Tech Untangled

Today, July 1, marks the day the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has mandated that set-top boxes are separated from the security mechanisms that determines which channels are descrambled. The security comes in the form of a CableCard that is inserted into the set-top box. Rather than cable TV providers renting you a set-top for US$4 to $5 a month, now you can buy a set-top from a retail store (when it becomes available) and simply activate a CableCard from the cable TV provider to (first card is free, additionals $1.91 each).

I applaud this move towards providing a new era of consumer choice. By separating the set-top box from the mechanics that determines which channels are descrambled, a customer is able to purchase a set-top box from anywhere (say BestBuy) and keep the same box even if the customer moves or switches television providers. This also gives set top box manufacturers more latitude in bringing alternate forms of video to the TV. Expect long-form Internet TV providers like Joost and Babelgum to be integrated into set-top boxes soon. Much like AppleTV has done, expect even short-form TV content such as YouTube to be on set-top boxes.

In the short term, the cost for consumers will go up because the simple set-top box will now have an added CableCARD module. However, this “integration ban”, as this is sometimes called, will:

1. create a new retail channels to reach customers.
2. create an opportunity for new manufacturers such as ADB and even Tivo to enter the set-top box market.

The latter will create enough competition in distribution (retail and TV service provider), manufacturing, and usage choices (purchase vs. renting), that value for consumers will go up (overall prices may increase as set-top boxes integrate Internet TV).

This is a great move for consumer and don’t let your cable provider make you think otherwise.

Related Articles:

1. CableCards Arrive July 1, And No One’s Happy
2. New rule for TV set-top boxes sets stage for higher cable bills

Cellular operators decided to get on the Internet browsing bandwagon many years ago. When they first started, Wireless Internet browsing was behest with numerous problems. First, the data networking technologies were so slow. If that wasn’t bad enough, they helped develop a technology called WAP that made it even slower to browse content. Second, mobile phones had very small screens, so only a small amount of a page could be seen. On top of that, it was very difficult to scroll up and down. Third, and to make matters even worse, wireless carriers wanted to control what content can be seen by customers, so that wireless operators could extract revenue from both sides - customers and content providers.

Fast forward to today, June 29th of 2007. Some things have changed. Data networking technologies are much faster. Sprint, Verizon, Alltel and U.S. Cellular have networks with download speeds of 400-800 kbps, while AT&T and T-Mobile have somewhat slower networks. Nonetheless, these networks are much faster than when Web 1.0 went bust. Screen sizes for mobile devices, especially of smart phones, Blackberrys, and PDAs, have increased dramatically, although most mobile devices still have small screens. Carrier control of content, the “walled garden”, exists for most phones but smartphones and Blackberrys can access any website.

Some things still haven’t. Even though smartphones and Blackberrys can access any website, they still use a cHTML or other browser that is not fully compliant with the web. This means that loading a website is still slow and cumbersome. Despite the larger screens, scrolling up and down is still cumbersome. Overall, a seemingly mundane task as browsing the web is an adventure on mobile devices.

Enter the iPhone. Its web browser, a version of Apple’s Safari browser, can render any web page as good as any web browser. With a 3.5-inch screen, web pages will show much better than on pretty much any mobile device. With the multi-touch touch screen, users will be able to scroll up, down, and sideways with ease. The browser also has a capability to zoom in (magnify) and out of any area of the screen.

The iPhone clearly goes against the walled garden approach of many wireless carriers. In the U.S. Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel are big on this approach and uses Qualcomm’s BREW software to contain users within the walled garden. Don’t get me wrong, BREW has benefits too.

Now that the iPhone is looking more and more like a runaway success, it will become a catalyst for bigger screens, multi-touch displays, and open access to websites. With AT&T, the largest wireless carrier in the U.S., leading the way with the iPhone, others will have little choice to but to open-up their walled gardens.

Winners: AT&T

Losers: Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel, Qualcomm.

Would you like to have an iPhone? But cannot shell out $499 or don’t want to stand in line? Bidwarslive.com is allowing people to get an iPhone without waiting in line and without the massive price tag. Bidwarslive.com is auctioning 4 Apple iPhones in July. But they don’t go to the highest bidder! The iPhone will go to the lowest “unique” bid - that is the bid that is lower than all others and is the only one to bid that amount. An iPhone will be auctioned off every week in July, with auctions ending on July 7th, July 14th, July 21st, and July 28th. The iPhone requires a two year contract with AT&T, the only U.S. network the iPhone will work on.

So far nothing on Bidwarslive.com has sold for more than US$15, and the owners say the iPhone will go for even less.

Members pay $15 a month for 25 bids a day (or $25/month for 50 bids/day). Those bids can be used on any one of the prizes on auction. Current items include a 20” wide screen LCD Monitor, Xbox 360, and a $1500 Vacation to anywhere you choose.

Plus, there’s a nice social entrepreneurship aspect - whatever the small price the winner pays will be given to a charity of your choosing. Winners choose between the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer, Livestrong, American Red Cross, and the Boys and Girls Club of America.

So go ahead! make your bids for the iPhone or any other of the other stuff on Sale. If you win, you’ll be sure to get it cheap!

T-Mobile launched its HotSpot@Home across the U.S today, entering a new era in Fixed-Mobile convergence (Cellular-WiFi convergence). For an additional US$19.99 a month over any voice plan of at least a US$39.99, you can make unlimited calls on any of T-Mobile’s 7,000 WiFi hotspots or on your home WiFi network. HotSpot@Home is available only on two phones: Samsung SGH-t409 and Nokia 6086. T-Mobile sells them for US$49.99 (with contract).

These phones can seamlessly switch between the cellular network and WiFi network. Say you get a call on the way home. If cellular coverage is spotty in your home, the phone will automatically switch the call through the home WiFi network when you get home. HotSpot@Home uses a technology called Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA), which allows the phone to connect to the cellular radio network through an IP access point (e.g. WiFi).

There have been reports of high battery drain on the Samsung SGH-t409 that was used in the limited trial launched last year. However, a reliable source who tried HotSpot@Home last year says that the battery drain is not very high and the new Samsung SGH-t409 has improved battery usage. Of course, expect to find higher battery drain than for a regular cell phone.

This should be a great offer for:

1. Cord-cutters looking to discard the landline phone connection.
2. Those with indoor cellular coverage problems.
3. Those who make a lot of calls from home and want to be reached at a single number anytime, anywhere.

This will be a great offer for some customers, and for T-Mobile because they don’t have a landline partner in the U.S., yet has an extensive WiFi network. This will be a great offer for some customers, and for T-Mobile because of extensive WiFi network and lack of a landline partner. I predict that it will be big blow to Vonage and other Cable/DSL based VoIP providers.

 AT&T just announced the price plans for the iPhone. The monthly plans are as follows:

1. $59.99 for 450 minutes of voice, 5000 night-and-weekend minutes, Unlimited EDGE
2. $79.99 for 900 minutes of voice, unlimited night-and-weekend minutes, Unlimited EDGE
3. $99.99 for 1350 minutes of voice, unlimited night-and-weekend minutes, Unlimited EDGE

Also, the iPhone is only offered with a two year contract and there is a one-time activation $36 fee. Every plan also includes visual voicemail and other stuff.

These price plans are pretty standard and very competitive with the rest of the industry.

So, why is this a clear winner for AT&T?

In the Wireless industry, the primary metric for evaluating how well a wireless operator does is ARPU (Average Revenue Per User). Churn is another factor, which I’m sure Sprint would be happy to talk about. AT&T’s ARPU in the latest quarter (4Q 2006) is $49.29. Most of this ARPU comes from voice plans, but data ARPU is growing fast (53% growth in 4Q 2006). Nonetheless, the number of subscribers with voice and data plans are relatively small.

Herein lies Cingular/AT&T’s strategy for iPhone. By offering the iPhone with both voice and data (one cannot get a voice only or data only plan for the iPhone), AT&T will get a nice bump in ARPU.

Clever! very clever!

Fring has further expanded its mobile VoIP (mVoIP) community by adding Windows Mobile 5.0 and 6.0 series devices to its list of supported handsets. The software is going to work on around 300 Windows Mobile series 5.0 & 6.0 handsets and PDAs!

Fring is a VoIP-IM aggregation client, that allows fringsters to communicate for free with fring, Skype, Google Talk, MSN Messenger, hundreds of SIP providers, and even twitter. In addition to the 300 Windows Mobile phones and pocket PCs, Fring is currently available for 20+ Nokia/Symbian-based phones over 3G, GPRS or Wi-Fi. Fring is a free, downloadable mobile phone application. Fring also support calls to the PSTN via SkyOut and is enhanced with real-time presence.

While Fring is london-based (hence, the primary support for Nokia/Symbian based phones which is the primary phone type in Europe), adding Windows Mobile support will help Fring grow its user base in the US.

Remember when the iPod was introduced. The click wheel was surprisingly easy to use, and mobile phone manufacturers quickly caught on, introducing mobile phones such as the LG Chocolate VX8500, Samsung X838, and the Nokia 7380Now Apple with the iPhone and Microsoft with the Surface will spark a new wave of user interface technology, primarily for mobile phones and consumer electronics such as portable game consoles, personal digital assistants, and portable navigation devices.

The iPhone is not the first cell phone to have touch screens. 38 million or 4 percent of mobile phones shipped in 2006 had touch-screens. iSuppli projects this number to grow to 90 million units by 2012. But these touch screens are single-touch. Palm Treo and Motorola ROKR E6, use “resistive touch” technology. The iPhone, LG Prada, LG Chocolate, and the HTC Touch smart phone use an advanced touch screen, featuring “projected capacitive” technology. This technology doesn’t even need actual physical contact: such touch screens already detect the proximity of a finger from 2 millimeters away. Capacitive touch screens can work with feather-like gestures, while resistive touch screens requires the harder poke of a stylus or a fingernail, making capacitive touch screens easier to work with. Capacitive touch screens are also generally brighter.

What differentiates the iPhone and Microsoft Surface from others is the Multi-touch screen that can respond to multiple simultaneous touches and can be integrated with optical imaging technologies. For example, this can be used to resize a window by pinching or expanding two fingers on the touch screen. The multi-touch screen market is expected to grow at 30.8% from $112.9 million (2007) to $433.1 million (2012).

Just over a month ago, the iPhone didn’t have much 3rd party application support:

Other issues that may limit uptake: iPhone is on a new operating system and has yet to form a developer community that can optimize the vast store of games, content and apps for the iPhone.

Well, things have changed quickly. So much so that there’s even an iPhone Application Directory developed by AddFone.

AddFone is an application that searches and catalogs iPhone applications. AddFone is accessible from an Internet Browser (including from the iPhone, which has the safari browser).

Anyone can add an application by providing the associated title, URL, description, and tags. A user can retrieve a list of applications by entering a search term.

Overall, this is a relatively straightforward and simple application that is easy to use. Expect many similar Directory apps to mushroom overnight.

AT&T debuted the first wireless videophone service in the United States. Don’t get too excited because this is not a full-blown video calling - the live streaming video feed is just one-way, and callers have to manually switch feed directions. Both users can see the Video Share while participating in a two-way voice conversation.

Currently, Video Share is only available in Atlanta, Dallas, and San Antonio. Starting late July, the service will expand to 160+ U.S. markets. At $4.99 a month for 25 minutes, $9.99 for 60 minutes, or 35 cents per minute, pricing is a bit hefty. Ultimately, Video Share will be accessible on all three of AT&T’s “screens” — the wireless device, the PC (CallVantage) and the TV.

The biggest drawbacks of Video Share are:

1. Both users in a call have to have a phone that supports Video Share (currently only the Samsung A717, the Samsung Sync, and the LG CU500v).
2. The Video Share feature has to be activated in order to use Video Share in a call.
3. For Video Share calling, both users have to be within AT&T’s 3G network coverage.
4. Questionable User Interface of having the camera on the front side, the backside, or available on both sides via a rotating camera, on the phones.
5. Users are generally concerned about their privacy and don’t want the other side to know where they are at, especially on the go.

To top it off, video calling in other countries have not been successful. While some of these drawbacks will be rectified over time, concerns over privacy of users will limit Video Share to a few scenarios.

Skype has been an amazing success in the wireline domain, with over 171 million registered users, availability in 28 languages, and a large eco-system of WiFi handsets and Cordless Phones (Netgear WiFi Phone), Telecom gateways (iSkoot), and ATA/Gateways (VoSky). However, Skype has a very limited presence on cellular networks.

Its not for lacking of trying - Skype probably has engaged cellular service providers, but with very limited success. For example, Skype has a partnership with the cellular provider ‘3′ to offer Skype on cellphones, but using a gateway from iSkoot rather than installing a Skype client on the mobile phone. This allows ‘3′ to utilize its voice network capacity and measure minutes of use. More importantly, it appears to be a great ploy to use Skype buzz to promote ‘3’s services on the X-series handsets. Likewise, even Skype’s short lived promotion with German cellular operator E-Plus was to promote its 3G service via Skype. Similarly, a partnership with Motorola to develop a Skype client has gone nowhere.

The primary reason wireless operators baulk at Skype is the fear of cannibalizing voice ARPU and over-utilizing its data network. Skype’s wireless ambitions haven’t succeeded, so Skype has resorted to complaining and petitioning the FCC. I’m sure wireless operators will welcome Skype into their backyard now!

For the following reasons, Skype will not be a mainstream cellular application anytime soon:

1. Most mobile phones are closed. It is virtually impossible for a user to install a Skype client without the cellular operators support. These are the run-of-the-mill phones that comprise about 90% of mobile phones in the US (PDA’s, Smartphones, or Blackberrys are not in this category).
2. Most users couldn’t install applications in mobile phones. Even if the users could install applications on a phone, many users don’t know how to do it. In theory, users could install applications in Java phones, but difficult in practice for ordinary users. It is much easier to install an application on a PDA, Smartphone, or a Blackberry, but still few people do it.
3. Cellular networks are not geared for Peer-to-Peer (P2P). Skype uses P2P, and if a Skype application on a mobile phone acts as a ’supernode’, it can be sending and receiving transmissions even when the user is not on a Skype call. This can clog up todays wireless networks quickly (even 3G), reducing the service experience for other wireless users as well.
4. No quality guarantees. Skype is a VoIP technology, and in packet data networks, transmissions have to compete with other transmissions. In most cases, voice communication requires constant transmission in both directions, but this cannot be guarateed without Qualty of Service (QoS) guarantees.

Without cooperation from cellular providers, Skype may be limited to either complaining and petitioning the FCC and working with gateway providers such as iSkoot

IPdrum has a clugy way to use Skype from a cell phone.

If you enjoyed this post, subscribe to my RSS feed for more cool stuff