News round-up for Apr 29, 2011

A new version of the Boeing jumbo jet 747-8 is in production to be released next year. In the last four decades, this family of aircraft has transported 3.6 billion passengers, or the equivalent of over half the world's population.

US Parents say almost a third of the apps on their phone were downloaded by their children.

There is a surprising paucity of mobile optimized eCommerce websites and apps and merchants are missing out on potential sales. On average, only 2% of revenue is generated from mobile platforms. Even more interestingly, "shoppers told Tealeaf that mobile shopping was more frustrating than sitting in traffic or visiting the D.M.V., which helps explain why, despite all the interest, people are not yet spending much when shopping on their phones."

On a related topic, Gilt Groupe is reporting that iPad alone generates 4% of its revenues. Pretty impressive!

NFC is still a few years away from becoming reality because of (1) the switching costs for customers. They need to be re-trained and become comfortable in paying with their smartphone, (2) costs incurred by merchants to make their POS NFC-aware, (3) incentive for handset manufacturers to include NFC in their devices.

Is Groupon really worth the astronomical valuation, especially given intense competition, lack of differentiation and barriers to entry? They probably wish they had just taken google's buyout offer.