2011 US Angel investing by industries

Here is the 2011 US Angel investing by industries, according to a new report by BI Intelligence.

-Many people (including some very influential investors) vew healthcare as a staid industry ripe for disruption;
-Generally speaking, it costs more money to get a healthcare company off the ground than a web startup;
-Early stage investors are very bullish: the median angel round was up 40 percent from 2010.


Louis Rhéaume
Infocom Intelligence
louis@infocomintelligence.com
Twitter: @InfocomAnalysis

The majority of the world patents comes from just 3 infocom industries

In a recent Thomson Reuters report, it appears that 52% of the world patents comes from just 3 infocom (ICT) industries: Computers & peripherals (30%), telecommunications (13%) and semiconductors (12%).

The report offers a breakdown of the best innovators in term of patent applications by industry and by region.

Source: http://img.en25.com/Web/ThomsonReutersScience/StateofInnovation2011.pdf

Louis Rhéaume
Infocom Intelligence
Louis@infocomintelligence.com
Twitter: @InfocomAnalysis

The next wave of tech IPOs: enterprise tech

According to the Wall Street Journal, the next wave of tech IPOs is coming and should contains mainly tech firms focusing on the business sector. While it takes longer time to reach break-even, tech firms focusing on the business sector have in general less volatile revenues and profits since their businees models are based on predictable revenues and recurring monthly fees.

2011 was the year of consumer Internet IPOs—from Groupon Inc., LinkedIn Corp. and Zynga Inc. 2012 is starting with Yelp Inc. and Facebook Inc. Now companies that sell technology mainly to businesses are also getting ready to hit the stock market. This new crop of IPO-ready companies are solving problems that businesses are willing to spend money on, such as improved security or better insight into customer behavior.

Splunk Inc., a San Francisco company that helps businesses capture and analyze the data they generate, and Infoblox Inc., a Santa Clara, Calif., maker of network-automation technology, in January both filed to go public in IPOs aiming to raise around $125 million each. Now other enterprise-tech makers are lining up to get out of the gate. According to people familiar with the matter, security-technology maker Palo Alto Networks Inc., online human resources software company Workday Inc. and tech-management software maker ServiceNow Inc. have picked bankers or are in the final stages of choosing and informing bankers for their IPO process. Atlassian Inc., which provides software building blocks to developers, is also aiming to file for an IPO this year, said another person familiar with the matter. Splunk is still unprofitable but its revenue rose 79% to $77.8 million for the nine months ended Oct. 31. Palo Alto Networks, meanwhile, said in August that its run rate exceeded $200 million in bookings and that it had been cash flow positive for five consecutive quarters.

Even though the IPOs may not happen until the summer, the companies are moving quickly towards a public offering to take advantage of the current IPO window that has been kicked wide open by the excitement over Facebook's filing and a rising stock market. "It's better to be ready to go when you're able to go," said one investment banker.

Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203986604577255452644418264.html

Louis Rhéaume
Infocom Intelligence
louis@infocomintelligence.com
Twitter: @InfocomAnalysis

New article on Seeking Alpha about 5 best stocks expected to gain from tech trends and growth areas

Our new article about 5 tech stocks expected to gain from tech trends and growth areas is now available on Seeking Alpha.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/384841-5-tech-stocks-expected-to-gain-from-tech-trends-and-growth-areas

Louis Rhéaume
Infocom Intelligence
louis@infocomintelligence.com
Twitter: @InfocomAnalysis

Tech sector is now 20% of the S&P 500 index

For the first time since the tech bubble popped back in 2000, technology companies represent now a 20 percent weighting in the Standard & Poor's 500 index. The peak was 34% in March 2000, before the krash. Since the current sector classification was introduced by S&P in 1989, only the financial and tech sectors have ever reached a 20 percent index weighting.

It also helps that the five highest-weighted tech stocks are all up double-digits since the S&P 500’s 52-week high. Notably, those five names make up 10 percent of the S&P 500 (or half of the tech sector’s 20 percent weighting):

The S&P 500 tech sector has been down just four times this year and is currently leading the gains in 2012, up 12 percent, followed by financials, up 11 percent.

Source: CNBC

Louis Rhéaume
Infocom Intelligence
louis@infocomintelligence.com
Twitter: @InfocomAnalysis

Social, Mobile And Deals Categories Led US 2011 Private Tech Investments.

According to the CrunchBase, a venture capital database of TechCrunch, Social, Mobile And Deals Categories Led 2011 Private Tech Investments. (Courtesy of Alexey Tolkachiov at BuzzSparks.org.)

421 Companies with the “social” tag in CrunchBase raised a total of $5.2 billion over the year. Out of this, Facebook alone was $1.5 billion; out of the 1,941 companies that were included in this analysis, Facebook alone raised 7.3% of the $20.5 billion total.

A few other social companies, including Twitter, Zynga, LivingSocial, Kabam, along with Chinese sites 55tuan and Lashou, count for another $2.29 billion. We’ll see how this category looks in 2012 — that is, look for a drop in private funding considering that so many of the leading companies in the category have already raised late-stage capital.

Some of these companies not only social but also deals sites, or game developers. This analysis in some cases double-counts ones that could fit in more than one category. The goal in doing so is to show how companies that are in multiple areas area impacting each of those areas. In any case, this type of categorization problem exists with any such data set.

Moving along… “Mobile” comes in second, with 393 companies raising a total of $2.3 billion. The fundings are relatively less concentrated at the top — InMobi, Square and Rearden Commerce all raised above $100 million, but that’s it. The third-largest category, Deals, is even more unbalanced than social. Groupon alone makes up more than half of the $1.9 billion total.

Louis Rhéaume
Infocom Intelligence
louis@infocomintelligence.com
Twitter: Infocomanalysis

John Frankel is the head of FF Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm that includes some of the web’s hottest startups in its portfolio, including Hashable, Klout and IndieGoGo.

Below is a 6 minutes interview with Frankel to learn what motivates him as an investor, why he’s so attracted to early stage companies and his thoughts on where the next tech bubble will manifest. This Venture Studio Classic was originally released on October 24, 2011. According to Frankel, we are seeing a bubble in later stage private tech investing and IPOs: such as Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin.

http://mashable.com/2012/02/14/frankel-video/

Louis Rhéaume
Infocom Intelligence
louis@infocomintelligence.com
Twitter: @Infocomanalysis

A map of new emerging technologies

here is a map of emerging technologies according to Michell Zappa of http://envisioningtech.com/

Louis Rhéaume
Infocom Intelligence
louis@infocomintelligence.com
Twitter: @InfocomAnalysis

Mobile Internet will surpass fixed Internet in 2015

According to IDC, tablets and smartphones will drive significantly the consumption of mobile Internet. It will surpass fixed Internet (PC) around 2015 in the number of users. New players such as Amazon in tablets, will push mobile Internet.

This will drive new business models to create value from mobile Internet users.

Fixed and mobile Internet users will increase from 2 billion in 2010 to around 2.7 billion in 2015.

For more analysis on the modifications of technology business models you can read, in the coming weeks the Chapter of the Book:

"Rethinking North American telephony business models in the age of turbulence."
From Louis Rhéaume, TELUQ and Yves Rabeau, UQÀM.
In the book In: Advances in Communications… Volume 8 ISBN # 978-1-61324-794-5
Editor: Anthony V. Stavros, pp. 1- 40 © 2011 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

Available (forthcoming Q4-2011) on the website:
https://www.novapublishers.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=25245

Louis Rhéaume
Infocom Intelligence
louis@infocomintelligence.com

IBM has now a bigger market capitalization than Microsoft.

IBM, which really launched the PC revolution, has now a bigger value (market capitalization) than Microsoft ($208.07B vs. $207.95B). IBM was the dominant PC manufacturer in the 1980's. It has sub-contracted the two most profitable components of a PC: the chip to Intel and the operating system to Microsoft. Wintel became very profitable and the 800 pounds gorillas in the computing industry, while IBM needed an electroshock by hiring Lou Gerstner in the 1990'S.

IBM makes a lot of profits now in the business and computing services and is less a manufacturer. By acquiring PriceWaterhouse, IBM made an important transition. Now they are acquiring aggressively in the promising cloud-computing services sector.

On the other hand, Microsoft may have a ton of liquidity, but the market is skeptic about the growth it can provide in the future. Microsoft's stock had a bad decade. The acquisition of Skype makes sense strategically, by complementing its products and services portfolio, but the acquisition price requires huge growth in revenue and profits, to recover this investment.

Louis Rhéaume
Infocom Intelligence
louis@infocomintelligence.com
Twitter: @InfocomAnalysis

Venture capital: does the pre-IPO valuations of tech firms are overvalued?

According to William Quigley, a VC at Clearstone, several actual pre-IPO valuations of tech firms are justified.

You can see the whole presentation there:

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/document-preview.aspx?doc_id=79023772

He pinpoints that even though some valuation in the 80's or 90's appeared overvalued at first, with time they were highly undervalued. For instance, the IPO of Microsoft around $600M (or $0.07 per share, Cisco ($0.23), Amazon ($0.44), eBay and Google can all be considered higly undervalued.

He reports that it may be also the case in some extent for the next IPO of Facebook and Zynga.

Louis Rhéaume
Infocom Intelligence
louis@infocomintelligence.com
Twitter: @InfocomAnalysis

The 100 best 2011 tech investors according to Forbes

Here are the 100 best 2011 tech investors according to Forbes.

http://www.forbes.com/lists/midas/2011/midas-list-complete-list.html

BROWSE THE LIST
Rank
Name
Firm
Investment Focus
1
Jim Breyer
Accel Partners Technology
2
Michael Moritz
Sequoia Capital Technology
3
Reid Hoffman
Greylock Partners Technology
4
Peter Fenton
Benchmark Capital Technology
5
Scott Sandell
New Enterprise Associates Technology
6
Kevin Efrusy
Accel Partners Technology
7
Peter Thiel
Founders Fund Technology
8
Peter Barris
New Enterprise Associates Technology
9
David Sze
Greylock Partners Technology
10
Marc Andreessen
Andreessen Horowitz Technology
11
Douglas Leone
Sequoia Capital Technology
12
Fred Wilson
Union Square Ventures Technology
13
Ron Conway
SV Angel Technology
14
John Doerr
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Technology
15
Aneel Bhusri
Greylock Partners Technology
16
Bryan Roberts
Venrock Life Sciences
17
Mike Maples
FLOODGATE Technology
18
Josh Kopelman
First Round Capital Technology
19
Jeff Brody
Redpoint Ventures Technology
20
Jeremy Levine
Bessemer Venture Partners Technology
21
Harry Weller
New Enterprise Associates Technology
22
David Skok
Matrix Partners Technology
23
Ross Jaffe
Versant Ventures Life Sciences
24
Jay Hoag
Technology Crossover Ventures Technology
25
Yuri Milner
Digital Sky Technologies Technology
26
Rob Chandra
Bessemer Venture Partners Technology
27
Kevin Harvey
Benchmark Capital Technology
28
Todd Chaffee
Institutional Venture Partners Technology
29
Terry McGuire
Polaris Venture Partners Life Sciences
30
Paul Madera
Meritech Capital Partners Technology
31
David Cowan
Bessemer Venture Partners Technology
32
Jim White
Sutter Hill Ventures Technology
33
Roger Lee
Battery Ventures Technology
34
Sean Dalton
Highland Capital Partners Technology
35
Bing Gordon
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Technology
36
Antoine Papiernik
Sofinnova Partners Life Sciences
37
Jim Boettcher
Focus Ventures Technology
38
Sandy Miller
Institutional Venture Partners Technology
39
John Freund
Skyline Ventures Life Sciences
40
Rob Ward
Meritech Capital Partners Technology
41
Woody Marshall
Technology Crossover Ventures Technology
42
Joel Cutler
General Catalyst Technology
43
Tom Banahan
Tenaya Capital Technology
44
George Bischof
Meritech Capital Partners Technology
45
Peter Wagner
(Formerly) Accel Partners Technology
46
Kevin McQuillan
Focus Ventures Technology
47
Bob Goodman
Bessemer Venture Partners Technology
48
George Zachary
Charles River Ventures Technology
49
Sunil Dhaliwal
Battery Ventures Technology
50
Greg Gretsch
Sigma Partners Technology
51
Neeraj Agrawal
Battery Ventures Technology
52
Adam Grosser
Silver Lake Technology
53
Rich Levandov
Avalon Ventures Technology
54
Brian Paul
Tenaya Capital Technology
55
Michael Cline
Accretive Technology Partners Technology
56
Glenn Solomon
GGV Capital Technology
57
Chris Gabrieli
Bessemer Venture Partners Life Sciences
58
Jim Goetz
Sequoia Capital Technology
59
Danny Rimer
Index Ventures Technology
60
Jeremy Liew
Lightspeed Venture Partners Technology
61
Jeff Horing
Insight Venture Partners Technology
62
John Walecka
Redpoint Ventures Technology
63
Bruce Golden
Accel Partners Technology
64
Ben Nye
Bain Capital Ventures Technology
65
Bruce Sachs
Charles River Ventures Technology
66
Nicholas Galakatos
Clarus Ventures Life Sciences
67
Ed Anderson
North Bridge Venture Partners Technology
68
Chris Schaepe
Lightspeed Venture Partners Technology
69
Steve Jurvetson
Draper Fisher Jurvetson Technology
70
Ken DeAngelis
Austin Ventures Technology
71
Vinod Khosla
Khosla Ventures Technology
72
Mike Gordon
Meritech Capital Partners Technology
73
David Weiden
Khosla Ventures Technology
74
Greg McAdoo
Sequoia Capital Technology
75
Matt McIlwain
Madrona Venture Group Technology
76
Mike Carusi
Advanced Technology Ventures Life Sciences
77
Deborah Farrington
StarVest Technology
78
Howard Hartenbaum
August Capital Technology
79
Tim Barrows
Matrix Partners Technology
80
Bill Link
Versant Ventures Life Sciences
81
Sameer Gandhi
Accel Partners Technology
82
Chris Sacca
Lowercase Capital Technology
83
George Still
Norwest Venture Partners Technology
84
James Blair
Domain Associates Life Sciences
85
Ted Schlein
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Technology
86
Michael Krupka
Bain Capital Ventures Technology
87
Tim Chang
Norwest Venture Partners Technology
88
Rich Wong
Accel Partners Technology
89
Ed Hurwitz
Alta Partners Life Sciences
90
Geoff Yang
Redpoint Ventures Technology
91
James Topper
Frazier Healthcare Life Sciences
92
Amir Nashat
Polaris Venture Partners Life Sciences
93
Theresia Gouw Ranzetta
Accel Partners Technology
94
John Moragne
Trident Capital Technology
95
Jim Wade
M/C Venture Partners Technology
96
Harry Hopper
Columbia Capital Technology
97
Anders Hove
Venrock Life Sciences
98
Brian Ascher
Venrock Technology
99
Bijan Sabet
Spark Capital Technology
100
Brad Feld
Foundry Group Technology

While there are many popular names, several new names are appearing.

Louis Rhéaume
Infocom Intelligence
louis@infocomintelligence.com

Les raisons principales pourquoi les gens utilisent un iPad

Voici les raisons principales pourquoi les gens utilisent un iPad ou autre "tablets".

Les jeux vidéo sont la principale activité des usagers de "tablets" selon AdMob.

Le sondage de 1400 usagers au États-Unis, rapporte que 84% des usagers jouent aux jeux, 78% l'utilisent pour la recherche, 74% pour le courriel, 61% pour les nouvelles, 56% pour les réseaux sociaux, 515 pour la musique ou les vidéos, 465 pour lire des livres numériques, 42% pour faire du shopping en ligne .

59% des usagers passent plus de temps sur un "tablet" que de lire un livre papier. 52% écoute la radio, 43% utilise plus un portatif ou un ordinateur desktop, 41% utilise plus un téléphone intelligent et 34% regarde plus la tv.

Le sondage a trouvé que 38% des usagers passent plus de 2 heures par jour à utiliser leur "tablet" et 30% plus de 2 heures. Pour 28% des usagers, le "tablet" représente leur ordinateur principal.

Louis Rhéaume
Infocom Intelligence
louis@infocomintelligence.com

10 of the most likely acquirers in infocom

These 10 infocom companies have the most cash in their reserve:

10. IBM: $10.7 billion
9. Oracle: $11.9 billion
8. Dell: $14.4 billion
7. Nintendo: $15.1 billion
6. Intel: $16.8 billion
5. Apple: $27.0 billion
4. Google: $35.0 billion
3. Cisco: $40.2 billion
2. Microsoft: $41.3 billion
1. China Mobile: $44.5 billion

They are the most likely firms in infocom to make acquisitions.

Louis Rhéaume
Infocom Intelligence
louis@infocomintelligence.com

The 2010 Technology Mashable Awards

The 2010 Technology Mashable Awards were given yesterday.

In some interesting categories there are:

Best Mobile platform: Android

Best Mobile user experience: eBuddy

Best music discovery service: Fizy videomusic

Best new gadget: iPad

Best social media service for Small Businesses:  ReachCast

Best Mobile App: Drivesafe.ly

http://mashable.com/2011/01/10/mashable-awards-winners-infographic/

Louis Rhéaume
Infocom Intelligence
louis@infocomintelligence.com

Some of my favorite and useful blogs that I read

I have some favorite blogs that I read often.  Here they are:

Finance:
-Seeking alpha  http://seekingalpha.com/
-Abnormal returns http://abnormalreturns.com/
-Zero hedge http://www.zerohedge.com/

Technology:
-Techcrunch http://techcrunch.com/
-Readwriteweb http://www.readwriteweb.com/

Finance & Technology, venture capital: 
-Venture beat http://venturebeat.com/
-Paul Kedrosky Infectious greed  http://paul.kedrosky.com/

General information:
-Huffington Post http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

Enjoy.

Louis Rhéaume
Infocom Intelligence
louis@infocomintelligence.com

When mobile data revenue will take over fixed voice revenue

Mobile data revenue should exceed fixed line revenue around 2011. according to Pyramid Research.
Mobile data will be worth US$94 billion in 2014, from US$36 billion in 2008.

In 2009 there will be around 4.3 billion mobile subscribers worldwide, growing to 5.8 billion in 2013.
Growth will be fueled by Asia-Pacific particularly, which by 2013 will account for 43.9 percent of subscribers, followed by Europe (25.0 percent), Africa and Middle East (12.2 percent), Latin America (11.2 percent) and North America (7.6 percent).
Over the next five years and beyond, Asia will account for half the world’s mobile subscribers and half the handset sales.

This mean that soon there will ve more users in the world that access the Internet by wireless than on fixed lines. By 2014, global mobile Internet users will have sent and received 1.6 Exabytes of mobile data each month: that’s more than the 1.3 Exabytes transferred during the whole of 2008, according to ABI Research. The bulk of that will be down to mobile-enabled laptops rather than smartphones. Mobile Web access will account for 74 percent, with 26 percent down to audio and video streaming.

Sharp increase in spending on mobile Internet advertising is predicted by Juniper Research:
-Advertising expenditure on mobile Internet will overtake spending on SMS marketing in 2009;
-Global spending on mobile Internet advertising will be US$500 million in 2009; total value of marketing spend on mobile is US$1.4bn;
-Mobile ads revenue will be US$2bn by 2014; total value of marketing spend on mobile is US $6bn in 2014;
-Where fixed Internet access is limited, mobile is the dominant means of accessing the Internet: in India, mobile accounted for nearly 90 percent of all Internet users in 2008;
-Visitor numbers to popular mobile Internet sites makes strong case for advertising and sponsorship options;
-Brands can build up much more detailed profiles of user responses and plan follow up campaigns accordingly, compared to online.

For more details on the future of mobile services buy our report on New mobiles services and technologies in Canada for $195. Contact louis@infocomintelligence.com

Some facts about Canada:

• Canada was one of the first countries to establish a nationwide 3G network. Currently, the 3G footprint covers more than 90 percent of the population. Continuing investment by carriers means Canada will also have a world-leading 3.5G network.

• 22 million cell-phone subscribers (over 66 percent of the Canadian population) at end of 2009, expected to reach 30 million within five years.
• 75 percent of all Canadian households have a mobile phone.
• 50 percent of phone connections in Canada are wireless.
• Canadians send 100 million text messages per day.

Essential facts and stats about mobile Web:
• 21 percent of mobile consumers (or 4 million Canadians) use their mobile phones to browse the Web (Nielsen Online, June 2009).
• 53 percent of mobile users have an Internet-ready device, (Sympatico.ca [Bell Canada] survey, September 2009).

What is driving growth?
The growth of mobile Web in the Canada, in common with mobile markets around the globe, is driven by:
• The speed that operators rollout better data networks and consumer-friendly data plans.
• Consumer adoption of phones that make accessing the Internet easier and a more rewarding experience.
• Availability of more compelling content and services that meet consumer needs.
• Made-for-mobile Websites that are optimized to deliver a high-quality consumer experience.
• The popularity of downloading applications from app stores.
The driving force behind innovation and investment has been competition in the wireless industry and it is essential that investment continues. As wireless is a proven catalyst for stimulating economic growth, private and public organizations should be encouraged to step-up investment in the wireless infrastructure that underpins essential community services such as tele-learning in rural schools, linking local healthcare providers with remote life-saving applications or ensuring that all citizens have high-speed Internet access.

Which industries/sectors have shown the most interest in mobile Web/marketing in Canada?
The pioneers were the mobile-content providers – i.e. those offering ringtones, games and other paid-for services.
Consumer-facing brands in financial services, travel, entertainment, automotive, retail and food and beverage have also been quick to see the potential of mobile marketing.
According to Amielle Lake, CEO of mobile marketing company Tagga Media, there has been a lot of success stories among food and beverage brands such as Coors Light, Global Restaurants and Old Dutch Foods.
At Sympatico.ca Mobile, which lays claim to the largest mobile advertising network, Brad Cressman, head of sales and marketing explains: "Sympatico focuses on brand advertisers, rather than content advertisers (ring tones, downloads etc…) and has found that success with mobile advertising follows a similar pattern to online with top-tier brands in the top-spending categories. The auto market has been very active, particularly Acura, Lexus and GM for example. One of the greatest benefits of mobile is the ability to combine brand advertising with customer engagement – brands like Starbucks, McDonald’s and Axe (Unilever) have followed this strategy.

Which brands are the most innovative and most active mobile marketers?
For Brady Murphy, managing partner of mobile agency Vortex Mobile(mobile site: vortexmobile.mobi, three companies stand out particularly as mobile innovators in Canada:
• Scotiabank (Canada's third largest bank) uses mobile Web, applications and SMS for both marketing and m-banking and is very bullish about gaining first-mover advantage.
• LoyaltyOne (the Canadian company behind Air Miles) – Murphy believes loyalty/rewards companies hold the key to unlocking mobile couponing and offers (among many other things).
• Dell Canada (mobile site: dellcanada.mobi), which uses SMS and mobile-friendly emails that link to an m-commerce site that is attracting an increasing number of transactions.

What sorts of campaigns are they running – mobile Web or SMS; cross media; national or local?
• In Canada, SMS is still remains the most prominent tool for interaction, but over the past year brands have been increasingly investing in mobile-friendly sites and apps.
• The trend in recent years has been towards integrating mobile into overall marketing strategy at much earlier stages in the planning process. Mobile is most effective when integrated into cross-media initiatives – such as adding a mobile call to action to a bill-board campaign.
• Brand campaigns are normally run at a national level, but mobile is also used local as part of regional radio, TV and print campaigns.

What are the most popular mobile sites and activities?
• The most popular mobile destinations in Canada in Q1 2009: Windows Live Mail (1.4 million unique visitors); Google Search; Facebook; The Weather Network and Yahoo! Mail. (Nielsen Online, June 2009).
• Top categories accessed via the mobile Web include: portals, e-mail, weather, news and current affairs and search (Nielsen Online, June 2009).
• Mobile sites of famous Canadian brands include
News: Canwest/Canada.com; Toronto Star; National Post; Ottawa Herald; Globe and Mail ; Quebecor Media; Metro;
Broadcast and entertainment: CBC; CTV; The Score; Slice;EmpireTheatres.mobi; Cineplex;
Travel: WestJet; Air Canada; Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC);lakelouise.mobi; whistler.mobi; banff.mobi;
Government: Government of Canada;
Banks: Royal Banking Corporation (RBC).
Olympics: The official Vancouver 2010 mobile site
(source: YesWap.mobi/WapReview.mobi).

What are the key:
a) mobile/creative agencies
Mobile agencies have played a strong role in bringing mobile marketing to brands. Promotions companies like LPI and 6S marketing (mobile site:6SMarketing.mobi; and interactive companies like Carlson, BStreet,Proximity and Cossette have adopted mobile well and dedicated themselves to educating their brands on the best tactics to harness mobile.
“All the big Internet publishers and traditional creative agencies are dabbling in mobile, but as with every new medium, it’s the mobile-specific agencies that are going the deepest, like Vortex Mobile and Polar Mobile,” explains Andrew Osmak, senior vice president of Canadian Internet/mobile dating agency Lavalife.
b) Mobile advertising networks
Sympatico.ca Mobile claims to be the largest mobile advertising network in Canada, but many of the US-based networks also have a presence.
c) Network operators
The latest subscriber figures from CWTA for Canadian mobile operators are:
Rogers Wireless – 8.3 million subscribers (the mobile site: Rogers.mobi is only for subscribers); Bell Wireless – 6.7 million (Bell.mobi), TELUS Mobility – 6.4 million (Telus.mobi), SaskTel Mobility – 0.5 million, MTS Mobility – 0.5 million.
d) Associations
From an industry-association prospective, the most effective mobile marketing groups are Mobile Mondays Vancouver and Mobile Mondays Toronto),CWTA, Digital Media and Wireless Association of BC (DigiBC), and theMMA.

What makes mobile marketing different in Canada compared to abroad?
Mobile marketers report that there are three basic dynamics that differentiate Canada from its counterparts. These are:
• Cost – Canada remains one of the most expensive countries in the world for consumers to own cell-phones. There remains little price competition between the five carriers. The high prices mean consumers are reserved when it comes to engaging in any mobile marketing initiatives, just in case it may prove costly.
• Scale – While the majority of Canadians have mobile phones, the percentage that have interacted with mobile marketing campaigns is still quite small, which restricts the reach for mobile advertisers. But this is expected to change rapidly.

Louis Rhéaume

Infocom intelligence

louis@infocomintelligence.com

À quoi va servir un iPad?

Le lancement du iPad semble être plus populaire que celui du iPhone pour Apple. Il y a déjà plus de 120 000 acheteurs en pré-vente et selon un récent sondage aux USA, 13% des individus se disaient intéressés à l’acquérir contre 9% à l’époque pour le iPhone. Mais à quoi va servir ce iPad à mi-chemin entre un téléphone intelligent et un ordinateur portatif? Dans le modèle haut de gamme celui-ci sera Wifi et 3G.

Selon un sondage toujours aux USA, les fonctions les plus populaires du iPad seront surfer sur Internet (68%), regarder leurs courriels (44%), lire électroniquement un livre (37%) ou un magazine ou journal (28%), regarder des vidéos (24%). Tout comme le téléchargement illégal de musique a propulser la consommation de musique sur Internet, cela risque d’arriver au téléchargement illégal de vidéo comme des émissions de télévision sur iPad.

Apple profite déjà de 125 millions d’utilisateurs enregistrés pour son service iTunes.

Cela lui amène tout un argument de négociation pour vendre les émissions de tv des réseaux à des prix abordables.

En terme d’offre vous pouvez voir les secteurs ou il se fait présentement le plus d’applications pour le nouveau iPad dans le graphique ci-dessus. Les jeux dominent suivis des divertissement avec vidéos, du réseautage social et enfin le sport, voyage, style de vie.

Louis Rhéaume

Infocom Intelligence

louis75@sympatico.ca

The future of media

The firm Future Exploration Network proposes an interesting perspective on the evolution of the global media and entertainment industry.

It appears that global alliances have become very common over the past 5 years.

The size of the global media market is very important. However, among the traditional media only the television and films sectors have increased their revenues.

The online advertising market is in rapid growth all over the world, particularly in the USA.

They offer an interesting strategic framework to understand the evolution of the media and entertainment industry.


For more precision on this framework contact us.


Louis Rhéaume
Infocom Intelligence
www.infocomintelligence.com
infocom@videotron.ca

Canada is leading the Triple Play market

Pyramid Research estimates that nearly 42 percent of Canadian households will have a triple play subscription in 2006, up from about 30 percent at the end of 2005. Nearly 60 percent of Canadian households have some form of bundled services, a figure forecast to rise to more than 90 percent over the next five years. Such figures put Canada well ahead of such key markets as the US, France, and even South Korea, which will have triple play penetration levels at 8 percent, 4 percent, and 1 percent, respectively, at the end of 2006. The reasons behind Canada’s success are two-fold: market structure and providers giving customers what they want.

However, Pyramid Research don’t expect Canada to necessarily lead in the convergence stakes.
Canada’s dominant players are present across key market segments and are largely integrated operations. Bell Canada controls satellite DTH player Express Vu, and through it, nearly 20 percent of the Canadian Pay TV space. Likewise, Rogers Communications is present across segments. Taken together, Bell Canada, Rogers, and Telus control substantial portions of the segments critical to offering triple and quadruple play. To keep up, other players have had to accelerate their own evolution, with Telus launching IPTV, and cable players such as Videotron striking MVNO deals to offer mobile services. Another driver has been the role of regulation; Canada’s competition authorities have allowed some degree of cross-segment ownership, making it possible for players to be present across platforms.

Louis Rhéaume
Infocom Intelligence
infocom@videotron.ca
514-528-6422