Ooma Phone Service Goes Down, So Does the Website. Company Sleeps Through It.
The one thing a phone service can’t do is to simply disappear. And it is normally those times we realize how much of a lifeline it still is. Like I did, expecting a call from my Dad’s cardiologist re. his hospitalization. Waiting, waiting, I was getting p***d with the poor doc, when I noticed the [...]
Facebook and T-Mobile Launch Bobsled. With Huge Privacy Glitch. Or is it By Design? Skype, Google Voice and Telcos Beware, Anyway…
Out of left field, T-Mobile and Facebook launched Bobsled, a VOIP service that allows voice calls to anyone on your Facebook list for free. At this moment the entire blogging world is busy writing about it, so I skip the basics… and just run to some funny experience while testing it. First, here’s how you [...]
How T-Mobile nixed my summer roaming
This blog post could so easily have been a paean in praise of T-Mobile. The mobile network launched a new set of pay-as-you-go data roaming boosters in the UK this spring that slash the cost of cellular Internet access when traveling in Europe. With a two-week vacation in prospect, I was keen to avoid the [...]
Burning Questions: Do telcos understand variable cost economics?
Somewhere from my fuzzy recollection of economics classes, I seem to remember that as products evolved in their lifecycles, you moved from “charge what market will bear” to “variable cost pricing “ – i.e. make sure price covers your variable costs and there is some left over to cover residual fixed costs. If anything, I [...]
Global telco’s sustainability reports reviewed
When I published my review of tech company sustainability reports a couple of weeks back, it was suggested that I should add in telco’s as well. Instead, for clarity, I decided to publish a separate review of telco sustainability reports here.
Costs of running communication networks about to tumble?
Photo credit IronRodArt I saw a report on the Green Data Center Blog today that a new industry group called GreenTouch has been formed with the express aim of reducing the amount of energy communications networks (including the Internet) use. In fact their Global Mission is to, by 2015: deliver the architecture, specifications and roadmap [...]
Build the Brand or the Business? – O2 and BT
When it comes to the real principles of marketing I’ve always been guided by Al Ries and Jack Trout. Their books like Positioning, Marketing Warfare, or The 22 Immutable Laws Of Marketing are essential reading. Even though some of the material is over 20 years old, it’s still perfectly valid in today’s market. Jump in with 22 Immutable Laws (from 1993) – just over a fiver well spent on Amazon (and get Seth Godin’s Meatball Sund…
Apple’s truly lasting influence
By Vinnie Mirchandani on February 25, 2010
Jeffrey Word of SAP and I were discussing the other day pricing for ebooks on the iPad and Kindle. He is an author of many books and has been extremely valuable a coach as I go through my own publishing experience. And it occurred to me while we give Apple credit – or criticism – [...]
Posted in Business | Tagged apple, Business Model, Industry Commentary, iPhone, pricing power, telco | 4 Responses