On Holiday..

Probably not alot of posts coming weeks..

Books I am taking with me:

• Blue Ocean Strategy – Kim & Mauborgne
• The Future of Competition – Prahalad
• Eight Habits- Covey
• Intensieve Menshouderij – Peters & Pouw

Thanks for the recommendations. You are not forgotten. I just need to read these first..

Talk soon!

Raimo

What about speech recognition and TTS

Slowly we see services getting mature in the area of speech recognition and TTS(Text To Speech). Will these “translators” become the bridge between the virtual world of the web and our physical world. Will the “translator” create an AI. Will the “translator” know you?.. Know your preferences, location, profile, history and social context?

Well Microsoft Vista is not ready yet.. 😉

The boundaries between humans and machines start to fade(long introduction)

Nokia 6131 NFC(RFID) Demo

Thanks to the great eye of Stefan Constantinescu from Ring Nokia who found the clip on YouTube.

THE FUTURE!!!!!

Steve Ballmer’s Spiritual side

Just saw this clip at Brand Autopsy of Microsoft’s top exec Steve Ballmer(you have seen him shouting and sweating somewhere probably). Nothing special just his reaction on the iPhone..(Maybe he needs to take some classes from Robert Scoble)

I don’t like to disrespect people. With Steve Ballmer I am just wondering what is hidden talent is. How does he hold this position(to get it is one thing). So focussed on growth and destroying everything in his path. How spiritual do you think he is? What does he think his purpose in life is?

iPod versus “Musicphones”

The official numbers are out and there is no denying, iPod global market share is down to 12.9%. Many who are expecting to hear iPod market share numbers around 75% or 80% are stunned to find iPod global market share to have so rapidly sunk to so low. I think that pictures tell the story the best.

Source for the data: Apple.

Thanks to Communities Dominate Brands

Prada Phone

So when will we see the first Visa device, BMW device, Porsche device and maybe hmm.. Raimo device??(User Generated Phones can that be the future?)

Seriously.. You see that big scale companies have difficulties managing the customer. Their brand just does not connect. In LG’s case they need a brand closer to the public they want to reach. In this case Prada(a small scale player with a clear target audience).

On my other blog I wrote about this trend. Have a look at this presentation on Slideshare showing this development that the large scale production houses are slowly pushed back in the value chain..

Article at Boing Boing:

LG Electronics introduced its Prada mobile phone today. Designed in collaboration with the Italian fashion design firm, the device uses an entirely touch screen-based interface similar, some say, to the iPhone. The phone is slated to launch next month in Europe for approximately €600 (US$775), followed by China, Singapore, and Korea. No plans to bring it to the US have been announced.

Peerbox: First serious mobile P2P application?

Just played with the new Peerbox application version 0.95. I must say very impressed with the work they did. Very rich application with many options. A very complete library of music. The videos are still brand videos. Easy upload function. Ringtones download. Only strange thing is they say it will cost me 2,20 euro to download a song(ringtones aswell). Have no idea how they organised the billing. I downloaded The Scientist from Coldplay(yeahh) and expected a premium sms..NOTHING. Thumbs up for the effort of creating a user friendly and fast app. Now let’s wait until we have a nice business case.. 😉

Have a look at the screenshots..

The Venice Project becomes JOOST!!

Yesterday, we were The Venice Project™. Today, we’re Joost™. Tomorrow, we’re yours! Imagine having infinite choice, and TV that is truly interactive. TV anywhere, anytime…

Joost™ is a new way to watch TV, free of the schedules and restrictions that come with traditional television. Combining the best of TV with the best of the internet, Joost™ gives you more control and freedom than ever before – control over what you watch, and freedom to watch it whenever you like. We’re providing a platform for the best television content on the planet – a platform that will bring you the biggest and best shows from the TV studios, as well as the specialist programs created by professionals and enthusiasts. It’s all overlaid with a raft of nifty features that help you find the shows you love, watch and chat with friends, and even create your own TV channels.

BIG words for 2007: Intuitive User Interface

Nope nothing about iPhone..but Hillcrest’s fun new gadget and a Voice Activated Information System

What are we doing?

yesterday i posted something on my other blog about The Value Chain. I just realized that it is also a very relevant topic to discuss on this platform. As a start a small quote from the Telco2.0 blog:

Are telcos communications companies?

The return-to-work week at the beginning of January is always a time for reflection and self-examination. We continue the theme of “What industry are we really in?” with some thoughts about personal communications.

The question for operators is: to what extent they should be innovators in their core voice and messaging products? After all, these services still account for the majority of the revenue of most telcos, be they fixed or mobile.

It’s an old debate, but one which in 2007 will take on a lot more significance as the march of technology releases us from the constraints of legacy infrastructure. Broadband has become mass-market in developed countries. Some smaller operators like Telio already have all-IP infrastructures. The leading-edge incumbent operators are getting close to launching IP-based replacements for much of their legacy equipment. Mobile operators are making similarly heavy technology investments to enable fixed-mobile products. Wi-Fi marches on and the power, QoS, security and provisioning issues start to ease. WiMax reaches the market, and creates new possibilities in markets with weak or no fixed access.

Customer expectations are rising

The rising Digital Youth generation of users aren’t going to stick with 1990s telephony and messaging products forever. The decision time is approaching:

• Invest in core communications service innovation, define differentiated software and devices, build channel.
• Partner with someone else who has these capabilities, and be a platform enabler for payments, service, logistics, etc.
• Exit the services space, and focus on pipes — or diversify into other areas.

At the moment we see a confusing mix of these in the market — as our survey results have confirmed. So, if you do engage in services innovation, where should you focus your money? We think we’ve got a slightly different angle on the problem.

So you understand the problem operators around the planet are facing. The Telco2.0 blog in their post gives the answer. I believe it is not their job to give the answer..

My goal is to give tools so that the operators can make the decision themselves.

Many operators have lost their focus their Value Chain has become a Profit Chain. Serving not the customer but themselves.

We need to create TRUE VALUE again. How to this? Watch the powerpoint: 3D Value Chains

Enjoy!