GigaOM

Love it or hate it, one has to admit that Apple’s iPhone has been quite a game changer forcing the wireless industry to get off its duff and start innovating. I think a lot of people forget that iPhone is not just a pretty face and sleek curves. Instead it is a device that is changing our behavior and the expectations we have of mobile devices. Most observations about iPhone have been personal and anecdotal.

Today, however, I got a chance to skim through a report put together by San Mateo, Calif.-based mobile advertising startup AdMob, about iPhone user behavior — both in the United States and worldwide — that provides metrics to match some of the theories around iPhone. Clearly, these numbers are not an absolute reflection of iPhone usage, but they do seem to indicative of broader iPhone trends. (Full report embedded below the fold.) Continue Reading

Today, telco gear maker Dilithium Networks launched a software product for carriers, content publishers and content delivery networks that can handle all of the transcoding necessary to take content formatted for one screen and move it to another in real time. The Dilithium Content Adapter is the first software product from the seven-year-old telecommunications gear maker. The company has focused on 3G video since its inception, and Dilithium says the product is already deployed with some operators and CDNs.

But Dilthium’s not alone in its focus on delivering faster video to mobile devices. In a few months, Limelight Networks will launch a mobile CDN product for its customers, and Dave Hatfield, an SVP of marketing sales at Limelight, says customers are testing such a product now. While it’s not a huge focus at Limelight right now, he says phones like the iPhone have changed the potential size of the market by making it easier for consumers to get mobile video — and that could spur market growth.

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What used to be the purview of corporate and business development departments is now being replaced by venture capital. A fund to foster Facebook apps, the iFund to jump start the iPhone app revolution or the rumored $150 million fund to give Blackberry apps a boost - the increasing number of platform funds doesn’t ensure success. Remember the Java Fund, or the RSS Fund.

The news of the Blackberry Fund was first reported by Venturebeat, but that post has been taken down, so I am not sure if this is even happening or not. If it is indeed true, then it is clear that iPhone has delivered a swift kick in the pants to the Canadian company, and getting it to innovate faster. I don’t think an investment vehicle is the answer. Many developers I have talked to often complain about the challenges of working with Research In Motion (RIM.)

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My buddy Russell Beattie has sold his labor of love, Mowser, to dotMobi a few weeks after he announced that he was done with it. James Pearce explains why dotMobi, a consortium backed by leading mobile operators, network and device manufacturers, and Internet content providers bought Mowser’s assets. Russ and Mike Rowehl join Dublin-based dotMobi. “While we didn’t get rich on the deal by any stretch, I’ve been able to pay off a bunch of debts,” Russ writes. I think his adventure with Mowser makes him the real deal in my books.

There are enough signs that Apple’s iPhone, the fast-growing mobile device from the Cupertino-based consumer electronics and computing giant, will give the still-emerging business of mobile video a turbo boost. Here’s why: Continue Reading

Mobilkom austria recently made the fastest data call with a mobile device using the pioneering Internet High Speed Packet Access (I-HSPA) technology from Nokia Siemens Networks. Stelera Wireless, a small U.S. operator, launched data services in rural Texas using this technology as well.

During the trial, the data transmission downlink speed reached 10.1 Mbps. I-HSPA will be capable of data transmission rates over 10.1 Mbps, NSN claims. The I-HSPA functionality is designed for heavy data and rich multimedia usage over the wireless network. I-HSPA connects 3G base stations directly to the Internet, enables cost-efficient scaling of the network, works with all HSPA devices and improves end user experience by reducing latency. I-HSPA flat network architecture also enables smooth migration to LTE.