What I've been reading this week

Business model evolution

Apple’s new patent, if implemented in hardware, represents another nail in the coffin of mobile operators slightly pathetic attempts to monopolise the nascent NFC market. NFC in phones is a neat technology, but frankly offers limited additional customer benefit above conventional payment and access technologies. If payment in particular is such a draw, then the industry should ask itself how much consumers are willing to pay for chip and pin. The answer, in case you’re wondering, is “zero”. More sensible to make this a very minor part of the phone architecture.
http://www.nfcworld.com/2011/11/09/311213/apple-patents-sim-within-secure-element-technology/

And just to ram home the point, news of this collaboration between Intel and Mastercard demonstrates how likely it is that the secure functions of NFC terminals will lie off the SIM card.
http://techcrunch.com/2011/11/13/mastercard-and-intel-partner-to-secure-and-simplify-online-and-nfc-payments/

New technology

Great that the UK has finally got an LTE network, however it’s real impact is likely to be small, particularly in reducing congestion around the Olympic Games sites. So few LTE devices are in service that only a few roamers from Europe and business users crazy enough to do data roaming with dongles will actually benefit. Still, from little acorns...
http://www.globaltelecomsbusiness.com/Article/2934090/Regions/25187/Telefnica-O2-plans-London-LTE-trial.html?ArticleID=2934090&Type=Regions&ID=25187

If the rumours are true and Apple are going to release a TV next year, then I hope it works as well as this. Amazing what can be done with cheap hardware and a bit of ingenuity.
http://www.geeky-gadgets.com/65-inch-android-honeycomb-tablet-video-15-11-2011/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+geeky-gadgets+%28Geeky+Gadgets%29

The graphics capability of a modern PC is quite astounding. What’s more incredible is that this level of quality will be the mainstream within 2 years. Imagine that on your 65” Apple TV.
http://www.lazygamer.net/video/this-battlefield-3-footage-is-incredible/

Not really a surprise that Nokia are seeking to complement their smart phone/ music store product set with a tablet offer...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/nov/16/nokia-windows-tablet-apple-ipad

...Nor that Amazon are going to complement their tablet product with a smart phone. My prediction is that neither vendor will sell more than 1Mn units of their new product in 2012.
http://hexus.net/mobile/news/android/32675-amazon-smartphone-2012-say-analysts/

Digital media

Mobile marketing is set for a big year in 2012 and consolidation will be a feature of that success. My sources in London agencies tell me that they’re seeing triple digit YoY growth in the developed markets as consumers become more used to receiving and interacting with mobile ads.
http://www.mobile-ent.biz//news/index/read/url/velti-acquires-mobile-interactive-group

If capital availability and governmental incentives remain good for digital business, then the continued high engagement UK citizens have with the Internet can be translated into an escape route from our economic woes. Here’s hoping.
http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2011/11/comScore_Releases_Overview_of_European_Internet_Usage_in_September_2011

Impacts of a handset leasing model on mobile telcos

Following yesterday's post, here's some related thinking on the impacts on operators of handset leasing. Handset sales represent around 25% of operator revenues in a typical European market, but generate only around 5% of margin. It may therefore be the case that the scenario described would lead operators to a more profitable structural model than exists today. Oil companies are consistently and acceptably profitable, despite being (literally in some cases) the ‘dumb pipe’ that operators are so desperate to avoid becoming. One of the reasons for the oil majors sustained profitability is clear focus on their role in the value chain – to supply the fuel that enables transportation, relying primarily on location, then brand and finally product innovation to compete. BP or Shell do not need to subsidise the purchase of a car in order to drive consumption of fuel because consumers are ‘hooked’ on it (it gets them from place to place) and there are many credible car manufacturers an

Value drivers for telecoms retail

I've been doing a really large number of driver trees recently - we've taken to using them on every project to get really into the guts of value creation for businesses and thus decide where to focus initiative development (How To Win, if you're keeping score). Anyhow, I had to pause for thought recently to work out how to represent the subscription aspect of telecoms retail for a client. Since it took me a minute, I thought I'd share... its lack of elegance suggests that its not quite right, although it was enough to demonstrate that there was a certain lack of coverage in the initiatives that my client was pursuing and thus spark a debate. Enjoy.

Chief Strategy Officers II - Career Development

Here's a follow up to my earlier post on the starting point of Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) careers in the FTSE 100 and S&P 500 companies - a visualisation of two steps in their careers: their first employer or job and the job they had before they got their current position. Lots of work went into this... so any insights that you glean from the visualisation would be great to hear about :). The CSO is a crucial strategic role on the executive (!) and the owner of the tone and philosophy of decision making across much of the business, knowingly or unknowingly. Scrutiny of their experience in defining the process and language of strategic management is therefore appropriate not just amongst their executive peers, but in my view amongst shareholders. The days when being very smart and able to analyse large amounts of data were enough to be a CSO are basically gone... has the profession moved on enough to cope?

Versatile Amphibian

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