Monster Cable Goes Cable-less with Wireless HD Connection

Apple TakesiPhone to Next Level- Price Cut to $199 for 8GB Model- Twice as Fast 3G iPhone at Half the Price- SDK Downloads Top 250,000- Debuts MobileMe - ‘Exchange for the rest of us’About 12 months after the iPhone hit the market to a

gushing chorus of “oohs and aahs,” Apple marked thefirst anniversary with the launch of a new, faster 3GiPhone at half the price on Monday at the MosconeCenter in San Francisco.

Worst SecretThat Apple would launch a 3G iPhone at its develop-

ers’ conference was, of course, the world’s worst keptsecret. And had Apple CEO Steve Jobs failed to introducethe new iPhone, surely there would have been an uprisingon the streets of San Francisco and in the gullies andalleys of the Internet.

Clad in his customary black turtleneck and blue jeans,Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled to a large throng ofdevelopers and media the new iPhone, which supports thefaster 3G network and comes with built-in GPS capabili-ties and the iPhone 2.0 software that supports hundreds ofthird party applications as well as a Microsoft ExchangeActiveSync feature that should make the iPhone appeal-ing to enterprises.

3G is the KeyPopular as it was, one of the biggest gripes of the first

generation iPhone was that it used the slower 2G EDGEnetwork.

Apple has addressed the problem with the 3G phoneusing a technology protocol called HSDPA (High-SpeedDownlink Packet Access) to download data fast overUMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System)networks.

With the 3G iPhone, e-mail attachments and Webpages are supposed to load twice as fast on 3G networksas on the 2G EDGE networks.

“It’s amazingly zippy,” said Jobs.In any case, with the iPhone 3G designed to automati-

cally switch between EDGE, faster 3G, and evenfaster Wi-Fi, users are supposed to get the fastestspeeds possible.

Apple’s carrier partner AT&T says its 3G network isavailable in 280 US metros now and hopes to extend it to350 metros by year-end.

JUNE 14-20, 2008 ISSUE 593

- Uses Sigma’s Chips forWireless HD within the Room &Over Coax to Other Rooms- Connects HDTV, DVD Playersincl. Blu-ray, Pay-TV STBs,Surround Sound Systems- $299 Wired & WirelessReceiver/Transmitter Can BeUsed for Existing Gear- Beats Pulse~LINK to MarketSigma Designs appears to have

beaten Pulse~LINK to the retail mar-ket with a product from MonsterCable, the maker of audio/video con-nector cables, that’s both an HD wire-less connection between devices with-in 30 feet (three meters) of each otherand also a ultra wideband (UWB)-over-coax method for connectingdevices in other rooms up to 330 feet(100 meters) away. It’s the first HDcapable wireless and coax home enter-tainment network.

Monster, the world’s self-acclaimedbiggest and best maker of cables forconnecting audio and video gear, hasbeen working with Sigma Designs,which makes single chip digital mediaprocessors, to develop wireless prod-ucts that will replace HD audio/video

connector cables within the same roomand use UWB-over-coax to connectproducts that are in separate rooms.

“This is our Monster Cable-lesssolution,” said Monster Cable presi-dent Noel Lee

The first product, called MonsterWireless Digital Express HD, is acombination transmitter/receiver andwireless/coax box. They plug into theHDMI (High-Definition MultimediaInterface) connector that HD TVs,DVD players including Blu-ray, pay-TV set-top boxes, surround sound sys-tems and other HD devices come with.

The Monster boxes can wirelesslystream HD video within a 30-foot(three meter) range with full 1080presolution. It will also allow room-to-room HD streaming by transmittingaudio/video signals up to 330 feet (100meters) over a home’s existing coaxialcables.

Bye, Bye Fur BallsThe Monster product promises to

clean out the fur ball of wires and dust-that are behind every home entertain-ment stack. Its wireless connectionswill replace HD audio/video connectorcables.

Monster Cable Goes Cable-lesswith Wireless HD Connection

Clearwire: 30m WiMAXSubscribers by 2017

Page 15

“Where Content Meets the Internet”

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continued on page four

Summer 2008 Publishing Schedule

Date Issue numberJune 13 593Sunday, June 23 594 NXTcomm special issueJune 27 595July 4 not publishedJuly 11 596

PAGE 2 JUNE 14-20, 2008©2008 MAY NOT BE COPIED OR FORWARDED BY E-MAIL, POSTED TO AWEB SITE, FAXED OR COPIED IN WHOLE OR IN PART.

Sigma’s UWB-over-coax technology allows the Monster product tooffer a “no new wires” way to connect devices in other rooms.

The Wireless Digital Express HD box will go for $299. A minimumof two is needed. Each box is both a transmitter and a receiver, one forthe DVD player, for example, and one for the TV set.

The products are scheduled to reach the market by October 2008.

Why SigmaLee, known as The Head Monster at Monster, said the company

evaluated other wireless solutions for A/V cable replacement.Presumably that includes Pulse~LINK.

Lee said Monster chose Sigma “simply because the company’ssolutions proved to be the most reliable andbecause they meet Monster’s strict qualityparameters.

“Sigma’s UWB allows us to continue offer-ing our customers the quality service levelsthey’ve come to expect,” Lee said. “Together,we are achieving a “virtual wireless” solutionfor the whole home by combining wireless forin-room HD content streaming and UWB-over-coax for room-to-room streaming.”

Monster’s Wireless Digital Express HD is powered by Sigma’sWireless HDAV, which features Sigma’s UWB Windeo chipset and itsIntelligent Array Radio (IAR) technology. Sigma’s IAR technologyincorporates three antennas to deliver what it says is the industry’smost reliable wireless link, one that is uninhibited by walls, objects orpeople, also referred to as non-line-of-sight activity.

Sigma’s Wireless HDAV solution will enable Monster’s customersto mount their HDTVs on walls without the need for multiple HDMIand A/V cables spread throughout the room or hanging across thewalls.

Sigma’s Wireless HDAV and UWB-over-coax combination solu-tion also provide the Monster Wireless Digital Express HD productwith long-range capability to cover the whole home with wireless con-nectivity that achieves mobility and flexibility for in-room videostreaming. It said the technology “maintains the highest quality of ser-vice that is required for HD content that travels from room-to-room.”

Sigma’s UWB technology is based on theWiMedia Alliance standard that other technol-ogy companies also support.

“We are excited that Monster has chosenSigma’s wireless HDAV and “no new wires”UWB-over-coax solutions to power the newWireless Digital Express HD product,” saidHung Nguyen, VP and general manager atSigma’s wireless products division.“Monster’s selection of Sigma’s UWB technology further validatesthat advanced wireless home connectivity is here now, ready for ourhome high def products.” He said the products “once and for all elim-inate the need for any new complex wiring.”

Specs for Wireless Digital Express HDMonster’s $299 Wireless Digital Express HD box:- Encodes older video formats to 1080P HDMI- Upscales all inputs to 1080p format including DVDs.

- Offers in-room and adjacent room wireless connectivity- Has a 330 feet (100 meter) plus range of coax connectivity room-to-room- Has fully integrated Infrared (IR) distribution plus inputs for twoHDMI ports, two component, one composite video/S-video withaudio, coax digital, optical digital with outputs of coax digital,optical digital F-connector for coax, 3 IR emitters and a serialcommunication input- Input switching is IR controlled for remote control from any-where in the home

- Software can be updated through its USB port.

Sigma’s Wireless HDAV SolutionsSigma’s Wireless HDAV technology trans-

ports HD multimedia using standards-basedencoding technologies over ultra wideband toreplace high definition audio/video cables.

Sigma’s chips enable developers of homenetworking systems to eliminate cablesbetween a television and set-top box or HDDVD player by using wireless HDAV. Thecompany says it’s the first technology solution

to support both the H.264 format and UWB based on the WiMediastandard.

Sigma’s UWB chipset uses Intelligent Array Radio (IAR) technol-ogy to ensure “the highest reliability in wireless connections betweendevices and delivers through-wall and range extension capabilities.”The chip compresses raw video to allow wireless HD video streaming“without compromising visual quality.”

The MarketShort of landing a major digital service provider, Monster Cable

will give Sigma the largest potential market.The need for connecting devices wirelessly and over existing wires

such as coax and the power lines is growing as consumers buy moreentertainment gear that they want to connect. The soaring costs ofpetrol may, at least initially, make consumers more cocoon-like whenit comes to video entertainment. Watching movies and TV shows with

high definition equipment sounds like amoney-saving, environmentally friendlier wayto be entertained and informed.

Competitive TechnologiesA number of companies and coalitions are

attempting to fill the need for connectingdevices in the home, especially the boomingnumber of HD devices. Solutions include both

wired and wireless and technologies that do both such as whatMonster’s Sigma-based products offer.

Sony, Toshiba, Intel and others are developing a wireless HD-capable technology called Wireless HD.

The Wi-Fi community is developing higher speed versions of Wi-Fi, most recently the “n” version of 802.11.

Chipmaker Pulse~LINK has been the most publicly vocal about its

Each Box is Botha Transmitter and a Receiver

Sigma's UWBTechnologyis Based on

WiMedia Alliance Standard

Monster: continued from page ONE

Monster: continued on page THREE


combination wired and wireless HD capabilities. At CES in JanuaryWestinghouse Digital, one of the top five US makers of LCD TVs,and Pulse~LINK showed what the two companies said was theworld’s first fully integrated wireless HDTV. It used Pulse~LINKchips.

At that time Pulse-Link said it was the only semiconductor compa-ny that could deliver production chips with gigabit data rates for bothwired and wireless HD video distribution. The company said it invent-ed the use of Ultra Wideband over coax systems and was the first topatent and demonstrate this technology for streaming HD contentthroughout the home.

This week Pulse~LINK said it would demonstrate products that useits latest technology at an industry seminar in two weeks. “No moreprototypes,” it said.

Sigma Designs was demonstrating its products in private suites atThe Cable Show a few weeks back while Pulse~LINK was showingat a booth in the exhibit hall. Both were trying to attract the attentionof digital service providers who are expected to buy millions of set-top boxes with networking built-in as they upgrade their networks andconsumer premises equipment.

AT&T is shipping boxes for its U-verse broadband and pay-TV ser-

vice that use Coppergate’s HomePNA chips. Verizon is shippingbroadband and pay-TV boxes with Entropic’s MoCA chip as willComcast, it appears, in a few months. Ruckus Wireless with its supercharged Wi-Fi and two of the three Powerline sects, HomePlug withchips from Intellon and UPA with DS2 chips have been selling quan-tities of products to telcos in Europe and Asia that are entering the pay-TV market.

Panasonic makes chips for HD PLC gear, a third Powerline net-work standard.

G.hnComplicating the home networking matter is the attempt to develop

a single network standard that will run over all three of the home’sexisting wires: coax, phone and electrical. It’s called G.hn and has thebacking of a number of industry heavyweights such as AT&T, Verizon,France Telecom, Telenor, Qwest, Intel and a number of others.Network gear with G.hn appears to be at least 18 months to 24 monthsaway, maybe more but certainly not any sooner. In the meantime, con-sumers and digital service providers can’t wait.

If the WiMedia standard that Sigma is using or the technology thatPulse~LINK is developing take hold, they, or one of them, could ful-fill the need for G.hn and add a wireless “in-room” component as well.

Digital Service ProvidersWe recently asked, “What’s a Phone Company? What’s a Cable TV Company? The world has changed but the nomenclature hasn’t.Phone companies sell pay-TV, broadband and mobile network services. Cable TV companies sell phone service, broadband and are about to start selling mobile services. Virgin

Media in the UK and Rogers in Canada are already selling mobile telephony and mobile broadband. Comcast,Time Warner Cable and Bright House have a deal with Sprint/Clearwire that’ll put them in the mobilephone/mobile broadband business.

So, why do we keep calling them by obsolete names?Any distinguishing line has been forever blurred between what cablecos and telcos are.They’re all service providers. What they’re selling and delivering is digital data, whether voice, video (pay-

TV), Internet pages or Web-based services.- - - - - -A leading industry spokesperson responded:“We are writing a white paper and want to use your definition of today’s network operator, what you identi-

fy as the digital service provider. This fits in well our position as we see telephone companies and cable com-panies morphing into each other’s turf. Strict lines of definition and demarcation do not apply.”

‘Nuff said.

The Online Reporterwww.onlinereporter.com

Monster: continued from page TWO


Beautiful“It’s really beautiful,” was how Jobs described it as he unveiled the

iPhone to applause from the awe-struck audience. With a nice 3.5-inch display, a full plastic back, solid metal buttons,

flush head phone jacks, thinner at the edges and improved audio qual-ity, the iPhone 3G appears to be a cool lil’ thing.

Other FeaturesThere’s more to the new iPhone than the 3G upgrade, GPS, a few

enterprise-friendly features or its slick design.Here are some of the other key features of iPhone 3G:* Talk time of five hours on a 3G and 10 hours on a 2G network;

five-to-six hours of Web browsing; up to seven hours of video play-back and up to 24 hours for audio playback.

* Leverages Apple’s new subscription-based MobileMe Internetservice that pushes e-mail, contacts and calendars from an online“cloud” to native applications on iPhone, iPod touch, Macs and PCs.

* Built-in speaker, microphone, SIM card tray and 3.5mm stereoheadphone mini-jack.

* 2 megapixel camera.* As with the older version, on the new iPhone too users can multi-

task with simultaneous voice and data communications. So whenusers are on a call, they can simultaneously get map directions, checke-mail or browse the Web.

* A new scientific calculator, the ability to mass move and deletemultiple e-mail messages and parental control for specified content.

* The new AppStore lets iPhone users buy native applications invarious categories including games, business, news, sports, health,reference and travel. To be available in 62 countries at launch,AppStore is said to work over both cellular networks and Wi-Fi.

Price CutWeighing a mere 133 grams, iPhone 3G is scheduled to start selling

on July 11 for $199 for the 8GB version and $299 for the 16GB modelwith a two-year contract.

The 8GB model comes only in black but the new 16GB version canalso be had in white.

The new pricing is $200 less than for the previous versions ofiPhones.

Does anyone still remember that the first iPhone cost $599 at onetime?

70 CountriesApple intends to offer the iPhone 3G in 70 countries later this year,

beginning with 22 countries including the US, Canada, Mexico, HongKong, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, UK, France, Germany, Austria,Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway,Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

iPhone SDKEven as all eyes were on the gleaming iPhone 3G, perhaps the more

important news was the developer ecosystem that Apple is buildingaround the device.

Apple said 250,000 developers had downloaded the iPhone SDKsince its launch on March 6.

The SDK provides developers with a set of ApplicationProgramming Interfaces and tools to build native applications.

Several developers including AOL, Cisco, eBay, Electronic Arts,Epocrates, TypePad, Salesforce.com and Sega have built nativeapplications using the iPhone SDK.

Apple said 25,000 people applied for the paid developer programand 4,000 were admitted.

Developers set the price for their applications and get 70% of rev-enues from the apps.

If the application size is 10MB or less, it can be downloaded overthe cellular network, Wi-Fi or iTunes. If the applications are more than10MB, users can download them over Wi-Fi or iTunes only.

Apple is also planning to provide for enterprises to distributeiPhone apps through the corporate intranet as well as introducing an“ad hoc” method to distribute applications in a compact environmentlike a university classroom or a small software development team.

Introduces MobileMeAlong with the new iPhone 3G, Apple also rolled out a new sub-

scription Internet service called MobileMe that delivers push e-mail,contacts and calendar and keeps them synchronized on differentdevices – iPhone, iPod touch, Mac or PC.

“Think of MobileMe as ‘Exchange’ for the rest of us,” said Jobs.“Now users who are not part of an enterprise that runs Exchange canget the same push e-mail, push calendars and push contacts that thebig guys get.”

MobileMe costs $99 per year for individuals and $149 for a familypack. The individual account comes with 20GB of storage and thefamily pack with 20GB for the master account and 5GB for each fouradditional members. Members can purchase an additional 20GB for$49 or 40GB for $99 annually.

Impact on RIMThe talking heads on CNBC, the US business news TV channel,

feel that the new iPhone will have some impact on Research andMotion, the maker of the Blackberry phone that’s popular in corporatecircles, but also think the two can co-exist.

Changes in Business ModelApple continues to tweak the business model around the iPhones. It

started with exclusive deals with operators in geographies like the US,UK, France, Germany and Ireland before starting to sign non-exclu-sive deals with multiple operators in other regions of the world.

In the latest change, Apple will not get a cut of the monthly servicecharge from the carriers.

But with the price cut and additional features, the iPhone shouldnow be more appealing to those who stood on the sidelines for the last12 months because of the high price.

“At just $199, we think the iPhone 3G is going to be affordable toalmost everyone,” said Jobs.

Apple says it’s sold six million iPhones since they debuted 12months ago and is on course to sell 10 million in 2008.

Some analysts feel that the lower iPhone prices could bring in a lotmore consumers. “Apple is now better positioned comparatively onprice to gain significant share in the handset market,” wrote Merrill

Apple: continued on page FIVE

Apple: continued from page ONE


Lynch analyst Jeff Fidacaro in a research note although sales may behurt in the short term as customers wait for the new version.

WhinersOf course, the iPhone 3G has its share of whiners.Here’s a brief list of cavils from the whiners on what’s lacking in

the iPhone 3G - lack of video recording and of MMS, - relatively low spec 2 megapixel camera, - it still works only on the AT&T service, - no cut/paste feature - the phone cannot be used as a modem as many other smart-phones can - it’s not on sale till July 11If you think of more shortcomings, let us know.

Tru2way Attracts a Crowd(And Builds a Big Tent)

Major consumer electronics, computer technology and set-top boxmakers have licensed to use tru2way technology and/or have signedbinding memorandums of understanding (MOU) with the US’ sixlargest cable TV operators.

The reason for the team-building efforts? The Internet, of course.Instead of slowly losing more and more of their customers’ eyeballtime to the ever-improving Internet, cablecos hope that providing acutting-edge, interactive experience on their televisions will actuallyreverse the trend. To do that, however, you need killer applications,which means you need a big enough marketplace to attract topdesigners.

Committing to tru2way are:Consumer electronics (CE) companies: Panasonic, Samsung,

Sony, LG and Toshiba. Panasonic is making set-top boxes for pay-TV operators that include tru2way. Sony and Panasonic intend to buildCableCARD-compliant set-top box functions including tru2way intosome future TV sets. CableCARDs and built-in CableCARD technol-ogy means the user doesn’t need a separate set-top box.

Set-top box makers: Digeo and Switzerland’s ADB.Chipmakers: Intel, AMD and Broadcom. Intel plans to develop a

system-on-a-chip (SoC) that will support tru2way devices such as dig-ital TV sets, set-top-boxes and DVRs. No word on a ship date or price.

Cablecos: Comcast, Time Warner, Cox, Cablevision, Charterand Bright House. The group has over 80% of all US cable TV sub-scribers and their service passes 105 million homes. They haveannounced support for the tru2way platform on their networks. TimeWarner Cable has already distributed nearly a million tru2waydevices.

Future Proof The tru2way standard will allow cablecos to enhance and add to the

service they offer their customers without having to install new set-topboxes every time there’s a change.

Time Warner Cable president Glenn Britt said tru2way technologywill allow the industry to continually enhance the customer experi-

ence, “ensuring that the latest features and technology are available toour customers nation-wide.”

CableLabs president and CEO Richard Green said the agreement“validates the tru2way technology platform for delivering interactivedigital cable services to a wide variety of devices.” He said his orga-nization, which was responsible for developing tru2way, is ready tosupport cable operators and manufacturers in the rollout of tru2waydevices.

Comcast Media Center has said it’ll provide support for tru2wayto (a) small and mid-sized cablecos that want to deploy tru2way andtru2way services and applications and (b) developers of tru2wayapplications and services who want to test and launch their products.To those ends, it has developed a centralized platform called HITSAdvanced Interactive Services (AxIS).

The cablecos have promised to streamline the approval process fornew technology licenses and to offer new ways for interested compa-nies to cooperate in the development of tru2way technology atCableLabs.

The Quest for Third Party DevelopersApple was much in the news this week, perhaps most significantly,

at least long-term, for the applications and services that third partiesare developing to run on iPhones and iPod touches. Companies suchas Apple and the cablecos have realized that their future prosperitywill depend to a great degree on getting independent companies todevelop products that run on their devices.

Tru2way uses the same Java-based technology that is used in cellphones, interactive broadcasting and Blu-ray players. That meansthere is a large community of developers who are skilled at develop-ing for tru2way even though tru2way itself is relatively new.

Each cableco will decide individually which tru2way applicationsand services will be made available to their users. Also, there is no setrevenue sharing model nor has a venture investment fund been estab-lished to provide financial assistance. The Apple business model isthat it decides which applications will be deployed; the developertakes 70% of the revenue and Apple keeps the rest. Apple hosts, mar-kets and handles application downloads. Apple worked with SiliconValley’s most successful VC firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byersto raise $100 million for an iFund to help iPhone/iPod touch softwaredevelopers get their applications to market.

A tru2way National NetworkThe cablecos have several ambitions for tru2way. Because it estab-

lishes a universal standard for future set-top boxes that any manufac-turer can adhere to, it allows cablecos to create in effect a single andcompatible nearly-national network that could have upwards of 50million homes with tru2way boxes in a few years. By comparison,Apple’s goal is to have sold 10 million iPhones by year-end.

Ambition number one for the cablecos is to sell more ads. By beingable to sell advertisers on a national buy rather than selling each indi-vidual market piecemeal, the cablecos believe they can increase the $5billion in revenue they currently get from ads.

Advertisers pay for eyeballs and the Internet has begun to cut intothe time the cablecos subscribers spend watching pay-TV, a trend thata number of surveys have shown over the last two years.

The pay-TV business in the States is hyper-competitive. Most resi-

Apple: continued from page FOUR

Tru2way: continued on page SIX


dences have a choice of subscribing to any of three pay-TV services –the local pay-TV service and the two satellite providers. The phonecompanies’ recent entry into pay TV with Internet-like interactive TVtechnology has increased the competition.

Cablecos lost 86,000 pay-TV subscribers in 2008’s Q1, probably

very few to the Net but mostly to the satcos ⎯ DirecTV and the DishNetwork ⎯ and telcos ⎯ mostly Verizon and AT&T. Many consid-er satcos and telcos to have better user interfaces than the cablecos.

Last August, the National Cable & TelecommunicationsAssociation (NCTA) and the Consumer Electronics Association(CEA) submitted competing proposals to the FCC on how to handletwo-way services with CableCARD. The two groups have now agreedto work together with the CableCARD standard as the hardware inter-face and tru2way software as the middleware that governs the use ofservices.

Now that the path is clear for tru2way, we’ll see what kind of appli-cations come down the pike.

Tru2way CertificationOnce an industry standard has been adopted and equipment based onthe standard is ready, then an independent organization has to test thegear for compatibility and interoperability with other like gear. Oncethe product passes, it’s certified and can then typically stick a label onthe box that says so.

It’s a process that every standards organization has to go through.

Tru2way is no exception. This week, CableLabs, which will administer tru2way stress tests

said, as might be expected, that it will not announce certificationresults. The organization conducts multiple certification tests through-out the year. Announcements have to be made by the equipmentmanufacturers

It did say, “Panasonic has entered an upcoming cer-tification wave, which provides ample time for prod-ucts to reach the marketplace to meet the company’srollout schedule. Other tru2way products, includingproducts from Samsung and ADB, have already beencertified by CableLabs.”

At the recent Cable Show, Panasonic was pushingitself at THE tru2way product company. It was show-ing a number of tru2way products in its booth, not onlyset-top boxes but CableCARD compliant TV sets withtru2way built in. Its most innovative product was aCableCARD compliant portable DVR with tru2way.Users could unplug the unit and watch recorded showsjust like it were a portable DVD player ⎯ except theycould watch the most recent episodes of their favoritesTV shows.

CableLabs and the cable TV operators that ownCableLabs want to get as much tru2way certified prod-uct to market as possible. They also know that it has towork and has to be 100% compatible with tru2way andother tru2way products. No exceptions.

A recently buggered up certification process hap-pened with HDMI cables, the new, pricey ones thatconnect HDTVs to HD set-top boxes and other HDgear. The lack of compatibility caused a great deal ofconsumer angst when they couldn’t get supposedlycompatible products to work. And to think, it was justsome connector cables involved, not an entire network.Last August, The Audioholic Online A/V Magazine saidthat its understanding was that “HDMI certification islargely a very fast and loose (not to mention expensiveand apparently profitable) program that does noth-ing to truly ensure any of the manufacturer’s pro-

duction cables meet or exceed any practical current specifica-tion.”

Cablecos have too much riding on tru2way to take any risks whenit comes to reliability and compatibility. CableLabs is on guard.

US Cable TV Services - Q1 2008

as of March 31, 2008 in thousands

Company Pay TV Subscribers Pay TV Added/Lost

Comcast 24,691 -57

Time Warner Cable 13,306 -55

Cox 5,400 0

Charter 5,208 -11

Cablevision~ 3,125 2

Bright House Networks incl.Suddenlink (4) Not reported Not reported

MediaCom 1,326 2

Insight 689 15

Cable One~ 711 8

RCN~ 362 4

Knology 234 6

Major Cable TV Services excl.Brighthouse 55,052 -86

US Satellite TV Services 30,850 310

US Telcos excl. their Dish &DirecTV subscribers 1,640 445

Total 87,542 669

Tru2way: continued from page FIVE

“There are three sides to every story: my side,your side and the truth. And no one is lying.”

– Robert Evans, the movie mogul behind movies like “Chinatown”and “The Godfather”

Every week in The Online Reporter, we try to bring you allsides of every issue.

Call 225-769-7130 for your own subscription.Or, write [email protected]


This Week in Content Deals

Companies Details

Sony PicturesSony Pictures' Entertainment's online video network Crackle has put out nine original series across a variety of gen-res from comedy to music to gaming and lifestyle. Highlights from the summer line-up includes "The Jace HallShow," "Take-Away Shows," Purple Onion Season Two," and six series in C-Spot Season Two.

HBOHBO is picking up a small stake in Will Ferrell's two-year-old comedy Web site FunnyorDie.com. Terms were notdisclosed, but a report in Variety puts the stake at less than 10%. Apparently, HBO has also commissioned 10 half-hours of programming from Funny or Die as part of the deal.

Disney Disney will stream online movies at Disney.com for the first time. Expect to watch Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc. andPeter Pan.

Tribeca Film InstituteTribeca Film Institute has launched a Web initiative called Reframe to assist filmmakers, broadcasters, distributors,media organizations, archives, libraries and other media owners to digitize, market and sell their classic and hard-to-find films and video content via the Internet. The Reframe Web site already lists 227 titles.

OrangeOrange has launched a music subscription service for PCs and mobile phones called Musique Max in partnershipwith four major music labels EMI, Sony BMG, Universal Music and Warner Music and two indies Believe andScorpio Music. The service costs 12 euros a month.

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. has inked distribution deals with Dailymotion, Joost, TiVO, Sling Media and Veoh Networks to launchbranded channels in September that will include TheWB.com and KidsWB.com.

What’s a Phone Company? What’s a Cable TV Company?

The world has changed.Some phone companies have more pay-TV customers than some cable TV companies. Likewise, some cable TV companies

have more telephone customers than some phone companies.With the cablecos about to enter the mobile market in the US (see the Sprint-Clearwire-Comcast-Time Warner Cable-Bright

House venture) and with Virgin Media in the UK and Rogers in Canada already selling mobile telephony and broadband, any dis-tinguishing line has been forever blurred between what cablecos and telcos are.

They’re all service providers. What they’re selling and delivering is digital data, whether voice, video, Internet pages or Web-based services.

They’re Digital Service Providers (DSPs)So let’s make a break from terminology that originated in the 19th and 20th centuries and call a spade a spade. They’re all dig-

ital service providers (DSPs) and that’s what we’ll call them to show that they’re all in the same business — at least until some-one comes up with a better term.


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Mobile Media 2008: The Third Screen For EntertainmentThis new report describes the current state of information & entertainment content on mobile devices and shows how content will bedelivered over high-speed wireless networks to millions of always-connected multimedia mobile phones such as the iPhone. (More...)


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You Can Copythe iPhone But Notthe iPhone ExperienceThe following appeared in this week’sFaultline, which focuses on triple and quadplay services. To get a free copy to evaluate,e-mail [email protected].

In the aftermath of the launch of the 3GiPhone, everyone is trying to get to gripswith just what Steve Jobs brought to themobile party that was new. Most of the pun-dits have missed it, because there was quite alot.

The first thing is that it is bringing the bestout of all the rivals with Nokia re-iteratingthe availability in August of the already laud-ed N96, which it will position head to headwith iPhone, and Samsung, on the same day,launching its own all-touch iPhone killer, theOmnia i900, a Windows phone which hasmany of the same features.

Pundits were split immediately into twocamps. Those who love the iPhone, andthose whose first experiences with Applehave always meant they are negative aboutthe company, who want anything but anApple device, and who continue to point outthat the 3G iPhone is finally almost as goodas the promised N96, but still doesn’t havethat wonderful complete Nokia look andfeel.

There should be a third group though,developers, all sorts of developers. Peoplemay complain about the SDK and how limit-ing it is, and how you can’t get at some of thecore phone functions, but that hasn’t stoppedpeople taking a look see, primarily becauseApple is going to give them a route to mar-ket through its own Application Store.Programmers everywhere are thinking,“What if I can get a paid App on theiPhone?”

One in particular that we saw this week isSling Media, now part of EchoStar in theUS. For those that have not tried a Sling Boxor any of its derivative products, it is a devicewhich takes your own TV outputs, be theyDVD, the Sky Plus DVR or a Virgin Mediaservice, it re-compresses the program andsends it out to wherever you are, as long asyou are on a broadband line, including abroadband wireless line, like the 3G iPhone

now has. So you can watch your home TV,whatever it is, wherever you are, on a PC ora handset. Who needs mobile TV, if you haveyour own TV, and it’s mobile.

Apple is ambivalent about this, and isunsure whether it wants to sell lots morevideo from the iTunes store, or allow appli-cations like Sling on its new device. So Slingis only showing a “concept” version on thenew iPhone, and is awaiting Apple’sapproval. Sling makes its money selling thebox for home and the application on thehandset or PC, and we would expect that tobe a hot pull for any device that has it, andApple will soon realize that its new iPhoneneeds it.

The big thing that coverage focused onwas price, which has been announced in theUS as $199 or $299 for the 16GB versionwith a long-term contract. Of course that’snot what it costs. We reckon that operatorsare paying $499 for the device and subsidiz-ing it the same way that rival handsets arealready subsidized. This will have a hugeeffect on the number of devices shipped, andalready shipment predictions have risen from10 million a year to 25 million a year on theback of that alone.

Now a contract customer will be offeredthe device alongside the Nokia N95 or N96,or Sony Ericsson Walkmans. “Certainly sir,would you like that contract with aniPhone?” will be the phrase that doubles ortrebles shipments. But that’s not all thatApple needs to make this device a success,and for that we come back to its software andits rising developer community.

Apple is quietly creating a walled garden,but not the traditional one that operators havecreated. A walled garden is where an opera-tor says which applications and which ser-vices can operate over its network.

The new walled gardens are where hand-set makers decide which applications andwhich services can operate on its devices.

While Nokia has spent a lot of time talk-ing about its Ovi portal, all of the applica-tions on the portal are written or owned byNokia. In the Application Store, Apple hasgone a step further, and by linking all soft-ware to an issued digital rights management(DRM) License the company keeps controlof which applications make it onto their

device, and keep control of the revenuestreams from applications. The difference isthat Apple is showing its roots, which arefirmly in the PC world, where developers areeverything, and like Facebook, the 3GiPhone will find that applications spring upfresh every day, renewing the iPhone experi-ence in a way that companies like Nokia canonly copy, because it developer communityis mostly internal. This is what Google’sAndroid was supposed to achieve, but some-how Apple has engineered a desire to devel-op for its device.

Nokia will continue to sell more handsetsthan any other company, and Samsung willcontinue to sell the next highest, but theywill have to open their minds further to avibrant developer community if they want tostop Apple carving out a hugely profitablyexistence at their expense with the 3GiPhone, especially when the full capabilitiesof the next generation software come outnext month, to be thought of as the realiPhone 2.0. Because this will stimulatewhole new genres of application, which willwork equally well on the iPod Touch andboth iPhones and will introduce major incur-sions into the enterprise with Exchange serv-er compatibility for e-mail, push e-mail, andin gaming (Apple has already demonstratedsome games from Sega), further threateningNokia enterprise Smartphones, theBlackberry and devices like the NintendoDS and the Sony PlayStation Portable.

Get Ready for theiPhone Apps Deluge

- Applications Are KeyIt’s all nice and dandy to have a cool littledevice like the Apple iPhone that’s the buzzof the moment.

But make no mistake — unless there’s avast ecosystem of third party developers coa-lescing around that cool lil’ gadget withapplications that expand its utility in newdirections, chances are its staying power willbe limited.

Web TV, SideKick and Razr are only a fewexamples of hot devices that caught theimagination of consumers for a short seasonbefore losing their luster.

APPLE SLICES

Deluge: continued on page TEN


Battle AheadIf Apple succeeds in getting application developers to line up

behind its popular iPhone, the battle to become the preferred mobilephone is more than half won.

“A device is nothing without applications,” Gartner analyst KenDulaney told CNET. “The one lesson you can take away fromMicrosoft is that once you attract the developers the rest is an easycoast downhill. And I’m incredibly impressed at the speed in whichApple’s application development platform has fully matured.”

Kleiner Perkins’ $100m iPhone/iPodFund

Besides putting out an iPhone softwaredevelopers kit (SDK), Apple worked with VCfirm Kleiner Perkins, which launched a $100million fund in March to invest in companiesthat want to develop iPhone and iPod touchsoftware. That should provide a big fillip inbuilding a huge developer ecosystem for theiPhone.

“A revolutionary new platform is a rare and prized opportunity forentrepreneurs, and that’s exactly what Apple has created with iPhoneand iPod touch,” said, Kleiner Perkins partner John Doerr in March atthe time of the fund’s launch. “We think several significant new com-panies will emerge as this new platform evolves, and the iFund willempower them to realize their full potential.”

If Apple has to win the war with Windows Mobile, Google’supcoming Android, Symbian and Linux phones, developer supportwill be the key factor.

Developers EnthusiasticEarly response to the iPhone SDK that

Apple put out in March suggests that applica-tion developers are gung-ho about puttingresources behind the iPhone.

The numbers say it all — 250,000 develop-ers downloaded the SDK, 25,000 applied tothe paid developer program and 4,000 peoplewere admitted to the program.

And did anyone say that this high level of developer interest is fora device that’s just a year-old.

String of AppsAt Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco,

Steve Jobs and his aides trotted out a string of developers that havewritten native applications for the iPhone.

The native iPhone applications are supposed to show up at Apple’snew, upcoming App Store, where customers can search for and pur-chase applications.

Here are some of the applications that made it to the floor on theopening day of the developers’ conference:

- eBay showed an iPhone application for accessing the auctionWeb site. The application, which eBay intends to offer for free,

lets users track auctions they’ve bid on, see whether they’ve beenoutbid and place new bids. eBay said the iPhone is the No-1mobile device accessing the auction site.- Loopt talked up a location-based social networking applicationthat lets users see their friends superimposed on a map, see whatthey’ve have been up to and look at photos they’ve taken. TheLoopt app will also be available for free on the AppStore when itlaunches.- TypePad, a blogging tool, lets users create a text post or take aphoto with the iPhone and send it to their blogs. Bloggers can alsoadd a photo from their library to a post. This application will alsobe available for free.

- Associated Press showed a location-aware application called Mobile NewsNetwork that provides local news based onwhere one is. Users can customize the feedsfor their favorite sports teams, read topnews, business and entertainment contentand browse AP photos or video. Users canshare their favorite stories via text or e-mailand citizen journalists can upload their sto-

ries and photos to the AP. The AP application is also supposed tobe free.- Games developer Pangea Software has ported two of its gameapps from the Mac OS to the iPhone. They are a 3D puzzle gamecalled Enigmo and Cro-Mag Rally, a caveman racing game. Bothgames will cost $9.99.- Cow Music has come out with an application called Band thatlets users play instruments from their iPhone. The work of a solodeveloper Mark Terry, Band lets users “play” the piano, drums,

12-bar blues instrument and bass guitar onthe iPhone. Cool.

- MIMVista has developed a medicalimaging application to allow doctors toshow patients targeted radiation treatment.

- Modality built an iPhone applicationto enable medical students to learn humananatomical information. The app, which pro-vides a detailed guide to the human body,lets users zoom and pan across high-quality

pictures and let them tap on a Google-map style pin to identify abody part.- MLB.com showed an application for baseball fans called “AtBat” that provides live updates with scores, who’s on base, who’sbatting and real-time video highlights from games.- Digital Legends Entertainment demo’d a three dimensionalcaveman adventure game called Kroll in which players battle ene-mies, swing across rope bridges and solve problems. Kroll shouldbe out by September.- Sega has developed a Super Monkey Ball game that it plans tosell for $10.Apart from the showcased apps at the conference, developers at

AOL, Cisco, Electronic Arts, Epocrates and Salesforce.com arealso said to have developed native apps using the iPhone SDK.

APPLE SLICES

"A Device is NothingWithout Applications"

Developers are Enthusiastic

Deluge: continued from page NINE


WiMAX’ Initial Use Is forWireline Broadband ReplacementWiMAX service providers in emerging markets, where there is littlewireline broadband, have generally positioned WiMAX as a substi-tutefor wireline broadband, providing mainly fixed and portableInternet access but not mobile access, according to a study thatPyramid Research did.

WiMAX deployments in emerging markets accounted for morethan 70% of WiMAX subscribers globally in 2007, the company said.

The WiMAX as wireline broadband alternative is exactly whatSprint’s chief WiMAX partisan Barry West predicted would happenin the States when Sprint, now Clearwire, begins offering WiMAX atretail. For one thing WiMAX will have very limited geographic cov-erage in its early days. Then, too, the expectations are that there’ll notbe any “must have” mobile devices in 2008. For the record, the newiPhone coming this summer is not a WiMAX device. If it were, we’dhave a different cover story this week.

The three cable TV services that are in on the Clearwire venture andSprint have talked about a user being able to automatically go fromWiMAX to Sprint’s 3G service and back as the user moves around.However, no details have been provided on how that will work. It willtake a long time – several years – and a lot of money for Clearwire tobuild even a near national WiMAX network.

Also unanswered is why the Sprint-Clearwire venture will work forthe cablecos but their Pivot venture with Sprint did not.

Calix Offers Telcos HigherSpeeds over Existing Copper NetworksCalix, claiming to be the largest telecom equipment supplier focusedsolely on access solutions for broadband service delivery, this weekannounced two new additions to its product line that will enable telcosto deliver advanced, high-bandwidth pay-TV and broadband overtheir existing copper infrastructure.

Telcos compete in the broadband and pay-TV markets with cable-cos that’ll soon be providing speeds of up to 100 Mbps with technol-ogy called Wideband that Comcast has already deployed in theMinneapolis-St Paul market. Wideband runs over the cablecos’ exist-ing wires to the home so they are not faced with physically buildingnew fiber optic networks as the telcos are. Cablecos in the UK, Japanand South Korea are already offering the higher speeds.

Calix’s new product line would allow telcos to stay competitivewith VDSL2 while they deploy the fiber optic networks that are thefuture.

The Case for VDSLTelcos mainly outside the States have used VDSL2 technology to

increase bandwidth to the home over their existing networks. AT&Tis using VDSL2 to deliver its U-verse pay-TV service. Verizon is not.It’s running a fiber optic cable all the way to the side of the home forits FiOS pay-TV service.

“Excluding AT&T’s U-verse initiative, VDSL2 adoption in theNorth American market has been slow to develop,” said Matt Davis,program director of consumer multi-play services at IDC. “As the

demand for additional bandwidth to enable multi-play services grows,service providers have come under increasing competitive pressure todeploy new technologies. VDSL in all its forms is one of the key tech-nologies service providers have long considered. However, they hadquestions about standardization and the ability to seamlessly intercon-nect with legacy ADSL technology ⎯ a critical function that preventsthe requirement for a massive DSL consumer premises equipment(CPE) upgrade. The maturation of VDSL technology gives serviceproviders more options when deploying new bandwidth-intensivemulti-play services.”

The conclusion seems to be that the telcos must run fiber optic allthe way to the home or they must use VDSL from a nearby fiber opticnode to the home. Otherwise the cablecos will have a far superior net-work for (a) delivering lots of bandwidth-hugging HD TV channelsand (b) downloading, uploading and streaming video that is increas-ingly high-quality, even HD.

According to Calix, IPTV pay-TV and related services plus anincreasingly online consumer lifestyle are rapidly driving the need formore bandwidth in the last mile ⎯ from where the fiber optic node isto the high-speed network in the home. As a result, it says, serviceproviders are looking for access solutions that can use their existingcopper infrastructure to meet these demands while simplifying man-agement and lowering operational costs.

New VDSL2 ProductsCalix says its new environmentally hardened products and unified

access infrastructure meet these needs, offering service providers anumber of benefits.

“As bandwidth requirements, particularly for video, ratchet higher,service providers are looking for ways to offer competitive servicesacross their existing copper infrastructures,” said Frank Wiener, VP ofproduct development at Calix. He said the new products leverage thelatest VDSL2 technologies plus ADSL fallback to overcome the majorhurdle inhibiting North American VDSL deployments – how to rollout VDSL2 in existing networks without mass modem change-outs.

In addition to the big two ⎯AT&T and Verizon ⎯ and the little two⎯ Qwest and Embarq, the US has over 1,500 smaller, independenttelcos that want a piece of the broadband and pay-TV action.

Singular Broadband Coming- Wireline & Wireless Internet Access Will Be Seamless

People don’t have two cars ⎯ one to drive on city streets and anotherto use on the Interstates or Motorways. The day will soon come whenthere will only be one broadband and the same devices will accessboth wireline and wireless broadband. Consumers will order broad-band and get access at home over their service provider’s wirelinebroadband network and away from home via a cellular network ornearby Wi-Fi hotspots ⎯ or as the technology becomes available viaWiMAX or LTE mobile broadband networks.

Wireless broadband is spreading as evidenced by the recent rapidincreases in the cellcos’ revenue from data plans. It will spread evenfaster as (a) 3G cellular networks with their faster access speeds are

BROADBAND BEAT

Singular: continued on page TWELVE


deployed and (b) products like iPhone andother cell phones plus non-phone productssuch as iPod touches come equipped withwireless Internet access.

Apple and AT&T have shown with theiPhone and AT&T’s single price, unlimiteduse wireless data plan, that many consumerswant continuous Internet access ⎯ and theywant pocket-sized computer-like devices toaccess it with.

AT&T has taken the lead in the dualbroadband market with two other moves.

It’s patching together a national networkof Wi-Fi hotspots. There are expected to be17,000 of them in the States by year-endsince the rollout can proceed now that T-Mobile and Starbucks have resolved the law-suit. AT&T offers free, albeit, somewhat lim-ited access to its Wi-Fi network to the 14.6million subscribers of its wireline broadbandservice. It has said it would consider makingthe same offer to its mobile phone customersbut hasn’t, at least not yet.

BT is doing a similar quilt of Wi-Fihotspots in the UK and on the continent. BTis going a step beyond AT&T by usingFON’s technology and service to let BT’sbroadband subscribers serve as hotspots.BT’s 4.4 million wireline broadband sub-scribers can get free access to more than190,000 FON hotspots worldwide if theyagree to share some of their Wi-Fi bandwidthat home with other FON users. FON saysone million homes and businesses world-wide will have FON-enabled Wi-Fi hotspotsby the end of the year - yep, one million. See“BT, FON to Create UK-wide Wi-Fi Hotpot”at:http://www.onlinereporter.com/article.php?arti-cle_id=10780

Apple has sensed the opportunity thatlarge Wi-Fi networks offer. It has proclaimediPhone and iPod touches as THE platformfor Wi-Fi applications. The first third partyapplications and services were announcedthis week together with the new 3G iPhone.

Secondly, AT&T last week launched a sin-gle price, triple play wireline and wirelessbroadband bundle: wireline broadband athome, Wi-Fi access at more than 17,000 hotspots in the States and wireless access withAT&T’s Laptop Connect service to AT&T’scellular network ⎯ all for $79.95 a month.

AT&T’s free Communication Managersoftware (version 6.8) for laptops automati-

cally detects the strongest AT&T networksignal within range of the customer, includ-ing 3G or EDGE cellular or an accessibleWi-Fi network including those that AT&Toperates for such as McDonald’s, Starbucksand Barnes and Noble. When at home, cus-tomers can connect via their laptop with theirhome’s wireline broadband directly or viaWi-Fi.

AT&T has several advantages. It’s the US’largest telco and largest cellco. It’s well onits way to having 17,000 Wi-Fi hotspots.Unlike Verizon, it owns 100% of its mobilephone operations, having acquiredBellSouth. AT&T has 600,000 more broad-band subscribers in the States than secondplace Comcast. And, at this point at least,none of the major cablecos have a wirelessnetwork. They only have the hope of one inthe as yet unproven WiMAX that Sprint-owned Clearwire is testing in three USmarkets.

The cablecos perhaps see what the telcossee ⎯ the world is moving towards a singu-lar broadband service that’ll provide bothwireline and wireless high speed Internetaccess. They don’t want to miss the opportu-nity, especially since the cablecos have thelargest broadband market share in the States.

A Note on Femtocells Femtocells, originally called Access PointBase Stations, will help converge wirelineand wireless broadband. Femtocells areintended to extend wireless service coverageindoors.

Mobile phone services will install femto-cells in their subscribers’ homes to serve asmini-cells for connecting a mobile device tothe cellco’s network via the customer’sbroadband. The mobile device wirelesslyconnects to the femtocell, which in turn con-nects via the user’s wireline broadband to thecellco’s network.

Wi-Fi is not necessarily involved.A femtocell-based deployment will work

with existing handsets but requires that afemtocell be installed in the home. They arenot commercially available yet but many areexpected to be on display at next week’sNXTcomm in Vegas, the telcos’ annual tradeshow and conference. Motorola and Nortelamong others will be showing femtocellgear.

FON is using Wi-Fi routers/access points,

not femtocells, to allow unknown passers-byto connect to a home’s Wi-Fi network. FONgives the devices free to users who are will-ing to leave them open for others to use.FON says its software divides the broadbandmodem into two halves — private and pub-lic. Outsiders are never allowed to use morethan 50% of a member’s total bandwidth, itsays.

The device, mobile phone or other, con-nects directly to the femtocell via the cellularlink, in just the same way as it connects tothe nearest cellular tower, except that the cell— the femtocell — is inside the residence.When the user leaves the residence, thedevice hands off to the cellular base stationin the usual way. Within the home cell, thecellco can offer homezone-specific pricingor services such as low cost calls within thehome, location aware services and the like.

Some manufacturers such as Netgearand Thomson are planning combined fem-tocells/Wi-Fi routers so the user can linkto either network, or use 3G for fixed-mobile convergence and Wi-Fi for homenetworking.

Mobile Broadband toBe Bigger Than WiredBroadband in 2 Years

- Lots of Factors Driving the Change- New Applications and ServicesComing Specifically for Mobile Devices

Mobile broadband will replace fixed linebroadband within two years, according toexperts the Times of London talked to. Thepaper, owned by News Corp, said thatexperts predict that by 2010 the mobilephone networks, presumably including what-ever WiMAX and LTE networks have beenbuilt by then, “will have overtaken homebroadband as the primary way of connectingto the Web.”

Dongles, external devices that plug into aPC’s USB port and convert otherwise fixedline broadband devices, will be the standard,not wires, the paper’s experts said.

WiMAX makers and services are promis-ing WiMAX dongles this year that will allowdesktop and laptop PCs to connect toWiMAX networks. A number of cellcos andPC makers have dongles for laptops thatallow them to access the Net wirelessly via

BROADBAND BEATSingular: continued from page ELEVEN

Mobile: continued on page THIRTEEN


the cellcos’ mobile phone network.The paper quoted You Gov as saying that one person in ten regu-

larly accesses the Net on a PC by connecting to a mobile phone net-work ⎯ despite the service having only recently been available. And,one-third of them only connect to the Net via a cellular network. And,that’s at very slow speeds even on 3G networks when compared towireline broadband.

What’s driving the move to wireless broadband are a number of fac-tors:

- Mobile broadband speeds are increasing. With 3G, speeds are atabout what wireline broadband was when it was first launched –in the 1 Mbps to 1.5 Mbps range. WiMAX and LTE promisespeeds equal to what consumers now get at home ⎯ in the 6 Mbpsto 10 Mbps range.- The cellcos are dropping the monthly costs and perhaps moreimportantly are introducing fixed cost data plans so the subscriberdoesn’t get hit with an unexpectedly high bill.- Apple and the cellcos that sell its iPhone have packaged cellularand Wi-Fi broadband access to make it easy for users to stay con-nected.- The Net has an addictive characteristic. More and more peoplewant and expect to be connected 24/7. - Cloud computing allows more of the application software anddata to remain on servers on the network. That increases the func-tions and services that can be run on mobile devices.- Services and applications are being developed specifically forusing over mobile networks. Nokia, Yahoo, Google, Apple, RIM(Blackberry maker) and others are in a race to dominate themobile software and services market. - Operating systems for mobile devices are improving by leapsand bounds, no doubt inspired by the iPhone. Microsoft’sWindows Mobile, Google’s Android, Nokia-backed Symbian andvarious mobile Linux versions are leading the charge to developuser-friendly, high-function operating systems.- Students have grown accustomed to wirelessly connect at theiruniversities and the coffee shops and pubs they frequent.- Laptops have become the most popular type of PC for many,especially those on the move. And, when they move around, theywant and expect to stay connected.- New applications are being developed that make sense only onmobile devices such as location based ones. “Where’s the nearestrestroom?” What’s nearby where I can get a hair do?” “What’s thebest night club in the neighborhood?”- The hardware is better. Displays are bigger and have better res-olutions. Touch screens make portable devices easier to use.Batteries hold more power. Chips use less power.People have become accustomed to their mobile device doing more

⎯ e-mail, texting, social networking and the like.“This trend is as significant as the shift from home to mobile phones

that took place in the mid Nineties,” a spokesman for the price com-parison site Top 10 Broadband told the paper. “We predict that by2010, mobile broadband will overtake home broadband as the default

way to access the Internet in the UK.” The Times said BroadbandExpert made a similar prediction.

The paper said that 3, in early with a mobile broadband service,offers 18-month broadband contracts which include 3GB of content⎯ the equivalent of six to ten hours of video on the BBC iPlayer ⎯for £15 ($30) a month. Existing 3 customers pay an additional £7.50($15) a month.

A study by Broadband Expert in March showed the average speedfor mobile broadband providers was 1.46 Mbps, certainly an accept-able speed for many and for most applications.

If the prediction proves true, and it may well do so, then the indus-tries that wireline broadband has impacted will be once again turnedtopsy-turvy. And no one can know what unexpected applications andservices will be brought to market.

European Operators PushingFree IPTV to Capture Broadband Riches

- 40% of European IPTV Households Getting It Free The following appeared in this week’s Faultline,which focuses on triple and quad play services. Toget a free copy to evaluate, e-mail [email protected].

UK researcher Screen Digest this week raised the question of justwhy so much IPTV is free in Europe, either bundled with broadbandor with free VoD and free channels, designed to drag customers intothe paid areas of a service.

The researcher makes the point that IPTV is being used as a tempterto get customers to buy other services, rapidly making it a commodi-ty, bundled for no extra cost with a broadband or telephony package.

The result is that 40% of European IPTV households are gettingIPTV for free.

And it makes the argument that the new IPTV services have suchlarge costs associated with them, network upgrades, expensive settops, DSLAM upgrades, middleware and implementation contracts,that this cannot be justified in churn reduction, and instead can only bejustified when operators add the reduction of churn to the acquisitionof large amounts of new customers.

Screen Digest throws in more evidence in the form of IPTV opera-tors reselling third party content packages. For instance Viasat’s dealwith Telia, announced in May, where Telia customers are offeredViasat’s Channels, which suggests they are not trying to make theirown bouquet profitable, but want to make all their money onbroadband.

The new report makes the point that France has the cheapest pay-TV in the world (actually it’s pretty much on a par with Hong Kongand Taiwan, but we see their point) with a lot of content free with abroadband subscription.

It is this that is driving French IPTV adoption, and this will clearlyhave an enormous impact on both cable and satellite suppliers. All ofthis means that by 2012 the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain willcontribute the majority of IPTV subscribers, but the Baltic countrieswill also have high penetration levels, with Estonia reaching 20% ofhomes by then and Scandinavia 10%.

BROADBAND BEATSingular: continued from page TWELVE


Nortel Throws its WeightBehind LTECommunications equipment vendor Nortelis throwing its weight behind LTE in thecoming battle between the two rival wirelessbroadband technologies — WiMAX and LTE.

Nortel said Wednesday that it wouldfocus its R&D resources behind 4G LTE(Long Term Evolution) wireless Internettechnology.

LTE is preferred by cellcos like AT&T,Verizon Wireless and Vodafone whileWiMAX has its main proponents in Clearwireand three major cablecos Comcast, TimeWarner Cable and Bright House.

What must have made the decision easierfor Nortel is its failure to clinch WiMAXdeals with the tier one operators it wasaggressively striving for last year. Nortel lostout to Samsung and Motorola for Sprint’snationwide WiMAX business.

Plus, Nortel has made inroads with opera-tors such as AT&T and Verizon Wireless thathave committed to LTE for their 4G paths.

Sees More Potential in LTE“Nortel is targeting its 4G portfolio to cap-

italize on the rapidly growing market oppor-tunities associated with wireless broadband— and to help operators meet these needsquickly,” said Richard Lowe, president,Carrier Networks for Nortel. “WiMAX willprovide fast, cost-effective coverage andmobile broadband capabilities for earlymovers in the wireless broadband market.”

But Lowe made it clear in which wirelessbroadband technology Nortel sees greaterpotential in the future — “LTE will providethe high-speed, high-capacity mobile broad-band network evolution sought by manyestablished network operators, allowingthem to offer not only faster connections butalso an enriched user experience thatincludes real-time services such as mobileTV, Web services, mobile advertising, andcarrier-hosted services for businesses.”

LTE Further AwayLTE is considered further away in being

ready for deployment, perhaps as much as

two years behind WiMAX, which is alreadydeployed on a limited basis and with mixedsuccess in and around Seoul, South Korea.

LTE is reportedly as much as two yearsaway from test deployments.

Deal with AlvarionHowever, Nortel is not abandoning

WiMAX and has forged an alliance withAlvarion to address opportunities in theWiMAX market.

Nortel executives said the deal withAlvarion would achieve faster time-to-mar-ket with WiMAX at lower cost and enable itto accelerate its LTE development to meeta demand that is emerging faster thananticipated.

Verizon Expands7 Mbps ServiceVerizon has expanded its “ultra-fast” 7Mbps high speed Internet service to 3.4 mil-lion homes in 20 states and the District ofColumbia.

Launched on a limited scale in January,the service was initially offered to about400,000 homes at the beginning of the yearin parts of the Great Lakes, Southeast, Southand West Coast and then expanded in Marchto 1.2 million additional consumers.

The 7 Mbps service is double the down-load speed of the company’s next fastestoffer.

Verizon is pitching the 7 Mbps service asa compelling alternative to cable.

“Our 7 Mbps Internet service delivers con-siderable speed and a compelling option overcable Internet,” said Verizon’s VP of broad-band solutions Susan Retta. “Many peopleare looking for faster broadband speeds forproductivity and efficiency reasons, and theywant to avoid the shared neighborhoodmodel used by cable companies that canslow download speeds.

“This high-speed broadband is now avail-able in many small communities, in additionto urban and suburban areas across the coun-try,” she said.

The 7 Mbps service costs $42.99 whenordered with an annual service plan.

Wireless Watch:Must Read for WirelessBroadband ManagementWireless Watch focuses on wirelessbroadband – from 3G to WiMAX andLTE. It’s a must read for thosethat are in or will be impacted bythe world’s rapid move to a mobileInternet. For a free copy to eval-uate, please e-mail [email protected]. In the mean time,here are three snippets from thisweek’s edition:

Nokia Delivers Ads to 100m ConsumersThe Nokia social networking site Mosh

will now carry advertising from the NokiaMedia Network, the handset giant said thisweek. This will mean that advertisers canreach over 100 million consumers throughNokia portals and partners. The Mosh audi-ence makes up the heaviest tier of mobileusers, said Nokia and adverts will include a‘spotlight’ ad that is placed above all organicbrowse, search and contextual ads.Universal Pictures will use a spotlight ad topromote its new film “Wanted.”’

Microsoft Expects50% Growth in Windows Mobile

Microsoft expects global unit sales ofWindows Mobile to grow at least 50% a yearin fiscal 2008 and 2009 as demand for smart-phones rises. Eddie Wu, the company’s man-aging director of OEM embedded devices inAsia, told Reuters he expects Microsoft tosell 20 million units in its 2007/2008 fiscalyear ending in June, having sold over 11 mil-lion units the year before. The fastest growthis in Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, Brazil,Russia and India.

Report: Laptops with Embedded 3G toBecome ‘Must Haves’

Laptops with embedded 3G are likely tobecome a must-have for the business worldfrom next year as new technologies and bet-ter pricing plans make them more attractive,says research group Gartner. The firm saidthe high cost of hardware and expensivemonthly charges have so far kept the enter-

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Watch: continued on page FIFTEEN


prise from investing in 3G-enabled laptops, but that should beginchanging at the end of 2008. “Our standing recommendation againstembedding wireless WAN cards in notebooks ⎯ except for applica-tions with a clear return on investment justification ⎯ has been basedon lack of global coverage, high costs and poor asset protection,” thecompany said. “However, new technologies and pricing due by theend of 2008 have the potential to eliminate the problems of embedded,wireless 3G notebook purchases.”

Clearwire: 30mWiMAX Subscribers by 2017

- $17.5b Revenue in 2017- Big Head Start over Cellcos’ LTE Technology

Clearwire’s chief strategy officer Scott Richardson predicts the com-pany will have 30 million WiMAX customers in nine years. The com-pany will soon incorporate Sprint’s Xohm-brand WiMAX operationand a lot of money from Intel, Google and three major US cablecos.It’ll offer wireless broadband, both fixed and mobile, to residencesand businesses that’ll be able to access the Net and make phone callsover the WiMAX network.

The company predicted that its WiMAX revenues would be $17.5billion in 2017.

Sprint Nextel and Clearwire had previously said that their combinedWiMAX networks would be available to 140 million people by theend of 2010.

WiMAX partisans such as Clearwire say that they have an enor-mous jump on the LTE networks that cellcos such as AT&T andVerizon Wireless will deploy. The WiMAX crowd claims they’ll havemillions of customers before LTE networks are up and running.

AT&T Isn’t Rolling OverHowever, AT&T has said it can substantially increase the speed of

its 3G technology and make it competitive to WiMAX even beforeLTE is available. Last week AT&T showed it intends to be THEbroadband service provider with two announcements:

1. A single $99 monthly rate for its Net Reach plan will allow sub-scribers to use all three of the company’s Internet access services:wireline broadband at home, Wi-Fi at home and office or at any ofAT&T’s 17,000 Wi-Fi hotspots in the States and access to the Net viaAT&T’s cellular network.

2. It said that as the HSPA technology that it uses evolves between2009 and 2010 to HSPA+, peak speeds over the cellular network couldreach 20 Mbps. Last week, the company took the first step by boost-ing by 20% the top end of the company’s typical 3G network down-link speed range and increasing by 50% the top end of the typicaluplink speed range for wireless laptop card customers. AT&T also re-confirmed last week that it’ll use LTE to take speeds even higher.

The fierce race between WiMAX and 3G/LTE for deployment willaccelerate consumers’ moves to wireless broadband as a standard wayfor accessing the Net ⎯ in the same way that most consumers todayhave wireline broadband at home.

Clearwire/Sprint Status ReportWiMAX is in the beginning stages of rollout ⎯ sort of the end of

the beginning of its life as Churchill might have said.Together, Sprint Xohm and Clearwire are testing WiMAX

in three markets: Chicago, Portland (Oregon) andWashington/Baltimore/northern Virginia. Both companies havereported that tests are showing good results.

Holding back the widespread appeal of WiMAX in the near termare:

- Limited geographical coverage makes its use as a mobile phonenetwork very limited

- WiMAX devices are pretty much only laptop and desktop PCs thatcan have a WiMAX dongle/antenna plugged into their USB port.

The new Clearwire is the result of a multi-company deal that wasannounced in May. Sprint turns over its Xohm operation to Clearwire.Intel, Google, Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Bright House willinvest a total of $3.2 billion in the new Clearwire. Sprint will own51%. Existing Clearwire shareholders will own 27%. The five newinvestors will together hold 22%. The three cablecos will sell the ser-vice on “most favored” terms with Sprint providing roaming on its 3Gnetwork.

“By merging Sprint’s WiMAX business with Clearwire, we have allthe key elements to build the communications company of the futuretoday,” Clearwire CEO Benjamin Wolff said this week in a Webcast.

Next Step: FCC ApprovalSprint and Clearwire have filed a document with the FCC that

requests permission to merge the spectrum that both companiesintended to use for their WiMAX networks. The merged spectrumwould be transferred to a “New Clearwire,” the one that Sprint,Clearwire, Intel, Time Warner, Google and Bright House are to ownonce regulators and presumably shareholders have approved it.

The New Clearwire will provide a third broadband pipe to homeand mobile users.

Ars technia examined the document and found some new and pre-viously made promises:

- Access speed is expected to be 6 Mbps down and 3 Mbps up. Thatis much higher than wireline broadband was initially. Both companiessaid that in the three markets where they’re testing that they have“consistently demonstrated the ability to deliver up to 6 Mbps down-link and up to 3 Mbps uplink while the end user is moving at speedsof up to 60 miles per hour.”

- Reaffirming a promise that Sprint had made repeatedly, Clearwiresubscribers will be able to connect with any device that they want solong as it is compatible with and not harmful to the WiMAX network

- There’ll be an open policy when it comes to subscribers’ ability touse applications and access services. They will be able to downloadand use any software applications, content or services, the documentsaid, subject only to reasonable network management practices andlaw enforcement and public safety considerations

- Up to 140 million people in the US will be able to access itsWiMAX network within 30 months and hopes to cover 220 millionpeople by 2017. It’s not clear whether that’s 30 months from whenClearwire and Spring filed the document or 30 months from when theFCC approves the changes.

- It will offer non-exclusive wholesale access to its WiMAX net-work. Sprint, Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Bright House

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Clearwire: continued on page SIXTEEN


Networks “have already made non-exclusivewholesale agreements with the NewClearwire. They will function as mobile vir-tual network operators (MVNOs) byreselling Clearwire services under the ownbrands.

Google also has the right to resell the ser-vice but would seem to be more interested ingetting its ads, er, uh search on everyWiMAX device and develop what the docu-ment called “novel” applications and ser-vices for WiMAX devices.”

‘Sprint Will Not Control Clearwire’Wolf also clearly communicated that

Sprint, despite its 51%, will not control thenew Clearwire. “Sprint doesn’t control thecompany,” Wolff said. According to Wolff,Sprint will control 7 of the 13 seats on theClearwire board, but, according to the agree-

ment among the companies, one of the sevendirectors must be an independent director.

And…Can’t you just hear the beginnings of a

spat already? What’s an independent direc-tor? And who picks him? And who defines“independent”?

The potential potholes are too numerous tocount because no one has ever tried to man-age such an independent group of companiesin a new venture whose success is based onan untested business model and unproventechnology.

The cablecos previously tried a joint ven-ture with Sprint called Pivot that faileddespite the participants’ many promises. Thisnew venture has three more very indepen-dent companies involved, each with widelydivergent interests: Craig McCaw’sClearwire, chipmaker Intel whose passion isto be the world’s largest maker of chips for

mobile devices and search supremo Googlewhose ambition it to have its ads shown onevery device that can access the Internet.

Can’t you hear the rumble of thunderalready? And the deal isn’t even consummat-ed.

The highly focused, single purpose man-agement at AT&T and Verizon/VerizonWireless doesn’t care about selling chips orgetting a search engine on every device orbuying access to another company’s wirelessnetwork. And the two have an enormoushead start in the mobile broadband marketwith many millions of subscribers alreadyfor their data plans.

They must feel like they got a break incompeting with a start-up that has fracturedmanagement at the top, each with very dif-ferent motivations.

BROADBAND BEATClearwire: continued from page FIFTEEN

Best Damn Weekly Reports on Wireless BroadbandIf these headlines interest you, then you’d probably

want to subscribe to the weekly Wireless Watch newsletter.- Apple sacrifices iPhone pricing for volume, but carriers may bear the burden- Microsoft enhances CSF to target a key role in the ‘Telco 2.0’ value chain - Verizon-Alltel: good for Verizon; bad for roaming, Sprint and CDMA vendors- WiChorus reflects key trends in 4G core – integration and small cells- Wi-Fi, UWB and WirelessHD battle for IEEE’s 60GHz standards- WiMAX leaders form Open Patent Alliance to keep IPR burden low- France Telecom’s bid to create world’s fourth largest carrier hits problems- Nortel turns to Alvarion for Mobile WiMAX- NextWave’s next stop is Taiwan – to show what MXtv can do - DesignArt Networks brings in-band backhaul and mesh to WiMAX- Motorola to ship 700MHz and 2.6GHz LTE in mid-2009- France likely to be first in Europe to get 3G femtocells- Motorola close to appointing handset chief- WiMAX and broadband wireless- US and UK postpone wireless broadband auctions- WiBro outshone by HSDPA in Seoul- Mobile Internet Watch- HSPA and LTE in brief- 3G+ Watch- WiMAX in Brief- Start-Up Watch

Find out more and get a free three-week trial subscription by e-mailing [email protected]

JUNE 14-20, 2008©2008 MAY NOT BE COPIED OR FORWARDED BY E-MAIL, POSTED TO AWEB SITE, FAXED OR COPIED IN WHOLE OR IN PART.

Newly Updated Broadband Scorecard- Broadband, Residential Phone Lines, Pay TV & Wireless- Worldwide Results in a Five-Page Report

Like the guy said, “You can’t tell the players without a scorecard! We say, you can’t knowthe size of the digital media market for your goods and services unless you have the five-page Worldwide Scorecard for Digital Service Providers (DSPs).

For every major broadband service worldwide, it lists their most recent subscriber count,the number they added in Q1 2008 and the percentage increase.

It also lists for each the number of subscribers and the quarterly increase to their residen-tial phone, pay-TV and mobile phone subscribers, assuming they have them.

It is, we believe, the most comprehensive global report on broadband service providersand for all their lines of businesses.

And it’s all compressed into five pages.Whether you’re selling movies or broadband network gear, TV shows or mobile devices,

music or laptop PCs, chips or digital rights management, you gotta know the numbers:How many? How many are being gained or lost? Where are they geographically?And you better have the numbers handy for each country, each continent and globally

when someone asks “what’s the potential market size” or “what’s the potential” or “where’sthe best opportunity.”

Here is a summary by continent of the details that are in the free five-page insert, whichshows country-by-country and company-by-company.

We’ll continue to update and refine Q1’s numbers until all the major broadband serviceproviders have been accounted for.

We get the count by examining each company’s public financial data. In actual fact,

researcher extraordinaire and future forensic psychologist Nicole Detillier digs around theWeb and examines each company’s Web site until she finds them. Two things make the taskdifficult: companies try to hide certain of their numbers from their competitors and many ofthe reports are not in English.

With only a few companies left to report, we count over 242 million broadband sub-scribers worldwide. That is one heckuva market, and a growing one too with some 10 mil-lion broadband subscribers having been added in the first three months of 2008.

The digital media and digital data market is perhaps the fastest growing industry in theworld. It is certainly the most interesting, most complex, most intertwined and most difficultto forecast.

It’s an enormous market whether you’re selling entertainment, information, software orhardware.

- - - - - - - -And now a word from our sponsor:The best place to keep up with the big picture, the important events and the major indus-

try trends is by subscribing to The Online Reporter. Subscriptions start at a mere $595 forone reader and go as low as $100 per person for multiple readers. Many of your partners andcompetitors already subscribe to The Online Reporter. Isn’t it time you did too?

You can subscribe by:e-mailing [email protected] 225-769-7130 or +44 (0) 1 280 820 560signing up at http://www.onlinereporter.com/subscribe.php

It’s the best $595 you’ll spend on market research this year.


The Broadband Scorecard is available on request bye-mailing [email protected] with your

name and the name of your company.

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Checking For Pulse~Link?- Missing Field Test Results & Industry StandardizationBy Charles Hall

ARRIS CTO Ken Wright said on joining MoCA this week that thecompany’s cable TV and broadband customers “insist on standards-based technologies.”

Wright’s statement may well answer the question “why isn’tPulse~Link and its ultra-wideband (UWB) networking technology anindustry standard in the same way that MoCA, Home PNA and thevarious Powerlines are?” After all, Pulse~Link’s networking can runwirelessly as well as, reportedly, over all three of the home’s existingwires. And isn’t that the Holy Grail that the G.hn gang ⎯ AT&T,France Telecom, Qwest, Telenor, Verizon and others ⎯ and theG.hn booster club Home Grid and its members Intel, Infineon,Panasonic, Texas Instruments and many others ⎯ are seeking todevelop? Pulse~Link is a member of the Home Grid Forum.

Why, if Pulse~Link has it now, have the industry giants starteddeveloping a new home network technology?

For several years The Online Reporter has gone to industry tradeshows and been impressed by Pulse~Link and its seemingly do-all,run-anywhere network. At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) inJanuary and again at The Cable Show a few weeks ago, Pulse~Linkwas demonstrating high-speed wireless transmission of 1080p high-def video from a Blu-ray player on one side of the room to a 1080pHDTV on the opposite wall. Both were Samsung products.Pulse~Link was also demonstrating the ability for its network schemeto transmit over coax from room to room and saying it could do thesame over power lines. At The Cable Show, it demonstrated how itsnetwork could run without any interference on the same coax cable asMoCA.

So why isn’t Pulse~Link a standard on the order of the others? Lastweek’s Faultline reported that the company had gone through most ofthe $80 million in venture capital it had raised but has not signed up amajor manufacturer such as Sony, Apple, Panasonic or Samsung touse its technology. Its only two announced wins, WestinghouseDigital and Geffen, are hardly trend-setting majors. See “IsPulse~Link the Future of Home Networking?” at:

http://www.onlinereporter.com/article.php?article_id=12864

High-Def, Hold the Wires The need for wirelessly connecting the various high-def boxes in

the home’s entertainment stack is obvious. It has reached the pointwhere few consumers can add new devices such as an Apple TV orWindows Media Center extender to the stack without calling in anexpert. And, such a mess of wires!

Wireless connectivity of HD devices will require very high speedswith strong quality of service guarantees. Those are the strengths thatPulse~Link says it has. So where’s the beef? Where are the deals?Why wouldn’t Sony or Samsung or LG or Panasonic want to differ-entiate their Blu-ray player by being the first to market with wirelessTV sets, Blu-ray players and set-top boxes? That would be an end tothe “plug and play” illusion.

Consumers would stand up and applaud.

Where Are Pulse~LINK’s Field Test Results?One permanent memory from our first encounter with MoCA was

then-MoCA supremo Ladd Wardini repeatedly talking about theresults of the field tests that MoCA had conducted – how many homes,how many coax connectors, the faulty ones, how they had been fixedand enough statistics from the field tests to float a battleship. Therewere several home network seminars at the trade show and Wardiniwas on stage in every one of them with a stack of slides that showedin detail the results of MoCA’s field tests.

See the August 2005 Herald Tribune article “Hooking up theHouse: Will It Be with or without Wires?” for an example of Wardini’sevangelization at:

http://www.theapplicationhome.com/Newsitems/NewsIT08-07.htmlAlso see “MoCA Completes Home-Net Field Test” at:http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA514846.htmlIt’s not always about selling. Sometimes it’s about educating and

Wardini certainly sought every public and private audience he couldfind to show the results of MoCA’s field tests. Isn’t it time forPulse~Link to do the same with its field tests?

Cablecos, telcos and satcos want to know that the technologythey’re betting billions on will work. They want to know that there arereliable second sources for the hardware. And, mostly they want toknow that the product is based on industry standards, not someone’sproprietary technology.

As ARRIS’ Wright said, they “insist on standards-based technolo-gies.” He also said, “MoCA is the most comprehensive standards bodyfor delivery of HD and multimedia content.” MoCA got to be that waybecause it followed the industry-accepted path of standardization andfield-testing.

That August 2005 Herald Tribune article also reported that propo-nents of both coax and powerline networking believed new ultra-wideband technology could complement their products, and they pre-dicted that products using the three technologies ⎯ coax, powerlineand ultra-wideband ⎯ would appear “within the next 18 months.”

Well, it’s been 35 months. Where’s Pulse~LINK’s, or anyone else’s,ultra-wideband?

Note: The day after this article was written, Monster Cable andSigma Designs announced in-room wireless HD and room-to-roomHD over coax, using Sigma’s chips, which are based on the WiMediastandard

Crowded House: G.hn’sPlace in the Home Network MarketWith the cable TV providers working to unify their pay-TV platformwith tru2way, which promises to deliver Internet-like performance totheir pay-TV service (not to mention Internet-like returns from target-ed and interactive advertising), the telecos are investing in promisingtechnology that will let them increase the performance of wired homenetworks.

One of the most promising new technologies is the G.hn home net-work standard. The question is, how will G.hn (also called Home Grid)fit in, what with competing standards such as MoCA, Home PNA and

HOME NETWORKING

Crowded: continued on page TWENTY-FIVE


the three Powerline standards – all of whichare already on the market and beingdeployed?

Intel-led HomeGrid Forum was recentlyformed to help accelerate the work of theInternational Telecommunication Union’s(ITU) G.hn working group in developing anew triple -wire standard for home network-ing. The groups aim to produce a single net-work standard that could work on any of thehome’s three existing wires: electricalinstead of one of the three Powerline net-works, coax instead of MoCA or HomePNAand the copper phone lines instead ofHomePNA.

According to ABI Research directorMichael Wolf, “G.hn, which has been underdevelopment for nearly two years, is intend-ed to create a unifying standard for the dif-ferent home network technologies, aimed atdistributing next-generation service-providerofferings in the home. We at ABI Researchsee several applications, such as multi-roomhigh-definition video, that would ultimatelybenefit from the move towards a singleMAC/PHY [interface] for multiple media inthe home.”

No wired network scheme is going toreplace the already dominant Wi-Fi ⎯ sup-plement it perhaps, but not replace it.Wireless has an appeal to consumers thatwired systems could never have. It’s mobile.No connector wires are needed. It can beused in any room, in theory at least, even onthe porch or patio. Future Wi-Fi versions andspecial versions such as the one RuckusWireless has developed, promise fasterspeeds, fewer dead spots, more HD videostreams, better quality of service and moresecurity.

That said, the security and multiple HDvideo streams provided by wired networksguarantees that they will be a part of thehome of the future. ABI Research sees G.hnas belonging to a next generation of homenetworks, rightly so as its deployment is atleast a couple of years away.

Vested InterestsThe schedule for completing the G.hn

standard is year-end 2008 and those targetdates usually slip, particularly with so manyvested interests involved. There are currentlytwenty-five active members of G.hn includ-ing AT&T, Verizon, France Telecom, Intel

and Texas Instruments. The Home Grid Forum, which wants to

get G.hn to market as soon as possible andthen promote it as THE wired home networkstandard, had 11 founding companies.Members include Intel (maker of Wi-Fi andWiMAX chips), Infineon, Panasonic(maker of chips for one of the Powerline net-work standards), Texas Instruments, Aware,DS2 (maker of chips for another Powerlinenetwork standard) Gigle Semiconductor(maker of chips for a third Powerline net-work standard), Pulse~LINK (with its ownwireless and wireline network scheme) andIkanos.

The three Powerline networks are notcompatible and not interoperable. You’llnotice the same names attached to several ofthe home networking ventures. The reasonfor this is simple: everyone needs to back acurrent technology and no one wants to riskmissing out on The Next Big Thing. As forthe chipmakers and manufacturers, well,they just want their hands in as many pots asthey can get them in.

G.hn TimetableIt would be surprising to see large quanti-

ties of G.hn products in consumer homesbefore 2010 at the earliest.

Once the standards are written andapproved, a slow and arduous task at theITU, then chips have to be developed andtested. After that “prototype” chips and ref-erence designs are sent to equipment makerswho develop products that’ll use G.hn suchas set-top boxes and broadband modems.

The digital service providers have to testthe new gear and make sure where it fits intheir deployment schedule. Unlike with asoftware rollout, the first set of gear has to beperfect: Deployment of poorly designed set-top boxes can be an expensive disaster plusproviders cannot afford from a money andsupport standpoint to be continuouslydeploying new boxes. For example,Comcast, an early and strong supporter ofMoCA is just now getting ready to deploy it,two years after rival Verizon started.

Notably missing from the HomeGrid gangare chipmakers for other wireline home net-work technologies: Intellon (HomePlug),Coppergate (Home PNA) and Entropic(MoCA). Coppergate has expressed supportfor G.hn and has promised to ship the firstG.hn chips.

The Case for G.hnDigital service providers’ need for a robust

and secure whole-home media network isobvious as shown by deployments of MoCA(Verizon and soon Comcast) and HomePNA(AT&T) in North America and HomePlugand UPA worldwide.

ABI Research says the infrastructure andtechnology requirements for serviceproviders’ whole-home media networks areunique. It says the G.hn effort to build a high-er-speed single specification for the threeprimary in-home wiring types (powerline,coax and phone line) will provide a roadmapfor next-generation service provider deploy-ments.

“While it is still early, ABI Research seespromise in the efforts by ITU G.hn,” saidWolf. “Ultimately, if G.hn sees integrationinto carrier devices by 2010, we expect thatin 2013 some 42 million G.hn-compliantnodes will ship into the market, in devicessuch as set-top boxes, residential gatewaysand other service provider CPE hardware.”

A new research brief from ABI Research,“G.hn: Will Next-Generation Triple-WireHome Networking Standard Hit the DigitalHome Trifecta?” provides an update of thevarious no-new-wires standards such asHomePlug AV, UPA MoCA, and HomePNA3.1, and considers how G.hn might fare as theevolution toward next-generation serviceprovider entertainment networks gathersspeed. It also examines the HomeGridForum and whether it will be a Wi-FiAlliance-like body that will propel the newstandard in the marketplace.

To get the compete report, contact ABIResearch.

In the meantime, look for the existingwireline home technologies to continue toduke it out for market share.

Pulse~LINK Part II:‘No Prototypes This Year’

- Wireless HDMI & Ethernet overExisting Coax ready for Primetime- Full Demos at Parks Associates’Connections Showcase

While Pulse~LINK does not appear to haveyet provided results of field tests for its ultra-wideband (UWB) technology, the semicon-

HOME NETWORKINGCrowded: continued from page TWENTY-FOUR

Pulse~LINK: continued on page TWENTY-SIX


ductor maker announced this week that it does have something toshow off. It will demonstrate actual, not just prototypes, of its CWavenetworking solution for whole-home HD video distribution at ParksAssociates’ Connections showcase June 24-26, 2008 at the SantaClara Convention Center.

The company said that devices with the CWave chipset allow HDvideo content, multi-channel audio and high-speed data located any-where in the home to be shared room-to-room over existing coax andwirelessly within a room such as from a Blu-ray player to an HD TVset.

The CWave UWB chipset extends HD connectivity to a variety ofdevices in the home, including set-top boxes, HDTVs, DVRs, DVDplayers, gaming devices, Media Center PCs and other multimediaequipment.

Pulse~LINK will demonstrate CWave Wireless-for-HDMI andCWave Ethernet-Over-Coax.

CWave Wireless-for-HDMI allows digital displays to be mountedanywhere in a room without needing to run a connector cable from thecontent source to the display.

CWave Ethernet-Over-Coax allows up to nine HD multimedia con-tent sources and display devices to be networked in the home with

end-to-end Quality of Service (QoS) over existing coax cabling andsplitters, eliminating the expense of re-wiring a home with Ethernetcables.

Pulse~LINK’s demonstration of its Ethernet-Over-Coax solutionwill also show CWave’s coexistence with other signals, such as MoCAtechnology, on the same coax cable.

No Prototypes This YearPulse~LINK’s CWave technology is ready for implementation,

according to company president and CEO Bruce Watkins. He said, “Inpast years, we unveiled evolving prototypes. This year, we will show-case CWave technology as the highest performing commerciallyavailable solution for wired and wireless High Definition networking⎯ leveraging Ethernet, 1394 and HDMI interface transports."

“By 2012, worldwide deployment of home network devices willreach 1.2 billion, and more than one-third will enable entertainmentand high-quality multimedia streaming,” said Kurt Scherf, VP andprincipal analyst at Parks Associates. He said consumers want videoquality and the ability to watch it anywhere in the home.

Other Connection topics include IPTV and “TV 2.0,” bundled ser-vices, consumer storage, mobile applications and content, social anddigital media, and home and lifestyle management.

HOME NETWORKING

Orange Debuts Musique MaxWhat is unlimited music in French?

Musique Max, it seems.French communications services provider Orange has rolled out an

all-you-can-eat music subscription service called Musique Max forPCs and mobile devices.

Orange says it’ll offer a million titles for download in partnershipwith the four major labels EMI Music France, Sony BMG,Universal Music France and Warner Music and two indies Believeand Scorpio Music.

Orange says it’ll expand its catalog by adding other labels as well.The service, which costs 12 euros ($18.5) a months, lets users keep

their downloaded titles for ever and transfer them to five other devicessuch as music players and mobile phones.

However, there is a limit of 500 titles that users can download permonth.

Orange is not asking Musique Max subscribers to sign any long-term contracts.

Users can download the music to PCs or mobile phones and auto-matically synchronize their music libraries using the Orange MediaPlayer.

Orange said over 130 mobile phones including Nokia 5610XpressMusic, Sony Ericsson W910i and W580I are compatible withthe Musique Max service.

Orange described Musique Max as the latest embodiment of its

“content everywhere” strategyTo mark the launch of Musique Max, Orange is offering two

months of the music subscription service free to users who sign up fora 12-month contact for a new Origami Star mobile package or theInternet, TV and telephone package.

Orange’s Musique Max will compete with Nokia’s upcomingComes with Music program that also lets users keep an unspecifiednumber of tracks for ever.

SanDisk Buys MusicGremlinFlash storage and MP3 player vendor SanDisk has acquired pri-

vately held MusicGremlin for an undisclosed sum.Founded in 2003, New York City-based MusicGremlin provides

digital content distribution technologies. MusicGremlin was the firstto offer a portable media player with wireless downloading of songs.

The startup also offered a subscription music service that was builtin partnership with MusicNet but the service does not appear to havemade significant headway in the market. Users could also buy perma-nent downloads of individual songs and albums.

SanDisk’s senior VP of the Sansa audio/video business unit DanielSchreibner sees MusicGremlin’s digital distribution platform provid-ing SanDisk with adaptive and innovative technologies for develop-ing future Sansa consumer products.

MusicGremlin co-founder Robert Khedouri is to join SanDisk’sSansa unit as VP of services.

ONLINE MUSIC SERVICES

Pulse~LINK: continued from page TWENTY-FIVE


The Online Video Generation- ‘Don’t Remember a Time When They Weren’t Going Online’Per person, kids ages 2 to 17 viewed more video streams on the Net

than those over 18 and spent more time watching online video fromhome in April, according Nielsen Online. “Today’s youth don’t know– or don’t remember – a time when they weren’t going online, so theiradoption of online video has been seamless,” said Michael Pond,senior media analyst, Nielsen Online.

The study showed that kids 2-11 use sites associated with children’sTV shows and toys. Teens 12-17 ⎯ surprise ⎯ watch music videos,movie trailers and clips of other visitors.

Disney Records led online video destinations among kids 2-11,when ranked by unique viewer composition percent, with 50%.EverythingGirl.com and MyePets followed with 48% each. Stickamwas the top online video destination among teens 12-17, who account-ed for 44% of that site’s unique viewers, followed by Buzznet.comand Atlantic Records, with 43% each.

Pond said, “While video consumption in the workplace increasesusage metrics among adults, the ‘at home’ data show how kids andteens are driving usage and claiming their territory. The Web providesanother platform for their interest in TV shows, toys, movies andmusic, and offers an interactive element that children especially enjoy.Among the top sites for the younger demographic we see publishersthat are integrating video into games, music and other content to driveengagement with this multi-media generation.”

Consumers Find WiMAX AppealingWiMAX provides the right mix of features and pricing to appeal toconsumers, according to survey data collected by high-tech marketresearcher In-Stat.

According to In-Stat analyst Daryl Schoolar, “When respondentswere presented with service examples and picked the one they mostpreferred, the one representing WiMAX was picked more than two-to-one over the one representing 3G cellular data. Service descriptionsinclude information on coverage, network performance, pricing, andusage limitations.”

Schoolar makes the point that although early WiMAX network cov-erage will not be as large as 3G cellular, “it will be adequate to appealto consumers.”

However, business users are expected to provide more of a chal-lenge to WMAX operators because they demand ubiquitous coverage.

In other highlights of In-Stats’ report on WiMAX:* Respondents want a wireless broadband service that’ll let them

connect multiple devices under a single service plan * Respondents want a service that meets both their home andaway Internet needs* Fixed broadband operators are vulnerable to losing subscribersto WiMAX* The study found increased usage reports of public wirelessbroadband between 2006 and 2007 and expects further increase inthe current year

Broadband RulesHigh speed broadband connections are more important to consumersthan HDTV and other new services and represent the best way toattract and keep consumers, according to a survey of communicationsindustry leaders by Pike & Fischer Broadband Advisory Services.

When survey participants were asked to rank several communica-tions services on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the most attractive tocustomers, high-speed data speeds is said to have received more rank-ings of 5 than any other service.

The study reports that 40% of respondents ranked data rates as a topdraw, 25% ranked HDTV services as a 5 while digital phone servicesreceived the fewest top ranking with just 9.2% of participants rankingit at 5.

“This suggests to us that, while multichannel video providers maybe spending a lot of their ad dollars promoting their high-def channelsand their ‘triple-play’ bundles, they still rely on their broadbandspeeds to seal the deal with customers,” said Scott Sleek, director ofPike & Fischer’s Broadband Advisory Services. “Every one wants toclaim that they offer the fastest Internet access, and believe that willbe more important to customers than how many HD channels theyoffer.”

LTE Seen Gaining Quick TractionABI Research is forecasting that by 2013 there will be over 32 mil-lion subscribers using LTE (Long Term Evolution) networks.

Although three of the largest mobile operators Vodafone, VerizonWireless and China Mobile have plumped for LTE over the rivalWiMAX technology, the first LTE network is not expected to go com-mercial before 2010.

ABI analyst Nadine Manjaro estimates that Asia-Pacific willaccount for the largest regional share of LTE subscribers in 2013 —about 12 million. The rest will be split 60-40% between WesternEurope and North America.

ABI expects that LTE commitments from NTT DoCoMo and KDDIin Japan will further boost the adoption of the technology.

ABI sees the long wait for the Chinese government to issue 3Glicenses driving LTE in that country: “It wouldn’t surprise me to seesome operators skip over 3G and go straight to LTE,” said Manjaro.“Although China’s own TD-SCDMA 3G technology will be deployedon a small scale during the Olympics, I can’t see operators spendingbillions to implement that or any other 3G technology if they will justhave to upgrade within a year or two.”

LIES, DAMN LIES AND STATISTICS

AgesAve. monthly

streamsAve. online video

minutes per monthKids 2-11 51 118

Teens 12-17 74 132

Over 18 44 99


Apple is No-2Smartphone Vendor in USGartner put out a report the other day show-ing Apple as the No-2 smartphone vendor inthe US with a Q1 market share estimated atabout 20%.

Overall, Gartner figures Apple took thethird spot in the global smartphone market inthe first quarter with 5.3% market share.

Gartner said Apple sold 1.72 million unitsin the quarter, a number that’s in line withwhat Apple acknowledged on April 23 dur-ing its earnings call.

Worldwide SalesGartner estimated that worldwide smart-

phone sales in the first quarter totaled 32.2million units, a 29.3% increase over thesame period in the previous year.

According to Gartner’s principal analystfor mobile terminals Hughes De la Vergne,the US smartphone market continued toexpand despite economic concerns, drivenby heavy advertising and strong marketingpromotions.

North American smartphone salesamounted to 7.3 million units, a 106.2%increase from the same period in 2008.

“North American operators are givingthese devices strong support, as they providehigher average revenue per unit (ARPU),”

De la Vergne said. “We expect operators tocontinue to make these devices the focus of2008 promotions.”

Smartphone sales in Europe, Middle Eastand Africa (EMEA) totaled 11.7 millionunits in the first quarter, a 38.7% jump fromthe first quarter of ’08.

Nokia LeadsGartner projected Nokia’s global smart-

phone market share in the quarter at 45%,with sales up 25% year over year. The rangeof Nokia’s smartphone portfolio, whichincludes several high-end and mid-tier mod-els at different price points, is said to havehelped Nokia maintain its leadership inEMEA, Asia/Pacific and Latin America.

Research in Motion held on to the secondplace in the global vendor rankings andboosted its share to 13.4%. Gartner reckonedRIM’s sales were driven by sales of its pro-sumer consumer-focused devices, theBlackBerry Curve and Pearl.

In the U.S. market, RIM maintained itsNo. 1 ranking with its share totaling 42%.

“Smartphone growth was driven byreplacement markets such as Europe, andsmartphone sales also benefited from contin-ued growth in the US market, whichincreased its regional share to almost equalsales in Western Europe,” said CarolinaMilanesi, research director for mobile

devices at Gartner. “The beginning of theyear was marked by announcements regard-ing touch screens, smartphone usability andapplication integration. These key trends hadalready emerged in the second half of 2007,and during 2008 we can expect them tomature further and become the focus formore handset vendors and carriers as theyexpand their current portfolios to includemore open-platform devices.”

LIES, DAMN LIES AND STATISTICS

Iomega Debuts DVR Expander DriveIomega has launched a 500GB DVR Expander Drive, an external

hard drive designed to boost the storage capacity of digital videorecorders that are increasingly becoming ubiquitous in US hometheaters.

Targeted at eSATA-enabled Scientific Atlanta DVRs, the newdrive is supposed to expand the DVR storage capacity by up to 300hours of standard definition TV or 60 hours of high definition TV.

CompatibilityCable operators that offer the Scientific Atlanta eSATA-enabled

DVRs include Cox, Time Warner, Cablevision, Comcast andRogers (US and Canada).

The DVR Expander Drive connects to the eSATA port on the backpanel of an eSATA-enabled-Scientific Atlanta DVR. After setup, theDVR streams recordings to the internal hard drive or the DVR

Expander Drive, depending on which drive has more space.The Iomega DVR Expander Drive is currently compatible with

Scientific Atlanta’s eSATA-enabled SD 8300 DVR (80GB model) andthe 8300HD DVR (160GB model).

Priced at $199.95, the Iomega DVR Expander Drive is scheduled toship later this month.

“Everyone loves their DVRs and watching television on their ownschedule, but I don’t know anyone who likes being forced to deleteprogramming to record some more,” said Ralf San Jose, global prod-uct manager for HDD products at Iomega. “With the new IomegaDVR Expander Drive, you get a massive capacity increase for yourDVR with no installation hassles. Owning an Iomega DVR ExpanderDrive is like getting three tanks of gas free with every fill-up. It lever-ages the investment in a DVR and gives buyers an incredible numberof extra shows and movies to choose from. What’s not to like aboutthat?”

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Bluelounge Hides WiresBut Doesn’t Disappear ThemBluelounge’s $29.95 Cablebox, which hides the power strips and powerblocks that are a visible curse in digital media homes, shows there is amarket for consumer electronics devices with fewer exposed wires.

Bluelounge’s Cablebox Hides All

Unfortunately, Cablebox does not hide those big UPS (uninterrupt-ible power supply) units or the tangle of cables that connect the boxes

in the home’s entertainment stack. The rat’s nests of connector cables will be with us until wireless

technology such as what WiMedia or Pulse~Link have developedbecomes available on high definition TV sets, Blu-ray players and set-top boxes.

And that’ll happen only when a major maker of consumer devicesstarts building WiMedia or Pulse~Link’s technology into its products.Couldn’t Sony get back some of its aura of technical leadership if itdid just that? Wouldn’t Apple put some more ground between itselfand its competitors if it adopted Pulse~Link or WiMedia as its stan-dard for connecting devices? There’s also Samsung, which has shownPulse~Link on its TV sets and Blu-ray players at trade shows. Anincreasingly aggressive Panasonic ⎯ see its tru2way/MoCA boxes atThe Cable Show? ⎯ could establish itself as the head of the class indigital media if it were to make the move to WiMedia or Pulse~Link.

The clock is ticking for a high-speed, high-definition wireless tech-nology to clean up that dust-gathering mess of connector wires.

The tangle of wires currently residing in corners nearest entertain-ment centers worldwide have been targeted for elimination, the onlyquestion is who will develop the high-speed, high-definition wirelesstechnology to do it first.

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Sign Of The TimesBebo, a popular UK social network site, isworking with Universal Music to create adrama series for the Net that’ll be based onthe music industry called “The Secret Life ofSam King.”

Talk about product placement, which isnow called product integration!

1. The story is about how a UniversalMusic employee leaves to establish her ownrecord label.

2. Universal Music artists such asRazorlight and The Fratellis will makeappearances.

3. Mobile phone maker Sony Ericssonwill sponsor the first few episodes of the newseries and have some of its products playingparts.

Prior Bebo online dramas “Sofia’s Diary”and “KateModern” also integrated sponsors’products.

Digital EntertainmentLab DebutsThe Entertainment Technology Center at theUniversity of Southern California has setup a digital entertainment lab —Anytime/Anywhere Content Lab (AACL) —to identify consumer trends in digital contentand hardware.

Located near the University of SouthernCalifornia School of Cinematic Arts, AACLis described as a high-tech, hardware-richreal-world test environment to explore solu-tions for accelerating the creation, distribu-tion and consumption of digital entertain-ment.

“Think of a lab designed to bring togethera next-generation consumer with a moviestudio decision maker and a Silicon Valleytech executive — all in one place and alltalking about what content will be mostviewed, where and how — that is theAACL,” said David Wertheimer, head of thenew lab.

Apparently, AACL has already startedexamining and showcasing an array of newproducts and executives from major studioshave been brought in “to examine how theseproducts will impact consumers’ desires touse these tools anytime, on any device, andanywhere.”

Tribeca “Reframes” Film& Video Content OnlineTribeca Film Institute, a New York City-based non-profit helping indie filmmakersand media artists, has launched a Web initia-tive called Reframe to assist filmmakers,broadcasters, distributors, media organiza-tions, archives, libraries and other mediaowners to digitize, market and sell their clas-sic and hard-to-find films and video contentvia the Internet.

Reframe plans to digitize works in videoformats for free while film formats are to bedigitized at cost.

All content is to be made available as dig-ital download to own or rent viaAmazon.com Unbox service as well as onDVD through Amazon’s DVD-on-Demandservice at the price set by the rights hold-ers, who can sell their digital copies else-where too.

In the first year, Reframe expects to haveover 10,000 titles available including classicpublic television films and videos, documen-taries, independent features, shorts, foreignfilms and vanguard cinema.

The goal is for Reframe’s Web site tobecome a community hub that collects con-tent from several sources of independent andalternative media and let users find contentin new ways.

“Too many films remain unavailable to thepublic, even the best researchers and schol-ars, because they are literally ‘stuck on theshelf’ in analog formats, or in hard to findcatalogs. Reframe will essentially digitizeour visual heritage and give these importantworks new life,” said Tribeca Film Institute’sCEO Brian Newman. “Reframe opens up anadditional revenue stream for rights hold-ers.”

The Reframe Web site is at:www.reframecollection.org.

Disney.com toStream Full-Length MoviesDisney Online, a division of the Walt DisneyInternet group, plans to stream full-lengthmovies for the first time ever.

Featuring selections from the “WonderfulWorld of Disney,” the movies will bestreamed from disney.com free but for a

limited time only.The films are supposed to first air on sis-

ter channel ABC as part of the network’sweekly “Wonderful World of Disney”presentation on Saturday nights through-out summer 2008 and then be availablefor free streaming on Disney.com(www.Disney.com/WonderfulWorld) for theweek following the network presentation(Monday – Friday).

The movies that are be offered for stream-ing on Disney.com include “Finding Nemo,”“Monsters Inc,” “Haunted Mansion,”“Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen,”“Princess Diaries 2,” “Freaky Friday” and“Peter Pan.”

Disney.com also intends to stream theDisney Channel original movie “CampRock” on June 23 after its television premiereon June 20 and additional airings on ABC onJune 21 and ABC Family on June 22.

“Streaming full-length films onDisney.com takes our commitment to deliv-ering world-class online entertainment to thenext level,” said Paul Yanover, executive VPand managing director of Disney Online.“This is a wonderful partnership with ABC,and just another example of how Disney’sunmatched, high-quality content can beleveraged on multiple platforms.”

Demand Still OutrunningSupply at NetflixNetflix says it’s still sold out of the $100Roku-made set-top boxes that connect TVsets to the Internet and allow Netflix sub-scribers to watch movies on their TV setsthat are streamed over the Net, according toNetflix CEO Reed Hastings. The company ispressing Roku to increase production of theAsian-made boxes.

Hastings did not say how many unshippedorders it has from them.

A PC is needed only to order and organize.It is not involved in the streaming. Netflix isstreamed video only. There are no downloadsas there are with Apple TV.

Roku VP Tim Twerdahl said it would takesix weeks to eight weeks to fill the existingorders.

Smooth ExperienceBased on our pleasant experience with the

SHOW TIME

Demand: continued on page THIRTY-ONE


Roku box, it’s easy to understand the heavydemand for these boxes. Not only was ourset-up smooth and painless, it took barelythree minutes even though we were runningit on a secured wireless network and neededto input the security code through the remotecontrol. In no time, we were streamingCasablanca and watching the classicHumphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman lovestory on our Samsung LCD TV. No glitchesat all. There’s an Ethernet option as well onthe box. Yes, the Roku box delivers well onwhat it promises.

5m to 10m Netflix BoxesNetflix has 8.2 million subscribers to its

online DVD rental service. Piper Jaffray analyst Michael Olson has

predicted that Netflix will have five millionto 10 million of the boxes installed by nextyear.

Netflix is working with at least three othermakers of consumer electronics (CE) gearsuch as LG to build the Netflix service intoTV sets, DVD or Blu-ray players or othervideo capable devices that can connect to theNet.

One rumored possibility is that Microsoftis considering adding the service to its Xbox360 gaming console. That would give mil-lions more access to the Netflix online ser-vice. It could increase the potential marketsize for Netflix because many of them arenow not Netflix customers.

“The Roku device is the first step in a realrevolution,” Hastings said. The companywants to make the Netflix service “ubiqui-tous” by 2010 by having it built into as manydevices as possible. He said the online ser-vice will help the company offer films andTV shows worldwide, That is, of course, ifNetflix can get the studios to sign off on thedistribution rights, a task made more com-plex by the existing distribution deals thestudios already have.

The Netflix box competes directly withApple TV, Windows Media CenterExtenders from various manufacturers likeHP plus digital media adapters from such asNetgear, D-Link, Linksys and BuffaloTechnologies. Netflix will also have to com-pete with makers of TV sets and various set-top boxes that are adding Internet connec-

tions to their products. Netflix wants to con-vince those companies to build-in the Netflixservice.

The Netflix online streaming service alsocompetes with the DVDs consumers rentfrom such as Blockbuster or buy.

With sufficient bandwidth and the studios’permissions the Net could also competedirectly with HD Blu-ray players, leadingsome to be pessimistic about Blu-ray’sfuture.

First, a lot of high-speed broadband net-works have to be built and the studios willhave to be convinced that the Net will paythem more than sales of physical media.

But that day will come. And Netflix wantsto be in the lead.

SanDisk SaysAdieu to TakeTV, Fanfare SanDisk is pulling the plug on its TakeTVvideo player launched in October last yearafter what seems like an underwhelmingmarket reception.

TakeTV, which competes with Apple TV,used flash memory to let users play videothey have on their PC on any TV set, whetherat home or away.

The accompanying Fanfare music andvideo store has also been shut down.

TakeTV was still being peddled onAmazon for $104.99 (as of Monday).

SHOW TIMEDemand: continued from page THIRTY

Research Buyer BewareThree questions to ask companies you buy market

research reports from:- Do they actually e-mail you the data file such as anExcel spreadsheet, complete with the data and formu-las? That allows you to analyze the data further withyour own totals and “what ifs.”

- Do they guarantee the data to be accurate? Thatincludes listing the source of the data such as Websites.

- How long have they been in business under theircurrent name and what is the legal name of theircompany?

The Online Reporter, which has published for over 12years under the same name, does all of these things. Webelieve in not only providing our analysis, but also thedata upon which it is based.

Cablecos Launch Ad Network toCompete with WebSix of the US’ largest cablecos this weekofficially launched Canoe Ventures,which will create a nationwide platform forthem to sell targeted advertising on. Thecablecos do about $5 billion in ad sales butadvertising budgets are increasingly spenton the Web, because it offers interactivity(click here for more information), targetedaudiences and nationwide, even worldwideaudiences. David Verklin, formerly head ofthe Aegis Group, will reportedly be CEO.The cable companies have two majoradvantages over the Net. They have a lot ofdemographic information about their sub-scribers. With the successful developmentof tru2way they will have a single technol-ogy platform, one that will also offerInternet-like interactivity from the remotecontrol. Ownership in Canoe Ventures isbased on the proportion of subscribers thatComcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox,Cablevision, Charter and Bright Househave. The six have invested $150 millionin Project Canoe so far.

Wal-Mart Gets Music CD ExclusivesThe music industry continues its seismictransformation right before our eyes. Majoracts like AC/DC, the Eagles and Journeyare for the first time making their albumsavailable exclusively through Wal-Martstores. The world’s largest retailer is sec-ond to Apple’s iTunes in total music sales.Sony BMG’s Columbia Records negoti-ated the AC/DC deal with Wal-Mart but theEagles and Journey handled their owndeals. Wal-Mart, which reportedlyaccounts for some 30% of music CD salesin the US, has seen its music CD salesdecline, but then so has the entire musicindustry.

WiMAX Widening Patent AllianceAlcatel-Lucent, Cisco, Clearwire, Intel,Samsung and Sprint have formed theOpen Patent Alliance (OPA) for their andother companies’ WiMAX patents. Theyhope OPA will accelerate the widespreadadoption and deployment of WiMAX tech-

nology and products. OPA’s charter is toadvance a competitive and open intellectualproperty rights model, thereby “stimulating alarger WiMAX industry that supports innova-tion through broader choice and lower equip-ment and service costs for WiMAX technolo-gy, devices and applications globally.” To thatend OPA will form a WiMAX patent pool tohelp participating companies obtain access tolicenses from patent owners at a predictablecost. It’s also intended to educate the WiMAXecosystem about, and serve as a centralresource for information.

Microsoft: No Plans for a Zune PhoneJust in case you are a fan of Microsoft’s Zunemedia player, don’t hold your breath for aZune phone. Microsoft’s president ofEntertainment & Devices division RobbieBach made it clear the other day that the soft-ware giant had no plans for a Zune phone.Here’s what Bach told the San FranciscoChronicle: “We don’t make phones ourselves.We don’t have any plans to make phones our-selves. Our focus is on the belief that a phoneis a very personal thing. We think that is goingto continue, and we think Windows Mobile isin a great position to service all those differ-ent opportunities.” Bach acknowledges that theZune is “not clipping at the heels of Apple justyet in the market share space. But that’s some-thing that will evolve over time.” We’ll see.

NBC, CBS ChangingOnline News FormatsThe Wall Street Journal reports that Disney’sABC News is about to change the format ofits daily “World News” Webcast, once toutedas showing the way for its online future.ABC’s news-division president, DavidWestin, told the paper it’s looking at severalpossibilities including posting updatesthroughout the day. The paper points out thatviewers of the networks’ prime time news arean older bunch and not so inclined to watchonline. And the young like a different formatthat allows them to skip around and look atwhat interests them rather than a serial pre-sentation. CBS is also reportedly about tochange the format of its online news by

adding more coverage of celebrities and usingcontent from its recently acquired CNET.

Oops!Time Warner Cable is the leading tru2waydeployer with nearly one million tru2way set-top boxes already installed. ZodiacInteractive is working with Cablevision andComcast, not with Time Warner Cable.

Palm to Sell 2m Centros in 2008Apple's iPhone is not the only smartphone

making news these days although it may seemthat way. Palm expects to sell two millionunits of its Centro smartphone in 2008. Palm'ssenior VP of marketing Brodie Keast toldReuters the company had shipped one mil-lion units of Centro through the end of March.Meanwhile, Verizon Wireless became thethird carrier - after Sprint and AT&T - tooffer the Centro to its subscribers.

Panasonic ShowsTru2way TV at National Press Club

This week Panasonic demonstrated at theNational Press Club in DC its tru2wayVIERA plasma HDTV that can receive HDinteractive, digital cable service without usinga separate cable set-top box.

Could Microsoft Run YahooBetter Than It Runs ItsMoney-losing Internet Division?It’s no wonder that Yahoo founder Jerry Yangis reluctant to sell the company to Microsoft.And, it’s no wonder Microsoft wants toacquire Yahoo. BusinessWeek points out thatafter all these years and all of its efforts,Microsoft’s Internet division is still losingmoney ⎯ $750 million on revenue of $2.4billion. Yahoo, despite its many stumbles, isprofitable. The entry of Wall Street’s CarlIcahn into the Microsoft-Yahoo matter raisesagain the question of whether Wall Streetmeddling makes high tech companies better.To wit: Is Sprint better off for spinning out itsWiMAX network to Clearwire and outsideinvestors? Did Motorola make the right callby putting its mobile phone business up forsale? Will Yahoo be a better company afterIcahn’s intervention?

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