In recent months LG Electronics, Panasonic and Samsung have announced television sets that allow people to view online content such as videos and photos through an easy-to-use web interface that’s built into the TV. What this also can enable is two way video communications – though the cameras need to be separately purchased from the television.

Earlier this week GIPS held a webinar on the topic ‘Is the Television the next Two-Way Communication Tool?’ If you didn’t have a chance to listen to the webinar, you can always listen to the recorded version. We took polls from the live audience, as what better way to affirm our own research conclusions on the TV as a future two-way communication tool.

We directed 4 polls to the audience and 400 people provided the following results:

As TV audiences have fragmented and evolved their tastes, the television has become less central to the home/family experience.  The evolution of the TV as an interactive device has the ability to take back ground lost as a focal point in the home – recapturing the living room perhaps. 98 percent of poll respondents view the TV as becoming an interactive consumer electronic device and perhaps competing with the PC.

The live webinar audience was a solid mix of broadcast industry professionals, so it was interesting to see their response to this question: Who will benefit most from two-way communication via the TV? There are opportunities for all slices within the broadcast industry but ultimately who will benefit is the user. While we didn’t include the end user in this poll, our assumption was that the TV watcher will ultimately benefit in the long run.

While this next poll would be better directed towards consumers – it was interesting nonetheless to gauge the industry professionals’ opinion.

Finally, we asked the broadcast audience when they see the rollout of interactive programming and TVs. Well it’s already happening and as we discussed in the webinar. Oprah, CNN and Sports reporting are just a few of the places this is already happening.  The times are a changing for the broadcast industry and as Charles Darwin said: “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.”

It’s not often I see public telephone boxes anymore – they are out there but who uses them? A recent article in the New York Times got me thinking about this archaic piece of equipment. Here in the US, we live in a society where 277 million people subscribe to a mobile phone service.

The ubiquitous home phone is also seeing a decline too. “The decline in the cordless phone market is indicative of a larger story,” says ABI Research practice director Jason Blackwell, “which is that of wireless substitution worldwide. In developed nations a growing number of people are dropping their fixed phone lines altogether in favor of mobile-only services.”

There are a multitude of reasons for this decline: mobile phone usage, cultural, cheaper long-distance calling services, the economy and perhaps relevance. Much like cable television losing out to the Internet, the landline telephone is losing relevance with the introduction of its younger sibling – the sleeker, smarter mobile phone.

However, the television may be set to regain its position in the household and push out its little cousin the telephone.

Only recently at CES did both LG Electronics and Panasonic announce Internet-enabled TV’s and a partnership with Skype. The Television is growing into new and expanded places and could function as both the PC and telephone. The possibilities for content, cable and Telco providers to monetize additional communication services in this way are vast.

Next week – GIPS will be presenting a webinar on the subject, so if you would like to sign up click here.

In a recent post, I wrote about how smartphones are red hot in Asia, and in China in particular, right now. Well there’s yet another smart ‘new’ category of devices targeting the mobile computing market that is emerging. This category may also take global markets by storm (or maybe not, who knows in this game?): ‘smartbooks’.

No doubt, smartbooks will arouse market interest worldwide. Market demand from Asia is (as with most everything these days) expected to be strong. Taiwan, is both a global design and ODM/OEM manufacturing hub for portable devices and as such has already shown keen interest in this new category. In fact, a number of Taiwan OEMs have already showcased smartbooks at Computex in Taipei June last year.

The devices and their lower price points (sub-US$200, possibly as low as US$100) have also attracted a lot of interest in mainland China. According to Young Liu, special assistant to the CEO at Foxconn, the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer, the company has had requests from a number of telecommunications companies in China to develop smartbooks.

Qualcomm, which makes microprocessor chips based on ARM Holdings’ semiconductor intellectual property (IP) is at the forefront of popularizing the smartbook. In fact, it coined the name, taking it from the combination of the words that describe the two device categories that it claims this third new category sits between: the smartphone and the netbook. Both computing and cellphone companies are paying attention with Asus, Acer, Lenovo and Toshiba as well as Nokia, LG and HTC all developing smartbooks.
These new devices are based on technology traditionally found in smartphones, such as Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chip. Snapdragon is a beefed-up cell phone processor that runs at 1GHz and includes integrated support for 3G wireless connections as well as WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS.
Nvidia, also seem excited at the prospects of smartbook devices powered by its ARM-based Tegra chip. The company has forecast that we may see computer makers’ launching laptops that include detachable screens that would be able to independently access the Internet and process data. So you’d be getting laptop with an e-reader type device thrown in.

The phenomenal uptake of web technology globally has fundamentally changed our everyday lives. Consumers’ expectations about what their PCs and mobile computing devices should deliver are growing rapidly. There’s never a dull moment in this industry is there?

While there are hundreds of reviews of Mobile World Congress in the news and media, I thought it might be interesting to get an exhibitor’s point of view of the event especially as the media tend to get stuck in the headlights of oncoming shiny new mobile devices from the big players in the industry and not the ecosystem that the event represents.

In general the show appeared to have more visitors (50,000) in attendance than in 2009 and as one senior executive that I talked with over lunch said “I’ve got 20 years in the mobile industry and I’m still astounded and confounded at all the companies at this event – many of which I still don’t know what they do.”

GIPS made an announcement the week prior about availability of GIPS VideoEngine on the iPhone platform, which generated a good amount of press coverage but also added to the increased amount of people visiting GIPS at the show.  The visitors (at least to GIPS stand) also appeared to be more senior in attendance and I saw a lot more lists in people’s hand of “companies to visit,”  perhaps a sign that were people were doing their homework this year.

Whereas many industry events offer free tickets, Mobile World Congress charge nearly 600 Euro per ticket and they closely guard who comes in and out of the show – even with a pass each person must show their ID too. In 2009 the mood was downbeat and 2010 it was the complete opposite. Hopefully the optimistic tone is a true reflection of where the industry is heading now and a sign of things to come.

The show for me illustrated that the sum is greater than the parts, so while the likes of Google, HTC, Samsung, Huawei and the BBC (did I mention the Beeb stopped by our stand ; ) grabbed major headlines – this only illustrated the icing layer on the cake and not all the ingredients that go into making this event a good reflection of the mobile telecommunications ecosystem.

In an article released yesterday in BusinessWeek, it was disclosed that the Federal Communications Commission is considering paying broadcasters to vacate wireless spectrum, which the agency would use to alleviate network congestion caused by the growing popularity of devices like smartphones.

It was a slow day for news. This isn’t exactly an earth-shattering revelation. The reallocation of under-utilized spectrum has been considered a logical step for use by rapidly growing wireless networks for a long time. With the steady rise of smartphones and their demand for data services, it is clear that wireless service providers will need more than 4G equipment upgrades to deal with the swarm of new subscribers.

The problem is the plan. You see the U.S. government would buy back spectrum from broadcasters, and then turn around and auction the newly acquired spectrum to companies that desperately need more to augment their networks. Networks that are already straining to support the growth of data-intensive devices like the iPhone. Companies like AT&T and Verizon, who will pay dearly for access to more wireless spectrum.

In a recent study submitted to the FCC by The Brattle Group, one likely scenario suggested that the government could acquire wireless spectrum from incumbent broadcasters for $6 billion and auction that spectrum for $48 billion. That’s a tidy $42 billion profit.

Why would broadcasters agree to sell their spectrum assets to the government, only to have the government turn around and auction those assets to the highest bidder?

Considering these sums of money, the FCC will need to sharpen its pencil or prepare for a lengthy legal battle. It will either have to sweeten the deal for the incumbent broadcasters, or claim eminent domain and seize the spectrum.

Either way it will take a lot of time and a lot of lawyers to sort this one out.

If two recent reports are any indication, video is quickly becoming crucial to enterprise communications. According to a report by Dell’Oro Group, annual revenues for the Unified Communications market will outpace the enterprise voice market through 2014. While there are many important features included in a UC solution (including voice), video is a prominent component that helps differentiate a UC product from one that only includes voice.

In addition, GIPS released a survey last week of 1,200 business professionals in the US and Asia regarding their use of video conferencing, and discovered some surprising results. Among the findings:

-          In three of the four countries surveyed, a majority of respondents had participated in a video conference or video chat.

-          79% of those who use video conferencing technology rely on consumer applications.

-          The most common reason that participants gave for using video conferencing was to communicate and understand others more clearly and effectively.

-          Video delay and freezing continue to be technical concerns for many users.

If you are interested in reading the entire report, you can find it here.

Earlier this week I listened to a webinar from CommuniGate on HD voice. (In fair disclosure they are a customer.) It was interesting because you had three companies in the chain of HD voice – GIPS, CommuniGate and Deutsche Telekom.

The benefits of HD Voice were discussed and the subject also addressed why network operators should view it as an excellent value added service particularly for the SMB market. While the main focus of VoIP services to date has been cost reduction over quality, HD voice heralds a new generation of high-fidelity voice communication services, which allows business and consumer users to have a more natural and reliable voice communication experience than ever before.

Mobile operators are missing significant revenue opportunities in the SMB market where workers on the “move” need increasingly reliable high-fidelity voice quality to interact freely with other users and automated systems. It is estimated that the worldwide SMB market for VoIP services will reach $10.4 billion by 2014. Most of this revenue potential, however, will be directly dependent on how well integrated and easy to use various media will be, and to what extent it will deliver quality features not previously available to SMBs at accessible price points.

CommuniGate is beating the HD voice drum to get carriers to listen. Their MobileOffice, a Unified Communications hosting platform, enables network operators to deliver high-value, HD Voice enabled communication solutions to Small Businesses. To explain CommuniGate’s offering in more detail they have released a whitepaper that looks at FMC as the bridge of two “HD capable” networks; the mobile and the Broadband IP Network (Internet).

What I especially like about CommuniGate is they don’t just talk HD voice, they act on their beliefs. To make sure everyone “gets” the HD voice message – they’re offering a free trial. So rather than read about HD voice, why don’t you try it out for yourself.

I spent a good 4 hours yesterday watching my favorite football team, the Minnesota Vikings, self destruct as only they can. During the frequent commercial breaks, I noticed the over abundance of ads for mobile carriers. There were the usual pudgy Owen Wilson AT&T ads dueling with the Verizon map commercials, along with a few Sprint and Metro PCS spots mixed in. This flurry of activity sparked me to wonder aloud, “How competitive is this market?”

The perception given by all the commercials is that the market is very competitive. Each firm is making its case for why it is the best choice- largest 3G network, fastest downloads, widest selection of phones, least restrictive calling plans, etc- and furiously trying to attract as many customers away from the other providers. Yet, I couldn’t help but think that, while they have offered more services, each successive cell phone plan I have purchased over the last 8 years has only been more expensive than the previous. If this market is that competitive, shouldn’t prices be falling?

If you believe the commercials, it appears as if they are. Verizon and AT&T announced reduced rates for their voice plans. Interestingly enough, they both settled at $69.99 a month, behavior which seems remarkably coordinated. However, as Marguerite Reardon pointed out for CNET, these new plans may actually be more expensive for many users, as they impose higher fees for web and data usage for owners of mid-range phones. 

This is an incredibly complex topic, which we have touched on in the past, but it seems like, at least until now, most carriers have tried to use subsidized phones as their main differentiator. By signing exclusive deals with manufacturers, and then offering phones for reduced upfront fees, operators are able to lure customers based on those phones’ features.  What many consumers may not realize, however, is that they are probably paying more in the long run than users of the same phones in other countries. Telecommunications tends to be a naturally oligopolistic market, and the U.S. mobile market is no exception. The high barrier to entry associated with owning large networks leads to only a small number of firms owning virtually the whole market. But what is most important (and what the FCC will probably be looking into) is if this arrangement is beneficial to consumers. I don’t have an answer to this question, but I do have a nagging feeling that I should be getting more for less.

SK Telecom announced last week that they plan to sell 2 million smartphones  in 2010. By 2013 they will offer up to 25 models of smartphone and round 40% of those will be running Android OS.

Also at the same time LG Electronics is betting on Android – they plan to rollout 20 smartphones this year with over 50% of these models are based on Android.

Apparently Korean mobile phone manufacturers are still optimistic about Android despite of Google’s launch of Nexus One.  In Hong Kong we notice the price of HTC Android phones like Hero or Magic dropped after Google start selling Nexus One directly.

From Gartner’s projection last Oct Android will be the 2^nd largest smartphone platform by 2012 – around 76 million units a year.  Looks like Apple’s iPhone and RIM’s Blackberry has a very strong competitor moving forward.

There are many things in our daily lives that we come to accept and have given up questioning as to why we tolerate it. From shoddy call centre service from credit card companies (“please press 1”, “please press # to listen to all your options again”, “sorry I didn’t understand that command, please call back goodbye”), short-changed at the below-average lunch place, (yes I still go!), no phone signal in the centre of the City to the daily bus driver who waits to see me running before he takes off for the next stop.

However, it looks like there’s a chance I can get my voice back when I read about Orange announcing it will be the first to offer mobile High Definition (HD) Voice for its customers in the UK – well a trial anyway with full nationwide roll-out due later in 2010

HD Voice offers sound quality that my concert-damaged ears can understand. As a company with offices across the globe and people I have to talk with people across different continents with varying accents, which can often be difficult to understand over the telephone. I accepted it for too long but now that issue is resolved when I’m able to use Nimbuzz, Yahoo or CommuniGate to speak with HD Voice clarity. However, often I’m stuck talking on a mobile with terrible-I’ve always put up with this – sound quality.

News that Orange is stepping ahead with HD Voice should send shudders down their competitor’s spines. There’s very little to differentiate one mobile service to another – they might tell us there is but really? However, HD voice on a mobile telephone that’s a huge differentiator for a device that is designed principally to talk.

As the baby boom generation go gently into retirement and their hearing deteriorates the offer of HD voice will be attractive. As too, will all the younger generation who have endured countless noise exploding concerts, nightclubs and iPod blasting music…HD voice must be and will be heard.

I’m a firm believer that HD Voice will herald a new era for mobile communications and a new standard for the telecoms industry – however, it’s that domino effect  that companies such as Nimbuzz, Yahoo, Google, Skype and CommuniGate that herald change – let’s hope there are some other mobile carriers that will brave an HD world.

So if you want your voice heard come and meet with GIPS next month in Paris at the upcoming HD summit and hear the difference.