Yahoo Moves Widgets to the Mobile Masses
Yahoo has made headlines from its new mobile strategy, announced this week at CES. The details have been widely reported (see here), but the announcement is particularly interesting to me because it is the first attempt by a major internet player to provide a general purpose widget API designed specifically for the mobile [...]
Will 2007 be the Year that Ad Supported Phone Calls Take Off?
September 2007 may come to be known as the turning point for ad supported phone calls. No fewer than four companies have launched new services or received funding for business models that revolve around ad subsidized free phone calls.
Blyk, the UK MVNO that is perhaps the most well-known of the pack, went live on [...]
WSJ on Wireless Network Neutrality
Today’s Wall Street Journal had an interesting article (subscription required) on the current state of the wireless walled garden. It cites several recent clashes between handset vendors and cellcos over the extent to which consumers can use their phones to access non cellco content. Says the Journal:
At stake for consumers are what [...]
EU Tackles the Dumb Pipe Dilemma
Viviane Reding, the European Union telecoms commissioner, has a plan to hasten the adoption of next generation networking services. In an interview with the Financial Times, Ms. Reding stated that the Commission will consider the introduction of “functional separation” as a possible remedy for competition problems when it meets in July to review the telecom [...]
Will 3 Be the New 2?
A reader of this blog recently asked me how I differentiated between Voice 2.0 and Telco 2.0, terms that I apply liberally to this blog as well as to my conversations in general.
The answer is that Voice 2.0 – a term I first heard being used by Alec Saunders – refers to the next [...]
As Economy Strengthens, Wacky Names are Back
I came across a press release today about WIFi VoIP provider Mobiboo. While the story about Mobiboo (I can’t even type it without snickering) is interesting and warrants closer review, what grabbed me about the news item was the thought that offbeat names are now back in vogue. I recall reading an article [...]
PLDT UK to Launch Picocell Network While it Blocks VoIP at Home
I spend a lot of time in the Philippines, where PLDT is the dominant incumbent telco and Internet provider. Therefore it was with more than passing interest that I noted PLDT’s efforts to launch a private GSM network in the UK. PLDT’s UK subsidiary was one of 14 companies awarded a low power [...]
Orange Gets It
A recurring theme of this blog, and the principle on which Solegy was founded, is that applications will drive a new era of growth and dynamicism in the telecom industry. In a nutshell, applications will be available from many sources and will not be tied to the access network. In this application-centric [...]
More on Walled Gardens
There is a very good essay (ostensibly) in favor of walled gardens written by Morgan Holt on the Telecoms.com website (registration required). In essence the author argues that network operators need to ease the mobile phone using public into the world of Internet entertainment by creating an “interim” experience (ie. a portal). [...]