Disqus - Latest Comments for njar

Re: Serving Developers in a New Way

njar — Fri, 13 Mar 2015 07:55:24 -0000

Great move Carter. You'll add huge value in this role.

Re: Mobile World Congress: Worth it for a day?

njar — Thu, 26 Feb 2015 03:37:12 -0000

Well I for one will hope that my week long trip from the west coast of the US is made all the brighter by bumping into you, press pass or not. (I can't believe I remembered my Disqus creds. I also need to change my horrible photo).

Re: Paying for your meal via the restaurant’s own app: Why Delos Solutions are rocking my world!

njar — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 08:21:43 -0000

LGE diet coke - you really are a creature of habit!!

Re: Amdocs buys MX Telecom for $104m – Details

njar — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 09:35:18 -0000

Re: I’m having a baby! Your help required…

njar — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 03:21:49 -0000

Awesome news big guy!

Re: New: The Mobile Application Review newsletter

njar — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 10:50:52 -0000

you talk about 750MB as fair use...

I pay Telstra $10 for 150MB/month..

Oh, and if I want to upgrade to 300MB, it's not $20, its $30.. How in hells name does that make sense?

Re: Say it ain’t so? A Red Bull MVNO?

njar — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 21:41:36 -0000

I think if they go the true MVNO route this will be a FAIL. I bet Virgin wouldn't try and re create their MVNO offering if they were to do it today..

Red Bull are one of today's leaders in through the line advertising, but for me they've always failed to really leverage their customer relationships as well as they could do. They have a strong brand and useful access to exclusive content which they could very easily own - i.e. sponsorship created content from extreme sports etc. etc. As Gareth suggests - their CRM is/will be lacking right now I'd imagine.. I'd create a kick ass digital & mobile content and lifestyle type service, providing free or clever content to users via carrier portals or D2C and via web/email etc.. Ideally I want to receive offers and info from them which endears me to the brand, makes me feel fuzzy inside, and actually benefits me. If they are holding an event near me, or are launching a new fmcg, or are sponsoring an sports person I like, I want to know about it.. After all I'm a young(ish), active extreme sportsman with expendable cash to burn - I expect i fit their demographic..

I might have to dust off the pitch I wrote for Amp'd..

MVNO - Fail.
Properly mobilising and digitally enhancing their brand - Win.

Re: Meeting with giffgaff’s management team: Thoughts and a possible way ahead

njar — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 21:57:16 -0000

Ewan, I love your optimism.. I think I've pretty much successfully called the failure of every one of the MVNO's you've ever written about! Extreme/Disney/M&S/Blyk/Dot etc... Tesco have economy of scale and more buying power than pretty much any company in the UK. Virgin have/had a first to market/ish advantage.. I personally liked Amp'd, but it was clearly doomed given the way they went about trying to build a brand from the ground up.. I'll grant you this one looks quite interesting, but do you genuinely think they can compete?

Re: Late Summer in Chiswick

njar — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 20:57:14 -0000

makes me all nostalgic!

Re: Touchnote launches on iPhone to connect your photos to the real world

njar — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 02:40:22 -0000

This is really slick on the iPhone.. It'll be an awesome way for me to send stuff to my parents and family back in the UK whilst being able to avoid buying aussie stamps! I've seen a few of these offerings in the past, mostly working using MMS as the inbound transport mechanism, and mostly they struggled. It seems the time is much more ripe for doing this now though given the technology evolution.. Hope this one is a winner!

I actually think that the price is entirely reasonable given what you get for it.. Would be nice if the cash transaction could go through the iTunes payment system to make it easier to click and forget.

Ed - sure you'll read this.. sorry I missed you when I was back in the UK in June/July. Lets try and catch up over the coming weeks!

Re: Video: Rafe Blandford’s Nokia World Tour – Part 1

njar — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 03:08:24 -0000

His knowledge base on this stuff is stunning... Good piece!

Re: Help: Worldwide SMS Campaign agency/aggregator required

njar — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 10:54:24 -0000

Hi Ivan,

If you're calling an international number, are you still only charged if the call actually connects? Issues I can imagine happening... not all plans allow calls to overseas numbers, furthermore what happens if the user calls from a landline, or if their number is withheld, or can't for whatever reason be detected.. Theoretically a work around to global inbound comms, but a more sensible approach might be to just use a long number, and accept that many users will have to pay an international rate to send to it!

Re: MyTokTok is generating buzz, keep an eye on it

njar — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 21:48:34 -0000

Interesting back end tech... frightful use case.

Re: What happens when you use a pickaxe to operate your N86

njar — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 19:37:26 -0000

Don't go iPhone... 1 month in and I'm totally over it. Bring on some decent android phones.. Oh and Nokia, up your game. I miss you.

Re: Only the best and most expressive vandalism

njar — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 21:20:43 -0000

ah the understated chic and cool of Chiswick. Even the the graffiti artists are polite and mildy humourous!

Re: What was your best phone ever? Here’s mine!

njar — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 07:42:31 -0000

Nokia 5110.. up and down and across the screen only way to get top score on Snake if i remember right..

Love the way the cover falling off these nokia's acted as shock absorbance when you dropped them..

Re: SpinVox declined our video video offer; We won’t be participating in demo

njar — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 07:10:44 -0000

I need to get to at least 50 on flight control before i can show my face at Firemint.. :)

Re: SpinVox declined our video video offer; We won’t be participating in demo

njar — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 06:57:07 -0000

i know i know! I am using lots of the office wifi.. but don't tell the boss!

Re: SpinVox declined our video video offer; We won’t be participating in demo

njar — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 19:41:45 -0000

haha indeed! BTW you'll be pleased to hear i capitulated and hooked myself up with a shiny phone. Yes yes I know.. about time. unlocked $870.. not cheap! But so far so good.. Ah get this though.. telstra $10/month for 150mbs.... BAH

Re: SpinVox declined our video video offer; We won’t be participating in demo

njar — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 19:08:14 -0000

can't u have a hidden cam in a flower on your lapel? haha :)

Re: [Insert another 'SpinVox bashing' post here]

njar — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 00:30:34 -0000

What and your iPhone wasn't made in a sweat shop?!

Re: [Insert another 'SpinVox bashing' post here]

njar — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 00:28:00 -0000

Do they have a deal with Telstra? Or was this hypothetical? I'm on Telstra and am none the wiser..

Re: Outlaw should get me across the Atlantic

njar — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 21:39:14 -0000

check out the Con Iggulden books about Caesar and Genghis Khan.. Expect they'll be up your street.. Excellent reads :)

Re: SpinVox: Quick industry opinion via Twitter

njar — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 08:46:03 -0000

This is a bit of a storm in a tea cup from my perspective.. I've always respected JW, and to some extent SpinVox (I can appreciate if nothing else the work they would have done to get even the carrier intergration sorted out)... For me the real issue is that SpinVox sounds like it's in real financial trouble.. Further investment - good money after bad? Or call it quits? Aquistion target for someone to come in and buy the carrier relations on the cheap?

Re: Can SpinVox spin their way out of this?

njar — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 08:54:16 -0000

@Barry-Jon.. It was a piece by Alex (welcome back Alex)..

Anyone who's worked in voice/ivr etc knows how hard speech recognition is.. don't they?

Cinema - "Please state the name of your nearest town"
Me - "RICHMOND"
Cinema - "Did you say 'WOLVERHAMPTON/TIMBUKTU"
Me - "TAXI"

Don't think I was ever under any illusion they weren't using farmed transcribers (any different to Apple sweat shops in China?), of course the interesting part is how much of it is actually automated. I bet they got too busy too soon, and have not had time to do anything other than keep majority transcribing. Do wonder where all that funding went mind you.. wow. I believe they have some cool in country on carrier deals in places like Spain.. Maybe that's a bigger play than D2C for them.

One question - where is the competition?! I'd say it'd be very hard to get many carriers to allow further connections of this type..