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DataAnalystPro

  • Wi-Fi Is Primary Data Connection For Smartphones

    A device-based study by Mobidia reveals wi-fi traffic is higher than cellular by a rate of two-to-one. The study is based on worldwide findings for smartphone users. Interestingly, wi-fi accounted for 70% of smartphone-originated traffic. Looking at the global market, over 90% of smartphone users utilize wi-fi for data usage reasons. The results of the study are a revaluation for industry leaders in smartphone technology.

    Chris Hill, Vice President of Marketing at Mobidia, comments on the exciting results of the survey:

    “We were quite surprised with the findings,”

    “Not only did we find that data usage on smartphones was much higher than the typical 100-500 megabytes average monthly usage that is often cited, but we also found that Wi-Fi usage often outpaced mobile usage by as much as six-to-one in some countries.”

    It is interesting, but I don’t know if it comes as a surprise to me. It seems almost everybody has a mobile device on them now days and staying connected throughout the day is more important than ever. It makes a lot of sense that the wi-fi networks would be taking on more and more traffic. I think we can expect to see this trend grow, especially in markets where traditional hard-wired networks and home pc’s are not common.

    Thomas Wehmeier, Informa principal analyst comments on the findings of the study:

    “Building small-screen access revenues into a $100 billion annual market is already a considerable achievement, but today’s mobile data market is arguably still in the early stages of development,”

    “Indeed, mobile data pricing models prevalent in the market today lag years behind the advanced segmentation seen in the mobile voice market. Fulfilling the industry’s future growth potential by driving smartphone and data adoption into today’s untapped customer segments will require operators to build an in-depth understanding of all aspects of customer behavior in order to deploy sustainable and profitable pricing models. And Mobidia’s solution can provide the information to help enlighten that understanding.”

    So it is clear thet analyzing data usage simply based on cellular data can be grossly inaccurate, and that wi-fi is accounting for more traffic than was expected, but like I said, it’s probably not a surprise for most readers. I wish that wi-fi was available everywhere, but we haven’t even gotten to the point where major cities have it everywhere yet. It would be nice if we didn’t have to rely on hard-wired networks for personal use at all.

    The full research report on this study is titled, “Understanding today’s smartphone user: Demystifying data usage trends on cellular & Wi-Fi networks”, and is available from Mobidia Technology, Inc.

  • Google Offers More Data About Government Requests

    About 13 months ago, Google introduced its Transparency Report, which shows the number of government inquiries for info about users, and requests for Google to take down or censor content. It also includes interactive traffic graphs that show info about traffic to Google around the world.

    Back in the summer, Google updated the report with a new design and added details.

    Today, Google announced that it is now providing even more data, specifically in the Government Requests tool. Google is now showing numbers for requests it received for the first half of 2011, and for the first time, is showing the number of users or accounts that are specified in government requests.

    “We also recently released the raw data behind the requests,” says Google Senior Policy Analyst Dorothy Chou. “Interested developers and researchers can now take this data and revisualize it in different ways, or mash it up with information from other organizations to test and draw up new hypotheses about government behaviors online.”

    “We believe that providing this level of detail highlights the need to modernize laws like the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, which regulates government access to user information and was written 25 years ago—long before the average person had ever heard of email,” adds Chou. “Yet at the end of the day, the information that we’re disclosing offers only a limited snapshot. We hope others join us in the effort to provide more transparency, so we’ll be better able to see the bigger picture of how regulatory environments affect the entire web.”

    You can check out the Transparency Report here. What else would you like to see added to the report?

  • Google Says “Anti-Google” Patent Analyst Gets Microsoft Funding for Patent Study

    It’s no secret that Google and Microsoft don’t like one another. Now, Google is pointing out that a patent analyst, which Google’s Matt Cutts says “often takes anti-Google stances,” is conducting a study on FRAND-committed patents, which is being commissioned by Microsoft.

    “Florian Mueller, the patent analyst (he’s not a lawyer) who often takes anti-Google stances, just revealed that Microsoft is funding Mueller to create a new study about patents,” Cutts said in a Google+ update.

    Google’s Tim Bray added on Twitter:

    @timbray
    Tim Bray    Florian Mueller is being paid by Microsoft. Imagine my lack of surprise. http://t.co/5fFxVFCH 2 days ago via YoruFukurou · powered by @socialditto

    FRAND stands for “fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory. “The purpose of FRAND licensing commitments is to ensure access to intellectual property,” explains Mueller in the post in question. “It also protects third parties against overcharging and other abusive behavior.” Here is the passage in which he talks about Microsoft:

    Microsoft has commissioned this study. I will present my findings next year in a published report.

    The industry at large relies and depends on FRAND commitments. So does Microsoft, which owns a significant number of standards-essential patents but licenses many more of them from other right holders. Given the strength of Microsoft’s patent portfolio and the large scale of its inbound and outbound licensing activities, I am proud that they are interested in my analysis of, and perspective on, the related issues.

    Microsoft and I agree on some issues and disagree on others. We were on opposing sides of the debate over a European patent bill years ago. We still have different positions on patent-eligible subject matter. But we do see eye to eye on the post-grant use of patents, i.e., how patents are and should be used after they have been issued, and on some related matters. I like the fact that Microsoft appreciates and respects a diversity of opinions, a fact that has enabled us to work together not only on this FRAND research project but also on a couple of other recent issues facing the industry.

    If you recall the public war of words between Google and Microsoft, it makes sense that Google would raise a flag over a Microsoft-sponsored study regarding patents, and I’m sure they will do so again once the study actually comes out. It will be interesting to see what it actually says.

  • Sprint iPhone 4S To Launch With Unlimited Data

    A month before Tuesday’s Apple iPhone event, before everyone was 100% sure that Sprint would be acquiring the new iPhone, rumors surfaced that Sprint would be launching the new iPhone with an unlimited data option.

    Just two weeks ago, speaking at GigaOm’s mobilize conference, Sprint’s CTO Stephen Bye said that Sprint was committed to unlimited data.

    Now we get confirmation that Sprint will indeed offer unlimited data plans for the iPhone 4S.

    Sprint spokeswoman Michelle Leff Mermelstein told All Things D that the carrier will offer unlimited data plans starting at $69.99. This plan will include unrestricted data as well as 450 voice minutes and unlimited mobile-to-mobile. If you want unlimited everything, data and voice, you’ll need to shell out $99.99 a month.

    On top of those base prices, you can also expect to add a $10 smartphone surcharge.

    This is undoubtedly a big draw for Sprint. They are now offering something that both AT&T and Verizon don’t offer anymore – unlimited data on an iPhone. New customers signing up with AT&T or Verizon will learn that their data plans now work on a tiered pricing structure.

    Will Sprint be able to keep unlimited data plans? Back in September, analysts speculated that Sprint might not be able to offer unlimited indefinitely – that they might opt to switch to a tiered structure once they have pulled a number of users away from AT&T and Verizon.

    As far as all the new traffic that will come from gaining the iPhone – Sprint says they can handle it: “We have every confidence in the ability of our 3G network to handle the influx of devices we expect to get,” said Mermelstein.

    Sprint CTO Stephen Bye, last month at the mobilize conference, said that there was “clearly a cost to support unlimited,” but they were committed.

    The iPhone 4S will drop on October 14th on the Sprint network.

  • iPhone 5 Rumor: Releasing On Sprint With Unlimited Data Plan?

    Today’s iPhone 5 rumor bypasses the “if” it’s going to launch on Sprint question and jumps right ahead to specifics of that launch.

    According to sources “familiar with the matter” as quoted in Bloomberg, the iPhone 5 will most definitely be arriving on Sprint. And when it does, it will come with an unlimited data plan.

    This move would make Sprint the only wireless carrier to offer the iPhone with an unlimited, flat-rate data plan. Carriers like AT&T used to offer the unlimited plan, but have since moved to a tiered data structure.

    The sources also confirmed the mid-October release date, the most widely accepted rumor nowadays regarding the upcoming device. To prepare for the iPhone 5 launch, they said, Sprint has postponed the debut of a rival 4G phone that was supposed to launch this month.

    It’s pretty easy to understand why Sprint would take this step. They are in 3rd place among wireless carriers, a good deal behind AT&T and Verizon. This kind of offering could make a splash right when the iPhone 5 drops, but could it really draw a significant amount of customers away from the big two?

    CNET quotes an analyst who thinks the unlimited offering, if accurately predicted, would only last for a brief time.

    “There’s a good chance they will use this to pull subscribers from AT&T and Verizon,” said Maribel Lopez, an analyst at Lopez Research. “After a certain time, they won’t offer the unlimited option any more.”

    It remains to be seen if that would actually be an effective strategy.

    Here’s everything we know about the iPhone 5 coming to Sprint:

    • Early reports indicate that the phone will launch sometime in mid-October.  That source named an actual date – October 7th.
    • Late last month, an internal memo leaked that showed Sprint upper management directing employees to keep mum regarding the iPhone 5 release.  They were specifically instructed to give a “no comment” response when any customer asked them directly.
    • Earlier this week, a Best Buy document surfaced detailing a probable early October release date for the iPhone 5 as well as a release on Sprint.
    • Last, we heard that Sprint was installing network repeaters in Apple stores in order to boost signal quality for next month’s release.
  • Demand Media Search Data Released Ahead of Earnings Call

    Demand Media Search Data Released Ahead of Earnings Call

    Demand Media has its earnings call tomorrow, and many people are no doubt eagerly awaiting what the company has to say. After recently going public, Google rolled out its Panda update in the U.S. which seemed to leave the company in the clear for the most part, but when they launched the update globally and made more tweaks in the U.S. things worked a bit differently.

    Demand Media’s stock has not been doing so great since then. At the time of this writing, it’s currently at $15.75 per share. That’s about $5 less than just after the damage hit.

    Conductor, which has the Searchlight SEO Platform, has released some data about Demand Media’s search visibility (eHow specifically) post-Panda.

    eHow post-panda according to Conductor

    Conductor Senior Research Analyst Nathan Safran says, “We compared search visibility for the 2,000 high-ranking keywords (84% started out pre-Panda above the fold on the SERPs) pre-Panda (Feb. 13th) to this past week (April 27).”

    “When comparing e-how’s search visibility pre-Panda to post Panda nearly three-quarters (72%) of keywords dropped in rank.  Perhaps most tellingly, 42% of keywords dropped from prime visibility positions above the fold (position 4) while 17% dropped entirely off Page 1.”

    It will be very interesting to see what Demand Media has to announce tomorrow. The company has been making moves to improve the quality (and perception) of its flagship content site eHow. Recently they launched a redesign with a new feedback feature that is designed to indicate to the company when certain pieces need more work.

    In addition to that, they’ve been forming partnerships with celebrities to add authoritative voices to certain categories, and are hiring qualified professionals to write on business topics.

  • Demand Media Looks for Senior Analyst to Measure Search

    Demand Media has tweeted about a job position in the last day, that requires studying how people search and applying that to business practices, from the sound of it. Now, this doesn’t seem unusual for the company, as the business model for their content arm, is widely known to be based on analyzing what people are searching for, and creating conent for it.

    The timing of the tweet is somewhat interesting, however, as eHow has reportedly been hit hard by Google’s latest incarnation of the Panda update.

    @demandmedia
    Demand Media    We’re hiring! Join us as Senior Analyst, User Engagement & Monetization Experimentation: http://bit.ly/gv28Fd 15 hours ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto

    The top responsibility listed: “Apply data mining and statistics to measure and understand the search user experience and feature engagement.”

    We can’t say for sure the job opening is directly related to Google’s updates, but with all of the changes going on with Google, I would think “understanding the search user experience and feature engagement” would be a pretty important part of maintaining search visibility.

    Keep in mind Google has other new features it is using for ranking signals that could have a direct impact on Demand Media’s performance in the SERPs – things like domain blocking and the +1 button.

    Other responsibilities listed for the job include:

    – Act as a resource for statistical issues such as sampling and data analysis.

    – Well versed in areas of hypothesis testing, mixed model analysis, multivariate analysis (cluster and factor analysis), sampling/stratification.

    – Apply statistical methods to answer business and engineering questions.

    – Use statistics and predictive modeling to collect, explore, and identify the right data to be analyzed from multiple sources, then construct algorithms to explain or predict behavior and solve a variety of business and engineering problems.

    – Design and implement statistical experiments to maximize site performance and profit as well as minimize and manage risk of revenue loss.

    – Extract and transform data from existing data stores and perform ad-hoc statistical analyses.

    – Proficiency with MS Excel/Office, SQL and SAS.
    Write reports, create presentations, tables and graphs for analytical projects.

    – Communicate statistical ideas and interpret statistical results to non-statisticians effectively.

    The listed requirements are:

    – 5+ years of work experience in the statistics/analytics field.

    – Solid understanding of statistical methods: Experimental design, Analysis of variance / Regression, Logistic regression and Non-parametric statistics.

    – Familiar in time-series analysis.

    Solid data management skills: SAS, SQL and Excel (SAS certified highly desirable).

    – Effective communication, interpersonal and teamwork skills.

    – Ability to explain results and statistical concepts to both technical and non-technical audience.

    – Strong problem solving and conceptual thinking abilities.

    – Ability to work in a fast-paced and deadline driven environment.

    – Ability to handle multiple concurrent projects while working independently and in team.

    – Ability to estimate required effort for project objectives and prioritize work items appropriately.

    – BS or MS in Statistics or Operations Research or Computer Science.

    According to new data from SearchMetrics, eHow.co.uk took a 72,30% hit in visibility, while eHow.com took a 53,46% (in the UK).

    Demand Media says it is not dependent on Google, and has certainly put a great deal more focus on social in recent memory, but taking a hit in Google isn’t good for anybody, and search traffic is no doubt still the most significant source.

  • eBay’s iPad 2 Data Revealed

    eBay’s iPad 2 Data Revealed

    Although we don’t have the official numbers from Apple, it looks as though sales of the iPad 2 have been good.  Maybe even great.  After its opening weekend, some analysts projected that the new device had sold hundreds of thousands more that its predecessor in its opening weekend.

    Today, eBay released its sales statistics regarding the iPad 2.  The numbers that they report represent the 2 weeks between the launch in the States and the launch in 25 additional countries.

    What we find is that out of the nearly 12,000 iPad 2’s sold in that 2 week span,  around 65% of them were sold to buyers in the U.S. – 7919 to be exact.  Compared to last year’s statistics, that is in incredible increase.  Last year only 35% of 1st gen iPads went to customers in the U.S.  This figure could signal any number of things.  It is plausible that Americans cared more about having a tablet this time around, or that this year Americans are more economically suited to afford prices well above the ticket value.  Americans could also be more impatient, as shortages were reported all around the globe.  Either way, the United States dominated the demand.

    eBay also calculated the average amount above retail that customers paid for certain iPad 2 models.  For the platinum device, the 64 GB with 3G, customers were willing to pay $406 above retail.  For the regular 64 GB sans 3G, just $264 above retail.  For the basic 16 GB with no 3G, only $198 above retail.  It seems as though customers who wanted the more luxurious models were more willing to spend a little extra.

    It then comes as no surprise that the most commonly purchased model was the basic 16 GB iPad 2, making up 30% of total sold.  The least sold was the 16 GB model with 3G capabilities, making up only 7% of total sold.  It also seems as though buyers willing to pay extra fro 3G decided to go ahead and upgrade space as well.

    What other countries imported the rest of the 12,000 units?  Second and third place were Russia and Canada, importing 500 and 430, respectively.  Last year’s lead importer the UK imported 341 units this year, putting it in a near tie for fourth place with Hong Kong and Japan.

    Although this data is strong, especially the statistics regarding sales in the U.S., it is probably unable to prove or disprove any long term predictions of the iPad’s demise.  Just yesterday, a Dell exec said the iPad 2’s popularity was unsustainable.

    To see eBay’s charts,  go here for this year’s and here for last year’s.

  • Google, FairSearch Play Tug-Of-War With Analyst’s Comments

    Neither Google nor the FairSearch coalition is close to backing down when it comes to the search giant’s proposed acquisition of ITA Software.  Today, Google attempted to highlight an analyst’s comments in support of the deal, and FairSearch fired right back by stressing the same analyst’s doubts.

    This scrap revolves around what Henry Harteveldt, Vice President of Forrester Research, said during an interview with CNBC’s Erin Burnett.  We’ll start off with a quote that came about halfway through the interview: "I wouldn’t necessarily say that there’s any one group that’s right or wrong."

    However, Google would like everyone to know that Harteveldet also said, "In the end, Google has made a legitimate and fair claim to buy ITA Software, and I think there’s a little bit of sour grapes on the part of some of the companies that are not the companies buying ITA."

    FairSearch, for its part, prefers this quote: "The online travel companies have some legitimate concerns.  They want to make sure that their data will be kept confidential, that Google won’t observe anything that they shouldn’t . . . and use that for their gain, and they also want to make sure that they have the right, if they choose to continue relationships with ITA . . . to do so and at a fair price."

    Feel free to call the dispute’s winner (or declare the whole thing a draw) in the comments section.

     

  • Just How Concerned with Privacy Are Facebook Users?

    PeopleBrowsr shared a rather interesting report with us this week, looking at privacy related tweets during the center of this year’s Facebook "privacy storm." The firm studied the public’s reaction to Facebook’s open graph-related announcements that set off the majority of the Facebook privacy controversy back in April.

    Are you concerned for your privacy as a Facebook user?     Let us know.

    The report specifically compares the general public’s (or at least the portion that uses Twitter) thoughts about Facebook privacy with the media sensationalism around the story. The firm studied tweets with references to privacy, along with other keywords like Facebook, Open Graph, Zuckerberg, and Google.

    "We are the last generation to know privacy as it was," says Brian Solis, Chief Data Analyst for PeopleBrowsr. "As Facebook moves human connections and society into a more public spotlight, people and the press will push back. But this will move things forward collaboratively. Over time I believe the debate will evolve into a series of productive forums and memes that explore the risks of living in public and the rewards for participation."

    Privacy Discussion on Twitter

    Privacy Discussion on Twitter

    Some of PeopleBrowsr’s findings from the study:

    – Prior to the F8 conference on April 24, privacy tweets hovered between 1,000-3,000 references per day, then spiked to 9,000 on the day of F8

    – On April 25 (day after the conference), privacy-related tweets fell to 3,500 – then surged to 7,500 when politicians joined the fray. Around May 25, privacy discussions hit the ceiling in this study with 20,000 unique discussions.

    – In terms of context, Facebook dominated the landscape for mentions of #privacy

    – Conversations followed media reports

    "We see that even on the day when privacy took center stage, the media sensationalized the topic. But the public, at least those on Twitter, did not flood the streets with 140 character picket signs. 9,000 tweets does not seem to account for the millions of Twitter users or the 500 million people who have Facebook accounts," says Solis.

    That last statement is true on a couple of different levels. For Solis’ purpose it does not appear to indicate that the majority of Facebook users were that concerned. However, it is also worth noting that the majority of Facebook users are not necessarily active Twitter users. Facebook has over 500 million people. It’s not a flawless argument, and the findings should be taken with a grain of salt like any such study. That said, Twitter is generally viewed as a good indication of public opinion, as trending topics often reflect pop culture and news at large. If there is something significant happening, you can generally find people talking about it on Twitter.

    Besides, Facebook’s numbers continued to grow. Diaspora (the "Facebook alternative") will be here soon. I’m willing to bet that will have little impact on Facebook’s growth as well.

    Do you think the privacy discussion around Facebook was overblown? Share your thoughts.

  • eBay Reports Positive Q1 Financial Data

    eBay Reports Positive Q1 Financial Data

    eBay has released its first-quarter earnings report, and there’s good news for the company’s fans: it beat most analysts’ estimates.  The bad news for fans (and especially shareholders) is that eBay’s stock has nonetheless fallen 8.14 percent in after-hours trading, possibly due to a weak forecast.

    eBay

    In fairness to eBay, Google and Yahoo suffered similar fates after making positive Q1 reports of their own.  Also, eBay’s forecasts weren’t awful; the company just expects revenue for all of 2010 to fall in the $8.80 billion to $9.10 billion range, whereas experts would like to see $9.12 billion.

    So let’s move on to the success stories.  eBay reported $2.20 billion in revenue, which is a little bit better than the anticipated $2.19 billion, and it beat earnings per share estimates by a similar margin (reporting $0.42 versus $0.41).

    The company recorded a year-over-year increase in total payment volume of 35 percent, too, even though a gain of just 33 percent was predicted.

    CEO and President John Donahoe observed as a result, "Our first quarter results reflect another strong step toward achieving our three-year growth and profitability goals."

    eBay now simply needs to work on repeating that step a few more times for the sake of not losing too many investors.

  • Analyst Bets Apple Search Engine Might Be On The Way

    An investment firm that was founded in 1895 and earned almost $470 million in net revenue last year thinks it’s likely that Apple will build its own search engine.  Specifically, Piper Jaffray assigned this outcome a 70 percent chance of taking place sometime within the next five years.

    Jay Yarow obtained a research note written by Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, and in it, Munster stated, "We believe Apple could utilize data unavailable to Google, data generated by the company’s App Store, to create a mobile centric search engine, which would be a unique offering to Google’s search engine."

    Munster then explained that this probably wouldn’t occur as a result of Mac, iPhone, and iPad engineers starting something from scratch.  He wrote, "[W]e feel Apple could make a minor acquisition of a search company that has built a web index, like a Cuil, and utilize the index as the base for building its own engine."

    This is an interesting idea, at the very least, and if Google’s and Apple’s relationship continues to worsen (see Google’s new partnership with Adobe as one example of things heading downhill), the odds of it becoming a reality will increase.

    Of course, five years is a long time in this industry – Google’s market share hadn’t even crested the 50 percent mark in March of 2005 – so all manner of things may change before 2015 rolls around.