Ken, your last post (linked at the top of this page) contains an important, yet unspoken, message. End users of every type will soon be faced with some critical choices, if they haven't already, between the modalities of couching it over cable, wirelessing it in their more mobile roles [whether at home, or hotel rooms, behind the wheel, traveling overseas, or wherever] and desking it at the office.
I don't want to get into a discussion here for the need for a single user ID for all purposes (although that plays into this theme, too), rather, the need for a user to be able to access the same account profile from various venues on demand.
Office Virtualization and Individual Mobility (in the multiple contexts of all modes of users' applications, be they personal or business), when combined with the personal preferences of each user's tastes, and the need to economize on the number providers they subscribe to, will be some of the most influential criteria when picking a service provider when 3Gs, and other wirelesses begin to roll out. When this happens I believe we will see some shifts in the ways users regard their providers, on the basis of their ability to truly follow them anywhere.
The ATHMs and RRs, as well as a whole list of emerging wireless-specific services, could (some already have) become stranded to a great extent in this regard, if they don't have a means beyond subscribing to a second, more expensive account (e.g. @Work), IMO.
To this end, can someone explain how account holders of RR and ATHM, or any other proprietary service which is somewhat intranet-ized unto itself, can access their files and profiles on those services from the road? Maybe this has already been covered, but I've not come across it.
I know that this can be done through gateways, but that solution already presumes the need for an account with someone else, or worse, multiple other accounts. And these are the solutions I'm suggesting needs doing away with. I see a potential need for the brokering and handing off of services here, which could be accomplished either independently from a new class of service provider, or in some way facilitated through partnerships.
I'm referring to the opportunity for partnering between the wirelesses, say, and the cables to effect such efficiencies without the need for subscribing, fully, to multiple accounts. Can you or anyone else here point to such an integrated solution set?
Regards, Frank Coluccio |
