Wireless
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Earlier this week, Bell Canada posted disappointing wireless subscriber additions in the important fourth-quarter: 160K vs. 210K a year earlier. There were all kinds of excuses: lack of industry advertising for family plans (??) and tighter credit acquisition policies but it was another sign Bell’s losing the wireless war to Rogers and Telus. An interesting story that got little coverage is Bell’s plans to convert its Solo brand into a discount wireless service.
What? A discount wireless service? This may be news to the general public but anyone intimate with the inner workings of Bell knows this is a strategy the company aggressively pursued under the supervision of Alek Krstajic last year. Bell was well down the development path (it had a whack of cool loft space in downtown Toronto, a bunch of TV commercials in the can, and an aggressive marketing plan to offer low-cost, no-frills wireless service) before COO George Cope, whose personal dictionary doesn’t include the word “discount”, killed the project.
What’s particularly interesting is that Bell was apparently prepared to extend this no-frills approach to the VoIP and Internet access markets. This strategy, which Krstajic sold to Sabia while they were flying to the Winter Olympics in Torino last year, was either a stroke a brilliance or a sign of desperation but it definitely outside the Bell box.
So will Cope revive this no-frills plans in an attempt to resuscitate Bell’s wireless subscriber growth? While he’s at it, Cope may also want to consider doing a GSM overlay but that’s another story for another day.
Technorati Tags: Bell Canada
Written by Mark Evans on February 9th, 2007 with no comments.
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According to Moody’s, Canada’s wireless market is “an oligopoly”. And, not surprisingly, prices are twice as high as the U.S., which has caused market penetration (56%) to lag behind the U.S. (76%) Stop the presses, you mean Canada’s wireless carriers aren’t aggressively battling each other for business by offering consumers attractive deals? You mean all the talk among wireless executives about “disciplined pricing” is just code for raising prices higher so ARPU can be increased.
Well, wonders never cease. And I thought there was healthy competition within Canada’s wireless market as carriers fought tooth and claw for market share. Then again, the Canadian government did shrink the competitive landscape when it approved Rogers’ $1.4-billion acquisition of Microcell. And it’s not like the MVNO market has spurred more competition, although Virgin Mobile is really trying hard to be a pain the ass to Telus, Rogers and Bell.
Who knows, maybe the de-regulation of the local telephone market will cause home phone prices to increase, which, in turn, could make wireless service more attractive. Then again, there’s no indication wireless carriers will stop chanting the “disciplined pricing” mantra any time. As long as there’s growth left in the market, why offer deals when there’s no need for them?
Technorati Tags: Canada, Wireless
Written by Mark Evans on January 31st, 2007 with no comments.
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Featuring one of the best headlines I’ve seen in a long time - “Is that your cellphone in your pocket…?”, the National Post had a story a couple days ago about wireless carrier Telus quietly offering downloads of pornographic photos and videos for about $3 or $4 a shot You’ve got to love the explanation from Telus spokesman Jim Johannson, who said since porn is already widely available on mobile browsers, the carrier has “introduced — in a very responsible way — adult content that’s in behind proper age verification and that’s compliant with provincial standards and regulations.”
Ha! I guess that makes it alright. What Johannson should have said is: “Like any ARPU-hungry carrier, we’re looking for new ways to enhance wireless data revenue. Clearly, porn is a lucrative online business so it’s a no-brainer to serve consumers who want a mobile fix”. According to the Post, the North American mobile phone users spent $400-million on adult photos and video last year. No one should overlook the fact the porn industry is always on the bleeding edge of technology - be it VCRs, e-commerce, streaming video, DVDs and, now, wireless.
Technorati Tags: Pornography, Telus
Written by Mark Evans on January 29th, 2007 with no comments.
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Kevin Restivo has emerged from the bowels of the Las Vegas Convention Centre with a sad tale about Wi-Fi connectivity during CES. Over to you Kevin, who promises to provide us with some insight into the cool gadgets and devices he saw at CES during our Talking Tech podcast tomorrow.
Dave Dobbin where are you?
The International Consumer Electronics Show (and Las Vegas for that matter) should have consulted the Toronto Hydro Telecom president before it built a Wi-Fi system in the media and analyst room at the Las Vegas Convention Centre.
It’s been difficult at the best of times to log on all week. The show organizers have compensated by installing extra Lenovo computers pre-loaded with (what else?) the new Vista operating system. It’s still not much of a solution for Mac users such as myself, who need access to the iChat messaging application and .mac service. The city overall needs reliable wireless Internet access.
A Microsoft product manager during a recent presentation at the Orleans Hotel (where I’m staying) basically had to stop his presentation of a new MSN service because he couldn’t log on.
To be fair, the city’s infrastructure has been stretched because of the 150,000 extra inhabitants this week. At the Sands and Venetian hotels, where part of CES is being held, access has been better.
Technorati Tags: CES, Wi-Fi, Wireless
Written by Mark Evans on January 12th, 2007 with no comments.
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All those Blackberry-killer wannabes can now step aside and watch Apple’s new iPhone take firm hold of the crown. All I’ve read so far are some effusive news reports and blog posts but if the iPhone lives up to expectations, we’re talking about a device that could easily match the iPod’s success. From all accounts the iPhone sounds ultra-cool with a 3.5″ screen, a two megapixel camera, an MP3 player, WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity, rich e-mail, a Web browser and a touch screen interface. Of course, you’ll have to cough up $599 for the pleasure of owning an 8GB iPhone or $499 for a 4GB model (As part of a two-year contract with Cingular) but I doubt price will deter many people.
As someone with a MacBook, iPod, Palm and Blackberry, I’d jump at the chance to use an all-in-one-device that combines Apple’s features strength industrial design. Goodbye Motorola Q, goodbye Treo, goodbye HP iPaq; it’s been nice knowing you. Now, how long do you think it will take Research in Motion to beef us the Pearl with a real Web browser and a better MP3 player.
For all the details from Steve Jobs’ keynote at Macworld, check out the Unofficial Apple Weblog, as well as Engadget. One more thought, if you were a high-tech reporter, where would you rather be: CES or Macworld?
Update: Investors are clearly enthused about Apple given the stock jumped $7.26 to $92.72 today. Any guesses on how long it takes Apple to hit $100? How about tomorrow?…:)
Technorati Tags: Apple, puppy
Written by Mark Evans on January 10th, 2007 with no comments.
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In the wake of Motorola’s disappointing fourth-quarter guidance, there wasn’t a lot of talk about the Motorola Q, which was positioned as yet another Blackberry-killer earlier this year. When the Q was launched, Motorola was bullishly talking about selling three million or four million units in 2006. While I haven’t seen any specific Q numbers, NPD Group recently issued a report that the Q was the top-selling smartphone from August to October, and overall there were 715,000 units sold. According to Kenneth Leon, an analyst for Standard & Poor’s, Motorola’s wireless phone sales are flagging because the Razr is losing some of its buzz; while sales of the Q, may be slowing.
Technorati Tags: Blackberry, Wireless
Written by Mark Evans on January 9th, 2007 with no comments.
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...anyone gets excited about a plan by Verizon Wireless to offer access to YouTube on a wireless device. For $15 a month, Verizon is offering a YouTube-like service as part of a service called VCast that will provide a limited number of YouTube videos that have been selected and approved by both companies.
Come on, it's a tough enough sell trying to get people to watch videos on teeny-tiny screens without neutering the world's most popular video sharing service...and asking people to fork out $15 for the privilege. The New York Times has a strange quote from YouTube co-founder Steve Chen, who contends "Everybody carries a phone with them, but they may not have a computer...[so people] can take the phone out of their pocket while waiting for the bus and watch a video."
In theory, that's a nice sentiment but in practice, that's easier said than done. In trying to sell YouTube-lite at a premium price, Verizon clearly wants to manage demand while still getting a sense of whether the service actually works and if there are any bleeding edge suckers out there will be guinea pigs.
Of course, wireless carriers are happy to explore all and any ways to increase average revenue per subscriber (ARPU), which is an acronym for trying to squeeze more money out of existing customers. If YouTube-lite can help boost ARPU, there's no harm in trying to sell it. That said, any consumer who jump at YouTube-lite isn't thinking straight.
Written by Mark Evans on November 29th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Wireless and video and Main Page.
After a brief one-week hiatus (did you miss us?), Kevin Restivo and I are back with another Talking Tech podcast. Obviously, the story of the week was the launch of the Nintendo Wii, which had people lining up in the middle of the night outside stores for the "privilege of buying one - a supply-demand phenomena I have a difficult time getting a handle on. Speaking of supply and demand, Google shares cracked through $500, and with people like Jim Cramer frothing at the mouth, is it only a matter of time before $750 starts to loom on the horizon? (Motley Fool has a column looking at whether it's time to buy, sell or hold) Kevin and I also get into the wireless market in the wake of a two-part feature run by the Globe & Mail, which looked at Canada's lucrative market where the players are filling their boots amid a rational pricing environment and limited competition (can anyone oligopoly?). Finally, we touch upon the steady growth in the popularity of podcasts - according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project study more than 17 million people downloaded a podcast in the six months ended Aug. 30, compared with 10 million in the previous six month period. Obviously, Talking Tech must be a factor in this growth...:)...if only!!
Written by Mark Evans on November 26th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Google and Wireless and Main Page and Podcasting.
My mother is a Luddite. She was having enough problems, for example, trying to use a computer before her son-in-law convinced her to switch over to a Mac so she could iChat with her grandchildren. Imagine my mother's frustration when her mobile phone crapped out on her recently. (Apparently, the phone is broken if you have to shout into it so the person on the other end can hear you) A call to Virgin Canada led to a suggestion she mail in her phone (a cheap, bottom-of-the-line Nokia) and maybe three weeks later, they would send it back. That didn't seem like a good option so she looked up the phone number for one of those Virgin kiosks popping up in malls across the country. Instead of putting the phone in the mail, my mother would just march down to the mall and exchange her broken phone for a new one. Simple, eh? Well, no. It turns out you can't do that so my mother's got two options: put the phone in the mail and hope it comes back some time soon, or buy a new one. That can't be described as good customer service. Where's Richard Branson when you need him?
Written by Mark Evans on November 18th, 2006 with no comments.
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What does Motorola's purchase of Good Technology mean? Does it suggest the consolidation of the mobile e-mail market is picking up steam? Will HP make a play for Seven Networks now that Good and Intellisync (Nokia) have been snapped up? Does this finally mean Research in Motion will see some real competition after owning the mobile e-market for the past five or six years? And what about the much-vaunted Motorola "Q" that was supposed to sell millions of units this year but appears to have stalled? It would be interesting to see how much Motorola coughed up for Good, which has raised more than $200-million in private equity from investors such as Kleiner Perkins. Canaccord Capital analyst Peter Misek said Good had no choice but to sell because the 470-employee company was "running out of money". For more, check out Blogging Stocks. Tags: Motorola, RIM, mobile e-mail, Kleiner Perkins
Written by Mark Evans on November 14th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Wireless and Main Page and M&A and Research in Motion.
Just like the VCs adored e-commerce start-ups during the dot-com boom, they've got a big, bad thing for mobile start-ups these days. Case in point is MobiTV, which just raised another $30-million from a group of investors that includes Hearst Corp. and Adobe Systems. So far, MobiTV has raised $125-million, and it's far from a slam dunk whether there's a huge demand among mobile device users to watch video on little screens. That said, the VCs seems to more than happy to finance mobile services and technology. It will be interesting to see how well Toronto-based Ambient Vector does in its pursuit of private equity. If anything, the company seems to be in the right place at the right time.
Written by Mark Evans on November 3rd, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Wireless and Main Page and Venture Capital.
Here's a theory about the decision to blow up BCE and turn Bell Canada into an income trust. Perhaps the biggest strategic mistake made by BCE CEO Michael Sabia was not buying Microcell Telecommunications, the country's fourth-largest wireless carrier, when he had the chance a few years ago. Instead of acting aggressively and having to deal with the federal competition bureau, Sabia allowed Rogers to swoop in and acquire Microcell for $1.4-billion. Yes, Microcell used GSM while Bell Mobility was on CDMA but the other benefits (a larger exposure to the fast-growing wireless business, tax-loss carry-forwards, etc.) far outweighed any technology issues. Why BCE didn't move more quickly and/or aggressively is a huge mystery. After all, technology could not have been an issue given Telus, which also uses CDMA, had put Microcell in play by making the initial bid. Instead, BCE's failure to buy Microcell left it with just 20% of its revenue coming from wireless and that (along with a host of other issues) made BCE a low-growth entity. As a result, the move to an income trust became more of an option. Another spin on the Microcell story is Manitoba Telecom should have made a strong bid for the wireless carrier. Instead, Manitoba Tel decided to buy Allstream for $1.8-billion, which now shows all signs of being an expensive strategic mistake.
Written by Mark Evans on October 13th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Wireless and Main Page and ILEC News, Analysis and M&A.
After much suffering, I think I’ve found the perfect high-tech device. While sifting through the latest Hedonics catalogue, I came across the Loc8tor, which uses tags and a handheld device to find lost keys, cell phones, etc. It apparently has a range of 600′, which is great although most of the stuff that I misplace are more like six feet away. To think that for only $189.99, one of life’s biggest aggravations will disappear. Ain’t technology great!
Written by Mark Evans on October 8th, 2006 with no comments.
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I'm just as connected (Blackberry, cell phone, wireless laptop in the kitchen etc.) as the next person but people are almost too connected these days to the point of being unfocused and impolite. Here's a good example: I was at the grocery store yesterday, and the women in front of me was having a loud, animated conversation on her cell phone while she checked out. It was like the cashier, her three children and other people in the store didn't exist because she had pressing things to talk about. It's the same for people who talk on the phone while driving. There's no way you can do both at the same time but we let people use cell phones even though there's plenty of evidence that it's distracting and potential dangerous. I'm not against being connected but everything has a time and place.
Written by Mark Evans on October 6th, 2006 with no comments.
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Cellular VoIP services in the USA and in Europe are poised for a higher growth than fixed or wireless VoIP, according to a report from telecom consultancy and research company Analysys. “Forecasting the Commercial Impact of Wireless VoIP in the USA and Western Europe†predicts that revenues from cellular VoIP will reach $18.6 billion in the USA and $7.3 billion in Western Europe in 2012, as against fixed VoIP revenues of $11.9 in the USA and $6.9 billion in Western Europe.
The study also forecasts that come 2015, cellular VoIP will account for 28 percent of total internet telephony usage in the USA and 23 percent in Western Europe. VoIP over wireless local area networks ( VoWLAN) and VoIP over broadband wireless access (BWA) technologies like WiMAX will take a backseat as cellular VoIP steals a march over these technologies, says the report.
Analysys claims that mobile operators will market cellular VoIP as a premium service with enhanced quality and various value added features like presence information, instant messaging, and multimedia sharing.
Written by pushpa27 on October 5th, 2006 with no comments.
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The VoIP Girl and others recently cancelled their Vonage account. VG is switching to something else. What VoIP service
did she switch to? She hasn't decided yet, but it appears she has some
choices, including using a virtual number call-forwarded to her
softphone. She wants a local number (to her).
This approach
could be interesting, but I'd want a single toll-free VoIP number. A
few years back, just after I stopped working for a large telecom, I
paid for a personal 800 toll-free number through their cellular
division. It just happened that I did a lot of commuting: live in one
city, work in two others, meetings for personal projects in others,
hang out with friends in yet another, promote bands in still more. All
in a single day or week. I didn't want people to have to spend a
fortune trying to call me.
At first, I had a local cell phone
number, but if I took that phone with me out of town and someone called
me from my hometown, then it became a long distance charge for them.
Then I got a second cell phone but with an area code in the city I
spent most of my work day in. But that didn't quite work either. I then
switched to a regional 800 toll-free number and my friends and business
contacts were very happy. It only cost me about $35 per month, which
beat the $200-300+ that I would have spent calling everyone myself.
Except some weird politics developed between two big cellular providers
and the 800 numbers on mobile phones option was cancelled in my area.
This
was a whlie ago. Now I work almost completely from home, and don't
travel much at present. Anyone I know that's geographically separated
from me has a computer and I talk to them via IM (Instant Messaging),
email, or a VoIP soft phone. Most of the time. But being the nomadic
wanderer that I am, I'm planning to move yet again. Anyone I know
locally right now would want to call me at my new town via a regular
phone, not from a soft phone. (Don't ask. Maybe it's something in the
water, but I can't convince anyone I know locally to get a soft phone.
They don't mind IMs; soft phones they don't understand, or maybe don't
like. Oh the shame.)
That means, to save everyone the long
distance charges that would occur, I'd want a single call-in number
linked to a softphone. Sure, I'll still have my Palm Treo 650, but
it'll have a new local number after I move. I want something that isn't
going to cost people money. Sure, Gizmo Project has a free 775 area code-based number, but that doesn't give you toll-free - as far as I can tell from the area 775 FAQ.
What
I want is a single VoIP plan with a toll-free number attached to a
quality soft-phone. Could be wrong, but I don't think anyone has that
yet. This means that I'll probably have to get a landline (haven't had
one in over 10 years) with an 800 number and forward it to a VoIP
Call-In number. This isn't quite the same as VoIP Girl, since she wants
a local number. I don't. I plan to be doing a lot of travelling before
the end of this decade, for business and pleasure, and a single
(toll-free) VoIP number would be best, for friends, family, and
contacts. Of course, if I could get this number for fully-functioning mobile VoIP
on my Palm Treo, I'd be even happier, and gladly pay for it. And before
the end of the decade, please. Then I wouldn't have to worry about
which VoIP soft client everyone was using.
Speaking of toll-free numbers, TipMonkies points to a site called Hardtofind800numbers.com. Speaks for itself, I think.
Written by ewriter on October 2nd, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Software and Wireless and Services and Solutions.
Earlier this year when we held one of our first meeting to plan the mesh conference, one of the many distractions was a discussion about FON raising $21.7-million from investors such as Google, Skype and Sequoia Capital. It was a rather controversial deal because FON had enlisted the help of bloggers such as Dan Gilmour, who had some very nice things about FON's potential. The only problem was these bloggers were also FON advisors with an equity stake in the company's success - but their involvement wasn't totally clear. Since there, there has been very little buzz about FON, which is trying to create a global Wi-Fi network by providing broadband users with modems to share their Internet connections. FON claims to have attracted 40,000 users (including Brady from O'Reilly Radar) in 140 countries, and aims to have 1M access points by 2010. Frankly, it would be surprising if FON hit 1M access points but this isn't to suggest Wi-Fi doesn't have tremendous potential. While municipal Wi-Fi systems are getting a lot of attention and are shaping up to be an important network "pillar", Wi-Fi could become really interesting as more devices (Blackberrys, Skype-enable phones, smart phones, laptops etc.) are able to easily switch between different networks (Wi-Fi, broadband, cellular). The idea that a mobile phone user, for example, could reduce their costs by simply switching a Wi-Fi network (free or fee) is interesting from a number of different fronts. The question is whether the carriers will really embrace Wi-Fi, and to what extent they will capitalize on it. A good example is Nokia's new smart phone - known as the E61 in Europe and the E62 in North American. In Europe, the E61 is Wi-Fi enabled while in North America, the Wi-Fi (and 3G) features do not exist or they've been disabled. So, why the difference? How come North American consumers aren't able to take advantage of Wi-Fi? It may have a lot to do with the uncertainy of how Wi-Fi is going to evolve in North America, and how the carriers are grappling with the idea Wi-Fi could affect revenue, particularly if municipal Wi-Fi networks (and FON) gather more momentum over private networks operated by the carriers and outfits such as Boingo.
Update: Om Malik's Web Worker Daily has a post on FON offering a $5 wireless modem if you're willing to share your network. For more on the potential of Wi-Fi, check out this story in Fortune entitled "Wi-Fi, Why Not?"
Written by Mark Evans on October 2nd, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Wireless and Main Page and Wi-Fi.
So it's not just me. According to a CRN article, Skype on mobile phones and PDAs has some technical hurdles to cover before it'll function correctly. Skype CEO and co-founder Niklas Zennstrom specifically mentioned Symbian phones being more difficult than expected. PocketPC-based phones
and PDAs do have Skype, but a lot of other mobile communication devices
do not. Or when there is a Skype-related mobile solution, such as SoonR, there are still technical glitches, depending on your phone. So I can almost sympathize with Zennstrom.
In
fact, Skype isn't really the only VoIP service having this problem of
achieving ubiquity on mobile devices. I've had little luck getting
anything to work on Palm Treo 650, a very specific phone. Mino Wireless works, and Chris from EQO says that EQO Mobile
should work, too. (I'll try it this weekend.) But as for actual mobile
Skype, well Niklas Zennstrom says that have nothing to offer yet and no
timetable besides.
Too bad. I guess I'll be waiting with bated breath, and keep my outrageously expensive cellular wireless data network plan
going in anticipation. Wonder how many additional active users Skype'll
gain when they do go mobile? Maybe Skype needs to start acquiring a few
companies with some of that US$2.6B they got from eBay last year. In
the meantime, though, Skype-specific Wi-Fi and dual-mode phones do seem to work, so you might want to consider one of those for a bit of mobility.
Written by ewriter on September 29th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Skype and Software and Wireless and Networks and Phones.
Katie Fehrenbachr at GigaOm says
that domain names with the new .mobi TLD are now available for purchase
by members of the general public. The TLD is being promoted by a group
called dotMobi, and is aimed
at people and companies that want a dedicated website for mobile phones
and other connected devices. I have to agree with her (and with the
creator of the web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee) that maybe this isn't such a
good idea. Sir Tim says that this could fragment the mobile web.
True
that. Why should you have to go to a different URL to view web content
from a mobile device? Why can't the web server determine your device
type and dish out the appropriate content? On the other hand, instead
of dishing up different types of web page content from a .com site, if
a mobile device accesses the site, the mobile web browser could be auto
redirected to the associated .mobi domain. (That means companies better
get online and buy up all the .mobi domains related to their
trademarks, even if they have no intention of offering mobile contenet.)
It seems to me like there might be an opportunity for promoting mobile VoIP services on .mobi domains, and for smart phones to have a ready-launch icon in their operating system for such a service. By the way, dotMobi has an emulator web page (for desktop computers) so that you can see how your own web pages might look on a mobile device.
Written by ewriter on September 26th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Standards and Wireless and Networks.
Voice over Internet Protocol, aka VoIP, is revolutionizing
telecommunications for many reasons. VoIP may have a few flaws compared
to traditional telephony, such as still lagging call quality, depending
on the provider. There is also no standard e-911 service, but some
providers have their own solutions. Still, VoIP has numerous benefits
for both the home user and the business user. Here are eleven reasons
you should use VoIP (aka IP telephony, IP communications, etc.).
- Free soft phone software.
Soft VoIP clients are almost always free, and not only can you talk in
voice mode, you can simultaneously chat in text mode, even share files.
A regular telephone? Not a chance. And there are loads of soft clients
to choose from. For convenience, here is a VoIP Now article that lists
a few soft phones.
- Free calls PC to PC calls.
Calls on homogenous networks are free. Meaning, if you are, say, a
Skype member, then you can talk free to another Skype member. Over VoIP
networks using an open protocol such as SIP, you can talk to users of any compatible soft VoIP client. Gizmo Project is an example of a SIP-based soft phone. Other calls (see points below) are typically far less than for normal telephony. Small businesses
are estimated to save up to 40% on communication costs. Considering
that profit margins for new businesses are usually between 0-15% for
the first few years, VoIP could make the difference between staying
around or going out of business.
- Calls from PCs to phones. Not only can you call out from your computer to a regular phone or mobile, but such "pc2phone" (aka net2phone) calls are sometimes even free. Skype's
SkypeOut promo for Canada and the US allows such calls, including
calling to mobiles, for free until the end of December. In France, you
can SkypeOut to regular phone lines (but not mobile phones) for free
until Dec 31st. Hullo also has free calling for the present time, but which geographical areas this applies to is not clear. Gizmo Project has free pc2phone calls for 60 countries.
- Calls from phones to PCs.
If you get assigned a "Call In" phone number, people call you directly
on your computer from a regular phone or cell phone. Such phone2pc
calling usually requires you to have a monthly/ yearly subscription for
the phone number, and not all cities in the world (let alone countries)
are represented yet. But Hullo once again offers this for free, though
don't expect a choice in area code for now. Anyway, I used my Hullo
number to call myself from my cell phone to my computer, and it worked
like a charm. Though I had to make a long-distance mobile call to do it.
- Calls from phones to phones. Okay, that sounds obvious but by that I mean that with services like Jajah
or Hullo, you can call phone2phone using their respective VoIP
"bridges". This reduces your per-minute costs (sometimes free). You can
also use plug'n'play adapters to connect your regular home phone to
your high-speed Internet access and reduce your costs, in case you
don't want to use software. Adapters allow anyone with a high-speed
Internet connection but no computer.
- Calls from Wi-Fi VoIP phones or dual-mode cell phones. Need to walk around the house or business while on a call? Wi-Fi VoIP phones
allow you to make calls either through your connected computer or
through a Wi-Fi base station connected to the Internet. Dual-mode cell
phones scan for nearby wireless Internet connections first, and if none
is available, the phone will default to a cellular network. VoIP over Wi-Fi provides inexpensive call roaming (compared to cellular roaming).
- Mobile VoIP. This is not the same as the last item. Many smartphones and connected PDAs have the ability to give you mobile VoIP
calls (with the right service/ software) through a cellular data
(wireless) network, thus reducing your overall cell phone minutes usage
and hence your monthly costs. Imagine being able to call long distance
from your cell either free or for next to nothing. You will have to pay
your provider an extra monthly fee for access to their data network.
- Portable phone numbers.
Using soft VoIP facilitates having a portable phone number. That means
that if you move to another city or country, you can take your number
with you. It also means that if you live in a small town but want a big
city number that clients can call you on at no charge, you can just get
yourself a Call In number. Some telecoms are able to port your landline phone number to VoIP.
- Cut business operating costs.
Depending on what VoIP solution you decide upon, your monthly phone
bill could be reduced by hundreds or even thousands of dollars per
month. Some estimates, for SMBs, are monthly savings of up to 40% on communication.
- Sophisticated voice data applications, IVR, and CRM.
VoIP turns voices into data, which can be processed, recognized and
analyzed, and which can trigger events that help customers through an
automated system. Voice applications mean sophisticated IVR
(Interactive Voice Response) for call centers and powerful CRM
(Customer Relationship Management) solutions for businesses small or
large. What's more, if you want to develop your own apps and you are
using an open source package from Asterisk, you can build sophisticated telecom apps on a shoestring - even for as little as 1/100th of the cost using hardware and components from traditionally telephony.
- Enable a virtual office. With mobile VoIP,
free software, free/ cheap calling, Call In numbers and phone number
portability, you can have a virtual office. No need to manage multiple
phone numbers. If you have a good smartphone or connected PDA with a
cellular wireless plan as well, you can go on the road with confidence.
In
summary, VoIP offers a fair bit of variety, costs savings for both home
and business use, and sophisticated voice data applications for
businesses.
Written by ewriter on September 26th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Skype and Software and Wireless and Business VoIP and Residential VoIP.
JAJAH now enables most mobile phones to make free global calls. JAJAH will announce on Tuesday their new service which enables consumers to make free or low-cost long distance international calls directly from their cell phone. This extends
their previous "free calling", to the mobile phone realm, which was previously only available via a computer browser.
The JAJAH Mobile Suite will allow virtually any mobile phone to make JAJAH calls. JAJAH is starting with Symbian and Java-based J2ME phones and soon will enable text messaging and smart-phone/browser solutions. Between all of these methods, just about any cell phone can use JAJAH. Even
Blackberries now work with JAJAH, as I recently reported.
JAJAH mobile is seamlessly integrated into the JAJAH desktop solution allowing consumers to manage their account directly on the JAJAH web site. To use the service, you first need a JAJAH account. To take advantage of JAJAH’s Free Global Calling Plan, it only applies when both call participants are registered JAJAH users. In countries where free phone calls are not available, or if someone is calling a non-JAJAH member, calls are then subject to JAJAH's rates, usually less than 3 cents a minute.
According to Jajah's Frederik Hermann, here's how it works. "In short, you go to the Jajah site, look to see if your phone is currently supported - the first phones supported are Symbian based, like
Nokia N70 and Java based such as the Nokia 6630 (J2ME). We are adding phones everyday and the software is done for many phones. If your phone is supported, you pull down a small plugin. Your phone will then know that when you dial an international number, it will send the call through the Jajah "network" (you can change theses preferences if you wish and make only some calls, or all calls, go through Jajah). Regardless, you just dial the number and Jajah makes the call. Thats it. The back end is all integrated with the Jajah system (billing, call history etc.). Basically its the same price structure as with a regular Jajah call - free to other Jajah users etc."
Update: 9:32am TuesdayIt's now official -
check out the announcement
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Written by VoIP & Gadgets Blog on September 25th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Mobile Phones and Wireless and mobile phone and cell phone and jajah.
After seven months since they launched, Mino Wireless has reached 100,000 users. I wrote about Mino Wireless
last month. Of all the mobile VoIP solutions I've tried, it's the only
one that actually worked for me on my Palm Treo 650. Not only did it
work (I used the complimentary free minutes), when I called my father
on his landline (cordless phone), he said the call quality was far
better than when I called him on Skype or even Hullo from my computer.
Given that that's the case, I'm surprised more people have not signed
up.
Despite Mino being the only one that's worked, EQO has
promised me that in an upcoming revision of their service, they should
be supporting Palm Treos as well. Like many mobile VoIP services, Mino
works by temporarily using your Java-enabled smartphone/ PDA's cellular
wireless connection to access the Internet and establish a call. It
then gets off the Internet and gives you a chance to switch your phone
back into cellular mode. You then receive a call from their VoIP
bridging service. Once you answer, it calls your target party.
For other mobile VoIP providers, see Soft VoIP for your mobile devices or Skype for the mobile warrior.
Written by ewriter on September 25th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Software and Wireless.
Paragon Wireless is announcing what they claim is the world's first SIP-based dual-mode [MS Mobiles] Wi-Fi and GSM cellular
phone that runs on a Windows Mobile 5.0 handset. Cool. except they're
calling it the "hipi-2200". It appears that they're aiming this handset
at enterpise, and pushing the fact that workers can access email and
web, play MP3/ MP4 audio/ video files, has camcorder/ recorder
features, receive and review pictures, and more. The Li-ion battery
lasts for four hours of talk time or 100 hours standby, and both
network modes operate simultaneously. While the phone claims roaming
features, there is no indication of whether it has UMA
(Unlicensed Mobile Access) features, where the phone can transfer an
initiated call from one network to the other, in both directions.
Written by ewriter on September 25th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Wireless and Hardware.
This is just a quick summary on the types of Internet service and the types of VoIP calling that result.
Types of Internet service:
- Pure play - offered by vendors such as Vonage and SunRocket.
- Broadband - includes cable, high-speed dialup. I suppose satellite goes here too, but some people may put it in its own category.
- Cellular wireless - Internet access offered by cellular providers under a separate payment plan.
I get the feeling I'm forgetting something, but I can't think what. You
can achieve VoIP calling from all three types of Internet service.
Types of VoIP calling:
- PC to PC. Typically free, but requires software download.
- PC to phone/ mobile. Requires software and usually a paid Call-Out type of plan.
- Phone to PC. Requires software and usually a paid Call-In type of plan, including a real phone number.
- Phone to phone.
This requires some sort of plug'n'play adapter or router to convert the
regular telephony calls while enroute to the VoIP bridging system.
Vonage and Sunrocket are included in this category. You need a
broadband Internet connection but not a computer. This is probably the
best kind to let your grandma VoIP.
- Mobile to phone/ mobile.
There are several different ways to accomplish this, which are
essentially a variation of one of the above types. (I'll get into
details another time.) I have had little success with either this or
the next type, as mobile VoIP solutions are often phone model-specific.
- Mobile to PC. This type of calling is prone to just as many problems as the one above.
- Wi-Fi phone or device to whatever. Wireless
phones are essentially an extension of a PC, so this type of calling
usually functions as well as calling from a computer. Wireless VoIP
calling works over devices that can access the Internet either via a
Bluetooth connection on yourconnected computer, or using a wireless
router attached to your broadband connection.
Written by ewriter on September 22nd, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Vonage and Wireless and Business VoIP and Residential VoIP.
Apparently 92% or more of mobile phone users in Argentina use SMS (Short Message Service) to send text messages. I don't have any exact figures, but given the technical, phone-specific, network-specific problems with mobile VoIP on cell phones and PDAs, I'm guessing that more people use SMS that mobile VoIP.
That's
probably true everywhere, not just in Argentina. Not sure about South
America, but in the UK, young people also use SMS to flirt and even dump people. Maybe Radio Shack should have used SMS to fire 400 employees recently, instead of by email. Dear hunny-bunny, don't come in to work on Monday.
Written by ewriter on September 22nd, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Software and Wireless and Networks.
There are a couple of recent mobile VoIP offerings that maybe noteworthy. First, Ken Camp talks about fring,
a beta offering that is PC-free. It only works for 3G phones and allows
mobile-to-PC calls to Skype and Google Talk, as well as other calling
combos. It can be downloaded into your handset via SMS text messaging
and all calls are free. Just pay for your cellular data network.
Unfortunately, as it currently only supports seven Nokia phone models,
I can't test it on my Palm Treo 650. Let's hope they follow up with
other mobile phone and PDA support.
The other recent offering is iSkoot,
also in beta, which is referred by a lot of VoIP/ comm websites as
Skype-on-mobile phones. That's because it works with Skype.
Fortunately, for me anyway, this one now offers support for Treo 650
and 700p PDA phones (in addition to Motorola, Nokia, and Sony
Ericsson). Unfortunately for me, while trying to register with iSkoot,
I was unable to enter my full Skype id. Curses!! Foiled again. How much
effort would it have been for them to add a few more characters to the
form field for Skype id? I'd have to register yet another Skype id just
to try iSkoot.
Well, if none of these offerings are for you, there are a number of other mobile soft VoIP options for you mobile warriors.
Written by ewriter on September 21st, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Skype and Software and Wireless.
Click-To-Call Market Growing
The click-to-call VoIP market appears to be growing
and even enjoying acquistions. For example, Art Technology Group's
acquisition of eStara. Click-to-call refers to the ability to initiate
a VoIP phone call from software other than a soft phone. One big click-to-call partnership announced recently is that of Google and eBay (parent company of Skype).
Dual-Mode Voip WiFi Phones To Exceed 300M Units
With
the growing number of municipal Wi-Fi projects and the increase in the
number of public wireless hotspots, it's not surprising that ABI
Research thinks that, by 2011, the number of worldwide shipments
of dual-mode phones will exceed 300M units. In this case, dual-mode
refers to phones that offer both cellular calling and VoIP over Wi-Fi
(VoWiFi) calling. Wireless VoIP is expected to be rapidly growing subniche of IP communications.
VoIP Not Batting 1.000?
Carolyn
Schuk has an interesting look at VoIP service flaws and proves her
point that VoIP's not all there yet, despite all the great features
promised. One great point that she makes, and which hadn't occurred to
me, is that sometimes, all people really want is to be able to make a
phone call. They won't care about all the extras VoIP offers,
especially when there are are still QoS (quality of service) problems for a simple call. [via Voxilla]
Written by ewriter on September 21st, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Software and Wireless and Hardware.
VoIP Central (via EFY Times) indicates
that revenues from mobile VoIP will outdistance that from fixed VoIP in
Europe and the USA, but especially in the latter, by 2012.
I think that there will be a fair bit of growth in business use of fixed VoIP, especially since communications costs for SMEs [VoIP Central] is expected to be reduce by 20-40%. This cost reduction can be enough to save a small business. As for cellular VoIP,
there are a few solutions that work like a charm, but it has farther to
go than either true (hard) VoIP (e.g., Vonage, SunRocket) or soft VoIP
from a desktop or even laptop. However, SME and SOHO
owners who see the benefit of fixed VoIP are likely to add cellular
VoIP to their business comm toolkit, and then tell their friends about
how much money they save. Hence, eventually cellular VoIP can most
definitely outsell fixed VoIP.
Written by ewriter on September 19th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Wireless and Networks and Business.
Web sites have already been throwing around the term 4G
(fourth generation) as the successor to 3G mobile communications
technology. But a bunch of biggies in the industry had a jam session
recently to decide exactly what 4G should have. Silicon.com has a brief look at their ideas.
I'm thinking 4G will include GPS abilities for sure, as location-aware phones [Silicon.com] are expected to be a Euros 622 M business in Europe by 2010. In fact, GPS will be part of 3G phones as well, what with Nokia buying Gate5, a mapping company, and surveys showing that cell phone users want such features. But with Samsung already testing 4G tech, it'll be very exciting to see what else such phones will have - hopefully dual mode VoWiFi and cellular calling,
I suppose, however, that companies like T-Mobile will have to be convinced not to ban VoIP from its cellular wireless network.
Written by ewriter on September 18th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Wireless and Networks and Phones.
Some airports are offering VoIP service, but with the recent problems with Sony batteries, airlines such as Virgin Atlantic are banning
[Silicon.com] Apple and Dell laptops on flights. Since that likely
rules out Sony laptops (though it's not mentioned anywhere I've seen),
maybe I should buy shares in Acer? Or does Sony not use their own
batteries for their Vaio laptops?
If you're a workaholic like me
and tend to do a lot of work while you're jet-setting around on planes,
that means also making VoIP calls (business and personal), assuming
your flight has on-board Internet access. With these new rules, I
wouldn't be surprised to see more laptops banned. (My old Dell laptops'
power transformers used to overheat, not the batteries. The same thing
happens with my current Acer laptop's transformer, but not as hot.)
This
means you may want to revise your work habits and maybe carry around a
smartphone with cellular Wi-Fi access, for VoIP calls. (Alternately,
some countries have VoIP pay phones,
so airports may follow suit.) Make your calls in the airport when you
take off, and retrieve messages when you land. And just relax on your
flight, if you're able.
Written by ewriter on September 18th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Wireless and Networks.
VoIP E911 technology provider Intrado announced that it has deployed Intrado V911 Services in California's Los Angeles County. Intrado worked closely with public safety officials from the County to develop, load and manage geographic information system (GIS) shape files.
It will designate public safety answering point (PSAP) emergency service number boundaries and and the associated boundary data for each Emergency Service Zone. Intrado already completed test calls into PSAPs within the metropolital area. According to Intrado sources, its V911 Services enable VoIP service provider meet their 911 obligations.
My previous post titled "VoIP Security Solutions" provides information about VoIP Security Solutions.
Written by Sagar on September 14th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Wireless.
After making a thorough research for more than a year, BT Group plans to extend its converged fixed-mobile communications service to businesses early next year. The move followed by a successful field test with a government organization. BT will combine Wi-Fi and mobile phone service for voice calls, using VoIP technology when calls are made over a wireless network to lower phone costs. The service will be launched in the United Kingdom and Italy early next year. Later, it will be launched in Germany, France, Spain and the Benelux countries.
Read my previous post titled "Global IP Phone Sales Reach $500m" to know about the growing global IP phone sales.
Written by Sagar on September 14th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Wireless.
Pittsburgh officially has free municipal Wi-Fi
in the downtown area as of yesterday at noon. The initiative was
started by Mayor Bob O'Connor, who passed away due to brain cancer on
Sept 1. It took US Wireless Online only two months to build the 60-site
network. The FreeConnect service option allows a maximum of two hours
per day at no cost. DayConnect offers faster access at US$7.99/day,
$14.95/m, or $119.99/yr. VoWiFi (Voice over municipal Wi-Fi) service is
planned for the future. [via Pittsburgh Business Times, Business First]
I don't know if that's a record implementation time for municipal Wi-Fi, but it sure sounds like it is. Wow.
Written by ewriter on September 14th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Wireless and Networks and Services.
Marilyn Monroe and dozens of starlets may have sung that "Diamonds are a girl's best friend",
but cell phones might love them too. Or at least, cell phone owners.
According to a combined academic and industrial research project, diamonds may help improve cell phone reception
[Cellular News]. In particular, a new material called UNCD
(UltraNanoCrystalline Diamond) could be used to make highly accurate
tuning forks, which would dramatically improve reception and
transmission of cellular signals.
The project is being conducted
by the US Dept of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory, and funded by
DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Project Agency). You know that when
DARPA gets involved, initial applications will be of the military
variety first. Such research, however, is unlikely to apply to IP
telephony or even Wi-Fi communications. So such improved call quality wouldn't apply to mobile VoIP calls.
Written by ewriter on September 12th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Wireless and Phones.
Yet More VoIP Acronyms: FoIP - Fax over IP
8x8, Inc., launched their new fax over IP service (aka FoIP) today. [via Sys-Con]
They are not, however, the first company with fax support over IP.
Other companies already offer support in their IP telephony routers.
Companies like Tiger NetCom have VoIP adapters which will support fax.
Atreus Receives IP Telephony Award
Internet Telephony magazine awarded Atreus Systems their 2006 TMC Labs Innovation Award. [via Sys-Con]
New VoIP Services: ROK Viper
ROK Entertainment Group is offering ROK Viper, which they claim is the world's first free no-contract mobile-to-mobile VoIP application
[The Engineer Online]. Though the service seems kind of limited as it
apparently connects from a mobile phone via Bluetooth to a computer
with broadband Internet access. Doesn't seem particularly mobile to me.
ROK apparently also created technology for the first mass-produced mobile TV.
Skype Available In More Than 27 Languages
While Skype is officially only available in 27 languages, there are actually translations for Thai and several European languages.The translation work has been done by members of the Skype community.
Written by ewriter on September 11th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Wireless and Services and Business.
AOL LLC said it would make available its AIM Phoneline VoIP service, which is part of its instant messaging client, to developers in a bid to spur new hardware and functionality for the service. The company is owned by Time Warner Inc. The company is planning to release three APIs for the development of a few new features of Phoneline. The company has launched another free service PC-to-PC VoIP service within its AIM instant messaging client. It is known as AdvertisementPhoneline. Users can add outbound calling to the service for a flat fee of $9.95 a month.
Recently, I had written a post titled "Carrier VoIP Market Up". You must read it to know about carrier VoIP market.
Written by Sagar on September 8th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Wireless.
British companies will be able to set up local access numbers in over 40 countries in just two days. They will be able to do so by using the latest VoIP technology. The new service has been launched by Voxbone, which is Europe's first and largest provider of high quality VoIP services to businesses around the world. Voxbone's high quality Direct Inbound Dialling (DID) VoIP technology will allow companies to extend their reach globally at a fraction of the cost of setting up a traditional fixed line service.
Read my previous post titled "VoIP to Landline Calls are Free on Gizmo Project" to know about Gizmo Project.
Written by Sagar on September 8th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Wireless.
Nokia, which plans to start giving its devices names rather than numbers, could emerge as a more viable rival to the Blackberry (including the impressive Pearl) than the Motorola Q. I just got hold of a review unit of the Nokia E62 earlier this week, and came away pretty impressed. It comes with a nice colour screen, push e-mail, Bluetooth and QuickOffice (for viewing Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents). The E62 has a natural, intuitive feel that makes it quite easy to use. This compares with the Q, which was somewhat frustrating to manipulate. Perhaps this has to do with being a long-time Blackberry user. I'm not about to suggest the E62 will be the newest Blackberry-killer (editor's note: can we stop trying to promote this concept until a real rival appears?) but the E62 is pretty appealing. Nokia plans to encourage consumer adoption by aggressively pricing the E62. Rogers, the first North American carrier to offer it, will sell the device for $249 with a three-year contract.
Written by Mark Evans on September 8th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Wireless and Research in Motion.
CRN Daily News brings up a good point
regarding MP3 players. While most people, especially iPod owners,
wouldn't give up the gadget they have, there are still millions of
people that don't have a device and will probably eventually choose
something. These are the people that companies like Microsoft and Nokia
are going after. Given that the digital music player market is
dominated by iPod (75% in the US, 50% around the world), it's not going
to be easy going for Microsoft and Nokia.
And then don't forget the rumour about the supposed iPod phone and some big Appple press conference in California for Sep 12. Word is, the iPod phone is actually ready for production [via O'Reilly Emerging Telephony]. Though would you pay $600 for it?
Written by ewriter on September 7th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Wireless and Phones.
WIP Connector is a website that hooks up business partners focused in the areas of 3G, RFID,
Wi-Fi and WiMax communications. It was launched by the Wireless
Industry Partnership (WIP) and is designed as a social networking site.
[via Silicon]
Full membership costs US$300; a partner membership costs $200 but is
currently limited to MX Alliance, Ottawa Wireless Cluster, and WINBC
(Wireless Innovation Network of BC) - at least two of which are
Canadian. Let's see. A Canadian website (I think) charging US dollars
for membership and being promoted on a British website (Silicon).
That's IP communications for you: enabling the global village.
Written by ewriter on September 7th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Wireless and Networks and Business.
After a lot of hype, speculation, leaks, etc., Research in Motion's Blackberry Pearl has finally been released into the wild, highlighted by an ahead-of-the-pack positive view by the Wall St. Journal's Walter Mossberg. For some early thoughts about the Pearl, which features push e-mail, a camera, video and music players, check out Engadget, CrunchGear and Gizmodo.
Written by Mark Evans on September 7th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Wireless and Main Page and Research in Motion.
Yesterday, I posted about the basic details of this story, along with my overall take on Toronto Hydro Telecom's WiFi launch. I said it would be a short post, with a longer post to follow once the news was out.
Well, I'm reversing myself - that post was longer than planned, and this one will be short. Catherine McLean's story did not run in today's print edition of the Globe & Mail, but it did turn up in the online edition. There are more details about the launch there, and the only thing I really missed in yesterday's post was the pricing for rentals - it's $10 for a day, and $5 for an hour.
What I really love about online editions of newspapers are the reader comments, and there are some real interesting ones that show the range of viewpoints around this initiative. Of particular note is the comment that Toronto already has a free WiFi initiative, called Wireless Toronto - something I've been meaning to blog about for sometime (better do it quick before somebody else does!). Given my earlier posting about Fredericton's free WiFi service, I just have to mention the comment from someone in Fredericton praising their service - oh, and of course, his posting was made using their WiFi service!
Still, I haven't seen any talk about this story on the blogs - not sure why. Toronto Hydro Telecom now has news and information about the service - officially branded as OneZone on their website, but aside from Catherine's online article, that's about it.
So, for all you muni WiFi guys/gals out there, I hope you find this of interest!
Technorati tags: Toronto Hydro Telecom, Jon Arnold, Municipal WiFi
Written by Jon Arnold's Blog on September 7th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Wireless.
This is really part 1, and will be quite short. This afternoon I spoke with Catherine McLean of the Globe & Mail about today's launch. I've written about Toronto Hydro Telecom's WiFi initiative before, but was not in the loop for the news today. That said, I don't feel alone, as I've seen no sign of this story on the blogs, nor has the news been posted on their website.
In short, Toronto Hydro Telecom launched their WiFi service today, along with their much anticipated pricing. You can subscribe to it as a service for $29 a month, which is about $10 cheaper than the standard high speed offerings from our incumbents, Bell and Rogers. For travelers and surfers who just need their fix on demand, you can buy access for short terms, much like you would at any WiFi hotspot. I don't have the numbers on this, but I should have them tomorrow.
Right now, the service is free, and is available throughout most of the downtown Toronto core. During this honeymoon, I would expect the service to be pretty popular, but the big challenge comes when it reverts to a paid service.
There are so many questions here, and I'll just raise a few of them now. I don't know how the billing will be done, especially for the on demand services. Will they add this to your Hydro bill? Or will Toronto Hydro Telecom do their own billing? Or will they just use a credit card? Being a utility, are they now going to engage in expensive marketing/advertisting/branding to compete head on with Rogers and Bell for subscribers? And are they now going to be competing against those offering paid WiFi in hotspots? Can they really be a viable paid service just offering broadband access - without any cool content or apps? For those who want to be regular subscribers, they'll typically need a wireless router to access the signal indoors. How will this be supported? And finally, with the launch being delayed a few months, the free trial starts after the warm weather is over. This will likely be a drag on usage, as WiFi works best in outdoor spaces. In downtown Toronto, once you go indoors, it's not too hard to get broadband access, as people are typically at home or at work. Once the cold weather comes, I don't see too many people using this service. I'm sure they would have rather seen the launch take place earlier in the summer.
Today's news and these questions take me back my post last week about Fredericton's free WiFi service, which brought out a lot of important issues for this emerging space. Reading it again makes me wonder about what Toronto Hydro Telecom is getting into here. I think it's great that they're offering WiFi, but I'm concerned about the viability and their vision about what line of business they are really in.
I hope to have more on this tomorrow, but at least you've heard it here first.
Technorati tags: Toronto Hydro Telecom, Jon Arnold, Municipal WiFi
Written by Jon Arnold's Blog on September 6th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Wireless.
Russell Shaw provides an informative two reasons
why an iPod phone may not make a dent in the market. Question is, is
there a market for it? I'd originally had no intention to get myself an
iPod. However, my father recently opened up a bank account under
certain conditions and received an iPod Nano for it. He gifted it to
me, not having much use for it. While I don't generally listen to it
during the day, I actually go to bed listening to it. And I'm addicted
enough that I'm contemplating getting a widescreen video iPod, rumoured
to be out soon. (I'm a TV/ film junkie, to the point of actually
writing about it.) But an iPod phone?
Not sure I care. I have my
beautiful Palm Treo 650, which can also display video content. Except
that uploading content to it seems a chore compared with the ease with
which iTunes lets me transfer audio to my iPod. (I used iTunes
long before I got that iPod.) What's more, I can do mobile VoIP on my
Treo (albeit with great effort to finally find some functioning
solutions). Will an iPod phone be able to do that? Why would I change from the device that I already have (except for its bulk, I love my Treo).
Then
there's the question of which cellular providers will offer coverage
for the device. Apple has never been particularly fond of third parties
taking any of their profit margin. It's the reason why there's a huge
PC market and aftermarket and not so much of one for Macs. Apple has
been very innovative, but they've also made mistakes. And while Russell
doesn't go so far as to say that, I think that Apple would be making a
mistake trying for this market. A better offering would be Wi-Fi Skype VoIP iPod (VoIPod) with video-calling, which could potentially wipe up the market with competitors' bottoms.
Written by ewriter on September 6th, 2006 with
