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August 31, 2007
OpenGardens network logo
Here is the logo for the OpenGardens network
Posted by ajit at 9:39 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 30, 2007
China bans Buddhist monks in Tibet from reincarnating without government permission
Sometimes, I like to stretch the vision of OpenGardens beyond the telecoms scenario .. – especially when I see news like China bans Buddhist monks in Tibet from reincarnating without government permission. You don’t know whether to laugh or cry .. But it’s true ..
Posted by ajit at 10:08 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
50 most influential Indian Americans: Great to see Om Malik on this list - sad to see Padmasree Warrior not on this list ..
Great to see Om Malik on this list of 50 most influential Indian Americans but sad to see that PADMASREE WARRIOR is not on this list.
I think Padmasree Warrior has a lot of impact - especially as a role model for women and girls in technology.
I have personally recommended her as a model to emulate to some of my women friends .. and I think there are very few women(of any nationality - Indian/American or otherwise) - as a role model to aspire to as Padmasree ..
So, I think that's one name which should have been there on this list!
Posted by ajit at 9:36 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 29, 2007
CTO job requirement ..
A startup I know is looking for this role
Please no agencies!
Please contact me at ajit.jaokar at futuretext.com
I dont know any more about this than whats here
This revolutionary Start-up Company in the mobile space with funds and a number of major contracts is looking for a ‘founder’ CTO. We’re looking for someone with extreme ambition and entrepreneurial type attitude to join the firm and team as CTO and lead the technical build through to delivery. You will be credited as a fellow founder and will be offered a significant equity stake in the business as well as a very good salary. You will join a very experienced and welcoming management team who want to create a long term nucleus of people for the company who can really drive it forward and successfully deliver mobile advertising solutions internationally.
We are looking for the ‘genius’ of the class who a burning desire to succeed and a great attitude is a must. You must also be able to demonstrate your programmer/development capabilities and be able to lead a team with two assistant developers working with you.
You will work on integrating 3rd party web content into databases and develop related web sites/mobile websites, front-ends and backends.
The key responsibilities include:
• Write specification, undertake build and lead team to final development within specified time period
• Design search algorithms and correctly categorize content to display on web and mobile
• Design dynamic content management and advertising placement platform
• Implement tools for analyzing user behaviour and feedback
• Import XML-based 3rd party content
• Build web and mobile internet sites to display content
• Prototype portals and prepare for customer tests
• Write integration scripts to interface with databases
The position requires excellent knowledge of HTML/xHTML content generation, common scripting languages (esp. PHP, AJAX and [Unobtrusive] JavaScript), XML, video streaming, techniques for data mining/categorization & databases and ideally Java, Linux administration, script programming (e.g. Perl and VB), programming in C and VB.
You will also need excellent graphics design skills. Areas of interests include: Web 2.0 tools and systems, creative graphics design, HTTP and TCP/IP, web server (Apache), databases (MySQL / Oracle), data mining and data organization.
Requirements:
Strong background/personality and above all else a burning desire to succeed and great attitude. Must have university degree and/or significant experience with large real-life Internet services. Prior experience in launching and designing commercial web properties would be hugely beneficial. Proactive and highly motivated. Ability to meet tight deadlines.
Competencies:
Demonstrated ability to build new Internet services and advertising platforms and integrate 3rd party content into live Internet sites, Internet site design, mobile web site setup, proficient with common tools for Internet content, testing of web sites. Strong appreciation of consumer needs and business opportunities required.
Also excellent design skills are a must. E.g. have designed some commercial web and/or mobile sites before.
Technologies:
- Must: Required skills to develop web portals for PC and mobile browsing using different web development technologies and tools. HTML, Java script, PHP, Ajax
- Must: Required skills to develop web statistics and reports (information stored in DB) using suitable web technologies and/or reporting tools
- Nice to have: Apache and/or Jboss management and development skills
- Nice to have: Python, Java and C++ coding skills
The project will be undertaken in London or very close to London. This is a great opportunity for someone who wants to step outside the box and work towards a greater goal. The firm is well placed to operate at the highest level and can demonstrate serious calibre in the mobile space. As part of the management team you will also be expected to contribute to the strategy and overall direction of the firm and show a deep understanding of mobile. An understanding of or background in mobile advertising would be ideal but not essential.
Posted by ajit at 8:09 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Invitation to join the OpenGardens network - more ..
Hello all ..
I have been pleasantly surprised as to how well this has been received.
Please keep your emails coming if you are interested in being a part of the OpenGardens network.
I hope to launch this around Sep 10 - because I am speaking at a number of conferences after
that and we would get good exposure
There were some requests for clarification .. and so here is the announcement in a bit more detail
The OpenGardens network is the evolution of the OpenGardens blog. The OpenGardens blog is already well known – with a Google page rank of 6/10 and an Alexa rating of
around 100,000
The problem we are trying to address is: How to get maximum exposure for great bloggers – this is especially so when blogs may not be frequently updated all the time.
The benefits to contributors are: More exposure for your blog and ideas. There is no
cost and no advertising on your blog. The only requirement is: you must be insightful within the topic areas below. The frequency of blogs does not matter. We have interest from people who work for companies and run a private blog(typically a blog which may be insightful - but infrequent) - and that’s very welcome
The basic idea is to do a concept similar to techmeme i.e. a human edited (i.e. initially me!) set of
blogs in specific themes. These blogs will be sourced from a set of
contributors . The OpenGardens network blog will not contain the whole post – but a summary linking back to your site
Each OpenGardens network blog will also have an FAQ i.e. a non chronological summary of the ideas presented in an FAQ format (which will be also link back to your blog)
So,
a) Evolving from the OpenGardens blog, the OpenGardens network would have a set of blogs – each covering a theme
b) We would have set of preferred contributors (blogs). Please email me if you think you are a good contributor for this
c) Articles from these (and other recommended blogs) would feature on the OpenGardens network blogs
d) They would be linked back to the source thus providing coverage
e) Each OpenGardens network blog would have an accompanying FAQ (although maybe
not at the outset). It benefits people who are not regular bloggers because their ideas are linked to the FAQ besides being in the blog itself.
f) I expect to launch in mid Sep since I am speaking at four major conferences from that time and it will get good coverage
g) The network will be ad sponsored – with ads on my blogs only (not the contributor's blogs)
h) We will start with: Web 2.0, Mobile Web 2.0, Social networking, User generated content and Enterprise web 2.0 purely because I know these areas on my own - at least enough to edit
There will be a logo/image to go on your blog. Other than that, nothing else. It should get you good traffic both on the OpenGardens network itself and also the FAQ.
i) I believe it will work great for corporate bloggers as well
If you think you are a good contributor for this, please email me on ajit.jaokar at futuretext.com
Kind rgds
Ajit
Posted by ajit at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 28, 2007
Digital Korea: In Amazon's best selling hot releases list ..
We recently launched a book about Korea(Digital Korea) written by Tomi Ahonen and Jim O Reilly. This book has been getting a lot of coverage in Korea where Tomi and Jim spoke at Imobicon 2007
The book now appears on Amazon's best selling hot releases list .. which is a great achievement by any standards.! Well done to Tomi and Jim!
You can see more about the book and buy it HERE
A synopsis is as below
>>>>>>>>
Overview
Tomi Ahonen's latest book, Digital Korea, which he co-authored with Jim O'Reilly is now available to pre order.
Tomi's much-awaited next book is a study of the most advanced country for digital convergence, South Korea. Working with Jim O'Reilly who is the European technology specialist and envoy for the Korean Government, Tomi's fifth book sounds almost like science fiction but discusses the solid reality of life in South Korea today.
The book discusses a country where every household internet connection has already been upgraded to broadband; where 100 mbit/s speeds are already sold and gigabit speeds already coming; where every phone sold is a cameraphone; where three out of every four mobile subscriptions is a 3G connection; where cars and PCs and mobile phones now ship with in-built digital TVs; where 42% of the population maintain a blogsite and four out of ten have created an avatar of themselves; where over half of the population pay with cellphones and 25% of the total South Korean population have participated inside a multiplayer online game, in fact inside the same multiplayer online game.
The stories from South Korea are each more amazing than the last. 50,000 citizen journalists write the national Ohmy News newspaper. While Second Life fascinates western media for its 2 million users, South Korean Cyworld has 20 million users. While we tend to view the 8 million active users of the World of Warcraft as a milestone in massively multiplayer online games, South Korean Lineage already has 14 million active gamers.
Digitsl Korea
A Common Architecture & Framework For SOA and Network Convergence
By Tomi Ahonen & Jim O'Reilly
And perhaps most telling of all - the South Korean government is convinced every Korean home will have a household robot within ten years. Household robots? Not just cleaning our homes and providing security, but reading bedtime stories to our kids and helping them with their homework too. Tomi's book includes chapters on all these issues and more with the state-of-the-art latest products and services described in detail.
This most ambitious survey of the current state of digital convergence,ubiquitous computing and the information society that is South Korea, is a masterpiece by Tomi and Jim. They call the book simply Digital Korea, but its subtitle is long as the stories in the book are so wide-reaching: Convergences of broadband internet, 3G cellphones, multiplayer gaming, digital TV, virtual reality, electronic cash, telematics, robotics, e-government and the intelligent home.
The research for the book took a long time as so many different fields had to be covered. But the resulting book is now the most up-to-date view of that exact point where science fiction meets science fact. What happens when virtual reality meet the real world, with wireless reach and broadband speed? The book is packed with statistics and case studies and Tomi's famous "Pearls". As an interesting method, they have also often placed two rival statistics side-by-side, such as "In 2006 in USA 10% of music sales was digital" accourding to IFPI, and next to it on the opposing page "in 2006 in South Korea 57% of music sales was digital" also according to IFPI. This kind of comparisons help illustrate just how much of a lead South Korea has been able to pull.
Like Tomi's last book with us (Communities Dominate Brands, co-authored with Alan Moore), Digital Korea is a hardcover book of 284 pages in length. It will be released shortly and be available at all major booksellers and through us. We also will sell this book in bulk orders at a discount for those who may consider it as a corporate gift for example or for in-house training.
We are now accepting pre-orders for Digital Korea
price 24.95 UKP / 39.95 Euro / 49.95 USD
ISBN 978-0-9556069-0-8
You can see more about the book and buy it HERE
Posted by ajit at 6:06 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Black weblog awards: Pls vote for Darla Mack in the Best Science/Technology blog
Many of you know Darla Mack as a well known industry blogger.
I, like many others, follow her blog Days in the life of a mobile diva
Darla's blog has been nominated for the best Black weblog awards in the science and technology sector.
Please vote for her.
Voting ends very soon .. so please do this ASAP
A couple of notes
The link to vote is blackweblogawards
(http://www.blackweblogawards.com/)
You have to click the banner image to vote. My Antivirus blocked the banner - so if you dont see the banner - check your ad blocker
Also
It makes you vote in all 30 categories - many of which I did not know (probably because I am based in England) - so you can choose them as you wish if you dont know them
(This takes hardly a minute to sort out)
Darla is in the 'Best Science/Technology blog' about two thirds down the page
So, do this now! and lets hope she wins
kind rgds
Ajit
Posted by ajit at 12:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
An invitation to join the OpenGardens network ..
In the article: Everything you wanted to know about blogging but were afraid to ask .. - I mentioned about bloggers who blog occasionally and how difficult it would be to get coverage – considering that people would rarely subscribe to a blog which is updated infrequently
Raddedas and Dag commented about this – and in response to that - I am posting Part three(evolution of the OpenGardens network) now(before Part Two – which is about publishing)
The key issue, as both Raddedas and Dag point out is: there is value in blogs which are insightful but infrequent
The question is: how to promote them?
The answer to this question was to be a part of the evolution of the OpenGardens network
The problem we solve is: How to bring the best writing to the Web when it is not frequently posted and at the same time promote the source blogs as well.
One model which seems to work is the techmeme model . Techmeme relies on human editors. Typically, these editors are top bloggers.
While techmeme works, it still has many problems
Most of the stories covered are America based
They are biased to some themes(Google phone rumours for example)
And I find that they are still sourced from very few sources
So, what I am considering is : a human edited version of techmeme but within specific verticals/themes
So,
a) Evolving from the OpenGardens blog, the OpenGardens network would have a set of blogs – each covering a theme
b) We would have set of preferred sources(blogs)
c) Articles from these(and other recommended blogs) would feature on the OpenGardens network
d) They would be linked back to the source thus providing coverage
e) Each blog would have an accompanying FAQ (maybe not to begin with)
f) I expect to launch in mid Sep since I am speaking at four major conferences from that time and it will get good coverage
g) The network will be ad sponsored – with ads on my blogs only(not the contributor’s blogs)
h) We will start with: Web 2.0, Mobile Web 2.0, Social networking, User generated content and Enterprise web 2.0 purely because I know these three areas on my own - at least enough to edit
I seek feedback for this and please contact me at ajit.jaokar at futuretext.com if you want to be considered to be included as a contributor to the OpenGardens network.
You should have a relevant blog, its free, there will be a logo/image to go on your blog. Other than that, nothing else. It should get you good traffic both on the OpenGardens network itself and also the FAQ.
The OpenGardens blog is already respected and I shall be inviting many people I already know to this - so hopefully you can benefit even if your blog is not a frequent contributor
Posted by ajit at 2:54 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Help: State of the Mobile Web in America ..
Hello
I am speaking at the Mobile Web Americas conference(and it promises to be a great event)
Being based in London, I dont have an idea of the specific issues people in America face when they access the Mobile Web. Hence, I am trying to gather some stories/real experiences.
Would be great if you can add something.
Always happy to refer back to you in the presentation/blog etc
Thanks in advance for your help
kind rgds
Ajit
Posted by ajit at 12:54 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
August 27, 2007
Carnival of the mobilists: at Xen Mendelsohn's blog ..
Carnival of the mobilists No 88 is up and running on Xen's blog. She calls my post 'fascinating' :) - and like all carnivals, its a great read. Dont miss it HERE
Posted by ajit at 6:01 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 25, 2007
iPhone unlocked: 10 giant steps for mankind and opengardens ..
One smart 17 year old kid
10 steps
And this is why walled gardens will never work!
Awesome stuff!
Posted by ajit at 7:40 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Everything you wanted to know about blogging but were afraid to ask ..
Well .. Not ‘everything’ but still, it makes a good title .. :)
I have been meaning to do this article for some time. It is in response to many people who asked me tips about blogging. I hope you find it useful. This article mainly draws on my personal experience in running the OpenGardens blog.
This will be a series of three articles:
First one (this one) on blogging, Second on publishing and finally a third article on my views on the future evolution of the OpenGardens blog
Lets start with my credentials. I have been blogging since May 26 2005 . My blog OpenGardens has an Alexa rating of around 100000 and a Google page rank of 6/10. More importantly the blog is followed by corporates – like Motorola CTO Padmasree Warrior , MEP Piia Noora Kauppi and also companies like Symbian, Nokia, IBM and many others.
These insights are based on my personal experience in developing the OpenGardens blog(and also some thoughts on it’s future development)
An outline of this article is as follows
1) Introduction
2) Where to blog
3) What makes a good blog
4) The consultant who blogs between assignments
5) Making money from blogging
6) Dominate – Go big or Go home
7) Insights and experiences in creating the OpenGardens blog
8) Who does your PR?
9) Competitive advantage from bloggging
Introduction
Most people start off with the two questions
a) Where do I start if I want to create a new blog?
b) How should I make money from blogging? Or What returns do I get from all this work I put in?
Two other questions which most people don’t ask(but should) are:
c) WHY are you blogging? and
d) What do you stand for?
In other words:
I believe that your goal should be to dominate a sector. By ‘dominate’, I mean – you should aim to be an important thought leader in a particular segment.
Lets face it, the Internet is huge .. and if you are not looking to be a serious player it may be a little like the expression p****ing in the wind .. pointless activity i.e. you will hardly make any impact.
Hence, the WHY is important(why are you blogging in the first place)
And by extension – WHO do you serve(your segment – people who gain from your insights)
I think you should start with the WHY ..
Your motivations(the WHY) may vary – and I will outline my own motivations below.
The last question – almost no one asks … What do you stand for?
And long term .. it may well be the most important question you have asked yourselves. I will come back to this later as well.
We will focus on these questions with insights based on my personal experiences. The mechanics of blogging are actually well known(such as add keywords to posts, ping technorati, feed reader basics etc etc). These, I will not cover here.
Where to blog
The traditional approach is to start off with the toolset(Wordpress vs. Movable type) and so on ..
It does not really matter which blogging platform you use(wordpress and Movable type being the market leaders)
The first choice is
a) Do you want to create your blog and take all the effort OR
b) Do you want to only get exposure for your ideas
If you don’t want to build and maintain your own blog but are rather looking to mainly get exposure for your own ideas – then you should blog on another network – and choose the highest traffic/most reputed network you can find(and will accept you – the two may not be the same )
If you are serious about blogging, I recommend that you should download and install a copy of the blogging software (ex wordpress) and run it on your servers under your domain name. This has BIG implications for SEO which we will discuss below
What makes a good blog?
Before we begin, let us rule out some categories who I think will never get beyond their starting line
a) People who use ghost bloggers
b) Anonymous bloggers
c) People who merely repost from other sources without providing any analysis
In all these cases, these people don’t stand for anything. They cant be trusted – and their motivations are unknown.
Take the anonymous blogger.
Is he sponsored by anyone? Without knowing his CV, how do we know what are the limitations in his knowledge? He may claim to be an ‘expert’ on everything .. but what exactly does he know? What has he got to hide? Etc etc ..
So, having ruled out these people : lets ask ourselves:
What makes a good blog?
Lets answer this question with another question ..
What blogs do you read?
If you are like me, you follow feeds from a range of sources .. and no matter what they are; these blogs are either
a) New/News
OR
b) Analysis
(This is a purist definition – there are blogs which do both – but the categorization helps to put our discussion in perspective)
Even a political blog, celebrity blog, gossip blog etc can all come under this classification i.e. they are primarily reporting the latest developments OR they are providing analysis for some key trends in a sector.
Do you want to report on the latest OR do you want to provide analysis
While most journalists will never become good bloggers, some of the best known bloggers have a journalism background – for instance: Robert Scoble, Richard Mc Manus and Om Malik.
A blogger can't really be a journalist. Most bloggers don't have the resources to look for a story and track the latest developments.
When I created the OpenGardens blog, I made a conscious decision to ignore the ‘story’ and instead focus on analysis only. In that sense, the blog is similar to Gartner or Ovum – as opposed to a more traditional news based publication like ZD net
Irrespective of what type of blog it is: from a blogger’s perspective – there are three main reasons to blog
a) Search engine optimization
b) Building your own reputation
c) Engaging the community (especially if you are a corporate blogger)
And a good blog is all about being insightful , independent, original and consistent (i.e. you must blog well and regularly).
The style does not matter as long as your readers like it. My writing style leans more towards longer articles(like this one) as opposed to shorter blog posts. If you really want to ‘microblog’ – then you should consider twitter – but I see twitter more as ‘presence’ than as a blog.
The other extreme is Video blogging or audio blogging(podcasting). Both have their place. However, nothing replaces the written word – with text you can quickly see the whole article and decide what you are interested in(you cant do the same with video or audio).
It is especially important to be consistent
Most people can do great one off posts – but cant be consistent.
The consultant who blogs ‘between assignments’
Why is it important to be consistent?
Take this example ..
There is a unique class of blogger called : ‘The consultant who ‘blogs’ between projects’
I know one such person. His blogs are great but very occasional and they get frequent when he has no work. When he is on an assignment, the blogs stop
Insightful they may be, but the Web is too big to take this type of person seriously and it is rather arrogant of them to think that the world will wait for them when they are ready
People will simply move on ..
But you mentioned something about making money .. What about making money?
Ahh .. money ..
As you would have gathered by now, I am not a fan of ‘pay per post’ – for the same reason that you lose your objectivity if you are paid(This is different from sponsors for your blog – which is fine as long as it is declared)
Having known some of the best bloggers - I can say that there is only one blogger I know Richard Mc Manus
Of readwriteweb who makes a living from blogging alone. And Richard is truly a one man media machine - the depth and the scope of his blog is awesome .. not something most people can replicate.
I am happy to hear about anyone else who does. (Note – Mike Arrington(techcrunch), Om Malik(Gigaom) , Robert Scoble(Podtech) and others have all got funding or corporate sponsors. I am referring to a blogger who earns money from the blogs alone(sponsorship/advertising)
The advertising model works – but you need to work hard for it.
There is however, a secondary model, which I think is also useful. It depends on your personal focus – and it is similar to the ideas I described in Salt, Pepper and Social networking . In essence, WiFi, Social networking(and also blogging) need to be ‘free’ – like condiments(salt and pepper). But – you must know in advance what the ‘coffee’ is i.e. what ‘else’ can you sell(or a secondary reason for getting returns – which may not be monetary)
In my case, it is clearly selling books – not just my own – but also books from other authors we publish. It is also all about thought leadership, getting live feedback by blogging about my books in advance and so on.
Dominate – Go big or go home!
I alluded before that – within the scope of the Web – there is little point in taking a half hearted approach i.e. Go big or Go home ..
The irony here is ‘Big’ is relative.
It does not need loads of money
It does not need to dominate ‘the whole web’
It needs you to dominate a segment ..
Therein lies the skill of understanding who do you serve .. Who is your audience and What benefits are they gaining from your blog?
Why would they bother to give you their time in the attention economy? When attention is indeed the scarcest resource? (Read the full paper by Michael Goldhaber in the link on attention economy – its long but its great!)
I believe that if you define your audience and provide something useful within a smaller segment, there is room for your new blog to be truly significant.
In other words, blogs like Boing boing may be for ‘everyone’ and much more difficult to build - but there may be plenty of is plenty of room within your own industry sector. Indeed I would argue that it is more valuable to build a blog with a smaller but more qualified traffic.
Another common mistake is to ‘attack’ something or someone constantly with the hope that you get some attention. This is a short term tactic – and it labels you directly as a follower and not a leader.
I believe that in the long run(and by that – I mean at least a year of dedicated blogging before you start to see any results), analysis and insights will prevail over short term tactics purely because – inspite of all the ‘noise’ out there - there are VERY FEW people on the web who can provide good, independent analysis. And thus an opportunity exists.
What are the characteristics of a good blogger?
What are the characteristics of a good blogger? Is there some quality that is nice to have?
I think there are three
a) An ability to assimilate vast amounts of information and create new insights from this information
b) A sense of humanity and individuality – being an individual – even if you work in a large company
c) An ability to outline your viewpoints in a format that your readers will find useful
Insights and experiences in creation of the OpenGardens blog
And finally, here are some of my own insights in creation of the OpenGardens blog
The OpenGardens blog was launched in May 2005. As the name suggests, it reflects my personal philosophy of Open systems, interoperability etc especially within the telecoms sector.. and it is also a reflection of my larger libertarian philosophy(which you can see through various links in this blog)
In other words, the blog stands for something! Something I truly believe in
It is only about analysis(no news).
In the first six months it was launched, it got almost no traffic and very little coverage – although that period accounted for one of my favourite posts The mobile Internet will do more for
Africa than live 8!
The blog aims to be factual and non controversial.
It is also a reflection of me as an individual(for instance various references to animation, the music of Pink Floyd etc)
The ‘coffee’ is selling books and SEO. See SEO: How to use blogs for Search engine optimization and to improve your Google ranking/Alexa rating
to understand how that works for me.
I also genuinely like to blog. It helps me to put out ideas relating to my new books and get direct feedback(engage with people)
Finally .. the blog was inspired by the simple observation that there are almost no blogs that span the Web and the Mobile Web. Hence, there was a need for a blog that focussed on the interplay between these two domains. As mobility becomes more important, this sector gains in importance.
Competitive advantage
Blogging is no different from the Internet. It’s a winner takes all game. If you truly take the efforts, you create an asset and hence a competitive advantage. When the dust of the Web 1.0 world settled, there were a handful of big names which had won (Google, Yahoo etc).
Thousands of smaller start-ups were wiped out.
The same with blogs ..
With 50 million blogs as of Oct 2006 and the blogosphere doubling in size every six months .. , very few will be survive
Those that do, will have an unassailable competitive advantage
There is one difference though .. Unlike web 1.0, we now have the Long tail effects ..
Hence, every sector will have winners ..
And that is cause for optimism especially if you can define your own niche!
Concluding thoughts – Who does your PR?
Someone from the PR industry asked me recently –
Who does your PR? How do they get you speaking slots at conferences like Java One, 3GSM, Web 2.0 expo and the Symbian smart show?
The answer, much to the disappointment of that person is, we have no one in that role(PR)
ALL the coverage is from the blog.
Blogging IS the new conversation(and I hesitate to call it PR!)
As usual, all comments welcome
Cartoon from: dorktower
The next article will discuss the publishing industry from the perspective of an author and a publisher
Posted by ajit at 3:16 PM | Comments (12) | TrackBack
Cool admob feature ..
Have a look at this cool admob feature - and Russell Buckley's blog which explains a bit more
Great stuff!
Posted by ajit at 12:22 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 24, 2007
Verizon’s service mark of the term Mobile Web 2.0
I have had a few emails about this from friends ..
Recently, Verizon put out this press release(pdf) talking of Mobile Web 2.0 and there is an SM(service mark) suffixed after the term Mobile Web 2.0
On reading further, it appears to be nothing more than their portal(walled garden at that!) .. Being called Mobile Web 2.0
Of course, as many of you know, Mobile Web 2.0 is also the title of our book Mobile Web 2.0
So,
a) What does this service mark mean? Does it matter?
b) What does Verizon’s ‘Mobile Web 2.0’ mean
Let’s answer the second question first ..
How can a walled garden portal be called ‘Web 2.0’?
OR
Is Verizon looking to change it's stripes here?
While we(and especially I) have taken a lot of flak on the Web for my insistence on outlining the synergies between Web 2.0 and Mobility in a definition of Mobile Web 2.0; we at least made some efforts to align with the core ethos of Web 2.0 – for example user generated content, architecture of participation, harnessing collective intelligence etc.
Dressing up a traditional walled garden portal as ‘Mobile Web 2.0’ seems to me, to be capitalising on a buzzword.
On the other hand, I could be seen to be capitalizing on a buzzword myselves!
And that’s not a problem in itself ..
It’s just that – I would wish Verizon were a bit more in tune with the ethos of the Web/Web 2.0/Open standards etc
But in some ways .. This approach is to be expected from an Operator
I have always believed that Mobile Operators don’t ‘get’ Web 2.0 because it directly contradicts their principles of closed, non interoperable systems and this press release is a case in point.
For instance, there is talk of VCAST (music) but not much social networking, user generated content etc etc
And what about the service mark itself?
I don’t think it matters much ..
Neither Tony, nor I have tried to service mark, trademark or in any way control the name ‘Mobile Web 2.0’ - and furthur, We dont believe it can be done!
We have tried to intellectually define this term(drawing from Tim O Reilly’s principles i.e. we have defined a sub meme – rather than the meme itself) and also write a book about it.
The intellectual definition is dependent on its acceptance (or otherwise) within the industry.
Anyone could define their own Web 2.1, Web 2.5, Web 2.9, Web 4.0 and so on .. But the critical element here is the intellectual basis must exist. There in lies the significance of Tim O Reilly’s seven principles(and also our definition of Mobile Web 2.0 – which extends Web 2.0 to Mobility)
Many still don’t accept Tim O Reilly’s definition and his seven principle of Web 2.0 ..
So, at the end of the day, its all going to be about what we, as an industry, think about open standards, Web 2.0, user generated content vs. closed, proprietary, walled gardens, non interoperable standards etc ..
Hence, I wish that Verizon’s interpretation of Mobile Web 2.0 had an intellectual basis and at least some form of acknowledgement to the definition of Web 2.0 itself.
On a more positive note, I hope this may be the start of a more 'open' Verizon.Is that the signal being sent by Verizon? I am not sure. I wish it were i.e. Verizon would open up.
A service mark, however, could apply to someone creating a service called ‘Mobile Web 2.0’ and not to a book, a blog, a conference, a magazine etc etc ..
Anyone can write a book about any subject. In fact, I believe that more than one books(and films) of the same title can be created for the same subject
For instance: King Kong – was made in 1933, then again in 1976 and once again in 2005
Which means anyone could write a book on Web 2.0, on Mobile Web 2.0 etc
I think the service mark(for what it’s worth) may impact someone who wanted to create a service called ‘Mobile Web 2.0’
That’s a matter for the lawyers ..
It does not impact us since we have no intention of doing so ..
I hope all this buzz will help sell more books on Mobile Web 2.0 :) and in the next version of Mobile Web 2.0, I will definitely include the Verizon’s Mobile Web 2.0!
Any comments welcome!
Debi Jones also has a good summary in her blog about the attention economy ..
VZW is capitalizing on the existing high attention valuation for the phrase Mobile Web 2.0 and it’s forerunner Web 2.0 which has clearly reached mainstream awareness and has become part of the technology vernacular globally. Applying the concepts of Web 2.0 to mobile data applications began at least 2 years ago as evidenced by a book titled Mobile Web 2.0 published in 2006, 272 mil search results at Google, and 3,164 blog posts as indicated by Google Blogsearch.
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Carnival of the mobilists: At Darla Mack's blog ..
Missed this one .. but better late than never.
The 87th Carnival of the mobilists is at Darla Mack's blog. Great read as usual!
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August 22, 2007
operators have agreed to give Apple 10 per cent of all revenue generated from iPhone users
According to the FT/Register
T-Mobile, Orange and O2 are to sell the iPhone in Germany, France, and the UK respectively, according to the Financial Times. The paper also reports that the operators have agreed to give Apple 10 per cent of all revenue generated from iPhone users.
At the iPhone launch, I had asked – Is this the tail wagging the dog? (The iPhone is extraordinary not because of it’s UI but because it’s the tail wagging the dog )
And indeed at 10% revenue share .. it does appear to be ..
But .. once again .. the real beneficiaries will be existing device manufacturers – who will now be able to negotiate a higher revenue share. Interestingly enough, according to the Register, Apple does not want the Operators to subsidise the device ..
This means, the customers are now going to get used to non subsidised devices .. and this means a shift of power to the device .. a good thing as I say in the Chicken vs. Egg blog .. (The Chicken and the Egg: The device and the network – which came first)
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August 20, 2007
Enterprise 2.0: What does it mean for Mobile ..
Have a look at this very comprehensive article from Stephen Johnston on Enterprise 2.0: What does it mean for Mobile. He refers to some of my articles but goes into great depths in relation to Enterprise, Mobility and Web 2.0(A topic also of interest for me)
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August 19, 2007
Interview with Mr Jon Von Tetzchner - Opera ..
Dont miss this great interview with Jon Von Tetzchner of Opera.
I have followed Opera for a while now and am a fan .. and have known Jon for some time - last when we spoke at 3GSM
I found these two bits particularly interesting ..
Opera 9 and Opera Mobile 4.0 ..
What's happening is there's a new version in the works based on Opera 9. On Opera Mobile 4.0, we're introducing desktop mode and zooming. The desktop mode is based on a new kernel. The Opera 8 browsers are based on what we call Core 1, while Opera 9 is based on Core 2. There are significant changes under the hood.
We see Mini and Mobile as complimentary products. Mini runs on Java, and there's a Brew version in the works that I'm very enthusiastic about, it's going to be great. We went away from doing just smartphones to BREW, P2K Motorola and many other phones.
Aren't widgets are a security nightmare?
When you start to combine web code with the rest of the system you're opening yourself up to issues - you have to watch what you're doing there. It is difficult, but everyone wants to see power in these devices; you have to make some APIs available to access the underlying system. But we definitely don't want to be doing something like ActiveX.
One has to be realistic, but there isn't a single app that hasn't had a security issue at one time or another; again, I do believe it's the safest way to do things. There are so many things you'd like to do, and it's better to do it web-based than natively. There's going to be more and more service components in there; more and more applications are web-based. Whether you call it a service or not isn't neccessary, but it's combing communication to a server and there's a clear trend to web-based solutions and it started with the web being made, and is being intensified with apps Google is making. ®
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August 18, 2007
I am speaking at Mobile Web Americas: Email me if you want to meet up ..
I am speaking at the Mobile Web expo (Mobile Web Americas) event in Orlando Oct 2 – 4 and it looks to be a great conference. I believe it’s the largest event on the Mobile Web held in America and with the launch of the iPhone and other devices featuring the Mobile Web, I believe it should be very interesting especially with presentations from Google, Microsoft , Adobe , Nokia, Opera , W3C and InfoSpace
You can also meet me at this event since I am in Orlando for almost all of that week. Please contact me if you are attending this conference and want to meet up(ajit.jaokar at futuretext.com)
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Mobile crunch: A different interpretation ..
This is a different interpretation of ‘Mobile crunch’ and I hope that the good folk over at the real Mobilecrunch don’t mind this little play on words ..
How often do you walk with your head down typing on your mobile phone - and you bump into something ..
Today, I was walking at our local Harrow on the hill shopping mall - minding my own business as I typed merrily on my blackberry when suddenly ...
Crunnnnch ..
A toy bunny lay dead under my feet
You see .. we have these street vendors who sell wind up toys in the yard of the shopping centre ..
And I walked straight into one of those toy wound up bunnies 'playing' on the ground ..
Horrified children looked at the carnage .. And the vendor smiled on feigning sympathy as he sensed a sure sale ..
Anyway I am now a proud owner of a squashed bunny
What have you mobile ‘crunched’/bumped into as you type on your phone?
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Solved: The real life location of the 'Sad Hill Cemetery' in the Good, Bad and the Ugly(Wisdom of crowds)?
Wow that was quick .. Michael Seidl comes up with the answer to my question What's the real life location of the 'Sad Hill Cemetery' in the Good, Bad and the Ugly
The answer is "Carazo, Burgos, Castilla y León, Spain" via http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0060196/locations
Thanks Michael!
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What's the real life location of the 'Sad Hill Cemetery' in the Good, Bad and the Ugly(Wisdom of crowds)?
While critics like Andrew Keen rail about Wikipedia , Web 2.0 and user generated content in general , (interesting last name ‘keen’ for one who writes so pessimistic a book) .. wikipedia has given a new meaning to watching films
Being a fan of Sergio Leone movies in general, and in particular – The Good, Bad and the Ugly , I watched it today for the nth time ..
However, nowadays when I see a movie, I look it up in Wikipedia .. (Something which adds a whole new dimension to watching the movie – and is just one of the many ways Web 2.0 is creeping into our lives – much to the dismay of the doomsdayers ..)
And you find a lot of interesting information ..
Such as ..
For the role of Tuco(ugly), Sergio Leonie wanted someone with "natural comic talent"
However, I could not find the bit of information I was seeking ..
I really wanted to find the location of the ‘Sad Hill cemetery’ – the famous showdown at the end of the movie
Oddly, Wikipedia does not have that
Nor do I find it on Google so easily.
Does anyone know?
Let’s prove Mr Keen wrong(wisdom of crowd works)!
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August 16, 2007
The Chicken and the Egg: The device and the network – which came first
Here is a question based on the proverbial 'chicken and egg' question ..
The next time you upgrade, will you choose the device first or will you choose the network?
With me, and all people I have asked this so far(no exceptions!) it is always the device ..
In other words, the upgrade cycles are always dictated by a specific device we want .. In my case, I may even pass the one year contract period(statutory period based on my last upgrade) .. and yet defer the upgrade unless .. I see a device I want ..
If I want a device and my network does not have it .. I may switch ..
At the moment, Operators subsidise handsets in many markets
With the launch of the iPhone and subsequent moves from other device manufacturers .. the interplay between handsets and operators may start to become more complex.
Specifically, as I have been saying for some time, the locus of power may shift away from the operators and towards the handset manufacturers ..
Indeed if the chicken and egg test is true, and I have not found any person so far who says that they will choose the network first , then the customers are going to decide the trends in the market(as they always do!)
(The exception is: Operators who offer fixed rate price plans – like Three in the UK – but that distinction is changing fast as almost all Operators are offering some form of fixed rate pricing)
Take subsidised handsets .. Why do we need subsidised handsets? The cost differential is not too much when spread over a year
Indeed .. subsidised handsets may well go hand in hand with non-transparent price plans..
The problem with pricelans at the moment is: No one can understand them!
Which means .. we are not sure what we are really paying for this subsidy .. and I bet it may well be more than the price of the handset itself
Take another idea: what about ad funded handsets?
Or
What about financing for handsets?
I believe that within one year after the launch of the iPhone, this interface between the handset and the operator will be changed dramatically in one or more of the following aspects
a) Devices supporting multiple network types(wifi, wimax)
b) The impact of iPhone itself on the Operators – the changes they have to make to work with the iPhone
c) Handsets subsidised by advertising
d) The Google phone
e) Third party financing for handsets(maybe starting with the iPhone) and then becoming commonplace
The guardian today has an interesting article called Now its Operators vs. the handset makers
It’s a fascinating article from a respected mainstream publication .. which starts with the paragraphs ..
The battle for control of your mobile phone is about to enter an interesting stage. You may think that you are in charge. After all, you press all the buttons. But in reality the operators have been calling the shots for years. They have been trying to keep you within their walled gardens of paid-for services and charging by the amount of data consumed, leaving you with open-ended bills. They have even been fiddling with handsets to discourage use of the wireless connection appearing in an increasing number of handsets that can make near-free phone calls if you are in a Wi-Fi area.
This is understandable in terms of a desire to recoup the billions shelled out on 3G licences, but unacceptable when they pretend this is what consumers want. What consumers want is cheap phone calls and affordable music downloads from the web. They don't want to find out that the 99p track they downloaded ends up costing them £10 because operators have charged them for all the data passing through their networks.
It then goes on to talk about an upcoming Nokia phone: N81 which appears to be pitched at the music download/iPhone market
And says
Operators argue that they have to subsidise the handsets and don't want phone manufacturers muscling in on their turf. To which Nokia replies that operators don't have to subsidise handsets (it doesn't happen in some countries) and no one is stopping operators doing what others are now doing in providing affordable music downloads and the ability to abandon your Sim card to make calls from your phone through the internet. Nokia rightly argues that if the operators don't provide these services then other companies will provide them instead.
And finally ending with another key trend .. VOIP and WiFi
During my summer holiday in France I tested yet another VoIP service (from WiFiMobile) offering voice calls over the internet using my Nokia N80. Phoning Britain (without a Sim card) worked well for nearly all calls. It cost 2p a minute to phone a fixed line anywhere in the world or 14p a minute to UK mobiles (after paying a monthly fee of £7.99). The catch is you have to phone from a Wi-Fi hotspot. However, Wi-Fi is slowly being rolled out across Britain, though implementation of the more powerful WiMAX, with a longer reach, is hampered by lack of suitable spectrum. Meanwhile, operators had better prepare to offer more cheap Wi-Fi phone deals as well as music packages because, if they don't, others will. Led by giants such as Nokia.
As a final caveat, I think Operators will evolve and will offer differentiation .. but this will be restricted to a few, more progressive operators who will address services like Identity, payments etc through their APIs.
The point is, currently – there is not enough differentiation between the Operators – and any distinction is artificial because
a) It is enabled by handsets
b) It is enabled by means such as price plans – which are complex, non transparent and – in the minds of the customer – not trusted
So, the conclusion is:
a) The chicken and the egg question is won by the handset manufacturers ..
b) But – both will evolve dramatically in the next year or so and especially the Operators will be forced to change existing policies and create differentiation
Image : http://scienceblogs.com/aetiology/upload/2007/01/chicken%20or%20egg%20sm.jpg
Posted by ajit at 10:50 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
August 15, 2007
Mobile User Generated Content and Social Networking Forum 2007
Hello
I am speaking/chairing some sessions at the Mobile User Generated Content and Social Networking Forum 2007 in Rome
This should be a great event considering the quality of speakers and Operator participation.
Ajit Jaokar, Author – Mobile Web 2.0, .
Jonny Shipp, Head of Content Standards and Policy, O2.
Jan Larsson, Senior Strategy and Business Development Manager, TELIASONERA.
Mark Curtis, Co-Founder and CEO, FLIRTOMATIC.
Annie Mullins, Head of Content Standards, VODAFONE UK.
John Strand, CEO, STRAND CONSULT.
Gabriele Elia, Head, Service Innovation, Content to Person Services, TELECOM ITALIA.
Franklin Selgert, Senior Innovation Manager, KPN.
Uday Kansara, Senior Pricing Manager, T-MOBILE.
Daniel Gerber, Head of Multimedia and Entertainment, SWISSCOM MOBILE.
Frederick Ghahramani, Co-Founder and Director, AIRG.
Caroline Sexton, Community Product Manager - Access and Advanced Messaging, VODAFONE UK.
Gerhard Günther, Commercial Development Manager, 3 AUSTRIA.
Anna Grandt, Head of Interaction Design, OCEAN OBSERVATIONS (UK), FORMERLY PRODUCT MANAGER FOR COMMUNITIES AND X-SERIES AT 3 SWEDEN (HUTCHISON 3).
Antonio Vince Staybl, CEO and CO-Founder, ITSMY.COM.
David Nahmani, Director, UGC and Communities, ORANGE.
Peter Richards, CEO, MOBESTAR.
Mikhail Denisenko, Business Development Manager – Jamango Community Services, UNITED FUN TRADERS.
Steve Holmes, Senior Associate, BAKER AND MACKENZIE.
Bob House, Vice President, CSMG ADVENTIS.
Ekkehard Stadle, Partner, SIMON KUCHER AND PARTNERS.
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Happy 60th birthday India ..
Happy 60th birthday India!
Interesting to see so much coverage - including from the official Google blog ..
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August 14, 2007
Google, GooglePhone, 700 Mhz, OpenGardens, Innovation and carterphone
Synopsis:
The 700 Mhz spectrum discussions have a sense of Déjà vu .. with the Carterphone principle for landline networks. Historical evidence shows that it is just a matter of time before the networks will have to open up fully as we discuss below.
Background
Large telecoms companies like AT&T and Verizon control a major portion of the broadband market and also the wireless spectrum. Google is seeking to change the status quo by advocating that the 700 MhZ wireless spectrum recently vacated by analogue television stations be treated as ‘Open access’.
Open access, from Google’s standpoint, means four things which Google outlines in their blog.
1) Open applications: consumers should be able to download and utilize any software applications, content, or services they desire;
2) Open devices: consumers should be able to utilize a handheld communications device with whatever wireless network they prefer;
3) Open services: third parties (resellers) should be able to acquire wireless services from a 700 MHz licensee on a wholesale basis, based on reasonably nondiscriminatory commercial terms; and
4) Open networks: third parties (like internet service providers) should be able to interconnect at a technically feasible point in a 700 MHz licensee's wireless network.
The carterphone principle
So far, Google has got agreement from the FCC about Open devices for 22Mhz of the 700 Mhz spectrum(A portion of the condition 2 above).
This is a step in the right direction since it leads to the Carterphone principle
(which opened up the landline networks many years ago).
In a nutshell, the Carterphone principle advocates that we don’t have to buy the landline phone from the network provider(specifically AT&T in case of that litigation). Prior to the carterphone regulation, customers were forced to buy the devices only from the network.
We take the benefits of the carterphone principles for granted today and we cannot imagine a world without these ideas
However, if we look back into history, we can see that devices like fax machines, modems, answering phones etc may not have been developed without such legislation which required the device to be network agnostic(i.e. any device can be connected to any network)
In that sense, from a historical perspective, the requirement for Open access does lead to innovation and benefits the customer.
Telecom companies do innovate – but that innovation is based on connectivity within their network as opposed to connectivity across networks. However, customers benefit from cross network connectivity and interoperability – hence the requirement for devices to be able to connect across networks.
Google
Google actually wanted all four conditions – especially open services(wholesale access) which would have opened up the door to competition from a whole raft of smaller vendors much like the dial up access in the early 90s.
They have ended up with open devices on a portion of the spectrum - only a fraction of what was asked for.
But a journey of a 1000 miles starts with one small step .. as the ancient Chinese proverb says ..
At this time, not much is know about a ‘Google phone’ – so it is not easy to tie these initiatives to specific objectives which Google may be trying to achieve – but the overall benefit to the customer is clear
Conclusion
So, as the creator of the OpenGardens blog, I support all of the four conditions especially because I believe that they benefit the consumer and lead to greater innovation based on the historical evidence of the Carterphone principle. Customers benefit from cross network connectivity and interoperability through the ability of devices to be able to connect across networks.
Posted by ajit at 5:13 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
Mobile social networking ..
This was sent to me by Liz Coker ..
>>>>
Great article today based on info from Jupiter Research. Felt it was pertinent to this discussion. It's where mobile, social networking and marketing intersect - Social Marketing. Think integrated campaigns, not mobile ads.
One key snippet that sums things up is:
"Mobile is a natural complement to social marketing. Cellphones allow the spontaneous capture of images and sounds which allows frequent posts to Web sites keeping the content fresh while also facilitating the viral distribution of content to other cellphones. In the near term, cellphones are likely to complement social networks rather than replace them."
Liz
<<<
Also, other things in that article i found interesting
a) Best practises for mobile social networking and marketing
>>>
Marketers should keep a number of best practices in mind when looking to leverage cellphones within social marketing campaigns.
--Know your target audience. Consumers who frequent social media sites skew young and tech-savvy. In Toyota’s case, their goal of reaching environmentally conscious consumers fit well with this campaign as this group shares many of the same attributes. Use of mobile also syncs well with this audience as younger cellphone users are heavier users of text messaging and mobile applications.
--Recruit “new influentials” to increase buzz. My colleague Emily Riley coined the term “new influentials” and identified them as being a core component of social marketing campaigns. New influentials act as catalysts for marketers at the upper end of the purchase funnel by helping to drive brand awareness by building buzz through their own postings on blogs. They are attracted to engaging activities, content creation, breaking or insider information and sweepstakes. Just remember that their primary strength is their willingness to forward messages to friends, so make your campaign as viral friendly as possible.
--Consumers are twice as likely to trust information found on a company Web site as they are on a social networking site. Leverage a microsite for hosting and presenting user-generated content, but be sure to attract the expert consumers to encourage more interesting content creation (New influentials are active posters and forwarders, but not always product experts). Remember, it can be difficult to drive traffic, so accompany the microsite with a search campaign and some general media buying.
--Offer social- and product-engagement elements on the microsite. Toyota has achieved this by combining training and fitness advice with their product messaging. Readers engage with the brand attributes indirectly through training tips and athlete blogs. It doesn’t serve their entire target audience, but does attract one of the more lucrative niche audiences.
--Choose appropriate products. Some products inspire more content creation than others. If the product doesn't inspire consumers on its own, it’s a good idea to attach the brand (as Toyota has done) to something that does inspire consumers such as music or sports.
--Utilize viral tactics such as e-mail and widgets to encourage users to share content and product messaging.
--Encourage content posting via cellphones. Allow your new influentials (i.e., brand advocates) to post photos and videos directly from their cellphones. These content creators are highly engaged in media and social interaction online. Advertisers can take full advantage of these advocates by incorporating audio and video into their microsites.
<<<
b) Microsite or your site?
Marketers can leverage existing online social networking sites (e.g., MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, Bebo, etc.) or mobile-only networks (e.g., Jaiku, Kyte, Twitter, Zannel, etc.) or they can host photos and posts on a microsite dedicated to the specific campaign. Marketers today actually prefer blogs to creating profiles on social networking sites as it provides them with a more controlled environment. When they do so, however, they need to utilize incentives (e.g., sweepstakes) to drive traffic to their sites.
c) use of cellphones to capture content - very much in line with Mobile Web 2.0 i.e. the mobile device being at the point of inspiration
Cellphones are playing an increasingly important role in these campaigns as they are evolving into one of the primary devices used to create content. Higher-quality cameras on cellphones have created new opportunities for cellphone users to capture content (e.g., photos, video) and post it directly to Web sites. According to a consumer survey of cellphone owners conducted by Jupiter, the percentage of cellphone owners posting photos to an online blog or photo-sharing site nearly tripled between the end of 2005 and the end of 2006. It’s still just a few percent today, but interest is growing. This trend is poised to accelerate with young adults citing a high-quality camera as the most important feature they seek in their next handset purchase. Phones with high-quality cameras such as the Nokia N95 or Sony Ericsson’s Cyber-shot series will be an enabler of high-quality photos.
Posted by ajit at 10:07 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
SCO - A picture says it all .. Time for a celebration by the industry
SCO - A picture says it all .. Time for a celebration by the industry ..
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Enterprise, Web 2.0 and Mobility
This article is the fourth part of a series of four articles covering the impact of Web 2.0 on the Enterprise space. It covers the interplay between Web 2.0, Enterprise and Mobility
The other parts are (The parts can be read independently)
Enterprise 2.0 ROI: Collaborative research and mobility Part One
The ROI for Enterprise 2.0: Part Two: User contributions to Enterprise 2.0 – Doing a Robert Scoble
ROI for enterprise 2.0: Part Three : Collaborative research in new product design
Traditionally, the Mobile Enterprise market has been the domain of the Blackberry . The Blackberry has always been focused on email – which seems to be fine for most people. Consequently, on first glance, it appears that not much is happening when it comes to Enterprise and Mobile devices. Indeed, much of the focus of the Mobile data industry itself is geared to the consumer market – further reinforcing that perception
But perceptions can be deceptive because there are significant moves being made both by the Web/Enterprise players to enter mobile space and the mobile players to enter the Enterprise markets.
For instance ..
a) The launch of the Mosh network from Nokia
b) Google’s acquisition of Postini
c) Nokia’s acquisition of Intellisync
d) Motorola’s acquisition of Good technology
e) SoonR – which has always been in the desktop access market from mobile devices
f) Nokia’s E series devices targeting the Enterprise
Why is this happening? And why now?
Historically, Enterprise software can be classed into:
a) Bespoke (for instance banking software)
b) ERP (Enterprise resource planning) – for example SAP and Oracle (My alma mater! - since I used to work for PeopleSoft)
c) Desktop software (for instance Microsoft Word)
d) Conversational / Collaboration software(example email)
A more interesting definition comes from JP Rangaswamy
.. where he classifies activity into Syndication. Search. Conversation and Fulfilment and says
>>>
Well, in most service industries, people appear to “work” by doing four things:
They look proactively for information. They search for things.
They receive information because they said they were interested in receiving that information. They subscribe to things.
They talk to each other using various forms of communication: letter, e-mail, audio, video, text, IM, blog, wiki, twitter, whatever. They are even known occasionally to talk to each other face to face without use of technology.
And they transact business as a result. Within the enterprise. In the extended enterprise and partners and supply chain. With customers.
<<<<
With this definition, the central theme underpinning the intersection of the Web, Mobility and the Enterprise appears to be the need for collaboration through smaller/more granular transactions which require greater synchronization within and across enterprises
We saw the ‘why’ but - How is this happening?
The implementation
The ‘how’ (implementation) of Mobility and Web 2.0 within the Enterprise is based on three key ideas:
a) The usage of the social network as a Meta layer above both the Web and the Mobile domains. The social network becomes the interface between various departments and also across enterprises
b) The rise of Cloud computing
c) The unified profile/address book
Let us first look at Cloud computing ..
I have covered cloud computing many times before in this blog – and indeed Eric Schmidt includes cloud computing in his definition of Web 3.0 when he says that
>>>
Web 3.0 will be "applications that are pieced together" - with the characteristics that the apps are relatively small, the data is in the cloud, the apps can run on any device (PC or mobile), the apps are very fast and very customizable, and are distributed virally (social networks, email, etc).
<<<
Google’s G drive and Microsoft’s skydrive are efforts in that direction.
The key here, when it comes to mobility is: Once the data is ‘in the cloud – it can be accessed on any device’.
Indeed that’s the significance of Mobile Ajax – which many people miss completely – because Mobile Ajax (with cloud computing) is a powerful combination (Mobile Ajax is more than a pretty face )
The other two ideas (Social network and unified address book/profile) can be illustrated by the launch of Nokia’s Mosh network
Mosh from Nokia is a social network which spans across the desktop and the mobile device. It enables you to upload audio, videos, documents, images, games and applications to your profile. For every object you are interested in (for instance the audio, video, documents etc), you can share, collect (tag) or download. Thus, Mosh creates a social network (spanning the desktop and Mobile device).
Thus, the social network could be the first point of contact – and a social network spans the Web and the Mobile domains.
All this is possible only if is trusted!
Do we trust Google with it’s cloud? Let me put it to you this way .. My email now resides on gmail(including my Futuretext email which can be aliased from gmail ..) but YET .. the gmail logo still shows ‘BETA’!!
Do we care? No. We think gmail will be around ..
For the same reason, I would trust Nokia ..(Mosh)
Contrast this with one more social network launched last week .. from a familiar name .. Plaxo.
Yes, everyone is getting into the act of creating a social network, including the dreaded Plaxo
However, do we trust Plaxo? Most people(including me) will not touch Plaxo at all .. based on painful memories of spamming the address book when it first launched ..
So, to conclude ..
a) Unlike the efforts of Nokia, Google and to an extent Motorola, the incumbent(RIM/Blackberry) seems to be very focussed on email only – which may be a mistake especially because devices like the Nokia E series could easily go for this market.
b) The profile(and consequently the unified address book) are the holy grail of Enterprise software. From the profile/address book, an entire social network could be built – as the Nokia/Mosh service is looking to do.
c) It is a mistake to look at Enterprise Mobility without taking into account the larger picture – for instance the ideas behind Cloud computing
d) The companies which will define this space will be the ones who understand the Web and the Mobile domains and who can be trusted .. and that may mean at the moment it’s a three horse race between Nokia, Google and Microsoft
e) Trust will be a key factor as social networks take on the role of ‘interfaces’ within and across Enterprises.
f) Finally, to recap: The central theme underpinning the intersection of the Web, Mobility and the Enterprise appears to be the need for collaboration through smaller/more granular transactions which require greater synchronization within and across enterprises
This concludes the four part series. I may add more articles later extending some of the ideas here. As usual, comments welcome.
Posted by ajit at 2:00 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
August 13, 2007
86th Carnival of the mobilists - at mobhappy ..
The 8th Carnival of the mobilists is at mobhappy (where it all started!). Always a good read!
Posted by ajit at 4:03 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 11, 2007
Enterprise Web 2.0: Lessons from Dell ..
In the article The ROI for Enterprise 2.0: Part Two: User contributions to Enterprise 2.0 – Doing a Robert Scoble
, I highlighted the importance of individual bloggers within the Enterprise and the idea that people will connect to individuals and not the enterprise.
Here is a good example from Dell and Dell’s corporate blogger Lionel Menchaca in the article Company bloggers can help put out fires
It’s an excellent article which I have reproduced below highlighting sections which I believe are relevant. It also indicates the perils of Ghost blogging – something which I have strong objections to as well
Read the article below again and then re read the blog - The ROI for Enterprise 2.0: Part Two: User contributions to Enterprise 2.0 – Doing a Robert Scoble
and you see how some companies are taking new strides through Web 2.0 and by leveraging the power of individuals ..
Lionel Menchaca's blog is HERE
Original article as reproduced below Company bloggers can help put out fires
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When Dell Computers started getting reports of laptops exploding in flames last summer, Lionel Menchaca took the heat - from his own legal team.
As the Texas-based computer maker's chief blogger - officially the Dell Computer digital media manager - he'd done the corporately unthinkable and posted a video from Osaka, Japan, of a Dell machine bursting into flames at a conference.
"Our legal people and others were e-mailing and calling and asking me: 'What are you doing? This is bad. You can't do that,' " Menchaca says of his post on the Direct2Dell blog last August. "But I said: 'This is what blogs are about. Everything has changed. We have to be transparent and honest. People are talking about this, they're posting these images, we can't ignore it. We have to deal with it directly.' "
With the backing of founder Michael Dell, Menchaca weathered the internal storm and, as it turned out, won accolades not just from Dell customers, but from the business community over how the company managed to stickhandle around a disastrous public relations event.
The blog became Dell's prime tool to communicate what it was doing, how it would handle recalls and what it knew about the problems almost as soon as the executive team managing the issue itself knew. In doing so it eclipsed Apple Computers, which stumbled when confronted with the same problem at the same time.
Market2World CEO Nathan Rudyk says a company blogsite is a big step toward a company gaining an industry profile.
That's the power of a corporate blog.
In the age of Web 2.0, it's no longer enough just to have a website, says Nathan Rudyk, CEO of Market2World, an Ottawa firm specializing in helping tech startups gain a profile.
"You have to blog and there are three good reasons," Rudyk says. "One is thought leadership, to insert yourself in a conversation. Two is search-engine optimization and three is internal communication."
He cited a client, Marketcircle, a respected Mac developer in Toronto, whose CEO Alykhan Jetha started blogging about how the iPhone might look and work long before it was released.
"It just radiated," says Rudyk. In reaction to a posting, one of his staff made an iPhoney simulator that showed how applications might work on a real iPhone. In one day they had 35,000 unique visitors.
A search-engine optimization strategy using key words in the titles and first few paragraphs also grabs the attention of search engines such as Google.
It can help push a corporate blog to the top of the list, he says, and is the second reason: Getting noticed.
Finally, says Rudyk, it's a way to make C-level executives accessible both for their employees and their clients and investors.
"A CEO's blog on the Intranet can kill off water-cooler rumours about things like layoffs or address difficult issues facing the enterprise," he said. "It replaces townhall meetings."
It's the latter factor that pushes Sun Microsystems president and CEO Jonathan Schwartz to blog, as does most of his executive team.
Granted, it's unusual for the chief executive of a company with US$13.1 billion in annual revenue and 38,000 employees globally to blog, but in Schwartz's world it's merely an extension of the corporate culture.
To his chagrin, he's also become the poster boy for blogging CEOs, because he uses his blog to maximum effect: Evangelizing Sun Micro's products, innovations and services; engaging his audience with his thoughts on being the CEO of a multibillion-dollar corporation; apologizing for the company's screwups from time to time; engaging in a public argument with Linux creator Linus Torvalds over the direction of Sun Micro's open-source commitments; or just keeping his staff updated.
"I use this format because it works for me, allows me to talk to a diversity of constituents and a blog is more affordable than the daily global townhalls it supplants," he wrote in mid-July.
"But I'd love it if we one day eliminated the term 'blogging' from the web lexicon (and that we stopped pursuing 'CEOs who blog'). CEOs who have cellphones aren't 'cellphoners,' those who have e-mail accounts aren't 'e-mailers,' those who give interviews on television aren't 'TVers' - they're all leaders using technology to communicate.
"Communication is central to leadership - using words, written or spoken, to articulate strategy, guide organizations, engage in dialogue, and ... lead. Leading two or 200,000, you can't do it without communicating. Using technology just leaves more time for everything else."
Other high-profile executives bitten by the blog bug include Randy Tinseth, vice-president, marketing for Boeing Commercial Airplanes in Seattle (boeingblogs.com/randy) and hotel czar Bill Marriott (www.blogs.marriott.com).
But while Jim Estill, CEO of Synnex Canada, an IT supply-chain services company (NYSE: SNX) may not have that lofty brand profile, he also blogs to boost his company's visibility.
He sees his blog at jimestill.com as an effective communications tool both inside and outside the company, adding it drives sales because the overall effect is to humanize him to both employees and to clients. "It's easier to do business with a guy you know."
Like most high-level corporate bloggers, it's not all about business.
"Some 20 per cent of my readers are my staff, up to 40 per cent clients, say 10 per cent are suppliers and the rest general public," he says.
"So I include about 15 per cent personal contact because you have to humanize it, because that's what people want, and 80 per cent business, because that's the value," says Estill.
The topics don't always have to be about business: Montreal's Sass Peress, CEO of ICP Solar, which develops, makes and sells solar-energy systems, has blogged about whatever is on his mind at sassperess.com for the last two years.
"It's a public place to say thank you, to look at what's right and wrong with our industry. But it's me. I don't blog through a lawyer," he says. "It has to be thought-provoking. At the end of the day, what I want to do is create a face for this industry and an un