by Garrett Smith
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Europe Has Almost Twice The Amount of VoIP Users
Red Herring has a story about a recent In-Stat report about VoIP adoption rates in the US and Europe. The lag that the US is experiencing has to do with two factors that are not present in Europe:
- Lack of a compelling reason to make the switch to VoIP
- Lack of consumer interest in new technology
European land line and cellular long distance charges have historically been quite high. High enough to make the switch to VoIP very compelling. Europe has always been ahead of the US when it comes to bleeding edge telecommunications. Technology is cool in Europe, therefore using VoIP is the cool thing to do.
VoIP providers need to give US consumers a more compelling reason to switch to VoIP…and while they are at it, make it cool to use. If they can do that, adoption rates will begin to soar.
by Gokul Gopalakris
I had wondered yesterday as to when would iPhone be available in India. This article in ibnlive kind of answers all my questions including the one as to whether I can use the iPhone bought in US. Looks like it might available sometime end of this year. This might happen after all considering Blackberry was available in India months after its release.
Thanks to Vijay and Ram for answering some of my questions.
by Gokul Gopalakris
Just another couple for days for the famed iPhone release. I think the anticipation is much more than any other Summer blockbuster. Got to give it to Apple and Jobs for raising the bar on this one.
I am hearing rumours that some of the Indian cell phone stores ( like Univercell) is going to sell the iphone. This news is still unconfirmed. Anybody have news on this? Which leads me to the next question. Can a locked phone like iphone ( locked with AT & T) be used in India? Can I just buy the iphone in US and use it here by using the local SIM? Any ideas on that guys?
Guess I have to wait for Airtel to partner with Apple to use iphone . I would never switch a service provider for iphone. Even though there are no penalties for switching over unlike some western countries, I would never leave Airtel because even though I have had issues in the past with their service, they still are way better compared to others.
by Gokul Gopalakris
Though Cisco’s fiscal third-quarter profit surged by 34 percent, its stocks fell down in after hours trading because of weakness in Cisco’s core areas of business.
The fear among investors stems from the fact that there is a slowdown in orders from US businesses, even though the sales in the other regions grew at a double digit rate. The fear is understandable considering that the first three months, US enterprise business grew at a rapid pace at 20%, but hence after has dwindled down to single digit growth. Obviously, the investors are at a loss to categorize this downturn as a temporary one or as a start of a huge deceleration.
It usually takes three quarters to predict a behaviour and since only the last two quarters have been bad in this segment for Cisco, we have to wait for another quarter before passing judgements. Also, I personally don’t think it is a big deal, because Cisco is making huge inroads in the other markets and they would more than comfortably make up for the lost ground.
But then, it is always good to be strong in your home turf before winning over foreign lands 
by Gokul Gopalakris
The acquisition of Hutch by Vodafone finally got the approval of the Indian government thus putting an end to all the gossip going around that this deal would be nulled due to some irregularities. Quoting from the report
Ending a torturous period of regulatory review, Chidambaram signed off on the deal Friday, sources told Forbes.com. The approval came a week after India’s foreign investment regulatory body cleared the $11.1 billion acquisition by Vodafone(nyse: VOD - news - people ) of a controlling stake in the fourth-largest Indian cellular service provider. It is the largest foreign investment in the country, which is the fastest growing cellular market in the world.
The questions that were raised was whether this acquisition violated India’s cap on foreign control of telecom companies, but this approval vindicates the Vodafone stand that everything was legal. I heard from some sources that Airtel was looking for some stakes in this venture and it is possible that this delay in approval might have been the result of political wranglings in the background.
But hey, all I care about is whether the service going to be better and will it match Vodafone’s international standards? Will Vodafone drive in the next gen technologies? Hope to get the answers for these soon.
by Garrett Smith
NEXTVIEW Is An Affordable Video Monitoring Service
NextAlarm, an Alarm over IP company, has released their latest value added service, NEXTVIEW. NEXTVIEW NEXTVIEW works with existing alarm systems and is easy to set up, view and manage through the customer portal interface at NextAlarm.com.
Each camera can be associated with one or more zones (i.e. “front door view,” “back door view,” etc.). Subscribers can also access images through their cell phone. The system captures still photos every few minutes, and switches to live video during an alarm event. Archived video and stills can be reviewed any time. NextAlarm’s dispatch centers also have access to view cameras when an alarm is triggered.
Perfect For the Family or SMB
According to NextAlarm CEO, “NEXTVIEW is perfect for the family or small business that needs that extra layer of security, but doesn’t have the budget for a dedicated video surveillance system. No other alarm company is offering this type of service for such a low price.â€
And Alex was not lying - from now until July 1st, all NextAlarm customers will have access to NEXTVIEW for free. Not too shabby!
by Garrett Smith
So I am Feeling a Little Braggadocious…
Of the awards we have been nominated for or won over the past few years, this is probably my favorite.
VoIP Supply, a leading Internet Retailer of Voice over IP equipment, including IP phones, Telephone Adaptors, and Wi-Fi VoIP solutions announced today that it has been named one of the Best Places to Work in Western New York for 2007. The Best Places to Work in Western New York Nominees were selected based on nominations and feedback from employees across the Western New York region. The award, sponsored by Buffalo’s Business First newspaper and Quantum Research, looks to recognize companies in the Western New York area that foster employee-centric work cultures.
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