Why Innovation is So Tough in the Communications Business

There are a ton of reasons why innovation is so difficult in the communications business.

"It won't work," "impossible requirements," "we can't do anything about it at the moment" and "business processes won't support it" are the broad categories within which you can probably imaging dozens of separate examples within each category.

The list of barriers is amusing and accurate, but also illustrates why highly-complex systems are resistant to desired innovation.

The Litany of Excuses Stifling Communication Innovation

Is Windows Phone 7 Too Late?

Windows Phone 7 might have been a huge hit, says Matt Burns at CrunchGear. It might have been the true iPhone killer, says Burns. It might have even become the dominant mobile platform. But it won’t, Burns argues. It’s an iOS, Android and BlackBerry world now and there isn’t room for anyone else, he argues.

That's a challenge Microsoft simply has to overcome. There's at least one possible new angle here: Windows Phone 7 is optimized for communication, not apps. That’s a key difference. Where Apple is focused on apps, and Android on mobile Web, Windows Phone 7 arguably is focused on ease of communication.

That is a segment Windows Phone 7 could ride: a smartphone optimized for ease of communication, rather than apps or Web or email, video or conferencing.

Windows Phone 7: Solid Platform, Sorry Future

Laptop, Netbook Sales Dip as Tablets Grow

Market researcher Gartner has trimmed its global forecasts for laptop shipments, but still expects a 26 percent increase to 214 million units this year. The firm says the average selling price of portable PCs has fallen six percent to $668 from $710 a year ago.

Netbooks likely have been affected. The Consumer Electronics Association predicts U.S. retail sales of netbooks, which more than doubled last year, will decline 12 percent this year.

What’s a CDMA iPhone Worth to Apple?

Adding a CDMA iPhone option (usable on Verizon Wireless and other networks), increases Apple’s addressable market for an iPhone by 16 percent, says Horace Dediu of asymco, a mobile research site.

The estimated sales of 10 million Verizon iPhones account for only two percent of that potential market, affording Apple a sizable opportunity to boost iPhone sales outside of the United States.

The CDMA Development Group reports that 164 million mobile phone subscribers in the U.S. use a CDMA handset. That number pales in comparison to the 302 million CDMA handset owners in the Asia-Pacific area, a region that, until recently, hasn’t seen huge demand for Apple’s smartphone.

To put that in perspective, Apple’s total revenues for the 2009 fiscal year were $36.5 billion.

What’s a CDMA iPhone Worth to Apple?

Spanish Telecom Industry Revenue Shrinks

According to data released by Spanish telecom regulator CMT, the country’s telecoms revenues, including TV, stood at EUR9.7 billion (USD13.5 billion) for the second quarter of 2010, a 2.9 percent decline year-on-year but an improvement on the first quarter change, where sales fell 4.8 percent year-on-year.

Retail revenues accounted for 84 percent of the total, of which wireless services accounted for the largest proportion at 43 percent, while the figure was 18 percent for fixed line services, 15 percent for TV, 12 percent for internet, with the remainder comprising terminal sales and business services.

Granted, we are looking at just a couple of quarters of data, and just in one country. But slowing revenue growth, if not actual declines, seem] to be an issue in many regions. If nothing else, that suggests the importance of the search for new revenue categories. Do nothing, or nothing substantial, and decline is a likely outcome.

Spanish telecoms market continues to shrink, but at a declining rate: TeleGeography Research

Best Buy App Store?

Now that Amazon is launching its own Android app store, Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn says Best Buy itself is open to the idea of entering the mobile apps space. It is conceptual at this point, but Google's willingness to go ahead would be crucial, Best Buy executives say.

Could Best Buy Launch its Own App Store As Well?

Twitter: Advertising Could be the Business Model

Twitter started with just six advertisers and now has about 40, including Starbucks, Ford and Microsoft, says Twitter CEO Dick Costolo. Twitter expects to have more than 100 advertisers by the end of the year.

Last week, Twitter added three avenues of advertising. Promoted Accounts, which began immediately with Xbox and HBO, allows companies to pay Twitter to suggest that people follow their free Twitter accounts, based on shared interests.

Twitter also began publishing ads on Twitter apps, starting with HootSuite; before, ads had appeared only on Twitter’s Web site. Twitter will split the ad revenue evenly with HootSuite and the other companies that make apps.

Twitter, After Number of Users Surges, Turns to Ads

Microsoft Plans Windows Mobile Ad Blitz

Microsoft might spend as much as $100 million to market its new Windows Mobile operating system.

Microsoft says the effort will be 'competitive' with Verizon's $100 million saturation campaign for Droid phones last year.

Microsoft Swings at IPhone, Android in Windows Phone Push

What is Different About the Past 2 Decades of Job Recovery?

Looking back several decades at job recovery from a recession, you would note that job growth, particularly in the foundational private sector, was robust in the 1970s and 1980s. Since then, private sector job growth has been anemic in recoveries. When you have a two-decade pattern such as that developing, one has to ask structural questions. What has changed in the last two decades, compared to the previous decades?

And, oh by the way, since we are looking at a two-decade sort of problem, it would be naive to suggest we can magically remedy the underlying problem or problems in a short period of time. Something other than "just a recession" seems to be happening. The issue is "what is happening?"

When "Free Public WiFi" is an XP Bug

When a computer running an older version of XP can't find any of its "favorite" wireless networks, it will automatically create an ad hoc network with the same name as the last one it connected to, including "Free Public WiFi."

Other XP ccomputers within range of that new ad hoc network can see it, and will remember the ad hoc connection, in turn.

Microsoft has eliminated the network in more recent versions of Windows. It also created a fix to the problem for the older version of Windows XP — Windows XP Service Pack 3 — but many people still haven't updated their computers.

The point is that there isn't quite so much "free public Wi-Fi" available as some might think, but that is just a bug that requires a patch.

The Zombie Network: Beware 'Free Public WiFi' : NPR

Orange Mobile Exposure 2010 Study Reveals European Mobile Media Users Choose Browsers Over Apps

Users seem to prefer browser apps over mobile apps about 70 percent of the time, a survey suggests.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Orange-Mobile-Exposure-2010-prnews-968643210.html?x=0&.v=1

Android OS Now Number One for Sales Share

Android now appears to be the top operating system for new buyers of smartphones, according to Nielsen.

Unified Communications Suites for Small Business

A brief video on what unified communications is, and how a small business can use it.

Unified Communications Suites for Small Businesses

Making the Leap to VOIP

A short video tutorial on how a smaller business can make the jump to IP telephony from legacy voice.

Making the Leap to VOIP

Apple Will Report Over $20 Billion In Quarterly Revenue, Blogger-Analysts Predict

http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-will-report-over-20-billion-in-quarterly-revenue-blogger-analysts-predict-2010-10?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+typepad%2Falleyinsider%2Fsilicon_alley_insider+%28Silicon+Alley+Insider%29&utm_content=Google+Reader