Why It Matters
The biggest competitive news of the week was Apple dropping Google Maps from the iPhone and iPad, while simultaneously aligning more closely with Facebook. The competitive shock waves of these tectonic changes will reverberate in many directions for a long time, given that the iPhone/iPad leads the market.
In related competitive news, we learn that while Android devices continue to dominate mobile OS share with 50+% share and 900,000 Android daily activations, the Android ecosystem is not a strong monetization engine. The NYT tells us that for every dollar a developer brings in on Apple iOS, they bring in only 24 cents on Android; and we learn from the WSJ, that “Game Makers Pull Titles from Google+”, because it’s not working economically for them.
The second biggest news of the week was Verizon Wireless’ data “Share Everything” plans announcement; it is highly significant as it will likely be the pricing trajectory going forward for the industry and is a good sign for maintaining an economically and competitively healthy wireless broadband industry. That’s because this needed pricing transformation accelerates the migration from the declining voice and texting revenue base that funds these fixed-cost infrastructures to sustainable data revenues to better fund these infrastructures long term.
There is yet another company vying to become a potential fifth or sixth national wireless broadband provider. DISH is investing with Qualcomm to develop mobile chipsets that would work with terrestrial and satellite spectrum.
We learn from RCRWireless that the “Mobile wallet space gets crowded;” as Apple enters with its new “Passbook” offering, and Sprint is reportedly planning its own mobile wallet offering this summer after an unsuccessful initial alliance with Google Wallet, which has disappointed to date.
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