McGuire’s Law

As we work to build mobility into every product, service, and process, our greatest inhibitor is the mindset represented by those who defend the tethering of products and processes to specific places. This mindset is fueled by the investments that have been made that establish power in the companies, departments, and individuals that stand in the way of mobilizing our lives and our businesses. These investments are not always in hard assets, but often are investments of time and experience to establish intellectual and relational assets. We should expect our assault on these ways to be defended to the death. Here are recent examples:

• AT&T’s Bait And Switch On iPhone Unlimited Service: We Screwed Up, So Now You Have To Pay More
• Australian Operator Optus Deliberately Blocking Android Paid Apps
• White spaces could be the broadcasters best hope
• SF mayor backs radiation labels for cell phones
• Why Telco’s Continue to Loose Customers’ Hearts
• As AT&T Complains, People Notice That It Has Decreased Infrastructure Investments, But Wireless Revenue Is Way Up
• Maine Wants Mobile Phones To Carry A Cancer Warning… Despite Lack Of Evidence; [Updated: SF Too]
• CenturyLink Won’t Provide DSL, Wants To Block Competitor From Getting Fed Funds To Offer Wireless
• Nokia Launches Another Patent Attack On Apple, Uses ITC Loophole To Get Second Shot At Hurting Apple

Last week I participated in a couple of panels at the Telco 2.0 Executive Brainstorm event in Orlando. The first panel was on “Voice and Messaging 2.0.” Excellent stimulus presentations were provided by Thomas Howe and Irv Shapiro. Thomas introduced the concept of Communications Enabled Business Processes (CEBP) and Irv gave examples of how ifbyphone’s customers are implementing them.

I joined the two of them in a panel discussion. I structured my comments around three concepts:

1. Voice 2.0 has to evolve from Voice 1.0
2. However, that evolution requires a “leap of faith” to escape the gravitational forces of Big Bell Dogma
3. Voice 2.0 has got to be about solutions, not technologies

Starting from the Basics
In moving to Voice 2.0, we can’t leave behind the foundational ingredient of Voice 1.0: reliable networks. It may no longer be about circuit-switched voice networks, but delivering great services still requires reliable and adaptable MPLS, scalable and flexible SIP trunking, increasingly wirelessly-connected endpoints with reliable 3G, or (in more and more places) 4G networks.

Breaking Free of Big Bell Dogma
Although, as a carrier, building great networks is what we’re about, to get to Voice 2.0, we have to move beyond the Big Bell Dogma of holding back innovation by claiming 5-9’s reliability is being threatened (when really it’s cash-cow monopoly profits that are at risk). We have to ease the interconnection of voice networks (while avoiding monopoly fees), enable convergence, and stimulate innovation in the broader ecosystem.

Delivering Solutions
But, at the end of the day, Voice 2.0 isn’t about completing phone calls or operating great networks, it’s about creating value by delivering revenue-boosting or cost-reducing solutions. As a carrier, Sprint will never be the best at developing complex solutions, which is why we partner closely with leaders like Cisco, IBM, and Microsoft (instead of trying to compete with them as some do).

However, sometimes delivering a valuable solution is as simple as helping a customer apply an existing solution to a well understood problem. I gave the example of a Sprint customer in the health insurance industry. Their goal is to improve health outcomes while reducing costs. They looked at the childbirth process as an area for improvement in both. A pregnancy resulting in normal delivery costs in the neighborhood of $1,000. A pregnancy resulting in a Caesarian section birth costs in the neighborhood of $10,000. However, a pregnancy resulting in a premature birth typically has costs exceeding $1 million - a thousand times more than a normal delivery. If there were a way to help the baby stay in the safety of the womb for 37 weeks, it would save a tremendous amount of money, but more importantly be a better health outcome for the mother and a tremendously better health outcome for the baby. Sprint worked with this company to apply Nextel Direct Connect push-to-talk technology to address this need. At risk mothers are now given a push-to-talk phone with “the button” programmed to connect directly to a health professional. Whenever she has questions, she can get immediate sound answers and advice. The result has been a meaningful reduction in premature births - and an easier road to a healthy, happy life for many babies.

Needless to say, I’m excited about the potential impact Voice 2.0 is already having!

As we work to build mobility into every product, service, and process, our greatest inhibitor is the mindset represented by those who defend the tethering of products and processes to specific places. This mindset is fueled by the investments that have been made that establish power in the companies, departments, and individuals that stand in the way of mobilizing our lives and our businesses. These investments are not always in hard assets, but often are investments of time and experience to establish intellectual and relational assets. We should expect our assault on these ways to be defended to the death. Here are recent examples:

• AT&T Sues Verizon Over ‘There’s A Map For That’ Ad Campaign
• Verizon doesn’t seem to know what “unlimited” means in Droid contracts
• MPAA Gets Town To Turn Off Free Muni-WiFi Over Single Unauthorized Movie Download
• Australian Operator Optus Deliberately Blocking Android Paid Apps

It all started at the beginning of October, when Verizon launched the “There’s a Map for that” ad. Not long after, AT&T responded with a(n unsuccessful) lawsuit, and ads of their own. And, as if AT&T alone wasn’t enough of a sparring partner, later in October Verizon introduced it’s Android plans with an ad directly aimed at Apple’s iPhone. Of course, Apple has engaged in the fight.

So, what should we at Sprint think of this? On one hand, it’s great to have two Big Bell Dogmatists slugging it out, spending all their energy dragging each other down in the public arena. It makes both of them look ugly.

But, on the other hand, is it good for us to just sit on the sidelines? Sure, we enjoy the same benefits over AT&T and the iPhone that Verizon is making a big stink about, but how many people know that? Our 3G map is much bigger than AT&T’s (looks a lot like Verizon’s), we’re regularly recognized for having the most reliable and fastest 3G network, and of course, we’re the first with 4G. And like Verizon, we have two great Android devices, the HTC Hero and the Samsung Moment.

So what do you think? Is Sprint best served by sitting on the sidelines as Verizon dukes it out with AT&T and Apple, or would we do better by jumping in the ring ourselves?

As we work to build mobility into every product, service, and process, our greatest inhibitor is the mindset represented by those who defend the tethering of products and processes to specific places. This mindset is fueled by the investments that have been made that establish power in the companies, departments, and individuals that stand in the way of mobilizing our lives and our businesses. These investments are not always in hard assets, but often are investments of time and experience to establish intellectual and relational assets. We should expect our assault on these ways to be defended to the death. Here are recent examples:

• AT&T Greenlights VoIP For the iPhone. Too Bad Google Voice Isn’t VoIP.
• Verizon, Google partnership makes for strange bedfellows
• AT&T CTO: We Know What’s Best for You
• California Cool Cars regs put the kibosh on radio, cellphone, and GPS reception
• Judge rules against ASCAP over ringtone royalties
• Verizon’s Seidenberg blasts net neutrality as debate continues / Verizon, Google find Net Neutrality common ground

As we work to build mobility into every product, service, and process, our greatest inhibitor is the mindset represented by those who defend the tethering of products and processes to specific places. This mindset is fueled by the investments that have been made that establish power in the companies, departments, and individuals that stand in the way of mobilizing our lives and our businesses. These investments are not always in hard assets, but often are investments of time and experience to establish intellectual and relational assets. We should expect our assault on these ways to be defended to the death. Here are recent examples:

• Recording Industry, Japanese Gov’t Work To Break Your Mobile Phone If You Listen To Unauthorized Music
• Content Owners Force Hulu To Block Mobile Browsers As Well
• Apple Rejected Google Apps Because They Were Better
• Cheers, jeers greet Genachowski’s push for net neutrality
• AT&T’s 3G MicroCell does unlimited calling, but it ain’t cheap
• AT&T to Google: So You Wanna Be a Phone Company?
• New Zealand to Ban Mobile Phone Based Navigation Systems While Driving
• Free iTunes!
• Why Apple Should Let Other Devices Connect To iTunes

As we work to build mobility into every product, service, and process, our greatest inhibitor is the mindset represented by those who defend the tethering of products and processes to specific places. This mindset is fueled by the investments that have been made that establish power in the companies, departments, and individuals that stand in the way of mobilizing our lives and our businesses. These investments are not always in hard assets, but often are investments of time and experience to establish intellectual and relational assets. We should expect our assault on these ways to be defended to the death. Here are recent examples:

• Some NFL teams clamp down on texts, tweets
• Take Back the Beep: AT&T promises to make some changes, T-Mobile and Verizon slow on the uptake

As we work to build mobility into every product, service, and process, our greatest inhibitor is the mindset represented by those who defend the tethering of products and processes to specific places. This mindset is fueled by the investments that have been made that establish power in the companies, departments, and individuals that stand in the way of mobilizing our lives and our businesses. These investments are not always in hard assets, but often are investments of time and experience to establish intellectual and relational assets. We should expect our assault on these ways to be defended to the death. Here are recent examples:

• IRS may tax work cell phones as a ‘fringe benefit’
• When the Cell Phone Is the Office Phone, Taxing It Is Wrong
• ASCAP Wants To Be Paid When Your Phone Rings
• Amazon policy change torpedoes iPhone app
• AT&T Will Scare You Into Keeping Your Landline
• Department of Justice casually looking into abuses of power by big carriers?
• DOJ Wants to Probe Telcos? It Should Take a Number
• Verizon: Please Stop Disabling GPS in Smartphones on Your Network
• The Problems Of A Legacy Business: Verizon’s Union Freaks Out That Verizon Wants To Look Forward
• Verizon to Open App Store- Nobody Wins
• Ofcom goes nuts - will they regulate visible light next?
• Why Is Google Latitude A Web App And Not A Native App? Because Apple Said So.
• Leap blasts Verizon’s proposal on roaming agreements
• Rural carriers scoff at Verizon’s exclusivity compromise
• FCC investigating rejection of Google Voice apps from iPhone store
• Fact Checking? UK Paper Simply Takes The Word Of Guy Who Claims WiFi Allergy

As we work to build mobility into every product, service, and process, our greatest inhibitor is the mindset represented by those who defend the tethering of products and processes to specific places. This mindset is fueled by the investments that have been made that establish power in the companies, departments, and individuals that stand in the way of mobilizing our lives and our businesses. These investments are not always in hard assets, but often are investments of time and experience to establish intellectual and relational assets. We should expect our assault on these ways to be defended to the death. Here are recent examples:

• Apple cracks down on rogue app stores
• AT&T Keeps New Wireless Entrants at Bay for $2.35B
• Verizon: US Broadband Is Really Competitive, If You Just Redefine The Market The Way We Want…

Two months ago I participated in eComm. What a great event! (Thanks Lee!)

My talk was on “Cutting the Cord on Big Bell Dogma.” I think it’s a pretty compelling story. You can check out the video here and the slides further down in this post.