by alec on August 31, 2009
Unified Communications is the melding of all forms of communications that we use – email, instant messaging, voice and video – into a single client and platform. The holy grail is one application that functions as inbox, text chat client, telephone and video call client. Toss in the concepts of presence and availability, and you’ve got what Microsoft, Avaya, Cisco, IBM/Lotus and others have been chasing for over a decade.
What does that mean in a mobile environment? Thursday at the ITEXPO in Los Angeles, I’ll be on a panel discussing that very question.
Some of the questions I’ll want to talk about with my fellow panelists include:
- Fixed mobile convergence – does it matter? when do applications converge instead of just the networks?
- Presence – is PC style presence enough? What does it mean to be present when your handset is always on and with you?
- Location – what role should location play in mobile UC?
What else should we be discussing?
by alec on August 27, 2009
I was feeling my oats yesterday when I twittered a CBC piece on the high cost of mobile service in Canada. The CBC piece struck a nerve, as I had just read Andy Abramson’s comparison of US and European mobile operators approach to service. I have to say, I had no experience like Andy’s last year trying to buy voice and data SIMs throughout Europe. It was easy in Germany and Spain, horrid in Austria, the Czech Republic and Denmark, and I had given up by the time I reached the Netherlands. Voice service wasn’t hard to get in those places, but prepaid data? Fuhgeddabout it! Nevertheless, I’ve not had great experiences with our local carriers ability to service the customer either.
In any case, Mark Goldberg swiftly missiled off a piece of email to me this morning saying:
The CBC story you linked to is 2 weeks old.
I have written 5 blog posts that discredit the OECD study… according to the OECD, US rates are the worst – worse than Canada in all categories… do you really believe that?
Check out:
http://mhgoldberg.com/blog/2009/08/unravelling-oecd-flaws.html
http://mhgoldberg.com/blog/2009/08/ctia-letter-refutes-oecd.html
http://mhgoldberg.com/blog/2009/08/cost-of-free.html
http://mhgoldberg.com/blog/2009/08/canadian-wireless-data-leadership.html
http://mhgoldberg.com/blog/2009/08/oecd-study-needs-reality-check.html
Oops.
It’s actually true, in my opinion, that Canadian rates have fallen and become very competitive. Two years ago I spent $500 to $700 per month on mobile service with Rogers, with one phone. Today I buy service for 4 phones and a USB data stick, all with generous 3G data plans plus 16Mb/s home internet for about the same price as I paid two years ago for a single phone.
I don’t believe the OECD study any more than Mark does.
