Recently in Consumer Electronics Category

I just came across this web page with some important details on ITEXPO. I mentioned the keynoters in a recent post and I still think they are one of the best combinations of thought leaders in our space. Google Voice, Sprint, Digium, Polycom, Skype and Verizon Wireless are some of the companies you will hear from at the show.

In addition there are a full eight conference tracks you cannot find anywhere else:

• Business Communications Delivery Options
• Call Center
• Developer
• Enterprise
• HD Voice
• Service Provider
• Unified Communications
• Video Communications
• TMC University Microsoft OCS

As always, we poll the collective minds of the entire TMCeditorial team and industry when we put together the conference program for TMC events and I believe this is a major differentiator. It seems like just yesterday when TMC launched our first telecom event in Atlanta, GA but it was really 1986!

What I have learned in running communications and tech conferences for 20 years is that if you continue to give your customers unsurpassed value, they come back again and again for more conferences and bring others with them.

To all of you who have attended TMC events over the years - thanks.

I really think this next show in Miami - ITEXPO East 2010 will be our best to date and I am looking forward to welcoming you personally.

Here are more details on this can't miss conference.

You really don't want to be texting while driving if you command the $1.73 million Bugatti Veyron. You may have heard a man recently drove his into a salt water marsh. Oh, by the way, supercars and salt water don't mix. As it happens, other than coral, seaweed, sand and marine life, really not much mixes with saltwater and lasts to talk about it.

By the way, the driver said he was looking at a low flying pelican which is not pictured in this video - I believe this is slang in some areas for checking email on my iPhone.

The car was purchased for $1.25 million last month and has over 1,000 horsepower. After seeing this live video footage below (there is some understandable profanity included in the clip) I have to wonder - is there anything in the world these days which is not being filmed.

Perhaps more importantly, I wonder if paying so much money for your transportation makes sense when people like the cameraman above think you actually purchased a Lamborghini which you can get for about a fifth the money. I guess these are some things to ponder when you cash in your insurance check and go back to the local exotic car dealership.

Did I mention, Bugattis make great gifts for your favorite blogger this holiday season? 

If you don't think the Google business model of giving away as much as possible and subsidizing it through ad revenue is striking fear in the hearts of the tech world, you would be wrong. Even Steve Jobs seems afraid; you may be surprised to learn that Apple has filed a patent which has to do with showing ads in exchange for free entertainment. The patent specifically has Steve Job's name on it and specifies that users must respond to verify they are paying attention. It moreover details increasing levels of difficulty (a smaller and smaller box to click on, etc) of ad verification for the user, meaning you have an incentive to respond in order to show you are paying attention when you get a prompt to do so. Obviously this patent filing describes a user experiance which is very un-Apple like but perhaps the company realizes as I do that showing ads in exchange for entertainment, software and hardware is the natural conclusion of competition from Google.

Google already gives away gobs and gobs of free hardware in the cloud, why is a smartphone or laptop any different than massive amounts of hard disk space and processor time?

And in this perfect world dominated by ads, every hardware vendor is in trouble as they are effectively competing with free or as some call it, less than free.

If you think this idea is far-fetched, consider that Apple seems to have met with Admob, the mobile advertising leader a few weeks before the company was purchased by Google. Whether it made an offer is unknown but you have to imagine the company realizes, like Microsoft that advertising is playing a crucial role in the way technology is being adopted and Google seems to change the rules of the game on a daily basis.

What is unclear is how any of the players in the market will be able to combat the sheer advertiser ecosystem Google has already developed. This head start does not seem like it can be duplicated but with Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer all trying to figure out a way to compete, perhaps we will see more innovation in the ad market in the coming months and years. It makes one wonder if these three may be planning some sort of "we hate Google" ad summit with Rupert Murdoch and other newspaper heads in the near future.

You remember a while back I discussed how the real apple tax is the lack of Flash support from Apple? I further explained how virtually all websites with video have to create duplicate video formats for their content - Flash for most devices and H.264 for iPhones. It gets more complicated for a site like TMCnet which has a Flash-based media player which scrolls through article graphics when you visit the site. These graphics didn't show up at all on the iPhone and if we wanted anyone to see them on the world's fastest-growing smartphone platform we would be forced to reprogram the site.

Check out the red arrow for what I mean

Well we reprogrammed the site using jQuery/JavaScript and this allows iPhone and iPod Touch users to now see the feature graphics of the latest articles as TMC editors and designers intended. If you have any problems seeing the player on any devices/browsers please email our webmaster.

There is a wrinkle - my web team is also building some device-dependent mobile sites and at the moment, these mobile Safari browsers get redirected to a mobile site which is in the process of being  be improved.

To bypass being redirected to our mobile site just go to this URL - www.tmcnet.com/a.htm. The highlighted part is all you really need to remember. If you want the iPhone specific site without graphics and with rapid performance be sure to go to i.tmcnet.com and if you want our site dedicated to iPhone news not the device, go to iphone.tmcnet.com.

Warning - a bit of self-promotion ahead   and a discount - Guest Blog From Carl Ford

Dear Reader,

Welcome to the next generation of regulation- the one that will be focused on the Wireless device in your hands!

The FCC, in an effort to safeguard the free and open Internet, is looking to formalize and define the principles of network openness that would apply to all platforms that access the Internet as well as the carrier's role in enabling that access.

So now the question is "Can the concept of open be governed?" Does the FCC have a role in Apple's iPhone, even if AT&T is simply a transport partner?  Does Google have to consider itself a carrier because of the use of a phone number? 

Join us at 4GWE, January 20-22, 2010 as we discuss the very relevant topic of the next generation of net neutrality and the FCC's role in the companies, devices, networks and applications driving the 4G Evolution.

Todd Daubert of Kelley Drye, Rick Whitt of Google, Hank Hultquist of AT&T, and Glenn Richards, of Pillsbury Law join us as we discuss where the debate about Net Neutrality should end and what strategies companies should take to monetize 4G networks, applications and devices.

Register NOW For Early Bird Pricing

Don't miss this and other important discussions related to the communication industry's massive evolution to wireless broadband services. Register now for 4GWE and receive the price of $995 for a full three days of conference sessions, all meals and networking events.

Kind Regards,

Carl Ford

Co-Founder Crossfire Media

4G Wireless Evolution Community Developer

Recently I commented about how Verizon's doubling of its early termination fee to $350 makes sense as the company needs to keep investing in ensuring its network is the best in the US. I may be the only person who appreciates having a fee go up as evidenced by the noise from journalists which is not subsiding. One of my favorite writers and video producers, David Pogue of The New York Times comments today that Verizon is gouging and has a plethora of ideas the company can implement to save consumers money.

Pogue has the following and very interesting comment to share:

Why wouldn't it be a hugely profitable move to start pitching yourself as the GOOD cell company, the one that actually LIKES its customers?

Verizon has some of the best customer service in the country. It has the best network by far. Everyone seems to want to switch to Verizon if they were to carry the iPhone for example. This is because the company has made absolutely massive investments where the competition has cut corners on a relative basis.

So perhaps the most succinct question to pose is what is the cost of being on the best network, having the fastest data download speeds and the least dropped calls? For many, there is no price tag too high to pay for these features and parting with an additional $5/month for phantom data charges and even more for high termination fees is fair.

I look at Verizon Wireless like I look at BMW. Both tout relatively low prices to start. But if you purchase a 328i, metallic paint will cost you $550. Cruise control costs $2,400! Navigation (which Google now gives away) is $2,100, and 19" wheels will cost you over $5,000!

If you think BMWs make some of the best cars around, you hold your nose and pay. Ditto for Verizon Wireless.

Verizon has always been the most restrictive carrier around and they locked down Bluetooth on their devices for many years except for pairing with a headset. Likewise, GPS has been locked down on most devices unless you purchased VZ Navigator for a minimum of $9.99/month or $2.99/day.

But as a customer, these annoyances and high fees were balanced by consistent spending of billions of dollars on wireless and now fiber networks.

Users should keep in mind they can always switch to AT&T, T-Mobile or Sprint if they think Verizon Wireless service isn't worth the extra money.

In fact the massive defection away from Sprint shows consumers consider more than price when it comes to making phone/network purchase decisions. In fact, I would say from a pricing perspective, Sprint may be the most customer friendly company around. I would posit that if AT&T Mobility didn't have the iPhone, consumers would be fleeing from them as well.

The iPhone threw Verizon for a loop and as predicted it is getting clobbered because it did not have the foresight to work with Apple when it had the chance.

So now, the enemy of its enemy is Google and Verizon is allowing a number of new Android phones on its network. They will get a cut of ad revenue by doing this but they are giving up virtually all services which they used to be able to charge for. Google just gave away turn-by-turn GPS for example meaning Verizon can no longer charge $10/month for the same service.

Moreover, Google will roll out dozens of new services which will be ad supported. Verizon will not be able to launch competing services as we all know a carrier can't compete with a software company.

In a moment, Verizon went from being the most closed network in the US to perhaps the most open and there is a cost associated with this move. Again, this is all pro-consumer behavior.

In fact, it seems at this point Verizon has leapfrogged AT&T in terms of openness. Especially when you consider the restrictive policing of the App Store by Apple/AT&T. Anyone who has seen the rich applications and joyous battery-sucking multitasking available on a jailbroken iPhone understands how users are being penalized by Big Brother Apple/AT&T.

So the full question to those upset with Verizon's fees should be, would you pay more for the best network and the most open ecosystem where you can take advantage of the best applications and service values around without the worry of a nanny telling you what you can and can't do?

The author switched from Verizon to AT&T because he wanted an iPhone. For about a year he carried around a Verizon phone for voice and an AT&T phone for data but that proved cumbersome and now he experiences dropped calls and other network snafus which he didn't deal with on Verizon Wireless. He not so secretly despises the App Store Nanny.

TMC's latest gadget blog Gadget Inspector (get it?) kicks off with author Marisa Torrieri performing a video interview with a Verizon Wireless representative comparing the latest Droid phones - the Motorola Droid and the HTC Droid Eris. You can subscribe to her XML/RSS feed to stay up to date on the latest in the world of gadgets and consumer electronics.
 

HP is acquiring 3Com for $2.7 billion and there are a number of reasons for this move. First of all, it is obvious the tech market is hot and Cisco and other companies are optimistic about the future as evidenced by the pace of tech acquisitions which is reaching the pace of the glory dotcom days. Moreover, large companies with strong balance sheets are able to access capital if they need it, allowing them to more easily acquire.

3Com for its part is a company with a broad range of networking gear which HP needs to go head-to-head with Cisco. Specifically, 3Com focuses on the SMB space while the TippingPoint division focuses on Security and H3C focuses on large enterprise and is very strong in Asia. I was at 3Com's headquarters about five weeks ago and spoke with Anna Dorcey and John Vincenzo who were very high on the company's future.

You may not know this but 3Com has about 35% marketshare in China and a strong manufacturing base there, meaning their costs are low. Their go to market strategy is customer focus and value. 3Com has been a networking and communications value player for years but at the beginning of the decade, the company left enterprises hanging with a shifting strategy which enraged many resellers and customers.

Over the last few years, the company has improved its management and it seems unclear as why now was the time to sell. Perhaps HP gave an offer which was too good to refuse? Or perhaps company execs realize with the HP brand behind them, the company can raise prices and compete with Cisco and have fatter margins.

The worst part of this deal for Cisco is that we can expect the EDS division of HP to really push 3Com products at the expense of Cisco.

Also, if you are playing chess, you would imagine Dell and IBM are picking up the phone and having conference calls about purchasing Adtran and or Brocade as they are similar in product-line to Cisco and 3Com. Remember Dell just picked up a systems integration firm Perot Systems and the next step for them would be to add more products to their mix.

Other targets with substantial integration value worth watching are Plantronics, Polycom and Avaya.

While I am in the predicting mood, expect Cisco to pick up wireless backhaul vendor DragonWave or Ceragon in the near future as they build out their wireless networking strategy focused on wireless carriers.

But in the end, there are only a handful of tech companies who have shown they can acquire well. Oracle is best, Cisco is second best and IBM is good. HP is also doing pretty well in their area. It is early to predict how Dell will fare.

I am frankly surprised at the absolute pace of M&A activity but I should point out that this is great news for tech and telecom as it is a signal that companies feel confident about the future of the market and the growth in spending they anticipate in the future.

If you are interested in the Skype/Joost/eBay soap opera of recent months, be sure to check out this article from Brad Reese which shows a chain of emails between Mike Volpi and a number of other execs involved in the Skype deals as of late. You rarely if ever get a look at these sorts of communications and for that reason alone this piece is worth looking at.

First it was free WiFi on Virgin America courtesy of Google... Now it seems there is a mad rush to give WiFi away in lots of places such as airports and even Times Square. It seemed to first start with Mountain View, California - Google's hometown, where the search giant hung radios to "light up" the city with wireless internet. Then of course it was Virgin America and more recently, Google will be giving away WiFi at 47 airports for the holidays. Some of the larger airports included are Houston, Las Vegas, Miami, San Jose (no surprise), San Diego and Orlando. Sadly there are no New York airports on the list.

Not to be outdone, Yahoo! has announced that as of today it will provide free WiFi throughout Times Square for the holidays.

The trend is clear... Internet advertising giants are looking to extend their reach and they realize that the next frontier for growth is the mobile web. The best way to reach mobile web users of course is by providing something users really want. And free wireless broadband is likely at the top of the list.