I just read an interesting article from Reuters on the level of interest of Europeans and having TV available on their mobile phones.  See: TV on cellphone screens? No thanks, say Europeans - Yahoo! News

Personally having had the Slingbox mobile client on my Motorola Q for the last year, I have to admit - TV on demand on a mobile device is pretty handy.  Besides killing time in line at the airport or DMV, it's been a great way to stay connected with the local newscasts while traveling.  When the Sabres were making their playoff run last year, I could draw a small crowd around my tiny screen to see the game live.

I've also had a Video-capable iPod for the last year and did spend some money on a few videos for long flights last summer.  In my mind I could justify the expense as "part of the vacation cost", but having to pre-meditate the purchase and download was a drag.  I'm not sure how many times I'll be doing that in the future.

The challenge is figuring out how mobile TV can make money here in the US.  After experiencing it for a while, I think it will happen outside the phone operator's domain.  Frankly - they make money on transport, not content.  The mobile operators will use mobile TV as justification for an expensive data plan that is required to use YouTube or other content providers, not on the content itself.

Will mobile TV change everything? Yes, but I think it will drive data traffic to ever increasingly capable mobile devices.  That's where the money is.

For those of you that have been following our "Break Free" campaign, you'll know that last month we launched our series of webinars and whitepapers on how SIP can be leveraged in a range of enhanced applications.  Our plan is to show how a number of common applications are built using SIP and MSCML to control media server and media resources.  This month we are going to take a closer look at the IP Contact Center.

Building Applications with SIP - the IP Contact Center
The legacy call center has gone through a metamorphosis, emerging as the IP Contact Center which replaces the PBX and separate IVR and ACD systems and merges email and instant messaging into a new architecture that integrates these functions, leveraging Voice over IP technologies. Whether the goal is to reduce costs in the existing call center, leverage inexpensive overseas labor or add Work At Home Agents (WAHA), IP Contact Centers provide tremendous flexibility to adapt to changing markets and labor resources.

By attending this webinar, you will learn how SIP can be leveraged as a key enabling technology for the IP Contact Center - delivering scalable and cost effective solutions while avoiding restrictive and expensive API development.

Wednesday September 26th at 2 PM EDT (11 AM PDT)

Sound interesting?  Well, we're going to sweeten the pot by giving away a Garmin navigator to one of the attendees of the live webinar, so be sure to participate in the live event!

Link to more information and registration page:
http://www.tmcnet.com/webinar/audiocodes2/building-applications-with-sip.htm

I'm back in the office and as promised, thought I would share some observations from this week at Internet Telephony.  While I spent most of my non-meeting in the IP Communications Conference - Conferences SIP sessions trying to get a pulse on where the attendees and vendors were with the current state of SIP.  A few observations:

Security - it is just starting to hit everyone that for the dream to come true of distributed enterprises, work at home agents, and other applications that will realize the flexibility of SIP - security will be huge.  Some of the conversation was a little too "there's a bogeyman in the closet", but most of it was very reasonable.  It's clear that SIPS (SIP over TLS) and SRTP are going to become "checklist items" for both enterprise and service provider applications.  Fortunately, we at AudioCodes saw this coming and support both on a wide range of products.

SIP for the sake of SIP - during the Contact Center session there was some heated debate on whether SIP has gone from an enabling technology to a marketing buzzword.  During lunch my table debated whether SIP was being overblown.  We likened it to SIP being the railroad tracks and transporting freight is the product.  A contact center doesn't have to have SIP to do all the distributed functions, but it does make it a lot easier for the solution designer to find standard parts that can quickly connected together (like rail cars in the metaphor).

SIP Trunking - as predicted, the SIP Trunking sessions were completely full and we could have used a much larger room.  The audience picked up on some interesting details with SIP trunking and hybrid applications using both TDM and SIP trunks.  The idea is that a SIP enterprise would start with TDM trunking via a gateway, then add an eSBC and SIP trunking to "test the waters".  This allows an enterprise the flexibility to move their traffic based on performance and "not put all their eggs in one basket".

Expo- I barely got an opportunity to walk the floor, but it seemed pretty busy with good traffic.  As you'll see in Tom Keating's blog, some of the vendors must have had some marketing money to spend in "non orthodox ways". 

Sunday was a busy day flying to LA for Internet Telephony in the LA Convention Center.  Flying to LA is always interesting - especially when you get upgraded and end up in first class.  The guy in front of me wore his sunglasses the whole way to LA, even in the dark while nother guy was clearly with his agent reviewing scripts.  (I was just catching up on my reading with a stack of BCR and VON magazines.)

My plan for Monday is to spend most of the day in the SIP track.  See:  IP Communications Conference - Conferences#SIP-01   I'll be listening closely to the other sessions and taking notes that I'll share later today and tomorrow.

I had an interesting experience today at lunch - for the first time since the new shiny iPhone was released, I saw someone exhibit "iPhone Shame" - that's the realization that in their rush to get the newest cool gadget, they really did overpay for their phone.  And even the manufacturer agrees!

This is how it goes:  Someone at the table notices the new iPhone and says "hey is that the new iPhone?".  The previously-proud owner says "yea" and pushes it under a napkin while everyone at the table thinks "boy I hope that poor sucker gets his $100 rebate"

Refunding half of the difference between the original and current price of the phone was a pretty stand up gesture, but the shame of others knowing that you got taken will last far longer.

Pain and pleasure on tech's cutting edge: IPhone's early adopters ride out price cut

Most of us are headed to LA on Sunday and time is running out for those last minute presentation preparations.   This week has included a flurry of conference calls with the various panelists, making sure that our logistics and presentations are ready.

I'm real excited about the session we are preparing on SIP Trunking:

SIP-04: “SIP Trunking From 10,000 Feet”

In discussions with the other panelists, there seems to be a general consensus that the market is really excited about the prospect, but confused and concerned about interoperability and security.  We've decided to focus on those topics and really drill down on how we plan to solve those challenges.

The other session that is taking my time is the Executive Showcase - without giving away the contents of the session, I'll just let you know that my good friends Doug and Hank will revisit us (from the January 2006 keynote) to give us an update on their development projects.

Off to the airport on Sunday afternoon - see you in LA!