Boingo Tariff Optimized for Mobile Use Case

Boingo Wireless has created a new tariff aimed squarely at Nokia smart phone and tablet users. The new Boingo Mobile tariff means users of a half dozen Nokia devices automatically can connect to Boingo’s network for $7.95 a month (€5.95 or £3.95). Compatible devices include the N800, N810, N95, N91, E611 and E51.

The significance, it seems to me, is that Boingo is among the first broadband access providers to provide an actual consumer offer that matches many instances of the mobile device Web use case. Where a lap top user might reasonably expect to park at a hot spot for 30 minutes, a mobile user walking on the street might expect to use a Web application for three minutes. And a user might only require the access a few times a month.

So the issue really is matching the perceived value of the connection time, compared to the tariff. At some point, similar thinking will need to be applied to Wi-Fi-enabled devices of other sorts, such as cameras. It sometimes is useful or pleasing to be able to take a picture and send a picture right away. But the typical user is going to evaluate the cost of being able to do so in a different way than he or she would evaluate a monthly bucket of voice and data.

The other interesting angle is just how far one can push the ad hoc, partly available network idea. In the extreme, can one create a use case for devices that only operate on Wi-Fi? Though generally unappetizing for a voice device, are there scenarios where it works well enough for broadband Web access applications?

Also, what are the niches for dual-mode mobiles able to use wireless networks and Wi-Fi, but whose owners opt not to buy full-coverage, unlimited or large data plans? In other words, is Wi-Fi coveratge at home, in the office and at public locations satisfy a use case for enough potential users to create a sizable business?

Rivals Pooh Pooh iPhone

As was to be expected at a wireless show where enterprise applications are a big part of the content, rival handset manufacturers dismissed the iPhone's prospects as an enterprise device. Most of the barriers seemed to center on the lack of openness, compared to what is available on other platforms such as the Windows Mobile and Symbian platforms. Enterprise IT manager resistance was another frequently cited hurdle. Some pointed to the still-small volumes Apple can point to, in light of a market with an installed base of two billion. One executive quipped that his firm sold more phones "during lunch" than Apple has sold to date.

Still, Apple got begrudging respect for its design skills, ability to capture the essence of "cool" and for the way iPhone has singlehandedly changed handset design. The LG Prada, for example, features one such new look. Others pointed to the way Apple has pushed the U.S. market further in the direction of unlocked phones and consumer choice. Some pointed to Apple's unheard of ability to dictate terms to carriers used to getting their own way with handset providers.

Some said iPhone was a tipping point, milestone or landmark. It is the first phone that really puts Web experience right up there with voice performance. Up to this point high end phones have been about productivity. iPhone arguably is the first to put "fun" at the center of a high end device.

"For the first time, you have a Silicon Valley company disrupting the whole market," says Cyriac Roeding, CBS Mobile EVP.

Still, there are lots of other important segments, even though there seems universal agreement that, at some point, just about every phone sold in North America and Europe will be a smart phone. Not everyone is going to want a touch interface for text entry, as useful as it is for Web browsing. The HTC Touch seems to require fingers much smaller than mine, for example. The lack of tactile feedback seems to require some getting used to as well, though Nokia seems to have a solution for that.

Microsoft Aims to Mobilize the Enterprise

One issue enterprise information technology staffs must contend with is the difficulty of managing and securing mobile devices used by enterprise associates in the same way they manage desktop PCs. But Microsoft thinks it has a solution. Microsoft next year will roll out the Microsoft System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008, a new mobile-dedicated server solution that helps companies manage Windows Mobile phones as they would their Windows-based laptops and PCs.

Using Mobile Device Manager, companies can deliver new applications to phones over the air as well as by mobile virtual private network. Samsung's Blackjack II smart phone and at&t Wireless are two early partners.

Blackjack II, a new Windows Mobile 6 phone featuring GPS that will be updatable to support Mobile Device Manager, will be deployed by at&t in a Mobile Device Manager 2008 configuration.

In fact, at&t and Sprint both say they will support Mobile Device Manager for business customers next year.

VON Unconference is Where the Action Will Be

If you are attending the VON Show in Boston, be sure to check out the VONCamp Unconference. Tired of attending sessions where the same people you have been hearing from are giving the same presentations you already heard? The whole idea is to let whomever shows up select the topics, shape the discussions and share what they know.

"Think of it as constructive anarchy," says Iotum CEO Alec Saunders. "Amazing things can come out of these sessions."

Tom Howe will kick the day off with an "agenda bashing" session, where all attendees will decide on the agenda for the day. After that, 12 sessions of 25 minutes each area available. Anyone can present and everyone is expected to participate in some way.

I'd be willing to bet this is the best use of time most of us could commit at the whole meeting, no offense to the organizers of the more traditional show.

http://5thtrack.pbwiki.com/ is the link.

iPhone Tops at&t Phone Sales

The iPhone has become at&t's top selling device, commanding some 13 percent of overall sales, according to Strategy Analytics. At least 1.325 million units have been sold in the U.S. market since the iPhone was launched. It also is conceivable that the iPhone will be the top selling U.S. dvice over the next couple of quarters.

Currently, the top selling U.S. handset is Motorola's RAZR V3. Generally, the top 10 handset models account for approximately 25 percent of total handset sales in a typical quarter.

"The typical iPhone buyer is college educated with a six-figure household income," Strategy Analytics says.

The largest percentage of iPhone buyers is between 20-30 years old, but nearly 25 percent are between 50 to 60 years old. Which makes sense, given the demographics of buyers, which are high end.

Skype Phone Coming

One mobile device trend is the creation of "cross over" devices that meld feature phones big on media with "work" phones optimized for email. But there's another trend: creation of new devices that are optimized for one particular application or use mode. Add the new Skype phone to that bucket.

Skype plans to introduce the phone in the countries where mobile carrier "3" operates. 3 is the mobile venture of Hong Kong's Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. and operates in Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Austria, Denmark, Italy, Ireland, Sweden and United Kingdom.

The whole point here is to optimize the phone for Skype, making it as easy as possible to use on a mobile device. If BlackBerry is "email in your pocket," and iPhone is "Web and music in your pocket," then the new device is "Skype in your pocket."

iPhone Dings Treo and Sidekick

iPhone buyers were 10 times more likely than other new phone buyers to have previously owned a Treo and three times more likely to have owned a T-Mobile branded phone, such as the popular Sidekick model, say researchers at NPD Group.

In contrast, iPhone buyers were no more likely than the average buyer to have previously owned a Blackberry. NPD theorizes that lack of support for corporate BlackBerry servers is the reason.

Alltel and T-Mobile took the biggest churn hit. Consumers who switched carriers to buy an iPhone were three times more likely to switch from Alltel or T-Mobile than from other carriers.

Sprint and Verizon also lost customers to at&t, but not nearly to the same degree.

If early buyer trends hold up, the iPhone might be bridging the gap between content-focused feature phones and productivity-focused smart phones, NPD argues.

Personally, I still think it will be tough to develop a single device that is equally adept at melding feature and productivity device functions. Well-designed user interfaces will help, but the fact remains that such devices must embrace too much complexity and consume too much power. That means the devices will be harder to use.

Mobile phones still are consumer devices. And in the consumer device space it is a truism that a single-purpose device will outperform a multi-purpose device. Unfortunately, lots of us will continue to use two devices as a result.