Index Guide to TelNotes if you are new to this blog

InfoStack Topics:

1) Horizontalization:
a) by charging for service tiers that have nothing to do with underlying bandwidth consumption the telcos are setting themselves up for disintermediation.
b) great discussion on fight between iOS and Droid and what might happen given certain outcomes.  What is missing from discussion is impact lower layers might have.
c) 2 very smart people (Tom Wheeler and Alan Quayle) saying very similar things.  But the end result has to be horizontalization, as the carriers do not have the acumen to fight Facebook, Google, Apple, et al.
2) Upper Layers:
a) Localmind is a location app that cuts across other location/checkin silos.  Neat.
b) Watch Adapteva.  Smartphone processor with 64 core processor, vs 2 today. 
c) I now do 90+% of my text entry via voice on my Droid.  Google is now scaling that capability back online to google.com on your PC.  Now, will it remember my voice?
3) Middle Layers:
a) Ericsson tries to wake carriers up to the opportunity of servicing their customers better.  Like a network engineer would care about the needs of any one user.  Hah!  This article further underscores what carriers should be doing and aren’t.
b) MSFT offers API tool to convert iOS apps to Win7. Smart. Unity does this 4 droid
c) Big Data is something the Bellheads will never get; see what internet cos are using.
d) language analyzers are becoming an important and crowded field to help parse SM txt.
Lower Layers:
a) an open wifi standard, but one also that combines open access with link-layer security.
b) classic monopoly pricing and usage caps driven by average, not marginal cost.
c) Rural Telcon underscores how bandwidth (don’t forget electricity along with it) creates “markets anywhere it goes”; especially rural markets

Market and General Interest Topics:
5) Industry Statistics and Events:
a) good stats on e-commerce history and future.  Probably from mid-2010, but useful.
b) Fred Wilson highlights mobile access to his blog; up to 16% viewing vs ~5-7% last yr.
c) MSFT IE continues to lose ground; still has dominant share of browser market at 55%.
d) Pew reports that gap between whites and blacks has narrowed for broadband adoption.
e) Interop LasVegas May 8-12 should provide lots of good stuff on Enterprise IT trends.
6) Business Strategy:
a) CIO predicts CenturyLink will acquire Sprint; Nextel push to talk would have been ideal with CL’s focus on enterprises
b) Highland Capital partner highlights 3 key traits for successful internet company: photos, immediate gratification, familiarity.  To me they mean: simple, value, usage.
7) Financial:
a) Acme packets demonstrates the power of connections: $5.1bn EV, $300m revs, $100m EBITDA, 54x EBITDA multiple.  Only 5% of lines in US are SIP trunked.
b) stock down 98+%, things couldn’t get any worse for FiberTower as Clearwire cuts $435k monthly revs ($5m annualized): FTWR: $200m EV, $75m revs, ($10m) Ebitda.
c) Boingo has 375k hotspots and is going public Wednesday.  Will this stimulate FMC and interest in alternative broadband solutions?
8) Other:
a) getting close to nature is now possible with the smartphone: Leafsnap!