Indeed a pleasent news :)
Sony-Ericsson tops in cell users satisfaction
BS Reporter / Mumbai October 17, 2007
http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage_c_online.php?leftnm=11&bKeyFlag=IN&autono=28924
Sony-Ericsson mobile phones topped the list of overall satisfaction by users in 2007, while Motorola was ranked as the 'most improved' brand on satisfaction for the last three years. However, the overall satisfaction among mobile handset users declined, according to International Data Corporation's ‘India Mobile Handset Usage and Satisfaction Study 2007’.
Motorola was in the second slot in overall satisfaction, displacing Nokia to the third place, while barring the top three vendors (Sony Ericsson, Motorola and Nokia) all other brands fared below the industry average.
According to a release issued by IDC, overall level users feel that mobile phones have become easier to use, have better voice clarity and longer battery life and thus the satisfaction on these three parameters have increased in 2007. This is in comparison with the previous two years, 2006 and 2005.
However, internal memory and entertainment features are the two parameters on which satisfaction has come down significantly.
"The mobile handsets with higher memory and good entertainment features are still priced quite high. The entry-level phones are relatively poor on these parametres contributing to decline in satisfaction scores,” IDC India Country Manager Kapil Dev Singh said.
Since higher memory and good entertainment features are the key drivers for upgrading to a new handset, the handset makers need to review the premium charged for the higher end mobiles, he added.
The study pointed out that integrated digital camera, music player and stereo FM radio are the three main features that drive users to upgrade their handsets. These features are available in mid-range and high-end handsets so far, but the common user now demands these features in the more affordable handsets.
Multimedia Messaging Service or MMS has failed to catch the fancy of the masses due to high cost of transmission over the networks and relatively cheaper alternate modes of downloading videos available through the internet. Speakerphone feature too has emerged as a driver for upgrading the current handset and can be the most 'cost effective differentiator' for low-end handsets.
"Indian mobile user is willing to spend Rs 6,900 on an average for the next handset. This price has declined in the past three years since the study was first conducted. The average price paid for the current handset by and Indian mobile user is Rs 3,700. The 'incremental spend' for the next hand has grown to Rs 3,200 indicating that the experienced users are willing to spend higher amount for purchase of their next handset," said IDC India Senior Manager Consumer Research Shailendra Gupta said.
IDC's India Mobile Handset Usage and Satisfaction Study 2007 was conducted on a sample of 4,760 mobile (GSM and CDMA) handset users in 18 cities including the four metros (Delhi, Mumbai Chennai and Kolkata).
The IDC India study indicates that a mobile handset is used for 56 minutes a day on an average for voice communication (both incoming and outgoing calls) showing an improvement of 5 minutes over 51 minutes per day a year ago.
On SMS, the second most commonly used service, usage has continued to increase in last three years. An average SMS user sends 8 messages in day, while the number of messages received is 10 per day. This is due to a number of messages from mobile service providers giving information about various downloads like ring tones, bill related information and promotional offers and contests.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Mobile advertising:The next big thing
Mobile advertising
The next big thing
Oct 4th 2007
From The Economist print edition: http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9912455
Marketers hail the mobile phone as advertising's promised land
Illustration by Claudio Munoz
ADVERTISING on mobile phones is a tiny business. Last year spending on mobile ads was $871m worldwide according to Informa Telecoms & Media, a research firm, compared with $24 billion spent on internet advertising and $450 billion spent on all advertising. But marketing wizards are beginning to talk about it with the sort of hyperbole they normally reserve for products they are paid to sell. It is destined, some say, to supplant not only internet advertising, the latest fad, but also television, radio, print and billboards, the four traditional pillars of the business.
At the moment, most mobile advertising takes the form of text messages. But telecoms firms are also beginning to deliver ads to handsets alongside video clips, web pages, and music and game downloads, through mobiles that are nifty enough to permit such things. Informa forecasts that annual expenditure will reach $11.4 billion by 2011. Other analysts predict the market will be as big as $20 billion by then.
The 2.5 billion mobile phones around the world can potentially reach a much bigger audience than the planet's billion or so personal computers. The number of mobile phones in use is also growing much faster than the number of computers, especially in poorer countries. Better yet, most people carry their mobile with them everywhere—something that cannot be said of television or computers.
Yet the biggest selling point of mobile ads is what marketing types call “relevance”. Advertisers believe that about half of all traditional advertising does not reach the right audience. Less effort (and money) is wasted with online advertising: half of it is sold on a “pay-per-click” basis, which means advertisers pay only when consumers click on an ad. But mobile advertising through text messages is the most focused: if marketers use mobile firms' profiles of their customers cleverly enough, they can tailor their advertisements to match each subscriber's habits.
In September Blyk, a new mobile operator, launched a service in Britain that aims to do just that. It offers subscribers 217 free text messages and 43 free minutes of voice calls per month as long as they agree to receive six advertisements by text message every day. To sign up for the service, customers must fill out a questionnaire about their hobbies and habits. So advertisers can target their messages very precisely. “Britain is the largest, but also the trickiest European ad market, so if it works here it will work everywhere,” says Pekka Ala-Pietila, chief executive and one of the founders of Blyk.
Last year America's Virgin Mobile tried something similar with its “Sugar Mama” programme, which offers subscribers the choice between receiving an ad via text message or viewing a 45-second advertisement when browsing the internet in exchange for one free minute of talk time. Those who spend five minutes filling out a questionnaire online get five more minutes. Sugar Mama is proving popular: at the end of August Ultramercial, the company that manages the scheme, reported that Virgin Mobile had given away more than 10m free minutes.
Vodafone, a big mobile operator based in Britain, sees mobile advertising as a potentially lucrative source of additional income. For the time being, most of the ads on its network are still text messages, although it has begun displaying ads on Vodafone live!, its mobile internet homepage, through which subscribers access the internet and download videos and music. Vodafone is also running several pilots, says Richard Saggers, the head of its mobile advertising unit, in which subscribers receive free content in exchange for viewing ads. Earlier this year, subscribers in Britain were given the option of downloading footage from “Big Brother”, a reality-TV show, in exchange for viewing a promotional video clip. The firm has also offered free video games punctuated with ads to customers in Greece, and free text messages to Czech students who agree to accept ads in the same format.
Most mobile advertising strategies now rely on text messages, since few customers have taken to more elaborate services that allow them to download music, games and videos and to surf the web. Only 12% of subscribers in America and western Europe used their mobiles to access the internet at the end of 2006. Most people think mobile screens are too small for watching TV programmes or playing games, although newer models, such as Apple's iPhone, boast bigger and brighter screens.
That is not the only problem. While consumers are used to ads on television and radio, they consider their mobiles a more personal device. A flood of advertising might offend its audience, and thus undermine its own value. Tolerance of advertising also differs from one market to another. In the Middle East, for example, unsolicited text messages are quite common, and do not prompt many complaints. But subscribers might not prove so open-minded in Europe or America.
Another hitch, says Nicky Walton-Flynn of Informa, is that operators have lots of databases with information about their clients' habits that would be of great interest to advertisers. But privacy laws may prevent them from sharing it. Moreover, advertisers, operators and middlemen have not agreed a common format for this information, nor worked out how to share the revenue it might yield.
Some think these obstacles will confine mobile advertising to a niche for years to come. But others see a whole new world of possibilities, as more people use their phones to access the internet and consumers grow used to the intrusion. Mobile phones, some of which are now equipped with satellite-positioning technology (see article), could be used to alert people to the charms of stores or restaurants they are walking or driving past.
Tying ads to online searches from mobile phones is another potential goldmine. A subscriber typing in “pizza” for instance, could receive ads for nearby pizza parlours along with his generic search results. Such a customer, mobile operators hope, is likely to be more grateful than annoyed by the intrusion. What could be more relevant than that?
The next big thing
Oct 4th 2007
From The Economist print edition: http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9912455
Marketers hail the mobile phone as advertising's promised land
Illustration by Claudio Munoz
ADVERTISING on mobile phones is a tiny business. Last year spending on mobile ads was $871m worldwide according to Informa Telecoms & Media, a research firm, compared with $24 billion spent on internet advertising and $450 billion spent on all advertising. But marketing wizards are beginning to talk about it with the sort of hyperbole they normally reserve for products they are paid to sell. It is destined, some say, to supplant not only internet advertising, the latest fad, but also television, radio, print and billboards, the four traditional pillars of the business.
At the moment, most mobile advertising takes the form of text messages. But telecoms firms are also beginning to deliver ads to handsets alongside video clips, web pages, and music and game downloads, through mobiles that are nifty enough to permit such things. Informa forecasts that annual expenditure will reach $11.4 billion by 2011. Other analysts predict the market will be as big as $20 billion by then.
The 2.5 billion mobile phones around the world can potentially reach a much bigger audience than the planet's billion or so personal computers. The number of mobile phones in use is also growing much faster than the number of computers, especially in poorer countries. Better yet, most people carry their mobile with them everywhere—something that cannot be said of television or computers.
Yet the biggest selling point of mobile ads is what marketing types call “relevance”. Advertisers believe that about half of all traditional advertising does not reach the right audience. Less effort (and money) is wasted with online advertising: half of it is sold on a “pay-per-click” basis, which means advertisers pay only when consumers click on an ad. But mobile advertising through text messages is the most focused: if marketers use mobile firms' profiles of their customers cleverly enough, they can tailor their advertisements to match each subscriber's habits.
In September Blyk, a new mobile operator, launched a service in Britain that aims to do just that. It offers subscribers 217 free text messages and 43 free minutes of voice calls per month as long as they agree to receive six advertisements by text message every day. To sign up for the service, customers must fill out a questionnaire about their hobbies and habits. So advertisers can target their messages very precisely. “Britain is the largest, but also the trickiest European ad market, so if it works here it will work everywhere,” says Pekka Ala-Pietila, chief executive and one of the founders of Blyk.
Last year America's Virgin Mobile tried something similar with its “Sugar Mama” programme, which offers subscribers the choice between receiving an ad via text message or viewing a 45-second advertisement when browsing the internet in exchange for one free minute of talk time. Those who spend five minutes filling out a questionnaire online get five more minutes. Sugar Mama is proving popular: at the end of August Ultramercial, the company that manages the scheme, reported that Virgin Mobile had given away more than 10m free minutes.
Vodafone, a big mobile operator based in Britain, sees mobile advertising as a potentially lucrative source of additional income. For the time being, most of the ads on its network are still text messages, although it has begun displaying ads on Vodafone live!, its mobile internet homepage, through which subscribers access the internet and download videos and music. Vodafone is also running several pilots, says Richard Saggers, the head of its mobile advertising unit, in which subscribers receive free content in exchange for viewing ads. Earlier this year, subscribers in Britain were given the option of downloading footage from “Big Brother”, a reality-TV show, in exchange for viewing a promotional video clip. The firm has also offered free video games punctuated with ads to customers in Greece, and free text messages to Czech students who agree to accept ads in the same format.
Most mobile advertising strategies now rely on text messages, since few customers have taken to more elaborate services that allow them to download music, games and videos and to surf the web. Only 12% of subscribers in America and western Europe used their mobiles to access the internet at the end of 2006. Most people think mobile screens are too small for watching TV programmes or playing games, although newer models, such as Apple's iPhone, boast bigger and brighter screens.
That is not the only problem. While consumers are used to ads on television and radio, they consider their mobiles a more personal device. A flood of advertising might offend its audience, and thus undermine its own value. Tolerance of advertising also differs from one market to another. In the Middle East, for example, unsolicited text messages are quite common, and do not prompt many complaints. But subscribers might not prove so open-minded in Europe or America.
Another hitch, says Nicky Walton-Flynn of Informa, is that operators have lots of databases with information about their clients' habits that would be of great interest to advertisers. But privacy laws may prevent them from sharing it. Moreover, advertisers, operators and middlemen have not agreed a common format for this information, nor worked out how to share the revenue it might yield.
Some think these obstacles will confine mobile advertising to a niche for years to come. But others see a whole new world of possibilities, as more people use their phones to access the internet and consumers grow used to the intrusion. Mobile phones, some of which are now equipped with satellite-positioning technology (see article), could be used to alert people to the charms of stores or restaurants they are walking or driving past.
Tying ads to online searches from mobile phones is another potential goldmine. A subscriber typing in “pizza” for instance, could receive ads for nearby pizza parlours along with his generic search results. Such a customer, mobile operators hope, is likely to be more grateful than annoyed by the intrusion. What could be more relevant than that?
7 Habits of Highly Effective Managers
7 Habits of Highly Effective Managers
[source : http://foundread.com/2007/10/18/7-habits-of-highly-effective-managers/]
I listened to a Webinar today billed as a tutorial on how to excel as a product manager. The session was led by a woman named Alyssa Dver who is CEO of a startup called Wander Wear, the founder of Type @ Consulting, and author of a successful book on the topic called “Software Product Management Essentials.”
Initially, I took in the Webinar because I figured the product manager is one of the most important employees a startup has; and a founder definitely needs to be able to tell if their product manager is any good, right? But half-way through, I realized Ms. Dver’s advice is applicable to any manager, to any founder, even to any employee who wishes to be ‘highly effective.’ So, I’ve summarized and translated her ’7 Habits,’ below.
There are some very good metrics in her program that ought to help you measure and improve product management within your company (like: what percent of your product manager’s time should be spent in meetings; and in what kind of meetings) so do go to Red Canary, another great founders’ site based in Canada, and listen to the whole program.
Meanwhile, just read ‘manager’, or ‘employee’ (or ‘person’!) wherever you see the term ‘product manger’ below.
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective (Product) Managers
1) Know your limits. Great product mangers know their limits. They know their product, but they aren’t a ‘know it all.’ Don’t try to talk the technical talk or the financial talk or the marketing talk when those division heads are in the room with you. Let others present to management or to customers in their areas of expertise. Respect the various department heads. Product mangers lose their credibility very quickly by trying to speak to everything. Be OK with saying ‘I don’t know, but I’ll find the person who does know.’ In other words: have command of your expertise, but defer to those who know more than you do about other things. This conveys good judgement.
2) Listen first before speaking. Good product mangers are master communicators. They listen even better than they speak. They gather information that is important to their audience, from their audience, before they begin speaking at their audience. The audience might be a group of customers, or managers, the board, or investors, etc. Good product managers are information collectors and information vetters. But this means listening, to collect and vet, before you begin evangelizing.
3) Ask ‘Why?’ not ‘What?’ Why do you want this product feature over that one? So if I ask you, ‘do you want it red, or do you want it blue?’ You say ‘blue!’ OK, so I make it blue. But at the end of the day, I might have to change it to green because I didn’t ever ask you why you wanted it to be blue. The important information, Dver is saying, isn’t what someone wants, but their motive for wanting it— the reason why. If you know why someone wants something (e.g., a product, a term in a deal, a raise, etc.) you are more empowered to come up with a solution that will meet their real need, and in a way that works for you as well. The question ‘what do you want,’ will tell you exactly one fact. But asking ‘why do you want that’ actually gives you understanding.
4) Be decisive. Good product managers make the decision. Sometimes ‘the decision’ can mean saying: ‘I’m not ready to make a decision today, but I will make a decision by this date.’ Being decisive and not wishy washy is a key ingrediant of good product management. You will NEVER have all the information in hand that you would like. That is a fact of life. But you are always able to make the best decision you can with the info set you have at the time, this is very important. A good product manager will say ‘this is what we’re going to do.’ Then, if a key piece of information comes in later that [contravenes your decision], good product management means having the courage to say ‘OK, let’s take a look at that, and if it makes sense, we will change our position.’ This equates to confidence, which equates to credibility. Both are key attributes of great product managers.
5) Be responsive. You don’t have to answer every email or every phone call. But you should try. Ignoring people is NOT good. We know this intuitively. When someone is trying to get your attnention, it is because something is important to them. When you choose not to respond, or you choose to ignore them, they will take it personally. A lack of response says to that person ‘I’m not important to [my manager]; so [my manager] is not important to me.’ In this way, the manager loses credibility. The employee might be (unconsciously) thinking ‘if my manager can’t even answer my email, what else can’t he do?’ So when you don’t have the answer(s) to an inquiry, respond anyway with something like, ‘I plan on getting back to you I just don’t have all the information right now, but your message is important to me.’ Respond with something that makes the other person feel attended to, and important to you. Good product managers are attentive, and that means being repsonsive.
6) Communicate frequently. This is the proactive side of ‘be responsive.’ You must also communicate of your own volition, and frequently. Send out status reports. Keep information flowing so that people aren’t harassing you with questions like ‘what’s going on?’ If it helps, Refer people to earlier emails or reports you’ve issued to keep the information flow going. But also communicate concretely, and concisely. People need status reports to make them feel ‘in the loop.’ This is easily accomplished if you communicate often. Just keep it short and sweet.
7) Manage passion. Passion is great, and great product managers are very passionate people. We love our products they’re our babies (sounds like founders!). We want to tell people about them and make others love [our baby], too. But somebody who has too much passion, who doesn’t shut-up enough to listen, or who doesn’t want to hear that their baby might not be ‘perfect,’ will also lose his/her credibility quickly. You need other people’s perspectives, and criticisms. So don’t be the kind of prodcut manager who won’t stop to hear that the baby isn’t perfect. Be enthusiastic but not so overzealous that you lose track of what the mission is: To succeed. Passion motivates you to execute, but passion is not execution. And without execution there is no success.
There was much more in Ms. Dver’s Webinar, so as I said, go to Red Canary and listen to the whole thing. She concludes by listing the 3 characteristics of a successful product manager: A humble leader. A careful communicator. An avid student. Her ’7 Habits’ will go a long way toward helping you acquire them, too.
[source : http://foundread.com/2007/10/18/7-habits-of-highly-effective-managers/]
I listened to a Webinar today billed as a tutorial on how to excel as a product manager. The session was led by a woman named Alyssa Dver who is CEO of a startup called Wander Wear, the founder of Type @ Consulting, and author of a successful book on the topic called “Software Product Management Essentials.”
Initially, I took in the Webinar because I figured the product manager is one of the most important employees a startup has; and a founder definitely needs to be able to tell if their product manager is any good, right? But half-way through, I realized Ms. Dver’s advice is applicable to any manager, to any founder, even to any employee who wishes to be ‘highly effective.’ So, I’ve summarized and translated her ’7 Habits,’ below.
There are some very good metrics in her program that ought to help you measure and improve product management within your company (like: what percent of your product manager’s time should be spent in meetings; and in what kind of meetings) so do go to Red Canary, another great founders’ site based in Canada, and listen to the whole program.
Meanwhile, just read ‘manager’, or ‘employee’ (or ‘person’!) wherever you see the term ‘product manger’ below.
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective (Product) Managers
1) Know your limits. Great product mangers know their limits. They know their product, but they aren’t a ‘know it all.’ Don’t try to talk the technical talk or the financial talk or the marketing talk when those division heads are in the room with you. Let others present to management or to customers in their areas of expertise. Respect the various department heads. Product mangers lose their credibility very quickly by trying to speak to everything. Be OK with saying ‘I don’t know, but I’ll find the person who does know.’ In other words: have command of your expertise, but defer to those who know more than you do about other things. This conveys good judgement.
2) Listen first before speaking. Good product mangers are master communicators. They listen even better than they speak. They gather information that is important to their audience, from their audience, before they begin speaking at their audience. The audience might be a group of customers, or managers, the board, or investors, etc. Good product managers are information collectors and information vetters. But this means listening, to collect and vet, before you begin evangelizing.
3) Ask ‘Why?’ not ‘What?’ Why do you want this product feature over that one? So if I ask you, ‘do you want it red, or do you want it blue?’ You say ‘blue!’ OK, so I make it blue. But at the end of the day, I might have to change it to green because I didn’t ever ask you why you wanted it to be blue. The important information, Dver is saying, isn’t what someone wants, but their motive for wanting it— the reason why. If you know why someone wants something (e.g., a product, a term in a deal, a raise, etc.) you are more empowered to come up with a solution that will meet their real need, and in a way that works for you as well. The question ‘what do you want,’ will tell you exactly one fact. But asking ‘why do you want that’ actually gives you understanding.
4) Be decisive. Good product managers make the decision. Sometimes ‘the decision’ can mean saying: ‘I’m not ready to make a decision today, but I will make a decision by this date.’ Being decisive and not wishy washy is a key ingrediant of good product management. You will NEVER have all the information in hand that you would like. That is a fact of life. But you are always able to make the best decision you can with the info set you have at the time, this is very important. A good product manager will say ‘this is what we’re going to do.’ Then, if a key piece of information comes in later that [contravenes your decision], good product management means having the courage to say ‘OK, let’s take a look at that, and if it makes sense, we will change our position.’ This equates to confidence, which equates to credibility. Both are key attributes of great product managers.
5) Be responsive. You don’t have to answer every email or every phone call. But you should try. Ignoring people is NOT good. We know this intuitively. When someone is trying to get your attnention, it is because something is important to them. When you choose not to respond, or you choose to ignore them, they will take it personally. A lack of response says to that person ‘I’m not important to [my manager]; so [my manager] is not important to me.’ In this way, the manager loses credibility. The employee might be (unconsciously) thinking ‘if my manager can’t even answer my email, what else can’t he do?’ So when you don’t have the answer(s) to an inquiry, respond anyway with something like, ‘I plan on getting back to you I just don’t have all the information right now, but your message is important to me.’ Respond with something that makes the other person feel attended to, and important to you. Good product managers are attentive, and that means being repsonsive.
6) Communicate frequently. This is the proactive side of ‘be responsive.’ You must also communicate of your own volition, and frequently. Send out status reports. Keep information flowing so that people aren’t harassing you with questions like ‘what’s going on?’ If it helps, Refer people to earlier emails or reports you’ve issued to keep the information flow going. But also communicate concretely, and concisely. People need status reports to make them feel ‘in the loop.’ This is easily accomplished if you communicate often. Just keep it short and sweet.
7) Manage passion. Passion is great, and great product managers are very passionate people. We love our products they’re our babies (sounds like founders!). We want to tell people about them and make others love [our baby], too. But somebody who has too much passion, who doesn’t shut-up enough to listen, or who doesn’t want to hear that their baby might not be ‘perfect,’ will also lose his/her credibility quickly. You need other people’s perspectives, and criticisms. So don’t be the kind of prodcut manager who won’t stop to hear that the baby isn’t perfect. Be enthusiastic but not so overzealous that you lose track of what the mission is: To succeed. Passion motivates you to execute, but passion is not execution. And without execution there is no success.
There was much more in Ms. Dver’s Webinar, so as I said, go to Red Canary and listen to the whole thing. She concludes by listing the 3 characteristics of a successful product manager: A humble leader. A careful communicator. An avid student. Her ’7 Habits’ will go a long way toward helping you acquire them, too.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Google Buys Jaiku
Google Buys Jaiku
[source :http://mashable.com/2007/10/09/jaiku-google/]
Breaking: Google (GOOG) has bought Jaiku, a Finland-based mobile IM and presence company. The news just broke, where else, but on Jaiku. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The details of the deal are on the Jaiku blog, and the company has put up FAQ for current users. This is indeed good news for the small Jaiku team, and another piece of the Google Phone Puzzle.
Activity streams and mobile presence are important areas where we believe Google can add a lot of value for users. Jaiku’s technology and talented team are a great addition to Google’s current application and mobile teamsAt first glance, this is an excellent acquisition on the part of Google. OK, time for me to sit down and start making sense of all the Google acquisitions in the mobile and VoIP space.
[source :http://mashable.com/2007/10/09/jaiku-google/]
Breaking: Google (GOOG) has bought Jaiku, a Finland-based mobile IM and presence company. The news just broke, where else, but on Jaiku. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The details of the deal are on the Jaiku blog, and the company has put up FAQ for current users. This is indeed good news for the small Jaiku team, and another piece of the Google Phone Puzzle.
Activity streams and mobile presence are important areas where we believe Google can add a lot of value for users. Jaiku’s technology and talented team are a great addition to Google’s current application and mobile teamsAt first glance, this is an excellent acquisition on the part of Google. OK, time for me to sit down and start making sense of all the Google acquisitions in the mobile and VoIP space.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Iphone in UK and Europe: might go any way, people might make it hit or just ignore !
Apple announced the launch of iPhone in one country or other in Europe - UK with mobile carrier o2, Germany with mobile carrier T-Mobile in the last two days - and today Apple announced its launch in France with mobile carrier Orange.
Apple seems to be choosing a different carrier every time, but just one carrier in each country.
It will be interesting to watch as all these country launches will happen on Nov 9, 2007 , as Ipod touch seems to have given Iphone less craze here in UK. Lets see how Europe would react to it !!
My general view: here SonyEricsson and Nokia have very good proposition compared to Iphone. As we view its not that leap through technology, exception the UI which we all agree is way ahead.
Apple seems to be choosing a different carrier every time, but just one carrier in each country.
It will be interesting to watch as all these country launches will happen on Nov 9, 2007 , as Ipod touch seems to have given Iphone less craze here in UK. Lets see how Europe would react to it !!
My general view: here SonyEricsson and Nokia have very good proposition compared to Iphone. As we view its not that leap through technology, exception the UI which we all agree is way ahead.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Xobni is cool app
First lets look at Xobni (pick for the coolest company) and what they have built.
They have an adjunct application for Microsoft Outlook, which scans through the entire email database and quickly establishes relationships among the people you email, and ranks them according to frequencies and relevance.
The best feature of this application is that it can tell you when a specific person is most likely to reply to you and how quickly. It is not discovery and presence in the purist sense, but it’s close enough. Future versions of Xobni’s software will bring together various web services — everything from Flickr photos to Twitter. I like the idea of a quick query that matches a name with a photo from Flickr or Photobucket.
(If you want to try Xobni, use invite code GigaOM — only the first 100 people are going to get the beta downloads.)
They have an adjunct application for Microsoft Outlook, which scans through the entire email database and quickly establishes relationships among the people you email, and ranks them according to frequencies and relevance.
The best feature of this application is that it can tell you when a specific person is most likely to reply to you and how quickly. It is not discovery and presence in the purist sense, but it’s close enough. Future versions of Xobni’s software will bring together various web services — everything from Flickr photos to Twitter. I like the idea of a quick query that matches a name with a photo from Flickr or Photobucket.
(If you want to try Xobni, use invite code GigaOM — only the first 100 people are going to get the beta downloads.)
Friday, September 14, 2007
HTTP vs. POP vs. IMAP vs. Exchange
HTTP vs. POP vs. IMAP vs. Exchange
HTTP
Web-based email
Not made for access other than the web
Some HTTP accounts can be checked given the right client tool (like Outlook can check Hotmail)
POP
Not made for keeping multiple computers/devices and web in sync
Generally, mail is downloaded from the server upon checking it (unless you use a tool like Outlook which has the ability to leave it on the server)
Even if you leave messages on the server, if you delete on remote device, it will not delete on the server (unless you have a client tool like Outlook which will give you some options)
If you send from remote device, it is not pushed to a sent items folders on the server
Only brings messages down in the Inbox (not sub-folders)
No good push capability for mobile devices (as of this writing)
POP is low cost
Most personal email accounts use POP (i.e. Gmail)
IMAP
Keeps multiple computers/devices and web in sync
Mail is left on the server when checked
Inbox and sub-folders are brought down to client machine/device
Push mail available on mobile devices, but many complain of poor support
Newer than POP
Catching on among personal users who do not have Exchange
Exchange
The most robust email platform
Mail is kept on the server
Allows calendar, tasks, notes, etc. in addition to email
Allows group collaboration of calendars, etc. when used in a group environment
Excellent about keeping everything (PCs/mobile devices/web) in sync
Push email for mobile devices (Blackberry and non-Blackberry with Exchange ActiveSync)
Pretty much the standard for medium size and enterprise email/collaboration
Expensive
Gaining popularity among small businesses and personal users as it becomes more affordable
…maybe, one day, I’ll turn this into a more complete chart of features to allow for generic comparison. But I will note, that there is a different connotation, a different aura that doesn’t fit into a particular feature list about each of these. For now, I will suggest that you should use Exchange since you are a blog reader of mine and are therefore technically-savvy, business-savvy, and/or someone who copies what I do since I know what I’m doing.
HTTP
Web-based email
Not made for access other than the web
Some HTTP accounts can be checked given the right client tool (like Outlook can check Hotmail)
POP
Not made for keeping multiple computers/devices and web in sync
Generally, mail is downloaded from the server upon checking it (unless you use a tool like Outlook which has the ability to leave it on the server)
Even if you leave messages on the server, if you delete on remote device, it will not delete on the server (unless you have a client tool like Outlook which will give you some options)
If you send from remote device, it is not pushed to a sent items folders on the server
Only brings messages down in the Inbox (not sub-folders)
No good push capability for mobile devices (as of this writing)
POP is low cost
Most personal email accounts use POP (i.e. Gmail)
IMAP
Keeps multiple computers/devices and web in sync
Mail is left on the server when checked
Inbox and sub-folders are brought down to client machine/device
Push mail available on mobile devices, but many complain of poor support
Newer than POP
Catching on among personal users who do not have Exchange
Exchange
The most robust email platform
Mail is kept on the server
Allows calendar, tasks, notes, etc. in addition to email
Allows group collaboration of calendars, etc. when used in a group environment
Excellent about keeping everything (PCs/mobile devices/web) in sync
Push email for mobile devices (Blackberry and non-Blackberry with Exchange ActiveSync)
Pretty much the standard for medium size and enterprise email/collaboration
Expensive
Gaining popularity among small businesses and personal users as it becomes more affordable
…maybe, one day, I’ll turn this into a more complete chart of features to allow for generic comparison. But I will note, that there is a different connotation, a different aura that doesn’t fit into a particular feature list about each of these. For now, I will suggest that you should use Exchange since you are a blog reader of mine and are therefore technically-savvy, business-savvy, and/or someone who copies what I do since I know what I’m doing.
Monday, September 10, 2007
Can Samsung Hold Off A Resurgent Motorola?
UPDATE: Can Samsung Hold Off A Resurgent Motorola?
[Source: http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200709100822DOWJONESDJONLINE000211_FORTUNE5.htm
]
LONDON (Dow Jones) -- None of its phones have triggered the excitement of Apple's iPhone or the mass buying of Motorola's RAZR, yet South Korea's Samsung Electronics over the summer quietly became the world's No. 2 seller of mobile phones behind Nokia Corp.
The wireless industry, momentarily thrown into a tizzy by the arrival of the iPhone, paid little attention as the Asian titan surpassed Motorola (MOT) in terms of market share.
Yet the move invites an important question: Was it a fluke, or does Samsung have what it takes to hold off a resurgent Motorola in the longer term?
The U.S. vendor's woes over the last quarters -- from the lack of a convincing successor to the RAZR to a somewhat haphazard strategy and inventory gluts-- no doubt played an important part in Samsung's surge ahead.
Yet the group's (SSNGY) ascent can't be dismissed solely as the result of its nearest competitor's mistakes. Industry observers say it may be sowing the seeds of a longer-lived domination.
Samsung, which has built a reputation for churning out attractive phones quickly, but is sometimes criticized for copying its competitors' designs, is skillfully tweaking its strategy.
In the last two quarters, it has departed slightly from an exclusive focus on the high end to launch less sophisticated models aimed at helping it gain share in the mid-market, where its ever-thinner phones hold great appeal. It's also looking to new territory, with plans to expand into the entry-level segment.
"Samsung is marketing and pricing aggressively to expand its entry-tier product line and to take share from a downbeat Motorola in mid- and higher- tiers," said Neil Mawston, associate director in the global wireless practice of research firm Strategy Analytics.
Those tactics are clearly paying off. It had 15% of the global market in the second quarter compared to 14% for Motorola and 39% for Nokia (NOK) , according to Strategy Analytics.
Motorola: the comeback kid?
Despite two restructuring initiatives announced so far this year and a management shakeup within the mobile-devices unit, industry observers don't expect a recovery anytime soon at Motorola.
"I don't see their situation improving for the next two quarters at least," said Shaleindra Pandey, a telecoms analyst at ABI Research. "They're going to need to come up with something better than yet another RAZR."
Motorola's shares have fallen 29% over the past 12 months. Samsung shares have lost 13% over the same period.
A strategy presentation last Friday did little to reassure investors that the company has gotten its magic back.
Richard Windsor, an analyst with Nomura International, said he believes just stabilizing the business will be much harder than management suggests.
"We think the difficulties that the mobile devices division faces have been underplayed," Windsor said, adding that big market share gains are unlikely in the short term.
Blaine Carroll, an analyst for FTN Midwest, is similarly cautious. He said in a note last month that he expects Motorola to continue to lose market share in the third quarter to the four other major vendors -- Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson (SNE) (ERICY) and LG. He also said handset estimates could be revised lower in the fourth quarter.
Credit Suisse analysts were even more pessimistic, cautioning in a note last week that Motorola is likely to remain on the back foot until the second half of 2008. In Western Europe, where Motorola has a historically weaker position, particularly relative to Nokia, the recovery could take even longer, they warned, because of the need to introduce brand new lines.
The Credit Suisse analysts said that while they believe Motorola will eventually return to being a robust player, the recovery will only happen once it has stopped oozing market share, revamped its portfolio, particularly in 3G, and is achieving operating margins close to double-digits again.
Geoff Blaber, a senior analyst at research firm CCS Insight, explained that Motorola's product roadmap in the mid-range and high-end segments was substantially affected by software problems when the company transitioned its software from a proprietary platform to a Java Linux system. As a result, the vendor wasn't able to develop new handsets as quickly as its competitors.
"It is crucial for Motorola to demonstrate that they're over these software problems and that the new Linux-Java platform is up and running," he said.
"Then we need them to start rolling out new products much more often, particularly in 3G," he added.
For now, unfortunately, there seems to be little enthusiasm for Motorola's latest products.
Initial sales of the RIZR Z8, a new high-end "kick slider" device, appear to have gotten off to a slow start, Oppenheimer analysts told clients at the end of July. According to Mobile Today's Mobile Tracker service in the U.K., the RIZR Z8 ranked as the twentieth best-selling contract handset in the weeks ending July 20 and July 27. It then dropped even further down.
"The Z8 'media monster' hasn't really shaken people up," said Carolina Milanesi, research director in the mobile and consumer device practice of Gartner.
"They made a big splash at the 3GSM telecoms trade show because of the ergonomics, but it doesn't have any must-have feature. And it's still focused on video, which is a hard sell," she said.
During the summer Motorola also introduced the W series, targeted at the mass market, and its new RAZR, simply called the RAZR2, which many analysts said may have been the first mistake.
"If you're going to upgrade from your current phone, you want the new phone to sound like something new and exciting," Milanesi said.
She added that while many consumers were persuaded to buy the original RAZR because of its hot looks and despite its poor functionality, they may not show the same enthusiasm for the RAZR2 in the absence of a similar design edge.
Motorola management itself concedes the company will need more than a new bestseller to turn its fortunes around. In an investor presentation last week, Chief Financial Officer Tom Meredith said that while a new hit product would be great, it's not absolutely necessary for the company to return to profitability or regain market share. What the group really needs, he said is to be "boringly consistent" and improve its cost structure.
Samsung
So it looks as though Samsung will get another few quarters to endear itself to consumers and operators.
"They're in a very, very strong position at the moment," said CCS Insight's Blaber. "I would expect them to maintain their No. 2 position in the next few months at least," he added.
Devices such as the ultra thin U600 are doing extremely well in several European markets, and the U.K. in particular. Samsung is also introducing a new phone equipped with a 5 megapixel camera, albeit at a much lower price than rival models from the likes of Sony Ericsson and LG.
Blaber said the device is likely to gain a lot of attention and exemplifies Samsung's strategy of using "halo" products to attract new customers.
The Korean maker is able to offer the phone at a cut-throat price because it's only 2.5G, Blaber said. The vendor's strong manufacturing capabilities and vertically integrated business model, with many of the components produced in- house, are another bonus.
But despite all its recent success, Samsung is not without weaknesses.
The most blatant one until recently, according to some industry observers, has been a lack of true design innovation, with the company relying instead on its ability to quickly imitate what worked for its competitors. For instance, shortly after Nokia launched its L'Amour collection of phones in soft colors targeted at women, Samsung debuted its La Fleur range, using similar hues and flowery prints.
"They're happy to just basically copy what's working for the other vendors," said Gartner's Milanesi.
She is also concerned about the lack of a clear long-term strategy, stressing that the vendor only seem to be focused on getting thinner at the moment.
Blaber, however, pointed out that Samsung's designs are becoming more and more revolutionary with models such as the "flipper" F300, with one side for playing music and videos and the other featuring a regular phone and keypad.
With the help of such attraction-grabbing phones, Credit Suisse analysts expect Samsung's market share to continue to increase.
"Recent market share data show that Samsung is well on track with its expansion strategy as it benefited from Motorola's loss, especially in China, with a handsome contribution from the low-end segment," the broker said. (END) Dow Jones Newswires
09-10-07 0822ET
Copyright (c) 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
[Source: http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200709100822DOWJONESDJONLINE000211_FORTUNE5.htm
]
LONDON (Dow Jones) -- None of its phones have triggered the excitement of Apple's iPhone or the mass buying of Motorola's RAZR, yet South Korea's Samsung Electronics over the summer quietly became the world's No. 2 seller of mobile phones behind Nokia Corp.
The wireless industry, momentarily thrown into a tizzy by the arrival of the iPhone, paid little attention as the Asian titan surpassed Motorola (MOT) in terms of market share.
Yet the move invites an important question: Was it a fluke, or does Samsung have what it takes to hold off a resurgent Motorola in the longer term?
The U.S. vendor's woes over the last quarters -- from the lack of a convincing successor to the RAZR to a somewhat haphazard strategy and inventory gluts-- no doubt played an important part in Samsung's surge ahead.
Yet the group's (SSNGY) ascent can't be dismissed solely as the result of its nearest competitor's mistakes. Industry observers say it may be sowing the seeds of a longer-lived domination.
Samsung, which has built a reputation for churning out attractive phones quickly, but is sometimes criticized for copying its competitors' designs, is skillfully tweaking its strategy.
In the last two quarters, it has departed slightly from an exclusive focus on the high end to launch less sophisticated models aimed at helping it gain share in the mid-market, where its ever-thinner phones hold great appeal. It's also looking to new territory, with plans to expand into the entry-level segment.
"Samsung is marketing and pricing aggressively to expand its entry-tier product line and to take share from a downbeat Motorola in mid- and higher- tiers," said Neil Mawston, associate director in the global wireless practice of research firm Strategy Analytics.
Those tactics are clearly paying off. It had 15% of the global market in the second quarter compared to 14% for Motorola and 39% for Nokia (NOK) , according to Strategy Analytics.
Motorola: the comeback kid?
Despite two restructuring initiatives announced so far this year and a management shakeup within the mobile-devices unit, industry observers don't expect a recovery anytime soon at Motorola.
"I don't see their situation improving for the next two quarters at least," said Shaleindra Pandey, a telecoms analyst at ABI Research. "They're going to need to come up with something better than yet another RAZR."
Motorola's shares have fallen 29% over the past 12 months. Samsung shares have lost 13% over the same period.
A strategy presentation last Friday did little to reassure investors that the company has gotten its magic back.
Richard Windsor, an analyst with Nomura International, said he believes just stabilizing the business will be much harder than management suggests.
"We think the difficulties that the mobile devices division faces have been underplayed," Windsor said, adding that big market share gains are unlikely in the short term.
Blaine Carroll, an analyst for FTN Midwest, is similarly cautious. He said in a note last month that he expects Motorola to continue to lose market share in the third quarter to the four other major vendors -- Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson (SNE) (ERICY) and LG. He also said handset estimates could be revised lower in the fourth quarter.
Credit Suisse analysts were even more pessimistic, cautioning in a note last week that Motorola is likely to remain on the back foot until the second half of 2008. In Western Europe, where Motorola has a historically weaker position, particularly relative to Nokia, the recovery could take even longer, they warned, because of the need to introduce brand new lines.
The Credit Suisse analysts said that while they believe Motorola will eventually return to being a robust player, the recovery will only happen once it has stopped oozing market share, revamped its portfolio, particularly in 3G, and is achieving operating margins close to double-digits again.
Geoff Blaber, a senior analyst at research firm CCS Insight, explained that Motorola's product roadmap in the mid-range and high-end segments was substantially affected by software problems when the company transitioned its software from a proprietary platform to a Java Linux system. As a result, the vendor wasn't able to develop new handsets as quickly as its competitors.
"It is crucial for Motorola to demonstrate that they're over these software problems and that the new Linux-Java platform is up and running," he said.
"Then we need them to start rolling out new products much more often, particularly in 3G," he added.
For now, unfortunately, there seems to be little enthusiasm for Motorola's latest products.
Initial sales of the RIZR Z8, a new high-end "kick slider" device, appear to have gotten off to a slow start, Oppenheimer analysts told clients at the end of July. According to Mobile Today's Mobile Tracker service in the U.K., the RIZR Z8 ranked as the twentieth best-selling contract handset in the weeks ending July 20 and July 27. It then dropped even further down.
"The Z8 'media monster' hasn't really shaken people up," said Carolina Milanesi, research director in the mobile and consumer device practice of Gartner.
"They made a big splash at the 3GSM telecoms trade show because of the ergonomics, but it doesn't have any must-have feature. And it's still focused on video, which is a hard sell," she said.
During the summer Motorola also introduced the W series, targeted at the mass market, and its new RAZR, simply called the RAZR2, which many analysts said may have been the first mistake.
"If you're going to upgrade from your current phone, you want the new phone to sound like something new and exciting," Milanesi said.
She added that while many consumers were persuaded to buy the original RAZR because of its hot looks and despite its poor functionality, they may not show the same enthusiasm for the RAZR2 in the absence of a similar design edge.
Motorola management itself concedes the company will need more than a new bestseller to turn its fortunes around. In an investor presentation last week, Chief Financial Officer Tom Meredith said that while a new hit product would be great, it's not absolutely necessary for the company to return to profitability or regain market share. What the group really needs, he said is to be "boringly consistent" and improve its cost structure.
Samsung
So it looks as though Samsung will get another few quarters to endear itself to consumers and operators.
"They're in a very, very strong position at the moment," said CCS Insight's Blaber. "I would expect them to maintain their No. 2 position in the next few months at least," he added.
Devices such as the ultra thin U600 are doing extremely well in several European markets, and the U.K. in particular. Samsung is also introducing a new phone equipped with a 5 megapixel camera, albeit at a much lower price than rival models from the likes of Sony Ericsson and LG.
Blaber said the device is likely to gain a lot of attention and exemplifies Samsung's strategy of using "halo" products to attract new customers.
The Korean maker is able to offer the phone at a cut-throat price because it's only 2.5G, Blaber said. The vendor's strong manufacturing capabilities and vertically integrated business model, with many of the components produced in- house, are another bonus.
But despite all its recent success, Samsung is not without weaknesses.
The most blatant one until recently, according to some industry observers, has been a lack of true design innovation, with the company relying instead on its ability to quickly imitate what worked for its competitors. For instance, shortly after Nokia launched its L'Amour collection of phones in soft colors targeted at women, Samsung debuted its La Fleur range, using similar hues and flowery prints.
"They're happy to just basically copy what's working for the other vendors," said Gartner's Milanesi.
She is also concerned about the lack of a clear long-term strategy, stressing that the vendor only seem to be focused on getting thinner at the moment.
Blaber, however, pointed out that Samsung's designs are becoming more and more revolutionary with models such as the "flipper" F300, with one side for playing music and videos and the other featuring a regular phone and keypad.
With the help of such attraction-grabbing phones, Credit Suisse analysts expect Samsung's market share to continue to increase.
"Recent market share data show that Samsung is well on track with its expansion strategy as it benefited from Motorola's loss, especially in China, with a handsome contribution from the low-end segment," the broker said. (END) Dow Jones Newswires
09-10-07 0822ET
Copyright (c) 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
In Europe, They Like Their VoIP
In Europe, They Like Their VoIP
Voice over Internet Protocol is a fast-growing business in the United States, but it’s growing even faster in Europe, and its traction in the old world is only going to increase. With competitive broadband service providers (such as France’s Free and Talk Talk in the UK) offering flat-rate voice plans over their high-speed pipes and wireless carriers embracing triple-play offerings, Europe is poised to emerge as one of the regions where VoIP has a major impact.
According to market research firm Telegeography, consumer VoIP subscribers in Europe will reach 40 percent market penetration by 2011. That’s compared with the U.S., where total VoIP market penetration is forecast to top just 20 percent by the same year.
One of the main reasons for this is divergence: U.S. telecom incumbents AT&T (T) and Verizon (VZ) have more or less stayed out of the VoIP game, leaving the big push to come from cable operators such as Comcast (CMCSA) and Time Warner Cable (TWC). In the meantime, the independent voice service providers Vonage (VG) and SunRocket have fallen on hard times. Taken together, there were just 11.8 million VoIP subscribers in the U.S. at the end of the second quarter.
Conversely, the European incumbents — Britain’s BT Group (BT), France Telecom (FTE) and Deutsche Telekom (DT) of Germany — have responded to pressure from upstarts like Free, who have easier access to local loops, by becoming more active in their respective markets. And of course there’s Skype, which is extremely popular in Europe.
VoIP in Europe is also getting a boost from tiny tots such as Truphone, Fring, Jajah, Rebtel, Cellity — an ever-growing army of startups that is looking to lower the costs of making calls over wireless networks across Europe. The popularity of Wi-Fi enabled mobile phones is only going to accelerate the growth of VoIP on the old continent that much more.
Monday, August 27, 2007
Prediction: Sooner or later, Google will buy Twitter
[Source
Prediction: Sooner or later, Google will buy TwitterPosted by Russell Shaw
On one of the other blogs I write, I note that you can now import your Gmail contacts into Twitter.
BTW, only your Gmail contacts. For now.
It’s funny, this Google-Twitter connection. I know of at least two Google alumni who have gone over there. When I step back and take a wider view of the bigger picture, I see a scenario that shows a real collegial closeness between Google and Twitter.
As entrepreneurial as the Twitter folks are, and as strategically acquisitive as the Google folks are, I sense the inevitable. I can’t say when, or for how much, but write this down.
Google will buy Twitter. In fact, they should.
I can imagine Twitter functionality being appended to GoogleTalk, and perhaps even to Google’s newly acquired GrandCentral.
What about a clickable Twitter icon, say as a configuration option in Caller Settings as shown in this sample GrandCentral box?
Here:
Prediction: Sooner or later, Google will buy TwitterPosted by Russell Shaw
On one of the other blogs I write, I note that you can now import your Gmail contacts into Twitter.
BTW, only your Gmail contacts. For now.
It’s funny, this Google-Twitter connection. I know of at least two Google alumni who have gone over there. When I step back and take a wider view of the bigger picture, I see a scenario that shows a real collegial closeness between Google and Twitter.
As entrepreneurial as the Twitter folks are, and as strategically acquisitive as the Google folks are, I sense the inevitable. I can’t say when, or for how much, but write this down.
Google will buy Twitter. In fact, they should.
I can imagine Twitter functionality being appended to GoogleTalk, and perhaps even to Google’s newly acquired GrandCentral.
What about a clickable Twitter icon, say as a configuration option in Caller Settings as shown in this sample GrandCentral box?
Here:
All Hail The SMS
All Hail The SMS
[Source: Written by Om Malik ]
Short message service (SMS), aka text messaging, contrary to rumors of its pending demise and thanks to its relative simplicity and ease of use, keeps on growing in popularity. In fact, SMS usage keeps growing even despite the high tariffs imposed by carriers around the world. Paul Ruppert, a veteran of mobile business and now a consultant, notes that every year, 2.1 billion global mobile users send 3 trillion SMS messages.
Even in markets like the U.S., which lagged in embracing the ease and power of texting and seemingly preferred email and Instant Messaging, text messaging has become an intimate aspect of daily lives, especially for those 15 to 25.
And as SMS-over-IP technologies get further traction, SMS usage will not only continue to grow, but could very well end up being the glue that brings together our disparate means of communication. (Related Post: 7 ways to text message for productivity.) We are beginning to see commonly used communications applications embedding direct-to-SMS functionality. Take, for example, the new Yahoo Mail unveiled earlier today, which comes with free text messaging to mobile phone numbers (available in the U.S., Canada, India and the Philippines). It’s just the latest in a long line of free SMS services; you can send SMS from Skype or even from your AIM client. Meanwhile, Twitter, Jaiku, and scores of other applications are using SMS as a means to bridge the Web and mobile.
Fellow VoIP blogger Andy Abramson points out that SMS (thanks to its relative simplicity) can basically help bring together disparate services and overcome the messaging mess we deal with on a daily basis. Why?
Unlike the instant messaging networks where interoperability still remains a dream, mobile carriers — thanks to the money-making potential of SMS — are happy to interoperate with each other. And the higher usage will drive down costs, making it even more profitable for carriers. At least for SMS, greed turned out to be good.
The popularity of SMS parallels that of email: It is simple, easy and doesn’t need any expensive gear to send or receive. Like email, it is socialist in its usage — a cheap $50 phone can send and receive SMS messages from a luxury model, Nokia N95 and even more snobbish iPhone.
But unlike email, SMS remains an inherently private and intimate medium of communications, limited of course by 160 characters and a 10-cent-per-message charge (in the U.S., at least.) That, in and of itself, makes it more valuable.
Some (mostly entrepreneurs and venture capitalists) believe that like email, SMS is the vehicle for add-on-innovation. There are gaming companies that have turned SMS-based voting into a big business. Voice SMS is being talked about as the next big thing.
And while we wait for that to happen, let’s just all hail the SMS, the technology that lets me stay in touch with Mom — asynchronously, of course.
[Source: Written by Om Malik ]
Short message service (SMS), aka text messaging, contrary to rumors of its pending demise and thanks to its relative simplicity and ease of use, keeps on growing in popularity. In fact, SMS usage keeps growing even despite the high tariffs imposed by carriers around the world. Paul Ruppert, a veteran of mobile business and now a consultant, notes that every year, 2.1 billion global mobile users send 3 trillion SMS messages.
Even in markets like the U.S., which lagged in embracing the ease and power of texting and seemingly preferred email and Instant Messaging, text messaging has become an intimate aspect of daily lives, especially for those 15 to 25.
And as SMS-over-IP technologies get further traction, SMS usage will not only continue to grow, but could very well end up being the glue that brings together our disparate means of communication. (Related Post: 7 ways to text message for productivity.) We are beginning to see commonly used communications applications embedding direct-to-SMS functionality. Take, for example, the new Yahoo Mail unveiled earlier today, which comes with free text messaging to mobile phone numbers (available in the U.S., Canada, India and the Philippines). It’s just the latest in a long line of free SMS services; you can send SMS from Skype or even from your AIM client. Meanwhile, Twitter, Jaiku, and scores of other applications are using SMS as a means to bridge the Web and mobile.
Fellow VoIP blogger Andy Abramson points out that SMS (thanks to its relative simplicity) can basically help bring together disparate services and overcome the messaging mess we deal with on a daily basis. Why?
Unlike the instant messaging networks where interoperability still remains a dream, mobile carriers — thanks to the money-making potential of SMS — are happy to interoperate with each other. And the higher usage will drive down costs, making it even more profitable for carriers. At least for SMS, greed turned out to be good.
The popularity of SMS parallels that of email: It is simple, easy and doesn’t need any expensive gear to send or receive. Like email, it is socialist in its usage — a cheap $50 phone can send and receive SMS messages from a luxury model, Nokia N95 and even more snobbish iPhone.
But unlike email, SMS remains an inherently private and intimate medium of communications, limited of course by 160 characters and a 10-cent-per-message charge (in the U.S., at least.) That, in and of itself, makes it more valuable.
Some (mostly entrepreneurs and venture capitalists) believe that like email, SMS is the vehicle for add-on-innovation. There are gaming companies that have turned SMS-based voting into a big business. Voice SMS is being talked about as the next big thing.
And while we wait for that to happen, let’s just all hail the SMS, the technology that lets me stay in touch with Mom — asynchronously, of course.
Monday, August 20, 2007
Skype Tells Us What Happened
Skype Tells Us What Happened
Written by Om Malik Monday, August 20, 2007 at 8:45 AM PT
Skype’s Heartbeat Blog has an explanation for the 30-hour outage that plagued the eBay-owned (EBAY) voice company last week. A quick overview:
Microsoft issued Windows updates on Thursday, Aug. 16th.
Millions installed those patches, rebooted, and tried to log into the Skype network — pretty much all at the same time.
Combined with a lack of P2P resources, the flood of log-in requests put the Skype network under extreme stress.
This, in turn, exposed an unseen software bug “within the network resource allocation algorithm which prevented the self-healing function from working quickly.”
OK, it sounds credible — but do you buy it? Skype Journal has some questions, namely if the bug’s fix has been propagated. What, they ask, is preventing this from happening again? After all, Microsoft (MSFT) routinely issues patches. Borough Turner, chief technology officer of NSM Communications, alludes to this in his most recent post.
Experts have pointed out that Skype generates a lot of traffic between log-in servers and supernodes. Maybe the supernodes went down during the “patches” as well. Someone who seems to be familiar with the Skype network architecture left a comment earlier that explains this relationship between 50-odd authentication servers and supernodes and also a weak link.” (Full explanation is here.)
Monday, July 23, 2007
What They Don’t Teach You In School
What They Don’t Teach You In School
Posted By admin on March 27, 2007
Dr. Thomas J. Stanley, author of The Millionaire Mind, hasdedicated much of his life to studying what makesmillionaires successful. His research has revealed somevery unique insight into the mindset of the wealthy.
For example, he found that millionaires contributed theirsuccess to having strong social skills, having good mentors,developing persistence, having a supportive spouse, andworking in a career that they love to be the biggestfactors of success.
Having a high GPA in school was listed as one of the leastcontributing factors of their success. So while it may opensome doors, education is not what enables you to arrive atyour final destination.
As said by motivational speaker, Jim Rohn:
“A formal education will make you a living. Self-educationwill make you rich.”
With that said, we must question the true value of college.Is it really worth it? Well, I’ll leave that question forlater.
For now, I’d like to explore areas where are schools havefailed us. Yes, there are indeed some very simple factorsthat contribute strongly to your success. Unfortunately,they’re not being taught in the schools.
The first one is the concept of failure.
In school, kid’s learn that “failure” is a negative term.However, it is nothing of the sort. There has never been asingle successful person who hasn’t failed numerous times ontheir journey to success.
In fact, the most successful people in life are those whohave failed the most.
Edison ‘failed’ more than ten thousand times before hesucceeded in creating the light bulb. As said by ThomasEdison: “I have not failed 10,000 times. I havesuccessfully found 10,000 ways that will not work.”
Here is my favorite failure story….
In 1832 he lost his job and was defeated for state legislature.In 1833 he failed in business.In 1835 his sweetheart died.In 1836 he had a nervous breakdown.In 1838 he was defeated for Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.In 1843 he was defeated for nomination for Congress.In 1848 he lost renomination.In 1849 he was rejected for land officer.In 1854 he was defeated for U.S. Senate.In 1856 he was defeated for nomination for Vice President.In 1858 he was again defeated for U.S. Senate.In 1860 he was elected President: Mr. Abraham Lincoln.
My motto is: fail as quickly as possible.
Our world is changing. We are living in a global economy.You are no longer only competing against people living inthe United States. Because of the power of technology,we are now competing at a global level.
We are competing for jobs with those living in Japan, China,and India. These three countries are gaining incredibleeconomic power and are developing an excellent educationsystem.
You may be surprised to hear the many jobs that arecurrently being outsourced. It’s not just the factoryjobs and the call centers. Not at all….
All sorts of computer programming jobs are being outsourcedto India. The computer and technology field has literallybeen transformed by the extremely talented programmers inIndia.
Accounting is another major industry that is beginning to beoutsourced.
Here’s a fact that may surprise you though. Not only arecompanies sending jobs abroad, but they are also seeing a100 percent increase in productivity. The people in othercountries are working 100 times harder for the opportunityto have a job that we take for granted.
People in China and India are starving for your job. And inour new global economy, they can have it.
Most of American students who graduate from college feelentitled to a job. In India there are millions of eageryoung students fighting for relatively few jobs. If wedon’t continue to improve our skills, we’ll be sittingon the sidelines.
So, what’s the key to staying competitive?
You must learn to learn. The world is changing at anincredible pace. Almost everything you learn incollege will be outdated in a minimum of 5 years.That is, of course, unless you major in history.
You must keep up with the changes taking place inyour particular vocation to stay ahead of the curve.
Too many people believe that graduation is the end of theirlearning journey, when in reality it is only the beginning.We must be on a lifelong journey of learning, whether it befrom books, seminars, night classes, or home study courses.
What else is missing from our schools?
Finance!!!!
About 65 percent of college students who graduated in the2003-2004 school did so with lingering debts to pay off.
This doesn’t count the number of young people in debt due tocredit cards and it certainly doesn’t help that they havethese shiny plastic cards being sent to them almost weekly.How can they resist? Well, many don’t.
After they take the plunge, they are hit with high interestrates and hidden fees. The credit card companies know thatyoung students are not educated in the world of personalfinance and they have made them their number one target.
Our young people are not being taught how to invest andspend their money wisely. Success in life is often not inhow much money you make, but rather how you spend your money.
This is what we must teach students. This is a cornerstoneto living a successful life. However, instead students arelearning who won the War of 1812 and how to conjugate verbs.All good things to learn I’m sure but not of much use in thereal world.
Let’s teach them instead about investing in a Roth IRAaccount, a 401k, or the incredible value of compound interest.
Let’s teach our students the success principles thatactually make a difference in the real world.
Let’s teach them to be leaders.
Schools, for the most part, teach us to be good followers.They teach us how to follow directions and color inside thelines. Private schools, however, are often developing leaders.They are developing the students who will lead all of thosegood followers. Private schools are teaching their kids aboutthe importance of public speaking and how to be creative.
They don’t get a picture to color, they’re simply given a blanksheet of paper to let their minds wander on.
So, if you want to become a leader, you’re most likely going tohave to develop those skills outside of the classroom. Youcertainly won’t learn them in a textbook.
However, you can learn one of the greatest leadership skillsof all in an organization called Toastmasters. This is a club that can be found in cities across North Americathat teach people how to improve their public speaking andleadership skills.
And as you can probably imagine, public speaking is one ofthe most important qualities you must have as a leader. Youmust be able to motivate your employees, brief your superiors,and ultimately “sell yourself”.
If it were up to me, I would make public speaking a requiredclass in schools across the nation. Unfortunately, theyhaven’t asked me for my opinion yet.
One of the greatet lessons missing from our schoolsis goal setting.
Only three percent of people commit their goals to paper.These are the same people who find the greatest success inlife.
It has been said that just by writing your goal down youwill triple your results. By assigning a timeframe to yourgoal, you will then quintuple your commitment to the goaland the likelihood of achieving it.
Without a goal and a plan, we will never achieve all that wetruly want for our lives.
Every one of us has 168 hours a week to live our life to thefullest. However, if we examine our lives closely, most ofus will find that we have 30-40 hours during the week thatwe are wasting with television, the computer, and a numberof other distractions.
So many people go through life content with just beingaverage. They go through life just trying to get by. Theygo to work, come home, cook dinner, take care of the kids,and then go to bed in exhaustion.
Too many of us are running a rat race. We don’t know how toslow down and enjoy the moment.
However, when we live with goals, life becomes an adventure.Our life develops focus, meaning, and purpose. Without setgoals, we end up wherever life happens to take us, which isnever at a destination of our choosing.
Goals guide and direct our lives. They give us focus. Theygive us hope. And in the end, goals help us to reach a newlevel in life.
So, let’s teach our kids to make big goals. Let’s teach our kidsthe greatest keys to success. And then, if we have time, let’steach them who won the War of 1812.
The last thing that schools do not teach is how to figureout what you really want in life.
And to tell the truth, they could never teach you whatcareer endeavor is best for you anyway. This is a personaljourney that must be explored in the solitude of one’s mind.
However, our school years are the very best time to find outwhat we really want out of life. It is then that we have timeto truly figure out what it is we want to do with our lives.
Unfortunately, far too many people never take the time to dothis. If you have been in the workforce for any time at all,then you have met these types of people. They are the oneswho spend the whole week just looking forward to the weekend.Maybe you’re even one of those people yourself.
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with getting a job thatpays the bills. The danger comes when you fall into aroutine, when you don’t have a plan, passion, or goal toshoot for.
It is then that the future looks very bleak for you.
Let’s not get stuck waiting for the weekend. Let’s find whatwe truly love to do in life and make it our vocation.
As said by Steve Jobs,
“You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true foryour work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going tofill a large part of your life, and the only way to be trulysatisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And theonly way to do great work is to love what you do.”
The most successful people in life are doing work which theylike best. It is very hard to succeed at something you hate.On the other hand, it’s hard not to succeed when working atsomething you love.
Everyone has a definite purpose and a vision for their lifethat could enrich the lives of others. The key is tuninginto that purpose.
There is some one thing that you can do better than anyoneelse in the world could do it. Search until you find outwhat this particular line of endeavor is, make it theobject of your definite chief aim and commit your life toachieving it. In your search for the work for which you arebest fitted, it will be well if you bear in mind the factthat you will most likely attain the greatest success byfinding out what work you like best, for it is a well knownfact that a person generally best succeeds in the particularline of endeavor into which he or she can throw their wholeheart and soul.
A definite purpose is something that you must create foryourself. No one else will create it for you and it will notcreate itself. Therefore, let’s spend our school yearsexploring what we truly want out of life while we don’t haveto worry about the bills, the job, the kids, and the weekendthat never seems to come.
When we find work that we truly love to do, it is then thatwe can live a life full of passion and purpose.
I believe that Christian D. Larson said it best:
“When you work simply for yourself or for your own personalgain your mind will seldom rise above the limitations ofthe undeveloped personal life;
but when you are inspired by some great purpose, someextraordinary project, all your thoughts break bounds; yourmind transcends limitations; your consciousness expands inevery direction;
and you find yourself in a new world, a great world, awonderful world; dormant powers, faculties and talentsbecome alive,
and you discover yourself to be a larger man by far than youever dreamed yourself to be.”
– Christian D. Larson, Business Psychology, 1912
Education serves many wonderful purposes. I am a bigbeliever in education. However, I’m smart enough toknow that learning doesn’t stop at graduation.
I’m smart enough to know that today’s technology hasprovided us with unlimited learning opportunities. Asinhabitors of the 21st century, we have a world of knowledgeat our fingertips.
I still know that the most important lessons in life are notfound in a textbook.
Although the knowledge you learn in school is important, it’snot anything you couldn’t learn in a book. The overall experienceof college and the four-year commitment are of much greater value.
In the end, your success is still up to you.
And that, is what they don’t teach you in school…
Posted By admin on March 27, 2007
Dr. Thomas J. Stanley, author of The Millionaire Mind, hasdedicated much of his life to studying what makesmillionaires successful. His research has revealed somevery unique insight into the mindset of the wealthy.
For example, he found that millionaires contributed theirsuccess to having strong social skills, having good mentors,developing persistence, having a supportive spouse, andworking in a career that they love to be the biggestfactors of success.
Having a high GPA in school was listed as one of the leastcontributing factors of their success. So while it may opensome doors, education is not what enables you to arrive atyour final destination.
As said by motivational speaker, Jim Rohn:
“A formal education will make you a living. Self-educationwill make you rich.”
With that said, we must question the true value of college.Is it really worth it? Well, I’ll leave that question forlater.
For now, I’d like to explore areas where are schools havefailed us. Yes, there are indeed some very simple factorsthat contribute strongly to your success. Unfortunately,they’re not being taught in the schools.
The first one is the concept of failure.
In school, kid’s learn that “failure” is a negative term.However, it is nothing of the sort. There has never been asingle successful person who hasn’t failed numerous times ontheir journey to success.
In fact, the most successful people in life are those whohave failed the most.
Edison ‘failed’ more than ten thousand times before hesucceeded in creating the light bulb. As said by ThomasEdison: “I have not failed 10,000 times. I havesuccessfully found 10,000 ways that will not work.”
Here is my favorite failure story….
In 1832 he lost his job and was defeated for state legislature.In 1833 he failed in business.In 1835 his sweetheart died.In 1836 he had a nervous breakdown.In 1838 he was defeated for Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.In 1843 he was defeated for nomination for Congress.In 1848 he lost renomination.In 1849 he was rejected for land officer.In 1854 he was defeated for U.S. Senate.In 1856 he was defeated for nomination for Vice President.In 1858 he was again defeated for U.S. Senate.In 1860 he was elected President: Mr. Abraham Lincoln.
My motto is: fail as quickly as possible.
Our world is changing. We are living in a global economy.You are no longer only competing against people living inthe United States. Because of the power of technology,we are now competing at a global level.
We are competing for jobs with those living in Japan, China,and India. These three countries are gaining incredibleeconomic power and are developing an excellent educationsystem.
You may be surprised to hear the many jobs that arecurrently being outsourced. It’s not just the factoryjobs and the call centers. Not at all….
All sorts of computer programming jobs are being outsourcedto India. The computer and technology field has literallybeen transformed by the extremely talented programmers inIndia.
Accounting is another major industry that is beginning to beoutsourced.
Here’s a fact that may surprise you though. Not only arecompanies sending jobs abroad, but they are also seeing a100 percent increase in productivity. The people in othercountries are working 100 times harder for the opportunityto have a job that we take for granted.
People in China and India are starving for your job. And inour new global economy, they can have it.
Most of American students who graduate from college feelentitled to a job. In India there are millions of eageryoung students fighting for relatively few jobs. If wedon’t continue to improve our skills, we’ll be sittingon the sidelines.
So, what’s the key to staying competitive?
You must learn to learn. The world is changing at anincredible pace. Almost everything you learn incollege will be outdated in a minimum of 5 years.That is, of course, unless you major in history.
You must keep up with the changes taking place inyour particular vocation to stay ahead of the curve.
Too many people believe that graduation is the end of theirlearning journey, when in reality it is only the beginning.We must be on a lifelong journey of learning, whether it befrom books, seminars, night classes, or home study courses.
What else is missing from our schools?
Finance!!!!
About 65 percent of college students who graduated in the2003-2004 school did so with lingering debts to pay off.
This doesn’t count the number of young people in debt due tocredit cards and it certainly doesn’t help that they havethese shiny plastic cards being sent to them almost weekly.How can they resist? Well, many don’t.
After they take the plunge, they are hit with high interestrates and hidden fees. The credit card companies know thatyoung students are not educated in the world of personalfinance and they have made them their number one target.
Our young people are not being taught how to invest andspend their money wisely. Success in life is often not inhow much money you make, but rather how you spend your money.
This is what we must teach students. This is a cornerstoneto living a successful life. However, instead students arelearning who won the War of 1812 and how to conjugate verbs.All good things to learn I’m sure but not of much use in thereal world.
Let’s teach them instead about investing in a Roth IRAaccount, a 401k, or the incredible value of compound interest.
Let’s teach our students the success principles thatactually make a difference in the real world.
Let’s teach them to be leaders.
Schools, for the most part, teach us to be good followers.They teach us how to follow directions and color inside thelines. Private schools, however, are often developing leaders.They are developing the students who will lead all of thosegood followers. Private schools are teaching their kids aboutthe importance of public speaking and how to be creative.
They don’t get a picture to color, they’re simply given a blanksheet of paper to let their minds wander on.
So, if you want to become a leader, you’re most likely going tohave to develop those skills outside of the classroom. Youcertainly won’t learn them in a textbook.
However, you can learn one of the greatest leadership skillsof all in an organization called Toastmasters. This is a club that can be found in cities across North Americathat teach people how to improve their public speaking andleadership skills.
And as you can probably imagine, public speaking is one ofthe most important qualities you must have as a leader. Youmust be able to motivate your employees, brief your superiors,and ultimately “sell yourself”.
If it were up to me, I would make public speaking a requiredclass in schools across the nation. Unfortunately, theyhaven’t asked me for my opinion yet.
One of the greatet lessons missing from our schoolsis goal setting.
Only three percent of people commit their goals to paper.These are the same people who find the greatest success inlife.
It has been said that just by writing your goal down youwill triple your results. By assigning a timeframe to yourgoal, you will then quintuple your commitment to the goaland the likelihood of achieving it.
Without a goal and a plan, we will never achieve all that wetruly want for our lives.
Every one of us has 168 hours a week to live our life to thefullest. However, if we examine our lives closely, most ofus will find that we have 30-40 hours during the week thatwe are wasting with television, the computer, and a numberof other distractions.
So many people go through life content with just beingaverage. They go through life just trying to get by. Theygo to work, come home, cook dinner, take care of the kids,and then go to bed in exhaustion.
Too many of us are running a rat race. We don’t know how toslow down and enjoy the moment.
However, when we live with goals, life becomes an adventure.Our life develops focus, meaning, and purpose. Without setgoals, we end up wherever life happens to take us, which isnever at a destination of our choosing.
Goals guide and direct our lives. They give us focus. Theygive us hope. And in the end, goals help us to reach a newlevel in life.
So, let’s teach our kids to make big goals. Let’s teach our kidsthe greatest keys to success. And then, if we have time, let’steach them who won the War of 1812.
The last thing that schools do not teach is how to figureout what you really want in life.
And to tell the truth, they could never teach you whatcareer endeavor is best for you anyway. This is a personaljourney that must be explored in the solitude of one’s mind.
However, our school years are the very best time to find outwhat we really want out of life. It is then that we have timeto truly figure out what it is we want to do with our lives.
Unfortunately, far too many people never take the time to dothis. If you have been in the workforce for any time at all,then you have met these types of people. They are the oneswho spend the whole week just looking forward to the weekend.Maybe you’re even one of those people yourself.
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with getting a job thatpays the bills. The danger comes when you fall into aroutine, when you don’t have a plan, passion, or goal toshoot for.
It is then that the future looks very bleak for you.
Let’s not get stuck waiting for the weekend. Let’s find whatwe truly love to do in life and make it our vocation.
As said by Steve Jobs,
“You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true foryour work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going tofill a large part of your life, and the only way to be trulysatisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And theonly way to do great work is to love what you do.”
The most successful people in life are doing work which theylike best. It is very hard to succeed at something you hate.On the other hand, it’s hard not to succeed when working atsomething you love.
Everyone has a definite purpose and a vision for their lifethat could enrich the lives of others. The key is tuninginto that purpose.
There is some one thing that you can do better than anyoneelse in the world could do it. Search until you find outwhat this particular line of endeavor is, make it theobject of your definite chief aim and commit your life toachieving it. In your search for the work for which you arebest fitted, it will be well if you bear in mind the factthat you will most likely attain the greatest success byfinding out what work you like best, for it is a well knownfact that a person generally best succeeds in the particularline of endeavor into which he or she can throw their wholeheart and soul.
A definite purpose is something that you must create foryourself. No one else will create it for you and it will notcreate itself. Therefore, let’s spend our school yearsexploring what we truly want out of life while we don’t haveto worry about the bills, the job, the kids, and the weekendthat never seems to come.
When we find work that we truly love to do, it is then thatwe can live a life full of passion and purpose.
I believe that Christian D. Larson said it best:
“When you work simply for yourself or for your own personalgain your mind will seldom rise above the limitations ofthe undeveloped personal life;
but when you are inspired by some great purpose, someextraordinary project, all your thoughts break bounds; yourmind transcends limitations; your consciousness expands inevery direction;
and you find yourself in a new world, a great world, awonderful world; dormant powers, faculties and talentsbecome alive,
and you discover yourself to be a larger man by far than youever dreamed yourself to be.”
– Christian D. Larson, Business Psychology, 1912
Education serves many wonderful purposes. I am a bigbeliever in education. However, I’m smart enough toknow that learning doesn’t stop at graduation.
I’m smart enough to know that today’s technology hasprovided us with unlimited learning opportunities. Asinhabitors of the 21st century, we have a world of knowledgeat our fingertips.
I still know that the most important lessons in life are notfound in a textbook.
Although the knowledge you learn in school is important, it’snot anything you couldn’t learn in a book. The overall experienceof college and the four-year commitment are of much greater value.
In the end, your success is still up to you.
And that, is what they don’t teach you in school…
Wireless USB is here
Wireless USB is here
Monday, July 23, 2007 at 9:19 AM PT No comments
The Wireless USB is here … finally. After all the talk about using low-power wireless connections that would replace the wired USB, the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) today endorsed products from six companies - Dell, D-Link, IOGEAR and Lenovo. Most of these products will carry a “Wireless USB logo.” So far folks like myself have been using bluetooth-based devices to unclutter our desks (though it is a bit impossible.)
For More information: www.usb.org.
Monday, July 23, 2007 at 9:19 AM PT No comments
The Wireless USB is here … finally. After all the talk about using low-power wireless connections that would replace the wired USB, the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) today endorsed products from six companies - Dell, D-Link, IOGEAR and Lenovo. Most of these products will carry a “Wireless USB logo.” So far folks like myself have been using bluetooth-based devices to unclutter our desks (though it is a bit impossible.)
For More information: www.usb.org.
Hardware guys buying Software today
trends !! whr some1 sud plan to go
Hardware guys buying Software today
As the world becomes increasingly digital, and data continues to grow, the importance of software in managing it all is on an upswing. Hardware vendors, realizing that building specialized software isn't easy, and that is why they are busy opening up their check-books, looking to buy the software expertise. In fact, there were three such deals that hit the news wires today.
Of course, by now you may have already heard about HP buying Opsware for $1.6 billion in cash, because it would help sell HP's datacenter hardware. Hifn, a Los Gatos, CA.-based storage and security hardware company snapped up Siafu Software for an undisclosed amount. Aruba Networks, a wireless networking equipment maker bought Network Chemistry's wireless security business this morning, again for an undisclosed amount of money.
Bottomline: While Web 2.0 companies may get acquired by Google (or Yahoo), specialized software start-ups with products that enhance hardware will find buyers more often. Expect this trend to continue, and in fact gain momentum. -- - - - - Thanks & Regards,Praveen Karadiguddi
Hardware guys buying Software today
As the world becomes increasingly digital, and data continues to grow, the importance of software in managing it all is on an upswing. Hardware vendors, realizing that building specialized software isn't easy, and that is why they are busy opening up their check-books, looking to buy the software expertise. In fact, there were three such deals that hit the news wires today.
Of course, by now you may have already heard about HP buying Opsware for $1.6 billion in cash, because it would help sell HP's datacenter hardware. Hifn, a Los Gatos, CA.-based storage and security hardware company snapped up Siafu Software for an undisclosed amount. Aruba Networks, a wireless networking equipment maker bought Network Chemistry's wireless security business this morning, again for an undisclosed amount of money.
Bottomline: While Web 2.0 companies may get acquired by Google (or Yahoo), specialized software start-ups with products that enhance hardware will find buyers more often. Expect this trend to continue, and in fact gain momentum. -- - - - - Thanks & Regards,Praveen Karadiguddi
Monday, July 09, 2007
fring on the Sony Ericsson P990i
fring on the Sony Ericsson P990i
You can get fring on your Sony Ericsson P990i in 3 steps:
1. Check that you have the latest firmware. (Go to Main Menu / System Information. The latest firmware is R6D23). If you don’t have it, get it from Sony Ericsson. Go grab a cup of coffee - it will take about 15 minutes to install.2. Get an audio plug-in from fring here (takes about 5 seconds)3. Get fring via SMS as usual (fring should be up & running within about a minute as usual)
Sony Ericsson fringsters will enjoy the same fring functionality as the rest of us (except no history yet).
p.s for all those who have been asking us, fring doesn’t (yet) work on any other UIQ devices. Unfortunately the M600 and w950 won’t be compatible due to device limitations.
My comments : app works great on my P990, i have started speaking/chatting to my friends on skype/gtalk using my phone.. feel no need to switch on laptop to speak to friend :)
also twitter and sip adding is icing on top.
Killer app for P990 !! cheers SonyEricsson
You can get fring on your Sony Ericsson P990i in 3 steps:
1. Check that you have the latest firmware. (Go to Main Menu / System Information. The latest firmware is R6D23). If you don’t have it, get it from Sony Ericsson. Go grab a cup of coffee - it will take about 15 minutes to install.2. Get an audio plug-in from fring here (takes about 5 seconds)3. Get fring via SMS as usual (fring should be up & running within about a minute as usual)
Sony Ericsson fringsters will enjoy the same fring functionality as the rest of us (except no history yet).
p.s for all those who have been asking us, fring doesn’t (yet) work on any other UIQ devices. Unfortunately the M600 and w950 won’t be compatible due to device limitations.
My comments : app works great on my P990, i have started speaking/chatting to my friends on skype/gtalk using my phone.. feel no need to switch on laptop to speak to friend :)
also twitter and sip adding is icing on top.
Killer app for P990 !! cheers SonyEricsson
Saturday, July 07, 2007
Monday, June 11, 2007
Too Much Skype, Not Enough Product Planning
Too Much Skype, Not Enough Product Planning
Skype has launched a series of services that all seem to confuse, confound and basically befuddle.
First was Skype Unlimited--This means make all the Skype Out and Skype Forward calls you want from the USA to USA and Canada. Okay. This makes sense. One price flat rate calling. This makes your phone budget very predictable.
Then came Skype Pro--this adds unlimited calling and a bunch of bundled features, but it seems to be aimed at the NON-USA market first. It also seems to intrude on Skype Unlimited in some ways, but add some neat features at no cost. Bottom line is if have Pro you don't need Unlimited but if you have Unlimited you may still want Pro for some features.
Now there is Skype ToGo which requires Skype Pro. It looks like a clone of Mint Telecom except that it uses your Skype minutes. This is useful as a "minute stealing" defensive play. My guess is that Skype looked at Jajah and said, our customers are using that, so lets make up something simple that keeps things Skype. They also likely looked at MobiVox and saw some minutes being driven over that access gateway and said, we need to do more here.
What would have made sense would have been to just include Skype ToGO in Skype Pro and call it a day. For those who signed up for Skype Unlimited they should have been given Skype Pro for the balance of 2007. In 2008 they should be offered Skype Unlimited or Skype Unlimited Pro and that way they can decide which way ToGo.
End of the day, Skype keeps looking more and more like a phone company, albeit a 2.0 version. So where is the E911?
Trends the social use of handsets in India and China…
Looks like Nokia’s heeding the research of staffer Jan Chipchase in their design of handsets for emerging markets.
Matt Web noted in his recent keynote at Reboot, that a new range of Nokia phones addresses the social use of handsets in India and China…
They’re for the emerging markets of India and China. There, the context of use of the mobile is the whole village.
- The phone tends to be shared by a family, so each one stores 5 distinct addressbooks
- There’s often one mobile per village, which is rented out. These home can have pre-set call time/cost limits, so make renting out easier. They come with a built in business model
- It turns out that after voice calls and texting, two major uses of a phone are as a clock, and as a torch. So there’s an external screen showing the time, and a torch built-in
- There’s a teaching mode
- And these phones are cheap. Like, 40 euros cheap
I’m impressed to see such a huge corporation building products in such a progressive way.
Well done Nokia :)
And finally eBay opens up, offers new APIs
And finally eBay opens up, offers new APIs
You know Open Web (the trend formerly known as Web 2.0) has reached a point of maturity, when eBay, the auction giant decides to embrace it ethos. The company at the eBay Developer Conference in Boston announcedthat it has opened up its three core business units – eBay, PayPal and Skype to third party developers, hoping to catch some of the ‘open web’ magic. (This is something we had talked about earlier.)
EBay’s API offerings will give third party developers abilities to conduct searches, bids, alerts and a whole slew of other features from anywhere on the web. (Full list at the end of the post.)
The more interesting APIs however are coming from the PayPal group, which will enable mobile checkout. Similarly, Skype is going to be pushing something called Skype Extras, which are plug-ins written by independent third-party developers that let users expand Skype functionality and enrich their Skype conversations.
EBay’s moves, while welcome, show that the company is feeling the heat and losing ground to more “embrace-and-extend” services. As the web moves away from monolithic entities, eBay stands the risk of losing its core audience to social networks, blogs and other social media destinations.
The company’s decisions also indicate that it cannot be the solitary driver of innovation, and needs to tap into the web collective. EBay developers such as Unwired Buyer, Cooqy, and mpire are proof of what the developers can do for eBay.
eBay APIs announced today:
- eBay Shopping Web Services: a suite of faster, more responsive APIs that makes searching on eBay up to 16 times faster and allows developers to easily create buying applications
- eBay Bidding API: qualified developers can enable bidding on eBay from anywhere
- eBay Client Alerts: lightweight, near real-time alerts about platform activity
- New JavaScript and Flash Developer Centers: making it easier for JavaScript and Flash developers to access the eBay Web Services platform
- New Production Call Plan: access to API calls in the production environment raised from 10,000 per month to 150,000 per month, allowing new developers to rapidly scale up their applications.
- PayPal introduced a new suite of APIs, including Mobile Checkout, which allows developers to integrate any mobile website with the PayPal checkout process.
- PayPal introduced a new Name-Value Pair API that allows developers to integrate PayPal more easily and quickly into Web sites and applications, enhancing online commerce experiences and making PayPal more accessible to Web users everywhere.
- Skype Extras: are plug-ins written by independent third-party developers that let users expand Skype functionality and enrich their Skype conversations.
- Shopping.com announced plans for a re-architected API that will be available in Q3 2007, which will have a new easy-to-use interface, detailed documentation, and tools for faster implementations.
Monday, May 21, 2007
Innovate or Perish
Source :Innovate or Perish
Taking a clue from the oft-repeated notion of “publish or perish”, I talked of the need for “innovate or perish” in the Sun Technovate event in Mumbai, on the eve of Sun Founder & Chairman Scott McNealy’s second visit to India. There were nearly 200 CIO/CTO in the audience.
My pitch was simple; innovation is happening […]
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Taking a clue from the oft-repeated notion of “publish or perish”, I talked of the need for “innovate or perish” in the Sun Technovate event in Mumbai, on the eve of Sun Founder & Chairman Scott McNealy’s second visit to India. There were nearly 200 CIO/CTO in the audience.
My pitch was simple; innovation is happening all around in India, accelerating in the past 5 years, both inside and outside IT. It could be
Infosys Global Delivery ModelIttiam becoming the “world’s most preferred DSP IP supplier” within three years of starting in 2001 and retaining it for 3 years in a rowKashyap perfecting slowly but steadily the concept of “public toilet” through “Sulabh Sauchalay”Reliance launching Rs 777 Classic phonesRobosoft starting 700-seater Tech Park in sleepy Udupi (known only for low cost restaurants)HiCal Magnetics supplying components for NokiaCosmic Circuits re-designing low-end electronics items for ultra-low costlow cost eye surgery in Arvind Hospitalslow cost heart surgery in Narayana Hrudayalaorthe slew of low cost water purifiers.
Innovation is the only sustainable competitive advantage to serve the 5 billion people in the “bottom of the pyramid”; innovation provides 10-20 times (not percent) cost and time savings.
Naturally, without innovation India Inc cannot remain competitive in the long run
Taking a clue from the oft-repeated notion of “publish or perish”, I talked of the need for “innovate or perish” in the Sun Technovate event in Mumbai, on the eve of Sun Founder & Chairman Scott McNealy’s second visit to India. There were nearly 200 CIO/CTO in the audience.
My pitch was simple; innovation is happening […]
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Taking a clue from the oft-repeated notion of “publish or perish”, I talked of the need for “innovate or perish” in the Sun Technovate event in Mumbai, on the eve of Sun Founder & Chairman Scott McNealy’s second visit to India. There were nearly 200 CIO/CTO in the audience.
My pitch was simple; innovation is happening all around in India, accelerating in the past 5 years, both inside and outside IT. It could be
Infosys Global Delivery ModelIttiam becoming the “world’s most preferred DSP IP supplier” within three years of starting in 2001 and retaining it for 3 years in a rowKashyap perfecting slowly but steadily the concept of “public toilet” through “Sulabh Sauchalay”Reliance launching Rs 777 Classic phonesRobosoft starting 700-seater Tech Park in sleepy Udupi (known only for low cost restaurants)HiCal Magnetics supplying components for NokiaCosmic Circuits re-designing low-end electronics items for ultra-low costlow cost eye surgery in Arvind Hospitalslow cost heart surgery in Narayana Hrudayalaorthe slew of low cost water purifiers.
Innovation is the only sustainable competitive advantage to serve the 5 billion people in the “bottom of the pyramid”; innovation provides 10-20 times (not percent) cost and time savings.
Naturally, without innovation India Inc cannot remain competitive in the long run
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Reliance launches entry level phones at Rs 777
Reliance launches entry level phones at Rs 777
May 16th, 2007
It is interesting to see Reliance pursuing the low-cost, high elasticity market of offering new phones at Rs 777 virtually wiping out “second hand” phones in the low-end category. Such low cost option also reduces the entry barrier. It is interesting to remember the Rs 25,000 price point that the bulky Nokia 6610 had in 1996-1998 time frame; we have indeed come a long way.
Unfortunately the political establishment that talks of “aam admi” is so busy wasting money on all grandiose projects that do good neither to the Government nor to the citizens but never take a moment to celebrate the real benefits “aam admi” gets, thanks to technology. One hope to see a generation of politicians who will genuinely work for the common man and woman of India.
May 16th, 2007
It is interesting to see Reliance pursuing the low-cost, high elasticity market of offering new phones at Rs 777 virtually wiping out “second hand” phones in the low-end category. Such low cost option also reduces the entry barrier. It is interesting to remember the Rs 25,000 price point that the bulky Nokia 6610 had in 1996-1998 time frame; we have indeed come a long way.
Unfortunately the political establishment that talks of “aam admi” is so busy wasting money on all grandiose projects that do good neither to the Government nor to the citizens but never take a moment to celebrate the real benefits “aam admi” gets, thanks to technology. One hope to see a generation of politicians who will genuinely work for the common man and woman of India.
IMS dirty laundry
Source:http://www.oreillynet.com/etel/blog/2007/05/ims_dirty_laundry.html
We’ve talked about the controversies surrounding IMS here on ETel before (see Lee Dryburgh’s The IMS Debate for one interesting perspective). Brough Turner, one of the really smart guys out there in this field, has written up the notes from his recent talk about what he learned in porting his MyCaller ringback tones application from the Intelligent Network (IN) implementation to an “IMS” version. You may be surprised at what he found.
In Lessons Learned Implementing IMS, Brough really breaks down the details of where IMS is today, what it can offer, and some of the problems people will face in moving towards IMS. He presents a short and sweet executive summary of his findings, but the entire article is well worth a read.
For the impatient, here are the takeaways.
It’s very early days for IMS. Today’s “IMS” networks are combinations of SIP infrastructure with 3GPP Release 4 softswitch-controlled voice service.
IMS is about connection control, only. Only part of your application has to change. For MyCaller, ~90 percent of the software remains the same.
IMS enables multimedia ringback, i.e. video! So there is significant new functionality, versus today’s audio-only ringback.
Parallels with Intelligent Network are striking!
Most application–specific data remains outside of IMS. In particular, operators do not want to add data fields to their Home Subscriber Server (HSS).
Application–specific MRFs make sense. Operators tend to avoid sharing resources between diverse applications. And, for rich media, application–specific MRFs can be more cost-effective.
Operators await 3GPP Release 7. At least anecdotally, several operators have suggested that 3GPP Release 7 is the first complete, stable, and consistent version they will fully deploy.
And for more good analysis of the state of IMS and a deeper look at the R4 vs. R7 issue, check out Dean Bubbley’s response post, When is an IMS not an IMS?.
We’ve talked about the controversies surrounding IMS here on ETel before (see Lee Dryburgh’s The IMS Debate for one interesting perspective). Brough Turner, one of the really smart guys out there in this field, has written up the notes from his recent talk about what he learned in porting his MyCaller ringback tones application from the Intelligent Network (IN) implementation to an “IMS” version. You may be surprised at what he found.
In Lessons Learned Implementing IMS, Brough really breaks down the details of where IMS is today, what it can offer, and some of the problems people will face in moving towards IMS. He presents a short and sweet executive summary of his findings, but the entire article is well worth a read.
For the impatient, here are the takeaways.
It’s very early days for IMS. Today’s “IMS” networks are combinations of SIP infrastructure with 3GPP Release 4 softswitch-controlled voice service.
IMS is about connection control, only. Only part of your application has to change. For MyCaller, ~90 percent of the software remains the same.
IMS enables multimedia ringback, i.e. video! So there is significant new functionality, versus today’s audio-only ringback.
Parallels with Intelligent Network are striking!
Most application–specific data remains outside of IMS. In particular, operators do not want to add data fields to their Home Subscriber Server (HSS).
Application–specific MRFs make sense. Operators tend to avoid sharing resources between diverse applications. And, for rich media, application–specific MRFs can be more cost-effective.
Operators await 3GPP Release 7. At least anecdotally, several operators have suggested that 3GPP Release 7 is the first complete, stable, and consistent version they will fully deploy.
And for more good analysis of the state of IMS and a deeper look at the R4 vs. R7 issue, check out Dean Bubbley’s response post, When is an IMS not an IMS?.
Will iPhone spark wireless wars?
Roy, a doorman for my apartment building, stopped me this morning to chit chat. Knowing my affection for all new mobile phones, I wasn’t surprised that he asked to play around with my Nokia N95. “Are you going to buy the iPhone?” he asked, seeking a second opinion since he has already made up his mind and is going to buy an iPhone.
Though he doesn’t have an iPod right now, he thinks an iPhone would give him two devices in one, despite the high price tag. He is seemingly undeterred by the questionable battery life. (One of the reasons why I have a more wait-and-see attitude towards this Apple device.) He isn’t the only one - as the interest in iPhone seems to be on an upswing.
Even if you disregard the rumors and fan sites - the population at large seems to have a considerable interest in the iPhone, indicated by the total search volume for keyword “iPhone.” According to Hitwise, a research group that tracks Internet traffic trends, iPhone related searches represent over 0.002% of total Internet searches per week for past three weeks, with iPhone release date and price being the specific information folks are looking for. (In comparison, MySpace was the #1 query and had 1.16% of the total search volume.) Just as an unscientific indicator the search volume is a good indicator of increasing commercial appeal of the device.
The big question, however, is how does iPhone impact the wireless market at large — and whether it will result in a market share shift, putting AT&T at an advantage.
AT&T is betting big on this device and is hoping to pull ahead of its rivals by riding the iPhone express. AT&T and Apple are going to be launching a big media blitz to promote the iPhone, and according to UBS Research, it will be a major reason why AT&T will be able to add approximately 2.8 million gross postpaid subscribers in the third and fourth quarters of 2007.
If Apple’s guidance of 10 million units in 18 months hits the target, UBS estimates that 2 million iPhones will be sold in the U.S. in the first six months of the launch. That works out to about 18% of AT&T’s post-paid additions and upgrades, UBS estimates. But these 2 million will have to come from somewhere - probably switchers from other wireless services.
At the end of Q1 2007, there were about 170 million postpaid wireless subscribers in the U.S., with Verizon the largest carrier (56 million) with AT&T at #2 with about 51 million, followed by Sprint (41 million) and T-Mobile bringing up the rear at 22 million. (These numbers don’t reflect wholesale and prepaid customers.)
So 2 million units don’t mean much in market share — a little 1.1% market share gain for AT&T in the first six months, but it is the residual impact that might cause the big upheaval in the wireless market.
There are some who believe that since iPhone isn’t going to get as much subsidy as other devices, AT&T can pass those subsidies to even further subsidize non-Apple phones, and making its service more attractive. That would be one way to capture the increased foot traffic to AT&T stores.
Will Verizon and Sprint take this lying down? Of course not, and will launch their own price subsidies, discount plans or whatever it takes to hang on to their subscribers. And whatever happens, consumers will come out ahead — nothing wrong with that. And even if Roy doesn’t end up buying the iPhone, he still might get a good deal somewhere else.
Monday, May 14, 2007
Six dang good reasons why you (probably) hate your cell phone provider
Six dang good reasons why you (probably) hate your cell phone provider
In the latest issue of Information Week, just out today, Elena Malykhina lists six reasons why you may hate your cellphone service.
I've been going down the list, and I gotta tellya: Elena is spot on with each reason.
Let's take it from the top:
Disabled features. Elena notes that Columbia University School of Law Prof. Tim Wu points some of these features as call timers, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, Advanced SMS, browsers, photo and sound file transfer, E-mail clients, and SIM card mobility. Yes, carriers work hard to get your business, but then what does that say that they disable features that would enable enhanced experiences? I think it is because they eventually want to debut their own features and nickel-and-dime you for them, rather than risk the success of third-party programs.
Phones "locked" to work on only one network. Once they have you, they have you. Sure doesn't speak well of any company that puts up electronic barriers to you leaving their lair.
"Walled garden" Internet access. Elena sees a deliberate inconsistency between the menu-driven wireless web content offered by most cell carriers, and the difficulty of accessing content from rival providers who haven't allied with that particular carriers. Sure, many advanced handset-based browserswill call up these rival sites, but not in versions optimized for mobile. Trying to view these sites often causes script-based lockups.
Unreliable service. Yup. Not only are there dead cell zones in my metro area (Portland, Oregon) but dead cell zones in my condo.
Incompatible products and services. Elena's referring to the fact that cell in the U.S. works with one of two basic standards: Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) used by Verizon Wireless, Sprint, and Alltel; and Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) used by AT&T and T-Mobile. "This compounds the problem of locked phones (see above), since a phone designed for one network may not work on another even if the carriers wanted that," Elena points out.
Cell phones generally can't be used as laptop modems even though it's technically feasible. This is most often accomplished by disabling the relevant Bluetooth technology that would let this happen. AT&T and SprintNextel will let you do this, but only for surcharged data plans. T-Mobile will let you do this, however.
Good on T-Mobile.
In the latest issue of Information Week, just out today, Elena Malykhina lists six reasons why you may hate your cellphone service.
I've been going down the list, and I gotta tellya: Elena is spot on with each reason.
Let's take it from the top:
Disabled features. Elena notes that Columbia University School of Law Prof. Tim Wu points some of these features as call timers, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, Advanced SMS, browsers, photo and sound file transfer, E-mail clients, and SIM card mobility. Yes, carriers work hard to get your business, but then what does that say that they disable features that would enable enhanced experiences? I think it is because they eventually want to debut their own features and nickel-and-dime you for them, rather than risk the success of third-party programs.
Phones "locked" to work on only one network. Once they have you, they have you. Sure doesn't speak well of any company that puts up electronic barriers to you leaving their lair.
"Walled garden" Internet access. Elena sees a deliberate inconsistency between the menu-driven wireless web content offered by most cell carriers, and the difficulty of accessing content from rival providers who haven't allied with that particular carriers. Sure, many advanced handset-based browserswill call up these rival sites, but not in versions optimized for mobile. Trying to view these sites often causes script-based lockups.
Unreliable service. Yup. Not only are there dead cell zones in my metro area (Portland, Oregon) but dead cell zones in my condo.
Incompatible products and services. Elena's referring to the fact that cell in the U.S. works with one of two basic standards: Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) used by Verizon Wireless, Sprint, and Alltel; and Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) used by AT&T and T-Mobile. "This compounds the problem of locked phones (see above), since a phone designed for one network may not work on another even if the carriers wanted that," Elena points out.
Cell phones generally can't be used as laptop modems even though it's technically feasible. This is most often accomplished by disabling the relevant Bluetooth technology that would let this happen. AT&T and SprintNextel will let you do this, but only for surcharged data plans. T-Mobile will let you do this, however.
Good on T-Mobile.
RFID tags to detect purloined school testsPosted
May 14th, 2007
RFID tags to detect purloined school testsPosted by Russell Shaw @ 8:32 am Categories: General, Security, News
The website ars technica reports that the UK-based Edexcel examination board has announced that the company will be adding electronic radio frequency identifier (RFID) tags to its GCSE (high school equivalency) and A-level (pre-university) exam papers.
These tags are going to be embedded in exam packages. These packages are delivered to schools and test centers in secure bags that are not to be opened until exams start.
Yet as I remember from my high college days, there were rich or well-connected students who tried to convince a lowly shipping clerk or fraternity brother in the mailroom to just take one exam out and photocopy it.
And I don't have to tell you how quickly those photocopies were distributed.
In this new RFID system, though, RFID tags will be able to detect if any of the bags have been opened prematurely and if exams have been taken from the bags.
I'd love to see this catch on in the U.S.
RFID tags to detect purloined school testsPosted by Russell Shaw @ 8:32 am Categories: General, Security, News
The website ars technica reports that the UK-based Edexcel examination board has announced that the company will be adding electronic radio frequency identifier (RFID) tags to its GCSE (high school equivalency) and A-level (pre-university) exam papers.
These tags are going to be embedded in exam packages. These packages are delivered to schools and test centers in secure bags that are not to be opened until exams start.
Yet as I remember from my high college days, there were rich or well-connected students who tried to convince a lowly shipping clerk or fraternity brother in the mailroom to just take one exam out and photocopy it.
And I don't have to tell you how quickly those photocopies were distributed.
In this new RFID system, though, RFID tags will be able to detect if any of the bags have been opened prematurely and if exams have been taken from the bags.
I'd love to see this catch on in the U.S.
Microsoft’s (Beta!) VoIP Device Blitz
[Source : http://gigaom.com/2007/05/13/microsofts-beta-voip-device-blitz/#more-8984]
Microsoft’s (Beta!) VoIP Device Blitz
Written by Paul Kapustka Sunday, May 13, 2007 at 11:46 PM PT 2 comments
You can’t buy them yet, but if you are an enterprise IT exec who is kicking the tires on IP telephony offerings you might at least want to take a gander at the wide range of Microsoft-centric IP voice devices — phones, headsets, videocam monitors — being informally unveiled Monday at the Windows Hardware Engineering conference in Los Angeles.
All meant to work with the still-in-beta Office Communications Server software from Redmond, the VoIP device blitz from nine different vendors is Microsoft’s latest attempt to break into the corporate Voice over IP market, against established players like Avaya and Cisco.
While the devices — shown last week in pre-WinHEC press briefings in San Francisco — performed impressively in an all-Microsoft environment, many big questions remain, such as:
1) OCS still isn’t available, nor is pricing information;
2) Much of the functionality shown is already available from competitors; and
3) do you really want to trust your phone system to Microsoft software?
Despite our traditional skepticism of Microsoft’s commitment to communications, we should start out here by saying that the demo of phone systems cobbled together in a SF hotel basement last week all performed as planned, without any of the also traditional Microsoft demo glitches. VoIP phones rang crisp and clear, triggering on-screen synergy with Office Communicator, updating presence-based information for other Microsoft-based clients, etc., etc.
Impressive as it was for a Microsoft VoIP display, there wasn’t anything shown — customizable presence info, IM-to-voice-to-video call escalation — that isn’t already available from other IP players or even free offerings like Skype or Gizmo. So what’s the fuss?
For starters, the participation of tested device players — like Polycom, Plantronics, Samsung and LG/Nortel — shows that Microsoft has the pull to draw in trusted suppliers whose gear IT execs have likely already signed PO’s for. And by committing to a standards (SIP) based platform, Microsoft hopes to drive economies of scale to eventually sell itself as the low-priced alternative to Cisco’s Cadillac-priced offerings in the IP voice arena. (Again, no pricing yet from Microsoft. Trust them at your own peril.)
Certainly, toys like the USB Bluetooth headset (which Microsoft says will dual-home to VoIP and cellphones, a pledge that couldn’t be proven in the demo) from LG-Nortel will serve as momentary VoIP-candy, but there’s still a long road ahead of Microsoft in its attempts to A) convince enterprise IT that it’s serious about telephony and B) overcome products already in the market from playahs like Cisco and Avaya, not to mention the burgeoning open-source offerings in the Asterisk arena.
But while it’s easy to poke holes in Microsoft’s offerings — like, say, its five pre-configured “presence” states, which seem laughable next to the on-the-fly customizable “don’t bug me” field in Google’s Gtalk — it’s important to remember that people who buy Microsoft corporate software buy in the thousands, not by single downloads.
And with a host of interested device suppliers on its side, Microsoft might not be able to ignore its commitment to telephony any longer. Now all we need is pricing and availability to let the battle really begin.
Microsoft’s (Beta!) VoIP Device Blitz
Written by Paul Kapustka Sunday, May 13, 2007 at 11:46 PM PT 2 comments
You can’t buy them yet, but if you are an enterprise IT exec who is kicking the tires on IP telephony offerings you might at least want to take a gander at the wide range of Microsoft-centric IP voice devices — phones, headsets, videocam monitors — being informally unveiled Monday at the Windows Hardware Engineering conference in Los Angeles.
All meant to work with the still-in-beta Office Communications Server software from Redmond, the VoIP device blitz from nine different vendors is Microsoft’s latest attempt to break into the corporate Voice over IP market, against established players like Avaya and Cisco.
While the devices — shown last week in pre-WinHEC press briefings in San Francisco — performed impressively in an all-Microsoft environment, many big questions remain, such as:
1) OCS still isn’t available, nor is pricing information;
2) Much of the functionality shown is already available from competitors; and
3) do you really want to trust your phone system to Microsoft software?
Despite our traditional skepticism of Microsoft’s commitment to communications, we should start out here by saying that the demo of phone systems cobbled together in a SF hotel basement last week all performed as planned, without any of the also traditional Microsoft demo glitches. VoIP phones rang crisp and clear, triggering on-screen synergy with Office Communicator, updating presence-based information for other Microsoft-based clients, etc., etc.
Impressive as it was for a Microsoft VoIP display, there wasn’t anything shown — customizable presence info, IM-to-voice-to-video call escalation — that isn’t already available from other IP players or even free offerings like Skype or Gizmo. So what’s the fuss?
For starters, the participation of tested device players — like Polycom, Plantronics, Samsung and LG/Nortel — shows that Microsoft has the pull to draw in trusted suppliers whose gear IT execs have likely already signed PO’s for. And by committing to a standards (SIP) based platform, Microsoft hopes to drive economies of scale to eventually sell itself as the low-priced alternative to Cisco’s Cadillac-priced offerings in the IP voice arena. (Again, no pricing yet from Microsoft. Trust them at your own peril.)
Certainly, toys like the USB Bluetooth headset (which Microsoft says will dual-home to VoIP and cellphones, a pledge that couldn’t be proven in the demo) from LG-Nortel will serve as momentary VoIP-candy, but there’s still a long road ahead of Microsoft in its attempts to A) convince enterprise IT that it’s serious about telephony and B) overcome products already in the market from playahs like Cisco and Avaya, not to mention the burgeoning open-source offerings in the Asterisk arena.
But while it’s easy to poke holes in Microsoft’s offerings — like, say, its five pre-configured “presence” states, which seem laughable next to the on-the-fly customizable “don’t bug me” field in Google’s Gtalk — it’s important to remember that people who buy Microsoft corporate software buy in the thousands, not by single downloads.
And with a host of interested device suppliers on its side, Microsoft might not be able to ignore its commitment to telephony any longer. Now all we need is pricing and availability to let the battle really begin.
Saturday, May 12, 2007
VoIP’s “four obstacles”
Four obstacles to implementing VoIP
May 11, 2007
Source http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5102-1035-6183187.html
Takeaway: While VoIP's popularity continues to grow, it still has some obstacles to overcome before it becomes ubiquitous in corporate environments. Deb Shinder lists the four greatest obstacles and discusses how they undermine one of VoIP's biggest advantages -- the cost savings.
As the lower cost of calls -- particularly long distance and international calls -- attracts more and more companies, VoIP's popularity in the business world continues to grow. According to iLocus Research's annual report on the VoIP industry (which the company has been tracking since the late 1990s), the IP PBX market grew 52 percent from 2005 to 2006, and the number of worldwide voice over broadband (VoBB) subscribers (both consumer and business) almost doubled.
Those growth statistics are impressive, but a look at actual percentages tells a different story. Less than half of businesses use VoIP, and less than a quarter of small businesses do so. If cost savings are so dramatic, why haven't more companies -- especially small ones that don't have millions invested in their traditional phone systems -- made the switch?
In 2006, VoIP Magazine predicted that half of all small businesses and two-thirds of large businesses would be using VoIP by 2010 -- although not necessarily exclusively for all their telecommunications needs. To get there, VoIP providers are going to have to overcome the obstacles that have so far prevented many businesses from cutting the telco cord and moving to IP-based phone services. Let's explore some of these obstacles.
Reliability concerns
The performance of the long-established public switched telephone network (PSTN) has "spoiled" telephone users. While consumers and employees accept that computers sometimes go down, their expectations of the phone system are much higher. When they pick up the phone, they expect to get a dial tone. Users won't tolerate less than rock-solid reliability from their telephone systems.
Companies depend on the phones to stay in contact with customers, partners, and vendors -- as well as within the company for communication between employees. A phone outage can bring business to a halt -- or, at the least, slow it down considerably and cost the company big bucks.
VoIP is far more reliable than it was just a few years ago. However, there's still a perception of unreliability that providers must overcome before cautious managers will take the plunge.
And there's another aspect to reliability. The regular phone jacks in a building don't require electric service to work (although equipment such as PBX does). That means you can still have phone service during a power outage.
VoIP depends on both electrical power and Internet service. Interruption of either means losing phone service. You can ameliorate the problem by having redundant Internet connections and power backup such as a generator, but this adds to the cost.
Network quality of service
VoIP is far more sensitive to network "glitches" than data transmission is. If the network drops data packets, it just resends them. If the dropped packet results in an e-mail delayed by a few minutes, users likely won't even notice.
But if delays in transmission or dropped packets cause a disrupted phone call, you can bet the call participants will notice -- and complain. The data transmission process is much more transparent; because phone calls are real-time communications, problems are "in the face" of the users.
IP networks are subject to many variables, including:
Packet loss due to network congestion or corruption of the data
Variation in the amount of delay of packet delivery, which can result in poor voice quality
Packets arriving out of sequence, which can result in discarded packets and cause more delay and disruption
In addition, the analog-to-digital conversion process can affect VoIP call quality, causing users to experience unpleasant distortion or echo effects. Another culprit is signal level problems, which can cause excessive background noise that interferes with conversations.
To help prevent such problems, the IP network must support quality-of-service (QoS) mechanisms that allow administrators to give priority to VoIP packets. This means a VoIP network is more trouble to manage than a data network, and it requires a higher level of expertise -- or at least an additional skill set -- on the part of network administrators.
VoIP monitoring and management solutions are available that make it easier to optimize voice services, but that adds to the cost of deployment. It also negates some of the cost savings that motivate the move to VoIP in the first place.
Complexity and confusion
The complexity and unfamiliar terrain of VoIP communications presents another big obstacle for many companies. Network administrators well-versed in running a data network may not know much about how VoIP works, what equipment is necessary, or how to set up and maintain that equipment.
In addition, VoIP terminology quickly gets confusing -- media gateways, analog telephone adapter (ATA), audio response unit (ARU), interactive voice response (IVR), etc. Company managers and IT personnel hear about different VoIP protocols -- H.323, SIP, IAX -- and don't understand the differences or know which one they need.
Already overworked IT staffs may not be eager to undertake the task of learning a whole new specialty nor the added burden of ongoing maintenance of the components of a VoIP system. They may not be sure how to integrate the VoIP network into the existing data network.
Of course, there are answers to these problems. Consultants with the requisite knowledge can help set up a VoIP network, or companies can use hosted VoIP services to reduce both the complication and the upfront expenses of buying VoIP servers. However, once again, this ups the price tag of going to VoIP and eats into the cost savings that are one of VoIP's main advantages.
Security
Finally, reports on the security vulnerabilities of IP networks have bombarded companies, and the risk of intercepted calls and eavesdropping are a concern. In addition, providing another layer of vulnerability to a data network integrated with the VoIP network is also a worry.
While malicious users can tap traditional telephones, it's a fairly difficult process that usually requires physical access -- at least for anyone other than a government agency. Traditional phone communications travel over dedicated circuits controlled by one entity -- the phone company. But when VoIP packets go out there into the "Internet cloud," they go through numerous routers and servers at many different points.
Encryption and other security mechanisms can make VoIP as secure or even more secure than PSTN. But once again, it's perception that matters. (And, of course, extra security mechanisms mean extra cost.)
Summary
VoIP is gaining ground steadily. However, before it becomes ubiquitous, the technology needs to overcome some obstacles. VoIP providers must not only address the problems of reliability and quality of service, but they must also reduce the complexity and confusion inherent in implementing VoIP and address security concerns. And, at the same time, they must keep VoIP costs lower than the costs associated with traditional phone service.
Want more tips and tricks to help you plan or optimize your VoIP deployment? Automatically sign up for our free VoIP newsletter, delivered each Monday!
Deb Shinder is a technology consultant, trainer, and writer who has authored a number of books on computer operating systems, networking, and security. She currently specializes in security issues and Microsoft products, and she has received Microsoft's Most Valuable Professional (MVP) status in Windows Server Security.
May 11, 2007
Source http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5102-1035-6183187.html
Takeaway: While VoIP's popularity continues to grow, it still has some obstacles to overcome before it becomes ubiquitous in corporate environments. Deb Shinder lists the four greatest obstacles and discusses how they undermine one of VoIP's biggest advantages -- the cost savings.
As the lower cost of calls -- particularly long distance and international calls -- attracts more and more companies, VoIP's popularity in the business world continues to grow. According to iLocus Research's annual report on the VoIP industry (which the company has been tracking since the late 1990s), the IP PBX market grew 52 percent from 2005 to 2006, and the number of worldwide voice over broadband (VoBB) subscribers (both consumer and business) almost doubled.
Those growth statistics are impressive, but a look at actual percentages tells a different story. Less than half of businesses use VoIP, and less than a quarter of small businesses do so. If cost savings are so dramatic, why haven't more companies -- especially small ones that don't have millions invested in their traditional phone systems -- made the switch?
In 2006, VoIP Magazine predicted that half of all small businesses and two-thirds of large businesses would be using VoIP by 2010 -- although not necessarily exclusively for all their telecommunications needs. To get there, VoIP providers are going to have to overcome the obstacles that have so far prevented many businesses from cutting the telco cord and moving to IP-based phone services. Let's explore some of these obstacles.
Reliability concerns
The performance of the long-established public switched telephone network (PSTN) has "spoiled" telephone users. While consumers and employees accept that computers sometimes go down, their expectations of the phone system are much higher. When they pick up the phone, they expect to get a dial tone. Users won't tolerate less than rock-solid reliability from their telephone systems.
Companies depend on the phones to stay in contact with customers, partners, and vendors -- as well as within the company for communication between employees. A phone outage can bring business to a halt -- or, at the least, slow it down considerably and cost the company big bucks.
VoIP is far more reliable than it was just a few years ago. However, there's still a perception of unreliability that providers must overcome before cautious managers will take the plunge.
And there's another aspect to reliability. The regular phone jacks in a building don't require electric service to work (although equipment such as PBX does). That means you can still have phone service during a power outage.
VoIP depends on both electrical power and Internet service. Interruption of either means losing phone service. You can ameliorate the problem by having redundant Internet connections and power backup such as a generator, but this adds to the cost.
Network quality of service
VoIP is far more sensitive to network "glitches" than data transmission is. If the network drops data packets, it just resends them. If the dropped packet results in an e-mail delayed by a few minutes, users likely won't even notice.
But if delays in transmission or dropped packets cause a disrupted phone call, you can bet the call participants will notice -- and complain. The data transmission process is much more transparent; because phone calls are real-time communications, problems are "in the face" of the users.
IP networks are subject to many variables, including:
Packet loss due to network congestion or corruption of the data
Variation in the amount of delay of packet delivery, which can result in poor voice quality
Packets arriving out of sequence, which can result in discarded packets and cause more delay and disruption
In addition, the analog-to-digital conversion process can affect VoIP call quality, causing users to experience unpleasant distortion or echo effects. Another culprit is signal level problems, which can cause excessive background noise that interferes with conversations.
To help prevent such problems, the IP network must support quality-of-service (QoS) mechanisms that allow administrators to give priority to VoIP packets. This means a VoIP network is more trouble to manage than a data network, and it requires a higher level of expertise -- or at least an additional skill set -- on the part of network administrators.
VoIP monitoring and management solutions are available that make it easier to optimize voice services, but that adds to the cost of deployment. It also negates some of the cost savings that motivate the move to VoIP in the first place.
Complexity and confusion
The complexity and unfamiliar terrain of VoIP communications presents another big obstacle for many companies. Network administrators well-versed in running a data network may not know much about how VoIP works, what equipment is necessary, or how to set up and maintain that equipment.
In addition, VoIP terminology quickly gets confusing -- media gateways, analog telephone adapter (ATA), audio response unit (ARU), interactive voice response (IVR), etc. Company managers and IT personnel hear about different VoIP protocols -- H.323, SIP, IAX -- and don't understand the differences or know which one they need.
Already overworked IT staffs may not be eager to undertake the task of learning a whole new specialty nor the added burden of ongoing maintenance of the components of a VoIP system. They may not be sure how to integrate the VoIP network into the existing data network.
Of course, there are answers to these problems. Consultants with the requisite knowledge can help set up a VoIP network, or companies can use hosted VoIP services to reduce both the complication and the upfront expenses of buying VoIP servers. However, once again, this ups the price tag of going to VoIP and eats into the cost savings that are one of VoIP's main advantages.
Security
Finally, reports on the security vulnerabilities of IP networks have bombarded companies, and the risk of intercepted calls and eavesdropping are a concern. In addition, providing another layer of vulnerability to a data network integrated with the VoIP network is also a worry.
While malicious users can tap traditional telephones, it's a fairly difficult process that usually requires physical access -- at least for anyone other than a government agency. Traditional phone communications travel over dedicated circuits controlled by one entity -- the phone company. But when VoIP packets go out there into the "Internet cloud," they go through numerous routers and servers at many different points.
Encryption and other security mechanisms can make VoIP as secure or even more secure than PSTN. But once again, it's perception that matters. (And, of course, extra security mechanisms mean extra cost.)
Summary
VoIP is gaining ground steadily. However, before it becomes ubiquitous, the technology needs to overcome some obstacles. VoIP providers must not only address the problems of reliability and quality of service, but they must also reduce the complexity and confusion inherent in implementing VoIP and address security concerns. And, at the same time, they must keep VoIP costs lower than the costs associated with traditional phone service.
Want more tips and tricks to help you plan or optimize your VoIP deployment? Automatically sign up for our free VoIP newsletter, delivered each Monday!
Deb Shinder is a technology consultant, trainer, and writer who has authored a number of books on computer operating systems, networking, and security. She currently specializes in security issues and Microsoft products, and she has received Microsoft's Most Valuable Professional (MVP) status in Windows Server Security.
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
I Asked myself what is IMPS
Answer was in WIKI asusual :)
IMPS
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
For the mythological beings, see Imp.
For Star Wars fan film, see IMPS The Relentless.
IMPS stands for Instant Messaging and Presence Service. It is an OMA enabler for Instant Messaging and Presence. The Wireless Village consortium developed the first cut of the specifications. After Wireless Village was merged with OMA, its specs became OMA IMPS 1.0 specifications. IMPS is widely deployed but not necessarily marketed. Interworking between several operators IMPS platforms is being performed under a GSMA initiave that encourages interworking and deployment of Instant Messaging.
Vanilla terminals often have IMPS clients.
On Nokia, the chat client is accessed via the "My Presence" menu.
On Sony Ericsson, it's called "’My Friends".
On Motorola, it's called "IM". The phones' chat clients are generally designed to be provider neutral, so you have to put in the Wireless Village server settings.
If your phone doesn't have an inbuilt chat client, you might still be able to get a third-party chat application that runs on your phone's Symbian, Java ME, BREW, or other application environment. You need to get a chat client which is "Wireless Village compliant presence-enabled".
Note that it is still necessary for the operator to provide the IM service and/or one will have to connect to a third party server for connection with others for IM'ing
[edit] Compatible terminals
This is only a partial list. Many phones sold today support IMPS, especially phones from these manufacturers.
Nokia 3220, 6020, 6021, 6220, 6230, 6230i, 6630, 6820, 5140, 6810, 7200, 7260, 7270, 7610, 8800, E50, E60, E61, E62, E65, E70, N70, N72
Motorola V500, V600, E398, V3
Sony Ericsson K310, J300i, F500i, K300i, K310i, K500i, K510i, K600i, K610i, K700i, K750i, K790i, K800i, S700i, T206, T630, T637, V800, W550i, W800i, W810i, W850i, W900i, Z500A, Z800, Z1010
Siemens CX70, CX75, M65, SK65, S75
BenQ-Siemens S68
IMPS
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
For the mythological beings, see Imp.
For Star Wars fan film, see IMPS The Relentless.
IMPS stands for Instant Messaging and Presence Service. It is an OMA enabler for Instant Messaging and Presence. The Wireless Village consortium developed the first cut of the specifications. After Wireless Village was merged with OMA, its specs became OMA IMPS 1.0 specifications. IMPS is widely deployed but not necessarily marketed. Interworking between several operators IMPS platforms is being performed under a GSMA initiave that encourages interworking and deployment of Instant Messaging.
Vanilla terminals often have IMPS clients.
On Nokia, the chat client is accessed via the "My Presence" menu.
On Sony Ericsson, it's called "’My Friends".
On Motorola, it's called "IM". The phones' chat clients are generally designed to be provider neutral, so you have to put in the Wireless Village server settings.
If your phone doesn't have an inbuilt chat client, you might still be able to get a third-party chat application that runs on your phone's Symbian, Java ME, BREW, or other application environment. You need to get a chat client which is "Wireless Village compliant presence-enabled".
Note that it is still necessary for the operator to provide the IM service and/or one will have to connect to a third party server for connection with others for IM'ing
[edit] Compatible terminals
This is only a partial list. Many phones sold today support IMPS, especially phones from these manufacturers.
Nokia 3220, 6020, 6021, 6220, 6230, 6230i, 6630, 6820, 5140, 6810, 7200, 7260, 7270, 7610, 8800, E50, E60, E61, E62, E65, E70, N70, N72
Motorola V500, V600, E398, V3
Sony Ericsson K310, J300i, F500i, K300i, K310i, K500i, K510i, K600i, K610i, K700i, K750i, K790i, K800i, S700i, T206, T630, T637, V800, W550i, W800i, W810i, W850i, W900i, Z500A, Z800, Z1010
Siemens CX70, CX75, M65, SK65, S75
BenQ-Siemens S68
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Great List of Open Source Telephony Projects
[Source:http://www.oreillynet.com/etel/blog/2007/04/great_list_of_open_source_tele.html]
Regular ETel readers know that we’re big on open source telephony around here. We regularly feature technical articles on open source telecom projects like Asterisk, FreeSWITCH, YATE, and OpenZoep, we like to discuss the issues around open source business models in our blogs, and O’Reilly Media has long been a champion and documenter for many of the most important open source projects. So I consider paying attention to open source telephony projects a major part of my “beat” as the editor of ETel, but even I was surprised at the depth represented in VoIP Now’s list of 74 Open Source VoIP Apps & Resources. Broken down by category, Jimmy Atkinson has collected what must be the most exhaustive list of open source telecom projects to date. I’m ashamed to admit there’s quite a few on this list I haven’t heard of. Thanks a lot for this Jimmy, now I’ve got my work cut out for me!
Regular ETel readers know that we’re big on open source telephony around here. We regularly feature technical articles on open source telecom projects like Asterisk, FreeSWITCH, YATE, and OpenZoep, we like to discuss the issues around open source business models in our blogs, and O’Reilly Media has long been a champion and documenter for many of the most important open source projects. So I consider paying attention to open source telephony projects a major part of my “beat” as the editor of ETel, but even I was surprised at the depth represented in VoIP Now’s list of 74 Open Source VoIP Apps & Resources. Broken down by category, Jimmy Atkinson has collected what must be the most exhaustive list of open source telecom projects to date. I’m ashamed to admit there’s quite a few on this list I haven’t heard of. Thanks a lot for this Jimmy, now I’ve got my work cut out for me!
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