XConnect looking to dominate IP Interconnectivity

BARCELONA -I met Eli Katz, XConnect CEO, during the Mobile World Congress two weeks ago, for a priviliged insight into the VOIP star that is looking to shine bright in the new universe of digital voice and IP communications.

Eli discussed some of the XConnect's innovative products and enthused over HD voice. Today's analogue calls lead to a deterioration of sound quality which is notable to VOIP users when they make peer-to-peer calls (as on Skype, for example). With HD voice, intonations are much clearer and the jump from analogue to HD voice can be compared to that between mono- and stereo- sound: once you upgrade, you don't feel like going back.

XConnect also signed a deal last year under the GSMA Pathfinder initiative to enable interoperability between mobile operators and fixed telephony registries. This basically opens up next generation IP networks to telcos with legacy network infrastructure.

With Tier 1 VC funding of $22m, XConnect is well positioned for further growth as it seeks to out-compete companies like Synverse in its key markets of South Korea, Netherlands, USA and South Africa.

Le Web '09 Paris-Review and Recommendations from an Official Blogger

PARIS-Wowee! What an action- and news-packed 2 days here in Paris!Loic Le Meur (& team) pulled all the stops to gather some of the most influential web entrepreneurs and thinkers in Paris at this year's show.

From Jack Dorsey of Twitter, to Chad Hurley of YouTube, Niklas Zennstrom of Skype and Marc Simoncini of Meetic, LeWeb this year truly elevated itself to being one of the leading web events worldwide. So influential was the gathering, that #leweb trended as a top topic on Twitter for 2 days running, an impressive feat on its own.Both the BBC and CNN covered the conference.

So, as official blogger of LeWeb'09 (and someone who attended the '08 edition) how can this amazing 2-day event be summed up? What were the salient points? What lessons can be learnt to make next year's event even better (not easy!)?And for those who weren't there, what did it feel like to join the world's web elite?


THE GOOD BITS

First, the good bits -the LeWeb team really did listen to the feedback from last year's edition. The Wifi network worked a treat and no-one died from hypothermia this year. The food was plentiful and the Nespresso coffee flowed freely like a mountain spring.

The speakers at this year's edition were undoubtedly top notch, and covered all the main angles , plus getting Jack Dorsey to premiere his Square payment device was a real scoop. One had a feeling that speakers were as proud to be part of LeWeb as much as Loic was proud to have them present.

The Start-up contest was great -I would say almost an event in its own right, with a great selection of startups. I was particularly impressed by Hyperwords but saw many other cool concepts.I would have liked to have seen more, but ,like many people, would have required a clone to be able to attend all the simultaneous LeWeb sessions I was interested in!

SOME FEEDBACK

Now, for the improvement opportunities...there are not many, but in the spirit of continous improvement, some are worth pointing out...the one that stands out like a sore thumb is the registration process managed by Amiando, which, frankly, was a shambles. Unlike last year, I had registered early to avoid showing up and being told my badge wasn't ready (this happened last year). So, when I saw that there was a separate, shorter queue for 'Press/Bloggers', my heart swelled. But, sadly, it was not to be. I was told that even though the sign said 'Press/Bloggers', really what they meant was 'Press'.

So, I was instructed to queue at the right 'D-F' surname section. After 30 minutes of queueing, it was my turn. 'Sorry, your badge isn't printed' was the reply when I showed my accreditation.So, back to the Helpdesk (manned by only 3 people with one printer at a conference with over 2000 attendees!!) and another 20 minutes of queueing and listening to some French swearing from other people in the queue. NOT the best way to start the day or the conference, especially when you've skipped breakfast to be at the conference venue early.

Next, the blogging process...As Official Blogger, I greatly appreciated having a dedicated space on the lower ground floor with (almost enough) power sockets and tables- many other conferences can learn a lot from this.It was fantastic!Minor points though -the process for getting bloggers' posts on the leweb main website was a little shambolic. Each blogger had to submit a link or RSS from their own blog page in order to get their post online -a much better way would have been to get their feeds from all the blogger sites in advance and link it up automatically to the main event website.

Finally, the official party at the VIPRoom was a lame duck affair, with drinks shockingly priced at €20 a pop and a venue lacking in atmosphere or entertainment value. I understand there was no sponsor -but that is no excuse. If having no sponsor means that no effort is made, then it would have been better to pull the plug on the event. Plus, I heard from attendees of earlier LeWeb editions that these parties used to be great-let's bring the old days back!

GOOD MEMORIES OF LEWEB

There were many great things about the event, so it is difficult to focus on one or two of them as best memories of the conference, but if I had to choose, I would say the salient point was the speech by Queen Rania of Jordan -impactful, up-to-date and elegant. (a queen who personally checks out her tweets-how cool is that!) A real case-study in how a public figure can change the world.

Next best, Gary Vaynerchuk shook things up nicely on stage in the second day of LeWeb with his freewheeling style and sometimes coarse language -it was good to see someone challenging the status quo and sharing contrarian views freely with the audience.

Finally, I claimed my 5 seconds of fame at LeWeb this year!At the end of the event, Loic announced some statistics on the conference (see photo above) about #no. of connected devices, #of iPhones and network usage. Low and behold, I had managed to become the data upload king of leweb, with 15.64 GB of data!!Quite an achievement at an event with 2300 expert web users all competing for bandwidth!

THANK YOU LOIC!

Overall, a big well done and thank you to Loic, Geraldine and the team for LeWeb 09 for delivering such an informative and enjoyable event. Thanks to LeWeb, Europe becomes the centre of the wired world for two days every year, an outstanding achievement by any measure.

Blue Ocean Strategy in the Mobile Sector

2008 will be an exciting year for developments in the mobile sector, a year in which we will witness the narrowing of the gap between traditional and mobile web, the so-called mobile convergence.

It is also a year that promises to offer economic challenges to new and existing start-ups, particularly in the mature western markets, as the trickle down of the US-led credit crunch will be begin to make its presence felt, especially to the middle-class consumer.

I would argue that this offers a perfect opportunity for companies in the Mobile 2.0 space to go for so-called ‘Blue Ocean’ strategies (W.Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne, first published in HBR 2004) and seek new markets with little, if no, competition. This would represent a shift from today’s preference for competing in the ‘Red Ocean’ space, where competitors abound and intense fighting between them leads to much ‘blood spill’.

Examples of web-based companies that succeeded in developing a blue ocean include e-bay and skype (their shared philosophy makes it easier to understand how they are now both under the same roof).

If we look at skype’s value proposition compared to that of the best voice communication alternative at the time (toll-free international calling cards), we can better understand the strength of its positioning (Value range, 0=lowest, 5=highest).

Admittedly, skype may not be as convenient as a calling card (easily available at retail points and used on traditional phones) but for all other value elements, it set itself completely apart and rendered its competition irrelevant. Not surprisingly, skype now gathers together around 10 million subscribers worldwide.

So, how can companies involved in Mobile 2.0 adopt Blue Ocean strategies?

1. Stay clear of crowded markets –yes, they are tempting (other people are making money there!) but success is less likely than in the calmer waters of the blue ocean
2. Think carefully about what value you are adding to the consumer above what is currently available to him/her –and make sure that value gap is as wide as possible!
3. Ignore existing demand for existing services –dare to be different! Look at areas where existing products or services fall short of expectations and then offer something completely new to potential consumers. Turn that non-consumer around to bring him/her back into the market.

Applying these types of questions to existing business models will at the very least provide a litmus test of the intensity of competition a company may face. Applied using a bottom-up approach, it has the potential to generate genuinely new markets or industries we cannot yet even imagine.

Seesmic -one to watch #2

Loic Le Meur is no stranger to web enterprise -San Francisco-based Seesmic is the fifth such start-up he has embarked upon. Only that this time, there is a special touch, in that in a one-of-a-kind initiative, he is keeping a daily video diary of how the whole adventure unfolds.

So what is Seesmic? Loic describes it a community-driven video social software. Others have billed it a video-based twitter. The basic idea is for it to become a very open online video service with a high degree of interaction by part of its users. The company has not actually officially launched (this is expected to happen in February 2008 -aha, the month of the Mobile World Congress!) so only testers can access the beta version.

However, development of the site has achieved a crescendo of activity and it promises to deliver integrated social networking by linking in to facebook, skype, twitter et al. Channels will be created according to specific themes, like technology, hobbies, sports etc.

But what is the business model, I hear you asking? A high degree of user partcipation and critical mass within the channels is intended to act as a strong pull for sponsors and advertisers. Seesmic members posting some of the more popular videos to these channels will in turn receive a percentage of revenues from them.

Loic has a large following in Europe and is somewhat of a web evangelist, allowing word to spread fast about the seesmic initiative.5,000 testers are already helping Loic make his vision a reality and giving a welcome 'open' flavour to the whole project -in today's community-bound web, a sure-fire key to success.Loic has strong support from Niklas Zennstrom of skype fame- "Seesmic rocks -it is Web 3.0".

I will ask Loic what his plans are for seesmic on the mobile web and keep readers updated.Meantime, take a look at Loic's seesmic video-diary -you'll find it to be dangerously addictive!

Truphone -the new Skype?

I'll be highlighting my choice of companies to watch ahead of the Mobile World Congress next month, and one that is worthy of attention is Truphone, founded by serial entrepreneur Alexander Straub in 2005.

Since then, the company has grabbed the headlines and has been labelled as the new skype, with its disruptive approach to the holy grail of cheap or free mobile calls. The Truphone wizard can be downloaded free from the company’s website or via text message, and ought to work on almost any Wi-Fi-enabled handset available on the market. Users of the Truphone service can make free calls and send free texts to other Truphone users. Since calls are carried via Wi-fi over the internet, the call need never enter a regular phone network – fixed or mobile – meaning no operator charges are payable.

Truphone is not without its critics though, some of whom cite the fact that there are innumerable issues with calls over wi-fi, such as service area, coverage and security that mean that Truphone may never make it into the mainstream, but whose main hope is to have its software incorporated within an existing platform.

In an interview in CNBC European Business this month, Alexander Straub exuded optimism and confidence that truphone is delivering on its business model and is here to stay. Given his successful track record with his prior ventures and a recent landmark victory against T-Mobile UK who were illegally blocking Truphone's software, it seems Straub's optimism is justified.