David Dalka attends and reports business events and conferences to discover the future of business where technology, organizations and customer exeperience meet. Also serves as emcee, moderator and motivational business keynote speaker.
Customer Experience
Skype-watch.com and ZDNet reports that it’s a DOS type of attack from code posted on a Russian website and not quite the story that Skype PR person Villu Arak is telling. Then again maybe it’s none of those explanations, it could be regarding how Skype interacts with Microsoft Outlook. With each passing hour Skype is losing credibility due to this major outage.
So it begs the question, what if the backbone of the Internet was to fail or be attacked in some manner, how much chaos would ensue?
Techcrunch, Alarm clock and even Jason Calacanis weighed in on David Sifry’s departure. Jason extrapolated into some things that I don’t agree with completely, except with his suggestion that Web 2.0 companies try to make a profit, but I’ll leave that alone for now.
David Sifry today announced that he has stepped down as CEO of Technorati. While the search for a new CEO continues, Teresa Malo (CFO), Dorion Carroll (VP-Engineering), and Derek Gordon (VP-Marketing), will manage the day-to-day operations of the company. Sifry will become “Chairman of Technorati’s board”. What does it ultimately prove? It again clearly demonstrates that Internet experience is not the primary indicator of Internet executive future success.
Hello people. Technorati did a redesign that refocused on mainstream media as I noted in my earlier post the death of blog search. Then Technorati used tags to grow traffic from other search properties. As Arrington asked in early June “When will the Technorati traffic party end?” Apparently Google and others took notice of this and the party ended in July based on Alexa data – I’m surprised Michael did not discuss this at length today in his post actually. This dip exposed the payday to payday advertising dollar budgeting leading to the departure of Sifry and 8 others. It should be noted that this followed the dismissal of several other employees during the July 4th holiday.
Looking at a May 9th Mashable post, it seems that around $1 million was raised when it expanded a round of funding from 10.52 Million to 11.52 Million. It appears that Technorati was spending more cash than it was taking in, even before the traffic decline in July, based on the early July layoffs. The traffic decline in July only made that situation worse.
This leaves Technorati in the unenviable position of needing to generate new advertising dollars at a time when the engineering needs an overhaul it can’t afford. Repairs such as Typepad blog overcounting, flawed link metrics and many other flaws can not occur at this time.
In fact, someone suggested to me in a phone conversation today that perhaps they should shut Technorati off completely now and just sell it’s likely most valuable asset – a 301 redirect of the Technorati domain. The talk of taking Technorati public via IPO will likely be nothing more than that talk in David Sifry’s previous blog posts.(URL REMOVED)
So where is a blog searcher to go now?
Ask – They have recently revamped their offering dramatically and comment search is now combined with post search. It is an offering that is available directly on their front page.
Google – They should move blog search to the front page as I suggested previously and ideally should build and option to show it mixed with news sites.
Other players like Topix, if they were to index the blogosphere fully, could also emerge as an alternative that would properly mix news and blogs together demonstrating that most news is being lifted from blogs by the mainstream media.
Skype is down. I disagree with Skype’s assessment of the problem on their blog. This is because my Skype was not working at all prior to my logging off. In fact I tried logged off thinking relogging in would fix the problem.
Did they release new software into the network without testing it fully? Who knows, but that would be my best guess.
One of Skype’s best features has historically been reliability. If they lose that, people will likely rapidly migrate to other solutions.
Marshall Kirkpatrick’s post, introducing good bloggers and the companies that hire them points out some interesting issues. It just leaves out one extremely important point! Having a series of blogs being managed by non-bloggers is a recipe for one or more of the following: ineffective blogs, unhappy bloggers, internal corporate strife and/or worse, serious pr problems in the blogosphere.
How does one avoid this? Simple. Integrate blogging into your C-level management team. Don’t have any bloggers in your C-level management team or board of directors? Maybe it’s time to consider a new approach altogether with fresh faces. Is a highly educated and experienced person who is a blogger, with startup and innovative company experience mutually exclusive? No. But it’s a requirement if you are going to win in today’s increasingly complex world that requires broad generalist thinkers to navigate not only the blogosphere, but the constantly changing world we live in everyday. Stop building organizational pyramids from 1975 and start building effective organizations that look more like tree trunks! An informal survey at Blogher07 showed that are almost all self taught people and therefore innovators of the future.
So, where are your C-level bloggers? I know where you can find more than a few that understand that blogging is about living the Peter Drucker principles of innovation and customer listening.
UPS Celebrated Its 100-Year Anniversary recently. In it United Parcel Service, CEO Mike Eskew was quoted as stating the following:
“”At some point you think, we all think, it’s time to let somebody else do this,” said the 58-year-old. “Somebody else might have a different, fresher approach.””
No kidding! I’ve stated previously that UPS is not customer service focused and I’ve advocated major changes in the way UPS does business for a long, long time! If that board of directors ever wants to build an efficient company that package RECEIVERS love, my contact info is on my bio page.
Brian Beutler posts his beliefs on why there are so few electric outlets available here at YearlyKos 2007 conference:
” The McCormick Convention Center is, unsurprisingly, operated by a series of labor groups who, working hand in hand, rip apart the building and put it back together to fit the needs of whichever group happens to be renting space here. So for YearlyKos, the teamsters, and the plumbers, and the electricians all come in to haul partitions, and divert piping, and… lay wiring. One catch is, of course, that the more wiring you need, the more you have to pay. The other, less obvious catch, is that any wiring you try to do yourself–running extension chords and power strips across the room–might well violate your contract and cost you a big fine. So the result is a lot of dead laptop batteries. At a frickin’ blogger convention.”
Matthew Yglesias points out similar sentiment.
Then last weekend Kristy Sammis, the wonderful hard-working conference organizer, pointed out the following issues on her blog in regards to Blogher07:
“The City of Chicago has a lot of rules. A LOT of them. And also taxes. And fines. Like, did you know that there’s a 3% soda tax? Or that our caterer could have lost his license for letting attendees leave with bottles of wine, even though the nice people at Hess were willing to give the extras out? Or that moving one single air wall would have cost FOUR HOURS of labor?”
“The shuttles cost approximately 18 billion dollars. (They would have only cost 17 billion, but we paid that extra billion to have a dedicated dispatcher ensuring that all five shuttles were running all day.)
I do not know why the drivers didn’t know where they were going. I don’t know why they just sometimes stopped showing up. I don’t know why they weren’t labeled, a la BLOGHER SHUTTLE. And I really don’t know HOW you can get into an accident when you’re driving at 3 miles an hour in Pier traffic.
But I, too, would sure like to find out.”
Kristy so would I. Why is Chicago turning off it’s last golden goose, the conference industry? If we can’t run shuttle buses less than a mile for 800 people how can this city possibly even dream of executing on hosting huge events with the current state?
As someone who spends alot of time at Chicago conferences, the time to improve these situations is now – before there are no more Chicago conferences.
While backing up files to reinstall Windows due to a virus I caught while at Blogher, I noticed that I had not posted my notes from the wonderful inaugural Mobile Location Enabled Services 2007 conference hosted by Abbie Badcock back in May. Apologies Abbie, your conference was both fun and productive.
Without a doubt, Mobile Location Enabled Services is a premier and unique event due to the variety of verticals in one place. Abbie Badcock has brought together a great mix of mobile search, mobile marketing and advertising, mobile local content, mobile social networking and a serious discussion to building the conversation regarding the resolution of the many to the realization of the potential of mobile location. I look forward to participating and driving the conversation in future years.
Symbian – Jerry Panagrossi, VP, US Operations, Symbian
The original STAR TREK Comunicator 1965-69
Fast forward to the 21st Century – PND, GPS Bluetooth, etc
1 Billion mobile phones shipped in 2006
Mobile subscribers projected 3 Billion by YE2007 and 4 Billion by YE 4 Billion!!!
Showed chart migrating from voice, data enabled then 3G phones – many with built in GPS.
Showed chart with why smart phones have high mobility and utility more than other presently available devices. Symbian believes that there is going to be mass market adoption.
Mobile Telecoms + Internet + Location Services + Automotive = Innovation
Emerging Disruptive Market Forces
Mobile Market Saturation
Open Mobile Platforms
Ad$ (advertising)
Data Services Deployment Trend
– Market Saturation
– 3G Deployment
– Service Rollout
– Smart Phone Adoption
Traditional economies are saturated with cell phones while others are not.
LBS ranks highest in consumer interest – survey Compete, Inc.
Services Segmentation – Public Safety, Consumer, Enterprise
Sports Tracker
Pixto, recently acquired my Nokia. Shows amazing technology that will categorize photos by location and combine is with relevant data about the location.
LBS Deployment challenges
– Locations indoors, underground, tunnels
– Reflection with large buildings
– A-GPS evolution
– Wifi
Database fragmentation
– Traffic updates and POIs
– Mobile data roaming – predictable billing when roaming internationally
A glimpse of the future
– Improved smartphone car communication
Trueposition – Joseph Khoury – VP of Business Development
$200 Million in Revenue, 480 employees, 100 international patents, subsidiary of Liberty Media
Incorporates all location technologies
History of company started with E911 emergency services in the USA.
Asset Tracking
Secure inter-carrier location information provider
Trueposition offers high accuracy Finder System, 75,000 Base Stations Deployed, 270 million POPs covered in the US.
High Accuracy Wireless Location System – best in class platform.
Finder System Benefits
Consistent accuracy across entire network – better than 50 meters most of the time – also incorporates velocity, heading power level signal to noise ratio.
Consumer interest – Turn by Turn Navigation
Market growth is happening again, but has conditions in a complex cross-industry ecosystem.
Drivers of LBS demand ramp up are many and they are complex.
Is getting into the business of building devices.
Mark Jacobstein, EVP, Loopt
Amazing privacy advocate, doesn’t store what they don’t need.
Monetizing Local Content for the Mobile Marketplace
Presentation was rapid fire short statements – amazingly engaging – hard to take notes on though.
Peter Friedland, Analyst, Soliel Group
Charnsin Tulasthien, Product Manager – Consumer Application and GPS Solutions, Sprint
Michael Nappi, VP of Media Development, Traffic.com
Christ Hazelton, Senior Analyst – Mobility Device Technology and Trends, IDC
Charnsin – How do we provide relevant POIs?
Michael – There are other areas to discuss in regards to bringing in advertising in context.
In regard to traffic, we brought in traffic information to you originally via alerts. The data can be brought into mobile and GPS applications. When traveling it’s an informational thing. I might be looking for more information in an unfamiliar information. These models will flourish.
Charnsin – Traffic is just another piece of information. We can provide not only alerts, but rerouting information.
Will it be the walled garden? The Google or Yahoo! approach?
Charnsin – There are things that are accessible via our phones.
LBS Advertising will users accept it?
Michael – We deliver information on an opt-in basis. Click per Route. Advertising based alerts. We own the content and vertically integrate it all the way up. Phones are becoming multimedia devices more each day. There is a lot of useful advertising models. There is an integration from focus groups that will lead the way.
Mobile Search Panel – Mobile Search + Location = Fulfilled User Expectations?
Jeff Rice, VP Market Development, Skyhookwireless
Matt Ward-Sheinman, Director of Product Management, Medio Systems
Neal Karasic, Director of Product Management, Jumptap
Steve McGuigan, VP Business Development, Hallmark
Peter Classen, Director of Business Development, Infospace
How is it appropriate?
Matt: The advantages of having it in your pocket is great. The comparison to the Internet is not accurate.
Steve: It comes down to relevancy and speed.
Peter: I aggress as well. The difference between web vs. mobile. Frisbee is a good example. If someone is typing that in a mobile phone they probably want to buy one at a store.
Location based, which ones are tied to a search.
Peter: 90%+
Matt: Statistically not very good. 15% percent are local search, though this is undercounted. You get ringtone content and other related items.
Steve. A search can be about sports,
Neal: User supplied location is not ideal. Most people search near home, so that is important data. Yesterday, I looked for a taxi in Detriot even though I was still in Boston. There are things around that.
Peter: I agree with Matt about the Madonna. It’s better when you can add the local context to the search.
Pizza, question on voice search
Peter: It would be great but it’s complex. We partner with Voicebox.
Peter: Human assisted search won’t work. Mobile search only when it’s free. Consumers are free.
Matt: Search on the Internet and advertising. I expect a rich client app to be there. There is a cost to a GPS fix. It needs to be free and advertising supported. Put them in when appropriate. Never sacrifice the user experience.
Neal: I basically agree. Search being free. That is the model that is going to work and users expect. We bring advertisers to the table. We want the ecosystem to work.
Steve: Local search and directories haven’t changed enough for mobile. Until we get there we need to use the directory model.
Jeff: We are reworking the paid model in Internet, I understand that is changing….
Matt: Carriers want to defend their advertisers. It’s hard to go across the operator networks. Google and Yahoo! have tried. They have large groups.
Neal: We partner.
Profit from Proximity Based Marketing
David Williams, CEO and Publisher LBS Globe
Jay Gould, VP of Business Development, Profilium Inc.
Scott Pearson, VP Sales, Enpocket
Brian McNiff, Vice President of Marketing, Technocom Corporation
How fast is locational proximity going to factor in?
Jay: We believe that throwing location in the mix is critical.
Brian: We believe it’s vital to mobile marketing. I got 4 Starbucks sms messages today. For small business to justify moving away from the yellow pages, we need to see it.
Jay: We need to build the value chain going up.
Brian: The operators are giving