parts of the Georgetown neighborhood, along with a 69% increase for its 2G network. There also will be two portable cellular base stations and an assortment of extra T-1 connections and nodes. AT&T is staffing the inauguration with 60 extra employees and 11 in-building systems.

Sprint said it will have 40% extra capacity for its CDMA network, 90% extra capacity for its iDEN network, a real-time monitoring team to handle unexpected issues and 25,000 Nextel push-to-talk handsets available for rent to public sector workers and the media. Sprint is installing nine in-building systems and extra coverage at major transportation hubs.

T-Mobile said it’s adding capacity equal to 100 extra cell sites and adding unspecified extra capacity for SMS and MMS.

Yet despite the best of carrier plans, “CTIA… and its member companies advise residents and visitors to be prepared for delays when attempting to use mobile devices during the day’s events due to network congestion,” the D.C.-based industry association said.

“The wireless industry is preparing for record traffic during the Inauguration, and companies are undertaking extraordinary efforts to expand their networks’ capacities,” CTIA CEO Steve Largent continued, in a statement yesterday. “But it’s important for the public to understand that there will likely be some delays. Just as restaurants, trains and highways have maximum capacity limits, wireless networks have also been built to meet the needs of a large, but limited amount of people.”

The CTIA advises people to text, not talk; to wait before sending pictures; and to make social plans ahead of time rather than relying on mobile communications.

To read more, click here.

FierceContentManagement – December 17, 2008
Gartner Predicts that by 2013, More than 25 percent of the Content that Workers See in a Day will be Pictures, Video, Audio

Gartner released a report this week predicting explosive growth in digital asset management (DAM) tools in 2009 and beyond. The growth will be fueled by the increased use of video in the enterprise. In fact, the report predicts that by 2013 as much as 25 percent of content users see in a day will not be text documents, but audio, video or images.

The video will come from a variety of sources, including customers who submit videos to their company website. Whit Andrews, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner, says that if companies don't provide video services, they risk alienating customers looking for such interactions. Not coincidentally, Gartner surveyed 800 companies last summer and found that managing multimedia content, video, audio and images, “is the fastest-growing segment of the content management market, with just 44 percent of enterprises having such products today but 22 percent intending to install it in 2009.”

As this type of content explodes inside organizations, it requires specialized content management found in a DAM. Andrews says the DAM can help solve a number of problems such as incorporating video into documents. Regardless, if these numbers prove to be correct, then your company needs to be thinking about digital asset management moving forward to help manage and use this type of content more efficiently.

FierceMobileContent – December 17, 2008
Qualcomm, Toyota test drive in-car mobile video

To read more, click here. 

FierceWireless – December 16, 2008
Clearwire to launch in Portland in January

Clearwire will launch its mobile WiMAX service in Portland, Oregon on January 6, making it the second major market in the U.S. to offer mobile WiMAX service.

It was rumored that Clearwire would launch in Portland sometime in the first quarter of 2009, and now there is an official date. Clearwire was working on developing WiMAX in Portland before it merged with Sprint's Xohm WiMAX business to form the new Clearwire. The new company announced earlier this month that it would be marketing its services under the brand name "Clear."
Judging by some of the names of speakers that have been released for the Portland event – Clearwire CEO Ben Wolff and Sean Maloney, Intel's executive vice president and chief sales and marketing officer – the event is sure to be somewhat similar to the October Xohm launch in Baltimore. Other markets that are expected to launch in 2009 include Atlanta, Boston and Chicago.

To read more, click here.

FierceMobileContent – December 16, 2008
LSN debuts Local Content Widgets in Yahoo Go

Mobile media and marketing firm Local Solutions Network announced the launch of LSN Local Content Widgets in Yahoo Go, a regional content service that leverages the web services giant's Yahoo Blueprint mobile development platform. According to LSN, its Local Content Widgets promise users access to local news, weather, sports, school closings and related content culled from its affiliate network of 140 local media partners, including ABC, NBCU, Telemundo, McGraw Hill and Cox. The Yahoo Go all-in-one mobile app is now available on more than 280 devices across 19 countries, enabling users to send email, upload photos, download maps, check stock quotes and access breaking news.

To read more, click here. 

FierceMobileContent – December 15, 2008
Study: Most will use cell phone for Internet by 2020

The iPhone may have paved the way for consumers to access the Internet via their cell phone, but it will take another 12 years for the cell phone to become the primary gateway to the Internet for people worldwide. According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project's "Future of the Internet III study," nearly 600 Internet experts said the combination of portability and relative affordability will turn the cell phone into the leading Internet gateway by 2020.

The experts interviewed said that by 2020 they expect there will be a set of universal standards making it easier for users to maintain a consistent connection to the Internet. In addition, the researchers expect future mobile phones will function more as computers than phones making it difficult to distinguish between a mobile phone and a laptop.

Based upon the report, Pew suggests mobile technology may offer a better alternative for providing Internet access than computers through projects such as One Laptop per Child Initiative.

To read more, click here.

Wireless Week FirstNews – December 11, 2008
Mobile video viewing on the rise

Consumers are tuning into mobile TV and video content at an increasing rate. The analysis by mobile video provider QuickPlay Media, which aggregated usage statistics from 15 of its customers over the most recent third quarter, flies in the face of some analysts’ predictions that mobile TV growth would stall. QuickPlay said the results not only showed an increase in users, but also indicated that users were becoming more engaged with the services.
Video downloads increased by more than 87 percent over the previous quarter while average download per user was up 42 percent a month.

The video streams, which include live content as well as clips consumers can view in near real time, grew by more than 27 percent while average streams per user increased by 12 percent. Average stream duration in the third quarter was two minutes, 47 seconds.

"Results were particularly strong for our customers that offer integrated clients, where all types of mobile media are available from one interface. This makes discovery and navigation considerably faster and easier for the end consumer. Convenient trial options and attractive pricing packages also contributed to strong uptake," said Wayne Purboo, president and CEO, QuickPlay Media. "Looking ahead to 2009, we expect that interest in mobile TV and video will continue to develop, with a trend towards longer-form, premium content."

To read more, click here.

FierceBroadbandWireless– December 11, 2008
Verizon says LTE will be here next year

Verizon Wireless CTO Dick Lynch said the operator expects to have Long Term Evolution technology in service somewhere in the U.S. by December 2009. Lynch, speaking at Cisco Systems' C-Scape conference in San Jose, also said Verizon will offer femtocells, which will likely include WiFi as an added feature, shortly after introducing LTE.

"A femtocell of LTE or an access point of WiFi is a really critical component of the way customers want their broadband delivered," Lynch said.
Verizon's move represents an aggressive timeframe for LTE, which has largely been understood to hit the market in 2010. However, speakers at this week's LTE America's conference indicated they were skeptical that a 2010 LTE launch was attainable, according to an article in RCR News. LTE was supposed to be standardized by the end of this year, but the date has now been pushed to March.

Qualcomm has also recently issued an aggressive timeline for releasing engineering samples of its LTE/HSPA+ device modem. It is trying for the second quarter of 2009. The company, however, cautioned commercial availability of of the MDM9000 "still depends on a number of very uncertain factors, many of which are dependent on mobile network operators' plans and investment priorities about how and when to roll out this next stage of wireless technology," said Enrico Salvatori, senior vice president and general manager for Qualcomm Europe, speaking at the company's inaugural European Innovation Summit last week.

Why the rush for Verizon? Ken Hyers, analyst with Technology Business Research, said in a recent interview that Verizon desires to push aggressively with LTE because it's running out of data capacity on its CDMA EVDO network and must compete with higher speed HSPA+ AT&T Wireless is rolling out before its own LTE launch.

"The operator's entire reputation is built around network quality and coverage and having the best network," Hyers said. Verizon "will have to continue increasing data capacity."

To read more, click here.

FierceWireless – December 10, 2008
Sprint poised to debut first Android device?

Sprint's annual Application Developer Conference begins today, and with the list of keynoters including Google vice president of mobile technology Rich Miner, there is growing speculation the operator is poised to formally announce its first device based on Google's Android mobile operating system. Sprint is a founding member of the Google-led Open Handset Alliance, the industry group formed late last year in conjunction with Android's launch. However, in late October 2008, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse told the National Press Club he doesn't believe Android in its present form is "good enough to put the Sprint brand on it." Still, Hesse hedged his bets by promising the operator would introduce an Android-powered device "at some time in the future."

Google is a Sprint partner, of course – in May, the two firms announced an agreement to more deeply integrate the web services giant's applications into the mobile user experience. Per terms of the agreement, Google was named Sprint's default mobile search provider, with a search box enabling one-click access to Google search; some devices also feature the Google Maps for Mobile application, and Sprint and Google promised new mobile experiences and applications would follow.

On Tuesday, another Sprint partner, handset maker Sony Ericsson, announced its own membership in the Open Handset Alliance, confirming the move signals its intention to develop an Android device. According to Sony Ericsson, joining the ranks of the Open Handset Alliance complements the handset maker's existing Open OS strategy, which is based on the Symbian and Windows Mobile platforms. Sony Ericsson introduced its first WinMo device, the Xperia X1, earlier this year.

Days after Google formally announced the Open Handset Alliance in November 2007, Sony Ericsson said it was invited to join the group but declined in favor of concentrating on its UIQ interface. At that time, Sony Ericsson's U.K. and Ireland marketing director David Hilton told Pocket-lint the company "had a number of horses it could back and UIQ was the one we chose." However, he said Sony Ericsson had not ruled out a future deal with Google, adding "Never say never." In June, Sony Ericsson announced it would team with Nokia, Motorola and NTT DoCoMo to establish the Symbian Foundation, a non-profit initiative to unite the UIQ, Symbian OS, S60 and MOAP technologies as part of a single open mobile software platform.

To read more, click here.

FierceDeveloper – December 09, 2008
App Store applications top 10,000 mark

iPhone owners have now downloaded more than 300 million mobile applications in the five months since computing giant Apple launched its App Store virtual storefront on July 11. Apple did not issue a formal press announcement to celebrate surpassing the 300 million download benchmark, instead burying the information at the bottom of full-page print advertisements taken out in Friday's editions of the Wall Street Journal and New York Times. In addition, Apple reports the number of iPhone applications available via the App Store now exceeds 10,000, although it did not distinguish between the percentage of free apps and premium apps. The App Store topped the 200 million download benchmark on Oct. 22, just over 100 days after its launch – at that time, the store boasted about 5,500 different applications in 19 categories including Games, Navigation and Music.

Last week, Apple published its list of the year's most downloaded iPhone and iPod touch applications. According to Apple, games dominate the top 10 premium iPhone apps – the list includes Apple's own Texas Hold ‘Em, Freeverse's Moto Chaser, Vivendi Games Mobile's Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D, Sega's Super Monkey Ball, and Pangea Software's Cro-Mag Rally and Enigmo. The Blimp Pilots' Koi Pond, Shinya Kasatani's PocketGuitar, Retronyms' Recorder and Hottrix's iBeer round out the premium apps list. As for the free iPhone applications, the list includes two social networking apps – Facebook and AOL's AIM – as well as two travel apps, Google Earth and Urbanspoon. The list also features a pair of entertainment apps, Apple's Remote and The MacBox's Lightsaber Unlimited, along with two music apps, Pandora Radio and Shazam. And, of course, there are games: Tapulous' Tap Tap Revenge and Codify AB's Labyrinth Lite Edition.

Wireless Info Center

Looking for a job in wireless? Here are some sites to check out what is available:

Hot New Jobs in Wireless & Telecom

BrandRepublicJobs

Jobs from FierceWireless

Sales Director, Telecom Events and Custom Opportunities - FierceMarkets 

Director of Wireless Roaming - Cox Communications 

Software Architect - Motorola 

Director - Mobile Wireless Device Software - Peek, Inc.

Here are some free articles to download:

A Guide for Creating Effective Enterprise Wireless Strategies

The CIO's Guide to Wireless in the Enterprise

Wireless Networks Boost Small Business Productivity 

Raising RFID Value & Performance with Forklift-Mounted Readers

Integrating Mobile Access into your VPN Environment

Washtenaw Wireless - Building a Wireless County

The Solar-Powered Alternative in Broadband Wireless Networks

Adobe Mobile & Devices Developer Center

Mobility for the Small Business

A guide to determine TCO of wireless networks

A Guide to Effectively Managing Enterprise Wi-Fi Networks 

Here are some upcoming conferences that you might find interesting:

ATIS-3GPP LTE Conference, January 26 - 27, Dallas, TX

International CTIA Wireless 2009, April 1 – 3, Las Vegas, NV

Here are some other articles that you might find interesting:

Verizon, RIM pleased with BlackBerry Storm sales

Russia's Penetration Over 125% and No Sign of Stopping

Pandora Now Available For Free on Sprint Phones

iPhone Gets Breathalyzer, SimCity, Forms App

Nanomatic Gets Social with Location App

The 5 Top Selling Smartphones

Sprint Launches Open Location Platform 

Aircell CEO: 2,000 aircraft will offer Gogo by year end 2009

RIM Looking to fill 1,250 New Positions

Visa introduces Android mobile payment app  

Palm launches an App Store

FCC approves 8-megapixel phone for T-Mobile

European Commission announces guidelines to accelerate mobile TV rollout

Here are some resource links to Mobile & Wireless info areas:

How to Buy A Cell Phone

Lexmark Resource Center on PCWorld.com

Compare Cell Phone Plans

Check Carrier Coverage

Online Wireless Glossary

Computerworld Mobile & Wireless Knowledge Center

SearchMobileComputing

eWeek Mobile-and-Wireless

Wireless Developer Network

Wi-Fi Planet

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