About 3 years ago, I wrote how phone numbers might be an important part of mobile identity. I started to change my mind on this last year. Now I am thinking that phone numbers may in fact much more rapidly be approaching the end of their useful life. Why? Because of my recent experience in London with a data only SIM card. Having tired of crazy international roaming charges, I picked up a 1 GB data onlyl SIM card from a vending machine at Heathrow for 20 pounds and popped it into my phone. I ...

About 3 years ago, I wrote how phone numbers might be an important part of mobile identity. I started to change my mind on this last year. Now I am thinking that phone numbers may in fact much more rapidly be approaching the end of their useful life. Why? Because of my recent experience in London with a data only SIM card. Having tired of crazy international roaming charges, I picked up a 1 GB data onlyl SIM card from a vending machine at Heathrow for 20 pounds and popped it into my phone. I ...

I used to think that (mobile) phone numbers might play an important role in identity as they are quite stable for people. For instance, I have had my current number since 1999. But now I am wondering whether phone numbers will become meaningless entirely. I receive very few calls that I did not ask for on my mobile - most calls instead are pre-arranged via email. For any pre-arranged call, I could eventually use some form of IP telephony that will be namespace based (e.g., I already often do ...

I used to think that (mobile) phone numbers might play an important role in identity as they are quite stable for people. For instance, I have had my current number since 1999. But now I am wondering whether phone numbers will become meaningless entirely. I receive very few calls that I did not ask for on my mobile - most calls instead are pre-arranged via email. For any pre-arranged call, I could eventually use some form of IP telephony that will be namespace based (e.g., I already often do ...

This morning I am speaking to a group of women entrepreneurs out here in Westchester about opportunities coming out of mobile. I have written about this before on the USV blog, but here is what I am planning to talk about today.. To understand mobile opportunities we need to look at - Device capabilities - Adoption rates - Behavioral changes Something that is intentionally left off this list are specific technologies. Whether it will be Android or iPhone or Flash or HTML5 are largely tactical...

This morning I am speaking to a group of women entrepreneurs out here in Westchester about opportunities coming out of mobile. I have written about this before on the USV blog, but here is what I am planning to talk about today.. To understand mobile opportunities we need to look at - Device capabilities - Adoption rates - Behavioral changes Something that is intentionally left off this list are specific technologies. Whether it will be Android or iPhone or Flash or HTML5 are largely tactical...

Periodically, I find that a week comes along in which a ton of important stuff on and for the web comes to a boil all at once. This is one of those weeks. Here are just some of the things that I am looking atThe Release of Office 2010 and the fight between hybrid mode (desktop + web) versus online only Facebook’s extraordinarily complex privacy settings and its all-hands meeting to address the issue at the same time as the small alternative Diaspora project gets big time press and becomes a b...

Periodically, I find that a week comes along in which a ton of important stuff on and for the web comes to a boil all at once. This is one of those weeks. Here are just some of the things that I am looking atThe Release of Office 2010 and the fight between hybrid mode (desktop + web) versus online only Facebook’s extraordinarily complex privacy settings and its all-hands meeting to address the issue at the same time as the small alternative Diaspora project gets big time press and becomes a b...

Yesterday evening I wanted to bone up on the racing rules in sailing after having had a close encounter while rounding the leward mark last Thursday (which elicited quite a blue streak from the skipper of the other boat). I really wanted to see some animations of different situations that one might encounter to test my understanding of the rules. After a quick search I wound up on the UK Halsey site, only to remember that I was on an iPad and none of the animations would work because they are...

Yesterday evening I wanted to bone up on the racing rules in sailing after having had a close encounter while rounding the leward mark last Thursday (which elicited quite a blue streak from the skipper of the other boat). I really wanted to see some animations of different situations that one might encounter to test my understanding of the rules. After a quick search I wound up on the UK Halsey site, only to remember that I was on an iPad and none of the animations would work because they are...

The shift of usage away from the web and to mobile is going on in full force. About half of the US population now has a smartphone and that penetration is rapidly growing. That shift has been widely cited as a problem for Facebook. But generally the problem is stated in terms of a smaller advertising opportunity on mobile devices as a result of screen size. That goes back to Facebook’s own amendments to their IPO filings, in which they stated:“Although the substantial majority of our mobile u...

The shift of usage away from the web and to mobile is going on in full force. About half of the US population now has a smartphone and that penetration is rapidly growing. That shift has been widely cited as a problem for Facebook. But generally the problem is stated in terms of a smaller advertising opportunity on mobile devices as a result of screen size. That goes back to Facebook’s own amendments to their IPO filings, in which they stated:“Although the substantial majority of our mobile u...

All of my China impressions are to be taken with a fairly big grain of salt as I only spent 12 days there and was mostly a tourist. I am sure people who have been living there for years and/or have started businesses will be more reliable sources of information. With that caveat out of the way here is one of my most important impressions. China has the opportunity to grow its Internet sector by leapfrogging development stages common in the US and other Western economies. This is particularly ...

All of my China impressions are to be taken with a fairly big grain of salt as I only spent 12 days there and was mostly a tourist. I am sure people who have been living there for years and/or have started businesses will be more reliable sources of information. With that caveat out of the way here is one of my most important impressions. China has the opportunity to grow its Internet sector by leapfrogging development stages common in the US and other Western economies. This is particularly ...

Facebook recently released Messenger as a separate mobile app. Google+ launched with multiple separate mobile apps (Google+, Huddle, Places). What’s going on here? We are seeing the results of limited screen real estate combined with effective notification systems and a fully logged in user on mobile. Unlike on the desktop (Microsoft) and even the browser (Google, Facebook) this means that large integrated apps or even “suites” have no advantage from a usability perspective. For instance, whe...

Facebook recently released Messenger as a separate mobile app. Google+ launched with multiple separate mobile apps (Google+, Huddle, Places). What’s going on here? We are seeing the results of limited screen real estate combined with effective notification systems and a fully logged in user on mobile. Unlike on the desktop (Microsoft) and even the browser (Google, Facebook) this means that large integrated apps or even “suites” have no advantage from a usability perspective. For instance, whe...

Tech’s history is somewhat reminiscent of the city of Troy, which when it was discovered was found to have many layers with newer ones built on top of the old ones. In tech as new layers get built the old layers are abstracted away which results in those old layers becoming commoditized. Because once something is abstracted (hidden behind APIs) it doesn’t matter what brand it is, as long as it does its job. This has happened to components, such as disk drives. It has happened to entire comput...

Tech’s history is somewhat reminiscent of the city of Troy, which when it was discovered was found to have many layers with newer ones built on top of the old ones. In tech as new layers get built the old layers are abstracted away which results in those old layers becoming commoditized. Because once something is abstracted (hidden behind APIs) it doesn’t matter what brand it is, as long as it does its job. This has happened to components, such as disk drives. It has happened to entire comput...

First there was the Path address book tempest. Now there is a concern about apps being able to access photos without permission. It would be a shame if this resulted in more centralized control over apps and longer review processes. What we need instead is some kind of peer produced approach to app security. What I have in mind is something along the lines of what Chris Dixon did with SiteAdvisor for web sites. Some people will (voluntarily?) run software on their mobile handsets that monitor...

First there was the Path address book tempest. Now there is a concern about apps being able to access photos without permission. It would be a shame if this resulted in more centralized control over apps and longer review processes. What we need instead is some kind of peer produced approach to app security. What I have in mind is something along the lines of what Chris Dixon did with SiteAdvisor for web sites. Some people will (voluntarily?) run software on their mobile handsets that monitor...