Convergence Redux?

The Shaw acquisition of the broadcast division of Canwest has people taking about the convergence of content and connectivity once again. Jim Shaw must be dreaming of the untold riches that this deal will yield, just like what happened with AOL TIme Warner, and Bell Globemedia. Oh. I forgot. AOL Time Warner was a disaster of epic proportions and Bell Globemedia has not lived up to the promise of Jean Monty’s vision. I guess Jim forgot his history, or maybe the world has changed over the course of the past decade?

I would go with door number 2 – the world has changed. Devices have evolved at a rapid clip as have the networks that support them. The application space has been as busy as well – social networking applications (Twitter, Facebook etc…) did not exist, and Youtube was still 5 years away from hitting the planet.

Let’s consider a fairly normal family, with a mind to understanding what they use.

Salesforce and VMWare

All we can do is speculate at this point, but this looks like it could be very interesting…more thoughts as they come.

More thoughts as promised…

We are likely looking at something along the lines of Amazon’s EC2 offer. Interesting, but not exactly earthshattering. Pre-announcing now has served to generate a lot of interest – lets hope that there is something more at play.

Twitter and Advertising

Tomorrow is d-day for Twitter as it will begin to introduce ads in an effort to turn Tweeters into dollars and cents. As I understand it, Tweeter will soon find ads at the top of the search list based upon keywords that have been used. So a search for Starbucks might yield Tweets from Starbucks advertising $0.50 off a Grande Latte or whatever. The next step is apparently to insert advertiser Tweets into your Twitter feed.

Microsoft Kin

Microsoft announced the Kin One and Kin Two yesterday. The phones will be only found on the Verizon (US) network to begin, and then making its way to Vodaphone networks in Spain, the UK, Germany and Italy. It is worth remembering that Vodaphone has a healthy interest in Verizon Wireless. Nothing in Canada at present, which is fairly typical as far as wireless product introduction goes (the Canadian iPhone launched a year after the US). Bell and Microsoft have had a very good relationship in the past, so Bell Mobility would seem as likely a candidate as any to offer the devices in the future.

Amazon Canada

Seems Amazon has been granted the ability to open its own distribution centre in Canada. I wonder if this will have any impact on the service they deliver to Canadian consumers? Amazon Prime anyone?

The Canadian Government and the Cloud

Read this. It is good to see that the Canadian federal government seems committed to the cloud. The fact that they seem to have moved beyond strategizing and roadmaps to actual deployment of cloud based services is a good thing, and ought to bode well as they move forward. The government’s existing IT infrastructure would seem to resemble a tangled nightmare and a move to cloud based computing should result in significant cost savings and productivity increases across the board. If they get it right…

The CRTC Doesn’t Get It

I read with interest an article in the National Post today. The headline reads “Canadians can afford high cable fees: CRTC. Regulator finds Canadians absorb higher cable fees without complaint.” The article goes on to state that the average cable bill has risen by almost 50% since 2002 and that “Such results do no seem to suggest a significant withdrawal of demand for television services when consumers are faced with rate increases.”

The CRTC and Television

The CRTC announced its long awaited broadcast decision, which gives television networks the right to negotiate carriage fees with cable and satellite companies (the Cable Cos). To date, Canadian stations were carried at no cost to the Cable Cos. This model worked for a long time, with both parties profiting from the arrangement. However, a decrease in advertising revenues has put the pinch on the networks and a change in model was almost inevitable. Neither side was willing budge on the issue – both seemingly content to play to the perceived public sympathies in an effort to build support for stated arguments. So what is likely to happen?

Google Apps Marketplace

Google announced the Apps Marketplace yesterday.

The upshot is that Google Apps subscribers will have access to a number of applications that can integrate with existing Google Apps (gmail, calendar etc). Applications are delivered by a network of over 50 partners and include applications like payroll, project management, web conferencing and efax. What’s interesting is the fact that Google is moving beyond productivity (Google Docs, email, search) and is introducing applications that can drive efficiency across the business. Applications like Intuit Payroll, ZohoCRM and myERP.com (I have no idea how well these apps work, I am  just giving examples) present powerful examples of what is possible.

While it is obviously too early to tell, my suspicion is that the App Marketplace will find a home across all segments of the market. Business efficiency applications will likely see more adoption in the SMB market, but tools like project management and workflows will not be out of place in the enterprise (not that they will be adopted from the top and pushed down. More likely that these applications start in a team environment and potentially move outward).

A key challenge will be managing the partner ecosystem. Google will have little control over how partners manage service delivery, particularly when you extend this to management of trouble tickets and the like. As an example, issues with payroll tend not to be well tolerated by customers, while issues with eFax are likely to be tolerated. Unless a strict SLA regime is part of the partner relationship, Google will have little control beyond ensuring that customer feedback is front and centre. I am sure a lot of adoption decisions will be made after examining the number of stars an application has.

Cisco – Video is the killer app.

Cisco’s CEO, John Chambers, made this bold statement yesterday when announcing a new carrier-grade router. He said the same thing in 2007, and 2009. Point made at this stage, I think?