Paul Nguyen
Personal Information
Paul Nguyen
Student ICT in Business
paulquoc@hotmail.com
Group Project
Research Questions
- Is Google dependent on other companies and/or partnerships?
- Is Google a centralized or decentralized company?
- How is the working environment within Google?
- Why does Google adapt to the Chinese government
Driving Forces
Scenario
Learning Log
Object from the Future
Netgear Skype WiFi Phone
The object represents a product, that over-time, can grow towards a more mature product that could "conquer" the world. Products, e.g. Skype, were very revolutionary in the beginning without any solid base of users. Nowadays, Skype is the leading VOIP company that has marketed this new phenomenon and just been bought by world's largest online market place (e-bay).
The Netgear Skype WiFi Phone is a mobile phone that enables you to make free Internet calls to anyone else in the world who has Skype. Instead of using a headset or USB phone that is connected to a PC, the mobile Skype phone uses a wireless network to setup a connection and is pre-loaded with Skype.
Security
Skype uses secure and encrypted communication so nobody’s able to listen in. The NETGEAR Skype WiFi Phone is designed to deploy Wireless Encryption Protocol (WEP) for WiFi security.
Free HotSpots
With the introduction of the free WiFi hotspots for Internet Access also the potential for the Skype WiFi phone increases. On almost every international airport hotspots are available and can be accessed freely
Besides the arising hotspots, even cities are nowadays being provided with wireless internet coverage. Google already has made a bit to provide the entire city of San Fransisco with WiFi . And the city of Leiden also have started similar projects in the late 2003 with their own wireless internet
Skype WiFi Phone Potential
With more and more consumers adopting the WiFi networks at home and governments allowing companies to setup WAN/MAN networks for urban areas, the potential of mobile appliances connecting to this WiFi protocol is booming. Why pay for a monthly subscription fee while there is a (free) network that can be used for making the same phone calls? Traditional telephonecompanies (Telco's) fear these technology because in the past they had invest in landlines and now see that it can be done much cheaper, more efficient and everyone can do it.
Advantages
- Free Calls to Skype users
- Can call to landlines by use of Skype Out
- Can receive calls by use of Skype In
- Mobile functionality
Disadvantages
- No standardized protocol to call to other VOIP providers (Yahoo, GTalk)
- Calls to mobile numbers are very high
- No worldwide/national WiFi coverage
Conclusion
The Netgear Skype WiFi phone has a bright future. That is one thing that is clear. It can be a challenger towards the mobile phone market because of its cheaper call rates (as long if it is to landlines) and investments can be kept at a low. But as long as there is no worldwide or national WiFi coverage the mobile WiFi phone will not be a big hit. For now this object of the future will be for the early adopters.
