Good Pipe v. Bad Pipe

By Lai Kok Fung, BuzzCity CEO

Telecom carriers and some advertising companies are at it again. Instead of focusing on whether a carrier provides fast reliable high-quality connectivity, they've resurrected a false debate, posing the question “is a mobile carrier a 'dumb' or 'smart' pipe?” In the hope of securing an additional revenue stream, they make Orwellian promises of better user experiences, when in fact all they want to do is hijack a user's mobile browser and insert ads where they shouldn't appear.

The real focus shouldn't be on “dumb v. smart” but rather whether a carrier is a good pipe or bad pipe.

Let me share with you an analogy.

Suppose the government wishes to privatise the postal delivery service and invites companies to place a bid for a three-year contract. How would it determine if the vendor would be a good provider?

Commentary : Is Facebook Zero A Hero ?

Here at BuzzCity, we welcome the launch of Facebook Zero, a new lightweight mobile version tailored for international markets. Facebook has also signed deals with over 50 carriers to offer free access to the site, without any data fees.

Facebook Zero will best serve emerging markets best, where the mobile phone is the primary interface with the internet and handset penetration is extensive. 

Commentary: Mobile Gaming Consumption Trends

There was an interesting article from Mobile Insider posted on the 15 April 2010 analysing comScore data. The data looks at mobile gaming trends between February 2009 and February 2010. BuzzCity’s mobile gaming platform Djuzz also allows us to constantly monitor trends in gaming and handset preference so it was interesting to compare results.

We agree with the comScore data when it comes to feature phones enjoying the lion’s share of mobile gaming and application usage. Our data shows that Nokia and Samsung phones – specifically those that are three to four years old - are particularly popular with mobile gamers.