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Microsoft Hates Google

I am not sure whether to be impressed or horrified by the alleged actions of Microsoft execs Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates. On the one hand you must admire their desire to win but on the other, is throwing chairs and shouting obscenities the way to take Google out? According to this article it may not be the right way to do it but it is the way it is being done.

Take a took at this excerpt from the Forbes article:

Lee's evidence follows hot on the heels of sworn evidence from former Microsoft engineer Mark Lucovsky, claiming Chief Executive Steve Ballmer picked up his chair and hurled it across his office, before saying of Google's CEO Eric Schmidt: "I'm going to bury that guy, I have done it before, and I will do it again. I'm going to kill Google"--but punctuated by a couple of obscene gerunds.

One thing is for sure. This is a war and Microsoft will leverage every advantage it has to take Google down. I have written before that Microsoft can give away free search ads if they want to compete with Google and go for the jugular. Worse, they can compete head on with Google’s Adsense program where publishers are paid a portion of the revenue generated by ads that are clicked on by users. Google has a big weakness here. They don’t disclose how much they will pay publishers but instead say that higher quality content will generate more revenue. What that means is unclear to pretty much all small publishers. Larger publishers are able to negotiate directly with a human at Google and are not subject to such arbitrary payment terms.

So how does Microsoft combat this? Simple… Pay publishers 100% of revenue for 12 months as long as they sign a 2-year contract to stay in the Microsoft search network.

Microsoft can get away with doing all of the above and not hurt their stock price as they aren’t really generating much money from search anyway. If they want to gain market share and hit Google where it hurts, now is the time they will act. Look out Google.

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Service Provider Summit

This is part of the ITEXPO: Best VoIP Show In The World series of Blog entries.

We at TMC recognize that service providers are the backbone of the VoIP industry and every day they make up a larger and larger part of the community served by TMC publications and events.

I salute you today's service provider as only you have to deal with ever-changing government regulation and technology that mutates faster than bacteria in Chernobyl. You are in a turbulent but invigorating market. Come to ITEXPO and be part of the Service Provider Summit. In addition to hearing Michael Powell speak and getting his perspective for the first time as a non-government worker, come hear Carly Fiorina who has sat on the board of Cisco and was the #2 person at Lucent for a considerable period. These keynotes are just part of the massive service provider content we have for you at ITEXPO. It is a definite can't miss. You have to be there to see it for yourself.

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Vonage Hits 1 Million Lines

I was a  Bar Mitzvah for a cousin this past weekend and ran into my accountant who is definitely not on the leading edge of technology. He does use a PC and has DSL but he is not a person that you would discuss nanotechnology with at a dinner party.

We got to discussing business sand I mentioned how Internet Telephony Magazine is doing great… It is one of the thickest books in the tech market and advertisers are telling us they get great results. I told him about how our website TMCnet has between half a million to a million unique visitors a month and that our last three ITEXPOs were sold out and they are growing around 100% per year.

He was floored. The last time we spoke was the height of the telecom depression back in 2003.

We got to speaking about why things are so good and I explained it is the VoIP market that is on fire. He paused. His eyes lit up and he said, “Ohhh, like Vonage?” He then told me that he had just signed up for the service and asked me if he did a good thing. I get that question a great deal. I assured him a he did a great thing.

People are switching but they are uncertain. I guess any new technology takes time. I know a number of people that had similar feelings when they first started to use an ATM. Many people still won’t make a deposit to an ATM. There is definitely an adoption curve with any technology.

Yesterday I read that Vonage crossed the one million line mark. I was expecting them to use the word customer. I am not sure what they mean by line. Vonage was the first VoIP provider to allow people to have virtual lines in different area codes for $5/month. My guess is that when they refer to lines they are aggregating customers and adding on second lines, etc. That is what makes sense tome any way.

Tom Keating wrote about Vonage yesterday and couldn’t figure out what the company was talking about. I didn’t have time to opine on the matter until today and was reminded to do so by Russell Shaw’s post that sums up the feelings about Vonage, the million line mark and the IPO market.

IMHO Vonage will have an amazing IPO. They are on fire and more and more people are switching in countries where Vonage doesn’t really officially do business. They are setting the world on ablaze and part of the reason for this is that they have no real global VoIP competitors right now and they own the mindshare online, in print and on TV.

If someone wants to be a strong #2 pure-play VoIP company they better get their butts in gear pronto. If not, LECs, cable companies and software players like Skype, Yahoo, AOL and Google will be the only other viable choices to Vonage.

Om compares Vonage to @Home (in his 4970^th blog post!!!) and I agree that both companies blaze a new trail for others to follow. But there are important differences. Remember @Home didn’t own the customer and Vonage does. I was an @Home customer and Cablevision one day told me I was no longer an @Home customer, I was now an Optimum Online customer. What did I care? The service change was transparent to me and I ordered the service from Cablevision in the first place.

The difference today is that Vonage owns the customer and has a relationship with them. The cable company has to sell me on why I need to switch. Maybe they will be successful in doing so but while this is happening Vonage will steal back other cable customers and more from the PSTN.

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The Most Smog

This is part of the ITEXPO: Best VoIP Show In The World series of Blog entries.

OK, not everything is perfect in LA but this is the place to be in October as the weather is perfect. Spend the weekend with family and visit myriad amusement parks, water rides, see Hollywood, see the mansions of the stars, whatever. Take a stroll on Venice Beach; take a refreshing swim in the Pacific Ocean. Rediscover your youth. Do whatever you like (if it's illegal I don’t want to know about it) but do it in Southern California in October at ITEXPO.

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The Only Show Where We Will Focus On How To Make Money Selling VoIP

This is part of the ITEXPO: Best VoIP Show In The World series of Blog entries.

Over 600 resellers attended a standing room only conference in Miami titled “Make Money Selling VoIP Products and Services”. I was on stage along with a few distinguished panel members educating the audience on how thy can make the most money selling products and services in the voice over IP market. If you are a VAR, a VAD, an interconnect or an international delegate that wants to learn about the tremendous opportunity VoIP affords you, you cannot afford to miss this session.

This is yet another in a long list of sessions you can't find elsewhere? Why? I don’t know but we will keep one step ahead of all conferences. That is my promise to you, our loyal attendee. Thanks for making ITEXPOs the best VoIP events in the world.

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ViaTalk Gives Gas

Signs of fierce competition are generally easy to spot. I noticed one today when I was scanning TMCnet news. A company called ViaTalk is giving away gas cards for customers who prepay for two-years worth of VoIP service.

According to the ViaTalk release the CEO drives a ViaTalk branded Hummer and has a “1MPG” license plate. He obviously knows a thing or two about high gas prices.

The cost for the service is $16/month for unlimited US and Canada calling. The company is also donating 5% of all sales to the Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund of the American Red Cross.

When you start paying customers to join your service it reminds me a bit of the dotcom days but then again $20 worth of free gas is not a tremendous amount to pay for a guaranteed two-year customer and this is certainly cheaper marketing than what Vonage is doing. Will they be able to get much attention for this promotion? Possibly, but the VoIP field is crowded and they have a way to go before they get noticed.

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