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Gadgets to Have Integrated Welcome Ads Soon?

2012-05-18T13:50:24Z

If ads on the Kindle Fire Welcome Screen are successful, others will follow

There are a few things which are well known about Amazon’s Kindle Fire. First of all at $199 the company either loses money or at best breaks even depending on which analyst you speak with. We also know the version of Android the device runs is unusual as Amazon has its own proprietary shell around it.

And just like a company can pay to have a promotion on the Amazon PC home page it is being reported that Amazon is considering charging between $600,000 to $1 million for the rights to have ads displayed on the welcome screen.

Will this ad be shown on current Kindle Fires or perhaps a new ad supported model? Well the answer is not known at this point.

This approach is far different than that of Apple who has implemented ground breaking minimalist designs not only on its devices’ home pages but in its retail stores.

But consumers have shown a willingness to be flexible when it comes to saving money. Witness the success of the Kindle Fire as an example.

If Amazon is very successful selling home page advertising and such ads become popular and the consumer likes the model, there is a natural industry progression we can expect.

First off, a question… What company comes to mind when I say Internet ads. OK, I get it – today the answer is Facebook but in general, Google – right? And what company has the market-leading smartphone OS? You guessed it – at least till Facebook develops one, its Google again.

So doesn’t it make sense that Google will want in on the action and will start to integrate ads into the home pages of Android phones allowing consumers, carriers and equipment makers to subsidize the price of the phone with honest to goodness product pitches?

This potential trend is a real possibility and consumers have shown themselves to be very willing to take subsidized devices in exchange for long-term contracts. They also tolerate ads on TV, radio and even their streaming radio courtesy of services like Pandora. Ad supported gadgets may be the next frontier and if Amazon is successful, we may see the market scramble to emulate and/or improve upon its model.

Blackberry 10 like Siri uses Productivity to Differentiate

2012-05-01T19:24:58Z

Apple's iPhone 4S is perhaps most known for Siri the built-in personal assistant which has had mixed reviews. Still, in-part because of this feature, the company has sold iPhones by the boatload.

RIM, who is fighting to regain market share has come at the productivity game from a different angle - the predictive text technology in its soon to be released Blackberry 10 OS is much-improved and has the potential to drastically reduce the amount of time it takes to communicate on a smartphone or tablet.

For information workers - it seems the more you work, the more there is to do. Especially when you consider the huge time suck associated with social networking, watching online video and gaming and book-reading on the go using the latest crop of tablets.

Although it is soon to say that RIM has nailed it with its new OS, it does look better than previous operating systems from the company. Now the question is how long before the functionality is copied by others and the patent war over this feature begins?

See analysis from the AP, a hands-on review from CNet and comments fom USA Today.

Is Skype Microsoft's Only Chance for Mobile Success?

2012-04-26T17:33:59Z

If you are looking for increased competition in the mobile space, Apple’s recent and seemingly constant record earnings are bad news. Worse yet for the competition, Apple has transcended its original position of a computer and electronics maker to become a major force in the publicly traded markets and even the US economy. Its phones are status symbols the world over and its tablet is so far ahead of the rest of the market the company can charge hundreds more and consumers will pay for these products with a smile.

So news of Microsoft losing share to in the mobile space should hardly be considered news. In fact even if the company purchased Nokia and RIM the challenge of integration would far outweigh the benefits. Sadly this would be true if both companies were given to Redmond at no charge. How bad is the situation? Well between December 2006 and December 2011 the Microsoft went from having 34% of the US market for smartphones to a paltry 5%! And all this while the smartphone market in the US has been exploding with growth.

Microsoft knows how bad things are. Sadly, they were way ahead in mobile – I used to rely on the HTC/UT Starcom Verizon XV6700 and called it the near-perfect device in March of 2006. It deserved this designation because it was truly a mobile office in your pocket.

I complained at the time that different carriers selling the same device were calling it something else and moreover there was really no branding for the device at all.

I think this phone may have been the last opportunity Microsoft needed to exploit to stay a mobile leader.

Sure, they have the relationship with Nokia but it will be a really tough sell to unseat Apple and Android at this point – unless something dramatic and unforeseen (by others) happens like Android or iOS exhibiting a massive security flaw driving users into the hands of the competition.

But Microsoft still has Skype as its last hope to attain some relevance in the smartphone space. If the software company is serious about the market and we all know they have to be, there will have to be serious handset subsidization. Even then, it is unclear it will be significant player in the market.

But a simple way to subsidize is by bundling Skype credits with phones – there is a huge arbitrage play here between what carriers charge for their voice minute bundles compared to what Skype charges.

To offset some of the cost, Microsoft will have to show ads which could be powered by Bing.

The challenge of course is voice calls are becoming less important each year as consumers use social and text as their preferred method of communications.

But the window is still open for Skype phone which is subsidized heavily – one which consumers would have to consider because the price is so low. Of course the challenge here is carriers like Verizon provide a number of phones for free with a contract such as the LG Enlighten and the Samsung Illusion. So Microsoft would have to potentially give you a free phone as well as unlimited calling or some number of minutes per month, etc. Also this strategy assumes carriers won’t mind Skype becoming the keeper of the carrier relationship. Sure, many wireless providers have partnered with Skype in the past but it is unclear if they are still happy to do so.

In short, Skype may be the last chance for Microsoft to become successful in mobile – and in the US, the subsidized approach to providing phones and service may make it very difficult to find success. Skype integration may be a better option in other countries where devices are generally purchased on their own.

I don’t want to come off as optimistic mind you – this strategy will be expensive and basically bribes consumers to take a product they don’t want. It’s worth pointing out a similar strategy in the past used by Bing to gain share from Google was a failure. But mobile is so important, the company may be forced to give the idea a shot – and if so they better start soon.

Skype may not be the only hope as Microsoft also owns a significant portion of Facebook - tight integration with this social network may be another option for Redmond to attack mobile. But it is unclear that Facebook would be willing to work exclusively or even semi-exclusively with a platform which has limited appeal - unless the price is really right.

US Database of Stolen Cellphones to be Established

2012-04-10T02:48:45Z

Today is a bad day for thieves, very bad. You see, electronics are the number one item stolen – even more so than cash and finally the US will be implementing a system to ensure stolen cell phones no longer work on US cellular networks. In December of 2009 I wrote about how eBay has become the world’s largest pawn shop of stolen goods and in fact gave an example to a person in the UK who tracked down $10,000 worth of stolen goods, taken from him on eBay – and was able to recover them.

As a result, in the post titled Tech Lubricates Theft, Can it do so For Law Enforcement? I proposed a central database where devices get unique identification numbers and are subsequently linked to consumers. The idea being that if a gadget is stolen, it no longer operates. I outlined the following benefits of such a database and system:

Less crime
Less police needed
Less violence
Lower security costs which means savings get passed on
More secure neighborhoods
Higher standard of living

I went on to say the following:

Thankfully we are at a point where GPS and RFID devices can be easily and inexpensively integrated into lots of products making them very difficult to steal and resell.

Perhaps a company or group of them will come out with a new set of standards which will allow us to track our belongings more accurately.

I would imagine a couple of the ones who should be involved include Amazon as they sell just about everything. eBay too as they really sell just about everything and Google who will obviously want us to use their search engine to track and find all of our products.

So for now, Web lubrication is really working to the advantage of the thieves. Hopefully soon we can turn the tables and put the power of technology in the hands of retailers, consumers and law enforcement and send more thieves to jail.

In another post from September, 2010 I said:

But really, if we want to improve global productivity and reduce the amount of police reports filed why would we not implement such a simple system? eBay in fact should be championing the idea as it is a publicly traded company and at some point you have to assume the bad press from them being the world's largest pawn shop will catch up with them.

The good news is US carriers have come together with the FCC to develop a database of stolen phones – details haven’t been worked out but they will be over time. Moreover, the goal is to connect US carriers with others overseas - U.K., Germany, France and Australia have similar systems in place already.

Of course a few challenges to the system are that many countries have yet to implement a similar system. So a thief could still sell goods in those places. Moreover, what about other electronics? You may remember me railing against TomTom for not having a policy in place to ensure they don’t profit from stolen GPS devices by continuing to allow them to operate on their network.

I applaud the FCC and Chairman Julius Genachowski for spearheading this initiative – I believe this is one of those initiatives which will drastically improve the quality of life for the average US citizen. And it is a first step – we have to ensure privacy is kept intact, other devices are added to databases and that global cooperation takes place.

There also needs to be a global system of arbitration – to minimize disputes. What happens for example when a couple separates ad one person is upset the other took the GPS unit with them when they left the house? If they report the device as stolen, is it? Someone has to deal with these issues – perhaps the local police can handle it. Time will tell.

So again, I applaud the FCC and US wireless carriers – this is a historic day in my opinion and I hope global quality of life improves as a result.

A Contrarian View on The Apple/Foxconn Labor Situation

2012-04-05T18:49:17Z

A few weeks back when the New York Times wrote a story regarding workers making iPhones and other devices in China who aren’t being treated very well, I wondered, this is a story? In other words, is there a person on the planet who doesn’t know that working conditions in China are far worse than they are in the US?

And I absolutely respect the right of the New York Times to run such a story – I just think it shows a broader agenda of being anti-capitalist, and anti-business. After all, we in the US have been buying Chinese products made by people in poor working conditions for decades. Why write this story now? Let’s stop for a moment and consider that if conditions in China are so poor for workers, then why are they working? In other words, they must be worse off – likely far worse off if they don’t have their Foxconn jobs.

The end result of this piece however is that wages across the manufacturing sector – starting with Apple will increase.

The problem is if you are truly worried about Chinese workers you should be concerned to see this happen because as costs for workers rise, the cost of automating gets a better return on investment. In other words if it may have taken seven years to pay back a robotics investment just a few months ago, now it may take just four years.

And guess what… When robotics becomes more prevalent, there will be less jobs meaning many of these workers will have to go back to living in conditions they escaped by working at Foxconnin the first place.

It is worth pointing out that in the US , minimum wage laws have made the ROI on self-scanning equipment at supermarkets better so guess what… There are less people working. The same sort of thing will happen in China.

Of course the situation is not so cut and dry as more and more manufacturing is moving to China meaning workers will likely have steady work for some years.

It’s worth pointing out that what will happen as a result of higher wages in China is Mexico and other countries will become a more logical place to manufacture. As I pointed out last year call center jobs in the US have been increasing because wages in India are rising – but in that case it is the free market working.

Seeking Alpha has an article out today which describes how Apple has made a brilliant move by increasing the wages of its workers because its margins are the highest in the industry. In fact their net margin is 24% while the next highest computer makers are HP and Dell at 5.6% followed by Nokia at around 4.4% and Amazon at 1.3%.

The point they make is the rest of the industry will be squeezed by this move.

The challenge with this line of thinking is if the cost of an Apple product is about twice that of a non-Apple product (of course this isn’t always the case) then these other companies can raise prices and still be far cheaper than Apple.

So while we can applaud the fact that workers in China will be faring better, lets keep in mind that abruptly changing things like inputs costs in the manufacturing sector could have far-reaching implications like inflation for the markets where Chinese good are shipped as well as the potential for more robotics to be used to eliminate the workers altogether.

To get a sense of what I mean, see how Kiva Systems robots operate - Amazon just purchased the company.

Goodbye Android, we hardly Knew You

2012-04-02T20:23:37Z

New research is showing that Android has some real problems. Obviously Google knows this and it’s part of the reason they purchased Motorola and as Henry Blodget points out are opening an online tablet store. David Beckemeyer too weighs in with a chart showing just how dominant Apple is becoming.

But before we get into that I was at my accountant last week and while he was crunching numbers I decided to tell my wife it was time to get my oldest daughter a refurbished laptop because her netbook takes longer to boot than the time it takes for us to assemble all the documents for the IRS. Without skipping a beat the accountant looked up and said, “Why don’t you get her a Macbook?”

Now mind you, I like my accountant and all but I didn’t ask him for his advice and/or perspective. Worse yet, I think I may actually be getting billed for a discussion I didn’t go there to have.

But putting that aside (I really hope he doesn’t read my blog) it shows just how loyal people are to Apple. Again, unsolicited testimonials and suggestions on what to purchase are pretty much the realm of only Apple these days. Eight years ago you would hear similar things about the Blackberry keyboard and fantastic email capabilities but can you imagine anyone telling you to go out and get a Windows laptop? It is just counter to everything we know about consumers and the PC relationship; in fact most relationships with consumers and computer companies are devoid of the passion Apple seems to exude.

Part of the challenge has to do with the ease of use factor – many women I know and men above a certain age seem to hate Android while techies love it. I guarantee that science fiction aficionados (also known affectionately as geeks) strongly gravitate towards Android.

Back to Beckemeyer whose above chart detailing how people access the web shows that for all the talk of Android dominance, in the future we will live increasingly in an Apple-dominated world.

Part of the reason has to do with the fact that iPhones and iPads are still easier to use. I know many people who purchased an Android device because it was all Verizon offered and can’t wait to get an Apple. Moreover, the words of Roger McNamee below seem to be ringing truer by the day:

What if Apple doesn't get 10-15% market-share in tablets but instead 60-70%? Then Apple will be the largest hardware company out there by a mile.

If this trend continues and I am not sure what can stop it, it will be an about-face for how the tech market has traditionally worked. Remember, that with computers and laptops, the PC won the war because the price/performance curve favored open ecosystems where hardware vendors were forced to compete on an open, level playing field. The Macs too in the eighties and much of the nineties weren’t so special from a design perspective so everyone competed to provide the most computing power for the least dollars.

But Apple has turned the computing market into fashion– meaning iPhones are more like personal statements of character than merely consumer electronics. You wonder why Apple doesn’t event show up at the CES show? Well maybe because they consider their products to be fashion statements which just happen to need a power cord.

And even their flaws somehow turn into selling points. Witness Siri, which doesn’t work that well and people love it. Jim Cramer rants about it on CNBC – so much so that I believe they must have optimized it for his voice.

As I have said in the past, Samsung and perhaps Sony are in the best position to put up a fight against Apple in terms of making gadgets which look great. But let’s face it, the clock is ticking and at a certain point, Android will take a back seat to iOS when it comes to competing for developer time and attention. And once that happens it will be very tough for Android to once again gain share.

So yes, the new Google tablet store and coming out with Google branded tablets which are likely to be given away at a loss are the only ways to blunt the iOS onslaught. So it may be a bit premature to declare Android dead but it is clear that Google seems to be panicking.

Disclosure: I own Apple shares.

AirWatch Highlights MDM in a Post-PC Era

2012-03-08T22:19:58Z

Yesterday Apple CEO Tim Cook showed a chart of how the iPad alone is selling more unites than PCs from any other individual vendor. This is an amazing achievement when you consider the iPad is a few years old and that HP swallowed up Compaq making it the largest vendor in the PC market. Of course with so much device proliferation the question of mobile device management or MDM has to rear its head. As this market is so crucial I am happy I had a chance to sit with Alan Dabbiere the charismatic Chairman of MDM leader Airwatch at MWC 2012.

A good part of our meeting centered around Dabbiere explaining how dominant his company is in the space – with over 500 employees and over 2,000 customers. He went on to say companies like Apple have to share the details of their new products to MDM vendors in advance and they want the market to consist of fewer large vendors. Other growth data points worth noting are the company has seen sequential MDM growth numbers between 30-100% in each quarter in 2011.

Moreover, the R&D team is now 175 people with R&D expense running at about 25% of revenue – a healthy number. Some of the differentiating features the company touts are support for all major OS versions as well as scalability, intelligent notifications, an SDK, an HTML5 console, an enterprise app catalogue and a multi-lingual console.

What Dabbiere spent considerable time discussing is the company’s secure content locker which allows anyone with console access to push content to selected users. What differentiates this solution from emailing content is the inability for users to subsequently take ownership of the content and forward in an unauthorized manner.

A real world example of how it works is adding a tab in the content locker which is sent to the board of directors just prior to a board meeting and then recalled the documents after the meeting is over. In another case an investment bank can use this solution to push research reports to clients without fear of them being able to forward these proprietary research documents to brokers at rival banks.

Of course I know your next question – in the case of a company pushing out content to non-employees – can the locker be branded by the company? The answer is yes. So Goldman Sachs could brand their own content locker and tabs which their clients can access but not copy or forward.

The final use case he shared was more esoteric but certainly helpful if you at a theme park in Orlando in August. Let’s assume you run a theme park where characters with big ears are prominently displayed and you would like to get email addresses for all your visitors but they likely don’t want to share this information with you as they fear spam. So instead you ask them to download a free app which includes a park map and then notify them when a ride is under or over crowded. Utilizing GPS of course would help you target visitors before they head to a part of the park which is overflowing with people.

Likewise you can use the app to help manage restaurant capacity – in other words you can send coupons to restaurants which are under crowded to ensure visitors are more evenly dispersed throughout the part. Another idea is if the park is experiencing capacity issues at all restaurants at the same time you can send a coupon to guests telling them it will be honored at a later time like say 1:00 pm.

Mobile device proliferation isn’t slowing down and neither is the need to manage and control the content on all these devices. One can imagine the MDM space and AirWatch have significant room to grow for the foreseeable future. At the moment the application is available on iOS and Android support should be here in a month with PC access available in the next 3-6 months.

7 Wireless Data Cap Winners

2012-03-07T14:06:58Z

Yesterday I outlined 7 Wireless Data Cap Losers and today I thought I would explore the flipside – in other words, who might win as a result of carriers becoming far stingier with their bandwidth allotments. After all, devices are becoming far more powerful and quad-core tablets and smartphones could become the norm by the middle of next year if not sooner. So with all this power and limited supply of bandwidth, how might user behavior change?

Here is my list of the 7 wireless data cap winners.

Cable companies have deployed WiFi throughout the US thanks to technology from companies like BelAir Networks – now part of Ericsson. And in order to use these networks, cable companies simply ask that you continue to use their services – at least for now. So the move made by AT&T and soon others to reduce available wireless bandwidth will no doubt have consumers thinking twice before cutting their cable cords and potentially switching to FiOS or U-verse.
Hotel WiFi networks generally aren’t that great and quite often are eclipsed by the speed of 4G and even 3G and potentially 2G networks. The worst part of it all is you can’t tell just how bad a hotel WiFi network is until you pay for it – a frustrating situation for business travelers to deal with. But still, hotels will likely see increases in WiFi usage which one hopes will lead them to spend more money on their bandwidth.
Boingo/iPass should be beneficiaries of wireless bandwidth caps as both services allow users to quickly access a number of global WiFi networks available in many airports and other areas of high foot traffic. Many companies will likely see subscriptions to these services as a great alternative to relying fully on Verizon, AT&T and others. I have used both services and they are both quite useful.
Starbucks will become that much more desirable to users looking to escape bandwidth caps from carriers and we can expect users to wait till they are near the ubiquitous coffee shop before downloading large attachments, photos, etc. Ditto for McDonalds and other establishments offering free wireless bandwidth.
Slacker Radio has the ability to download hours of music on numerous stations allowing a customer to suck up content over WiFi, listen and then sync favorites and disliked content when on a WiFi network. For $9.95/month Slacker Premium Radio lets you download 25 stations worth of content and fill your favorite device with music which you can enjoy offline.
Sirius XM Radio saw a huge threat from Pandora and other streaming radio stations but in a world where listening to excess music could actually slow everything else you do down, we can expect users to explore options. And one of these is satellite radio which uses no bandwidth at all – just a satellite antenna.
Apple iTunes loses revenue to streaming radio apps like Spotify and Slacker because both services allow users to play specific music on demand meaning they don’t need to purchase individual songs. But when the bandwidth is no longer all you can eat, it becomes cheaper to buy than to rent from the cloud. Advantage Apple iTunes and Amazon MP3 downloads.

http://blog.tmcnet.com/mt/mt.cgi?__mode=view&_type=entry&blog_id=13

The 7 Wireless Data Cap Losers

2012-03-06T23:08:46Z

We are in uncharted territory when it comes to mobility as this year we will see a slew of productivity-boosting 4G, quad-core smartphones like the Ascend 4D Quad from Huawei which I saw at Mobile World Congress 2012 in Barcelona, Spain. Moreover, while devices get more powerful, we will only want to do more with them and quite often this means relying on wireless networks from carriers.

The only problem is these providers are rapidly running out of bandwidth and this means they have decided the best course of action is to cap users and slow their connections once they hit a certain threshold. Their other strategy is to just charge for bandwidth being used.

This latter method of charging will eventually lead to data use bill shock. This means we can expect to see the viral spreading of news related to parents being faced with a $5,000 bill because their child viewed 2,000 YouTube videos in a month.

There is nothing worse than that nail-biting feeling you get when you try to end that important video call before your carrier starts to throttle your bandwidth

So without further ado, here are the top 7 losers who will be hurt by wireless bandwidth caps:

Cloud vendors – all of them. Regardless of business model, you will soon start to lose one of the fastest growing markets you have – mobile users. The carriers will tell you that a small fraction of users are hogging most of the bandwidth but that just may be because the majority of users have slower devices and/or haven’t discovered the really bandwidth hungry apps which they will rely on in the future. And we know that most users aren’t on 4G yet – when they do migrate they will use more data, more quickly. You want me to name names of companies who will be hurt? OK, Amazon EC2 – as so many other services rely on the leading ecommerce and cloud hosting site as well as Dropbox and of course iCloud.
Desktop sharing companies like OnLive Desktop, GoToMeeting, LogMeIn, etc. Much of the appeal of using these service has to do with working remotely and having the full functionality of being in the office. To some degree, these services actually minimize bandwidth use because if you download a huge photo and view it – you only see a compressed rendering of the photo on your tablets screen. This of course will all change because as screens get more resolution, the amount of bandwidth use will grow.
Video Streaming companies such as Hulu, YouTube and Netflix are obvious casualties – and as more tablets are sold, the problem gets bigger. And yes, video is a huge bandwidth hog.
Audio Streaming Companies like Pandora, Spotify, etc. Sure audio consumes less bandwidth than video but with streaming radio – users have a tendency to just set it and forget it.
Social networking sites to some degree have an issue but for many functions such as tweeting and/or posting status updates which don’t include video, limited bandwidth shouldn’t be an issue. But one has to wonder about how the ecosystem of apps which enrich social networks – let’s say Twitpic for example could feel a slight pinch because users may be afraid to do anything which bandwidth-hungry because they may exceed their monthly allotment of bits. Graphics-rich Pinterest may see some pain as well.
Apple could potentially have a problem as well but the company does seem to be immune to most challenges which should hurt it like the advent of $199 tablets. The challenge for Apple is newer devices tend to have advancements screen resolution – in fact the next iPad is rumored to be called the HD, not the iPad 3. Guess what? All those pixels need to be filled with information and the more pixels you have, the more bandwidth you suck. The same is of course true for Google, Motorola, Samsung, HTC and the rest of the market. Smartphones aren’t immune to this problem either so a Samsung Galaxy Note just went from a device which can straddle the smartphone/tablet market to one which could cause users to go over their data plans more quickly.
Finally, corporations have the most to lose as they purchase all these fancy tech tools for their workers with the expectation of ROI which is usually calculated based on stable metrics. And now users are going to be in a situation where at a certain point, their telepresence calls start to have jitter and latency because they are over their bit allotment for the month. And the issue will be difficult to predict in advance as a Slingbox user could eat up a month’s worth of bandwidth in a week or even a few days.

In short, bandwidth caps may cause great pain for users over time and wireless carriers should be very careful as their policy changes begin to change end-user behavior.

Off to MWC 2012 Next Week

2012-02-23T19:34:46Z

I've got lots on my plate this week before I take off to Barcelona to attend Mobile World Congress (MWC) - which was once called 3GSM. I've got great meetings lined up and I am very interested in seeing what is happening in the world of 4G, white spaces, M2M, tablets and smartphones. Apple won't be there - formerly anyway so I consider this event to be kind of like the anti-Apple confab. Interestingly, all the major events I attend these days are devoid of the iconic Cupertino brand as well. It doesn't seem to be hurting them does it?

Yet face-to-face events like this one are crucial to get the word out and generate buzz around brands which don't have the Apple halo. Companies that will really need to shine this week include Microsoft, Nokia, RIM, Samsung, Google and HTC.

I will be sure to keep you posted as I travel to the show (www.tehrani.com)- you can also follow me on Twitter at @rtehrani. In addition the TMCnet Mobile World Congress news page will give you access to articles written by 100+ TMCnet contributors.

These are some of the MWC stories produced so far today:

Blackberry PlayBook OS 2.0 is Good But Late

2012-02-22T22:31:19Z

It is clear that the Blackberry Playbook OS 2.0 upgrade which includes a first-ever email client needed to be perfect. After all, we have been waiting for this major release since May of last year. Sadly, it isn’t all it should be. It is however much better… The integrated email client is a great improvement over web-based email solutions users were once forced to use. As TMCnet’s Amanda Ciccatelli points out, the new OS allows integration with Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and multiple e-mail accounts.

The good news is connecting to a corporate email account without BES was very easy. I just entered my email address and password and it synced up to our Microsoft Exchange Server immediately, filling in the necessary information such as the server address, port number, SMTP port, SMTP encryption and other information I didn’t have to be bothered with. This isn’t generally the case with other wireless devices I have connected to our email. Interestingly though it gave me an error once the info was filled in but on a subsequent retry it worked perfectly.

What is surprising however is the email client doesn’t always seem to be capable of performing real-time email display, meaning if you watch emails come into your PC live and look at the Playbook you realize they aren’t there on the screen.

On two out of three occasions I noticed this problem but on one out of three the syncing was perfect. Hopefully the issue goes away permanently. It is worth noting that a Windows Mobile device I had some years back had a similar challenge from time to time.

Other enhancements have to do with better syncing between your Blackberry smartphone and tablet – great additions to people who can’t live without their handheld RIM devices. In addition, the predictive next word completion and auto correction have improved and there is better productivity and management software as well.

You can even run specially modified Android apps – another major plus for people feeling app envy.

The challenge for RIM in my opinion is this device is good but not good enough to steal users.

Four years ago a tablet that worked seamlessly with a Blackberry smartphone would have been killer but now the appeal of these smartphones has decreased and has been replaced by the public’s desire to have an iOS or Android gadget.

But then again, pricing for the Playbook is less than half of what it once was at $225 for a 16GB version up to $329 for a 64GB version.

And in many ways with two cameras the PlayBook is far superior to the Amazon Kindle Fire which comes in at $199 and includes a year of Amazon Prime service.

But the challenge is momentum is on the side of Amazon in the seven inch tablet race. Moreover RIM not only missed the move to touchscreen devices they also missed the move to the consumerization of IT.

Point being, the entertainment options available to the Kindle Fire – from music to movies make it a better device for users who are looking for more than just a work gadget – something that they can not only use for email but also to watch a movie.

Still, the Playbook is a solid device – and as a corporate tablet is a great choice due to the better security and management options than most other tablets on the market.

The 2.0 upgrade is very good but also very late. And in my experience an OS update isn’t enough to sway market momentum. Especially when for the most part it is a catch up update.

Update Feb 22, 9:09 pm: I am having a tough time getting the PlayBook to sync with Yahoo email. It will sync with Calendar and contacts just not email. I certainly hope this is a Yahoo problem and not the PlayBook but after 25 minutes of trying and rebooting this device it is getting frustrating.

The Only Way Google can be Successful in Consumer Electronics

2012-02-10T14:25:30Z

Yesterday I detailed how Google IS the tech news of the day and folks, this search leader is ambitious – more so than Microsoft ever was. In addition to a Dropbox killer and massive Google+ growth I outlined in this recent post, the company is also getting into the home entertainment business through its Motorola Mobility acquisition. Specifically Google will release a self-branded line of consumer electronics allowing you to stream music throughout your home.

Google already has a cloud-based music service so obviously there is synergy there but the only way I see this strategy working is by Google doing things differently.

My loyal readers know I am a fan of Sonos – they sell an in-home audio streaming service which integrates with Slacker, Pandora, Sirius/XM, Spotify and even integrates with iOS devices and iTunes libraries stored on computers. In-short, you have access to all your music and favorite radio from any room. But Sonos products although they are great, are not cheap. The company’s Play:5 for example will set you back $399 and the company’s Bridge which you’ll also need adds another $49 to the total.

Sure this is cheaper than wired alternatives but at just over 1,000,000 rooms the company has a long way to go before it becomes the audio equivalent of Apple.

Moreover the palindromic Sonos taps into existing ecosystems – it doesn’t get involved with them. In other words you have the option to pay for the ad-free or premium versions of each radio service you are interested in.

Google execs woke up today and realized Apple’s market cap just surpassed the combined value of it and Microsoft together. It understands the ecosystem is the future. And Google’s strength is selling ads.

What this means is that Google needs to have its own streaming radio station and moreover needs to get into the radio advertising business again – the last time it tried it had disastrous results but I would liken this sort of radio ad model more similar to YouTube than traditional radio advertising. All of this is great news for Google because they excel at on-demand as opposed to real-time ad selling – for the moment.

So what I see Google having to do is integrate radio ads into its music streaming service but more importantly it needs to one-up Siri by speech-enabling all the devices in the house before Apple beats them to it. Remember that in December of 2009, Apple purchased streaming service Lala and at the time I surmised it was to Get Apple into the in-home streaming business.

The race is on.

Back to Google – it obviously would want to integrate Google+ into any of its new offerings allowing users to share the music they are listening to, the programs they are watching, and everything else.

Sonos for its part has nearly-perfected home audio. Google should think about picking them up rather than reinventing the wheel. Moreover, if Google is really serious about this market it should consider an acquisition of Bose – if the privately-held company would consider such a deal. That way it could have an established brand with retail stores which will allow it to go head-to-head with Apple in malls worldwide.

So I see the only viable future for Google in home entertainment being a subsidized model like the Amazon Kindle Fire. It is just unclear if advertising will generate enough revenue to offset the hundred dollars or more I believe the company will have to discount each product to gain the massive traction it needs in the market. As we know, Google hasn’t been successful in retail and Motorola Mobility has had some moments of brilliance in the past but got its teeth kicked in by Nokia, RIM and Apple.

The Kindle Fire model – “we will give you an awesome deal” is the only one I see working here. The question is can the company really monetize this hardware effectively? Time will tell.

Need a New Car? Win a Mustang at ITEXPO in Miami Next Week

2012-01-27T15:48:11Z

I think I may have one of the best jobs in the world. I admit it is a bit ADHD-inducing as I get involved in lots of areas from new media to the latest technologies in the market as I run this major media company which is TMC. Not only do I get help influence tens of millions of people online I also get to host live events where I meet many of the readers who frequent my blog and TMCnet - the main web portal of TMC where I am CEO.

But the most exciting part of my job comes twice a year when I give away a car to an unsuspecting attendee at ITEXPO. Next week - Friday Feb 3rd at 1:45 pm at the Miami Beach Convention Center, I get to give the next car away and it will be a Ford Mustang. In order to be eligible to win you need to pick up a card at registration and get it stamped by all the sponsors of the car giveaway.

Thank you sponsors for making these giveaways possible. If I were an attendee at a show I would want a mix of solid education, a chance to network with peers, see the leading exhibitors in the space but also to have some fun and that is what events like our various receptions and giveaways are supposed to provide.

The TMC team and I look forward to hosting you next week. Thank you all in advance for coming to our event and hats off to the TMC team who is managing not only ITEXPO but a host of collocated and unparallelled events such as Super WiFi Summit, MSP World, our SUITS technology patents event, M2M Evolution, Mobile LATAM, HTML5 Summit, Cloud Communications Expo, The Channel Vision Expo (CVx), Business Video, Asterisk 123, 4GWE, StartupCamp5, Avaya Tech on Tap, the Blackberry Hackathon, SIP trunking workshop, business development workshop, telecom reseller week, to name a few.

http://itexpo.tmcnet.com/sip-trunking-workshop/miami/

A Dream for Alan Harper - iPads Do Increase Chiropractor Visits

2012-01-26T19:26:48Z

When the iPad was released I penned a piece titled iPad Neck – Ouch! Because I had such a neck ache, I had to see a chiropractor. Just over a year and a half later I came across a report on TMCnet which explains that yes, indeed, I am not alone. Researchers have found that prolonged use of tablets as opposed to desktop computers has led to not only pain in people’s necks but their shoulders as well.

The reason has to do with how the screen is positioned. With a desktop or laptop your head is generally up, facing forward as opposed to when you use a tablet and your head is tilted down. This is similar to reading a book which you put on the desk directly in front of you. But the book can be lifted – a tablet has to stay in front of you when you type.

What I can tell you is that my chiropractor was very happy with Apple and I was one of a few patients she was working with within a few weeks of the release of the iPad 1. And with the news that Apple sold more iPads than any computer vendor sold computers, we can expect the chiropractic business to do well for years to come. Do the writers of Two and a Half Men know about this by the way? At this rate Alan Harper will have more money than Walden.

Much to the dismay of Mr. Harper however – researchers advise you not use the tablet as a computer replacement – because if you do, you may potentially end up in a seedy chiropractic office in the San Fernando Valley.

ITEXPO East 2012 Miami Schedule

2012-01-25T20:49:34Z

One of the most frequent question I get regarding TMC’s ITEXPO which takes place next week in Miami – is with all that is going on – how do you make a decision as to which parts of the show to attend. Truth be told I believe the event and its collocated conferences and educational sessions rivals just about any other tech show in terms of education.

Some of the hot topics to be discussed include not only general communications and technology but 4G wireless, mobility, Asterisk, open source, business video, the channel, cloud computing and communications, HTML5, Mobile Latin America communications, M2M, technology patents, the MSP market, Super WiFi/white spaces and much more.

The following is a list of important details you will need to help navigate ITEXPO East 2012 Miami. I warn you – this is a subset of what is happening. To keep you posted on not only these items but other important events at the show please follow @itexpo on Twitter and turn on mobile notifications – it is pretty simple – just follow the menu below. Twitter also allows you to turn off notifications at certain hours in its settings tab.

Also, please download the show directory/guide (PDF) and read through it before you get there to get the most out of the event.

ITEXPO East 2012

January 31 - February 3, 2012

Miami Beach Convention Center

If you are staying at the Loews in Miami or a hotel nearby the best route to walk is down 16^th street making a right on Washington after a block. Most concierge personnel will tell you to walk down Collins which is longer and if the sun is strong may be a bit uncomfortable.

View Larger Map

Registration counters are located in the Hall B Lobby. This is the section of the convention center on Washington Blvd., closest to the show hotels.

When you arrive, proceed to the registration counter to receive your badge. You will need a photo ID.

SHOW HOURS

Tuesday, January 31

Registration: 7:30am – 5:00pm
Workshops begin at 9:00am
POST POTS Special Sessions: 2:00pm
Avaya Tech on Tap: 5:00pm

Wednesday, February 1

Registration: 7:00am – 7:00pm
Workshops/Sessions begin at 9:00am
Free Keynotes: 12:45pm; 3:30pm
Exhibits Open: 4:30-7:30pm
Free Networking Reception: 5:30-7:30 on expo floor - Sponsored by Broadvox.

Thursday, February 2

Registration: 7:00am – 4:00pm
Workshops/Sessions begin at 9:00am
Free Keynotes: 9:00-11:00am
Exhibits Open: 11:00am – 4:00pm
Networking Reception: 4:00pm
StartupCamp5, featuring keynote by Terry Matthews: 4:45pm
ITEXPO Party on South Beach - Mangos Tropical Cafe: 9:00pm

Friday, February 3

Registration: 7:30am – 2:00pm
Workshops/Sessions begin at 9:00am
Exhibits Open: 11:00am – 2:00pm
New Mustang Giveaway at 1:45pm – Must Be Present to Win

Updated schedule. Visit the show site for additional details

Keynotes and Special Sessions Schedule: (Open to all attendees)

Tuesday, January 31:

2:00 pm: Special Panel Session:

Post POTS Net Neutrality & the Cloud: From POTS to PANS

============================================================

Rumors of the death of POTS are not exaggerated. To build a new model for the future we have to determine the bottlenecks. Come discuss the impact of the cloud and the migration from end to end to any to any services; about supporting access and quality of service; about Net Neutrality and Privacy.

5:00: Avaya Tech on Tap Workshop and Networking Reception

=========================================================

Kick off ITEXPO East with a special pre-conference seminar and evening networking event, hosted by the Avaya DevConnect Program. Join Avaya and our special keynote speaker Judith Hurwitz, co-author of "Cloud Computing for Dummies", as we tackle some of the most challenging technology transitions facing IT organizations today, namely cloud computing and collaboration enablement.

KEYNOTES Wednesday, February 1:

12:45pm: Michael Rouleau, tw telecom
3:30pm: Paget Alves, Sprint
4:30pm: Timothy Wagner, Samsung Telecommunications America

KEYNOTES Thursday, February 2:

9:00am: Rick Whitt, Google
9:30am: Chris Swearingen, Senseaware, Powered by FedEx
10:00am: Dirk Gates, Xirrus
10:30pm: Julius Knapp, FCC
4:45pm: Sir Terry Matthews, Wesley Clover

WORKSHOPS at ITEXPO – Open to All Attendees

Cloud Business Development Workshop

Tuesday, January 31 - 9:00am

Larry Dillon and Michael Curry will co-host the first ever pre-show workshops focused towards new business development techniques for resellers, developers and cloud-based service providers.

Asterisk 123 Training

Tuesday, January 31 - 9:00am

Come get a well-rounded and informative introduction to the Asterisk Project. All are Welcome! Whether you are managing a team deploying an Asterisk implementation, evaluating potential replacements for a legacy telephony solution that's on its last leg, or just a general Asterisk "newbie" excited to learn what Asterisk is capable of, then this talk has something to offer you.

Sangoma Vega Training

Tuesday, January 31 - 9:00am

Sangoma Technologies will host a free full day hands-on training session teaching you how to configure and troubleshoot the Vega series gateways for use with IP-PBX and SIP trunking.

Blackberry HTML5 Hackathon

Tuesday, January 31 - 9:00am

Join us at the upcoming HTML5 Hackathon to discover how BlackBerry WebWorks takes HTML5 beyond the browser. We'll show you the power and simplicity of the new BlackBerry browser

Ingate’s SIP Trunking Workshop

Wednesday, February 1 – Friday, February 3

Attendees can earn a SIP Trunking Professional Certificate by participating in the Professional Development Program on February 1. Attendees can also earn a Unified Communications Professional Certificate on February 2.

Telecom Reseller Week Presentation Theatre

Wednesday, February 1 – Friday, February 3

Telecom Reseller Week provides you with a forum for you to learn about cutting edge new solutions you can represent, to meet with many new potential partners, and to study proven sales techniques to help improve your team's performance.

MPLS University

Tuesday, February 2 - 1:30pm

MPLS University is a forum for IT and business professionals to bring their questions about network reliability, always-on connectivity, voice, regulatory requirements, security, and cost control. Join us for two FREE live MPLS University sessions at ITEXPO to learn more about utilizing cloud-based solutions

StartupCamp5: Comms Edition

Tuesday, February 2 - 4:00pm

Featuring keynote address by Sir Terry Matthews

The incredibly popular StartupCamp networking event returns. This unique forum is for early-stage entrepreneurs to pitch their communications products or services to a discriminating audience of potential investors, media, bloggers and industry influencers. The event's fast-paced, "ready, set, pitch" format brings early-stage communications companies, developers, industry leaders and investors together to network and validate entrepreneurial pitches in real time.

4:00: StartupCamp5 Free Networking Reception

4:45: Introduction/Event Kickoff by Larry Lisser

5:00: Keynote Presentation by World-Renowned Entrepreneur Sir Terry Matthews

5:45: Startup Presentations and Judging

7:00: Networking and Voting

QUESTIONS?

Contact Frank Coppola (203.852.6800 x 131)

Thank you sponsors

Diamond Sponsor:

Digium

Platinum Sponsors:

AudioCodes
Sonus Networks
Sansay
Dialogic
Interactive Intelligence
Netxusa

Gold Sponsors:

abp
Adtran
Broadvox
MegaPath
USAN
888VoIP
Panasonic
snom
tw telecom
Sangoma

I really look forward to seeing you all at the show – it will be fantastic.

Update: My marketing team has a fancier version of this document which they send in emails after you register. It has web links and may be easier on the eyes.