Hi. While this blog is a part of Seed Catalyst’s website, I realised over the initial few weeks that a lot of you are first introduced to the firm via the blog rather than our home page.
So to introduce myself - I’m a business consultant working with early stage technology firms to help streamline their strategy and go-to-market approach and support them for fund raising.
With this blog, I aim to capture key market trends that I see in the industry, the ecosystem and cross-plays in some of the more interesting and upcoming sectors, as well as cover interesting companies that I meet.
I will also be addressing vexing and interesting valuation and deal/term-sheet structures that would be of interest to technology start-ups at various stages of their growth.
So let’s get started...
Subscribe in a Reader
Are femtocells on way to the plateau of productivity
A news article that caught my attention earlier today was the launch of AT&T’s ‘microcell’ which enables users to convert their home broadband connection into a mini cell site right in their house. The aim is essentially to improve services for the frustrated iPhone users who have been facing connectivity issues due to overloaded network capacity. The microcell will allow upto 10 phone lines and for a certain price, users can get unlimited voice minutes for calls made from home.
Few questions:
1. When at home, won’t the users be using their Wi-Fi connection for all iPhone usage?
2. Specifically for voice, aren’t there VoIP applications which essentially make the 3G connection redundant even within the home (I know this is not really applicable for the 3-Skype deal we have in the UK since, as I’ve been told, the VoIP calls are actually circuit switched in spite of being originated within a skype client! I guess that’s VoIP over 3G)
3. How is this any different from femto-cells? Why complicate matters by introducing new terminology.
I remember writing an article a while back when Vodafone had launched their femtocell gateway. They had two pricing models - a one-off purchase and a monthly rental. At that point in time, my question was - Will the customer really be willing to invest in a femtocell gateway for their home? Frankly I still have the same doubt.
At the end of the day, the story is essentially that the telecom operator has poor network capacity and hence the end user is being made to pick up the cost of an additional gateway. Were it a feature of the triple-play gateway provided by telecom operators like BT, France Telecom etc, I can see a demand for it - I can also see people talking about the feature and wanting it. But to go out and purchase and additional piece of equipment..well...
The problem with the integrated triple-play gateway, on the other hand, is that it is being provided to the end user by the cable/ IP service provider who may or may not have an interest in providing femtocell connectivity in the gateway. Hence, I mentioned femto enablement as one of the desirable features of my dream Android-Motorola set top box (http://bit.ly/ctkEhu)(http://bit.ly/9sZjyB) – after all they are two of the key players who now have a presence across the spectrum – mobile, internet, TV.
A news article that caught my attention earlier today was the launch of