Luis Benavides

This is a response to Techcrunch’s post:
There We Go Again. No, Micropayments Won’t “Save Journalism”.

Although Micropayments aren’t the solution, I do think they are part of it. When iTunes broke-through it weren’t the Micropayments which made that business model possible, but the iTunes store + iPod + record labels agreement combo. Apple made it easy for everyone to get a song.

Now, what the newspapers have to do is create content worth paying for, and make the payment and distribution so easy that it isn’t convenient to go elsewhere looking for it.

For example, if I had the option to easily browse through the articles, pay for the ones I want to read and get add-ons such as:

• Audio version: To listen in my iPod.
• Platform for discussion: What if each article had an identifiable #hashtag in Twitter so that I could follow the discussion?
• Recommendations: different points of view, related articles in the same newspaper or articles recommended by the authors (ie. further reading).
• Portable version: Similarly as iTunes, make the article available and easily accessible from devices such as the Kindle, iPhone, Android.

I would definitely love paying for it!

If the newspapers change their model to something like this, I think the ones that generate good content and are considered as trustworthy sources will not only survive, but be very profitable.

I have recently raised a legal issue with the introduction of the new Skype’s connection fee. In the “Terms of Service” it is written:

Change of tariffs. Skype may change the tariffs at any time by giving a thirty (30) day notice of such change on the website www.skype.com/go/rates or, in the case of SkypeIn or Voicemail, by stating new tariffs in connection with your purchase of either product. If you do not wish to accept such adjustment of tariffs, you may ask for a refund of your Skype credits. The new tariff will apply to your next purchase after the adjustments have been published on the website. You agree that by continuing to purchase Skype products following the adjustments of the tariffs, you accept the new tariffs.

Just let me repeat this phrase:

“The new tariff will apply to your next purchase after the adjustments have been published on the website.”

I haven’t done any new purchase, and I am being charged already with this connection fee! When I bought my credit, this fee was not even announced. Skype already has the money of all the users and they decided that the tarification wasn’t anymore the same. The least I would expect from such a drastic change would be an email communication, it’s true, it’s not in the user agreement, but I think it is the right action to take since most of the users are not aware of it.

Up to now this is the only feedback that I have received from them:

luisgerman – this question about the terms was also brought up in the forums, I’m checking with our legal team.

There is something not working well in this company to get this kind of response!

Up to now I’ve been a fierce fan of skype, It was, for me, impressing the way how they grew in such a short period of time and how they called the attention of thousands of developers to integrate applications. Skype has now became a huge ecosystem and target of new business models.

What happened with all this great revolutionary concept? We would have to remember that Skype was bought by Ebay, and since then, the interests have changed. Ebay primary interest is, for sure, not to get the whole world talk for free. This “communist” concept of the P2P is not dominated by ebay. The ideal has been gone with it’s creators that are now concentrated in the launch of a revolutionary internet P2P tv service.

But, why do I say all these things? It happens that last month, Skype announced that they would introduce a disruptive pricing plan. I was so curious about their next move, up to then every single new released exited me so much, that I was pushed to write articles with thumbs up and wondering about the future. Well, today I was pushed again to write, but for totally the opposite reasons.

Skype, as any vulgar cell phone company, introduced a connection fee of 4 cents for every call made with the Skype Out. Basically it means that for a normal call in Europe that in former times coasted around 2 cents/min, now you have to add this connection fee. That makes a one min call 3 times more expensive. Wow! how disruptive! Where is this going to? What happened with “The whole world can talk for free”? So, now after the people bought their Skype phones and all their hardware that just work with Skype, they raise the prices just because they know that people is tied up and won’t switch so easily.

Is sad to say, but all of you that are thinking on buying any Skype harware should think it twice. Other companies such as VoIPBuster, offer free calls to most of the European countries and the US. Skype as a leader of the Internet calling companies have the efficiency to offer the best tariffs, but nevertheless it is the most expensive one nowadays. I see it coming, the day when they announce the next disruptive pricing scheme, and I wouldn’t be so inaccurate to think about them charging the on-net calls. I’m switching now 🙁 … see you on VoipBuster, or Jajah or any other. why paying more if the quality is roughly the same?

As I promised on my last post “BT steps on WiMAX” . Here’s the follow up and confirmation of British Telecom’s interest to get into the WiMAX market.

As I stated in the former post, BT’s advantages in getting back into the mobile market were very clear. Five years ago they left their mobile business with the spin-off of O2 plc. Now they have seen the clear panorama of mobility and have been the leaders of the FMC (fixed-mobile convergence), which is the integration of their fixed networks with mobile (cell phone) companies, such as Vodafone.

Now with a clear interest, as a spokesperson tells to the London newspaper The Independent:

“We are naturally interested in the potential of this spectrum and we continue to assess its possible uses, including the possibility of WiMax,”

This spectrum is going to open for auctions in the early 2007, and it’s to be usable on January of 2008. As the WiMAX technology is evolving fast, it is expected that with the introduction of a mobile business line in BT, the convergence between the fixed and mobile technologies will have a big push, and the business models will mutate in several ways. The mobile operators in the UK will have still one year to react, either getting into or proposing a better alternative. The technology trends point WiMAX as the 4G, but this trends are not always the most influencing ones… Is WiMAX to become a world standard in mobility? Just wait and see.

The battle between Microsoft, Google and Yahoo for the advertising market has made visible the way marketing will be done in the near future. Making a follow-up of my last post, I wanted to point out the main drivers of this Battle for Titans.

WiFi access: the idea is to offer free access to internet for all. Google has already fully covered the US city Mountain View and is pursuing San Francisco in a battle with Microsoft. Lots of companies like “The cloud”, Boingo, Earthlink, FON, among many others are creating huge WiFi networks, covering entire cities and making partnerships with these giants. But obviously there’s a business model behind, and is “Targeted advertising”. This kind of ads would provide relevant content and services, including weather, news, and local government services, as well as restaurant, nightlife, and movie listings. People has to accept advertisements instead of paying for the access, but this time, they know your location and they can offer to their business customers in this way a much efficient marketing campaigns.

Free cell phones: Recently in an interview, the Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt, stated the idea that cell phones should be free for everyone. The devices should be paid fully, as well as internet access, by targeted advertising. This is exactly what I was talking about in my last post, they know your interests, your location, and so, they can make really sharp efficient ads that could result interesting to you. Let’s make an example; you’re going to the supermarket to buy the groceries. In an association with the supermarket and Google, they have the history of the things you buy and a way to reach you; so, you enter the supermarket and immediately after, you receive a message saying: “Your favorite Swiss chocolates are in offer today” or “The products a, b and c, that you normally buy have a 15% discount for you today”.

With these new marketing approaches, you just have to correlate information to get incredibly efficient services. Right now we can just see the top of the iceberg, but below, there are ideas that will appear before our eyes in a vertiginous speed.