MNOs strike back – Can JOYN save them?

Telecom companies across the world are really in a double-bind. From Verizon to Telefonica to Airtel, are all feeling the heat from services like Facebook, Youtube, IMs etc. Commonly referred as Over-The-Top (OTT) providers, services like Instant Messaging, Video Streaming (Netfilix), VO-IP calls (Google Voice,Skype) have slowly started to eat both revenue and bandwidth from the Telecom companies.

Take for example, the messaging services. Though SMS is still having healthy marketshare, the instant messaging services like Skype and facebook have resulted in 15.6 billion lost revenue for telcos worldwide. Though its small compared to $153 Billion total revenue from SMS its still a figure which can’t be ignored.

Add to this services like NetFlix and Youtube which happily consume bandwidth and use the resources and infrastructure that Mobile Network Operators(MNOs) have built investing billions of dollars. Though the online streaming companies earn billions they dont payback anything for the bandwidth owners.

Apart from messaging and streaming services, the OTTs have started garnering marketshare in voice services, which is core business of the MNOs. Services like Skype, Viber, Vonage, Talkatone, Google Voice offer cheap voice services for customers using VO-IP. This should really alarm the Telecom Companies.

MNOs were never oblivious to this threat. They have tried individually to create similar services on their won. Verzon’s partnership with Redbox for streaming, Telenor’s ComoYo service for Nordic countries, Operators have infact bundled apps and services in the devices they sell. But they were mostly considered bloatware and never gained traction as independent OTTs.

Now in a co-ordinated effort the GSMA has announced specifications for instant messaging and video-calling called as ‘Rich Communication Services’. The operators have come up with a brand for the same known as “JOYN”. European and Asian operators are expected to launch the Joyn services later this year. Interoperability between different Telcos might be a great plus point which was lacking in services earlier.

Joyn/RCS might not eliminate the established OTTs instantly. But they will make the MNOs stay relevant.

Apple Disrupts Personal Computing Dynamics

With HP announcing that it will be exiting PC/Laptop business today, the end of PC seems more inevitable than ever. This needs to be seen in the context that HP is the largest maker of PCs.  The earlier big weight was IBM when it sold its PC business to Lenovo. Dell too seems to be struggling in this low profit commoditized business. The future of computing seems belong to Smartphones and Tablets.

In mobile space the struggling Motorola Mobility (manufacturer of Droid Line of Phones) was agreed to be bought by Google for a whopping 12.6 Billion Dollars this week. Switching to Android earlier, didn’t help Motorola to yield the expected turnaround. The pioneer in smartphones, Palm (part of HP) is officially announced obsolete today.

Though these news indicate the changing dynamics of the Computing Technology space, the most important revelation is the amazing rise of Apple to prominence. With PC and Mobile OEMs struggling to maintain their bottomline with declining topline, Apple’s growth in both the these areas is astounding.

Within a decade, Apple has conquered the PC and Mobile space and has risen to be the pioneer of innovation and high quality consumer goods.Here is the list of Apple’s products that have been the leaders in their respective markets.

• IPod Mp3 players (Smashed Sony’s Walkman series and commends >80% market share)
• IPhone (Revolutionized the Touchscreen Smartphone with IOS and AppStore Concepts.)
• Mac computers (Highest Growth Rate and most profitable, when PC sales are faltering)
• IPad Tablets (Created a new touchscreen Tablet market and commending >90% market share. Consumers starting to refer all tablets as Ipads)

Not only the above, Apple gives competitors a run for their money. For instance, Sony was dethroned as consumer electronics giant, Dell & HP struggling in PC business, Google struggling to keep Android’s momentum by overspending for patents. Google is no more known for innovation,Apple is. Nokia no more leader in Phones, Apple is.

The question is how did Apple achieve this phenomenal success? Here are the 2 main reasons

• Create products that are innovative, usable and above all that works. Apple plays down specs and features and concentrates on usability and aesthetics. While competitors boasted high end specs Apple has historically concentrated on features that users want most. While an Android phone/tablet always feature high specifications, Apple phones are designed to be sleek,hip and usable.
• Avoid tempting price points and concentrate on value. Apple has always avoided indulging in price wars that is race to the bottom. While competitors are struggling with wafer thin margins, Apple is reaping profits in the same businesses by offering more value to customers for the money that they spend on its products.

Though Apple’s policy of maintaining tight control over its platform might hurt it in the long run, until it delivers the same high quality and innovative products it will remain the leader of Personal Computing Space both in Software and Hardware.

5 Reasons Why Google Delayed HoneyComb Source Code Release

Google’s recent announcement to delay release of Android 3.0 Honeycomb source code to developers, has raised the question whether Android is truly open. Critics argue that software can be either Open or Closed and should never be selectively open. In an e-mail statement to WSJ, Google claims that

“while we’re excited to offer these new features to Android tablets, we have more work to do before we can deliver them to other device types including phones. Until then, we’ve decided not to release Honeycomb to open source. We’re committed to providing Android as an open platform across many device types and will public the source as soon as it’s ready.”

Now that sounds reasonable, but are these the real reasons behind delays release of source code? Here are the 5 reasons we believe why Google had to take this decision

1. Google Circles: Rumor suggests that Google has completed developing the Social Network service touted as Facebook killer “Google Circles” and might be releasing it anytime now. It is expected that the service will be built into the OS itself rather than available as an app. Google doesn’t want to release the code now which will have the components of Google Circles. It want to keep it under wraps and announce it in the coming weeks or months.
2. Google Music Service: The same reasoning goes with Google Music service also, which is rumored to debut in the coming days. The OS might have some components related with this service and Google doesn’t want general public and competitors know about this service much before it debuts.
3. IP Law suits: With a bunch of lawsuits already against Android, Google doesn’t want to reveal the source code now and invite a host of more IP violation law suits. It wants Honeycomb capture enough market share before getting into IP related troubles.
4. UI experience: With critics slamming the recently released Xoom running Honeycomb for bad UI experience and buggy software, Google wants to tweak and refine the OS before releasing the code to general availability. It wants to avoid the glitches that users faced with Xoom, in its upcoming rumored Nexus Tablet.
5. Finally as Google has suggested, it wants to avoid further fragmentation of Android with third party hardware manufacturers and developers using Honeycomb on Phone. Currently Android 2.x OS targets smartphones and 3.x targets tablets. Google wants to optimize 3.x so that it can be used in smartphones. If that’s the case, Google will discontinue 2.x OS for good.

Taking into account above reasons it’s clear that Google is slowly becoming a proprietary software company. Following in-house development of OS and then delaying the source code release even though products are released with the binaries are clear indication that Android is open no more.