Posts Tagged ‘verizon wireless’

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Carriers Need To Steal From Google’s Playbook

November 4, 2009

Greetings all. I apologize for the unannounced long absence from the blog. In short, things got busy on the consulting and family fronts and I put the blog on the back burner for a while. Lots has happened in the last few months. One of the biggest news events that I have been waiting for has been Verizon Wireless’ release of the Blackberry Storm 2.

I had been waiting on this for a while as the more I used my Storm, the slower it got. We are almost back to the early Windows days when you had to reboot your servers daily to keep them running smoothly. I can only surmise that the issue has something to do with memory leaks or ill-behaved applications that do not release resources when they can.

Like many of you, I had been watching the blogosphere to see what fellow bloggers were writing about expected releases. The first date that felt real was October 21st. However, as the 21st approached, rumor had it that Verizon Wireless was delaying the release because of an issue they found while testing.  This led to an interesting conversation with a good friend and fellow wireless industry veteran, Mary Foltz. (Mary is one of those rare individuals who has long history with a carrier (Sprint Nextel) and is also a founder of a company (Air Arts).

Beta programs. Yup, that’s right, the carriers should take a page from Google and launch hot new phones quickly under a “beta” program. These phones would be offered on the carrier’s developer web page with the stipulation that the phone is in beta mode, it may never be launched, and results may vary. ANYONE who registers for the developer page should be given access to this program and not just special partners. This allows the carriers to get some great pre-launch publicity, shake the kinks out of a phone before “public launch” and make their developer community feel special. Who knows, maybe they might even have applications developed for the phone on the day of the public launch.

Beta programs are a tried and true method over the last few years to get applications to market while setting customer expectations for something special, but also to expect issues. Having a positive reporting mechanism for issues will only increase the community feeling that they are special and valued and improve the beta experience. Personally, to get my hands on the Storm 2 a month or two earlier, I would have put up with a lot of “issues”. (Yes, I am a phone geek.)

Imagine if Verizon Wireless had used a beta program to launch the original Storm. They would have had a product to market to satisfy the core gadget hounds. Those hounds would have expected some of the early problems that were reported by Storm users. Instead of being negative publicity, it would have been part of the beta program and allowed Verizon additional time to correct these problems. I also guarantee that some of the problems that surfaced after launch were never identified by their testing houses. Two or three months later, after most of the bugs were vetted and worked out, the phone could have been released. By that time, expectations would have been set for any issues that were not corrected during the beta process and again, avoiding negative publicity and customer experiences. The net result – core gadget hounds get their phones early and are happy while the general population gets a much better phone that has been put through the paces.

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As If 4G Was A Choice

July 6, 2009

I had a chance to see Mark Holland, Director of Global Standards and Intellectual Property at Clearwire at the Virginia Wireless program last month. It was a great presentation on the potential of WiMax. The promise of wireless broadband speeds in the tens of megabits downstream will certainly propel new applications for mobile devices. Delivery of presentations, mobile desktop sharing (GoToMeeting on your mobile phone) and even mobile video conferencing are some of the business applications that will likely take up the bandwidth on these phones.

On the consumer side, place shifting technologies such as Sling Media, streaming music and mobile video will certainly help take up the excess capacity on the airwaves. Existing applications will also take up additional bandwidth with more advanced turn-by-turn navigation and better web experiences as the mobile browsers catch up to the availability of bandwidth.

The presentation lists the party line that Clearwire has a two year head start over LTE, the next generation high-speed network favored by just about every other US carrier. During Q&A, however, Mr. Holland indicated that internally they feel that number to be more like three years head start. This is not an unrealistic number as AT&T has begun rolling out an upgraded version of their existing 3rd generation high speed network HSDPA which will likely delay the need to deploy LTE. Verizon says they will begin deploying LTE in 2010, but Qualcomm, one of the makers of mobile phones suggested that they will not have LTE chips ready for mobile phones until the 2nd half of 2010, leaving it unclear if any handsets will be available for a 2010 deployment.

Even with a three year head start, Clearwire needs to step up the deployment as any window will be quickly closed by the major carriers who have existing customer relationships. In my view, there are four keys to success for Clearwire:

  1. Devices – Clearwire needs to be pushing (and subsidizing) device manufacturers to get devices to the market. As of yet, they do not have a single voice product. Clearly a trimode phone is necessary that will support voice, 3G and 4G data. (They will need 3G data to have nationwide coverage now.) Even a dual mode (voice and WiMax) would be great to compete with some of the flat rate carriers such as Leap or MetroPCS that offer unlimited no roaming services.
  2. Deployment – Clear is certainly working hard with a number of different contractors to deploy WiMax as fast as they can. With that said, however, they need to step up the deployment as fast as possible. The current strategy seems to be heavily weighted towards fixed consumer wired broadband replacement services. This market is sizable but shrinking as most places with desirable demographics already have wired broadband or are getting it soon.
  3. Applications – Apple has shown the way for rapid adoption and that is through choices of applications available for subscribers. Clearwire needs to pay close attention and work with developers of bandwidth intensive content. The cable companies who are reselling consumer versions of Clearwire should be leading the way with on-demand video.
  4. Pricing – Conventional wisdom might say that Clearwire should charge a premium to capture more revenue from early adopters. I think this may be a mistake. We know from history that the price for wireless service will continue to fall. Clearwire needs to be aggressive with pricing to attract customers to sign up for their service before the major carriers deploy. This will not only encourage VZW and AT&T customers to turn to Clearwire, but will also skew those carrier’s business plans as they look at longer payback periods for their investments.

I’m looking forward to a future of high-speed wireless services and think Clearwire and WiMax will play a major role. If nothing else, it will encourage competition with the major carriers. In future weeks I will be looking at new ideas for what to do with this bandwidth. As always, if you have ideas on what you would do with a lot more bandwidth, drop me a line…

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iPhone or Storm – A Not So Surprising Answer

June 17, 2009

A friend of mine wrote to me this week asking my thoughts on the Storm vs. the iPhone. This reminds me of cold calls from business school. No matter what the case, class or situation, the answer was always the same – “it depends.”

If you have been reading this blog, you will know that I have a Storm. But you might also pick up a love for the iPhone. As a true consultant, I made a list of the features of each and made my selection. This method should work for just about any phone so feel free to insert any phone you are considering. Everyone’s feature list will be slightly different, but here are some major categories to consider:

The Network – While all of the phones are cool, at the end of the day the device is a interesting brick without network coverage. All of the major networks (AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon) will have decent coverage in some parts of the country. The question is how are they where you live. In the Washington, DC area, and most of the north east United States, VZW will have the best coverage. However, the true test is how is the coverage where you will use it most such as your office, home and commute between the two? If you don’t get great coverage in one of the areas but still want a cool phone, check into Femtocells. (Read my post Femtocells – Your Own Cell Tower) VZW has released theirs and I know that AT&T was working on one.

In addition to coverage, you need to think about what network most of your friends, families and co-workers use? Having the free mobile-to-mobile minutes doubles my minutes of use (MOUs) each month. This is not only important for you, but also for the people calling you.

Features – The next major area to consider are features. Make a list of all things that are really important to you. If synchronizing to your iTunes library is important, that may swing you to a iPhone or Palm Pre. If multitasking is important (being able to switch between editing an email, calendar entry, and that hot new application is important…) then you may want to move towards the Blackberry. If your organization uses the Blackberry Enterprise Server, then your choice is made for you. Are you a Mac user at home or the office – advantage iPhone…

Applications – Are there any applications that are only available on one platform vs. the other? Then your decision may also be made for you if you think that it is an important application.

You will notice that I didn’t list price here. For any smart phone platform, you will be paying a little up front but the kicker is the monthly service contract…

So as you can see, there are many factors that will push you to one side or the other. I strongly advise taking advantage of the carrier’s 30 day trial period before porting your number. This will allow you to try out the features of the platform and the coverage areas. All you will be responsible for will be the usage during the trial period. And also strongly consider getting the insurance. I never purchased the insurance until I found my new PDA (list price without subsidy $600) dropped into the toilet by Not Me and I Didn’t Do It, two frequent visitors to any house with kids…

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Storm Upgrade – Day Two

June 3, 2009

I need to make a correction on my post from yesterday. Originally I had said there was no OTA download of the upgrade for the Storm. You can, in fact, download the OS upgrade over the air by selecting Wireless Upgrades from Options > Advanced Options. I would, however, have appreciated a text message that would have guided me through this option. My guess is that VZW will send one out in about a week after most people have already upgraded…

I did this yesterday with my wife’s Storm with good success. There were a few responses early on that you must answer, but once going, the upgrade works fine on its own. It took less than 30 minutes for the entire download, backup, upgrade and then restore of data.

After two days with the upgrade on my own Storm I am very pleased. The OS seems to be much more stable and also speedier. The Internet browsing is also much faster. A few new features I have found so far including a full keyboard option in portrait mode is now available from the menu. 

One of the best new features, however, is the ability to slide the cursor back and forth to select the right insertion point when editing text. A box (that is originally annoying) that looks like a faint transparent button surrounds the cursor. Simply sliding that “button” back and forth moves the location of the cursor.

Has anyone else found any good features they like? Please let me know.

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Confused Consumers at the App Store

June 3, 2009

FierceMobile seems to be on a kick these last few days indicating that consumers will be confused by all of the applications available to them. Sue Marek went suggested that carriers set up their application stores and keep their policy of only carrying applications that they have tested and approve of themselves. (Click here to read the story.) 

While there is certainly some rationale behind this thought, with 25,000 applications for the iPhone, who can tell what is good and what is garbage at first blush? However, I am a firm believer that there are very few business models and channels that are truly new – just variations of something we have seen before. This allows for us to learn from history (or other market places) and apply those lessons here. 

First, lets look at the history of mobile applications. Carriers have proven in the past that they do not have the resources or processes to foster a vibrant application ecosystem. Before the iPhone, how many mobile phone subscribers actually downloaded an application to their phone? Why? There were no really good applications to download and the price points were out of alignment to the value provided. Because of restrictive carrier policies, there was no good way to modify application pricing plans without a lot of new contracts and negotiations.

We can also look at other industries to see how they have tackled comparing products on-line before purchase. If we look at shareware, applications written by independent developers. Pricing models are either free, ask for donations to the project, or pay money for an unlock code that will unlock the application after a trial period. Hmmm, sound familiar… There, users provide ratings for applications and users can easily search for applications and sort based on user reviews and number of downloads. Good applications quickly rise to the top. I buy a lot of items from Amazon.com precisely because of the user reviews.

Sue does point out that carriers typically have the more recognized brands in the mobile space. Subscribers necessarily have the relationship with carriers and they can provide clarity for consumers on certain applications. Certainly any application that itself can access your billing or demographic information from the carrier records should be approved by the carrier. I think there is also a place for sponsored applications just as consumer products pay slotting fees in retail stores. However, they should not restrict applications as they do now.

I do agree with Andrew Seybold’s suggestion that application developers provide free trials of their software to consumers. This will help encourage trial, and if they have developed a good application, spur purchase. Applications that allow trial on a PC such as mPowerPlayer are even better and should be common for all mobile application stores.

Over time, application stores that allow for easier searching and user reviews will rise to the top and others will go away. Just like on the Internet, Amazon rules and no one remembers Buy.com…

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New BlackBerry OS – Will it solve the problems?

June 2, 2009

I updated my Storm yesterday with the new version of the BlackBerry OS. This takes me from 4.7.0.75 to 4.7.0.148. While I like my Storm, there were definitely a few problems that power users were experiencing. Some of the big concerns were periodically would not ring for inbound calls, would periodically require a reboot to speed things up, and on very rare occasions, the phone would crash.

To be fair, I run a number of different applications on my Storm including Google Sync and Salesforce that always run in the background. In addition to those programs, I’m a frequent user of VZ Navigator and Slacker (both of which also released major upgrades that dramatically improve performance). 

The upgrade process is smooth, although it does require connecting to a PC with BB Desktop Manager running. I believe the iPhone does all OS upgrades over the air (OTA) which is much easier. The upgrade process is relatively smooth. It starts with conducting a full back up of your Blackberry and then the upgrade. This adds time but I suppose is much better than losing all of your data if the phone bricks in the middle… Most of the data came back OK. For some reason, the calendar (that I sync with Google) didn’t get reloaded and it lost all of my user data for programs such as Google and Slacker.

Out of the box, things appear to be running a bit smoother. The new versions of Slacker and VZ Navigator have much better performance, although the latter still has some additional cleanup work to do on its interface. If you have a Storm, please let me know how your upgrade process is going and if you experience any issues.

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Pre Pre Announcements

May 29, 2009

Woe is Sprint. They haven’t even launched the long awaited Palm Pre smart phone and already Verizon Wireless and AT&T are sucking all of the wind out of their sails. Verizon Wireless CEO Lowell McAdam announced in an investor web-cast that his carrier will begin selling the Palm Pre at the end of the year giving Sprint a woeful six months of exclusivity to try to woo Palm die-hards to its subscriber roles. 

Will the Pre be worth it? Hopefully Palm has spent as much effort designing and building the product as they have hyping it. Signs say that they have really thought about how the modern consumer and business person operates to have some very useful features. Highlights include:

  • Multiple calendars – This is something that I really need to learn how to use for my Blackberry Storm. With two different Google Calendars (one personal and one that a client uses) plus trying to synchronize with my desktop and notebook Outlook calendars, this is a great feature. It also automatically manages contacts in different places to synchronize and keep those contacts consistent. (Nothing worse than having two different mobile numbers for the same person…)
  • Background applications – Apple, are you listening? The ability to have multiple applications open and switch between them without having to shut down is a major feature that mimics how people actually work. (I apologize to any of you who are organized enough to completely put away one task on your desk before starting the next…)
  • Direct access to iTunes – This is a recent rumor that may or may not last but apparently the Pre will be able to purchase non-copy protected content directly from iTunes. This opens a whole host of music and podcast options.

The Pre also includes a slide-out keyboard instead of a touch screen. Personally, I think you either need to go keyboard or touch screen. I have never really felt comfortable with the slide-out keyboards. Perhaps this is because the keyboard is below the screen surface and it makes it slightly uncomfortable to hold. I will reserve judgement on this feature to actually try typing on a production model.

Will the Pre compete with the iPhone or Blackberry? My personal take is “Yes, in some circles.” If you are a die-hard Palm fan, this will likely be a great upgrade to your old Treo. If you are a die-hard Sprint customer, then this could be the smart phone for you. If you currently are an AT&T or a Verizon Wireless customer and are not a Palm user, you should likely skip this phone in favor of the iPhone or a Blackberry model… 

The bigger question is will this have a significant impact on Sprint? In six months I think we are all going to look at the number and say that defections to Sprint are negligible and that at best, it has saved them a number of subscribers from defecting away…

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What is Steve Up To?

May 20, 2009

Steve Jobs is on medical leave. Can anyone honestly picture this guy taking a break? My guess is that on day two of his medical leave he was puttering around the mansion wishing he had a better thing-a-ma-bob. What is that thing-a-ma-bob? Many people think the money is on a device that is between an iPhone and a netbook and I like that bet.

Think about it, when do you need such a device? When you are stuck at home or in a hospital and don’t want to crack out the notebook. Rumors have it that the device will not have a keyboard but will have a larger screen than the iPhone so that it will be suitable for reading newspapers and magazines.

Not that my idea was original, but it this does sound like my Star Trek data pad. But here is where I think that Steve will do me one (or a few hundred) better. My concept was to have the data pad attached to a smaller, more traditional mobile phone. Steve will likely realize that he can drive any deal with any carrier and the big reason to have a limitation like this is because of a crazy price plan driven by a carrier. Instead of requiring the device to have a traditional phone line plus a huge per month data charge, he will force the carriers to accept a much lower data charge on the order of $30 a month or unlimited usage. This will be even lower if you have an existing contract with the carrier. There is precedent for this as carriers are looking to sell other devices from Internet Phone Hubs (huh) to switches that make your cell phone work on your home phones. Carriers are also rushing headlong into the netbook space such as Verizon Wireless launching the HP Mini 1151 this month. (Although the price point is still too high at $40 for 250 MB a month.)

Apple could really clean up in this space as they have all the components necessary to make this a smash:

  • Experience with touch screen, WiFi and a cellular modems – solved with iPhone 
  • Good email client – solved this with the iPhone or leverage one on the Apple
  • Good web browser – solved with the MacBook
  • Good developer program for custom applications
  • Positive consumer oriented brand – few people beat Apple
  • Retail presence

I also think that this is not necessarily a replacement for a netbook. Perhaps the netbook is first but I hope to see my data pad not too far behind. Once the device is on the market, look for better remote control over other home gadgets such as TV’s, iTunes, lights, dishwashers, etc…

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Life After the App Store – Billing System Integration

May 13, 2009

Here is a great under the radar development . . . Direct access to a carrier billing systems by developers. Sounds like a snoozer but here is why it is a major deal.

Application stores offer two great things for application developers – access to consumers and an easy vehicle for consumers to pay for their purchases. This is great for one time or subscription services that have a single price point but does limit the ability for innovative new services with different business models.

Now comes Vodafone. Yes, Vodafone. They are doing something that wireless carriers should have done about five years ago. Vodafone is releasing an API to provide developers with direct access to their billing systems. (Click here to read more.) Developers can now create applications with just about any business model. Want to get Slacker charged to your phone, no problem. Want a mid-subscription that allows you to listen to a limited selection of songs for half price, no big deal. Want to purchase a customized Ashton Kutcher designed radio station, click on a button within the app and it will be charged to your phone bill.

Clearly there will be billing reconciliation and privacy issues that Vodafone will need to deal with. For example, will devlopers be able to access demographic information from the billing system? Does Vodafone have the processes in place to approve developer access?

The opportunities, however, are enormous. I can’t tell you the number of stories I have heard from carrier sales reps who want to sell applications that their clients want to buy but that they could not get on the list for the billing system group to add a code. This could be the beginning of true micro payments using your mobile phone.

Vodafone’s announcement has global impact because of another under the radar partnership that was announced a few months ago. Verizon Wireless, Vodafone and China Mobile have developed a partnership to create a single developer platform with common widgets to facilitate application development and deployment across all of the carriers. While all billing systems are essentially unique, even if they are from the same vendor, there must be a way to get a common API working across all carriers. (Although companies such as Amdocs have made a living of making billing systems needlessly more complicated than brain surgery …)

What do we owe this carrier mindshift to? Of course Apple and the iPhone. Carriers are now tripping over themselves trying to compete with Apple’s iPhone and iTunes store. Long live competition and Steve – please get well soon!

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We Use Short Shorts…

May 8, 2009

Lots of people think of text messages as something their kids send to each other instead of talking. But Short Message Service (SMS) text messages are growing exponentially as companies realize the commercial opportunities available. By using short codes, five or six digit numbers simlar to a domain name on the web, companies can easily move their brand to the mobile platform in a powerful and interactive way. Over 3100 short codes were licensed in Q4 ’08.

How are brands using these codes? Here are a few examples:

  • Of course one of the largest and best known text campaigns was the Obama Presidential campaign. Neilson estimated that 2.9MM people subscribed to their list that sent messages from the candidate about events and major news. The announcement of Joe Biden as the Vice Presidential candidate was also widely publicized. It was also a two way program allowing people to text back their address, for example, to get a free bumper sticker.
  • MyCoke – The MyCoke rewards is fantastic example of using mobile to interact with your customers. The MyCoke Rewards program provides frequent drinker points based on purchase and consumption of Coke products. Each product has a twelve character code on the package that when entered on the MyCoke Rewards website, provides points that can be redeemed for products or sweepstakes entries. Coke extended this to the mobile platform by allowing you to register your mobile phone with the web site. From that point forward, you simply text the code to COKE and the points are deposited into your account. They will also periodically send special offers or announcements of special rewards available. This approach allows consumers to enter the points at the point of consumption rather than having to take a bottle cap back to their computer. Neilson estimates that over 1.1 MM Verizon and AT&T customers interacted with the MyCoke short code in Q3 ’08.
  • Google – Text a search question to GOOGL and you will receive a response back within a few seconds. For example, text “PIZZA 22314″ and get a listing of top four or five Pizza parlors, including addresses and phone
  • numbers back to your computer. This handy information tool is great for the majority of Americans who do not have mobile web yet but need to get a phone number or address for a shop.
  • Text2Give – Text messaging can also be used to donate to cause. After the Asian Tsunami, the carriers and the industry association that runs the short code program got together and within a few days launched a program where wireless consumers can text to a special short code and have a five dollar donation placed on their cell phone bill. As part of this campaign, carriers agreed to pass 100% of the proceeds to the charities.

These services above are free, with the exception of the charges for text messaging, but represent three different use cases but all revolving around engaging your customers where and when they would like to be engaged. These can be powerful when used correctly. They can also be damaging when used incorrectly. One of the biggest mistakes is not asking for customer permission before sending messages or not being clear on what messages will be sent.

While the rise in smart phones with Internet access and easy application deployment will limit the uptake of short codes, they will continue to achieve strong growth in use over the next several years. Text messaging is often the best and easiest approach as there is one interface that works on all phones and almost all phones have text capability. Text messaging can work in conjunction with applications (e.g., ESPN Mobile, or SquareLoop‘s Mobile Alert Network to enhance push messaging.

For my non-mobile readers – it does take about six weeks to get a short code provisioned and much of this time is having each carrier ensure that mobile campaigns comply with the Mobile Marketing Association guidelines as well as carrier specific rules. For example, T-Mobile has a rule for any subscription campaigns that a reminder message must be sent each month with the estimated number of messages and instructions on how to opt-out. Other carriers require other types of information to be sent to subscribers. Fortunately, most of the instructions are consistent and compatible. Drop me an email if you want to know more.

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