Category Archives: Customer Experience

Enjoy the live streaming (but just don’t call it “soccer”)

Shai Shamir | June 28, 2012
If you find yourself anywhere near John Cleese any time soon, just don’t refer to it as “soccer”!    But whatever you call it, the Euro 2012 (football) final will have millions worldwide glued to their screens to see whether Spain will be taking home the trophy this year – and a large number of them will be using mobile devices to do it. One reason for this uptake is that the arena for live streaming of sports on mobile devices is getting really exciting, and content providers are both recognizing and embracing the opportunity. Want to watch Rafael Nadal take on ... More >>

Will MVNOs live long and prosper?

Tsahi Levent-Levi | June 4, 2012
Everyone seems to be setting up an MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) these days. Supermarket retailers (think Asda Mobile or 7-Eleven Speak Out Wireless).  22-year old college students (“It was just one of those things…” explains John Mardini, founder of Voyager). And now both Apple and Amazon are rumored to be interested in the MVNO model as well. So why do they all believe there’s enough business going around for everyone? First of all, an MVNO is a cell phone carrier (usually offering prepaid) which doesn’t have its own network infrastructure and licensed radio spectrum. Instead, it buys minutes at wholesale ... More >>

Packing for your vacation? Don’t Forget Your TV

Naomi Weiser | May 29, 2012
Looking forward to your summer vacation? I know I am. And I’m probably not the only one who also wouldn’t mind packing my favorite TV shows along with the sunscreen. Luckily, we now can – we can watch Mad Men, Modern Family or The Voice via the Internet on our iPads, smartphones or laptops. But regardless of how (or from which sun lounger) you’re watching them, the reality about real-time viewing is that while it’s great news for you, it puts enormous pressure on the operators who have to deliver this high quality TV-Anywhere experience to you, while at the same ... More >>

When you need to protect what’s yours, just call a flight attendant

Shai Shamir | May 24, 2012
Of all the things to get arrested for, making a phone call probably wouldn’t be high on the list.  But that’s exactly the reason why there was a welcome committee of port authority policemen waiting for Talmon Marco, co-founder of the VoIP and free texting app Viber (which is similar to Skype) at the end of his Delta flight this month.  The reason that he was being detained was that he had (not surprisingly, considering the company he’s CEO of), used VoIP calls during the flight, which according to the Delta flight attendant was “banned by the FAA”.  “At some point ... More >>

How about a sneak preview?

Jeff Barak | May 16, 2012
Are you fed up of friends spoiling your favorite TV show by letting you know how the series ends before you’ve managed to see the final episode? Well, help might be at hand if a solution currently in the Amdocs incubation lab actually makes it to market. Under a scenario demonstrated at this week’s Amdocs InTouch Business Forum in Miami, while you’re watching your favorite TV show, you’ll also see on screen which of your friends are online at the same time, who’s watching which program and, most importantly for the spoiler scenario, which episodes of the series you’re viewing ... More >>

Who would you trust to look after your home when you’re not there?

Naomi Weiser | May 14, 2012
BLOGGER: NAOMI WEISER  Be honest – who hasn’t had one of those “Did I lock the door?” moments when you can’t quite remember whether or not you actually turned off the heater/left all the lights on/locked the door properly behind you?   I admit that it’s happened to me more than once. But the scope offered by home monitoring services is more than just satisfying a slight case of OCD – it’s the ability to completely control your home when you’re not there through connected machine-to-machine devices which can speak to each other. According to a recent Cisco report, by ... More >>

Have service providers missed the boat in offering Rich Communication Services?

Tsahi Levent-Levi | April 23, 2012
Once upon a time, we used to talk on the phone. (Remember those days?) Then we all started texting each other. And then, in the relative blink of an eye, everything changed.  According to “Comics about Technology”, when it comes to communicating with each other, we now have 10 levels of intimacy, nicely summed up in the comic strip below. Which one do you think you use the most these days, by the way? Unfortunately, if you look closely at the list, you’ll see that service providers only support us with phone (number 8) and text messaging (number 5). The rest (letters ... More >>

There’s a new player in town! (And they’re offering free parking)

Shai Shamir | April 18, 2012
While Amdocs Voices has blogged before about the threat multiple service operators and cable companies have been facing from over-the-top-players like Google TV and Apple TV, here’s something new… It seems like there’s a new player in town, and surprisingly enough, it’s IKEA. I’ll explain. When we bought our new 52” flat screen TV,  we couldn’t find a furniture unit to accommodate such a large screen, as well as all the different electronics (and cables) that make up our  particular home entertainment system. In the end, a carpenter had to design and built a piece of furniture tailored to meet our ... More >>

The changing entertainment diet

Tsahi Levent-Levi | April 9, 2012
BLOGGER: TSAHI LEVENT-LEVI  People say that we are what we eat. If that’s true, then a few years ago most of us were potatoes, spending far too much time just sitting on the couch, passively watching TV. To see whether this still the case today, let’s take a look at Wikipedia… In a 2008 blog post entitled “The TV Dividend,” Seth Godin asked: “Where did Wikipedia come from? All those hours, all that work. Where did the time and effort come from?” Answering his own question, Godin quoted Clay Shirky’s book “Here Comes Everybody”, and argued that: The energy behind Wikipedia ... More >>

Why Angry Birds just got a whole lot angrier

Shai Shamir | April 3, 2012
30 million downloads. 15 million people use it each day. It’s kicked Angry Birds right off their Number 1 perch. And it’s made its developer OMGPOP very, very rich indeed – according to TechCrunch’s Josh Constine, rich to the tune of the $200 million (give or take a few) that Zynga has apparently paid to buy OMGPOP.    So any guesses yet as to what “it” is, and more importantly, why it’s worrying people so much?   It’s called “Draw Something” and it’s an interactive gaming application, based on a very simple concept: one player sketches out clues using their smartphone ... More >>

Stop throwing smartphones at customers!

Jeff Barak | April 1, 2012
So when does your service provider finally start taking notice of you? In most cases, it’s only when you’ve told them you’re about to leave them and move to a rival operator. All of a sudden, you have their attention – and a number of tempting offers to consider, particularly in terms of subsidized smartphone upgrades. On the other hand, new and loyal customers receive the short end of the stick, according to a recent Amdocs-Informa Telecoms and Media survey into service providers’ customer retention strategy. But this is a mistake, and some service providers are beginning to realize this. ... More >>

Burning through your data plan … in four minutes?

Eric Danis | March 15, 2012
BLOGGER: ERIC M. DANIS What can you do in four minutes? Well, if you are Madonna or Justin Timberlake, you can apparently save the entire world. Another way to kill four minutes is to work out, or you could decide to burn through your entire data plan. Wait, what? Maybe you’ve heard the news that Apple has introduced its new 4G iPad. The prospect of a faster-than-a-speeding-bullet 4G LTE data connection is certainly tantalizing, but Will Oremus over at Slate reminds us of the potential Kryptonite: “Life in the fast lane ain’t cheap. With an advertised top download speed of ... More >>

Getting off the couch

Naomi Weiser | February 15, 2012
BLOGGER: JEFF BARAK If you’re an American pay-TV provider, what do you want first: the good news or the bad? The good news is that nine out of 10 American households have a TV subscription with operators like Comcast, AT&T, Dish or DirectTV, and that they get plenty of use out of it. In fact, according to the latest Nielsen report into US viewing habits, Americans are watching around four-and-a-half hours of television a day. The bad news is that younger generation (the under 35s) is watching slightly less television (we’re talking an average of nine minutes a day) than ... More >>

Who’s feeling the pressure?

Naomi Weiser | January 31, 2012
BLOGGER: NAOMI WEISER It’s not just athletes who will be under pressure at the Olympics – spare a thought for your service provider. There’s enough capacity demand on their networks for video content right now as it is – for example, YouTube now exceeds 200 million views a day on mobile –  without adding even more live streaming to the mix. But according to Sandvine research, 2012 is going to be the year that live video breaks out from traditional TV and cable to Internet-connected TVs, tablets and smartphones. This is especially relevant as far as sport is concerned, with ... More >>

Who needs a passport when you’ve got your iPad with you

Naomi Weiser | January 11, 2012
BLOGGER: JEFF BARAK I wouldn’t recommend throwing away your passports just yet, but it’s certainly worth scanning them and storing them on your iPad. A Canadian, heading for the US border last month to drop off some Christmas presents for his friend’s children, realized he had forgotten his passport. Rather than make the two-hour journey back to his home in Montreal to get it, Martin Reisch decided to take a chance – he  made his way to the border crossing, where he handed in his iPad and showed the border guard the scan he had made some years earlier of ... More >>

Trends to keep an eye on in 2012

Naomi Weiser | December 29, 2011
BLOGGER: NAOMI WEISER As 2011 draws to a close, which trends should we keep an eye on in 2012?  Here are just a few: Mobile Augmented Reality –we’ve been hearing about it for a while now, but will 2012 finally be its year?  Augmented reality puts a virtual view on top of your real world, and according to Visiongain, 25% of all app downloads will feature some sort of augmented reality. And even though its adoption will depend on using more powerful, high-speed and camera-ready mobile devices, Mashable’s Lance Ulanoff is confident that “by 2013, you’ll be hard-pressed to find anyone who ... More >>

Want a new Ferrari this Christmas? Buy it with your smartphone

Naomi Weiser | December 18, 2011
BLOGGER: NAOMI WEISER   If you ever needed an example that 2011 is the year of mobile commerce, look no further than the two shoppers who recently bought a £70,000 Ferrari and a new home via eBay subsidiary PayPal’s mobile app on Cyber Monday, the peak day for online Christmas shopping in the US.    And while your mobile shopping plans might not include buying yourself a car worth over 1oo,ooo dollars over your phone, you’ve probably already used your mobile device for more modest shopping-related  activities. How many of you have used your smartphone to compare products and prices, search for discounts, take ... More >>