Marketing Budgets & Unicorns – Both Scarce in the Netherlands

In a recent post we discussed the Dutch startup environment, looking at whether the necessary conditions have been created within the Netherlands for startups to thrive and eventually become a Unicorn like Uber, Airbnb, Snapchat or Pinterest, or, in Europe, Skype, Spotify, Rovio and Dutch fintech company Adyen. Though these companies have no trouble finding […] Read more »

To Uber Or Be Ubered

The fast rise of 21st century company brands such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Whatsapp, Snapchat, Skype appeal to many. They all have been very successful and their founders became billionaires. What they have in common is that they are all about communicating text, voice, images and video. Taking digital innovation to the physical economy […] Read more »

The Unbundling Of Operator Multiplay

METISfiles analyst Pim Bilderbeek presented at the inaugural meeting of imellem this week, a new member-based networking platform for executives in the Dutch IT and Telecom sector. The presentation focused on the unique aspects of the Dutch telecoms market and the challenges that operators face to remain relevant in a rapidly changing regulatory, customer, and […] Read more »

The Future Of Communications Is Inside The App

There is a two trillion dollar fixed and mobile communications market out there that is about to find out that both communications and connectivity could quickly become feature and function rather than product and service. Already communications is rapidly being unbundled from the underlying network. Skype, WebEx, and Lync are just a couple of examples […] Read more »

The Mobile Voice And Text Messaging Platform Is Burning

And KPN is the proverbial canary in the coal mine. For operators, the impact of an increased uptake of mobile VoIP and chat (mVoIP/Chat) is potentially devastating. Operators run a very real risk that voice and SMS revenues will dwindle. A study by GSM/Wireless Intelligence estimates global mobile service provider revenues will be $1.1 trillion […] Read more »

The Connected Consumer Ecosystem War

“If I can operate Google, I can find anything… Google, combined with Wi-Fi, is a little bit like God. God is wireless, God is everywhere and God sees and knows everything. Throughout history, people connected to God without wires. Now, for many questions in the world, you ask Google, and increasingly, you can do it […] Read more »