Ooooh I feel so much better now knowing that I can rush right down to WalMart in my area and have the feller in the Blue Smock louse up mu computer more than I can! The Solution Stations that are to be placed in selected WalMart stores will pilot in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. –
Wal-Mart Stores Inc, as part of a pilot program, is opening “Solution Stations” in a small number of its Dallas-area stores to offer technology services, like home theater installation and computer repair.
In a statement on its website dated July 14, Wal-Mart says the stations will be managed with Dell Inc and the “program provides an opportunity for us to understand more about what our customers need and expect in home installation and technology services, within a specific market.”
Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, describes the program as a small pilot.
“There are no plans at this time to expand the service outside of Dallas other than to 15 select stores,” Wal-Mart states.
Wal-Mart’s competitors like Best Buy Co Inc and Circuit City Stores Inc already offer technology services as a way to differentiate themselves and cut down on the number electronics, particularly flat-panel TVs, that are returned after customers get the gadgets home but cannot use them properly.
Dell is an interesting choice Dell has championed the online sales and support model for years. They typically contract out the physical touch phase. It would not be a play to Dell’s strength in my opinion. Even given my reservations, I hope they make a go of it. Consumers need something better than FireDog and Geeks.
In the context of the Amazon - Netflix space they will both do fine. Though there is some overlap in their offerings, the customer bases are segregated enough that both firms can be successful. So in that respect, Wired is right.
But Losers. The road is littered and to be littered with losers. Dead — mass media mediums. Weekly news magazines for example. Near Dead — Blockbuster. They didn’t see it coming till it was too late. Walking But Headed for the Ditch — local broadcast television unless they can adjust soon.
Ironically the former big networks could be winners out of this. They have a stable of legacy product to offer and cash to offer new content. All they have to do is go direct to the end user.
Back in the day, like 2 years ago, TV stations had ‘Green Rooms’. Places where upcoming guests could be preped, preened and soothed before going on camera. Purpose was to calm the precamera jitters and get the guest in the right mood. The lubricant was usually free drinks and snacks. Well that may be coming to a close. A combination of technology and strangled budgets is making that room a thing of the past. Evidence by this —
That’s Ben Popken of the Blog Consumerist being interviewed via Skype Video at the station WTVT in Tampa, Florida. First, cool dude. Innovative too. It shows some intelligence of the broadcaster that the world is truly getting flatter. It will not be much of a leap that we will see a 3 way talking head Skype call on Sunday Morning with Chris Wallace. If you got that far then why even bother with having the Panel show up at the crack of dawn either. Just pipe them into the Skype conference and you are done. By the way Skype has been supporting video since early this year. See here.
My only question? When will Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit be doing this from his media center?
UK taxpayers may be on the hook for a very big bill if BT gets concessions from regulators in return for building a fiber to the home network. It seems the Brit’s telco monopoly is trying a few tricks form the US telco’s playbook by selling a lofty goal with numbers that simply don’t add up. If that’s the case, the end result will be lots of taxpayer investment, less competition, stagnating network upgrades, and higher prices. Lets hope for the sake of UK residents that their regulators are not as easy of a patsy for the telco siren song as they have been here in the US.
Unless you’re using Enron math, BT’s new plan to connect 10 million homes — roughly 40 percent of the United Kingdom — with fiber networks at a cost of £1.5 billion doesn’t quite add up. At today’s conversion rate, that’s about $3 billion — or $300 to wire up each of these proposed 10 million homes.
BT hopes this will help it stave off competition from rivals who have started to use their new backbones and the latest technology to eat into its broadband business. Cable operator Virgin, for example, plans to use DOCSIS 3.0 to compete with BT. The incumbent has been reticent about upscaling its infrastructure over concerns that it would spend billions and then be forced to share with upstarts, the way it does now. By comparison, the new plan is closely tied to regulatory concessions and includes some sort of investment protection from Ofcom, the British regulator. (GigaOm)
A takeover of Sprint by SK Telecom has been in the rumor mill for more than a year. According to CNBC, it may be more than a rumor very soon. If the dollar falls much further, I’m betting it’s a done deal.
An agreement would be at best weeks away, CNBC said, citing people familiar with the talks.
Sprint shares closed up 9 percent at $9.04.
U.S.-listed shares of SK Telecom, Korea’s largest mobile-phone service operator by subscriber numbers, fell 2 percent to $20.67.
Sprint spokesman James Fisher had no comment on the report. No SK Telecom representatives were available in the early morning hours, Korean time.
CNBC reported that private-equity firms would provide financing for the deal, since SK Telecom’s market value is about half of Sprint’s $22.6 billion. (Yahoo)
If new data from the UK is on the mark, then the current access provider triple play push with slow/ high priced broadband is far from the mark. There is more competition in many parts of the UK than there is in the US, so broadband consumers are accustomed to having more choices. Beyond that, I see no reason to believe that US consumer sentiment will be any different.
Just over a quarter of all UK broadband customers are dissatisfied with the service offered by their provider, according to a survey from price- comparison site uSwitch.com.
In particular, customers are unhappy with their broadband connection speed, which they believe is often far slower than advertised.
USwitch found that many consumers who agreed to an “up to” 8MB broadband package were in fact only receiving 4MB. (The Independent)
According to a recent report the top reason for changing broadband provider changed from reliability to price between April and June of this year. Reliability has now become the third most common reason to switch providers, with the second now being the ability to bundle services – phone, broadband, and television.
In fact, there are many reasons why people decide to switch providers these days, and the report lists the top five reasons for making this move. The first, as mentioned, is the cost of the service, the second the ability bundle services into one package, and the third the reliability of the service. In fourth place was the level of customers service received from the broadband provider, with many switching because they receive poor service or cannot get through to the call centre when needed. (Broadband Expert)
Diane Greene is pitched overboard as the Ship VMWare sails on. They pick up Paul Maritz, a former Microsoft exec in midtack. Regardless the stock plummets by 1/3rd. Like always a lot of boardroom intrigue that will be reported on for the next week in the tech press. But does it really matter? I say no.
A causative agent –
People said when Linux deployed KVM companies would fall. And they were right!
Well maybe not quite that dramatic but the notation is apt. The latest kernel release supports virtualization thru the service module KVM. Yes Mildred as in free, as in beer. That simple fact just jacked up the entry fee for being considered a ‘modern OS’. A term the tech press likes to throw around from time to time But it alters the virtualization marketplace.
The Industry Result –
The virtualization industry could be roughly broken down into two types — OS inclusive and OS exclusive. I use these terms rather than the typical Hypervisior vs Container based virtualization. The reason will become readily apparent.
First the OS exclusive players. This group is made up by firms like Parallels and VMWare. Their products are add on externals to the OS in most cases. Second are the OS inclusive players. This group is comprised by the likes of Microsoft Virtual PC, Xen from XenSource [now part of Citrix] and of course KVM for Linux.
The difference in the two camps is important. Those of the inclusive group will be melded into the OS of their respective mother products. So it would be quite possible that Win7, when it comes out, will have virtualization as a standard feature of the OS. Starts to sound like a repeat of the IE inclusion in Windows doesn’t it? Well folks that’s the way it will play out in the marketplace.
So when all the OS’s have their respective inclusive virtual tools in place wither the exclusive players? Extinction or marginalization. There will be a niche for folks like Parallels in the IA32 and OSX space for quite some time. Even VMWare will have a fair run providing their Desktop virtualization products. But the long term is not going to be favorable to the exclusives.
Well we covered it originally here. Well now there is a map of where some of the closing might be taking place complements of the Seattle Times. The map is here.
This is no means the complete list. The number is 600 total and this looks to be about 2 dozen locations. Check back, the Times will be updating.
Over the last year we’ve covered the promises of telcos and cable guys to deliver improved but second best technology at a premium price to American broadband customers. We’ve also heard from them the likes of AT&T that 6MBPs down and 768KBPS up is “adequate”, and that bandwidth hogs are ruining things for everyone. Recent polling may reveal that the consumer is not being so easily fooled:
The U.K. market research firm said 4.2 million high-speed Internet users received fiber in the first quarter of 2008 versus 2.5 million who received cable. “It’s a significant milestone for fiber-optic broadband,” Point Topic CEO Oliver Johnson said in a statement Wednesday. “Where it is available, consumers will take fiber over other broadband technologies.”Â
The report removed all doubts that consumers might decline to install fiber because they think they don’t need or want additional bandwidth. The Point Topic report concluded that price is a significant factor in choosing fiber. The fast speeds of fiber also appear to be a factor in subscribers choosing the technology, according to Point Topic.”If you look at the cost per megabit, then DSL comes in at around $20 per megabit per month taking global averages. Cable does better at roughly $12, but they are both completely eclipsed by fiber where costs can get as low as 50 cents per megabit per month,” Johnson said in a statement. (Information Week)
We’ve been had, and we’re getting had, and we will keep getting had as long as we keep accepting it. No matter where you are in the world, the broadband the bar is raising. It’s time to make some changes in the American broadband market. The customer’s wishes need to be heard and heeded.Â
Australia. EBay has finally reached its strtegic limit. Though it is still a power in the auction/resale market its dominance has been exposed. In a case of sellers leaving and PayPal enforceemnt EBay’s fortunes have changed. They have so ticked many in their community that a small percentage may never come back. –
eBay has officially withdrawn all further plans to make its online payment system PayPal its sole acceptable payment method, but offering PayPal as one of the payment options remains a requirement and there’s no sign of the auction giant apologising for suggesting that its opponents were no better than drug addicts.
The war is now officially over. Having been told by both the regulator and its customers that plans to make PayPal compulsory were unacceptable, greedy, anti-competitive, and just plain stupid, eBay has finally thrown in the towel on plans to make PayPal the only way to pay for eBay auctions in Australia.
eBay’s statement acknowledging its backdown — something widely anticipated ever since it removed its target date for changing its current approach — contains the closest we’ll ever see to an apology for its greedy and rapacious tactics.
“eBay has withdrawn its notification to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) about removing other payment methods,” it reads. “Instead eBay will continue to allow all existing payment methods on eBay.com.au. We have decided to withdraw the notification to stop any further confusion and disruption among the eBay Community. eBay regrets any uncertainty that this process has caused among the Community and believe that today’s decision will remove further doubt.”
The internet age institutes an iron maiden — Communities make industries and communities break companies. Any company that attempts to buck the lady is gone before they are buried. Ebay is no different. With both the ACCC and sellers raising hell EBay had no choice but to back down on their PayPal restrictions. But the maiden will not have it stop there. Once the ruckus has begun nothing short of near capitalization will satisfy the community.
If you are a business that operates on the internet keep one thing in mind. If you find a ‘Your Company Sucks’ web site do not discount it. Nor should you attempt a cease and desist thru your lawyers. That is just bear bait for your eventual defeat. Better to ask for a conference with the site owner and ask them what it will take to bring things to a satisfactory conclusion. Your success in that endeavor is up to your political skill.
Regardless, EBay is in the thick of it. It will take more than just a PayPal retreat to satisfy the mob.
UK taxpayers may be on the hook for a very big bill if BT gets concessions from regulators in return for building a fiber to the home network. It seems the Brit’s telco monopoly is trying a few tricks form the US telco’s playbook by selling a lofty goal with numbers that simply don’t add up. If that’s the case, the end result will be lots of taxpayer investment, less competition, stagnating network upgrades, and higher prices. Lets hope for the sake of UK residents that their regulators are not as easy of a patsy for the telco siren song as they have been here in the US.
A takeover of Sprint by SK Telecom has been in the rumor mill for more than a year. According to CNBC, it may be more than a rumor very soon. If the dollar falls much further, I’m betting it’s a done deal.
If new data from the UK is on the mark, then the current access provider triple play push with slow/ high priced broadband is far from the mark. There is more competition in many parts of the UK than there is in the US, so broadband consumers are accustomed to having more choices. Beyond that, I see no reason to believe that US consumer sentiment will be any different.
Over the last year we’ve covered the promises of telcos and cable guys to deliver improved but second best technology at a premium price to American broadband customers. We’ve also heard from them the likes of AT&T that 6MBPs down and 768KBPS up is “adequate”, and that bandwidth hogs are ruining things for everyone. Recent polling may reveal that the consumer is not being so easily fooled:
