Smartphones still on the Rise

What an exciting time for smartphone manufacturers. Turn on any stock analyst show and you will hear mention of this segment in our markets. Even though RIM introduced the new Tour world phone, Research in Motion's stock is sliding today because of more competition. I am a big RIM fan but this may not be such a bad thing. Apple is introducing its new I-Phone, Google's G-1 Android phone has sold over a million devices, Samsung just announced 4 new smartphones, and Palm introduced its Pre on the Sprint network. What is next, Nokia gaining demand domestically again?

The winner in all of these new launches is the you, the consumer. We are seeing a more universal approach by the carriers to offer devices that meet our needs. Social media browsing, browsing in general within the data plans are becoming easier to use. There is plenty of memory and the data speeds are improving, 4G is also around the corner. The quality of the camera's are catching up to what Best Buy puts on its digital camera selection. You can post a video on YouTube in minutes. We are an e-mail centric nation now, how does anyone live without e-mail in their hands? This one factor alone is pushing demand.

I think there is a cool factor also here. It is a less expensive way of "keeping up with the Jones" People cannot be approved for refinance their homes so why not flash their smartphone bling. But there is no doubt a more effective approach to communicating with these devices. What was once an Enterprise device only, now the smartphone has caught the attention of the masses.

The market share for smartphones is less than 20% of the market. So there is plenty of room for growth for these manufacturers. The economy dominated with recession yes but it sure is impressive to see this segment prosper. The Internet is literally in our hands now and regardless of the soft economy, the demand continues. Buy their stock or buy their devices, either way, but do not let this momentum pass you by.

Welcome to the Future

Mike

GPS- Navigate or track?

GPS. Global position satellites. It is often misunderstood. But GPS can mean either tracking or navigation.

There are 2 totally distinct conversations to have. Navigation would be like using google maps for Blackberry or a Garmin Nuvi to find your way from one point to another. You may just want to see where you are at on a map. You can use Google maps before you leave an office or home to gage your trip. You can even e-mail those directions to your Blackberry before you leave. There really are no excuses for being lost anymore.

Tracking on the other hand comes in the form of vehicle asset management. The goal for a company is to reduce fuel costs, create better customer service, in a nutshell improve the efficiency of the fleet as a whole. What would happen to your productivity or fuel costs is you were riding shotgun every day with each and every driver? GPS tracking is becoming a significant technology. It will be ordinary in 5 years to have this type of technology in a vehicle. The stakes of employee misbehavior and fuel costs are too great for an owner to worry about the politics of being called "big brother". On top of their business seems more appropriate. So the next time you are thinking about jumping in that vehicle and driving down to the beach, or going to the park or even running that extra errand, remember there may be an e-mail arriving in your managers inbox once that vehicle so much as moves. Scary but very useful! Putting one in your wife's car you ask, I am not going there!

Welcome to the future.

Mike

Blackberry still on top

Well, once again I read that 3 out of the top 5 selling smart phones are produced by yes, Rim Blackberry. The Apple I-Phone and the new Google G-1 Android also made the list. If Google and Apple would expand distribution beyond only ATT (I-phone exclusive) and T-Mobile (Google exclusive) they would certainly penetrate the market more effectively.

In a market with negative feels about it, smart phone technology continues to prosper. E-mail, GPS navigation,Outlook sync capabilities, browsing being just some of the "extra" features. While I was at lunch yesterday my buddy said to me, "I just do not know what I would do without this Blackberry anymore" For the record, I agree.

Heck Rim's stock was at $43 a share just 30 days ago and is trying to break through 80! What recession?

Welcome to the future.

Mike

Online etiquette

I mingle in social media more and more these days. Linked in, Inside 919, Twitter. They all have a good purpose. Meet people online, create introductions for people that are in your network, gather information, share ideas.

I like Linked in because you can get feedback in a group forum setting. You can ask a question (I believe you can ask 10 per month) and get real feedback from other professionals or people in your network. It can be very valuable. But there seems to be those few individuals out there that just cannot follow proper etiquette.

I recently was a part of a group discussion about hosted VOIP phones/Internet/voice services. We just had to have that one guy who cannot play nice. Rude comments, personal attacks, just in mature. They cannot help themselves. They are know it alls, they rub us the wrong way by delivering condescending comments. It seems to me out on the web and in your network, you would want people to like you, and to respect what you have to offer. I find it amazing when that one person in the group has to be disruptive. This person ripped multiple attendees and I am still not quite sure why. At the end of the day though that person completely discredited himself and now has a negative reputation with at least the folks that were in this discussion. I am sure he has done it before and will do it again. I guess my wish is for people using social media is to work with integrity within the forums. The old comment "Why can't we all get along?" idea. After all there is so much for all of us as vendors, buyers, end users, suppliers to gain from these discussions. As a person in communications technology, with this online tool, I have access to some great minds out there, great or input. Unfortunately since it is an open forum sometimes it comes with a price.

Welcome to the future

Mike

Hosted solutions

It is a new catchy term, hosted. It appears more and more in technology so get used to it. There are a few key areas in communications technology that this term is cementing itself. First of all database and application hosting. Up until know most businesses have tried to manage these services on their own. Hiring IT people, purchasing hardware, and maintaining services within a "telco" room. But it is becoming more attractive to move these services off premise (off location) and let someone else manage them for you. The end user pays a flat fee to have these services maintained.

Phone systems are also now becoming hosted. In the past companies would purchase hardware like routers and servers or PBX phone routing systems, and then deal with several carrier providers for local voice and data. Then the company would employ IT people to manage those services. The problem is the management of a network can bombard an IT person's day taking away the very thing they were hired to do which is provide Intelligence to c level folks. Plus it allows companies to preserve capital by lowering up front costs. Let's face it that is a major concern these days.

I am now allowing Intel to Host my Quickbooks data. It is a great feature for a small business. I do not have to worry about backing up the data manually or through a software purchase. Also for disaster relief scenarios, you cannot beat hosted services. What would happen to your business if a natural disaster like Katrina ruined your city? This hosting idea will be a valid market for businesses to take advantage of over the coming years.

Welcome to the future

Mike

Dedicated internet connection 101

I find businesses trying to cut cost from week to week, it make sense, business is off. But buyer beware when it comes to your Internet connection.

I spend time consulting my clients on this topic. There are several forms of catching an Internet connection in your office. Wireless, cable, DSL, and then there is dedicated. If you can afford it, I recommend businesses using dedicated connections. In other words it is a connection that only your office uses. It is not a shared connection like we see with DSL or cable. The speed does not fluctuate. If you purchase a 512k dedicated connection then it is always 512 up and down, that does not change, plus it is more secure. It provides superior performance and most the IT folks I know would agree with that. You will hear cable providers and phone companies DSL service promise 4 to 7 MB download speed but that is if there is nobody else using the Internet while you are. What are the odds of that?

So before you cut that tie and go DSL or cable and share a connection with your neighbors to save money, make sure you understand the performance consequences. We can negotiate with the service provider on price which will be not much more than DSL. We can bundle the Internet services with your voice calls and LD. Don't cut the corner on this one, I think you will find yourself regretting it if you do.

Welcome to the future.

Mike

Sprint/Nextels unlimited plan is hard to beat

I got a call from a potential client a couple weeks ago. They were looking for a Blackerry roll out and because they are high end users, wanted unlimited usage on all of them. Initially they had mentioned they were partial to Verizon wireless services. That is fine Verizon wireless has a great product. But the unlimited Verizon plan runs at $129.99 monthly without any text messaging included. My consultative voice inside of me had to ask them. "Why are we not considering Sprint?"I was told that because Sprint was losing subscribers that this customer would not consider them. I found this extremely odd. Sprint has a very thorough national digital network. Is it as good as Verizon's, maybe not but the Verizon network is not worth another $40 plus dollars per month per subscriber in this example? Especially in these times. On a 2 year contract, this was a huge difference in price over the 2 year term. But at same time, this same customer was extremely worried about the cost of the handsets. It did not add up for me. To set the record straight, Sprint offers THE most complete unlimited plan in this business. There are carriers that still do not offer or have an unlimited plan. Sprint includes unlimited voice calls, unlimited data which means e-mail and Internet browsing, unlimited texting and even GPS navigation. Recently Boost Mobile which uses the Nextel network offered their unlimited plan for $50. In a time when car manufacturers are offering unique plans for laid off workers, both consumers and businesses alike need to recognize this great value being offered by Sprint.

Welcome to the future.

Mike