Android Edges out IOS with the Most Mobile Phone Ad Impressions in Q4 2013:

In the three days around Christmas (December 24, 25 and 26), the number of smartphones and tablets, increased by 13% in the USA and 22% in Europe, reflecting strong sales of these devices during the holiday season, according to analyis by the mobile ad agency, Opera Mediaworks.

Overall, Opera Mediaworks says that it has seen a significant increase in global ad traffic year over year, and now reaches over 425 million consumers, while serving over 60 billion impressions a month.

The ad agency also noted that while revenue from iOS remains higher, Android now drives majority of mobile ad traffic to phones.

In Q4, iOS devices captured 56% of revenue, up from 50% in Q3. However, when comparing iPhone to Android phone traffic, Android tops out with a nearly 36% share (vs. iPhone's 28.7%).

Social networking sites and apps are the most popular. Traffic volume for social networking services was the highest, at 34.25% of all global traffic. The Music, Video & Media category followed, with 17.7% of traffic; this category took the top spot for revenue generation (20.6%) as consumers continue to use their mobile devices more for streaming music and watching videos. Arts & Entertainment sites and apps captured 18.2% of revenue.

Airtel offers free pre-paid mobile access to Facebook in nine Indian languages:

Bharti Airtel will offer free access to social networking site Facebook in nine regional Indian languages to its prepaid customers across the country for a limited period, the company said on Friday.

"...it will offer free Facebook access in 9 regional Indian languages to its prepaid customers across India," Bharti Airtel said in a statement.

The company said its customers who are Facebook users on the mobile (browser or app) will be able to access Facebook in Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam.

According to Airtel, existing mobile internet customers on Airtel can immediately start connecting with their friends by visiting the Facebook mobile site m.facebook.com. Customers accessing the mobile internet for the first time need to register at m.facebook.com to avail of this special offer.

"A limited period offer, Airtel will allow customers to access Facebook free of cost with a cap of 30MB per month to add joy to the festivities," the statement added.

The company said the interface is compatible with feature, Java, Android, iPhone & Windows devices alike.

At Least 45 Million IPhones Already Active on China Mobile's Network:

Although there is still considerable confusion about whether Apple and China Mobile have formally signed an iPhone contract, there is already doubt about whether such a deal would be the bonus that Apple is looking for.

China Mobile has apparently started taking pre-orders for the iPhone handsets in advance of its 4G network launch, although the head office denies any such deal between the two companies exists.

However, it has long been known that a sizable number of its customers -- in the many millions -- were already using an iPhone handset on its GSM network, with data limited to Wi-Fi access only.

The mobile network is now revealed to have at least 45 million existing iPhone customers. While many of them will want to upgrade to the newer models that will finally support cellular based data, they will have to wait for the mobile network's own 4G coverage to expand.

Apple had been seeing a possible US$3 billion in revenues next year from China, but the sizable existing market, increased competition from Samsung and home-grown vendors, and the state of China Mobile's 4G coverage are now putting that in doubt.

Such revenues would need at least 17 million fresh iPhone sales into the market, and there is doubt now that the 4G network would be large enough to generate such sales -- when put in addition to sales to other handset vendors.

China Mobile's 4G network is due to be activated for customers later this week.

Mboweni: investment, innovation key to telecoms success:

Investment and innovation are the key to success in telecoms the world over, according to Econet Wireless CEO, Douglas Mboweni. 
 
Speaking as the company released its half year results, Mboweni reminded analysts that the company had invested $1 billion since 2008. He said no other business had shown "so much confidence in the future of Zimbabwe when measured by actual money invested. We are a local company, owned by Zimbabweans, and we have gone all over the world to find money to invest in our country”. 
 
Mboweni said in telecommunications you have to be constantly investing because customers are always buying new types of phones that require greater capability from the network. “All these new devices that people are buying, such as tablets and smartphones, require ever increasing capability from the network. This means we have to buy new network equipment all the time. 
 
“If you take the new iPhone that just came out, it will not work properly if we do not have 4G. We have to invest in 4G to ensure our top customers stay on the network just as we did with 3G. All this requires hundreds of millions of dollars,” said Mboweni.
 
He said innovation was also critical for a successful business, but he also noted that it was not simply an idea of adopting new ideas, but also adapting those ideas in such a way that you are successful. 
 
He gave the example of Mobile money, where other operators in Africa, tried and abandoned because it was too difficult to implement. “We were the last to launch mobile money, with our Ecocash but we now have one of the most successful services of its kind on the whole continent, even South Africa has not been as successful, as us in mobile money services."