Premonvision

Premonvision coming to a close

Carl Gressum — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 14:55:04 +0000

After freelancing for 3 years I recently decided to join on a permanent basis Samsung Electronics Research Institute.

Note to Elop: pairing two dying dinosaurs will not create a new and nimble Nokia

Carl Gressum — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 16:52:30 +0000

Today Nokia announced a new partnership with Microsoft. The essence of the partnership is that Nokia and Microsoft will work closely together on Windows Phone, which Nokia now will use as its main operating system for mobile devices. Both are struggling in the mobile phone industry, and this partnership is a partnership between two dying dinosaurs in an attempt to create a nimble Nokia.

The often misunderstood usage based billing of broadband services

Carl Gressum — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 17:28:28 +0000

The often misunderstood usage based billing of broadband services

Usage based billing (UBB) of broadband services, where the user pays for the bandwidth consumed, is a misunderstood child. UBB applies the same principles as other utility services (water, electricity, and gas). UBB represents a very different approach to the established flat rate regime in the telecoms sector, where customers can consume as much bandwidth as possible for a flat rate.

The ARMs race at CES 2011

Carl Gressum — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 16:58:49 +0000

CES 2011 was dominated by Android by Google and products based on the licensable ARM processor architecture. Android has been discussed at length, hence today I thought it would be useful to explore some of the implications of what occurred at CES with regards to ARM.

Firstly, ARM is the defacto chip architecture for the fast growing markets for power efficient and compute intensive mobile phones, tablets, and slates. The x86-based chips, made by mainly Intel and AMD, are typically more powerful than ARM solutions, however they also use a lot more power and generate more heat. X86 processors have therefore had little success entering these fast growing markets.

Reprogrammable SIM cards: curse or blessing for telcos?

Carl Gressum — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 16:05:17 +0000

There has been plenty of talk about reprogrammable SIM cards of late. Negotiations are supposedly on-going between vendors and telcos on how embedding software based SIM-'cards' in mobile phones (operators resisting the pressure from vendors), while at the same time the GSM Association is developing specifications for reprogrammable SIM functionality.

Typically, telcos want to protect the existing model of using SIM cards to active access to their wireless network for voice and / or data network connectivity. This ensures control over the user as well as provides lock-in via lengthy contracts tied in to the device (mobile phone) and SIM card, which in return can reduce churn as it increases switching costs (cost of moving to a competitor) for the end user. This may be seen as Telco 1.0 business model.

France Télécom raises the white flag on exclusive IPTV content acquisitions

Carl Gressum — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 16:27:55 +0000

France Télécom's newly instated CEO, Stephane Richard, has outlined the new direction for the company in Les Conquêtes 2015 (or loosely translated Conquest 2015). The main impacts are in Content & TV and Network Infrastructure. In the future France Télécom will scale back its investments in content acquisitions. Instead of purchasing expensive content rights on its own, it will seek partners for select bids, such as football rights. This change of tack is a contrast to the policy of the former CEO. In the past years the operator has made significant investments in content acquisitions in order to boost its IPTV services. This will now change. Instead the company will focus on investments in LTE (Long Term Evolution) and fibre networks. Although Mr. Richard states that that the company will continue its efforts in content & TV there is little doubts that the company is shifting investments from content to networks which worth while discussing.

SLOW MOVE TOWARDS STANDARDISATION OF IPTV IN WESTERN EUROPE

Carl Gressum — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 13:15:39 +0000

New research from Premonvision shows that telecoms-based standards for residential services, such as IPTV, lack momentum with Western European operators

LONDON, United Kingdom, -7 July, 2010 – The Western European service delivery platform overview 2010-2013 by consulting firm Premonvision reveals detailed information on how operators in the region plan their service delivery platforms (for services such as IPTV, telemedicine and home automation) for the time period 2010-2013. Select highlights from the report:

Open letter response to Ofcom's Traffic management and 'net neutrality'

Carl Gressum — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 13:31:57 +0000

This is an open letter response to Ofcom's latest discussion paper on traffic management and 'net neutrality'. The document raises several concerns to the future the British digital economy and British citizens. Instead of focusing on encouraging growth in the digital economy and creation of new companies and jobs, as well as protect UK citizens' interests, Ofcom's preliminary conclusions and arguments show that the regulator may more interested in protecting the interests of ISPs and established content and service providers in order to drive the development of fibre networks.

APPING THE STAKES IN WESTERN EUROPE

Carl Gressum — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 16:22:18 +0000

New research from Premonvision provides insights to the Western European home gateway market 2010 – 2013

LONDON, United Kingdom, -21 June, 2010- The Western European home gateway market overview 2010 – 2013 report by consulting firm Premonvision reveals detailed information on how operators in the region will develop and position the residential gateway in the coming three years. Highlights from the research show:

HP fixes its software and mobile play: acquires Palm

Carl Gressum — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 11:49:51 +0000

It has been on the cards since the relaunch of Palm at CES 2008 that the likely outcome for the new Palm was to be acquired. Spear-headed by former Apple executives, such as CEO Jon Rubinstein, and capital from Elevation Partners, Palm set out to essentially become a second Apple in the mobile phone industry by launching Webos.

Although I have not thoroughly tested and reviewed Webos phones, such as the Pre or Pixi, Webos brought innovations to the mobile phone industry in terms of contact management, messaging and combining activities.

However, unlike when Apple entered the high end mobile phone market, Palm faced much stronger competition and failed to gain developer traction as well as operator support and commitments. These issues resulted in poor customer uptake. Consequently Palm's share price has tanked and there have been plenty of speculations as to which company would acquire Palm.