Maybe I'm old school, but for a long time now, I've bought the Guardian every Thursday morning specifically to read the Technology Section. That supplement was one of my favourite pieces of reading every week, to be enjoyed over a coffee. Reading it on screen won't be the same. Like Bernie and Karlin I'll miss it when it goes.
November 12, 2009
November 10, 2009
Mobile is where the opportunities await
Moblile is where the opportunities await.
This week, Google signed a deal to acquire a company called Admob a mobile display advertising company for $750m.
Techcrunch reports that
Since AdMob splits its revenues 60/40 with publishers, that implies AdMob is on course to see $40 million of that $100 million gross.Almost 19 times revenue clearly demonstrates how important Google feels that mobile ads will be as a future driver of revenue growth.
This interview from a year ago with the company founder gives an insight into the business.
But just how big is mobile? Reading this prompted me to go back and read a post from TomiAhonen Consulting 2009 on The Digital Divide in Numbers: TVs, PCs, Internet users, Mobile around the world
But understand, in the Industrialized World, there are roughly similar 'scale' of the main technologies. More mobile phones than TVs, PCs or cars, yes, but not dramatically more. Roughly speaking twice as many phones as PCs or fixed landlines, only 50% more mobile phone accounts than TV sets, and actually less mobile phones than FM radios.
But in Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and the Developing parts of Asia, mobile is alone, far far bigger than any other. There are nine times more mobile phone accounts than cars. There are seven times more mobile phones than personal computers, nine times more mobile phone accounts than home or office PCs that are connected to the internet. There are seven times more mobile phone accounts than fixed landline telephone connections, and five times more mobile phone users than total number of TV sets in use. Even radio, there are 2.5 times more mobile phone subscribers than all FM radios in use in the Developing World.
By every measure, mobile is the giant, the only giant, and the other technologies are the lilliputs. If you intend to communicate with prospective customers in the Developing World today, then you cannot think of mobile as the 'fourth screen' and consider possibly including it in your communication mix, as we still can think in the Industrialized World, as a luxury today. No, in the Developing World mobile is the first screen - and obviously, for as many as 1.8 billion people - one quarter of the planet - it is the ONLY screen. These 1.8 billion people do not have a PC, not a TV, not even FM radio, but they have a live, active mobile phone account. Out of all 3 billion people in the Developing World who have some kind of connection, a massive 60% have no other way to connect, than their mobile phone! Did I get your attention now?
An internet connected PC will get you 325 million people or 6% of the population in the Emerging World. A fixed landline will ring in the homes of 425 million people or 8% in Africa, Latin America or Developing parts of Asia. A wealthy 10% of the population, 550 million people have a TV set and one in five, 1.2 billion people are lucky to own an FM radio. But more than half of the population have a mobile phone subscription, 56% per capita or 3 billion. And yes, 1.8 billion people - that is six times the size of the USA - have no other connection or technology, than a mobile phone.
October 23, 2009
Baaad Apple
I laughed out loud.
September 09, 2009
Nama Nonsense
House prices in Ireland are still very overvalued, despite the falls that have already happened.
David McWilliams tells it like it is. He writes.
The value of the asset will have some relation to the yield the asset returns. In houses, the yield is the rent. So let’s take a yield of 7pc as being a reasonable return on an asset that costs money to update and is not generating a significant capital gain. This 7pc would be a long-run average yield, particularly as government bonds which form the benchmark for yield of other assets are on their way back up to that figure.
Using this 7pc yield idea we can value a house at some multiple of the rent it generates. Typically, the value of a house was calculated at 12 to 14 times its annual rent. (The 12 to 14 times equates to a yield of around 7pc.) This relationship has held in the US for over 100 years. There is no reason to believe that this shouldn’t be the way to value Irish houses.
This is a normal price/earning ratio that we would use in the stock markets to assess value. What the US valuation model is saying is that, over time, property should trade on a price/earnings (P/E) ratio of 14 times.
So, let’s see where Irish houses will end up. Take a typical house in a commuter town. On daft.ie there are hundreds of them. Let’s take Newbridge in Co Kildare, a typical deckland suburb where unemployment has tripled in the past year. You can buy a new three-bed house for €335,000. This is a steal, according to the ad. Beside the house is yet another predatory ad from AIB saying that it will finance the house for €995 per month.
According to the same website, the average rent for a three-bed in Newbridge is between €950 and €1,000 a month. This house, if it can be rented, will yield €11,400 a year. This implies that, applying the US valuation to the asset, the house should be valued at €159,600. However, in Ireland, we are expecting the house to sell at €335,000.
The Irish house, at a “bargain” price of €335,000, is still way overvalued. It will have to fall by almost half again to make the sums add up.
Exactly. Which, it seems to me means that Nama is nonsense unless we are talking about valuations of 25% or under of the peak of the market.
September 03, 2009
Are you listening eircom?
One of the most wonderful things about the net is that it enables peoples voices to be heard. Are you listening eircom?
August 12, 2009
Google Ads. Bang in the Middle.
A few years ago, I, somewhat tongue in cheek, suggested that Google should just switch the respective positions of the organic results and the ads.
As of yesterday, it seems to me that things are moving in that direction. At least the ads are. They now appear directly in the middle of my monitor.
I really dislike it. But I'd imagine lots more people will click on those ads, at least in the short term.
June 23, 2009
What is a browser?
It's all to easy to forget that quite often, people don't know and don't care. On several occasions when helping friends/family with issues over the phone, I've asked which browser they are using..and getting um's and ah's in response.
via threeminds
June 18, 2009
Aged News
Love this.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| End Times | ||||
| www.thedailyshow.com | ||||
| ||||
June 16, 2009
April 24, 2009
eircom. Our annual meetup.
It was too good to last. I almost made it into May of 2009 without my eircom line going down. But this morning, it died again, along with a second residential line. It seems like its becoming an annual event.
January 2007. An eircom broadband experience.
January 2008. eircom broadband.
April 2009. To be continued.
Update: June 30th 2009. After intermittent problems for the last few days, eircom told me yesterday that there is a fault on the line and now the line is dead again.
I'm old enough to remember the powers that be touting Ireland as having one of the best telecommunications networks in Europe. How times have changed.
Our Government have enough issues on their plate at the moment, all of them self inflicted, but it's time to end this situation. Buy back eircom and provide it with the resources and leadership it requires to get our national communications infrastructure to where it needs to be.
Update: Gobsmacked. Less than an hour after reporting the fault, two eircom engineers arrived at the door in response.
