A semi-annual 2006 survey by CTIA - The Wireless Association indicates a 70% increase in data service revenues over the same period in 2005.  With carriers delivering over 12.5 billion text messages in the month of June 2006 as but one factoid, data service revenues for the first half of 2006 came out to $6.5 billion. See the full story.

Name recognition, cool technology and a specific target audience are not always enough to ensure success.  On-demand sports to a dedicated sports cellphone seemed like a terrific concept at first.  Connected world sports junkies would love the concept, but were there enough of them buying these one-dimensional phones?  Probably not.

Risks still abound, as competition is fierce and ESPN’s mobile phone efforts are in the process of closing down.  By never building a sustainable customer base that had broad appeal, Mobile ESPN found itself unable to overcome a flawed concept:  the public was not going to purchase the ESPN phone just to get access to ESPN content.

:  Technology alone is great but a viable business model to leverage the technology is of even greater importance.

WSJ full story.

The following quote says a lot about how far we’ve come as a connected world:

“JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Rickety minibus taxis weave between corrugated iron shacks, dodging street hawkers and the odd scrawny child with trousers gaping at the knee.

Alexandra is one of South Africa’s roughest townships and yet you can switch on your laptop there, slide in a data card and access your email in seconds using the world’s most advanced commercial wireless technology.“

Would you have expected this scenario even just a couple of years ago?  As Friedman elaborates in The World Is Flat, we are truly in the midst of a time when work can indeed be performed from literally anywhere on the globe.  And the resulting challenges to our business models will be no less significant.

Can you envision where we will be a couple of years from today?

Reuter’s article

The lines between cellular and Wi-Fi continue to blur, with carriers actively getting into the “dual mode” cellular/Wi-Fi game.  With the recent announcement from T-Mobile, customers like me who often face challenged coverage—my home is in the mountains—will now experience “5 bar” coverage at home over their Wi-Fi network. Coupled with the growing availability of hotspots, coverage areas will finally extend beyond the reach of cell towers.  See the full story.

A Mercury News article mentions a number of companies of interest to VCs. Jajah and Rebtel offer services for cheap long distance calling. Jajah, based in Menlo Park, is well funded by Silicon Valley heavyweights like Sequoia Capital and Globespan Capital Partners. Jajah is apparently already profitable after 6 months in operation. Rebtel, which is currently seeking funding, is a Stockholm-based company that makes it very easy for the pesky non-converging people—i.e., those without a laptop and an all-IP set up at home—to take part. It allows people to access the service without needing to access their PCs. Just sign up, get the local phone number for the people you wish to call, and your calls are treated like a local call. Other companies mentioned are Nimbuzz, offering instant messaging and later a flat rate global call rate for mobile-to-mobile calls, and SoonR, which allows cell phones to access desktop applications and instant messaging programs. See the full story.