January 2008 Archives

So here we are again on yet another flight. I am about halfway to Miami and hope I have finally gotten photos to send correctly. The HTC XV6800 likes to have you take photos upside down for some reason.

I would imagine this could be a Windows Mobile glitch but who knows?

I had a chance to try Google Gears on the flight. It is middleware which sits on your computer and lets your hosted applications think they are interfacing over the internet.

This is helpful as it allows you to download up to 2000 RSS feeds in the Google Reader before flying. You can mark the ones you like for future reference which is handy as many feeds are incomplete.

Some webmasters it seems want you to come to their sites for the full scoop.

Blogged via wireless handheld

Note to self. Try not to get a new phone just before you start photoblogging a great deal as you may realize that the pictures are upside-down. I am aware of the problem and until I can remedy the situation I appreciate your neck tilting and patience.

And you thought you were cold. It is currently 28 degrees out and this motorcycle driver is defying the laws of physics and frostbite at 70+ MPH!

He must be heading down to Miami for ITEXPO. :-)

I am on the way to the airport now and just can't wait to get to Miami for ITEXPO. Here are a few shots from the trip so far.

Keep checking back... I promise they will get better. :-)

Blogged via wireless handheld

As successful as Yahoo! is in terms of traffic generation, it is amazing as an outsider to witness the company has not been able to grow revenue effectively. Yahoo! has shown us that there can be a disconnect between eyeballs and dollar bills.

Unfortunately this lack of revenue growth will now lead to layoffs at the company. This is too bad as Yahoo! provides many valuable services.

Unfortunately for the company, it is in a slugfest with Google and Google is investing is rolling out and improving many of the services Yahoo! now provides. Gmail for example is one of the applications which has cut into Yahoo's market share over the past years.

I give a tremendous amount of credit to TechCrunch who broke this story but was careful in how they did it. The cited layoffs which could turn into more. Excerpt:

In a move that could be a hint of things to come, Yahoo! told a group of about 30 or so employees yesterday that their jobs would be terminated in 60 days, and that they could look for other jobs within Yahoo.

 Now the AP tells us these layoffs are likely for real. perhaps this is good news for the company in the long run as it is certainly in a rut and needs to break out of it.

Meg Whitman was the person who put the Skype deal together at eBay and over the past year it has become apparent that Skype is not generating the revenue eBay hoped it would. In addition, in the last 12 months, there has been a lack of clear leadership at the Skype unit.

My day to day contacts are still at the company and product upgrades are still coming out mind you. It is at the top of the world's largest communications software company that their is a vacuum.

One wonders why this is. What makes sense is for a strong evangelist to be at the helm of Skype promoting IP communications and helping to ink deal after deal in the pursuit of large profits.

But under Whitman this hasn't happened. I give Meg Whitman a tremendous amount of credit. She is intelligent, eloquent and has done a great job with eBay and PayPal.

Skype however is another story and since Whitman will be voluntarily retiring this gives  a tremendous opportunity to her potential successor -- John Donahue who heads up the auction business. Donahue can now start with a clean slate.

The two options for Donahue are to sell the company to someone like Google or to get a strong leader in place who will speak at industry events and be the strong leader the IP communications market certainly could use.

Either way, the laundry list of ideas I mentioned in this post still need to be brought to bear if eBay is really serious about getting this underperforming unit to generate higher profits. Some of these ideas are posted below:

1)      Enhance the social network capabilities: Skype currently is in a good position to expand into social networking via Facebook like features. They have added some community services but not enough to be taken seriously as a real social network. Some analysts place Facebook’s value at $100 billion. This is obviously an area the company should be going after more seriously.

2)      Show some ads: Let’s see if I understand the situation. You have over 5 million users on your service almost every moment of every day. You need to increase revenue. Your answer? Show no ads. If I were eBay I would be flashing product listings in front of Skype users as often as possible. If this doesn’t make sense, why not show Google ads like everyone else in the world? It is tough to see where this isn’t a $100 million/year revenue opportunity – this amount may seem high but think about how long people use Skype each day and consider you can flash new ads in front of users constantly. Moreover, probably $90 million would flow to the bottom line. eBay’s P/E ratio is currently about 40 so this amount of earnings could translate into about $3.6 billion in market capitalization. Not showing ads is something I can’t conceivably understand.

3)      Enter the enterprise VoIP market: Cbeyond has a market cap of over a billion dollars and provides hosted communications to just a few cities in the US. Zennstrom first told the world at Internet Telephony Conference & Expo that Skype was very popular in the business space. Why was this never monetized in a formal manner?

4)      Provide paid recording capabilities: With the regulatory environment forcing so many companies to record phone calls and so many Skype users in the world, you have to offer a recording service to help those companies who need to capture Skype IM and voice calls within their organizations. My revenue estimate? $25-$100 million/year.

5)      Skype trunking: This technology is one of the most intriguing around – allowing companies to communicate with branch offices, customers and home workers at a low cost. I feel going forward every company should take advantage of SIP trunking and Skype trunking. Skype knows this. So the question I feel compelled to ask is why would they do not work more closely with partners such as VoSKY and actually market Skype trunking products to customers in a more serious way. VoSKY is doing a good job but why is there not a multimillion dollar Skype ad budget behind VoSKY and others? Why leave the success of this massive market in the hands of partners when you can ensure the rapid success of this burgeoning new space yourself? The reason may be that Skype was built as a viral platform and they except this to be the only way to sell. Ditto for eBay. Guess what? Companies like Avaya, Cisco, Dialogic and Quintum sell telecom equipment and/or gateways and they have to market to customers. To be serious in the business space, Skype needs to start a serious partner program where they fund the marketing of companies which help their own paid services increase.

6)      Go after the PBX vendors: If I am a PBX vendor I would be looking for Skype interoperability as a differentiator. Still, I have yet to see an ad touting PBX vendor’s Skype Interop. Why?

7)      Charge for something beyond just connecting to the PSTN: Charge for conferencing, enhanced video, the ability to get new features first, for the ability to use the service without having to see ads, etc.

8)      Partner with media companies: Work with content providers and stream programming via the Skype client. Make money through subscriptions and ads.

9)      Take on the world’s biggest auction houses with Skype video enabled live auctions. If eBay can pull off selling cars, it can pull this off as well.

10) Embrace Skype: I have a weird question. Companies all over the world are integrating their customer service departments with gateways allowing callers to use Skype to call in. Isn’t it odd that PayPal doesn’t accept Skype phone calls? If you want companies to integrate with Skype – which will obviously increase revenue – doesn’t it make sense to lead by example?

11) Embrace enterprise video: Video is enjoying resurgence and Skype has a well-known brand name and has a pretty good video solution. What about offering a video plan for businesses which will be cheaper than existing solutions on the market but priced high enough to generate real revenue?

As you pack to head down to Miami for ITEXPO, you may want to consider an extra accessory. How about for example a new cell phone... One that is perfect for a city where you may end up in a pool after hours.

I would suggest you take a look at the new Fujitsu F705i which measures in at 106x49x13.7mm and weighs 111g. Yes my friends, this is the world's slimmest waterproof 3G cell phone and may just come in handy this week.

See Akihabara News for more.

Here are some of the happenings this week at ITEXPO. My team is already down in Miami, making sure the new Mustang convertible is prepped and ready for the raffle Friday. I wish you luck in winning the car and either way you will end up with something of value -- a 3-day IP communications education available nowhere else.

See you soon!

---

Wednesday, January 23, 2008:
----------------------------
9:00 am - Breakout sessions*
9:00 am - TMC University Training: Using SIP to Build Enhanced Services* 9:00 am - TMC University Training: Microsoft OCS* 9:00 am - trixbox Open Communication Training Courses* 10:00 am - Reseller Solutions Day Workshop 10:00 am - Ingate's SIP Trunking Workshop
4:15 pm - KEYNOTES by Broadvox, 8x8, Inc. (Packet8), and Fonality 6:00 pm - EXHIBIT HALL OPEN 6:00 pm - Welcome Networking Reception in Exhibit Hall
  Sponsored by Aculab.

Thursday, January 24, 2008:
-----------------------------
8:00 am - Breakout sessions*
8:00 am - trixbox Open Communication Training Courses*
8:15 am - Voice Peering Fabric Workshop
8:30 am - Ingate SIP Trunking Seminars
9:45 am - KEYNOTES by Nortel, AudioCodes, and Mitel 11:30 am - EXHIBIT HALL OPEN (Hall closes at 5:00 pm) 4:00 pm - Networking reception in exhibit hall sponsored by Ontario Canada
4:45 pm - Bose SoundDock(R) and Apple iPod Giveaway -- see below (You must be present to win)

Friday, January 25, 2008:
-------------------------------
9:00 am - Breakout sessions*
9:00 am - trixbox Open Communication Training Courses* 11:00 am - EXHIBIT HALL OPEN (Hall closes at 2:30 pm) 2:30 pm - 2008 Mustang Convertible Giveaway -- see below (You must be present to win)

*Fees required to attend conference sessions & training courses.

I encourage you to visit the expo site now to review detailed descriptions of everything happening at the conference and to quickly and easily register.

I hope to see you down here in warm, sunny Miami for three great days of improving your business.

I hope everyone has a safe trip down to Internet Telephony Conference & Expo. The registration numbers are trending nicely above estimates and we expect a stellar event. As always, we have done our absolute best to assemble the most knowledgeable speakers and diverse exhibitors and this show will provide the best IP communications education ever.

As a side benefit I figured I should remind you that flights to Miami are still very cheap and the weather in the US is getting colder. Here is a map of the current temps... Lots of single digits -- ouch.

We would love to have you down at the show where you will be able to learn a great deal, network with your peers and enjoy some nice weather and maybe even a mojito.

It is not uncommon to read media reports which criticize domestic cell phone carriers who lock cell phones, preventing them from being used on other networks. While unlocked cellphones are not new, what I find interesting is that Sharper Image is trying to be the company to bring you unocked phones.

The Sharper Image 101TSI



There may be an opportunity for the company as currently if you want to buy an unlocked phone you have to search the Internet. Sharper Image could be come the "unlocked phone store" if they play their cards right.

The company offers a variety of phones and I haven't had a chance to try any of them yet. If successful, one wonders if other companies such as Brookstone will get into the act. Interestingly I imagine that companies like Costco, Best Buy, Circuit City and Radio Shack will not get into the "unlocked" game as they all have relationships with wireless carriers who would likely frown upon  such a new business idea.

Blogged via wireless handheld

As we get ready to head out to Miami for ITEXPO, there is one slight problem. Rich Tehrani is sick and at the pharmacy getting antibiotics.

In addition my crack team has been doing some programming and blog redesigning. So I need to do a photo test from the pharmacy. Sorry about this. Hopefully it will come through OK.

I am especially concerned about the size if this photo. Lets see what happens.

Blogged via wireless handheld

Sure the MacBook Air is missing a few features. No surprise as it is so thin. A slow hard disk and missing FireWire port shouldn't be a deal breaker for the people that want the bragging rights associated with the world's thinnest laptop. The way I see it, this is the iPhone of laptops -- missing some features but also packing some new ones not seen elsewhere.

I would imagine many people who like the iPhone will also like the gesture-based interface this laptop takes advantage of -- as it is so similar to how you use the iPhone.

I would guess only a few will be put off by the lack of features. I predict this laptop will be a hit.

Check out this TMCnet article for more.

So I almost went to see Cloverfield this weekend but instead ended up in a romantic comedy. These are the things that happen to your movie viewing when you get married I guess.

After the chick-flick I was in ended, I had a chance to walk into the Cloverfield theatre for a minute and it was an amazing experience due to the excessively loud volume, the method of shooting (lots of shaking) and the content.

I have heard the movie is not so scary but it seemed like it would leave a lasting impression as it did on me after just 60 seconds.

Apparently, I am not alone in my perception of this movie as at least in one theatre, guests seem to be getting motion sickness from it. Take a look at this sign for what I mean.

Actually I am now glad my wife talked me out of seeing this movie.

Here are some of he giveaways from next week's ITEXPO in Miami, FL. Will you be one of the winners? Hope you will be there to find out. Remember, you have to be present to win these prizes.

Tom Keating has more on his blog and you can also check the expo home page for registration details.