November 2008 Archives

Christmas Shopping Up Over 7%

November 30, 2008 9:55 PM | 0 Comments
Shocking as it may seem, holiday shopping is up over 7% from a year ago. This is really great news but it is worth pointing out retailers did have excess inventory they had to clear out so this could just be an early spike in supply at great prices which was met with demand as products were just priced too low to say no. Here's more.

I am glad my early hunch from black Friday was right. To be honest, I was in a different mall today and it was slower than I expected. I was hoping this was because people were already shopped out and besides it was pouring with rain and slow so this could have been part of the reason for the light crowds.

Overall, this report does seem like a nice silver lining in a slow consumer cloud.

Guess Who's Back, Back Again... Redmond's Back. Tell Icahn

November 30, 2008 10:29 AM | 4 Comments
Carl Icahn is pushing hard to get a Microsoft Yahoo! deal done as he picks up more Yahoo shares and waits for something to happen between the two companies. The latest? Microsoft will potentially pick up the search business for $20 billion. Ballmer has said repeatedly that this is the only part of the company he is interested in.

This leaves Yahoo with only a portal and to be honest, Yahoo may be better off doing this deal so it can focus more on an area where it has a huge advantage. In addition, one wonders if it isn't more lucrative to let someone else worry about the search technology while you make money by showing the ads on your hundreds of millions of page views.

For Microsoft, it gets yet another search engine people don't really like using. It is unclear to me how Redmond can tie these disparate search technologies and companies together to make 1+1=3.

The one obvious synergy is the immediate jump in ad network size. The sheer number of advertisers will grow as a result of a Microsoft/Yahoo search deal and at least in this respect, a combined company will be a bigger threat to Google.

Joost Beats Skype To iPhone

November 29, 2008 7:12 PM | 0 Comments
I find it ironic that Joost has beaten Skype to the iPhone. There are already a number of VoIP competitors on the iPhone and one would imagine with the resources availabble to eBay, Skype would be first.

Remember of course Niklas Zennstrom was involved in founding both Skype and Joost.

Still, for Joost, this move could have been one of survival which explains the relative speed in which they have unveiled their application. I can't wait to try it although I hear it has some challenges.

Update: I tried it out last night and was able to watch music videos and movies such as the Fifth Element without a single problem. Wow.

Linux On The iPhone

November 29, 2008 3:26 PM | 1 Comment
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Now that Linux is sort of up and running on the iPhone, what's next? Will we see Asterisk, MySQL and other open-source programs running in your pocket soon?

This is very interesting but remember that Apple devices are ultra-successful because of the user interface. It is unclear why we would want an iPhone or iPod touch which runs Linux -- other than for a variety of niche applications where useful software has already been written.

I know what you are thinking... Rich, the reason we want to run Linux on an iPhone is because Apple has such restrictions on the programs which are allowed to be part off the AppStore, we need choice. Well, I would agree but I don't believe a new OS is the answer to this dilemma.

Now if Linux on the iPod Touch and iPhone was the same user experience as the Apple-based OS, then maybe there would be a chance this project could go mainstream. But patents and things like that may get in the way of such lofty ambitions.

So Linux on the iPhone is a great idea but I don't expect it to take off.

Helping The Economy

November 29, 2008 9:44 AM | 0 Comments

Yesterday I was shopping/buying today and doing my part to help US retailers and the Chinese companies who supply them.wink

I noticed the mall was as packed as any Black Friday but the high-end retailers seemed slower than last year. Also, gadgets seem hotter than just about everything else based on the crowds.

There may be less bags in shopper's hands but it is tough to tell.

It is fair to say it would be difficult to know the economy is slow based on yesterday's shopping traffic.

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Condolences To Families Of Indians and Others Killed In Attacks

November 28, 2008 1:05 PM | 0 Comments
I would like to extend my condolences to those people who lost loved ones and friends in the terrible Indian terror attacks of this past week. In addition, I would like to mention how horrible I feel for those who were injured or forced to hide in fear of their lives as gunmen stormed the country.

It is my sincere hope the world will come together to condemn such acts and we will collectively find a way to eradicate senseless violence and killing.

Happy Thanksgiving and Enjoy The Fire

November 27, 2008 9:34 AM | 0 Comments

If you live somewhere warm or don't have a fireplace, I hope you enjoy
ours. Have a great holiday and/or weekend for my international readers.

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Great CRM Ideas For A Down Economy

November 26, 2008 7:26 PM | 3 Comments
Recently, my wife ordered a few pairs of shoes from Zappos.com and they upgraded her shipping after the order was placed. She placed the order Monday evening and the shoes were received Tuesday afternoon. She was blown away and I think Zappos has a new loyal customer. In a slow economy, this is a smart thing you can do to ensure customer loyalty.

Another out of the box idea comes from BMW of Darien - the BMW dealer closest to TMC headquarters in Norwalk, CT. If you take your BMW to the Stamford Town Center (the local mall) on Black Friday, you get free valet parking. Normally of course you can spend an eternity looking for a parking spot on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Now - BMW of Darien is sponsoring a service which should not only make owners of these German cars happy - but it also brings BMW owners into the mall more quickly - which has got to be good for all the stores in the mall.

As things slow in the economy, it is the companies that think about how to over deliver for their customers that are most successful. I have to commend both companies for truly valuing customers and I hope these moves pay off for each.

Google iPhone Mobile App With Voice Search Works Well

November 26, 2008 3:30 PM | 0 Comments
I have had a chance to test the new Google Mobile App for iPhone with voice search and remain impressed. What is great about the service is the fact that you can say a company name followed by city and state and then say "phone number" and you get this returned to you quickly. All this is done without typing and the application presents you with an easily clickable phone number if it finds what you are looking for.

I tested Google's speech recognition in noisy environments and found it works poorly. In more quiet environments it is fairly accurate and works very well. I used it today to look up the phone number for a restaurant near TMC and it was excellent. In addition it allows you to manually modify the query after the fact if you like.

I did a test of the service live in a video in the TMC Newsroom by saying "Costco Norwalk, Connecticut phone number." Once completed, the service says it is analyzing while it sends the voice file to Google servers for analysis. Google then identifies what you say and presents you with a company name, address and phone number.

Of course, this system works with any words you say such as "IP communications," "VoIP," etc. The software is free and a no brainer to install. I should point out this is not a specific speech rec application but it is part of the standard Google Mobile app that also gives you access to Gmail, Calendar, Docs, etc. You can find the app in the Apple App Store here.

Happy Thanksgiving 2008

November 26, 2008 8:52 AM | 0 Comments
thanksgiving-turkey.jpgHappy Thanksgiving and I hope you have a wonderful long weekend of eating, relaxing and spending time with your families. TMC officially closes at 4:00 PM EST today so if you need us, please keep his in mind. Normally we close officially at 5:30 BTW.

For my international readers, please have a great work week and weekend.

Like many of you, many of us work all weekend so we will be online as needed.

Again, have a healthy and happy holiday!

IntelePeer And Communications Opportunities

November 25, 2008 6:55 PM | 0 Comments
We can sit around for hours and discuss where the global economy is going. And while this is a fun discussion, the reality is no one knows. What we do know however is people will still be communicating in the future and they will do it more often and in many different ways.

We also know various methods of communications will continue to intersect and augment one another.

As communications markets evolve, organizations which provide services which allow such interconnections to take place are positioned very well. One such company is IntelePeer, they provide hosted voice 2.0 service which embodies the best of peering, open APIs and SaaS.

Web 2.0 technologies are not going away and voice will continue to evolve as well. At the intersection of both is IntelePeer and the company just received an $18 million cash infusion in the most challenging funding climate imaginable.

Well that of course if you don't count the trillion plus dollars global governments have sunk into a variety of troubled companies.

This funding news is a further sign that the communications market has tremendous financial potential and moreover, the ability to continue making us more productive and efficient.

MetaSwitch Excels In Tough Market

November 25, 2008 6:31 PM | 0 Comments
According to Infonetics Research, MetaSwitch is doing quite well in what is a tough environment. The report recognizes MetaSwitch's market leadership with a commanding 44% of total subscriber licenses shipped in the North American Class Five softswitch category, as well as leading the overall North American softswitch market with a 33% share of licenses shipped.

Moreover, MetaSwitch has maintained consistent and profitable year-over-year growth, with more than 400 service provider customers. For the quarter, the company had more than two million subscribers worldwide.

What can I say other than congratulations to a company which has worked hard and had tremendous focus on its objectives. All of this effort is paying off now.

SMS Comes To Contact Centers

November 25, 2008 6:07 PM | 2 Comments
When an entire generation uses their phones for nothing but social networking and sending text messages, smart contact center companies see an opportunity. Interactive Intelligence is one such company and recently added SMS as a channel as part of its multichannel contact center solutions.

Remember, kids today do not even check email. We could argue the reason for this... I personally think they don't mind paying for messaging when email is free -- because frankly, their parents are paying.

So if they use SMS only, then a bank needs a solution which allows checking account balances to be sent via SMS to customers. Obviously, other areas make sense for this technological addition. For example, flight alerts are a natural. Also what about sending an SMS when the call center has no wait?

Really, the potential for this addition is limitless and if you have customers under 18 and aren't exploring using SMS in your call center, you are missing the boat.

History Is Made: Google Lets Go Of People

November 25, 2008 5:56 PM | 0 Comments
10,000 contract employees could be at risk at Google. The company does not plan to lay off its permanent positions but its temp/contract jobs could soon be all gone.

Google has done a good job of ignoring financial markets in the past and generally does what it thinks make the most sense for the long term. The problem the company faces today however is that many of its employees have stock options which are worthless and as a result the company may be feeling pressure to do something to convince Wall Street they are on the right track.

Then again, it could be the company sees a dramatic slowdown in revenue coming.

It is unclear which is the reason for the job cuts but it is becoming apparent to all companies that downsizing is something that needs to be done to prepare for a potentially lean 2009.

TMC Pot Luck Lunch

November 25, 2008 1:11 PM | 0 Comments
Happy Thanksgiving!

If we don't answer the phones or email for the next hour or so it is because we are enjoying the TMC Thanksgiving Pot Luck Lunch here at TMC HQ. This is a many-year-old tradition and we wish you were here to enjoy it with us.

This is a TMC team-member driven event where each person brings in some sort of food. Cookies, cake, etc. At the end of the event, any remaining food is given to the local food bank to support the underprivileged in the community.
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