VoIP Watch

The Enterprise Mobile Market

We often look at prices of mobile service and think how little power the consumer has, but this story from e-Commerce Times really has me thinking about the Enterprise Market and VoIP/Dual Mode capabilities.

Happy New Year

Helene snapped off a photo as we all were getting ready to ring in the New Year last night here in Valencia Spain. We had a blast and just wish our friends could have been here.

All the best. 2007 was great and 2008 looks all the same! Cheers!

Mon 31/12/2007 23:46 31122007094

Skype Journal Highlights 8 Non Skype Technologies

Jim Courtney took a holiday break from his focus on Skype and sifted through all else that is out there to come up with eight technologies that he likes.

I'm using a bunch of them, including the EyeFi card (Jim--who told you about that one!), Truphone, the Nokia N95, SightSpeed and the Blackberry UMA phone....a Linskys router, or 2, (though I also have Apple Airport Extreme running my Covad and SureWest networks as well) and Google apps on the Blackberry.

Do you sense a pattern here? It seems the uber-connected, early adopters are mostly using the same thing and deciding that what we're using really works well.

iPod Touch VoIP Hack Coming in New Year

MobileWhack reports that the iPod Touch can be used as a VoIP device with a new hack that's coming out of France right around the New Year.

His and Hers Coffee

Sun 30/12/2007 14:05 30122007084

It's Time To Ban the Word Unlimited

Judi Sohn's post got me thinking that we really should stop saying that anything is unlimited and put real numbers to so called "unlimited" usage plans.

It would avoid a lot of headache and really let people know what they are paying for. Besides, didn't the utilities and telcos ever hear of the phrase "truth in advertising."

The number of times people who had "unlimited" voice plans with some VoIP operator contacted me when they got a big bill hoping I would publicize their plight has gone into the triple digits since I started VoIPWatch. Getting rid of "unlimited" and going into a more clear cut "what this plan includes" will go a long way to reducing people who overpay for services they don't need.

8 Wishes From Web Worker Daily

Anne at WWD has some insightful wishes for 2008. They all seem to support my belief that working smarter, doesn't mean working less, and that being connected more leads to better and smarter work.

Is Limelight the Vonage of CDN?

Ike Elliot's post about the potential patent infringements alleged against Limelight by Level3 got me thinking so I commented on his post that is fact filled and likely shaped by some of his first hand knowledge while a ranking executive at Level3, but now all public knowledge due to filings so not only is Ike in the clear, he's also in a position to really provide solid insight.

It got me wondering if we're going to see a Vonage like fiasco on the hands of Limelight shareholders if Limelight can't successfully defend themselves.

The Road In 2008

Ken Camp has written a killer post about what he sees coming in 2008 up on his blog.

It got me thinking along the same lines so here are some random thoughts from my "Honeymoon" idled technology mind:

1) Bandwidth Speeds-both at home and mobile will increase. This will lead towards what I feel are sorely needed tiered pricing models in the USA and more options for Pay As You Go for Mobile Data like we're seeing in the UK.

2) Divergence and Convergence Will Both Arrive-We're seeing more powerful chipsets coming down the pike from TI, Qualcomm, Broadcom and of course Intel and AMD. This is leading to smaller, lighter and more powerful devices. While some devices like the Apple iPhone and Nokia Internet Tablets will be convergence devices, I expect more single purpose Amazon Kindle like divergence devices that rely on better, more stable and faster wireless (both EVDO/HSUDA and WiFi) connected devices to help achieve the state of always on/staying connected but that are geared for one thing done very well, and other tasks available like email, IM, simple word processing, posting, etc.

3) Video becomes a more accepted form of two way communications, both in real time ala SightSpeed, Skype, ooVoo, etc., as well as store and post ala Seesmic, VLIP, vPod and others.

4) Mobile WiMax gets the same attention that Metricom's Ricochet did, and likely ends up with the same result unless someone looks back into history and realizes the mistakes made and how to avoid them.

5) VOIP stops being the alternative to POTS and largely becomes the way calls are handled by the phone company as more FIOS and uVerse gets deployed, especially in new housing communities.

6) Working from Home and office hotels keeps growing as the environmental forces continue to take hold. This means more office space becomes available, and homes in communities with better bandwidth start to take on the same cachet at those with better schools.

7) More communities begin to look at their agreements with cellular antenna companies and cable operators and look at what more they can get for their citizens. The muni wireless fiascos of 2007 are causing a rethink of what can be done and how.

8) Social media continues to supplement or replace mainstream media as primary sources of information. As such the more progressive MSM acquires site networks like GigaOm, TechCrunch, Gawker, etc., installs folks like Arrington, Malik, etc, into key positions to really make their audience oriented content work.

Well, it is time to go to breakfast..more on this later perhaps....

P.S. Check out Jim Courtney's Top Ten 2007 Skype Developments..like Ken Camp's post its a good read over morning coffee.

Google Phone In February at Mobile World?

Greg Galitzine speculates that Google has something planned for MobileWorld, an event I'm anxiously looking forward to attending in February. Besides the major geek factor, the food and wine in Barcelona are amazing.