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 …
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 customer’s 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
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25%
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· Explained nothing
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47%
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· Satisfied
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28%
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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.