links for 2007-12-17

3.3 billion mobile devices = half the planet

(Cross-posted at http://www.cloudfour.com/21/33-billion-mobile-devices-half-the-planet/)

I wrote recently about how the number of mobile devices dwarfs all other media and how this staggering this statistic is. A recent study puts the number of mobile devices at 3.3 billion, up from the previous number of 2.7 billion. That is one mobile device for half of the world’s population.

Tomi T Ahonen provides some context on these new numbers:

  • Growth is accelerating, not slowing down as many predicted
  • 3.3 billion is the number of devices, not the number of people. Many people have more than one phone. Italy has a 140% subscriber rate. The number of people using mobile devices is 2.55 billion which means there is still room to grow.

Much like Tomi’s previous article, the real perspective comes from his comparison of the number of mobile devices (3.3 billion) to things we take for granted. For example. there are only 1.5 billion people in the world who have credit cards.

Mobile Updates Part I

Some significant mobile updates over the past few weeks:

Site Speed News

I’m catching up on a backlog of RSS feeds. I’ve got a few posts highlighting news that I missed. Hopefully it won’t be too out of date to be relevant.

Let’s start with two bits of news to pass along regarding site performance:

  • Study: Web Will Slow by 2010 — The increase in video usage is likely to saturate home internet provider networks. The study believes that speeds will decrease to dial-up levels. If this comes to pass, which I still consider a stretch, it will be more important to build fast sites.
  • YSlow-er — Yahoo released a new version of their YSlow plugin. Some of the changes may cause the grades for sites to drop. Details in the article. Update your firefox plugin to take advantage of the new features.

links for 2007-12-16

links for 2007-12-14

Office Warming Party

Note: Cross-posted at http://www.cloudfour.com/19/office-warming-party/.

Please join us as we celebrate the grand opening of our new office space and the birth of our new company:

When:
Thursday, Dec 13th at 5:00pm
Where:
Cloud Four
107 SE Washington St., Suite 440
Portland, OR 97214
(503) 477-5340
Directions
Map (The main entrance to our side of the building is on SE Stark St)

Festive drinks and light appetizers will be served! RSVP if you get a chance (but feel free to drop by).

Cloud Four’s Web Site Launches

Tonight we launched CloudFour.com. Tomorrow we pick up the keys to our new office. Friday we start painting and assembling furniture. If all goes well, we’ll open doors on Monday and start planning our office warming party.

We’re overwhelmed, excited, and anxious. What a remarkable thing it is to start a company. There is really nothing that compares.

So why another web development company? Here’s why.

First, my co-founders and I have spent the last several years doing very similar work, but for a very specific market. In some ways, we’re just continuing what we’ve always been doing, but with a larger public presence and in a different location.

Second, we’re see new opportunities in spaces outside of the niche market we worked in. We see opportunities to:

We’ve also got some exciting side projects. More on that later. ;-)

Finally, we’re thrilled by the idea of building a business and a culture together, continuing to work closely with our former colleagues, and meeting new people tackling interesting challenges.

It’s been three fast months since Guy Kawasaki’s video kept me awake with the realization that I wanted to start my own company. I’m proud to be working with such an amazing group of co-founders, and I’m pleased that we’re all sharing equaling in the creation of the company. We have an all-star team. If this was a pick-up basketball game, I’d feel guilty for having so much talent on one squad.

Most importantly, I find myself going back to what inspired me about that video and what compelled me to choose a different, more risky direction. I believe we have a chance to make meaning—to make an impact—in the lives of others. That means a lot to me.

So that’s what Cloud Four is about. We’ll have more to discuss in the coming months. If you know of someone who can use our services, we would appreciate you pointing them in our direction.