November 2008 Archives

For $99 to start and $9.95 a month you are able to get photos from your camera phones to show up on this picture frame via unlimited MMS. Like the Kindle from Amazon, here we have another product which leverages the cellular network to provide additional value.

Sure, there are ways to do this with WiFi and sure Kodak has camera and picture frames which work fairly seamlessly with one another. But who cares?

You see, today's kids are also able to use email for free with any mobile data plan but they don't - they use SMS/text messaging instead. And they pay through the nose to do so. So it is possible these kids might also gravitate towards a photo frame which can be updated remotely by MMS-enabled camera phone (which by the way does not include the iPhone). One wonders if they can get this frame to also display messages as well so a person could text the cameo frame when he/she is running late.

Mobile phones and texting have become just so popular. If T-Mobile plays its cards right, this could become a popular new category of electronics and T-Mobile could be the major player in the space.

Assuming you could nail down who is truly qualified for this plan, giving away service is probably not a good idea as it drives up usage of cell towers. This could lead to slower service for customers who pay the full amount.

Could the carriers implement service of lower quality for people who pay less - and make this discounted service available to the unemployed? Perhaps. If you can make it easier for this group to get phones, perhaps there will be incremental revenue from text messages, ringtones, etc.

For fascinating analysis of why wireless carriers should/should not give away service, check out this article.

Adtran has mentioned repeatedly just how expensive their test
equipment is from companies like Spirent, Ixia and Tektronix Agilent.

As an alternative they are using their own modified equipment to test
when possible.

Too bad... This pub was an early inspiration to me. It will live online though.

My other inspiration was InfoWorld and sadly it is gone as well.

This is what Tom Keating had to say.

The campus is massive. We are in a new building seeing more testing equipment. There is voicemail testing, voice quality testing, compatabilty testing, etc.

Check out this massive phone bank used for interop and load tests.

Moreover, game sites employ Flash routinely and more and more consumers are using mobile devices for gaming.

There is obviously some tension between Adobe and Apple which needs to get resolved soon.

If the iPhone does not get Flash support, at some point it will definitely eat into sales.

One thing worth pointing out is the company says they rarely run into feature deficiencies and they are quick to react if they need to add a feature. The Huntsville, AL based company seems to thrive/focus on adding value to traditional products with better features and/or service levels.

One point worth noting is that as the economy has slowed, the incumbent router vendor (hint their name is taken from San Francisco) has been called into question due to the high prices. In this environment, Adtran is seeing increased interest and RFP activity.

The company acknowledges it needs to focus more on building its brand in the hopes that as a result, it will be included in more RFPs. According to Adtran, if they get in the RFP process, they close the deal close to 70% of the time.

One interesting point is the company is working with others and internally to add video to its product suite. Responding to a question about video in the Adtran product line, Schneider responded, "Check back with us in about a year."

There is an article in the Wall Street Journal today discussing how Green Hills Software - a company making operating systems for medical equipment and the brakes in a car is looking to expand by developing technology to make PCs more resilient. An obvious application for this technology would be data centers and of course one of my favorites, telecom.

If I could just get everyone who sent me an email this decade to send me a dollar, I could probably bail out Detroit on my own. About five years ago in San Jose, I had a few hours to kill between meetings and I remember feverishly deleting emails to get down to two thousand or so. I routinely remember seeing numbers like 16-30,000 messages in my inbox over the last decade.

A few years back I decided that I would give up sleep and rest to ensure I get a handle on this chaos. The good news is I am now under 200 messages. In order to keep it this way I multitask and have been doing so for years.

If I am at a conference for example, I take notes, blog, monitor industry sites and check email while keeping an eye on the financial markets. My brain is a multitasking wonder but to compensate my neurons don't allow me to focus on a single issue like I used to be able to. If I lock myself in a room or get on a flight - I can concentrate just fine (this becomes a problem as internet access pervades the cabin). It is just the availability of massive amounts of information that keeps my brain wondering what news I am missing and keeps me having the focus I had in a pre-internet/CNN/CNBC era.

And it is not the need for personal knowledge that fuels this drive. I direct dozens upon dozens of stories each day on TMCnet and decide what I will cover as well. If I don't see everything how can I keep my blog and TMC net readers informed?

Part of the reason for this blog is to document my ordeal and to hopefully inspire others to believe they too can tame their inbox. Believe me, if I can do this, so can you,

Sendio has an antispam device which I have been using for a few months. The user interface of the device is not good for those who get massive amounts of email like me. But if you have a manageable amount of email, the company's solution may be worth a try. Tom Keating for example really likes it and Tom is a harsh critic so this says a lot.

Couple this with the idea of having a national CTO and you begin to realize there could be a massive shot in the arm for the tech sector next year. Specific areas to get the boost include wireless, broadband equipment and telepresence/video.

One salient prediction according to Lipman? Greater FCC appreciation of VoIP. Basically good news for most in the industry and with a little luck, this momentum will carry across the tech space making 2009 a much better year than some of the gloomy analyst estimates.

The media is on a site tour here in Huntsville, Al. Low and behold
Adtran does small scale manufacturing right here in Alabama. This is
one of the few companies in tech which I have seen building in the US.

Adtran investors, worry not - the company builds in China too.

Afraid of lead paint? Adtran is quick to point out that quality
control in China is the same as in the US.

Maybe the toy industry can learn from them?

With financial markets in turmoil and Jerry Yang being responsible for more or less botching the Microsoft deal, it is obvious he needs to step down. The only question is why did it take so long? Here are thoughts on the new CEO Position and what has to happen:

1)      She/He has to be from an entrepreneurial new media company

a.       If you hire someone well-known from the go-go days of the nineties - with no small company experience, Yahoo! will continue to fail

b.      Google is competitor #1 and acts like a small company

                                                               i.      There is no other way to compete with them

c.       Find a person who has seen business transform as a result of the web. Someone dynamic and able to change quickly

2)      Speed: make this the number one imperative throughout the organization

a.       Roll out new products and services as fast as possible

3)      Mobile

a.       There needs to be a renewed focus on mobile browsing and search

b.      Ink deals with every carrier you can while you can

c.       Be everywhere

4)      Promote yourself

a.       Mail, sports, news, finance - there are just so many areas where Yahoo is a leader

                                                               i.      Why not promote this fact?

                                                             ii.      Tell advertisers how great your company is

5)      Brag

a.       Yahoo is so understated I felt that #4 on its own would not do the trick

                                                               i.      The company needs to be vociferous

                                                             ii.      Remind us why we use and love Yahoo

                                                            iii.      Throw traffic numbers around

6)      Act like the underdog you are

a.       Yahoo's culture is one of a market leader

b.      While this is true in many sectors, customers and Wall Street don't see it this way

c.       Become entrepreneurial

d.      Hire new people as needed to make this happen

e.      Get leaner

f.        Get meaner

7)      Push the toolbar

a.       The Yahoo Toolbar has access to so much rich Yahoo content

b.      Go on the offensive with the toolbar

c.       Give the toolbar access to the best content from around the web - ESPN, CNN, etc

d.      Make it difficult for users to ignore the toolbar and get them to adopt it and likewise build search volume

8)      Copy Google

a.       Obviously it is good to be innovative but on occasion it makes sense to "borrow" ideas

b.      Give developers some free time to work on pet projects just Like Google

c.       Yahoo has so much potential to push new services to an entrenched audience

d.      They just need to roll out more and more of them at a faster clip

e.      This could even cut development cost

f.        Put relevant ads in Yahoo Mail. Why would you not do this?

There are just so many ways to maximize revenue at Yahoo and it is bewildering that this internet legend is still struggling. I truly wish them well but they better find someone quick to get this steamship turned.