High Speed Internet Access (HSIA): Mobile Internet

Vodafone posted a $78.2 million loss for the first half of this year and lost 375,000 customers. The poor performance was widely expected after the company experienced a period of customer dissatisfaction due to network problems and poor customer service largely in the period covering late 2010 and early this year.

The losses in the number of customers were mostly in the pre-paid mobile phone segment. The number of post-paid customers stayed virtually unchanged. There were also some changes to reporting of pre-paid which inflated the losses. However, the profit loss was a consequence of Vodafone’s well documented problems.

VHA’s chief executive Nigel Dews, stated that the company is well on the way to fixing the problems experienced earlier this year. Network improvements in terms of new hardware and new radio equipment are about 50% complete with a 1000 new sites rolled out. Customer service issues are being addressed with 300 new customer service staff and 24×7 customer service support. The integration between Vodafone and 3 Mobile has also taken its toll on customer satisfaction and is progressing. The outcome of the improvements have resulted in a downwards trend of complaints.

A few days ago Samsung announced the launch of the new Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia. The launch date was set for August 11th. However, a Federal Court ruling means that Samsung will not be able to advertise or sell the current version of the Tab 10.1 in Australia. Apple has successfully argued the case that the Galaxy tablet infringes 10 Apple design patents.

The next hearing is set for August 29th so it will be at least a month before we see a new version of the Galaxy Tab in Australia. Samsung have been ordered to provide three early samples of the Tab 10.1 to Apple.

The claims by Apple that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is a copycat tablet centre around the similarity of graphical user interface design elements. These images include those for dragging text and icons and images for unlocking the device. There are also claims by Apple that the functionality breaches patents.

Vodafone are set to offer the new Galaxy Tab 10.1 to replace the older version which is no longer available. The timeframe for this is now uncertain.

A new survey from consultancy firm, Price Waterhouse Coopers indicates that Australians are embracing online shopping to a significant degree. There was a 13% increase in online spending from the previous year and more telling is the fact that the figure is predicted to almost double within the next four years. Australians spent $15.6 billion dollars online this year. When surveyed 80% of online shoppers said that they intend to continue the same level of buying goods online or increase it.

The main reasons why Australians are buying online in increasing numbers can be put down to value and convenience. It’s easy to shop around for the best prices and get access to great deals from online stores that don’t have big overheads. On the convenience side, the attraction is being able to shop at anytime and anywhere so long as you have access to the Internet. It’s also easy to research prices, access product reviews and make comparisons before making a buying decision.

Australians are also more comfortable paying online and more confident in the security of online transactions and the use of various payment options online such as credit cards and paypal. Just under half of online shopping by Australians was through overseas stores this year. Shipping costs have come down worldwide and the strength of the Aussie dollar has contributed to some great online deals.

The explosive growth in mobile broadband and the corresponding growth in smartphones and tablets have also contributed to the ease in which Australian buy online.

Web browsing statistics coming from a web analytics firm, New Applications, in the US are not surprising but they do underline the growing popularity of mobile devices to access the web.

Mobile devices in the form of smartphones and tablets were used for more than 5% of web browsing activity worldwide. The figure was 8.2% in the US alone. The iPad accounted for more than 1% of web browsing.

If we look at the corresponding growth in sales of mobile devices, tablet sales will reach 50 million in 2011 compared with 18 million in 2010. The smartphone sales growth for 2010 will be almost 50% compared with the previous year. If we compare this with PC sales growth which was under 10% then we see just how huge the interest in mobile computing is.

Looking at the breakdown within the mobile device market, the stats for mobile browsers show that the iPad accounted for 25% of the total, iPhone 35%, Android devices 31%. BlackBerry 7% and all others bringing up the rear at under 2%.

The BlackBerry PlayBook is the latest significant tablet platform competing with the iPad and Motorola Xoom. The first most remarkable feature is the appearance and for. The PlayBook is tiny at just 7” and it has a minimalist, solid black appearance. It’s also light and very portable. The debate is still raging on the optimum size for a tablet computer and will continue to do so with the trade-off between portability and ease of use. Critics will say that 7” is too small however the PlayBook is easy to use

One of the best features is the multitasking capability of the BlackBerry Playbook. It’s not just that multitasking is well supported it’s that everything is super fast even while doing multiple things. The operating system is also fantastic and makes multitasking easy to accomplish.

The PlayBook is a great business tool as you’d expect from BlackBerry but it’s also fun and you can certainly use it as a great media device and also play games. At this point it is mostly recommended for BlackBerry smartphone users. The PlayBook can be tethered to a BlackBerry smartphone in order to sync email and use the tablet screen as a larger display for the phone.

The BlackBerry PlayBook is launching with Vodafone on Wednesday 28th June and there are some fantastic special deals to celebrate the launch.
You can get the Blackberry PlayBook PLUS the BlackBerry Bold 9780 on Vodafone’s $49 Cap Plan for $59 per month or on Vodafone’s $65 Infinite Plan for $75 per month. Both deals are a 24 month contract.

Update – The bundled deal of the BlackBerry Bold 9780 smartphone with a BlackBerry PlayBook tablet is now available online from Vodafone. The most popular offer is the $49 cap plan with $20 for the handset. See the Vodafone website for all details.

A recent survey conducted by Paypal and the Australian Retailers Association showed that consumers in Australia are keen to be part of the mobile payment trend. 68% of Australian indicated that they would use a mobile device to make a payment for goods at some time in the future.

The payment system that is at the forefront globally is NFC. A lot of attention has been focussed on it but it only works with mobile phones that have a special NFC chip inside them. In addition, the retailer must have an NFC reader. The physical limitations of the technology will hold up any widespread take-up in the short term.

A starbucks app is looking to threaten the NFC dominance. It has already been in use by iPhone users and now a new Starbucks for Android App has been released in the US. It has been implemented by Starbucks and Safeway supermarkets and is available in almost 1000 Starbucks outlets. The technology is basic barcode scanning technology and it can be used on any smartphone running Android 2.1 or higher.

The App is already popular in the US with customers citing the convenience of using the phone, which they are often using anyway while standing in a queue, to complete the payment. 1 in 5 starbucks payments are made using the App where it s available.

Telstra will launch the HTC Desire S on 31st May. It will be available on a $59 Freedom Connect Plan with $5 per month for the handset. The offer is exclusive to Telstra as was the original HTC Desire. The director of mobile products, Andrew Volard, said that the original Desire had been extremely popular with customers and they were pleased to offer the successor which is Telstra’s first smartphone running Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

Another option for getting the HTC Desire S is to buy outright, currently for $499.

Telstra have an exclusive deal on the HTC Desire S but don’t have all the latest HTC smartphones. Optus have an exclusive on the HTC Incredible S and Vodafone have the HTC Desire HD and the HTC Desire Z.

When Google announced the Chromebook as an alternative to traditional laptop computing, there were some doubts as to whether the device would be available in Australia any time soon. Now it seems that the Google Chromebook will hit Australia in the second half of this year and some sources say that August is the planned release timeframe. As yet, there are no Australian pricing details or information on what mobile broadband plans will be offered in conjunction with the Chromebook. The device will be released in the US and Europe on June 15th.

The Chromebook uses the Google Chrome operating system and it seeks to change the way in which we typically use laptops in that everything will be web based rather than stored on the computer hard drive. Applications such as word processing, spreadsheets, email will all be accessed via the Internet. The advantage is mostly simplicity. Responsibility for things like anti-virus, firewalls, back-ups and software updates will no longer be that of the consumer. Everything is held remotely and accessed when needed. The Chromebook is essentially just a web browser and it’s quick to boot up with the minimum of what is needed to be held on the computer itself.

It doesn’t really offer anything new for people who to choose to work this way anyway. What Google is attempting is to change is the way the average consumer uses their laptop and to change it to web-based mode.

The Chromebook will be great for mobile computing but whether a new device dedicated to this aim will take off will remain to be seen. The advantages are simplicity and speed but at the cost of some loss of functionality compared with a laptop.

Optus reported a big increase in mobile customers, signing up 151,000 new customers this year alone and half a million more customers than a year ago. Telstra also gained for the quarter whereas Vodafone are suffering from the fallout of consumer dissatisfaction with recent poor service.

In the press conference to discuss the strong Optus performance, CEO Paul O’Sullivan also took the opportunity to comment on the new generation of 4G services. 4G has the potential to deliver much faster mobile broadband service to consumers and is more efficient in delivering data than the current 3G services. Optus, Telstra and Vodafone are all trialling 4G but Telstra is the only telco actually planning to roll out services. Telstra 4G is likely to be available by the end of the year. The comment by Optus is that this amounts to little more than “bragging rights” by Telstra and in their opinion the consumer demand isn’t there at this point.

Elsewhere in the world the new 4G standard is being promoted extensively, particularly considering the huge ongoing demand for mobile data and services. Consumers are demanding faster and more reliable access to mobile broadband. As an indication 4G mobile broadband will offer the ability to download a video in about a third of the time that it takes with current 3G services. Also, 4G provides the ability to send more data than 3G for the same spectrum which means that telcos can support more users and increased data demand.

While conceding that 4G is “very important”, Paul O’Sullivan cited technology constraints as a barrier to focussing on delivering 4G in the near future. 4G rollouts need access to the 700Mhz spectrum which will be released when the nation switches to digital TV from analogue. In addition to this, the current crop of modems for mobile broadband don’t support 4G so the demand from consumers also depends on the availability of appropriate devices including smartphone support.

Customer satisfaction with telecommunications companies in Australia improved over the course of 2010 according to research company, Roy Morgan Research. They monitored more than 14,000 people who each had at least one mobile phone and compared satisfaction ratings from the second half of the year with those of the first half.

Virgin Mobile recorded the best result. 84% of Customers were “very satisfied” or “fairly satisfied”. 3 Mobile came in at 80%, Optus at 73%, Vodafone at 70% and Telstra at 65%. In terms of improvement,

Telstra showed a rise in customer satisfaction over the year but the biggest winner here was 3 Mobile who increased their customer satisfaction the most by 6%.