Google Buys Motorola Mobility – Armed and Ready to move forward in mobile communications in a big way.
I have ten thoughts on the strategic importance of this very key acquisition and the brilliance of Larry Page taking an aggressive position forward.
1. Google missed out on the 6000 strong Nortel patents and acquires over 17000 Motorola patents. They actually bid “pi” or $3.14159 Billion. The so-called “Rockstar Bidco group” of Apple, Microsoft, Research In Motion, Sony, Ericsson AB and EMC. Google is finding itself having to protect the company with all these patent infringements.
2. Google wants to be in the game and as access to the internet has expanded to mobile devices the past decade, so too has the demand for even faster wireless data connections. The future is LTE and 4G. Mobile search and mobile payment tools are the fastest growing market segments. Remember when Steve Jobs went ballistic when he saw the first Google android prototype?
3. The “Google Phone” will become a reality and with their clever Android software platform the missing link was control of the hardware platform. The Motorola acquisition makes this happen.
4. The Android cool factor disappears as it becomes mainstream. Now that Google is a legitimate manufacturer the software developers may not have that open source playground anymore. Android will become proprietary.
5. Google now has a set top platform to expand its Google TV or even Googleflix offering. Search now embeds itself even further into the consumer’s home. Remember Motorola was a leader in wireless Ethernet routers and adsl modems back in the day.
6. Samsung and HTC are going to be worried as Google moves from partner to competitor status.
7. I think Nokia will get purchased by Microsoft and I think Microsoft may buy RIM. Rim patents are worth at least $10 Billion based on the recent Nortel and Motorola patent evaluations.
8. Google is taking a long term view to having the resources and platforms to protect itself from Microsoft and Apple.
9. Google is investing into hottest technologies are Cellphone payments, location technology, automobile-Internet, QR codes and 4G/LTE.
10. Patents, patents and more patents but in the end the hardware is key, if not Google could have bought InterDigital that has over 8000 patents for a lot less.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Motorola: The Leader in Innovation and a Mobile Pioneer
Motorola has a long history in being on the leading edge of communications technology. Its brand is well known in the 2 way radio and cellular handset business.
Motorola is solely focused focusing on mobile technologies and has authored volumes of books and holds many patents.
Read through the timeline and through the static and noise in the wireless spectrum it will become very clear on how strong a signal Motorola really is.
1928 - Motorola is founded in Chicago, Illinois by Joseph and Paul Galvin in September of that year as Galvin Manufacturing Corporation. Its first product was a battery eliminator that allowed battery operated radios to run on household electricity.
1930 - The name "Motorola" is created as the brand for the first commercially successful car radio. It is the combination of the word "motor" for car, and "ola," which the Galvin’s believed on the idea of mobile sound. The brand essentially means "sound in motion." Motorola releases a car radio.
1936 – The Motorola Police Cruiser radio receiver is launched.
1943 -1946 Motorola becomes the defacto messaging platform for the allies in World War II with the Handie-Talkie SCR536 Radio.
1946 - The beginnings of the cell phone. Motorola's equipment is used to make the first in-car telephone calls over Illinois Bell's radiotelephone service in Chicago in January.
1955 - Motorola's stylized "M" makes its first appearance.
1956 - The company debuts its first “Handie-Talkie Radio Pager”, calling it a "new standard in personal communication.” It immediately becomes a popular replacement for overhead paging in hospitals and factories.
1969 - A Motorola radio transponder relayed the first words from the moon to Earth in July 1969. The transponder aboard the Apollo 11 lunar module transmitted telemetry, tracking, voice communications and television signals between Earth and the moon.
1973 - The modern cell phone starts development with the debut of the DynaTAC. The famous brick cellular telephone.
Motorola DynaTAC1983 - Ten years after the company shows its first prototype cellular phone system, the FCC approves a commercial version of DynaTAC in September. The phone would not be available at retail until the following year. Arguably the first cell phone accessory also makes its debut: the "VSP" (Vehicular Speaker Phone) allows for hands free operation.
1986 - Motorola’s Bravo pager is released, which would go on to become the world's best selling pager. The Six Sigma standard for measuring quality improvement processes, was invented by Motorola researchers.
1989 - The MicroTAC makes its debut.
1991 - The company plays a crucial role in the development of GSM, introducing a system and phones in Germany. The technology now is a global standard used in nine out of 10 phones in operation worldwide today.
1994 - iDEN technology debuts, combining the aspects of paging, two-way communication, and phone calls into a single mobile device.
Motorola StarTAC 200px1996 - The StarTAC is released. Arguably no other phone gains the cult following this device does: it is used by a hardcore group of aficionados for more than a decade. Over 60 million were sold, making it one of the earliest blockbuster devices.
1999 - Motorola debuts its first tri-band GSM phone -- the Timeport -- allowing users for the first time to use the same phone when traveling worldwide.
2000 - The company teams up with Cisco to deliver the first GPRS network to BT in the United Kingdom. The first GPRS phone is released, the Timeport P7389i.
2002 - Motorola introduced the world's first wireless cable modem gateway which combined a high-speed cable modem router with an Ethernet switch and wireless home gateway.
2003 - The company makes its first foray into the smartphone market with the A760, which used the Linux operating system with Java technology.
Motorola RAZR2004 - The RAZR debuts, arguably setting off a trend to go thinner and smaller -- and like the StarTAC, gains a cult following that uses the phones long after the company stops selling them. It held the honor of the bestselling cellular phone in history until it is eclipsed by the iPhone in 2008.
2009 - Motorola takes a chance on Google's new Android smartphone operating system and several of its devices become some of the bestselling models on the platform.
Motorola Mobility
2011 - On January 4, the company announces it will spin off its Mobile Devices division into a separate company called Motorola Mobility. Motorola Solutions would handle all of the company's non-cellular related activities.
August 15, 2011 - Motorola Mobility is acquired by Google in a $12.5 billion transaction. Google calls the move "defensive," aimed at staving off an increasing tide of lawsuits aimed at the Android operating system.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Boingo Wireless sees demand increasing!
Boingo Wireless has been a market leader in providing Wi-Fi access in the USA for many years. Boingo has over 210,000 subscribers taking advantage of hotspots in cafes, airports and restaurants. They also have over a million subscribers logging on for pay per hour service every day. Boingo expects to see an increase in hotspots by as much a 40 present the next few years due to the demand for wireless internet access by its consumers. Naturally the smartphone, netbook and tablet users are demanding more Wi-Fi hotspots due to the surge in device sales.
Boingo is also a key OEM supplier for Verizon and Skype.
Business travelers and tourists should not forget that there is free access at most Chain hotels in the lobby so there is an alternate point for "access" and on a hot summer day - air conditioned to boot!
For the upper New York state traveler, the I90 has Wi-Fi at its traveler rest/gas stops making the toll costs more bearable on your journey to Albany or New York.
Boingo should come to Canada and bring their services to the marketplace. I would call this a pretty easy managed Wi-Fi service for retailers to offer in-store wireless access for its customers. Retailers also have the ability of having others build a solution for them and packaging it as a managed bundle.
Boingo is also a key OEM supplier for Verizon and Skype.
Business travelers and tourists should not forget that there is free access at most Chain hotels in the lobby so there is an alternate point for "access" and on a hot summer day - air conditioned to boot!
For the upper New York state traveler, the I90 has Wi-Fi at its traveler rest/gas stops making the toll costs more bearable on your journey to Albany or New York.
Boingo should come to Canada and bring their services to the marketplace. I would call this a pretty easy managed Wi-Fi service for retailers to offer in-store wireless access for its customers. Retailers also have the ability of having others build a solution for them and packaging it as a managed bundle.
Carrefour Planet is the new Hypermarket store
Carrefour Planet is the new Hypermarket store
The French have a new store format called the Hypermarket. They have made the aisles wider, softened the lighting and set up 9 zones of shopping experience. The market zone offers fresh food in a marketplace atmosphere with a focus on the customer experience with sampling and cooking lessons.
The organic zone offers organic brands and their own private bio brand. The frozen food zone offers well you get it – frozen foods.
The beauty zone offers beauty brands and products and a virtual make up consultation and haircut area.
The fashion zone offers clothing with a free alteration service.
The baby zone has all the baby needs and diapers by the bag full. The busy mom will get extra service with a separate check-out area.
The home zone includes storage and home products.
The media zone offers mobile phones, electronics and entertainment media.
Finally the seasonal zone offers an ever changing promo area for products arranged around the 7 different seasons and buying themes.
Again IP technology is a key spend in the in-store technology with digital signage, kiosks and demo centers. No wonder the recent hires to run the large Canadian retailers are coming from Europe.
Carrefour Planet brings innovative design thinking in changing the way consumers interact with their retail customer experience.
The French have a new store format called the Hypermarket. They have made the aisles wider, softened the lighting and set up 9 zones of shopping experience. The market zone offers fresh food in a marketplace atmosphere with a focus on the customer experience with sampling and cooking lessons.
The organic zone offers organic brands and their own private bio brand. The frozen food zone offers well you get it – frozen foods.
The beauty zone offers beauty brands and products and a virtual make up consultation and haircut area.
The fashion zone offers clothing with a free alteration service.
The baby zone has all the baby needs and diapers by the bag full. The busy mom will get extra service with a separate check-out area.
The home zone includes storage and home products.
The media zone offers mobile phones, electronics and entertainment media.
Finally the seasonal zone offers an ever changing promo area for products arranged around the 7 different seasons and buying themes.
Again IP technology is a key spend in the in-store technology with digital signage, kiosks and demo centers. No wonder the recent hires to run the large Canadian retailers are coming from Europe.
Carrefour Planet brings innovative design thinking in changing the way consumers interact with their retail customer experience.
The 3 Biggest Call Center Lies and The Customer Experience
It was an interesting day a few weeks ago as I heard a Forrester Analyst nail the whole customer experience right on the head and then had a chat with a few friends who brought up the hilarious nature of contact centers.
Is it really that bad? You are so right its pathetic!
Corporations talk about how the customer experience is so important and how that this high level of service is a key differentiator.
Here are the 3 biggest lies and I just took 20 minutes calling various organizations as a test
1) Your Call is important to us
2) We are experiencing an unusual number of calls and holding times will be longer than usual
3) We are recording this call for quality assurance purposes
These 3 on hold call center messages are the first signs of a company that is not attuned to customer service
Because what they really mean is the following:
1) If it was important we would answer by the third ring or at least 80 % of our calls would be answered within 30 seconds. A ring cycle is 6 seconds so you should get answered by the third ring.
2) That really is saying there are so many complaints we are constantly flooded with calls, our product is so bad people call in all the time to complain, or we only have two agents logged in so it will be a while
3) After being on hold for 32 minutes, punching in your account number, getting bounced a few times and having to provide the account number again …you may get upset and yell and threaten a lawsuit. They will have your threats recorded.
So you end up just emailing the complaint and the following appears:
“Thank You for your message, our award winning customer service ambassador will contact you in 72 hours.”
A week goes by and no response.
The winners in the marketplace will be those that are accessible, listen, take action and care about the customer experience. Those that don’t will only have themselves to blame.
People buy from people, they buy from those that they trust and they buy from those that take a negative experience and turn it into a positive one.
The winners in the marketplace embrace a customer-centric view of contact center economics. I urge every single senior level CXO, every manager to take the view of the customer, and call into their contact center and take notice of the customer experience. Take notes and choose an action plan to fix the inherent issues.
I personally have been recently WOWed by Apple (Total spend of $800), Borders (Total spend of $40), Amazon (Total spend of $50), Durham Radio (Total spend of $120), and Monitoring Times Magazine (Total spend of $16). I am still waiting for Metro to return an email after several negative shopping experiences (Total spend of almost $200) that I will never return to their stores and am so excited that Wal-Mart will open nearby soon and give them a run for their grocery money.
That’s what happens when the retailer does not listen to the customer.
Is it really that bad? You are so right its pathetic!
Corporations talk about how the customer experience is so important and how that this high level of service is a key differentiator.
Here are the 3 biggest lies and I just took 20 minutes calling various organizations as a test
1) Your Call is important to us
2) We are experiencing an unusual number of calls and holding times will be longer than usual
3) We are recording this call for quality assurance purposes
These 3 on hold call center messages are the first signs of a company that is not attuned to customer service
Because what they really mean is the following:
1) If it was important we would answer by the third ring or at least 80 % of our calls would be answered within 30 seconds. A ring cycle is 6 seconds so you should get answered by the third ring.
2) That really is saying there are so many complaints we are constantly flooded with calls, our product is so bad people call in all the time to complain, or we only have two agents logged in so it will be a while
3) After being on hold for 32 minutes, punching in your account number, getting bounced a few times and having to provide the account number again …you may get upset and yell and threaten a lawsuit. They will have your threats recorded.
So you end up just emailing the complaint and the following appears:
“Thank You for your message, our award winning customer service ambassador will contact you in 72 hours.”
A week goes by and no response.
The winners in the marketplace will be those that are accessible, listen, take action and care about the customer experience. Those that don’t will only have themselves to blame.
People buy from people, they buy from those that they trust and they buy from those that take a negative experience and turn it into a positive one.
The winners in the marketplace embrace a customer-centric view of contact center economics. I urge every single senior level CXO, every manager to take the view of the customer, and call into their contact center and take notice of the customer experience. Take notes and choose an action plan to fix the inherent issues.
I personally have been recently WOWed by Apple (Total spend of $800), Borders (Total spend of $40), Amazon (Total spend of $50), Durham Radio (Total spend of $120), and Monitoring Times Magazine (Total spend of $16). I am still waiting for Metro to return an email after several negative shopping experiences (Total spend of almost $200) that I will never return to their stores and am so excited that Wal-Mart will open nearby soon and give them a run for their grocery money.
That’s what happens when the retailer does not listen to the customer.
Everyone Wants in on the Grocery Business.
The Canadian grocery business for the longest time has been served by Loblaw’s with 1800 stores across Canada. Smaller chains like Sobeys, Metro and regional chains have also fought for market share.
But the past 10 years the landscape has changed and retailers outside the grocery channel have expanded their offerings in order to increase their share of the consumer’s wallet.
Walgreen, Wal-Mart and Target have all remodeled stores to include a grocery section. Canadian Tire and Shoppers Drug Mart have done similar and even Dollarama has a selection of food products.
I have seen a big impact in the drug store giant Duane Reade in New York City. This has made a huge impact as they have stores everywhere in the city and now can offer the convenience of fresh, packaged and frozen foods. New Yorkers do not have the luxury of big box grocers on 5th avenue to buy their groceries in. DR does fill a void in the marketplace.
Longo’s has taken an aggressive approach to be positioned in the Toronto downtown core with a smaller format store in many areas in the middle of the condo projects. If they add a pharmacy section things could be a bit of game changer.
This has changed the shopping behaviour as consumers are now choosing to make their trips to retailers that offer a wider mix and selection choice. They are shopping at the non-traditional grocers more often and shopping at the traditional grocer less often. In Canada the experience is a bit different as there is less competition for the grocery spends. One consistent trend is the spend at the dollar store.
Loblaw’s has done a great job at offering non-traditional items in their stores to combat the Wal-Mart effect and at one time you could buy furniture and household items (typically they were of poor quality) and they seem to have reduced the floor space for these items. That floor space has been replaced with Joe Fresh clothing line. This has created a success of over $1B in sales at higher margins than a typical bag of milk. Now the Loblaw’s stores are drawing non-customers into their stores seeking the latest in fast low cost fashion. This is working very well for the Joe Fresh line. Shoppers Drug Mart has also taken advantage of this trend with their new format stores have a wall of freezers and an increased selection of food items.
One trend that is very noticeable is the increase in private label products which offer a similar quality product at a lower price point. The Loblaw’s iconic Presidents Choice label is one of Canada’s most trusted brands and has its own marketing flyer. Target does very well with its private labels and the vitamin and pharmacy section are a big volume section in their store.
Loblaw’s is a trend setter with the first store to offer a useful app in the kitchen for the iPad and Playbook called Recipe Box. They have over 900 recipes on file making the question “What’s for dinner” an easy one.
Today’s consumers have more choices in how and where to spend their money when trying to fill the refrigerator with food.
The relevancy to this on a technology perspective is the increase of IP technology. stores need more connectivity and bandwidth to accommodate the POS traffic, pharmacy traffic, digital signage and video security applications.
But the past 10 years the landscape has changed and retailers outside the grocery channel have expanded their offerings in order to increase their share of the consumer’s wallet.
Walgreen, Wal-Mart and Target have all remodeled stores to include a grocery section. Canadian Tire and Shoppers Drug Mart have done similar and even Dollarama has a selection of food products.
I have seen a big impact in the drug store giant Duane Reade in New York City. This has made a huge impact as they have stores everywhere in the city and now can offer the convenience of fresh, packaged and frozen foods. New Yorkers do not have the luxury of big box grocers on 5th avenue to buy their groceries in. DR does fill a void in the marketplace.
Longo’s has taken an aggressive approach to be positioned in the Toronto downtown core with a smaller format store in many areas in the middle of the condo projects. If they add a pharmacy section things could be a bit of game changer.
This has changed the shopping behaviour as consumers are now choosing to make their trips to retailers that offer a wider mix and selection choice. They are shopping at the non-traditional grocers more often and shopping at the traditional grocer less often. In Canada the experience is a bit different as there is less competition for the grocery spends. One consistent trend is the spend at the dollar store.
Loblaw’s has done a great job at offering non-traditional items in their stores to combat the Wal-Mart effect and at one time you could buy furniture and household items (typically they were of poor quality) and they seem to have reduced the floor space for these items. That floor space has been replaced with Joe Fresh clothing line. This has created a success of over $1B in sales at higher margins than a typical bag of milk. Now the Loblaw’s stores are drawing non-customers into their stores seeking the latest in fast low cost fashion. This is working very well for the Joe Fresh line. Shoppers Drug Mart has also taken advantage of this trend with their new format stores have a wall of freezers and an increased selection of food items.
One trend that is very noticeable is the increase in private label products which offer a similar quality product at a lower price point. The Loblaw’s iconic Presidents Choice label is one of Canada’s most trusted brands and has its own marketing flyer. Target does very well with its private labels and the vitamin and pharmacy section are a big volume section in their store.
Loblaw’s is a trend setter with the first store to offer a useful app in the kitchen for the iPad and Playbook called Recipe Box. They have over 900 recipes on file making the question “What’s for dinner” an easy one.
Today’s consumers have more choices in how and where to spend their money when trying to fill the refrigerator with food.
The relevancy to this on a technology perspective is the increase of IP technology. stores need more connectivity and bandwidth to accommodate the POS traffic, pharmacy traffic, digital signage and video security applications.
What the heck is IPV6?
During August 2012 the new internet will be ready to change the way addressing and content will be delivered. IPV6 is a new addressing protocol that will replace the current IPV4 scheme. A typical IP address is 192.168.0.1 and is what the internet uses to move data between devices and servers.
IPV4 was developed in 1981 as a 32 bit addressing scheme which can provide 4.3 billion IP addresses. Today there are more than 2 billion internet devices that require an IP address in order to communicate on the internet. To plan for the upcoming explosive growth a new protocol called IPV6 was developed. This will provide for a 128 bit scheme that will have 340 to the 46th IP addresses. My calculator gave up. But it’s probably trillions of addresses, so we should be good for the next 20 years.
Many ISP and carriers are planning to be ready for the transition. IPV4 is not interoperable with IPV6 so to implement it requires a parallel internet network. Carriers will need two networks to run, but the good news is it will be transparent as many newer devices are IPV6 compatible already. If you are accessing an internet site that has addresses in the new format then the network will carry your data back and forth with no concern.
The national resource organization claims that the current IPV4 addresses will run out by end of 2012 and by then all broadband carriers will have developed their parallel networks to accommodate the new addressing scheme.
IPV4 was developed in 1981 as a 32 bit addressing scheme which can provide 4.3 billion IP addresses. Today there are more than 2 billion internet devices that require an IP address in order to communicate on the internet. To plan for the upcoming explosive growth a new protocol called IPV6 was developed. This will provide for a 128 bit scheme that will have 340 to the 46th IP addresses. My calculator gave up. But it’s probably trillions of addresses, so we should be good for the next 20 years.
Many ISP and carriers are planning to be ready for the transition. IPV4 is not interoperable with IPV6 so to implement it requires a parallel internet network. Carriers will need two networks to run, but the good news is it will be transparent as many newer devices are IPV6 compatible already. If you are accessing an internet site that has addresses in the new format then the network will carry your data back and forth with no concern.
The national resource organization claims that the current IPV4 addresses will run out by end of 2012 and by then all broadband carriers will have developed their parallel networks to accommodate the new addressing scheme.
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