Continuing its aggressive broadband push, Verizon Wireless on Monday announced key expansions into several markets along with a 25 percent cut to its monthly subscription fee. The wireless carrier, owned by Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group PLC, dropped the price of its evolution-data optimized, EV-DO, monthly service fee from $79.99 to $59.99. At that price point, according to JupiterResearch analyst Joseph Laszlo, wireless service becomes a legitimate alternative to DSL and cable modem, as well as Wi-Fi services. "At these prices, wired broadband services and Wi-Fi now have some real competition," Laszlo said. "Just like people now forgo regular phone service for their cell phones, wireless Internet services will become a more attractive alternative." EV-DO is deployed over cell phone networks, but is generally reserved for cards that plug into laptops for wireless Web access. It is not to be confused with wireless fidelity, or Wi-Fi, which offers high-speed service, but is restricted to shorter ranges. While Wi-Fi radiates a signal from a fixed transmitter that reaches about 350 feet indoors, EV-DO users can get service anywhere a cell phone signal is available. Verizon Wireless already offers the EV-DO service in 53 U.S. markets and 57 airports. The seven new markets that were added today include Denver; Charlotte, N.C.; Sacramento, Calif.; Louisville, Ky.; Knoxville, Tenn.; Baton Rouge, La.; and most of the San Francisco Bay area. The offer is not permanent, and requires a two-year contract available to current and new subscribers. To be eligible, however, customers must also subscribe to a Verizon Wireless voice plan. The move comes less than a week after Verizon Communications cut fees for monthly broadband Internet service from $29.95 to $14.95. Verizon also offers a high-speed consumer service, known as VCast, which allows Web surfing and video downloads to cell phones for about $15 per month. Analysts including Jupiter's Laszlo estimate that while Verizon is about six months ahead of other wireless carriers, Sprint Nextel and Cingular Wireless are racing to catch up. "Because it was the first to market, Verizon had the luxury of charging a premium for its service," said Laszlo. "But, while Sprint or Cingular won't have that luxury, they'll still catch up at some point." Sprint Nextel uses EV-DO technology as well, while Cingular employs UMTS, or universal mobile telephone system--which is compatible with most overseas 3G, or third-generation, services, unlike EV-DO. Both Sprint and Cingular charge about $80 a month for plans that are comparable with Verizon Wireless.
United Virtualities Monday released a software update for its free HotRecorder VOIP recording program that will allow it to operate with Google's new instant messaging and free Internet telephone feature. HotRecorder, which is available for free or in a premium version, allows users to record, store, search, and send via e-mail their voice conversations or conference calls. United Virtualities Founder Mookie Tenembaum said the company put its programmers to work on making HotRecorder compatible with Google Talk almost immediately, because they foresee Google becoming one of the top VOIP operators. "We know that very soon Google Talk will become the second or first largest VOIP operator," said Tenembaum. "They're the only one that can compete with Skype." Skype, along with Internet companies Yahoo!, MSN, and America Online, all have their own VOIP products. Google's beta product, Google Talk, was released last week amid much speculation and hype in the search engine-watching community. Any user with a Gmail ID can download the search giant's free VOIP and instant messaging product. According to Tenembaum, Google's high-profile brand was another reason that United Virtualities was interested in making their recorder compatible with the search giant's software. "Google is the most recognized brand in the Internet," he said. "Today Google is seen all over the Web." Google Talk joins a number of applications which HotRecorder can communicate with using VOIP, including Skype, AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, and Net2Phone.
Large online portals increasingly find themselves torn between the pressures of advertisers who demand ever more consumer information in order to better target their ads, and users protective of their online doings and personal information. At Yahoo!, a recent policy shift requiring all Flickr members to register as members of Yahoo!'s network by the end of 2006 has attracted resistance from a vocal minority. At "Flick Off," a Flickr group where both critics and defenders of Yahoo!'s plans have gathered, Flickr's co-founder Stewart Butterfield is busy responding to the objections and fears of members. Responding to Purplezebra's concern that a Yahoo! ID will now be visible to Flickr users, Butterfield corrected: "Your Y! ID will not show on Flickr (unless you want it to). All that changes is the page where you go to log in (and, eventually, more payment options, integration with other services, etc.)" And unfortunately for Butterfield, there is currently no end in sight to these types of concerns. Yahoo! spokeswoman Joanna Stevens said that the key reason to get everyone a Yahoo! account is to create a simpler, more streamlined user experience, so that Yahoo! can integrate other services with Flickr at the appropriate time. Flickr's 1.2 million member-base is too small to affect the behavior of the marketers who advertise on Yahoo!'s sites, added Stevens. "It's absolutely in our interest to offer advertisers information they can use to target their ads, but these numbers wouldn't have an effect on our aggregate data," she said. Some outside observers agreed that it is in Yahoo!'s interest to totally assimilate Flickr members with Yahoo!. "Yahoo! is trying to leverage several points of entry into its network and cross-market and better integrate services," Kelsey Group analyst Greg Sterling said. "Flickr is obviously a popular service, and perhaps a way for Yahoo! to gain some new users." Indeed, any opportunity for Yahoo! to grow its membership and/or subscription base is a positive for the company, according to analysts. PiperJaffray, for instance, reiterated its outperform rating on Yahoo! last week following the relaunch of its co-branded high-speed Internet service with Verizon. One of the most important benefits for Yahoo!, the report reasoned, could be found in the estimated 800,000 to 2 million new subscribers the deal is likely to add. JupiterResearch analyst David Card added: "Definitely, the more data Yahoo! can collect, the better." What's more, he said, consumer fears are "overblown" because it's not cost-effective to monitor users on a one-on-one basis. "Yahoo! is already close to 200 million registered users--we're not trying to pump up the numbers by getting Flickr users in there," Butterfield said in a post on the Flickr blog. The motives behind the change, he explained, are increased convenience and future integration with Yahoo! services such as Yahoo! 360.
Online video provider Roo Media this summer quietly started offering its collection of 5,000 video clips to four video search engines on RSS feeds, as an alternative to putting meta-tags on the videos. "We very much see RSS as the future of how content is syndicated," said Robert Petty, Roo's CEO and chairman of the board. Blinkx, Singingfish (owned by America Online), Windows Radio, and AOL are now taking Roo's content from RSS feeds, under deals that Roo struck with them earlier this summer. Since the arrangements went into effect, Roo has seen a 10 percent increase in the videos viewed by consumers, Pettty said. Roo mainly licenses the clips--including news, movie trailers, and movie videos--from companies such as the Associated Press, Reuters, ABC, Sony Music, and Disney. Roo also produces about 5 percent of all clips itself; early next year, the company plans to produce around 20 percent of content itself. The videos are supported by ads--15-second pre-rolls from companies such as Pfizer, Walgreens, Honda, and Hyundai. For the most part, the ads to date have been repurposed TV spots. Blinkx founder Suranga Chandratillake said that Roo isn't the only content provider that now makes videos available via RSS. Fox News--whose parent company, News Corp., has designs on Blinkx, according to The Los Angeles Times--also offers Blinkx its videos on RSS through a partnership.
Yahoo! appears to have taken care of the technical problems that left some search marketers unable to access their campaigns last week, but repairing its image might not be as simple. Two weekends ago, a systems upgrade left some of Yahoo!'s paid search customers unable to manage their campaigns for most of last week. Ted Meisel, president of Yahoo! Search Marketing, sent an e-mail to paid search clients Sunday informing them that the problem was caused by an upgrade to the core database, and had been mostly fixed. "At this time, we have resolved the majority of the issues, and core service has been restored. We are hopeful that any additional service interruptions will be minor as we continue to fine-tune our systems," he stated in the letter. Yahoo! also plans to address on a case-by-case basis compensation for advertisers who wanted to change their bids but were unable to manage their accounts, said a company spokeswoman. While Yahoo! blamed its problems on the technical upgrade, some search marketers said that last week wasn't the first time they've had trouble with the company. Charles Sardou, senior media director at icrossing, said his firm has noticed sporadic problems--including difficulty in logging into the system and reports running slowly--for at least the last several weeks. Sardou added that although the worst of the problem only lasted for a few days, the incident could have a lasting effect on marketers' perception of Yahoo! "With Microsoft coming online, this is not the best timing," Sardou said, referring to the Redwood, Wash. company's upcoming launch of its own paid search program.