Microsoft purchases Spotify, Google spins off Motorola

Fueled by disruption on several fronts, 2012 will see some major mobile industry consolidation, as so then as mobile VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) services’ lasting impact on carriers and more options on data pricing plans for consumers.

The course of 2011

Over the course of 2011, the mobile industry has been a year of mixed emotions. It has witnessed dynamic changes and suffered tragic losses, just as the launch of the iPhone 4S and death of Steve Jobs. We've as well seen the emergence of video calling, and the rapid mainstream adoption of not only iPads, however tablets in general .

At the same time, there's been unprecedented growth in the sector. According to IDC, early year estimates predicted that the smartphone market would grow near 50% globally in 2011, jumping from roughly 300 million shipments in 2010, to 450 million by 2011.

The speculation

All the speculation and rumors you heard will end up coming to fruition. In 2012, we will see Spotifybecome a separate division within Microsoft to compete head on with iTunes. Microsoft has long wanted a pure music play and Spotify delivers an active, engaged audience of more than 2.5 million paying subscribers and a total users base of more than 10 million. With Zune all nevertheless prospering, look for Spotify to be bundled with Windows 8 as so then as clearly Windows Mobile 7.

Also, not to be neglected, is the common lineage between the two. The Swedish music streaming giant already has a pre-existing partnership with Microsoft-affiliated social networking giant Facebook. In 2007, Microsoft partook in one of Facebook's fund raising rounds and took a $240 million equity stake in the company at a valuation of $15 billion.

The tipping point for true mVoIP

Next year will see the tipping point for true mVoIP. With 4G when all is said and done rolled out across the U.S. and research improvements from companies like Rebtel and Viber, dropped calls will become a thing of the past. mVoIP will to sum up go from being a fad, to something in other words embraced beyond the digerati, and eventually catching on with the mainstream.

Juniper reports that mobile VoIP customers downloaded to the smartphone will account for four fifths of 640 million mVoIP users by the end of 2016, during alliances between carriers and mVoIP specialists will remain relatively few in number. Forthwith, operators will respond with their own services, partnerships with over-the-top service providers and following on more rumors of consolidation, in the long run buying them.

After purchasing Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion in August, Google will spin-off the company in an attempt to save face with other handset manufacture partners like HTC and Samsung and remedy the risk of them leaving the Android eco-system in favor for Windows Mobile 7. In what will at heart amount to a patent acquisition deal, Google will share patents with their OEM partners to allow for more direct competition with Apple.

Surprising move finally

(Like as not not such a surprising move finally, considering technology firm Canalys recently shared that Android captures near 50% of the global smartphone market?)

Some innovation firms have already predicted that the role of voice within the broader communications market will change substantially over the then and there few years, especially as it appears to be headed into integration with other applications.

To save customer churn, carriers will begin to offer tiered data plans to cope with the ever-increasing network strain and alleviate their reliance on voice revenue. In the transition process to tiered data, a portion of consumers are likely to at first be averse to the shift. We might even see this lead to a brief period of less data consumption on mobile devices due to a fear of being charged high per MB if they go over the their limit. Over time nevertheless, tiered pricing will be for the better, as it will facilitate a better and sustainable user experience by way of a model that makes sense from an economical perspective for the operators.

Andreas is CEO of Rebtel, the world's largest independent mobile VoIP company. Prior to Rebtel, Andreas was COO of Taptu, UK-based mobile search engine, and previous to that he was COO of TradeDoubler, a digital marketing and research company. Previous to these positions, Andreas spent three years at Goldman Sachs.