Carnival of the Mobilists #271 @ mobiThinking

It’s always good when Andy Favell over at mobiThinking is at the helm. In addition to curating the submissions for Mobilists, Andy scours the Internet for excellent mobile posts and brings them to our attention. The result is an eclectic mix of mobile goodness — so let’s dive in!

Tomi Ahonen walks us through the OTT landscape and details why operators fear messaging apps and services such as BBM, iMessage, Skype & Co. Tomi dives into the numbers to quantify the damage and suggest the Empire [Operators] may Strike Back.
Disruptive Dean Bubley counters with a pair of thought-provoking posts that bring us a new perspective. Yes, operators should fight back against the OTT threat — but they can win the battle if they launch their own own-brand VOIP and Internet-based messaging services.
Voice on Telecom looks at the South Korean market and the impact of OTT messaging (offered by provider KakaoTalk). Will this happen elsewhere in the world? Read on and find out!
Scott Hanselman on Scott Hanselman’s Computer Zen takes a humorous look at the industry obsession with outdated icons. Floppy disk?! It means save for ‘us’ but youth can’t possibly make the connection. It’s a great post — and don’t forget to check out the comments section.
Antoine RJ Wright chimes in with a post that lists all the phone functions he feels are outdated. Do we really need a Web browser? Antoine argues its a concept borrowed from the PC that we should leave where we found it.
Mobile design guru Steven Hoober is not sold on the iPhone and points out how the ergonomics of this device could be vastly improved.
Post that made a similar argument include The Samsung Galaxy S III: The First Smartphone Designed Entirely By Lawyers by Ron Amadeo on the Android Police blog (who argues the Samsung Galaxy SIII is ugly), and Leigh Geary of the CoolSmartPhone blog, who asks if the Samsung Galaxy SIII is the ‘Next big thing’…
Wilson Kerr on the Unbound Commerce blog observes a gap between the number of smartphone owners in the U.S. and the number of brands and retailers that have mobile-optimized websites.
MobileGroove contributor and social media authority Ken Herron provides a detailed post packed with practical advice for marketers looking to harness Pinterest, which is also the third largest social network on the planet. How do you ‘pinterest-ize’ your content (when it isn’t visual to begin with)? Ken has the answers.
Lynette Anthony Hundermark of mystechblog.com exposes a number of mobile apps out there that are — well — a FAIL. They can’t pass even the most basic criteria for a good user experience.
Chris Reynolds on MobyAffiliates provides a list of 70 app stores, subdivided by cross-platform, operating system, manufacturer and operator.
David Eads on the Mobile Manifesto blog looks at the ‘why’ and ‘how’ behind building a solid business case for mobile, using the example of mobile banking.