ToddCarothers.com

The Best Christmas Gift Ever

Todd Carothers — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 13:39:27 +0000

I am a gadget geek. I admit it. However, this combined with my perpetual, insatiable appetite for anything new and shiny makes it almost impossible for anyone to purchase me a gift with buttons (except for clothes). That’s why I was really impressed and excited after I opened my gift from my dad and mom this past Christmas. It was shiny and new and had buttons and better yet — I did not own it. It was the Seagate FlexDrive. You can check out the details on their website, but it’s basically a Wi-Fi enabled hard drive with software. The latter makes it extremely usefully for those of us that have a mountain of music, podcast and video content that wish to stream to devices WITHOUT the need of an Internet connection. Even better it supports iTunes related content. That means up to three (current limitation – mostly due to the PHY/ link layer) users can stream content from the Seagate FlexDrive. So when can you use something like this? When ever you are away from home and/or don’t have an Internet connection to stream content. This means in the car (not the driver), airplane (when they officially allow it), on holiday (at the hotel, at the coffee shop, etc.), on business travel (bring your library for those nights you are battling jetlag), or even at home (when the kids want to watch something different.

It’s a breeze to setup: (1) Buy the drive and copy over the content you want to stream, (2) download the app for your devices (if you want iTunes content streamable make sure you device is linked to your library), and (3) enjoy your content. There is an internal battery that lasts approximately ~4 hours so you don’t need a connected power source.

So things to keep in mind:

- Link your iDevices to your iTunes library otherwise the DRM content won’t play.
- You can only stream to up three devices at a time (of course you can have n devices with the app)
- Works well with iPods, iPads and iPhones.

It’s a great add-on to any media library.

Samsung’s Marketing Team Woke Up

Todd Carothers — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 13:25:38 +0000

There is no doubt that one of the inherent skills at Apple is Marketing. From Product Marketing to Product Management Apple is incredible with product definition and telling the story of its products and company. In my opinion Apple’s events are the best hype generation vehicle I have ever seen. They are also well adept at creating TV advertisements that illustrate the value of their products − particularly the iPhone. This morning I came across a brilliant ad from Samsung that is comical and illustrates the value points of their Galaxy S II (which is a great phone – I own one). Well done Samsung. Check out the ad and enjoy:

CounterPath on Stage at IP Live!—iPad IM+Voice+Video

Todd Carothers — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 18:29:06 +0000

CounterPath was invited on the IP Live! stage at the recent BroadSoft Connections event held in Phoenix, AZ. Limited to only a few companies, presenters had the stage to show their later wares. We took the opportunity to highlight our latest offering for iPad: Video. The GA version of video will be available 1Q12. Besides the iPad, iPhone and Android will also support video. This will complete the core three pillar services for Bria mobile and tablet: (1) Voice, (2) Instant Messaging and Presence and (3) Video. Enjoy the show (ignore the fly):

U.S.: Show Me Your Smartphones

Todd Carothers — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 14:47:52 +0000

There are approximately 6 billion mobile subscribers worldwide. The U.S. has approximately 323 million subs in the US according to the CTIA. Of this approximately 35-40% are smartphones. From a market futures standpoint this number will increase overtime to near 100% penetration of smartphones. My belief is by this time next year the number will be around 60-70% penetration of smartphones. In my opinion this will be pushed through over-the-top (a.k.a. OTT) solutions by companies such as CounterPath enabling cross-services/applications through smart endpoints. I will do a more thoughtful post later on this topic but the gist of it is this: Communications are moving from single purpose (I call them silo’ed) applications to embedded ones that enable on-demand usefulness in contextual situations. As an example of the latter, in the course of reading a post on Facebook I may want to IM the person that did the post. That IM may escalate to a voice call (based on the IM conversation) and even a video call depending on the need to show the other user what they are doing. The point is I did not start off thinking I needed to talk to that person, yet the conversation spontaneously happened based on user generated content. This is the future of communications and we are in the midst of this fundamental shift.

This shift will be paced against the penetration of smartphones. As you can see in the following graph from Asymco the rate of smartphone penetration is increasing fast.

Look for a post later that will explore the shift to embedded communications.

Smartphone 3Q11 Review

Todd Carothers — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 13:31:16 +0000

IDC published a study on 3Q11 smartphone shipments. Samsung took the top spot for in-quarter smartphone shipments on the back of Android. This correlates to a 223% year-over-year change. The big loser was Nokia-No surprise there. Overall the worldwide smartphone market expanded by just under 43% over 3Q10 results. Although impressive the results are lower than 2Q11′s growth of 66.7%.

Nokia is a disappointment as their year-over-year 3Q shipments were down 36.6%. This is especially a concern given that they have released four new models recently. My eye is on HTC over the next quarter as additional pressure will come with the Google/Motorola combination, Samsung’s continue growth and Apple’s typical holiday sales rush.

Here are the numbers / charts:

Voice Quality vs. Multiple Voice Enabled Devices: Which is More Important?

Todd Carothers — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 13:22:13 +0000

It’s been a while since my last post. I have been extremely busy over at CounterPath. I want to thank everyone for their positive emails, Twitter DMs and Instant Messages asking for additional posts. I have to admit that I blog for fun and cover items that are of pure interest to myself and the fact that others are reading my posts is a huge bonus for my efforts. I appreciate it!

Back to the post topic at hand: Voice Quality vs. Multiple Voice Enabled Devices: Which is More Important? I decided to cover this topic as a follow up to my participation on the Sonus Connexions panel “Future of Voice” (October 20th @ the Biltmore in Coral Gables). The panel was moderated by Dean Bubley of Disruptive Analysis (NOTE: You should read his blog-he has the most sane and sage analysis of what’s going on in Telecom). During the panel a question was asked: “What is more important: the ability to have a voice call across multiple endpoints or voice quality.” A great question that will be a never-ending debate. For my it’s easy—If I had to chose one over the other. Having the ability to have a voice conversation across multiple devices is more important than voice quality. Here are my points:

The mobile network has lowered our expectations of voice quality. Compared to PSTN quality, it’s poor; however, there are more mobile users than fix line users because reachability outweighs quality.
Users want freedom to answer a phone call on any available device. This is why CounterPath has endpoints across three major device platforms: PCs (Mac, Linux and Windows), mobiles (iOS, Android and soon QNX), tablets (iOS and Android. End users are looking for solutions across device platforms that yield a similar user experience.
Finally, Skype’s business model is driven by support of multiple devices and offering FREE HD voice. However, their ~$1B in revenue is primarily coming from voice termination that is at best PSTN quality.

So for me the ability to use any device outweighs voice quality. However I want to make it absolutely clear that this is in the context of only being able to chose between the two. Voice quality is very important to the overall experience and is something at CounterPath that is one of our top priorities and frankly helps us win business. Everyday I enjoy calls that are HD and the experience is unbelievable. The question is will it become table stakes à la Skype or will operators be able to charge for it? Or does it become part of the bundle (similar to Skype)?

Give me a ring at sip:tcarothers@counterpath.com and let’s discuss via HD Voice.

D’uh: It’s all About Data in the “Future” [Infographic]

Todd Carothers — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 12:45:30 +0000

NSN (Nokia Siemens Networks) a third place contender in everything IMS / network vendor to the mobile network operators posted an interesting infographic. Albeit a self-serving graphic it is interesting as the entire telecommunications sector is in an all IP migration. Data is key for all mobile and wireline providers. The true winners will be those that enable revenue sharing applications from third-parties and/or develop their own applications that take advantage of the data build out.

Here is the graphic:

TMC Roadshow Video: CounterPath and X-Lite Connect

Todd Carothers — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 17:31:38 +0000

I had a chance to visit with the TMC staff in San Jose, CA this summer during the TMC Roadshow. I spoke with Paula Bernier and Carl Ford during the event. I had a chance to cover CounterPath’s new Client Configuration Server (CCS), the mobile softphones (iPhone, iPad and Android) and the in progress X-Lite Connect service. Had a great time at the well organized affair and certainly thank Rich Tehrani and his staff for pulling off a great event I look forward to next year!

Food Fun: Dead Octopus Comes Alive

Todd Carothers — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 14:08:50 +0000

I stumbled upon this interesting dish. A prepared seafood meal that includes an Octopus that comes alive with a sauce condiment (presumably soy sauce):

Apple Got It: The Need to Transform

Todd Carothers — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 13:49:06 +0000

Last week I did a post regarding why/how management teams fail to lead their companies to revolutionary change when required. Just to recognize the need for a corporate strategy revolution is tough enough and even more challenging to pull it off. In my post Why Will These 10 Brands Disappear in 2012 I discuss why brands are likely to fail. However, I did not mention a company that has succeeded in migrating a dismal ending. Timely enough, Apple’s results were published last week. The company hit it out of the park: Revenue was $28.6 billion (+82%) from $15.7 billion a year ago. The Street expectations where $24.8 billion. Apple also more than doubled their net income to $7.3 billion. The company is effectively printing money quarter-over-quarter. Interesting enough, this growth and profitability has little to do with the originally core business: personal computers. The engine of Apple’s success is routed in the incredible success of their iOS devices and therein ecosystem. Apple (really Steve Jobs) knew it needed to radically change its focus from only offering personal computers to a greater addressable market. Led by Steve Jobs, Apple mapped their strengths to the upcoming market trends of multimedia and advanced smartphones. This is not to say the company left behind their legacy business but they knew they needed to tie it to the future. And they did. Known as the halo effect, everything Apple does pushes a symbiotic relationship between its products to help drive revenue. Specifically the company launched iTunes, iPod, iPhone and iPad. All those devices work well with Mac computers (and sometimes PCs). Apple was smart about it. It started with less risky devices – the iPod – and acquired technology as they needed. In the case of the iPhone where they had little organic development experience they partnered to test the development process and market (Apple teamed with Motorola originally-just for learning purposes). Apple also had to chance an industry that was tightly controlled by legacy vendors (i.e., Nokia) and operators (i.e., Tier 1 Mobile Operators). The result of all this is a massive win for Apple. Just take a look at this chart from the Business Insider:

Note that the Mac sales are relatively stagnant as the iDevices grew and drove new levels of revenue. To date Apple has shipped 222 million iOS devices.

This does not include non-Touch iPods. The iOS devices have generated billions in App sales. Both iPods and iOS devices have generated even more via music and video sales.

When Steve Jobs came back to Apple he knew he had to radically reinvent the company over years of transformation. The graph above shows the results. Anything with an “i” in front of it was part of the revolution at Apple started by Steve Jobs—which has saved Apple and its brand.

Going back to my post early last week, Steve Jobs (1) recognized the need for change based on market needs and (2) was able to get his team to embrace the change required within Apple to make it happen.