Posted 7:10 a.m. by Jim Courtney

Announcements over the past few days have triggered Andy to write an excellent summary post on the state of the Minute Stealers market space.

In my book we're not done seeing the end of the price drop for minutes, but we are seeing the end of where profits are found simply in minutes. Smarter companies like Migg33 and client Mobivox (as Alec Saunders pointed to) are able to leverage minutes to benefit their community members with added features and more than just minutes vs. a Jajah which only has people who want more for less. In the long run using minutes as a loss leader will be the coin of the realm, not simply minutes for minutes sake, because of what I've labeled the "no-loyalty" crowds modus operandi.

That crowd goes to whomever offers free next.

And Alec comments on the latest move coming from last week's Jajah-Jingl merger. I'm with Alec and will stay with Mobivox, who has almost 400 points-of-presence in 30 countries, including a local one in Toronto.

It's a good move for Jajah, but it's unfortunate that dial-in numbers are available in such a small number of markets — just the USA, UK, Germany, Italy, Austria and Israel.  For now, I intend to continue to use Mobivox since they've provided a local Ottawa number for me to call. 

And Mobivox gives me direct access to all my Skype Contacts free as well.

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Posted 11:49 p.m. by Jim Courtney

Bill Gates keynote this evening of course introduced Windows Vista; however, it is not simply an operating system "upgrade" but rather a transformational product that brings media management and storage to the consumer audience. You can find more details in the multiple posts that will flow out; however, at the Bloghaus we were able to not only see but work with the forthcoming HP TouchSmart PC -- representative of the many new types of hardware platforms that will be introduced with the Windows Vista launch. Two pictures: a side view ....

....and your morning weather report.

Features include:

• touch screen


• full support of TV, music, radio, photography, video and other home entertainment media


• Sports Lounge to manage your professional sports fan activities


• XBox controller support to fly around 3D images in Windows Live Local.

They seem to have left out any voice communications hardware, leaving an opening for Skype phones and related add-ons. One thing is certain: devices such as this will accelerate, but converge, the trend mentioned in this evening's keynote where the younger demographic spends more time on the Internet than watching conventional TV.

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