GPS, data caps and a crushing blow to location based services

For the first time ever I have received a warning that my smartphone data usage was coming close to my monthly limit.

It’s actually only the second month I’ve had a data limit – part of the joys of a new contract with O2 on an iPhone 4S.

I was assured when taking it out that my data usage was well within the limits they set. (A quick check of my records reveals I used no more that 175mb/month in the 3 months previous to the new contract).

I thought nothing more of it.

Until I got a text on Jan 31 telling me I’d used 80% of my 500mb limit and it wouldn’t be reset until February 7.

I hadn’t been streaming radio or video. I had maybe shared a handful of images the whole month. My iCloud settings were set to synch only when on wifi and the phone is plugged in.

In fact I did all the checks and there seemed little out of the ordinary.

In short I had used my 4S pretty much as I had the 3G it replaced and it was eating 3 times as much data.

O2 (via twitter) suggested it may be apps I’m running in the background. But of course apps don’t really run in the background, they only activate when called on (at least any built for IOS4).

I checked anyway. Cleared out loads of stuff in there.

The critical ones, it may be, are those which require GPS – ie location based stuff. The two key culprits for me; Googlemaps and Foursquare.

I’d rather like to leave them on, for the obvious reasons.

And I suspect the nascent location based services industry (which the telco's would also benefit from) would rather like us to leave them on, too. Because, unless I’m very much mistaken, the new limits on data use the telecoms industry seems so keen on look ready to strangle it at birth.

Don't know about you but I feel like I'm paying so much more for so much less. In the meantime, I guess this is what Onavo.com is for - download it free at the appstore.

And talking of App(le) Stores, O2 ended up setting up an appointment for me at my local Apple Store. They say they have had cases of iCloud using 3G for back-up even when it appears to be set to Wifi. They also, kindly, added a free data bolt-on to cover me this month while we investigate.

But if Apple can't find an issue with my phone (and I will update this when I have a result) then O2 and other providers may have to face up to the issue that their data limits are woefully inadequate to support today's smartphones and the ecosystem they promise to deliver.

UPDATE (Feb 3, 2012 2pm): The Genius bar at Cambridge (UK) could offer little advice other than try resetting the phone in the hope that perhaps one of my apps is incorrectly installed and continuingly calling on data when it shouldn't be. This (after the traditional 2 hours or so of back up and synching) I have done.

IF this does not work (ie reveal a significant fall in data use compared to previous, then Apple suggested I take it up with the operator who may be miscalcuating data (they've seen rare cases). And if that fails they'll try me with a new phone... Will keep you posted.

Mobile Internet Berlin: Day 2

Once again, I've been live twittering from Mobile Internet in Berlin, but here's my chance to summarise and consider. Will be live twittering for third (and for me final) day, tomorrow, April 2.
Interesting stuff today: I love the fact that Tom Hume posted on the blog yesterday and has turned up at the conference today... and that Rocco Georgi, who chaired the pre-conference I spoke at, is now following me on twitter.
In today's sessions we heard from a series of operators who congratulated themselves for simplifying their data pricing. With much success, it has to be said. They think they have also torn down walled gardens.
I'm not so sure they've achieved either.
O2 in Germany, for example, have simplified their tariffs so you pay 9c per minute on pay as you go, phone users pay 10 euro for 200mb a month and laptop users can have up to 5GB for 25 euros a month.
Sounds simple dunnit? But i doesn't include text or mms or voice... which complicates it all over again.
3 In Austria have been in a price war over data prices. Latest result 25GB for 24 Euro a month + live streaming TV to your phone or laptop FREE. Not sure if this includes text, voice or mms... but it does include skype.
3 Austria's Alexander Franz made an interesting point about how skype changes the pricing relationship. Before it you paid depending on use. Now you pay depending on relationship. If you know someone well enough to have their skype details you can call them very cheaply - no matter where they are.
He used the example of calling home to family in Croatia via skype.
Lovely, except for the simplification of data tariffs the operators keep steering around: roaming data!
As soon as you actually go to Croatia and make the same skype call on your 3 Austria phone, you're going to get stung for high roaming data charges.
Imagine how useful googlemaps would be to me right now in finding my way around Berlin. Build in some half decent community/association with something like one of the many socialised business trip connectors and recommenders and you have a result. But am I going to pay £3 a mb? No!!! Imagine the business google is missing - that they could rev share with the operators.
When will this madness end?

I was also amused by Teliasonera's play, just launched in Sweden and rolling out across all their markets: they offer a quick-search home portal which opens content fast and makes even 2G phones usable for internet. But they serve other peoples content then place their ads on it. They think its legal and all... but it is upsetting content providers.
What about a revenue share, asks the audience. Daren't do a deal in case it's a porn site we're doing the deal with, says Senior VP and Head of Content Services (Europe) Indra Asander.
Eh? You're happy to serve your own ad on the porn content (opening in a pane) but not share the revenue for it? Odd morals.

I had lunch with an interesting crew, among them Tim Hyland, of YouTube. I discovered something I didn't know. If a youtube video carries an ad and you copy and paste it to display on your own site/homepage/blog etc, the ad will not serve on your url, unless you also have adsense on your page. If you do have adsense, the ad serves AND you get a revenue share.

Jesus Pindado, talked on the subject of recommendation systems and his company MyStrands, and we're planning to meet after breakfast tomorrow to talk some more.

In the roundtable session we were asked to consider the impact of flat rate data and what barriers face off portal content providers.

Discovery was the key issue our group identified. Makes me wonder why we don't offer an audio search engine (ie one you can talk at/too) via your mobile - and which then sorts results depending on the device you are using.

More tomorrow, no doubt.

Is Google's free mobile dream closer than we thought?

Is there an answer to my prayers in sight? Ofcom is urging mobile operators to slash the cost of using mobile internet (and sending texts) abroad. (See Telegraph)
As I'm not alone in pointing out, mobile internet - particularly search and location-based services, come into their own when you arrive in an unfamiliar city - very often involving hefty roaming charges.

The barriers come down one by one.

The operators are said to be resistant, of course. Wonder how resistant they'll be should google ever realise its dream of making all call charges and data free...

Imagining a mobile internet revolution from that perspective perhaps informs Google CEO Eric Schmidt's view that it's a revolution that is going to happen this year.

Wonder if that means Eric & Co are closer to realising that dream than we might have thought?

Tim O'Reilly defines Web2.0 - and the data opportunity

These are Tim O'Reilly's slides from the recent Web2.0 expo in Berlin. I think they are particularly useful in offering some guidance about data.

What Is Web 2.0?

From: adunne, 5 days ago

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Speaker: Tim O'Reilly


Link: SlideShare Link

Youtube goes mobile - there goes your video download revenue stream

Youtube has just launched m.youtube.com
Go to your mobile's browser now and give it a try.
This has been threatened for a long time - and as recently as June 13, promised for 2008. But it's live and kicking now.
So, where does this leave revenues from video access/downloads on mobile?
The porn industry will remain pretty much untouched - but everyone else?
When youtube deploys a viable payment-for-ugc model, too - imagine the consequences for mass media.
Also significant - youtube has chosen a m. address - not a .mobi

The youtube arrival on the mobile internet scene is significant for a series of other reasons:
1. The strain this may put on the network (imagine all those video downloads - now this is a test of 3G!)
2. The push to 3G phones: Why are kids going to put up with 2.5G when their friends are gettting a better experience of Youtube. Watch it boom!
3. The push to fixed-price data plans: Video downloads are hugely data heavy. In fact, youtube goes so far as to warn the user this is the case and that they should seriously consider getting a fixed-price data plan before using the service (how's that for targeted marketing of fixed-price data plans?)
4. The end of pay-per-download video models (outside of porn). Youtube may not be offering ALL its/your content just yet (it's working on it) but the simple fact that you can get most viewed/highest rated etc means users will get used to free-to-play models. Who will pay for video downloads after that?
5. The acceleration of the long tail of mobile internet (via ugc, of course!)

Youtube going mobile may be as significant for the way people use the mobile internet - and the speed of uptake of 3G and fixed-price data, as the I-phone is for raising their expectations of the user experience.

Truly - exponential times.

See Also:

• Long Tail will shake mobile internet dog
• Famous for 15 people
• 3 Accelerates mobile web in the UK
• YouTube will pay for UGC
• YouTube ads really annoy - the ones the community calls ads...
  

When is a free download not a free download?

Regular followers of this blog will know I'm a bit of an evangelist for 3's ground-breaking X-Series and its free-at-the-point-of-use (ie flat-rate) data charges.

Should end all the confusion over data charges, shouldn't it?

If only. It's a shame, but I've just had to fire off a complaint to their press office.

The crux is that as part of my deal I get '£5 of free downloads a month'. On my bill this refers to TV channels.

I decided I'd have the £5 mobile TV 'add-on' for my entitlement.

And I've spent a few months happily watching in spare moments and opportune environs.
Trouble is, it turns out an 'add-on' isn't a download. And I've been billed an extra £5 every month.

I argue this is semantics. I'm entitled to £5 of freebie - I want this bit please.

It's worth noting that I have always assumed that by using the TV add on and I am using my 'free £5 download' and for that reason have not downloaded any of the other 'freebies'.

Customer services won't have it.

Customer complaints won't have it.

Neither would action my request to accelerate my complaint to people higher up the food chain who might actually understand the situation from the customer's perspective.

Hugely frustrating. I've ended up sending an email to the press office (which their complaints department claimed they didn't have - not the first time I've had that particular one span at me! - last time it was a mortgage company. Schoolboy error when you're dealing with a journalist...)

The message is simple really - this customer feels mislead - how are 3 going to put that right?

Answer - you clicked for the add-on service - that's your problem.

I have a thought or two in response to this kind of 'customers from mars, companies from venus' thinking.

They've turned a 3 evangelist into an enemy by being maddeningly intransigent. Not bright, is it?

UPDATE: June 15, 2007 A call from 3's executive office results in a refund. I'm told my email is now being circulated internally and that customer service improvements are about to be implemented. I offer the advice that they should empower their customer-facing staff to make decisions based on understanding the customer, rather than reading a script - and they should clarify their bills. Result: I feel I have finally been listened to, I have finally been engaged with - but it took considerable effort on my part to make that happen. Surely that's the wrong way round?

Walls come tumbling down... now Orange follows 3's lead

The end-of-fixed-price data internet challenge is right now - not in the future.
More evidence emerged yesterday, with news that Orange is offering its 17m UK customers fixed-price data. Looks like they are setting the bar at £8 a month - but also offering by the day etc (which I think, kind of misses the point, you want it anytime you want without any hurdles to leap through). More here.
So that's 3 now offering fixed rate data charges (£5 a month) to every one of its users and o2 is reported to be offering fixed rate at the point of churn (ie when a customer says - I'm out of here 02, then you get the offer). And then there's T-mobile plugging the hell out of Web and Walk.
This ain't a trickle - this is a deluge. Expect o2 to start their land-grab any second now...
See also: 3 Tears down more of the wall;
UK mobile internet sets new records
3 Accelerates mobile web in the UK