Sprint to Sell Touch

Sprint Nextel will sell the Touch by HTC, a smart phone using touch screen technology, starting Nov. 4 in the U.S. market. Sprint will sell the device for $250 with a two-year contract. Sprint joins Verizon and at&t in providing high-end touch-screen devices.

The iPhone, which launched this summer, is exclusive to at&t. Verizon Wireless is introducing the LG Voyager in time for Thanksgiving.

The HTC Touch lacks a keyboard, but it still has a stylus. The Touch runs Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Mobile 6 software.

So why do we care about new phones? Simply because most of the innovation in the communications space is coming in the mobile and Web domains. So it makes sense that the most innovation could come in the mobile Web space.

Business Apps for iPhone

From the start, some critics have panned iPhone because it isn't an open platform. Because it isn't "open," it also isn't a business device. People should have paid more attention when Steve Jobs, Apple CEO, hinted that other things would be forthcoming.

Now, Apple is introducing a software development kit [SDK] for the iPhone this February. And note the deployment pattern: Apple launches a "consumer" device. Consumers take the devices to work and then other business users decided they like it also. That in turn creates demand for using iPhones as enterprise clients. So now developers will be able to write those applications.

Google Docs on iPhone, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile

If you have an iPhone, Blackberry, or Windows Mobile device, you can now point your phone's browser to http://docs.google.com/m to view (no editing yet) mobile-optimized versions of your docs, spreadsheets. Owners of iPhones additionally can view their presentations. Support currently is available only for English-language users at the moment.

Okay, the images are going to be pretty small. But it is one more small step towards a Web-enabled portable desktop.

TalkPlus on iPhone

TalkPlus, which provides of virtual phone number services, now works on iPhone. TalkPlus creates additional phone numbers on mobile phones, allowing users to manage personal and business calls from a single device without the need for multiple devices.

TalkPlus phone numbers can be selected from major U.S. metropolitan areas and international cities in 28 countries. Each number comes with its own voice mailbox and customizable greeting. With TalkPlus, customers can also make calls that display the caller ID of any pre-authorized phone number, such as a subscriber’s office phone, providing true mobility to the receiving party.

MySpace Adds Skype

MySpace will offer one-click Skype service to its 110 million users, beginning with users in 20 countries in November. MySpace will share revenue from the deal with Skype.

PC-to-PC phone calls will be free, with fee-based personal phone number, voice mail, call forwarding and calls to public network devices or mobile handsets.

More than 25 million MySpace users already have installed the My Space IM program, which will be Skype enhanced.

Users who set their MySpace profile to "private" won't receive a Skype call from someone who is not on their friend list. Users may also selectively add individuals to their Skype personal contact list, and any call can be blocked at any time.

Aside from potential commercial benefits for Skype and MySpace, the move contributes to a trend: embedding of communications inside popular applications and experiences.

The PBX Era is Ending: Microsoft

Microsoft has formally launched Office Communications Server and a new version of Office Communicator, the OCS client, and expects the new platform will "change the business structure" of the PBX business, says Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates.

"The era of dialing blind, the era of playing phone tag, the era of voice-mail jail, the era of disconnected communications...that era is ending," says Jeff Raikes division president.

Gates points to a survey Microsoft commissioned that indicates just one in three enterprise users have successfully transferred a phone call. Even fewer ever have set up a conference call, says Gates. Such opaque systems are going to be a thing of the past, he says.

"This is a complete transformation of the traditional business of the PBX, which is sort of like the mainframe," says Gates. "We live a life of rich digital communications but the phone isn’t part of it."

"It is our view that wherever you see the name of an employee, you should be able to right click and see where they are reachable, right now," says Gates. "People also should be able to use their mobile phones to the business phone system."

And while OCS is designed to integrate with existing business phone systems, "over time, the lower cost structure will be to not have the PBX," says Gates.

Want a GPhone? You Have to be a Developer

A UBS analyst has confirmed that Taiwanese handset manufacturer HTC will ship about 50,000 cell phones running on a mobile operating system made by Google. The phones are reportedly going to ship by the end of this year. But the phones will only be going to development partners. The move would suggest that Google is more interested in an operating system for mobile devices than making actual devices itself, as most observers would guess, if given a choice between those two avenues as most likely.

But development of the operating system does not preclude the possibility that Google might want to have its own name plate on devices built on the operating system.

“These initial phones are not going to be for sale,” says Benjamin Schachter, UBS analyst.

Orange, Apple Nail Deal for France iPhone Sales

After what appears to be a delay caused by commercial disagreements, Orange and Apple have settled on a deal whereby Orange is the exclusive distributor of the iPhone in France. Under the original deal, Orange agreed to pay Apple 30 percent of revenues generated from iPhones sold with mobile contracts. it appears Apple wanted more, to offset lower margins on phones sold unlocked, as French law requires. There is no public word on how the original deal might have been modified.

Deathstar!

Scott Moritz at TheStreet.com says at&t is gearing up to buy EchoStar fast. The logic is unassailable. at&t wants to get big in entertainment video. It will take a long time to get its entire network revamped to do so. Buying EchoStar puts at&t right into the big leagues with more than 13.6 million subscribers. Competitor DirecTV has about 16.2 million subscribers. So by acquiring EchoStar, at&t immediately vaults into a position where it serves more than 45 percent of the U.S. satellite-delivered multichannel TV market.

iPhone No Big Deal?

At least some observers think iPhone really is not that big a deal. Sure it is. It is the first device to begin breaking the carrier-device-user relationship. To a greater extent than any other device in the mobile world, Apple has started pushing in the direction of a direct handset-user relationship. Google will be next. It IS a big deal.

Gmail Storage Increasing to 6 Gbytes January 4

Gmail will increase free storage gradually over the next several weeks. On October 23, users will get 4321 MB of storage. Storage will continue to increase to 6.283 Gbytes on Jan. 4. After Jan. 4, storage will increase 3.3 MBytes every day, says Google.

Google Apps mail accounts will have the same quota as standard Gmail accounts, while Google Apps Premier Edition will have 25 GB mail accounts. Previously, Google Apps accounts had 2 GB of storage, while the business edition offered 10 GB per account.

Gmail paid storage options also will expand, providing about 50 percent more storage for the same price: 10 GB for $20/year, 40 GB for $75/year, 150 GB for $250/year and 400 GB for $500/year.

Endeavor Telecom Looking for 2 National Accounts Execs

Check out the listing on LinkedIn, Monster.com and Dice. "We are considering individuals who are aggressive, business savvy sales professionals with a history of solid sales success to Endeavor’s customer base: carriers, telecom service providers, manufacturers, systems integrators, and VARs. Endeavor does not provide services direct to end-users/enterprises, so proven channel sales success is required. This is typically a work from home position with overnight travel expected to be less than 20%. Compensation is $120,000 to $250,000+ per year (Base + Uncapped Commission) plus benefits."

Mobile IS Broadband by 2011

Mobile broadband will be the dominant broadband platform worldwide in 2011, according to Informa Telecoms & Media. There will be more than one billion broadband subscribers worldwide in 2011, with the majority using mobile rather than fixed networks.

Mobile broadband will be a "more than" $400 billion service revenues business in 2012, as a result. Of course, getting there will mean climbing a wall of end user resistance to mobile broadband pricing, research by Parks and Associates suggests. That might be especially true if mobile broadband winds up being a replacement for narrowband mobile access, rather than fixed mobile access.

HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access) will be the leading mobile broadband technology by then in terms of number of subscribers, followed by EV-DO (Evolution Data Optimized and mobile WiMAX.

"Mobile broadband will represent close to half of total mobile service revenues in 2012," says Mike Roberts, Informa analyst.

Paetec Buys Allworx

Paetec is acquiring Allworx Corp., a provider of IP-based PBX and key systems aimed at the small and medium business user. The transaction makes more sense in light of Paetec's recent merger with McLeod, whose customer base is largely anchored on smaller businesses use a single T1 connection at most sites. Paetec's historic customer base is a mid-market firm. So Allworx will make sense as a favored solution for McLeod customers more than for Paetec's historic base.

Based in East Rochester, N.Y., Allworx primarily uses Value Added Resellers as its sales channel. Paetec says it will continue to use VARs, as well as its extensive agent network, to introduce both Allworx services to Paetec customers while cross-selling Paetec connectivity services into the Allworx base.

The acquisition, set at $25 million, is interesting as it is not common to see communications "footprint" providers buying "application" providers. But more providers seem to be putting their money where their views are, as "moving up the stack" now is seen as necessary.

Level 3 has been buying content delivery assets, not simply termination assets or access assets, for example. That isn't to say all providers think this is the right strategy. Some continue to launch or extend Layer 2 connectivity businesses that deiberately remain focused on access to end user sites and transport within a metro area or region.

"People Have No Idea What We Might Be Up to"

Google's 80/20 program, where associates are encouraged to spend 20 percent of their time thinking up new things for Google to do, means Google "could do almost anything," says one source. Google just bought Jaiku, a mobile social networking and messaging service, and seems still to be hunting for experienced telecom executives and capacity, for example.

Google is going to be a player in mobile, it seems clear enough. The only issue is how it will play, and in how many ways.