Category: marketing

Joe Wilcox at the Microsoft Monitor has some solid insight and thought into Redmonds latest attempt to bundle game development tools for both XBox and Windows.

…I see inherent conflict between Microsoft the platform provider and Microsoft the applications developer. I would apply the same thinking to Microsoft the multiple platform provider. Microsoft must be careful about what design decisions its developers make with respect to Windows and Xbox gaming. The risk is using one platform to build sales for the other, and visa versa, which, like an addictive drug, delivers an initial high but later compromising dependence. [Microsoft Monitor]

Glenn posts some more detail on T-Mobile today and it seems their cost structure could be much lower than previously thought. As a carrier they get apparently get a very sweet deal on T-1 lines…

In his post, he notes that even when he was at Wayport, his average T-1 cost was $250 per month, and that T-Mobile could be paying as little as $90 per month in many locations in which they have co-located equipment to carry their cell traffic.

Combine that knowledge with Carlo Longino’s analysis of our post yesterday about T-Mobile’s revenue averaging to $400 per location per month, and you start to see that they could, in fact, be running far cash-flow positive. (Carlo wonders if the infrastructure is all T-1 still; that’s what T-Mobile confirmed for me all last year for Kinko’s, Borders, and all Starbucks past and future.)

Carlo notes, by the way, that T-Mobile said 67 percent of users are subscribers. This doesn’t give us apples to apples on sessions, but if you ascribe $1.2 million to 48,000 subscribers at an average rate of $25/month ($20 for T-Mobile cell users, $30 for one-year commitment regular users, $40 for month-to-month) that would leave you about 25,000 hourly/day sessions a month. Is it really possible T-Mobile has 48,000 subscribers?

Even if T-Mobile is paying prices all across the board, Jim’s information leads me to believe that their recurring costs might be substantially lower than anyone has previously estimated. Carlo’s factoid contributes the knowledge, if it’s all connected correctly, that the cell carrier might be signing up many more regular users of Wi-Fi service than previously imagined. [Wi-Fi Networking News]

Thinking again about how crowded the Starbucks I’ve been visiting are, it seems like T-Mobile is doing just fine.

Speaking at recent online marketing conference hosted at Microsoft…

…Microsoft also unveiled a study on the effectiveness of online advertising. The company is using the study as the basis for an argument that companies spending about 1 percent of their advertising budget online should consider increasing that to 4 percent or 5 percent because people are spending more time online.

Ballmer said Microsoft spends about 12 percent of its media budget on online advertising, and that he orders his staff to “saturate” that market first and foremost.

“I want to make sure (a user) can’t get through … an online experience without hitting a Microsoft ad,” he said. [InformationWeek]

Where do you want to click-through today?

Perhaps the use of Cable or DSL would have been a better investment for connectivity…

From my experience here in NYC, the Starbucks are hopping in the am and in the afternoon. I’ve found it impossible to even find a seat and noticed that there are many laptops open – I assume connected, though of course people might just be playing solitaire.

Enck noted, however, that with 4,200 locations by year’s end, $1.6M works out to $13 per hotspot per day on average. This is slightly higher per store revenue than estimated a year ago when Starbucks slipped the news that they were averaging 25,000 sessions per week. At that time, I was estimating an average of $150 of gross revenue per Starbucks locations per month. The more current numbers are triple that.

But with roughly $400 per month per store, how does T-Mobile ever expect to even pay on a current basis for the cost of each store’s dedicated T-1 line, much less other ongoing costs, and the original capital expenditure? They would need to at least quadruple this revenue figure to pay out CapX and current operational costs.[Wi-Fi Networking News: T-Mobile Says $1.4M Per Month Revenue in 2003]

Good and thought provoking material…

Mike Smock and Curt Sahakian now offer the Guru Red Manifesto online, proposing a 52-point plan to improve organizational agility, assertiveness, cohesiveness, and subtlety. [Fast Company Now]

Microsoft’s MSDN Blogs site, here, is a treasure-trove of useful information, particularly for developers or IT decision makers. [Microsoft Monitor]

Microsoft is bidding adieu to its bCentral site of small business services and resurrecting it as the Microsoft Small Business Center Website. A transition is underway now, leading up to official closure of bCentral in early summer and complete migration of services and content over to the Small Business Center.

The move is an ambitious undertaking and part of Microsoft’s ambitious $2 billion investment in the small- and medium-business market. My report, “Investing $2 Billion on 45 Million: Microsoft Sales Assault Targets SMBs,” explores where the broader investment makes sense or comes up short.

Sometimes, subtle changes are significant. The new small-biz Web property will be hosted on a microsoft.com domain; right now services come from bcentral.com. Jupiter Research surveys show that SMBs increasingly want to buy technology direct from the vendor rather than go through resellers or other third parties. The trend is more pronounced among the smallest SMBs. An operation coming off microsoft.com takes advantage of Microsoft’s brand equity and offers a more direct-like relationship. [Microsoft Monitor: Bye Bye bCentral, Hello SBC]

This is a great read… extremely motivating!

Keith Ferrazzi enters your life like a circus coming to town — the two ringing cell phones, the two PalmPilots, the multiple conversations in which he seems to be listening and talking simultaneously. The way he walks and looks, all tanned and fit, with the styled hair and custom suit and black Prada shoes. The deals that are hanging in the air, the favors being extended or secured, the sideshows, the laughter, the juggling. That irresistible balloon of energy. [Inc.com]

Broadband Reports says rumors are circulating that Microsoft could buy AOL. The New York Post claims Time Warner execs have met privately with Microsoft about a possible purchase of the black-sheep of the Time Warner family. Time Warner lawyers are also analyzing any possible antitrust violations such a merger would cause, the Post claims. A Microsoft investment in Time Warner Cable is also being considered, the paper says.

A deal might combine AOL’s 24 million subscribers with the 9 million at Microsoft’s MSN.

What’s their broadband strategy? How about licensed broadband wireless – from Nextel or Sprint. [Daily Wireless]

This looks sweet – I did a search for free wifi in my neighborhood.

Today, Google officially launched Google Local, a search feature designed to make local searches easier. Users can type in a search term followed by a city name or go to local.google.com and perform the search there. Last week, Yahoo launched a local search feature through its Yahoo Maps application, allowing users to drill down locally to restaurants and other local destinations. While not available right now, Google has plans to offer local advertising on the new service. CNET reports. [MarketingWonk]

Not to be left behind Google, Yahoo announced its new News Search product. The new version of Yahoo News will pull from 7,500 sources around the web but also incorporate the current Yahoo News articles. Search Engine Journal reports. [MarketingWonk]