The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is Lou Reed's Live In Italy, which is an almost great album - yes it's the best band he ever had but they were a year or so past their prime, yes it's a great setlist but not the best. Almost one of the truly great live albums in rock:

 

As consumers interact more frequently through text messaging, calls and online channels, marketers - particularly communications service providers - are "considering the importance of this social aspect of decision making when developing strategies," SAS officials believe.

 

Saying "simple demographics fall short" for responding to demand for customer insight in such a situation, SAS has introduced SAS Customer Link Analytics. 

 

SAS Customer Link Analytics includes SAS analytics, visualization, dashboards and reports, and as company officials explain, "lets decision makers use previously unknown connections between leaders, followers, and others" in social communities.

 

"Social network analysis lets communications service providers not only prevent customer churn, but also personalize marketing messages for greater cross-selling and up-selling opportunities," said Jon Paisner, Senior Analyst, Yankee Group. 

 

Dr. Carlos Andre Reis Pinheiro, a customer analytics expert at the School of Computing, Dublin City University, said SAS Customer Link Analytics would be a tool for "revealing customers' influence in virtual communities inside telecom networks." 

 

The product incorporates role-based variables into segmentation models to help marketers create more cost-effective campaigns, reduce customer attrition, and make messages more relevant, company officials say: "When marketers understand how products and ideas diffuse through social networks, they can determine how and when to target influencers, test campaigns and introduce new products and services." 

 

Communications service providers "need to better understand how customers are using their products and making buying decisions," said Ken King, Director of SAS Telco and Media Convergence, noting that although marketers knew some customers had significant influence over others, "with SAS Customer Link Analytics, they can finally quantify that influence and leverage those insights for competitive advantage."

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As Google will try to win over prospective Android developers at next week's Game Developers' Conference in San Francisco, Mplayit's latest data from its cross-platform app store on Facebook shows that "games are four times as popular among iPhone users than among the Android user base."

 

BlackBerry users are twice as likely to be looking for game content than Android users, despite the device's strong business reputation.

 

The data shows that the iPhone is used for games 64 percent of the time, BlackBerry 33 percent and Android 17 percent. Android is used for mobile apps 83 percent of the time and BlackBerry 67 percent, whereas the iPhone is used for mobile apps 36 percent of the time.

 

"Android is a powerful platform of compelling APIs, but Google needs to persuade both gamers and game developers to get on board," said Michael Powers, Mplayit CEO, adding that in his opinion, "GDC will be a critical opportunity for Google to build the all-important developer momentum that will in time fan out to the ordinary consumer. "

 

Many industry observers see the growing consumer interest in Android devices, as well as Google's outreach to the game developer community, as evidence of an opportunity for game developers to tap into a growing market. "However," Mplayit officials say, "the data also points to the need for consumer marketers to put Android on the map as a compelling gaming platform," much in the way that Apple has done with iPhone.

 

"Games are the most obvious example - but our analysis shows distinct personality traits for the different platforms," Powers said. "IPhone users are in it for fun, Android users want more useful, strategic apps and BlackBerry users are staying true to the platform's business background."

 

Company officials say Mplayit's research also shows the Location Based Services category continues to grow in popularity and while Loopt, Foursquare and Gowalla usually get the most attention from media, the analysis shows "growing consumer interest in lesser known apps on iPhone that include FastMall, AroundMe on iPhone, and BeatTheTraffic on BlackBerry."

 

And strangely enough, for the second month in a row, Facebook has had zero presence in Blackberry's top three list in the Social Networking category.

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While it would be expected that enterprises would express concern over the security of Wi-Fi hotspots, "it is actually the individual that is driving these concerns," according to a recent report from In-Stat.

 

In-Stat's research found that over three-quarters of survey respondents are "personally aware" of and proactive regarding security concerns: "The number of respondents indicating that their companies restrict Wi-Fi usage has dropped below 15 percent of the total respondents; a significant shift from 2008 when nearly the figure was 31 percent of respondents."

 

However, that doesn't mean they've grown more conservative about using it. "While consumers and businesses are cautious about hotspot security, this hasn't stopped them from using hotspots in dramatically increased numbers," says Frank Dickson, In-Stat analyst, estimating that hotspot usage will increase in 2009 by 47 percent, "bringing total worldwide connects to 1.2 billion."

 

Just behind cost, "lack of availability" was the second-most cited barrier behind security to hotspot usage, the study found.

 

In-Stat estimates that Wi-Fi-enabled entertainment devices, such as cameras, gaming devices, and personal media players shipments will increase from 109 million in 2009 to 177 million in 2013, with Asia Pacific seeing the greatest growth in venue deployments over the next few years, largely driven by large-scale deployments in China.

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NextiraOne, a European communications services vendor, has been granted Cisco Channel Customer Satisfaction Excellence recognition in the United Kingdom. 

 

According to NextiraOne officials, Customer Satisfaction Excellence "is the highest distinction a partner can achieve within the Cisco Channel Partner Program." NextiraOne UK will be recognized for Customer Satisfaction Excellence in the Cisco Partner Locator with a special star indicator.

 

The distinction means NextiraOne has achieved "outstanding customer satisfaction as part of Cisco's worldwide assessment process," according to NextiraOne officials.

 

The Channel Customer Satisfaction Excellence assessment is based on customer feedback analyzed each quarter in the Cisco Partner Access Online tool, Cisco officials say. Cisco acknowledges Certified Partners with the highest customer satisfaction distinction within each geographic region.

 

Bernadette Wightman, Managing Director, Channels Cisco UKI, said "Customer Satisfaction Excellence is a core value we both share and a key driver of our current and future success. NextiraOne have shown an ongoing commitment in its investment of customer satisfaction that will strengthen its relationship with Cisco and its customers."

 

It's been a good year so far for NextiraOne, since at the beginning of the month the company was awarded "One to Watch" status in the 2010 Best Companies Accreditation for companies deemed "among the best employers." Since the beginning of the year the company has announced several important customer wins, including a major new Data Center implementation for the James Paget NHS Trust and a new infrastructure and Contact Center solution for SMC Pneumatics.

 

The company designs, installs, maintains and supports sustainable products to meet its customers' communications needs, from voice, data and video, to mobility, security and applications.