BII MOBILE INSIGHTS: Mobile Video Accounts For 50 Percent Of Verizon's Traffic

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Video Accounts For 50 Percent Of Mobile Network Traffic (GigaOM)
An interesting tidbit came out of Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam’s speech at the National Association of Broadcasters: Half of the traffic on Verizon’s mobile networks is now video and by 2017 Verizon expects that number to grow to two-thirds. At first glance, it would appear that Verizon just is keeping with the global average. Cisco Systems’ Visual Networking Index pegs video at 51 percent of all traffic generated by mobile devices. McAdam is claiming that half the load on its mobile airwaves is now video, which is frankly quite a lot. McAdam had a good explanation for why: LTE. Read >>

The Booming Mobile Video Ecosystem Explained (BI Intelligence)
Mobile video has begun to accumulate scale, and has also turned out to be one of the few types of mobile content — along with games — that monetizes reliably and drives premium ad rates. That's reflected in the much higher prices that mobile publishers can command for mobile video ads, compared to standard mobile formats like banners. eMarketer estimates mobile video will account for $520 million in ad spending in the U.S. this year, or 13 percent of the digital video ad market. In a new report, BI Intelligence breaks down the mobile video ecosystem, analyzing the behavior and devices behind the growth in consumption, and examining the demographics and behavior of mobile video consumers. Read >>

Mobile Stakes Its Claim on Local Search (eMarketer)
Mobile Internet users reach for their devices to route their trip home, read reviews of local restaurants and find the location of a nearby business. And as more consumers convert to smartphones and tablets, the number of local searches is rising fast. Between April and December 2012, comScore conducted a study on behalf of 15miles and Neustar Localeze and asked mobile phone and tablet users about their search activity. In conjunction with comScore’s analysis of total and local Web search activity, and local mobile content consumption, the study found that in only eight months, the number of overall U.S. searches on mobile phones and tablets rose 21 percent. Total searches totaled 113.1 million for mobile phones and 38.7 million for tablets in December 2012. Read >>

Windows Phone Flop, The Rise Of Mobile Is Horrible For PCs (CTV News)
The ailing personal computer market is getting weaker, and it's starting to look as if it will never fully recover as a new generation of mobile devices reshapes the way people use technology. The latest evidence of the PC's infirmity emerged Wednesday with the release of two sombre reports showing unprecedented declines in sales of desktop and laptop machines during the first three months of the year. As if that news wasn't troubling enough, it appears that a pivotal makeover of Microsoft's ubiquitous Windows operating system seems to have done more harm than good since the software was released last October. "This is horrific news for PCs," said BGC Financial analyst Colin Gillis. "It's all about mobile computing now. We have definitely reached the tipping point." Read >>

Teens Favor The iPhone (Los Angeles Times)
If you think you've seen a lot of teens with iPhones lately, that's because the popular Apple device may be owned by nearly half of all U.S. teens, according to a new survey. Piper released its Taking Stock With Teens survey in which 48 percent of the teen respondents said they owned an iPhone. That's up from last Fall's 40 percent. The report said the increase was driven by sales of iPhone 5, which hit stores last September. Apple's smartphone was also the most preferred. According to the survey, 62 percent of teens planned on making the iPhone their next mobile device purchase. The results were compiled from classroom visits and electronic surveys and involved 5,200 teens. Read >>

The Facebook Phone Consensus (TechCrunch)
Why trust one reviewer to tell you what phone to buy? Better to get a consensus, and across reviews by seven leading publications the verdict is that the HTC First features a stylish yet casual design, efficient messaging, reliable battery, and an addictive feed-reading experience. But its “apperating system” is confusing, the camera fails in low light, it sacrifices widgets, and has privacy issues. Read >>

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