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Shocker! Three's unlimited data adopters use lots of 3G
Three, a UK mobile network provider specializing in unlimited data packages, has reported that its customers are talking full advantage of their plans. Specifically, the average monthly usage has more than doubled this summer (we use the term loosely) from 450MB to 1.1GB over the same period last year. Smartphone users are understandably the healthiest eaters, sucking down around 1.5GB per month. With the BBC continuing to expand its 3G offerings and an undoubted increase in tablet use, tethering and the like, we imagine these figures are far from their peak. With 4G on the horizon, will Three regret positioning itself as the great provider; or, like Sprint over in the US, will it stand its ground for the sake of an advantage?
Shocker! New RIM CEO targets existing BlackBerry users for upgrades
All of new RIM CEO Thorsten Heins' fresh ideas will apparently still be revealed to the company's board in a couple of weeks, but he's already dropped some gems in interviews with the Wall Street Journal and Reuters (update: and Bloomberg). First item on the agenda? Getting current users upgraded to the latest and greatest BlackBerry hardware. Citing internal statistics that indicate 80- to 90- percent of the company's customer base aren't running BlackBerry 7 hardware yet, it will work closely with US carriers to promote upgrades until the new BB10 devices hit later this year. There's no word on what the carrier deals include, but he hinted at device or preloaded app bundles. He also promised an LTE version of the PlayBook would arrive this spring, with LTE connected handsets also planned for the BlackBerry 10 lineup. Is that enough to turn around RIM's fortunes in the US, where he acknowledged the company is "a turnaround candidate"? We'll find out, but as obvious as the need to placate the already BBM-addicted may be, execution of the plan is everything.
Shocker! Tablet ad requests up 700 percent during 2011
Good news: all those new tablets you see reported on these pages aren't being stolen by elves; they're entering the human population at large and -- most Christmassy of all -- they're displaying ads. Google told TechCrunch that its AdMob platform saw eight billion ad requests from tablets during the month of November, compared to one lonely billion back in December 2010. Total AdMob requests amount to roughly three billion per day, however, so tablet advertising is still sugary froth compared to that on smartphones.
Shocker! Microsoft to produce dual-core, LTE Windows Phones, other modern things
This just in: Microsoft is ready to take the plunge into mobile modernity... at its own pace. During a recent interview with All Things D, Windows Phone President Andy Lees revealed a few details about Redmond's future crop of handsets, which will apparently include both LTE capabilities and dual-core processors. The exec confirmed that LTE-equipped devices are indeed in the pipeline, but declined to specify whether they'd hit the market this year or next. Turns out, Microsoft wants to wait until current LTE networks prove capable of supporting more power-efficient smartphones. "The first LTE phones were big and big [users] of the battery," Lees said. "I think it's possible to do it in a way that is far more efficient, and that's what we will be doing." Lees was similarly opaque about Microsoft's plans to incorporate dual-core CPUs into its mobile lineup, saying only that they're on the way. According to him, however, even single-core Windows Phones can hold their own against the dual-core competition: "They're all single core, but I suspect that they will be faster in usage than any dual-core phone that you put against it, and that's the point." Lees went on to wax Panglossian about Microsoft's strategy, claiming that the absence of LTE and dual-core processing doesn't necessarily mean that his company is behind the times. "I think that what our strategy is is to put things in place that allow us to leapfrog, and I think that's how we've gone from worse [sic] browser to the best browser," he explained, "and I think the same is true with hardware." Check out the full interview for yourself, at the source link below.
Sony PlayStation Vita battery life: as little as three hours on a charge
We've had plenty of QT with the Vita on the floor at TGS, but battery life is hard to judge when you can't take the device away with you. Back at our earlier hands-on in June we were told that longevity should be on a par with first-gen PSPs, which were all rated at 4-6 hours and -- with the PSP-1000 -- achieved around 3.5-5.5 hours in real-world tests. Now though, Sony says the Vita has just enough juice for 3-5 hours' gaming. We need to play this thing to death before we can be sure, but this does sound like a potential 15-25% drop in minimum play time. Do we care at this point? Not particularly. We're too busy salivating over this.
Shocker! British civil servants spend a lot on new PCs
The British government just got put on Supernanny's naughty step for paying too high a price for new PCs. A parliamentary scrutiny committee accused civil servants of being naively ripped off by a "cartel" of big IT firms, who steal charge as much as £3,500 ($5,700) per file-donkey -- that's around ten times the open market rate for a basic machine. However, at risk of pooping on the UK's moral outrage party, an equally moral sense of fairness compels us to play devil's advocate here. After all, the figure of £3,500 covers "infrastructure" and "applications" as well as the plain old computer, and those categories might include a whole array of expensive add-ons, like tailored software, servers, high-speed internet, and even technical support. Of course, we could be wrong about this, in which case Jo Frost can punish us however she sees fit.
Shocker! Gamer behavior is actually quite predictable
Isn't it curious how you always crack open a beer before settling in for some GTA? Or how you tend to put an anxious hand over your wallet when logging onto PSN? No soldier, it is not curious. Not at all. But this is: Researchers at North Carolina State University claim they've found a way to predict your in-game behavior with "up to 80 percent accuracy." After analyzing the decision-making of 14,000 World of Warcraft players, they noticed that different players prefer different types of achievements. These preferred achievements clump together into statistically significant groups, known as "cliques", even if they have nothing obvious in common. So a WoW player who likes to improve their unarmed combat skills also, for some psychological reason, tends to want points for world travel. What's more, the researchers believe that clique-spotting can be exploited outside the rather specific world of WoW, in which case their method could prove lucrative to game designers, online retailers and pretty much anyone with an interest in predicting your next move. Want to know more? Then we predict you'll click the PR after the break.
Shocker! The internet is not egalitarian, popular forum posters have it easy
Researchers at the University of Georgia analyzed six years' worth of Usenet posts, and you know what they discovered? Life ain't fair. The most popular two percent of posters who started discussion threads hogged 50 percent of all replies, while everyone else struggled for attention. What made some thread-starters more attractive than others? Thankfully it wasn't rampant flaming. The distinguishing trait was actually how factual they were: only 12 percent of posts by popular posters contained personal opinions or comments. However, posting a bit of news isn't all it takes to win followers. In a related experiment, 200 volunteers were unleashed onto "simulated" discussion forums and their behavior revealed an even more important factor. The slightly flummoxed researchers called it a "preferential attachment", which pulled readers towards posters who already had an excess of followers. In other words, life still ain't fair. For a delightfully factual breakdown of the full results, check out the PR after the break.
Shocker! Microsoft commands 79 percent of worldwide OS revenue (update)
Everyone knows that Windows is installed on the vast majority of computers, but it's always interesting to be reminded of what a cash cow the OS has been for Redmond. According to Gartner, Microsoft owned 78.6 percent of the global market revenue share for desktop operating systems at the end of 2010 -- revenue up almost 9 percent from 2009. That means, of the $30.4 billion in revenue that various companies generated, $23.8 billion lined Microsoft's coffers. But while Windows remains the kingpin, Mac OS X and -- wait for it -- Red Hat, posted more substantial gains. Apple's market revenue shot up almost 16 percent to 1.7 percent, Red Hat surged 18 percent, while dark horse Oracle leaped from ninth place to fourth, with a 7,683 percent growth in income -- no small thanks to its 2009 acquisition of Sun Microsystems. Only one question remains, then -- who's the loser here? Update: Looks like we got this one wrong, folks, as it's not market share that's being measured here, but rather revenue share -- how much money each company made from its operating systems relative to one another. That means companies that price their operating systems cheaper will be at a disadvantage in the rankings, not to mention those organizations that charge nothing at all -- Ubuntu, anyone? Oh, and as some of you have pointed out in comments, there are both desktop and server operating systems in the chart above.
Shocker! Free Android apps outnumber free iPhone apps
Good news for Android users who hate paying for stuff: according to new numbers from Netherlands-based mobile analytics group Distimo, there are now more free apps available for Google's mobile OS than the iPhone, at 134,342 to 121,845. There are a few things to consider here: first, when one adds free iPad-only apps, the total number of gratis iOS apps increases to a more competitive 132,239. And then there's Apple's sometimes rigorous vetting process, which has probably played a role in its numeric slippage -- after all, this report doesn't highlight things like legality, repetition, or the overall number of apps dedicated to making farting noises. Also, Apple has a lot more premium apps, giving it the overall lead at 333,124 to 206,143 -- but between Android's rapid growth and what the report terms iOS's relative stagnation, Distimo expects Google to take the top spot in five months' time, outnumbering iPhone and iPad apps combined -- a rough scenario for Cupertino to stomach, no doubt, but at least the company will still have Windows Phone to kick around a while longer. [Source link requires registration]
iPhone: "Does this white paint make me look fat?"
Ryan Cash had an opportunity to compare the new white iPhone with the more traditional black model that many of us know and love. Placed side-by-side on the desk, it appears that the white model is ever so slightly thicker. This is possibly due to a need to filter light, a design problem originally floated back last October and confirmed this week by Steve Jobs. Apple does not list any technical specification differences between the two models. If you've got a new iPhone 4 blanco, please let us know if you have any difficulty using an existing case or cover with it. Engadget has a pretty clear picture of what's going on here.
Shocker! Instant messaging gains popularity as TXTing declines, BBM to blame
Apparently, those young'uns just love their BBM. According to a report by the research group Mobile Youth, young folk (read: those of you between 15 and 24) are increasingly abandoning SMS in favor of instant messaging apps, with texting expected to drop off 20 percent over the next two years. The main culprit? BlackBerry Messenger, which now boasts over 39 million users, many of them living outside the US. In fact, it's in the UK, Indonesia, South Africa, and Brazil -- all popular markets for BBM -- that Mobile Youth expects texting to dwindle the most. And if BBM is to blame, well, that drop-off could be just the beginning.
Shocker! President Obama owns an iPad and computer, won't have to borrow yours (video)
Barack Obama is quite likely the most computer literate president (which isn't saying much) these united states have ever had. So it's really no surprise to hear that the BlackBerry wielding prez also owns an iPad and, gasp, his own computer -- except, perhaps, to Univision's Jorge Ramos. Obama's incredulous stare and jocular response to the questions are as hilarious as they are candid in their casual delivery. See for yourselves in the video after the break.
Shocker! Sprint officially opposes AT&T's proposed acquisition of T-Mobile
Yes, you read that right. Sprint is actually going out on a limb and officially opposing AT&T's proposed acquisition of T-Mobile USA. Apparently, it thinks that the transaction would "reduce competition and harm consumers" if it's allowed to go through, and it's vowing to "fight this attempt by AT&T to undo the progress of the past 25 years and create a new Ma Bell duopoly." It further goes on to note that the combined company would be almost three times the size of Sprint in terms of wireless revenue, and that it and Verizon would "overwhelmingly dominate" the US wireless industry and have "unprecedented control" over the post-paid market. Full press release is after the break.
Profit shocker! Android brings home more bacon than iOS for Pocket Legends developer
Back in 2009, we wrote a story on crack mobile developer Larva Labs lamenting its inability to make a living off top-rated games in the Android Market. Well, to put it lightly, it ain't 2009 anymore: the Android ecosystem has expanded exponentially in every conceivable direction, the Market has taken on tens of thousands of additional apps, and -- according to one research firm, anyway -- Android has now overtaken BlackBerry to become the most prolific smartphone platform in the US. To that end, Spacetime Studios -- the company behind mobile MMORPG Pocket Legends, which brings in revenue through in-app purchases -- was shocked to discover that it's making some 30 to 50 percent more from its Android users than its iOS ones. Furthermore, they're spending more time playing and downloading the app with far greater frequency, which might be a testament to the fact that really great apps still stand out in the Market better than they do in the more mature (and more populated) App Store. The in-app purchase disparity is a little more difficult to explain, though -- especially since iOS has a slick, integrated purchase mechanism that Google won't be rolling out in Android for a little while yet. At any rate, the online mobile economy -- regardless of platform -- clearly still has some growing, maturing, and stabilizing to do. [Thanks, Michael]
Pay-as-you-go shocker! CDMA iPhone 4 makes its way to Cricket Wireless (via jailbreak)
As any astute follower of the "pay-as-you-go" world knows, there are quite a few back alley Cricket dealers (and quite a few main street ones as well) that will happily flash any phone you give them for use on their network -- and not even Verizon's CDMA iPhone is immune. Ready to jump ship from "America's largest?" Of course, you'll have to jailbreak, install some third party MMS software, and trust some random dude at the Cricket store with your precious smartphone. We're not saying it's wise, but it is possible, as the video below attests. See for yourself after the break. [Thanks, Mark]
USB 3.0 shocker! Supersonic Magnum thumb drive rocks 200MB/s read times, sure to be rather pricey
You thought the 70MB/s write speeds were wild? The kids at Patriot are making the scene at CeBIT with the successor to the Supersonic USB thumb drive we first saw at the tail end of last year, and it's putting its old man to shame. The Supersonic Magnum series, sporting capacities up to 128GB, boasts a single eight channel controller with 200MB/s read and 110MB/s write speeds. And it will fit in your hip pocket! Release date TBA, and we can only imagine it will cost you a pretty Deutschmark.
Shocker! UK regulator finds average broadband speeds are 'less than half' those advertised
You don't have to go to the lengths of compiling a statistical project to know that advertised and actual broadband speeds are two pretty disparate entities, but it does help. Ofcom, the UK communications regulator, recently took a thorough look at 11 broadband packages, which collectively account for over 90 percent of all British broadband subscriptions, and found that actual download throughput was less than half (only 45 percent) of the advertised "up to" speed. The worst offenders were resellers of BT's ADSL lines, with Orange dipping below 3Mbit on its 8Mbit lines and TalkTalk occasionally offering only 7.5Mbit to users paying for a 24Mbit connection, while Virgin's cable connectivity won out by sticking most loyally to its listed rating. What Ofcom proposes for the future is that all these service providers start offering Typical Speed Ranges that more accurately reflect the bandwidth a potential subscriber would be buying into -- a proposal that might actually have some teeth as the British Advertising Standards Authority is currently in the midst of a review specifically concerned with broadband advertising practices. Transparency in the way we're sold broadband? That'd make a welcome change!
Shocker! Apple product placements dominate Hollywood
Something you already knew to be true has just been confirmed by Omnicom's Interbrand brand consultancy division: Apple reigns supreme in Hollywood films. Interbrand's Brandchannel website dug deep into the fetid bowels of product placement to reveal Hollywood's preferences (paid or personal) in the 33 films that hit the US box office number one slot in 2010. Brandchannel identified 591 total brand or product appearances for an average of 17.9 placements per film, with Apple appearing in ten of the top films for a 30 percent share -- Nike, Chevrolet, and Ford each appeared in eight. Incidentally, Iron Man 2 won the dubious distinction of being cluttered with the most identifiable brands (64) in 2010. Apple is actually off from its peak of 50 percent of number one films in 2008 and 44 percent in 2009 as demonstrated in the chart after the break. But it's not for a lack of trying. Brandchannel contends that the competition for brand placement has simply intensified resulting in fewer appearances of Janoff's U+F8FF.
iTunes shocker! Apple announces App Store subscriptions
Hot on the heels of the Daily, the oft-rumored Apple subscription service is finally spreading out to the rest of the app store. Love it or lump it, anything currently available in the company's online marketplace, including magazines, newspapers, video, and music, can now be offered on the subscription model. "All we require," said Steve Jobs in the press release, "is that, if a publisher is making a subscription offer outside of the app, the same (or better) offer be made inside the app, so that customers can easily subscribe with one-click right in the app." (This sounds familiar.) Publishers are also restricted from linking out of the app to locations that allow the user to circumvent the in-app purchase (and publishers can't offer better deals outside of the app store). The rationale here? Apple gets thirty percent off the top off in-app purchases -- enough of a cut, we're guessing, to prompt some bigger publishers to skip the platform altogether (outside purchases, of course, are exempt from this fee). PR after the break.
