High-Tech PR Blog >> Beyond the Hype

RIM Plays Rope-a-dope

It was fascinating to watch the smartphone wars live and in color yester as they raged around RIM's announcement of its new OS and Blackberry Torch.  Rumors have been rampant about the pending announcement.  Even before the actual announcement occurred in New York on today, data emerged about Blackberry users preferring iPhones or Droid devices, along with reports that the United Arab Emirates were set to shut down Blackberry service in their region because RIM would not allow their government the ability to monitor conversations.  

The stories were still flying late in the day (and I'm in Central Time), and RIM is working hard to turn around the negativity hurled at what could have been a banner day for them, bringing out their "it's a floor wax; no it's a dessert topping" device that has both touch screen and a keyboard.

The Trevails of Real-time Communications

This is a textbook example of the frightening real-time communications that companies face today.  Competitors who get wind of upcoming news can deflect from the positive aspects of announcements by feeding research, data and sources such as the ones RIM is now defending itself against. 

RIM is off of the ropes at present and reacting aggressively to defend itself, but the moral of the story is that you need to:

1. tighten security (think of Steve Jobs) for highly anticipated announcements in fiercely fought markets like smartphones and

2. you need to be prepared for what almost seems like the communications version of a denial of service attack that can take away your control of the communications around your announcement.

As a Blackberry Tour user who uses my love of the keyboard to defend my uncool lack of adoption of the iPhone, I applaud RIM for battling back to somewhat steady ground.  And as a communications professional, I will enjoy tuning in today to see Round 2.

Going from "are you kidding?" to "could this be great PR?"

Everybody has their favorite mobile app - you might like to 'pop' bubble wrap on your iPhone, or Tweet from your Blackberry. Me? I appreciate the simplicity of the WSJ Mobile Reader. I have easy-to-read, quickly-downloadable headlines and stories at my fingertips from not only the Journal but the other feeds I've set it up to pull in for me. 

I tell you this only because I thought it was playing tricks on me last night. I took a few moments to scroll through my stories and I see this headline, "The Duck Call Stylings of Cisco's John Chambers." Being the head of LP&P's telecom practice, John Chambers and Cisco are always of interest. But I clicked on this headline much faster that I typically would because I thought there was some joke being played on the company or some hacker having fun with the BoomTown blog.

Nope. If you haven't already heard about this, or seen the video, check it out. Frankly, as I read the first couple of paragraphs of the post, I still thought someone was kidding around. But then I got to the punchline - how Cisco turned a happenstance event into a PR opportunity, and a pretty creative one at that.

You can read the brief BoomTown post which explains the idea. What I'm more focused on, beyond the creative use of social media to promote a product, is the involvement from the top - from Chambers. One of the basic ingredients in a successful communications program is a commitment from the highest levels of the organization to support the effort and to participate as appropriate. As much as PR has morphed in the 23 years LP&P has been around, this tenet has not changed.

This video features a CEO who is well-known for his commitment to PR, but I have to admit, this takes it to a whole new level. PR people everywhere have pointed to people like Chambers, Steve Jobs, and more recently, Carol Bartz as good examples of executives who are engaged in strategic communication. Well today, fellow communications professionals, we now have a precedent for suggesting our client CEOs go well beyond "participating" in the PR program to make a spectacle of their hidden talents and hobbies for the good of the organization.

What's your take on this? Great idea? Over the top? I'm not sure I've decided yet.

TV and PC, Collision or Convergence?

On Monday night I attended yet another informative session by MassNetComms. The session "Is convergence finally here? Web Video and TV get ready to collide," wasn't just informative though, it was lively as well.

The panel was moderated by Will Richmond of VideoNuze and included Chris Gardner of ExtendMedia, Hilmi Ozguc, formerly of Maven Networks (which was bought by Yahoo last year), Andy Roberts of Azuki Systems and Neil Sequeira of General Catalyst. Best anecdote of the night? How one family wanted to watch a movie on the 'net so the dad placed his PC in front of the TV in the living room. I think that sums up the challenge and goals of convergence quite well.

So is convergence here? Maybe. Practically. Almost. Yes. That covers most of the thoughts in the room. Seriously, though the general consensus is that there is a minimum two year window before we'll see a "living room" convergence of the two. That is when your big plasma TV will be able to seamlessly run Hulu, iTunes, HBO and cable. There are challenges to be solved -- metrics, hardware, advertising costs and availability of enough pipes. Another issue is portability and how users will be able to watch content seamlessly on TV, PC and handhelds. Based on what I heard, that seemed to a be a more difficult task mainly for "live" feeds.

Advertising was a big discussion point given the difference between the number of ads that a Hulu viewer sees versus a viewer of NBC or CBS prime time programming. The consensus was that viewers watching TV on the PC platform were used to no or few ads and that expectation will have to be dealt with. Everyone agreed "free" ala Twitter and Facebook was not a business model.

I've been working with convergence companies for more than 10 years beginning with iMagicTV, one of the very first IPTV companies. While it was good to see that the market has moved so far over the last decade, the thing that really stood out for me is just how big a role Massachusetts businesses are playing in defining the new world of convergence. In addition to the companies that participated Monday night, there are number of others, including ScanScout, Backchannelmedia, BrightCove and Visible Measures. 

So what do you think? What's the biggest challenge for the world of convergence?

NFL Secret Sauce: Telecom

At yesterday's ACG Boston DealMaker's breakfast, Jonathan Kraft spoke to a packed room of investment bankers, venture capitalists and financial consultants about the business of football. I've heard Jonathan speak before and he was equally engaging, compelling and interesting this morning. He redirected the topic of the meeting from the business of sports, to what he claims it really is -- the entertainment business.

While so much of the discussion was fascinating to me, it hit home when Jonathan talked about the growth opportunities for the NFL presented by digital, interactive services. He described some very interesting services that can be offered once we have large amounts of bandwidth flowing in and out of our homes. Imagine choosing which cameras through which you view a football game, listening to the on-field mics rather than the announcers, choosing your own replays...it seemed endless and like something I'd certainly pay for.

So why'd it hit home? Every day I work with companies in the telecom space that are related in some way to making this massive, two-way access to bandwidth possible. These are service providers as well as equipment and software vendors that make ratcheting up the speed real or that manage the massive amounts of traffic that have resulted now that we're accustomed to viewing TV shows and live sporting events on the Internet. However, it's not uncommon for friends and colleagues to laugh at me when I tell them that the latest advancements in fiber, deep packet inspection, content delivery networks and media delivery services are so cool. Of course, when I tell them what that means for them -- with an example like Jonathan shared today -- they get my excitement.

I often talk about how telecommunications is fundamental to the growth and innovation in so many industries. Today we learned how it can be the foundation for future revenue for the NFL and fun stuff like new ways to enjoy and interact with your favorite football teams and players. This is why I think telecom is so cool.

   

Greed is Good

Last night I attended a MassNetComms gathering of 100+ people, hosted at Battery Ventures, which included a panel of investors offering perspective on wireless, networking and telecom opportunities. John Dix, editor-in-chief of Network World, hosted a lively, optimistic discussion that kept coming back to mobility and video. In particular, challenges to be tackled, according to this group, are monetization of content; getting content from our computers to our TVs; and watching the smaller video players (e.g. Joost) figure out ways to get access to more content so that they can effectively compete with the big cable and service providers. These themes are pretty consistent with what we are seeing from our clients that play in the video and content arena, and the media and analysts who are writing about the space.

On the state of the IPO market (or lack thereof) an amusing yet hopeful quote was offered, "Fear is temporary. Greed is eternal." God bless Gordon Gekko.

Dix closed the discussion with two statements he asked the panelists to complete:

Bill Gates comes out of retirement to do what?  Answers ranged from,"take over as CEO of Apple" to "appear in Dancing with the Stars as JLo's partner, doing a spirited rendition of the tango."

Facebook becomes profitable by...?  Answers ranged from "It's not going to happen" to "It sells to Martha Stewart and is renamed Lacebook."

Clearly at this point the group was ready for the beer and barbeque that was waiting outside. However, if you would like to play the game and complete either or both of these statements, please give us your best shot.

I Want my Internet TV

After listening to a few friends discussing two new TV shows, Cashmere Mafia and Lipstick Jungle, I decided to engage.

Our terrible weekend weather this month made it fairly easy for me to commit a few hours one Sunday to watching several episodes of each show on my laptop via the on-demand options the networks are offering. I have to say, it was pretty great. (I have a cable to connect my MacBook to my TV so I could have watched it on the big screen, but that was a technical challenge I wasn't ready to address. And honestly, the quality was pretty crisp on the laptop screen, so it was fine).

Since then I've learned that I'm not alone. A recent article in the New York Times referenced an October Nielsen Media Research study which found that "one in four Internet users had streamed full-length television episodes online in the last three months." It also noted that NBC.com had measured more than half a billion video streams in just over a year.

So I must ask, do you think this watching TV over the Internet thing will really catch on so much that it will outpace actual television viewings?

It certainly is more attractive for me than watching a show when it airs. (I've really learned to dislike commercial interruptions!) The DVR is good too, with the ability to skip commercials being invaluable. But there are enough times that the DVR is close to full (I can't record very many HD shows with the current hard drive capacity) or that I just forgot to program it. The shows online have commercials that you can't skip, but you know exactly how long they will last, and for some reason they seem a bit more bearable.

The implications for broadcasters and service providers are significant if this shift continues (advertising questions, capacity issues, etc.), but that discussion is for another post. At this point, for me, this is about the user being able to watch what they want, when they want. (It brings to mind an old jingle -- Have it Your Way...). In this case, because I did have it my way, the advertisers on Cashmere Mafia and Lipstick Jungle might have benefited. Because I was able to check out the shows and get caught up, they are now programmed in my DVR, so I'll be another set of valuable eyeballs.

Or will I? Since now I will inevitably skip the commercials when I actually watch the recorded shows.

Finger in the wind decision-making

What's a journalist to do these days?  It's very hard to get a straight story from anyone regarding whether the U.S. truly is in a THAT WHICH CANNOT BE NAMED AND BEGINS WITH "R."  In fact, FierceTelecom's Dan O'Shea is trying to determine where things stand in the telecoms market, the same way CNBC Moneyline and AP-Ipsos in their respective broader markets. He is doing a straw poll.   

Telecom service providers for the most part reported pretty solid fourth quarter earnings, while some equipment makers did well and others just managed to maintain positive numbers. The most common attribute across the board was that most telecom companies are tempering their outlooks for 2008. The upward trend of involuntary customer disconnects could have something to do with it, and more broadly housing market doldrums and ongoing recession fears may keep anyone from being too optimistic. Maybe the lingering effect of service provider and vendor consolidation also is keeping the waters muddy. Is this all forming the recipe for another downturn?

We want to know what you think. Take our brand new poll asking if the telecom industry is headed for another downturn. And, please post any more extensive comments you might have about the financial health of the industry, and the direction in which you think various industry health indicators are pointing.

I spent a fair amount of time at the DEMO conference two weeks ago talking with other attendees about this subject.  In hushed tones we would ask each other how things are going with our respective businesses and then almost conspiratorially assess whether a slowdown is coming -- or here -- or if a self-fulfilling prophesy is being trumpeted by the media, who are trying to figure it out so they can do their jobs and report on it. 

An anonymous post to Dan's survey blog made me laugh:   

"No real downturn but we will do our best to talk ourselves into one."

CNBC's Fast Money just posted a reader poll asking the same question.  An recent AP-Ipsos poll documented that the consumers contacted fear the worst is already happening.  My own informal surveys over the past month or so of corporate executives in the tech marketplace differ from this.

Here's hoping Dan O'Shea's poll and the Fast Money poll are more positive.  And maybe, just maybe, we will get some concrete data to work with rather than having to resort to online polls and man-on-the-street interviews.

The Grim Reaper at VON?

This is not my suggestion that VON is dead. It is merely a reference to the fact that when the show floor opened at VON Fall in Boston this week -- on Halloween morning -- the grim reaper was walking around. I'm not sure that would have been the first character I would have suggested roam the exhibit hall, but nonetheless, he was there.

I can't tell if VON is truly a smaller show, or if it's just being dwarfed by the size of the new Boston Convention Center. Add that to the fact that there was the allure of the Rolling Rally Tuesday (yay Red Sox!), which drew at least a few attendees away to catch a glimpse of our World Champions. Further, a few of my clients told me they were headed out of town early to accompany their kids for trick-or-treating that night. It seems that both of these activities might have had an impact on attendance.

As we all do at these shows, I conducted an informal survey to see what people were thinking of the conference. The sense I got was that those that had meeting rooms, and made the investment of time in advance to schedule media, analyst and customer/prospect meetings were feeling very good - so the "right" people were in attendance. Those who had exhibit space and significant booth set-ups were not so sure yet. The consensus was that exhibit hall traffic on the first day was greater - which is always the case, but still not enough to declare VON Fall a success for their companies. They will assess the quality of the leads though, before making a final judgment, but it seemed that those participating in meetings with vendors may not have chosen to spend a lot of time on the show floor.

The themes of the conference were just as you would expect - a lot about voice, unified communications, video over the Net and the (slow but coming) evolution to IMS networks. Although, no earth-shattering announcements were made. 

In the end, my time spent at VON was worth it. It gave me a chance to connect with clients and colleagues in the industry. But I have to admit, I rather would have seen Big Papi walking around the show floor than the grim reaper. I hope that doesn't turn out to be an omen.

UPDATE: Caught this Light Reading post from Ryan Lawler who had a similar reaction on the show floor at VON. If you were at the conference, it would be great to hear about your experience and assessment.

50 years ago today

Today marks the 50th anniversary of Sputnik circling the globe in space. This event launched us into a new world of global communications where all of sudden we had a view into things going on in other countries, even if it was with a bit of a delay. Who would have thought that only 50 years later we would be in a position to not only enjoy global interaction that is so much more sophisticated than what Sputnik initially allowed, but have come to expect it?

The world's telecommunications infrastructure is evolving to a level (thanks to many companies we have worked and do work with) where we now can witness real-time events virtually anywhere. We can "chat" with political candiates. We can "meet" with colleagues in different countries and it seems like they are in the same room. Gamers on six different continents can play each other live in cyberspace. We might actually be at a point where the communications possibilities are endless.

Happy anniversary, Sputnik. You helped bring about the idea that the world can be made a little bit smaller through communication.