AT&T is augmenting its triple play strategy

AT&T is not only launching its own triple play services but also supporting other triple play providers like Pavlov Media. It augments AT&T's triple play strategy to expand its footprint in other providers' areas. On one hand deal with Pavlov Media will give it access to more than 50,000 users for its voice and data service and in the longer term AT&T may decide to create consortium of triple play providers so than it can deal effectively with content providers who are going to be main cost component in IPTV business case. AT&T has won a three-year $2.4 million voice and data contract with Pavlov Media (formerly Fusion Broadband) to provide enhanced high speed Internet services to multidwelling university communities. Under the terms of the agreement, AT&T will provide Pavlov Media with voice and data services, including high speed Internet data, long distance voice services, and bundled offerings that integrate numerous services into packaged solutions to meet the needs of Pavlov Media's customers.

AT&T's Content Deals for Uverse & Homezone

After launching Uverse IPTV and Homezone, AT&T is working hard to ink deals with all major networks to carry their programming. Deal with Discovery Network includes all of its US linear TV networks, high-definition, and on demand services as part of the U-verse channel lineup. Agreement with NFL Network will provide its 24-hour year-round network to AT&T U-verse subscribers in both SD and HD feeds as well as video on demand. The deal includes nearly 2,000 hours of original programming, 168 game telecasts, regular-season primetime games, and access to all annual NFL events such as the preseason, regular-season, postseason, Super Bowl, Pro Bowl, NFL Scouting Combine, mini-camps, the NFL Draft, training camp, and free agency news. Recent carriage deals with BET Networks and MTVN (both are owned by Viacom) will provide a distinct lineup of 24 channels. Under the distribution agreement, AT&T’s U-verse service will carry both programmers’ linear, HD, on-demand and digital-music-channel lineups on U-verse, which is now in commercial launch in San Antonio. Deal will supply U-verse with linear channels including Black Entertainment Television, BET J, BET Gospel, CMT, CMT Pure Country, Comedy Central, Logo, MTV, MTV2, MTV Hits, MTV Jams, MTV Español, Nickelodeon, Nick2, Nicktoons, Nick GAS, Noggin, The N, Spike TV, TV Land, VH1, VH1 Classic, VH1 Soul and VH Uno. Platform will also offer MTV’s recently launched HD channel, MHD; ethnic channels MTV Chi, MTV Desi and MTV K; and Urge, the programmer’s new digital-audio service. In addition, on-demand content from MTVN and BET will be offered as part of U-verse’s Free On Demand service. AT&T and TV One have already announced a deal to deliver the new entertainment and lifestyle television network for African-American adults as part of the U-verse channel lineup.

MTV and BET already have similar deals with Verizon's FiOS TV so these deals don't offer and differentiation to AT&T's content kitty but to be successful like PCCW, Hong Kong they need to have some exclusive lineup of content that can offer some differentiation to them.

G-Smart GIGABYTE SmartPhone

World's first Multi-lingual mobile phone

Gigabyte Communications has launched gSmart i128, the world's first Multi-lingual mobile phone, featuring Multi-lingual internet browsing and Windows Mobile document viewing while traveling to 98 countries worldwide. Using the latest Windows Mobile5.0 AKU2 OS with Microsoft Messaging & Security Feature Pack (MSFP), it fulfills power users’ needs in every way. In addition, this flagship phone delivers entertainment values with a 2.1 Mega Pixel camera and an analog TV receiver with retractable antenna which enables real-time TV broadcasting on one's favorite game or show. Also efficient and speedy mobile internet access via Wi-Fi or GPRS is offered by gSmart i128. Powered by Windows, its Push E-Mail technology, the gSmart i128 activates real time E-Mail, schedule and tasks. At the same time, business travelers may stay productive using Mobile Office programs, such as Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. Together with Alta Vista Babel Fish, gSmarti128 may assist business travelers via real time translation on-the-go. It is interesting to know that design-wise, the gSmart i128 is based on it's forerunner - the Gigabyte gSmart but the gSmart i128 got a ROM upgrade to 128 MB from the previously used 64 MB. Moreover the irony lies in g-Smart i128's marketing as a "use anywhere" type of device, when in fact, it lacks support for the 850MHz GSM band. However g-Smart i128 lacks any sort of EDGE or 3G connectivity still it boasts an impressive set of features (Intel PXA272 416MHz CPU, 64MB RAM, 128MB ROM, tri-band GSM/GPRS support, a 2.4" 262K-colour QVGA TFT-LCD, a 2.1-megapixel camera, Bluetooth 1.2, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, a TV and FM radio tuner, and Windows Mobile 5.0 with the MSFP).

Skype with Wi-Fi VoIP Mobile Phones

Amazed by its cracked code (confirmation awaited), Skype is pushing itself farther into the wireless space to extend its business model, with the launch of Wi-Fi phones designed to support Skype's software. Four companies have produced handsets to support the launch: Belkin, Edge-Core, Netgear and SMC. The four new handsets - Belkin WiFi Phone for Skype (F1PP000GN-SK), Edge-Core WiFi Phone for Skype (WM4201), Netgear WiFi Phone for Skype (SPH101) and SMC Wi-Fi Phone for Skype (WSKP100), enable Skype subscribers to make phone calls without any connection to their computers. Skype is targeting a market that analysts predict will grow rapidly as more Wi-Fi networks pop up in throughout the country. According to a recent Infonetics Research report, the Wi-Fi phone market increased 116 percent between 2004 and 2005 to $125.5 million. It's projected to more than double in 2006 as enterprises and consumers deploy local area networks for voice over wireless service.

The handsets automatically synchronize to a Skype account and contacts, and operate when in range of a Wi-Fi hot spot. Users can make and receive calls on the go, using any wireless connection, after entering Skype username and password. The move is potentially worrying mobile phone industry, as if VoIP Wi-Fi phones become popular, and there is sufficient Wi-Fi coverage through Wi-Fi clusters, people may no longer need to pay for mobile calls. The phones will work on encrypted Wi-Fi networks as long as a user has the proper network ID, but not on paid Wi-Fi systems like those offered at many bookstores and cafes as they are not designed to work seamlessly across multiple access points. Skype is not the first VoIP provider to offer a standalone Wi-Fi phone, although it is the first to offer the service for free. Vonage already offers such devices, but customers pay a monthly fee regardless of whether they call in or outside the network. These handsets also support common Wi-Fi encryption protocols, including WEP, WPA and WPA2 with PSK support. But there are some glitches which can make these phones show-stoppers like SPH101 from Netgear only supports 802.11g, so users searching around in more popular 802.11b hot spots for a connection will be disappointed. Both phones from Belkin and Netgear do not support emergency 911 calling. Users will still require a traditional land-line or cell phone for this as having an IP phone means that the subscriber is not limited by his geographical location so a call from VoIP phone can not be easily routed to local emergency number like 911 in USA, 113 in Italy and 112 in Germany. On the positive side, customers interested in Wi-Fi Skype phones should be aware that the company has made SkypeOut, its Skype to regular phone calling feature absolutely free until the end of the year. Skype has not announced a decision on whether or not it will keep this feature free beyond 2006. Free SkypeOut works for anyone within US and Canada.

This depicts Skype's strategy to expand in the wireless space very aggressively. In April, Skype forged agreements with several music publishers to make ringtones part of its product portfolio. It has also joined forces with Motorola to introduce the Motorola Talk & Tunes Wireless Internet Calling Kit, which enables Skype users to wirelessly listen to music and manage calls over the Internet simultaneously from a PC using Bluetooth technology. Moreover Top Global announced a 3G Mobile wireless Skype solution based on the company's 3G MobileBridge platform, which serves as a gateway/router that links 3G and WLAN/LAN networks.

Future value proposition will come from the bundling and the compatibility of Wi-Fi VoIP phones as well as consumer adoption. Bundling of Wi-Fi VoIP phones will drive the retail market and the dual mode phones (VoIP / Cellular) will drive the enterprise market. This dual mode strategy will also be a step towards "Fixed Mobile Convergence"

Microsoft Zune's Ad ?

Will you tune to Microsoft's Zune

Watching Apple's formula for success was a recurring pain for Microsoft for the last few years and now when it finally realized the threat posed by Apple's vertically integrated content and hardware distribution platform and is reportedly ready to throw all its weight into the upcoming battle. Microsoft is spending resources on developing its own hardware division. Instead of just mouses and keyboards, Microsoft now produces games consoles, web cams and soon Wi-Fi music players. On the same lines Microsoft on Friday confirmed rumors that it would soon be releasing a digital media player to challenge Apple Computer’s popular iPod, and its associated software and download service will be marketed under the name “Zune”. The Zune products will be available by the end of the year (read Christmas) as expected. It will launch at the same time as Microsoft rolls out a compatible music store, a la Apple's iTunes. Zune prototype that was being developed under the name “Argo,” has a reference to Greek Mythology’s Jason and his massive warship. Moreover with Windows Vista delayed into 2007, Microsoft desperately needs a hit for the holidays. They might actually have a shot with Zune, as Apple is rumored to have no major iPod upgrades planned until 2007 due to technical problems developing a 'real' video iPod.

The Zune is supposed to be capable of playing digital music, video, gaming, and downloading music over an 802.11b/g connection, however, the primary focus for the device will be on music for the first phase of launch. Zune will be having WiFi capability as well as an internal hard drive (reumoured to have 30GB HDD). WiFi capability is there to foster a community around the Zune, enabling Zuners to see one another's playlists, track recommendations wirelessly, and even share music with one another. In addition, Zuners will be able to send and receive content between the Zune and other Microsoft devices such as the Xbox 360 and mobile devices running the Windows Mobile OS. Also, the Zune will allow for a limited P2P experience which will be a "controlled sharing". But unlike the early P2P space, this sharing will have limitations. Speculation is that this community-sharing feature would be limited to 10 users in the same hot spot at a time (read "experimentation with new business models"). It is also reported to have a 400 Mhz DPS processor, which is more than needed just to listen to music and watch videos, but also suited for gaming. Microsoft is also promising a better-quality screen then the iPod.

Microsoft's Strategy

This is a major deviation from earlier strategy of Microsoft, which until now was to produce software to support other devices and platforms that compete with Apple like Yahoo!, Napster, RealNetworks, etc. Microsoft still has to model its content pricing with music labels and music publishers, who are trying to resolve how many times a Zune owner could listen to music on another owner's device, and how much money the music industry should receive each time a track is played. Currently music industry has two basic business models for online music sales. One model places iTunes' store as a benchmark and another is services like Napster and Yahoo!'s music store which is based over impressions. Zune's business model will not be a exact carbon copy of iTunes' as Microsoft seems to fight Apple for consumer's living rooms. Apple has already begun positioning its Macintosh line as a home entertainment device, and the company has been in negotiations with movie studios to transmit full-length films over the Internet. So the battle is all about the digital home. Zune-branded devices are apparently only one part of Microsoft's strategy as Microsoft's broader vision is to develop several use cases to discover and play entertainment content from a variety of devices including computers, phones and the Xbox 360. This broader vision seems to look OK but the initial inertia among the iPod users due to protected AAC content on their iPods will be a challenging task before Microsoft. Among the speculative rumours more exciting is that Microsoft will buy-out users' collections of iTunes purchased music and replace the files with Zune-compatible music. As many fans are aware, music purchased from iTunes will not play on anything other than an iPod.

Record labels will be eager to work with Microsoft to counter Apple's power in dictating prices. Moreover competition means more opportunities to sell digital music in ways Apple won’t allow like Microsoft is more open to variable pricing, whereas Apple is not. This means cheaper prices, more accessories, better services, and in general greater value for us the consumer. Same happened in case of Xbox vs. Sony PlayStation.


MSN Music's fate

Microsoft will support the Zune launch with a massive advertising and marketing campaign expected to be heavily artist-centric, including several live performances nationwide. According to company officials, total effort will be on par with that of the Xbox 360 launch, which cost a reported $500 million. Launch of Zune will change the fate of the existing MSN Music service. With all the company’s resources focused on Zune, it appears likely MSN Music will be left to die on its own.


Future Imperfect

Whether Zune will work with all of the third-party players out there, such as the Clix and devices from Samsung, Creative and others is still not clear. Ambiguity also lies in the compatibility of Zune with rival music services, such as Urge, RealNetworks' Rhapsody and Napster. This is a very important question, considering the current content distribution landscape as evident from the current sales figures. Apple's iTunes music store is used for 72 percent of music downloads, while Microsoft's store represents 3 percent. Microsoft has two options right now. One is to go for the exchange mechanism where iPod users will be able to exchange iPod compatible songs with Zune compatible ones. This will have a good amount of financial hit. Other unlikely option will be to go for isolation where Zune will not be compatible as well as there won't be any exchange. As second options might be a suicidal move for Microsoft so most likely it will go for the first one.

IPTV on Wireless: Forget Home Wiring

Broadband and IPTV were envisioned as the fixed line saviors but the huge opex is proving to be the limiting factor. Moreover customer dissatisfaction also rises due to inconvenience from in-home wiring and installation time. The in- home piece of the IPTV delivery chain is one of the most critical, and it often goes overlooked and thus limits the gross additions per day.

On a large scale, requiring 4 to 5 hours for two technicians to bring up a single subscriber can’t be justified from a cost or resource perspective. Subscribers aren’t keen, in the first place, to have their homes re-wired . A wireless solution is ideal for triple play customers, but consumer-grade Wi-Fi's experience has been proved unacceptable. Consumer-grade Wi-Fi is an unstable medium and has been developed for data applications that are tolerant of delay and latency. Conventional Wi-Fi technology broadcasts Wi-Fi signals in all directions thereby limiting range and performance. Performance drastically degrades from interference of other RF devices such as cordless phones, nearby Wi-Fi networks, microwave ovens, etc., often causing packet error rates to exceed 15 percent. Other than interferences, it doesn't support the multicasting (required for triple play) due to its treatment as best effort UDP traffic therefore giving it minimum bandwidth.

Ruckus has an innovative next generation smart Wi-Fi product to surpass these hurdles for which it is going to have alliance with 15 telcos for wireless triple play. The Ruckus MediaFlex system reduces installation to less than one hour, eliminates cumbersome wiring and supports all media types over a single, universally-accepted technology: Wi-Fi. Adding extra TVs or connections is a simple process that doesn't require installers. The Ruckus's smart Wi-Fi system uses smart antennas and BeamFlex technology to select the best path through the air for a specific type of multimedia content. It directs Wi-Fi signals over that path to a given receiver instead of broadcasting it in all directions. In case that path experiences interference, the Ruckus system automatically transfers the traffic over another path in real time to ensure 15-20 Mbps of consistent bandwidth to every location in the home with virtually no interruption in Wi-Fi transmissions. MediaFlex also uses SmartCast, a traffic inspection, classification and QoS engine, identifies multicast IPTV traffic, prioritizes it and directs it to the destined end device using advanced IGMP snooping techniques. End devices are forced to acknowledge packet receipts, allowing the system to track link conditions to a given end point.

Wireless VoIP by Jajah

Free ISD Calls on Mobile and Landline
Hey are you a freebie-jok who wants everything free, atleast telcos should not charge for air (read spectrum). Well good news for those who are constantly in search of freebies. Jajah is coming up in near future with the best ever package for mobile and landline users. It has broken global communication barriers but the catch lies in the availibility of this service. Irony of the service is its non-availability in developing countries whose citizines are already deprived of cheap calls due to low PC penetration.

Jajah has developed a java applet which allows mobile phone users to connect to Jajah, which then sets up the call without the need for a PC. It comes with one constraint that it applies only when both call participants are registered JAJAH users. This product is derived from the result of market research which suggested that 97 per cent of computer users still don't use PC-based VOIP services. However it will hurt the traditional telcos' long distance business but on the other hand it enhances the value proposition of VoIP whereby just selecting the profile type user can switch to cheaper Jajah mode.Once a call is initiated at Jajah site, the Jajah “termination server” places a call to each party, then connects the calls together. Jajah operates 200 of these servers in 85 countries. The same process will take place when a mobile handset is being used to initiate the call. The cellphone users on each side will be charged by their providers for what appears to be a local call, even if they are using the Jajah service to connect to a foreign country. And, as with the PC-based service, most of the call will route through the Internet, connecting to the PSTN only when necessary.

Business model is totally focussed on Up-selling to subscribers as well as on business applications like Jajah Business Account and "Call Me button" etc. Some other companies like iSkoot (with Skype) and Spirit DSP are already working on this phenomina

Mobile Phone Marketing...Wake Up Telcos

Worldwide telecom companies are busy fighting with each other and investing into Capex / Investment intensive services like IPTV and 3G which would take several years (IPTV will take 4-5 years) to make EBITDA positive leaving free cash flow (FCF) for the time being. Nobody is focusing on what they currently have i.e.large subscriber base. Many money making applications are being developed to harness the same but not everybody is taking care of it. Mobile phone marketing in one among those forgotten gold mines. Discount coupons and vouchers on paper are everywhere but never at hand when needed most. Biggest impediment is the lack of presence on electronic medium and its everywhere accessibility. Only mobile phones foot the bill.

Northern Ireland-based firm, TextStart.com has come up with an excellent way of driving all savings to consumers' mobile phones. TextStart.com sends mobile coupons and vouchers for registered users' favorite local businesses directly to their mobiles in the form of SMS text messages. It i’s completely free and 100% secure - customers simply show the screen in-store to redeem their offer. Subscriber can register for free at website, choose the stores they want to get offers from and stop receiving messages at any time. All sorts of local businesses have signed up to offer the service to their customers and will be sending everything from special offers and promotions to competitions and secret’ un-advertised sales. Each business also has its own unique code that they wi’ll be displaying in their place of business. Customers can add their name to an individual list on the spot by sending that code to 60066.

But will it meet the same fate as Airtel's mCoupons did ? Sometimes back Airtel launched this wonderful value added service (VAS) for its subscribers where they offered cool deals (SMS MCOUPON to 800) in more than 10 cities but it didn't prove to be a killer application. Fault might be with the "understanding customer psyche" or "lack of focus". Lets hope that the TextStart will see the light and whole telecom industry can learn out of that.

Private Mobile Numbers...Upcoming

Got frustated with unwanted expenditure on mobile minutes ? Take a sigh of relief and join NetZero's PrivatePhone which will allow you to distribute your phone number to anybody and can be activated in very simple steps. This is also referred as "Phone In" feature. Users may sign up either through the Internet or through a mobile phone. Users ay set up a text-messaging service to alert them when a new voice mail has been received. PrivatePhone voice mail may be checking through a phone or via the Internet. Incoming calls are routed directly to voice mail, which you can check for free. NetZero hopes you will upgrade to their premium VoIP service (plans start at $3.95/month for 100 minutes) which includes inbound and outbound calling. Rates are as low as 2 cents per minute in higher volume.

Better value proposition comes from savings on roaming calls and STD calls. You can choose the area code where you want your virtual presence other than your physical one. So from that area your friends, family members can get in touch with you at local rates. This feature comes handy in numerous situations where you have to expose your mobile number in public domain, for example if you are placing an advertisement in news paper etc. All these things are good for the customer but didn't you forget the "moolah" coming from the business. NetZero is totally relying on the optimism that the PrivatePhone users will upgrade themselves to other packages which include the "Phone Out" feature. We won't say that it is not pragmatic but things will take time to fall in place.

Finally Skype got cracked

Always worried about your hijacked systems, because of Skype's Supe Node technology ? or an ardent supporter of open systems which was challenged by protected protocols of Skype. Now you can take a sigh of relief if Charlie Paglee can be believed. Recently he broke an unnerving news for eBay which says that a group of Chinese engineers have cracked the Skype by reverse enigineering. This may spell a bad future for eBay who has already more than 100 mn Skype users. In case this new developed system sees the light, new as well as existing Skype users may not like to be added as a super node and in turn to be hijacked. This will reduce the Super nodes in numbers which will deteriorate the network's quality. Moreover eBay's advertising plan over Skype clients may also suffer as in competition there will always be an ad free client available in the market. But there can be a possible catch in application developed by chinese engineers is the ability to get through firewalls and NAT routers. Considering the $US 2.6 bn bet, eBay would like to pull up the sleeves and come back into fight by

a) Going for business products and / or
b) Doing nothing (In case new client doen't attract sizeable no. of users) and / or
c) Going through traditional way of blocking and blocking again and / or
d) Opening the proprietary protocol to third parties and support it by official API

This 10 person chinese company is expected to launch the parasite client (no offences as personally i am open system supporter) by august '06. Watch this space for further hungama in VoIP space.