Spectrum of Greed

Scary!!

Several of what I am beginning to think of as online tabloids (though many are reputable mainstream publication houses) seem to be nothing more than mouthpieces for a few fear mongers and confusion artists (have I coined a new profession here?) who are fixated on the dire consequences sure to overtake us when the switchover to DTV occurs.  And they obsess about this minutia at a time when our economy is in freefall and we have a congress that wants to play partisan instead of fixing the mess they created to start with.  Why would they be so fixated on such a small percentage of the American people for such an inconsequential issue as the boob tube? (continue reading…)

Join the Rebellion!

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is trying to provide Americans with a freedom that is enjoyed in most other modern countries, but that we are denied here.  It is an outrageous accusation to suggest that the land of the free and the home of the brave might have fewer priviledges when it comes to cell phones than most of the civilized world, yet it is true.  Before you do anything else, go to Free Your Phone, EFF’s rebellion website, and cast a vote for wireless freedom! (continue reading…)

In a detailed industry report on the global and US wireless economy, Chetan Sharma points out many positive things about the wireless industries ability to generate revenue in even these difficult economic times.  Reading between the lines of the many industry sound bites provides an interesting set of facts related to mobile broadband.  The mobile equivalent of broadband today is the flat rate data plan.  By anyone’s measure, this is a poor substitute for land line broadband, but in our inbred wireless economy, this is as good as it gets.  As of the 3rd quarter of 2008, how many subscribers have a flat rate data plan you ask?  Why a whopping 13%.  Verizon has finally broken the barrier for data revenue exceeding 25% of their total revenue stream.  Of course, 40 to 50% of that revenue is generated from messaging related services, the fastest growing portion of the data market.  (continue reading…)

Great device - no freedom

The Palm Pre - Sprint phone is just one more in the “pick your network provider by picking your device” disaster that defines the US wireless marketplace.  Instead of being able to say, “I would like an iPhone, and I would like to use Verizon”, or “I would like a Palm Pre, and I would like to use AT&T”, we are left with having to prioritize.  Would we rather pick our network first, then decide which phone we must settle for, or the other way around?  For business and consumers, this is very frustrating.  For cellular business providers, it is a way of life.  But there is one market opening concession to consumers in the Pre that makes it VERY exciting. (continue reading…)