Paul Wallbank – Brilliant Communications

Tag: mobile

  • Today marks a moment of reinvention

    Today marks a moment of reinvention

    In announcing the company will acquire Nokia’s mobile and devices business, Microsoft said “Today marks a moment of reinvention”.

    This is certainly true, with the retirement of Steve Ballmer, Microsoft officially enters the post Bill Gates era and today’s announcement is an admission from Nokia that their moment as the world’s dominant mobile phone manufacturer is over.

    What’s notable about the deal is what Microsoft doesn’t get — particularly Nokia’s maps service. While Microsoft gets a license to use Nokia’s mapping services, it leaves the Finnish company with a valuable asset and possibly leaves it as the only company capable of competing with Google in that market.

    For Microsoft, acquiring the expertise of Nokia’s engineers shouldn’t be understated, although integrating 32,000 Nokia employees will test Microsoft’s management as this increases their workforce by a third.

    Possibly the most fascinating part of Microsoft’s announcement though is the comment in the second paragraph of their media release.

    Microsoft will draw upon its overseas cash resources to fund the transaction.

    US technology companies have been struggling to deal with the massive profits they have accumulated offshore as part of their tax minimalisation strategy. What we may now be seeing is a wave of foreign takeovers as American companies start to reduce their offshore cash stashes without incurring domestic tax bills.

    If that’s true, Microsoft’s agreement with Nokia may well indicate we’re about to see many more takeovers around the world .

    Regardless of what it means for the wider industry, both Microsoft and Nokia have entered fundamentally different phases of their businesses.

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  • Fighting in the sandbox

    Fighting in the sandbox

    The current spat between Microsoft and Google over the Windows Phone YouTube app illustrates the value, and hindrance, of the internet’s walled gardens.

    Google’s locking Microsoft Phone users out of YouTube shows the strength of these online empires and when coupled with control of the mobile phone platforms, as Google has with Android, it makes it hard for outsiders to compete.

    In one respect, this is corporate karma coming back to bite Microsoft who ruthessly exploited their market position with Windows, MS-DOS and Office through the 1990s and early 2000s.

    That doesn’t change the problems facing Microsoft Windows Phone users who want the same access to internet services enjoyed by Android and iPhone owners.

    Being locked out of a service because of the product you choose to use is in many ways the antithesis of the internet and challenges the underpinnings of the online economy.

    All internet and mobile phone users need to watch how this spat between Microsoft and Google develops, captive markets aren’t good for anyone.

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  • Cranking up the phone wars

    Cranking up the phone wars

    According to All Things D, Apple will be announcing their next iPhone on September 10.

    With Samsung and Android phones steadily chipping away at Apple’s market share, it’s an opportunity for the company to recapture some of the brand’s allure after the passing of Steve Jobs.

    The market will be expecting a stunning announcement. Should the company disappoint, the pundits will be calling the end of Apple’s dominance and we can expect the firm’s share price can also expect to get further punished with it already down 35% from the $700 peak of a year ago.

    What Apple’s announcement will do is trigger another round of the phone wars as we approach the Christmas buying season. It might be a good time to buy a phone.

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  • Disrupting the GPS network

    Disrupting the GPS network

    Another day, another technology security issues – this time The Economist reports the Global Positioning System can easily be hacked to alter the courses and positions of vehicles and equipment, something proved by University of Texas researchers taking control of a super yacht by setting up a false GPS signal.

    Given the importance of the GPS, this is a significant problem. There’s no end of mischief that malicious individuals could get up to by distorting the signals in their neighbourhoods.

    One idea that immediately came to mind on reading the story was how a cunning restaurant owner could make all the GPS units in the neighbourhood think they are sitting outside his business. Anybody using a smartphone app would think the nearest eating place was his, it would also fool systems like Local Measure that use geotagging as part of their service.

    The risks though are greater than sneaky restaurant owners, the University of Texas researchers showed how a 65m, $80 million dollar ship can be tricked into sailing off course by ‘spoofing’ the real GPS signal.

    With everything from emergency services’ tracking systems to smartphone and dog collars relying on GPS, the risks are huge.

    It’s another reason why we need robust systems along with the critical thinking skills to know when the computer is wrong.

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  • Can mobile networks build Myanmar’s economy?

    Can mobile networks build Myanmar’s economy?

    Fifty years ago Myanmar, or Burma, was one of Asia’s most affluent nations, but a succession of poor governments have seen the country become one of the world’s poorest. Can mobile phone networks be part of Myanmar’s econmic recovery?

    The potential economic impact of mobile communications in Myanmar is a report prepared by Deloitte Consulting for network equipment vendor Ericsson claiming that rolling out cellphone networks across the nation will create 90,000 jobs in the emerging economy.

    Myanmar is starting from a low base with only 2% mobile penetration rates, compared to over 40% in Timor-Leste and Laos while the average across South-East Asia is over 100%.

    Myanmar lags south east asia mobile penetration rates

    To address this the Myanmar Post and Telecommunications Department is looking a splitting the existing phone monopoly into three or possibly four licenses.

    Ericsson’s report looks at the economic effects of rolling out these networks and some of the opportunities for local entrepreneurs and communities.

    The biggest employment effect identified in the Ericsson/Deloitte report is through the reseller networks with 50,000 of the 90,000 jobs created by new mobile services being in the sales channel.

    What’s striking about that prediction is how it doesn’t look at the broader effects of modernising the country’s phone network. The report’s authors do mention they believe the overall benefits could boost the Burmese economy by over 9% in a best case scenario but don’t fully delve into where they believe that growth will come from.

    myanmar-gdp-effects-of-mobile-networks

    It can be expected there’ll be many more indirect benefits as Myanmar’s communications networks jump into the 21st Century, the report itself has a chapter citing various benefits mobile networks have delivered to countries as diverse as Kenya, Chile and Bhutan.

    Particularly interesting with Myanmar’s development will be the Chinese influence in rolling out these networks – the PRC is already the biggest foreign investor in the country having largely ignored western sanctions on the military regime and it can be expected players like Huawei and China Mobile will be well positioned in bidding for licenses and contracts.

    For local entrepreneurs the complex Burmese language is a natural opportunity for app developers and programmers to develop localised versions of successful applications, the lack of English and Chinese language skills among the population – another terrible neglect by successive governments – will hamstring Myanmar’s digital media export opportunities.

    Probably the biggest risk to Myanmar’s success though is the role of the military who are expected to get one of those mobile licenses.

    Burma’s terrible economic performance over the last fifty years has been largely due to the incompetence, greed and corruption of various military rulers and, while their continued influence in the nation’s economy may be necessary to placate them and their cronies, the legacy of these people may act as a break on a really open economy or fair markets.

    For Myanmar, the opening of cell phone networks is great opportunity. Hopefully the vested interests that have held this nation back for so long will resist the temptation to further damage the country’s prospects.

    Burmese landscape image by ZaNuDa through sxc.hu.

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