Nick Jones

So Sanjay Jha has annoyed Microsoft, he talked in public about Windows Mobile 6.5. Thanks Sanjay, I can now mention the topic in my blog. Windows mobile is a huge problem for Microsoft at the moment. It’s losing market share; it dropped to #3 in the smartphone market in Q2 2008, falling behind arch-rivals RIM. [...]

[Read more →]

Next week I’ll be in Cannes in the South of France at Gartner’s European Symposium. I’m looking forward to this. Firstly because we had the first snow of winter here in London yesterday and Cannes is sure to be warmer. And secondly I’ll get to meet and chat with lots of our European clients. If [...]

[Read more →]

Harry Potter business plans are a common ailment of the telecomms industry. Companies from start-ups through to established network operators want new revenue but aren’t entirely clear where it’s coming from, or what form it takes. So they assume magic. Here are a few common spells for your next business plan.
The magic of ill defined [...]

[Read more →]

There, at last I said it. To me UC is an inadequate and ill-assorted bundle of arbitrary technologies which have been labelled as such so vendors can lock you in to their proprietary platforms and sell a big bundle of stuff instead of a little bundle of stuff.
Communications is by its nature fragmented not unified. [...]

[Read more →]

Will we see massive social unrest in Waterloo? A while back Rogers, a Canadian operator, said they were committing $150M to buy Apple iPhones. So that implies a few hundred thousand Rogers subscribers roaming Canada with iPhones. What happens when they bump into the new RIM touch-screen devotees in the streets and bars of Waterloo? [...]

[Read more →]

I’ve been wandering around the Symbian smartphone show, and although it was bustling the whole thing seemed a bit bland and unexciting this year. No compelling new products and announcements. Also, many people I chatted to were worried about the economy in 2009 because a recession would mean lower spending on expensive luxuries like smartphones. [...]

[Read more →]

A week spent at our US Symposium chatting to clients and vendors emphasised the parallels between mobile strategy and warfare. We have two sides with diametrically opposed philosophies, both of whom are utterly convinced they are right. IT professionals who want standards to minimise cost and risk are arrayed against users who want fun technology, [...]

[Read more →]

Aren’t rumours fun? The fun rumour of the day is that Microsoft might buy RIM. In my view this would be a really bad move:
1. RIM is basically a devices company. RIM makes most of its revenue from selling hardware. Microsoft is not a hardware company, and wouldn’t make a good job of competing with [...]

[Read more →]

We’re working on the agenda for the next Gartner mobile and wireless conference in the USA in 2009. It will be in Chicago, in February so you’ll need a warm coat. If there are any topics, vendors or technologies you particularly want to hear about please let us know, we want your input. You can either respond [...]

[Read more →]

Rumours abound in this business but one of the more persistent ones is that HP will shortly release a couple of new smartphones. So would this be an inspired move to tap into the opportunity of a fast-growing market or a misguided attempt to compete in a cut-throat commoditised business? As is often the case [...]

[Read more →]