FORD: Kindle Flames beyond iPhone

By Carl Ford

When bandwagons come by I let them pass.  After the announcement of the 3G iPhone many of my friends could have passed for Apple employees.  And if there had been Apple T-Shirts that said "3G & me" they would have worn them anywhere.

It's not that I do not admire the iPhone.  Apple's execution of getting a device built cheaply in China and adding the value with software developed in the States is brilliant. Politicians all over America should be singing their praises. 

But to me, it's just a phone...

Okay, it's not.

It's a trend. And the trend is nomadic Internet use over wireless broadband networks. 

I joined this trend with my purchase of Amazon's Kindle. For the old price of the iPhone, I have a web-browsing device that is on Sprint's EVDO Whispernet. There are no monthly fees. However, if I want to buy things to read, the Kindle is a nomadic point of sale for Amazon.

At the big picture level the iPhone and the Kindle are a semi-closed device on the Internet. The Internet is a network to inter-network so the migration to device specific devices is part of our future.

Tom Evslin suggests on his blog that this is a model for wireless devices of the future particularly with GPS Navigation devices. Fellow blogger Aswath Rao, points out that the Navigon 7100 has an embedded service for traffic updates.  And with the new Panasonic WiFi cameras you can expect some business development from the wireless industry in that space as well.

The company doing the most interesting business development is Verizon with its Open Development initiative. 

Verizon is looking for things other than phones that can benefit from a mobile network. In my humble opinion, this is going to be where real revenue growth occurs; after all most of us have cell phones already.

As Verizon hunts for its version of the Kindle, their strategy looks for applications not associated with end users. Verizon Wireless Retail has that primary responsibility. What are applications that are not end user oriented? According to Verizon's Tony Lewis, some wireless sensors will be implemented on tanks (and tankers?) containing liquids later this year. Not as sexy as the iPhone, but a new market for Verizon to be sure.

Verizon's Open Development initiative is designed to certify devices for connection to their network in one month. Verizon has also joined the LiMo Foundation to deliver a new generation of mobile devices. This is not Google Android as many have reported. Google Android has been a great place for the disenfranchised to aggregate and await their shot at being on the wireless web. And these two efforts might converge.

But the Verizon device strategy has very high table stakes, a minimum of $200K to play. However, I am of the belief that Verizon is hoping to kindle some interest with partners to steal the show at CES next year.

Carl Ford is Strategic Advisor and Community Developer for FierceMarkets. His words of wisdom can be found at www.carlford.net.