Net Wars - Attack of the Drones

At the recent Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg urged operators to offer unlimited, low-cost service bundles, in which free versions of Facebook, Whatsapp, Google, Skype and other popular sites are treated like "utilities." Experience in the Philippines and Paraguay, he said, prove that the net benefit - typically in broader penetration, more subscribers, and increased daily use - justifies the expense of building out a network and offering free and bundled services. This assertion received a polite but muted response from an audience that is all too aware of the capital and operating costs of rolling out more, bigger, and better networks. Less than a month after the MWC, Zuckerberg (as the figurehead and public face of Internet.org) reiterated his intention to deliver last-mile Internet services with solar-powered drones, satellites, and lasers. Though light on details, the idea has generated a fair amount of buzz and only a few critical comments about how developing countries may not be excited about a fleet of US-company-supported drones circling their airspace. Even fewer consider the implications of Facebook's drones (or Google's balloons) bypassing network operators completely, and putting the keys to Internet access firmly in the hands of advertising giants.

The Day of Global Internet Coverage is coming, though no one knows the date. It's notable that the advertising, e-commerce, and mobile phone crowd is making the most noise about it. And why shouldn't they? They have a lot to gain from Bushmen friending Sherpas. Someone will find a workable model for extending Internet connectivity to every corner of the globe, by working with network operators to reduce their CAPEX and OPEX exposure (e.g., through leasing models, sponsored access, compressed bandwidth technologies, PAYGI or PAYGS plans), or by floating drones and balloons, or with a combination of these and other ideas. 

No single company will achieve the goal of global coverage. Internet.org, with the footprint, depth of experience, and vast assets of all the partners (Facebook, Qualcomm, Ericsson, Samsung, and others) could move it along significantly. But all those assets still need to be marshalled under a clear and detailed strategy, as surely as solar-powered drones need the sun.

Emerging-market Social Networks Defend Their Turf

Social networks have been dominating technology industry headlines in recent weeks.  LinkedIn's red-hot initial public offering in May intensified speculation as to when Facebook (which recently hit 750 million users) will go public and allow a closer look at its finances. New entrants are stirring up the space as well. The strong start for Google+ indicates that while Facebook is the unquestioned market leader, there is plenty of room for innovation.

While Facebook is being challenged in its home market, it is also facing stiff competition in a number of important emerging markets, such as China (Tencent) and Russia (V Kontakte and Odnoklassniki). In some cases, cultural and political factors can influence the success of social networks. The Iranian government's limiting of access to Google's Orkut and censorship efforts against Twitter and Facebook have allowed local networks, such as Cloob, to spring up and fill the market opportunity.  Yet in other countries, the need for competitive advantage and the hunt for elusive profitability have led to innovations that keep consumers loyal to local brands. China's Tencent QQ instant messaging service allows users to buy "Q coins" at 1 Q coin per RMB, which allow users to buy virtual goods including items for games or accessories for a user's avatar.  This is similar to the Facebook Credits payment system. As Tencent's earnings show, catering to the Chinese consumer culture of playing games and charging them for virtual goods has led to a huge payoff. By facilitating the purchase of digital goods, these networks can spark an entire industry of games and applications that bring in additional revenue.  

Multinational firms doing business in these markets can benefit by paying attention to trends in the social networking space, given the sector's status as a bellwether for consumer technology tastes and preferences. Capitalizing on these trends requires paying attention to social and political factors, finding a way to capture revenue from innovative revenue models and building software with local device capabilities in mind (many emerging-market consumers access social networking sites through their mobile devices, for example). By engaging social network users, firms can not only gain an in-depth understanding of their client's tastes and preferences, they can add potentially lucrative new sales and marketing channels as well. 

World cup fever - technology lending a hand

 by Karen Coppock
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Much of the world is focused on South Africa and the 2010 World Cup and technology is playing a significant role in enabling fans to get their soccer fix. For example:

• Solar power is being used to enable live, large-screen television broadcasts of the World Cup in Kibera (a large slum in Kenya) and Jericho (a town in South Africa). The sponsor of this program - Solafrica - notes that its objective is to educate the local residents on the benefits of solar power - I imagine the 1,300 or so people that watch these broadcasts every day are fully convinced of the benefits and are thrilled to participate in the global soccer frenzy.

• Twitter is hosting a comprehensive World Cup conversation including tweets from the World Cup organizer, FIFA. Even soccer stars such as Ronaldo in Brazil are sending motivational tweets to his peers in South Africa.There are almost more than 71,000 are fans of the Facebook World Cup 2010 page.

• Mobile phone users can stream live video of the games from ESPN3 and for those with strong ears (or patient friends), there are the Vuvuzela applications - Vuvuzela 2010 claims to be the #1 free iPhone application downloaded in Argentina, Austria, Brazil, France, Germany, Greece, Portugal, Italy, Netherlands, UK and South Africa.

Soccer fans crave information and love to debate the  virtue (or shortfalls) of the games, players and teams....developers of mHealth, mEducation and mGovernment services could likely learn from the diverse ways the soccer community has engaged with technology and how to best reach diverse populations and market segments.