Practical Anthropology at Swisscom and Microsoft

An anthropologist at Microsoft points out that when instant messaging and other social networking tools are taken away from people (especially people under the age of 35), productivity drops. That's an indication that social networking is becoming a key problem solving tool, not a "time waster" as many managers seem to believe. Swisscom Innovations anthropologist Stefana Broadbent points out that use of written channels, ranging from IM to text messaging to email is growing, while voice growth has slowed where text communications are possible.

Broadbent theorizes that written channels allow constant interplay and availability without creating an information overload. A person without online social tools averages about 20 contacts with whom they keep in touch. A person with online tools can maintain 70 or more contacts, she notes. She theorizes that IM, for example, is both fast and non-committal, allowing a wider circle of contacts without overload.

That's an interesting perspective as more people start to worry we all are too connected, too much of the time. Broadbent argues that people should not have to unplug. In fact, she rhetorically asks, "why would I want to unplug?"

And she questions the notion that most people actually are overloaded with communication requests. "Most people we interview get five emails a day," says Broadbent. "They are thrilled to get one more friend on Facebook, for example."

Though the common perception is that most people are overloaded with communications, Broadbent says that isn't true. "Not many people are overloaded," she says.

"I'm opposed to the notion of unplugging," Broadbent says. "I don't want to lose my social intelligence network." To Broadbent, "IM is like bringing your dog to work."

Though I don't see lots of evidence that "always connected" behavior is all that important to most people over the age of 40 or so, I am beginning to see how most of the social networking tools can increase knowledge diffusion and make possible a wider degree of casual monitoring of one's environment. I wouldn't say I find it as helpful as RSS. But part of the reason is that most of the people I normally want to interact with do not seem to be heavy social networkers.

It's a Wireless World

Wireless revenue passed landline revenue internationally in 2006 and will be 59 percent greater by 2010, says the Telecommunications Industry Association. In the global markets, that means wireless customers outside the United States will increase by 975 million people by 2010, when the wireless total will reach 3.13 billion.

Wireless customers in the United States, meanwhile, will total 270 million in 2010, up from 216 million last year and 135 million just five years earlier. Wireless customers in the Asia/Pacific region totaled 963 million at the end of 2006 and are expected to total 1.58 billion by 2010, more than twice the number expected to be in Europe by then.

Wireless data revenue in the United States was nearly $13 billion last year and is expected to reach $44 billion in 2010, TIA notes.

Layoffs at SunRocket

SunRocket apparently has laid off a third of its workforce; between 40 and 60 people, sources say. The independent VoIP provider has been trying to raise another round of funding, and the effort appears to have failed, up to this point.

iPhone line New York Apple Store

Waiting in line for an iPhone...

T-Mobile and Verizon Might Get Slammed Today

According to an unscientific poll of people in line in New York to get their hands on an iPhone, 40 percent currently are at&t subscribers. That means 60 percent of the buyers will be switching carriers to join at&t. It appears T-Mobile is the largest loser, but Verizon stands to lose nearly as much. About 25 percent of the people in line are T-Mobile customers, just about 23 percent Verizon Wireless. Sprint users number about 10 percent, according to CNBC. One wonders what sort of win-back offers are ready to roll. And, in this case, whether anybody would even consider a win-back offer.

Why Do People Text Each Other?

In many markets, the cost of doing so is far less than the cost of making a voice call, says LirneAsia. And it is the relative cost of SMS compared to a minute of voice, for example, which drives texting, more than the absolute cost of sending an SMS (See Brough Turner's blog).

"What matters really is the relative cost of sending an SMS; for instance, in the Philippines, for a Smart TnT prepaid mobile user, a one minute call is about 5.5 times more expensive. In Pakistan, for a Jazz Budget prepaid mobile user, the ratio is about 2.1. In India, where SMS use at the BOP was seen to be the lowest (among the countries studied), the ratio was 1 – i.e, a one minute call and an SMS are the same price (so why would you bother SMSing if that were the case?)."

Microsoft OCS: Not Everyone Will Rest Easy...

...despite repeated assurances from Microsoft that it just wants to supply unified communications and presense features to any existing business phone system. Microsoft unified communications manager Mark Deakin says Office Communications Server 2007 is not a replacement for current PBX services. And he's right, as far as it goes. It's just that some observers say they have tested OCS as a full replacement for a PBX and it seems to do the job. And now that Microsoft is supplying U.C. software, desktop software and actual phones.......