Luis Benavides Blog! http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/index.php Copyright 2009, Luis German Benavides Oyaga Luis German Benavides Oyaga en-US SPHPBLOG 0.4.8 Is Skype breaking the user agreement? http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/index.php?entry=entry070130-101035
Change of tariffs. Skype may change the tariffs at any time by giving a thirty (30) day notice of such change on the website www.skype.com/go/rates or, in the case of SkypeIn or Voicemail, by stating new tariffs in connection with your purchase of either product. If you do not wish to accept such adjustment of tariffs, you may ask for a refund of your Skype credits. The new tariff will apply to your next purchase after the adjustments have been published on the website. You agree that by continuing to purchase Skype products following the adjustments of the tariffs, you accept the new tariffs.


Just let me repeat this phrase:

"The new tariff will apply to your next purchase after the adjustments have been published on the website."


I haven't done any new purchase, and I am being charged already with this connection fee! When I bought my credit, this fee was not even announced. Skype already has the money of all the users and they decided that the tarification wasn't anymore the same. The least I would expect from such a drastic change would be an email communication, it's true, it's not in the user agreement, but I think it is the right action to take since most of the users are not aware of it.

Up to now this is the only feedback that I have received from them:

luisgerman - this question about the terms was also brought up in the forums, I'm checking with our legal team.


There is something not working well in this company to get this kind of response!
]]> http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/index.php?entry=entry070130-101035 Luis German Benavides Oyaga Tue, 30 Jan 2007 15:10:35 GMT http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/comments.php?y=07&m=01&entry=entry070130-101035 Skype triples its prices! http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/index.php?entry=entry070123-114215
What happened with all this great revolutionary concept? We would have to remember that Skype was bought by Ebay, and since then, the interests have changed. Ebay primary interest is, for sure, not to get the whole world talk for free. This “communist” concept of the P2P is not dominated by ebay. The ideal has been gone with it's creators that are now concentrated in the launch of a revolutionary internet P2P tv service.

But, why do I say all these things? It happens that last month, Skype announced that they would introduce a disruptive pricing plan. I was so curious about their next move, up to then every single new released exited me so much, that I was pushed to write articles with thumbs up and wondering about the future. Well, today I was pushed again to write, but for totally the opposite reasons.

Skype, as any vulgar cell phone company, introduced a connection fee of 4 cents for every call made with the Skype Out. Basically it means that for a normal call in Europe that in former times coasted around 2 cents/min, now you have to add this connection fee. That makes a one min call 3 times more expensive. Wow! how disruptive! Where is this going to? What happened with “The whole world can talk for free”? So, now after the people bought their Skype phones and all their hardware that just work with Skype, they raise the prices just because they know that people is tied up and won't switch so easily.

Is sad to say, but all of you that are thinking on buying any Skype harware should think it twice. Other companies such as VoIPBuster, offer free calls to most of the European countries and the US. Skype as a leader of the Internet calling companies have the efficiency to offer the best tariffs, but nevertheless it is the most expensive one nowadays. I see it coming, the day when they announce the next disruptive pricing scheme, and I wouldn't be so inaccurate to think about them charging the on-net calls. I'm switching now :(:(... see you on VoipBuster, or Jajah or any other. why paying more if the quality is roughly the same?]]> http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/index.php?entry=entry070123-114215 Luis German Benavides Oyaga Tue, 23 Jan 2007 16:42:15 GMT http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/comments.php?y=07&m=01&entry=entry070123-114215 BT steps on WiMAX confirmed http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/index.php?entry=entry061213-054050 “BT steps on WiMAX” . Here’s the follow up and confirmation of British Telecom’s interest to get into the WiMAX market.

As I stated in the former post, BT’s advantages in getting back into the mobile market were very clear. Five years ago they left their mobile business with the spin-off of O2 plc. Now they have seen the clear panorama of mobility and have been the leaders of the FMC (fixed-mobile convergence), which is the integration of their fixed networks with mobile (cell phone) companies, such as Vodafone.

Now with a clear interest, as a spokesperson tells to the London newspaper The Independent:

"We are naturally interested in the potential of this spectrum and we continue to assess its possible uses, including the possibility of WiMax,"


This spectrum is going to open for auctions in the early 2007, and it’s to be usable on January of 2008. As the WiMAX technology is evolving fast, it is expected that with the introduction of a mobile business line in BT, the convergence between the fixed and mobile technologies will have a big push, and the business models will mutate in several ways. The mobile operators in the UK will have still one year to react, either getting into or proposing a better alternative. The technology trends point WiMAX as the 4G, but this trends are not always the most influencing ones… Is WiMAX to become a world standard in mobility? Just wait and see.
]]> http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/index.php?entry=entry061213-054050 Luis German Benavides Oyaga Wed, 13 Dec 2006 10:40:50 GMT http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/comments.php?y=06&m=12&entry=entry061213-054050 WiFi access and cell phones for FREE http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/index.php?entry=entry061120-050856
WiFi access: the idea is to offer free access to internet for all. Google has already fully covered the US city Mountain View and is pursuing San Francisco in a battle with Microsoft. Lots of companies like “The cloud”, Boingo, Earthlink, FON, among many others are creating huge WiFi networks, covering entire cities and making partnerships with these giants. But obviously there’s a business model behind, and is “Targeted advertising”. This kind of ads would provide relevant content and services, including weather, news, and local government services, as well as restaurant, nightlife, and movie listings. People has to accept advertisements instead of paying for the access, but this time, they know your location and they can offer to their business customers in this way a much efficient marketing campaigns.

Free cell phones: Recently in an interview, the Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt, stated the idea that cell phones should be free for everyone. The devices should be paid fully, as well as internet access, by targeted advertising. This is exactly what I was talking about in my last post, they know your interests, your location, and so, they can make really sharp efficient ads that could result interesting to you. Let’s make an example; you’re going to the supermarket to buy the groceries. In an association with the supermarket and Google, they have the history of the things you buy and a way to reach you; so, you enter the supermarket and immediately after, you receive a message saying: “Your favorite Swiss chocolates are in offer today” or “The products a, b and c, that you normally buy have a 15% discount for you today”.

With these new marketing approaches, you just have to correlate information to get incredibly efficient services. Right now we can just see the top of the iceberg, but below, there are ideas that will appear before our eyes in a vertiginous speed.
]]> http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/index.php?entry=entry061120-050856 Luis German Benavides Oyaga Mon, 20 Nov 2006 10:08:56 GMT http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/comments.php?y=06&m=11&entry=entry061120-050856 Google advertising evolves http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/index.php?entry=entry061110-044956
But people don’t just use the internet, they listen to the radio, watch TV, read the newspaper etc… and Google is everywhere! Just check this out:

Internet: With Google you, not only, can post your texts ads in the results of searches. You can also advertise in millions of internet content sites that make part of its advertising network. You can use from the most primitive text ads to full video and interactive commercials.

Radio: In the last year, Google bought a radio broadcasting advertising system and has made several partnerships with radio stations to transmit live ads having total control of them.

Newspapers: The recently launched service, where printed spaces of the most important newspapers of the world are placed in bid directly from the Google website, fosters a totally new way of business for print newspapers, magazines, etc...

TV: The acquisition of youtube.com and the plan to make it available on mobile devices, in addition to the plan of transmitting popular TV shows on its Google Video.

Google is moving at the same pace as people and technology evolves. They understand that innovation is the key to maintain their leadership and even gain more market share. They have re-invented the way marketing is done and they will continue doing so.

What can we expect in the future? Personalized advertising also in the real life?

Imagine just that, as cell phones, in the near future, people will have devices that show the position of each person in the earth. Say a GPS. Google earth will know all the businesses and shops placed in your surroundings as well as your interests (because they register every search you make, the news you read, etc…). So, they could send and ad, in the radio station that you are hearing (only to you) saying, "hey! These red nice shoes that you wanted to buy are right across the next corner!"

We are not so far from that, it is not fiction; it’s just the evolution of advertising.
]]> http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/index.php?entry=entry061110-044956 Luis German Benavides Oyaga Fri, 10 Nov 2006 09:49:56 GMT http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/comments.php?y=06&m=11&entry=entry061110-044956 SEARCHMASH.COM better than Google? http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/index.php?entry=entry061019-045415
First of all, this search engine is supposed to be unbiased, which means that the search results are not filtered, modified or organized based on any personal, commercial or political scopes.

Second, there are lots of things you can do with the results. You can drag each result higher or lower in the page, you can see more results without reloading, plus more comfortable and simple navigation options.

This is one neat example of WEB 2.0, where web applications are more and more reflecting the responsiveness of a local application. I believe that it is a response to the live.com search engine lately launched by Microsoft, which showed this certain “interactiveness” but this time Google is showing Microsoft how things should be done.

I think that the best way to appreciate it, is checking it out for yourselves, so just follow this link searchmash.com and happy surfing!
]]> http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/index.php?entry=entry061019-045415 Luis German Benavides Oyaga Thu, 19 Oct 2006 08:54:15 GMT http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/comments.php?y=06&m=10&entry=entry061019-045415 WiMAX is 4G http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/index.php?entry=entry061017-043033
"A lot of people are real enthusiastic about having an 'Internet anywhere' experience,"

"WiMax creates a 10-fold improvement in the price-per-bit,"

"That is made possible by the fact it uses a wider channel."

"We talked to one consumer Electronics Company about putting WiMax in a TV set, and with another about putting it in printers. Once you do that, you can then deliver other services over that [WiMax] network."


Sprint's plan is to have 100,000 points of presence enabled with WiMax service by the end of 2008.

Taken from:
Techworld.com
Why Sprint says WiMax is 4G
Mobile chips and lower costs wil drive it.
By John Cox, Network World
]]> http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/index.php?entry=entry061017-043033 Luis German Benavides Oyaga Tue, 17 Oct 2006 08:30:33 GMT http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/comments.php?y=06&m=10&entry=entry061017-043033 BT steps on WiMAX? http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/index.php?entry=entry061013-061520
“British regulatory body Office of Communications (Ofcom) is due to open up spectrum in the 2.5GHz to 2.69GHz band in January 2008. Auctions are expected to be held late this year or early in 2007. These frequencies are prime WiMax ranges.”

It’s known that BT has been running some WiMAX tests on gear from Navini Networks Inc. in Birmingham.

“Sources expect BT to go aggressively after that spectrum.”They have to," says one industry figure. "Otherwise Vodafone owns everything."”


BT’s bet on FMC involved a partnership with Vodafone in order to offer their users roaming between their WiFi hotspots and the UMTS Vodafone network. What would an introduction into WiMAX mean for BT?

PROS
- Independence of any partnership to offer services, creating owned networks;
- Establishing itself as a mobile communications company;
- Become a cost-advantageous competitor in the mobile telephony market;
- Offer services that no other mobile operator can offer and competitive prices.

CONS
- Betray its partner Vodafone;
- Creation of a fierce competence and turbid market which could reduce profits.

In my opinion, WiMAX is a clear plain bet that BT will pursue. The partnership betrayal would be though decision and could affect the relationship with other partners/providers so it has to be managed carefully. At the end, cell phone companies will definitely avoid to be drawn out of the market. Aggressive reactions and government intervention would be expected.

This information, as a speculation, has to be confirmed and I will post on it as soon as I get to know.
]]> http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/index.php?entry=entry061013-061520 Luis German Benavides Oyaga Fri, 13 Oct 2006 10:15:20 GMT http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/comments.php?y=06&m=10&entry=entry061013-061520 WiMAX is the way! http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/index.php?entry=entry061012-055342 “The future is here. It's just not widely distributed yet.”
William Gibson

Today I woke up with a scenario in my head where I could travel all around the world being able to contact my friends and family, watch TV, listen to music, transfer files, contact my customers, pay my bills, look for maps, read the news, go shopping, take pictures, record videos, read books, play some games, pay my drinks, no matter where, no matter when with one single device.

Well, the future is here! One device, one network, one standard. The device is called PDA, the network is Internet and the standard is WiMAX.

Today, I saw the announcement of NXP (the world's 10th biggest chip maker):
"The design is extremely small and it can live off battery power. There are companies working on similar integrated chips, but we're already in mass production," said WiMAX Marketing Manager Ruud van den Brink.

This chip fully supports 802.16e, which is the IEEE WiMAX standard for mobility. Hand-off/Handover is fully supported, so you can move freely with your portable device without loosing connection.

Imagine a massive adoption, like the GSM adoption in Europe, where you could move from different countries “roaming” your internet connection and using all the services mentioned above. Imagine just having to pay your internet access and being able to get in contact with other people for free.

Well, there are right now entire cities covered with WiMAX, there are right now the mobile devices to connect to these networks. All the content is out there: books, internet banking, web shops, YouTube (now Google’s), internet radio, Skype, etc… It’s just distribution missing, and when it is about technology, it is fast! So start making some savings because these devices are not cheap but they worth every cent you pay.
]]> http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/index.php?entry=entry061012-055342 Luis German Benavides Oyaga Thu, 12 Oct 2006 09:53:42 GMT http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/comments.php?y=06&m=10&entry=entry061012-055342 The right transition in VoIP - "Jajah" http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/index.php?entry=entry060926-051217 yet not ready for a whole VoIP interconnected communications and Jajah has come to a solution for it.

Let’s start with two premises:
The trend goes 100% sure toward mobile: The use of fixed phones is decreasing each year. It’s neither economically (operators) nor a preferred option (people). It has become unsustainable for operators that have struggled to put video and internet on the lines to create more value.
Wireless technologies WiFi and WiMAX are not ready yet: Even if it’s the cheapest way of communications, and the trend toward deployment and development is growing, some years have to pass in order to be a reality.

WiFi and WiMAX challenges
WiFi has two limitations, the coverage and the heterogeneity. To cover an acceptable area of a city, there are needed lots of hotspots, economically unsustainable for an operator. Approaches such as FON where everyone shares the connection solve this issue in the economical matters, but the limitation is that the connection is not reliable as there’s not a direct control of the network. The second limitation is the hand over (switch from one access point to another), if you move further the coverage of the AP you are connected to, you loose your connection until you connect to the next one. There are companies such as Cisco which has solved this issue but is a proprietary protocol and there's no standard out there.

In the other hand, WiMAX limitations are due to the high frequency it uses. It goes over the 3.4Mhz and with this frequencies, an obstacle such as a tree or a building could block the signal.

I’m for sure not saying that it's an impossible thing to make any of this technologies work. I’m pointing out that in order these technologies to be “ready” there's some work to be done, and some years to pass.

Jajah’s solution
Jajah is a neat VoIP platform such as Skype, Vonage, among others, that you can find in www.jajah.com where you just need to enter your phone number, the number you want to call and voila! They connect both numbers ringing first in yours and then in the destination one. The company has today stated that by the end of this year there would be ready a little application compatible with 80 different cell phone models, that would permit to start calls without the use of the internet but with the use of this little program in you mobile phone. It’s like if they had read my article “Something better than Skype?” In this article I stated that a big contra of their solution was that if it was using neither your computer nor your internet connection to talk, why should you actually use them?

Jajah has also stated today that it wanted to become “the Skype of the mobile world” If the future of communications is going to be mostly mobile, then if Jajah manages to become what it plans, for certain, it would become the leader.]]> http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/index.php?entry=entry060926-051217 Luis German Benavides Oyaga Tue, 26 Sep 2006 09:12:17 GMT http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/comments.php?y=06&m=09&entry=entry060926-051217 Topless at Google Earth! http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/index.php?entry=entry060925-080509 "Google earth shows us the past!", today I found that my idea of watching some topless girls through Google Earth was not so crazy. In the beautifull country of Netherlands a girl was caught getting some sun tan. Check it out:


Click on the picture for watching it bigger.

If you want to see it by yourselves in Google Earth just try this link. Topless sunbather (You must have version 4+)

Watch out girls! Google is after you!:p:p]]> http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/index.php?entry=entry060925-080509 Luis German Benavides Oyaga Mon, 25 Sep 2006 12:05:09 GMT http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/comments.php?y=06&m=09&entry=entry060925-080509 Microsoft LIVE not simple enough http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/index.php?entry=entry060914-234424
This launch is really Microsoft-like (non innovative), you can judge by yourselves the similarity with Google. They copied every single thing! Maps, answers (Yahoo initiative), picture search, video, academic etc...
live.com


The only new thing is seen in the image search section, you can add the pics you like to a basket, and once you roll-over a picture, you get more useful information. The problem is that it still has a lot of bugs; it’s slow and more complicated.

This is one of the steps until VISTA's launch. The idea of Microsoft is to have a full integration with the LIVE and Windows platform, this way gaining more users. I think that this new copy-Google approach of Microsoft is not working, products lack of personality and in the rush to add features they are making the products useless.

* According to Nielsen NetRatings on Web search engine rankings for July]]> http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/index.php?entry=entry060914-234424 Luis German Benavides Oyaga Fri, 15 Sep 2006 03:44:24 GMT http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/comments.php?y=06&m=09&entry=entry060914-234424 Google earth shows us the past! http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/index.php?entry=entry060816-234212


The places where the two right stars are, now, there is a big shopping center. In the star at the left, now there is a condominium. The construction started more or less two years ago.

I couldn’t stop my curiosity and “googled” a little bit to understand how it works. First I discovered that in fact the images can be up to 3 years old. The thing that surprised me was that my city was not available in good resolution a couple of months ago, and when it was available, the images dated more that 2 years old.

Second, I realized that my naïve idea that this sharp low altitude images where taken from a satellite was not true. The zoom-in pictures are taken from an aircraft (as Google says). When did this airplane passed over my home taking pictures? I really thought that this satellite cameras could zoom-in so much to see the time in my watch (ok! I’m exaggerating).

Before Google earth existed, it was a program called Keyhole that Google bought. In fact the South Korean government has demanded changes in the program in order not to reveal the location of their military bases to their enemies. Even though this geographical information is publicly available from different sources.

If you haven’t tried this program I’m sure that lots of owws will come out from your mouth. Will this information be available someday in real-time? This could be a nice tool for terrorists! Or maybe we could be able to see some topless girls at Ibiza’s beaches… Now you’re thinking about huh?]]> http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/index.php?entry=entry060816-234212 Luis German Benavides Oyaga Thu, 17 Aug 2006 03:42:12 GMT http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/comments.php?y=06&m=08&entry=entry060816-234212 AOL shows up in VoIP http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/index.php?entry=entry060811-233841
"Free inbound calling along with your own phone number with its AIM Phoneline service. For an additional $9.95 a month, you can get unlimited calling to 30 countries" (Taken from: George Ou's Blog).

This is really a disruptive offer in price and in services, but it doesn't affect Skype so much. AOL is a regional company and just serves the American market. Even if USA is the biggest Skype market, it just represents the 9% of its user base. I found in the EuroTelcoblog how is the Skype's user-base distributed in the main countries. The information in parenthesis is the position and percentage 2 years ago (2004):

[1] United States - 9.13% (1, 10.3%)
[2] Poland - 7.87% (3, 8.78%)
[3] Taiwan - 7.80% (2, 9.24%)
[4] China - 6.75% (6, 5.89%)
[5] Germany - 6.06% (5, 6.18%)
[6] Brazil - 5.85% (4, 7.24%)
[7] France - 5.62% (7, 5.53%)
[8] United Kingdom - 3.50% (10, 2.94%)
[9] Netherlands - 3.47% (8, 3.50%)
[10] Japan - 3.17% (12, 2.61%)
[11] Spain - 2.64% (15, 1.82%)
[12] Israel - 2.36% (11, 2.94%)
[13] Canada - 2.22% (13, 2.46%)
[14] Belgium - 1.95% (14, 2.10%)
[15] Italy - 1.91% (18, 1.44%)
[16] Denmark - 1.73% (9, 3.07%)
[17] Sweden - 1.62% (16, 1.76%)
[18] Turkey - 1.59% (not ranked)
[19] Switzerland - 1.42% (19, 1.22%)
[20] Australia - 1.41% (17, 1.46%)

Skype made its move at the beginning and now it's evenly distributed, different to AOL or Vonage. This new move is a hit against Vonage. In my opinion, Vonage is going to be sold or will die soon, they are over expending in marketing (as shows their income statement in their investor section of their website) and they can't maintain their user-base with their actual prices.

I give three months for something to happen, just wait and see if I'm wrong ;) ]]> http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/index.php?entry=entry060811-233841 Luis German Benavides Oyaga Sat, 12 Aug 2006 03:38:41 GMT http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/comments.php?y=06&m=08&entry=entry060811-233841 Microsoft is lining up its army and it's called "VISTA" http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/index.php?entry=entry060803-233737
Nobody doubts the enormous power that Microsoft has, but there's one company that has managed to declare a public opposition-competition position and has make it to sustain its menace to the Bill Gates' guys; it's called (obviously) GOOGLE. It's really amazing how this battle is taking place with every-day moves that make it look like a chess game.

Microsoft is known for its monopoly problems in the US, the huge fine of 280 Million EURO by the European Union commission for antitrust. It's also know for playing dirty with its partners (for example: Netscape) and for establishing hard lock-ins to its customers. It's a model of capitalist company but it's playing in "shark-waters". The objective of this post is to evidence how are this "chess-moves" going and how its main competitor Google is playing too.

Microsoft is always a second mover, is a reactor against pressure. In my point of view, the lack of initiative has been evident since it was created, but their huge power has let it (up to now) literally, to kick away the competence. They have an advertising based business model (or at least moving forward to it) as Google does, and here is what is recently happening:

Google launched the first big threat with the online spreadsheets beta test; and as Google always does, for free. This is a clear battle sign that says: "Hey, this Microsoft Office product you have, I'm going to give it for free". It was a low punch for Microsoft, who immediately reacted with the launch of "Microsoft Live" that for the moment it only has: the Encarta Encyclopedia, MSN live and Outlook live, and it’s planning in the near future to release an internet based office.

Vista is intended, as in other Windows versions, to include embedded the Microsoft explorer with new functions similar to the Firefox, in order to recover audience. Bad move! - This plays against many companies such as: Mozilla Firefox, Real networks, Google, Adobe etc. Of course they reacted and they have created the alliance Real-Networks-Mozilla-Google to cross-promote their products, packaging the new Firefox updates embedded with Google bar and real player.

Vista won’t support OpenGL graphics standard (just as emulation with their Direct3D standard). Apple, Dell and Google joined the Khronos Group that has been working to bring OpenGL graphics to the mobile space. This is anyway a strange move of Google, since their Google-earth product recommends the Direct3D graphics mode, I think because Windows somehow makes OpenGL not to work properly. They are trying to avoid that Microsoft imposes the Direct3D as a standard. As more standards Microsoft owns, the more power it has.

Integration between MSN and Yahoo instant messaging, this was really a non expected move, since months ago Yahoo refused a partnership proposal to Microsoft in sharing the search engine power, and its CEO stated that there were no intentions of a partnership with Microsoft at all. The relations didn’t appear to be good, and that’s maybe why Google haven’t made a response, in the other hand, the messaging is not the Google’s hard brick. It seems to be a response to AOL instant messaging integration with AIM and ICQ.

There is an intense battle of the Microsoft-vs.-world type. As an advertising-based business model, I think that Google has a much cleverer approach, Microsoft advertising is annoying, people is tired of banners and Microsoft puts them all around, instead, Google’s advertisements are interesting, helpful, context based and subtle. In the other hand, unfortunately in this battle, Google has acquired some of the bad manners of its main competitor in terms of monopoly.

It seems that in the technology industry, monopolies will occur indefinitely, Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, a new one… who knows, users just want to deal with one, and just time will say which, - hasta la VISTA! - ]]> http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/index.php?entry=entry060803-233737 Luis German Benavides Oyaga Fri, 04 Aug 2006 03:37:37 GMT http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/comments.php?y=06&m=08&entry=entry060803-233737 Skype vs SKY? http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/index.php?entry=entry060724-233655
Ok, I have to confess that they are always one step ahead. The Skype creators: Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis after making the world-wide successful Kazaa and Skype, got into "The venice project". This project is being developed basically to create a cousin of SKY and DirectTV (Now 1 company under the SKY name) but this time deilvering TV content through the internet (obviously using a P2P network, as they are now used to).

Sources tell that:
"Zennstrom and Friis have assembled teams of top software developers in about a half-dozen cities around the world, including New York, London, and Venice."

And that there are also working on negotiations with the most important TV networks to establish this time agreements of television content broadcasting. This time, they have learned the lesson, after all the sues and legal problems they had with Kazaa because of the ilegal sharing of copyrighted material.

Skype, as always, is not really a first mover, but it really knows how to mess everything around and get a massive audience in a very short time. The real innovator in this broadcasting matters is www.youtube.com that has gained a really big audience but has an advertising-based business model (as they claim in their website) different from the premium-service model of skype. Recently, the "I-can-do-all" Google lauched a similar (if not equal) initiative http://video.google.com that is also advertising based.

In just a matter of few months, we'll see who will own this "new" internet-tv business, and also which other players will join the match. I'm just waiting the moment, when I can see my favorite Colombian-tv-shows from wherever I am, arrives. I know it would take a while, but I have big hopes! ]]> http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/index.php?entry=entry060724-233655 Luis German Benavides Oyaga Tue, 25 Jul 2006 03:36:55 GMT http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/comments.php?y=06&m=07&entry=entry060724-233655 The path for mobile-VoIP transition http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/index.php?entry=entry060721-233553
This transition has a name and it's FMC (Fixed-mobile convergence). Today, i got to read about a start-up, www.divitas.com, that has an offer of this type:

"DiVitas makes enterprise-relevant communications networks transparently available to users through a single wireless handset and Fixed -Mobile Convergence (FMC) functionality that includes multi-network roaming, seamless handoff, and secure remote access."

They are not the only ones innovating in these matters, British Telecom with the "Bluephone project" introduced this approach and so are doing most of the Telecoms, that as a response to the decaying long-distance revenues entered into the cell phone business. Now they are trying to make their network Wireless/Fixed to appear as one.

So... you pay high cell-phone tariffs, but as soon as you reach a WiFi hotspot, your handheld device switches to fixed network and charges you fixed-phone tariffs. The high work here is the approach of the handoff, how can you still continue your conversation even if you changed to a totally different network. In fact, this issue has been resolved but partially, because if it's true that the handoff is done, there are still a lot of handoff-blocking (Calls lost because of the change), actually lots of research centers are working in order to solve this issue.

The first step has been done, now the trend is that WiFi network coverage increase and progresively you'll start to use more the WiFi network than the Cell-phone one.

Wait a minute... so where would be the VoIP actual players in this scenario?? As soon as the UMTS internet connection decrease in price, the handhelds would be connecting to - just to say a name - Skype, this way making transparent to the user the fact that they are connected to the internet through UMTS, WiFi or WiMAX, always seeing the same service. Cool huh? ]]> http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/index.php?entry=entry060721-233553 Luis German Benavides Oyaga Sat, 22 Jul 2006 03:35:53 GMT http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/comments.php?y=06&m=07&entry=entry060721-233553 Good bye cell phones! http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/index.php?entry=entry060720-233455
Today I saw in the Skype blog, the lauch of 4 pure WiFi Skype-Phones:
* Belkin WiFi Phone for Skype (F1PP000GN-SK);
* Edge-Core WiFi Phone for Skype (WM4201);
* NETGEAR WiFi Phone for Skype (SPH101); and,
* SMC WiFi Phone for Skype (WSKP100).
The innovator here was NETGEAR who lauched first the product, but its problem is the price (around US$220). Anyway, the fact that other 3 companies (and more coming) launch also their products is a clear sign that the market trend is toward Skype-Free telephony.

If you add this to the Skype-Zones that is a service that allows you to connect to over 18.000 WiFi hotspots around the world just by paying US$7.95 a month - so you can access in airports, coffe shops, malls, hotels etc. Or to a service like FON that if you share your WiFi router you can have free access to all the WiFi routers of the members of this "club" (and there are around 80.000). Why would you use your cell phone if you can use an Skype-WiFi-Phone for much less??

Ok, it's true that the coverage of these WiFi networks - even if they are expanding - would not beat the reliability that cell phone networks have. But with the rise of WiMAX - which coverage is in the range of Km - a whole city could be covered reliably.

The problem with the WiFi hotspot approach is that when you change from one hotspot to another you would loose your call, so you have to talk in one place. This however is being solved by different research centers, and is treated in the latest version of WiMAX (802.16e). So everything is pointing to whole-city wireless internet access (In Colombia there are already 2 cities: Bucaramanga and Cali full WiMAX covered and more going), WiMAX-Skype phones, good bye cell phones! ]]> http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/index.php?entry=entry060720-233455 Luis German Benavides Oyaga Fri, 21 Jul 2006 03:34:55 GMT http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/comments.php?y=06&m=07&entry=entry060720-233455 Skype takes over jajah? http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/index.php?entry=entry060712-233347
Webmessenger announced today the launch of their new product "WebMessenger Mobile". It has the approach that I mentioned in my last post, as they offer:
"The service provides real-time presence detection of colleagues, friends and family on the users' mobile devices, enabling them to send and receive chat messages, make phone calls to other Skype contacts, receive calls through their own Skype accounts, and connect up to four participants simultaneously for on-the-go conference calling." (taken from www.geekzone.co.nz "WebMessenger Launches WebMessenger Mobile for Skype").

The thing that was not very coherent in jajah service was: If the whole communication is done without any software, why do you actually have to use the computer and an Internet connection? I thought about the possibility of sending an SMS to start the calls; well, WebMessenger mobile has somehow this approach with the use of a mobile device such as: RIM BlackBerry, Palm handhelds, Windows Mobile Pocket PC and J2ME Java phones installing a little piece of software that starts the calls within the Skype-out service in a very jajah-like fashion.

Now, again the problem that I see with this approach is the reach. Not a lot of people have this kind of devices, it should be very interesting that a call could be pushed just with a simple GSM phone. I'm pretty sure that Skype & Co are working in this direction, but somehow the extreme similarity with calling-cards would involve legal issues with these companies.

I hope to see more work of Skype in these matters and discuss them here. ]]> http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/index.php?entry=entry060712-233347 Luis German Benavides Oyaga Thu, 13 Jul 2006 03:33:47 GMT http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/comments.php?y=06&m=07&entry=entry060712-233347 Something better than Skype? http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/index.php?entry=entry060709-233214 www.jajah.com they give you a 5min test to surprise you and depending on the country you are, you can have free calls!

After using it to call my loved country Colombia and enjoying the good quality from my personal cell phone I started to think about their business model and how they actually manage to make money. Compared to the skype out service it has the double of costs since it actually has to make 2 phone calls and it doesn't make use of a P2P network to distribute the infrastructure (servers) but anyway they give better prices (some cents left).

Obviously the free demo that they offer will figure in their income statement as marketing expenses, they are paying to gain a huge userbase. For now, this service is definitely better as simplicity and costs, but in the long run (let's say 1 or 2 years) when a good percentage of the 200 Million skypers start to have skype embedded in their mobile devices... nothing beats free! on the other hand the status , Instant Messaging, videoconference and all the features that skype has as an independent software piece would not be possible to offer in this new approach.

I'm really convinced that nowadays the price of the calls are not a desicion maker when the time to choose your VoIP provider arrives, one or 2 cents more doesn't beat the comfort and additional services that are offered. So, the technology and the people are not yet using mobile devices with Skype on them to call free, then the jajah approach is very clever as a transition but sooner or later they'll have to switch to a skype-like service to actually make money. We'll see... ]]> http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/index.php?entry=entry060709-233214 Luis German Benavides Oyaga Mon, 10 Jul 2006 03:32:14 GMT http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/comments.php?y=06&m=07&entry=entry060709-233214 Skype is having problems http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/index.php?entry=entry060705-233012
I'm one of the most convinced persons that Skype is in the future going to rule most of the calls made in the world. It has about 100M users and recently has made free every call to the US. It has created partnerships with the biggest hardware producers and managed to get embedded in new mobile devices. If the WiFi or WiMAX (or whichever wireless technology gets to be the standard) get a good city coverage... mobile phones as GSM, UMTS etc.. will be gone forever, and a new era of cheap communication will start.

But not everything is a bed of roses for skype, it has turn on bright red lights in all the VoIP players and they are starting to react:

>>Net2phone has sued it for patent violation
>>Lots of players have lauched cheaper and look like services, within the most relevant - Russian Tel-me which user base is growing fast and promise more flexibility
>>Mr. Microsoft has launched its MSN Live in association with verizon to provide calls to land lines and videoconference. Now the largest instant messaging network in the world with almost three times the number of users of Skype offers all in one.

Eventhough Skype business model and P2P platform permits the lowest possible costs, it has to manage very carefully its "enemies" not to be kicked out of the way.

Skype's reactions should be watched carefully, I'll try to trace them and discuss them here. ]]> http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/index.php?entry=entry060705-233012 Luis German Benavides Oyaga Thu, 06 Jul 2006 03:30:12 GMT http://www.mimansion.com/luisbenavides/comments.php?y=06&m=07&entry=entry060705-233012