What Information Can Be Pulled Off A Mobile Device SIM Card?

I recently taught a mobile forensics course and asked my students to identify what kind of information that can be retrieved from a mobile device SIM card.  Here’s a list of some of the retrievable information students listed:

 Integrated Circuit Card Identifier (ICCID) – this is the number that is printed on the SIM card itself.  It is nineteen or twenty digits long.

International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) – this is the number that identifies a SIM card user on a GSM network.  It is stored in the EF(IMSI).  It is a fifteen-digit number.  Three components that make up the IMSI are:

• Mobile Country Code (MCC) – the first three digits identify the country.
• Mobile Network Code (MNC) – the next two digits identifies the cell provider mobile unit in a GSM network.
• Mobile Subscriber Identity Number (MSIN) – the next nine digits identifies the mobile unit in a GSM network.

Service Provider Name (SPN) – the mobile provider’s name.  This can be found from the ICCID.

Mobile Station International Subscriber Directory Number (MSISDN) – basically, the SIM card’s telephone number.  This number can vary from fifteen to sixteen digits long.  The MSISDN is stored in EF(MSISDN).  It is made up of three components:

• Country Code (CC) – up to three digits
• National Destination Code (NDC) – two or three digits
• Subscriber Number (SN) – up to a max. of ten digits

Abbreviated Dialing Numbers (AND) – These numbers are shortcuts on the phone of the most frequently dialed phone numbers.  These are generated by the subscriber.  They are stored in the EF(AND) file.

Last Number Dialed (LND) – This is a listing of the most recent calls and can be found in the EF(LND).

Short Message Service (SMS) – Short messages sent to other phones with a maximum length of either 160 or 70 characters.  These messages can be found in the EF(SMS) file.  These messages show not only the message but also the time the message was sent, the sender and receiver’s phone number, etc.

Language Preference (LP) – the preferred language of the subscriber.

Card Holder Verification (CHV1 and CHV2) – allows access to files after the user’s verification of PIN 1(CHV1) or PIN 2(CHV2).

Ciphering Key (Kc) – a 64-bit ciphering key used for encryption and decryption of data on an over-the-air channel.  It is generated by the Mobile Station from a random challenge by the GSM network.

Fixed Dialing Numbers (FDN) – phone numbers added to a list and the SIM restricts outgoing calls only to those numbers listed.

Location Area Identity (LAI) – The LAI will be stored on the SIM card so that a phone knows what location it is in and able to receive service.  If a phone changes areas, then the new LAI is stored in the SIM.  This is great for investigators to be able to read a list of where the SIM card has been geographically.

Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity (TMSI) – the SIM is assigned a TMSI by the Mobile Switching Center (MSC) whenever a phone is in the vicinity of a new MSC.  Information about the phone is stored in the Visitor Location Register (VLR) and the phone is given a TMSI which allows the subscriber to be uniquely identified.

Service Dialing Numbers (SDN) – Numbers that are installed by the service provider which cannot be changed or deleted by the user.  The SDNs are usually hidden.

Thanks to my Mobile Forensics class students!

Image source: https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-different-parts-of-a-SIM-card#

Automobile USB Phone Charging

It's nice day for a ride to the beach. You grab your stuff jump and in the car. Ooops - last night you forgot to charge your phone and you've only got about 30% but...... No worries, the beach is a 90 minute drive away which should be more than enough time for your phone to charge.

Fast forward - phone GPS running and some tunes along the way. Park the car, grab your phone and...... #$%@* only 25% charged??  It was plugged in for the entire drive?! You checked it when you plugged it in and the phone was properly connected.

You've been Auto USB'd!

What Happened?

 If your car has a USB port built in - that port is most likely low power, only delivering around .5 Amps. This is considerably less than your phone charging capacity and because you were using the phone GPS, playing some tunes, etc...... well, you get the idea. And if you were using one of those cheapo cigarette lighter adaptor chargers, it is also probably only delivering only around .5 Amps of charging current. The cheap plug ins can get even worse - if you've got one of them with  two USB ports and have a couple of phones plugged in, that .5 Amps total gets split to .25 Amps on each port.

How Much Do You Need?

How much current do you need to get full charging capacity for most phones these days? It depends on the device. Let's use the iPhone as an example - those white chargers that come with the phone are rated at 1 Amp. So, on your drive with GPS running, Bluetooth - and maybe you forgot to switch WiFi off when in the car - your USB adapter .5 Amps of charging current could not keep up with what the phone was drawing, never mind charge it.

What's The Solution? 

To get a quick charge on your phone with a low current adapter probably the best thing to do is to power the phone off when charging. That may not be an option though.

Some of the auto manufactures are putting higher capacity USB ports in cars but that does not help most of us driving older cars. 

If you want to charge your phone and do not want to buy a new car you can purchase a higher current plug in USB charger. Wirecutter has a nice review of some of these chargers here. A little searching on Amazon brings up a bunch of them too - be sure to check the output current per USB port and compare it to what your phone needs. They're a little more expensive than the $2 ones you see in the supermarket checkout line but worth it.

On The Road With A Powerocks Magicstick Extended Battery

Highly Recommended

Just back from a quickie business trip – my first with a Powerocks Magicstick 2800 universal extended battery for my phone. When I travel I’ve always been careful about phone use just in case I need to make an emergency call, check for an important email, text etc.  I never seem to be able to find an electrical outlet when I need one. The Magicstick eliminates these worries. 

I’ve been reading Leander Kahney latest book on Jonathan Ive, the head of Industrial Design at Apple. It’s really opened my eyes to intuitive design, simplicity and absence in clutter. The Magicstick has that Jony Ive / Apple feel. It comes in a bunch of different colors (mine is black) and includes a micro-USB-to-USB cable for charging up the Magicstick and a nice little bag to keep it in. 

It’s a small (sort of reminds me of a BIC cigarette lighter at 3.5” long, and 7/8” in diameter) 2800mAh portable battery that you pre-charge using an included micro-USB-to-USB cable. When it comes time to charging the Magicstick you just plug the charging cable in and charge it up. When you want to charge your phone or other portable device you just plug the cable that came with the phone or other device into the Magicstick standard USB port. On the opposite end of the Magicstick there is a smart push-button LED that shows charge status. Blue light = 70% - 100% full, Green light = 30% - 70% full, Red light = 1% - 30% full. 

I was able to get two charges on my old iPhone 3GS (from approx. 20% to 100% and yes I still have an old iPhone) with one fully charged up Magicstick. It will charge Apple, Samsung, Nokia, Motorola, Blackberry, etc, etc, etc devices - basically anything that will charge using a USB connection.  Simple.

A nice little stocking stuffer, grab bag, office swap gift, birthday present, etc - The Captain and I give it our highest rating of 5 out of 5 Gordoccinos.  

You can get more info on the Powerocks website. 

Talking and Surfing Same Time Yet? The Verizon iPhone 5s and 5c

Most of us have taken a peak at the exterior and reviewed major specs for Apple’s two latest phones. If you are a Verizon Wireless customer there is one technical detail you may have missed. The new Apple phones are still not supporting SVLTE and SVDO. What’s SVLTE and SVDO? Here’s some details on these two protocols / technical standards:

Simultaneous Voice and LTE (Long Term Evolution)

Referred to as SVLTE, allows a mobile phone to use both voice and data networks at the same time – specifically when the voice network is CDMA 1xRTT (what Verizon uses) and the data network is LTE (what providers are calling 4G. By not using SVLTE, Verizon’s 4G data network is not available while on a voice call.

Simultaneous Voice and Data Only

Referred to as SVDO, this is the older standard for 3G networks. If you have an iPhone 4 or older, you have a 3G phone. Later iPhone (5 and on) have both a 4G and 3G radio and the device will fall back to 3G-mode when not in 4G coverage areas.  Similar to SVLTE, when the voice network is CDMA 1xRTT and the data network is CDMA 3G (also referred to as CDMA 1xEV-DO) the data network is not available while on a voice call.

Is this significant? Yes and No. The lack of SVLTE should not matter once VoLTE (Voice over LTE) launches on a large scale, allowing both voice and data to operate seamlessly on one Verizon Wireless 4G network.

What’s really interesting is Verizon Wireless has required their handset manufacturers to support both of these technical standards – that is - all manufactures except Apple.

A Family Without A Phone

I probably should be writing something about iOS7 but.... just a minute..... I gave this assignment the first week in a telecom class I'm teaching this semester. The short student essays (I know, not really technically an essay at 200 words) have just blown me away. It's so different today compared to growing up in the 60/70's. Here's what I asked them to do:

Growing up I had a friend who’s family did not have a telephone. His Mom used to whistle (really distinctively and loudly) when she wanted him to come home. When he was over our house or we were out in the woods playing we were all tuned in, listening for her whistle. Everyone knew what it meant and she was good - to this day I’ve never heard anyone who could whistle like her. 

Times have certainly changed. I’ve had almost instant contact with my two children with text and voice over the past ten years. Most recently we’ve all got smart phones and we’ve been able to add email and social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc) to our mobile communications tool list along with video applications like Skype and FaceTime. Although some may disagree, the ability to connect or be connected with them no matter where they are in the world has a level of assurance I know my friend’s whistling Mom did not have 45-50 years ago. 

This week, prepare a 200 word (plus or minus 10 words) essay describing how mobile technology has impacted your life.

My friend's family did not have a television either!

Goodbye SMS-Based Text Messaging

ASYMCO put up an interesting piece titled What's up with text messaging? yesterday about texting in Spain. Volume is dropping rapidly with Internet Protocol (IP) based message apps like Whatsapp, Apple's iMessage and Facebook messaging replacing a voice network based text protocol called Short Message Service (SMS). SMS has been around since 1982 and has become a real cash cow for wireless providers. 

Here's more from that ASYMCO post:

• Whatsapp reported that it set a record of 18 billion messages processed over New Year’s Eve. 
• In October Apple announced that iMessage had delivered 300 billion messages during the preceding 12 months.
• Globally SMS traffic is still rising. It’s expected to reach 9.6 trillion in 2012, but at least one analyst forecasts  that SMS’s share of global mobile messaging traffic will fall from 64% in 2011, to 42% in 2016.

I'd also put Skype on the list as a disruptor.

Expect similar results in the United States and other countries. Wireless providers have seen this coming for a while now and (I believe) it's the reason we've seen most implement data caps while, at the same time, encouraging customers to consume more data (translation - go over your data cap) using services like mobile video streaming. 

If you want to know more about SMS and IP based texting I've got an earlier posted titled Why Are My iPhone Text Messages Sometimes Blue and Sometimes Green? linked here.

Global Mobile Stats - Google Our Mobile Planet

In a project called Our Mobile Planet, Google's been collecting mobile stats from 27 countries. Dan Swinhoe from IDG Connect Global has picked this data apart and written a very nice post titled The App Revolution: How this Varies By Market. Here's a few interesting tidbits from Swinhoe's excellent piece:

• Japan is the most ‘appy', but Germany is amongst the most keen to pay.
• According to 148apps, the Apple store has 719,452 apps available, and to buy them all would set you back a hefty $1,307,715.69.
• Angry Birds Star Wars is currently dominating the App store charts.
• By the end of the year, over 45 billion apps will have been downloaded - around 15 billion of those from Google, but you can expect Android to take the majority share in 2013 due to the sheer number of devices being sold using the search engine's OS. 
• Microsoft's own appstore is yet to make significant inroads in any market but, depending on the success of its Surface tablet this could well change after Christmas.
• Custom-app building continues to grow, today's estimates putting the average cost of development at around $30-40,000. 
• According to a report by Appaccelerator, Apple has become the chosen platform for enterprise app development, with 53.2% of developers picking iOS for corporate app development.
• In all the charts, no matter what system or country, games feature heavily in both free and paid for.
• While things such as social media and certain business software are now fully-apped, other areas are still a while off. For example media outlets are still struggling to cope with apps (web is still a struggle for many), while the largest programs - CAD/CAM and other large engineering/graphics programs simply are too big and complex for apps and mobile devices. At least for now.

Be sure to check out Dan's full post linked here and also take a look at Google's Our Mobile Project - all pretty interesting stuff.

Why Are My iPhone Text Messages Sometimes Blue and Sometimes Green?

Lately I've been getting this question a lot. Here's what's up.

Green messages on your iPhone use a voice text protocol called Short Message Service (SMS). SMS was developed way back in 1982 and designed to run on voice networks using a separate channel used for signaling. Technically SMS was easy to implement and, with the popularity of mobile phones, it became very popular really fast. Messages are limited in length 160 characters and as a result many of us have learned to abbreviate words using text-speak shorthand.

iMessage is different. It's Internet Protocol (IP) based and does not require a voice connection. You can use IP based text services like iMessage on cellular data networks along with WiFi networks and your computer.

Now here's the big advantage - you don't need a text message plan to send and receive iMessage based texts. You do need some kind of text message plan to send and receive SMS (green) messages.

When are messages green? Here's a few common scenarios:

1. You or your friend have not updated your iPhone to iOS5
2. You or your friend are not registered with Apple iMessage. 
3. You or your friend are in a place where there is no cellular data signal but there is a voice network signal.
4. You send a message to someone not on the same network as you and only one of you has an iPhone. For example, you've got an AT&T account and your friend has a Verizon Wireless account. If you both have iPhones and both have data connections iMessage will work cross-carrier. 
5. You're on the same network but one of you has iMessage turned off. To turn iMessage on and off on your iPhone use Settings -> Messages -> iMessage On/Off

Is SMS sticking around? Not for long with "free" services like iMessage and this is rapidly becoming a problem for the providers. SMS has been a huge cash cow for wireless providers earning an estimated $114.6 billion in 2010.

The Future of Wireless: Spectrum and Cell Technologies

John Garvey from Garvey Communications dropped me an email last week and asked if I could write up a post about small cell wireless technologies. He had read a piece in Business Week titled Want to See the Future of Mobile Coverage? Go to a Baseball Game that describes how Verizon Wireless is using 4G LTE COWs (Cells On Wheels) and COLTs (Cells on Light Trucks) at sporting events. Both of these technologies provide portable bandwidth where and when it is needed. If you've ever been in a packed stadium and tried to make a call, upload a picture to Facebook, or post a tweet you've likely had problems getting a connection.

The more I thought the more I realized a good discussion will take a little more than a single post so I'm going to write a series on new antenna technologies over the next few weeks. Today let's discuss the way cellular is done now and why it's not going to work in the future.

Everyone know what a cell tower looks like and most would describe them as big, tall and ugly with lots of antennas hanging on them. If you look on the ground at the base of the towers you'll typically see a few "huts" that contain (among other things) large amplifiers that provide signal up to the antennas at the top of the towers. Connectivity to the towers (referred to as "backhaul") is provided by fiber. Here's a simplified drawing of a big tower setup.

The towers are fed by fiber and optical signals transmitted on the fiber get converted back and forth to wireless signals, giving us connectivity on our mobile devices. Seems pretty simple and if we need more capacity all we need to do is run more fiber to the towers, right? Well..... not really. Providers can bury as much fiber as they want and convert it to wireless frequencies but that's not going to solve the problem. The bottleneck today is spectrum and (especially) in congested areas this bottleneck is causing the dropped calls and slow wireless data access we've all experienced.

So, spectrum is a problem - what exactly is it? Each provider - AT&T, Verizon Wireless, etc - have licenses from the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) to use specific frequencies for information transfer. It is important each providers spectrum be allocated in a way that it is kept separate for interference free communications so different providers cannot typically share licensed spectrum. When I think about spectrum I think about tuning the radio in my car - each station is licensed by the FCC and has it's own "channel", broadcasting at a specific frequency.

Now - just like the numbers on your car radio tuner - there is only a finite amount of total spectrum available. This finite availability, along with not being organized in the most efficient way, limits things like coverage, connection speed and quality of service. The spectrum issue is really coming to a head now with high bandwidth LTE services being rolled out by all providers - higher speeds, more bandwidth requirements and more people using their phones for voice, video and data services.

What's being done by the wireless providers to get around this spectrum bottleneck? There's been a mad scramble to purchase as much spectrum as possible but..... utilizing a finite amount of spectrum the way it is currently being used is not going to solve the problem long term. They'll still end up running out. What's being done?

There are a number of solutions. We're also seeing providers building WiFi networks (WiFi uses unlicensed spectrum) to offload some of the licensed spectrum traffic. There's a bunch of other technologies including small cells (the COWS and COLTS John was asking about), spectrum re-farming and cell-splitting that look promising. I'll take a look at some of these in my next few posts.

See You Later WiMAX

I've written here in the past about WiMAX and the slow but inevitable take over by LTE. Well, it's starting soon - at least with Sprint's wireless services. Here's some details from an Inside Sprint blog post yesterday:

• On 6/7, smartphone customers in markets slated for LTE will be notified via text message of the upcoming launch.
• The message states: SprintFreeMsg: Ready for some GREAT news? Sprint is rolling out an all-new network in (insert city here). Learn more at sprint.us/sat Reply End to stop.
• Sprint’s all-new network launches by mid-summer 2012 in 4 cities: Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, and Atlanta.
• More cities launch later this summer and throughout the year.
• The all-new network includes the launch of 4G LTE and improvements to Sprint’s 3G network.

Benefits include:

• More reliable connection to voice calls, emails, and apps, and the internet
• Expanded coverage in their area
• Faster downloading, surfing and streaming
• Improved indoor/outdoor signal strength
• Enhanced voice quality
• Fewer dropped calls

See you later WiMAX!

Goodbye Landlines.... Hello Fixed LTE

I've been buried with final exams and travel the past few weeks and have not had a chance to post. Lots of things have been happening though.

With all of the Facebook IPO hype and the Verizon Wireless' data cap announcement you may have missed something potentially much bigger. Back on May 2, Verizon Wireless put out a news release titled HomeFusion Broadband From Verizon Now Available Nationwide on America's HomeFusion Broadband From Verizon Now Available Nationwide on America's Largest 4G LTE Network

It's about putting an antenna on your house that will replace those copper telephone wires with 4G LTE wireless. Now, Verizon's 4G LTE network currently covers approximately two-thirds of the U.S. population and 230 markets and this new product is designed to deliver both data and voice services for these people in these markets. LTE has been pitched initially as a mobile product but works great using fixed antennas attached to a home or business.

Here's how this new fixed antenna Verizon 4G LTE product works. Verizon techs come out to your home and install a cylinder-shaped 4G LTE antenna (see picture). This antenna picks up an LTE signal and transmits it to a broadband router in the home. That broadband router can have up to 4 wired and 20 wireless WiFi connections.

Verizon is saying that, in a fully loaded real world environment, users should experience average data rates between 5 and 12 Mbps downstream and and between 2 and 5 Mbps upstream. That's some pretty good bandwidth. Pricing ranges from $60 (10 GB cap) to $120 (30 GB cap) per month. If users go over the cap, they'll pay an extra $10 per GB.

Here's where it gets really interesting. Back on April 19, Verizon announced they would stop selling DSL as an option to customers who live in FiOS territory. Today I heard (unconfirmed) Verizon will stop using DSL range extenders. These range extenders are being used to get DSL signal out long distances. DSL sure sounds like it is going away soon.

Is 4G LTE the next step? Will fixed 4G LTE replace those old copper landlines that voice and DSL run on? Two thirds of the U.S. population is covered by 4G LTE...... I've written about it in the past...... I've always thought so and right now I'm thinking it's all going to happen a lot quicker than I ever imagined.

87 Million 4G Devices Will Ship In 2012

According to a recent ABI Research report, 4G devices are moving rapidly from the assembly line to retail stores.

Here's some details:

• Refers to a range of 4G-enabled mobile devices, from USB dongles, smartphones, tablets, 4G portable hotspots, and wireless broadband CPE modems
•  4G devices are expected to generate 87 million in unit sales in 2012, up 294% year-on-year.
• 61 million 4G handsets being shipped in 2012.
• 26 million 4G non-handset products (e.g. USB dongles for legacy laptops and netbooks, by premise equipment, home modems, etc) will be shipped
• The lion’s share of the market is now backing LTE as service provider and vendor support has fallen away from WiMAX.
• There is a natural evolutionary demand from 3G end-users, both business and consumer, to jump onto the 4G data bandwagon. 
• Mobile device vendors are experiencing intense competitive pressure, which is expected to bring down LTE handset prices, estimated at 10 to 20 percent over the next two years.

It's not all good though. There are still some big technical issues that need to be worked out including the recent Australian iPad 3 promotion fiasco, when iPad 3s were being promoted as being ‘LTE-ready,’ even though the modem is unable to access the Australian LTE spectrum band. 

In addition, some customers will not be ready this year to pay a premium for 4G handsets and 4G services. 

As a reference, in a February 2012 report Forrester predicted by 2016 one billion people will own smart phones. 

Facebook Will Need Its Own Operating System

Gabby came home today for a little while and she had her Chromebook with her. If you haven't seen one yet - it's a pretty cool little notebook running Google's Chrome operating system. It boots up in about three seconds and has a battery that lasts over 8 hours. Everything is stored in the cloud so everything is accessible with a web connection. Pretty nice for a first generation device.

It got me thinking - Facebook does not have a mobile operating system (or any operating system for that matter). Apple does, Microsoft does and Google now has more than one. Poking around on the web I found an interesting report from ABI Research titled Mobile Social Networking. Here's some quotes from that report:

The number of people accessing social networks from mobile phones will exceed 550 million in 2011, and that figure will more than triple to over 1.7 billion by the end of 2016. 

For Facebook, the growing importance of mobile is both an opportunity and a serious strategic challenge. On one hand, mobile allows the world’s leading social network to engage with millions of new consumers, but on the other hand its ability to make money from mobile users remains untested. 

Senior analyst Aapo Markkanen is also quoted in the report saying, "A huge problem for Facebook is that while on the web it is a platform, on mobile it’s just another application. To strengthen its hand in the short term we expect Facebook to aggressively take advantage of HTML5, but in the longer term it should absolutely become a mobile operating system of its own."

Facebook is lagging. Google+ is tied in very tightly with Android and Chrome already. Twitter is going to be built into Apple's iOS 5. Practice director Dan Shey is also quoted saying, “The interesting aspect in Apple’s and Twitter’s partnership is how it can provide iPhone users with a verifiable social identity for websites and apps. That gives developers a lot of scope to innovate in areas such as authentication, personalization and advertising. It’s a hint of things to come.”

Study: iPhones, Backups and Toilets

Retrevo.com's got an interesting new Gadgetology study titled iPhones, Backups and Toilets, What's the Connection?  

The study focuses on cell phone security and who is the most unprepared. Here's some highlights:

• 39% of Android owners haven't done anything to prevent someone from misusing data on their cell phone if it were lost or stolen (compared to 30% of BlackBerry owners and 26% of iPhone owners).
• Only 32% of Android owners think their cell phones can get malware and 27% don't know.
• 36% of iPhone owners think their cell phone can get malware and 30% don't know.
• If they lost their cell phone today, only 18% of Android owners would use a recovery service to get their cell phone. back, compared to 28% of BlackBerry owners and 37% of iPhone owners. 39% of Android owners don't know how they would get their cell phones back, compared with 31% of BlackBerry owners and 26% of iPhone owners.
• BlackBerry (62%) and iPhone (61%) owners are the most likely to have password protection on their cell phone, compared to Android owners (only 49%).

Retrevo also asked: Have any of the following ever happened to you or someone you know?

• 36% of people said they had, or knew someone who has "Dropped a cell phone in a toilet".
• 31% of people said they had, or knew someone who has "Had a cell phone fall in a pool, lake or other body of water".
• 44% of people said they had, or knew someone who has "Dropped a cell phone on the floor and had it break".
• 30% of people said they had, or knew someone who has "Spilled coffee or other liquid on a cell phone".

What I Read (And How I Like to Read It)

I'm guessing maybe 20 years or so ago I had the chance to sit in on a two-day communications workshop delivered by a former University of Vermont computer science professor. During the workshop I asked him what he likes to read to keep up to date. His answer - Wired and Businessweek magazines. He was pretty sharp, impressive (wish I could remember his name) and when I got home I ended up ordering subscriptions to both.

I've kept those two subscriptions over the years with Wired keeping me up to date and entertained with new and emerging technologies and Businessweek keeping me posted on where business is going.  If I'm on the road you can bet the latest issues of each are in my bag.

Which of the two do I prefer? I've always believed business drives technology so Businessweek has been incredibly valuable to me. Some will argue it is the other way around but I've seen enough technically superior products that have flopped because the market was just not ready for them.

Last year Bloomberg purchased Businessweek from McGraw Hill and now the magazine is called Bloomberg Businessweek.  It's changed some since the purchase - there is a little more fun stuff (a la Wired) - but the business content is still really good.

Just last week Bloomberg launched a very nice iPad app called Bloomberg Businessweek+. Since I subscribe to the print version of the magazine, I get app version issues for free. Non-subscribers pay $2.99 a month - not bad since the print version is $4.99 on the newsstands. New editions come out on Thursday evenings at 10 PM and are approximately 30 megabytes each (relatively small for fast download). The app itself is the best "magazine" app I've seen so far - you can search for content across issues, clip articles and post to Twitter and Facebook. Even the "media-rich" ads are interesting to take a look at.

Will I keep my print subscription to Businessweek?  Yes - for now.

If you have an iPad, be sure to check out the Businessweek+ app.

Are Companies Hoarding Wireless Spectrum?

Later this month, Oregon Rep. Greg Walden, who chairs the House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, will be holding hearings on spectrum issues, including incentive auctions and allegations that some cable and wireless companies are "hoarding" spectrum.

A recent post at stimulatingbroadband.com discusses Walden's back and forth with FCC Chair Julius Genachowski who has dismissed spectrum hoarding as occurring. Genachowski has been advocating for voluntary incentive auctions, in which broadcasters could choose to surrender spectrum to be auctioned off, receiving a cut of the proceeds in return and freeing up airwaves for mobile broadband.

The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB)  is currently looking at proposals to re-purpose over-air television spectrum for mobile broadband and has jumped in, requesting that an independent analysis be done. On March 16 NAB Executive Vice President Dennis Wharton released the following statement in response to a claim that the FCC has completed a baseline spectrum inventory:

The FCC statement is a disappointing response to Congress, which is seeking a thorough spectrum inventory. The question is not whether the FCC can identify locations and licenses on the spectrum dashboard that have been set aside for specific services. The real issue is whether specific companies that bought or were given spectrum worth billions have actually deployed it.

Bottom line is we are running out of spectrum.

Communications Workers of America Position on AT&T, T-Mobile Merger

Communications Workers of America (CWA) Policy Analyst Debbie Goldman was interviewed last week on C-SPAN. In the interview she discusses the CWA Union perspective on what AT&T's acquisition of T-Mobile means for cell phone consumers and for workers. Here's the 5 minute and 28 second video.

Verizon Makes first Voice over LTE (VoLTE) Call Over Commercial Network

Last week in New Jersey, Verizon Wireless made the world’s first VoLTE call over a commercial network  and has continued to demonstrate the technology this past week at the2011 Mobile World Congress (MWC 2011) in Barcelona, Spain.

This is a significant technological event for a number of reasons:

• Both LTE and WiMAX (4G technologies) are 100% Internet protocol based - voice, video and data. 3G and earlier technologies still switch voice calls.
• Verizon is using the Adaptive Multi-Rate Wideband (AMR-WB) codec which offers better sound quality. AMR-WB is commonly referred to as "High Definition (HD) Voice". It is a significant improvement over existing mobile voice.
• LTE network setup, configuration and maintenance is simpler and will ultimately cost providers less. This should speed implementation and ultimately drive consumer costs down.
• By the end of 2013, Verizon will have the existing 3G footprint covered with LTE. Between now and the end of 2013, users will have the option of using the Verizon 3G network or 4G VoLTE. 4G calls cannot be handed off to 3G service and phones will come with both 3G and LTE radios.
• AT&T is targeting VoLTE capabilities by 2013 with a seven year plan to move fully to LTE, shutting down it's existing TDM based network.

 Here's an Engadget demo video shot at MWC 2011 this past week.

 

Landline quality over a wireless connection. This is going to put a significant dent in already rapidly declining landline business.

Wireless Services Build Out

President Barack Obama is laying out his plan for the build-out of high-speed wireless services today. According to a White House Press Release, the plan will enable businesses to grow faster, students to learn more, and public safety officials to access state-of-the-art, secure, nationwide, and interoperable mobile communications.

Here's more details from the press release:

• Nearly Double Wireless Spectrum Available for Mobile Broadband.  The number of “Smartphones” will soon pass both conventional mobile phones and computers around the world, promising lower costs for such devices, more functionality, and greater demand for bandwidth (speed).  4G deployment is rising to meet this demand, but it relies on access to the “airwaves” that is currently constrained by a spectrum crunch that will hinder future innovation.  To address this challenge, the President’s initiative has set the goal of freeing up 500 MHz of spectrum.  Specifically, the plan provides:
  • Win-win incentives for government holders.  New financial-compensation tools and a commitment to using advanced technologies more effectively will enable government agencies to use spectrum more efficiently.
  • Win-win incentives for commercial holders.  As recommended in the FCC’s National Broadband Plan, legislation is needed to allow the FCC to conduct “voluntary incentive auctions” that enable current spectrum holders to realize a portion of auction revenues if they choose to participate.

• The majority of the freed up spectrum would be auctioned for licensed mobile broadband, raising a projected $27.8 billion over the next decade, and a remainder would be for unlicensed use. 

• A Goal of 98% of Americans with Access to 4G High-Speed Wireless. America’s businesses are building out 4G networks to much of the nation, with some major companies crediting the President’s recent tax incentives for accelerating their efforts. Nevertheless, absent additional government investment, millions of Americans will not be able to participate in the 4G revolution.  To that end, the President’s Budget supports the 4G buildout in rural areas through a one-time $5 billion investment.  This investment, to be managed by the FCC, will help catalyze universal service reform to provide access to higher-speed wireless and wired broadband, dovetail with the need for public safety to have a wireless network available in rural areas, and extend access from the almost 95% of Americans who have 3G wireless services today to at least 98% of all Americans gaining access to state-of-the-art 4G high-speed wireless services within five years.  Extending access to high-speed wireless not only provides a valuable service to Americans living in those areas—access to medical tests, online courses, and applications that have not yet been invented—but also catalyzes economic growth by enabling consumers and businesses living in those areas to participate in the 21st century economy. 

• A Wireless Innovation (WIN) Fund to Help Drive Innovation. This $3 billion fund will advance our economic growth and competitiveness goals, supporting key technological developments that will enable and take advantage of the 4G rollout and pave the way for new technologies.  The WIN Fund will support basic research, experimentation and testbeds, and applied development in a number of areas, including public safety, education, energy, health, transportation, and economic development. 

• Develop and Deploy A Nationwide, Interoperable Wireless Network For Public Safety. The 9/11 Commission noted that our homeland security is vulnerable, in part, due to the lack of interoperable wireless communication among first responders.  The rollout of 4G high speed wireless services provides a unique opportunity to deploy such a system in conjunction with the commercial infrastructure already being developed and deployed.  To seize that opportunity, President Obama is calling for an investment of $10.7 billion to ensure that our public safety benefits from these new technologies: $3.2 billion to reallocate the “D Block” (which is a band of spectrum that would be reserved and prioritized for public safety and not auctioned as called for under existing law); $7 billion to support the deployment of this network; and $500 million from the WIN Fund for R&D and technological development to tailor the network to meet public safety requirements.  This investment, in coordination with the investment in rural buildout, will ensure that the rollout of 4G in rural areas serves the needs of public safety and the broader community. 

• Cut the deficit by $9.6 billion over the next decade. The President’s proposals to auction off spectrum freed up from the government and voluntarily relinquished by current commercial users, is estimated to raise $27.8 billion. This total is above-and-beyond the auction proceeds that are used to provide an incentive for private and government users as well as the auction proceeds that are expected even absent the President’s proposal. After the cost of the investments proposed by the President, the initiative would reduce the deficit by $9.6 billion over the next decade.

 See the press release for more information.

Buy-Anywhere Options, Not Devices, Will Be Key to Digital Publishing Success

I just finished a keynote presentation titled Why Should You Be Interested in Mobile Devices and Application Development? at UMass Boston Mobile Boot Camp. In the presentation I talked a lot about content distribution and how it is changing. Things like App Stores, Software As A Service (SAAS) and how we have different options now in the way we purchase, install and manage our purchased digital content. ABI Research has a new study titled Digital Publishing for Portable Devices, which foresees digital content sales growing to nearly $16.5 billion worldwide in 2016, more than five times their 2010 level. Here's a piece from an ABI press release:

Despite the enormous media focus on iPads, Kindles, Nooks and other eReaders, the market for digital content will not be tied to the success or failure of any single one of these devices, according to the new study. “Consumers can purchase digital texts through their PCs or smartphones, in addition to buying directly through their eReaders,” explains Larry Fisher, research director of NextGen, ABI Research’s emerging technologies research incubator. “The variety of applications that allow people to buy this digital content reassures them that they won’t be tied to a single store—or device—for content.”

Barriers still exist - here's more:

Significant barriers to the growth of digital publishing remain, however, including licensing of back catalog material, the conversion of publishing workflows designed specifically for digital instead of print content, and most importantly for periodicals, pricing. Paying for single issues of magazines and newspapers on the iPad in particular has met with resistance from subscribers accustomed to bargain-priced subscriptions rather than one-off sales. Still, says Fisher, “One-off sales won’t keep publishers from selling content to other device users, and Apple will likely offer some form of subscription service eventually.”

What now things will we see next year?

Digital text sales will get an extra boost in 2012 as some of these challenges are met and high-quality color eInk readers become widely available. Although such readers are currently on the market, they do not offer the full saturation color that print magazine readers have come to expect. Magazine and newspaper readership will still be greater on LCD-screen readers and tablet computers that can handle video and other graphics requiring a fast refresh rate.

 You can get more information on the ABI Research report linked here.