- IN THIS ISSUE:
- * Viikko Kännissä - A Week in Cannes
- * IBC - We have Created a Microsoft of Marcom
- * A Few Intelligence Pieces from Cannes
- * …And Some Loose Thoughts
- * Ericsson/Telia Mobile Internet Day
- * New Wireless Venture Funds, Incubators,…
- * Ericsson Improvement Opportunities
Cisco finally acquired the Swedish Qeyton Systems (http://www.qeyton.com) - for $800 million in stock. I guess this serves as a proof that spinouts could be a financially rewarding option for Ericsson (as well)?
The inflated price paid in the UK for 3G licenses are poised to change our competitive environment in Europe. How is the new government wealth being allocated? Lower taxes so low-income families can stay at home, watch TV and drink beer? We can do better. My suggestions would be that EC impose an upper limit for license income beyond which the surplus has to be invested back into fostering the use of 3G and reducing the ‘digital divide’. One could imagine governments funding initiatives such as mobile e-government, mobile health care and mobile learning lifestyle. This could take form as both end-user subsidies as well as governments establishing incubators and venture funds to support innovation in these areas.
Perhaps a good time to take a plane to Brussels and participate in the dialogue? Maybe we already do - and ‘friends in the east’ certainly do. The EC Telecommunications Commissioner is a Finn and the Nokia senior VP in charge of government affairs was leading the government negotiations when Finland joined EC.
In order to have something to tell to companies in Silicon Valley, I spent a week in Cannes attending the IBC WAP Congress and GPRS 2000 events. By the way, the Mediterranean region seems to a be a New Economy ‘hotspot’ in terms of industry event during the rest of the year (wonder why ;-)?). Planeloads of Americans will come there for events organized by publications like The Industry Standard. We should be there to show our European lead! Take a look at my Events Calendar and you see what I mean. http://webacademy.ericsson.se/resources\majorevents.htm.
Best regards
Tapio Anttila
VIIKKO KÄNNISSÄ - A WEEK IN CANNES
WAP Congress in Cannes. 750 delegates, three of them coming all the way from Cuba to learn the good word. Can Americans still insist WAP is dead? The most prominent exhibitor was Nokia, the best guerilla marketer and Q&A sabotager was Phone.com: “I don’t actually have a question but rather a statement that also Phone.com has got…”. Ericsson was not exhibiting, Ericsson not really even speaking, Ericsson had absolutely no management presence at the show.
WAP Developers’ Symposium in Cannes. Some 300 participants, a great event. Ericsson was defended by a brilliant PhD speaker from AU System. Otherwise Ericsson phones were murdered in the Q&As and Phone.com representatives took the points home: Ericsson don’t support cookies, Ericsson don’t have WTLS. Good to know we are improving, otherwise…
GPRS 2000 in Cannes. Again some 500 participants, a totally different crowd. Mostly old men from operator organizations, stuff that turns cocktail events into a parody. Ericsson was the most prominent exhibitor and Ericsson employees were all over, certainly 30 - 40. The excellent program did not reflect Ericsson’s leadership - most operator cases were Motorola or Nokia customers. Why?
IBC - WE HAVE CREATED A MICROSOFT OF MARCOM
Still remember the event organizer IIR? I haven’t seen them around for a while. IBC has become the gorilla of the telecom trade show industry. They have created effective barriers of entry by sucking large volumes of participants from large companies like Ericsson through database marketing. Talking to Christine Brand who was responsible for our GPRS stand revealed, however, that we are not systematically exploiting our leadership by commanding a prime position at these shows. Christine told me that quite often IBC dictates us the conditions and speaking opportunities, often at the last minute. Sounds like we are dealing with a ‘Microsoft’.
Maybe we could improve the situation by negotiating a frame agreement with large event organizers like IBC, asking for volume discounts and better placement. We should also together with Nokia and Motorola agree on nurturing another company to become their ‘challenger’. We should particularly support an event organizer when and where they are at their weakest: in the new shows they are staging, there their risk is the highest. Go in and become the main sponsor but negotiate a prime position. Make sure our customers are speaking, commit to pre-event promotion to get more of our customers to join.
I have updated my event calendar to include most of the upcoming IBC shows, you can see the results at http://webacademy.ericsson.se/resources/majorevents.htm.
A FEW INTELLIGENCE PIECES FROM CANNES
Informa Group has launched a very promising newsletter called Mobile Internet. Get your complimentary issue from info.telecoms@informa.com!
Some of the conference presentations are available online. Go to http://www.ibctelecoms.com and click on ‘docs download’.
Games are big: Nokia recently launched a games SDK. In Cannes, Digital Bridges http://www.digitalbridges.com said they would launch their own games developer program at E3 in Los Angeles this week.
Patrik Nilsson from Aspiro AB seems to understand well the new business logics, particularly the role of Mobile Virtual Network Operators. Maybe we should talk to him. His slides are at the site. http://www.informa.inuk.com/files/cr1300/patrik_nilsson_aspiro.pdf
Robert Cullen from Dataconsult made a point on how nextgen operators might be thinking: If I get a 60-80% ROI by investing in NASDAQ companies, why would I build a company offering WAP services? The answer: If it is conceivable I get a better ROI. The point is we have a real time-sensitive business development challenge.
Nokia WAP presentation delivered a clear message to operators: you have a time window, nothing more. Interestingly, it looks like Nokia has a focus on creating ‘application bundles’, i.e. logical ‘airtime consumption flows’. They promote ’scripts’ that actively try to keep the user in the m-commerce session - to buy more. I wonder whether we have seen this opportunity? This is the ‘digital storytelling of m-commerce’. Nokia also emphasized the importance of retaining application functionality when migrating towards 3G.
Dutchtone stated in their presentation that if a mobile operator wants to become an ISP and gain market share from ISPs, they have to provide ISP roaming in order to entice the customer to switch. A Silicon Valley Company GRIC Communications could perhaps tell us how… http://www.gric.com/
AND SOME LOOSE THOUGHTS
The branding of Finland as the leading mobile nation continues. The presenter from Durlacher, a German (ex-Nokia) investment banker gave a comparison which the audience will not forget: “In Finland the average teenager spending on SMS is $80 per month, it is all coming from the parents and the studies have shown that the alcohol consumption among teenagers is decreasing…”.
“On the mobile Internet market Europe has got the engines but America has got the drivers.” - Roger Gush, Executive Director, Mobile Data Association
ERICSSON/TELIA MOBILE INTERNET DAY
As an example on what I am doing in Silicon Valley, I am putting together one day of presentations and company visits for Ericsson and Telia executives who will be here in late May for a workshop. This is a good example of activity Ericsson should ‘productify’ as sales support for our operator customers. It is also important to communicate a win-win value proposition of this activity to our potential partners.
Regarding the companies, I would like to have your ideas for additional ones. Currently I am looking at the following companies, working in cooperation with Jean-Luc Valente from Atlas Venture (http://www.atlasventure.com/):
Mobile Engines - http://www.mobileengines.com/. Mobile portal in a box.
Kivera - http://www.kivera.com/. A location-based service ASP.
GeoVector - http://www.geovector.com. “Pointing technology” for mobile phones.
Viafone - http://www.viafone.com. An m-commerce ASP.
Livemind - http://www.livemind.com. A m-commerce aggregator.
Obongo - http://www.obongo.com. A portable form-filler.
NearSpace - http://www.nearspace.com. A location-based retail navigation service.
Bitmo - http://www.bitmo.com. An m-commerce ASP.
@Road - http://www.atroad.com. A location-based service enabler.
NEW WIRELESS VENTURE FUNDS, INCUBATORS,…
Voyager Capital, an early-stage venture capital firm, raised a $215 million fund. Voyager Fund II will make early and middle stage investments primarily in software, wireless, broadband, and business-to-business exchange companies.
ERICSSON IMPROVEMENT OPPORTUNITIES
Our Marketing Opportunity Reconnaissance Patrol should be out there watching new ways to spread the good word on WAP, GPRS and 3G through online marketing channels. A new opportunity I found was an online dictionary Webopedia (published by Internet.com). They have a new wireless section which you should go and populate - there are no links for 3G yet! http://mobile.webopedia.com/
QUICK TAKES
GeePS.com is a proximity-based permission marketing service for mobile devices, currently being tested in San Francisco and New York. This ethnic Pakistani startup has a partnership with CA just like we do… Our location-based service developers should act on this one promptly. http://www.geeps.com/index9.htm
ViAir is a startup in the mobile Internet space with still unannounced products. But by looking at its management team and the list of investors, this company has all the ingredients to become the next Infospace. Their background is very ‘CDMA’ and very ‘Sprint PCS’ so we should keep a close look at them. http://www.viair.com/default.htm
AlterEgo Networks is a startup in the wireless space whose technology is still in stealth mode. They just received a $7.5m series A round and the list of investors suggests to keep a very close eye on the company: John Chambers & Ed Kozel (Cisco), Frank Quattrone (CS First Boston)… Their Chief Scientist comes from Nuance. http://www.alteregonet.com/
Why did Psion invest in Digital Audio Broadcast (DAB) startup Radioscape? How much are we looking into integrating digital radio and mobile Internet? http://www.radioscape.com/
The Canadian company Bitflash is proving technology to enable viewing Java-based graphics on wireless devices. They recently closed a $7m round. http://www.bitflash.com/index2.htm
Savos Inc. is a New York-based wireless technology and services company that provides PC-free, personalized access to Internet audio programming from any mobile phone or wireless appliance. The service will launch in July 2000. http://www.savos.com/
Wholesale bandwidth trading seems to be popular in mobile networks… and growing. Since January 2000, Band-X Switched has seen the volume of calls destined for European mobile phones jump so that it now makes up 55% of traffic being traded over the trading floor – up from just 8% in January. http://www.band-x.com/
Circadence has a technology which improves the performance of an Internet service by providing varying levels of service based upon customer priorities. In other words, this technology could give private label ISPs a mechanism of adjusting QoS based on ARPU or other customer profitability criteria. http://www.circadence.com/index.html
Portelco is a new voice-centric wireless ASP, headquartered in Hong Kong and with offices in Silicon Valley. The management team appears to be highly experienced and they just closed a $5.1m series a round. http://www.portelco.com/
The Finnish-originated mobile messaging startup Ztango raised a $37.8m mezzanine round when preparing for their IPO. The company was late last year put together out of four smaller Finnish companies and named after the Finnish ‘national dance’. http://www.ztango.com/
AvantGO is apparently planning for an IPO soon as well. The company recently closed a $31m mezzanine round. Among the investors was Research in Motion (RIM pagers). Microsoft is backing this company as well. AvantGO is also a member of GPRS Applications Alliance. http://avantgo.com/frontdoor/index.html
Aligo is yet another new wireless ASP, headquartered in San Francisco. They recently got $1m seed financing. Their differentiator is mentioned to be a multi-platform mobile server technology with an m-commerce touch. http://www.aligo.com/
Intelliseek, which develops agent-based Internet search technologies, acquired ProFusion.com, a category-specific meta search service. Intelliseek has a private label business model for websites and ISPs. Nokia was the main investor in their July 1999 series A round of $6m. http://www.intelliseek.com/press/press.htm
MeetChina.com, the leading B2B product exchange in China, has an investment from Motorola Ventures as well as from Citicorp and Softbank. Motorola is developing them a mobile Internet strategy. Somehow we missed this one. http://www.meetchina.com/en/about/release11.asp
Fastforward Networks claims to have a broadcast and streaming media overlay network solution. They just received $30m of funding from blue chip names such as AOL, Inktomi and RealNetworks. Something for the 3G era… http://www.fastforwardnetworks.com/solutions.html
SyberSay Communication, which develops miniature transmitters and receivers compatible with cellular, cordless, corded phones, and personal computers, announced itself. Ericsson is among investors. http://www.sybersay.com/
Digital Paths launched DPWeb service that will enable mobile device users to conduct secure e-commerce transactions via their handheld appliances. The deluxe version, designated as DPWeb DX, provides users of Internet-enabled wireless devices such as the Palm VII, smart phones and hand-held computers with a true Wireless Web experience. http://www.digitalpaths.com/
UDU World is an enterprise information delivery platform which has its origins in Australia. PalmOS and Java support are in the pipeline. I don’t really know what these people can add to what Tibco or Categoric have. But we should of course partner with everybody to mobile-enable them - and make money doing so. Another company in the same category is SeeCommerce. http://www.uduworld.com/. http://www.seecommerce.com
eMobee, Commtouch and ZapZone Network plan to enable wireless content and email communication for their combined user base. This is an offering in the SME/SOHO space: small businesses can basically set up their mobile e-care functionality “within ten minutes”. SME sector is 47% of the GNP in the US… http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/000412/ca_emobee__1.html
Main Course Technologies, a developer of wireless applications using GPS technology, recently joined the Phone.com Alliance Program as a developer of online tracking services. http://www.mctworldwide.com
How to quickly globalize your mobile-enabled e-business? Uniscape is an ASP that empowers companies to do business online in 42 different languages. They provide globalization technology and services for creating global, multilingual ebusinesses and Web sites. EPA works with their Australian affiliate. http://www.uniscape.com
SensCom, a San Diego -based provider of wireless Internet services for the financial services industry, raised the company’s first round of financing. Impressive management team and board. http://www.senscom.com/
Senada.com event management portal has announced its mobile version. Looks very useful! http://www.senada.com/wireless/home.htm
Tiaxa, a provider of online content and services to wireless users in Latin America, said it launched its services with a $2 million seed round. The service will cover initially Mexico, Brazil and Chile. http://www.tiaxa.com
WIZION is a new company in the voice browsing space with a ‘voice ASP’ business model and some patented text-to-speech technology. http://www.wizion.com/inside.htm
iDini enables mobile access to an online file storage. This is a very early stage company based in San Jose. http://www.idini.com/
The Canadian geomarketing technology company MCDS Informatique got investment from Microcell with an enhanced focus on wireless services. http://www.mcdsgeomarketing.com/MCDS.htm
ReadyCom is launching a store-and forward cellular voice mail device and an operator platform for multimediua messaging. http://www.readycom.com/responder.html
SodeOg Technologies developed SyncTalk which acts as a translator between mobile computing devices for applications such as date books, contact managers, and memo takers. SyncTalk Professional translates your information into the SyncTalk language then beams it to another device. http://www.sodeog.com/
And here’s the rest - eCal raised $12.5m and acquired iPing… FusionOne raised $50m, Nokia participated again…
(To view the embedded hyperlinks, view this section online at http://webacademy.ericsson.se.)
SELECTED THOUGHTFUL READING
PC Forum 2000 transscripts are available, use username ‘anttila’, password: ‘ANTT3360886′ at the site http://www.edventure.com/PC2000/attendees.html
Napster fans attack Metallica fans in the war over free music over the Internet. The new Napster clone Metallicster crawls the Internet to find Metallica material, transforms it into “open formats” and spreads it around… Who said the Internet spirit was dead and submitted to commercial legacy? http://metallicster.freeservers.com/
New York Times has a comprehensive article on the state of the online B2B market, recommended reading especially for those not following up the industry regularly. http://www.nytimes.com/library/financial/investing/050700invest-btob.html
Can teaching material be free or ‘open source’ in the future? Is there a way to build a business model around that? OpenMind Publishing Group thinks there is. Note that this would heavily increase the market potential of e-books (read 3G terminals). http://www.openmindpublishing.com/FAQS.htm
Considering the boring male-dominated audiences at cellular industry trade shows today, you would perhaps not come to think that one of the early inventors on the path towards CDMA technology was a Hollywood film star Hedy Lamarr, “the most beautiful girl in the world”? http://www.siriuscomm.com/lamarr.htm
