An interesting article about the biggest mistakes in high tech deal making – including key players such as:
as well as some hot moves by Google and Microsoft.
Deals are often passed over through poor timing, lack of insight as to the potential of an opportunity or just sheer dislike of the people making the offer. Even the best fall hard when looking back with 20/20 hindsight. Read the full article
With so much turmoil in the market at present it would be easy to get distracted from feeling any confidence in trends. However, trends as opposed to fads tend to push through other cyclical or market forces.
In the following series “Technology Trends fof 2009″ we will report any useful information we have found around the village for you to consider.
In this first Technology Trends 2009 post we will look at our home ground – the Web
This presentation looks at the current web trends and what one proponent believes will be the most likely path to follow going forward.
One of the key challenges for network carriers today is “How to Profit From Converged IP Billing”
Over the many years I have consulted in mobile technology marketing strategy, one of the main limitations we always faced when rolling out a new service was working around the constraints of the billing system. It was only 10 years ago that billing systems could only copy with time based items and not with unit based.
Whilst billing technology itself has progressed signicantly since 1997, have these systems sufficiently evolved to handle the impact of IP Convergence? This needs to include both changes in mobile operator service as well as how services are bundled for different marketing strategies.
For those operators who recognised that billing is the link to revenue, they are embracing the opportunities to create profitable new services. What range of service applications will be developed in the coming months and years remains to be seen; but for those that have left their run late, the technology upgrade path is very steep indeed.
Network technologies such as WiMax, WiFi, and 3G and IMS platform architecture has been receiving most of the attention, but wireless billing is at least as important to underpin all next-gen wireless services, regardless of which infrastructure technologies are deployed. For wireless carriers, billing systems are emerging as a major factor in their competitive positioning both short and long term.
Significant changes in the billing sector include:
As billing systems continue to evolve they are morphing from back-office products into strategic marketing tools.
And it’s not just network operators who need to concentrate more of the likely IP roadmap. Suppliers of mobile billing products need strategic insight into the mobile billing sector to anticipate the needs of their clients.
For more information on billing systems that can manage services based on IP convergence:
With the recent forming of the Femtocell Forum in London this week, the rollout of Femtocells looks set to follow a quick path to market. With forty founding members [only 7 willing to go public at this stage] the forum aims to focus on:
AÂ marketing task force to promote the benefits of femtocell technology for both operators and subscribers. For more on the Femtocell Forum
Femtocell using a small wireless base station in the home or small business premise to boost WiFi over 3G connectivity to improve coverage and boost download speeds, using standard 3G handsets. For more on Femtocell technology and benefits.
This months blog is very close to the core of ElectrosmartNET – the launch iPhone, the first fixed-mobile IP convergence phone by Apple, and the rollout of USA ’s first nationwide cellular and WiFi fixed mobile convergence service by  T-Mobile. Expect an announcement on June 26th.Just how well wireless LAN will be adopted by cellular users in the U.S. is a wait and see game.
One can expect cellular network operators to fight back, as WiFi potentially offers users free calls. T-Mobile has already wrapped a perimeter fence around its cashflow with it’s Hotspot@Home service. This service uses unlicensed mobile access technology [UMA]to handle the call transfers between the two networks – meaning they keep control of the call session. It will also come down to pricing [if T-Mobile charges less for the WiFi calls] and the normal workarounds that todays clever consumers are adept at.
T-Mobile will no doubt be watched closely by other carriers considering their long-term IMS plans – you may see a few jump to the already available UMA technology.
Handsets will be the next level of support, with WiFi as a standard feature on U.S. phones. A lot comes down to how well iPhone lives up to expectations.
Stay connected for more updates
 A recent article in an Entireweb newsletter reminds us that:
Ten years ago, in 1997:
Now, in 2007:
There are more than 100 million Web sites and 35 million blogs
Cell phones are multi-tasking hand-held computers used for voice calls, text messaging, photography, video downloading, digital music files and gaming.
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