VoIP Watch

Take 'Em Down

I can hear the music video now, playing in my head. The song is from The seminal New Wave band of the 70's, The Talking Heads, and it's "Burning Down the House" as the AT&T network goes down in tatters all around a bunch of stunned and wide eyed executives in Dallas and Atlanta.

Start by reading the post on Mashable. Then read the "Fake Steve Jobs" rant. Both make total sense.

While there's a ton of humor/sarcasm in the FSJ post, in reality the points all hit the mark. So, do you wonder why Apple and Google both are both lobbing laying down tracer fire at the FCC with their current antics? Do you question why Skype doesn't want to be called a telecom company? All three are doing all they can to distance themselves from the likes of AT&T....and for good reason.

Google StreetView Goes Inside

A few weeks ago at the Intercontinental Hotel in San Francisco, CA I spied the Google StreetView team taking photos outside of the hotel while I was waiting for a colleague.

Then a few minutes later the photo crew was wandering inside the lobby with tripod and cameras taking photos of INSIDE the hotel.

Is this something that's due up next for StreetView? Or is Google about to debut, what I'm calling InsideView? How will that be for you?

Google Takes A Page Out of Best Buy's Playbook

Everyone who knows consumer electronics knows that in the USA, BestBuy is considered one of the savviest of retailers around, ranking up there with WalMart. So it's not a surprise to me that Google has taken a page out of the BestBuy playbook that basically broke the price controls, ludicrous terms and changed the personal computer industry around. That's what Google is aiming to do with the GooglePhone.

The time was 2002, and BestBuy decided it had had enough of Toshiba, Gateway, IBM and other brands who were pretty much in control of the personal computer industry. Their response was a Porsche designed laptop, that had just about the best of everything, and at a very favorable price. Dubbed the VPR Matrix, there was one model ever made, and in its day, both its styling and performance rivaled and out shined just about everything on the market.

When BestBuy did what they did, about the only innovative PC manufacturer around was Apple (does that sound familiar?) Google, like others in Silicon Valley, and around the globe are fairly tired of the antics of the carriers. And unlike Nokia, who is back playing ball with the carriers in hopes of better market share in the USA, Google is saying-the heck with them. What Google is saying basically is "customers pay for a pipe from you" to the carriers. You supply transport, and we'll do everything else.

The everything else is services. And services like VoiceMail and transcription GoogleVoice has covered. So while the mobile operator delivers voice mail that you have to dial into hear (running up your minutes) GoogleVoice give you options. Where the carrier charges for SMS, Google gives it away for free. When it comes to apps and applications markets, Google is rapidly transforming it's entire suite of applications to be mobile centric. Maps now does all that previously high priced GPS devices did on the Android. Other services like Picasa are being optimized for mobile use with greater simplification.

Here's what I think Google is seeking to do:

1) Drive more use of Google services, starting with Search

2) By driving more use of Google, they sell more ads and deliver more impressions

3) Provide Equal Access-Break the monopoly in the long distance arena that the mobile operator basically has as for the most part, all LD calls go over the carriers network as mobile phones do not have equal access to any choice of carrier. This goes beyond the call though and applies to Voice Mail, SMS, etc. Imagine if your could pick the best provider for LD, Voice Mail, SMS, Contact backup, etc. This will all happen as a result of GoogleVoice, Mail, Gizmo, Picasa

4) Even more, imagine if you could pick you preferred data provider. You may want voice over an MVNO, but your data over only WiFi when you're at home or in the office. The Android can be a very smart phone

5) Be manufacturer agnostic. Android will be Android on all devices, and will function that way.

6) Allow users to SIM swap as they go from country to country, but not worry about their services as they will always be there for you when you log on.

7) Make your Google identity--your GMAIL address, the one key to all your online activity

8) Sell you more of what you need online through the Google Android Market, using more of Google Check Out

9) Be carrier agnostic. Google doesn't care who you use to get to them. They just want to make it easier to get there.

Let's see how all this shakes out.

Here are some other stories on the subject of the Google Phone:

TechCrunch

Engadget

Wall Street Journal

Short Takes on VoIP and Mobile

Rumors have Texas based VoIP provider iCall being bought by Apple.

A new VoIP service that works with mobiles including Nokias, Windows Mobile and Blackberry is out. It's named Spokn.

The Google Phone is sounding more and more real everyday.

AT&T network is fastest.

AT&T Mobile/Wireless - In Spin Control Mode

Let's face it, AT&T made an error two years ago and miscalculated what the iPhone would mean. I don't mean that people inside AT&T didn't know what would happen. They did. Executives inside the mobile division expressed that it would take at least seven billion dollars to double the capacity of their aging mobile network. Now, AT&T has begun the spin control because their network is not keeping up with demand. This has zero to do with technology. It has to do with greed.

When the original AT&T sold it's mobile network to Cingular, those AT&T cities/markets were already well on their way to 3G and in a dead heat vs. Verizon and Sprint for a real next generation network. It was the rest of Cingular that wasn't. Who owned Cingular? Bell South and Southwestern Bell, two RBOCs that were run like old line telcos, with the occasional flash of "we're gearing up for the next ....." type of statements. Both covered large parts of the USA, but other than a few sacred cows, like Houston, Dallas, Miami and Atlanta, for the most part, the territory they covered could care less about the wireless data boom that was coming. Or so they thought. Their mockery of recognizing the digital divide is outrageous. Instead of saying, let's do what's best, and take the short term hit, by building out a real 3G network, with enough capacity to handle growth everywhere, the chose instead to pick pockets of market areas, and even there, they missed.

The revelation about San Francisco is only shocking if you never tried to get anything done in that city. Government moves like molasses. Planning takes years. AT&T could have leveraged the idea of WiFi very quickly in SF, but instead was more concerned about selling old style 1.0 era DSL. Instead if installing fiber as Verizon is doing across their footprint, AT&T developed the next generation of long range DSL, named it uVerse and are trying to fight the cable companies on one front, while doing their best to battle Verizon Wireless on another. How could the AT&T veterans from PacBell not know how long it would take to wade through all the red tape to get better locations for bigger and faster cell sites? How could the AT&T engineers not realize that backhaul was going to be an issue, when companies like Firetide have been screaming that story at them and the rest of the tech world for a few years now. How can they as a company, who buys from Cisco and other giants in the technology plumbing business, not understand that they were going to have a capacity issue? They did and they went into self denial mode.

These spin control statements at investor conferences are designed to shore up the confidence of the investors, and the analysts. But when you read between the lines you can clearly see that they royally screwed up. Misjudged the market by a country mile and are now asking their customers to pay for their mistakes.

What I don't understand is this though. Why can other nation's operators who are all offered the same equipment, software, hardware, infrastructure components, and so forth, all build a working network without the hassles and AT&T can't in the same number of years? To me, the answer is simple. As AT&T has rolled itself back into what it was before, one giant phone company, the vision of break up, divestiture and the future was erased. Instead of rabid competition, we have a limited choice of options. It's time for the FCC to step in and become the playing field leveler. Take some things away from AT&T, create a hotbed of competition, and open up the airwaves. Start by trimming their lobbying efforts. Then, hold them accountable for their intentional misdeeds. Lastly, give more power to those rising, by fostering a climate of change.

By the way. The same decision makers calling the big shots for wireless, are those same folks who stopped bringing you CallVantage.....maybe not in name, but in culture, inside the company upbringing and philosophy.

Send It To My Kindle

As device divergence grows, and the Amazon Kindle, is clearly the first market for an ecosystem to develop around on, we'll see inventive ideas come to life. In this case, it's a whiteboard capture and send to Kindle technology that GigaOm's Kevin Tofel has discovered.

Aimed at the education market, initially, I can see this being a huge piece of technology in the business sector as well, and very quickly. Why? Kindle apps are already on the iPhone and on PCs and Macs. These clients allow Kindle formatted content to be read and reviewed on more than just the Amazon device. Right now, services like Evernote rule this space, where you snap a photo with your mobile device and then can send the photo to their server as well as to others. Well imagine with KindleShare ( a made up name) how you can move these files not only to YOUR kindle, but to other peoples. Since Kindle data resides on the Amazon cloud, this won't be too hard to fathom.

But the reason I see this as so good for the business market, as well as the education market is everyone I know loves to use a whiteboard for presentations, but the capturing of the data is the hard part, with sharing of it on a consistent basis even harder.

One last reason this is so big. It creates a new file format that rivals PDFs for images. Think of what that does for Amazon.

AT&T Mobile Puts Crowdsourcing To the Test

If you have a campaign that is based upon "more bars in more places" and have made claims about "fewest dropped calls" then you better know where your problems lie.

That's the idea behind a new iPhone app from AT&T, called "Mark the Spot." Personally, I would have named it "DropZone" as that defines what it really marks or "HoleFinder" as coverage hole is the term that has been around the longest.

It works as advertised, and I just reported that I don't have any AT&T coverage. Well, obviously. I'm in Madrid, Spain. Let's see how AT&T reacts to that.

Me, My MiFi and My Bag Of Tricks To Stay Connected

Call me the rogue agent. The nomad. The wanderer. But do call me connected.

I'm holed up in Madrid, for all the right reasons. It's a great walking town, and I need to walk. It's not Paris, where I have spent far too many days and nights, so despite the allure of Le Web, and 2200 people, some of whom I may want to see, I have other things to do. Like running my business and staying in touch, while not having the day slamming me from both ends. Madrid is an old world city with charm, old world grace, and a very heady cafe society. It's got the wine and food quality of Paris, but seems to be even more hip on fusion inspired cooking. Over the last three days I've dined in Peruvian, Asian, local Spanish, Catalonian and Basque oriented spots, and now am in a cafe that's local and tasty.

The MiFi 2352 from Novatel Wireless, a local San Diego company, with a global footprint 11 months ago debuted this credit card size, playing card deck thick mobile hotspot, or as I like to call it, a "PocketSpot." The version of the MiFi I carry is an unlocked unit, purchased long before Novatel introduced the GSM version in the USA as an enhanced (read locked and built for the USA carrier market.) It came from an overseas supplier known for their early on selling. So it was pretty much a no brainer that this was the must have device for the global nomad, like me, who is also a rogue agent, roaming the globe, seeing clients, colleagues, friends and future friends.

I call it the must have because after Friday, when I was on a train at 280 km/h and participating in a Skype audio conference over HiDef conferencing, around the coverage holes using my pay as you go SIM from MasMovil, the Spanish upstart MVNO, I had a religious experience or as some say the eureka moment. As someone who screams, "Stay Connected" for the last 11 years or so, that really means a lot to me. Saying it is one thing. Living it. Well, that's another.

To me, now more than ever, connectivity is what matters, and out in the middle of nowhere, on the plains of Spain, I'm rambling along and taking part in a conference call, listening, talking, texting and file sharing. No office. No wires other than my FreeTalk Everyman headset aside and the power cord of course, as my Club car seat on the train between Barcelona and Madrid had power. Talk about global freedom and mobility. My office has really become portable. Party A on the call was in San Francisco (Marin to be precise) over cable modem. Party B was in an office in Girona, Spain, a wonderful hamlet full of ancient buildings and charming restaurants--with amazing food and wine and here's me and my PocketSpot, using my Mac Book Pro using the FreeTalk Everyman headset, an HD audio headset that costs less than 24 dollars, all the time being a part of the conversation.

Earlier I had called my wife. I didn't use Skype on the laptop, I used Truphone on my Apple iPod Touch. I also made a bunch of Truphone calls using my Nokia E71, but not over the WiFi as the train station wasn't wireless that I could find, but made calls with both over my own WiFi cloud, using the MiFi. I called Ken Rutkowski, of KenRadio.com fame using Skype. On the iPod Touch and even sent him Friday's report using the touch, a voice recording application, which then sends the recording by email. I pulled out my iPhone and using the camera, snapped some photos, then emailed them to Ken and a few friends. In Madrid on Saturday, I snapped off a few more photos for my wife, to show her an assortment of "bolsas", um bags at a shop on Calle Cava Baja. I then called her to "look" at the bags, using Truphone. Never once was Data Roaming turned on. Never once was a GSM call made. All the voice and data was going over my MiFi, at rates that are far more digestible than the roaming rates from AT&T on the iPhone.

This was HSUPA at it's finest. Connecting at theoretical speeds up to 7.2 megs but on networks that are built out right, MasMovil has roaming on both Vodafone and Orange here in Spain. Sure, I have Yoigo in my E71, but for data here I'm using the upstart, with an upstart product in the MiFi, or in the Mas Movil USB modem.

Last night, at dinner, as I dined solo, I took along my Mac Book Pro, took a big table and plopped the MiFi down, and immediately began writing and web searching. I was never alone. With Skype, Twitter and Yammer all my friends, colleagues and people I don't know but interact with were a click away. I was, have been, and now always am connected.

Sure, this is a bit of overkill. I do unplug, but my point is, with the MiFi tucked inside my coat pocket, a device like the iPod Touch, iphone, Nokia E71 or even my UMA enabled Blackberry, I have more connectivity than I did a year ago. Add in more and more WiFi hot spots that are up and running, and I'm connected. Oh, and one more thing. When I don't want to carry the MacBook Pro, I've got a 1.7 pound powerhouse in tow. It's the 7 inch Viliv S7. Pop on the Yamaha PSG-01S and you've got a multi-directional input mic and speakerphone that fills the room, yet is small enough to be in a small shoulder bag with the Viliv, the MiFi and their respective power cords/chargers.

So here's the net-net. Connectivity is getting more plentiful. A well built out network. A properly engineered device and a bit of planning means you can be so far away, and yet so near to those who are dear. I'm doing it more and more. So get out, and enjoy the world.

Note: For transparency sake Truphone is a client, as is In Store Solutions, makers of FreeTalk products and merchandisers of the Skype Shop.

Reversal of Fortunes

With retailers going bust, and retail space availability growing day by day, to read that Amazon is going the retail route in the UK is to say the least interesting.

Sure, Apple has been successful, but the dot.com companies who tried retail, and failed, started with Gateway. But, Amazon is smart and they are looking at this as a product delivery and pick up location. Sort of like the Sears or J.C. Penney catalogue shopping of days gone by. But those places existed inside already built and thriving locations, and were not stand alone shops.

Candidly, if I was Amazon, I'd work out a method of doing this with FedEx/Kinkos and UPS stores, making them larger to warehouse, and at the same time be a way to easily receive the good in lots of locations.

Martin Geddes

Our number one pick in the 2009 telecom draft, Martin Geddes, has become a free agent. He's left BT Innovate & Design, where he was head of strategy, to pursue his dreams.

Later this week Martin will launch MartinGeddes.com as he is a brand all by himself.

Watch for more news as Martin brings his brand of disruption to more companies, more quickly.

Being Quoted More and More

As many of you know, I end up being quoted quite a bit about VOIP, leading the life of a tech savvy road warrior and even sometimes about business travel in general. What you may not know is that I also get cited regularly on business and marketing related matters, and usually they are about others. Well in reflecting back it's great to see all this third party advocacy work for others hasn't gone unnoticed. A quick ego-search of Amazon for my name via their own Firefox add-on search engine shows I've been quoted or my work recognized in a few books, most of which are on the art of management and some new form of business or marketing communications:

The Power of Slow

Strategies and Tools for Corporate Blogging

Word of Mouth Advertising Online and Off

The New Influencers

These four examples are a nice medley of my life. A life that has taken many twists and turns along the way. I've gone from junior high school student to sports team executive (1974-1988) literally overnight (okay so my first job was in the mail room stuffing envelopes with tickets and press releases) then to a role as a Marketing Director and Corporate Account Executive (1988), to Integrated Marketing Agency(1989-91) Account Manager, before jumping to the dark side of corporate branded sports marketing (1991-92) and then starting my own agency (1992-present.) In that time I've also run both a charity driven sports team and their related events, staged events, served on boards of directors, ran sport leagues (amateur), been named the registrar for a region of a national sports governing body at the tender age of 20 (still an unduplicated feat nearly 30 years later) served on local governmental commissions, run national sports development camps, organized statewide athletic competitions, and oh yes, I even flashmobbed/hijacked a property for my wedding in 2007 (ahh... the things we do for love.)

So it's time to say thanks to those who made this possible in some sort of chronological order:

My parents, who brought me into this world, and left too soon.

Mrs. Friedman (my 9th grade journalism teacher and faculty sponsor of the Wilson Jr. High School newspaper) who provided me my first opportunity to publicly express my passions and gave me the opportunity to think beyond the walls of a school

Ed Tepper, John Perri, Dave Natale and Joey Primavera-all of whom helped give me my first real job in sports at the age of 14

Marcia Rossi who drove me home at the age of 14 so I could have that first job in sports (and of course my first "older woman" crush)

Sy Roseman (now deceased) who promoted me from the mail room to the PR department of the Philadelphia Wings and took over as my ride home, and then as my mentor in journalism and PR

Carm Collins, Larry Lloyd, John Grant, Jimmy Wasson, Bobby Allen, Jack Bionda, Ted Peters, John Linehan, Ron Ryan, Jimmy Hinkson and all of the Philadelphia Wings of 1974-75 who made up what we called our own "Boys of Summer."

Rob Tannenbaum, Don McKee and Bill Fleishman for being the first three reporters to ever ask me questions, and to use my answers as background. It was you three who let me learn how to get quoted the right way.

Aaron Siegel, Ken Gesner (now deceased) and Jim Shute for having the idea to promote youth hockey which led to my being hired to work for the Philadelphia Flyers-Hockey Central

To all the people who touched my life in the 13 years with the Flyers and Hockey Central including Mary Shute, Joan Schofield, Leon Friedrich and the rest from the Flyers and Spectrum/Spectacor organizations. There are too many to mention, but the late Pat Shuck, Ernie Thompson, Steve Flynn, Terry McKinney, Linda Sorens, Lindy Snider, Craig Snider, Tina Snider, Ed Snider, Pat Croce, Ivan Schlictman, Ed Rubenstein, Robert Butera, Delores McDermott, Ileen Forcine, Bobby Clarke, Mike Keenan, the late Fred Shero, Joe and Jimmy Watson, Paul Holmgren, E.J. Maguire, Ted Sator, the late Peter Zezel, Steve Coates, and all the fantastic players, trainers and colleagues who made up such a great organization and always will. It was Keenan who drilled me in the art of perfect practice makes perfect, and in so many other ways. And it was Croce who was the living example of "no pain, no gain."

Ron DeGregorio, who shared his concept of the Mini One on One and let me create something like it in Philadelphia, called the Pepsi Shootout. It was my first sponsorship and one that you helped make possible.

Scott "The Shot" Chamness (sadly deceased at too young an age) for your being the best "student" I ever had. You gave great quote and were deserving of every accolade you ever received.

Mike Richter like Scott you were an amazing student of getting quoted and working with the media as a high school athlete. Your poise on and off the ice was never duplicated. I only regret was that your dad, like mine, never got to see how nicely you grew up.

Don Anderson, Jack Hunt, Andy Richards and Jim Cunningham, four dedicated hockey volunteers who trusted me to deliver the Flyers Cup to them and for their leagues despite all their skeptical perspectives and doubts. I guess now almost 30 years later you know I was right. And to Ed Golden who first suggested the idea from your cave of an office in the soon to be departed Spectrum.

The Late Walter Yaciuk, who as Chief Coach of USA Hockey always looked for what made people tick, and taught me about the importance of transparency because he was always looking beneath what the surface for the obvious

Former Philadelphia Flyers President Jay Snider who had the confidence and vision to assign me special projects, and of course his then executive assistant, Eleanore Seeds who often times made sure Jay knew just what I was really up to.

Donn Patton, who rescued me from a life of only PR and got me involved in business management and operations while with the Flyers

John A. Gardner, Andi Poch, Armando Fitz and Carol Healy, who in 1987 heard a crazy idea to have a bunch of celebrities take the ice to play hockey against a bunch of retired heroes of hockey, and for helping me sell out the Spectrum in 1988. In those few years together Andi and John both taught me more about selling than I ever could have learned in any sales driven culture

Doug Scharfberg, Joe Mederos who were the first ad executive and copywriter I ever had the good fortune to learn from and work with.

Pete Silverman, Pete Huver, Mike Finnochiero and Mike Rubin, all TV veterans who taught me more about sponsored broadcast properties, TV production, broadcasting and even what not to do in front of the camera

Andy Beck and his late father, Sidney Shlenker, along with Walter Richards for all teaching me more in a year about the business of entertainment than one would could learn in a lifetime.

Tony Loiacono, his wife Lori and their four great children who have been family to me since 1987 and always will be. We became more than friends at the word, "hello."

All the actors, hockey legends and Olympic greats who from 1987 to 1998 played and starred on the Celebrity All Star Hockey Team. Every game was a startup and we raised over $6 million for charity. Not a bad record for a team without a coach (unless you count "Frazier" as that)

Jim Shea, James Marra, Dr. Michael Jackson all professors and friends at Temple University for helping a 29 year old "drop in" return to school by making sure I finished my degree. Yes. I am still making up those cuts for Dr. Marra.

Jackie Lapin (and all her team at now shuttered Lapin East/West) who for me were the best agency I ever employed and how as a team we did amazing things over and over again. If I ever was to have a big sister, I'd want her to be you.

Jim Curl for being about the best event producer/creator I ever worked with and for being one of the best people I could ever drink wine with.

Doug Kaplan-for the introductions to some winemakers who have become real friends and for that dinner in 1990 at your parents house that led to meeting Jim Clendenen, which in turn led to Doug Margerum and Bob Lindquist becoming friends, whose bottles and wine now mark my 2007 wedding in a way that is very special.

Marshall Gobuty for believing me that some PR people really can do a good job for him (over and over again)

Ken Rutkowski, for taking me from pitch person to broadcast journalist and now 11 years later still being there with me.

Bob Cox-My first ever technology client

Sylvain Fadat, winemaker, wedding planner and all around extended family member. How can I every say thanks and merci enough times for letting then my wife to be and I take over your winery, vineyard, house and life for one more magical day in my life.

Rick Caras who has been like the big brother I've never had...and who has given me business wisdom that I always apply

David Abella, master chef, friend and in many ways, a living example of perfect practice makes perfect.

Ray McKewon who gave me the opportunity to make his company the IPO of the year in 2003 and for teaching me more about the concept of tuition in life.

Martin Geddes for the lead into Nokia in 2004 and to all the great folks there who trusted me to develop, guide and direct the Nokia Blogger Relations program

Om Malik, who still to this day epitomizes what a real blogging journalist should be.

To the staff of the hotel of my "wedding" hijack. Thanks for everything, and don't change any of your work habits. They're just truly perfect.

To all my former clients, current clients and past and present team (you all know who you are including those one who were never disclosed) for the time, insight and opportunity to serve and service, with some of the brightest minds around, and all of whom share the desire to be more today than they were yesterday.

And lastly, to my Wife, Helene, who gives me all the reason to want to be who I am and to continue to strive for all that I will be.

You see, lessons learned along the way, make it all possible for me to say, what I can today!

Never forget your friends, mentors and teachers. They are all what makes you who you are and why you can be so easily and regularly quoted.

Block This, Block That---So Much For Open

Mobile Mavne Colin Gibbs at GigaOm, writes about Verizon Wireless blocking SMS messages from 4Info that are ad supported.

I'm trying to sort through this in my head, but I think it comes down to Verizon gearing up to be an ad sales force of their own. You see, networks by their very nature sell ads. TV networks. Cable networks. Radio networks. Print ad networks. So I think between FIOS and Mobile Verizon as a company starts to behave like a network, not just operate one.

The Google Phone

Let's try to clear up the rumor that a Google Phone that reportedly is coming out in January. That is if you can believe any blog that tells you its a rumor.

First of, one has to expect that the phone would not be for the traditional mobile network. Honestly if I was Google I'd build the phone for the only operating 4G network in the USA, Clearwire because from the start Clearwire (ex Xoom) executives has been saying the want a different experience in VoIP and that experience wasn't Skype.

Second Google is an investor in the Clearwire venture, which makes me think the phone won't be made by HTC, but instead will be built by partner, Motorola. But Google has more than money to put into Clearwire, something that was made clear after Google didn't put hard cash into the recent Clearwire fund raising.

The reason I think that Google would be playing first with Clearwire over the usual 3G networks has to do more with not competing with the iPhone or it's own "Android" phones with the carriers. While the Google Phone would likely carry lots of Android like qualities, when you link up Android and Chrome as Sergey Brin alluded to, you can see another reason why the Clearwire 4G network makes more sense.

One other piece of the puzzle is the combined capabilities of GoogleTalk/GoogleVoice/Gizmo5 capabilities. As you keep looking at the pieces Google has been assembling, they all have open at their core, using XMPP and SIP based protocols.

One last thing, just as Apple was all about the software/hardware experience with the iPhone due to their approach called "Radical Integration" Google's experience is all about the Network and the cloud. To operate effectively, the "cloud" needs a speedy network, one that is not bogged down by legacy voice traffic and legacy voice thinking. Of the four USA networks, the only carrier that thinks network first, in Sprint, and Sprint, like Motorola, Comcast and Google, is also a backer of Clearwire.

To me the picture of the Google Phone is really Clear.

iPhone Observation #2

Why does my iPhone run through battery power on AT&T like a hot knife through butter but in Spain on Orange the battery life is far better. Well at least with 3G data off.

My guess is that the 3G radio in the iPhone and the sparse number of AT&T towers, or under capacity, leads to an ever seeking access situation.

Next test, turning on 3G data.

Time Off

It was Coffee Time.

Now it's wine time.

I'm in Madrid so that means tapas, tavernas and tasty times.

Say Hello To The Skype Pipe

Skype for SIP is now live and in my view Skype just created a massive pipe into the corporate market.

While some may immediately want to draw unfair comparisons to SIP Trunking, I'd dubbed this the "Skype Pipe" as in all reality now Skype has the pipe into the business phone market that have for years been off limits to them.

While the pricing per channel may seem on the surface high, in the end it's going to pencil out to be on par, as more Skype for SIP gets deployed.

Other viewpoints out there include Tom Keating and ZDNet.