Industry Perspective

Why I chose iPhone over Android

After two years of use and dropping it on concrete floors on several occasions my iPhone 3GS was experiencing problems so I recently upgraded to the iPhone 4S.

I considered an Android based phone however there were several factors that convinced me that sticking with Apple was the best choice for my situation.

1. Like most iPhone owners I have quite a few apps. Some of which (like my navigational and nautical) are not cheap. While I could have likely replaced them, it would have added substantially to my upgrade cost.
2. While I’ve resisted up until now, I’m seriously considering buying an iPad2. The ability to have the same apps on both devices is attractive.
3. Hardware interfaces into my audio system on my bike and in my car will only work with the Apple devices. While I could have just used an audio jack, I would have lost my remote display and control capabilities.

These factors were so compelling that I didn’t give much serious consideration to the Android option.

So far I like the phone. While it has a faster processor, I haven’t really noticed much difference in performance. The SIRI functionality has potential. While it’s the best speech recognition interface I’ve encountered it still needs work.

The developers’ of SIRI do have a sense of humour. After several failed attempts at dictating an email, I told SIRI that it was really f’ing stupid. It responded with “I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that”.

Intellectual Property rights run amok

It seems that litigation related to intellectual property (IP) is increasing at an accelerating pace. Patent and copyrights are of course vital for companies to innovate and to succeed but it seems that the systems and regulations meant to protect content creators and innovators are being manipulated.

This article by Bloomberg cites several examples of what has been an obvious trend:

1. Patents awarded for general concepts (especially in software and genomics)
2. Weak IP being bought, traded and leveraged to impede competitors
3. Opportunists using the system to profit from others’ innovation
4. Rights being granted for things that no individual or company should be allowed to own
5. Exploitation and manipulation to stifle innovation and protect dying business models (MPAA & RIAA come to mind)

Internet Traffic to Quadruple by 2015

Today Cisco predicted that Internet traffic will quadruple by 2015. The implications are huge for service providers, network equipment manufacturers and regulators.

The prediction is confirmation that there is a major transformation happening in the way that we access information and entertainment. The trend will lead to even more innovation. Canadians must ensure that our Government does not allow Canadian service providers take advantage of our limited competitive environment to stifle innovation, limit competition and protect dying business models.

Cisco Closing Flip – Shrewd?

In this widely quoted article by  Electronic Products and Technology it is being said that Cisco’s decision to close its Flip camcorder group was a shrewd decision. Other posts have called the decision courageous. Was it really? I don’t think so. In my view it was simply time to come to terms with a bad investment decision and to cut their losses.

Cisco is convinced (and I agree) that video is an increasingly important aspect of communications technology and human interaction. Cisco’s TelePresence and its acquisition of Tanberg are prime examples of Cisco’s innovation and vision relative to the market impact of video.

However, Cisco seemed to overlook the fact that video capabilities are integrated into many multi-function consumer devices. My camcorder has been in the closet for at least a couple of years. The video capabilities built into smartphones, point and shoot cameras, SLRs and tablets have made single-purpose consumer video recording devices obsolete.

While Cisco’s insight, product development and marketing of products for enterprise is second to none, products like the Flip and ūmi suggest that the company can do a better job at gauging trends and demands in the consumer space.

Rick McCharles

RIC Services

Usage Based Billing (UBB) coming to Western Canada

It appears that TELUS and Shaw have decided to implement UBB later this year. Once again the justification is being spun as fairness. The average user should not have to subsidize the very small minority of Internet usage hogs. It’s the same excuse that Bell used to convince the CRTC to allow UBB to be forced on to Bell’s Internet wholesale customers (currently under review).

The problem with that spin is that its just not true. The fact is that the majority of Internet users are morphing into heavy users. It’s not because we’ve all suddenly decided to download copyrighted movies and music. Rather our Internet consumption is going up because of the rich content that is now available. It has nothing to do with being greedy Internet pigs. Business and consumers are simply making the most of the resource and we are all (as individuals and society as a whole) benefiting as a result.

In my view the reason Canada’s large ISPs want UBB is to maximize profits and to protect dying business models. However, UBB threatens to stifle innovation and to leave Canadians at a competitive disadvantage.

There’s no stopping the evolution of the Internet and its countless benefits. It will continue to create and change business models with or without Canadians’ participation.

If you’re concerned about this issue, stay informed and get involved.

Rick McCharles

RIC Services 

Supreme Court Rules Against BCE Bondholders

Yesterday, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the BCE takeover by the Ontario Teacher’ Pension Plan could move forward overruling a previous Quebec court decision in favour of the BCE bondholders. The bondholders have been opposed to the deal arguing that the high price tag and heavy debt burden associated with the deal will dramatically decrease the value of their bonds.

Now, the focus will shift back towards the financial aspects of the takeover. Market conditions have changed considerably since the initial conditions of the deal were put together. The odds that all of the original players who are putting up the cash and financing the debt will proceed with the original terms are slim. Look for many more twists and turns before this deal finally closes.

Telus and GSM – Context is key

Last week, Light Reading quoted Ibrahim Gedeon the Telus CTO as saying that Telus would not entertain the idea of converting its wireless network to GSM and would instead wait for LTE. Well context is everything and Ibrahim sent the following note to Light Reading to clarify his comments:

Our discussion was of a technical nature,
including my references to 2G GSM. Unfortunately, your summary of my
comments has led to some confusion for those that tend to commonly
associate legacy 2G GSM and 3G HSPA as one and the same.

When we spoke, I did indicate that TELUS would not implement 2G GSM
as we are not giving serious consideration to alternative legacy
wireless technologies. The TELUS network already covers approximately
80% of the Canadian population with high speed wireless on our 3G EVDO
Rev A technology platform. To be clear, we continue to evaluate the
complex issues of alternate 4G wireless technology evolution paths.

Also, as mentioned, scale is important to a Canadian wireless
operator such as TELUS within the greater North American or global
context. Given this, we are of course watching moves by our large U.S.
peers in terms of their 4G technology paths. However, this does not
necessarily preclude TELUS from the option of pursuing a particular
technology evolution path at any point in time regardless of the timing
of technology decisions of any U.S. peer.

So who knows, perhaps GSM will play a role at Telus at some point.

Net Neutrality Rally on Parliament Hill – May 27th

Canadians, fed up with the tactics of some Internet Service Providers are starting to organize and are becoming more vocal in support of Net Neutrality.

A Net Neutrality Rally on Parliament Hill is planned for May 27th.

The early list of participants includes:

Michael Geist – http://www.michaelgeist.ca/
Charlie Angus – http://www.charlieangus.net/
CIPPIC – http://www.cippic.ca
Campaign for Democratic Media – http://www.democraticmedia.ca
TekSavvy Solutions – http://www.teksavvy.com
National Union of Public and General Employees – http://www.nupge.ca
National Capital Freenet – http://www.ncf.ca

For those of you interested in learning more about Net Neutrality, why Canadians are concerned, and what action you can take visit Campaign for Democratic Media!.

In a truly competitive market, consumer demand would influence the quality and cost of Internet services. If Internet Service Providers introduced traffic shaping or volume based pricing models, competitors would offer an alternative to which consumers would switch. The ISPs would have no choice but to modify their anti-competitive practices. Unfortunately, that is not the situation we are have in Canada. For many Canadians there are few, and in many situations, no alternatives. Canadian society allows monopolies because the benefits usually outweigh the resulting lack of choice. In return, the monopolies have a responsibility to consider the wishes of their Canadian consumers. If ISPs arrogantly flaunt consumer demand, then it is the responsibility of regulators to prevent the monopolies from imposing anti-competitive and anti-innovative tactics.

Geist on Canadian Wireless Competition

Michael Geist speaking this week at the Spectrum 20/20 conference on the subjects of competition in the Canadian wireless market and the upcoming Canadian copyright regulations.

The VoIP E911 Problem – Solution Needed

The Calgary Herald printed an article today commenting on the events that may have contributed to the death of a Calgary toddler. The article calls for regulators to mandate that VoIP providers have direct connections to 911 services. I agree.

As I have pointed out many times here previously, having 911 calls redirected to call centre has the potential of compromising the efficacy of the response. This is especially true when one considers that the person accepting the call almost certainly does not have the experience and training of a 911 operator.

The article points out that Canadian VoIP service providers opposed regulations that would have forced them to have direct connections to 911 call centres. I’m not convinced that’s entirely correct. If memory serves me (someone please correct me if I’m wrong), 911 centres themselves were opposed to direct connections from VoIP providers that could not guarantee that the provided address of the 911 caller was accurate.

Also, while I agree that VoIP based 911 calls should go directly to a 911 dispatch centre, it may not have made any difference in this case. Direct connection or not, the address in the database was wrong. Perhaps a 911 operator would have handled the situation better, perhaps not.

The fact is that with nomadic VoIP services, there is no fool proof way (that I know of) of ensuring that the location information associated with a 911 call will always be correct. I’ve given this subject a lot of thought over the years because I have always been troubled by the potential consequences. There are ways of addressing the problem, at least partly, but none of them are perfect or for that matter, practical.

What follows are various methods of associating a caller with a location:

Physical Connection

The telephony device is bound to a physical location. That’s the situation with a POTS line; the regular telephone service from your telephone company. The telephone is connected to a pair of wires which the telephone company can accurately associate with an address and the address never changes. In some cases a VoIP provider can use the same method but only if they control the entire infrastructure associated with the service which is the case with most cable companies.

Heartbeat

A VoIP provider can monitor the end device and detect a possible change in location. If the device goes out of service and then comes
back into service with a different IP address, then it may indicate that the device has been moved. The key word is “may” since there are many situations where this could occur even if the device had not been moved. Still, the service provider could configure the service so that under this circumstance, the telephony user must confirm their address before the service is restored. There are many problems with this approach including the scenario where a caller connects a previously disconnected device and attempts to make a 911 call.
Insisting that the caller first confirm the address before the telephony service is restored is not sensible in this circumstance!

Global Positioning Systems

Imbed GPS receivers in the telephony devices. Besides the fact that other components would be required to associate the GPS coordinates with physical addresses this approach is not practical for at least two reasons. The first is the cost associated with the GPS receivers. One can argue that cost should not be a factor when it comes to public safety but the fact remains that VoIP services will not exist if the economics don’t make sense. The second problem with this approach is that GPS receivers simply don’t work very well indoors. In fact in many situations they will be completely non functional.

Conclusion

The death of this child is tragic. The fact that a shortcoming of VoIP service may have played a role is also very troubling. It’s not the first event of its kind and sadly, it likely won’t be the last. However, the answer is not to shut down VoIP service providers – although I
suspect the Telcos would be in favour of that option!  I’m sure a practical solution will eventually emerge. In the meantime if you are VoIP customer ensure that the address information on file with your provider is accurate. Do it now!

Note:

The 911 challenges discussed above relate to nomadic and residential VoIP or Internet Telephony services. When it comes to IP Telephony services for business, all of the E911 concerns can, and are routinely addressed satisfactorily.