BII MOBILE INSIGHTS: How Mobile Startups Are Taking Revenue From Carriers

Mobile Insights is a daily newsletter from BI Intelligence delivered first thing every morning exclusively to BI Intelligence subscribers. Sign up for a free trial of BI Intelligence today.

Why Mobile Startups Are Beating The Carriers (TechCrunch)
The carrier oligopoly is being challenged by over-the-top data services. And while the network operators are not about to lose their fiefdoms entirely, they are being pushed onto the back foot. The shift from circuit switched voice-plus-text services to all-IP mobile data has allowed Internet companies to come in and start disrupting their lucrative walled gardens. The traditional carrier revenue streams of voice and SMS are being eroded by more flexible and cheaper VoIP and over-the-top messaging alternatives, whether it’s Skype or Viber or Whatsapp or Line. According to a recent report by Strategy Analytics more than $3 billion in operator messaging revenue will be eradicated between 2012 and 2017. Read >>

Google Is The Number One All Around Destination (comScore)
This is comScore's first official rankings based on Web and mobile using its Media Metrix Multi-Platform tool. The company started testing the new ranking technology in November, and its scoring accounts for people using multiple devices to access sites. The average property within the Top 100 increased its audience size by an average of 38 percent, and 19 of those properties had incremental mobile (i.e. smartphone and tablet) audiences that extended the reach of their desktop audiences by at least 50 percent. The properties with the greatest incremental percentage gains from mobile were Groupon (223 percent), Zynga (211 percent) and Pandora (183 percent). And Google hasn't budged from the top spot when it comes to its desktop and mobile audience. Read >>

Sergey Brin Talks Google Glass At TED 2013 (Phandroid)
While many of us (even those who pre-ordered at Google I/O or are waiting on the Early Explorers program) are still waiting on Google Glass to come to market, the specially privileged folks, like co-founder of Google Sergey Brin, are already walking around with the thing and talking about it. The aforementioned leader made an appearance at the TED 2013 conference earlier this month to talk about Google Glass and why Google wanted to create such an experience. Check out the video. Read >>

A Budget iPhone Would Throw The Market Into Chaos (BGR)
The buzz around the budget iPhone has grown deafening. This will be a product launch with a unique impact because of two trends that define the current smartphone market. If the budget iPhone really arrives this summer, it will drop smack in the middle of the tension created by slowing global smartphone volume growth and the extremely ambitious volume growth targets of the largest Asian vendors. The new smartphone leaders simply don’t have that much flesh left to rip from the haunches of the two fading champions. The period of making easy gains off the Nokia-BlackBerry volume dive is over. That leaves a tough equation for the industry to deal with. Read >>

iOS Vs. Android: The Apps Arms Race (Trademob)
Trademob put together an infographic contrasting iOS and Android. In particular, the graphic looks at the numbers around market penetration and user demographics as well as the differences between each platform that mobile advertisers need to know.

iOS vs Android apps

In the aftermath of the release of the Samsung Galaxy S4 last week, and Apple’s marketing backlash, the iOS vs. Android arms race has hit a milestone. Android is growing faster than ever, in terms of both their market share and the revenue they pay out to app marketers. And Apple’s marketing has taken on a decidedly "attacking" tone. Read >>

Yahoo To Buy Mobile News Summly (iDB)
Yahoo! announced that it will be acquiring mobile news startup Summly. The deal, said to be worth around $30 million, is for both the app and the team, and is expected to close sometime in the next few months. For those unfamiliar with the company, Summly created and maintains the popular news-summarizing iPhone app of the same name. It uses special algorithms to deliver "snapshots" of stories that match a users’ interests. Summly was created by 15-year-old Nick D’Aloisio two years ago at his home in London. It officially launched in December 2011 as a tech summarization prototype, and garnered immediate interest. Read >>

Average Mobile Customer Already Owns 2 Unused Cellphones (Love2Recycle via Mashable)
The infographic below, created by Love2Recycle, shows us why we need a smartphone recycling revolution. Did you know that the average smartphone user has two phones he or she doesn't use? Read >>

mobile phone recycle