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On the road to Pasadena May 9, 2008

Posted by chetan in : Mobile Advertising, Speaking Engagements, Worldwide Wireless Market , add a comment

Have been traveling all this week. From Memphis to Seattle to leaving for Pasadena in a little bit. Caltech/MIT Enterprise Forum is organizing the event on advertising tomorrow.

Online Advertising - Getting Up Close and Personal: How will new avenues for advertising influence the buying decisions of consumer?

Tim Cadogan, CEO OpenX, former SVP of Global Advertising at Yahoo! and I are giving keynotes and then joining the panel discussion with John Babcock, Partner, Rustic Canyon, Greg Market, Founder, Infuse Creative, and William Quigley, MD, Clearstone Venture Partners.

If you are in the area, would love to see you. Details of the event here.

Thanks to Lynn Foster and Joe Jasin for inviting me to the event.

Sprint-Clearwire announce long awaited deal May 6, 2008

Posted by chetan in : US Wireless Market, Wi-Fi , add a comment

It took a long time but it is finally here and it is likely to be more significant than the 700MHz drama earlier this year. I have been saying for a long time that if Sprint and Clearwire with some external help (i had Motorola and Google as supporters along with Intel) can put a nationwide network together with open architecture and open devices, it will help change the dynamics of the industry. See the discussion here and here.

Of course, strategy is nothing without execution so it will be interesting to see who leads the efforts and how soon the devices come in the market but definitely a big event in the US market.

Disclaimer: Sprint Nextel is a client of ours.

TMO launches 3G, finally! May 5, 2008

Posted by chetan in : 3G, AORTA, Intellectual Property , add a comment

T-Mobile became the last of the major carriers to launch 3G in the US market. However, the launch is limited to NYC and is planning to expand the network in other cities as the year progresses. 4 UMTS handsets are available. The lack of network coverage means no immediate impact of the announcement but by the end of the year, TMO will start contributing to the overall 3G growth in the country.

Mobile Advertising Measurement

Posted by chetan in : Mobile Advertising , add a comment

Milestone Group published a piece on “Mobile Advertising Measurement” which is based on our Mobile Advertising book. Thanks to Mark Zawacki, Gary Cohen, and Jim Conley.

Carnival #123 online now

Posted by chetan in : US Wireless Market , add a comment

Best of the last week over at Xellular Identity. Thanks Xen.

Microsoft withdraws its bid leaving Yahoo hanging May 3, 2008

Posted by chetan in : US Wireless Market , add a comment

Fed up with the whole process Steve Ballmer withdrew his bid for Yahoo. This leaves Yahoo a weaker company admitting defeat in a number of areas. Though it can rebuild itself, it will require a new leadership and with some of the smartest folks already out of the company, the challenge will be enormous. This deal might take place a few months from now at a much lower price.

News items May 1, 2008

Posted by chetan in : US Wireless Market , add a comment

AT&T is planning to launch MediaFLO next week. However limited number of handsets and $15/mo pricing means limited adoption.

Rumor has it that T-Mobile is planning to launch 3G next week or sometime in May but only focused on voice - have you heard of a carrier launching 3G for voice? well, now you have. am sure there is some good reason behind it but am not sure what it might be.

Microsoft is still dabbling with the Yahoo question. Ballmer needs to give his buddy Larry a call and get a motivation speech - either you do it or you don’t .. delay is making the situation worse and Yahoo is losing good employees.

AT&T is said to be considering a $200 rebate for 3G iPhone. Will Mr. Jobs budge? He wants to sell more units but also wants to protect the brand. He famously criticized Motorola for dropping the price of Razr so quickly and become commoditized. Though he will be getting his 50% margin on the device, will $50-100 iPhones damage the Apple brand. Is brand protection more important than market share in hopes of a healthy and diverse ecosystem. We will find out in the next couple of months.