On this week's podcast, I spoke with Joe Parent, Vonage Canada's VP of Marketing and Business Development. I've been wanting to podcast with Vonage for a while, and the time has finally come.
The big picture Vonage story is well covered everywhere, but the Canadian operation doesn't get as much attention, and there's a good story here that needs to be told. I've been following them from Day 1, and one of my very first blog postings was about their open house celebrating their new offices and 1st anniversary back in April 2005.
Joe and I talked about the state of the VoIP market up here, and the challenges all the pureplay VoIP providers face. Aside from what you'd normally expect us to talk about, Joe also focused on the marketing realities up here, and how it's so much tougher than what Vonage corporate faces in the U.S. Imagine if Verizon had a tie-up with MSN or Yahoo, and blocked VoIP competitors like Vonage from doing online advertising on those portals? Or if AT&T owned the NYT and CNBC and wouldn't let competitors advertise there?
Well, that's what it's like here in Canada. We have a very high degree of concentrated ownership in many industries, and the lines between media properties and telcos are blurred in many areas. In short, Vonage's lifeblood is mass marketing to attract subscribers, and many of the best channels that are widely used in the U.S. are closed to them in Canada. This is a problem that won't get fixed any time soon, and it forces Vonage Canada to be more creative in reaching the market with their message. Of course this also holds true for their competitors up here, so it's not just a Vonage story. However, at least you'll get some sense about what the Canadian VoIP players are up against in this podcast.
You can download the podcast here, as well as read more about Joe's background.
Technorati tags: VoIP, Jon Arnold, Vonage Canada, VoIP Podcasts
Friday, September 22, 2006
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Deloitte Fast 50 - Canada's Best
The Globe & Mail had some nice coverage today of the Deloitte Fast 50 Awards, making this a good target for tech companies to watch.
The coverage highlighted a few companies I've been watching, especially Ottawa-based Objectworld, and Toronto-based Impact Mobile. I'll certainly be commenting on these and others in this list as interesting news develops, and plan to do some podcasts with them later in the year, when some spots open up.
It was also nice to see Deloitte's John Ruffolo get some ink. He's Deloitte's tech/telecom/media national practice leader, and I did a podcast with him earlier in the year. I'll look to do another with him soon to talk more about the winners and what it takes to get there.
Technorati tags: Jon Arnold, Deloitte Fast 50, Objectworld, Impact Mobile
The coverage highlighted a few companies I've been watching, especially Ottawa-based Objectworld, and Toronto-based Impact Mobile. I'll certainly be commenting on these and others in this list as interesting news develops, and plan to do some podcasts with them later in the year, when some spots open up.
It was also nice to see Deloitte's John Ruffolo get some ink. He's Deloitte's tech/telecom/media national practice leader, and I did a podcast with him earlier in the year. I'll look to do another with him soon to talk more about the winners and what it takes to get there.
Technorati tags: Jon Arnold, Deloitte Fast 50, Objectworld, Impact Mobile
VoIP Bundles You Can Feel Safe About
Fellow blogger Garrett Smith had an interesting post today about the role home alarm services can play to help VoIP providers differentiate themselves in the market with their bundles. The news element to this post was that Alarm.com has just announced a deal with SunRocket, to go along with the deal they have with Vonage.
Mark Evans is pretty skeptical, and Andy Abramson sees some merit. Speaking of Andy, I just had to mention that he's been experimenting with videoblogging, as followers of his blog would know by now. He posted a fun one today, which I especially like since he's wearing a Red Sox hat.
Back to the story. So, I'm somewhere in the middle between Mark and Andy. While Garrett is reporting on the news aspect of the story, it's not all that new. Vonage discovered early on that their service did not support all home security services, and this sure was a rude shock to some subscribers. It's just one of those things you don't really think about when deciding to sign up for VoIP.
Well, we're well along that path now, and sure, home alarm over IP is a great service to offer in the bundle. I'm with Mark though - it's really a me-too service, and it won't take long for the cablecos and telcos to add a variation on this themselves. I was at an analyst breakfast this week for Allstream/MTS, and when they were talking about the consumer market, Manitoba Telecom is already doing the quintuple play - forget about the Triple Play. Home security is in this mix, along with wireline voice, wireless, broadband and digital TV. So, if little Manitoba Tel can do it, so can most everybody else.
To me, the bigger story - and challenge for the pureplay VoIP operators - is to build on this idea even further, and start looking at their customers not as consumers of communications services, but as inhabitants of the smart home. We're not there yet, of course, but once fiber gets to the home, that connection will able to host a huge variety of services - voice, data and video. Home security is just the beginning - the cool stuff will be around things like surveillance, automated home controls and virtual personal services.
These are things that providers like Vonage and SunRocket could really run with and call their own. The beauty of being an IP-based pureplay is that you can be anything you want to be, and serve customers anywhere. You're not bound by the footprint of your physical network, and you're not boxed in by the legacy of being a telco or a cableco. So, to me, this is the one area the VoIP pureplays have an inherent advantage, and home security is a smart first step along the way to creating a value proposition that the big players will have trouble matching. The trick is to do it differently so it's not a me-too. That will be hard, but at least this is an area where they have a head start, and this is the time to get it right - before the MSOs take over the market and the telcos come in with both feet.
Technorati tags: Jon Arnold, Alarm.com, Andy Abramson, Garrett Smith, Mark Evans
Mark Evans is pretty skeptical, and Andy Abramson sees some merit. Speaking of Andy, I just had to mention that he's been experimenting with videoblogging, as followers of his blog would know by now. He posted a fun one today, which I especially like since he's wearing a Red Sox hat.
Back to the story. So, I'm somewhere in the middle between Mark and Andy. While Garrett is reporting on the news aspect of the story, it's not all that new. Vonage discovered early on that their service did not support all home security services, and this sure was a rude shock to some subscribers. It's just one of those things you don't really think about when deciding to sign up for VoIP.
Well, we're well along that path now, and sure, home alarm over IP is a great service to offer in the bundle. I'm with Mark though - it's really a me-too service, and it won't take long for the cablecos and telcos to add a variation on this themselves. I was at an analyst breakfast this week for Allstream/MTS, and when they were talking about the consumer market, Manitoba Telecom is already doing the quintuple play - forget about the Triple Play. Home security is in this mix, along with wireline voice, wireless, broadband and digital TV. So, if little Manitoba Tel can do it, so can most everybody else.
To me, the bigger story - and challenge for the pureplay VoIP operators - is to build on this idea even further, and start looking at their customers not as consumers of communications services, but as inhabitants of the smart home. We're not there yet, of course, but once fiber gets to the home, that connection will able to host a huge variety of services - voice, data and video. Home security is just the beginning - the cool stuff will be around things like surveillance, automated home controls and virtual personal services.
These are things that providers like Vonage and SunRocket could really run with and call their own. The beauty of being an IP-based pureplay is that you can be anything you want to be, and serve customers anywhere. You're not bound by the footprint of your physical network, and you're not boxed in by the legacy of being a telco or a cableco. So, to me, this is the one area the VoIP pureplays have an inherent advantage, and home security is a smart first step along the way to creating a value proposition that the big players will have trouble matching. The trick is to do it differently so it's not a me-too. That will be hard, but at least this is an area where they have a head start, and this is the time to get it right - before the MSOs take over the market and the telcos come in with both feet.
Technorati tags: Jon Arnold, Alarm.com, Andy Abramson, Garrett Smith, Mark Evans
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
AT&T/Counterpath Launch Softphone Application
One of the best stories making news at Fall VON last week was the launch of a softphone service for AT&T's CallVantage VoIP service. It's big news on two fronts. First, it shows innovation on AT&T's part by offering both landline and PC-based VoIP for the mass market. As big as AT&T may be, this news shows they can be just as nimble as the competition, and are now making a very good product even better. It also shows they are open to working with smaller vendors, which Tier 1s don't do very readily, so kudos to them for supporting the startup ecosystem.
Secondly, it's great news for Counterpath, a small company who has been leading the way in the softphone space for some time - previously known as Xten. Their eyeBeam 1.5 SIP softphone is particularly interesting because it supports both voice and video calling. So, CallVantage customers can do a lot more now than just make cheap phone calls. Oh, and did I mention they're Canadian? Chalk up another good win for the Great White North, eh.
It's also worth noting that Counterpath is the softphone used by many other VoIP providers, including Vonage, Packet 8, Earthlink and Telio. I mention this because early on, I recall Vonage talking about their softphone offering - back when Counterpath was called Xten. From all I can tell, Vonage hasn't done much with the softphone to differentiate themselves. Packet 8 certainly took this much futher by investing a lot in a videophone offering. It didn't get them very far, but at least they dared to be different.
It looks to me like AT&T has taken these same softphone apps a lot farther than Vonage has, which is not really what's supposed to happen. Unfortunately, Vonage has taken a lot of flak for losing its edge and not innovating enough. AT&T is in a great position to really ramp up CallVantage, and the softphone offering makes it look like a pretty nice package. This is not good news for Vonage, but frankly, I think that's a secondary concern for AT&T. The cablecos are getting all the attention now as their VoIP subs continue to boom, and the pressure is really on AT&T and Verizon to stay competitive.
If you're still with me, this is a long-winded post initially designed to get you to Andy Abramson's post from yesterday. He's a long time CallVantage user - and a happy one - and his post is a great example of how AT&T has got enough marketing smarts to stay in the game. Have a listen...
Technorati tags: Jon Arnold, Counterpath, Andy Abramson, AT&T CallVantage, VoIP
Secondly, it's great news for Counterpath, a small company who has been leading the way in the softphone space for some time - previously known as Xten. Their eyeBeam 1.5 SIP softphone is particularly interesting because it supports both voice and video calling. So, CallVantage customers can do a lot more now than just make cheap phone calls. Oh, and did I mention they're Canadian? Chalk up another good win for the Great White North, eh.
It's also worth noting that Counterpath is the softphone used by many other VoIP providers, including Vonage, Packet 8, Earthlink and Telio. I mention this because early on, I recall Vonage talking about their softphone offering - back when Counterpath was called Xten. From all I can tell, Vonage hasn't done much with the softphone to differentiate themselves. Packet 8 certainly took this much futher by investing a lot in a videophone offering. It didn't get them very far, but at least they dared to be different.
It looks to me like AT&T has taken these same softphone apps a lot farther than Vonage has, which is not really what's supposed to happen. Unfortunately, Vonage has taken a lot of flak for losing its edge and not innovating enough. AT&T is in a great position to really ramp up CallVantage, and the softphone offering makes it look like a pretty nice package. This is not good news for Vonage, but frankly, I think that's a secondary concern for AT&T. The cablecos are getting all the attention now as their VoIP subs continue to boom, and the pressure is really on AT&T and Verizon to stay competitive.
If you're still with me, this is a long-winded post initially designed to get you to Andy Abramson's post from yesterday. He's a long time CallVantage user - and a happy one - and his post is a great example of how AT&T has got enough marketing smarts to stay in the game. Have a listen...
Technorati tags: Jon Arnold, Counterpath, Andy Abramson, AT&T CallVantage, VoIP
QuickPlay Gets Funding
I've been following QuickPlay Media for some time - both on my blog and via podcast - and it's great to hear that they secured funding last week. They're doing good things in the burgeoning mobile content space, and being Toronto-based, are particularly close to home for me. With RIM's Pearl coming out now, I think you'll be hearing more about QuickPlay soon. They announced their media partners that support the Blackberry last week at CTIA, and I'm sure Pearl won't be far behind.
Hat tip to Mark Evans on this one, and as Mark noted yesterday, it's great to see that a Toronto-based VC - JL Albright Ventures - was part of the round.
Technorati tags: Jon Arnold, QuickPlay Media, Mark Evans
Hat tip to Mark Evans on this one, and as Mark noted yesterday, it's great to see that a Toronto-based VC - JL Albright Ventures - was part of the round.
Technorati tags: Jon Arnold, QuickPlay Media, Mark Evans
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Fall VON Podcast #2
I have 2 things left to post from Fall VON, and was hoping to do them at once. The podcast is ready now, but not the video segment - I'll post the latter as soon as it's up.
So, this is my second podcast done from the floor - both with colleague Jim Courtney. The first one was about our impressions of the show, and that was posted the other day.
This podcast focused on the Canadian presence at the show, which I'd have to say was pretty good. Jim and I basically talked about the Canadian exhibitors, and some of the good things that are happening for them.
To hear the Canadian flag being waved at VON, download the pod here.
Technorati tags: Jon Arnold, Fall VON, Jim Courtney, VoIP podcasts
So, this is my second podcast done from the floor - both with colleague Jim Courtney. The first one was about our impressions of the show, and that was posted the other day.
This podcast focused on the Canadian presence at the show, which I'd have to say was pretty good. Jim and I basically talked about the Canadian exhibitors, and some of the good things that are happening for them.
To hear the Canadian flag being waved at VON, download the pod here.
Technorati tags: Jon Arnold, Fall VON, Jim Courtney, VoIP podcasts
Monday, September 18, 2006
TalkingTech - More Canadian Podcasting
Fellow Canadian Mark Evans cover tech as well as anybody up here, and he's been doing so with the National Post for several years. His blog is great reading, and Mark covers a lot of ground very well - both for the paper and on his blog.
He's also been podcasting for a while, doing so as a duo with Kevin Restivo. Until recently, Kevin has been on staff with Mark at the Post, but starting this month, he's moved to the analyst world, and is with Seaboard Group.
I didn't get to track the blogs much last week while at Fall VON, and it was nice to see Mark's post the other day announcing a new and improved podcast, now known as TalkingTech. I really like the name, and he's continuing on with Kevin, which is good news. As the post explains, they've got some branding help behind them, so the look and feel is very nice. Catchy intro music too! Looks like last week's pod was their first under this new moniker and persona. Way to go, guys.
Their pods are quite different than mine, as theirs is more of a tech news roundup for the week, and mine features a different interview guest each week. It's all good, and if you're looking to get more of your Canadian podcasting fix, please check out TalkingTech.
Technorati tags: Jon Arnold, Mark Evans, podcasts
He's also been podcasting for a while, doing so as a duo with Kevin Restivo. Until recently, Kevin has been on staff with Mark at the Post, but starting this month, he's moved to the analyst world, and is with Seaboard Group.
I didn't get to track the blogs much last week while at Fall VON, and it was nice to see Mark's post the other day announcing a new and improved podcast, now known as TalkingTech. I really like the name, and he's continuing on with Kevin, which is good news. As the post explains, they've got some branding help behind them, so the look and feel is very nice. Catchy intro music too! Looks like last week's pod was their first under this new moniker and persona. Way to go, guys.
Their pods are quite different than mine, as theirs is more of a tech news roundup for the week, and mine features a different interview guest each week. It's all good, and if you're looking to get more of your Canadian podcasting fix, please check out TalkingTech.
Technorati tags: Jon Arnold, Mark Evans, podcasts
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