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Om Malik sums up the problems over at Joost quite well... The company is having a large round of layoffs and is losing the video war to Hulu and others. While Om explains all the factors which led to the company's demise such as their rapid growth, lack of focus and geographic distribution, I wonder if the biggest problem isn't the lack of intriguing or popular content (which he points out and elaborates on). The few times I used the service I was amazed at how little interesting content it had.

Personally, I would use an inferior service to view better content any day. I suppose many viewers would agree with me on this point.

A long while back Niklas Zennstrom mentioned that there could be a future tie-in between Joost and Skype. This may have helped a few years back but at this point it is too late.

Then again Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, Skype's founders still own some of the technology which runs the world's most popular internet telephony service and they have threatened to pull the plug on Skype. The impending lawsuit is even threatening the upcoming Skype IPO. Perhaps there will be a settlement which includes Skype/Joost integration?

One of the great things about this entry from Om is the list of mistakes Joost made. I recommend all tech entrepreneurs or those affected by technology read the piece so history doesn't repeat itself.

See Also:

Joost Changes Business Model

 

Broadband connectivity - it has become like air to me. I suffocate when I don't have it and the faster the broadband access I have, the better I feel. So when I enter a restaurant and the WiFi is on but locked I just go crazy. I have become so accustomed to having fast broadband access everywhere, I just can't understand when a restaurant doesn't provide it. Worse yet is having a WiFi signal with an SSID with the name of a restaurant and a locked signal.

Restaurant owners are better off leaving the ID as Linksys or Netgear or just making something up like "Have a nice day."

Recently my travel department was instructed by me that my flights must all have WiFi on them. That means I cancelled flights I would have taken on American Airlines and JetBlue in favor of Virgin America because with this carrier, WiFi is guaranteed. Of course this applies to domestic flights for now.

Yes, WiFi is now more important to me than frequent flyer miles. Who would have thought? Wow!

I see this trend eventually hitting restaurants. Already, TMC group lunches where work needs to be done typically take place where WiFi is available.

I just got my iPhone 3G S up and running and am blown away because as a power user - even using the new OS 3.0 on an iPhone 3G I had to wait 5 or more seconds for an email address to resolve. Multiply this by 100 times a day and you can imagine the frustration. I also was not satisfied with the browsing speed of the 3G with the 3.0 upgrade. The new S model is blazing fast compared to its predecessor. It is highly recommended.

Here is a quick video clip of traffic on I95

But if you want to know what the most important feature of the 3G S is, it could very well be video. You see this phone is not the first to shoot video but it does shoot great quality video and possesses a screen allowing an enjoyable playback experience.

If you track the rise of social networking the natural evolution of sharing everything via photos, video snippets and text is to share all aspects of your life via video in real-time. Also this will be done from multiple points of view. So I will be able to watch what happens to the left and right of people I track at all times. I realize how ludicrous this sounds but I don't care - I know it will happen. Oh, and the archives will be available forever as well. Data center owners must be salivating.

The iPhone 3G S which has video quality which rivals standalone video recorders could be one of the catalysts which moves us into this new world of always-on mobile social video. For more on the ramifications of video on the iPhone 3G S check out this article from Todd Krieger.

Better M&A, management and marketing skills always win the war

As Ron Gruia pointed out this morning, the Nortel fire sale continues and a once-great company with a market cap of $250 billion is effectively being sold off at bargain-basement prices. In fact NSN picked up the ailing Canadian company's CDMA and LTE business for about one times revenue or $650 million. At this rate the entire company will be sold off for a total of $2 billion. The silver lining in this dark news is that customers will be able to have a solid company behind them in NSN and thankfully at least 2,500 employees working in Canada, the U.S., Mexico and China will be able to maintain their jobs working for NSN.

As a show of support for the deal, EDC or Export Development Canada is throwing in $300 million toward an NSN credit facility - a full 10x more than the agency was willing to commit to Nortel!

For NSN the deal means a stronger North American presence and also they go from not having a CDMA business to becoming number two. They will have to work hard to maintain this business as Asian rivals are coming on strong. An additional benefit of the deal is a number of LTE patents, technology and expertise which will come in very handy as the world transitions to faster wireless broadband networks.

I have seen some surmise Nortel went down because of open source and the Internet and to some degree this is part of the problem. But perhaps the biggest problem at Nortel was failure to adjust to a market that moves faster than ever coupled with the inability to effectively integrate acquired companies. Some Nortel employees told me the company was too flexible with the companies they acquired and should have set tougher rules regarding integration.

The major take away from this ordeal is how a company with superior technology got beaten by other companies with inferior technology but better M&A, management and marketing skills. At the end of the day the products are important but as Nortel continues to show us, having great technology alone does not a long-term successful strategy make.

There is so much fanfare about the Apple iPhone 3G S so I went to the Orange store here in Nice, France to check the lines. It was slow and steady with people coming in and asking about the phone during the 30 minutes or so I surveyed the store. The phone itself is certainly faster than the standard 3G model with an upgraded graphics chip, processor and as a bonus, the procesore runs about 50% faster than the old one and there is more system RAM.

Having used the new iPhone OS 3.0 for about a week I can tell you it is much better than the old version allowing email push as well as landscape typing in email. I have noticed that the browser does not seem as fast as the previous OS and it takes longer to resolve email addresses when sending messages.

Other issues that need resolving include multitasking -- you still can't listen to music from the new Sirius XM app and respond to email for example. I also wonder why there is no spell check in email, why you can't set email priority, return receipt, etc. And what about storing files locally from email attachments?

I could go on but it seems that the device has such a cult following it doesn't need all the bells and whistels at once. Over time it will will improve and keep the competition on its toes. From where I stand the app store is still the biggest differentiator and RIM, Nokia, Microsoft, Palm and the rest need successful app stores to compete effectively with Apple. After all, you just can't compete with Apple if they are raking in money hand over fist from the devices and the apps. Just as the PC market showed us in decades past, its the Apps stupid.

I just learned that Microsoft will stop reimbursing employees for use of non-Windows Mobile devices. I had heard at a dinner with Microsoft employees at ITEXPO last winter in Miami that use of an iPhone at the company is an RGE or resume generating event. So I was surprised that there are iPhone and Blackberry users at the company.

What I find most interesting about the news is the fact that Microsoft has had such a head start in the mobile OS game... If Microsoft employees are not loyal to Windows Mobile, there must be a reason. As a user who carries two devices - one Windows Mobile and one iPhone, I can tell you that I use the Windows Mobile device less and less - I originally thought I would use it more because of the superior keyboard.

One other interesting point is that the well-written article I just read on the matter from Don Reisinger implies Microsoft is doing something smart with this move. I initially thought the opposite as eliminating the use of preferred devices decreases corporate productivity and increases resentment.

Here is an excerpt:

There's another element at work that isn't getting enough attention: company loyalty. Although there may not be anything sinister behind Microsoft's decision to stop reimbursing employees who don't use Windows Mobile devices, I do think it can be used to the company's advantage. There's something to be said for supporting the company you work for. In the enterprise, it's a common issue with companies that have poor morale. They're always trying to find ways to make employees happier, so they will spend more time investing in the company, instead of waiting for the company to invest in them. It's business 101.

So, now that Microsoft won't be paying for BlackBerry devices and iPhones, an imaginary line has seemingly been drawn: will you support Microsoft and use a Windows Mobile device or will you thumb your nose at your employer and buy an iPhone? If you want to support other companies, your employer won't pay. But if you do support your employer, your employer will return the favor.

It's an interesting move -- and one that the company probably won't admit to. But it makes sense on many levels. Microsoft needs all the supporters it can get in the mobile space. If its employees are invested in the technology, they will be more willing to do what they can to either improve it (if they work on that team) or promote it. It gives Microsoft a built-in marketing and product development arm that it might not have had before.

At the end of the artier Reisinger seems to agree that this is really not a smart move as he says:

And now all Microsoft needs to do is totally revamp Windows Mobile and make it relevant. That shouldn't be too hard, right? Ehem.

But I suppose he has a point and that is use your own employees as a sounding board to see what is missing from Windows Mobile and fix it. But in my opinion, the best way to accomplish this is to let the free market work. Let employees pick the best device for the way they work and learn from their comments on how to make a more competitive mobile OS. This after all is the best way to get real-world competitive research.

The much-anticipated Sirius XM Premium application for the iPhone is here and I had a chance to put it through its paces. The application is well designed, conforming to traditional design standards of an iPhone application. When you launch the program you are greeted with a variety of genres (called categories) from pop to showcase and upon choosing one you are greeted with a list of stations.
 

If you click on a station, it begins to play. If you click on the small arrow on the right portion of the station you are greeted with more information on the station and the name of the current song as well as the artist.

There is a pause button which I found surprising as the Sirius PC-based app only has a stop button. When using the pause button on a number of stations it seems it is actually a stop button masquerading as a pause button. The settings allow you to show blocked channels and add on-screen volume control.

This app is joins a crowded field of competitors from Slacker to last.FM and Pandora. Unlike Pandora and Slacker, this application works outside the US. So far I had a chance to test it in France.

The app is free and if you have a Sirius or XM account you can listen without having to pay anything. It is worth a download. You can get it here.

I have to admit I was impatient and when I learned I could follow some easy steps to upgrade to the shipping version of the iPhone 3.0 software before the June 17 general availability date -- I just had to try it. Of course it helped to have fellow TMC blogger Tom Keating there to step me through the process. You see Tom wrote a piece yesterday detailing exactly what you need to do to get ahead of the pack and be the first in your neighborhood to type emails on your iPhone in landscape mode.

The instructions are here but I should warn you that although the process is dead easy it can take many hours to go through the upgrade. It took me about six hours for the new OS to be downloaded, the software to be restored, the apps to be loaded, the podcasts to be downloaded and the photos to be synced. Then again I have thousands of contacts and photos and over 50 applications.

Apple has done a wonderful job of backing up and restoring the iPhone devices so OS upgrades are smooth. However, one past pain point of iPhone OS upgrades was having to reenter the WEP keys needed for secure WiFi. To my happy surprise I didn't have to reenter a single WEP key as a result of this upgrade.

So is the upgrade worth it? I have to say yes. The push email works great and the landscape keyboard in email makes typing on this device infinitely better. It is also less clunky when sending a URL to someone as in the past you had to switch from landscape to portrait when opening the email application for a send. In addition, when looking at a list of emails you can now tell which is a Cc, Bcc or direct send which is signified by a "To" symbol. Ironically there is no Bcc symbol meaning if there is no symbol you have been Bcced. This is an important addition to the OS as quite often mobile devices make it more difficult to know if you have been Bcced meaning users can accidentally reply to all without realizing they probably shouldn't.

There is also MMS support but this won't work on AT&T Wireless for now. Copy and paste is a much-needed function and works as advertised - the fact that one of the most advanced smartphones on the market "forgot" to add cut and paste sooner still baffles me and I am sure I will be telling my grandkids about it someday.

Spotlight search is another much-needed function - especially when you realize there is no way to organize applications, and is activated when you scroll all the way to the left from the home page. Searches will sift through contacts, programs, calendar, email, songs and other data on the phone but unlike the Palm Pre will not check the web if the device search comes back empty.

Voice Memos are a great addition allowing you to record your voice and send the recordings via email if desired. Third-party apps did this in the past but like many other operating systems, upgrades entail taking popular software packages and replicating their functionality.

The calendar has been improved as well with the ability to add repeating reminders but these are limited to fixed time periods like every week, 2 weeks, month or year. Ideally you would be allowed to enter recurring reminders for selected days - like every Monday or the first Wednesday of the month. In addition - what if someone wants a three-week reminder? You may think at first that they just don't have three-week recurring meetings in Cupertino... The reality of course is this was a design decision which gives most of the functionality you need in a clear and uncluttered interface.

Then there are calendar reminders... I would have preferred to have the ability to set a reminder more than two-days before an appointment and a version 3.0 upgrade would have been a great opportunity to add this option. Microsoft Windows Mobile has had this ability for years so there seems to be no technical reason to exclude such a feature.

Safari is supposed to be faster and it may be I haven't been able to verify this- likely because with push email turned on the device is constantly getting new emails so I am getting less processor for my foreground applications. I did check out the browser's ability to remember passwords - this worked out fine and is a welcome addition.

Internet tethering could not be tested because AT&T doesn't allow this functionality. I will be in Europe tomorrow and if the carrier allows it I will give this a try. I gave Bluetooth stereo a shot and found it paired with both the Plantronics Pulsar 590 stereo headphones and Sharper Image Bluetooth Speakers. For some reason the sound would not come out of the Sharper Image speakers but the Plantronics headset worked fine.

Other functions such as accessing multiple iTunes accounts, shake to shuffle, notes syncing, syncing multiple email folders and YouTube login were not tried. Remote wiping wasn't tried either for obvious reasons.

Apple took a very good phone and made it much better with this upgrade. Typing emails in landscape mode is a veritable pleasure compared to portrait and when you combine this function with cut and paste and push email the iPhone becomes a more credible corporate smartphone meaning Palm, Nokia, Microsoft and RIM have more to worry about.

So now heavy iPhone users probably don't need to be concerned about the keyboard as much as before but they will need to start thinking about spare external batteries. The reason is simple. The iPhone 3.0 is more usable and with push email and bluetooth stereo enabled, you can expect even less battery life.

It is worth explaining that Windows Mobile also drains battery life quickly for heavy email users in push mode. The alternative is RIM devices which do much better in push mode and are optimized in many ways to maximize battery life regardless of mode.

Should you upgrade? Yes. Should you do it early? That is up to you but you should be really happy with the new iPhone 3.0 software, it is a winner.

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We are in a time of unprecedented financial turmoil and it is apparent to me that productivity needs to increase to help us stabilize the job losses and hopefully get our economy back into growth mode. It is devices like the Pre which will in fact help corporations boost productivity tremendously. Improved communications flow is the lubrication economies need to operate at peak efficiency.

Palm Pre

It's been an event-filled couple of weeks with the rollout of the Palm Pre and new iPhone 3G S and the new 3.0 iPhone OS/software version. I did get a chance to use the Pre and am impressed with how much it reminds me of the iPhone but with more functionality - multitasking and a menu system which makes it much easier to switch between apps. I would venture to say the Pre design allows you to be more productive than the iPhone. Of course the iPhone has more apps (50,000 and counting) but you can run old Palm apps on the new Pre webOS meaning there are more apps available for the new gadget than you may have thought. In addition, the Pre webOS allows traditional web apps to run on the device meaning we can see many new Palm apps that won't take a great deal of time for developers to roll out.

The keyboard is another big differentiator of the Pre and most people have no problems using it based on my informal questioning at the event last week. Personally the keyboard was too small for my fingers and I had to use the fingernails on my thumbs to type. I do remember having to do this on an old Blackberry as well and I am sure over time I would get pretty good at typing on the Pre. Also it is a bit awkward to hold at first but Sprint employees assure me over time it becomes very comfortable to handle.

My informal tests show the Pre is not quite as fast as Safari on the iPhone at rendering web pages. But the flipside is the Pre is pretty snappy when you rotate it - the screen rotates more quickly than the iPhone. I also sense the Sprint EVDO network is currently faster than AT&T 3G.

iPhone 3G S (Yes -- looks just like the iPhone 3G)

 

So now that the new iPhone is out which device would I choose? First I should say Nokia, RIM and others have solid devices as well but for now let's focus on iPhone versus the Pre. Apple has now fixed a number of problems with the iPhone such as cut and paste, better search, MMS, landscape keyboard and there is now a video camera as well. So the choice is difficult. I would say the iPhone is still the winner for now. I despise the keyboard on the iPhone so you can imagine how good the rest of the device is for me to say the iPhone wins.

However it is worth pointing out that part of the reason the iPhone wins is because of the slew of apps on the market which run on the device. If the Pre can gain traction and wee armies of developers rolling out software which runs on it then it is possible I could be neutral on this race.

There is also the issue of the screen size. I believe every square inch of real estate is crucial on a mobile device. The iPhone is marginally larger at 3.4 inches vs. the Pre's 3.1 inches. The resolution is identical but the added real estate does help when playing games, reading and displaying menus.

One last thought is I am thrilled with the new Apple Find My iPhone feature which will prevent others from going through he lost iPhone ordeal my wife recently dealt with.

Although no one would go on record, my informal Q&A with people familiar with the matter leads me to believe the Pre will soon have a version with a larger keyboard which comes out of the device in landscape mode which will make it competitive with devices like those from HTC - the XV6800, G1, etc.

I should this comparison end by saying the Pre is very impressive based on my quick use of the device. I expect to explore it in more detail as time goes on and give you my feedback.