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Oonagh Reidy

Olympics 2012 A Mobile Game

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Phew: Tweeting, Googling and Facebook should be an Olympic sport.


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London Olympics 2012 has become a mobile event with mass audiences jumping online via their smartphone or iPad to research athletes, events and scores of the Games, says Google.

Olympic audiences globally are now watching the games on TV, laptops and tablets and then juming to their mobile device Googling for info.

In its first week, Olympics 2012 related searches on mobile devices grew a massive tenfold compared to the previous week.

Google searches for former Beetle Paul McCartney surged as he performed Hey Jude at the end of the opening ceremony.

In fact, at some moments during the Games, there have been more searches on McCartney on iPads, other tabs and smartphones than on the good ol’ PC, according to Google’s blog.

So, it’s offical: London 2012 Games is a “multi-screen event” like the Super Bowl, Oscars, and Eurovision, but on a more global scale.

In Oz this trend was particularly pronounced with 45% of all Olympics searches performed via mobile (and tab) on July 27th and 28th – on par with UK’s 46% and above European countries 30%.

In OZ, Foxtel’s streaming Olympics app for the iPad has been very successful, while free-to-air Channel Nine has trumped over its Pay TV rival on the viewing stakes, attracting over 1.5m viewers on all its broadcasts, compared to Foxtel’s 600,000 nightly, reports the Australian Media.

 

In all, 2.5 million Aussie viewers are tuning into the Games nightly, far execceding predictions.

Google also noticed an interesting pattern occuring on island nations like Caymen Islands and Malta – tablet searches was almost equal to smartphone, or in some cases outran it.

Why? Because large numbers of tourists carry their beloved tab on holidays with them.

Virgin Doles Out Splendour Bender App

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Get Splendour on your Virgin mobile
The telco are streaming Splendor in the Grass 2012 over a massive 8 hours of live music streaming extravaganza.

Catch Kimbra, Miike Snow, Ladyhawke, Cast of Cheers, Band of Skulls, Bleeding Knees Club, Last Dinosaurs directly from the Mixup and Supertop stages at Splendour in the Grass 2012, on Saturday 28th from 3pm, from your smartphone.

The concert can be streamed via the free Splendour in the Grass app – on Android and iPhone- for Virgin customers.

The exclusive Virgin Mobile Live Stream 2012 will bring non-festival goers uninterrupted live access to the festival’s gigs with a mix of live and pre-recorded performances and backstage artist interviews, bringing ‘music to the masses’ via its YouTube channel (YouTube.com/VirginMobileAus) and the official Splendour in the Grass app.

The Virgin Mobile Facebook page and website will be also be regularly updated with all the latest Splendour in the Grass news.

Last year’s Virgin streaming was a massive success over 46,650 music fans tuned in to be part of the action.

“We’re really excited to once again be offering this exclusive access to fans and music lovers who can’t make it to the festival,” said David Scribner, Virgin Mobile’s Marketing Director.

“We have been pioneers in live-streaming ever since we first live-streamed the Temper Trap in 2010 and are proud to once again be offering viewers a real feel for this year’s festival with an excellent collection of music and behind-the-scenes interviews streamed directly from the festival to wherever you are.”

Virgin Mobile is also offering customers its added extra – the chance to pull over and revive in style and comfort at Virgin Mobile’s Star Treatment Stop.

The Star Treatment Stop will be located at 171 Pacific Highway Broadwater, en-route from Sydney to Bryon Bay, will offer drivers and their mates free coffees, massages, comfy beanbags and chilled DJs tunes for “a refresh with a difference.”

 

Virgin Mobile customers also have access to other cool festival benefits including: access to the posh pit fancy bathroom plus 5 minute makeovers, Fast Lane express bar queue, power point recharge station to recharge your phone.

The telco is also giving customers  the chance to win tickets to the exclusive Channel V party to 50 Virgin Mobile customers and their friends will win access to the VIP section at the Channel V Party at the Beach Hotel in Byron Bay on Saturday the 28th July where they will be treated to a recovery breakfast, drinks and great tunes from the likes of Alice Wonderland and other Splendour artists.

 Another 100 Virgin Mobile customers will win access to the party and two drinks tokens. Virgin Mobile customers can now pre-register for all the benefits at: http://apps.facebook.com/virgin_splendour/.

Yes folks, it always pays to be a Virgin.

NBN Ditch Access Plan After Pricing ‘Concerns’

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NBN Co has ditched its Special Access Undertaking after telco concerns over pricing and NBN Co power.


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The Australian competition watchdog, ACCC, says it is suspending its assessment of the Special Access Undertaking (SAU) lodged by NBN Co after receiving a “number” of complaints from NBN Co’s ‘future customers’ – i.e. Telstra, iiNet and Co.

The undertaking was lodged in December and outlines telco access to the National Broadband Network and the regulatory framework under which it will operate.

The telcos in particular were said to have issues with the pricing model and the powers of the NBN Co over pricing as demand increases over time, as well as the power held by the watchdog and the ‘level of flexibility’ associated with the 30-year long regulatory plan.

“The ACCC has indicated that the SAU is unlikely to be acceptable in its current form,” the NBN Co confirmed yesterday.

This means approval for the NBN’s regulatory framework (by the ACCC) will now be delayed until the end of 2012 or possibly even beyond if the NBN Co are delayed in the development of a revised SAU.

The NBN Co are currently working on an amended SAU and has provided an outline of its proposed amendments to the ACCC, under which the watchdog may have a bigger role in regulating pricing on the high speed network.

The revised SAU will strike “a better balance between providing certainty on NBN Co’s long term cost recovery arrangements and flexibility for the other regulatory terms to evolve as required over time,” NBN Co said in a statement yesterday.

The broadband company also “acknowledges the significance of the feedback from the ACCC and industry, and has revised its approach accordingly,” Jim Hassell, NBN Co Head of Product Management and Industry Relations, said.

Hassell also made reference to  NBN Co’s role as “a wholesale-only provider” and the need to “develop solutions that will work for our customers.”

He also reiterated its “commitment to maintain the affordability of our prices.

“The (revised) approach continues to lock-in the prices of key products for five years, maintains price controls over all products, and in addition now confirms NBN Co’s intention to decrease the price of the Connectivity Virtual Circuit (CVC) as demand increases.”

The revised SAU will use a building block model to determine revenue constraints on NBN Co, appears to provide some “reasonable constraints on NBN Co’s pricing over time,” the ACCC confirmed.

The watchdog also says it sees “merit in the (revised) proposal.”

 

“NBN Co has taken a step forward in developing this proposal in response to feedback on its original SAU. It is a constructive move towards establishing reasonable access arrangements for the NBN,” ACCC Chairman Rod Sims said.

“The proposed modular design balances NBN Co’s requirement for certainty on long-term cost recovery with the need to undertake regular reviews of the detailed terms of access.”

The ACCC will make further announcements about the revised SAU in due course.

NBN’s LA Satellite Give “Big Boost”

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Minister for Broadband is in California this week, eyeing up the next gen satellites for the National Broadband Network.


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The two next gen satellites being built at California-based Space Systems/Loral will double the speed of the National Broadband Network for people living in rural Australia, according to the Dept of Communications.

Aussies who live in some remote or rural areas will be receiving NBN Satellite services, to be launched in 2015.

During his visit this week, Senator Stephen Conroy viewed ten satellites in various stages of assembly and testing and went on a PR offensive, defending the $36 bn NBN service, once again.

“The NBN satellites Loral is building will double the broadband speeds for people living in rural and remote Australia when launched in 2015. They will also offer better speeds and performance than many people in metro areas receive today, at an affordable price,” he said.

“We commend the Australian Government for its pioneering program to provide equal access to broadband services for all its citizens.”

Loral’s satellites will provide fast and reliable broadband access to Australia from an orbit 35,786 km above the Earth’s equator.

John Celli, president of Space Systems/Loral also got in on the act, saying:

“Satellite is the most cost-effective way to provide high quality communications services over large, sparsely populated regions. We are proud to contribute to Australia’s National Broadband Network.”

“The two new NBN satellites will double the speed of the existing interim satellite service, which over 7000 Australians in regional and rural areas are already benefitting from,” Minister for Broadband and Communications Senator Conroy said.

The kind folks at the Dept of Comms even gave us a case study of how the NBN remote communities.

 

Julie Stott, a small business owner who works from her farm in O’Connell, NSW, is one such NBN satellite user.

“As soon as we were put on the NBN we had much faster speeds, with reliability and all for the same cost.”1 Dave Paton, owner of Kings Creek Helicopter Station – a business that provides scenic helicopter tours in the Northern Territory – says, “What we’ve got is satellite NBN connection, and it’s very quick,” she says.

“The old internet dial-up was frustratingly slow. The NBN allows us to go forward in our business.”

Oh, thats ok, then.

Mass Exit: NBN Tech, Finance + Corporate Chiefs Walk

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Mass managerial clean out as three major NBN Co execs walkJust days after new CEO Bill Murrow was sworn in, three major execs at NBN Co, including its Chief Technology Officer, Chief Finance Officer and head of corporate and commercial affairs, are to leave the broadband company. 

Chief technology officer Gary McLaren and Kevin Brown, head of corporate and commercial affairs, both took redundancy, while NBN Co’s CFO, Robin Payne will leave when a replacement is found. 
Brown will leave in July, and McLaren will stay on to assist during the transition period. 
The managerial upheaval was announced by NBN Co CEO Bill Murrow in an internal email which went out at lunchtime, today. The reshuffle by the former chief of Vodafone, has virtually cleaned out the remaining management team installed under the Labor government.  
Bradley Whitcomb will join NBN Co on 1 May as Chief Culture & Transformation Officer, leaving his current role as Vodafone’s Chief Strategy and Business Transformation Officer. 
Murrow cited major managerial shortcomings at the government-owned NBN Co, including lack of alignment on company goals; unclear accountability structure; inadequate decision making and “suboptimal” work culture.  
Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull said he found plenty “unhelpful surprises” at NBN Co, when he took office last September, in a CommsDay speech this week.
“I don’t want to overstate our progress since September. There’s an immense amount of work yet to be done. 

“NBN Co’s board and management need to transform the company’s culture and capabilities, settle new deals with Telstra and Optus, and resolve the many unhelpful surprises we’ve found inside NBN Co.” 

NBN Co will move to a new ExCo structure on 1 May, Murrow also announced.  
This new structure will be process based and emphasise an internal customer-supplier relationship model.
Eight senior execs will report to Murrow directly including Chief Strategy Officer JB Rousselot, COO Greg Adcock, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Culture & Transformation Officer. 
Image credit: Herald Sun

Droid Deluge? Acer, Asus HP Board Windows 8 Wagon

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Five top PC makers are all jumping on Microsoft bandwagon as 8 fever intensifies.


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Android darlings Asus, Acer, as well as HP, Dell and Lenovo are all said to be launching W 8 tablets this year, according to Digitimes report.

That’s according to sources close to component suppliers in Taiwan who suggest Microsoft ‘handpicked’ the 5 makers to run 8 on new slew of tablets later this year on Intel’s x86 platform, all of who are currently run Android OS.

Meanwhile Samsung, Sony and Toshiba won’t be releasing its answer to W8 until early 2013 with ARM chip tablets, while Acer and Asus wil pounce again next year with second round of ‘8’ tabs kitted out with ARM processors.

This could be a a worrying development for Google Android, who currently hold just 15% of the tab market here in OZ. 

And sources have also indicated Apple will launch a second 9.7″ iPad later this year, making it a double whammy for tablet king.

If this comes to pass, it means 2012 is shaping up for a major tablet showdown with now three rival OS vying for attention of the consumer- iOS, Android and now Windows 8.

 

Reports emerging last week indicated October was D-Day for Microsoft’s new platform with its live-tile interface which will run on smartphones, tablets and PCs.

Read: Microsoft Ushers Windows 8 Era In October

Microsoft, Apple Subpoenaed For Price Gouging?

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Tech giants could be called before parliament on the IT price gouging enquiry a senior MP has warned.


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Labor MP Ed Husic, who is one of the main drivers behind the enquiry into IT pricing in Australia, raised the notion of issuing the likes of Microsoft, Adobe and even Apple with subpoenas, forcing them to answer before The House of Representatives Standing Committee on Infrastructure and Communications inquiry, if they don’t up their game.

“I believe the inquiry will be forced to confront the prospect of subpoenaing major vendors to provide greater detail to justify the price discrimination being levelled at Australian businesses — and something more substantive than a one to five-page submission,” he said.

Husic, a MP for Chifley, made the comments at the Global Access Partners’ Annual Growth Summit on Friday, reports The Australian.

Husic, who has campaigned extensively on the seemingly major price disparities between consumer goods like iPhones, iPads and  Microsoft Office and Adobe Creative software compared to overseas, also hit out at the tech giants “total disregard” and “contempt” for the parliamentary backed inquiry, in his speech Friday.

 “It’s even harder to get this data when the major vendors refuse to engage with the inquiry, treating the parliament with contempt,” Husic declared.

The IT pricing inquiry was established in May following a request from the Minister for Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy. However, it appears the inquiry is well within its powers to issue the tech companies with subpoenas, a spokesperson for Mr Husic’s office told SmartHouse

However, Mr Husic, who is also on the committee inquiry, said he would discuss the issue with his colleagues in Canberra tomorrow, but issuing subpoenas is likely to be a last option and vendors will be given another chance to attend hearings and respond to the issue, which have already taken place, most recently in Sydney in July.

IT companies including Microsoft and Adode and others made submission through the Australia Industry Group (AiG) and the Information Industry Association (AIIA), both groups which Husic also criticised.

Microsoft made a separate three page submission to the IT pricing inquiry earlier this year, and blamed the “cost of doing business in Australia having a direct impact on the prices” being charged. High labor costs, rent shipping and transport were among the costs cited. Adobe also made a separate one page submission, which Husic also condemned earlier this year.

In a damning statement of the IT industry bodies, Husic hit out at this ‘higher costs in OZ’ argument, made by the AIIA and AiG:

 

“The issue with software is baffling because, with downloads, things such as shipping and handling costs are almost negligible,” said the Labor MP.

“The Ai Group gave the nod to the usual litany of underpinning factors driving up costs: rents, labour, taxes, warranties, environmental regulation. Mind you, no quantitative data was presented to explain price differences of between 60 per cent and 80 per cent, especially for software downloads.”

He also said the AIIA argument that the market should fix the price gouging by industry players was “revelatory” as it was the companies themselves pushing consumer mark ups on goods in the first place.

Numerous submissions have been made – 91 in all – by members of the public, IT companies, the consumer watchdog Choice, the Department of Communications and The Treasury.

Apple who does big business in Australia also chose not to make a submission separate from the industry led one.
 
SmartHouse contacted both Adobe and Microsoft and is awaiting a response.

Breaking Bad: Movie Downloads Up 36%

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OZ film and TV downloads are up, but piracy still looms, warns industry boss.

OZ digital film and TV market is up 36% new figures for 2012 show.

Game of Thrones was the top TV title purchased and The Hunger Games was the most downloaded film streamed/rented via video-on-demand, new figures from Australian Home Entertainment Distributors Association (AHEDA) show.

“Digital sales in 2012 really took off and now exceed 10 per cent of total sales for the $1.174 billion Australian home entertainment industry,” said AHEDA CEO Simon Bush.

The local digital TV and film industry was worth $127.77 million in 2012 and AHEDA predict further growth in the coming years.

Other top selling TV shows in Oz included True Blood, Gossip Girl and Breaking Bad, while on the movie front, What to Expect When You’re Expecting, SherlockHolmes and Red Dog were the top titles.

The figures for digital entertainment have been released for the first time ever by the entertainment Association, which covers 95% of the digital market.

This comes just weeks after it emerged global digital music industry revenues soared on the back of legit sites like Spotify, iTunes and Google Play.

The largest digital market in Australia in terms of revenues were video on demand (VoD) services like Telstra’sBigpond Movies, Quickflix (56%) followed by electronic TV (23%) and movie sales. 

iTunes leads the market in terms of downloads but the Association noted “significant’ other platforms including Foxtel on Demand, Telstra’sBigpond Movies, Sony Entertainment Network, Microsoft with Xbox Live, Fetch TV, and Google’s PlayStore.

As the number of downloads go up, movies download prices are on the way down – to $14.70 last year from $16.10, on average.

However, piracy remains a massive issue for the digital industry, Bush said.

 

“The largest hurdle facing our industry for digital growth to replace declining physical DVD sales is that of film piracy and recent research shows that when Major peer—2—peerPiracy sites havebeen blocked or shutdown, piracy traffic drops andLegitimate sales see a significant spike.”

“The popularity and growth of new digital platforms available on a significant range of devices along with broadband improvements in Australia will drive more legal download and streaming opportunities for Australians which our industry is embracing.

Don’t Dial Emergency if You’re on TPG

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Being on TPG could endanger your life, as comms watchdog takes action against the telco over not giving users access to emergency ‘000’ services.
Australia Communications and Media Authority taken court action against TPG Internet over alleged failures to give access to the ‘000’ emergency call services over six months between March – September 2011.

The ACMA alleges that TPG breached the Telecommunications (Emergency Call Service) Determination 2009 by failing to give certain customers access to 000 emergency phone services.

“All Australians need to be assured that their telecommunications provider attaches the utmost priority to Triple Zero access,” said ACMA Chairman, Chris Chapman.

“We take any issues with access to the Triple Zero service very seriously.”

Telcos are required to give customers Triple Zero emergency call service that connect callers to police, fire or ambulance in a life-threatening or time critical situation.