tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-218672732024-03-14T15:28:48.773+00:00Kevin's Tech and Travel CommentaryInsights, rants and general chit chat about the technology, mobile, travel and the internet.Kevin Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14728741017965926512noreply@blogger.comBlogger38125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21867273.post-74792793124591574322011-12-15T13:50:00.001+00:002011-12-15T13:50:49.022+00:00<iframe frameborder="0" width="300" height="250" scrolling="no" src="http://www.buyapowa.com/banner/tCoOBy/300x250"></iframe>Kevin Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14728741017965926512noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21867273.post-34043118405950571022010-10-16T23:55:00.002+01:002010-10-16T23:55:30.367+01:00Pre-register on Travesse - The Luxury Travel ClubHello everyone,<br />
We're launching an exciting new business in November: <a href="http://www.travesse.com/" target="_blank" title="Exclusive discounts on luxury hotels, city breaks and holidays from Travesse">Travesse, the Luxury Travel Club</a><br />
<div> <h4>PRE-REGISTER NOW!</h4></div><div>Travesse provides its members with exceptional offers on luxury travel. The best hotels, city breaks and holidays from top travel brands are presented at discounts up to 70%.</div><div> <br />
Membership is by invitation only, however you may pre-register until 15 November. On registering, your name will be entered into our weekly prize draw for a luxury holiday. The lucky winners will be announced at our launch on 15 November.<br />
</div><div>Pre-register now at <a href="http://www.travesse.com/" title="Exclusive discounts on luxury hotels, city breaks and holidays from Travesse">www.travesse.com</a>!</div><div> </div>Kevin Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14728741017965926512noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21867273.post-57809694766045586642010-05-14T17:52:00.001+01:002010-05-14T17:53:39.111+01:00New City Guides on TheTravelEditor.com<div class="entry"> <div class="snap_preview"><p>Many thanks to all of our travel writers who have helped us put together some fab new city guides and Top 10s over the last couple of weeks. They are in no particular order:</p> <p><a title="Singapore City Guide" href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/destinations/Singapore/" target="_blank">Singapore City Guide</a></p> <p><a title="Hong Kong City Guide" href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/destinations/Hong+Kong/" target="_blank">Hong Kong City Guide</a></p> <p><a title="Tokyo City Guide" href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/destinations/Tokyo/" target="_blank">Tokyo City Guide</a></p> <p><a title="Normandy Travel Guide" href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/destinations/Normandy/" target="_blank">Normandy Travel Guide</a></p> <p><a title="South Africa Travel Guide with FIFA World Cup features" href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/destinations/South+Africa/" target="_blank">South Africa Travel Guide with FIFA World Cup Football</a> special articles</p> <p><a title="Oxford City Guide" href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/destinations/Oxford/" target="_blank">Oxford City Guide</a></p> <p><a title="Chicago City Guide" href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/destinations/Chicago/" target="_blank">Chicago City Guide</a></p> <p><a title="London’s Best Restaurants with a View" href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/toplists/general/London_s_Best_Restaurants_with_a_View/717/" target="_blank">London’s Best Restaurants with a View</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/toplists/general/Best_Drives_in_Europe/702/">Best Drives in Europe</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/toplists/general/The_Best_Golf_Courses_around_the_World/353/">The Best Golf Courses around the World</a></p> <p>Coming up: an updated London City Guide, reviews of castles in Poland and a Top 10 holiday spots in Sicily!</p> <p>Have a great weekend.</p> <p>The team @ TheTravelEditor.com</p> </div> </div>Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01091768089659742263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21867273.post-7691462457317108292010-04-28T19:10:00.001+01:002010-04-28T19:11:01.325+01:00Villa Il Salviatino: A room with a view in Tuscany » Hotel Reviews » Florence - from The Travel Editor .comQuick one guys. Our most fabulous Antonia Windsor is just back from Florence where she was lucky enough to review Villa Il Salviatino. She's beaten all the Nationals getting her review out there first on TheTravelEditor.com.<br /><br />A stunning 15th century villa, this is no ordinary hotel. They literally treat you like royalty, starting by sending a private chauffeur-driven car to pick you up from anywhere in Italy. Owned by hotelier Marcello Pigozzo, Villa Il Salviatino is the result of 3 years of loving restoration and conversion and will open to the public in the next few weeks.<br /><br /><em>If you visit before May 31 2010, you will be able to have any available suite for the price of a deluxe room - that could be a massive saving of £3,500 a night. </em><br /><br />Villa Il Salviatino - you saw it here first!<br /><br /><a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/article/4593/Hotel_Reviews_Hotel_Villa_Villa_Il_Salviatino_A_room_with_a_view_in_Tuscany.html">Hotel review of Villa Il Salviatino: A room with a view in Florence, Tuscany</a>Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01091768089659742263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21867273.post-35571799896128255462010-04-23T11:49:00.002+01:002010-04-23T12:03:16.820+01:00TheTravelEditor loves SpringHello everyone,<br />Lovely spring weather we're having, isn't it? I've never seen the trees stay in blossom for so long. Apparently it's because the change from Winter to Spring happened as it should've done - slowly and without major temperature fluctuations. We'll see how long it lasts but for now, there's no need to head off to Spain for a Vitamin D hit.<br /><br />Speaking of Spain, we've been joined by several new subeditors who have been diligently going through TheTravelEditor and making improvements. Check out our new and improved <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/destinations/Madrid/">Madrid city guide</a> with plenty of new articles about museums, parks and other great things to do in Spain's capital. One my my favourites is the <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/article/4420/Things_to_do_Lifestyle_Photography_Top_10_Photo_Spots_in_Madrid.html">Top 10 Photo Spots in Madrid</a>.<br /><br />Also, check out our much improved <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/destinations/Paris/">Paris City Guide</a>, <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/destinations/Cape+Town/">Cape Town City Guide</a>, <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/destinations/Barcelona/">Barcelona City Guide</a> (with new articles about <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/toplists/Barcelona_City_Guide/Gaudi_s_Barcelona/655/?style=clean">Gaudi Architecture in Barcelona</a>) and <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/destinations/Dublin/">Dublin City Guide</a>.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">New on the site are a <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/destinations/Tokyo/">Tokyo City Guide</a>, <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/destinations/Hong+Kong/">Hong Kong City Guide</a>, the beginnings of a <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/destinations/Golf%20Courses%20and%20Holidays/">Golf Holiday Guide</a>, and in preparation for the FIFA World Cup in South Africa, we've done a great new <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/destinations/South+Africa/">South Africa Travel Guide</a>, complete with <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/toplists/general/2010_FIFA_World_Cup/596/?style=clean">hotel reviews and excursions from all of South Africa's FIFA host cities.</a><br /><br />We'd also like to announce our partnership with <a href="http://www.blacktomato.co.uk/">Black Tomato</a>, a wonderfully hip and cool travel agency who put together completely bespoke, inspirational and unique travel experiences. You'll see them as our booking partner all around the site, from safaris to honeymoons to New Zealand mega holidays. Welcome aboard guys and we're pleased to be working with you.<br /><br />Next week we'll be talking about Facebook's new plans to take on Google by creating Web 3.0.<br /><br />Happy travels,<br />TheTravelEditor.com<br /></div>Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01091768089659742263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21867273.post-91800028012429171522009-12-21T13:35:00.000+00:002009-12-21T13:35:13.470+00:00Social Media and Mobile – Fundamentally Changing Travel ForeverSocial media and mobile technology are fundamentally changing the way we think about and experience travel, forever.<br />
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We used to ask our friends for recommendations, buy a guide book and do a bit of web research.<br />
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Now we just hop on a plane and wing it (sorry, bad pun). <br />
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We live in an interconnected age: people around the world can engage with bloggers in Iran, protesters in Tibet can MMS videos direct to the media, and, more mundanely, I can tweet pictures of my son building a sandcastle. <br />
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We’ve become used to having our friends on tap on Facebook and Skype. Our lives have become reduced to a stream of 140 characters. But that’s OK.<br />
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We’re at the forefront of a mega trend on the web - people’s online attention spans are getting shorter. We can access anything we want, anytime, anywhere. Call us the iPhone Generation or the Facebook Generation, whatever you like. We expect instant response, social interaction and relevance. <br />
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Perhaps as a result, online travel reviews are getting shorter. But I don’t think this is indicative at all of travellers’ declining interest in learning about foreign countries. On the contrary, I believe we travellers are more curious than ever, more adventurous, more open-minded. It’s just that we are using different media to acquire knowledge in different size chunks to a different schedule.<br />
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But with information nirvana comes chaos. How do we sort through it all? By using all this wondrous new webby social technology stuff to ask that age old question – Can you recommend a good bar? <br />
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Using social media, I can simply ask my real friends, or my extended social network ‘friends’, in real time. Or I can do a quick search on a website I trust. In either case, I get an immediate response that is relevant to me.<br />
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Perhaps I didn’t need to buy that guidebook after all?<br />
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This is really appealing. For me reading a guide book has always been a bit of a let down. The Lonely Planet guys beat me to it – there’s nothing left to discover. I know that’s not true really, but it’s still a feeling I get. <br />
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But who do we trust? It used to be the people closest to us. But now, thanks to social media, it can be anyone. Our Twitter followers are asking our travel writers for bar recommendations in Rio…..while they’re walking down the street in Rio! How cool is that? <br />
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So, travel websites need to build immediacy, interaction and relevance into their online experiences. Websites like <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/">The Travel Editor</a> and <a href="http://www.tripbod.com/">TripBod</a> are doing just this by pooling together groups of experts into a vibrant community full of travel knowledge which travellers can tap into.<br />
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Mobile will also play a very important role in our travelling future. I’m very interested to see how the iPhone apps put out by some of the guidebooks will fare. They require people to download the app in advance, and in some cases buy the electronic guidebook to go along with it. Playing devil’s advocate, won’t people prefer to wait until they’ve arrived and then ask people they trust for recommendations?Kevin Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14728741017965926512noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21867273.post-72797380736916643912009-12-04T17:21:00.002+00:002009-12-04T17:46:57.833+00:00Travel & Technology Roundup - Week 38, 2009Hello all,<br />Apologies for the long time between posts. The market seems to be picking up again and we at TheTravelEditor.com have been very busy indeed. This is a good thing.<br /><br />There have been loads of things going on in tech and travel.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Nokia buys travel social network Dopplr....then weeks later there are rumours they want to sell it.</span> What is going on here? <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/10/23/that-was-fun-but-now-nokias-looking-to-sell-off-dopplr/">Techcrunch believes Nokia wanted the management team</a> (many of them former Nokians) but not really the business. Any buyers out there? Actually, we may want to give Nokia a call.....<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">You heard it here first: Time Out launches city guide ebooks</span>. There are 54 titles in Time Out’s City Guide series, with Paris the first guide to be developed as an ebook and London, Venice, Barcelona, New York and Cape Town in the coming weeks. No link unfortunately.<br /><br />New adventure travel company,<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="www.kumutu.com">Kumutu</a><span style="font-weight: bold;">,</span> appeared on our radar screen. Kumutu aggregate and promote adventure travel destinations and tours. Adventure tour operators can register for free and be added to Kumutu's GDS system. A new company, they've done a good job so far with 400 tour operators already in their system.<br /><br />Our friends at Spot Cool Stuff have listed <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://travel.spotcoolstuff.com/amazing-views/cliff-side-edge-towns">5 Amazing Towns on Perilous Cliff Sides</a>. I won't give the game away, but they're all in Europe except for one. The photos are absolutely stunning. A must read article from this super cool website.<br /><br />Finally, here's a round up of what's been happening at TheTravelEditor.com:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">New <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/destinations/Israel/">Israel Travel Guide</a> launches today!</span> It's still a work in progress, but we've got some of our best writers on the case to make it even better. Special thanks to <a href="http://twitter.com/aceglobetrotter">Anthea Gerrie</a> for so diligently churning out article after article these past few months.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">We've also launched a New York City Guide</span>....now everyone knows New York, like London, is a tough one to do properly. We've had a go and have enough <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/destinations/New+York/">New York restaurant and hotel reviews</a> for at least a good ol' weekend of shopping, food and booze. Any writers out there who want to contribute please get in touch with us.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">But we're especially excited about It's a Wild World</span>, our <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/readabout/Ecotourism/">ecotourism and wildlife travel</a> section. Edited by wildlife journalist, Ron Toft, this section really brings wildlife tourism to the fore and shows us that it's not just for geeky birdwatching enthusiasts, but for all of us. And in this day and age of environmental peril, we think everyone should read these articles to help remind us what is at stake, and maybe awaken the hidden activist in all of us.<br /><br />Other great features include:<br />* The <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/toplists/general/Christmas_Markets/458/">Best European Christmas Markets</a><br />* Top 10 <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/toplists/general/Top_Ten_Christmas_Gifts_recommended_by_The_Kitmaster/459/">Christmas Gift Travel Gadgets</a> recommended by The Kitmaster<br />* Newly redesigned Weekend Breaks section, including <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/readabout/weekend_breaks/">weekend breaks in England, Scotland, Paris, France, Eastern and Western Europe</a>.<br />* Coming soon...a new mini guide to Philadelphia. Stay tuned.<br /><br />Happy travels.<br />Kevin<br /><br /><span lang="en-gb"><span style="font-family:Calibri;"></span></span>Kevin Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14728741017965926512noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21867273.post-15643086292278077992009-07-17T17:45:00.005+01:002009-07-17T18:10:37.286+01:00Travel & Technology Roundup - Week 29, 2009My latest findings in the world of travel and tech:<br /><br />New travel blog: <a href="http://blog.nileguide.com/">Nile Guidance</a>. Written by the folks at Nile Guide, who are sort of a competitor of <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/">The Travel Editor</a>, but I do quite like them. They went to <a href="http://blog.nileguide.com/2009/07/14/road-trip-baby-zion-and-bryce-canyon-national-parks/">Zion and Bryce</a> recently - two of my absolute favorite national parks in the USA. I look forward to reading more from you guys.<br /><br />I love Boots n all. They write about lots of far flung and off the wall places. For example, <a href="http://www.bootsnall.com/articles/09-07/11-volcanoes-in-the-americas-that-you-can-climb.html">11 volcanoes in the Americas you can climb</a>. Including the infamous Mt Saint Helens, which I still remember as a child when it blew up. My brother lives near Mt Redoubt in Alaska and sent some glorious pics. Here's one that looks like it came straight out of Mordor:<br /><div style="text-align: left;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitwiTkKwE07WbMBdBI9C9xWvztx-c7t5-DIL5Pr0GIPsEywgVkUkoaDx3a1wCc8Ka9yjfhF0YxkXLEydT2D-GlZoGJK4U33KyqroqJbWuVQxkXc3e3iqBJKfFPp0XF6s9ut83b/s1600-h/878-PlumeLightning5.standalone.prod_affiliate.7.jpg"><br /></a></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGU7tgZ5JOr1W9VZjALWhQWI8zVI-_B0ecs2iUcf3ohJ6EEQCdWGqpnDT9Od_TTkS5VVbxchrG2Gr4IuLPXIqhUVzteU9zmyEezatCn2Vej8roJ7QzVhCH9CgznfM6T_TiFTch/s1600-h/878-PlumeLightning5.standalone.prod_affiliate.7.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 146px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGU7tgZ5JOr1W9VZjALWhQWI8zVI-_B0ecs2iUcf3ohJ6EEQCdWGqpnDT9Od_TTkS5VVbxchrG2Gr4IuLPXIqhUVzteU9zmyEezatCn2Vej8roJ7QzVhCH9CgznfM6T_TiFTch/s200/878-PlumeLightning5.standalone.prod_affiliate.7.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5359473784548820306" border="0" /></a><br /><br />My friends at Spot Cool Stuff have researched the weirdest and wackiest stuff to be sold on Amazon. The weirdest? That's got to be the full size wedding chapel for $21k. Here's the <a href="http://web.spotcoolstuff.com/bizarre-amazon-oddities">article</a>.<br /><br />The latest on The Travel Editor:<br /><br />We've updated our <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/destinations/Cornwall/">Cornwall travel guide with restaurant reviews and hotel reviews</a>.<br /><br />We've also updated our <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/destinations/Tunis/">Tunis City Guide</a>, and have several <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/toplists/Tunis_City_Guide/Restaurants_in_Tunis/124/?style=clean">Tunis restaurant reviews</a>.<br /><br />Our Rotterdam section has upgraded to a full size <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/destinations/Rotterdam/">Rotterdam City Guide</a>. You know that club that generates electricity from clubbers dancing on piezoelectric floor tiles? That's <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/article/2481/Restaurant_Reviews_Club_Club_Watt_eco_friendly_nightclub.html">Club Watt</a>, and it's in Rotterdam.<br /><br />We've partnered with FairFX, the currency card people. You can get <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/article/2267/Product_Reviews_FairFX_Currency_Exchange_Card_Fix_Your_Currency_Exchange_Rates.html">cheap dollars and Euros</a> at at good exchange rates with FairFX. We have a special offer for you too. Visit their site and get a <a href="http://fairfx.com/thetraveleditor">free FairFX currency card </a>(RRP £10) if you top up with €10.<br /><br />Lots of new <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/readabout/Product_Reviews/">travel product reviews</a> to talk about:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/article/2374/Product_Reviews_Pure_Move_Portable_DAB_Radio_Review.html">Pure Move portable DAB digital radio product review</a> - win one if you register on The Travel Editor by the end of July!<br /><br /><a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/article/2533/Product_Reviews_Cygnett_GrooveTransmit_In_car_iPhone_transmitter.html">Cygnett GrooveTransmit in-car iPhone / iPod FM transmitter product review</a>.<br /><br />A day by day review of <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/article/2532/Things_to_do_Arts_Culture_Festivals_Jazz_a_Juan_Part_2.html">Jazz a Juan on the Cote d'Azur, Europe's oldest jazz festival</a>. Jeff Beck played this week to a roaring crowd.<br /><br />Brilliant <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/article/2513/Devon_Local_Information_General_Information_North_Devon_s_Best_Beaches.html">review of North Devon's best beaches</a>. And here's a review of <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/article/2270/Things_to_do_The_great_outdoors_Beaches_The_Best_Beaches_of_South_Devon.html">South Devon's best beaches</a> to go along with it.<br /><br /><br />That's all for this week. Happy travels everyone.Kevin Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14728741017965926512noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21867273.post-80434335684637228872009-07-03T17:06:00.002+01:002009-07-03T17:27:22.244+01:00Travel & Technology Roundup - Week 27, 2009Have been busy busy busy so apologies for being incognito for a couple of weeks. Here's a quick round up of the coolest things I found in travel and tech this week:<br /><br />US Independence Day is coming, and here are the <a href="http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/intelligenttravel/2009/07/claim-your-spot-great-places-t.html#more">best places to watch fireworks</a> according to National Geographic.<br /><br />More on that theme from NG: here's a map showing <a href="http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/intelligenttravel/2009/07/legality-of-fireworks-by-state.html">legality of fireworks by state</a>. Very interesting that lots of yankee states have outright bans on fireworks.<br /><br />In India, they have finally repealed the ban on homosexuality. Great story from <a href="http://matadorpulse.com/indian-court-decriminalizes-homosexuality/">Matador Pulse</a>.<br /><br />I love the guys at Spot Cool Stuff. They have a beautiful site and great content. This week I found the <a href="http://travel.spotcoolstuff.com/amazing-sites/dr-seuss">Top places that look like they came from a Dr Seuss story</a>. The interesting thing is I tweeted the story (not following <a href="http://twitter.com/thetraveleditor">TheTravelEditor on Twitter</a>? Shame on you) and it got RT'd literally dozens of times as a result. It didn't quite go viral, but it sure picked up some momentum for a few days. I wonder if I can do that with some TheTravelEditor.com <span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span> content?<br /><br />Another cool story from Spot Cool Stuff: <a href="http://tech.spotcoolstuff.com/green-environment/transportation/alternative-motorcycles">8 alternative powered motorcycles.</a> They run on solar, hydrogen and electricity. Cool!<br /><br />Here's the round up of all the cool stuff at TheTravelEditor.com:<br /><br />We've added some wonderful new Antigua hotel reviews and Jamaica hotel reviews to our <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/destinations/Caribbean/">Caribbean Travel Guide</a>.<br /><br />Great mini-<a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/article/2433/Feature_Article_Experience_Michael_Jackson_s_Legacy_Santa_Barbara_County_Rocks.html">city guide to Santa Barbara</a>, California by Anthea. She talks about the upcoming music and wine festivals, especially the New Noise Festival as well as some noodling about Michael Jackson's legacy.<br /><br />We published a new <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/destinations/Vancouver/">Vancouver City Guide</a>, comments are welcome as it's still a work in progress.<br /><br />New Mini <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/toplists/general/Visit_Rotterdam/320/">city guide to Rotterdam</a>. I had no idea Rotterdam had such wacky architecture.<br /><br />A wonderful <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/toplists/general/Visit_Jordan/301/">travel guide to Jordan, the Dead Sea, Petra, Aqaba</a> and more.<br /><br />We're always adding new spas to our <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/readabout/spas/">health spa reviews</a> site.<br /><br />Finally, lots of new travel product reviews: <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/toplists/general/Digital_FM_Radio_Reviews/308/">Digital & FM Radio Reviews</a>, <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/toplists/general/Luggage_Reviews/278/">Luggage Reviews</a>, <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/toplists/general/Guide_Book_Reviews/318/">Guide Book Reviews</a>, and <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/toplists/general/Travel_Clothes/298/">Travel Clothes</a><a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/toplists/general/Travel_Clothes/298/"> reviews</a>.<br /><br />Oh, one more thing. Why is the <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/article/2214/Product_Reviews_Billingham_555_Camera_bag.html">Billingham 555 - Camera bag</a> so popular? We're getting tons of traffic to our review.<br /><br />Happy travels,<br />KevinKevin Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14728741017965926512noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21867273.post-59625659481844048982009-06-15T13:12:00.003+01:002009-06-15T13:41:41.466+01:00Travel & Technology Roundup - Week 24, 2009After taking last week off, here's a quick round up of the coolest things I found in travel and tech:<br /><br />I started following <a href="http://spotcoolstuff.com/">Spot Cool Stuff</a> on <a href="http://twitter.com/SpotCoolStuff">Twitter </a>recently. Their bio states "<span class="bio">Destinations, gadgets, music, movies & high design with a WOW! factor. I've learned about Goth weddings in Vegas and a fab list of travel tweeps.<br /><br />Cruise Lines International has launched their new campaign, "<a href="http://www.gadling.com/2009/06/14/you-deserve-a-cruise-a-place-for-finding-cruise-deals/">You deserve a cruise</a>" promoting special offers and perks from 23 different cruise lines. Personally, I'm getting into cruises at the moment since we launched our own Cruise Reviews site, with <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/readabout/Cruising/">reviews of Caribbean, Alaska, Mediterranean, Antarctic and Yangtze river cruises</a>.<br /><br />From Ars Technica, how to get your hands on the new <a href="http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/06/how-to-get-your-hands-on-an-iphone-3g-s-as-early-as-possible.ars">iPhone 3G</a> as soon as possible. Unfortunately there are no hidden tricks...<br /><br /><a href="http://matadorpulse.com/mexico-city-launches-free-health-insurancecare-for-tourists/">Mexico City launches free health care for tourists</a> in effort to lure visitors back to the capital.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">New from TheTravelEditor.com:<br /><br /></span>Updated <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/readabout/Weekends/">Weekend Breaks</a> guide. Top <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/toplists/general/Weekend_Escapes_from_London/257/">Weekend Breaks from London</a>, A Magritte-themed <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/article/2320/Feature_Article_Weekend_Breaks_A_Surreal_Weekend_With_Magritte.html">Weekend Break in Belgium</a>, as well as a <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/article/1967/Feature_Article_Experience_A_Weekend_in_Lucca_and_a_Night_at_the_Opera.html">Weekend Break in Lucca</a>, with a night at the opera in Puccini's birthplace.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/toplists/London_City_Guide/London_s_Top_Indian_Restaurants/208/">Indian Restaurant Reviews</a>: London's 10 best curry restaurants<br /><br />The Kitmaster Strikes Back! </span><span class="status-body"><span class="entry-content">Expensive new gadget gets panned by The Kitmaster! <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/article/2338/Product_Reviews_Casio_Protrek_PRW_1500T_1VER_Solar_Powered_Atomic_Watch_with_Compass.html">Casio Protrek solar powered atomic watch</a> not up to scratch. </span></span><br /><span class="bio"><br />More travel product reviews from The Kitmaster can be found here, including <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/toplists/general/Luggage_Reviews/278/?style=clean">Luggage Reviews</a>, <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/toplists/general/Book_Reviews/280/?style=clean">Book Reviews</a>, <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/toplists/general/Great_Outdoors/282/?style=clean">Tent and Clothing reviews</a> and <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/toplists/general/Travel_Gadgets/275/?style=clean">travel gadget reviews</a>.<br /><br />Have a great week everyone.<br /><br />The Team<br /><br /></span>Kevin Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14728741017965926512noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21867273.post-88658982312836090672009-05-29T17:46:00.002+01:002009-05-29T18:04:26.469+01:00Travel & Technology Roundup - Week 22, 2009Here's my round up of this week's cool articles in the travel, internet and gadget space:<br /><br />I love spring. The plants and trees come to life, the birds are chirpy and in the mood, bees are buzzing. Go ahead, accuse me of being a typical Englishman, but I like gardens. Here are <a href="http://www.gadling.com/2009/05/29/10-places-to-enjoy-may-flowers-for-free-even-when-may-is-over-f/">10 places to see May flowers for free</a> thanks to Gadling (although this list is pretty US centric).<br /><br />Also from Gadling, their guide to <a href="http://www.gadling.com/2009/05/29/gadlings-guide-to-summer-music/">summer music</a>.<br /><br />If you don't know Weburbanist, you should. Their strap is 'urban design, culture, travel, architecture and alternative art.' Says it all doesn't it? Great website, and here's a great article: Unbuilt Buildings: <a href="http://weburbanist.com/2009/05/27/unbuilt-buildings-12-awesome-future-architectural-designs/">12 Awesome Future Architectural Designs</a>. Doesn't the Dragonfly metabolic farm look like one of those mint film things you put in your mouth, but much much larger?<br /><br />Microsoft launches their knowledge engine, Bing. Then it promptly goes down under the weight of usage. But that's to be expected - it promises to shake up the big G when it finally gets going under its own steam. See this<a href="http://venturebeat.com/2009/05/29/bing-downtime-means-nothing-yet/"> interesting article</a> with screenshots from Venture Beat.<br /><br />The latest from TheTravelEditor.com:<br /><br />New articles by Cathy Winston added to our Istanbul Guide. A great <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/article/2285/Where_to_eat_Restaurant_Fusion_360istanbul_modern_Turkish_cuisine_with_stunning_views.html">Istanbul restaurant</a> as well as a brilliant <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/article/2283/Feature_Article_Experience_24_hours_in_Istanbul.html">short break guide to Istanbul</a>.<br /><br />More Isle of Wight material as well. <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/toplists/Isle_of_Wight/Hotels_and_B_B_s_on_the_Isle_of_Wight/290/?style=clean">Isle of Wight hotels</a>, <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/article/2280/What_to_do_Arts_Culture_Galleries_Dimbola_Lodge.html">art gallery Dimbola Lodge</a>, and <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/article/2281/Where_to_shop_Boutique_Designer_Chocolate_Island.html">chocolate shop Chocolate Island</a>.<br /><br />New product reviews: <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/article/2277/Product_Reviews_Varta_Sports_Head_Light.html">review of Varta sports headlight</a>, <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/article/2276/Product_Reviews_Flylite_Foldaway_bags.html">review of Flylite foldaway bags</a>, <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/article/2269/Product_Reviews_Touchnote_Mobile_Postcards.html">review of Touchnote mobile postcards</a>. The rest of our <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/readabout/Product_Reviews/">travel electronics, luggage, camping, books and technology reviews</a> can be found here.<br /><br />Also, don't miss our reviews of the <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/article/2270/What_to_do_The_great_outdoors_Beaches_The_Best_Beaches_of_South_Devon.html">Best Beaches in South Devon</a>.<br /><br />That's all for this week. Peace everyone.Kevin Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14728741017965926512noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21867273.post-34556817081840386912009-05-22T17:07:00.003+01:002009-05-29T17:46:15.897+01:00Travel & Technology Roundup - Week 21, 2009Here's my round up of this week's cool articles in the travel, internet and gadget space:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSTRE54J68D20090521?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0">Yahoo is back on the acquisition trail</a>. It's a good time to be buying, and social media is where they're focusing their money.<br /><br />Google's Eric Schmidt discusses with the FT the <a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/73bc2fe4-45b4-11de-b6c8-00144feabdc0.html">future of newspapers</a>.<br /><br />On Gadling, a nice historical piece on Waterloo, NY, the <a href="http://www.gadling.com/2009/05/22/birthplace-of-memorial-day-offers-festival-and-small-town-charm/">birthplace of Memorial Day</a>.<br /><br />On MatadorPulse, nomadic Matt writes an ebook about <a href="http://matadorpulse.com/nomadic-matt-releases-travel-ebook-about-seo-and-monetizing-blogs/">SEO and monetising blogs</a>. Monetising blogs? Are people still talking about that?<br /><br />WorldHum laments the <a href="http://www.worldhum.com/features/travel-stories/an-aerogram-from-berlin-20090401/">demise of the aerogram</a>. Me too. *sigh*<br /><br />Latest on TheTravelEditor.com:<br />We've got a new Cruise Guide, with <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/readabout/Cruising/">cruise reviews, information and tips</a>, with some great new writers, including long-time cruise veteran, David Wishart.<br /><br />A lovely mini guide to the Isle of Wight written by Jenny Green and Simon Heptinstall. Lots of great <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/destinations/Isle+of+Wight/">Isle of Wight pub and hotel reviews</a> as well as stuff for families.<br /><br />Another lovely mini guide to England's Lake District. Some great <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/toplists/general/Visit_the_Lake_District/284/">Lake District hotel and restaurant reviews</a> on offer here.<br /><br />We're adding more <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/readabout/spas/">spa reviews</a> to our Spa Guide, including the lovely <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/article/2216/What_to_do_Lifestyle_Spa_Ice_Spa_at_the_Sheraton_Hotel_Anchorage.html">Ice Spa at the Sheraton in Anchorage, Alaska</a>.<br /><br />We've reached over 4,000 followers on Twitter! Follow us here on <a href="http://twitter.com/thetraveleditor">http://twitter.com/thetraveleditor</a><br /><br /><br />That's all for this week. Peace everyone.Kevin Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14728741017965926512noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21867273.post-31996127657168836512009-05-15T17:00:00.002+01:002009-05-15T17:15:18.813+01:00Round up Week 20, 2009Here's my round up of cool articles in the travel, internet and gadget space:<br /><br /><a href="http://venturebeat.com/2009/05/15/technoratis-attention-index-shows-influence-of-the-new-york-times/">Youtube is more influential than the New York Times</a>, according to Technorati.<br /><br />Like super spicy food? Alison Stein Wellner at WorldHum explores middle America, in the 5th and final instalment of her search for <a href="http://www.worldhum.com/features/travel-stories/the-heat-seeker-into-the-heartland-20090501/">the spiciest food in the world</a>.<br /><br />How to <a href="http://www.worldhum.com/features/how-to/how-to-prevent-a-monkey-attack-20081219/">avoid being attacked by your simian cousin</a>. Hilarious, also from WorldHum.<br /><br />TheTravelEditor launches its <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/readabout/Product_Reviews/">travel gadget reviews</a> section. Brilliant stuff. We've got our very own Kitmaster doing all the reviews. If you have a product you want tested, get in touch with me kevin at thetraveleditor dot com.<br /><br />Also new at TheTravelEditor, mini-guides to <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/toplists/general/Visit_Malta/243/">Malta</a>, <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/toplists/general/Visit_Rio_de_Janeiro/264/">Rio</a>, <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/toplists/general/Visit_Jersey/246/">Jersey</a>, and more.<br /><br />Looking for a <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/toplists/Marrakesh/Great_Marrakesh_Hotels/116/?style=clean">Marrakesh hotel</a>? Look no further. We've just published a load of new riads and guesthouses.<br /><br /><a href="http://matadorlife.com/?p=629">10 Tatoo Cliches to Avoid at All Costs</a>, courtesy of Matador Pulse.<br /><br />That's all for this week. Peace.<br /><br />KevinKevin Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14728741017965926512noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21867273.post-69734567246200887402008-07-10T16:25:00.007+01:002008-07-10T16:44:45.099+01:00Mobile and travel - my new business<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It's been a very long time since I wrote here, and much has changed with me.<br /><br />I no longer work for a hardware manufacturer flogging transport and mobile backhaul products.<br /><br />I have an internet startup - <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com">www.thetraveleditor.com</a><br /><br />It's an <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com">online travel guide</a>, targeted at the busy professional who is discerning and demands more from travel. <br /><br />We use professional <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/authors/">travel writers</a> and also travel bloggers to give real expert opinions of hotels, restaurants, bars and attractions. Our audience is middle to upper tier in their taste. Our writers can promote themselves to the community and interact directly with their readership. Each writer's personality is important, and indeed the diversity of our writers adds to the richness of the site. <br /><br />Our audience is educated individuals, with higher disposable income who appreciate authoritative advice and enjoy the cultural/enriching aspects of travel. They are typically time-starved due to the demands of their work and social life. Accordingly, the articles on TheTravelEditor.com are short, personal and to the point. <br /><br />We're starting to introduce themed pieces as well - food and drink, yoga retreats, spas, rail journeys, road trips. We also do <a href="http://www.thetraveleditor.com/toplists.php">Top 10s</a>, longer feature pieces and other round ups which add a magazine-y feel to the trip planning content. These are great fun and our writers like to produce these.<br /><br />So what's this got to do with mobile? Well, read on.<br /><br />Surprisingly, there is a massive gap in the market for mobile and portable travel content. Don't believe me? Go to Expedia and try to find some. <br /> <br />There is some stuff out there: MP3 walking tours to download to your iPod for example are starting to pop up. <br /><br />But no one has really exploited the opportunity presented by the fact we all carry smartphones and iPods, the mobile networks are broadband and WiFi is everywhere.<br /><br />This is a wide open area, especially for travellers. How many times have you walked out of your hotel, and despite what you may have read in the guidebook, you still ask your wife "Where shall we go for dinner?" I do that all the time. This is merely one example of a specific customer problem which could be solved by a mobile solution.<br /><br />We at TheTravelEditor.com see this as a huge opportunity and are investing our resources in this area. I shall use this blog to update you on our progress and also other mobile developments as they relate to travel.<br /><br />It's good to be back.</span>Kevin Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14728741017965926512noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21867273.post-49170628900723405132007-06-13T09:05:00.000+01:002007-07-16T11:56:07.607+01:00Telco 2.0 Mashups - an alternative to IMS?<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">There’s a fascinating debate currently around how mobile and fixed operators should develop new revenue-generating services. The now traditional view centers around IMS and SIP. But some are now saying that instead operators will have to adapt to the Web 2.0 world, using the concept of "mashups" to quickly create new Web-based services. A recent report from Light Reading delves deep into this idea: <a href="http://www.lightreading.com/servsoftware/document.asp?doc_id=125310" target="new"><b>Telco Web 2.0 Mashups: A New Blueprint for Service Creation</b></a>.</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br />Basically, the argument goes something like this:<br /><br />Should mobile and fixed telcos:<br /><br />1. Continue on their path of trying to become media and content companies or<br />2. Move toward a ‘network abstraction’ model where they back away from providing content directly and instead provide APIs which are valuable to 3rd parties (e.g. location API, identity API, micropayments…..).<br /><br />To be successful at (1) you need economies of scale. You’ve got enormous burdens of content licensing, content management and delivery technology, market research costs, software development, etc. If you want to put this all in IMS, then you’ve got that burden as well. Then add to it the network-level table stakes – cell sites, FTTx, transmission and routing capacity. Only companies like Voda, Orange, ATT et al have a chance of making this model work. But this model clearly implies (in my mind at least) a mass market approach – again, economies of scale are critical. Anyway, telcos by nature are mass market beasts. Operators that don’t successfully insert themselves in the value chain, probably by wielding their sheer mass alone, will be disintermediated. They’ll be forcibly transformed into a utility as their data/internet-hungry customers churn away.<br /><br />Model (2) requires a bit of enlightened self-interest. Operator realizes that they could not succeed at (1), but rather than be relegated to utility or pipe status they create a position in the value chain for themselves. What can an operator offer Google, MySpace and every dinky web developer out there? Info about the customer that only they have access to – location and identity pop into my head but there could be more. This model reaches the long tail as well and encourages web companies to come to the operator rather than the other way around which is how it is today. This space is wide open at this point in time.<br /><br />My thoughts on the matter….. I think operators who use IMS to go head to head with web and media companies will lose. The only exception to this could be Voda, Orange, ATT and the like. Due to their sheer size they could entrench themselves in the value chain and refuse to budge. But model (2) is still a long way away. So, in the short/medium term operators should stick with what they are good at - mass market services. During this period they should continue to drive costs out of their businesses which will give them longevity. Also during this period they should work with web companies to develop the tools needed to make model (2) work. I don’t have an opinion on standards based vs proprietary at this point. A well-respected colleague of mine has a more stony view on the situation - he believes that this trend will accelerate telecom operators’ transformation into utilities – no matter how much they fancy themselves to be “content providers”.</span>Kevin Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14728741017965926512noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21867273.post-19406340171631728782007-04-17T12:29:00.000+01:002007-04-17T12:36:50.077+01:00Forum Oxford - Future Technologies Conference<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Forum Oxford's <a href="http://www.conted.ox.ac.uk/cpd/electronics/courses/future_technologies.asp"target="_new">Future Technologies Conference</a> was last Friday 13th April. Unfortunately I wasn't able to attend as I was finishing up a presentation for this year's TNMO in Budapest where I'm speaking.<br /><br />Focusing on next gen mobile applications, business models and industry issues in general, <a href="http://www.forumoxford.com/"target="_new">Forum Oxford</a> is an online 'discussion forum' that has over 1000 members from something like 70 countries. It's free to join and lots of very smart people are members. Check it out.</span></span>Kevin Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14728741017965926512noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21867273.post-26076132490599509752007-03-29T15:45:00.000+01:002007-04-02T17:25:00.844+01:00"Femto-nomics"<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Apologies for the radio silence....it is very easy to fall out of the habit of writing.<br /><br />Let's talk about Femtocells. These small, low-cost indoor base stations promise substantial cost savings and new service opportunities and are generating intense interest from operators.<br /><br />The main benefits of Femtocells are:<br />1. Fixed-Mobile Convergence (FMC): 3G femtocells enable MNOs to offer relatively inexpensive, high quality voice for users when they are at home. Also helps to maintain the "mobile premium" when subs are out and about.<br />2. Bundles and group subscriptions: to attract all household members to the network.<br />3. Compete effectively with WLAN/UMA: without the need for dual mode handsets.<br />4. Cheaper to deploy and manage than macrocells.<br /><br />Some analysts predict that 3G femtocells have far-reaching consequences for the industry. Operators need to improve in-building coverage significantly, and 3G femtocells offer a practical, and potentially much less expensive, alternative to further investment in 3G macrocell networks. They believe that femtocells<span style="font-style: italic;"> in sufficient densities</span> could even make macrocell investment redundant. Note I said <span style="font-style: italic;">in sufficient densities.<br /><br /></span><a href="http://www.analysys.com/">Analysys Research</a> claims that "Mobile operators could benefit significantly - particularly if they have a small number of customers. A typical small operator could save an average of about USD45 per customer per year by deploying 3G femtocells in 60% of customer households by 2012."<br /><br />That's equivalent to adding around 10% to ARPU. Sounds pretty compelling. Let's buy a bunch.<br /><br />Not so fast....They then go on to say that operators could end up shooting themselves in the foot: "Mobile operators that fail to adopt a large-scale approach may find themselves expending great effort on integrating a large number of 3G femtocells without avoiding significant macrocell investment, if most of their customers do not take up femtocells. 3G femtocell deployment to 20% of households by 2012 would only save about USD20 per customer per year, because significant numbers of macrocells would still be needed."<br /><br />Sounds like an 'all or nothin' ' situation. No doubt operators will have to subsidize the Femtocells, quite likely footing 100% of the bill. At only USD45 per person savings in the best case, Femtocells won't make sense unless the sub signs up for some bundle or a family subscription. It will help the business case even further if the MNO is also the broadband provider. However, even with all these potential revenue sources, it still seems to me that the operator will have to more or less blanket a region for Femtocells to make economic sense.<br /><br />Thoughts and comments welcome.<br /></span></span>Kevin Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14728741017965926512noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21867273.post-56238409528603971762007-01-16T10:42:00.000+00:002007-01-16T12:42:34.063+00:003 scraps roaming fees - Viv must be ecstatic<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">'3' <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6263699.stm">announced today</a> that they're scrapping roaming fees in the 8 countries where they operate 3G networks - Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Austria, Hong Kong, Australia, UK and Ireland. Called '3 Like Home' there are no one-off fees, no connection fees, no incoming call termination fees, nothing. Voice minutes and messages come out of your bundle. And presumably, if you're on X-Series, then your data usage is free.<br /><br />What a great development - I applaude the guys at '3' for really taking the lead. They took the wrecking ball to the walled garden with X-Series and now they're doing the same with roaming fees. Vivien Reding of the European Commission must be very happy indeed.<br /><br />I have long ranted about how the mobile industry suppresses the mobile internet and finds any outside (3rd party) innovation incredibly suspicious and even dangerous. Even '3' was like this for the longest time - they were one of the strongest advocates of the walled garden and a restricted mobile experience.<br /><br />No other operator has moved in response to X-Series. </span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">And now '3' has upped the ante again. </span></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />Vodafone, T-Mobile and O2 all cut their roaming fees last summer presumably to delay any meddling by the EC. I guess at the time they were even seen as being 'leaders' - certainly relatively speaking since roaming fees were so extortionate to begin with. But now '3' has one-upped them on roaming as well as data.<br /><br />I can't wait to see what's going to happen next.<br /></span></span>Kevin Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14728741017965926512noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21867273.post-51829885297074134532006-12-12T20:21:00.000+00:002006-12-12T20:25:19.550+00:00I'm speaking at the Light Reading Backhaul Strategies conference<span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">I'm part of the morning panel session talking about low cost IP migration options for mobile backhaul. And I have a speaking slot in the afternoon where I'll talk about 3GPP Rel. 5 transmission issues and how Ethernet can solve them. <a href="http://www.lightreading.com/live/event_information.asp?survey_id=269"target="_new">Here's the event URL.</a><br /><br />If you're near the Langham Hotel, then give me a ring or SMS and we can meet for a drink after!<br /><br /></span></span>Kevin Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14728741017965926512noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21867273.post-85281298303858191102006-12-11T10:41:00.000+00:002006-12-11T11:07:49.870+00:00Penetration rates of 250%? Why not?<span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">In my <a href="http://mobcomment.blogspot.com/2006/10/skewed-penetration-but-straightforward.html"target="_new">last post</a>, I suggested that multi-mobile subscription bundles, or 'second subscription' as it's becoming known as, could be a lucrative strategy for mobile operators. They lock in the customer and encourage usage through attractive pricing and by getting another phone in their hands.<br /><br />Until now, I haven't heard of any mobile operators actively addressing this opportunity. But at a recent conference in London, Sunrise (TDC Switzerland) claimed that they are going to actively target the multi-subsription market. As far as I know Sunrise are the first to have a formal strategy for this - anyone out there know of any others?<br /><br />Sunrise also offers residential broadband, so they can easily create a multi-SIM + broadband package which as I mentioned before would lock in customers pretty tightly. I would love to see the take-up and new churn rates so I hope they can pull it off.<br /><br />Now, regarding handsets. Multi-SIM handsets don't exist, but if multi-subscription takes off, then there will be a market for them. But not everyone will want a single device - some people, myself included, <span style="font-style: italic;">like to have separate phones</span>. People already have 1-2 mobiles, iPod, digital camera, laptop, Blackberry, etc.... As <a href="http://disruptivewireless.blogspot.com/"target="_new">Dean Bubley</a> recently blogged, "I see people having a selection of devices they could use at any time, and selecting the most appropriate depending on whether they are going out for work/play, have access to power sockets, how many pockets they have in that day's clothes, what applications they think they'll need etc."<br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Functionality and style have to be relevant to where/when I will have my device and they must be balanced by practical aspects as form factor. </span></span><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">I think multi-subscription bundles could create a whole new market for products that are 'context specific.'<br /><br />The iPhone could be the first.....<br /></span></span>Kevin Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14728741017965926512noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21867273.post-1161009009488949132006-10-16T14:33:00.000+01:002006-10-18T07:49:55.020+01:00Skewed penetration but straightforward strategy<span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">There’s a lot of debate as to how one adjusts mobile penetration rates to properly size the actual market opportunity. But it’s not just about getting phones in the hands of the phone-less. It’s also about converting single SIM subs to dual, dual SIM subs to triple, etc. I have a gut feeling that expanding multi-SIM penetration (do I hear penetration rates of 250%?) could be a real growth area. But I’m not sure operators are actually addressing that particular opportunity.<br /><br />I saw a Vodafone presentation recently that showed that in the UK, Germany and Spain, consumer subs had an average 1.19 SIMs each and business subs had an amazing 1.55 SIMs each on average. In fact, 12% of the business subs had 3 or more active SIMs. The consolidated figure, for consumer and business subs, was 1.22 SIMs per sub. With that knowledge, it's pretty simple math to work out the actual phone-less population.<br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1682/2216/1600/penetration.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1682/2216/320/penetration.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Who are these phone-less people? My gran for one. My 2 year old for another. In other words, people who, if they <span style="font-weight: bold;">did </span>sign up for a mobile, would have such low ARPU that they'd be cost prohibitive to keep on the books.<br /><br />So, mobile operators trying to build mobile market share have 2 options: Fight tooth and nail for churners - a pretty tough and expensive fight and does nothing to improve customer loyalty. Or they could target the multi-SIM market and build market share by increasing SIM penetration. I think multi-SIM presents a lucrative opportunity for some creative bundling. Particularly now that mobile operators are jumping into fixed line services.<br /><br />I'm a multi-SIM guy and like me I think most multi-SIM folks are also multi-operator. So an interesting strategy could be for the operator to be the supplier for all my mobile comms needs: business 1, business 2, personal 1, etc....you get the picture. They’d be increasing the total comms market by getting more SIMs in more peoples’ hands which should lead to increased usage, but more importantly they’re locking me in by bundling multiple accounts at a good price. Mobile number portability is still a pretty painful process, and that’s just when I want to move a single number. If I had to move 2 numbers, I’d probably think twice before going there.<br /><br />Add to the bundle my home broadband service and my switching costs suddenly skyrocket. I'm pretty much hooked in for life.</span></span>Kevin Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14728741017965926512noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21867273.post-1157638227118224882006-09-07T14:29:00.000+01:002006-12-11T11:08:27.144+00:00Mobile premium is 4x<span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">I like Sprint. They're always doing stuff which give me things to talk about.<br /><br />Take their announcement about offering Novatel's Merlin S720 EVDO Rev A data card. This is a nice little device offering up to 850kbps today (presumably over vanilla EVDO) and up to 3.1Mbps when Sprint's Rev A network is switched on.<br /><br />The interesting bit is that they've valued the mobility premium, which I've <a href="http://mobcomment.blogspot.com/2006/02/mobile-broadband-at-dsl-prices-maybe.html"target="_new">blogged about before</a>. For $80/mth for 12 mos. you can get unlimited data usage. Comparing apples to apples here, a similar broadband DSL service would cost under $20 per month. And this is without any bundles. So let's say the mobility premium is 4x to keep the math simple.<br /><br />Is mobility worth it? Well, clearly this card and tariff is an enterprise offering so a mobility premium of 4X doesn't seem unreasonable. But why doesn't the blasted card support WiFi??? Without WiFi, I think it's completely useless. </span></span><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></span><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> </span></span>Kevin Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14728741017965926512noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21867273.post-1155648703332919692006-08-15T13:12:00.000+01:002006-10-01T09:45:07.846+01:00Sprint's $3bn 4G gamble<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">I blogged about this <a href="http://mobcomment.blogspot.com/2006/04/sprint-to-offer-evdowifi-router.html"target="_new">before</a> but back then the details were sketchy.<br /><br />Sprint <a href="http://networks.silicon.com/mobile/0,39024665,39161289,00.htm"target="_new">said</a> on Tuesday it is partnering with Intel, Motorola and Samsung Electronics to build a nationwide mobile WIMAX (802.16e-2005) network and develop devices that will access it. They plan to spend $3bn<span style="font-weight: bold;"> over the next 2 years</span>, with a launch at the end of 2007. About 100m people will have access to the network by the end of 2008.<br /><br />Gary Forsee, Sprint's chief executive officer, said the jump to 4G is not a replacement for Sprint's 3G network but will help the company develop a new market for advanced wireless services. Forsee said Sprint envisions a future when a whole slew of new devices - such as music players, video recorders and portable, low-cost PCs - will attach to the wireless network to allow consumers and business users to access content instantaneously over the mobile internet.<br /><br />Of course he has to say that - his shareholders would crucify him if he admitted that CDMA is a dead-end and any EV-DO investment (upgrade to Rev. A happening this year) was like throwing money down the toilet. Am I being too cynical? Perhaps not. Ditching CDMA has become <span style="font-style: italic;">du jour</span> of late with <a href="http://www.telegeography.com/cu/article.php?article_id=12389&email=html"target="_new">Telstra</a> being one of the most famous examples. Plus the economics of the situation seem to make WIMAX more attractive than continued CDMA investment. For example:<br /><ol><li>WIMAX can transmit over greater distances and in a wider spectrum band so the cost of operating will be less than CDMA.</li><li>WIMAX chipsets are 1/10th the cost of chips used in EV-DO devices. Sprint's strategy seems to be all about devices, devices, devices. WIMAX is a global standard meaning massive economies of scale for terminals.<br /></li><li>Sprint already owns a large portion of the 2.5GHz WIMAX spectrum in the US.</li></ol>CEO Forsee even admits as much: "The cost performance on the 4G business model and the throughput gains, plus the cost of putting these chips into cameras, gaming devices and other consumer electronics, is what makes it different from EV-DO Revision A."<br /><br />It just seems strange that their 4G timescales are so aggressive. Why not wait a bit longer and get a better return on EV-DO investment?</span></span>Kevin Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14728741017965926512noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21867273.post-1151935473730076172006-07-03T14:41:00.000+01:002006-07-25T19:26:17.733+01:00Will Mobile TV succeed?<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">There were 2 interesting reports issued last week by Jupiter and Analysys, both questioning the revenue opportunity of mobile content, and in particular mobile TV.<br /><br />Jupiter warned that the majority of European subs are unwilling to pay for content and services beyond basic messaging.<br /><br />Analysys gave similar evidence saying that subs would be unwilling to spend very much on mobile TV.<br /><br />Mobile TV has been a hot topic for a few months now with everyone and their dog offering their opinion on technology, business models, who owns the value chain, etc etc etc. The jury is still out on how successful it will be and the only thing that is clear is that there are vastly different and contradicting opinions.<br /><br />Mobile operators and Nokia say it will be a killer app. Others say that TV on the mobile will be niche at best and a money pit at worst.<br /><br />Boil it all down and the real conundrum, and probably what will make or break mobile TV, is good old fashioned ROI.<br /><br />DVB-H is supported by the mobile industry. But it requires significant investment in infrastructure, content delivery and billing systems, content acquisition, etc. And then there are handset subsidies to consider. Spectrum is also limited until 2010 in most markets.<br /><br />DMB is supported by the broadcasting industry because they own DAB spectrum and DMB is very DAB-like. Low infrastructure investment is required. DMB might disintermediate the mobile operators because you don't need a mobile phone to get DMB service. But for market penetration, DMB-enabled mobile phones are required which operators won't subsidize since they're not in the driver's seat in the value chain.<br /><br />So.....where does this leave us??<br /><br />If subs don't want to pay for mobile TV, then mobile operators won't want to invest in the infrastucture. Similarly, broadcasters may be reluctant to invest because they won't have the handsets to get critical mass. Arguably</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">, broadcasters could still make money on lower tariffs (since their up front investment is lower) but they need volume.<br /><br />Vendors aren't helping matters since they're lining up behind different standards (DVB-H vs DMB being the main battle).<br /><br />I find it hard to see how mobile TV will succeed unless everyone holds hands and sings kum-ba-ya. A little bit of a large pie is much better than a big bit of a small or nonexistent pie. Economies of scale and willingness to fairly share the value are vital. Unfortunately, the mobile industry is not known for its fondness of ecosystems where they don't make the most money.....<br /></span></span>Kevin Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14728741017965926512noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21867273.post-1150365350664055252006-06-15T10:45:00.000+01:002006-06-15T10:55:50.676+01:00GSMA-onomics.......<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The EC's latest proposal to regulate mobile roaming services by equalising retail prices across the EU will distort a very competitive market, the GSM Association (GSMA) said in a statement today. Here's an </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.telecoms.com/itmgcontent/tcoms/search/articles/20017343095.html" target="_new">article</a><span style="font-family: arial;">.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">According to the GSMA "the Commission plans to impose an arbitrary retail price cap across Europe, ignoring the fundamental geographic, demographic, regulatory and commercial differences between the 25 countries of the European Union."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">The GSMA further argues that "the imposition of such a price cap" will reduce competition and innovation among European mobile operators, damaging the industry.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">I totally agree with the market distortion points that the GSMA makes. But the fatal flaw in their argument is this notion of a "competitive market." </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Yes, competition is fierce within national boundaries. But not across borders.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">International roaming can only be described as a cartel.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">The spirit of Viviane Reding's proposal is good - she's trying to break the cartel. And only after years of unsuccessful attempts at getting the industry to reduce roaming fees on its own. She really isn't an interventionist.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">But, yes, her price cap plan is the wrong way to go about it. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Maybe the threat of intervention is all that is required - look at what Voda, Orange and TMobile did to their roaming rates after Viv's announcement.</span><br /><br /></span>Kevin Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14728741017965926512noreply@blogger.com0