Interview with Wireless ISP Owner
Posted on November 8, 2011
Today’s podcast is a thirty minute audio interview with Matt Larsen who is the owner of Vistabeam in Scotts Bluff, Nebraska.
The company provides broadband Internet service to 2,500 subscribers in western Nebraska and eastern Wyoming. Instead of connecting subscribers with cable or telephone lines, Vistabeam provides service through its network of fixed wireless base-stations linking to inexpensive transceivers typically mounted on subscriber rooftops. It sort-of echoes an earlier era when television was received that way instead of via cable, fiber, or satellite. In short, Vistabeam is a typical rural Wireless Internet Service Provider.
Download thirty minute audio interview to iPhone, iPad, or iPod here.
While the uninitiated may assume Wireless ISP service to be slow and unreliable, Vistabeam is actually competing quite effectively with DSL and cable. The company offers speeds of up to 12 mb/s. As Matt notes, the typical Wireless ISP base station a dozen years ago had a capacity of 1.5 mb/s, whereas stations commonly available today can handle 150 mb/s. As with landline providers, Vistabeam is witnessing a marked increased in Internet Video consumption from YouTube, Hulu, and Netflix, among other sources. Yet its wireless system can handle the increased demands. Read more…
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Netflix - Only Yesterday
Posted on September 20, 2011
Just last month Columbia Business School professor, Jonathan Knee wrote in Atlantic Magazine.
“Netflix…engenders fierce (customer) loyalty…even beating-out reigning champion Apple, among 528 other brands…Most observers expect the company to have over 30 million subscribers by the end of the year. Netflix is the rare aggregator…which (excels) in customer service and (product perfection) by harnessing customer feedback.”
Download six minute audio narration to iPhone, iPad, or iPod.
Since Knee’s month-old accolades, Netflix management announced (1) a 50% reduction in projected third quarter subscriber growth, (2) an apology for prompting a million customers to abandon the service in response to price changes, and (3) a formal division of company’s services into (a) streamed video and (b) postal delivered DVDs. Read more…
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Twenty Months Ahead of GigaOm
Posted on September 1, 2011
Last week market researcher GigaOm critiqued the CATV industry with an article entitled “Forget TV, broadband is the future of cable.” Apparently their analyst was prompted by what he termed a “surprise” comment from Time-Warner Cable’s CEO that “broadband was becoming the company’s anchor service.” The analyst then proceeded to explain that profit margins were higher in broadband and it’s really the prime service consumers want anyway.
Download two minute audio narration to iPhone, iPad, or iPod here.
Such conclusions fail to be news for Inside Digital Media subscribers since we provided much the same analysis in our December 5, 2009 podcast/post entitled “Cable Operators Will Abandon TV.” That’s nearly two years before GigaOm.
If you want market knowledge ahead of your competitors subscribe to our podcasts here our regular newsletter here – all at no charge. Read more…
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New IPO in Wireless ISP Industry
Posted on June 29, 2011
A maker of radio transceivers and related hardware for the Wireless ISP industry recently filed papers with the Securities & Exchange Commission seeking authorization to sell stock to the public. Silicon Valley based Ubiquiti Networks plans to offer $200 million worth of stock. Some of the shares will be sold by existing shareholders which includes a venture capital firm as well as members of management. The venture firm has held the shares less than 18 months. As yet, there is no indication of the price at which public shares will be sold.
To download three minute audio narration now click here.
We have no opinion on the merits – or demerits – of the Ubiquiti Networks stock offering.
As the table below illustrates, revenues have grown rapidly. The company’s fiscal year ends tomorrow. From Fiscal 2008 to Fiscal 2010 sales grew from $22 million to $137 million. For the first three-quarters of Fiscal 2011 sales were up 34% from $97 million to $130 million.
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Future of Television - Video Podcast
Posted on May 23, 2011
Today’s post is a video narration of our PowerPoint forecast of the Future of Television. Since it only takes eight minutes to watch it, we provide only a brief text summary.
Download video presentation here if you don’t want to watch the stream.
First, ultimately content migrates to the Internet where it is accessed via browser-centric or app-centric devices.
Second, the socket panel available on modern flat-panel TVs is the “Trojan Horse” that prompt’s the paradigm shift.
Third, the future TV remote control units are likely to be smart-phones and tablet computers using apps such as Peel.
Fourth, eventually sponsors will demand that they only pay for TV commercials that are actually watched. This is already starting on the Internet. However, since conventional TV already has digital watermarks embedded in the audio stream, it can also be implemented in regular television via smartphones and tablet computers. The key is to augment content identification with recognition of commercials that can be made interactive.
Fifth, consumers will eventually expect constant access to the Internet cloud thereby leading to the emergence of massive high-speed unlicensed wireless networks utilizing Wi-Fi and TV Band White Spaces.
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Interactive TV Commercials Arrive
Posted on March 4, 2011
Future television commercials must be more innovative if the industry expects to remain profitable and simultaneously retain traditionally superior employee compensation. As we’ve repeatedly noted, the two keys to better advertising are (1) improved targeting — especially behavioral targeting — and (2) interactive commercials.
Download audio narration to iPod, iPhone, or iPad here — five minutes.
The cable TV industry has promised better targeting for over three years via its Project Canoe. But as explained in our analysis nearly two years ago we conclude that Project Canoe will fail because it can never match the innovative pace of the Internet.
Now arrives Old Navy using the popular Shazam mobile Internet application to bring Interactivity to a conventional television commercial — today.
By way of background, Old Navy is a mall store chain selling casual clothing targeted at ladies aged 25 – 35. Their shoppers are also often moms and owners of smartphones. Shazam is a smartphone application normally used to identify songs playing on the radio. Users activate the app, point their microphone-embedded smartphone at the music source, and Shazam normally identifies the track within thirty seconds. There are over 100 million Shazam users. Read more…
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Eroding the ISP Duopoly
Posted on November 5, 2010
Earlier this year Cable TV industry executives dismissed cord cutting as an urban myth. Yet domestic Pay TV subscribers declined for the first time ever in the June quarter. Early reports indicate another drop in the September quarter. While presently conceding cord cutting may be a reality some industry observers conclude the trend is not a serious threat. They reason the industry’s dominance as a broadband ISP enables pricing flexibility that can avoid adverse financial impact.
Download audio narration to iPod, iPad, and iPhone here.
Presently most consumers have little choice but to get high speed Internet access from either the Cable operator or the local Telco. The two industries have enjoyed a near duopoly on broadband ISP service for decades. Like Pavlov’s dogs, both shall likely try to meet the challenge of cord cutting with a time-proven strategy of bundled pricing.
For example, in Albany (NY) Time Warner Cable raised its Internet-only monthly rate from $50 to $55. But customers choosing both CATV and Internet service are billed only $57. One stock analyst also argues that the Cable-Telco duopoly would enable both industries to move toward usage-based ISP pricing if Pay TV cord cutting continues. He asserts ISPs may have “no choice” as bandwidth intensive video streaming becomes more popular. Read more…
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Reckoning Day is Finally Here
Posted on September 6, 2010
Over fifty years ago an Australian wrote an apocalyptic nuclear war novel entitled On the Beach. Shortly thereafter Hollywood released a movie version. Some parents considered it so disturbing they forbade even high school aged children to watch it. The story tells how people in the Southern Hemisphere struggled to reconcile themselves to their own pending demise resulting from spreading radioactive fallout originating in the sterile Northern Hemisphere after a devastating nuclear exchange.
Audio for iPad, iPod, and iPhone click here (five minutes)
It became increasingly evident that fallout arrival merely a matter of months. Each character’s personality gradually shrank to its essence as the eventuality approached ever nearer. Among them was the crew of an American submarine that took refuge in Melbourne. Perhaps the most chilling moment was when its first member fell ill with radiation sickness. After examining his patient, the ship’s doctor simply told the Captain, “It’s finally here.”
Read more…
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