You have to like how Canada's wireless industry has decided to "address" the local number portability issue. After being told in February by the federal government that WLNP had to be addressed "expeditiously", the industry announced with much fanfare today it will come up with a plan by Sept. 1. But it must be pointed out that coming up with a plan and actually offering WLNP to consumers are two completely different things. You can create a plan but it can take years to make it actually happen - exhibit A is the U.S. By making a big deal of a "plan", the wireless industry is trying to make itself look like the good guy but anyone who gets too excited is fooling themselves.

If VON Canada was to receive a report card, I'd give it about a B. One of the things it lacked was star power. Other than Skype's Niklas Zennstrom, the keynotes lacked sizzle. With a new event - VON Canada is only two years old - there needs to be a good reasons for people to attend and for the media to cover it. It felt like the Pulver group was trying too hard to make VON Canada a big event in that the schedule seemed stretched and the venue in the Metro Toronto Convention Centre was too big. It's kind of like the rule for throwing a good party: rather than holding it in a giant hall where there's a danger it can feel like it's empty, you hold in a small venue and give people the impression it's packed and, therefore, the place to be.
On a positive note, I talked with Digium CEO Mark Spencer earlier today about his company's plan to disrupt the PBX world. While Digium has its challenges, I like the fact they are trying to make a difference and shake up an industry dominated for years by folks such as Nortel. And you've got to like any tech company headquartered in Huntsville, Ala. just for the novelty factor!

With 600,000 downloads of Opera's newest browser - Opera 8 - in the first 48 hours of its availability, what are Internet users saying about the browser market. Clearly, the strong interest in Opera 8 and the fact Firefox has been downloaded 46 million times suggests many people are looking for an alternative to Internet Explorer. I wonder how many of the these downloads are a result of curiosity and how many are people seriously looking to replace IE. While Opera and Firefox have their shortcomings, there is enough discontent with IE that many people don't see the negatives as an obstacle. One thing about technology is that innovative products pick up momentum from all different corners. Look at how Google came out of left field to dominate the search engine market. With more than 90% of the browser market, IE is still king but there's real competition out there so Bill Gates better do something dramatic with the next version of IE or watch a pillar of Microsoft's strength crumble.

When you think about VOIP's adoption hurdles, there's the usual suspects: new technology, access to 911, the challenge using existing phone jack,s and lack of education about features. Another issue slightly off the radar screen is home alarm systems and whether they will work with VOIP rather than a regular phone line. Many consumers buy their alarm service from an ILEC so jumping to VOIP can be even more complex. Give Vonage credit for tackling this obstacle through a deal recently signed with Alarm.com, which provides home and office security service. Alarm.com has started to market both services to customers to break the ILEC grip on the business.
This deal is all part of VOIP's evolution from bleeding edge to a mainstream service. A colleague asked me yesterday what VOIP penetration will look like in five years given all the hype. At first, I said "10%, 15%" but then thought about how the cablecos are aggressively getting into VOIP and offered an estimate of 25%. The funny thing is I could be totally wrong - being too high or too low - or on the mark. At this point, it's difficult to determine how the market is going to unfold. The technology is way too new and the last thing anyone should do is get carried away on euphoria - particularly when you think about all the bullish e-commerce forecasts during the dot-com boom.