Employee work habits are radically diverging from historical patterns. Anywhere–the emergence of ubiquitous connectivity–is changing both where people work and how they collaborate. Remote working is becoming a prerequisite for workers. However, companies have been slow to react, resulting in lower productivity and isolated employees.

According to a Yankee Group survey, nearly three-quarters of workers believe allowing employees to work from home benefits the company. In addition, the majority of workers indicate that the ability to work from home is the single most important thing their company could do to increase their productivity. Employees are demanding flexibility, and the companies that fail to react to this trend will be at a severe competitive disadvantage in the war for talent.

Earlier today, Zeus Kerravala and I hosted a webinar about the workforce of tomorrow. We discussed employees’ technological, social and professional needs and how to keep them connected. The presentation included:

• The pitfalls of and connectivity solutions for remote working
• Framework for mobilizing the workforce
• Recommendations for companies

The webinar runs about an hour: audio (mp3) and slides (pdf).

I, like many others have often asked if Microsoft should get out of the Zune business. Their first generation hardware was little more than a rebranded Toshiba Gigabeat and the second generation offered a less than gasp inducing improved navigation button.

While the hardware had been less than impressive the software has evolved into a social networking platform. Zune has focused on community with an attractive and immersive interface that aids in discovery of new content. If you have not yet had the opportunity to use the software I recommend giving it a try. You can create a profile without being a Zune pass member, which is not for everyone.

Unfortunately, in order to compete in the cutthroat digital audio player space a company must have a killer experience and cutting edge hardware (Which is why the new Sony Walkman is likely to again be subjugated to also-ran status). Microsoft may finally have cracked the code with the just announced Zune HD.

The Zune HD will mimic the iPod Touch insomuch as it will have a fully integrated web browser (IE) and WiFi (a Zune staple). But the Zune will also feature technology the current iPod Touch lacks such as – an OLED screen and an HD radio tuner with tagging.

The HD radio piece is a rather interesting one as Zune will be the first portable HD radio on the market. More importantly than being the first, combining HD radio, song tagging, and a subscription service create a powerful message for Zune. A Zune pass subscriber can tag a song on the radio and when in WiFi range download it for free and listen to it ad infinitum. This differentiates the service from streaming players like Last.fm or Napster and makes connectivity and the subscription service more valuable.

If Microsoft can allow restrictionless sharing of music between Zune subscribers (the infamous activity once referred to as squirting) while bringing the social interface of Zune from the web to the device they may finally gain bigger market traction.

Could a large screen and multimedia features position the device as a gaming console as well? The incorporation of the Zune store on Xbox makes it clear Microsoft would like to tap that audience in some fashion. If Microsoft can follow the Sony model of combining the power of the PSP and the PS3 with Zune and Xbox 360 a whole new audience of buyers may beckon.

This is a huge step forward for Zune but we must do a reality check. The DAP space is mature and growth has slowed significantly. Yankee Group survey data shows many iPhone users have begun to use their handset as the primary way to listen to music. It is expected users of other smartphone platforms will exhibit similar behavior on a smaller scale. Thus, the  evolution of Zune towards a multimedia platform will be necessary for it to compete and Zune HD is an important step in that direction. Zune HD will have its work cut out for it as it continues to face stiff competition with the iPod Touch, multimedia handsets, and MIDs. However, if the platform, service, and experience prove successful perhaps the outlandish notions of a Zune phone may not seem so unreasonable.

Verizon announced today that it was spinning off more than 3 million access lines in 14 states. Those assets then will be immediately acquired by Frontier Communications. It’s a move that Yankee Group has been advocating for more than a year.

By spinning off the largely rural assets Verizon acquired from GTE nine years ago, the company is able to focus much of its wireline assets on markets where FiOS makes sense. Or at least more sense for a publicly traded company that always has a spotlight on it.

For Frontier the move is fraught with risk (just ask anyone in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont that has lived through the Fairpoint acquisition). It also represents an extremely bold move by a traditionally conservative company in a segment of the market more buttoned down than Augusta National’s membership committee.

Having watched the slow grind that is rural U.S. telco consolidation play out over the past decade, perhaps this deal may finally be the kick start this long overdue process needs.

I’ve spent many days over the past 20 years talking to and observing executives in the rural telco market. They are virtually all highly likeable, salt-of-the-earth type people who truly care about the communities in which they live. Most serve as one-man Chambers of Commerce–and yes, they’re almost always men and Frontier having a woman CEO is a unique twist.

In segment where scale is increasingly important, vendors often dabble then flee at the thought of serving 900+ clients buying one box at a time and the federal government is about to pour a good chunk of the multi-billion broadband stimulus dollars, having fewer operators makes too much sense to ignore.

Wholesale is often viewed as the butt end of the telecom industry. But signs of health are legion: The boom in new submarine cables, the growth of mobile and fixed traffic (both voice and data), and the global sprawl of carrier hotels and data centers. All good stuff for those reselling digital commodities into the telecom supply chain.

Of course, here I’m speaking of traditional wholesale: Capacity, minutes and space. Still, this is now a big boys’ game. Only control over monstrous volumes offers adequate margin protection.

When we last met, iBasis CEO Ofer Gneezy inadvertently reminded me of model Linda Evangelista. She famously stated that models don’t get out of bed for less than $10,000. Ofer claims that in international wholesale you need at least 5 billion minutes to be taken seriously and – crucially – be profitable.

He’s probably right – if you’re into dumb wholesale. But there’s a big difference between what’s smart and dumb in today’s vibrant wholesale market.

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I think one of the first reports I ever wrote for Yankee Group six years ago commented on Latin American executives who still get their secretaries to type their emails. Maybe we have moved on a bit but some habits are hard to break. Executives may actually use their Blackberrys but now the issue is “who else gets to use one?”

RIM invited a number of analysts to their annual Wireless Enterprise Symposium event in Orlando. This event brings together enterprise clients — lots of CIOs — operators and developers to hear the latest announcements and pick up on the latest mobile enterprise (and Blackberry) trends.

The expected crowd was around 5,000 and it certainly looked like the organizers achieved their objective. I didn’t get an official count of Latin American attendance but the US Immigration official at Miami airport told me on Monday that he had seen several come by that morning for the same event. Since the Miami immigration hall is huge, that must mean lots of Latin American attendees. Certainly I frequently heard Spanish and Portuguese being spoken in the corridors.

RIM set up an informal roundtable for some LA-oriented analysts (including your correspondent) to talk to Latin American developers who were attending the show. There were the usual complaints about operators (can’t live with them; can’t live without them) and a couple of complaints about RIM but surprisingly few. These were passionately devoted Blackberry developers (at least those that RIM assembled for the roundtable).

The surprise was that they still reported some client prejudices about handhelds and enterprise mobility that I thought were going away at least among large enterprise clients:

·         “Blackberrys are only for executives.”

·         “I can’t give something that expensive to a worker.”

·         “These things are only for email and workers don’t need email.”

·         And my personal favorite… “I can’t give my subordinate a device that’s the same as mine or costs the same.”

(The later opens up a lively debate about whether RIM should introduce a “bargain basement” Blackberry to pander to this prejudice or stick to their strategy until these dinosaur-managers come around — or get wiped out!)

The cases weren’t isolated and they certainly weren’t exclusively small companies. Some developers reported that SMB’s were MORE open to enterprise mobility but this tended to be in smaller markets where large companies are more likely to be either branches of multinationals with no local power or entrenched family businesses.

Certainly it was clear despite evangelizing by vendors and thousands of PowerPoint slides by the analyst community, broad-scale enterprise mobility isn’t yet a business decision rather than some sort of emotional status-related decision. But this shouldn’t have us give up hope (nor stem the PowerPoint flow — analysts have to eat too).

Prejudice can only be cured by education.

Frankly, this is a role — and an opportunity — for the operators.

The original Kindle: A flawed consumer device, saved by ubiquitous connectivity

The blogosphere today is abuzz about the New York Times article claiming that New big-screen eBook readers may help save the newspaper business. Techcrunch claims it is a hopeless search for a non-existent lifeline for the news, not the paper business. ZDNet claims that it really is a Trojan Horse to tackle the margin-rich textbook business. Wow, I had no idea. Next time you see a college textbook mogul let me know.

I own an original Kindle. Its ergonomic flaws have been documented by many, including the too-large next and previous page buttons, the lack of a place to hold the device, and the poor fit and finish of the device itself. Compared with its main competitor, the Sony Reader Digital Book, the original Kindle feels cheap and poorly designed.

But regardless of its drawbacks, I use my Kindle quite a bit and promote it as a worthwhile consumer device in my Anywhere presentations. Why? Because connectivity is its killer app. I typically describe as “a flawed consumer device saved by ubiquitous connectivity.”

Let me explain.

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