Benton RSS Feed
Deutsche Telekom chief executive Rene Obermann has unexpectedly announced he will step down at the end of 2013 and be succeeded by finance director Timotheus Hoettges. Hoettges, 50, said he was not planning major changes to strategy and would continue Obermann's drive of investing in the United States and Germany as the firm battles to return to revenue growth against a tough economic backdrop.
Deutsche Telekom finance chief to replace CEO Obermann
[Commentary] Personally and professionally, this year has been one for the books. In September, the United Church of Christ, Office of Communications, Inc., honored me with the Everett C. Parker Award in recognition of what they described as my “many years of leadership and support for promoting the public interest in traditional and digital media.” This recognition has special meaning for me, as Rev Parker truly is both a personal hero and an inspiration to all of us who fight for a just, democratic society. The Benton Foundation and our colleagues in the public interest community are all guided by the spirit of Rev. Parker as we work to ensure that everyone is able to enjoy the benefits made possible by 21st century telecommunications. Also in September, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski said that we need to connect the hardest-to-reach areas of the country and the least-advantaged consumers to the benefits of affordable, high-speed, high-capacity broadband.
Time to Reflect: An End-of-Year Message from Charles Benton
In denying Apple's motion to ban sales of some Samsung Electronics products that a jury had determined infringed its smartphone patents, legal observers say a federal judge delivered a potentially troublesome message to the technology giant: These violations are small potatoes. That might sound odd, considering that a jury in August found the patent infringements serious enough to award Apple $1.05 billion in damages. But U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh made it clear in a ruling this week that the scope of the violations was tiny relative to the enormous number of features contained in a smartphone.
In winning the jury verdict, Apple successfully proved that Samsung had willfully copied several features. But Apple faced a great burden to persuade Koh to issue a permanent injunction against the 26 Samsung products in question. Apple had to prove that the features played a decisive role in why consumers might choose to buy a Samsung phone over an iPhone. "Apple has simply not been able to make this showing," Judge Koh wrote. That ruling was a surprise to some legal experts and will almost certainly be appealed by Apple. But should it stand, the decision could substantially blunt Apple's two-year quest to use litigation to tilt the competitive playing field against Samsung, now the world's leading seller of smartphones.
Apple's patent victory may be small in larger battle with Samsung
Samsung faces a European Union antitrust complaint over its use of standard- essential patents in legal disputes with Apple, the EU’s competition commissioner said.
“We will adopt the statement of objections very soon,” said Joaquin Almunia, the bloc’s antitrust chief. He said the formal notice listing antitrust concerns could be sent as soon as the end of the year. The EU is probing whether Samsung violated agreements to license key patents to other mobile-phone manufacturers on fair terms. “We are dissatisfied every time that we see the launching of injunctions” involving standard-essential patents,” Almunia told reporters at a press conference in Brussels. “The injunctions in the Apple-Samsung case were launched; it was not only a threat.”
Samsung Faces EU Antitrust Complaint Over Apple Patent Clash European Commission wades into global tech patents war (Reuters)
Look for more television shows and movies to feature the mental health and other consequences of gun violence in their plot lines.
In the wake of the Sandy Hook shootings, the Entertainment Industries Council (EIC) said it is re-launching an initiative to use TV and movies to address issues related to gun violence. EIC is a nonprofit whose board of trustees reads like a Who's Who of entertainment execs, from Barry Diller and Leslie Moonves to Sherry Lansing and Kim LeMasters. While Washington policymakers have been focusing on the issue of media violence's role in real-life violence, the group is emphasizing the power media can have on stopping that violence by portraying the consequences and helping discourage gun violence through stories that deal with the mental health consequences.
Entertainment Council Re-Launching Initiative to Focus on Consequences of Gun Violence
The Federal Communications Commission wants television broadcasters to know that they can file anonymous comments on the commission's proposed framework for incentive spectrum auctions. In a public notice, the FCC told broadcasters that its rules allow for anonymous comment so long as they have an attorney of record, and even without one they can seek a waiver of that requirement.
The legislation creating the auctions recognized that, for business reasons, broadcasters might not want to signal they were interested in selling some or all of their spectrum, and so required the FCC not to identify the bidders publicly. In that spirit, the FCC recognized that some commenters might not want to be associated with the issues or questions they raise. "We want to encourage those broadcasters interested in auction participation to raise issues of specific concern to them regarding the incentive auction process so that we may develop a robust record to assist us in devising auction-related rule," the FCC said in the notice for those providing comment. "At the same time, we recognize that broadcasters may have legitimate reasons for not wanting to disclose their potential interest in reverse auction participation."
FCC: Broadcasters Can File Anonymously on Spectrum Auctions
Facebook is not part of the ad industry's self-regulatory program that notifies consumers about online data collection and ad targeting, but people can find the ubiquitous AdChoices icon on Facebook anyway: in third-party apps. Facebook was among the top sites that displayed the small blue triangle-shape icon during the past week. But the symbol didn't show up in display ads sold by Facebook or in the behaviorally-targeted ads served its Facebook Exchange -- rather, the symbol appeared in ads served in Facebook apps.
Privacy Icon Big in Facebook Apps As Facebook Itself Opts-Out
Mobile ads may be a tough market to crack today, but the analysts at Berg Insight believe it will get sorted out — and in a big way.
It estimates that in 2017 4.4 percent of the total global ad spend across all media will be targeted at the phone screen. We’re not just talking about digital advertising — Berg estimates mobile will be 15.5 percent of the total online ad spend. Rather, we’re talking 4.4 percent of all ads, whether they’re shown on TV, staring at you from a billboard or embedded in a website. What’s more, Berg said it was careful how it quantified “mobile.” Ads you view on tablets or other optimized browsing devices don’t count. This would be strictly adverting and marketing that appears on the mobile phone. In real numbers, Berg estimated that mobile ads and marketing comprised a €3.8 billion (U.S. $5 billion) market in 2011, dominated by Google’s AdMob and Apple’s iAd platforms. But Berg is predicting that number will grow by a factor of five into a €19.7 billion market in 2017.
In 5 Years, 4.4% of All Ads will Appear on a Phone Screen
[Commentary] The mobile web versus mobile native “grudge match” rages on, with almost 300 comments to Super VC Fred Wilson’s post on whether now is the time to invest in mobile web apps (and services) over mobile native ones. But the arguments presented in favor of the mobile web over mobile native represent a false dichotomy. Simply put, there is no universal truth in the mobile web vs. mobile native debate, and no “one right way,” despite what the pontificators would have you believe.
The argument in favor of mobile web goes like this: The web is open, ubiquitous, requires no special software, is globally searchable and algorithmically discoverable. As such, it is agile, extensible and readily manageable. Plus, there are lots of proven models for development, discovery, distribution and monetization. And, of course, mobile web development offers a higher degree of symmetry to PC browser-based web development than mobile native app development does.
The argument is favor of mobile native goes like this: There are over 400 million iOS devices and over 500 million Android devices, representing almost 1 billion devices worldwide. In the case of iOS, Apple has built a well-managed development, distribution and monetization platform that has yielded tremendous innovation and user engagement in areas ranging from photography to gaming, social networking, entertainment, education, music and other rich media.
On some level, the argument comes down to “good enough” and “universal” vs. the “richest possible experience” on the device type that is subsuming the PC.
Why the mobile web vs apps debate is a false dichotomy
Amazon Studios, Amazon’s film production division, will produce pilots for six original comedy series -- including shows from the Onion, “Doonesbury” writer Garry Trudeau and Daily Show writer David Javerbaum. The pilots will be posted on Amazon Instant Video, where customers can watch them for free, and “viewer feedback will help determine which series Amazon Studios should produce. Completed seasons will be exclusively available to Prime members through Prime Instant Video and Lovefilm in the U.K. for free.”
Amazon Studios taps the Onion, Daily Show writers, others for comedy pilots