The eComm 2008 conference is about to begin, here in Mountain View, CA at the Computer History Museum which appears to be a hospitable location. Attendees are trickling in, and the conference founder and powerhouse Lee Dryburgh is quietly preparing for the introduction and working with the upcoming speakers. The auditorium is filling up, and I would guess the gender ratio is around 100 to 1, males to females. This is the inaugural event and it's a full house -- that says a lot.
Says Lee, VOIP is more or less over. It's not that exciting, and it doesn't solve a host of needs. 'We need something farther reaching ... something more transformative." We need a device that integrates content, entertainment, ecommerce, and social networks, adds Lee. But what is it? We need a 'Personal Lifecycle Device' as relationships become the #1 focus. "The telephone is dead," says Lee. The replacement is the exciting part; Google has released Android; T-Mobile and Sprint have joined in. The power of innovation is shifting to the edges. "Innovation and democratizing innovation" is the purpose of this assembly, according to Lee.
Jonathan Christensen of Skype is up, and makes the point that NetMeeting, a product he was involved in developing, is still being used despite no updates in nearly ten years. Jeffrey Pulver early inspirations: Min-X and voice minute exchange, and the 'Free World Dialup.' The VOIP revolution led to better pricing for consumers, but no real innovation. Christensen again repeated: 'The Phone is Dead.' Skype is the intersection of IM and IP, introduced in 2003 (IP therefore IM :).
Question from the audience: "What are the future plans for Skype now that it is part of eBay? It used to be the leader ..." Christensen: We are in a stall ... but this is the most exciting period for Skype ... they are groundbreaking projects .. can't talk about the specifics.
OpenMoko, Michael Shiloh: Open Source as much as possible; within business constraints. Allow for expansion -- allow to hack in; and you reduce the barriers to entry = innovation. The new Neo with wifi will be out in 'a couple of months' ... so the pic is the current, completely out-of-stock Neo 1.0. Love that Neo ...
David Isenberg: Author of The Rise of the Stupid Network. Care about the politics of infrastructure policies. Your job is at stake. "Not all packets are the same." We need the pipes separate from the apps -- instead of net neutrality, let's talk about structural neutrality. Double sided business model: YouTube pays to upgrade user's connections? "I don't understand the model well enough."
Presence: Jabber/Peter (co founder) ... 'dial tone for internet communication' ... shrinking in the half life of communication as bandwidth increases and goods and services can move across the globe ... dialtone is 'boring' .. but it is a catalyst for communication ... PSTN 'presence' indicates that there is a system out there, but not that anyone is on that system. Dynamic possibilities ... more than person-to-person and includes application to application ...
Thomas Howe: Draws an analogy with Paprika as a kind of parallel to the ARPU question. Voice is simply a commodity; and voice is simply a commodity. They increase their value in being generic. Branding is critical though for the carriers, similar to Virgin Mobile (Branson).
Vringo: Used for sharing video ... and video ringtones (?!). This is an example of a viral marketing model, relying not on payment. Rather, relies on advertising revenues. "Free and ad funded" is the future, according to Andrew Perlman. Q: How much are you anticipating wrt ad dollars? The current mobile ad market is very scarce -- 'CPM's are worth more on the Internet.
Boaz Zilberman of fring: A filesharing and integrated solution or 'VoIM service' (voice messaging solution). One of the most popular apps on the market today. Says that it provides 'free' calls, chat, and presence ... here's a YouTube video on using fring. Mentioned that Jooce is now mobile(!)
Phonefromhere: Works on the basis of embedding phone functionality into a website. How can this be 'better' than using a phone? Take MySpace where users discuss bands in a group; or LinkedIn where it's less about 'group' discussions. What triggers a call from a website? Speaker suggests that this can be similar to a Facebook 'poke.'
Dial2Do, CTO Sean O Sullivan: The US fell behind with GSM, but the US has always led in phone call pricing. US users speak more than others from around the world. Value adds in the US market make sense, therefore. Europe has high SMS and mobile voice charges.
Identity and Trust (BT, Piotr Cofta): Resides on the IP and TCP layers on the ISO layer model. Identity and trust are constructed to combat the growing complexity. Your identity is my perception of your persistent interacting 'whole' (IP). Identity is constructed as part of the identity. The bank 'card' is what constitutes this ... but it's really about services, and not one's identity. Identity is a communication shortcut. Identity encapsulates the past, defines a communication endpoint ... the future identity protocol is to do this more dynamically, beyond handing over or doing this with a card. There are many more issues, especially privacy. And what about group identity? Trust (TCP) is an expectation of predictable future behaviors of an intentional identity. There is nothing about benevolent behavior, merely future behavior that is predictable (i.e., 'I trust that you will kill me.').
IBM, Tony Nadalin (Trust/Identity): The problem remains trust and identity.
Young Generation and Communication Technology: Keynote: Dr. Norman Lewis, Chief Strategy Officer of Wireless Grid Corporation : It's not the content, it's the practices. Young females is the largest user base. Getting a response from your posts is an important acknowledgment of your existence. "It's all about them ... all about 'me'." It's about who's in and who's out .... who's part of the group and who's not. This is extremely relevant to the design of the devices and systems that are built in mobile technology. What do you DO with this technology? Through the tactile control you can exert over your environment around you that is key to this technology. "Me to the Power of Us." All of the devices can now be linked together. Mentioned the current implementation of its dorm-centric data system that allows students to share music and data in a central and decentralized wireless environment that allows sharing across devices: cell, computer, laptops, printers, and more.
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