5by5 | The Critical Path #64: Mano a Mano
by Horace Dediu
A dialogue with Benedict Evans, mobile analyst. Benedict has observed not only the technology and telecommunications industries as an equities analyst but also worked for an operator and a major media company. We take a look at mobile strategy and what the media industry will evolve into.
12 comments
Bruce_Mc ·
Potential disruption for carriers: cheap drones that replace cell towers. Right now it's very expensive tech used by the military. In a few years though...
http://www.overwatch.com/products/fastcom.php
Benjamin Alexander ·
http://japandailypress.com/softbank-develops-blimps-for-floating-emergency-cell-towers-112047
http://www.lockheedmartin.com/us/products/lighter-than-air-vehicles.html
Bruce_Mc ·
I can imagine some small company owning a fleet of solar powered drones which provide cellular phone coverage for a city. Airships would be less maneuverable and take more time and space to launch and maintain.
Benjamin Alexander ·
Finally got a chance to sit down and start listening. This is a great episode to follow up the last post & discussion.
Jon ·
This was a really great discussion. Benedict clearly knows his shit. I'd love to hear more analyst-to-analyst conversations like this on the podcast.
Stefan Constantinescu ·
Fantastic talk. I'd love to hear you also interview Dean Bubley, if possible: http://disruptivewireless.blogspot.fi/
stefn ·
Answering maybe half the question How Apple competes with the low priced phones ... an iPod Touch with a cheap data only plan would do the job for many folks, who don't do or want voice. The Touch is a heckava handful of computer.
Greg Lomow ·
Great discussion. When they talked about the less expensive iPhone I immediately thought about the new iPod nano. If you put a cellular radio in it then you'd have a device that satisfied Horace's and Benedict's description - doesn't run iOS apps but still provides smartphone functions like music, video, view photos. Also the iPod nano now has a form factor that is much more like a smartphone. Horace once said that maybe the next big thing is hiding in plain sight.
tkoola ·
Very, very good episode. Operators as utilities like water companies is a very good analogy.
Most of these oligopolist or monopolist utilities are not only heavily regulated, but directly or indirectly run by the public sector. What if, at some point after the networks are more than good enough (and we mostly need only to maintain existing infrastructure) we'll see (re)nationalisation of the telecom utilities?
Steve Brown ·
My thoughts precisely... an iPod Nano, plus iMessage, the Phone app and the job's a good 'un.
@valuemgmt ·
Potential disruption to telcos... iPhone with Mesh wireless radio and 400-1000m range. Apple creates virtual telco sharing fixed wifi bandwidth...
Bruce_Mc ·
A cellular radio, music, photos, video, Message app, yes. But probably WiFi, possibly GPS and a compass for maps, maybe Bluetooth. The list gets long, the price goes up. But Siri could be the killer app for an inexpensive iPhone with no third party apps.