Canada Gets Its First Taste of Metered Broadband

From The Online Reporter   

Metered Internet use, called “Usage-Based Billing,” is on its way the Great White North.

Canadian telecom regulators made a ruling last week that will end up making smaller ISPs unable to offer pay-per-month data plans. Currently, many smaller Canadian ISPs lease bandwidth from a larger ISP on a per-customer basis and are able to offer unlimited bandwidth to their customers. The Canadian Radio-Television Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has now moved to lift restrictions on these larger ISPs, now allowing them to charge their smaller competition per gigabyte for usage, a change in billing that’s making its way to customers.

TekSavvy Previous Offerings
Package Name	Base Usage per Month	Max Speeds (Up/Down)	Price (Monthly)
High Speed Internet Lite	Unlimited	640 kbps / 512kbps	$24.95
High Speed Internet Premium	200 GB	5 Mbps / 800 kbps	$31.95
High Speed Internet Unlimited	Unlimited	5 Mbps / 800 kbps	$39.95

“Like our customers, and Canadian Internet users everywhere, we are not happy with this new development,” wrote the Ontario-based ISP TekSavvy to its subscribers.

The CRTC did give smaller ISPs a 15% discount — most like TekSavvy had asked for 50% — but the adjustment is still going to hit consumers hard.

 The First Plans Emerge

You might need some aspirin for this one.

Starting on March 1, TekSavvy members with the 5Mbps plan have a new usage cap of 25GB, “substantially down from the 200GB or unlimited deals TekSavvy was able to offer before the CRTC’s decision to impose usage-based billing,” the ISP said. The CRTC put data overage rates at CAN $1.90 per gigabyte for the majority of Canada and $2.35 for the French-speaking region of the country.

As a quick comparison, there was a bit of an uproar when Comcast began rolling out its data cap of 250GB in the US.

“Extensive Web surfing, sharing music, video streaming, downloading and playing games, online shopping and e-mail” could quickly put users over the 25GB cap warns TekSavvy. Also, watch out “power users that use multiple computers, smartphones, and game consoles at the same time.”

TekSavvy users who subscribe to the “High Speed Internet Premium” plan for $31.95 will now use around 175GB less capacity per month.

In the age of video, Canada is putting the screws to its citizens.

There’s "Good" News?

Never fear, the CRTC has said there is some “good” news in all of this: users can buy insurance and storage vaults for their broadband! What, no applause?

TekSavvy users can now purchase Web insurance, which TekSavvy defines as “a recurring subscription fee that provides you with additional monthly usage.” For its Ontario users, it’ll run $4.75 for 40GB of additional data, but unlike some cellphone plans, there’s no rollover data.

“Usage vault” plans are also emerging, allowing consumers to pay in advance for extra data. Customers can buy vaults at a rate of $1.90 per gigabyte for up to 300GB in any month — this maxes out at a possible $570 each month but likely won’t see any users reach that maximum.

TekSavvy New Offerings
Lite Packages (640 kbps / 512 kbps)	Base Usage	Flat  Fee (Monthly)	Insurance  (Monthly)	Total Usage per Month	Total Price per Month
No Insurance Option	2 GB	$24.95	—	2 GB	$24.95
40GB Insurance Option	2 GB	$24.95	$4.75	42 GB	$29.70
80GB Insurance Option	2 GB	$24.95	$9.50	82 GB	$34.45
Premium Packages (5 Mbps / 800 Kbps)	Base Usage	Flat  Fee (Monthly)	Insurance  (Monthly)	Total Usage per Month	Total Price per Month
No Insurance Option	25 GB	$31.95	—	25 GB	$31.95
40GB Insurance Option	25 GB	$31.95	$4.75	65 GB	$36.70
80GB Insurance Option	25 GB	$31.95	$9.50	105 GB	$41.45

Looking at the plans, TekSavvy has gone from a 200GB monthly data plan for $31.95 per month to a $41.45 monthly plan that offers only 105GB of data if the user purchases two units of this insurance.

Migraines Aplenty

Don’t worry, TekSavvy hates this too.

“The ostensible, theoretical reason behind [Usage-Based Billing] is to conserve capacity, but that issue is very questionable,” wrote the ISP’s CEO Rocky Gaudrault. 

“One certain result though, is that Bell will make much more profit on its Internet service, and discourage Canadians from watching TV and movies on the Internet instead of CTV, which Bell now owns.”

Bell (Bell Canada Enterprise or BCE) looks like it is in the best seat in the house, owning the broadcaster CTV for first-run airing and then being one of the few big ISPs that can afford to offer unlimited plans because it paid for the rollout of its own network. Bell recently announced plans to charge other mobile companies a fee for providing video from CTV-owned stations such as TSN and the Business News Network on wireless devices, according to BCE chief executive officer George Cope.

Now that’s a triple-play. This brings into question everyone else who may be hurt by these data restrictions.

High-capacity users will definitely suffer, but it may be the likes of Netflix, Apple (iTunes), Zip.ca, Amazon’s Video On Demand and music services like Rdio that end up seeing a lot of consumption loss as these ISP users become very aware of how much usage their activities consume.

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings released a note with his company’s latest quarterly earnings that said, “An independent negative issue for Netflix and other Internet video providers would be a move by wired ISPs to shift consumers to pay-per-gigabyte models instead of the current unlimited-up-to-a-large-cap approach. We hope this doesn’t happen, and will do what we can to promote the unlimited-up-to-a-large-cap model. Wired ISPs have large fixed costs of building and maintaining their last mile network of residential cable and fiber. The ISPs’ costs, however, to deliver a marginal gigabyte, which is about an hour of viewing, from one of our regional interchange points over their last mile wired network to the consumer is less than a penny, and falling, so there is no reason that pay-per-gigabyte is economically necessary. Moreover, at $1 per gigabyte over wired networks, it would be grossly overpriced.”

No one is quite sure how consumption patterns will change, but it truly is the era of Internet video and Internet-connected everything. From smart TVs and game consoles to smartphones and tablets, and let’s not forget PCs, more and more devices are becoming connected, meaning there are more and more access and usage points popping up in the average home.

The ruling is already being challenged, however. Federal Liberals are arguing that the new rule limits competition and choice for consumers, and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has ordered a review of the decision, saying “We’re very concerned about CRTC’s decision on usage-based billing and its impact on consumers. I’ve asked for a review of the decision.” 

According to CBC News, a decision will be reached by March 1 and more than 200,000 citizens have already signed a petition against the new regulations. 

To see 4 free editions of The Online Reporter, the weekly source for competitive intelligence about digital content, online entertainment services, mobile media and wireless networks, visit www.onlinereporter.com/trial_copies.php  

iPad-Only Rag Has Molotov Goals

From The Online Reporter   

News Corp has released its new digital newspaper exclusive to the iPad, The Daily.

News Corp is hoping The Daily will explode onto the scene and shake up an industry firmly set in old print media’s approach.

The Daily has launched with a full staff of reporters covering global news and will come with a free two-week trial for iPad users. We’ve taken a look into what could be the future of newspapers and come back with a few initial reactions. The big takeaways are:

 - Interactivity is king.

 - For updates and new content, it is a mix of a traditional newspaper and that paper’s Web site.

 - The design is pretty and easy to navigate right away; there were very few situations where we encountered any lag or any odd rendering.

 - Updating is an active process, but the status display makes even waiting engaging.

The Bare Bones of a Smart UI

First and foremost, downloading The Daily requires users to agree to a new iTunes terms and conditions agreement that includes a clause saying applications may provide the user’s personal information to third parties for marketing purposes — it does note that users can choose to opt out of this.

It looks as though the ability to share subscriber information with advertisers was a major sticking point for Apple and publishers as the two sides made a deal for in-application subscriptions. For now, the other sticking points are unclear as this is the first to offer Apple’s in-app subscriptions. Apple’s head of iTunes, Eddy Cue, said that Apple will soon reveal more information about in-app subscriptions and make the feature available to other app and content providers.

New issues of The Daily come when a user starts the application, going against rumors that new issues would be downloaded automatically in the background — this is actually good news for some that were worried the downloading may start when connected to a 3G network and thus use up some data without asking.

The loading process was quick and the app pulls up a carousel where users can browse and view sections and stories with a very intuitive and engaging UI. Content is displayed before the entire issue is downloaded. From a few quick changes it looks like the app will continually update throughout the day but will feature major updates each morning, more akin to a new issue of a newspaper arriving at our digital doorstep.

Text can be seen easily in portrait and landscape modes while images are seen in bigger sizes and better quality in landscape mode. The only lag we came across was when switching between portrait and landscape modes on pages with a lot more graphical content than seemed to be average for the rag. The scroll bar up top, called a “visual browser,” is enabled to give the reader an idea of how far through The Daily they have progressed.

Content Tailored to the Device and the User

Going through the issue, we learned that interactivity is a major, major key to this newspaper. The Daily’s stories often feature interactivity like videos, but there is plenty of other specialization, like a sports story featuring trivia about the Super Bowl or advertisements that interact with the user via video and motion events.

For users on the go, one of the nicer features is having the stories read aloud by clicking a headphones button. The Daily gives users controls like fast forwarding, shuffling and even a summary of the day’s issue.

While there are no announced plans for an iPhone companion app just yet, we see some major appeal here by giving users the ability to mark a list of stories to be read aloud and then push that to their iPhone for a podcast-like subscription service for users while commuting or otherwise away from a Wi-Fi hotspot.

For sports fans, users can select their favorite teams and get headlines, check scores and stats, and see social networking posts related with their favorite teams and players — this is Twitter integration initially.

Sharing is also made available for stories, even with others that don’t have an iPad. Shared links provide access to the full text story covered but include a notice that the content is coming from an iPad app and that extra content (images and video) is only available on the iPad itself.

The app also integrates with Apple’s GameCenter, covering Sudoku and crossword scores and sharing them across the gaming network.

The Daily is available for free for two weeks, through sponsor Verizon Wireless. Users can opt-in to enroll in a weekly subscription of 99 cents or a yearly subscription for $39.99. 

Payments are automatically reoccurring until the user cancels.

Our initial reaction to the app is that it is a very clean and solid read. The problems it will face are convincing users that its cost is worth it compared to other apps and Web sites available, not compared to existing newspapers. It is a very impressive app and will serve as a model for future newspapers and magazine to follow in terms of functionality and UI, but in the end it’ll come down to convincing users that the content inside is worth it.

Getting users hooked with two free weeks might just be the key to this whole thing. 

To see 4 free editions of The Online Reporter, the weekly source for competitive intelligence about digital content, online entertainment services, mobile media and wireless networks, visit www.onlinereporter.com/trial_copies.php  

 

"The Online Reporter" Week In Finance Deals

Vokle, Tech Coast Angels	Video conferencing company Vokle landed $542,000.00 in financing and notes from backers Tech Coast Angels and individual investors.
KIT Digital, Kewego, KickApps, Kyte	Online video service provider KIT Digital acquired digital signage company Kewego, social media developer KickApps and live video streaming platform Kyte in a deal for $77.2 million.
AOL, goviral	AOL purchased European video distributor goviral in a deal valued at $96.7 million.
LibreDigital	E-book and digital news aggregator and distributor LibreDigital received $4 million in an undisclosed round of funding.
Rdio, Mangrove Capital Partners	Cloud-based music streaming platform Rdio secured an undisclosed amount of new financing from Mangrove Capital Partners
DISH Network, ICO Global Communications, DBSD North America	Satellite TV company DISH Network acquired a unit of ICO Global Communications called DBSD North America in a $1 billion deal that also stipulates that DISH provide ICO with $87.5 million in debtor-in-possession financing.
Time Warner Cable, NaviSite	Time Warner Cable purchased Web hosting and cloud service provider NaviSite for $230 million.
AOL, Surphace, Outbrain	AOL inked a deal to sell its content suggestion engine Surphace to Outbrain, a company that provides content recommendation, for $25 million.
Voddler, Nokia Growth Partners	Streaming video service Voddler landed $8 million in a new round of funding led by Nokia Growth Partners.
Instagram, Benchmark Capital, Square, Quora	Mobile photo editor and sharing platform Instagram secured $7 million in a Round A of funding led by an employee of Benchmark Capital, with angel investors and backers from Square and Quora also participating.

THIS WEEK IN CONTENT DEALS

Yahoo, League Managers Association	Yahoo inked a deal with British Football’s League Managers Association to post video and print media from the managers of npower Championship, npower Leagues 1 and 2 and the Barclays Premier League to its UK Web sites.
Time Warner Cable, Comcast	Time Warner partnered with Comcast to offer TV shows and movies to Comcast’s Xfinity service “TV Everywhere.” Xfinity will provide Comcast subscribers access to programs from CNN, TBS, TNT, Cartoon Network and more online for no additional charge.

	To see 4 free editions of The Online Reporter, the weekly source for competitive intelligence about digital content, online entertainment services, mobile media and wireless networks, visit www.onlinereporter.com/trial_copies.php

Cavium Buys WiMAX Chip Pioneer Wavesat

From The Online Reporter  

The crop of baseband chip suppliers that emerged around WiMAX was overdue for a shake-out, and that process is now underway. Broadcom bought Beceem last year, and Intel acquired Comsys Mobile. Now Wavesat has been snapped up too, in a surprise move by network processor firm Cavium.

The fit between a specialist in basebands for 4G devices and a supplier of carrier grade network processors is not obvious, but Cavium is given to making offside acquisitions to increase its differentiation in the increasingly standards-based world of operator infrastructure. In November 2009 it bought Mobile Linux firm Montavista, another company traditionally focused on devices, but it brought its new parent a boost for its own Carrier Linux activities – as well as countering Intel’s purchase of Wind River.

In Wavesat’s case, Cavium is paying $10 million in cash not for its basebands, but for the digital signal processing expertise it has in OFDMA-based technologies — WiMAX, LTE and Japan’s XGP. The larger firm says it can harness this expertise in all its business segments, mainly wireless infrastructure but also broadband and consumer processors. This indicates the pressure on Cavium to broaden its product range and push the boundaries in network processors, a sector in which Freescale has become very competitive again in recent months with its StarCore DSP architecture. Freescale has also been building up its software expertise to offer an alternative to Intel’s Wind River — in May it announced partnerships with embedded software houses Enea Systems, Green Hills Software and Mentor Graphics.

Wavesat was an early-mover in WiMAX and was one of the first players to see the vital importance of building strong ties with the Taiwanese ODM community to extend the standard’s ecosystem. However, it was overshadowed in WiMAX products by Beceem and Sequans, in particular, as well as Intel on the laptop side. Following the purchase of Beceem, Sequans and Altair are now the most prominent independent 4G baseband specialists. Both have expanded their architectures to LTE and taken part in trials, such as Sequans’ in China and Altair’s with O2.

In August, Wavesat released its own LTE product, announcing a tri-band reference design for handsets, dongles and CPE equipment. This was based on its Odyssey 9000 silicon platform, which also supports WiMAX and XGP.

Cavium also announced another acquisition: Celestial Semiconductor was acquired for $55 million in cash and new shares. Celestial provides system-on-chip solutions geared to HD video processing. These have been adopted in set-top boxes and other devices in China and some emerging markets and will complement Cavium’s own PureVu line of video processors. 

Video is an important part of the Cavium strategy since it has greater growth potential than its core business. In its recent Q4 results, it reported 86% year-on-year revenue growth to hit $60 million, but network processor chip sales were down 2% sequentially because of inventory adjustments by enterprise customers and Cisco, and it also expects some slowdown in its broadband segment.

 To see 4 free editions of The Online Reporter, the weekly source for competitive intelligence about digital content, online entertainment services, mobile media and wireless networks, visit www.onlinereporter.com/trial_copies.php  

Honeycomb: Springtime and the Promise of an Open OS

From The Online Reporter   

- New Designs, New Market

 - Android 3.0 Is Just for Tablets

Google has officially unveiled its Android 3.0, code-named Honeycomb, which it showed off briefly at CES through a Motorola tablet.

The latest version of Google’s mobile OS introduces a new UI that’s built solely for tablets and adds in a variety of features that require the larger screens or stronger processors found in these devices.

Google demonstrated the new OS version on Motorola’s upcoming Xoom tablet, expected to be released this month. The 10.1-inch Xoom showed Honeycomb’s “holographic” user interface shell. This allows for movement of content on a screen in three dimensions as well as varied effects for stacking, bringing content forward and manipulating images.

Making the Interface Interactive

Google recently admitted it was unhappy about the number of premium apps in its stores and how they were falling short of expected sales, so Honeycomb may have come at just the right time.

During Google’s unveiling, the company promised to continually develop richer APIs for developers. This initially covers a change to the home screen which many tablet users will find comforting: the home screen is no longer a dumping ground for apps but is instead part of the platform and a dynamic part of the experience.

With Honeycomb, the home screen interacts with the user directly, displays various content that continually updates, allows apps to visibly run in the background, changes more than just its orientation when the device is moved and gives even more freedom for adjustment to device maker. Other enhancements include the ability for apps sitting on the homescreen to display more information and even show interactive functionality within updates and push notifications — think of it as a Facebook notification app that says your friend wrote on your wall while it shows your wall, allows you to scroll through their profile and gives you a dedicated text box to respond, all from within the notification and not requiring a full launch of the app.

The service facilitates the “always-on” connectivity that’s been touted for years but never before been given such a clean interface and quick move to content.

What has perhaps the most potential here, however, is the ability to break apart the UI under Honeycomb’s fragmentation implementation system. This basically allows developers to compartmentalize the UI, picking which elements are included and what are reserved for specific interactions, allowing for the production of compound applications that continually build in a natural progression. 

Think of this like a scrap book or collage: developers are able to gather all of the materials available; pick and choose which pieces of content they want; cut, trim or remove pieces; and then place these on top of each other to build the final application users see; turning the page (navigating in the app) will keep some of the baseline but will allow a whole new, built up experience to be demonstrated all at once, despite its many parts.

The Graphics Bulwark

While apps always dominate the conversation of which platform is better or what device range is more successful, graphics are the underlying factor that make all of those apps worthwhile, and Honeycomb has addressed this framework with some reinforcements.

Google said one of its highest priorities was improving graphics performance. Android app developers can now enable full-bodied and newly supported hardware acceleration for rendering 2D graphics by simply adding a single line of code to their existing apps. Android APIs have also gained an animation framework to help developers add smart transitions to their application UIs.

Google said its RenderScript technology will help the development of fluid and visually sophisticated 3D interface. Google showed off a few different impressive examples of apps built with RenderScript, including a 3D YouTube videowall, an eBook reader that had 3D page-flipping effects and 3D albums in a music app (the latter fueling even more speculation about a coming Google Music). So far the device that has touted this feature most has said it’ll be using an Nvidia chip to help facilitate these interactions.

There’s not much out there currently about RenderScript and we’re told access to it has been metered among programmers and developers, but the impression we were given is that it’s a language developed to implement 3D interactions with a complexity level along the lines of the C language.

New Connectivity

Android 3.0 has added in some new connectivity features to enhance what users can do with their devices, and these feel poised to help it beat out the reigning devices.

Honeycomb features built-in support for a media transfer protocol that lets users instantly sync media files with a USB-connected camera or even a desktop, without the need to mount a USB mass-storage device. As the platform continues to roll out, it expects to build in more direct USB connections with these instant-access points.

Users also can connect to various devices over USB and Bluetooth, likely keyboards for the moment. However, there are plans to extend this to Bluetooth tethering of devices, allowing tablets and other devices to share quick, small-range connections for both interactivity and Internet connections. This will allow a smartphone to talk to and interact with a tablet even if there’s no Wi-Fi or 3G/4G connection available.

Android 3.0 has also beefed up its Wi-Fi connectivity through some hardware requirements as well as a new scanning system that reduces individual scan times across various bands and filters.

Updated Set of Standard Apps

The standard apps for each device also got a bit of a refresh with Android 3.0. 

Here’s a quick rundown:

 - The Browser: Honeycomb’s native Web browser includes new features aimed at enhancing navigation and organization. Multiple tabs replace browser windows allowing users to quickly switch between Web pages without the need to reload pages. An “incognito” mode allows users to browse anonymously. Bookmarks and history information are unified, and users can automatically sign in to Google sites on the browser through an account book. Bookmarks can be synched with Google Chrome on other devices. Multi-touch support has been enhanced.

 - The Camera and Gallery: The camera app has been redesigned for the larger screen, giving access to a variety of features including exposure settings, focus, flash, zooming and switching between front- and back-facing cameras. The app also adds in support for time-lapse video recording. The Gallery app lets users view albums and collections in full-screen and in thumbnails for easy navigation, sorting and moving.

 - E-mail: The E-mail app uses a new dual-pane UI allowing e-mail viewing and organization of messages to more efficient and simultaneous. Users can select multiple messages and actions at the same time as well as sync the e-mail app and specific e-mails for later viewing or monitoring right on the home screen widget.

The New Web Market

Google also announced a new Web-based Android Market experience that allows users to look through the Android Market on their PC through a conventional Web browser.

The new market lets users find and purchase content all within the PC’s browser. When an Android user chooses to buy or install an app through the Web-based Android Market, the software is sent automatically to their phone or tablet — these devices are linked to their Android account.

This feels like another way to help Google address its frustrations with the slow growth of commercial software and premium title sales in its Android Market. It will also be able to provide users with better search and sort options than the regular Android Market by simply taking advantage of the hardware a PC offers.

Google is also prepping for in-app purchases to let users buy more content within apps instead of requiring a new app version. Google used Disney to demonstrate the coming feature on a Tap Tap Revenge game — originally the top-downloaded iPhone game app that still has a huge legacy and a huge revenue stream.

The Android Market Web site has officially launched, and can be accessed at http://market.android.com/. 

The Android Market has become notorious for its display of premium and new apps, making it hard for users to find relevant and good apps even when searching for very specific content or keywords. A solid example of this is the TV commercials for mobile carrier Cellular South. In the Memphis area Cellular South advertises very frequently on TV but the only commercials we’ve seen for them in the past six months have been ones touting its branded application that aggregates what it considers to be the best and most reliable apps from the Android Market. The Cellular South app sifts through the masses and comes up with one airline app, one local food app and so on. Cellular South’s key pitch against its carrier rivals is that it has an app to help users find great apps.

Fragmentation Is Good?

Honestly, this is something we never thought we’d say, but for Google, fragmentation of Android could be a great thing. From here on out, Android fragmentation will really follow two lines: Honeycomb will be for tablets and the 2-series Android will be for smartphones.

These devices will get some apps that allow interaction between devices, but they will have their own portals. Developers will now be able to pick a line and stick to it, being able to support specific hardware and software requirements of tablets or smartphones.

While the fragmentation is shrinking slightly, mobiles will still be up in the air for which version of Android they run, but users will know what to expect for these capabilities, especially when compared to tablets.

For tablets themselves, many of which are planning to launch running Android 2.1, 2.2 and now 3.0, fragmentation will highlight the differentiation within these devices. Tablets running 2.1 and 2.2 will be limited to Android apps built for smartphones, meaning they’ll tend toward more basic and quick reading and e-mail applications with a bit of video, while Android 3.0 tablets will be largely about complex UIs, high-quality video and bigger processors. The distinctions provide great inroads into different markets, especially the consumer versus the corporate market.

Apples and Oranges, and Orange Sherbet, and Mimosas

Google has secured its platform as a great contender in the tablet space. Initially there will be some coverage of specific tablets against Apple’s iPad and iOS, but that won’t be a long-lived practice.

Google’s comfort with giving out its platform to anyone and everyone that can run it will flood the market with Honeycomb tablets in the coming months. While Android mobile were originally compared against the iPhone, the market has shifted to comparing these devices against iPhones, BlackBerrys and other Android devices.

Among the first devices announced with Honeycomb are Motorola’s Xoom that has a lot of strong display and processing features and LG’s 3D G-Slate. While the Xoom will feel like a beefed up tablet that users are familiar with, the G-Slate will feature full 3D video playback and 3D video recording, glasses-required. 

The first two major devices to hit the airwaves are going to be very different in terms of price, abilities and niche, a trend that will follow every quarter with new Android tablets. While the iPad will remain the top contender for some time, Google is beginning a new wave of customization for users based upon not only their apps but the devices they can buy.

It may not beat iOS overnight, but Android is definitely a key to the future of tablets.

To see 4 free editions of The Online Reporter, the weekly source for competitive intelligence about digital content, online entertainment services, mobile media and wireless networks, visit www.onlinereporter.com/trial_copies.php  

 

New Report on Chrome OS

Few people took Google’s Android seriously when it first appeared, but it has become a dominant operating system for touchscreen products like smartphones and tablets. It threatens to replace Apple as the bestseller in smartphones.

The same could happen to Chrome, which Google has positioned as THE operating system for a coming avalanche of cloudbooks and other devices that could substantially cut into the market for portable PCs and tablets. It is aimed at both the consumer and business market. 

Intel was showing two low-power PC portables with Chrome OS in its booth at CES. They were fast — fast to load and only a few seconds to get on the Web and begin running applications. 

Chrome devices will have a full keyboard, unlike tablets, and be used only for cloud-based computing and storage.

Rider Research has prepared an executive briefing paper on Chrome — what it is and its likely impact.

To get a free extract, please e-mail paperboy at riderresearch dot com or call +44 (0)1280 820560
or visit www.onlinereporter.com/research_chrome.html

The Online Reporter Quote of the Week... Stat of the Week...

“With all this digital technology there’s still consumer confusion [and] if the consumer is confused, none of it’s going to work,” 

- NBTV Studios producer Nick Buzzell.

Stat of the Week... 

Manufacturers sold 33.3 million Android devices in Q4 — up sevenfold from Q4 2009 — beating out Symbian’s 31 million sales.