I like Verizon Wireless and its not just because I’m a former employee. I feel they make wise decisions when it comes to business. For example, next time you are at the mall…check for other people’s cell phones. You can always tell who is a Verizon Wireless customer…the majority of the time they are the cell phone users who can have either a case on their phone and use a headset. The reason why you can almost make this bet is because Verizon Wireless’ sales reps HAVE to sell accessories! Part of their quota structure is selling 3 accessories per phone that leaves the store or kiosk. Now, the accessories have great benefits, but from a company perspective, this is a GREAT move on their behalf. The accessories that Verizon Wireless gets, with the expensive branded packaging, probably cost them a few dollars, $4 maybe? They then turn around and sell those accessories for at least $20. That is a lot of profit just off of accessories.
But this isn’t about Verizon Wireless and what a great company they are in some regards. This is about their recent lawsuit against the FCC and their proposed 700mhz wireless spectrum auction. Let me just say…Kevin Martin is dumb. He looks like an idiot. He allows some open-access rules for the wireless auctions and now is changing his mind and back pedaling in his decision just because Verizon Wireless isn’t happy. Verizon Wireless barely said a thing while Google petitioned the FCC for the open-access rules. Now they are suing saying that these rules violated the US Constitution. Psh. Verizon Wireless has one of the most locked down networks in the world. Every single one of their handsets has special software! All of their basic phones has the Verizon Wireless UI and the PDA’s software is locked down to take away certain features like the obex bluetooth profile! Come on!
I will say that this could change in the future. Verizon Wireless and Vodafone announced recently that they both will be adopting the Long Term Evolution(LTE) technology which is similar to the current 3g UMTS networks that the GSM carriers have. LTE is a GSM technology which should allow customers to swap their sim cards into another handset.
We’ll see how it all pans out. I am excited for the spectrum auctions and to see who ponys up for it!
Google has been in the news for awhile in regards to making advertising plays in many distribution channels besides online. They are trying to do TV, radio, and even newspaper ads. I’m constantly impressed by Google and their management for going horizontal with their business and getting their hands in different jars. From a long term perspective, it gives them a lot of stability and growth.
It will be interesting to watch this rumor develop as time goes on and see if and what Google will do with Sirius. I can understand buying them, but is it really necessary to own them to do radio advertising? I guess it would make it interesting since they seem to be trying to make that same play with cell phones next year during the wireless spectrum auctions!
I was working for Alltel Wireless a few years ago and I absolutely HATED Motorola. The Motorola v60s were a tank of a phone. I had a customer accidently put one through his snow blower, got chucked 10-20 feet, and was still working! There was one flaw with the Motorola cell phones…the charging port. It got so bad, that Motorola recalled a bunch of them and was replacing them with an upgraded phone, I think it was the old 720s. Not very durable, but it had a “redesigned” or “reinforced” charging/data port. During this time frame there was all this talk about Motorola changing the charging port but it didn’t come for years later when the mini usb port came out. Slowly but surely cell phone manufactures started “standardizing” their charging ports (Motorola, UT Starrcom, and Blackberry use similar mini usb chargers).
Now, with much happiness, the Open Mobile Terminal Platform (OMPT) agreed on a micro-usb standard for the charing ports of cell phones! I’m sure it will be awhile before this actually is implemented, but it will be interesting to see if any new or different cell phone accessories come out of it.
I got home from work today and I got back on my computer to mess around. While I was sitting in the kitchen, my dad got home and turned on the TV. The Dr. Phil Show was on…not exactly the show I would have picked. He had Kyla Ebbert on his show today. She is suing Southwest Airlines for making her change clothes to get on her flight. I think its pretty ridiculous of them but that’s not the point of this. Here is a video from YouTube:
Now…the real purpose of this article! During the show, Dr. Phil had a representative for a competing airline on the show, Virgin Airlines. *clap* *clap* *clap* *clap* What a marvelous display of taking someone’s bad PR and turning it into good PR for themselves! This representative gave free tickets to Kyla AND wants her to be on an inaugural flight of theirs coming up.
But wait a minute! Thats not all!
Then…that slick Richard Branson’s and his Virgin Airlines gave tickets to the WHOLE audience! WHOA! Talk about good PR and a slap in the face to Southwest Airlines!
So Teddy Ruxpin came across my Google RSS feeder this morning…what a blast from the past!
CrunchGear has apparently take the article down since then but the article was about Cognitive Code Corp. and their SILVIA artificial intelligence(AI) products. Their products look sweet, I mean, I would love to talk to my PDA or car! One highlight is that “SILVIA is a complete system for the development and deployment of intelligent applications to almost any computing platform or operating system, with a technological core that allows humans to interact with computers in completely natural and intuitive ways.”
Remember Knight Rider’s KITT? This could be KITT brought to life to some extent! They claim their system can be integrated through some development tools and API. I cannot wait until AI starts to integrate with everything from cars to cell phones to search engines to social networking!
Any other cool ways this technology could be integrated??
Apparently Yahoo is about to launch their social network called “Mash”. Personally, I like to watch people take shots for the stars. Yahoo and MSN are chomping at the bit to catch Google…There are a TON of social networks like Myspace and soon to be Mash that are chasing after Facebook. Everyday I see more and more social networks launching.
What is Mash’s selling point? It’s a Yahoo product? Thats going to help get some initial subscribers but long term its not going to be a Facebook unless there is something Yahoo has WAY up its sleeve. From the early reviews/reports, it looks like Mash is going to be a wiki-social network where you can allow users to edit your profile if you want. I just see that as a big pain. I have one friend who will change things just because and I would ultimately just turn the feature off.
My Google RSS feeder isn’t working properly today! It’s only in IE tho, go figure! I should be using Firefox 100% by now, but I have been using both interchangeably.
My opinion…Apple wants to ride on Google’s coattails! Maybe they are a little addicted to fame? They saw Google get huge news over their proposal to the FCC and they got huge hype with the iPhone launch and can’t get enough of the blogsphere going crazy over them!
I think Google makes for an awesome bidder for the proposed wireless spectrum. They have the capital and the products to make for a great wireless company. Imagine devices such as the iPhone with the power of all the Google applications and tools with you at all times? Not only Google Search, but Google Maps, Froogle, and Google Local. These tools are getting more powerful with time and at a consumer’s finger tips on the go with an interface that integrates them efficiently? It sounds great! Local meets Froogle…consumers win in price, and so does the company offering the lowest price(if this were a perfect world).
Now lets take a look at what Apple has to offer. Devices. That pretty much sums it up. They have money, but I don’t know that media devices are going to do it. Plus, who wants to trust an Apple wireless company after they picked AT&T as the wireless carrier for the initial iPhone launch?!? Didn’t anyone watch David Pogue from the New York Times’ video IPhone: The Musical. Check it out, its great! The part that sums it up is right at 2:40! I laugh every time!
I can’t wait to see how the FCC wireless auctions turn out! Tech companies vs. Telecom companies! I hope Tech wins so we can see some revolutions in the wireless industry!
Welcome to my blog! My name is Corey Hammond, if you couldn’t tell by now! I’m currently working for The Karcher Group as an SEO Specialist. I’d like this blog to server as a community for me to learn from people and maybe someone can pick something up from me. I would like to focus on general ideas on life, some sports, and technology including wireless and SEO (search engine optimization).
Please leave your introductions and a little about yourselves!
