Mobile Diner® where wireless and washington meet….

Wired News Blog had a short piece on a company that wants to offer WiFi TV services in your vehicle.  The post mentioned that this would be a great thing for long road trips.  However, I’m perplexed on how well the service would work without decent “hand-off” capability (for an illustration how this works with cellular – click here). 

With regard to business model, the founder is looking to compete with satellite radio.  Not so sure that’s a model for success but maybe there is some “long-tail” potential for this product.  I think I would rather tune in with MediaFLO.

Would you “pimp your ride” with WiFi?

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A recent survey by the Pew Internet Project showed a third of internet users connecting via wireless.  With regard to cell phones, one quarter of users stated they have a handset that can connect to the internet.  About half of those polled stated they utilized the wireless carrier network to access the internet.  Clearly, this market has room to grow (here is the report).

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The days of begging the DJ to play your tune are over.  partyStrands has arrived on the scene and offers users an interactive way (text messaging via mobile phone) to plug your song at your favorite club or bar.  Unfortunately, no venues in Washington DC have picked up the service yet.  That’s no surprise since we are usually the last to find out what’s cool….

Enjoy this article from the Boston Globe on partyStrands…

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The first shot in wireless network neutrality has been fired and it probably won’t be the last… Skype has filed a petition at the FCC seeking a rulemaking proceeding to examine carrier practices in light of Carterfone and suggests that the FCC enforce Carterfone to open up wireless networks.

Carterfone was a FCC decision (in 1968) which allowed consumers to attach whatever device they chose to their phone lines. Before this decision, AT&T prohibited attachment to the telephone of any device not provided by AT&T. Accordingly, Skype advocates that this decision should apply to wireless carriers who they claim are stifling innovation to the harm of consumers.

Skype’s arguments stem from Tim Wu, a professor at Columbia Law School, who is widely credited for developing the concept of “network neutrality.”  Wu recently extended his concept to the wireless industry. 

Skype’s petition is a lengthy diatribe against the wireless industry and I’m not going to address all of the arguments raised in the petiton.  However, I will say that the idea of allowing any application to be downloaded onto the phone is troubling.  This industry lives on service quality (ask Verizon) and the integrity of the network.  Network oversight and management is extremely important.  A foreign application which could stress the network, hog bandwidth, cause more dropped calls and expose the carrier to an already growing number of mobile viruses is a problem.

Anybody in the diner have some thoughts on Skype’s concept?

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While many aren’t aware, most of the phones on the market today come equipped with GPS chips capable of pinpointing the exact location of a phone and its user.  (for a helpful description of how GPS works in cell phones, look here)  And while most carriers have been using these capabilities for E911 purposes only, many are beginning to offer other convenient GPS-based services.

For instance, Verizon and Cingular both rolled out mapping and navigation services for some of their phones last year and Sprint Nextel has been offering TeleNav since 2005.  These services are similar to the navigation systems that are almost ubiquitous in most car models today, but have the advantage that they can be used on foot. Continue Reading »

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Mike Zafirovski (Nortel CEO) told folks at the 3GSM World Congress this week that 3G is not enough to deliver what the consumer demands on mobile broadband.  The article also referenced Nortel’s recent sale of its UMTS access business to Alcatel-Lucent….  I don’t want diners to think Zafirovski has no confidence in 3G.  Nortel is still a major player in cellular.  I believe this manuever demonstrates an understanding of the wireless evolution on the horizon, the growing data addiction of consumers and a company that is positioning itself to win in this new world of mobility and broadband networks.

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Richard Martin, Senior Editor of Unstrung, recently opined that the three largest wireless carriers have no forward looking strategy and are just trying to “hold onto a big stash of gold.” I disagree with his overall assessment of this highly competitive industry.

The logic around his argument seems to center on believing that carriers will just deliver broadband over the cellular network and new WiMax providers (he mentions Clearwire) or WiFi providers (he mentions Google) will render cellular technologies irrelevant. As I have mentioned previously in the diner, carriers recognize (some more than others) that consumers don’t care whether they receive their broadband experience via 3G, WiFi or WiMax. They understand that consumers value mobility and look to provide the best experience possible. If they don’t — consumers will walk. Continue Reading »

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The Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing last week on the present and future state of Public Safety Communications.  The hearing was a perfect opportunity for Cyren Call’s Chairman Morgan O’Brien to pitch his plan and build on any momentum generated from Senator John McCain’s (R-AZ) endorsement of the proposal.  The former Chairman of Nextel did not deliver. Continue Reading »

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Just four months after abandoning its failed run as an MVNO, Mobile ESPN is going to be relaunched on Verizon’s V Cast service.  Through the deal, Verizon hopes to boost subscription to its V Cast services. 

Mobile ESPN is likely the first step in Verizon’s upcoming venture with MediaFLO: V Cast Mobile TV, which was unveiled at the CES tradeshow and will likely launch nationally sometime in the next few months.  Verizon calls V Cast Mobile TV “the first truly live broadcast mobile TV service.” 

At the same time, other MVNO’s, such as Amp’d Mobile, are beginning to develop their own video content to offer on their services.  Amp’d Mobile, which targets the 18-25 year old market, announced on Monday new content development deals with comedian Jack Black and the executive producer of “24.”

All of this development will certainly be good for creating demand for mobile TV in general- whether for original content or for current Network offerings.  Personally, I’d much rather watch clips from Gtown games or catch the latest news about my Eagles than watch, say, “The Mexican Crazy Show” on my phone.  For me, at the moment at least, mobile TV is about watching whatever I may be missing at home rather than new content. 

Do people think MVNO’s will survive with original and user-generated content in specialized niche markets? Or might Verizon’s and other carriers’ foray into mobile TV dampen the success of MVNOs offering multimedia content?  

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NY State Senator Carl Kruger seeks to free us from our “IPod oblivion.”  The Senator plans to offer legislation that would make it illegal (fine would be $100 or your shuffle) to cross the street while listening to an IPod. 

Enjoy this masterpiece here.

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I want an IPhone.  I want one bad.  I know a bunch of other people that want IPhones.  In fact, I usually get asked about Apple’s entry into wireless daily.  Accordingly, I really think other manufacturers are doing themselves a disservice by discounting the IPhone (article here).  I think it is just Apple Envy!

The article has comments from a few analysts and other handset manufacturers.  Basically, they say that the “market is saturated” or “everybody has a cell phone already.”  These analysts and manufacturers are missing it.  Here’s a few things I think they are missing –

(1)  People love their cell phones but they are not attached to them or necessarily their provider.  Look at the success of the Motorola Razr.  Folks saw a device they wanted and dumped their phone.  It was the hottest phone in the market last year.  Today, Sprint can’t give them away.  

(2)  “It doesn’t have disruptive features.”  Did the Razr have disruptive features?  Sexy handsets sell!  Not to mention most consumers still are only starting to utilize the other functionality (wireless broadband) in the phone.  Hopefully, the user-friendly nature of the IPhone will grow the use of other applications.

(3)  “It’s not as easy as buying an IPod.”  What so hard about buying a phone?  I think Cingular absolutely will reap benefits (in terms of adding subs and growing data ARPU) from the partnership from Apple.  I think Verizon Wireless will be fine because they have had tremendous success marketing the strength of their network.  Service quality is still marketable and Verizon owns this niche.

My only complaint about the IPhone is I have to wait until June!

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Chris and I made our way over to the Senate last night for the Internet Caucus Tech Fair to check out the latest technology on the tubes.

We met Jeff Pulver and some of the guys from Network2, who got us excited for our trip out to San Jose for the Video on the Net Conference!

Some other highlights: Continue Reading »

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