As I was reminded by Rob Wolpov, the CEO of Junction Networks when I chatted with him on Wednesday, the last time I wrote about them, I referred to the press release pairing their OnSIP hosted PBX service and the FringVoIP client for mobile phones as a “publicity stunt.” I didn’t quite say that, but I wasn’t generally high on the pairing, only because it seemed a bit like a “no duh” to me. I did say it was a good PR move, though.
While Junction Networks provides PBX services using that “new fangled” VoIP technology, they are very “old school voice” when it comes to IP phones–they don’t care what you use so long as it is compatible with the service. Ok, restrictions on handsets are as old as the Bell System, but it’s “old school” for anyone who has had a landline anytime in the past two or three decades.
Meanwhile, as a result of selling their IP-based PBX service to smaller businesses–the 3 to 50 seat crowd–they have had to come up with handset recommendations for potential customers. There are hundreds of IP Phones, analog telephone adapters, and even software phones to choose from. How does the relative VoIP handset newbie choose?
Junction Networks has the answer: OnSIP Team Reviews. They review handsets based on a number of criteria–including compatibility with their own service–and post them for all to see. Currently, they have only 3 handsets reviewed on the site, but the plan is to write up the results of some of their other testing to give you a balanced opinion. The site will also include analog telephone adapters and VoIP client software.
Unlike, say, a company that sells IP phones, Junction Networks isn’t selling phones. The only interest they have is ensuring you choose the method of accessing their service that works best for you. The exceedingly clever part, though, is that while they are giving away free information that essentially anyone can use–even non-customers–they are getting free advertising and a lot of community goodwill. Having built a fairly successful career on that relatively simple concept, I have to say it’s a win-win-win for everyone.
I recently came across the following “fake” product:
While clearly this is a fake product by Qualcomm to gather some attention–fat chance, considering their business practices seem to involve the courts more often than real, useful products these days–it does raise some questions about not only how practical it would be to embed a mobile phone in your hand.
The first thing that comes to mind is: caller ID. How would you know who’s calling? What about dialing? What about texting? What about the cellular radio and antenna?
Maybe I’m thinking about this too much. Maybe those things don’t matter to most people. Maybe it’s like the question I always ask myself in Science Fiction movies: where do these people go to the bathroom? Maybe I should just STFU and suspend my belief for a moment. What do you think?
Rico Mossesgeld over at The Smart PDA points to a Roughly Drafted piece on how the iPhone is scaring the Symbian folks because in the Q3 results for North America, the iPhone kicked butt over everyone except for Blackberry. Daniel Dilger is quick to dismiss how Symbian presents the numbers in a worldwide fashion because they “make for more attractive numbers.”
In a sense, Dilger’s right. As far as single device sales go, I would say the iPhone is probably the top seller in the SmartPhone category in North America. Even BlackBerry offers a number of devices to make up their large slice of their market share, whereas Apple is still a one-trick pony.
However, this race is by no means over and Apple’s “victory” in Europe is by no means clear. Apple does have to work in a different regulatory and market environment there–one that is not friendly to phone locking in the same way North America is. Furthermore, the population is, on the whole, more educated about the difference between a “locked” phone and an “unlocked” phone.
Apple is clearly doing well in the places they are selling the iPhone, but they are only addressing a small fraction of the overall market. By locking their phones tighter than Fort Knox–amazing how tight those locks are when the manufacturer is getting a cut of the service revenues–they are actually creating their own golden handcuffs, preventing their expansion beyond their chosen markets.
The other manufacturers should be concerned at this overnight success, but the fact is, we don’t know yet know how well the iPhone will do worldwide. Anyone who claims to know what will happen at this point either has inside information or is talking out their tail pipe. Either way, it’s going to be interesting to watch the numbers when they come out.
Disclaimer: I work for Nokia, but my day job has nothing to do with phones. They most certainly don’t pay me to pontificate on matters related to mobile phones or the market. The preceding was my take.
Well, so much for this list being shorter. That happens when you see topical gadgets and good cross-promotion opportunities.
Aside from The Mobile Technology Weblog being new to my weekly roundup, there’s also one new blog on the list this week I hadn’t talked about previously: Businesspundit. Creative Weblogging asked me to do a few posts over there over the next several weeks to promote some of the business blogs in CW’s network. I’m not used to writing about business per-se, so it’s going to be a challenge, albeit temporary.
With all my blathering out of the way, here’s this week’s list of posts I made in the blogosphere:
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Rico Mossesgeld over at The Smart PDA 
Well, so much for this list being shorter. That happens when you see topical gadgets and good cross-promotion opportunities.