I never heard Creedence Clearwater Revival(CCR) 's version of I Heard It Through The Grapevine CCR is before my generation but I started following CCR after forrest gump and the song 'fortunate son' CCR is great but this version is fantastic .. Never knew it existed!

On the weekend, we finally migrate to wordpress and hopefully see the last of Movable type. I have always regretted going for MT (we were paid customers) but the features are very poor compared to wordpress. So, finally we go to wordpress. There may be some issues with the blog on the weekend but hopefully not beyond that. Many thanks for your consideration

In Cologne - speaking at Mediaforum. Looking forward to meeting Tomi, Fee and for the first time Gerd Leonhard. We both follow each other's work but have never met and I am looking forward to it

Note: This post is by @Robinjewsbury of Alibro. Thanks to Robin for this post. I wanted to attend this event but could not attend it since in Toronto for the keynote of the iP3 conference . You can see more about Robin at alibro I attended the Bada Developer event yesterday and here are my thoughts. Samsung have created a complete eco system for their smartphone technology. This includes: development environment in C++ for their phones webkit browser allowing browser control in an app or external to app appstore called samsung apps ovi style services such as maps and storage (using Amazon S3) side loader PC based store similar to desktop iTunes called Kies Overall this has been a massive undertaking for them and it's appeared in very impressive timescale. The phone itself is exceptional build quality and the screen colours are the best I've seen using Super Amoled tech. They seem to have based the system on an in house OS which has been heavily customised. Incidently Samsung are also hedging their bets because they continue to develop with Microsoft Phone7 and Android. There is a rumour their upcoming tablet will be based on Android. First impressions is that it's a complete copy of Apple's Eco system and a very valiant one. This includes the fact that I think its apps will only be installable from its own appstore after completing its own QA (this is an assumption not yet confirmed, since there may be deals with operators in this area too). The conference went very deep into the programming approaches and personally I was put off by the level of complexity. C++ now seems very antiquated to me now after having used better languages for years and it seems they make the developer jump through hoops in order to optimise the performance. Considering there's a 1GHz processor in the phone this is not necessary and making life hard for developers is not constructive. There are no UI building tools and programming a UI seems highly complex. However, if and when I do do some Bada apps I would probably rely heavily on use of the web control and create most of the UI in HTML/CSS; a technique used heavily on the iPhone. Overall, very impressed. They claim to be selling 40M Bada devices by the end of the year (seems hard to believe that figure!!!) It's a big play for Samsung and they are investing heavily in the developer eco system (eg most attendees got given phones yesterday). Robin

Our friend Dean Bubley of Disruptive Analysis has released a report which says that Happy pipes will be worth $416bn worldwide by 2020 . I have seen Dean use the phrase 'happy pipes' before most recently at the LTE world summit in Amsterdam where we were both speaking. Overall, as the industry converges around the tiered pricing post AT&T's changes, we are indeed beginning to see the 'pipes' being commercially happier and now they may have less to moan about the proverbial bandwidth hogs The report predicts that wholesale market for broadband will evolve in three separate directions: • "Bulk wholesale" is an evolution of today's approach to MVNOs and data roaming in mobile, or loop-unbundling and open fibre access in fixed markets. The report predicts an acceleration of this type of wholesale provision, as governments force greater openness on telecoms licencees, and operators look to alternative partnerships to supply new market niches with capacity. There is also a possibility for parties other than the end-user to pick up the bill for subscriptions - for example, some local authorities are now providing free broadband to disadvantaged communities. • "Comes with data" business models have started to emerge recently, with devices such as the Amazon Kindle. Here, a product vendor or service provider contracts for data capacity with the broadband provider, and bundles it in a combined offer - the user does not have a subscription or direct relationship with the telco. The report expects this approach to be important for laptops, netbooks, tablets and various other new device categories. • "Slice and dice" wholesale is more complex, and more controversial. This involves operators selling data capacity in fine-grained "parcels" to parties other than the user, who is typically also paying for some level of access. This type of "two-sided" business model could involve deals with consumer electronics vendors for extra high-quality streams over existing broadband lines, or to content/application providers where they pick up the bill for data transmission rather than the end-user. Of these three, Slice and Dice seems more complex and I wonder how it would work. Operators always speak of a mythical 'turbo' button where (say) a specific video could be speeded up for a fee. The problem with this scheme in a mobile context is the 'under the bridge' problem i.e. the customer could be paying more for the turbo feature and then 'walk under a bridge' i.e. lose coverage. They then ask the Operator(or in this case the electronics shop' ) for their money back and it is impossible to prove why the coverage was poor(especially if the customer has paid a premium for it) However, the overall concept of happy pipes seems to be on the mark. You can see more on the Disruptive Analysis site

Long time canival host AJ wright hosts Carnival of the mobilists no 226 at AntoineRJWright.com. always worth a read with some great contributions!

I was trying to explain this reasoning about why Android is winning although Apple seems to be getting a lot of mindshare .. Android is winning simply because it can morph in many directions . This makes it a very powerful opponent to overcome since it is hard to fight against water .. Sun Tzu compared military tactics to Water in the Art of War Military tactics are like unto water; for water in its natural course runs away from high places and hastens downwards... Water shapes its course according to the nature of the ground over which it flows; the soldier works out his victory in relation to the foe whom he is facing. Therefore, just as water retains no constant shape, so in warfare there are no constant conditions. He who can modify his tactics in relation to his opponent and thereby succeed in winning, may be called a heaven-born captain. This is not merely an idealistic viewpoint and needs some explanation since it has profound implications for Apple, Nokia, LiMo, Bada and others Last quarter, US sales of Android phones beat the iPhone by about 7 percent. Mobilecrunch says that The real reason Android is outselling the iPhone: Android is everywhere. Gigaom adds that Android is the hottest ticket in town I agree and the reasons are because Android is (relatively) open than other platforms and it is designed to morph(transform) along many dimensions The competitive positioning of 'Open' is often hard to gauge but the company which succeeds in this strategy gets very significant rewards. Here is why: 1) Open means allowing others to add value to your platform or service 2) You need to be open since products and services evolve faster than you can plan for 3) They also evolve in unpredictable directions than the platform creator anticipated. 4) Once you accept this, then you have to consider that if products and services are evolving fast and in unpredictable directions (whether you like it or not), then it is better to have YOUR product evolve in the right directions (faster than a competitors) 5) Problem is of course: You don't know the direction, but by being like water(fluid) you leverage the community to morph your product Android can evolve in three directions(from the efforts of others): - Hardware(handset vendors) - Software(open source) and - Services(apps developers) Of course, Google maintains control over Android through the Android governance model. Thus, there is a tradeoff. But most people seem to accept the benefits of Android (in comparison to the Governance model) The tradeoff has tangible benefits because: - Google contributes code to Android. This makes a big difference - The level of abstraction / differentiation has shifted to higher levels anyway. In other words, very few people are expecting to make money from software alone. - Android provides a community of developers to those who adopt it Thus, the platform is able to morph through existing handset vendors(ex 20 Android phones from LG ), new entrants to the handset industry(Dell), Operators. The evolution continues beyond handsets to tablets and even android TVs The devices range from top of the range phones to 20$ phones on Amazon This has profound implications for other platforms because the greater the community, developer support and rate of evolution - the harder it is to compete against. In other words, it is now a race for Nokia, LiMo and others to compete against the rate of change of Android and that will be hard. And what about Apple and the iPhone? The iPhone will always have a place and a value but it cannot scale especially considering the recent harsher/closed strategies of Apple. As Anil Dash says: Secrecy does not scale Thus, I see that Android is already winning through a very fluid, Sun Tzu like strategy. Image: Sun Tzu comments welcome Update Android Catching Steam As Google Activates 2 Phones Per Second

Rudy and co are once again running the Mobile 2.0 event in Barcelona on June 17. As usual, it promises to be a great event. I am not attending this year but recommend it especially for its new developer focus

I have been way too tied up with projects and forthcoming books, but the ip3 conference in Toronto was too interesting to resist. I am giving the keynote at the ip3 conference in Toronto on the 21st of June.. As far as I can see, the iP3 conference is the first conference based on the iPhone, iPad and the iPod and also Toronto is a centre of excellence for design. Both factors will make this conference interesting. I have spoken at Toronto before and have many friends. So, look fwd to this. If you are there, please contact me and we can meet (ajit.jaokar at futuretext.com) My keynote abstract as below Invisible touch: The invisible impact of Apple, iPhone and iPad in transforming the ecosystem and the opportunities and challenges it creates for designers, developers and marketers On first impressions, the success of the iPhone could be attributed to it's User Interface. But the User Interface(touch) was just the starting point. The 'invisible' impact of the iPhone has transformed the ecosystem and has extended beyond touch(UI). Apple started with the customer experience and then worked backwards into the value chain i.e. content(including professionally generated content and user generated content), applications, device and network. Traditionally, these elements innovated within their own silos but the new apple ecosystem successfully managed to unify all these elements and create a new value chain. This transformation continues with the iPad impacting the publishing industry. This keynote will discuss what these trends mean going forward. It will span the ecosystem from UI, apps, content, iPad, iPhone 4 etc. It will also discuss the wider issues and challenges beyond the iPhone platform and the implications for designers, developers and marketers Title inspired by the excellent album by Genesis - Invisible touch :)

I believe that M2M (Machine to Machine) applications are an important part of the future of Telecoms. I spoke to a Telco exec who said that Operators are excited about M2M apps. This was interesting for me .. Until I asked him for the reason why .. He said something along these lines: Machines consume less data. They don't call the helpdesk. They pay their bills on time. Machines are 'one to many' connections (one person may have more than one connection). The end customer devices are simple (like Smart meters). This is all more revenue to Operators and less pain to manage it But this is sad .. And in my view, very limited thinking .. Should new applications and innovation be tied to limited date usage? If that's the only criteria (as it appears to be), it will stifle innovation I said before that: Now that the Data tsunami wars are over, the Operators will face more regulatory and customer pressure to deliver and there is no fallback(to the bandwidth hogs). After all, spectrum is a national resource and the entire discussion of new services like Machine to Machine applications should not come down to limited data usage. Connections to Operator are good but they are only the beginning and not an end in itself. Thoughts?

Earlier this week, I was speaking to a telecoms exec who said that the biggest problem in the industry is lack of spectrum, the data tsunami etc etc etc .. (Same old story - seen mainly from the Operator perspective .. ). At which point, I interrupted him and asked him:. Did he not mean that it was LAST week's biggest problem? In other words, now that the industry has accepted tiered pricing last week with AT&T (and I don't have any objections to it as long as it is transparent and specific applications are not banned) .. The data tsunami problem may be behind us .. So, NOW, the onus is on the Operators to deliver .. Since the tiered pricing structures exist. (Or will soon exist) everywhere. Ironically, this means that there will be MORE customer and regulatory pressures on Operators to be transparent and clear about their pricing All networks have a very basic problem i.e. it is hard to price a network service since it does not follow a basic 'cost plus' model. That simple reality is painfully apparent in another type if network.. Airlines .. On a recent trip to Berlin, I realized that the airline easyjet charges 19 pounds for a single piece of checkin baggage (i.e.. the first bag we check in). This is very ridiculous and adhoc and there is no real justification for that price (The same idea applies to pricing tickets very expensively close to the time of departure i.e. the pricing is independent of the cost of the ticket and also to complex tariffs on mobile devices) In fact, that's why fixed rate pricing worked in the first place i.e. customers understood it (the option was pricing which customers never understood and that meant they never used the services) Now that we have tiered pricing, we have the following effects: a) Operators will see profits and returns from their network investments b) But on the same token, they have now lost the excuse of the bandwidth hogs c) This means, they need to be more responsible for their shortcomings(there is no one to blame) d) Operators will need to be more transparent with their customer since there is an element of complexity One effect of this scenario is: Operator may ACCEPT the 'golden pipe model'(a money making pipe!). In other words, they will see a steady income from the tiered pricing structure and not be motivated to compete on the services front (which they will leave to handset vendors and developers since carriage will be more profitable). They will EXTEND the network to domains where the network itself has an advantage since once the network investment is made, the incremental costs are zero. This means areas like Machine to Machine - Internet of things/ Smart Grids/Secure Cloud/Mobile healthcare/ Digital signage/ Smart cars etc will be a priority Ultimately, this is good for the industry and also good for the Operator itself. But now that tiered pricing is being accepted and it has implications as I indicate above, the Operators may well be reminded of that old adage: Be careful what you wish for - you just might get it :) Image: A wishing well Source Stonehillgraphics

I have been thinking of this for a some time .. The traditional ways of classifying a device include Smart phone vs Feature phone. That classification no longer works in the current, more complex ecosystem. Hence, we could use the following classification: Feature phones: Predominantly voice and messaging phones which run on an RTOS(real time operating system) Sub smart phones: Phones which have a 'feature phone form factor' but have many 'smart phone like' features - Ex LG cookie Smart phones : Phones which have a range of high end features but provide a great user experience, they provide 'more' but are not overwhelming. They score high on 'out of the box experience', personalization, efficiency and exploration. This includes the iPhone, Blackberry and the Nokia N95 because they provide more features but not so much more that it becomes overwhelming to the user Finally, we now have a new class of phones (super smart phones - for the lack of a better word) - which could be described as 'Unlimited functionality' phones to the average user. This includes Nexus One, Nokia N8 etc Maybe 'super' is not the best word I mean more 'generative' Generative technologies: Technologies like personal computers that have the capacity to produce unprompted, user-driven change. For example, on a PC any person can write code, run that code on a variety of platforms, and share that code with anyone who might want it. In general, generative technologies are useful for performing tasks, adaptable, easy to master, permission-free, and share-able. In the name of security consumers are increasingly moving away from generative technologies like the PC and towards tethered ones like the iPhone. thoughts? PS: I know it is easy to debate the use of 'super' in this context and I could not find a better word. But i am more keen to explore the idea of a smart phone as 'more but not overwhelming' because that categorization keeps the phone within the consumer electronics domain whereas the 'super' takes it more in the PC domain Update stan wiechers suggested 'Experience phone'. I agree. Better definition than 'super'. See The Rise of the Experience Phone

Carnival of the mobilists no 225 at holly kolman's blog. The carnival continues to attract some great blogs (like Holly's blog) which I now follow with interest!

I spoke at the LTE world summit in Amsterdam and see my blog : The holy cow of net neutrality: Should Operators be the only ones feeling guilty about net neutrality and are we confusing net neutrality with tiered pricing? at LTE world summit in Amsterdam Tomorrow, I am spealing in Brussels at the 2nd Annual Internet of Things Europe 2010 - A Roadmap for Europe We have an interesting panel on The consumer ecosystem- how will IoT re-invent our lives? and I am looking forward to the discussion especially AlertMe - a company I am tracking with some interest Session 2: The consumer ecosystem- how will IoT re-invent our lives? In terms of the consumer perspective, how will IOT empower citizens experience and individual's capabilities? How will end user trust and personal experience drive the evolution of technological and application trends and architectures for the IOT? How could these new technologies affect our lives and well-being? How will 'green as a driver' affect IOT? What emerging innovations, technologies and market trends are being seen and are likely to emerge in the future? 10:40 - 10:55 Presentation Jim Morrish, Principal Analyst, Analysys Mason 10:55 - 12:00 Panel Discussion Dr Thorsten Staake, Associate Director , Auto-ID Labs Lorna Goulden , Creative Director, Philips Design Ajit Jaokar, CEO, Futuretext Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino, CEO and Co-Founder, Tinker Pilgrim Beart, Director and Co-founder, AlertMe The discussion below is from my talk at the session at Amsterdam but it also applies to the IOT discussion in Brussels. It explores Smart Grids from the perspective of the Internet and Telecoms players Any comments welcome Note I have a PhD / research interest in this topic. See The role of the Internet in future energy networks: Decentralization of Energy networks and insights for Smart Grids from Peer to Peer and Ubiquitous computing. Email me at ajit.jaokar at futuretext.com if you have some ideas for collaboration Introduction: We use the term 'LTE' loosely to mean next generation access networks. There are three players - Web(Google, Microsoft); Telco; Energy They have differing investment cycles: Years(web), Decade(telcos), DecadeS(Power) Federal funding, Customer awareness and Green agenda are the main drivers to Smart Grids A smart grid starts with a 'smart meter' which is capable of two way communications and lets the user and provider manage electricity consumption in a more granular way. If the customer's power consumption can be captured in a granular manner, the provider can offer specials/ discounts to the customer. The added potential of smart grids arises from knowing data trends and also extend power management to other devices. These synergies fit well into LTE and home gateways and this explains Verizon's emphasis on iPv6 Having said that, communication need not be directly with the energy company. It can be to the web via broadband which can be interesting The Internet converts hierarchies into networks. It also tends to convert systems into platforms. This means, innovation is driven at the edge of the network and not the core. Thus, when Power and Internet combine along with Telecoms, we have a disruptive scenario We have the same old question: Who owns the relationship to the customer, who owns the metadata from the customer etc Things get more interesting when we extend the network to the home devices. What gets wired(heating first), who controls the devices?(utility/ customer) Telcos: Verizon has a security focus(protecting data over the network), IP enabling metes(IPv6), partnership with smart meter maker Itron's radio mesh communications. AT&T takes a similar approach with partnership with SmartSynch and KORE Telematics . Cellular networks could be a more common choice for utilities to carry information from smart meters or collection points back to their control rooms, (Dave Mohler, chief technology officer for Duke Energy.). Initially, smart meters only help utilities cut the cost of sending workers out to check the meter but when integrated to home networks, customers can control devices like air conditioners, dryers, freezers and other appliances to curb consumption. Broadband stimulus grants are tied to net neutrality rules, which means networks have to allow users to connect any device to the network. But this also leads to a huge opportunity because now Telecoms can extend their reach into the Smart Grid through MTM (machine to machine) applications which will generate a much higher number of network connections. These may have less ARPU (i.e. average revenue per user) but a greater number of actual connections with no need to subsidise devices. Hence, they could be profitable. Co-operation is essential. "Ultimately, I think it would be great to see utilities and telecom providers cooperate to leverage exiting broadband and cellular networks to offer some sort of energy management service," said Ben Schuman, an analyst with Pacific Crest Securities. "But that would require an unprecedented degree of cooperation." Web systems like Microsoft Hohm - and Google Power meter: - Designed to help track your home energy consumption through the Web - In some cases(hohm), can make savings recommendations. - Analyze actual energy consumption data from your energy provider - Hohm will integrate with "Smart Plugs" that will enable detailed usage information about specific appliances, and the ability to control them remotely. "smart plugs," are a sort of smart power strip which would be used with electronic devices. - Business models could be information broker/ contextual advertising - Google Powermeter works with AlertMe Energy kit which enables them to access their energy consumption data on Powermeter, (conceptually like Google Analytics). Alternatively, consumers can utilise Powermeter their energy provider has an existing partnership with Google. - Home energy services are an example of the "Internet of things" Links http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/the-smart-home-part-i-5857/ http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/the-smart-home-part-ii-5875/ Notes: Originally these were taken from many sources and were designed as notes for my talk. If I have missed a source, please email me at ajit.jaokar at futuretext.com and I will link to it

This could be an interesting and controversial blog .. It elaborates a question I asked at the LTE world summit event in Amsterdam where I was an analyst / speaker. BTW, The Informa LTE world summit event is fast becoming a must attend event in the Telco space globally. It brings the Operator community together but also the rest of the ecosystem thinking about the 'Beyond 3G' vision. And it was a great event! I asked this question in the panel session Open Networks and Net Neutrality - Does it Prevent Operators from Developing a Subscriber Centric Pricing and Service Strategy?. The panelists were: Kim Kyllesbech Larsen, EVP Technology Service & International Network Economics,T-Mobile International, The Netherlands; Jonathan Morgan, Senior Director, Product Marketing, Starent Networks, USA(now Cisco), Dimitris Mavrakis, Senior Analyst, Informa Telecoms & Media, UK, John Yeomans, Director, First Capital, UK and Jean Claude Perrin - Vice President of LTE at Gemalto Essentially, my question was: Should Operators be the only people feeling guilty about net neutrality? and by extension - are we confusing tiered pricing with net neutrality? Below is an extended version of my argument elaborating the question .. The concept of Net Neutrality for Telecoms cannot be viewed in isolation .. According to wikipedia: Network neutrality (also net neutrality, Internet neutrality) is a principle proposed for user access networks participating in the Internet that advocates no restrictions by Internet Service Providers or governments on content, sites, or platforms, on the kinds of equipment that may be attached, and on the modes of communication allowed, as well as communication that unreasonably degrades other traffic. For most people, this is a valid definition .. However, putting this in content, Net neutrality originates in context of the Web/Internet. And today, ironically we find that the Web players are violating the net neutrality principles. Here are some examples: If Twitter is a platform, then Twitter should be agnostic of services i.e. in a purest sense, Twitter should let OTHERS create services on its platform and should itself focus on creating the ideal/agnostic platform. However, we find that increasingly Twitter is getting into the services game - for instance in its acquisition of Tweetie. NY times says(and I agree) Twitter, which has flourished thanks to tools built by outside developers, is taking more of those tools under its own wing. In a move that is sure to rattle its developers, Twitter has agreed to acquire Atebits, the start-up that makes the Tweetie apps for using Twitter on Mac computers and iPhones. The acquisition price was not disclosed. This signals a new strategy, as Twitter makes its first foray into providing a mobile and desktop client itself. On Friday, Twitter also announced that it helped Research In Motion build an official Twitter app for BlackBerrys. Also consider the Facebook-Zynga episode(Zynga is makers of Farmville based on Facebook ) and Zynga almost came close to leaving Facebook and now the two have a five year truce. The issue centers around Face book credits(facebook's currency) which FB wanted to push upon the developers(of which Zynga is one). Gigaom says .. By way of background, though Facebook and Zynga have had a mutually beneficial co-dependent relationship for the last couple years, it's gotten ugly lately. Facebook wants to push forward with its own standardized currency -- Facebook credits -- within applications on its platform. It sprung this on app developers at a particularly bad time, just after reducing functionality for them to notify their users, resulting in significant active usage drops. And worse, Facebook is taking a 30 percent cut of all credits, just like Apple does on its iPhone platform, but without justifying such a large share by adding new functionality or marketing beyond what it's long given away for free. App developers were particularly concerned that Facebook would, as it fully rolls out the credits program, require them to use it exclusively and disallow cheaper options like PayPal. Commercially, the key observation is: while the innovators and early adopters might care two hoots about using an "official app", it is the next wave of people that are the low-hanging fruit. So, we see that the NET players are violating the net neutrality principles .. Now, what are the implications for Telecoms? 1) By net neutrality principles, any device should be able to connect to the network. The network should not discriminate against a specific device or a service 2) However, in my view, that does not rule out tiered pricing. If we start with the proposition that the cellular network is not free i.e. it has value and if we agree to the idea that the network should not discriminate against a SPECIFIC application, then there is nothing which says that a network can have tiered pricing for ALL applications provided it is transparent to the customer. In other words, the idea of net neutrality needs to be separated from tiered pricing and this works as long as specific applications are not blocked and there is transparency for the customer 3) What could this mean in a wider context for Telecoms? Consider that any device can attach to the network. That's fine. But now, suppose the Operator sells a camera with a priceplan. The camera allows you to take video and pictures and upload them on 'one click' to the network. To do this of course, we need the network to be used. So, there needs to be a 'policy management function' on the camera which provides the network services for a fee. That may well be the SIM card but conceptually, such a policy management function could exist. Note that this is not to say that ALL cameras should have a SIM card. It is saying that the NETWORK OPERATOR could get in the business of selling connected cameras. Conceptually, this is the same as what Twitter and Facebook are doing 4) There are other ways of course to handle the whole issue of data deluge which is also related to the whole subject. Example - Fixed line demise: Could we be wrong after all? 5) One could argue that the net neutrality argument strictly applies to the packet level and not always to the service layer. This would put DPI (Deep packet inspection) under net neutrality scrutiny and that's a valid argument I had to leave the conference after this session so could not stay much longer for other questions but someone asked me outside what Operator I worked for :) They don't read my blog(OpenGardens) obviously. But seriously, its exactly BECAUSE I talk of OpenGardens that I can see both sides of the issue that I could raise the question To conclude: 1) Net neutrality is a word which comes with too much baggage. Perhaps it is time to create a new term and to reframe the discussion. At the LTE conference, Dean Bubley mentioned 'Happy Pipes' instead of 'Dumb Pipes'. That overcomes the dichotomy of 'Over the top' vs. 'Under the ground'. I posted this same idea in 2006 when I said that Pipes are so Mobile Web 1.0 ... because in a user generated content world, there is no 'un pipe' 2) If viewed in a wider context, then no one really is 'net neutral' including many of the Web players like Facebook and Twitter 3) Transparency is the key .. as is customer acceptance. Today, when people talk of moving away from fixed rate pricing .. they forget the options (non use by the customer - as many Telecoms services like MMS will testify). Nothing will work unless we get the customer on our side! In either case, a debate is valid and I think we are mixing two things: confusing net neutrality with tiered pricing and maybe they need to be separated. Comments welcome Image source: Rick London/Joel Coughlin