The fact that FBI Director Robert Muller almost fell victim to an online banking phishing scam which he said was started with an authentic looking email should be very scary news for all of us. After all, this isn't a temp at the FBI, this is the person who is in charge of the organization we all trust to protect us from such scams. If we can't bank, shop and exchange goods and services online as efficiently as possible we all lose. While we should all be thrilled about the 33 arrested in an FBI phishing ring sting earlier this month dubbed operation "phish fry", there is a lot more work to do. We need a massive consumer education campaign, far better consumer protections and most importantly we need more stings and very strict laws aimed at online thieves and thugs as well as better international cooperation in bringing these people to justice.
Recently in Technology Category
Where is my Mobile Data?
An overwhelming amount of wireless, communications and tech news is the best way to describe the last few weeks. Perhaps one of the most important nuggets is a catastrophic loss of T-Mobile USA Sidekick customer data and if you have one of these nifty little gadgets, be aware the wireless carrier asks that you not reset it. This issue highlights the problems with SaaS and cloud-based services. Google, thought to be the gold standard of hosted data companies has suffered outages and so have Amazon and Salesforce.com. The one constant here is cloud-based services seem to be as error-prone as CPE equipment which makes sense. If it can better, it will gain a larger share of the data center pie.
Android is Everywhere
But for Google, cloud computing is just one of many projects they have their hands in. Last week at the CTIA show in San Diego I witnessed Google Android everywhere... Android has even caused Verizon to start getting along with the search leader. And you wondered why that Nobel Peace Prize was awarded. 
At the same time, Microsoft rolled out Windows Mobile 6.5 and this platform is just not cutting it as it is tired and old. Once upon a time I marveled at this OS but then again I did the same with my Commodore 64 back in 1982. Yes it's getting better, but I used it myself and wasn't too impressed. One thing for sure is the web browsing on an iPhone 3GS seems to be far superior to either competitive mobile OS.
Will a Mobile Search for "Microsoft" Show Results?
The scary part of this equation for Microsoft has to be that they are in danger of losing the mobile device OS race altogether. And this is where Google and Microsoft will tell you the future of search is. In fact, Google is looking to tightly couple search with mobility in a way which will offset their inability to effectively compete with the sheer slickness and elegance of the iPhone.
AT&T Hates Google and Apple Learns From Decades of Defeat
Two points worth mentioning are that AT&T may be distancing itself from Google (hint, they aren't friends) and moreover, Android has some challenges ahead of it - primarily figuring out what Android really means in a world where open source platforms are able to grow in various and competing directions quite rapidly. The problem of course is for users and developers looking to easily roll out apps across a broad range of platforms which are all supposed to be equivalent. In reality they aren't and developers have to deal with individual phone models when programming for Android. The process is not as easy as it should be. Finally the concept of Apple owning the hardware shows how this can be superior to the open hardware scenario. Sure, it can cost more for non-open hardware which is controlled by a single provider but Apple seems to have learned from its experience of getting kicked in their rear by Microsoft in the eighties. They have realized it makes sense to price mobile devices reasonably (or have the carrier chip in as needed) so they can profit from software and music. Back in the eighties when we were all listening to Journey, Apple didn't get a cut of every piece of software on their platform. Now (what do we listen to nowadays?) they do. So for Apple, they have to be price competitive with their phones as they make it up on the backend.
Microsoft's Acquire or Die Mobile Strategy?
Going forward, Microsoft has its work cut out for it if it wants to be a major player in mobile search. After all, they are losing share and quickly in the mobile world. It seems they need to try and pick up Nokia and/or RIM and tell those pesky regulators this is the only way they can compete effectively with Google Android.
Why Develop a Revenue Strategy, We are having too much fun Prematurely Aging Ballmer?
Then again, some will point to the fact that Google hasn't figured out their mobile search strategy - and to some degree they are right. But to me the model is pretty obvious. Dominate the apps and service market by giving it away and then experiment endlessly by showing ads in various formats until you find a way to make money without upsetting (too many) users or advertisers. This is not rocket science as Adwords was born in this manner and YouTube is the latest Guinea pig. Just recently in fact, the company started to insert ads in the Google Maps application of the iPhone. Of course this is likely the reason Apple decided to buy a mapping company - they either don't like the idea of the company behind Android profiting from their platform or they are interested in getting a piece of the advertising pie for themselves. Maybe both - stay tuned.
Spare some Change? Here's a Decade's Worth
The one constant in communications is change and more change. We have ourselves an industry where new paradigms are invented constantly and new competitors emerge from unlikely areas. All the while, existing players have to learn how to navigate alliances and competitive sets to emerge as credible and profitable players in a mobile, broadband and fixed-line ecosystem of dizzying complexity.
From where I stand, fewer things can be more exciting. But for the companies making the products and those looking to partner and purchase, try not to blink or you could miss major and ground-breaking news. This is not Internet time, we have gone to the next level - things are happening at optical or photonic speed. Boy is it exciting. I'll have more to discuss soon but for now I need to brew a fresh pot.
Some interesting stats from my interview today with Yahoo's Keith Saft are that from April of this year to now, the company has increased its markets covered from 17 to 32 and devices supported have gone from 400 to 1,900 leading me to wonder, do we really have more than 1,900 mobile devices in the world? Wow.
The video below goes into detail on Yahoo's mobile strategy and how the company differentiates itself in the market and where it thinks it will be able to generate revenue on the go.
While Yahoo! has absolutely amazing customer loyalty in many areas such as email and content such as financial and sports, I get the sense the company needs to be more aggressive in taking on Google in the mobile area. Still, the new Yahoo Mobile is a massive step in the right direction and I am sure shareholders hope the company will gain revenue-generating momentum from its success.
As you may know, I am traveling today in Southern California. Here are some things which have come up. IMS is growing in popularity again driven by LTE and other factors. I have heard this quite often and this is positive news for the market.
On a sort of unrelated note, AT&T Mobility voice quality in this area of the country is atrocious. While the wireless company has done wonders with improving its data speeds, local AT&T customers here tell me the voice service is getting worse. Just wait till the VoIP traffic hits.
Speaking of AT&T allowing VoIP calls on the iPhone over 3G, I have spoken to a number of developers who are furious with Apple over their app store policies. They submit apps, then get denied for no apparent reason and spend a day to reapply. The cycle repeats. They ask Apple for updates and don't hear back. I would imagine Apple has an overwhelming amount of requests for information about application rejections but this has got to be frustrating.
I wonder if Apple will loosen up their approval process as a result of what AT&T has just done. Does the company really want to have their reputation tarnished by playing Big Brother forever?
Overall, there is more cautious optimism in the communications and technology spaces. I saw this in Canada as well. Many people think tech spending will increase dramatically next year.
Before I forget, testing leader Ixia tells me they are shipping their K2 40/100 Gb testing equipment in large numbers. This tells us we can expect a slew of this type of equipment to hit the market soon - probably Q1 of next year IMHO.
Here are a few suggested titles of who should attend. Please feel free to forward this entry to the appropriate people in your organization and beyond:
- CXOs, VPs, Directors and Managers of Marketing
- SEO & SEM strategists
- Public Relations, Corporate Communications executives
- Brand Managers
I have been meaning to thank my tech vendors for a while - the companies which allow me to be as productive as possible on the road. I am going to be brutally honest and not sugar coat so brace yourselves.
Verizon EVDO - without this gem of a service I am not sure where I would be. I am able to upload 30Mb files in rapid-fire fashion as I perform video interviews worldwide. Moreover I am almost always connected to this service when there is no WiFi alternative. Amazingly, it is often faster than hotel broadband!
iPhone - Thank you Steve Jobs for reinventing the way a wireless phone works and in the process producing an environment where developers flourish providing applications which make the world a better place. In the interest of being honest, the lack of Flash support and multitasking for non-Apple apps is upsetting.
Verizon MiFi 2200 - All that you love about Verizon with the benefit of WiFi access.
Boingo* - A lifesaver when you have a few minutes to log onto a foreign WiFi network and don't want to establish an account. I have tested it worldwide and am happy with the service.
Dell Latitude E6500 - What an amazing laptop when it comes to battery life - but when it comes to Dell's ControlPoint Connection Manager which manages the wireless connections, this is the buggiest piece of crap I have ever used.
iGo AC power Adapter - they make a small and light adapter allowing me to power-up in the car and plane but it has lots of problems when it stops working from time to time. This is my third one in about five years and I am pretty fed up with its finickyness (Yes, I know that's not a word).
Plantronics** - I use this company's headsets in my office, on the go and even a stereo Bluetooth headset when I am in the need for great sound without wires. The company has solid products that are a pleasure to use. This was not always the case. They have evolved nicely over the last eight years.
CellPoint Flamingo Headphones* - Flamingos are the best wired headphones I have used from the perspective of staying in the ears. They are virtually impossible to shake out regardless of what you do.
Brookstone NXT flat-panel speaker - just plug it into a laptop or phone and play music from this device the size of stack of 25 postcards. It chews through batteries fast but packs the most sound for its weight and space.
Macbook Air - Great for presentations - people love this thing. The downside is it is finicky and I still haven't figured out how its keychain works.
Glance Networks* - One of the best services for screen sharing around... It doesn't have all the bells and whistles but is dead easy to use.
Targus Rolling Laptop Case - It works well, and takes a beating - carrying everything in this blog entry and more.
D-Link DWL-G730AP - This little gadget turns any wired connection into a wireless hotspot/access point. It works flawlessly and has been a pleasure to use.
Bose QuietComfort 3 headphones - they work great but are too pricey and should at least let you listen to music when the battery dies.
TomTom Go 740 Live - this GPS unit is not especially small or easy to read in the sun but it does let you connect to Google search and gives you real-time traffic alerts for $10/month. During a massive rainstorm it rerouted me twice in an hour and saved me precious time. It is a good, not great product which has proven to be more and less accurate than an equivalent Garmin unit. Its graphics are far inferior to Garmin. Also the connection with the base unit is flaky and not reliable.
Skype - Lets me talk to and see my family on the go - likewise with coworkers and colleagues. I hate when someone I don't know too well sees I am online and wants to have a lengthy chat discussion. Just because I am online doesn't mean I am not in a meeting, etc. Presence is not always accurate especially for me as I am always online. What I am saying is - hey, how about asking if I have a moment? Pretty please.
Google - Do I need to explain? I must search 100 times a day at least.
Remote Desktop - Microsoft Software which has saved my life allowing me to be as productive as possible on the road by "pretending" to be in the office. It hangs one out of a hundred times or so but otherwise it is great.
There is probably more but this is enough for now. Time to get back and put some of this tech to work.
The FTC has a new rule on disclosure of paid blogs/reviews with an $11,000 fine per offense so * denotes a free product/service and ** denotes some free products.
I applaud the FTC on this great idea which should reduce conflict of interest and wonder if they will move forward to ensure financial rating agencies, other government agencies and elected officials will have to play by the same rules as bloggers. I would love to know which laws are influenced by lobbyists and gifts on corporate jets for example. I am looking forward to seeing this happen but am not holding my breath.
With so much riding on Windows Mobile 6.5, you figured Microsoft would get it right. A tremendous headstart in the mobile OS game has been squandered as RIM, Apple and now Google eat marketshare like famished termites in a mostly foreclosed subprime neighborhood. I haven't had a chance to test Windows 6.5 yet but at least one reviewer says it sucks. This is not a good start for an OS many were hoping would be a serious competitor to the new entrants in the market.
Wonder what this news means for Windows 7.
On a recent trip to Canada I sat down with Mitel CEO Don Smith and President and COO Paul Butcher to discuss the company, industry and future. The dynamic duo is exactly that, mixing copious amounts of humor and friendly verbal jabs (this time at each other and not me ;) ) with frank talk about technology and marketshare.
Avaya Purchasing Nortel
The issue of greatest importance was the demise of Nortel and sale to Avaya, since both are Canadian companies with a similar tradition of great engineering.
Don and Paul explained off the bat that they are excited to see two of their biggest competitors Nortel and Avaya merge as they have 100% channel/geographic/product overlap (may be a slight exaggeration but at least 85% is probably a "safer" estimate) and the two companies hated each other for 100 years. They say they are getting calls from not only the Avaya channel but the Nortel channel as the combined channel from the newly combined company will make it more difficult for these resellers to compete for business.
Software, the Strategic Direction
I must say, Siemens was probably the first large PBX company to sit me down years and explain that they believe the future of the business is software. Of course this idea has been the holy grail of startups and small companies alike. Altigen, Comdial and Televantage were just some of the pioneers in this space from a decade ago.
But Mitel has always been a strong engineering company and they took the PBX-as-software concept a step further by integrating tightly with VMware. What's that you say? VMware doesn't support real-time applications. Well, it seems Mitel worked closely with VMware engineers to get real-time working on a virtualized system. Specifically Mitel Communications Director software and Mitel real-time voice applications can run on the VMware vSphere™ 4 platform.
From there Don explained how more and more meetings with CIOs include discussions regarding how an increasing number of data center applications have to live in a virtualized world.
A Bigger Shift Than IP
What the execs said next was perhaps the most important... They explained that the shift from TDM to IP while dramatic is really a lot easier than the shift from hardware to virtualized systems. This explains why in 2001 the company spent 60% of its R&D on software but today it is over 90%. The question I have is when will other companies catch up and will lack of virtualization support be a deal-breaker for CIOs??
Avaya Going Down Wrong Path?
From there Paul explained the model Avaya is using of increasing the price of hardware while reducing the price of software is unsustainable and it will be difficult for Avaya to shift back. While I did not have time to independently verify Avaya raising hardware prices, the New Jersey-based enterprise communications market-share leader has been lowering prices on software-based UC solutions in the hopes of greater adoption. Interestingly Iwatsu, a smaller player in the PBX space has been giving away some software features such as UC in the past year or so.
The Power of Virtualization
The incredible power of virtualization reveals itself when you realize you can have a single server running different instances of your communications software. Imagine that one division can have one version of the software while another division uses a completely different version. In addition, each division has autonomy while data center functions such as backups etc can be centralized.
Smith said at this point, "Multiple Instance Communications Director, it doesn't roll off the tongue but that is what it is." And with that, a new a new telecom acronym, MICD opened its eyes for the very first time. ;)
Vonage Not a VoIP IPO Killer?
It was widely believed that the Mitel IPO of a few years back as squashed because Vonage tanked so badly and the stigma would be associated with Mitel. To this the company replied the reason the IPO was pulled was that they were able to raise the money quickly without an IPO and moreover they had a short window in which to acquire Inter-Tel as the company's founder Steve Mihaylo was in competition for the Arizona-based enterprise communications company.
What's next for the Mitel? Well for the short-term it is trying to figure out the optimum way to sell VMware-based telephony. In a business where resellers used to distinguish themselves by running wires neatly, we have seen a shift in the skillset necessary to be successful. First there was CTI, then VoIP, IP communications (including video) and now virtualization is the latest frontier. Expect more interconnects/resellers to hang up their hats as the complexity level eclipses their skills. Filling this void is the new opportunity for the channel.
After my meeting, I spent some time in Sir Terry Matthews incubator-land (Wesley Clover is a Terry Matthews company which also owns Mitel) where a slew of communications startups compete for time, attention and resources. My wife tells me I have an obsession With Sir Terry but I would call it a fascination with a person who can launch and invest in so many companies and maintain such a successful track record. At this point, the man is a legend and companies he starts have a head-start in the world. But when I compare sir Terry to different legends in tech I realize while others merge and slash jobs, Matthews keeps launching new companies, creating new equity and incentivizing new generations to build new companies which hire the engineers, marketers and salespeople of the future.
Here are some videos of my experience. I am still not as smooth as Larry King - but I am working on it.
Over a year ago I asked, why isn't Skype showing eBay ads? After hearing eBay thought there was no synergy between ecommerce and communications I was too flustered to talk. I am still horrified that eBay doesn't realize the potential they have with Skype and seems to be in a rush to unload it. Two years ago I suggested a laundry list of ideas Skype should seriously consider. The company is implementing many of these slowly but to reiterate, this is what I said regarding advertising:
Show some ads: Let's see if I understand the situation. You have over 5 million users on your service almost every moment of every day. You need to increase revenue. Your answer? Show no ads. If I were eBay I would be flashing product listings in front of Skype users as often as possible. If this doesn't make sense, why not show Google ads like everyone else in the world? It is tough to see where this isn't a $100 million/year revenue opportunity - this amount may seem high but think about how long people use Skype each day and consider you can flash new ads in front of users constantly. Moreover, probably $90 million would flow to the bottom line. eBay's P/E ratio is currently about 40 so this amount of earnings could translate into about $3.6 billion in market capitalization. Not showing ads is something I can't conceivably understand.
Now the company is experimenting with click-to-call ads and you know what, it is about time. But again, if you own one of the largest ecommerce sites in the world and your existing business model is under siege from Amazon, Google and others and you have a weapon in your arsenal which gives you an unfair advantage, why sell it?
If the unloading of Skype isn't the basis of a shareholder lawsuit and/or there isn't a suit which suggests the company doesn't have a clue how to integrate two extremely synergistic companies, eBay execs should throw a party.
But then again, if Skype is partially owned by eBay and goes public, perhaps shareholders are all better off as eBay seems to not be capable of doing anything with it. Skype on its own or with new partners is potentially a lot more valuable than as a part of eBay. The move towards advertising by Skype is late, very late and should include regular click ads as well but better late than never.
