November 16th, 2006
You are currently browsing the articles from the VoIP Digest written on November 16th, 2006.
Apple, it is rumored has signed a deal that will allow the Cupertino-based computer company to source 12 million iPod-based phones from a Taiwanese electronics manufacturer. In itself, the news is hardly a surprise for the iPhone has been subject of rampant speculation.
What is surprising the speculation that Apple will sell these phones unlocked, allowing consumers to pop in their SIM cards and use it as a phone. In the US, that would mean getting a SIM card from either the Cingular or T-Mobile. If this is indeed true, and it is not clear if it is so, then Apple will be lending a helping hand to the mobile phone makers.
You can buy unlocked phones in Europe, Asia and on the Internet. But in the US, the carriers in exchange of a long-term contract subsidize most of the handsets, typically between one to two years.
Since they are the big buyers of handsets, the US mobile phone providers have an unnatural control over the market, and thus giving them the ability to dictate what features or models come to market. Many of the major handset makers roll over and play The Pooch, as a result.
Nokia for example doesn’t sell the E61 smart phone in the US, and instead sells a striped down E62 (no WiFi) via Cingular. LG Chocolate (GSM) version is nowhere to be found, but you can get it from Verizon. It is a source of frustration for many handset makers, since they would like to sell their latest phones at premium prices.
The introduction of the unlocked iPhone will do two things – it would basically get US buyers savvy to the idea of buying full priced unlocked phones. Secondly, it is going to cause a behavior change - of buying phones instead of freebies.
It won’t be a mass-market phenomenon in the early stages, but eventually (as shown by iPod Nano and iPod Shuffle), Apple will bring the iPhone prices down to a mass-market price point.
If iPhone causes this behavior change, then, it is good news for rest of the handset industry. Nokia is currently selling three million N Series phones a month, a number that could easily go up if the company could sell its entire range of products at full price. So if you are Nokia or Samsung, it is time to secretly root for the success of iPhone.
Written by Om Malik on November 16th, 2006 with no comments.
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Jason Calacanis, a good friend of ours, is doing the cartwheels over the third quarter (2006) online advertising data released by the Interactive Advertising Bureau. (I say cartwheels because, a few months ago, he was the most vocal critic of my story for Business 2.0, about the return of the Eyeballs.)
Why bring it up? Because online advertising is driven by eyeballs, which then leads to people acting on them as in the case of Google ads, or display-style advertising. The $4.2 billion is impressive — and not a surprise. Jason is proclaiming that this boom will continue for another 20 years, and it will keep going up and up. He says, the real story of Web 2.0 is advertising 2.0. He is right, and wrong.
He is right because as online video becomes more popular, the advertising dollars are going to shift to this nascent medium. Those dollars will qualify as Internet advertising, of course. He is wrong, because he is conveniently overlooking the fact that the sequential growth in advertising was essentially flat. “Online advertising will be a useful marketing tool, but no trend goes in a straight line for twenty years,” writes Carl Howe, in his excellent analysis.
Calacanis overlooks the fact that a disproportionate portion of the online advertising dollars is flying into the pockets of a handful of companies. A back of the envelope calculation shows that in the third quarter Yahoo and Google accounted for $2 billion (give or take a few million dollars) in total dollars spent on online advertising in the third quarter 2006. (This is after traffic acquisition costs, and factoring in their international contribution to their total revenues.)
Rest of the money – about $2.2 billion - is being shared by hundreds of web properties - everyone from big media owned properties to little tiny blogs like ours shared that pot of gold. Unless you are AOL, Facebook or MySpace, those advertising dollars don’t add up to all that much.
These big numbers are also creating a false sense of security for start-ups, and the venture capitalist community that is so willing to invest big money in utterly forgettable wiki sites.
Just for kicks, in the third quarter about $455 million was invested in Web 2.0 companies. That’s about $4.70 ad-dollars per VC dollar invested in these companies.
Written by Om Malik on November 16th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Media and Featured and Startups.
Well, our best information is that iPhones are on the way. This time for real.
Bloomberg News reports that Taipei, Taiwan-based Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., the world's largest contract electronics components manufacturer, has signed a contract to make 12 million mobile phones for Apple in 2007.
The phones, which will include iPod music player functionality, [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on November 16th, 2006 with no comments.
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Google has brought Yahoo and Microsoft on board with a standard format, called Sitemaps, for web masters to submit their pages for spidering and indexing by search engines. In order to get quicker access to dynamic content, the companies will encourage webmasters and content management systems to place a Sitemap XML file on their servers. Publishers will only have to generate one of these feeds to get their most recent content considered for inclusion in search results across all the participating engines.
Sitemaps is going to help especially with surfacing updates from complex URLs and frequently changing pages at e-commerce sites and user-generated content networks, said product managers Vanessa Fox of Google and Tim Mayer of Yahoo. Mayer (whose full title is senior director of product management at Yahoo Search) said the Sitemaps format is currently “very simplistic,” but it could be expanded to include meta information about URLs and geo-location data.
Google had first released Sitemaps over a year ago, while Yahoo and then Microsoft signed on recently. The format is now open to other search engines as well. We gotta say, it’s pretty funny to get an email from Google to set up a partnership announcement phone call (with no more details than just that), and then dial in to hear a recorded voice say “Welcome to conferencing at Yahoo!”
Danny Sullivan writes at Search Engine Watch,
Overall, I’m thrilled. It took nearly a decade for the search engines to go from unifying around standards for blocking spidering and making page description to agreeing on the nofollow attribute for links in January 2005. A wait of nearly two years for the next unified move is a long time, but far less than 10 and progress that’s very welcomed. I applaud the three search engines for all coming together and look forward to more to come.
Written by Liz Gannes on November 16th, 2006 with no comments.
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The Canadian Government has decided to overturn a rulling by the Canadian Radio Telecommunications Commission and de-regulate the Candian VoIP market. The Candian Government stated that low barriers to entry will create enough competition for the industry to regulate itself. Minister of Industry Maxime Bernier announced at an Economic Club of Toronto luncheon yesterday that,
“Barriers to entry in this market are low; there is no reason to regulate it,” he said. “In a competitive sector, there is no reason to regulate some companies while others can offer the services they want at the prices they want.”
This ruling is a win for the Canadian consumer. Under previous restrictions, incumbent phone carriers such as Bell Canada Enterprises Inc. were limited to how low they could price their own VoIP services to compete with specialized providers such as Vonage Canada Inc. With the deregulation, watch as the prices for VoIP service race towards zero in a frantic attempt by service providers to gain market share.
While this is great news for the Candian consumer, it is not so great news for incumbents such as Bell Canada and SaskTel as they will now be forced to aggressive market a service that competes with their PSTN offerings. A service that will be considerably cheaper and over time will substantially impact their revenues. The Canadian VoIP market will certainly be worth keeping an eye on over the next few months as the offerings and competition heats up!
Written by Garrett Smith on November 16th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized and VoIP News.
The Canadian Government has decided to overturn a rulling by the Canadian Radio Telecommunications Commission and de-regulate the Candian VoIP market. The Candian Government stated that low barriers to entry will create enough competition for the industry to regulate itself. Minister of Industry Maxime Bernier announced at an Economic Club of Toronto luncheon yesterday that, Barriers to entry in this market are low; there is no reason to regulate it, he said. In a competitive sector, there is no reason to regulate some companies while others can offer the services they want at the prices they want. This ruling is a win for the Canadian consumer. Under previous restrictions, incumbent phone carriers such as Bell Canada Enterprises Inc. were limited to how low they could price their own VoIP services to compete with specialized providers such as Vonage Canada Inc. With the deregulation, watch as the prices for VoIP service race towards zero in a frantic attempt by service providers to gain market share. While this is great news for the Candian consumer, it is not so great news for incumbents such as Bell Canada and SaskTel as they will now be forced to aggressive market a service that competes with their PSTN offerings. A service that will be considerably cheaper and over time will substantially impact their revenues. The Canadian VoIP market will certainly be worth keeping an eye on over the next few months as the offerings and competition heats up!
Written by Smith On VoIP - Insights on VoIP Products and Serv on November 16th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized and VoIP News.
> QTech , software application developers, have released speaQ . speaQ is a SIP based, softphone client developed for use with smartphones and PDAs running Windows Mobile 5.0 Devices and under Linux on the Sharp Zaurus. The first release of the software, Alpha Trial 1.0, allows users with any open VoIP Service provider full call logging, contact integration, and DTMF all from an simple UI. The speaQ Alpha Trial features: Open Standard Telephone Client. (RTP, RFC 3550) Session Initiated Protocol (SIP, RFC 3261) signaling. Adaptive packet-buffering solution for latency and QoS management. G711 codec support. Integration with platform address book (Windows, Qtopia) for management of Caller and Called Information. Standard Dialing Incoming, Outgoing, Missed call log Caller Id Last Dialed Number recall Mute Ring Tones STUN support for firewall communication Since I do not have a smartphone or PDA the runs Windows 5.0, I will not be able to review this software, but from the looks of it, it is yet another step towards the promise of mobile VoIP.
Written by Smith On VoIP - Insights on VoIP Products and Serv on November 16th, 2006 with no comments.
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My VoIP Deal of the Week is the Polycom IP 501 for $169.99 after a $20 Mail-in Rebate. The Polycom IP501 is the benchmark business class IP Phone. The Polycom IP 501features an intuitive user interface offering dedicated, one button access to common telephony features, and an information-rich graphical LCD display delivers content for messaging, call information, directory access, and applications.
The Polycom IP 501 is suitable for everyday users, offering superb voice quality when used with a headset, handset or in hands-free speakerphone mode. Polycom’s industry-leading sound quality implemented in the SoundPoint IP 501 enhances the productivity of your business phone calls, because you will spend less time trying to understand what other people are saying, and more time communicating with them.
Polycom IP 501 Features:
- 3 Lines
- Dual Ethernet ports
- Large, content-rich 160 x 80 display
- Expanded Flash memory
- 4 context-sensitive soft keys
- Multiple call appearances
- Field upgradeable
- Message alert indicator
- Full duplex speakerphone
- Freedom to choose multiple protocols and platforms
The Polycom IP 501 has a MSRP of $256 USD. At $169.99, you are receiving over $100 USD off the retail price. For more information on the Polycom IP 501 or to take advatange of my deal of the week, please click here.
Written by Garrett Smith on November 16th, 2006 with no comments.
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>My VoIP Deal of the Week is the Polycom IP 501 for $169.99 after a $20 Mail-in Rebate. The Polycom IP501 is the benchmark business class IP Phone. The Polycom IP 501features an intuitive user interface offering dedicated, one button access to common telephony features, and an information-rich graphical LCD display delivers content for messaging, call information, directory access, and applications. The Polycom IP 501 is suitable for everyday users, offering superb voice quality when used with a headset, handset or in hands-free speakerphone mode. Polycoms industry-leading sound quality implemented in the SoundPoint IP 501 enhances the productivity of your business phone calls, because you will spend less time trying to understand what other people are saying, and more time communicating with them. Polycom IP 501 Features: 3 Lines Dual Ethernet ports Large, content-rich 160 x 80 display Expanded Flash memory 4 context-sensitive soft keys Multiple call appearances Field upgradeable Message alert indicator Full duplex speakerphone Freedom to choose multiple protocols and platforms The Polycom IP 501 has a MSRP of $256 USD. At $169.99, you are receiving over $100 USD off the retail price. For more information on the Polycom IP 501 or to take advatange of my deal of the week, please click here . >
Written by Smith On VoIP - Insights on VoIP Products and Serv on November 16th, 2006 with no comments.
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In a decision that will dramatically change the $10-billion local phone market in Canada, the federal government has decided the VoIP market should be regulation-free. "Barriers to entry in this market are low; there is no reason to regulate it," Industry Minister Maxime Bernier said. "In a competitive sector, there is no reason to regulate some companies while others can offer the services they want at the prices they want."
So what does this decision mean? For one, incumbent carriers will be able to offer VoIP service at any price they want without having to seek approval regulatory approval. As a result, you can expect Bell Canada to become much more aggressive on pricing while ILECs such as Telus, Manitoba Tel and SaskTel will get into the VoIP market after sitting on the sideline until the regulatory uncertainty was resolved. This could mean bad news for Vonage and the cablecos, which have been able to roll out VoIP service without having to worry about competition from the ILECs.
Another key development is regulation of the traditional local phone market will likely disappear soon (expect in rural communities where there is little or no competition). After all, how can you deregulate VoIP and not deregulate traditional phone service? Depending on how aggressive the ILECs want to be to keep and win-back customers, it would not be surprising to see price wars for local phone service in many markets, particularly places such as Toronto and Montreal where the ILECs, cablecos and VoIP service providers are already going to head to head.
One wildcard is how ambitious the ILECs will become about VoIP given they could easily cannibalize their traditional phone businesses, particularly high-end customers who would gravitate to VoIP because of the features. If the ILECs do come out with guns ablazin' it may be bad news for the cablecos, who have been enjoying free ride with cable telephony, and the VoIP players such as Vonage who may find themselves on the outside looking in.
Tags: VoIP, Canada, CRTC
Written by Mark Evans on November 16th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Main Page and Telecom Regulation and ILEC News, Analysis.
Mobile software company IceBreaker plans to launch a mobile application called Crush or Flush next Monday, which the guys at Next.Net wrote about this week. It’s a mobile dating application that lets you choose between photos of users that are either “crush” worthy or “flushable”.
If you think it sounds a lot like a mobile version of Hot or Not, then you would be in agreement with James Hong, founder of Hot or Not. He emailed and shared his thoughts about IceBreaker with us. “I’ve met the Icebreaker guys and am impressed with them. The system they’ve built is clearly very similar to our ‘Meet Me at HOTorNOT’ system. I’m not sure if we were an inspiration for their system or not but if we were.. as the saying goes, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” (Meow!)
We met up with James a few weeks ago because we had recently heard about a mobile application that the company had been working on. He says Hot or Not did have a mobile application created, but decided not to release it to the public. “The market is just too early,” he says.
But now that social mobile services like FunkySexyCool are starting to gain a little traction with users, it’s not a surprise that mobile applications that take a cue from Hot or Not are launching. It might be time for Hot or Not to release that mobile application it created. What do you think James?
Written by Katie Fehrenbacher on November 16th, 2006 with no comments.
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Pulver Media's Jon Arnold did a podcast with me yesterday in which we talked about everything from b5media, the future of newspapers and being appointed to VoIP News' 50 list VoIP influencers. Tags: b5media, Mark Evans, Jon Arnold, podcast
Written by Mark Evans on November 16th, 2006 with no comments.
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I've been trying to come up with thoughts relevant to YouTube's cease-and-desist letter to TechCrunch's Michael Arrington.
The letter, which comes via YouTube's legal counsel and which Mike reacts to and reproduces this morning, is a cease-and-desist. In no uncertain terms, it demands that Mike take down a YouTube Video Download Tool, a small TechCrunch [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on November 16th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on General and YouTube.
Written by Skype Journal on November 16th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Skype and VoIP and News and ebay and skypejournal and Skype News.
A sign that blogging has become serious business are plans for a new conference in Las Vegas next November called BlogWorld. A press release proclaims "the event will combine elements of the corporate communications world with the needs of active, individual “bloggers” will be the first gathering of its kind." It would be easy to argue that blog/blogging gatherings/conferences have been happening on a fairly regular basis for a couple years but the fact an event is taking place at the Las Vegas Convention Centre suggests the conference business has realized the blogging business is ripe with potential (a.k.a. profits). BlogWorld (and the New Media Expo) are being organized by political blogger Rick Calvert. Tags: Blogging, BlogWorld, Las Vegas
Written by Mark Evans on November 16th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized and Main Page.