Wireless In Progress

Carnival of the Mobilists #79

2007-06-25T08:54:00.000-07:00

The 79th edition of the Carnival is up and running at Route 79.
A big welcome to the “mobilists” out there who rarely (if at all) visit here.The theme of this week is the impact that mobile has on art, entertainment and lifestyle.
And how profound an impact our industry has had on our lifestyle.

For more details, please visit: http://mobili.st/

Carnival of the Mobilists #77

2007-06-12T16:08:00.000-07:00

Host Zach invites us to: “So sit back, take a sip of that coffee, make sure that your calls are forwarded - and enjoy!” Carnival 77 on Symbian in Motion. It’s a handsome presentation with lots of great blogging about mobile.

For more details, please visit: http://mobili.st/

Carnival of the Mobilists #76

2007-06-05T09:13:00.000-07:00

This week’s Carnival is up and running at twofones. As Greg Clayman says the goal of this carnival (and of blog carnivals in general) is to expose the reader, to other mobile-focued bloggers that he might enjoy.

For more details, please visit: http://mobili.st/

Mobile Advertising Reality Check

2007-06-01T23:26:00.000-07:00

This week I interviewed my good friend Earl Lum, as he just released a report on one of the hottest topics in mobile – Mobile Advertising. If you know Earl, you know this report is a must have for anyone currently in mobile advertising, or thinking of being. And why wouldn’t you – it’s set to grow to USD $9.5 Billion by 2011. Earl has a way of doggedly digging for research and finding information that just makes everyone else scratch their heads wondering how he found all the detailed data. And of course with data, come good analysis. I tried doing research and analysis myself once, but just didn’t have the patience, so I fully appreciate the time and effort a report like this takes.

Here’s my interview with Earl Lum the founder and President of EJL Wireless Research in regards to his findings in this just release report titled ‘Global Mobile Advertising Market Analysis 2006-2011, 1st Edition,’”

1. Why did you set out to do a report on mobile advertising? I thought you were a base station guy?

A. Mobile infrastructure equipment analysis (i.e. the base station and PTP mmwave markets) is only one part of EJL Wireless Research’s focus on the wireless ecosystem. Mobile content is another large part of the company’s focus and we started that earlier this year with our first mobile games market analysis and mobile advertising was natural fit due to the software and hardware requirements. Also the size of the mark and potential did have a factor in analyzing the market. Another was dispelling the hype around this industry due to the excitement at CTIA earlier this year. EJL Wireless Research has been known for providing an industry reality check for our clients with its leading research and analysis.

2. So what’s the big story you found?

A. Well, like all hype, there is some good embedded in much chaos that will require a significant change to the industry in order for the market to really take off. The reality is that there are too many players in it today and too many jumping on the bandwagon. Many will fail, some will consolidate and a few select may make it to the finish line for an M&A transaction or even the coveted IPO exit.

3. What am I going to find in this report that I won’t find elsewhere?

A. I think what you wont find is hype. We are presenting a harsh reality check from technology to social barriers that currently exist. Don’t get me wrong, like others, I also believe that the market may be billions but significant barriers need to be scaled over for the market to move forward. You are also going to see our list of winners and losers in the market.

4. Did you find any regional or country differences of note?

A. Yes but I can’t reveal more that the fact the United States is not the center of the universe.

5. Any inkling into consumer backlash to this? Aren’t we inundated enough already by advertising?

A. You have hit the a sensitive nerve with this question. The mobile phone is the ultimate advertising portal and one of the most personal and private items a consumer owns. There may be tremendous backlash if things are done incorrectly. Hence the huge market risks for all players going forward if a select few screw it up for everyone. Remember Jamba/Jamster? They probably single handedly set back the mobile content industry by about 3 years with their deceptive marketing practices.

6. What’s your advice to someone already in the mobile advertising space?

A. It not the same as the online market. How do you REALLY differentiate yourself from everyone who is trying to do the same thing? If you are a startup, your only viable bet may be an M&A exit. Look at the AOL purchase of Third Screen Media. Also we found that mobile couponing is going to be big – up to 42% of the market.

7. How about advice for a company that wants to implement a mobile advertising campaign – how do they get started?

A. If they are a brand and want to diversify their traditional media and online media to wireless, then they need to find the right partners in the regions around the world to setup the campaign correctly. What technology should they use? SMS? TV/video? Bluetooth? They also need to be realistic on the upfront click through rates and potential reach and redemption rates and ultimately, product lift rates from the ad campaign.

You can find out more about EJL’s Wireless Report by contacting Earl directly at ejlwireless@sbcglobal.net. Tell him Caroline sent you for a special WIP rate.

Carnival of the Mobilists 75

2007-05-29T14:04:00.000-07:00

Vision Mobile has focused its knowledge, passion and innovation in hosting this week’s Carnival here. Wander down the midway for the top ten blog posts of the week about mobile.

For more details, please visit: http://www.mobili.st/

Carnival of the Mobilists 74

2007-05-22T09:05:00.000-07:00

This week’s Carnival, hosted by Martin Sauter, is up and running at Martin’s Mobile Technology Page. As Martin says, introducing the review blog posts: once again, there are great ideas out there on the future of the mobile Internet.

For more details, please visit: http://mobili.st/

Carnival of the Mobilists 73

2007-05-14T08:53:00.000-07:00

Pink, pretty and pithy, the Carnival is now set up by Xen Mendelsohn at Xellular Identity. Drop by to enjoy this week’s mobile blogging at its best.

For more details, please visit: http://mobili.st/

Carnival of Mobilists at 3Lib

2007-05-08T09:14:00.000-07:00

Carnival of Mobilists at 3Lib
Carnival of the Mobilists #72 is hosted by Steve Litchfield of 3-Lib. Head over for the best mobile round-up for this week's Carnival!

For more details visit:http://mobili.st/

OPEN - THE NEW MANTRA

2007-05-04T16:53:00.000-07:00

Have you noticed that 'open' seems to be the new mantra for our industry?

Technically we are seeing the rise of Linux and the open source community. Stay tuned for more announcements this year and early next year as Linux is embraced by more operators and makes its way into more devices. We are also seeing more open collaboration amongst companies big and small. These partnerships are necessary for growth in our complex ecosystem, but can be challenging to find, put together and manage.

I'm also hearing more about Open Innovation and had the pleasure of attending Nokia's Mobile Mashup event last week in Silicon Valley. Nokia took the opportunity to showcase their new philosophy called Open Innovation which is all about opening up their kimono a wee bit more and reaching out to others to collaborate on technical and market development. This is a monumental shift in the thinking of this big closed company, so I don't expect to see big changes soon, but I applaud them for taking this new tack - its the only way for them and our industry to grown, innovate and prosper.

Open Innovation was originally coined by Henry Chesbrough in 2003, based on his research on the innovation practices of large multinational companies. “Open innovation” describes a new paradigm for the management of industrial innovation in the 21st century, in which firms work with external partners to both commercialize their internal innovations and to obtain a source of external innovations that can be commercialized.

Here is a good comparison of Open and Closed Innovation principles from the European Open Innovation site – Good stuff!

Closed innovation principles
The smart people in the field work for us.
To profit from R&D, we must discover it, develop it, and ship it ourselves.
If we discover it ourselves, we will get it to the market first.
The company that gets an innovation to the market first will win. .
If we create the most and the best ideas in the industry, we will win.
We should control our IP, so that our competitors don't profit from our ideas.

Open innovation principles
Not all the smart people in the field work for us. We need to work with smart people inside and outside the company.
External R&D can create significant value: internal R&D is needed to claim some portion of that value.
We don't have to originate the research to profit from it.
Building a better business model is better than getting to the market first
If we make the best use of internal and external ideas, we will win.
We should profit from others' use of our IP, and we should buy others' IP whenever it advances our business model.

We are now entering the next phase of Open Innovation in the form of user input and the proliferation of communities. The challenge is how to identify the great opportunities and exploit them in a collaborative way.

Back to the Nokia event..... Nokia is looking for support on everything from power management- cameras, wibree, wifi and wimax, to applications and algorithms. So if you think you have something worth partnering on, go and see them. Keep in mind, working with Nokia also means keeping up with 13 phones being developed every second in the factories, 329 million parts sourced everyday, and often a fast 2-3 month turnaround for getting applications to ship on over $1m phones!

Here are a few other notes I took on the types of technologies the folks like Zac Renner and his colleagues from their New Tech Sourcing group at Nokia was looking for:
- Power: new sources, and power saving sources
- Imaging: improved quality from lighting issues, to focus to redeye
- Multi radio: components, SDR (Software defined radio)
- User Interface: something to make the phone idiot compatible

Of course I and the other attendees were pleased with our parting gifts of the N800 - ala Linux no less! I had great fun surfing the net sitting at a coffee shop on Castro Avenue, downtown Mountain View on the Google wifi network. Unfortunately, it’s not set up for easy accessibility anywhere, as I wasn’t able to use it at the hotel or several other locations where I needed to click on an ‘accept’ button for terms and conditions etc. It just showed a ‘could not connect’ message. I did love the bright screen and usability all told. It will be handy for travelling when I don’t want to lug my laptop around during the day to surf the net. I’ll still need my Blackberry for email and voice access though.

My good chum Oliver Starr also blogged about his take on the event. and I must say I agreed with his viewpoint.

Hmm – So how quickly do you think Open Innovation will overtake our industry? Do you think that means that more operators will embrace this new mantra too and Ajit Jaokar and Tony Fish will finally see the Open Gardens? Let me know your thoughts.

Carnival of the Mobilists 70

2007-04-24T11:48:00.000-07:00

Carnival 70 is at Mobile Opportunity. Read a round-up of the best current blogging about many mobile topics, with introductions by this week’s host Michael Mace.

For more information, visit:http://mobili.st/

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Carnival of the Mobilists 69

2007-04-16T15:26:00.000-07:00

This week’s Carnival is now online at Mobile Marketing and Spam. This week’s host Troy Norcross has rolled out a terrific midway of the top mobile blogging of the week!

For more information, visit:http://mobili.st/

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Go-To-Market: Branding

2007-04-16T14:35:00.000-07:00

WIP is pleased to present this article written by our member Beth Flom from Flag+Company.

With Web 2.0 ramping up for mainstream adoption, the proliferation of small companies with big opportunity is once again omnipresent
Taking a strong stake hold in that mix are companies playing in the WiFi space – whether wiring parks, buildings, or public spaces; manufacturing routers and access points; or operating and installing networks. At this stage of the game, companies in the new ultrabroadband wireless arena must not only sell themselves, but sell the wireless
industry as a whole. Unlike our European counterparts, Americans are just
beginning to understand the power of WiFi. To adapt to this learning curve,
companies playing in the space must create branding and marketing tools that
embrace education, as well as differentiation.

These no-nonsense wireless branding strategies are the keys to getting it right: Focus on the Practical. New features and cool capabilities are just that – fun gizmos that attract attention. But unless users can translate that wow- factor into long-term usability, the shelf life is limited. Great wireless brands discover practical uses that can easily integrate into a user’s life and make something easier, better, or more enjoyable. Connect with Customers. Rather than understanding how customers can relate to the technology, determine how the technology can relate to the customer. The best brands are customer-centric. In the burgeoning wireless space, this tenet becomes even more crucial as customers are asked to both choose a brand preference, as well as understand and adopt a new way of life. Understand that Size Matters. Though executed differently, branding for wireless organizations – whether start-ups or market leaders – must still begin with the same premise of edification. For early stage and start-up organizations this means that education must be integrated into the DNA of the company’s brand. Larger, more recognized players must, however, find a way to intertwine this revised focus into an established position. Use Wireless to Sell Wireless. WiFi is about more than Web surfing and checking e-mail – wireless experiences have become marketing tools in and of themselves.
From mobile phone ortals to PDA applications, using wireless to sell wireless gives users a “living” example of how the technology works. It is inherently educational –with a fun twist.

Web 2.0 promises new technology and expanded opportunity. That new technology brings with it dynamic changes and nebulous benefit statements that are just now becoming clear to the early adopters. The challenge comes in translating those claims into simpler language and clear benefits that resonate with the masses. While the technologies and products must deliver, pave the way with an integrated marketing strategy that educates as much as it proliferates.

About Flag + Company Flag + Company has branded, defined, re-defined, and marketed companies from global players to startup organizations, including Nokia, WiFi Salon and Nortel. With a founding tenet that marketing should be creative for the sake of business, Flag is passionate about building brands for those companies changing tomorrow’s marketplace.

For additional information, contact Flag at 212.727.FLAG, or visit the company’s Web site at www.flagandco.com .

About Beth Flom As a managing partner and co- founder of Flag + Company, Beth has worked with organizations of all sizes and sectors within the technology arena. Prior to founding Flag, Beth served as a senior director at The Delve Group, a strategic branding firm focused on the business-to-business sector, and creativedirector at D2 Creative, where she established a traditional marketing and strategy division within an interactive agency.

WIP will feature a Go-To- Market article every month in our website!!

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Go-To-Market - featuring Terry Hughes of otaView

2007-04-11T15:59:00.000-07:00

Although I call myself Terry, my given name is actually Terence. Throughout my career I have used Terence as my go-to-market mnemonic. I’ll share with you that mnemonic today, and if there’s one thing you should take away from this article, it’s to remember “the Terence sales process”; it works! Think about how you can apply TERENCE to your current sales challenges.The best example of TERENCE in my career was when I took over sales at a company with annual revenues of $0.5M Within 2 years, annual revenues had become $3.4M, we had become well known within the industry, and we had some really high profile reference customers.This is how we did it.

T ARGET: instead of trying to sell to everyone, we focused 100% on the lucrative carrier market. We set ourselves a goal of $3M in revenue and 10 carrier customers within 2 years.

E STABLISH: selling to carriers required a different class of product and a different set of skills; we re- structured internally before going out there.

R ELATIONSHIPS: although it was expensive, we attended all the tradeshows and industry events, we presented our vision and wrote groundbreaking white papers, we joined the associations, and we adopted a consultative selling approach. The carriers started approaching us to do business!

E VALUATION: we were proactive about providing packaged evaluations on our terms, and when carriers did on-site assessments our “Establish” phase had made us prepared and ready with most of the answers.

N URTURE: carriers were notorious for dragging their heels, so we had to be assertive. We went to them with a well-thought out execution plan including timescales, and we were prepared to walk if they wanted to move more slowly.

C LOSE: instead of putting all of our hope in Vodafone, we signed several tier 2 carriers first, which gave us great experience and some great revenues in shorter timescales.

E XPAND: our solution was GSM circuit- switched but our roadmap was GPRS; carriers bought the GSM solution because of what we would be able to do when GPRS was launched.That all happened in 1999, and that company is still going strong!

Terry Hughes runs a wireless sales consultancy company in Canada, called otaView. otaView is a member of WIP. Terry has spent the last 20 years in telecoms in Europe, mainly heading up sales and business development, including 7 years at Vodafone and 4 years at 2 start-ups. Before setting up otaView he was VP Sales at Zi Corporation for 4 years, licensing embedded software to OEMs. Having worked within the world’s biggest carrier, then spending many years selling to carriers and handset manufacturers, Terry has seen it all – and sold it all !

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Women in Mobile

2007-04-09T12:49:00.000-07:00

Thanks very much to my good friend Rudy De Waele who profiled me on his blog and for the Women in Mobile interview!

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Carnival of the Mobilists #68

2007-04-09T11:59:00.000-07:00

This week’s Carnival is now online at Always On Real-Time Access. Chetan Sharma has done an excellent job as Midway Master. An extra treat is his AORTA explanation in his bit of philosophy that introduces the Carnival.
For more information, visit:
http://mobili.st/

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Orange Partner Camp - April 16-18, 2007

2007-04-06T15:48:00.000-07:00

Orange Partner Camp, Cape Canaveral, 16-18 April 2007.

Places for the event, as always, are limited, and this will be the only opportunity to attend an Orange Partner Camp in 2007!

Take one small step to Orange Partner Camp, Cape Canaveral and make one big step for your business! If you're a:- business or consumer downloadable applications provider- service enabler or platform provider- converged service or solution provider- service publisher- service aggregator- systems integrators or ISVIf you're interested in finding out exactly how you can work with Orange in the new converged marketplace, take a look at the website:

www.orangepartnercamp.com to find out more and register.

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Discount for WIP Members

2007-04-06T15:42:00.000-07:00

April 23 and 24, 2007 - MiamiThe conference for the mobile and digital music business in Latin America and the US Hispanics communities .

WIP attendees receive 20 % discount.
Please mention WIP when you register.

Meet Latin American & US Carriers, Music Label and Aggregators in Latin Mobile and Digital Music Summit Join Vivo, TIM, Cingular Wireless, Movistar Chile, Brasil Telecom, OI, MTV Latin America, Sony BMG, Warner and many other US & Latin American operators and companies in the only conference addressing the business issues related to the mobile & digital music industry in the Americas.

Issues which will be addressed:- Music fans are streaming videos and paying to download them in their phones and other digital devices in Europe and USA. What is the case in Latin America? - US Hispanic music market, opportunities and how to reach it .- Record companies are trying to find revenues in digital music to compensate for the fall in the sales of CD. What mobile marketing opportunities in music are being deployed in Latin America? - Will mobile music converge in the wireless phone or diverge into different devices

For more information visit www.latinmobile.frecuenciaevents.com/ or call us at +1-305-567-2492.

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LAUNCHED AT CTIA - SUN'S MOBILE PARTNER INITIATIVE

2007-04-06T15:38:00.001-07:00

The Sun Partner Advantage Program has gone mobile. The Mobile Partner Initiative unleashes the resources needed to create applications based on the Sun Java Platform, Micro Edition (Java ME). The Java ME platform is the most pervasive mobile technology across the globe, and is deployed by over 180 operators worldwide on over 1.5 Billion handsets.

Find out more here:

sun.com/partners/mobile

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WIP Members win Awards at CTIA

2007-04-06T14:53:00.000-07:00

CTIA WIRELESS E-Tech Award WinnersNetwork Infrastructure - In-Building/Local Area Network Solution
Winner - Tatara Systems' Femtocell Convergence Solution
Enterprise Solutions
Winner - Transclick's Translation for Blackberry and J2ME smartphones.

NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge The Americas

The AmericasThe grand-prize winner and Business Application Category
Winner ComVu Media Inc., received $50,000 in cash and $100,000 worth of NAVTEQ map data licenses for up to on e year. ComVu Medias application, ComVu PocketCaster GPS, leverages cameraphones with integrated GPS receiver to create an easy one-button mobile Webcasting.

Andrew Seybold Choice Awards Most Innovative Business Application Finalist Cognos with their 8 Go! Mobile is a Business Intelligence solution for executives and mobile workers who require wireless access to important information.

The Wireless Innovation Contest 2007 (WIC07)

Taking Care of Business: Private Sector
Winner Mobile Completes DeviceAnywhere
Taking Care of Business: Public Sector
Winner In Motion Technology's onBoard (TM)
Mobile Gateway Taking Care of the Community
Winner ComVu Medias PocketCaster

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Medical Solutions

2007-04-06T14:35:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Clay Braziller for sharing insight into this market for us.

There is no need to explain to this audience about the effect wireless devices have had on our lives. However I would bet that not many people have an understanding of how the technology is completely changing the medical industry. For instance, there are implantable pacemakers that have built in GSM (http://www.middleeasthealthmag.com/jan2005/). Prior to this your doctor would base the tuning of the pacemaker on historical data or no data at all. Now the tuning is based on data sent by the pacemaker. This alone will save the medical system millions of dollars in the reduction of emergency hospital visits. Today the Cardiac Rhythm Market (CRM) market is worth over $8 billion and is expected to grow by 20% each year.

In the implantable world a pacemaker is considered mundane. A little more on the edge is a recent announcement by EaglePicher Medical Power of a new battery that is the size of a grain of rice (www.mtbeurope.info/news/2007/703017.htm). It powers a cardiac monitoring device so small it can be inserted in an artery and will, for 10-15 years, broadcast the condition of a persons heart. Of course the challenge of imbedding an antenna with the power controls and the logics in a package that is the size match stick has enormous challenges.
Wireless is not only saving heart attack victims it is also eliminating the errors caused by giving someone the wrong blood (http://www.intel.co). Not surprisingly the ability to achieve such brilliant results is completely transforming how hospitals handle everything from x- rays to patient tracking. This is also a multi billion dollar industry as institutions race to digitalize their networks and operations.

As we move forward we will begin to hear more about the Personal Area Network (PAN) which is being used for disposable medical devices. Or how blue tooth is being built into implantables. The best way to get involved is to monitor the industry publications and get a feeling for who is developing product in your space then contact the company directly. There are two good journals to watch for industry news and to track innovation in wireless implantable medical devices: Medical News Today or for information on the use of wireless in hospitals visit Canadian Healthcare Technology.

Clay Braziller - Is a marketing and sales executive in the medical device industry. He may be reached at clay@braziller.com and wirelessly at 604- 961-6360

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What? No hype at CTIA? How disappointing.... or is it?

2007-04-06T14:14:00.001-07:00

Most What? No hype at CTIA? How disappointing.... or is it?
of the media articles passing my desk since last week 'report' on the dearth of news at CTIA. Here's my take on this - Great! We don't need the flashy stories to tell us the biggest story - that wireless is working; that it's being adopted faster than we can keep up with innovation (or need to keep up); and many of our small innovators who have been working hard over the last 5-8 years and survived all the crashes are finally making some money! I feel like a proud Mom, as many of them I've nurtured with advice, connections or funds - keep it going!

And now the lessons are about stablizing your business; getting through growing pains and learning how to sell fast in a world of mergers, make-overs and short quarterly attention spans. Of course - we must always keep our eye on the future.

I had the pleasure again of facilitating the WIC07 Mentor Panel at CTIA, now in its 4th year. Each winner receives an hour long session to ask for advice on growing their business from top individuals that this year included: Oliver Starr of Guidewire Group, Madeline Duva a serial entrepreneur and mentor, Tim Chang of Norwest Venture Partners, Chris Landgon of Telus, Doug MacMillan of Forum Nokia, and Hani Sakhnini of Alcatel-Lucent. See the article to the Right, showcasing some of the WIP members who were winners.

Here are some words of wisdom I collected from this group:
- Don't give a customer too many choices or they take too long to make decisions.
- Don't focus on technology, focus on what you are solving.
- It costs upwards of 10 cents a MB to move data on a network.
- What is the DNA of your company, focus on that or get a focus.
- Do you know what your viralosity co-efficient is?

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2007 Wireless/Mobile Predictions

2007-01-07T23:02:00.000-08:00

Here's my turn to throw my hat into the ring for some 2007 predictions for our wireless/mobile sector!

One thing I don’t have to tell you is that this is an industry on fire. Growth will remain very strong this year. As industry insiders, we will be challenged to stay on top of the growth, the trends and the expectations.

1. The Confusion Equation will not Abate.

Our industry is notorious for its lack of standards. This complex wireless matrix of multiple devices, operating systems and carrier nuances stands between our ability to get quality applications out to customers, for them to use the services, and for greater revenue growth. Granted there are a number of folks developing band-aids and workable solutions, I don’t see a miracle ‘fix’ by the end of the year. I do see an increased earnest effort to collaborate on solutions by our industry leaders; and more workaround solutions to bypass the big guys all together. Keep in mind though the workarounds tend to be useful for the geeks and early adopters, not a mass market. It does though usually force the big guys to make positive changes. Enter also tools from the open source community and others opening their APIs. This is great – but is doesn’t make it easier for developers to make choices just yet.

2. An Increase in the Number of Inexperienced Developers.

As convergence truly dawns upon us, and wireless/mobility becomes ubiquitous, ‘outsiders’ are entering the field by the masses. It’s no longer just the domain of the telecom engineers. New Media companies want their websites and games to be wireless; and classic software developers are also being pressured to take their already existing applications to the mobile arena. Unfortunately, most of the newbees don’t understand our development complexities (i.e. see prediction #1). I believe this will lead to developer programs and operators being increasingly stressed to stay on top of requests with their already lean teams. I hope it will cause them to revisit the way they present information and respond to requests – after all we do want the newcomers, as they help increase the pie for everyone.

2.a. Business/Social Networking.

As our wireless community grows, it's going to be even more difficult for us to stay on top of our communications and contacts. This overload will lead to a strong need for quality business networking to find the contacts and information necessary to build a winning business.

3. The True Embrace of Usability.

Usability has been paid lip service over the last several years, but I believe this year will finally see usability take its rightful place in the development cycle from the get-go, not as an afterthought. I also mean Usability in a larger sense, including localization, adaptability and as well clarity of messaging. Tell me what you’ve got, what you’ve really really got – and make it really easy for me to use it again, and again, and again, regardless of what language I speak or any disabilities I might have.

4. The Tipping Point for Location.

This will be the year that location based services comes into their own. The ecosystem is in place and is working together from the data providers, the carriers (CDMA anyway) who have the technical pieces they need, and solid Geospatial Platform Providers (GPP). Can Presence be far behind?

Happy New Year Everyone and best wishes for a peaceful and prosperous 2007!

One of my resolutions for 2007 - to be more consistent on blogging - it really is alot of work :-)

NB this Post taken from my January 2007 Newsletter from www.wipconnector.com

The Clash of the Titans – wireless vs new media – Is Content King or is the Medium the Message?

2006-10-06T22:20:00.000-07:00

I separately had a couple of great conversations this week with Michael Mace of Rubicon ;and Ajit Jaokar from Future Text and the Oxford Forum (BTW – you must read his and Tony Fish’s new book – Mobile Web 2.0).

We collectively are fascinated to watch the clash that is going on between the wireless and new/old media sectors. It’s so multi-faceted which is what makes it really interesting.

On the red team you have the Wireless Sector. First there’s technology – the wireless sector is traditionally, and still is very technical. It’s hard core engineers optimizing packets over multi layers of spectrum; going to battle with the regulators and lobbyist over standards; tearing their hair out trying to configure java on handsets and networks and only achieving success on about 10% of that matrix.

On the Blue team you have the media sector. Technology is less important to this group (the engineers take care of that don’t they…). They are driven to be creative with their content; to entertain us and to ensure that Tiger Woods golf swing ‘looks real’. Most of these folks don’t really understand how technically complicated the wireless environment is and have higher expectations for deploying their content onto mobile devices and networks than is currently achievable. I'm usually much more passionate when I talk about this, but see that Derek Kerton at TechDirt gave an impassioned rant about it his week.

These differences also lead to culture clashes. Walk into a wireless meeting and depending on which side of 40 you are old; you will either feel quite young or quite old. I must admit that I am much more comfortable with the grey haired set of wireless; and have a hard time fitting into the new media crowd who has a different language and more piercings than I care to count. But what's making money in mobile data these days..... music, games etc.

Of course, it’s interesting to watch the traditional players in both these industries and the protectionism each exhibits – the carriers and the music/print/tv. Protectionism is usually driven by fear and it’s no different here. I’m certain lessons will be learned in these traditional spaces as it was in the music industry when Napster came onto the scene. Change, be flexible or you will lose.

So how do we get the peanut butter inside the chocolate cup – to make something better/different that combines the best of both worlds and really expands the pie for everyone. Ahhh - the million dollar question that speaks to human behavior. We will continue to see clashes over the foreseeable future as convergence overtakes us. I believe the early winners will be the ones who can lay down their swords, try new models and be open to new ideas; and understand the strengths of each side. Don’t expect it to be solved anytime soon! I look forward to the Wireless Industry Partnership to be there to provide eduation, information and connections.

Telephones in Canada, GPS Tribulations and other travel lessons

2006-10-06T22:05:00.000-07:00

Travel is both exciting and frustrating all at the same time, but is certainly something I recommend to everyone. Whether you are a tourist or business traveller – it’s important to take your self out of your own neighborhood and see what is going on somewhere else.

I was sitting at SFO (San Francisco Airport) having breakfast Thursday morning and having a good chuckle while overhearing some conversations. The lady sitting beside me is heading up to Vancouver for the week and is calling all of her family members. Well - good on her, she is using a mobile phone, so two thumbs up for supporting our industry. However – her reasoning for calling ALL her relatives before she leaves is that she’s not sure what the telephone service is going to be like up there!! No kidding she actually said that. But I still have to give her two thumbs up for taking herself out of her environment to see the world – I think she is in for a big surprise.

Many of our small companies are very similar to this lady, but they don’t even bother to travel anywhere to find out what is going on. They are the ones of course that have no competition; don’t need to partner with anyone; expect unreasonably high valuations for their business because they know they are going to take over the world with their great technology and application. Surprise, surprise – they have little sales and are having a hard time getting funding.

I’ve been the industry for almost a dozen years, and still feel my knowledge is about 20%. Having just spent the last few days in the Bay Area/Silicon Valley; I am reminded of how important it is to travel; talk with other people and find out what is going on somewhere else.

So – what did I learn this week:
- The AVIS Assist GPS unit from AVIS car rental gets two thumbs down. It did get me to half of my meetings on time; but the tracking system often lost me and put me an hour late for two important meetings, as it kept turning me around. I could have taken out my map, or made some phone calls (which I eventually had to do), but I wanted to try the system, to see what folks outside the industry would experience. I also opened up my web browser on my Blackberry to check out google maps, but the information was not optimized for the screen and my eyes are still smarting from looking at it.

I’ve also tried the Garmin Street Pilot in the past from a Thrifty car rental I had in Ottawa/Montreal. It’s a bit clunky but I really liked to be able to see on the screen what was around me and what was coming up. With the AVIS unit, it was a Motorola PTT phone that I had to listen to blindly. It always started with “head West (or S,E,N), but if you don’t know where you are….. how do you know which direction you are going in without any landmarks.

I stopped in at deCarta’s Developer Conference and the consensus there with others in the know is a recommendation for the NeverLost system a Magellan device that Hertz had. Next time!

Other themes this week:
- social networking and communities are still hot
- location is hot, but for most, not likely something to build a big business around; rather an enhancement to existing applications.
- still looking for localized location services
- mobile payments is on the radar screen
- big questions around how to mobilize the enterprise efficiently

2nd CTIA Gathering of the Moblists

2006-09-18T17:29:00.000-07:00

A good time and great networking was had by the over 80 people that attended the 2nd CTIA Gathering of Mobilists that was sponsored by the Wireless Industry Partnership (WIP). Pictured is Justin Oberman and me at the Cicada Restaurant in LA.

Mobilists in the crowd included:

Russell Buckley of MobHappy
Justin Oberman of MoPocket
Michael Mace of Mobile Opportunity
Rafe Blandford of All About Symbian
Carlo Longino of MobHappy and TechDirt Wireless
Chetan Sharma of AORTA
Oliver Starr of MobileCrunch

Who did I miss? Although I should be sure to give a big thanks to Rudy from m-trends who is always the instigator of these events. We missed you again Rudy - but Barcelona will be here soon!

Check out the rest of the photos on Flickr.

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