Alec Saunders SquawkBox

Informa Telecoms says mobile social network revenues could reach $52 billion by 2012.  $52 big ones….

Of course, the press release doesn't actually say what mobile social networks are, nor who is building them.  But it does say that $1.5 billion in revenues were earned from these mythical beasts in … 2006?

Oi! This is just too much, especially since most people would likely agree that we don't actually know what constitutes a mobile social network yet.  Sure, some social networks like Facebook have mobile elements.  And some others, like mig33, live primarily in mobile space.  But these all have web based elements too.  And, most aren't cranking out revenues of the magnitude that would lead to a total of $1.5 billion two years ago. So what social network is Informa Telecoms pointing to?

I just hate these breathless "analyst" reports, don't you? 

Day 2 at the Mobile World Congress here in Barcelona.  Connectivity at the show has been an absolute bear.  My plan to use to Truphone with WiFi is a complete shambles at this point, as it is nearly impossible to get a WiFi connection at the show, never mind make a SIP connection over it.  Luckily, MaxRoam's Pat Phelan came through in the crunch with one of his MaxRoam SIMs.  This little beauty roams anywhere, and uses call back to ensure that you get the best rates. I was reachable yesterday afternoon with his help. 

A couple of my fellow bloggers here at the show have also been using a local operators SIM which gives unlimited 3G data for 1.5 euros per day.  I'll check into that as well.