First Certified White Space Radio
Posted on January 6, 2012
Today’s sixteen minute audio interview is with William Koos, Jr. who is the Chief Executive Officer of KTS Wireless. For the past 30 years his company has been a specialty-maker of high performance radios for both military and commercial markets. Presently, KTS produces the only TV Band White Space transceiver certified by the Federal Communications Commission.
“Billy” discusses the earlier trials that KTS did with White Spaces under experimental licenses. He also shares his thoughts regarding how the White Spaces market will evolve in both the United States and abroad.
Download 16-minute audio interview to iPod, iPhone, and iPad here.
One of his conclusions is that municipal Wi-Fi markets will benefit considerably from TV Band White Spaces. He reasons that the FCC envisions White Space technology as encompassing the best of both licensed and unlicensed networks. While they will be able to provide the interference protection of licensed networks they simultaneously offer the innovative free-market access characteristic of licensed-exempt networks. Read more…
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Future Wi-Fi Networks
Posted on December 15, 2011
Today’s podcast is a thirty minute audio interview with Rory Conaway who is the CEO of Triad Wireless Engineering. He is also the author of a constantly growing online book entitled Tales From the Tower which is an excellent source on The Wireless Internet.
Triad is a radio engineering consultancy with two basic services. One is to help equipment vendors and wireless operators bid for, and build, economical wireless communications systems, typically not involving cellular carriers. A second function is to advise equipment vendors on future designs.
Download thirty minute audio interview here.
Rory believes that unlicensed Wi-Fi networks are poised to handle a considerably larger-than-historical share of Internet traffic for four reasons.
Read more…
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Let’s Retire the iPhone Smartphone
Posted on December 13, 2011
The iPhone resembles a smartphone less than a BMW does a horseless carriage.
As noted five years ago in this Inside Digital Media video podcast, the device is more accurately labeled a “teleputer”. (The podcast is so old it was done in Windows Media Video). George Gilder originated the concept about twenty years ago when he envisioned a hand-held unit providing convenient wireless access to a global computer network. It was kind-of the evolutionary destination implied by a popular computer industry slogan at the time, to wit, “the network is the computer.”
Download five minute audio narration to iPhone, iPad, and iPod here.
Each day Gilder’s concept becomes increasingly obvious to a growing proportion of iPhone users. Today everyone realizes telephone conversations are only one of many useful iPhone functions. More significantly, iPhone users are progressively learning that computer applications are becoming the unit’s raison d’etre. In short, the phone’s digital capabilities such as photography, geo-location, audio & video playback, and especially Internet access, are the defining characteristics. Applications like Skype and FaceTime portend an era when cellular telephony per se, becomes irrelevant to iPhone owners. Read more…
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TV Station Auction Value
Posted on November 18, 2011
Today’s podcast is a 30-minute audio interview with Bob Finch who is the founder of SelectSpectrum which is a spectrum broker. Bob matches buyers and sellers of licensed spectrum, much like stock brokers pair-off buyers and sellers of stock.
I interviewed him for two reasons.
One is curiosity about the value of TV station spectrum in anticipation of the first-ever incentive auction that Congress is expected to approve shortly. Second, is to gain a better understanding of how licensed spectrum will become increasingly marketable as the Wireless Internet comes-of-age.
To download Bob’s audio interview to iPhone, iPad, or iPod, click here.
Congress is considering a proposal to grant the FCC authority to enable individual TV stations to sell their licensed channels at auction. There are three objectives. First, is to make more spectrum available to cellular carriers who are anticipated to be the principal buyers. Second, is to generate revenue for the Federal Government by presumably requiring that most of the proceeds go the to U.S. Treasury. Third, again presumably, is to enable selling stations to keep a share of the proceeds for themselves. 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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Should Apple Become a Wireless ISP?
Posted on May 5, 2011
There are four reasons that Apple may eventually launch a Wireless ISP subsidiary.
First, the market for Apple’s portable hardware cannot achieve full potential without significant improvement in Wireless Internet access. The exceptional iPhone and iPad successes are forever changing user expectations about network connectivity.
Download audio narration to iPhone, iPod, and iPad — eight minutes.
Twenty-five years ago when Sun Microsystems developed the slogan “The Network is the Computer” office workers without LANs were puzzled. But once everybody got LANs, the connotation became obvious. Instead of being independent tools, our personal computers became workstations that shared office-wide data processing assets ranging from printers to centralized storage. The network itself became our computing resource. Read more…
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Undiscovered Gem
Posted on March 31, 2011
Nearly everyone realizes smartphones and iPads are intensifying cellular congestion, particularly in major cities like New York and San Francisco. Since last June AT&T refuses to offer new subscribers an unlimited-use flat rate. Even though Verizon declines to impose metered usage for new iPhones, their contracts reserve the right to unilaterally limit bandwidth to heavy users.
Download audio narrative to iPad, iPod, or iPhone here - three minutes.
The chart below projects that smartphones will rise from 14% of domestic subscribers in 2008 to 90% by 2014. Even though LTE fourth generation cellular networks are coming online, they are not enough to handle the problem, particularly given the rise of iPads and other tablet computers. Read more…
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