The Samsungs and the LGs of the world can breathe a bit easier now that VK Mobile, a second-tier South Korean mobile phone manufacturer, has dropped out of the race. While the big boys - Nokia, Motorola, et al - own most of the market share, small companies like Pantech and VK Mobile have historically been popular with MVNO carriers (the companies that piggyback on an existing network to sell branded telephone service), allowing them to create exclusive handsets without overtly covering the things with manufacturer logos.
But the news is the latest harsh blow for Helio, a teen/young adult MVNO that is capitalized by $440 million from SK Telecom and Earthlink. VK makes one of the company’s two commercially-available handset’s, the Kickflip, and VK’s downfall could bring Helio down with it. Helio’s other manufacturer Pantech, another second-tier Korean phone maker, could also be negatively effected by VK’s fall. If both of Helio’s launch partners go down, that could be the final nail in the company’s fast-closing coffin.
Gizmodo predicts that anyone who has signed up, or plans to sign up, for Helio should be on their toes for significant changes. A GigaOm reader says he bought a Kickflip and Helio never turned it on over the course of 2 months–he ended up returning it. Beyond Helio, MVNOs are on shaky ground right now, with only Virgin Mobile making a profit after seven years on the market. Many providers, including the ad-based Xero and EasyMobile are having a hard time grabbing subscribers even without Helio’s handset trouble.
Look forward to an update on Helio’s plans later this week!
DIDX.org network, the world Leader in wholesale VoIP number offering, with over 2500 global telcom members, now offers VOIP number services from El Salvador.
DIDX is a marketplace for cutting edge telecoms and ITSP companies from around the world, who aggressively buy, sell and trade DID's using the Internet protocol. Members of this trading group range from small to large telecom operators from over 150 countries.
With Patent pending technology, DIDX performs as a core engine with not just brokerage and market service for telecoms, but also testing, routing and peering services to these global next generation telecom providers.
DIDX began in August 2005 with 100 and has grown to 2500 plus members in less than 1 year, showing the huge potential in the world's telecom market growth in the VoIP and SIP area.
DIDX's latest DID (phone number) addition includes 9 cities from El Salvador:
SAN SALVADOR SAN MIGUEL SANTA ANA USULUTAN SONSONATE LA UNION CHALATENANGO CUSCATLAN CABANAS
Niall stopped by Earthlink’s SF store last night and snapped these photos. He says the store opended up on Thursday and has been touting DSL, VoIP, Helio, Mindspring, and muni WiFi.
The company thinks that boots-on-the-ground in targeted cities can help convince customers. We’ll see. And if their obvious bid to bring in pissed-off phone and cable customers wasn’t clear enough, they commissioned this not-so-subtle chalk drawing outside. (well that’s my interpretation of it–what’s yours?)
Niall Kennedy points out that Live Journal is going to add XMPP and Jabber support to its community. Users can log into the Jabber chat client using their Live Journal usernames and passwords. There are plans to federate with Google Talk as well. Jabber/XMPP works over many popular clients such as iChat, Adium, Trillian, Gaim.
I think this deal is going to have a much bigger impact on Jabber/XMPP compared to preceding deals. There are 10 million LJ users and it is a vibrant community. Given the highly-social nature of LJ community, I expect rapid adoption. I wonder if there are any plans to add voice-to-the-mix? Wonder if this would work with Gizmo Project? (Michael Robertson, speak to us!)
Longer term, I wonder if this could become a major trend. Small, highly customized IM networks, federating with each other, and breaking the stranglehold of the big three IM networks. Thoughts?
Google and Apple are two technology companies that most (including yours truly) constantly obsess about. From minor software upgrades to new half-baked betas, dozens of websites, hundreds of blogs and mainstream media report on Google and Apple. Whether that is a good thing or not, who knows. (I have argued before that if start-ups focus on Apple, they are likely to get more buzz, and early adopter adoption.)
It was fun to note that obsession amongst enthusiasts is reflected in the stock prices of the two companies. Cowen & Company’s technology strategist, and our good buddy, Arnie Berman in his Technology Focus reports points out the convergence between the Google and Apple stocks.
Considering that Google’s and Apple’s businesses have almost nothing in common, the correlation in the prices of the stocks has been remarkable. But as hot growth stories with seemingly unstoppable financial momentum and business models levered to the emergence of the “digital consumerâ€, the stocks became connected in the minds of many investors.
Interestingly, the two stocks have been heading down for most of 2006. Since the second quarter, there has been increased divergence between Apple and Google.
Hey maybe people are quite worried about the rumored iPod killer from Microsoft? I wonder if this disconnect is permanent or will it be business as usual in a few months, especially after the Apple’s Developer Conference. Any thoughts?
I may not have much time for blogging this weekend given preparations for a World Cup BBQ but here's this week's podcast. Not surprisingly, Kevin Restivo and I looked at the ongoing Rocketboom soap opera, and whether it deserved anywhere near the attention it received. We also talked about Microsoft's much-speculated move into the MP3 player market - a development we think will expand the market rather than be an iPod-killer. Finally, we delved into Open Text's takeover bid for Hummingbird, which appears to be yet another sign of consolidation in the Canadian software market. Update: If you want some more Rocketboom "stuff", check out this YouTube video (the video has been pulled off YouTube) of Andrew Baron, who appeared yesterday at CaseCamp in Toronto. It's an interesting PR strategy for him to talk about the split with Congdon but perhaps Andrew thinks it's better to get his message out after watching Amanda control the message for much of the week. His take is he and Amanda were having problems but they were in the process of trying to work something out that would have let her move to L.A. and continue to do Rocketboom. Here's a quote about Rocketboom's future
"On Monday, Rocketboom is going to be back, and I know what it's going to look like but I am having a hard time imagining
what everyone else thinks it will look like. My point for bringing up my confidence in all this is I can see in the long-run - say three weeks from now, a month from now - is people will be back. It will so much greater and stronger and people will be back in the swing of it, and this will put behind me. However, getting to that point is the biggest challenge I have ever faced in my
life and I am not prepared for it. I don't have that kind of experience
to deal with that kind of stuff. All I have is consulting with people while keeping it together creatively."
As much as everyone appears to be siding with Amanda, Andrew comes across in the video as sincere and genuine. (Disclaimer: I've met Andrew a couple times, and like him. He strikes me as very Canadian: modest, smart, funny, nice guy). One thing that does come across if you read between the lines is Rocketboom is not flush with cash. Update: Mathew Ingram watched the video as well today, and you can find his thoughts here. Leesa Barnes, who attended the CaseCamp event, also has some thoughts.
If you are heading off to a ski resort these holidays and for some crazy reason may want to carry your laptop on to the snowy mountain slopes - get this you can do so now but also be connected to people with the help of voice over IP telephony! Okay the fact that you are desperate enough to tag along your laptop on your holiday shows that you enjoy your gadgets so it will great if you can remain connected to your clients even on your Skiing holiday.
Australians seem to be enjoying this latest add-on to their ski trips to Mount Buller in Victoria has unveiled a resort-wide wireless broadband network for guests and staff to get access to the internet from anywhere on the mountain. The network, calledWhispar, is detected automatically by wireless devices. Access is in blocks from half an hour ($5) to a season ($239) using a credit card to pay. The service covers 90 per cent of the resort's village and skiing terrain using 19 transmission nodes.
Connection in any weather is possible because wireless signals "hop" from one node to another, abandoning damaged or snowed-under antennas; a network architecture known as mesh.
The network speed of 256Kbps for download and 64Kbps upload will increase with demand. He expects staff and guests to use it for Internet browsing, email and for making cheap calls using Skype or other voice over IP (VoIP) software, says Steve Kenny, managing director of Whispar's operator, Snow Sports Interactive.
The best part of all this wireless network and VoIP telephony on ice is that it is great for sending photos and video to friends and family and that would please most people even if you hate work during holidays. CNET.Com however cautions skiers to carry heavy-duty, waterproof notebooks to the slopes as a fall from the ski lift is something even fancy networks can’t guarantee.
