Archive for March 25th, 2010
The Real Reason Wireless Carriers Love Android: Google Is Paying Them To (GOOG, T, DT, VZ)
Wireless carriers don’t just like Google’s Android phones because they’re the next best thing to Apple’s iPhone: They also like Android because Google is paying them to like it.
PaidContent’s Tricia Duryee reports that Google’s deals with mobile carriers (and some phone makers) include an advertising revenue sharing agreement, provided they pre-install Google apps like Search, Maps, and GMail on phones. This should come as no surprise, given how long phone and PC companies have been paid to pre-install stuff. (Hello, free Prodigy trial?) MediaMemo’s Peter Kafka adds that he hears it’s a “substantial” revenue share.
As Duryee notes, we doubt the deals are generating much money for either Google or the carriers yet — not enough searching or advertising to support any significant cash flow yet — but it’s the thought that counts. Carriers are scared of becoming dumb pipes, and any time Google — not long ago, the phone companies’ biggest fear — wants to share revenue from advertising and application sales, that’s a welcomed gesture.
(Carriers used to charge developers 50% or more from the apps they sold on dumb phones like the Motorola Razr; that’s revenue that the iPhone App Store and others wiped out, which is one reason carriers got scared of App Stores. But if Google is funneling that revenue along to the carriers, it’s going to make them happy.)
Most interesting to us is how Google is now having it both ways with phone companies: It’s feeding carriers out of one hand, while trying to disrupt them with the other, via its Web-only phone store for the Nexus One, its Google Voice service, etc. Very clever.
A few more notes:
- This will make it harder for Google to EVER make money off Android. Besides trying to sell phones like the Nexus One direct to consumers — which isn’t working very well — its main hope is to make money from advertising. If it’s sharing a “substantial” amount of that revenue with carriers, it’s going to take longer for Google to make much money from Android. But this is a very long-term project for Google, and given that it’s in a land race with Apple and Microsoft and RIM and Palm, it’s smart to spend now for platform share.
- Microsoft will likely (we think) match these sorts of deals when its Windows Phone 7 Series ships later this year — it already knows it needs to spend big to make itself relevant, so we wouldn’t be surprised to see it even outspend Google for users. That is what it’s doing in search, with Bing, after all.
- This is an even more troublesome situation for Palm, which has no ad revenue to share, and is increasingly competing with Google phones for shelf space and carrier attention. But Palm’s biggest problem is that people don’t want to buy its phones, and not that it can’t pay carriers a dollar or two per subscriber. It’s similarly lousy for BlackBerry maker RIM, but RIM also has different cards to play with carriers.
- This probably doesn’t matter much to Apple. Phone companies still want to sell the most phones, no matter which label is on them, and the iPhone is still the hottest phone.
See Also: No, iPhone VoIP Apps Won’t Blow Up The Cellphone Industry
Join the conversation about this story »
See Also:
- Motorola’s New Android Phone Ships With An Old Version Of Android, No Multi-Touch ‘Pinch’ Zoom
- Android Picks Up In Mobile Ad Race Against Apple
- Motorola Doing Its Best To Take Google Search Out Of Android Phones In China
CBS’ Iraq Reporter Kimberly Dozier Jumps To AP’s ‘Terror Team’ (CBS)
The AP just hired a nice get for its Washington bureau: Kimberly Dozier, the CBS News reporter who has made a name for herself as an overseas correspondent (not unlike Christiane Amanpour at CNN, who was recently poached to join ABC News).
Kim is currently the Middle East correspondent for CBS News. Starting late next month, she will cover intelligence under editor Steve Braun’s “terror team” in Washington.
Here’s the memo to staffers from AP Washington bureau chief Ron Fournier and helpfully forwarded to us:
I’m pleased to announce the AP’s new intelligence reporter: Kimberly Dozier.
You may know Kim as the Middle East correspondent for CBS News, where she earned a reputation as a tireless reporter covering hot spots, from Israel to the war in Afghanistan and the hunt for Osama bin Laden. She reported on the war in Iraq from 2003 until she was injured in a car bombing in 2006. For the last three years, Kim has covered the White House, the Pentagon and national security out of the CBS Washington Bureau.
Previously, she was London bureau chief and chief European correspondent for CBS Radio News as well as a television reporter for CBS News based in Israel. She has covered world events ranging from the crisis in the Balkans to the death of Princess Diana.
In the 1990s, Kim was an anchor for the BBC Radio World Service’s “World Update.” While living in Cairo, Kim did freelance reporting for The Washington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle and other publications.
As part of Steve Braun’s terror team in Washington, Kim will help the AP break news and produce high-impact enterprise stories. She will work with AP reporters around the globe, focusing on stories about the growing security threats against the United States and its allies.
She starts late next month. This is an exciting time for WDC and Kim. Please welcome her to the bureau.
Many thanks,
Ron
Join the conversation about this story »
See Also:
- Christiane Amanpour’s Silly Farewell Note To CNN: "Why Am I Leaving? In My Heart I Am Not"
- ABC Inches Closer To Nabbing Christiane Amanpour From CNN
Obama To Take Big New Step On The Foreclosure Crisis, As He Orders Lenders To Cut Jobless Homeowners A Break
Things are starting to happen on the foreclosure front which will probably have long-tern negative consequences, but which in the short term may mitigate the the situation somewhat.
Until now, the big news of the week has been Bank of America (BAC) announcing plans to get serious about principal reduction — the one one form of mortgage mod that actually can work in some cases.
The Obama administration plans to overhaul how it’s tackling the foreclosure crisis, in part by requiring lenders to temporarily slash or eliminate monthly mortgage payments for many borrowers who are unemployed, senior officials said Thursday.
Banks and other lenders would have to reduce the payments to no more than 31 percent of a borrower’s income, which would typically be their unemployment insurance, for up to six months. In some cases, administration officials said, a lender could allow a borrower to make no payments at all.
The new push, which the White House is scheduled to announce Friday, takes direct aim at the major cause of the current wave of foreclosures: the spike in unemployment.
Will lenders scream bloody murder over this?
Probably not. According to the article, the scheme will be funded from the TARP slush fund, so basically this constitutes a different kind of public benefit to the unemployed.
Join the conversation about this story »
See Also:
- Our Worst Fears Are Coming True: California Housing Is Double-Dipping Right Now
- Obama’s New Radical Foreclosure Plan: Pay People To Sell Their Homes Short
- A New Foreclosure Hot Spot Is Breaking Out
Overhyped Legal Trend Of The Year: Soft Drinks Are The Next Tobacco
In the sport of the search for the next tobacco (i.e. a large industry that can be attacked in court by hundreds of plaintiffs who want to be paid for the injuries they incurred at the hands of evil, greedy corporations), there is a new target: soft drink companies.
The Heath Brothers ruminate on the idea in this month’s Fast Company:
But if [soda-company executives] keep speaking like the Defenders of High-Fructose Corn Syrup, then you might as well get sized for your black hats. Just picture yourself in front of Congress, like the cigarette execs who raised their hands to swear that cigarettes were not a health risk. Except you’d be attesting that Dr Pepper is part of a “balanced diet.” Is that the future you want?
Pepsi and Coca-Cola are made with high fructose corn syrup, which researchers say causes bottoms to balloon and the Corn Refiners Association advertises “is fine in moderation.“
Taxing sugary, carbonated beverages is a short-term suggestion, as the NYT highlighted when they discussed the same issue a month ago:
And a growing number of public health advocates are pushing for even more aggressive actions, urging that soda be treated like tobacco: with taxes, warning labels and a massive public health marketing campaign, all to discourage consumption.
Here’s the thing: lobbyists and lawyers may foam at the mouth with pictures of punitive damages dancing in their heads, but there is never going to be another tobacco.
It never happened for, as Law And More points out, lead paint. Or “big food.” Or pornography. Or childhood obesity. And something tells me it won’t work out for climate change, either.
Join the conversation about this story »
See Also:
Here’s An Amazing View Of What The Media Bloodbath Looks Like
Here is an incredibly useful, and incredibly sad, interactive timeline of media layoffs reported by Poynter.org since January 2007.
Click on the links and find more information on the layoffs, as well as maps and other details.
Imagine what it would look like if users could contribute and add more articles into the mix.
Scary stuff.
Courtesy of Poytner, thanks to David Carr for the heads up.
Join the conversation about this story »
See Also: