Camera Phones: Digital Camera Boon or Buster?

Will camera phones replace digital cameras for the average consumer? Not by a long shot, according to a new study from IDC. The study refutes what it refers to as a myth about the digital technologies and affirms the notion of peaceful co-existence between the two.

According to IDC's Mobile Imaging Survey, the myth is suspect at best, especially since resolutions in camera phones have remained somewhat constant and digital camera pricing has continued to decline.

Different Purposes
Michael Gartenberg, an analyst with Jupiter Research, told TechNewsWorld he agrees with IDC's assessment.

"Camera phones will not become digital cameras, nor will music-enabled phones displace iPods or MP3 players," he said. "These devices will be an addition to, not instead of."

Gartenberg said the issue is context. Consumers who are heading out for a night on the town may only want to take one digital device. The natural selection is the cell phone . If the consumer is inspired to take a snapshot of his friends, then the camera phone is better than the best digital camera that got left at home.

However, consumers who are going on vacation and want to capture memories of their special retreat will take a digital camera.

Gateway to Camera Sales
IDC concludes that the camera phone is more of a gateway product in the U.S., and creates rather than destroys digital camera users.

Indeed, over 30 percent of camera phone owners plan to purchase a digital camera because they were introduced to digital imaging through a camera phone.

But analysts said sales drivers of camera phones and digital cameras are as different as their uses. One driver goes back to context. The second driver is cash.

"The cell phone user, for the most part, isn't going to pay money for the camera feature. They are getting the camera as part of the phone and aren't paying extra for it," Gartenberg said. "A digital camera is something that you go out and buy because you want to take photographs."

Printing on the Decline
The printing of images captured on camera phones is also on the decline, the IDC survey reveals. Instead of one image being printed on average per month like in 2004, one image is being printed every three months in 2005.

"Home is still the dominant place to print, yet the anemic number of prints supports IDC's theory that end users have more reliable expectations regarding mobile imaging than vendors themselves," said Chris Chute, senior analyst, Worldwide Digital Imaging Solutions and Services.

Gartenberg suspects one reason for the decline in camera phone picture print outs is the low quality. Megapixel camera phones are just beginning to come to market that can print an image with reasonable quality. The other factor is how people use the images.

"Often consumers don't have an easy way to get the pictures off the camera. So they use them as wallpaper and screensavers instead of printing them," Gartenberg said. "It shows how consumers are changing the way they are interacting with digital technology. Consumers are realizing that there's many ways they can interact with their pictures other than just printing them out and pasting them into an album."

IDC's Mobile Imaging Survey also determined that the bulk of camera phone owner respondents are between the ages of 25 and 44. The top imaging activities are archiving images for the long-term and sharing through e-mail

Verizon Slashes Wireless Costs

Verizon Wireless joined its parent Verizon on Monday in cutting the price of broadband services and effectively blunting the charge of competitive technologies, which in this case would be municipal Wi-Fi and WiMAX.

Verizon Wireless, which is owned by Verizon, the largest landline carrier in the United States, and Vodafone, one of the world’s largest wireless carriers, is cutting the price of its evolution-data optimized (EV-DO) service by 25 percent.

The company will also add seven new markets to its coverage area. That would bring the carrier closer to its goal of covering half of the U.S. by the end of the year.

Verizon Wireless will reduce its current monthly price for EV-DO from $79.99 to $59.99. The new price is considered relatively inexpensive by early adopters, but most of the consumer market may still consider it too high.

By way of comparison, last week Verizon Wireless’ parent company Verizon announced a low-end landline DSL service that is faster and probably more reliable than EV-DO for less than $15 a month (see Verizon, Yahoo in DSL Hookup).

EV-DO is a wireless communications technology that provides speeds of between 300 and 600 Mbps, or 10 times the speed of dial-up. EV-DO can work with cell phones, but it requires wireless providers to reserve large swatches of expensive wireless spectrum for data at a time when they are still having problems reliably accommodating the demand for voice.

But Verizon Wireless, which has been marketing EV-DO services for two years, has probably been spurred into action by the emergence of municipal Wi-Fi in cities such as Philadelphia and the fact that WiMAX, another competing technology, is moving into the testing phase.

In addition, the newly merged Sprint Nextel has made a substantial commitment to EV-DO.
“Sprint Nextel has adopted EV-DO as their target architecture, which basically requires them to deploy EV-DO in every base station in the U.S. Verizon has been a pioneer of EV-DO technology,” said Joe Nordgaard, managing director of Spectral Advantage, a wireless industry consulting firm. “A 25 percent cut goes a long way to getting early adopters like myself to sign up again because they are faced with the issue of contract renewal.”

Verizon’s move also makes the degree of difficulty higher for Cingular, the largest wireless carrier in the U.S., as that carrier continues to plan its launch of a competing wireless broadband service, according to Mr. Nordgaard.
“If Cingular is planning on entering the market near Verizon’s $80 per month pricing, Cingular’s business case for UMTS [universal mobile telecommunications system] just got a lot more difficult,” added Mr. Nordgaard.
UMTS is a worldwide standard for wireless data communication based on the global system for mobile communications (GSM) standard.

Municipal Wi-Fi
Many local governments have maintained that the major carriers have priced large segments of the population out of the broadband market, so they are undertaking the construction of their own broadband networks.

Because wireless networks require the least amount of upheaval from construction, many municipalities are looking to deploy wireless broadband as the technology of choice.
“We have been in Philadelphia and many other markets since 2003, so municipal Wi-Fi is competing with us,” said Jim Gerace, a spokesman for Verizon Wireless. “And as far as I can tell, WiMAX is still a service on paper only.”

Verizon Wireless added Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Charlotte, Raleigh, and Durham, North Carolina; Denver, Colorado; Louisville, Kentucky; and San Francisco and Sacramento, California, to its coverage area.

“Verizon Wireless has to begin really pursuing the EV-DO market and cultivating a knowledge base on that pursuit, or risk leaving it open for incursion from WiMAX,” said Mr. Nordgaard. “EV-DO will evolve to higher data rates and WiMAX is constrained by the availability of spectrum.”

Yahoo, Verizon launch co-branded DSL

Verizon Communications is launching its co-branded Yahoo portal this week along with a new, lower-speed DSL service for $14.95 a month.

Verizon, which had announced the partnership with Yahoo back in January, unveiled the new co-branded portal on Tuesday. The new Verizon Yahoo service includes antivirus, anti-spyware, parental controls and pop-up blockers, as well as on-demand music videos, 2GB of e-mail storage and unlimited photo storage.

"Yahoo will be the default portal for all new Verizon subscribers," said Bob Ingalls, president of Verizon's retail markets group. "And it will also be available to all existing subscribers. It's the first step in the relationship between the two companies, and we look forward to working closely with them."

The partnership marks the third major DSL deal Yahoo has struck with a large telecom, as phone companies search for ways to fend off the cable operators that are increasingly encroaching on their market.

Three years ago, Yahoo introduced a similar partnership with SBC Communications. And two years ago, Yahoo signed a broadband deal with BT, a major U.K. telecom.

As in its other deals with telecoms, Yahoo will receive a slice of the revenue for every new Verizon DSL customer.

Verizon also announced on Tuesday that it would offer a new consumer DSL service for $14.95 with a download speed of 768kbps and upload speed of 128kbps. The new service, which is available to customers using Yahoo's, Verizon's or MSN's portal, is available only to customers signing a one-year contract.

Verizon now offers DSL customers three speeds of service. In addition to the new $14.95 service, Verizon offers a 1.5mbps download and 768kpbs upload service for $29.95 with a one-year contract. And for customers living in certain locations it offers a 3mbps download and 1.5mbps upload service for the same price.

And where the company is building Fios, its fiber-to-the-home network, Verizon offers that service in three distinct tiers: 5mbps download/2mbps upload for $39.95; 15mbps download/2mbps upload for $49.95; and 30mbps download/5mbps upload for $199.95.

In June, SBC announced a $14.95-a-month promotional deal to customers who signed up for a one-year contract. The SBC deal, which also uses Yahoo as its portal, includes 2GB of e-mail storage, antivirus protection and music videos. Customers, however, receive a faster download speed of 1.5mbps and upload speed of 384kbps.

"We aren't dropping prices," said Verizon's Ingalls. "This is a new product and we think there is demand for this kind of service from people who are now using dial-up."

Robbers seeking high-end phones

With its built-in camera, large color display and distinctive walkie-talkie beep, the Nextel i850 phone ranks among the hottest-selling items at Miami's ISN Telcom.

Maybe too hot.

The popular model was among 50 phones -- total value between $15,000 and $20,000 -- looted by robbers last week at the Nextel distributor. Police suspect the same robbers in at least three other robberies that targeted high-end Nextel phones at stores in Miami-Dade and Broward counties.

In last week's incident, in Miami's Upper Eastside, two robbers, one armed with a shotgun, stuffed the phones in four garbage bags, police said.

`THEY'RE POPULAR'

They stole our high-end phones. These phones have not been out more than two or three months,'' said Jonathan Lieberman, who owns seven ISN stores in South Florida. Maybe they're targeting us because they're popular.''

SEVERAL INCIDENTS

Robbers used duct tape to bind store workers and wielded shotguns in other recent incidents at Nextel stores in Pembroke Pines, North Miami and North Miami Beach, authorities say.

They all appear to have similar MOs and similar subjects,'' said North Miami Beach Detective Michael Stein.

In last week's Miami robbery, police say that two men burst into the store, 5084 Biscayne Blvd., at about 7 p.m. on Friday.

They tied up two workers there, stole their wallets and keys, then raided the phones and the cash box.

They can sell them on the streets,'' said one of those workers, Conrad Vargas, 22, of the popular i850s and i860s.

Cell firm hangs up the extras for seniors

At a time when cell phones are letting users do more tricks, from video calling to downloading digital music, one of the latest models from Vodafone Group PLC has no camera, no browser and hardly any icons. Instead of being sleeker and cooler than ever, the phone is large and ordinary-looking.

What it is, though, is easy to use, and if Vodafone is right, the market will love it. That’s because of who its market is: people getting up in years.

If the battery on the Vodafone Simply, as it’s called, gets low, the phone doesn’t signal this with a tiny icon somewhere. Instead, on its screen, the words “please charge” appear. If a message is waiting, a light flashes, like in old-fashioned answering machines. To help people who tend to lose their phones around the house and let the battery run down, this one comes with a stand that serves as a place to stow the thing, and charges it while it’s there.

Ann Ridley is the kind of customer Vodafone has in mind. A 65-year-old ballet teacher in Claygate, England, near London, Ridley rarely gives out her mobile-phone number, never uses text messaging and doesn’t store her friends’ numbers on the phone.

“I can’t see the numbers, and it’s too complicated,” she says. The result is that she uses the cell phone for fewer than a dozen calls a year, spending less than $18 annually.

The hope at Vodafone is that when people such as Ridley, who said she wasn’t familiar with the Vodafone Simply, hear about it, they’ll find its ease of use so comforting they’ll start to use their cell service more. If so, Vodafone, which collects a fee for each cell-phone call, can expect more revenue.

Vodafone isn’t the only company – nor cell phones the only industry – trying to shape some products for older consumers or to simplify them. At Ford Motor Co., designers who test-drive prototypes sometimes wear a “third-age” suit that gives them a sense of an older person’s experience by means of stiff fabric at the elbows and knees and thick padding at the waist.

Ford has made many modifications to cars as a result, from wider doors to more-comfortable seats, says one of its technical specialists, Jeffrey Pike.

Philips Electronics NV, whose many products range from beard trimmers to X-ray systems, has a “Simplicity Advisory Board” of outside experts, and next month will bring out the first products of a companywide simplicity drive. Consumers are saying, “Many products complicate my life instead of making it easier,” says the head of Philips’s global marketing management, Enderson Guimaraes.

The Vodafone Simply isn’t an attempt to match certain ultra-simple phones sold to the elderly for emergency use, such as one from a France Telecom SA unit that has no keyboard but just three big color-coded buttons linked to preprogrammed numbers such as that of a doctor. Instead, Vodafone is trying to appeal to a large market of middle-aged and older people with a handset they won’t find intimidating. The company’s European target market is everyone who’s 40 years of age or over and isn’t issued a cell phone by an employer.

Three MegaPixel Camera Phone Launched

South Korea's SK Teletech has introduced a new 3 megapixel cameraphone for the local market. The SKY IM-8400 comes with a 3.2 million auto-focus camera. There have been a total of seven 3 million pixel-class camera phones introduced onto the South Korean market by leading manufacturers, such as Samsung, Pantech, LG and SKY. The 3 million pixel camera phones have been sold at a rate of more than 30,000 units per month since their first introduction in July 2004, conspicuously overwhelming the market for 3 million pixel digital cameras, despite the relatively high prices.

It appears that 3 million pixel camera phones are still outdone by their 1 million pixel counterparts in terms of sales and popularity among the general public, and by 7 million pixel ones for precision. However, market watchers say that a 3 million pixel camera phone with auto-focus or zoom function compares favorably with a 3 million pixel digital camera as a camera, predicting that they will soon form the mainstream of the digital camera market.

A market expert said, "It appears that many people take pictures with camera phones to use them in the computer or their individual homepages. As for 3X5 size pictures, two or three million pixel-class cameras are good enough. Thus, cameras of this class are expected to form the mainstream of the camera phone market soon.

In addition to auto-focus, zoom, and half-shutter functions, IM-8400 enables the user to choose his/her own picture quality, and features various functions, such as five-stage white balance, seven modes of photography, the ten-step brightness level, 9-cut continuous photography, 16-cut split photography, and a self-timer.

Equipped with a 1.3-inch sub LCD and four-directional Multi-Key, the camera phone provides zoom, focus, replay, and flash functions as well as play, search, fast forward functions when listening to recorded music without opening the folder. The 3D Sound, Equalizer Mode, and 15?oud Speaker also provide lively music. It is also possible to download via MP3 or listen to music via the Melon service.

A SKY official said, "The newly introduced product is expected to be a leader in the premium market for 3 million pixel phones both in design and in functions."

Broadband over power starting to kick off

Most of us know there's three major ways to connect to the internet: cable, DSL, satellite, but what about... your power outlet?

In what may be the death of dial-up even in the most rural of areas, a new technology called 'Broadband over Power Lines' (BPL) is beginning to make its mark. Using radio waves transmitted across the power lines, BPL can provide a data line similar to DSL or cable. According to 802.11-news three rural Texas communities have already started a pilot program that is garnering the attention of utility companies everywhere.

"The successful pilot projects were launched in mid-June in Blanco, Burnet and Weimar, Texas. According to Mike Steele, Burnet's city manager, the city has had great success with the initial pilot project and is expanding it to additional parts of the community."

The three pilot programs are the first real trial of the service for public consumption, though small tests were set up previously in the states of Virginia, Indiana, and Kentucky. Costing just $25 per month, BPL offers a 4 mbit/sec connection speed, which currently rivals most cable offerings that can cost nearly twice as much. The next generation of the technology will be rolling out within a year and is expected to hit a speed of 90 mbit/sec!

BPL technology is seen as a huge step forward in bringing rural areas into the world of always-on internet. Most cable companies refuse to run their services out to areas that are not inhabited enough to be profitable, and phone companies feel the same way about DSL technologies. There's always satellite technology, but it is very cost prohibitive and still requires the use of your phone line for any uploading of data. However, BPL can be run by any electricity provider with no upgrade to the power grids, meaning it can be run to the most rural of places. In fact, the more rural the location (at least in the US), the more likely that the power company is a co-op, meaning that the people of the area own it directly. This type of organization makes it easy for the public to choose to have the technology, as opposed to waiting for a big company to finally bring it to them.

The technology has more uses than just internet for the public, though...utility companies are excited about using it to find blown transformers, discover power line problems, and other tasks that were not possible before this. Overall, aside from a cheaper internet, it could even eventually lower the cost of electricity through better maintenance and diagnostic procedures.

Europe is jumping on the BPL bandwagon as well, with the European Commission issuing a recommendation for what will be called PLC ("power line communication") on that side of the pond. They have already urged utilities to remove any "unnecessary" roadblocks that prevent an easy implementation.

However, not everyone is excited about BPL. Amateur radio enthusiasts are worried about the fact that the amount of traffic will create interference for their operations, and cable and phone companies are worried about a cut to their exclusive revenue. Not that they don't have their own higher-speed offerings now, though. If BPL isn't quite your speed, there's always the new FIOS fiber-optic connection from Verizon, which is promising transfers of up to 30 mbit/sec in some areas.

So does BPL look like the future power of internet connectivity? Plug in to our forums and let us know your thoughts.

Most farmers still dialing up the Internet

Despite efforts to expand the availability of broadband to rural areas, people are still dialing up the Internet on the wide majority of wired US farms - 69% of them - according to new data released by USDA this summer. The finding was part of a survey of Farm Computer Usage and Ownership conducted every two years by the National Agricultural Statistics Service.The results of this year's survey were originally released in late July, but were re-released with corrections Friday.Surprisingly, some of the major farm states seem to be the least technologically advanced when it comes to Internet access. Of the Indiana farmers surveyed, for example, 86% said they use a dial-up connection. In Ohio that number is 82%. New Jersey growers are the least likely to be dialing up, with 46% reporting they use such a connection. Instead, 21% of farmers there connect by DSL, and 26% by cable.Wireless technology, the next new thing, is making inroads in many states, with Arizona leading the pack. Fifteen percent of farmers there say they connect wirelessly, while just 3% of farmers there connect via cable, and 10% connect by DSL. Wireless connections are also gaining converts in New Mexico, Nebraska and Colorado where 8-9% of farmers use them.Here are some of the other key findings:

· Internet access on farms is up slightly since 2003. Nationally, 51% of US farms now have Internet access, compared with 48% in 2003.· 58% of farms have access to a computer in 2005, the same level as 2003.· 55% of all US farms own or lease a computer, up slightly from 54% in 2003.· Farms using computers for their farm business increased to 31% in 2005, up 1% since 2003. Operators were asked if they conducted any non-agricultural business via the Internet in the last 12 months for the first time in 2005; 26% of farms responded "yes."

Usage of computers and the Internet breaks down along economic lines, with the highest-earning farms most likely to have a computer and an Internet connection they use for the business:

· 79% of US farms with sales and government payments of $250,000 or more have access to a computer. 77% own or lease a computer, 66% are using a computer for their farm business, and 72% have Internet access.· For farms with sales and government payments between $100,000 and $249,999, the figures are: 69% have access to a computer, 67% own or lease a computer, 51% are using a computer for their farm business, and 59% have Internet access.· For farms with sales and government payments between $10,000 and $99,999, 54% reported having computer access, 51% own or lease a computer, 33% use a computer for their farm business, and 46% have Internet access.

Crop and livestock farmers are pretty much equally likely to have a computer they use for their farm business - but the trend is leveling off for crop farmers, and increasing for livestock producers:

· For crop farms, 60% have computer access and 33% usea computer for their farm business in 2005, the same as 2003. Internet access for crop farms has increased to 52% in 2005 compared to 49% in 2003.· For livestock farms, 57% have computer access and 29% use a computer for their farm business, up 2% from 2003. Half now have Internet access.

It's also interesting to note that farmers in New England are the most likely to say they use their computers for their farm business (52%) while those in New Mexico and Louisiana are least likely (16% each). As for Internet access, Wyoming farmers are the most likely to be online (77%) with New England farmers close behind (76%). At the other end of the spectrum, just 30% of farmers in Kentucky are online.New England farmers are also the most likely to buy agricultural inputs and to conduct agricultural marketing activities online. Those activities include direct sales of commodities, online crop and livestock auctions, online market advisory services, and commodity price tracking among other things.The New England marketing trend is driven by strong reliance on the Internet by farms that earn $250,000 or more per year (23%) and farms in the 10,000-$99,000 range (21%). Of the farms with income between the two groups, interestingly, just 16% say they use the Internet in this way.

How do you connect?
Shed some light on the Internet useage trends USDA uncovered by answering two new AgPolls on Agriculture Online's Computers Talk group. After you answer the poll, post your thoughts about your local situation in a poll comment:
• How do you connect to the Internet? >>
• Why do you still use dial-up? >>
Despite efforts to expand the availability of broadband to rural areas, people are still dialing up the Internet on the wide majority of wired US farms - 69% of them - according to new data released by USDA this summer. The finding was part of a survey of Farm Computer Usage and Ownership conducted every two years by the National Agricultural Statistics Service.The results of this year's survey were originally released in late July, but were re-released with corrections Friday.Surprisingly, some of the major farm states seem to be the least technologically advanced when it comes to Internet access. Of the Indiana farmers surveyed, for example, 86% said they use a dial-up connection. In Ohio that number is 82%. New Jersey growers are the least likely to be dialing up, with 46% reporting they use such a connection. Instead, 21% of farmers there connect by DSL, and 26% by cable.Wireless technology, the next new thing, is making inroads in many states, with Arizona leading the pack. Fifteen percent of farmers there say they connect wirelessly, while just 3% of farmers there connect via cable, and 10% connect by DSL. Wireless connections are also gaining converts in New Mexico, Nebraska and Colorado where 8-9% of farmers use them.Here are some of the other key findings:

· Internet access on farms is up slightly since 2003. Nationally, 51% of US farms now have Internet access, compared with 48% in 2003.· 58% of farms have access to a computer in 2005, the same level as 2003.· 55% of all US farms own or lease a computer, up slightly from 54% in 2003.· Farms using computers for their farm business increased to 31% in 2005, up 1% since 2003. Operators were asked if they conducted any non-agricultural business via the Internet in the last 12 months for the first time in 2005; 26% of farms responded "yes."

Usage of computers and the Internet breaks down along economic lines, with the highest-earning farms most likely to have a computer and an Internet connection they use for the business:

· 79% of US farms with sales and government payments of $250,000 or more have access to a computer. 77% own or lease a computer, 66% are using a computer for their farm business, and 72% have Internet access.· For farms with sales and government payments between $100,000 and $249,999, the figures are: 69% have access to a computer, 67% own or lease a computer, 51% are using a computer for their farm business, and 59% have Internet access.· For farms with sales and government payments between $10,000 and $99,999, 54% reported having computer access, 51% own or lease a computer, 33% use a computer for their farm business, and 46% have Internet access.

Crop and livestock farmers are pretty much equally likely to have a computer they use for their farm business - but the trend is leveling off for crop farmers, and increasing for livestock producers:

· For crop farms, 60% have computer access and 33% usea computer for their farm business in 2005, the same as 2003. Internet access for crop farms has increased to 52% in 2005 compared to 49% in 2003.· For livestock farms, 57% have computer access and 29% use a computer for their farm business, up 2% from 2003. Half now have Internet access.

It's also interesting to note that farmers in New England are the most likely to say they use their computers for their farm business (52%) while those in New Mexico and Louisiana are least likely (16% each). As for Internet access, Wyoming farmers are the most likely to be online (77%) with New England farmers close behind (76%). At the other end of the spectrum, just 30% of farmers in Kentucky are online.New England farmers are also the most likely to buy agricultural inputs and to conduct agricultural marketing activities online. Those activities include direct sales of commodities, online crop and livestock auctions, online market advisory services, and commodity price tracking among other things.The New England marketing trend is driven by strong reliance on the Internet by farms that earn $250,000 or more per year (23%) and farms in the 10,000-$99,000 range (21%). Of the farms with income between the two groups, interestingly, just 16% say they use the Internet in this way.

Kiddie Cell Phones Are All The Rage

Ok, so your 8-year-old wants a cell phone. Don't think your 8-year-old needs a cell phone? You don't have to fight with them, fight with the cell phone companies. As cell phones have become an integral part of the tech industry with a lot of features, including search and email and instant messaging, cell phone marketers feel the 8-12 year-old market is the wave of the future.

Nokia has already gotten a Barbie cell phone with Mattel. Other companies have such products in development. Firefly mobile already has a phone on the market either online or at Target, running for $100. TicTalk also has a phone out for kids as well, starting at $100. These phones do come with some parental controls but many groups none to pleased with putting the cell phones in the hands of children.

Several news sources across the country have been running stories recently on schools banning cell phones as distractions and methods of cheating, at least during class time. They've also reported on banning the phones from elementary schools because most administrators feel if information is needed to be given to a student, then they can go through the traditional routes available

Yahoo ushers in new ad tracking system

Yahoo on Monday launched a new technique for tracking advertisement impressions.

The system will count and report ad impressions only after the ad's graphic loads in the viewer's browser. Ads within blocked pop-ups, for instance, would not receive credit. Most Internet publishers currently measure their ad impressions at the other end--when they leave the server.

The new process will "measure even more accurately if an advertisement has been viewed by a consumer," Todd Teresi, Yahoo's vice president of operations, said in a statement.

The system hinges on new standards for tracking ad impressions, released last November by an Interactive Advertising Bureau task force, which Yahoo chaired.

The guidelines marked the first time any advertising medium had developed a standard tied to the point at which the ad reaches the consumer. Other mediums, such as magazines and television, measure ad impressions through the content or programming that houses the embedded ad.

According to a company press release, Yahoo is one of the first organizations to put the standards into practice. Now available in the United States, Yahoo's measurement system will make its way across its global network by early next year.

Previous Next Weather.com, Univision and CNET Networks, publisher of News.com, are also in "full compliance" with the new measurement guidelines, an IAB press release said. A dozen other companies, including Walt Disney Internet Group, The New York Times Co., Microsoft's MSN and AOL Media Networks, expect to complete the auditing and certification process by the end of 2005 or early 2006.

Separately on Monday, Yahoo Search Marketing announced a partnership with Web analytics providers Coremetrics, Omniture, WebTrends and WebSideStory.

The agreements will allow the analysts to access marketing campaign reports through application program interfaces that were developed by Yahoo and interact directly with Yahoo systems. The analysis companies in turn will make a greater amount of their click activity information available to Yahoo.

Yahoo said in a statement that it plans to make this option available to other Web analysts in the future.

Is a $20 cell phone on the horizon?

NEW DELHI, India--Texas Instruments has announced the availability of its single-chip technology for cell phone makers in emerging markets.
The company that the product, made available Monday, combines functions such as memory, logic, power management, radio and network processes on a single chip. The chip has been developed using the company's 90-nanometer CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) manufacturing and digital radio-frequency processor technologies, the chipmaker said.
This integration of crucial electronics on a single chip will reduce the power requirements, the needed board area and silicon area of phones. All of that should help drive down costs of entry-level GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) phones with GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) capability, Texas Instruments said. The chip was made available to Nokia at the beginning of the year and is now available to manufacturers in India and other emerging markets.
"It will reduce (the) electronics bill of material for handset vendors by 30 percent," Tom Engibous, chairman of Texas Instruments, said here while addressing members of the Cellular Operators Association of India. With this, he said, there is the possibility of $20 cell phones on the horizon. "Our customers can use this technology to make ultra-low-cost handsets affordable in largely untapped consumer markets such as India, China, South America, Eastern Europe and other emerging markets."
Emerging markets are a target of chipmakers, as well as handset makers. Qualcomm, for example, is also working on chips that combine several functions of CDMA (code division multiple access) cell phones and help handset makers reduce costs.
India is among the fastest-growing cell phone markets in the world. The country expects to add more than 100 million new subscribers in the next two years, from the present base of 58 million. Industry leaders assert that although call charges in India are the cheapest in the world, high regulatory fees and the lack of cheaper entry-level phones are key factors affecting growth.
Engibous said the bulk of the designing, development and testing for the new chipset took place at Texas Instruments' Bangalore development center, which has 1,200 engineers. The facility, one of the oldest foreign development centers in India, marked its 20th anniversary this month.
The semiconductor maker also announced what it said are the first cell phones built in India--from concept to design to production--featuring Texas Instruments' TCS chipset family and a single-chip Bluetooth module. These phones have been developed by Indian companies BPL and Quasar. While BPL will target the local market, Quasar has developed the phone for Primus. The phones are expected to be available by year-end.

FCC changes rules over DSL and broadband competition

The FCC decided on the 5th of August that wireline broadband Internet access services are information services, and according to the US telecom act, and this implies a much lower degree of regulation on their providers. In particular, it relieves them from the obligation to unbundle the transmission components and grant access to other ISPs.

Comment: With this decision, the FCC has levelled the paying field for RBOCs, granting them the same degree of freedom that cable companies gained from the 'Brand X' decision the US Supreme Court in May this year.

This is a big hit on independent ISPs. They have a one-year transition period during which they still will be able to use existing facilities from facilities-based provider. But they have to completely re-think their business and their role in today's US broadband market.

The decision comes as no surprise. After the May Supreme Court decision, incoming FCC chairman Kevin Martin made it clear that he wanted to create same regulatory conditions for the telecom companies. The only surprise is the swiftness with which this new decision was taken and its unanimity amongst FCC commissioners.

The FCC's overriding belief is that there is no need to grant access in a multi-platform world, because consumers can chose in between different facilities-based broadband providers deploying different and competing technologies. Close to six broadband connections out of ten in the US are provided through cable, while DSL covers the rest, and overall broadband penetration is 12%.

In the major European countries, broadband penetration is similar to the US, but the regulatory approach is going in the opposite direction because multi-platform competition is a rarity and cable operators are few. European regulators are therefore forcing incumbents to provide infrastructure elements and wholesale DSL services, such as bitstream offers, to facilitate market entry. The aim is to encourage ISPS to gradually deploy their own infrastructure, and then compete against the incumbents once they have the strength (the so-called ladder of infrastructure-investment paradigm).

Two completely different regulatory approaches, and so far similar outcomes in term of penetration, offers and innovation (though the US is slightly more dynamic particularly in the area of voice over broadband). While it will be interesting to see who wins this 'regulatory game', new access technologies (like Wi-max) always have the disruptive power to reshape once again the broadband market scenario.

BellSouth cuts DSL prices

BellSouth Corp. has simplified pricing for its Internet access service into three tiers and is launching an ad campaign to explain the changes.

Existing customers need to call BellSouth to receive the lower rates, spokesman Clifton Metcalf says.

The move comes as the telephone and cable television industries battle over leadership in the Internet-access and digital-telephony markets.

"This new initiative reflects BellSouth's commitment to making our customers' high-speed Internet experiences simple and affordable," said Keith Cowan, president of marketing and product management - BellSouth.

Atlanta-based BellSouth uses digital-subscriber-line (DSL) technology for Internet access, while cable TV companies use cable-modem technology.

Under the new pricing, BellSouth (NYSE:BLS) is charging $42.95 a month for its fastest Internet service, called FastAccess DSL Extreme, with downstream speeds of up to 3 megabytes per second. It previously charged up to $54.95 for the service.

FastAccess DSL Ultra, with speeds of up to 1.5 megabytes per second, will now cost $32.95 a month, down from as much as $44.95. And FastAccess DSL Lite, with speeds up to 256 kilobytes per second, will cost $24.95 a month.

In addition, BellSouth no longer is charging for service activation or shipping and handling fees. And it is cutting the price of its modems and gateways to $75 from $100 and $150, respectively.

Online orders for modems and gateways are free, after rebates.

BellSouth's Metcalf notes that some customers may not want to switch their pricing until the end of promotional offers, which in some cases cost $19.95 a month.

But the company's goal is to simplify its offerings and make clear the price comparison with cable rivals, he adds.

Time Warner Cable's Charlotte area division typically charges $44.95 a month for its Road Runner service, which features a download speed of five megabytes per second.

Time Warner offers a six-month introductory rate of $29.95 a month for new customers and it also discounts the price for customers who also buy cable telephone service