Are the French unplugging from The Corporate Matrix?

Since I've been asked by a good friend what to make of the recent 'post-6-P.M. e-mail ban' in France*, I may as well share my two cents with you.

This agreement between two trade unions and two business federations was signed on April 1st, but is more serious than presented in foreign media, and part of a wider re-negociation of the old "Forfait Jour" framework, a specific working hour plan for executives in fields known for abusive work hours (see Article 4.8.1 "Temps de repos et obligation de deconnection" in the 'Avenant Forfaits Jours'**). This new right to be 'disconnected' during off-work hours is limited to executives in the fields covered by the two signing federations: 

• SYNTEC (syntec.fr): engineering, technology, IT/digital services, consulting, surveys, HR, training...
• CINOV (cinov.fr): intellectual services in consulting, engineering, digital. 

Note that, typically, the two signing trade unions are rather progressive: the politically agnostic CFE-CGC focuses on executives, while the CFDT follows a social/christian-democratic line. France's biggest trade union, the more 'hardcore' CGT (workers, ties to the French Communist Party), refused to sign the agreement because it didn't apply to all employees in the sector. 

From now on, even in very small structures or in groups where no specific systems have been negociated yet, abused employees have something to oppose to their persecutors, and caring employers more leverage to protect overdoing workaholics (NB: 'overdoing workaholics' is not a pleonasm when you need to distinguish workhorses in your stable). 

Even with overtime, the French law imposes a minimum of 11 consecutive hours without work every day + 35 hours every week (24 consecutive hours + 11 consecutive hours). The employer, who is responsible for the health, rest, and professional-personal balance of his employees, must make sure that their daily / weekly rest periods are respected. Now employers have also the obligation to provide the possibility to 'unplug' from the company, and employees the obligation to disconnect beyond these limits ("obligation de déconnexion des outils de communication à distance"). This double obligation clearly diminishes the 'guilt factor' and burnout risks, particularly during intense consulting projects, or on startup mode. 

So yes, some companies might opt for email bans after 6 P.M. if they fancy, but such radical, one-size-fits-all solutions sound more suitable for 9-to-5 administrations than for internet start-ups.

Overall, the measure looks more preventive than punitive, a deterrent system rather than a coercive law. The text doesn't go into detail because technologies are evolving all the time, and because ultimately it's about humans living well together.

Of course, at the legal level, precedents are bound to happen, some potentially disruptive in very competitive fields... which, combined with the new 75% tax, and the projected multi-billion fine on Google, certainly wouldn't boost start-ups in France! 

But as for now, this sounds like a genuine progress. France is simply starting to adapt to our 'always on', 'smartphone slavery' times, and Germany could follow soon.

mot-bile 2014

* see for instance "Updated: The French Move To Protect Workers From After-Hours Email" (FastCompany.com - 20140410), "Mails, SMS, téléphone : Syntec reconnaît le droit des cadres à la déconnexion" (Les Echos - 20140406)
** see for instance:

• the PDF of the CFDT-SYNTEC agreement: "Avenant Relatif a la duree du travail - 1er avril 2014"
• Also on CFDT's website: the focus "Bureaux d'etudes - signature de l'avenant relatif aux forfaits jours" and the press release "Bureaux d'etudes - Des avancees sur les forfaits jours"
• On CINOV's website: "Avenant forfait jours signe".
• ...

With WhatsApp, what Facebook gets is what you pay

With 450 M active users of one of the most pivotal services - messaging, WhatsApp is already an interesting catch for Facebook. But the best thing about WhatsApp subscribers is that in order to keep the service after the first year, they must pay a fee. Only 99 cents a year for now, but on a messaging platform, you can plug in an infinity of free or paid apps.

How many of these 450 M active users are actually paid subs? Probably much less than the half, since the bulk of the growth has been made over the past 12 months (e.g. 350 M active users back in October 2013). The key question is how many will want to pay knowing that Facebook will be tempted to peek into their messages and somehow monetize stuff. Beyond advertising, off limits according to Facebook; WhatsApp already pledges to bar ads, and Facebook needs new kinds of revenue streams, preferably CtoC or BtoC for a change. I bet that WhatsApp user fora are going to scrutinize any changes in the fine print of privacy and terms...

Business models are one thing, brands and platforms another: they too open up new horizons for Menlo Park at a time when churn rates get worrying.

Today, Google rules with the two most powerful search engines, its main service and YouTube... but both are free. Facebook already raised many eyebrows when it launched its vanity URL service precisely because terms and conditions opened the door to future fees, and a non-free Facebook could be the final straw for many users on the verge of deleting their accounts. Keeping WhatsApp as it is sounds a wiser bet to collect recurrent fees from hundreds of millions of endusers, but wisdom doesn't seem to exist in Zuckerberg's dictionary.

Anyway, the winner is WhatsApp founder Jan Koum: waiting one year before giving in to Facebook's siren calls proved very profitable for him.

mot-bile 2014

The PTT of VoIP turns 10 - No-hype Skype and the other Steve

Skype has turned 10, but where's the hype?

Skype has replaced Windows Live Messenger, but where's the innovation?

Skype has been commoditized, ebayed, microsofted, ballmerized.

The success story has turned into a stupid cash cow, as boring as Windows.

The Estonian start-up into a global PTT of VoIP challenged by smarter, faster players.

At least Steve Ballmer is at long last about to launch a massive product out of Microsoft's comfort zone: himself.

mot-bile 2013

Kakao Talk of the day

Kakao recently claimed its 10 millionth KakaoTalk user - or is it app download ? -, including 10% overseas (mostly in the US, thanks to the Korean diaspora, but the service is also available in English and Japanese). Now the Bundang based venture wants to go global.

Good luck : VoIP is a highly competitive field where "incumbent" Skype almost looks like the obsolete PTT running on grand dad PCs. In Korea, Kakao faces giant netco Daum's MyPeople, a more comprehensive social networking tool, or pure players like NeoMecca (OlivePhone app)... not to mention Google Talk, present on all Android smartphones.

Note that rivals Daum and Naver are considering suing Google for its dominant position as Android's favored search engine.

Indeed, the Google brand is indeed reigning on every Android smartphone's main screen, and more discreetely but pervasively present across the app menu : "Talk" for Google Talk, "Maps" for Google Map, "Places" for Google Places, "Latitude" for Google Latitude, "Finance" for Google Finance. Also there : Gmail, YouTube...

What puzzles me most is the way local MNOs deserted the battlefield : where a Vodafone would have branded the UI, KT / Show remains in the background. You know you have an iPhone or an Android device, but the operator appears simply as the hardware salesperson, and a not so proud carrier.

As we saw earlier, Korean MNOs have very poorly prepared for the smartphone revolution, but even now, it almost looks as if they want to dump their own app stores.

mot-bile 2011

Google Voice : Next Stop GrandCentral Terminal

GrandCentral becomes Google Voice. It took less than two years for Big G to integrate this vocal hub into its maze. Eons in this kind of business, and the switch is not even completed yet : only GrandCentral commuters can enjoy Voice services for the moment.

Looks as if Google were preempting some vital territory either ahead of a major move by the competition, or to put some soft flesh on some hardware project to be released in a not so distant future.

The Gphone is already there. It can talk, it has the Latitude to follow you and your pals on the move, it can keep you connected. It can help you reconsider your fling with the likes of Skype.

But Skype appears to be ahead in many ways. And Google (except maybe when it goes 3D) has this tendency to look rather flat, lining up new applications without getting the most of each one, without optimizing the network effect, often turning potential killer apps and killer combos into if not dead ends at least major disappointments.

GV's main feature remains the unified number for voice and SMS : your "Google number". A rather meaningful branding for a key lifetime ID. Google Voicemail (Google Videomail should follow) could come as a booster for Gmail (at last, sonic eavesdropping !)... or even Orkut, if Mountain View hasn't abandoned all hope for its globalization. Google adds several apps generally provided by local loop operators. It's a deviceless device, a virtual PBX, and a potential entry point to the corporate world.

Google brains care less about hardware than about who you are, what you do, whom you know, where you meet, and most of all what you're looking for right now or what you may need sooner than later. Don't be surprised if they ask you to give them your number.

Google found its voice

You can install voice and video chat to Gmail right here and now.

Nothing disruptive in this software, but that's an interesting tool for the Google platform (BtoB, CtoC, BtoC, BtoBtoC, AtoZ...).

And heck, that's not so phony telephony and videophony.

Beyond the software, Big G is providing a big push for hardware equipment : until Nov. 30, 2008, there will be special discounts at Buy.com for Logitech webcams.

The idea is to build a strong user base from day one, and to instantly catch a significant share just like they did with Chrome (see "Google Chrome : more open source, less open space ?").

Mind if this announcer chimes in during your free mobile videochat ?

Facebooked up

Here they are, popping up each time I log on : friend requests, vampires invitations, werewolves invitation, zombies invitations, IQ test invitations, survey/petition/vote invitations, petrolhead invitations, optical illusions requests, movie rack invitations, bookshelf invitations, visual bookshelf invitation, brain game requests, moods invitations, music invitations, hatching eggs invitations, pillow fight requests...

I don't fell like becoming a werewolf, nor the "booze friend" of a soju addict. I don't feel like drinking that "Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster" concoction either. And I certainly don't feel like exposing my LinkedIn contacts without their approval.

I don't mind exposing part of my self, though - what is blogging all about ? But I don't feel so confortable with Facebook. Something to do with this closed face / open book thing, I guess...
What I do appreciate is the virtual answering machine function. Not the application, but the whole shebang ; Facebook's platform in itself. Now there's that virtual me taking care of incoming calls and spam. My homepage takes a break, and anyway most of the comments on my blogs are outsourced to the various media that relay them.

Lets me plenty of time to focus on the IRL / In Real Life side of existence. True food, authentic sweets and tricks, genuine friendship, and the mothers of all killer apps, love and life.

Google Jaiku kentai ?

I don't care about the Gphone anymore than I did about the iPhone, but I do care about Google's vision about mobility and to me, dealing with Multiverse or purchasing Jaiku makes more sense than manufacturing devices.

Devices are about status, but you want to care about actual status : how are your friends doing, where on earth are they, what are they plotting, with whom...? Your personal network is much more important than your carrier's network, and portability will come some day for anything from a technical point of view, so value is to be made beyond the tools.

Besides, there are too many tools out there. Including in Google's portfolio. I hope they will take less time to boost Orkut and Google Maps / Google Earth with Jaiku than they did to implement basic Google tools in Blogger.

Yet, I'll stick to Big G for the blogging platforms. And I'll keep building Chinese walls with other e-mail services providers and interpersonal spaces like LinkedIn or Facebook.

Helio to hit 100k subs, and to be hit by Earthlink's 10K

According to Helio / Helio powered by SK Telecom, the Hollywood MVNO is "on the path to surpass 100,000 subscribers by early in the second quarter of 2007" (NB : 10 month after launch) and claims an "ARPU of over $100 per month", 25% of which from data services. The proof of concept for their device driven innovation strategy reads in some interesting figures :
- a WAP penetration of over 85%, an average 400 SMS per customer (merry Xmas - those were the stats for December 2006 so you won't get any data regarding the recent launch of Helio Music) - over 70% of Helio members use MySpace Mobile
- over 80% of Helio Drift members have downloaded GPS-enabled Google Maps™ for mobile and about 70% have downloaded Buddy Beacon


According to Earthlink's 10-K, Helio Inc as well as Helio LLC (the opco) are Delaware corporations. This isn't Tinsel Town and the balance sheets are not unleaded. Up to now, each partner has spent $214M in cash and non cash assets ($40M for Earthlink's 27,000 wireless subscribers transferred in 2005, along with equipments and other assets). Each partner will spend 6 more millions in August but beyond that, there is a big question mark.

One thing is sure : the company will keep losing money for a while. Big time, because this is cellular business and even for a M-VNO with a low CAPEX, S curves tend to develop fat bellies. FYI, 2006 revenues reached $46.58M with a full launch in July (68.7% service, 31.2% equipments and other) and accumulated deficit stood at $233.7M. Provided ARPU remains at the same high-usage-low-hanging-early-adopter level, 100,000 subs would mean $120M, and an average customer base of 150,000 over the year would barely match 2006 OPEX ($186.5M). Not only does EY have "substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern", but even a massive success of HELIO would only make things worse in the short term (acquisition costs).

SK Telecom and Earthlink own each 47.8% of the operation. Earthlink can't afford losing money at this pace for long, and SK Telecom could seize the opportunity to take a clearer lead. Or to bring in one ov'em "potential outside investors" (up to now, "outside investors" represented "approximately $8.0 million of funding").

At this stage and especially after the recent US-Korean FTA, I don't see SKT pulling the plug that early. Even with such a fierce competition, it wants HELIO to "achieve or maintain adequate market share or revenue or compete effectively". One one hand, we should see more "Helio powered by SK Telecom" (MySpace's exclusivity is over and the Cyworld brand could blossom beyond the platform). On the other, SKT won't wait 25 years to welcome HELIO's 3 millionth customer.

The fun is just about to start.

"Green Taxi" - follow this cab

London invented pink cabs for the ladies by the ladies ? Seoul replies with its Green Taxis. Don't expect any environmental friendly gimmick : GTs are about removing the fear factor from the cab experience.
It's late and you're alone in the dark. Enter Travis Bickle with his mohawk (a.k.a. Robert de Niro in Scorcese's Taxi Driver). Friend or foe ? You decide to take the chance, but to play it safe you RFIDly download his ID (license plate) on your cell phone. Tadaa : your family knows who's taking care of you and where you are.
And Travis knows he's being watched. He also knows you don't trust him.

The Green Taxi concept ? A frustrated psycho killer driving a paranoid customer.

I prefer another killer application : 3,500 to 5,000 Korean cabs will accept credit cards, including seamless payments with your mobile phone.

Crash Test Thumbies

The ITU released "digital.life", the 8th part of its "ITU Internet Reports" started in 1997.
In this episode, the young wizzard Harry Wireless Potter experiences new powers with his thumbs. Even the nerdest readers may learn some useful tricks like the origins of the word "avatar" : "I'm not wasting my time in silly games, Mom - I'm paving the way for the descent of God". Dubya may object this rather Darwinian approach doesn't leave much room to the Intelligent Design theory according to which the rise of the Thumb Generation was programmed from the start by the God of Operators.
Like all reports, this one was obsolete even before being released, but as an history book it has some virtues and I found it quite refreshing. It was like reading a old series of articles published ten years ago (remember the digital world of tomorrow, the sociological and psychological impacts, the new id and all those paradigm shifts ?) but with the actual figures instead of wild projections.
Now 2 billion mobile subs could have sounded wild ten years ago.

HBO Mobile highlights, teasers and tasers

Nothing disruptive in today's article in the NYT "For Tiny Screens, Some Big Dreams" (20060521). Digital Chocolate's shares should go up for a while but beyond that, nothing really new.
Yet, that was the occasion to mention HBO Mobile and the concept of series-highlights for catch-uppers, some kind of a sequel-teaser for those who missed the Sopranos or their favorite program. You can see who stole the base during the bottom 5th without being stuck on your seat for 9 innings, you can tell what Jack Bauer's been doing without following him everywhere all those damned 3600 seconds. That's what highlights are all about : putting the bulk of the time in the dark. That's what mobility is all about nowadays : getting more essential but less substantial.
The younger generations are growing up with their own figures of speech (which has always been the case), their own writen language (an heritage from SMS and e-mail) and now their own emotional quick fixes (sneak peeks, highlights, teasers, flashes, vibrations, artificial "Events"...) ; your mobile and your remote control* as tasers directed towards yourself. It's getting more and more difficult to make you react but that's the only way to make you feel still alive.


* in my case, it's the same device, remote con becoming a basic feature in handsets. Korean web, TV and mobile programs are becoming more and more exhausting for overstimulated networks and viewers.

Jeju Telematics celebrates the wedding of GPS and DMB

Jeju-do, Korea's capital island for honeymooners, has been a test bed for enhanced telematics since 2004. When the trial period ends next July, the Jeju Telematics consortium promoters (beyond the MIC and a few VCs : SK Telecom, SK Communications, SK C&C, Samsung Electronics...) could start exporting the concept to mainland ROK.
Nothing revolutionary there : LBS, 3D navigation, multimedia broadcasting... but you can tell SKT are involved : e-mail since the beginning, Cyworld, DMB games and TV for the second phase started last month. Samsung's 3.7 inch touch screen PMPs (Portable Multimedia Player) complete the multimedia oriented consumer experience. It definitely beats NATE Drive's handset craddles for seamlessness.


=> Jeju Telematics website : http://www.jejutelematics.com.

One month oxygen supply

O² + FOOT = MMS² is the official equation, but I gather O² are more interested in boosting the value of their company than MMS traffic. The exclusivity is only valid for the duration of the FIFA World Cup (June 9th - July 9th, 2006) and the German territory but getting soccer rights always pleases the audience (beyond dumb couch potatoes, dumb analysts).
Neither 0² nor Infront Sports & Media would show us the money but Oliver Seibert wouldn't give the rights to a 8M customer base holder for a song. New partners will come and / or parts of 0² or even the all shebang may be sold by the time of the kick-off and I don't think this deal will change anything. Consider it an insurance policy for the existing customer base.
Yet, Germany remains the biggest potential growth engine for this operator. Locking this kind of deals is a nice quick fix but they badly need some new partner to help them consider strategy beyond today's "our primary strategy is to create shareholder value".

madult content : follow the .$$$

What domain extension could follow .xxx but .mobi ? At the crossroad, Informa proposes new estimates for the global market for adult content on mobile devices : US$2.3 billion and 114M regular users by 2010. Informa plays it safe thanks to the following warning : "However, this figure is only expected to be realized if mobile carriers and content providers work with regulators to determine solid controls and age verification procedures".
If we say these regular users will represent 40% of all users and 90% of the pie, we're talking a $8 ARPU for all users and a $18 mark for hardcore madults. As far as age verification is concerned, some operators could follow Daum : parents open accounts for their kids and other people cannot send anything to their mailbox without answering a few questions. A great firewall against spammers but Korea's Ministry of Information and Communication went even further.
Spammers' e-mail and fixed line phone accounts will be stopped and convicted spammers and felons will be prevented from opening new ones. That is provided e-mail services adopt new rules and ask for the subscribers' real names... I'm sure shareholders will love to see the fall in subscriptions.
Mobile operators are not concerned yet but there was already an opt-in solution : no e-mail marketing is allowed without the victim being consentant. Great protection indeed : I receive an average 100 spam m-mails a day and according to Cetizen, 95% of mobile subs are still enjoying m-spam.

MelOn with a slice of pie

As expected (Hardware behind, hard work ahead - 20050504), SK Telecom are moving at high speed towards content : after taking a couple of months ago a slice (21.7%) of IHQ, a producer of TV shows and soaps, the Korean leader in mobility (and instant messaging as well, NateOn extending its edge over MSN Messenger) just purchased 60% of Korea's leading music major (YBM Seoul Records) to boost its MelOn mobile music portal. Their deep pockets should help them cope better than Daum with Lycos. The new and improved SKT should also pray for the Korean wave (Hallyu) to last longer than the fad for Bae Yong Joon.

Radio killed the video stars

More meshed potatoes ahead ? MusicFM are selling about 20,000 live streams from their website everyday thanks to 4FO's Potatosystem.

The format is neither "Red Apple" nor "Yukon Gold" but MP3 whose inventors, Fraunhofer IDMT (Fraunhofer-Institute for Digital Media Technology), initiated 4FO (4FriendsOnly.com Internet Technologies AG) back in 2000 with the help of the local university (Technische Universität Ilmenau). The payment system (Paybest) and DRM system (Game Feature Platform or GFP, also implemented on the Softgames portal) are home made solutions too. The business model gives the bulk of the money to the artist and co-founder Tim Renner, a former Universal Music top exec, makes sure no music major is needed. Most songs are performed by German alternative bands, only a few big names accepting this up-to-now-not-so-secure system. Yet it seems to be catching, thanks to a smart viral marketing tool : buyers can become reselling platforms and get a 20% discount on the song. Besides, MusicFM knotted a partnership with T-Online's Musicload portal.

Presented at CeBIT 2005 on a Nokia 6630, PotatoSystem Mobile Music Messenger enables "mobile music chat" and users to pre-listen the songs of other PotatoSystem users while sending SMS. Talking about viral marketing... But such synergies between radio and mobile wouldn't be a first : years ago France Telecom Mobiles (now Orange France) and a few partners launched a system where you could order from your mobile the song you were hearing on the radio as it was broadcasted. You heard a familiar tune but couldn't remember the artist or the title ? No sweat : you just needed to give the station's name and could purchase the CD instantly. At that time, people envisioned the handset as the ultimate remote control. At that time, people were focusing on the GSM - W-CDMA path and DAB or DVB were as good as DOA. At that time, Virgin Radio was preparing for radio over UMTS on the Isle of Man.
Whatever the techno, narrowcast fanatics should remember open minded people will always enjoy some kind of broadcasting. Even automatic shuffles on an iPod owner's collection of songs won't replace the editorial line of a good DJ.