Posts from March 13, 2008

Julie Ask | March 13, 2008, 06:23 PM
Places I Visited in Morocco with Better Coverage Than My Home in SF
Here are a handful of places that I visited in Morocco that have better voice coverage on a GSM network than my home in San Francisco. You can argue that the cityscapes are flatter and waves may be better able to penetrate clay than the building materials used at home....( more )

Julie Ask | March 13, 2008, 06:04 PM
Satellite TV Adoption in Morocco
This is slightly off the topic of wireless, but not technology and services. One of the things that amazed me was the presence of satellite dishes. Apparently they cost just under $100 to get the equipment, and there is no service charge. We saw red clay hut homes in a...( more )

Pfreemanevans | March 13, 2008, 05:40 PM
February Retail Sales
The commerce department reported a .2% decline in retail sales today which was below what economic analysts were projecting (.2% increase). Disappointing to be sure, but not entirely unexpected due to the hammering consumers have taken over the last few...( more )

Julie Ask | March 13, 2008, 05:32 PM
iPhone in the High Atlas Mountains
We had an 8 to 10 hour drive between Marrakesh to M'Hamid. Our guides - especially Habib and Abdul - were wonderful singers, but we couldn't do Arabic music for that long. The only non-Arabic cassette that they had was U2 Boy - which is a great album, but it...( more )

Julie Ask | March 13, 2008, 05:14 PM
My Theory on Why Ringtones Were Created
I spent a lot of time in crowded souks on my trip. The Noka ring tone was more common than any other noise I heard. Each time I heard it, I reached for my backpack to check to see if it was my phone. It drove me crazy....( more )

Julie Ask | March 13, 2008, 05:00 PM
In a Land Where There is No Mobile Marketing
I just returned from 10 days in Morocco including a trip to the Sahara desert. I've got a series of posts that I'll put up today. My first Mobile Marketing encounter (or lack thereof) was in JFK when I landed from San Francisco enroute to catch my flight on Air...( more )

David Card | March 13, 2008, 08:17 AM
AOL to Acquire Bebo
Not bad. Bebo has a good youth focus with its social network, strong presence in the UK, and is doing smart things with more professional content. Not entirely clear what AOL brings to the picture these days. I'll post again if there's anything interesting on the concall....( more )