It's Quite a Metaphor

On the day NxtComm convenes, drawing most of the North American telecom press, Google convenes its press day. Not many North American telecom media types will be there (okay, the meeting is in Europe, so logistics are a factor). Apps are separated from transmission. So is the value chain and the business. Where the press is parked today shows that.

WiFi Will Supplement, Not Replace...

A recent survey by Ipsos Insight suggests a third of users would "sign up for or replace" their existing connection. As with all surveys, one should always be skeptical. Some people might attempt to replace their current service. Then they'll find out indoor coverage is a major issue, and will switch back. Or they'll figure out that the bandwidth isn't what they were expecting. Of course, there is another way to look at the results, and that is supplemental use of muni Wi-Fi for portable devices of various types, not the PC. If the cost is low enough, lots of people might be convinced to spend a bit more money for an incremental muni Wi-Fi connection to support connections to devices other than PCs or phones.But full replacement? Not many will find that a reasonable trade-off, in all likelihood.

Not Convinced, Eh?

Canadian small and mid-sized businesses remain more than a little unsure about the wisdom of out-tasking their information and communication systems and services, say researchers at The Yankee Group.

telx|vision:IP Business's Gary Kim TMC's Conference Topic #1

enterprise peering

telx|vision:IP Business's Gary Kim TMC's Conference Topic #2

Is voice a commodity?

Ad-Supported Calling?

There can be no doubt about the direction of advertising. So if the trend is so clear, it is inevitable that ad-supported calling will get closer attention. Jajah has been trying this in Germany and Austria, for example. Jajah has partnerships with three large media companies, including Bild, Germany’s largest newspaper; ProSiebenSat1, which owns two major German TV stations, and NewsAT, an Austrian station. The partners will spend seven million euros to advertise Jajah’s Internet phone service.

They will point users to their own Web pages, which will have a co-branded Jajah service from which people can make calls. Essentially, the media companies will subsidize voice to build traffic on their sites. Deutsche Telekom, Germany’s large phone company, is part owner of Bild. So, in a sense, DT is kicking the tires to see what's there.

Jajah will keep 50 percent of any advertising revenue that it sells on the pages it shows people while they make calls. It will sell a banner and a skyscraper on each page.

Separately, Globe7 offers a softphone-based approach integrated with video streaming. The play seems to be that the content downloading creates an ad potential. Ad viewing then earns calling credits. The angle here is possibly more interesting than the old "listen to a short ad and then I will connect your call" approach. PC-based or Web-activated sites can show ads on a home page, without disrupting a call.

Duh! at&t Should Have Talked to Some Cable Guys

at&t is promoting U-Verse IPTV services in Connecticut from an Ice Cream truck outfitted with a flat panel HDTV showing off the service. at&t also is holding U-Verse block parties and free concert or movie nights. It sounds as though the new tack is being taken because mass media advertising is a mixed blessing when a company is in the middle of a network build. Apparently at&t has finally discovered that it creates problems for itself when it advertises new services that only are available in a portion of a service territory reached by the mass media where the ads run.

Potential customers call in to get it and then have to be told service isn't available in their neighborhood. That's why cablers used to send out people with door hangers block by block as networks were built out. They tended to use the same "micro" targeting as their networks successively were upgraded. at&t couldn't ask anybody who had ever done this before what the pitfalls would be? It's not like it would have cost any money to get the insight. It's a one-sentence question and a one-sentence answer.