As the world watches the last games in the group stage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa, we’ve had a long enough period to make some observations about the popularity of the event.  Of course, news sites have seen record-setting numbers of hits, and Twitter is buzzing with World Cup topics.  This information is interesting, but incomplete; what about the impact in terms of Internet bandwidth?

Here in Canada, the games are broadcast live on CBC and are simultaneously available for streaming from the CBC’s website.  Rogers is also making the games available with their Rogers On Demand TV and website services, which also provide live streaming to mobile devices.

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With the launch of the iPad earlier this year and the imminent launch of the iPhone 4, we continue to see that consumers just can’t get enough of the capabilities these smart phones and “Internet-ready” devices provide. Rich content over mobile networks is not only here to stay but its growing at astounding rates.  Research released last week from Morgan Stanley projected an inflection point of 2012 when the number of global units of smart phones shipped will surpass desktop PCs and Notebooks. (http://www.morganstanley.com/institutional/techresearch/pdfs/MS_Internet_Trends_060710.pdf) 2012…..not that far off.
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