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There Are More Wireless Subscribers In The U.S. Than People

Augustine Fou — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 20:10:47 +0000

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/wireless-subscribers-in-the-united-states-2011-10

CTIA released a new survey yesterday with some interesting data on wireless subscribers in the U.S. The survey covers January 2011 through June 2011.

Right now there are more than 327 million wireless subscriptions in the U.S. That’s about 20 million more subscriptions than there are people.

How is that possible?

The survey takes into account all wireless subscriptions, including tablets. Apparently, many people are carrying around more than one connected device.

Some other interesting stats from the survey:

The average local monthly wireless bill is $47.23.

1.138 trillion text messages received.

278.3 million active data-capable devices running. (That includes tablets, wireless hotspots, etc.)

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Sources All Over The Ad Tech Industry Think Google Is Going To Buy Akamai (AKAM, GOOG)

Augustine Fou — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 20:08:13 +0000

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/google-move-2011-10

What’s the next big move for Google?

We’re not sure, but multiple ad tech industry sources think Google is about to buy Akamai.

We’ve been chasing a rumor that Google is about to make a big ad tech acquisition. The one name that kept coming back at us was Akamai.

At this point, it’s mostly just a rumor, but almost a dozen sources inside and outside of Google are telling us that they’ve at least heard about a looming Google-Akamai deal.

Then again, Akamai is one of those companies that’s always mentioned as a take over target. Also: a high-level source at Akamai that we talked to shot down Google speculation.

Still, all of our sources think Akamai would be a good fit for Google.

There are two reasons.

REASON ONE: Akamai is sitting on a trove of valuable data that Google could use to vastly improve its business. Akamai delivers video and knows what people are watching, when they’re watching it, and how they’re watching it.

Google could use that information to improve search, video, display, everything. There’s a huge risk in “sniffing” the data from Akamai to influence other parts of Google as one source put it. Google would have too much information, and it would have even more government regulation.

REASON TWO: Akamai’s stock has been crushed in the last year. It’s off by 50%, so the company could be had for a decent price. A recent Bloomberg article speculated Akamai would sell for $7.4 billion or more.

If you know what Google is interested in buying, email us at jyarow@businessinsider.com or call Jay Yarow at 646.376.6037.

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Steve Jobs Lived To See Apple Triumph Over Microsoft (AAPL, MSFT)

Augustine Fou — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 11:57:55 +0000

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-steve-jobs-saw-apple-triumph-over-microsoft-2011-10

One of the defining threads that ran through Steve Jobs’ life was his battle with Microsoft and Bill Gates.

Though Steve Jobs was always seen as the cool innovator, for a long time Gates and Microsoft were the winners in business.

Microsoft’s success ate at Jobs. It became the world’s most valuable company, and Gates the world’s richest man, because “Windows just copied the Mac,” as Jobs put it in his 2005 commencement speech at Stanford.

Upon returning to Apple in 1997 he told the faithful, “We have to let go of this notion that for Apple to win, Microsoft has to lose.” Once Jobs and Apple did that, and began focusing on iPods, iPhones, and iPads, the company’s earnings and valuation soared.

After years of fighting as an underdog, Apple’s market cap blew by Microsoft‘s last year, making it the world’s most valuable tech company.

Jobs and Apple had finally and definitively triumphed over Microsoft. It’s fitting Jobs was able to enjoy that in the last year of his life.

Did he need market approval? Probably not. But you know he loved getting it.

In reaction to Jobs’ death, Gates was as gracious as could be. He wrote, “The world rarely sees someone who has had the profound impact Steve has had, the effects of which will be felt for many generations to come. For those of us lucky enough to get to work with him, it’s been an insanely great honor. I will miss Steve immensely.”

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The Kindle Fire Could Be Profitable After All (AMZN)

Augustine Fou — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 12:36:42 +0000

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/new-estimate-amazon-kindle-cost-2011-10

With Amazon only charging $200 per Kindle Fire, it’s widely assumed the company is taking a major loss on each device sold.

That might not be the case, after all, according to a new estimate of the cost of Kindle parts by UBM TechInsights, which says the Kindle Fire’s parts are $150 in total. This would suggest Amazon is breaking even, or turning a profit on each Kindle sold.

Obviously, a Kindle Fire is more than parts. It has to pay people to put to them together, it has to pay for shipping, storage, etc. UBM TechInsights doesn’t have an estimate for those costs.

For a point of comparison, UBM estimates the iPad’s components cost $270 for a wireless version, and the BlackBerry PlayBook’s components cost $170 for a 16GB version.

Previously we saw an estimate that the Kindle’s parts cost $210, and we saw an estimate that it was losing $50 per device.

Here’s the breakdown from UBM:

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Yieldex Raises $10 Million Series C Round From Hearst

Augustine Fou — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 11:14:54 +0000

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/yieldex-raises-10-million-series-c-round-from-hearst-2011-9

Digital advertising and analytics company Yieldex has raised a $10 million Series C round led by Hearst and others.

Previous investors include Amazon, First Round Capital and Sequel Venture Partners.

It has also snagged some big partnerships with major publications, including NYTimes.com.

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Android’s Share Of New Smartphone Purchases Is Twice As Big As The iPhone (AAPL, GOOG)

Augustine Fou — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 10:23:59 +0000

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-android-vs-ios-2011-9

New smartphone buyers are overwhelmingly choosing Android phones in comparison to iPhones and BlackBerrys, new data from Nielsen reveals.

Below you can see Nielsen’s subscriber share numbers. On the left are the total subscriber share numbers. On the right is the subscriber share numbers for the three months ended in August, which is a better predictor of the future of the market.

As you can see, in the three month period 56% of buyers opted for Android, versus just 28% for Apple. Rough for Apple, but if there’s a positive in there, it’s that Apple’s subscriber share is holding steady while Android eats up BlackBerry share and share from “other”.

But, with the iPhone hitting Verizon, we thought Apple would be in better shape in the U.S. Maybe once the iPhone 5 arrives, we’ll see a tilt? Or, maybe Android keeps running away with this thing.

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Does 50 Million Users And a 1269% Traffic Increase Mean Google + Is Now Relevant? [Google +]

Augustine Fou — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 12:24:39 +0000

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5844135/does-50-million-users-and-a-1269-traffic-increase-mean-google-%252B-is-now-relevant

Google + went public last week and its growth has been explosive. So explosive, it has some people wondering if it’s time to take closer look at the social network.

According to Experian Hitwise, traffic to Google+ climbed to 15 million this week, a 1269 percent growth from the 1.1 million visits the week before. And this figure only includes desktop visits, it doesn’t count mobile traffic from Android and iOS devices or people who visit by clicking on the black Google + toolbar.

Traffic is only one metric. Subscriber base is also important and a recent estimate from Paul Allen suggests Google + is adding two million new users each day and now has a subscriber base of almost 50 million users.

Admittedly, these numbers pale in comparison to Facebook, which has 800 million users and is the undeniable King of the Social networking hill. But you have to wonder about the up and coming Google +. Is it time to steal away from Facebook and Twitter and invest some social networking time into Google’s growing network? I’m starting to think it is. [ReadWriteWeb and Paul Allen]

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The iPhone Is Absolutely Slaughtering The Blackberry (RIMM, AAPL)

Augustine Fou — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 13:40:24 +0000

Source: http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-09-16/tech/30164304_1_iphone-twitter-blackberry-sales

This chart shows quarterly sales figures for each phone since the iPhone was introduced. They were neck in neck for a while, but the iPhone 4 release in June 2010 changed everything — iPhone sales took off while Blackberry sales leveled off, then started to dive.

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The iPhone 5′s "Unprecedented" Demand (AAPL)

Augustine Fou — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 16:15:13 +0000

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-the-iphone-5s-unprecedented-demand-2011-9

Apple’s reported decision to release a new iPhone in the fall, as opposed to the summer, will deliver massive sales, writes RBC analyst Mike Abramsky in a note.

RBC surveyed 2,200 consumers and found “unprecedented demand,” with 31% of consumers very/somewhat likely to buy an iPhone 5, which is stronger than the 25% of consumers that were very/somewhat likely to buy an iPhone 4, when RBC did the same sort of survey before it launched.

Further, Abramsky says that Apple’s delay could cause a bigger upgrade from existing iPhone owners, since the iPhone 4 is 15 months old. He says 66% of existing iPhone owners are very/somewhat likely to buy a new iPhone.

He’s bumping his estimates for Apple’s 2012 fiscal year as a result. He thinks the company sells 110 million iPhones, generates $140 billion in sales overall, and earns $34.50 per share for fiscal 2012.

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Facebook’s Unbelievable Domination Of Our Time On The Web (GOOG, YHOO, AOL)

Augustine Fou — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 04:28:37 +0000

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-facebook-time-2011-9

Facebook’s domination of time spent on the web is absolutely astonishing.

A new report on social media from Nielsen shows U.S. users spent 53.5 billion minutes on Facebook in May, which is more time than was spent on the next four biggest sites.

(If you include YouTube with Google, then it’s more time than the next three biggest sites.)

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