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IP Communications Week in Review November 30, 2007
November 30, 2007
This past week in IP communications was full of news from companies like Voxalot, iBasis, Vonage, Polycom and more. My favorite news is from Vonage where they announce they are improving their customer service via web chat solutions provider inQ.
Years ago I was a Vonage customer and had amazing service levels but I did hear many complaints about churn due to poor service after I switched providers.
I haven’t heard anything negative about the company’s service lately and to see Vonage make such an investment is a very good sign.
This news shows Vonage is still improving service levels and bodes well for the company’s shareholders and employees.
Here is more on the week’s hot stories from TMCnet’s Patrick Barnard.
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XV6800: Why Verizon Wireless Opened Up
November 30, 2007
There could not be a happier person on the face of the earth than I regarding Verizon Wireless opening up its network. And while I thought I pegged some of the reasons for Verizon making this decision in a recent blog post, the actual reason is probably a great deal simpler.
My take? The XV6800 handset.
You see, the XV6700 handset while rife with problems such as slowdowns and freezes was a great product for its time. The comfortable mobile keyboard, the widescreen 320x240 view and the Microsoft Office compatible applications made this device a winner. Now, about 2 years later, Verizon and HTC, the company behind this device have come up with the 6800, a phone with so few new features over the 6700, it isn’t really even worth writing about.
Regardless, I started to jot down the new features of the 6800 but it quickly became more interesting to write about paint drying or erosion.
It is obvious with the release of this new smartphone that Verizon execs had a meeting and said in unison, “We give up.” They continued, “If we can’t produce a real upgrade on a flagship handset in two years, it is time to throw in the towel. Let’s open up the network” :)
While I am kidding ( a little anyway) this is especially true in light of the fact Apple came out of nowhere and designed a phone that blows away everything currently in the Verizon store.
I mean is it so difficult to make a bigger screen? I understand part of the problem here is the Microsoft OS but I don’t care. Why does this phone need to have an inferior browsing experience compared to an iPhone? It has been two years. What takes so long?
So in short, if you want to know why Verizon Wireless opened up their network, just look to the 6800… The lack of incremental improvements is enough to make anyone want to give up.
The saddest part about this story is my Verizon Wireless contract is up and the 6800 is probably the best replacement for the 6700 which I currently use. But how on earth, I must reiterate the question -- was the company not able to come up with a bigger screen?
This phone is sad… Really sad. HTC should look at the Nokia 8100 for ideas.
Another option to consider is the Verizon Voyager “iPhone Killer” but so far the specs are not so impressive. The screen resolution is a bit bigger than the 6800 so perhaps this is a good interim solution until something better comes out.
I will keep you posted on the decision for sure so check back often. And as always, your comments are appreciated.
See also:
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Online Advertising: a Problem of Plenty
November 30, 2007
I ran across this article from BtoBOnline which talks about how much data online advertising generates and discuses some ways of dealing with and tracking the data. Although the article is not terribly detailed, it does mention Quantcast, a company I have written about before.
Quantcast basically has a proprietary way of tracking traffic of websites, widgets and more. It is a free service which allows you to see the United States traffic of over 20 million websites.
The service also ranks all sites – the lower the number the better. For example TMCnet is ranked in the top 3,708 sites according to the service. Yahoo! ranks number 1.
Quantcast traffic coupled with Alexa allows you to get a good idea of how a company’s traffic ranks in comparison to all other sites.
Personally I am happy there are more and more sites allowing access to free competitive information which allows companies to see how they are doing with respect to others.
Here is an example:
|
Site
|
Quantcast: Unique US Monthly Visitors
|
Quantcast
Rank |
Alexa
Rank |
|
McDonalds
|
3.8 Million
|
351
|
11,266
|
|
Burger King
|
506,338
|
4,707
|
32,203
|
Alexa is certainly a wonderful tool but difficult to interpret because it becomes exponentially more difficult to rank as you get closer to the number one spot which is occupied by Yahoo!
At least with Quantcast you can compare the monthly unique United States users of sites and immediately understand how they compare.
Here is a quote from the article worth reading:
Panelists from the major online measurement firms, including comScore Networks, Hitwise, Nielsen Online and Quantcast Corp., a new entrant, discussed the differences and merits of both panel-based and server-based, or site-centric, data, in a day filled with more questions than answers. Some measurement companies are working toward a hybrid model that incorporates both types of data.“We combine panels and pixels,” said Konrad Feldman, CEO of Quantcast. “I think the future is one in which the industry collaborates to get data that everyone can agree on. People want simplicity in the way they buy media.”
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Google to Bid on 700 MHz Spectrum
November 30, 2007
While it is not really a surprise at this point, Google will be bidding on the 700 MHz spectrum auction and if the company wins, it will likely change the business model of many other service providers. The reason is simple. At least one service provider has expressed interest in leveraging their connections as a competitive weapon/advantage and more specifically as a way to exact a toll from Google!
As you may remember I referred to this situation in an article titled SBC Goes Trick-or-Treating which took an excerpt from a BusinessWeek article referring to an interview with SBC CEO Ed Whitacre*:
The question posed was:How concerned are you about Internet upstarts like Google, MSN, Vonage, and others?And the answer was as follows:How do you think they're going to get to customers? Through a broadband pipe. Cable companies have them. We have them. Now what they would like to do is use my pipes free, but I isn't going to let them do that because we have spent this capital and we have to have a return on it. So there's going to have to be some mechanism for these people who use these pipes to pay for the portion they're using. Why should they be allowed to use my pipes?
Google will likely ensure their “pipes” are open and anyone will be able to use them without fear of being taxed, etc. But more importantly it seems Google will be the company ensuring that if other service providers close their pipes, someone with open pipes will be available to choose from.
*Ed Whitacre has retired after successfully acquiring AT&T and changing the name of the new company to AT&T.
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The Second Sprint Merger That Wasn’t
November 30, 2007
Most in the blogosphere seemed to think a Google acquisition of Sprint was unlikely and although I agree the businesses are very different and Google would have a tough time explaining to Wall Street why the merger makes sense, I also have to wonder about the coincidence of Sprint Nextel turning down an acquisition bid just a few weeks after I reported on the initial rumor of Google purchasing the wireless phone carrier.
Although the news of SK Telecom making a failed acquisition does not lend credibility to the rumor, it would seem highly coincidental that the rumor hit my desk from multiple sources as the same time as the company was discussing a possible merger. What’s your take?
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Microsoft Billion Dollar Web Loss
November 30, 2007
I was reading an article from Internet.com explaining how Microsoft is losing over a billion dollars a year online.
Directions on Microsoft analyst Matt Rosoff said Microsoft's considerable resources lets it keep pushing forward with MSN despite failures in strategic areas that few other companies could afford. "Microsoft's consumer online initiatives are fragmented with a lot of different brands," Rosoff told InternetNews.com. "They're losing a billion dollars a year online. A lot of that has been due to investments, but this is an expensive business for Microsoft to be in. Their current strategy is a shotgun approach to try a lot of things and see what works."
It seems quite incredible that this could be the case but it certainly shows that the advertisers have voted and Google and Yahoo! are where they are spending most of their online money. On the web, the model that is most successful is free content and services with ads to support it all.
This is the exact opposite of many of Microsoft’s current businesses. It seems the software giant has to learn quickly how to change their business model 180 degrees if they plan on taking Google head on.
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