Modifying Metcalfe’s Law for Apple
Posted on June 21, 2010
Download Audio Narrative Here (5 Minutes)
According to Metcalfe’s Law the value of a network is proportional to the square of the number of connected members. With apologies that WordPress does not permit superscripts, the concept is expressed algebraically as:
Metcalfe’s Network Value = n<2>
where n is the number of network users and <2> is a symbol for squared.
The Law is more of a metaphor than an ironclad rule. But it accurately describes the importance of adding participants. For example, the infant telephone industry of the late 19th century provided little value when there were few subscribers to call. But as numbers grew the network’s utility for each subscriber increased exponentially. In principle the law applies to all multilateral networks such as fax machine users and social websites like FaceBook and FourSquare. Read more…
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ATT Data Pricing Bad for Apple
Posted on June 17, 2010
Phil Leigh
Download Audio Narration Here.
Extensive research into usage-based pricing of communications services conclusively demonstrates two points. First, consumers hate it. Even when metered-pricing would consistently result in a lower bill, they prefer a flat-rate. Second, flat-rates markedly stimulate network usage.
Consider how Rochester, New York telephone subscribers reacted to the following message from the Bell System 124 years ago in 1886.
Unlimited telephone use leads to unnecessary occupation of our wires and to much borrowing of telephones by parties who are not subscribers. This encumbers the system with unnecessary and illegitimate calls resulting in greatly impaired service.
When Bell switched Rochester to metered rates, nearly everybody in the city quit subscribing. Read more…
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AT&T’s Seeds of Self Destruction
Posted on June 10, 2010
To download, instead of stream, this video click here.
AT&T Wireless’ decision to replace iPhone and iPad $30 monthly unlimited Internet access with metered pricing is significant for two reasons. First, consumers will learn that it is much more restrictive, or costly, than they want. Second, it will stimulate the development of competitive lower cost municipal-mesh-WiFi-networks or alternate technologies which consumers will eventually prefer. Consequently, AT&T has planted the seeds of self-destruction.
AT&T claims that most subscribers will save money under the new plan. While presumably valid when based upon historical usage, there’s not a shadow of doubt that the projected future usage patterns for all-you-can-eat pricing were going to be much more data intensive for two reasons. One is that iPhone patterns were already trending that way. For example, it was recently reported that iPhone data traffic was bigger than voice traffic. A second reason is that iPad Internet usage is expected to be even more intensive than that of the iPhone particularly considering the new product’s enthusiastic market reception. Read more…
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A Second Opinion on the Google Phone
Posted on November 13, 2007
Summary: If you would like to hear a second expert opinion about the implications of the Google Wireless Phone Open Platform, this interview is for you.
Our guest today is Chetan Sharma who is the Founder of Sharma Consulting. His firm specializes in strategy and intellectual property consulting in the wireless industry. Last week we heard from Alan Reiter who is the founder of the Wireless Internet and Mobile Computing consulting firm, and this interview provides a second opinion. Read more…
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The Google Phone
Posted on November 7, 2007
If you would like to hear an expert opinion about the implications of the Google Wireless Phone Open Platform, this interview is for you.
Our guest today is Alan Reiter who is the founder of the Wireless Internet and Mobile Computing consulting firm.
Length: This audio interview is about 20 minutes long.
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