Just been IM'g with Thomas Howe on Skype, and the word from Mr. Howe is that he came away with the #1 spot at the Telephony Mashup Contest.
This was a last minute thing, but it sure looks like it was worth it for Thomas. For more detail on what this is about, have a look at my post from Monday.
I haven't seen any news about this on the blogs yet, and I suspect I'm first to post about it. Hopefully, others will pick up on this shortly.
Thomas is now $1,500 richer, and it's official - dinner is on him when he comes up to Toronto next week. I'll drink to that. Congrats, Thomas!
Technorati tags: Thomas Howe, Jon Arnold, ETel, Web 2.0
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Microsoft adCenter Canadian Launch
Today was a big day for Microsoft Canada, as they formally launched adCenter. I took part in the analyst briefing this morning, and just got back from the very fun launch event tonight. They sure know how to put on a show, but more on that later.
Quick sidebar - am I the only one asking whether they should have used Canadian spelling for adCenter? I wouldn't really expect them to, but for all the earnest flag waving going on today about the launch, and how great a market Canada is for Microsoft, it just struck me as a bit ironic. I'm odd, I know....
Everyone knows that online advertising is one of the last frontiers for Microsoft to conquer, and it's taken a while given Google's dominance of this space. It's all about search in the online advertising game, and this is an area where Microsoft has traditionally lagged Google and Yahoo. The stakes are too high for Microsoft not to be in this, and adCenter has already been launched in the U.S., France, U.K. and Singapore. They may never become the top search engine on the Internet, but it's clear to me that Microsoft has taken a bigger picture, more strategic approach to the online ad market.
Before getting to this, I must say they did a great job setting the stage for why they're in this business. I've never really followed the numbers in this market, but I see what they are now. They explained how the total spend on advertising in the U.S. is $570 billion - that's a lot of Bud, Chevys and Nikes. Online advertising only gets $22 billion - which is still a lot of money, but a small piece of the pie.
Microsoft would argue this is out of whack with consumer behavior. Their data shows that online activities account for 20% of all media viewership, which is not unreasonable to me. On that basis, online ad spending should be much larger - $115 billion. Well, guess what? That spend level is almost the size of the entire software industry, which they peg at $135 billion. If all goes to plan, Microsoft is poised to enter a very big market where they have a very good chance of becoming a major player. Especially if you agree with their assessment that "it's very early in the game". Sure, Google has made piles of money already, but I'll agree that online advertising is hardly a mature medium and, we haven't even begun to tap to potential of a Web 2.0 world.
Rather than try to beat Google and Yahoo at their own game, it looks to me like Microsoft is leveraging the ubiquity of its brand and presence in our daily lives. They see adCenter as a natural extension of the many touchpoints Microsoft has in our "digital lifestyle". It's true, at all times of the day, whether at work or at home, most of us are using some product or service from Microsoft. It could be Outlook, Windows, Office, Messenger, Hotmail, Media Center, XBox, IPTV, Zune... you get the picture. Across all ages, genders, lifestyles - Microsoft is part of our everyday lives.
This gives Microsoft something very valuable that advertisers cannot get from Google and Yahoo - a targeted audience. Of course, you somehow need to be logged in when using Microsoft apps to do this, but when you are, they can provide advertisers a much higher level of control and targeting, allowing them to get a better ROI. They cited examples to support that tonight, so there is evidence to show that adCenter is an efficient and effective vehicle for online advertisers. They also provided some terrific Canadian case studies to show how well some early trials have gone. So far, so good. Oh, and kudos to High Road Communications for putting all this together and getting me home by 8! First rate.
I'll leave you with some photo highlights, courtesy of my Nokia N93.
Don't you love the tag line - "The Search Is Over". I guess they mean the search for the right online ad vehicle is over, but are they perhaps hinting that "search" - as defined by the competition - is over - that's just so 2006, and Microsoft has taken this to a whole other level? We'll see.....
Blake Irving, Corp. VP, Windows Live --- and David Jakubowski, GM, Microsoft adCenter - these guys came a long way to get to Toronto, so this really was a big deal. Great presentations, btw.
Ok, presos are over - sushi time! And a great set by Montreal's Sam Roberts Band. Very nicely done, and guess what was in the swag bag? Their latest CD, Chemical City, signed by the band. Nice touch.
CODA - this is important folks, esp if you're a music guy like me! Sam Roberts Band is in the running for Spin's Artist of the Year. They've made it to Round 4, and are up against The Rewinds from Birmingham, Alabama. I just had a listen to their sample song, Voice In My Head - not bad, but my vote's gone to SRB. Go Canada!
Technorati tags: Microsoft Canada, Jon Arnold, adCenter
Quick sidebar - am I the only one asking whether they should have used Canadian spelling for adCenter? I wouldn't really expect them to, but for all the earnest flag waving going on today about the launch, and how great a market Canada is for Microsoft, it just struck me as a bit ironic. I'm odd, I know....
Everyone knows that online advertising is one of the last frontiers for Microsoft to conquer, and it's taken a while given Google's dominance of this space. It's all about search in the online advertising game, and this is an area where Microsoft has traditionally lagged Google and Yahoo. The stakes are too high for Microsoft not to be in this, and adCenter has already been launched in the U.S., France, U.K. and Singapore. They may never become the top search engine on the Internet, but it's clear to me that Microsoft has taken a bigger picture, more strategic approach to the online ad market.
Before getting to this, I must say they did a great job setting the stage for why they're in this business. I've never really followed the numbers in this market, but I see what they are now. They explained how the total spend on advertising in the U.S. is $570 billion - that's a lot of Bud, Chevys and Nikes. Online advertising only gets $22 billion - which is still a lot of money, but a small piece of the pie.
Microsoft would argue this is out of whack with consumer behavior. Their data shows that online activities account for 20% of all media viewership, which is not unreasonable to me. On that basis, online ad spending should be much larger - $115 billion. Well, guess what? That spend level is almost the size of the entire software industry, which they peg at $135 billion. If all goes to plan, Microsoft is poised to enter a very big market where they have a very good chance of becoming a major player. Especially if you agree with their assessment that "it's very early in the game". Sure, Google has made piles of money already, but I'll agree that online advertising is hardly a mature medium and, we haven't even begun to tap to potential of a Web 2.0 world.
Rather than try to beat Google and Yahoo at their own game, it looks to me like Microsoft is leveraging the ubiquity of its brand and presence in our daily lives. They see adCenter as a natural extension of the many touchpoints Microsoft has in our "digital lifestyle". It's true, at all times of the day, whether at work or at home, most of us are using some product or service from Microsoft. It could be Outlook, Windows, Office, Messenger, Hotmail, Media Center, XBox, IPTV, Zune... you get the picture. Across all ages, genders, lifestyles - Microsoft is part of our everyday lives.
This gives Microsoft something very valuable that advertisers cannot get from Google and Yahoo - a targeted audience. Of course, you somehow need to be logged in when using Microsoft apps to do this, but when you are, they can provide advertisers a much higher level of control and targeting, allowing them to get a better ROI. They cited examples to support that tonight, so there is evidence to show that adCenter is an efficient and effective vehicle for online advertisers. They also provided some terrific Canadian case studies to show how well some early trials have gone. So far, so good. Oh, and kudos to High Road Communications for putting all this together and getting me home by 8! First rate.
I'll leave you with some photo highlights, courtesy of my Nokia N93.
Don't you love the tag line - "The Search Is Over". I guess they mean the search for the right online ad vehicle is over, but are they perhaps hinting that "search" - as defined by the competition - is over - that's just so 2006, and Microsoft has taken this to a whole other level? We'll see.....
Blake Irving, Corp. VP, Windows Live --- and David Jakubowski, GM, Microsoft adCenter - these guys came a long way to get to Toronto, so this really was a big deal. Great presentations, btw.
Ok, presos are over - sushi time! And a great set by Montreal's Sam Roberts Band. Very nicely done, and guess what was in the swag bag? Their latest CD, Chemical City, signed by the band. Nice touch.
CODA - this is important folks, esp if you're a music guy like me! Sam Roberts Band is in the running for Spin's Artist of the Year. They've made it to Round 4, and are up against The Rewinds from Birmingham, Alabama. I just had a listen to their sample song, Voice In My Head - not bad, but my vote's gone to SRB. Go Canada!
Technorati tags: Microsoft Canada, Jon Arnold, adCenter
Monday, February 26, 2007
Good Luck at theETel Mashup, Thomas
The O'Reilly Emerging Telephony Conference - ETel - starts tomorrow, and should be a great event. I won't be attending, but have been following Tim O'Reilly from a distance, and think he's focused on a lot of cool and important things, especially around Web 2.0. For everyday developments and insights, their Emerging Telephony blog is a great resource, especially Editor, Bruce Stewart.
Fellow indie consultant, colleague and blogger, Thomas Howe, gave me a call Saturday night to tell me he's presenting at ETel on Tuesday. He's been selected as one of three developer mashups who get to present at O'Reilly's "first ever" Telephony Mashup Contest. First prize - $1,500, so there's real money on the line. Sounds like a good idea to me.
I'm not going to tell you what his mashup is, but I do think he's got a winning idea. He may be an Engineer, but Thomas understands what makes business sense, and he's got a application that solves a real problem and has a real financial benefit. Good luck Thomas - I'll be rootin' for ya.
Thomas was actually planning to come up to the Toronto area today, and we were going to meet up tonight, but when he got the news, those plans changed. So, I'll find other ways to keep busy tonight, and we'll get together another time. I can live with that, and if he wins, he's buying dinner. That's fair.
Another notable happening at ETel is the Launch Pad, co-produced by O'Reilly and Om Malik. Should be a great forum for getting up close with some promising startups. The seven finalists were announced the other day, and I'm friendly with two of them - GrandCentral and Flat Planet Phone Company. GrandCentral has been on my briefing calendar for a while, and a cursory visit to Andy Abramson's blog will quickly put you in the midst of all the coverage they're getting (they're a client of Andy's). Flat Planet is new to the scene, but I've made fast friends with their CEO, Moshe Maeir, and I think they're on to something good. I'd put them on your watch list.
Technorati tags: Thomas Howe, Jon Arnold, ETel, Web 2.0
Fellow indie consultant, colleague and blogger, Thomas Howe, gave me a call Saturday night to tell me he's presenting at ETel on Tuesday. He's been selected as one of three developer mashups who get to present at O'Reilly's "first ever" Telephony Mashup Contest. First prize - $1,500, so there's real money on the line. Sounds like a good idea to me.
I'm not going to tell you what his mashup is, but I do think he's got a winning idea. He may be an Engineer, but Thomas understands what makes business sense, and he's got a application that solves a real problem and has a real financial benefit. Good luck Thomas - I'll be rootin' for ya.
Thomas was actually planning to come up to the Toronto area today, and we were going to meet up tonight, but when he got the news, those plans changed. So, I'll find other ways to keep busy tonight, and we'll get together another time. I can live with that, and if he wins, he's buying dinner. That's fair.
Another notable happening at ETel is the Launch Pad, co-produced by O'Reilly and Om Malik. Should be a great forum for getting up close with some promising startups. The seven finalists were announced the other day, and I'm friendly with two of them - GrandCentral and Flat Planet Phone Company. GrandCentral has been on my briefing calendar for a while, and a cursory visit to Andy Abramson's blog will quickly put you in the midst of all the coverage they're getting (they're a client of Andy's). Flat Planet is new to the scene, but I've made fast friends with their CEO, Moshe Maeir, and I think they're on to something good. I'd put them on your watch list.
Technorati tags: Thomas Howe, Jon Arnold, ETel, Web 2.0
Friday, February 23, 2007
Jim Courtney - New Presence in the Real World with Iotum
Jim Courtney had a great post bright and early this morning on Skype Journal about his trip to Ottawa and subsequent review of Iotum's Talk-Now application.
It's a really good sequel to his post the other day that I cited about New Presence. It's heady stuff, and what's great about today's post is how Jim illustrates how Talk-Now is a prime example of what New Presence is and what it means for end users.
Now if we can just everyone else to see this, we'll all be communicating more efficiently.
Technorati tags: Jim Courtney, Jon Arnold, Presence, Iotum
It's a really good sequel to his post the other day that I cited about New Presence. It's heady stuff, and what's great about today's post is how Jim illustrates how Talk-Now is a prime example of what New Presence is and what it means for end users.
Now if we can just everyone else to see this, we'll all be communicating more efficiently.
Technorati tags: Jim Courtney, Jon Arnold, Presence, Iotum
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Aastra Launches New Line of SIP Phones
Aastra is one of my favorite companies for a few reasons. Briefly - they make a great line of phones for all budgets - both IP and TDM, they're a public company with a solid track record of growth, they're in Canada, and even better, they're right here in Toronto. That says a lot for me, since there are so few companies that fit that overall description. Toronto is not a hotbed for IP comm startups, but we sure have a thriving Web 2.0 community - but then again, who doesn't, these days?
I've been following Aastra for a while, and am getting to know them better, and I'm even using one of their phones in my office. For this post, I just wanted to draw attention to today's announcement of their 5i family of SIP-based phones.
The Aastra 5i Series consists of 4 SIP telephones, along with 2 expansion modules. For businesses that are moving to IP, and have embraced multimedia communications, these phones have a lot to offer, namely a rich IP feature set, and large screen displays to support XML graphics.
I'd love to tell you more, but I haven't seen them yet. However, I am planning to do a podcast with Aastra in the next few weeks, so you can get the next thing by hearing us talk about it.
Technorati tags: Aastra, Jon Arnold, SIP phones
I've been following Aastra for a while, and am getting to know them better, and I'm even using one of their phones in my office. For this post, I just wanted to draw attention to today's announcement of their 5i family of SIP-based phones.
The Aastra 5i Series consists of 4 SIP telephones, along with 2 expansion modules. For businesses that are moving to IP, and have embraced multimedia communications, these phones have a lot to offer, namely a rich IP feature set, and large screen displays to support XML graphics.
I'd love to tell you more, but I haven't seen them yet. However, I am planning to do a podcast with Aastra in the next few weeks, so you can get the next thing by hearing us talk about it.
Technorati tags: Aastra, Jon Arnold, SIP phones
Canadian IP Thought Leaders Series - Joe Warnement, Digital Fairway Corp.
On this week's podcast, I spoke with Joe Warnement. He's the CEO of Toronto-based Digital Fairway Corp. This company is new to me, and it's great to find these companies who have a local presence. Digital Fairway is in the OSS space, but my particular interest is their focus on providing solutions to help large enterprises better manage their communications infrastructure and expenses. This is certainly becoming more important as companies struggle with the proliferation of wireless devices, and ways to integrate this with existing wireline communications systems.
It's a big challenge, and it's multi-faceted, and that what Joe spoke to on the podcast. There are many angles to this, and Joe provided an overview of the problems, and the difficulty enterprises have coming to grips with them. A lot of classic network convergence issues here, and Joe has a very good perspective on what it takes to make this work.
I should also add that Digital Fairway is getting some nice market recognition these day. For the past 2 years, I've been posting about the Deloitte Fast 50 and Fast 500, and in 2006, Digital Fairway made on both lists. For the Fast 50, which is Canada-only, they ranked #16. For the broader Fast 500, which includes both the U.S. and Canada, they ranked #95.
You can download the podcast here, as well as read more about Joe's background.
Technorati tags: Joe Warnement, Jon Arnold, VoIP podcasts, Digital Fairway
It's a big challenge, and it's multi-faceted, and that what Joe spoke to on the podcast. There are many angles to this, and Joe provided an overview of the problems, and the difficulty enterprises have coming to grips with them. A lot of classic network convergence issues here, and Joe has a very good perspective on what it takes to make this work.
I should also add that Digital Fairway is getting some nice market recognition these day. For the past 2 years, I've been posting about the Deloitte Fast 50 and Fast 500, and in 2006, Digital Fairway made on both lists. For the Fast 50, which is Canada-only, they ranked #16. For the broader Fast 500, which includes both the U.S. and Canada, they ranked #95.
You can download the podcast here, as well as read more about Joe's background.
Technorati tags: Joe Warnement, Jon Arnold, VoIP podcasts, Digital Fairway
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Jim Courtney in Support of New Presence
Fellow blogger and colleague Jim Courtney has a very thought provoking post today on Skype Journal, and I've been meaning to post about it all day.
For anyone who has concerns about the intrusiveness of always-on communications - myself included - this is a great read. Jim is a technophile for sure, and has been trialing all kinds of leading edge IP services and apps, so he's got a very good handle on all this.
Through all these experiences, Jim is bringing us around to the virtues of Web 2.0 applications, and more importantly, a more refined approach to Presence to make the always-on world a good thing. On its own, Presence is really more beneficial to the sender than the receiver, but we all know how annoying that is.
Alec Saunders is no stranger to my blog - and I'm sure to many of you - and he has articulated this thinking more extensively, and calls it New Presence. I'll steer you to his blog post about this, and that will really tell the story about how Presence really can be a good thing for both the sender and receiver. Alec's company, Iotum, is a pioneer in this regard, and they are one of the companies that Jim talks about in his post that is bringing this idea to market with applications you can use today.
Andy Abramson added his informed take on Jim's post earlier, and is another good read on these ideas.
Technorati tags: Jim Courtney, Jon Arnold, presence
For anyone who has concerns about the intrusiveness of always-on communications - myself included - this is a great read. Jim is a technophile for sure, and has been trialing all kinds of leading edge IP services and apps, so he's got a very good handle on all this.
Through all these experiences, Jim is bringing us around to the virtues of Web 2.0 applications, and more importantly, a more refined approach to Presence to make the always-on world a good thing. On its own, Presence is really more beneficial to the sender than the receiver, but we all know how annoying that is.
Alec Saunders is no stranger to my blog - and I'm sure to many of you - and he has articulated this thinking more extensively, and calls it New Presence. I'll steer you to his blog post about this, and that will really tell the story about how Presence really can be a good thing for both the sender and receiver. Alec's company, Iotum, is a pioneer in this regard, and they are one of the companies that Jim talks about in his post that is bringing this idea to market with applications you can use today.
Andy Abramson added his informed take on Jim's post earlier, and is another good read on these ideas.
Technorati tags: Jim Courtney, Jon Arnold, presence
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