Starbucks is looking more and more like the beneficiary of everything that T-Mobile does.
Source: andyabramson.blogs.com
Skype Journal’s Jim Courtney makes the claim that client Thomas Howe has written the definitive post on what is a mash-up just in time for the Skype Mashup event which I’ve been invited to attend later this month. Courtney calls Howe’s writing a “key reference post” an it sure is. This is something to bookmark. Howe also was quoted in a CIO Today and BusiessWeek Online story giving the young lad from Cape Cod a double header day.
Starbucks is looking more and more like the beneficiary of everything that T-Mobile does. First it was just a place to log on with your laptop. Then deals with Sony brought in Mylo users, followed by Playstation users. Now they are bringing in people who take photos with Nikon’s digital camera that has WiFi in it. This is the razor blade strategy to a T. T-Mobile is offering the owners of the Nikon camera a complimentary six month subscription which is worth $240.00. Add in what they are doing with the @Home product and you see that T has a WiFi strategy that is very clearly mapped out.
Alec Saunders challenges IP Business editor Gary Kim on the future of Voice Services. Both make valid points, but I’m leaning in Alec’s direction. Last week at Office 2.0 I saw a lot of collaboration tools screaming for voice apps, presence and video. The developers all know its needed but have no expertise in that arena, hence they are waiting for those who have it to come to them…I call that the Field of Dreams Model of Marketing.
Developers who put next generation applications inside the Voxeo platform will be happy to know their global reach just got better. Voxeo just signed a deal with Voxbone for those numbers.
The Yankee Group says Fixed Mobile Convergence hype will slow, but carriers will begin to offer it as a necessary feature.
TMCs Richard Grigonis has a first person interview with Packet 8’s Bryan Martin on the state of the VoIP industry.
For those who don’t know, my second job was running the Philadelphia Flyers youth hockey program, Hockey Central from age of 16-28. One of the most important things I learned was the importance of “giving back the right way” so it both feels good and is beneficial to your business from Ed Snider, the Flyers Chairman and still titular head. Its great to see friend and client at GrandCentral (now Google) Craig Walker embracing that same philosophy even post acquisition with Project Care. More companies need that approach.
IP Democracy points out to me that AT&T continues to show signs of being schizoid in marketing of their services. On one hand the land line units are pushing CallVantage to customers who have cable modem while the DSL unit is marketing mobile adoption. All they needed was Fixed Mobile Convergence in the mix or to have gone FIOS vs. UVerse and they really would have had something to sell. The take rate of FIOS and the happy customers in Verizon also is heading North I hear along with many happy customers.
A start up called RPM Communications producers of Foonz just raised a rumored four million dollars in a Series A funding round, led by Morgenthaler Ventures for the launch and marketing of the Foonz service. They will be rolling out a new service that brings voice blogging to Facebook, MySpace, Blogger and other social networking pages. This puts them in the same space as Hipcast. They have some other neat features like group calling too.
