In this space, I'll share my industry perspective on topics of general interest – ideal for cocktail party conversation. Because even though I'm versed in geekspeak, I promise to keep it light, entertaining and, most of all, informative. Expect an occassional special guest blogger and an even more occasional post about hockey …
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Truth - better than fiction
On July 11th – will the mobile world change forever, again
As with any worthy next generation device, the Iphone is thinner and less expensive. I also am very intrigued by the possibility to download third party applications for the device. Providing a third party eco-system will be important to the long term success of the Iphone.The Upoc community remains consistent in its political views.
Before I reveal the answers, it is important to disclose that in 2004 we polled the community on their choice for President Bush or Kerry, Let’s just say that the outcome of that poll, had it carried through to the real election, would have changed the history of the world over the past four years. Kerry won that poll by around 15%.
It would be interesting to see similar polling from Facebook and MySpace. Is it a matter that the social networks are more left leaning (Younger demographic) in their views? Or are the Republicans just less responsive to social networking polls?Upoc Rocks On!
“Rock the Vote engages youth in the political process by incorporating the entertainment community and youth culture into its activities. From actors to musicians, comedians to athletes, Rock the Vote harnesses cutting-edge trends and pop culture to make political participation cool.Rock the Vote mobilizes young people to create positive social and political change in their lives and communities...”
Social Networking, Vegas Style
debate ensued on the relative roles and economics of this model as it applies to the network operator and the social network owner. Network operators have a tremendous database of potentially useful marketing data for third-party application providers to utilize in maximizing the ad inventory of their products. In the past, and for good legal reasons, the privacy of this data has been honored and not exploited in a maximum economic manner. Now enter the social networks.

will maximize their revenue and the customers’ needs. Upoc polls shows split views on Barack speech
Upoc subscribers can opt-in to a poll group. This group asks the user base their opinions on a wide range of topics. This week, a poll inquired about the recent speech made by Barack Obama on race relations.|
· Explained everything
|
25%
|
|
· Explained nothing
|
47%
|
|
· Satisfied
|
28%
|
split between a positive response ("Explained everything" and "Satisfied") and the negative choice ("Explained nothing"). Since two of the three possible answers are positive, I would have to admit that the poll structure had a positive bias. With that bias and the significance that this speech has been given by the campaigns and the media, our result would clearly indicate that this issue will not fade away in the near future, and that more explanation from the Obama camp will be necessary.Always Bring Your Wireless Stuff
While I was on the plane to the West Coast, I had the honor to be sitting next to a distinguished public figure. Since I want to honor his privacy, I will not say who he was. We had a brief discussion as we observed that he was reading the Wall Street Journal print edition and I was reading it on the Kindle. I tried to demonstrate the coolness of the Kindle and he was mildly intrigued. For the next 5 hours of flight time, he devoured his WSJ, ripping out many pages, taking copious notes on the torn articles, and filing then in a folder. Try that on a Kindle!
I rented a car from National and wanted to try their in-car navigation system and compare it to my GPS-enabled Google Maps and the VZW Navigator application. The Street Pilot from Garmin behaved like a bad "Saturday Night Live" sketch; it took many minutes to find its satellites and thus, its location. It barked out directions in quick succession: "Turn Right, Turn Right, Recalculating, Turn Left, Turn Left" -- the screen would have an arrow pointing to the right and the voice would say, "Turn left." It was both sad and amusing.
We finished our meetings and settled into the Continental Presidents Club at the airport to wait a couple of hours for our flight. I connected to the free WiFi network that Continental provides and started to work. The problem was that the effective bandwidth I got through their WiFi was clocked in a not-so-impressive 20 KB/sec. 20KB/sec -- that is so last century!Good Hockey, Good Wireless
It always strikes me as somewhat amazing how much SMS and MMS services have seamlessly integrated themselves with mainstream activities. As an example (and no surprise to those
who really know me!), I will use this afternoon's Ranger/Bruin hockey game as an example. Before you send me lots of comments and e-mail pointing out that what I really wanted to write this blog installment about was the thrilling game, I plead 100% guilty. I will try to at least give some lip service to mobile Internet services while I carry on about the thriller in the "World's most famous arena."
The Rangers and Bruins started the day separated by just one point in the standings, with the Broadway Blues holding the advantage. The Eastern Conference is very tight this year, with only 6 points separating the top 7 teams!
The teams traded excellent scoring chances in the first period with the Rangers testing the Boston goalposts, back boards and protective netting, as much as they challenged the Bruin goaltender. But with no pucks finding the twine of either goal, the period ended scoreless.
The second period was similar to the first, with the intensity turned up several notches. Jaromir Jagr powered by the Bruin defense on three occasions for close-in tries, denied on each by Jay Auld, the Bruin net minder. The Bruins finally did put some sustained pressure on the Rangers, with Henrik up to the challenge. The second intermission came with no goals.
A special shout-out at this point must go to a Blue Shirt faithful in the "Blue Section." With exactly 1 minute and 5 seconds left in the period, he yelled out, "Hey, how much time is left in the period?" The announcer of course then followed with "One minute left in the period." The fan responded with a loud "Thank You!" 19,000 people laughed. At least the tension of the game was broken for a bit.
The third period was frenetic. Both goalies made acrobatic saves that seemed to defy the laws of physics. At one point, Sean Avery made a great power move to the net and flicked the puck off the left post -- groan! Both teams tried the old tried-and-true method of pushing the defenders and the goalie, along with the puck, into the net. In both cases, the referees were close at hand to restore order.
With about 7 minutes left in the game, Scott Gomez completely undressed a Bruin defensemen, stealing the puck in the offensive slot area. Gomez came in on Auld totally uncontested ... and missed.
Both teams traded some good scoring chances in the 5-minute overtime, but it was obvious that this one would be settled "Mano a Mano" -- with a shootout. After regular and OT play, both goalies had turned away a combined 64 shots. That's a whole season of shots for a soccer team!
(If you've stuck it out this far in the blog, I promise to have something about mobile services at the end!)
(Also, if you've stuck it out this long, there is a good chance we share some DNA!)
The shootout -- a best of three -- was as nerve- racking as it gets in a big game. Both teams missed their first shots. Nigel Dawes, a Ranger rookie, took the second shot and ringed it off the left post and into the back of the net! After nearly 3 hours, a puck finally entered the net! The Bruins missed their final two shots and as Henrik stopped David Krejci, bedlam broke out at the Garden.
Playoff-atmosphere hockey in mid-March. Very nice.!
If you want to see video highlights of the game, follow this link:
http://rangers.nhl.tv/team/console?hlg=20072008,2,1037
So here is the wireless angle on this joyous day:
At that start of the game, I updated my "microblog" with my whereabouts and the status
of the game. During the game there were three wireless polls taken of the audience. I sent an MMS picture of my daughter to be displayed on the arena's Jumbo-Tron. At one point, my daughter got lost in the arena (actually, she knew where she was; I didn't). She texted me her location, which was back at our seats. ( I can put this in here because my wife does not read this blog!) And lastly, this entire blog was written on my BlackBerry on the train ride home. A very full day indeed!
Wireless for the Attention Deficit Crowd
As my loyal readers will know, I spend a fair amount of time commuting to and from Manhattan. Part of my commute is via NJ Transit trains. During this one hour per day, I try to find ways to either be productive or amuse myself. Since I carry a wide array of wireless devices, I get to try out different modes of time-killing. I also get to observe how my fellow travelers deal with the drudgery and boredom of train travel.
Number 3:
iPhone
BlackBerry gets top marks obviously for e-mail. The Java game capability, with a large screen and trackball has many possibilities for entertaining distractions. I became a Sudoku addict/expert in less than a week on my BlackBerry! There are some OK video options, although much inferior to the iPhone. As long as I don't want to listen to music, I prefer the BlackBerry for the mix of work productivity and entertainment.Try the Social Networking Welcome Mat
Sometimes you just need a little guidance.
Over the lifetime of Upoc, our subscribers have formed more than 40,000 groups. The topics have ranged the entire spectrum of human experience, from dating to religion, sports to politics, and everything in between. The question is, with so many options available, how does a new subscriber to the service get started? Where do they go? It can all be somewhat intimidating, similar to a kid moving to a new area and starting at a new school.
We decided that we needed some safe, friendly and familiar places for new subscribers to start within Upoc. Similar to a welcome mat. So, we started themed highlighted groups. This process began in the fall with groups for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanza and New Year's. The response was overwhelming. Members flocked to these ready-made and monitored groups. Our customer service staff was very diligent in making sure these groups stayed on topic. The big win was that a large percentage of the group members in these themed groups had recently joined Upoc. Just like the first student who reaches out to the stranger in the school lunchroom to show him the way, these guided themed groups provide a familiar safe haven for new users to start to interact on common topics: "What are you giving thanks for on Thanksgiving?" "What do you want from Santa Claus this year?" and much more.
Web 2.0 is all about user-generated content, and Upoc has been at the forefront of this long before it had a catchy name and was considered universally cool. The purist would say, "Create the platform and let the users decide how it is used
and provide the content." What our experience has found is that an unaided Web 2.0 environment can be somewhat foreign and scary to newcomers. Web 2.0 needs a friendly atmosphere and a way to ease users into the full freedom that they can enjoy in this new realm of social networking. Providing themed and monitored groups is one step in making Web 2.0 a more welcoming experience for the masses.
Flat Rate for Wireless: Is this the way of nature for all telecom services?
Flat Rate for Wireless: Is this the way of nature for all telecom services?
In the last couple of days, the major carriers have announced competing flat-rate wireless deals. No more counting minutes. These new plans might be as significant as the original AT&T one-rate plan that revolutionized wireless pricing. I say “might” because the price is still rather high and the plans all but eliminate the family plan users. For the heaviest of wireless users, this plan can save money and eliminate hassle, and follows on the heels of similar flat-rate plans for wireless messaging and data usage.
A side benefit for the carriers is the eventual reduction in billing complications.
Do all telecommunication services eventually migrate to a flat-rate pricing structure when they mature?
I say Yes. With excess capacity and variable demand, flat-rate pricing is a good option.
Cable and satellite television are flat rate, most home wire line services (circuit and VOIP) are flat rate, Internet services are flat rate. As a communication service matures, the variable rate of the next bit approaches zero. As the variable cost of a new subscriber is virtually eliminated, the flat-rate pricing schemes emerge.
The value-added services that are upsells on these flat-rate services, tend to be themselves flat-rate services. Examples are HBO for $15/month, Navigator services for $9.99/month, Internet Virus protection at $5/month, etc.
With variable delivery costs plummeting, the biggest expense becomes attracting a new subscriber and retention once a subscriber signs up for the service.
The exceptions to this trend are royalty and license fees for media and content. The creators of content expect to be paid for the distribution of their intellectual property. This is a very logical assumption.
The technology that distributes their content is training the public to expect monthly subscription prices. It is inevitable that most media will also be purchased as a flat-rate subscription. The key will be the manner in which the content creators are paid for their product, since you cannot generate good music, video, games, ringtones, books, etc., at zero variable cost.
Kind on Kindle
Mom, My book ran out of batteries!
In my never-ending quest for cool new wirelessly enabled devices, I have been trying out the Amazon Kindle. In case you are not familiar with the device, it is basically an electronic book that accepts downloads via the Sprint network (EVDO) for books and periodicals. I read a novel on this device over the weekend and finished it on the train while commuting this morning. Here are my thoughts on the pros and cons of this new device.
The screen is spectacular for reading text. Several people I showed off the device to thought that it was a demonstration model. The reason being, they immediately thought that the text/pictures on the screen were from a decal because they were so sharp.
I also liked the ability to increase the font size of the text. I found reading for an hour not tiring on the eyes. I can hardly imagine reading for an hour on my BlackBerry without going blind!
The wireless connectivity worked flawlessly. I was able to surf the Kindle-enabled Amazon catalog and select a book from one of my favorite authors.
While reading a novel, I was easily drawn into the book, without distraction from the device.
On the train, I was able to easily read the book with one hand, clicking to new pages. My commuter train is often packed and I rarely get a seat. It is almost impossible to read a newspaper or a book because of the close quarters of the other travelers. I usually read the news on my BlackBerry or listen to an audiobook on my iPod. The reading of a novel or a newspaper on the Kindle is definitely an option.
On the negative side: A book just has a soft feel — You “curl up” with a book. You operate a Kindle.
The Kindle is yet another device to carry around. I need a backpack just for my wireless device inventory.
I have not had an issue with the battery life of the Kindle. I keep the wireless connection off, except for downloading a book. I did try the experimental Web browser on the Kindle and it was a poor experience.
It was particularly fascinating to give the Kindle to various people and watch them try to operate it.
In 100% of the cases, the person tried to touch the screen to activate the menu or flip the pages. The paradigm of the iPhone touch screen seems to be expected on advanced devices. The use of the next-page buttons is not a problem and actually makes one-handed operation/reading easier.
The last issue is the price. At $400 it is an expensive electronic toy. You can buy many books for that amount!
The big feature for this device is the “free” EVDO access. This is the first device that uses wireless data as a utility without requiring a wireless subscription. Just based on this fact, this is a groundbreaking device.
As far as the predicted success of the Kindle …
If you can buy a Kindle with “OPM” (Other People’s Money), then it is a fine device. I find it hard to understand how this will be more than a niche product at its present price. Let’s reevaluate the future of the Kindle when it breaks the $100 price point.
Lastly, I feel it’s my duty to issue this warning regarding Kindle usage: While sleek devices like the iPhone can amplify your social life by making you more attractive to the ladies, let’s say, a Kindle can have the opposite effect. So leave it at home the next time you go out.
Wireless advertising is coming of age
The use of advertising on a mobile device is poised for the big take-off. There are several factors that are contributing to the rightness of the model, right now.
The easiest model to understand is the willingness of large content providers to spend advertising investment to attract subscribers to their premium-SMS services. Today, much of that investment is directed at the Web. There is evidence to suggest that the effectiveness and conversion rates for ads on a handset, for services that are targeted for the handset, is superior to the Web.
This conclusion is almost completely intuitive. If you are sitting in a stadium and you see a beer commercial, you are more likely to purchase a beer, immediately. If you are instead in an environment that does not have that immediate purchase opportunity (like watching the game on TV), the effectiveness of that ad to drive immediate sales is reduced.
So, ads for handset-targeted services seem like a complete no-brainer for the industry.
These ads can come in various forms. Carriers are opening their Wireless Web (WAP) portals to advertising through both agencies and direct contract. With this model, the carriers can get a cut of the ad revenue. The real estate bears limited space, so ads are required to be as condensed as possible to be effective. Other models include The next wave of ads is also being brought in through the Trojan Horse that is a combination of Smartphones and Google services.
These latest models have the potential to remove the carrier from the advertising value chain.
I am sure there are significant discussions throughout the carrier community on trying to derive value from this emerging and potentially huge revenue stream. Anyone care to weigh in? I welcome your comments!
With Internet-compatible browsing on iPhones and others, the traditional Web advertising model is being dragged on handsets. Based on browser type, ads will be targeted on Smartphones for services that are applicable for the phone itself and for the mobile consumer.
Will iPhone really change the mobile Web?
The big news announced by Google – at least to us mobile types – is the extraordinary number of impressions the Google application in iPhone is generating. It is time to declare the beginning of the end of the existing Web application paradigm on wireless devices. The distinctions between the regular everyday Internet and its wealth of Web 2.0 applications and mobile Internet have started to blur.
Consumers are beginning to the cross the chasm of these devices being just for business to using them as a primary consumer device. A quick survey of recent smartphones shows a large selection available at $99, a significant decrease from just 6 months ago. The era of large screen, high-speed martphone being part of the “free” entry phone collection is not too far removed. At that point the interoperable browsing capability on a large screen will be a must have feature.The Mobile World is Flat
To quote one of my favorite writers, Thomas L. Friedman of the New York Times, “The world is flat!” Here are a couple of examples:
As Friedman proclaims in his bestseller, the global economy for goods and services is permeating all aspects of our economy, and this includes mobile value-added services. Mobile devices and value-added services can be sourced from any land with data center and Internet connectivity.Verizon First to Blink Under the Glare of Google – Will Offer No-Deck Services
While the devil will be in the details, it appears that Verizon will publish a Verizon standard for devices to utilize its services. What are you Up2?
This exciting feature only amplifies our status as an existing market leader in the group messaging community. So, in addition to topic-based discussions, Upoc will now offer individuals the ability to microblog by answering the question, “What are you Up2?”
Supertones are coming to a phone near you!
Supertones are coming to a phone near you!
What is a Supertone? It is a media product that combines a ringtone, an album wallpaper, a music video and perhaps a full mp3 track, all bundled in a single MMS-like download. This product will be hot!Attack of the Androids
The Google-led Android open-phone initiative grabbed the headlines today. I normally take the pro open-source, open-platform position. In this case, I am not. The target of most open-source projects have been Web servers, application servers and database servers.
Consumer product are more like toasters than servers!Open Network Debates at CTIA Show
appreciated for some time. The conference promotes wireless data services to consumers and enterprises. In the early years, data on wireless networks was a real four-letter word.
In the middle of this self-congratulatory week, Walter Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal rained on the parade. His Wall Street Journal article declaring the mobile industry a closed “Soviet-style” planned economy was not taken well by the CTIA and its main clients, the wireless carriers. However, in the halls, bars and some of the panel sessions, his views were greeted with quiet (read: look-over-your-shoulder) applause.
The carriers should think of themselves as Amazon.com. Amazon has created a powerful commerce machine out of its platform. It has opened this platform to complementary and competitive services. By making its platform available at a reasonable cost competitive with the general the e-commerce market, Amazon has no doubt forestalled and eliminated the development of numerous competing services. In short, it is easier and more economic to use the Amazon platform for your e-commerce storefront than to build your own.
Internet Safety Tips
A Few Words on Social Networking Safety
I am often asked for advice by friends who are parents of teenagers about how safe various IM, chat and social networks are for their kids. The advice one would give a teenager is different than that given to a pre-teen or elementary school child. Here is a collection of some of the advice I give regarding teenage chat safety:Mouse No Longer Roars
What should we as an industry learn from these two expensive attempts?
6th grade. The trend is clearly getting younger. I would ask them who would want a Disney phone? The looks of horror I received was uniform. A Disney phone? “That’s for kids!" echoed one 9-year-old, “I want a Krazr!” If this crowd was rejecting the Disney, then who was left? 6-year-olds? The purchasers of these phones were parents. Parents do respond to constant badgering from their kids. (Gee, I hope my kids are not reading this!) Preteens want what teens have – the mainline phones from the big carriers. Not a Mickey Mouse phone.
Reason Number 5Upoc’s community speaks out on President of Iran's speech at Columbia University


The purpose of the poll was not to make any particular political statement, but to show the value of mobile polling in rapidly reaching a diverse audience and getting results back quickly and efficiently. The whole effort required five minutes of one customer service representative's time.Blog Storming!
I believe that a mobile device is fundamentally a personal communications device. We have already seen the early trend of the “type and style” of a device making a fashion statement or reflecting your inner self in some deep Madison Avenue ad manner. This was furthered by the ringtone explosion.
next big thing in wireless will center on new ways to self-define and announce yourself to the world. We have gone through the visual (what phone I have) and the audible (what ringtone I have). The connection with self-definition and the Web is inevitable. The next big wave of mobile application will involve the ability to define yourself through your mobile- application environment.
I probably would have not predicted the popularity of reality television, but if watching people chasing each other around on some deserted island is good TV, then watching millions of people run around in their daily lives would prove irresistible. MTV is as much the reality network as it is a music network!
Here comes Google!
Its resources seem almost limitless as it sets its sights on a bigger slice of the mobile market. Will it just be a handset? A bid on spectrum, an outright purchase of a wireless carrier? If I were sitting at Google I would proceed with great caution.
is a marketing powerhouse. Their mobile content was on every carrier, with application innovation in sports being pushed and pushed. With these assets as a base, ESPN took the leap of faith to launch an MVNO and become a retail wireless carrier.
Virgin Mobile has been successful because they actually ran other wireless MVNO services (in the U.K.) before they launched in the U.S. They had the necessary corporate skill set and have been successful.
Iphone - Chapter One - Crash and Burn


Apple will learn, adapt and come back. The genetic mutation of IPods, mobile phones and online commerce has created the first model of a new species. Like DNA based species, this one will have a learning curve, some painful near death experiences and many natural predators. This is just chapter one of a long novel, enjoy it.LBS Services, The Daughter, The Doll and the Wife!
The classic example of why LBS services may not have reached their market potential yet is a story I first told at a CTIA event over 5 years ago. It happened to me about a week before the show and has the perfect metaphor for the state of LBS services. It has been re-told by pundits and even published in trade magazines. Indeed many now tell this story as though it happened to them! So now without further pre-ample is the LBS story of the daughter, the wife and the doll.
We were going “through the woods and over the hill” to grandmother’s house. In this case the woods were 180 miles of New York State Thruway and the hill was the Catskills Mountains. The car was packed for the weekend with me, my wife and three kids.
increasingly skeptical family. All I have to do is figure out what zip code we are driving through, then call the 800 number again, navigate the 78 step voice system and voila!, I will have the location of the nearest Toys-R-US.
My review of some LBS services
My Favorite LBS Services
This is the big travel weekend, so a short review of my three favorite LBS services seems in order. In the New York metro
area there are four main destinations, each with its unique lingo. For the Labor Day weekend people leave “The City” and go either “Upstate” (which for City dwellers is anywhere that is more than 1 mile north of the Bronx!), “Out to the Island” (which is what you say if you go to Long Island but don’t have a place in the Hamptons), “Down the Shore” (that’s the Jersey shore), or “in the mountains” (either the Poconos or Catskills – Since there are no coal miners in the city – the phrase “in the mountains is curious)
For travel directions it is hard to beat the Verizon navigator service for ease of use and value. I used to carry a handheld Garmin unit (cost ~$500, plus map updates). It worked fine, but was one more item to carry. I also had to spend extra money on map updates and remember to download the right detail maps
before I went on a trip. For the VZW Navigator feature, I pay about $10/month and the maps and local details are all network based. The voice and map directions are great and they have saved me several times (even walking in “The City”). The cost has a breakeven of over 4 years with the purchase of a standalone unit. It is a good value.
Another feature that I have long trumpeted as the first killer LBS app is rolling out as VZW Chaperone service. This is the long awaited kid finer service. You can locate your kids on a map and get an alert if they leave a specific area. This is a great feature for the pre-teen age group.
Lastly, once you reach your destination you will need to look up restaurants, movies and other local services. My choice for that service is the still un-matched Vindigo service. Vindigo has been
around seemingly since the dinosaurs roamed the earth (in Internet time). It is still a great service, albeit you need to know where you are since it does not have LBS hooks with the phone. For destination travel (pleasure or business) it still works well for finding that seafood place or reading a review of a movie before you suggest it to your fellow vacationers. It even can provide you directions and traffic conditions along the way. If this service ever integrated true LBS location it would rock.
For this weekend I will be going to none of these classic destinations. Instead I will enjoy a long “Honey –do” weekend. Have a good long weekend!
Location Based Services – Ready for Primetime?
The requirements for wireless 911 location services seemed to be the necessary catalyst for infrastructure and device capabilities. Despite the hype the rollout has been disappointing.
Why?
Maybe an analogy to the SMS market of the late 1990’s can provide some clues.

SMS took off as a service when three major events happened. First , and most importantly was inter- carrier cooperation and transport of SMS; Secondly, the emergence of SMS applications beyond user-to-user testing (such as Upoc, text alerts, banking, etc), and lastly a value chain that includes market and connectivity enablers such as mobile marketing firms and SMS aggregators.
applications that go beyond driving directions and kid finder services. (More on those in later blog). There are, of course, privacy concerns with providing location information to third party application and content providers. The ability to turn location sourcing on and off on the handset should have helped ease the fears. The ability for carriers and/or consumers to blacklist LBS service providers that misused the information would also be necessary.
It seems as though the technology, policy and legal concerns should be easily overcome. So, I ask again, why have these services not developed in a timely manner?
One possible depressing conclusion might be that there may not be the pend-up depend for LBS services that many of us in the wireless industry have predicted and assumed to exist. While I have to acknowledge this as a possibility – I am still strongly in the pro-LBS camp.
Another possible reason is that the policy and legal issues have strangled the market of LBS. Wireless Carriers are conservative by nature (and necessity) and are likely to move at a “prudent” speed for such a service. Since there is real economic incentive to deploy services that increase ARPU, I want to believe, also, that this is not the case. We are seeing lots of navigation and enterprise applications being introduced throughout the market.
Therefore, that leaves the lack of a developed cross-carrier LBS value chain that enables innovative application providers to capitalize and a well-oiled economic and technological model.
Will this model come from within the wireless carrier business model, or outside? It is possible that in handsets will have the capability to provide GPS information over a data channel that is outside of the carriers’ control. How might that business model look for the industry at large?
Markets and technology do have a way of emerging, either as a controlled introduction from within the existing value chains, or as a disruptive technology that supplants the existing market. It will be interesting to watch which path LBS services take.
Diversity in the Mobile Workplace
Diversity in our Mobile Marketplace makes workforce diversity a double necessity.
In my previous blog I presented a slice of the diverse life we have in New York. Living and working in New York provides a Mobile company such as Upoc Networks an advantage in providing innovative services that reach a diverse marketplace.

Upoc Networks workforce has about 50 employees. The standard EEO classifications of race, color, religion, sex, national origin barely scratch the surface of Upoc’s diversity. By EEO standards we have, at any one time, over 20 combinations of classifications.
When I think of diversity I add other factors such social-economic background, age, education, work experience and sexual orientation. My awareness of our total diversity is obviously incomplete, but I would venture to say that we would be hard pressed to find more than a couple of employees who were similar in all aspects. This is the workforce we draw from, this is the city where we are headquartered, and most importantly , this is representative of the marketplace in which we compete.
We did not sit down as a Management team and place various diversity hiring goals, it has been not necessary. I have observed throughout my career that if your existing organization has diversity, it will attract and retain diversity.
There are obviously many companies and regions that have diversity, but no city has the history and the reputation of being the world’s melting pot.
New York is a city with over 100 nationalities, every major religion (and probably more than few that are not so “major”), every ethnicity, culture, race, creed, sexual orientation, political affiliation and social/economic status.
What is perhaps truly amazing is that this patchwork quilt of cultures co-exist in relative harmony within New York.
Moslems and Jews, Blacks and Whites, Japanese, Chinese and Koreans, Catholics and Protestants , Serbs, Russians, Hispanics, the list goes on and on. In other areas of the world the same groups might be at war, but in New York they seem to blend and even feed off of each others culture.
It must be something in the water!

New York, New York.
New York, New York
Just another weekend in New York-
While this entry has little to do with mobile applications – I decided to share a slice of the uniqueness of New York. It does , however go to the heart of why New York, with all of its diversity and culture enables mobile companies to be competitive.
Last Sunday my family decided to go to “The City” to see a Broadway Matinee play. On our way in we got caught in traffic and the usual 90 minute (20 mile) drive stretched to over 3 hours. We missed our play but decided to hang out in Manhattan. We walked two blocks from the theater parking lot and were greeted by approximately 500,000 joyous parade goers. This Sunday was the Dominican Republic day parade. The music was as much felt as it was heard. The cheers were deafening and the parade floats and marchers seemed to stretch forever. You did not need to speak Spanish or be Dominican to just enjoy the Mass celebration.
After about 30 minutes we walked the two blocks to the Madison Avenue street fair. Madison Avenue was closed for approximately 20 blocks (over a mile) and became home for food vendors with the cuisine of Mexico ,Italy, , China , Thailand, Poland, Israel, France, Greece, ; and various American flavors from New Orleans, New York (where else can you really get a Knish?) and Southern BBQ. Needless to say, we did not go hungry. Music form every ethnicity played from stalls that sold anything and everything. We stopped along the way to listen to a Klezmer Jazz band that was outstanding.
After we satisfied our palette, we started to walk back to 6th Avenue and decided to stop by St. Patrick’s Cathedral. They were having a special Spanish Mass that we watched for a couple of minutes before we continued our walk.
Before we got back to 6th avenue, the gravitational pull of the Nintendo flagship store attracted by teenage son. We successfully extracted him without monetary damage to any credit card. We showed the family Rockefeller Plaza and then walked the last block back to the DR day parade.
After another hour we left to go home. Where else could you go through such a diverse range of the DR parade and the Madison Avenue street fair by just walking 2 blocks? New York New York , it is unique.
My next blog will go deeper into the competitive values of a diverse community and employee base.
Guest iPhone Review -- From The Doc
Guest iPhone review from The Doc
The Good, The Bad, The Indifferent –
This blog entry is from my brother. He is a Doctor who recently acquired an iPhone. I asked him to write a review from his point of view. And here it is …
As a physician (anesthesiologist), I have tried using both a Blackberry and a Palm Treo with only varying success as a useful tool for me; then along came the iPhone ...
The needs of physicians and different specialties vary, so our needs are different from a businessman.
Everyday, I was carrying three devices to work: my cell phone, my Palm Pilot, and my iPod. Now, I carry one device.
The cell phone has long ago done away with the need for long-range pagers. My office or a nurse can call or text messages me on my cell phone at any time. This is true on all devices.
The Good:
The iPhone is great, yet I still use my old iPod in the operating room. Yes, we play music in the operating room. Patients enjoy listing to something familiar during their procedures. The operating room is my “office”; I spend 80+ percent of my time in an operating room during the day. Myself, the surgeon, the scrub and circulating nurses all enjoy listening to music during the day. 
Because the operating room is truly my office, as I spend 7–10 hours per day in the OR, my “connectivity” needs are different than someone who has access to a laptop or desktop computer during the day. This is the area where the iPhone excels. I can get my e-mail, text messages, phone messages, etc. very easily on the iPhone. The other area which I find the iPhone to be far superior to its competitors is in its Web-browsing capability. Our hospital has an EMR (electronic medical record). I can access this from the OR by using my username and password. The ease of expanding the screen and point and touch (instead of point and click) is great. I can check orders, test results, check EKG's physician consultations, and radiology reports online very easily. This was not possible, or very difficult, on the Blackberry and Treo. I can also do online physician order entry and “electronically sign” my orders with the iPhone. Even though I cannot download a medical application, like the drug database epocrates, onto the iPhone, I can access it online very easily using my username and password.
The iPhone has really made my life much easier. Instead of scurrying around in-between cases to get to a computer to get info, I do it with ease. If there is something missing or awry with my next patient, I know about it ahead of time, can call the nurse in the preadmissions unit or consulting physician, and get clarification before the patient is ready to go to the OR.
The Bad
What comes on the iPhone is what you get. I cannot download medical applications, like drug databases or text material onto the iPhone the way I could on my Palm Pilot.
Why did they make the headphone jack too deep – so that I need to buy a $15 extender??
The iPhone is not friendly when answering a phone call in the car. It takes too many steps. First, I have to slide the unlock button, then answer the phone, then tell the iPhone whether I want to answer it by my Bluetooth, the speaker phone, or the regular phone. This is a 55-mph wreck waiting to happen, and I’m too young to be an organ donor!
It also doesn’t have the one-touch “Call my brother at work” voice commands. With all the bells and whistles that this well-designed device has, it should have voice-activated calling!
The phone function works well and the quality is good, just not in the car!!
Social Networking on Ice
One of the more interesting social networks I have been involved with is various hockey teams. When I was in college we went through a rather grueling two-month training period to determine who would make the team for the winter season. I was fortunate enough to have made the team. The way we were told of the decision was our name would be on a locker during the last day of training camp.
The name on my locker was “Spence.” My coach did not know my real name! He had to ask me so they could print the program for the upcoming games. The other players on the team all had their own “team” names: “Moose,” “Sparky,” “Mole,” “Mud,” “Scooter,” “Sticker,” “Blade,” etc. It was the persona we each adopted within our social network.
Years later when I played “beer league” hockey, we had a social network that would have only existed in the context of creating a team. The team had some corporate types like myself, blue- collar construction workers, several criminal defense lawyers, and many of their clients! This was a collection of 18 guys that would never network together in “real life.” Like my college team, we only knew each other by our team nicknames. We played together for almost 15 years and won 12 championships.
The years we lost were when some players violated probation! After each season we invited our wives or girlfriends to an end of year dinner. This dinner was always an interesting exercise in social networking. As you can imagine, the female companions of the team members had about as much in common as the players, but easily bonded around the topic of men chasing a small frozen piece of rubber around cold, damp arenas. My wife always got frustrated when I would introduce her to the other players. The reason was simple – I did not know their real names!! It was always, “Hi, Dear, this is 'Stinky'; 'Stinky,' this is my wife" and “Dear, this is bone-crusher ...." and she would reply, “Hi, Mr. Crusher!” This group was very tight in the context of ice hockey, but once the season ended, so did our association. No context equals no social networking. That is the lesson I learned.
Many of today’s social networks have an explicit (such as LinkedIn) or implicit (Facebook) networking context. With a context that is understood by its members, a social network has longevity. If you remove that context, the network will cease to exist. If a network forms (like my earlier comments about CB radio) around a weak context, then the fade will become big, then die.
My hockey network had context that bonded the group. When the context was removed, that social network became a collection of nice memories, and a few trophies.

Social Networking Epiphany
In my search to understand the fundamental motivations of social networkers, I decided to start by examining the evolution of my own social networks. I came across a couple of interesting observations (at least interesting to me). I cataloged my social networks from childhood to present day.
Here is the list:
Immediate family, extended family, school friends, religious network, sports team members, high school friends, college friends, work colleagues, business networks, and neighborhood friends.

One observation I made was that the number of active social networks was at the highest and potentially most volatile in my teen years and early 20s. These are the social networks that set the foundation for adulthood. How I related to each social network was slightly different.
Sometimes the social network would define who I was, and sometimes the opposite was true. Even the name I was (am) known by in the different social networks varied.
The obvious example are: Steve (Parents and Family), Dad (Kids) and Spence (School, High School and College Friends).
Thinking about Web 2.0 in real life social networking terms yielded me an epiphany. You can imagine how difficult it is in anyone’s teen years to be labeled and categorized within a particular social group. The virtual social networks are a way out of that dilemma for teens. They permit high school and college students to take more direct control of defining who and what they are. 
It allows them to redefine themselves at will. It grabs control from the mass network at large and creates a better sense of ego. It is no longer the roll of the “in crowd” to define the social network and status of others.
The virtual social networks are the great equalizer in the social status game. This is a game that is most important to high school and college age students.
Next installment is the most interesting social network I ever belonged to …
Social Networks -- What memberships do you have?
How many social networks are you a member of?
There are two perspectives you can use to answer this question. You can answer the question by number of commercial virtual social network services: AIM, MySpace, Friendster, Dada, LinkedIn, Upoc, Blogger, Match.com, etc. The second perspective to answer this question are non-electronic (i.e., traditional) social networks: friends, family, schoolmates, church or synagogue members, work colleagues, etc. 
My question is what is the intersection of the virtual with the real?
In my view, when real connections are reinforced with electronic social networking, the bonds of both are stronger. How often does this happen? We have seen many examples of real social groups using Upoc as a social networking tool. That is, a tool for facilitating already existing relationships (church groups, teams, work groups). This is mobile Internet technology facilitating the real world. We have seen many companies form Upoc groups to coordinate staffers at conventions; sales teams use text group messaging for pricing information; and teams have used the service to send scheduled information.
One trend we are now seeing is families using group messaging within the family calling group to communicate via text.
As social networking crosses the chasm to become the facilitator of traditional social networks, its already significant usage will explode by many orders of magnitude. This is a good thing for all the players in the market of social networking.
In my next installment I will share some interesting social networks I have belonged to and what they taught me about the nature of this new medium that everyone is buzzing about.
Social Networking -- What we learned from the past
There are several reasons why the CB radio phenomenon died out. Here are my top reasons and why they relate to today’s big social networks:
The stated motivation for entering the social network was not consistent with the activity of the network. Uh? Let me explain. Most people bought into the commercial promotion that the CB was a safety and security device. You could somehow contact help if you broke down on a lonely deserted road. Help was just a “breaker, breaker, good buddy, please save my butt!” call away. So, you would tell your friends and family, “I’m getting this to be safe!”
Of course that was a total lie.
The CB was a social networking toy! You could play at creating and honing a new persona every time you pushed the transmit button. You could be Southern (which was the favorite, especially of Northerners, or you could be "the boss" or the man "the man"). Women were treated with equal status (especially if they knew the 10-20 of "smokey and his camera"). While there were no doubt illegal or immoral activities, the norms of the community and the total openness of communication served as a self-regulation. It gave the user of CB radio freedom to be however they wanted to be. It was the first mass social network with anonymous communication that created its own social norms.
The times that I actually discovered who I was really talking to, well, became kind of boring.
The main usage as a social networking device let to that need being more powerfully filled by the explosion of instant messaging in the late 1980s and 1990s. Social networking was no longer limited to 5 miles of random road, but the whole world.
Strike One for the CB
The consumers who actually used the CB because of safety reasons probably discovered that relying on random strangers to help you in your hour of need is as likely to bring “bad guys” as it is “good guys” to your rescue. Another device was now being marketed as the safety device you should have in your car – the mobile phone. The mobile phone is of course a social networking device with one-to-one precise communication. It was better to call the AAA to fix your car than rely on “Cruisin' Cougar,” “Lusty Lady,” or “Bandit Eye.”
Strike Two for the CB

The CB Social networks were random and without context other than you were traveling somewhere and didn’t want to get a speeding ticket. This is not the form of social networking that creates “sticky” bonds. No one really grew attached to their “Good Buddies.” It was rare that you would find the same person twice, and if you did, it could just be another person with the same handle. In general, you did not care – no context means no passion about a topic and no ties amongst the members. Thus, when alternate means of random social networking emerged, or safety devices became available, there was nothing underneath all the hype of the CB craze to sustain it.
Strike Three for CB.

Some more thoughts on today’s social networks in my next installment.
Hey, good buddy? What CB radio can teach us
CB Radio – An Early Social Phenomenon in Social Networking
I am a believer that basic social needs change very slowly, if at all, over time. What does change is the way individuals, groups, families and society in general fulfill their needs and the options
that technology presents. Given this thesis, it is interesting to take some social networking learnings from an earlier mass explosion in social networking: the citizen band radio.
During the late '70s through the '80s, it was cool to have a CB radio in your car. These radios used to be the exclusive domain of the truck driver social network.
They were used to find the best food, gas, and probably companionship on the road. They were also used to avoid speed traps. The public awareness of this social network took a giant leap with the popular movie “Smokey and the Bandit.”
The CB social network crossed the chasm from truck drivers to millions of personal automobiles. Semingly overnight, people all over the country were imitating the twang of southern trucker accents -- “That’s a 10-4, Good Buddy?” 
The CB channel was similar to the chat room of our Internet era. Your participation in that channel with that particular set of people lasted as long as everyone was within about 5 miles of each other. Users made up anonymous handles – similar to the IM and chat names. My handle was “The Referee,” a reference to my hockey playing and amateur referee profession of the time.
The problem was finding someone a second time. Unless you shared some personal information (which carried the same perils as today), your interaction on CB were quick and fanciful.
“Hey, good buddy, what’s the 10-20 on Smokey?”
Truck drivers must have been both annoyed and humored at Wall Street brokers imitating them in their BMWs.

So why did it die out and is there a lesson for today’s social networks? That discussion will be in my next blog entry.
Jeff Pulver gives a clue to my next entry in his blog:
Cell site on cruise ship saves the day!
Disney Cruise Line Goes Mobile
What a difference three years has made on the Disney “Magic” cruise ship. In the summer of 2004, I was on a family vacation on the Disney “Magic” cruise ship. The Magic is a large luxury liner with all the bells and whistles (and Belles!), large mice (Mickey and Minnie), chipmunks (Chip and Dale), ducks, pirates, large 7-foot dogs, and princesses. My favorite was “Belle.”
We could have called from our staterooms but the charge ($10/minute) seemed like piracy on the high seas. You can only wake up to “Good morning to another magical day at sea on the happiest place on earth!” so many times before you want to jump overboard. We managed to rearrange our flights and arrived home none the worse for wear. This past July (2007), my family once again braved the high seas with the Disney Magic. This time we were enjoying the sites of the
We needed to contact a surgical supply house in We needed frequent contact with various people stateside, while in the middle of the sea and many miles from land. All of this communication was done on our mobile phones. We used Verizon and AT&T phones, no problem. The cruise ship had its own cell site (GSM and CDMA) with satellite connection. The ship was also covered stem to stern with Wifi. We had constant mobile voice, text and e-mail connectivity throughout the cruise. While using this connectivity during a vacation is normally counterproductive to relaxing from the stresses of the work environment, it made our management of a medical emergency less stressful because of the ease of mobile communication.


Picture taken with AT&T BlackJack and transmitted via MMS from the ship
Another blog with a shout out to Carnival Cruise Lines and their wireless service:
http://solokay.blogspot.com/2006/07/carnival-cruise-fun-ships-offer.html
iPhone -- First Days, First Reactions
iPhone -- First Days, First Reactions: The Good, Bad and Ugly!
I have been using my iPhone as my main mobile device for the last 5 days. I did this by having my main mobile number forwarded to my iPhone. During this time, I used the phone at "work," at “play” and while traveling to
First, the Sexy non-phone aspects:
+++++++++++++The Pluses+++++++++++++
If you want to attract a crowd – just whip out your iPhone. I have gotten lots of “oohs, aahs, wows and omgs.” It enhances your sense of self-worth and may even make you more sexy. (Although you have to read my wife’s blog to find that out!)
I downloaded the movie “Miracle” to watch on a plane. I chose this movie because I can watch it a hundred times and not got bored. It is a classic – almost as good as “lap Shot”. (But that’s the subject of another blog)
Watching movies on the iPhone is spectacular. It is a very good (not great) personal movie player. The movie player would be better with a few more
The Safari Web browser works well once you get the hang of it. The Edge network is okay, not great. 3G would be much better, probably at the cost of battery life.
The photo viewer with position sensing is a real “showy” feature. The ability to flip through an album on the iPhone, as you would a real album, is nice.
The music player is a latest-generation iPod. I really like the carousel album selector.
The So-So features:
The e-mail function is cool. It would be cooler with a Blackberry client or activesync for corporate e-mail.
The camera is okay, but not the best feature.
Google Maps gets a so-so from me because it lacks the killer feature:
It does however make for a great game to kill time. Try this: Without typing in the address, try to tap into each Major League stadium and check out if there is a game! You get an extra point if you can tell who is playing, and 10 points for the score!
Keyboard:
I have to admit that it is better than I expected, but nowhere near that of a real keyboard. I am able to type using one finger (my pinky). My letter accuracy is about 70%. If I try the normal two-thumb method that I have used on Blackberrys and Blackjacks, my accuracy falls to near 0%. So, I would say that the keyboard is slightly better than triple-tapping phone keys, and far less than a real keyboard.
--------Some Negatives:------------
The headset plug:
I was eager to watch a movie on my recent plane trip using my noise-cancelling headset. I plug them into the iPhone and they canceled out ... everything. After a moment, I figured out that the plug on the supplied iPhone headset is not standard. I am sure there will be many adapters available. This served as an annoyance on my first movie experience.
The phone features:
The phone features, surprisingly (or perhaps not), are the least-impressive features of the iPhone. The voice quality seems very suspect. People I called really noticed a reduction in voice quality. Several relatives were not able to recognize my voice! To verify that this was not the network, I called them back with my AT&T Blackjack, and there was no problem.
I still have not figured out how to download ringtones.
Where is the
I sent an
Interestingly,
It appears to me that the phone features were given low priorty,
Battery Life:
The battery life – as I predicted – seems to be an issue. I used the iPhone to watch my movie for about 105 minutes, made 34 minutes of calls, browsed the Internet for 57 minutes, listened to music for 25 minutes, viewed photos for about 30 minutes and had about 5 hours of standby time. This started around 7 am. By 6 pm, my iPhone was dead.
I am confident that if all you did on the iPhone was make calls, the battery life would not be an issue. But if that is all you are going to, why buy an iPhone?
We will have to see if this a big issue in the market.
Lastly: The Nana Test
As the true test of these features, I gave my iPhone to my 70-something mother. She was able to use many of these features without issue. This is the real miracle. She is not the most technically oriented person. She has a Web TV from 1997. The UI was intuitive enough for someone who has trouble mastering her simple Nokia phone. This is a thumbs-up for the Apple UI engineers.
Other iphone blogs:
More on my iPhone trial in a couple of days.








