Messaging

Microsoft to launch collaboration software partner plan

Microsoft is launching its new online flagship service concept in what it calls the “Deskless Worker.” The new suite is designed for the entry-level Exchange and Sharepoint candidates who often don’t use Microsoft at all because of the cost and complexity of running their own versions of the server software.

Microsoft is working to promote a revenue-sharing scheme with partners that will then benefit from the revenue stream in the same way they’d have profited from selling the server software. This latter piece is a critical component of the idea, since it rectifies one of the challenges Microsoft has faced in promoting SaaS versions of traditional server applications.

This launch jumps the gun on Cisco and other rumored entrants into the online collaborative service space, and it likely indicates a competitive collision in this area at the end of this year and ranging through 2009.

On FiOS growth and Verizon strategies…

Verizon reported earnings that were higher than expected, but not a blow-out. The most interesting numbers released were for FiOS, which added over 200,000 customers in the quarter and is now approaching the three-quarters-of-a-million mark. And, like AT&T did earlier, Verizon is showing off some strategies that it hopes will expand not only its FiOS offering but also transform its revenue model overall. In fact, we think Verizon’s stuff might be more interesting in this latter zone than AT&T’s was. An example is Verizon’s desire to broaden text messaging from the mobile SMS framework of today to a user-centric and virtually universal service, blurring the boundaries between instant messaging and SMS forever and presumably increasing the appetite for both. The strategy would be smart because of points made in earlier entries here; mobile data services in general have not taken off in many markets except in the youth sector. Since IM is popular with business users, Verizon hopes that creating “IM FMC” it can broaden the use of mobile services for things other than voice. Verizon has a similar strategy in gaming, where it plans to have a hosted game set that can be played at home, from a laptop portably, or from a mobile device. Finally, Verizon plans to introduce much more proactive home network management, for the user themselves through automatic discovery and linking of compatible devices and for the operator through TR-069 to provide delivery management for high-value services. Verizon’s spend per FiOS customer is in excess of $800, and so the company is eager to find new ways to create revenue from those users.