An unauthorized, unothodox, but concise history of mobile telecommunications.

Starting with the initial AM based systems of the twenties, to the technical breakthroughs of FM, SPC and the microprocessor all the way to the cellular concept, personal communications, Long Term Evolution and beyond.

Stay tuned for this piecemeal treatment of one of the most exciting and useful technologies that ever hit the planet.

Here’s 2009 precictions for 2010.

Here’s 2008’s predictions for 2009.

Here’s 2007’s predictions for 2008.

And here’s some past predictions. 

And here’s some more past predictions.

Any conclusions on what was predicted, and what is actually happening?

Know Thyself !

If you haven’t figured yourself out, take some time and do it.

 Go somewhere alone;the sea, the mountain, the terrace of the building you’re living in : Take yourself apart and put yourself back together.

Once you’ve gotten your act together, then forging the way ahead is a piece of cake.

Same applies to the corporation.

If your board is asking you (like they did me) how to beat the competition, tell them they’ve already lost to the competition.

Wanna beat the competition? Stop asking dumb questions and figure out your strengths. Then draw up a vision of who you wanna be and drive ahead. The rest will take care of itself.

Still haven’t got the message?

Check this video out and you’ll see what I mean:

We’ve been warning about this for the past 3 years. We’ll, here you have it from the horse’s mouth !

So we expect more layoffs (starting with the oldies, and experienced staff) more margin cuts, more mergers, more direct to retail cutting middlemen, more lawsuits, more suicides, more strikes, more disgruntled behaviour and more of the same old more.

What we’re not seeing is any smart and innovative market disrupting moves to curb this situation (and by that we don’t mean the easy and imagineless road to cost cutting; we mean a way to break away from competition based on price and move on to new profitable ventures).

But who are we kidding?

Big Rupert Murdoch sez that once he starts charging subscriptions for his online media, he’s gonna block Google from accessing his sites content. (ie. remove stories from Google search index). This implies that content from sites such as The Sun, The Times and the Wall Street Journal will not show up in our search results thus encouraging people to pay for online content. He’s also gonna lobby so that other online news media pursue the same strategy. This means that eventually, if things pan out the way he plans, Google search results will be poorer thus undermining the value of the search engine, and Google’s business value. In recent months, Murdoch and his boyz stepped up their war of words with Google, accusing it of “kleptomania” and acting as a “parasite” for including News Corp content in its Google News pages. Murdoch has been turned off by the open access to information that currently exists in the www as well as by the fact that his inet acquisition MySpace has struggled in the face of competition from Facebook in recent years, and is due to fall short of its targets in a lucrative search deal with Google – a slip that could cost the site more than $100m in payments from the internet advertising giant. Some critics of this strategy claim that Murdoch has got the wrong handle on internet business and doesn’t understand that search engines enhance the value of web sites like the WSJ through

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improved traffic, implying more revenue through advertising. Murdoch they say clings to the old subscription model instead of developing his business through ad based revenue. On the other hand, this simple but intriguing strategy may just work (as it did in Korea) and may put the content holder in the driver’s seat. I mean Google currently forges contacts (through online ads etc..) with content holders so that Google gets a piece of the pie on a per click basis. If some other search engine comes around and gives the content holder a better deal (perhaps less charges on a per click basis) then this content holder’s engine may be allowed to show site results while thus enhancing the engine’s value – on a per segment basis – and undermining Google’s current leadership position in the search engine business. In other words sell your content/business to the highest – or most attractive- bidder. So we may have search engine segmentation and not a universally applicable search engine. We may also see a search engine for search engines (one step up in the information chain) ! Interesting strategy and interesting tactics (actually ingenious) for the relentless drive for market share.

Mr. Murdoch’s point of view coupled with the EUs latest decisions on information piracy reflect a trend towards slowly restricting access to internet freebies such as information and material protected by intellectual copyright. Time will tell whether these strategies pay off, or provide fertile ground for new, more aggressive business disruption methods and mechanisms.

From the Commission:

A Warm Hello from Brussels

The EU decided to propose a law that would terminate internet access to any EU citizen that is accused of downloading software that violates intellectual property rights, without prior legal process. In other words you’re guilty before proven innocent. Paradoxically, last May, the EU parliament decided that every EU citizen has the fundamental right to have access to the internet (universal access) sort of like every Canadian has the fundamental right to have access to universal Medicare. The amendment caused swift reaction from French deputies who reminded the EU parliament (whose deputies seem to have succumbed to the will of the EU

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 commission which probably succumbed to some other lobby groups’ will) that similar legislation in France was deemed unconstitutional by the French High Court, and now required a legal process before any citizen is disconnected from internet access (ie. proven guilty before any action taken). The proposed law will apply (if it receives a majority vote in the EU parliament) beginning 2010 which means that the member countries will have about 18 months to embody the law in their national legal framework.

The EU also proposed a new “Telecommunication Package” that includes the following highlights:

• A subscriber can change to a different operator within a day with number portability

• A service contract can have a maximum of two years duration • Service operators must inform NRAs about subscriber information confidentiality violations

 • A minimum quality of service must be guaranteed at the signing of any subscriber-service operator service contract.

• NRA position is strengthened with greater independence and a new body called BEREC is created to ensure healthy competition.

 • Measured to ensure regional internet broadband access growth

NSN  is planning on cutting about 7700 workers from its 64000 strong workforce. This amounts to about 8% of the total workforce and will save NSN about 500M euro per annum up until the end of 2011. This decision marks a second wave of job slashing in the last two years.

The joint venture between Nokia Oyj and Siemens AG in 2008 resulted in about 15% workforce reduction which was a result amongst other things of duplication elimination and product line pruning/rationalization.

NSN market share fell to 20% in the second quarter of 2009 while the equivalent share in 2008 was 26%.

NSN announced an operational loss of 53M euro in the third quarter mainly due to the continuing infrastructure supply war between NSN, LM Ericsson and Huawei Technologies.

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Every once in a while we have the opportunity witness mechanisms of change at work and invoking disruption mechanisms whose after-effects are felt long after. For example, Apple first entered the mobile arena with the iPhone and rather audaciously prohibited subsidies and demanded revenue sharing from Mobile Network Operator (MNO) partners in exchange for iPhone exclusivity. Nonetheless operators eagerly queued at Apple’s doorstep and iPhone became know as ‘the tail wagging the dog’.

Article by :  Jason Nikolaou

The latest such bold movement comes from the Machine-to-Machine (aka M2M) industry and its encounters with the telco world. In fact there are two such prominent examples and since they share much in common we can treat both examples as a unique – albeit   disruptive – trend which challenges the status quo and re-shuffles the cards regarding the modus operandi of the telecom world.

Amazon recently announced an International version of its e-reader, the Kindle, available from October the 19^th. Amazon already offers Kindle’s Wireless connectivity for free -“No monthly wireless bills or commitments”- in a mobile data wholesale agreement with US operator Sprint and preloads its device with an integrated Sprint SIM card. For its international edition Kindle has been equipped with an AT&T SIM card to enjoy the international roaming capability that the ubiquitous GSM & UMTS networks offer. So for a purchase price of $259 customers of Amazon’s Kindle international edition will be able to connect wirelessly for certain content shopping and downloading services -Free-of-Charge – within 100 countries. Further services include access to Wikipedia and for a monthly subscription fee, Newspapers and Magazines. Amazon’s customers can purchase books on Kindle for $9.99 and download them for free wherever they are within 100 specified countries. Essentially what Amazon has achieved, as far as the end user is concerned, is to bypass the international Roaming costs. Amazon has leveraged its volume of sales in an agreement with AT&T to provide connectivity and global roaming at a price that Amazon can afford to offer to its users Free-of-Charge.

On the other hand Garmin the world’s biggest producer of on-board GPS navigation systems has teamed up with KPN to enable them to offer enhanced navigation experience by including ‘Real-time services’. Their latest navigation product ‘nüvi 1690’ will be capable of receiving real time data services such as traffic & weather updates, fuel prices, etc. Mobile data connectivity will be provided by an integrated SIM from KPN. The service will be initially available in 15 countries and for a price of $500 users can enjoy two years of data services and roaming between the 15 countries.

Similar to the Amazon’s example, Garmin has put its weight behind the agreement convincing KPN to provide mobile data connectivity and roaming within 15 countries at a price they can ‘afford’ to give Free-of-Charge to their customers as a service within the price of the product.

These two examples of telco & M2M interaction highlight two important considerations. On the one hand the international Roaming Pricing model seems like a medieval castle under siege. Holding on to and relying on walled gardens and legacy pricing models is unwise, and even cash cows don’t go on producing ‘milk’ for ever. Sooner or later some formidable player (e.g. Amazon or Garmin or the EU) will challenge your pricing policy and force you to change.

Secondly, what both AT&T & KPN have in common  - down the value chain of ‘wholesale mobile data & roaming’ – is that they share a common partner. Both have teamed up with Jasper Wireless to provide ‘Connectivity Management Platform’ customized for operation of M2M devices. In effect what both KPN & AT&T have done by collaborating with the third party vendor is to differentiate themselves from the competition and give added value to their offering, making it more appealing for M2M operators. They are not only offering Global Coverage but also flexible billing applications and   out-of-the-box services. They have enabled their network to host any M2M operator who can embed pre-activated SIM cards in its devices and through the Connectivity Management Platform running on the host MNO benefit from custom device provisioning, instant activation, real-time diagnostic tools and detailed billing and usage reports.

KPN & AT&T did not just sit and wait for M2M to come along, hoping it would be another success as SMS was in the ‘90s. The operators conscientiously were proactive in choosing the right partner that would allow them to add ‘intelligence’ to their network uplifting them from a bit-pipe type of positioning.

 The field of M2M partnership is still green, there may still be growth for those who chose to move and change fast.

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I bought the Samsung LE 32A656A LCD TV about 4 months ago.

About a month ago the screen started “whistling“. The sound resembles something like ghosts in the TV, or a breeze passing through the TV screen.

I called customer support here in Athens and they told me that this sound is usual under normal 32 inch LCD screen operating conditions. I find that hard to believe knowing something about normal operating conditions and bias currents.

I checked some other similar TVs and screen operation was smooth;no sound.

Does anybody know what the problem could be?

The TV is operating under factory preset conditions adapted to the local market.

Thanks

Samsung LE 32A656A