Would You Rather Have had the First iPod or $14,500?

“If you spent the money on an original iPod in 2001 on Apple stock ($499), you would have $14,513.78 today.” 


In part that's a commentary on Apple's soaring equity value;in part that's a clue about product pricing for device pricing. 


So the issue is whether the same choices exist today for the Apple iPad. Of course, 2001 was a good time to buy equities. 

Alcatel-Lucent Gets into Mobile Advertising Business

Alcatel-Lucent has created a white-label direct marketing platform called  "Optism" that is designed to help mobile operators create “media inventory” and provide advertisers with easy access to highly-targeted audiences.

Optism is not an ad network so much as an enabler of ad networks, since it is the mobile service providers who actually will retail the services, but Optism does create a permission and preference-based mobile marketing capability aggregated across multiple mobile operators.

Optism features a media arm that brokers relationships between mobile operators and advertisers, greatly simplifying the media selling process for aggregated operator inventory.

You might wonder whether Alcatel-Lucent now is competing with Google or Apple. It says it isn't, since Optism primarily aims to create direct marketing campaigns taking advantage of mobile communication features, such as text messaging.

It's an interesting approach to creating business-to-business revenue streams that are not directly dependent on end-user subscriptions. Available as a hosted and white-labled solution, Optism might be able to get economies of scale no single mobile operator could.


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Study Confirms: Wireless Cheaper than Fixed for Rural Broadband

Wireless infrastructure has significant cost advantages over wired access in reaching homes in rural areas, it is often the most efficient way to provide broadband access, says the Brattle Group. That will come as no surprise to anybody who ever has attempted to model the cost of building broadband access infrastructure

The Group's analysis suggests that the cost of bringing high-speed access to most rural counties is between $1,000 per household to $7,500 per household.

The bigger issue is the degree to which mobile broadband can be a viable subsitute for fixed broadband in urban areas where fixed access already is plentiful.

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Can a Device Save a Brand?

Okay, it is a dumb idea to think any mobile device can "save" a brand, unless that brand is Apple. But it isn't so far fetched to imagine ways to use an iPad as a virtual sales assistant or automated checkout device in some scenarios, as Hertz does in its rental return lines.

With its bigger screen, the iPad could be useful as a platform for social shopping. That can be done on PCs or  mobiles, but the portability and form factor is different from a netbook or laptop and screen size is a key difference from a mobile phone. One might argue the overall cost of creating an app and avoiding application-specific hardware are other advantages.

Conceivably it could replace kiosks or other digital signage approaches, especially where the attempt is to allow end users to imagine different products in different configurations, for example.

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iPad Users Watch a Lot of Video

Data from MeFeedia suggests the Apple iPad, on the market for just a few weeks, already is the fifth most-used mobile device, trailing the  iPhone, iPod Touch, SymbianOS, and Android in terms of unique users.

Based on its user data, MeFeedia says iPad users consume three times as many videos as PC-based Web users, up from the 2.5 times at launch. It appears iPad users also spend four times as much time watching videos as PC-based Web users.

Also, iPad users seem to consume five times as many videos as iPhone users do, MeFeedia says.

One might suggest that a lack of distractions accounts for the longer engagement time with video. One might also suggest the early adopters are more likely than the typical user to be heavy consumers of
media, games and video. It might also be the case that users are in an experimental phase, playing with the device to figure out what they can do with it, which might boost engagement on any number of levels.

Should those sorts of findings be confirmed as the device gets wider distribution past the early adopters, it would be safe to say that at least one of the iPad use modes is as a multimedia content device, in the same general class as an e-book reader, but with a focus on multimedia.

Should that be the case, the iPad might legitimately emerge as a showcase for video-based mobile advertising.

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Microsoft Sends Small Business to Alteva

Alteva, a provider of cloud-based unified communications solutions, is partnering with Microsoft and BroadSoft to provide a hosted Unified Communications solution to small businesses. Alteva has developed a way to interconnect its hosted voice and messaging services with Microsoft Communication Services product suite, including Microsoft Exchange, SharePoint and Office Communications Server for both its small business and enterprise customers.

Alteva also has launched a Web store, where organizations with less than 25 users can easily select the right UC solution to suit their needs. Alteva has designed four different UC packages from which small businesses can choose from.

The "UC Complete" bundle supplies a fully-integrated, high-definition voice and unified communications solution priced from $38 per user, per month. Other packages are priced at $28 to $15 per user, per month.

Alteva also offers a la carte purchasing options for those who seek only to purchase Exchange email, OCS or Alteva's hosted VoIP.

Alteva says it is North America's largest provider of enterprise-class hosted VoIP, and provides hosted UC solutions to businesses in all 50 states and four continents.

Microsoft to Direct Small Businesses Seeking Unified Communications Solutions With VoIP Integration to Alteva

CounterPath Launches Nomadic PBX Capability

CounterPath Corporation, which many of you know as a provider of desktop and mobile voice over Internet protocol software solutions, announced "NomadicPBX", its turnkey platform for enabling converged mobile and broadband Session Initiation Protocol voice, messaging and presence services.

Available immediately, NomadicPBX enables wireless operators and other service providers to extend the value of mobility for small and medium enterprises by integrating mobile communications with the existing fixed communications infrastructure.

NomadicPBX allows the integration of mobile handsets into the enterprise communications architecture. End users benefit from a single number and identity, which lets them be reached immediately from any mobile, desk phone or VoIP softphone, including a client running on a mobile phone.

Extension dialing such as short-dialing or speed calling from any mobile handset is supported, as are
core calling features found in most PBX solutions.

Will 13% of Video Subs Cut All or Some of Their Services This Year?

It probably would not surprise you if the Yankee Group suggested that younger people are more likely to stop subscribing to cable, satellite or telco video services.

It might surprise you to learn that Yankee Group believes 13 percent of current subscribers will cut all or some of their video services within 12 months.

That would be unprecedented in the history of multi-channel video.

Keep in mine that Yankee Group says the forms of "cord cutting" might take the form of terminating premium channels or halting use of video-on-demand services, as well as terminating all service entirely. Still, that would be a stunning development.

Remember When Netflix Was "Toast"?

Remember when Netflix was supposed to be "toast"? You remember the arguments: Physical media was
out, online was in; Netflix was wedded to a dying business model. Online distribution, by YouTube or
Hulu, was going to destroy Netflix.

That hasn't happened. Quite to the contrary, investors have bid up Netflix's stock by nearly 100 percent
since January 2010, in part because Netflix shows every sign of being a contender in online video. And now Hulu has announced a "paid" access model that puts it in head-to-head competition with Netflix to some extent.

True, Netflix often is thought of as primarily offering movie fare, while Hulu's content leans heavily towards TV shows.

Netflix has 14 million paying subscribers, while Hulu has about 40 million unique viewers, but so far zero paid subscribers. And that is the test for Hulu. Most observers think perhaps five percent to 10 percent of Hulu users might choose to buy the new paid service, suggesting a potential base of two million to four million paid subscribers.

If one assumes four million subscribers, at a monthly fee of $10, that implies $480 million worth of annual revenue. That's interesting, but not terribly interesting.

Location Ads Work, Study Finds

A new survey conducted by the Mobile Marketing Association suggests very-high rates of user response to advertising based on location information.

"Nearly half of those who noticed any ads while using location-based services took at least some action," MMA says. That compares to 37 percent of text message advertising and almost twice the rate of Web browser ads (28 percent).

Ten percent of the cell phone owners surveyed use mobile location services at least once a week, while 63 percent of Apple iPhone owners use location services at least once a week.

Respondents said they use these services most frequently to “locate nearby points of interest, shops or services.”

U.S. Consumers Significantly More Likely To Respond To Location-Based Mobile Ads Than Other Mobile Ad Types | Mobile Marketing Association

Developer Interest now is a 2-Horse Race: Apple and Android

Apple and Android are at the top of developer interest as development platforms, an Appcelerator poll of 1,028 developers suggests.

In fact, developer interest largely is a two-horse race between Apple and Google. The  "true game changing news" is Android, Appcelerator says. In fact, sentiment has swung fairly quickly towards Android as the clear "second choice" for developers, after Apple.

In January 2010, 86 percent of developers were interested in iPhone and 68 percent were interested in Android, an 18 point spread. That spread has closed to just six points now (iPhone 88 percent, Android 82 percent).

About 80 percent of developers say they are interested in developing for the iPad.

Developers indicated they were most interested in developing eBooks, entertainment/media applications, business applications, medical applications, and education applications.

Why Product Management Doesn't Work Anymore

Service provider product managers essentially have lost control of their products, says Al Brisard, Vertek VP. Instead, product managers essentially have been reduced to setting service definitions and pricing. Operations and finance pretty much control the rest. As often is the case, that isn't necessarily the best way to match features with end user demand.

If you want to know why service providers sometimes cannot create compelling new products, much less get them to market quickly, perhaps this is one reason why.

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Even App Store "Marketing" Apps Must be Marketed

Despite the hype about mobile apps, it remains difficult to "monetize" them, for several reasons. Most apps sell for low prices, so a developer needs huge volume. But volume means getting noticed, and simply creating an app and listing in on an app store does not guarantee attention.

That increasingly means a successful app not only has to provide value, but has to be promoted. And that means all the traditional thinking about traditional marketing still holds. Developers have to take affirmative steps to promote their apps; they won't sell themselves.

"The App Store is not a marketing vehicle; it is a distribution vehicle," said Raven Zachary, president of digital creative firm Small Society.

Of course, not all apps are sold. Some are themselves marketing vehicles. But an iPhone app can cost $50,000 or more for an agency to develop. So even the marketing vehicle must be marketed.

The U.S. Mobile Voice Market Is Saturated: So What?

The Cellular Market In The US Is Saturated – 24/7 Wall St

Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile have almost 260 million wireless subscribers. The U.S. population is 305 million people and some of those are too young to need or use a phone. Others don’t want one.

During the last quarter, Verizon added only 423,000 new contract subscribers and AT&T only 512,000 customers, rates that are lower than has been the case in past quarters.

So what does that mean? What it always means: providers will have to create new products to sell to a base of existing customers, rather than selling more of the existing product to new customers. In the cable and telecom business, that has meant both getting into new lines of business as well as "bundling."

For wireless providers, the new product is wireless broadband, immediately in the form of more smartphone data plans, but over time more use of wireless to support sensor networks of various types.

But there are wider policy implications as well. U.S. regulators sometimes behave as though nothing they do will seriously impede the ability of U.S. service providers to continue to invest and innovate. But both the wireline and wireless segments of the communications business face huge challenges. Existing growth models are exhausted and competition is growing.

Instead of behaving in ways that essentially are punitive, perhaps regulators should ask what they can do to allow the fastest-possible transition to new business models as the old models continue to waste away.

Telecom is not a growth industry; that should be obvious to all observers. The big challenge is to foster a transition to a sustainable model that will support continued investment in state-of-the-art facilities. Telecom, to put it bluntly, is not an industry that needs to be punished; it needs to be fostered.

Palm Runs Out Of Options As HTC Reviews, Declines To Buy The Company

Palm Runs Out Of Options As HTC Reviews, Declines To Buy The Company: "According to a report based on a source from an Asia-based Reuters correspondent, smartphone maker HTC has decided not to bid for Palm after looking at the company’s numbers. The source, which reportedly has direct knowledge of the talks, said there “weren’t enough synergies to take the deal forward”.

That leaves Palm, which has been struggling to boost sales of its new range of smartphones, running out of options fast."

3D Augmented Reality Flash Mob in Dam Square, Amsterdam

What is described as the world's first augmented reality flash mob will happen at Dam Square in Amsterdam April 24 at 2 p.m. Attendees using Android and iPhone handsets will see three-dimensional statues using the Layar application. 

Sander Veenhof is an organizer of the event, and TAB Worldmedia helped produce the content.  "You can actually walk around them to look at them from all angles by just using your phone and the Layar browser," says Veenhof. 

To prepare, download and install the Layar Augmented Reality browser and look for the layar using “ARflashmob” under the local tab.

Ringio Launches "Rich Calling" Service for SMBs

Ringio will launch a new cloud-based "rich calling" service for small and mid-sized businesses that might be mistaken for a hosted PBX sort of service but actually is more a hosted customer relationship management solution.

Ringio’s service allows users to map existing phone numbers to the CRM functions, which are available either on a desktop client or on Android-based smart phones.

The service is designed to be easy to set up and use, and requires no changes to existing hardware or software.

“We define ‘rich calling’ as bringing a telephone call and relevant information about the caller together at the same time to enrich communication and information sharing, says Ringio co-founder and Chairman Michael Zirngibl.

One example is that if an existing customer calls, notes about prior interactions with that customer are displayed, allowing any call agent to "pick up where the last agent left off" in a more-seamless way.

Ringio also features "presence" features so if a call has to be transferred, the call agent can be sure the other party is available to speak.

Ringio is launching the service’s own integrated call-control and screen-pop client for the PC, Mac desktop or Linux. Ringio also automatically retrieves and synchronizes records built using Google’s Contacts database, and plans are under way to integrate Ringio with Salesforce.com by later this summer.

The service will be provided directly to business customers through www.ringio.com. Pricing starts at $99 per month for four users, with additional users at $25 per month. Ringio is considering distribution partnerships and invites inquiry via partners@ringio.com.

Ringio’s intelligent call-routing functionality is being provided by Voxeo, a longtime platform host with an extensive history in IVR and convergent communications.

Zirngibl says it takes as little as10 minutes to set up for the first time.

Take a Kangaroo to Work Day, Apparently

"Take your child to work?" Heck! Take your kangaroo to work! This little guy wouldn't necessarily be dangerous. A full-grown red kangaroo, however, in the wild, has quite a kick. Enough to eviscerate an unlikely human facing a mad red....don't mess with me kangaroo, mate...

"Soaring Profits" for Broadband Access Providers?

The Phoenix Center says claims by proponents of increased Internet regulation are quite wrong in claiming that firms such as AT&T, Verizon, Sprint-Nextel, Qwest, Comcast, and Time Warner Cable are making "record profits," "substantial profits" or  "soaring profits" that justify further regulation.

Quite to the contrary, those firms are earning at lower rates than the average Standard & Poors 500 firms does, and have done so for the last five years.

The Phoenix Center found that the profitability of the larger broadband access service providers is generally equal to, or below average, for firms in the S&P 500. It would be more accurate to say that profits are "'typical," not "soaring or 'substantial.'

Conversely, content firms like Google and EBay are substantially more profitable than the access providers are,  implying that access providers are not benefiting as much as others in the Internet ecosystem from the surge in broadband adoption and use.

Across all measures of profitability, Google and Ebay are two-to-four times more profitable than the better performing broadband providers.

In fact, the Phoenix Center found that both Wal-Mart and Colgate-Palmolive have much higher profits than the large access providers.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has issued a challenge to the industry for data-driven analysis," according to study co-author and Phoenix Center President Lawrence J. Spiwak. "Accordingly, parties calling for regulation need to present more than just hyperbole about 'soaring' profits -- they need to present facts."

"The evidence shows that BSP profitability is fairly typical of American industry, if not a little low" said study co-author and Phoenix Center Chief Economist George S. Ford, PhD. "Based on available evidence, regulatory intervention based on substantial profitability by large BSPs has no basis in fact."

Verizon and AT&T Equity Performance is a Warning Sign

Communications policymakers in nations where the government does not directly own and control key national carriers in their markets always must balance their preferred regulatory outcomes with the possible responses private firms will make to those initiatives.

Put simply, too much regulatory pressure will lead to reduced investment and innovation, not more. The other issue is that every government considers its national communications infrastructure to be a matter of national interest.

That being the case, most governments will not willingly weaken their own carriers.

So take a look at how AT&T and Verizon equities have fared over the last year or so, compared to the Standard & Poors 500 index. Not so pretty.

What that tells you is that investors believe neither company has much in the way of "growth" ahead of it. In fact, many would argue both companies will increasingly be challenged, in coming years, to stay where they are, given major changes in the underlying business models each company faces.

That suggests policymakers should be cautious about making incorrect assumptions about the underlying financial prospects for the firms that arguably are most important to the national communications infrastructure.

It is not as though either firm were Apple, creating whole new industries and muscling its way into other substantial industries with some regularity. Quite to the contrary, innovation and revenue upside nearly universally are now seen as attributes of the application and handset parts of the communication value chain, not the "access" providers as such.

To be blunt, there may be times when regulatory restraint is the right policy. But there also are times when an industry with national economic and security implications faces enough fundamental challenges that "protection or promotion" is the right policy framework.

It is not the job of other ecosystem participants to worry about the financial health of other segments. But it always is the job of national policymakers to do so, when the issue is the health of the underlying national communications infrastructure.

First-quarter 2010 results posted by AT&T suggest the outlines of the problem. Simply, wireless now is the driver of revenue growth.

But wireless is saturating, forcing mobile providers to find new revenue sources. Also, mobile voice, which has been the segment mainstay, increasingly will come under pressure as landline voice has proven to be a product in a declining lifecycle.

The point is that the appropriate regulatory framework for a fast-growing, vibrant industry is different than for an industry that is fundamentally challenged. That is not to suggest industry executives are unaware of the problems, or that they have failed to show agility in the past; they have.

The point is simply that it might be a grave mistake to assume carriers can bear any burden where it comes to regulations that choke off their ability to create new services and revenues. The financial markets already are signaling their views how the industry is situated.