Buzz of the week 7-Jul-08

It was a quiet week in the world of telecom.

1. 3G iPhone debuts
As has been covered extensively, 3G iPhone made its debut 11-Jul, with crowds reported from most of the places it went for sale. Early reviews say that its a better device than the first generation device. In another interesting strategy Apple would make available some 500 apps through its stores.

2. Americans spend 3hrs per month on mobile video
Despite a prolonged writers' strike that essentially voided the 2007-08 prime-time season, Americans are watching more television than ever according to a study released by global information firm The Nielsen Company, which also reports small but steady growth in mobile video viewing patterns. Nielsen says the average American now views 127 hours, 15 minutes of television programming per month (up from 121 hours, 48 minutes in 2007) while also increasing their Internet time to 26 hours, 26 minutes per month, up 9 percent over the previous year. While Americans spend 2 hours, 19 minutes per month viewing video online, they now spend 3 hours, 15 minutes per month watching video content on mobile devices. Nielsen adds that as of the first quarter of 2008, 91 million Americans (roughly 36 percent of all U.S. mobile phone subscribers) now own a video-capable phone. Teens ages 13 to 17 are the most avid mobile video consumers, watching 5 hours, 25 minutes per month--adults ages 25 to 34 screen 3 hours, 36 minutes of mobile video per month, but adults ages 55 to 64 view just 2 hours, 10 minutes a month. More here.

3. Orange aggregates Social Networking Sites European mobile operator Orange announced it will aggregate leading social networking partners including Facebook, MySpace and Bebo to create a single mobile destination on its Orange World portal. The unified service--which also reins in sites like Skyrock, Pikeo, Flirtomatic, DailyMotion and Meetic--will first launch in France, with Orange's U.K., Switzerland, Spain and Portugal units slated to follow soon. According to Orange, the move heralds an effort to improve the mobile user experience by enabling single-click access to the most popular functions of each site; subscribers will be able to send and receive messages, upload photos and check status updates without browsing individual URLs or logging into separate sites. Orange added there are plans to release the social networking service as an embedded application accessible via the home screen of all Orange Signature phones. More here.

Thank you very much,

RamP!