Google's purchase of AdMob is dominating headlines today: "The company said Nov. 9 that it agreed to acquire AdMob, a mobile display ad technology provider, for $750 million in stock. Google said the purchase would move the company forward in its efforts to develop more effective tools for creating, serving and analyzing emerging mobile ads formats."
Not generating much news is that Google also snapped up a VOIP player today.
Google is very close to having an end-to-end “unified inbox” service which completely commoditizes carriers. The initial lure for service providers is a cut of shared ad revenue in return for services which otherwise are costly for them to implement and maintain (voicemail, sms, IM, voice-to-text across these mediums, mapping, location enabled messaging).
However within a year you will be able to port your current phone number to Google and manage your voice calls, email, IM, chat, mapping, calendaring, etc. from the web or an android device which uses no voice and nothing but a prepaid, flat rate data plan and sim card. Your inbox can port seamlessly across mobile and PC devices as the data is all could based.
The AdMob acquisition isn’t as impactful as Google offering mapping for free and thereby destroying the value of the only two players who had managed to provide mobile mapping, Navteq (Nokia purchased for $8bn) and Telenav (IPO just announced).
For all the change that Apple wrought in consumer behavior on mobile devices, Google is driving at least as much change from the technology systems side. Truly an amazing time to be in the industry. And perhaps the most dangerous time to be a carrier as the risks for once are equal to the opportunities.
Microsoft, Manufacturers Announce UC Phones and Devices Tied to OCS
Microsoft announced that nine vendors are creating an initial round of 15 phones that will be certified for use with Microsoft Office Communications Server (formerly LCS) and the Microsoft Office Communicator client, both of which will be released this summer. They are currently in beta. The combination of server, client, and partner-supplied devices is expected to substantially undercut pricing for similar solutions from Avaya and Cisco.
The first round of 15 phones will be made by a variety of vendors including Samsung, LG-Nortel, NEC, Plantronics, Asus, GN, Polycon, Tatung, and Vitelix and will include IP phones, USB phones, wired and wireless headsets, Bluetooth devices, conferencing phones, portable speakerphones, LCD monitors and software-client only phones on laptops. Some of the new phones connect directly to a USB port, so mobile workers can bring the phone with them and use it along with their laptops to access features typically only supported on desk phones, like call forwarding and conferencing. Other new phones include Bluetooth and video capabilities.
By themselves, none of the phones offers as many features as those from Cisco or Avaya. But integrated with OCS they will have capabilities like presence and integration with the Microsoft Office Suite that will connect e-mail, instant messaging, real-time presence information, conferencing, VOIP (voice over IP) and mobile communications.
Microsoft positions their UC as "reaching a person, not a number" by providing partner solutions that are plug and play (messaged as "just works"). Microsoft is creating a qualification program for manufacturers to ensure devices work out of the box with both server and client Office Communicator software.
I didn't notice any coverage mentioning that mobile providers and traditional players Cisco and Avaya already have such solutions in-marke; for example Nokia Intellisync Call Connect solution is already in the market place fully integrated with Cisco and Alcatel on Eseries dual mode devices.
Summary article
May 15, 2007 in Microsoft Mobile, Microsoft WM 5.0, Mobile industry commentary, Unified Communications | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)