Xiaomi Launches “Mi Mobile”, Offers 3GB Data for Under $10

September 23, 2015

Xiaomi has continued its expansion into all-things-consumer with the launch of its MVNO network “Mi Mobile” in China. The first OEM to launch a carrier, Xiaomi’s mobile network is offering 3GB of LTE data for RMB 59 – which is under $10 – if you sign up to a monthly plan.

Xiaomi is “commoditizing its complements”¹. It’s likely (re-) selling data at near what it cost to buy it from the carrier (China Unicom). This sort of thing was bound to happen, and it’s no surprise that an OEM that’s focused on smartphone market share above short-term profitability would be the first major OEM to do this. The carrier still gets paid, but other OEMs feel competitive pressure. At least that’s the intent. Let’s see how this fares.

With every ultra-low-margin phone and service Xiaomi launches, the odds that it will excel in any one area (except device unit volume) diminish. How would it fund high performance? One might argue that, with a large installed base, it could profit from selling content and services. The problem, however, is that the quality and demand, and therefore the profitability, of Xiaomi’s content and services remains uncertain. And by “uncertain”, I really mean “average”.

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1. Thanks to Rene Ritchie for ingraining “commoditize your complements” into my head. And, of course, the author of that line, Joel Spolsky. He coined the idea, and other insights, here. Good read.

Walt Mossberg: It’s Time to Free the Smartphone

September 16, 2015

Great piece by Walt Mossberg, executive editor at The Verge and editor at large of Re/code:

It’s time for U.S. mobile carriers to focus on being first-class networks, not second-rate retailers and app developers. […]

It’s time to treat the smartphone like any other computing device, to leave the selling and supporting of them to the Best Buys, the Apple stores, the Amazons.

Apple, the country’s most important smartphone maker, took a huge step toward this future last week. It announced that it would sell new iPhones under its own installment plan, which will include a warranty — cutting out the carrier.

Very well said. On one point, though, I do have a different perspective: I think US carriers can’t afford not to sell devices. They sell devices because that promotes the use of their offering, i.e., network (coverage, quality, speed), rate plan features, and customer support. If Carrier A stops selling but Carrier B doesn’t, the latter will soon have more consumers. That’s because no one else except Carrier A will work as hard to ensure that its advantages are well represented at the point of sale. Why is that important? Without that, Carrier A can’t afford to keep investing in its offering. Basically, when a product requires a high level of R&D or capital expenditures, if you don’t control the way its presented and communicated to the consumer, you put that investment at risk. And in the case of wireless service, missing an opportunity to present your product to a customer might result in losing their business – and their family’s – for years. Want an example of another company that invests a lot in developing its products and wants to manage the way they’re presented at the point of sale? Apple.

Monday Assorted Links

August 10, 2015

1. On recent rumors of an Apple MVNO: two thoughts, from John Gruber and Jean-Louis Gassée, sum up the reality perfectly, in my view:

Apple is a partner with all the carriers around the world that support iPhone. They can’t compete against them while partnering with them. (link to Gruber’s post)

“[Apple’s] one and only goal is selling devices. Everything else is in support of that goal. Would [an Apple wireless carrier] sell twice as many iPhones? Probably not.” (link to Gassée’s post)

2. Samsung Invents another Round of Concepts for future Smartphones with Multiple Displays. Exciting. Glad to see someone tackling this problem. This is one of many patents Samsung has filed. The specifics of this one don’t matter as much as the notion that Samsung (and others) are working to make this a reality. Someday.

3. Xiaomi ties up with Taiwan’s Foxconn to assemble smartphones in India. This aligns with Xiaomi’s focus on cost reduction (because it sells at razor thin gross margins) and helps it pursue the hearts and minds of consumers.

4. HTC stored user fingerprints as image file in unencrypted folder. Lovely. Reminds me of one of the six reasons I’ve used an iPhone since the 3GS: industrial design, ease of use, camera, apps, software updates, and … security.

6. Back to the future: Nokia prepares for mobile comeback. Increase in hiring / activity, in preparation for 2016/17 brand-licensing comeback.

6. Graava is a new action camera that does the editing for you. Watch the two minute video. I like the idea of it. I don’t need the actual product, though. Will we ever see something comparable in a smartphone? It reminds me of HTC’s “Zoes”.

Apple, Samsung in Talks with Telecom Groups to Launch e-SIM Card

July 22, 2015

Daniel Thomas and Tim Bradshaw, for the Financial Times:

Last year, Apple revealed its own Sim card for its latest iPads. However, it was supported by only a handful of operators such as T-Mobile and AT&T in the US, and just EE in the UK. Those familiar with its UK rollout said that it had not been widely adopted.

The electronic Sim is not expected to replace the Apple Sim, a piece of plastic that fits into a device and could be included in the next generation of iPhones.

e-SIMs in phones? Sure. So that you don’t have to swap SIMs? Okay. So that you can dynamically change between carriers? Maybe. But there’s a more interesting thing to think about.

What device is so space-constrained that, today, carrying a SIM card is prohibitive? Keep a watch out.

And if a device has a SIM card, what else does it need to make use of it? Please radio it in, when you find out. More (but not very much) on all this at a later date.

Google Aims to Bring Free Wi-Fi to Every City Street, New York First

June 24, 2015

Issie Lapowsky, for Wired:

Earlier this month, when Larry Page announced that Google was launching a new startup called Sidewalk Labs to develop and incubate technology for cities, many wondered what the company [intended to do].

Now, that fuzzy logic is coming into focus. Today, Sidewalk Labs announced it would be leading the acquisition of two companies behind New York City’s LinkNYC initiative, an ongoing plan to convert old pay phones into free public Wi-Fi hubs. Through the acquisition, Sidewalk Labs is merging the two companies—Control Group, which provides the interface for the new hubs, and Titan, which is overseeing the advertising that will pay for the project. The new venture, aptly named Intersection, will seek to bring free public Wi-Fi to cities around the world using different pieces of urban infrastructure, from pay phones to bus stops.

If you look at the underlying need, combined with Google’s interest in being a catalyst for faster, lower-priced internet access (e.g., Google Fiber, Project Fi, Project Loon), this was almost inevitable. Also inevitable: inquiry and debate about privacy issues (whether warranted or not).

The Real Way to Tell Whether Google’s Wireless Service is a Success

April 27, 2015

I linked to this in the Market Scan, but it’s good to go a little deeper. From Brad Reed, writing for BGR:

If Google achieves its goals, then Verizon and Sprint should move more toward the pricing model that Google unveiled on Wednesday in which users get paid back directly for data they don’t use every month. […]

The other way Google hopes to influence carriers is to push them into making seamless transitions from LTE to Wi-Fi so that if someone doesn’t have a strong signal in their apartment, their device will automatically switch over to their Wi-Fi signal without dropping their call or interrupting their download.

Market Scan Highlights

April 26, 2015

Peruse the whole thing here (it’s easy). Some highlights, with my comments.

1. The real way to tell whether Google’s wireless service is a success (BGR)

2. Why Apple has purchased camera technology company LinX and what will happen now? (i-Micronews)

Good read RE computational imaging, dual cameras

3. Xiaomi Boosts Its Business In India With Strategic Investment From Tata Sons Head (TechCrunch)

Dollar value not clear. PR value very clear

4. Xiaomi’s $205 Mi 4i mirrors the iPhone 5C design, claims 1.5-day battery (Ars Technica)

High performance to price ratio. Profitable? TBD

5. Full video of Vogue interview with Apple designers Jony Ive and Marc Newson posted to Web (AppleInsider)

Always worth it to hear the thoughts of subject matter expert or influential leader

6. Apple: First Look: Apple Watch Apps & Stats (App Annie)

Top category (so far) is Utility; 12% of all apps

7. Google: Android Wear’s Low-Power Ambient Mode (Daring Fireball)

8. Samsung filed for “Glastyle” and other Key Trademarks this Week (Patently Mobile)

9. Imaging: Yole on Image Sensor Future (Image Sensors World)

10. Microsoft CEO thinks there’s one BIG reason you’ll love Windows 10: Cortana (Business Insider)

Google’s Project Fi: Making Operators Nervous

April 23, 2015

Kevin Tofel, writing for ZDNet (bold emphasis is mine):

Google’s new mobile voice and data service may save you money, or it may not. Either way, it offers network redundancy and coverage advantages for work and personal use.

“Redundant” is the operative word here. Enough to make operators feel nervous. Why? In very broad strokes, this is essentially why:

With Project Fi, the mobile operators will, effectively, split the revenue from a consumer. That helps one operator (who might have otherwise “lost” the consumer) and hurts the other (who might have “won” that consumer). Meanwhile, the consumer doesn’t really know if the great network coverage they get is specifically from T-Mobile or from Sprint, or both. And, they’re now mentally tracking another brand in the picture: Google – as they pay Google each month. The operator brand, essentially, starts to mean a bit less.

Extrapolate this out — imagine that operators actually *embrace* this: now they are effectively splitting consumer revenue (in a way that’s not very proportional to their individual strengths), each continues running a network that’s fairly redundant with its rivals’, and each operator’s brand is less meaningful. What happens in this case? [Read more…]

Mobile Operator Economics

April 22, 2015

Good words by Benedict Evans. Relevant in the context of Google’s Project Fi.

You cannot understand anything about mobile networks unless you understand & internalise two things:

— Benedict Evans (@BenedictEvans) April 22, 2015

Cellular networks have very significant marginal costs. More use requires more capex. — Benedict Evans (@BenedictEvans) April 22, 2015

And second, 2/3 to 3/4 of the cost of an urban base station is in the construction and acquisition, not the technology.

— Benedict Evans (@BenedictEvans) April 22, 2015

Hence, adding traffic to cellular costs a lot of money, much of which is not necessarily technology, but property. — Benedict Evans (@BenedictEvans) April 22, 2015

Not understanding this is like not understanding that most of the money in TV and cinema goes on making content.

— Benedict Evans (@BenedictEvans) April 22, 2015

And I can’t count how many people have proposed ‘disrupting’ cellular without taking into account these 2 absolutely basic economic drivers — Benedict Evans (@BenedictEvans) April 22, 2015

How Google’s Project Fi Pricing Stacks Up to the Competition

April 22, 2015

Ron Amadeo, writing for Ars Technica. I’ve bolded key aspects.

It’s hard to label any one service as “cheaper” than another—it really comes down to what fits your usage patterns. Project Fi’s pay-only-for-the-data-you-use policy has the potential for savings, but if you use roughly the same amount of data per month and can perfectly fit yourself into a plan from another prepaid carrier, you have a good chance of saving money elsewhere.

Project Fi is great for people with fluctuating data usage though. Take me for instance: most days, at home and at work, I’m on Wi-Fi, with barely any data usage, but there are those months where I travel a lot, and then my data usage spikes. Project Fi would give me money back for the low-data months, while flexing to a larger plan when during busy months. For a person like me, it’s perfect. I don’t need data all the time, but when I do need it, I need it to be fast and plentiful.

Still, price isn’t the only thing to consider when choosing a network. Fi also has a lot of great features that don’t show up in the text/talk/data breakdown. Project Fi’s combo Sprint and T-Mobile plan should have better coverage than either Sprint or T-Mobile individually, and things 3G international data will be a big deal for some people. You’re also getting the ability to send calls and texts to all your devices—it basically has a (hopefully) non-terrible version of Google Voice built in.

Source: Ars Technica

Google Set to Unveil Wireless Service

April 21, 2015

Ryan Knutson and Alistair Barr, writing for the WSJ:

The service is expected to allow customers to pay only for the amount of data they actually use each month, people familiar with the matter said—a move that could further push carriers to do away with lucrative “breakage.” […]

Google’s service will run on the networks of Sprint Corp. and T-Mobile […] service initially will work only on Google’s latest Nexus 6 phones, and the devices will dynamically be able to switch between Sprint and T-Mobile networks depending on which carrier has the strongest signal. The service also is expected to use Wi-Fi networks to route phone calls and data, which could further reduce subscribers’ bills.

Too bad it’s only on one device at launch. Hopefully other devices will be added soon. Kudos to Sprint and T-Mobile for helping leading the way.

Tuesday Evening Assorted Links

April 13, 2015

1. Google’s MVNO detailed in leaked app with per-GB data plans, rollover and shared data, and auto-switching between partner networks

2. Sprint Will Come to Your Home or Office to Set Up Your Next Phone. Is it that much work to do, when it helps you keep high-value consumers? Please email me with thoughts.

3. CCS Insight: Google’s Android One program has had ‘limited’ impact on the market. I can’t remember the last time anyone (media or otherwise) mentioned Android One.

4. Trusted Voice unlock is rolling out to some Android users

5. 15 Reasons Apple Watch Is Going To Be Way Bigger Than People Think

6. Apple is reportedly planning to build ‘well over 20 million’ watches this year

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