"Third Way?" Between Title I and Title II? Are you "Sorta Pregnant?"

One might argue that there's nothing wrong with the Federal Communications Commission trying to find some "middle way" or "third way" between common carrier and data services regulation. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, for example, notes that "heavy-handed prescriptive regulation can chill investment and innovation, and a do-nothing approach can leave consumers unprotected and competition unpromoted, which itself would ultimately lead to reduced investment and innovation."

Nor are many likely to disagree completely with the notion that "consumers do need basic protection against anticompetitive or otherwise unreasonable conduct by companies providing the broadband access service."

Likewise, most probably would agree that "FCC policies should not include regulating Internet content, constraining reasonable network management practices of broadband providers, or stifling new business models or managed services that are pro-consumer and foster innovation and competition."

But there is likely to be fierce disagreement about the proposal to regulate broadband access service as a common carrier offering governed by Title II regulations, even though the chairman says the FCC would "forebear" (not impose) all of the obligations and rules that cover Title II services.

The difference is that right now, the government "may not" regulate terms and conditions of service. Under the proposed rules, the government only says it "has the right to do so, but voluntarily agrees not to" impose such rules. There is a vast difference between those two approaches.

The first is a clear "thout shalt not" injunction; the new framework is only a "we promise not to" framework. The chairman argues that this new approach "would not give the FCC greater authority than
the Commission was understood to have" before the "Comcast v. FCC" case.

A reasonable person would find that hard to believe. Moving any service or application from Title I to Title II has unambiguous meaning. One can agree or disagree with the change. One can hardly call this a "reassertion of the status quo." Between Title I and Title II there is a gulf that would have to be crossed. Never before have any Internet services been considered "common carrier."

A mere promise not to act, after the change has been made, will hardly satisfy those who believe Title I is the better framework. Those who believe Title II is the better way to regulate likely will find the proposal satisfying. That would be reason enough to suggest it is not a "third way." There is in fact no third way, except for the Congress to direct the FCC to regulate broadband access as a Title II service.

The problem is that what the "service" is changes over time, making difficult the task of clearly separating what "access" is from what an enhanced feature is. Nor is it easy to differentiate between a "business" access and a "consumer" access. If business access is covered, is packet shaping still permissible? Are quality of service measures still permissible? Are virtual private networks still allowed?

Should consumer services acquire the richness of business services, or should business services be dumbed down to consumer grade? And who gets to decide? Even if one is willing to accept that an ISP cannot, on its own, provide any quality of service measures, can a customer request them? Can a customer demand them?

These are tough questions and there must be scores more people could ask. The problem is that the Title I and Title II frameworks are binary. We do have alternate models in Titles III and VI, as I recall, though I suppose both of those titles would provide more freedom, not less, and Title II is a move in the direction of less freedom.

read it here

Clearwire Emerging as a Wholesaler

Perhaps Clearwire did not initially think its business model would be anchored by wholesale wireless, but that seems to be shaping up as key to its future. Of the 283,000 net new subscribers added in the first quarter of 2010, 111,000 of them, or 39 percent, were gained by wholesale partners.

Most of the other major national wireless providers also have some wholesale operations, but none likely approach Clearwire's percentage. Clearwire’s network is behind Sprint’s 4G services as well as Comcast and Time Warner Cable wireless services. Then there is T-Mobile USA, which seems to need wholesale 4G capacity as well.

It might not be unreasonable to speculate that one reason Clearwire is preparing for a transition to Long Term Evolution, instead of sticking with its WiMAX air interface, is that T-Mobile USA might well require LTE capability in order to sign up.

"There was an agreement before that was really a commercial deal between Intel and Clearwire that would restrict us from using anything other than WiMAX up to, I think it’s February of 2012," said Bill Morrow, Clearwire CEO. "That deal is no longer in effect."

Now, either Intel or Clearwire can give 30 days notice and the deal is over. "So it does give us the flexibility that if we wanted to do a commercial launch of LTE or some other technology, that Intel would not be holding us back," said Morrow.

With less than a million total subscribers, it is too early to say how the retail versus wholesale customer mix holds up over time. Should Clearwire pick up T-Mobile USA as a wholesale partner, and as Comcast and Time Warner Cable gear up their wireless operations, it is not hard to envision wholesale growing to be a majority of customers.

FCC Goes for "Tactical" Nukes in Net Neutrality Fight; ISPs Will React as Though "Strategic" Weapons will Ultimately be Used

Federal Communications Commission officials seem well enough aware that proposed new "network neutrality" rules could lead to a reduction of investment in broadband facilities, which is why, reports the the Wall Street Journal, FCC officials are briefing market analysts who cover cable and telco equities before the market opens on Thursday, May 6.

The fear is that even before the rules have been announced, financial analysts will issue downgrades of cable and telco stocks as future revenue streams are jeopardized. Those analyst briefings will happen even before other FCC officials or congressional members are told how the FCC plans to proceed.

Chairman Julius Genachowski apparently plans to circulate a notice of inquiry to other FCC board members next week on his plans to reclassify broadband Internet access, provided by cable or telco providers, as common carrier services under Title II of the Communications Act.

That would put cable companies under common carrier regulation for the first time, something cable industry executives always have opposed, and will fight. Telco executives are hardly any more likely to support the changes.

The problem with the FCC's approach, which is to apply "some" Title II rules, but not all, is that there are no protections from future action that would simply apply all common carrier rules. The FCC wants to believe it can leave ISPs "sort of pregnant." They either are, or aren't, and can be expected to fight as though the outcomes were binary.

As often is the case, a natural desire for a "third way" is not possible. Title I or Title II is the issue. Forbearance rules or not, one or the other is going to apply. Get ready for war.

FCC Will Try to Apply Some Title II Rules to Broadband Access

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski reportedly has decided to attempt Title II regulation of broadband access services, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal, despite some other reports that he was leaning against such rules.

We should know more on Thursday, May 6. Apparently the FCC will try to thread a camel through a needle, regulating only some parts of  broadband access using Title II rules, without applying every Title II provision that applies to voice services.

It does not appear the chairman will propose new wholesale access rules, but it isn't clear whether strict rules about packet non-discrimination will be sought, theoretically barring quality-of-service features from being offered. That seems unlikely, but much will depend on whether industry participants think the actual new rules open the way for further rules, down the road, that would be highly unacceptable, even if the new immediate rules are not viewed as burdensome. We shall see.

Clearwire Removes Obstacle to LTE Shift

Clearwire says it changed the terms of an agreement with Intel, one of its largest investors, that could eventually lead the way for Clearwire to switch to Long Term Evolution as its radio interface, ending its use of WiMAX. Clearwire and Sprint executives have said in the past they believe the two standards now are so similar it would not be difficult to adopt a unified air interface.

The new terms allow either Intel or Clearwire to exit the WiMAX agreement, which had until now forced Clearwire to use WiMAX through Nov. 28, 2011, with just 30 days notice. Those of you who believe Clearwire ultimately will switch to LTE can take that as a sign Clearwire might make the move before late 2011.

 CFO Erik E. Prusch reiterated the company's view that the overall ecosystem for 4G wireless was converging and as such, the market won’t have the technology wars in the future that it has seen in the past.

The technologies underlying LTE and WiMAX aren’t so far off as to make a transition from one to the other all that expensive in terms of the network costs, but devices that are currently running on the WiMAX network might need to be replaced if Clearwire implements a wholesale technology change on its radio network.

link to webcast

FCC Leaning Against Title II Regulation of Broadband Access

Julius Genachowski, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, apparently now is leaning away from any attempt to re-regulate broadband access as a common carrier service, a move that would have set off a political firestorm.

The Washington Post reports that the chairman "is leaning" toward keeping in place the current regulatory framework for broadband services but making some changes that would still bolster the FCC's chances of overseeing some broadband policies.

The sources said Genachowski thinks "reclassifying" broadband to allow for more regulation would be overly burdensome on carriers and would deter investment, a belief likely bolstered by the constant criticism Verizon Communications has taken from investors who have questioned Verizon's investment in fiber-to-the-home almost every step of the way.

Congress could "remedy" the situation by passing new legislation directing the FCC to take action along the lines of reclassifying broadband access as a common carrier service, but prospects for any such legislation are unclear.

Aside from the historic objections cable and telco industry segments have had to common carrier regulation of data services, both industries are widely expected to oppose in the strongest possible way any moves to limit their ability to innovate in the area of services and features for broadband services, especially any moves to prohibit any forms of quality of service features.

"Network neutrality" rules that prohibit any form of packet discrimination would effectively prevent the creation of QoS features guaranteeing video or voice performance, for example, even if those are features end users actually want.

Some policy advocates fear that Internet access providers will not voluntarily and adequately police themselves, but end user pressure has proven to be quite effective in the applications space, and even firms that have attempted some forms of network management have voluntarily agreed not to use some forms of management that essentially
"block" legal applications.

That isn't to argue that there are no dangers, but simply that market pressure and end user outrage have so far proven to be effective inhibitors of anti-competitive behavior. Even without title II common carrier regulation, the amount of end user and policy attention now paid to anti-competitive behavior in the Internet business would effectively encourage responsible ISP behavior.

Proponents opposed to "over-regulating" the developing business have argued that any abuses that do arise can be dealt with as they potentially occur, and that this is preferable to regulating in advance, or that the proper venue is the Federal Trade Commission or Justice Department, in any case.

Aside from all those issues, nobody really believes that anything but growth lies ahead for the broadband access business. 'More bandwidth" does not solve all problems, but does solve many of the concerns users or policy advocates might have about continued progress on the bandwidth front.

source

98% of Fortune 1000 Firms Have UC Tests, Deployments or Plans

Only two percent of Fortune 1000 companies are not already in active pilot or deployment or are considering a unified communications implementation, a survey sponsored by Plantronics finds.

The only thing surprising in that finding is that there are any Fortune 1000 firms that are not using, planning or testing a UC implementation of some kind.

Given the wide range of UC applications, it would seem unlikely that any firms large enough to qualify for the Fortune 1000 list would not already be using some unified communications apps, whether they know it or not.

The survey suggests 34 percent of workers at such firms are road warriors while 29 percent are telecommuters (working mostly from home). As workforces become more distributed, technology that connects people and enables real-time collaboration becomes essential.

About 94 percent of those surveyed plan to roll out voice-related UC apps within the next 24 months while 66 percent of respondents plan to deploy desktop video within the next two years.

Some 45 percent of respondents said end-user training is key to help users understand basic audio and voice end-point functionality and to enable them to customize options and solve basic issues on their own.

Similarly, 48 percent of respondents said it’s critical to train IT on audio end-points, so they can educate users about end-points and resolve potential issues before they arise.

Employees who are accustomed to using traditional desk phones have very high expectations for audio quality. In fact, more than 50 percent of decision makers said end-points and audio quality are “extremely important” to the overall UC experience. If audio quality is poor when talking to customers, partners and other important audiences, users won’t adopt UC and deployments fail.

"More" TV Seems to be the Story

U.S. consumers seem to be buying more TVs even as they watch more online video. "More," not "either, or" seems to be the story.

Net Neutrality Would Reduce Investment, Says Frost & Sullivan

Network neutrality has the potential to significantly discourage broadband infrastructure investment, increasing the investment risk, Frost & Sullivan analysts say.

You won't be surprised at that conclusion if you are in the communications service provider business and have to work with investors, or are on the capital allocation side of the business, or ever have modeled expected returns from broadband investment under conditions where robust wholesale access is the rule, where competition is very heavy or where there is little opportunity to provide new revenue-generating services beyond simple access.

In a highly-competitive market, nvestments in access infrastructure are highly sensitive to expected subscriber revenue. Anything that reduces the potential new revenue can drastically affect the investment analysis.

In the presence of net neutrality, operators would likely reduce investment due to the increased risk. Where projects proceeded, consumers would ultimately pay the cost, as they always do.

Net neutrality acts like a tax on the Internet, Frost & Sullivan says. It imposes overhead on network operators, which, in turn, decrease network investments, providing less opportunity, not only for the operators, but also for those that use the operators' networks as well, analysts say.

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Google to Launch E-Bookstore This Summer

Google will begin selling digital books as early as late June or July, Google Manager Chris Palma says, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.

"Google Editions" hopes to distinguish itself by allowing users to access books from a broad range of websites using a broad array of devices, instead of tying software to one piece of hardware.

Google says users will be able to buy digital copies of books they discover through its book-search service. It will also allow book retailers, including independent shops, to sell Google Editions on their own sites, taking the bulk of the revenue. Google is still deciding whether it will follow the model where publishers set the retail price or where Google sets retail prices.

"As a publisher, what I like is that I won't have to think about audiences based on devices," says Evan Schnittman, vice president of global business development for Oxford University Press.

Status Drivers are Changing: What it Means for Consumer Marketers

Status in "consumer" societies is fragmenting rapidly, say researchers at Trendwatching.com. That's important for every consumer marketer because, "like it or not, the need for recognition and status is at the heart of every consumer trend," the researchers say. "Status is the ultimate hidden motive."

In a traditional consumer society, where consumption is one of the leading indicators of success, those who consume the most, and especially those who consume the rarest and most expensive, will typically also attain the highest status.

Mature consumer societies are changing, though.  Though there is no shortage of the old type of status seeking, an increasing number of consumers are no longer solely obsessed with owning or experiencing the most or the most expensive goods.

In a growing number of cases,  status is about acquired skills, eco-credentials, generosity, love and connectivity, Trendwatching says.

Not a single status symbol is ever safe from devaluation, as these symbols and stories are mere agreements between groups of people. The moment ‘society’ agrees that a car is just a method to safely move from A to B, or a nuisance that needs to be avoided due to environmental worries and space constraints, and not one of the dominant indicators of one’s financial standing, luxury car manufacturers will have a problem.

Status, in other words, is "social" to a large extent. A large part of the satisfaction any product, capability or experience provides is that most other people do not own a product, do not have a skill or have not been to a place.

Traditional consumption is about buying, enjoying and showing off more stuff or better stuff than other people have. That doesn't mean traditional satisfactions are gone; it is just as alternate satisfactions are growing.

It does explain why "experiences" increasingly are valued. The ‘mass’ that consumers are willing to put up with is either the stuff they don't really care about.

However, when it comes to experiences, status can only be derived from being seen by others, while experiencing the experience or by telling others about the experiences afterwards. In a real way, the status comes from the telling of the story.

Consumers increasingly will have to tell each other stories to achieve a status dividend from their purchases. Expect a shift from brands telling a story, to brands helping consumers tell their own status-yielding stories to other consumers, Trendwatching says.

Scotch whiskey brand Laphroaig offers lifetime leases for a square foot of land on the island of Islay (where the distillery is located) to each consumer who buys a bottle, for example.

Owning is no longer the only way for consumers to gain status; the act of giving also confers status.

Generosity is one example. Many consumers not only are disgusted with greed, but also can take advantage of an online-fuelled culture of individuals who share, give, engage, create and collaborate in large numbers.

One example of the "generosity" trend is the collaborative, free, crowdsourced, gift and sharing movement online, that fulfills in entirely new ways the perennial need of individuals to feel part of the greater good, to contribute, to help. But the online world of course also makes it easy to showcase and share one's acts of altruism.

The status-implications for non-profit organizations, and B2C brands big on giving initiatives? Work harder on helping your consumer-donors show and tell others about their donations and contributions.

As entire societies have embraced sustainability in everthing as the way forward, and as millions of consumers are now actively trying to greenify their lives, green credentials are an endless source of status. Just witness a substantial subset of consumers already bestowing recognition and praise on Prius and Insight owners while scorning SUV owners.

Consumers' interest in green credentials will lead to even more eco-friendly goods and services sporting bold, iconic markers and design, that help their eco-conscious owners show off their eco-credentials to their peers.

Also count on a massive increase in green stories (as told by consumers): detailed information on (eco-friendly) sourcing, production, ingredients and distribution all represents a potential benefit to consumers who are keen on sharing their green status stories. And the concept is extra attractive for service providers, who often don't have physical products with which to convey their eco credentials.

What will make green stories even more powerful is the fact that while each individual can ‘do their bit’ on the environmental issues, their actions are going to be wasted unless everybody else does the same. This gives individuals a great excuse to share their stories and to enjoy a status boost from occupying the moral high ground.

For an increasing number of consumers, the mere act of consuming less is the greenest status fix of all.

Needless to say that practitioners of "unconsumption" will heavily depend on the telling of stories to make their "low or no" impact on the environment known to others.

Growing pockets of consumers find pleasure and gain potential status by mastering skills and acquiring knowledge.

To be on the inside, to be in the know, to have access, to be knowledgeable, but also, to be able to lead the way to the unique, the avant-garde, the cool, the latest, the cutting-edge now is an established source of status.

Anything you as a brand can do to assist the pursuit of deep or trivial knowledge will be appreciated.

Nike’s True City is an iPhone app that aims to give consumers ‘insider’ information on six European cities, while also allowing users to share their own tips and delivering exclusive Nike offers and information.

The Adidas Urban Art Guide is a free iPhone travel guide listing Berlin and Hamburg's best graffiti. Users can click on each marked location to retrieve images and information about the piece and the artist.

Beck's Gig Finder app helps users to find local music gigs. The app's map and GPS interface allow users to see where they are in relation to the gigs.

Closely related to status and knowledge are status and skills. Especially for younger (and younger-at-heart) consumers, participation is the new consumption. Brands that help consumers develop skills and create professional-grade output will gain an appreciative audience.

Tesco’s Wine Finder app is capable of recognizing any wine in the retailer’s database from a photo of the bottle. The app also recommends wines based on price, country of origin and accompanying cuisine.

Swedish food brand Santa Maria offers an iPhone app that offers grilling tips and advice. The application features recipes, a BBQ handbook and a grilling timer.

Where it comes to online status, it’s all about who you connect to, and who connects to you, tribal style. It still is about being unique, but it's about belonging, too: belonging to tribes whose membership renders status to its members.

Unlike in the 'offline world', these connections (in numbers and in profiles) are visible. Then there are virtual goods garnered in online games, or gaming skill itself.

So what can consumer marketers do? Develop a better understanding of who (and how) your customers are trying to impress. If you find your brand is still mainly focusing on bigger and better but your customers aren't, then you might have a problem.

If you already actively serve a diverse crowd of status seekers, figure out how you can help them to better show off their new status symbols or better tell their status stories. Showcasing, visibility, and story ingredients are still often overlooked.

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YouTube to Launch Movie Rental Store

YouTube, the Google-owned video sharing site that claims to serve an average 96 videos per person to 135 million viewers each month, is building an automated system that will let movie makers upload full-length movies to the site’s recently launched video rental store.

Some observers think that feature might be most valuable for filmmakers unable to get much distribution from other outlets, especially independent filmmakers who cannot gain distribution on Netflix or Amazon, for example.

The service “will give moviemakers the ability to upload and provide their streaming content for rent,” MediaPost writer Laurie Sullivan says. Rental movies will be available in 1080-pixel resolution, much higher than the TV and movie streams on Hulu. Payments will be made through Google Checkout, a Paypal-like service.

The Future of TV Is... TV

"The potential for video over the internet is huge, and always will be," says Mark Cuban, Dallas Mavericks owner and technology investor. That isn't a new argument: Cuban has made the argument repeatedly and forcefully.

"The future of TV is TV," he says. "That is what consumers want." Arguing that forecasters need only follow the money, he notes that consumers have made their choice to spend money on new HDTVs because they want a no-hassle way to watch TV, and do not want all the hassles associated with PC-based or Internet-delivered video.

"I don’t understand why so many people think that having millions of videos available online to watch any time is some big deal," Cuban says. "Consumer choice is about having the brand new device on which you just spent hundreds of dollars or more work immediately and just as you expected.

"When you buy a car, you don’t want to have to figure out how to make it work. You don’t want to have to bring someone in to make sure the engine starts, or have to buy some 3rd party device so that you can go full speed or blast the stereo. When you buy that car, you want to jump in the driver's seat, smell that new car smell, be excited when you turn it on, and crank that stereo and roll down the road in your brand new car. You made your choice as a consumer. You spent your money. You want immediate gratification.

The Future of TV Is... TV -- Seeking Alpha:

T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide official: Android 2.1, QWERTY, coming in June (we go hands-on) | Technology Blog

T-Mobile is launching another midrange Android QWERTY slider, the "myTouch 3G Slide," with a 3.4-inch HVGA display, 5 megapixel camera, and a pretty heavily-customized skin based on Android 2.1.

Reviewers say "it's not quite like anything we've seen on a production Android device before, featuring a host of custom apps including the 'Faves Gallery,' a social aggregator for your most dearly beloved contacts; 'myModes,' a profile manager that can change the phone's themes and settings based on time or location; the Swype keyboard in place of Google's option; and the so-called 'Genius Button,' which seeks to extend Android's already decent voice command and text-to-speech systems by allowing you to do just about anything on the phone using your voice, hear messages read back to you."

T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide official: Android 2.1, QWERTY, coming in June (we go hands-on) | Technology Blog

Customize Nokia Turn-by-Turn Directions

Now that most every Nokia device to come fresh out the factory comes with free turn-by-turn navigation, Nokia allows users to replace the pre-recorded voice samples with something the user can create.

The application, called “Own Voice“, runs you through 54 phrases you’re required to say, a process which takes about 7 minutes, and then you’ll have a one of a kind navigation experience that you can choose to either keep on your device, or share with the world.