One of the great aspects of 1980’s television was the show Moonlighting with Cybill Shepherd and Bruce Willis ( …with hair… lots of it actually… ).  The scripts were usually about 2x the size of a ‘normal’ one hour tv show and the back and forth between Shepherd and Willis was amazing and funny. These exchanges were usually highlighted by very honest observations about the world around them.  Recently, I saw two pieces about wireless phones that made me think of “Maddie” poking holes in “David”’s arguments.

The first was a piece about an assessment of the smart-phone marketplace.  Gartner seems to think that Nokia’s lack of appealing smart-phones.

The second was a study about features that people want to see in smart-phones.  Instat provided the following feedback on improvements to smart-phones:

• better connectivity
• better audio
• better usability

Hmmmm… It wasn’t the overall economy or the expense of required data plans relative to disposable income that negatively impacted the smart-phone market?  And, the features that people want most in phones can be reduced to being able to make better phone calls?

I will entrust the analysis of those situations to the ‘readers’….  But I will leave you with my all-time favorite Moonlight scenes just before the New Year… Enjoy the blast from the 80’s!

Security Officer: I'm sorry, but you're not on the guest list.
David Addison: That's because we're not guests. We're looking for a man with a mole on his nose.
Security Officer: A mole on his nose?
Maddie Hayes: A mole on his nose.
Security Officer: [to Maddie] What kind of clothes?
Maddie Hayes: [to David] What kind of clothes?
David Addison: What kind of clothes do you suppose?
Security Officer: What kind of clothes do I suppose would be worn by a man with a mole on his nose? Who knows?
David Addison: Did I happen to mention, did I bother to disclose, that this man that we're seeking with the mole on his nose? I'm not sure of his clothes or anything else, except he's Chinese, a big clue by itself.
Maddie Hayes: How do you do that?
David Addison: Gotta read a lot of Dr. Seuss.
Security Officer: I'm sorry to say, I'm sad to report, I haven't seen anyone at all of that sort. Not a man who's Chinese with a mole on his nose with some kind of clothes that you can't suppose. So get away from this door and get out of this place, or I'll have to hurt you - put my foot in your face.

“Fewest dropped calls…”

“Most coverage…”

“There’s an app for that…”

“There’s a map for that…”

We have been pummeled with claims and counterclaims regarding the quality and coverage of major wireless networks via commercial advertising and court cases.  However, now there are some additional voices providing facts and opinions to this conversation

On the side of fact over opinion, Michael Finneran has an excellent post where you can see the results of 3G network testing.  These numbers show how major carriers perform in some major US cities ( … a little bummed that denver didn’t make the ‘major’ city list… ):

• Chicago
• Dallas
• Los Angeles
• New York
• Seattle
• San Francisco
• Washington, DC

An excellent piece, in particular if you live in one of those locales.

On the side of opinion ( … as in the ‘the customer is always right’… ), Consumer Reports has issued their wireless customer satisfaction survey.  The returns show that customers are more satisfied with “maps” than “apps” even if the iPhone is the smart-phone of choice…

NOTE – AT&T has decided to provide an iPhone application to provide feedback for network performance improvement.

Has anyone used it? Have you noticed differences in the AT&T Network since the Verizon ad campaigns have started?

Post your comments below or email (John.Myers@BlueBuffaloGroup.com) / twitter (JohnLMyers44) me directly.

PS – AT&T improved the network around Denver, but they moved the dead spots all around. Now I don’t know where my ‘fewest dropped calls’ will occur… :)

"It is required of every man," the ghost returned, "that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide; and, if that spirit goes not forth in life, it is condemned to do so after death."

A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens

Recently IDC provided some encouraging predictions on increased levels of IT spending for 2010:

“consumers and businesses worldwide will spend 3.2% more on telecommunications, hardware, software and services than in 2009, returning the industry to 2008 revenue levels of about $1.5 trillion”

However, this doesn’t mean that telecoms aren’t taking looking at the revenues and the costs associated with their product platform portfolios.  Many telecoms are balancing their investments where they see the most benefits.

From a revenue perspective, we have seen this in the form of divestiture from rural markets by organizations like Verizon divesting US-based rural landline markets and AT&T divesting from international services organizations in favor of more attractive ( …or at least attractive based on the returns and projected future value vs an internal rate of return… ) opportunities.  From a costs perspective, Verizon is continuing to streamline their landline operations and make additional investments in 4G wireless broadband.

In my opinion, this portfolio management is sometimes short-sighted from a long-term perspective ( …it is also sometimes mandated by the department of justice… ).  However, it also displays the increasing differences between the operational and business intelligence requirements associated with innovative and mature products.

4G wireless operations and business measurement will be more like the early days of wireless where “gross adds” and “revenues” were most important.  This is contrasted by landline voice services which are driven by “churn containment” and “expense management”.

How do you view the differences between these types of telecom products from a business measurement / analytics perspective?

Post your comments below or email (John.Myers@BlueBuffaloGroup.com) / twitter (JohnLMyers44) me directly.

Product substitution is all around us.  Landline voice is being replaced by wireless voice offerings.  VoIP in the form of Skype is rapidly degrading the Long-Distance marketplace.  Telecom Service Providers have been challenging the dominance of Cablecos with video offerings via IPTV. Well the Cablecos are pushing back and gaining some success.

Recent articles highlight the fact that the Cableco marketing machine is not only interested in selling into the small and medium sized business (SMB) market, but the data and video infrastructure is capable of providing the bundled services that many of these organizations require.

The key aspect of these continued Cableco moves into areas where Telcos may have felt comfortable in is that a lot of these SMB businesses aren't "that" small to medium sized.  Cox is currently projecting significant revenues from healthcare related commercial customers.  And as anyone who has followed the recently healthcare debate knows, this is not an insignificant industry...