Live from CTIA 1 April 2009: real time tweets 2 April 2009
Posted by Steve Blum in Tellus Venture Associates.Tags: CTIA, fierce wireless, kikkerland, newbay, omega mobile, oulu, rim, t-mobile, verizon
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CTIA head Steve Largent talking at keynote sez wireless a bright spot in dismal economy.
Tmobile-USA CEO Robert Dotson also upbeat, so far speech is bland banalities, invoking Obama, Charles Lindbergh.
Dotson showing video talking up open source, sez on indy devs to drive innovation.
Dotson links stimulus bill, wireless broadband, rural connectivity & tmobile, guess who’s lining up for government cash?
CTIA survey sez people don’t want more taxes or regulation or to pay higher mobile phone bills. No s*** Sherlock.
Ivan Seidenberg CEO Verizon up now, sez 6 hours TV & online use per day, only half hour wireless use means growth opportunity.
Seidenberg wants d-block spectrum assigned directly to locals, improve broadband for first responders he sez.
Mike Lazaridis co-CEO RIM on stage, talking about magnificent – magnificent! – convergence & opportunity.
Lazaridis selling Blackberries, not doing industry leader speech like Dotson & Seidenberg.
2 out of 3 good batting average for trade show keynotes, kudos to Verizon, Tmobile & CTIA.
Lazaridis just wasting my time, l8r dood.
Met with folks from Oulu Innovation, have turned a Finnish community into a test bed for wireless apps, services & hardware.
Oulu attracting R&D operations, offers a living laboratory for proving new hardware & software for all handset makers, not just Nokia.
Met with Newbay too, 6 year old company, 250 employees, sez it’s profitable. 100% of revenue comes from mobile carriers.
Newbay creates content cloud – “lifetime cloud services” – for mobile carriers, users can store photos, sms, address books for example.
Heading back out to CTIA show floor, looking for big news. Not a packed show – can call it comfortably well attended though.
Mood at CTIA not upbeat, not down either, more like “if this is as bad as it gets I can deal with it”.
Hot party tonight is Fierce Wireless‘ at Caesars, follows free drinks at on-floor happy hour, CTIA crowd feeling good.
Omega Mobile designs mobile apps, doing well, upgraded offices in Emeryville, @scgeeks: looking for iPhone devs.
Driinn is neat, low tech gadget by Kikkerland, turns charger into a wall mounted mobile phone cradle.
Cup holder technology for a mobile age
Sony netbook, sorry, Lifestyle PC 7 January 2009
Posted by Steve Blum in Tellus Venture Associates.Tags: australia, lifestyle pc, netbook, new zealand, sony, sony ericsson, t-mobile, tmobile, verizon, vodafone
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Here’s what it looks like…
The Sony netbook, sorry, Lifestyle PC
Sony also has a “Webbie” cam. HD video, $170 when it hits the market in March. There’s a $200 version available now, but not as cute.
Sony Webbie Cam -- the cute model
Cisco is here to help. But whom? 7 January 2009
Posted by Steve Blum in Tellus Venture Associates.Tags: CES, cisco, consumer electronics show, linksys, t-mobile, tmobile
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Cisco builds stuff for service providers. They’re at CES primarily to talk about their latest effort to extend their brand into the consumer realm, but there’s no doubting they’re network guys to the core.
Interesting comment from their service provider group SVp & GM Tony Bates: they’re deploying technology that makes service provider networks video aware. Of course, it’s with the consumer’s best interests in mind. If a service provider knows that video is streaming through it’s network, it can take steps to optimize the consumer’s experience.
Yes. Absolutely true. On the other hand, they can take steps to downgrade the experience or charge more for it. From a technological capability perspective, anyway.
If mobile carriers are in fact under siege from consumer electronics manufacturers determined to sell mobile gizmos without the blessing of carriers, then Cisco could be in a position to craft a defense.
Cisco also makes a tethering product for T-Mobile, allowing consumers to sign up for wireless data service in the home. The product and attached service are under the control of T-Mobile, but it’s a more generous offering than most. So maybe there is a middle ground. Or maybe when you’re at the back of the pack, you’re willing to take more chances.
Still more to come from CES.
