Four years ago, I was speaking with a VC friend that told me about one of his portfolio companies that had utilized military technology to create a Bluetooth headset that would virtually eliminate background (or ambient) noise from a wireless call.
Naturally, this sounded rather futuristic and far fetched.
About 3 months ago, I received a Jawbone Headset in the mail. After pairing it with my BlackBerry, I jumped right into my M3 Convertable ... top down, stereo cranked, I accelerated to 60 MPH on PCH and was ready to road test the Jawbone.
When I told the other parties of the hostle "noisy" environment from which I was calling, they were astonished! Initially, I was not able to hear conversation very well until I traded out earbuds and the ear loop to adjust the fit (4 earbud and 4 earloops are included).
With California poised to join the states that require hands-free calling when driving, I must say I am thrilled the Jawbone has been released in time!
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
The Virtual BlackBerry on Windows Mobile 6
Yesterday, Research in Motion announced a BlackBerry® vitural machine that will run on Microsoft Windows Mobile 6® smartphones.
Tom Taulli quotes me in his Motley Fool article today stating that this is a smart move by RIM.
Coupling the speed, security and reliability of the BlackBerry service with a Windows Mobile user experience should truly serve well a user base that RIM has thus far been unable to tap.
Tom Taulli quotes me in his Motley Fool article today stating that this is a smart move by RIM.
"This opens up RIM's wireless push network to an entirely new class of smartphone devices," said Steve Beauregard, president of REGARD, which has developed applications for BlackBerry smartphones for the past 10 years. "Not only does RIM win by selling additional software licenses and support fees to enterprise customers, but the company receives a small recurring fee from the carrier for each user sending traffic over the BlackBerry network."
Coupling the speed, security and reliability of the BlackBerry service with a Windows Mobile user experience should truly serve well a user base that RIM has thus far been unable to tap.
******************************************************
-Steve Beauregard
REGARD – “R-Solutions Liberate People From Their Desks”
310.883.2205 (direct dial)
310.450.2400 (main line)
http://www.regard.com (Corp Website)
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Opportunities for Resellers & VARs
In a recent Computer Reseller News "CRN" article by Jennifer Lawinski, I wanted to clarify my quote below.
"The device business was a very booming business for a number of years and we did quite well with that, but pretty much anything meaningful they've taken direct"
By "anything meaningful they've taken direct" , I am referring to the wireless carriers (Cingular, T-Mobile, NEXTEL / Sprint & Verizon). That is to say the largest customers and activation deals are being sold by the carrier sales reps directly to the customers. This is simply the natural evolution of any technology business. Now that the carriers have come up to speed on BlackBerry® and other Smartphone devices (as much as they feasibly can), their sales reps don't need to rely (as much) on the expertise of companies like REGARD to help close these deals.
As for the second part of that quote...
"...The most opportunity is in emerging software development companies, getting in early with them before their products start to go with distribution," Beauregard said. "A lot of those guys you can get margins of up to 40 [percent] or 50 percent because they're anxious to get their products out there."
Small technology companies must evolve with the changing dynamics. The big opportunities in wireless for resellers and VARs has now migrated to off-the-shelf wireless products like R-Approval®. In addition to making money on the sale of the software, VARs can also provide professional services to document and streamline approval workflow processes. Designing R-Approval templates based on existing paper approval forms can also be quite lucrative.
Other products are available for Flowfinity, Antenna Software and Wallace Wireless that offer similar opportunities for VARs on BlackBerry® and other wireless Smartphones.
"The device business was a very booming business for a number of years and we did quite well with that, but pretty much anything meaningful they've taken direct"
By "anything meaningful they've taken direct" , I am referring to the wireless carriers (Cingular, T-Mobile, NEXTEL / Sprint & Verizon). That is to say the largest customers and activation deals are being sold by the carrier sales reps directly to the customers. This is simply the natural evolution of any technology business. Now that the carriers have come up to speed on BlackBerry® and other Smartphone devices (as much as they feasibly can), their sales reps don't need to rely (as much) on the expertise of companies like REGARD to help close these deals.
As for the second part of that quote...
"...The most opportunity is in emerging software development companies, getting in early with them before their products start to go with distribution," Beauregard said. "A lot of those guys you can get margins of up to 40 [percent] or 50 percent because they're anxious to get their products out there."
Small technology companies must evolve with the changing dynamics. The big opportunities in wireless for resellers and VARs has now migrated to off-the-shelf wireless products like R-Approval®. In addition to making money on the sale of the software, VARs can also provide professional services to document and streamline approval workflow processes. Designing R-Approval templates based on existing paper approval forms can also be quite lucrative.
Other products are available for Flowfinity, Antenna Software and Wallace Wireless that offer similar opportunities for VARs on BlackBerry® and other wireless Smartphones.
******************************************************
-Steve Beauregard
REGARD – “R-Solutions Liberate People From Their Desks”
310.883.2205 (direct dial)
310.450.2400 (main line)
http://www.regard.com (Corp Website)
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