US in a mild recession?

There are two ways of looking at the world.

If we take the first one, or the glass half-empty, we can see this global downturn as a horrible time to get a job, to save money, to launch yourself into a start-up becoming an entrepreneur...

In the second one, or seeing the glass half-full, we could be seeing the opportunities that arise, the possibility to offer or to enter into new fields, as every soul and company have stopped every new venture, trying to save themselves from this temporary hell.

But Mr. Obama just invented another one. He sees everything FULL. A GDP shrink of 1.2 percent are his estimates for 2009. I hope he realizes that, given the revision of the GDP that showed the REAL decline (6.2% from the previous 3.8) of the US economy, preparing a best-case scenario could be disastrous for its economy.

I agree he has the duty and objective of renewing US citizen's trust in the economy, but this is too much, Mr. President...

Japanese companies were buying enormous stakes in US counterparts at the end of 2008, as the government assured the crisis would not have a severe effect there. Now, a 12% decline in GDP may show that they were wrong... maybe...

Please, optimism is great, but REALISM is needed!!!!

(I completely refuse talking about Spain... what a mess :( )

Virgin Mobile & US Mobile Industry Data in 2008

Hi all! I have made a little research of the US mobile Industry market in 2008 for Advanced Marketing. I hope you enjoy it!

The penetration rate has grown up to 86.1%, what means that there were 261.5 million subscribers in total. For the sake of the explanation (and lack of time), data from US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico are left out.

Virgin Mobile US, owned by Virgin Group and Sprint Nextel Corporation, has experienced a steady growth since it was created, reaching 5.38 million subscribers, or a 2.05% market share (December 2008). It has to be taken into account that Helio's clients are being counted (Helio is a $39M acquisition made in June 2008).

Virgin is still partnering with Kyocera offering its phones, although LG, Samsung and UTStarcom phones have been introduced. Another interesting breakthrough has been the addition of text messaging packs and an unlimited plan (between Virgin mobiles and to every mobile in non-peak hours).

Nowadays, Virgin is the 7th mobile operator by number of subscribers in the US. To fully understand its position, nevertheless, is essential to show data from the 6 biggest players in the US industry:

1. Verizon Wireless (including Alltell): 83.7 million subscribers. 32% market share.

2. AT&T Mobility (currently acquiring Centennial Communications): 77 million subscribers. 29.45% market share.

3. Sprint Nextel (includes Sprint Network, Nextel Network, Boost Mobile Prepaid): 50.7 million subscribers. 19.38% market share.

4. T-Mobile: 32.8 million subscribers. 12.54% market share.

5. TracFone Wireless (includes NET10): 11.2 million subscribers. 4.28% market share.

6. US Cellular: 6.17 million subscribers. 2.36% market share.

Apart from this 6 companies and Virgin Mobile, there are only two mobile operators that have more than a million subscribers: MetroPCS (similar numbers to those of Virgin) and Cricket (3.84 million subscribers).

Online resources used:

American Operators (Wikipedia)

Virgin Mobile (Wikipedia)

Virgin Mobile USA (Wikipedia)

Virgin Mobile USA

GSM World

And the winner is... Spain!!!!

No more regrets, no more "what ifs". This time we were determined to win. We have taken all the steps to cross the line well ahead... and we got it.

We are always used to see Americans as the best ones. When things go well, they outperform everyone, and when things go bad, they situation is even worse. Not this time. Not in this moment. Can you hear it, my friends? Can you smell it? SPAIN IS HERE!!!!!

We're not longer afraid of your "impressive" unemployment data. 598.000 jobs lost in January, 3.7 million jobs lost since December 2007,unemployment rate of 7.6% (the highest in 16 years). But... are we supposed to be amazed?

No way. 198.838 job lost in January, 1.28 million jobs lost in 2008 (Encuesta de Población Activa), unemployment rate of 14.4% and even better perspectives for the future make us worldwide leaders!!!

We worked (or not) so hard to get it... that don't even dare to think we are going to stop here, we are going to mantain the lead. European Comission says we are going to have an unemployment rate of 18.7% in 2010. 

Don't be surprised, dear world. A country that doubles unemployment rate of the eurozone (especially "funny" is the rate in younger than 25: 29.5%), a country that adds up to 3.1 million unemployed to the total eurozone of 12.4 million is a complete champion.

Be prepared to surrender, World.