Ch Ch Ch Changes

The communications industry just keeps on taking new twists and turns.

One of the latest has Best Buy getting into the service provider business with the acquisition of business services provider Speakeasy. (See our cover story.) While the idea of a consumer electronics retailer buying a service provider at first may seem a strange marriage, it makes sense when you think about the importance of branding and the fact that most SMBs are just looking for simple, one-source communications solutions. In my mind, a retailer like OfficeMax or Staples, which is more targeted to the worker than is Best Buy (which for me brings to mind music and flat-screen TVs), might’ve been a better match for a service provider targeting SMBs. But, whoever is doing the selling, offering branded, end-to-end solutions is clearly the way much of communications is going.

If Best Buy can put together a marketing campaign that will appeal to SMBs and then provide the kind of support SMBs require, maybe this could signal something important. After all, when newcomers to the communications scene like Google and Vonage hit their stride, they started something that was truly disruptive.

Then again, this deal could end up as just another blip on the communications landscape. The Best Buy strategy here kind of reminds me of Kinko’s move to offer video conferencing services at its retail outlets. It was an entirely new type of company entering the communications space, so people talked a lot about it when it first happened, but in the end, it didn’t really have any significant impact on SMBs, video conferencing or even Kinko’s bottom line.

In addition to the Best Buy/Speakeasy story this issue, be sure to check out Bob Wallace’s piece on interactive TV. Yes, you heard me right, interactive TV. Word is that Time Warner Cable, for one, is preparing to launch interactive TV services on a commercial basis this year.

After having seen so many interactive TV efforts come and go, I can’t help being a little skeptical about interactive TV. However, the fact that so many programs — including “American Idol,” “Top Design” and others — now successfully are integrating customer interaction into their programming via cell phone texting, makes the idea of interactive TV success seem a lot more plausible.

This issue also includes a couple of great guest pieces by our analyst friends Craig Clausen and Geoff Wilbur from New Paradigm Resources Group Inc., and Al Boschulte and Victor Schnee from Probe Financial Associates Inc.

The NPRG guys offer in these pages a piece about how the CLECs have gone establishment. Not only is this piece informative, but it’s a very fun read. (See “Competitive Carriers Join the Establishment”.) PFA, meanwhile, has partnered with xchange to deliver a piece about how wireless pioneer and industry tough-guy Qualcomm is adapting to new market realities. (See “A Kinder, Gentler Qualcomm?”.) The folks at PFA are among my favorite industry pundits because they always bring a fresh perspective, and this piece is certainly no exception.

I hope you enjoy the above-referenced pieces — and a whole lot more — in this issue of xchange.

Until next time,

Paula Bernier
Editor in Chief

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