The Full Spectrum

Plane taking off (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I had only been without internet for two days and it was starting to grate. I needed it for work, I needed it to communicate with my friends and, dear lord, I needed Netflix.

But this is the curse of modern life, being disconnected from the net feels at best like losing your opposable thumbs and at worst like you may as well be chained in the basement for the lack of contribution you can make to yours or anyone else's day. Ok, the last example may be extreme but you get my drift...

However, there is also the alternative of being connected too much of the time. When did it become ok to check your Twitter whilst mid-conversation with someone? Or have your phone on the table during a romantic dinner in case someone sends you a friend request on Facebook? The amount of time our eyes spend glued to a screen of one form or another cannot be good for us, our health or our relationships and I genuinely believe the threat we had as children of 'square eyes' from too much TV may become a reality.

But we are still at a stage where this latter concern is left to the parental campaign groups or hipsters who want to protect children or find a new cause to harp on about that makes them look different from the crowd.

Instead, if you are like me, you continue to get excited about each new announcement of where you can get connectivity. Today's pledge by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the US about setting up an air-ground mobile broadband service, giving more airlines the ability to have Wi-Fi in the sky is the latest and I can't think of a place that needs the connection more.

I despise flying and whatever I do to try and distract myself, it seldom works. The few internal US flights I have been on with Wi-Fi has given me a little bit of comfort, knowing if something terrible happens, I can send a message to my loved ones in my last few seconds via some social network or another.

But, there is no question the connectivity was flakey at best and on many airlines costs a small fortune to sign up to, much like on railways in the UK.

Pushing for this technology will change that, increase competition between the sky high companies and mean better choices for us all on those journeys.

Alas, this is just a US initiative at the moment but I am keeping my fingers crossed the EU will see fit to do something similar. The amount us Europeans fly around the continent for business trips and the amount of time we lose due to the pain of the airport and being contactless for however many hours we are in the air is frustrating to say the least.

Pushing forward with such a scheme would help keep us productive on the move - or distracted whilst crying into the free vodka and orange I always insist on to settle my nerves - and perhaps even do a little to boost the economy, which the news leads me to believe could do with a pick me up.

Next time I am in a room with Neelie Kroes, I will be sure to bring it up, but until then - and this doesn't come from me often - well done America, you have done something better than us. Unless all your business people end up with square eyes...

Cisco Systems Austin Building 4 (Photo credit: wesleyt)

Although over the past two decades there has been a few notable rivals in the networking world, it was never the coolest or sexiest area of technology to get involved in. Start-ups liked to focus on what they could do on the end of the network, rather than making it work better in the first place and Cisco continued to grow its loyal, if not reliant, customer base where others feared to tread.

But in recent years there has been a somewhat subtle but still notable change in attitudes towards networking. As the internet and cloud computing have become more imperative and new generations of start-ups have been inspired to create services putting everything from HR spreadsheets to holiday photos in external datacentres, the importance of the network has grown.

Where people use to blame the application for running slowly or the device they were using, even the less technical of employees can identify when it's a network issue, from smartphones to the office Ethernet, having more awareness than ever before of what is powering things behind the scene.

This has led to a surge of even fresher faced, brighter thinking new companies who want to leave the end points to the guys from the 2000s and spend the 2010s on the software and hardware getting them working.

Never has there been such a thriving networking industry and it is unsurprising the industry is thinking Cisco is scared.

The one emerging technology on everyone's lips is software defined networking - decoupling the hardware layer from the control plane, giving much more control, flexibility and real time reactions to traditional kit. One of the keys to the open standards that are being developed is the software will be the key component and capable of running on a number of hardware vendor's equipment.

Essentially, the hardware Cisco has kept companies signed up to for so many years will become a commodity product.

Cisco has publically attempted to embrace SDN with its Cisco ONE strategy but those who understand the technology see it as a copout, still trying to convince customers you need hardware AND software from Cisco for it to perform the best - something that goes against the whole ethos of what SDN is.

But, why would Cisco be scared? Yes, there are more companies than ever before and yes, they may not be embracing the new trends as quickly or positively as others, but they are still the big guns with the market share and it is far too early for the SDN technology to make any impact on that.

Well, the reason the big boy should be nervous is its talent is jumping ship and getting into bed with the young upstarts, bringing their expertise and experience from the legacy company to a more enthused and innovative setting, backed by a lot of venture capital.

The latest casualty for Cisco is Prashant Gandhi. He was responsible for development of SDN products at Cisco but has now left to become the vice president of product management at one of the hottest companies being talked about in Silicon Valley right now, Big Switch.

This comes less than nine months after the overall head of SDN, Tom Black, also turned its back on Cisco to take up a position at new start-up Atista Networks.

Both these departures have been a major blow to Cisco publically as it seems to show those who really know what they are talking about with SDN are looking to the open innovation of the newer firms than the traditional clinging on to market share of older companies unwilling to accept a future where they can't tell the industry what to think anymore.

And it is hard to believe there isn't a lot of fear inside the San Jose HQ as well, wondering how they can keep hold of their talent and dominant position in a world where the network is changing. In the lower down ranks, there may even be questioning of whether 18 years is too long for a CEO to be in his position.

I don't believe they can hold onto the number one spot. The fact is the networking market will be shared between more players than ever before and have a new focus that Cisco is unlikely to be the best at.

What it can do is stay relevant. I think the company needs to stop focusing on acquisitions and start allowing its own engineers to take that cash and throw it into R&D. This way it could attract some of the younger generation coming up in the Valley right now and come up with some technology that could keep it in the game.

But it must let go of the past. Yes, SDN is someway off of becoming a mainstream technology, but it will get there and it is up to Cisco whether it is still running around with a pad and pen pretending time hasn't moved on or whether it has a team of youthful, excited professional bringing their talent and enthusiasm to the table.  

I just wonder how many executives and developers it will lose before it realises that. 

Thorsten Heins (Photo credit: Official BlackBerry Images)

But this is all personal choice and, whether I like them or not, I cannot ignore how these slates have been sweeping across the nation.

You can't get on a tube carriage, a train or a plane without seeing a number of these devices and whilst the iPad may have been the first to take off, I have recognised a raft of Kindles, Googles and even the odd HP tab whenever I leave the house.

Yet, the buzz today in the mobile space has been the head of BlackBerry denying tablets had a future. In an interview with Bloomberg, Thorsten Heins predicted the form factor would be dead in five years, saying they "are not a good business model."

Of course, a lot of people have leapt onto the fact BlackBerry's own attempt at a tablet, the PlayBook, bombed dramatically, despite being a quite shiny piece of kit. Perhaps he just meant it wasn't a good business model for his firm to pursue, especially with all the competition out there.

But senior people within BlackBerry have continued to hint at me about a BlackBerry 10-based tablet hitting the shelves in the not so distant future, so surely that can't be right?

Maybe Heins meant for the general enterprise customer, tablets are not the best fit. With this, I mostly agree. I still much prefer working on a laptop with a full keyboard, especially for long periods of time as the majority of stands are flimsy and not good enough to rest on your lap when trying to be productive on the move.

But, then again, there are some particular verticals, like healthcare or retail for example, where they fit perfectly, perform well and really help cut costs, so he can't want to miss that area of the market too?

It reminds me of the interview Rory Cellan Jones did with HP CEO Meg Whitman a few weeks ago. Here she said the firm was keen to do a smartphone again but she wouldn't waste the company's money on it until they knew they could really compete.

As I said then, the best way for HP to offer phones is aimed at the enterprise and as part of a full package of hardware and software a firm that big has the ability to bring to the table.

With BlackBerry, this is the only way it could make a success of tablets too. Some of the nifty enterprise features of the new BB10 operating system would work wonderfully on a slate device and with the added security and comfort a BlackBerry brings to big business, I still think they could get some market share there.

But, the window to do this is growing smaller and now it seems the CEO himself isn't even backing it. If Heins really wants out of the tablet business and to stick to those QWERTY keyboards he has been touting this week with the Q10, I fear he has missed a trick.

And maybe tablets might not have a future in your head for the business world Mr. Heins, but take on ride on the Northern Line and tell me the future isn't already here with tablets taking a significant seat at the table.  

Rumour has it this week that the National Audit Office (NAO) is going to be investigating the 4G spectrum auction. Why? Well, for not bringing in enough cash to the Treasury.

Before the bidding process had even kicked off, Chancellor George Osborne stepped up to the dispatch box and used an estimated figure of £3.5bn to bolster his Autumn Statement to the Commons. Gideon claimed borrowing had gone down as the Coalition were "making progress" and "fronting the country's problems, not ducking them."

But the Chancellor had cashed the 4G cheque before it had been written and a few months later Ofcom announced the actual amount the auction had raised - £2.34bn.

According to The Guardian, Labour MP Helen Goodman, shadow minister for media and communications, has written a fuming letter to the NAO demanding an investigation, adding: "By not making maximising the auction's revenues an objective for Ofcom, the government has failed to get value for money on this project."

Now, a lot of abuse is being thrown in the direction of the telecoms regulator, as well as the Exchequer, saying it had its priorities out of whack.

I will be the first to step up and give abuse to the Treasury. I did it at the time as it seemed Osborne was living in a fantasy world thinking he could predict the exact amount an auction would bring in before it had happened and using it to make his department look like they were doing better than they actually were. The nature of an auction is the end result is unpredictable, it is why Bargain Hunt is still on our TV screens.

But I want to stick up for Ofcom here. Before Christmas I met with Ed Richards, CEO of Ofcom, to discuss how the auction process would work and when the question of the Chancellor's figures came up he was very clear. Ofcom's job was not about making money for the government, it was about ensuring the best deal for consumers.

After the ludicrous amounts the 3G auction brought in, leaving mobile operators out of pocket and unable to invest in infrastructure and fast deployment, Richards strongly believed that a lower price on the cost of spectrum this time would mean a faster roll-out and more reliable networks as the operators poured their money into these areas instead.

This isn't to say they didn't want to raise money, of course they did, but as Richards rightly pointed out, it was for the government to think about that and for Ofcom to think about the consumer outcome.

Goodman seems to be playing into the government's hands here. The issue is that Osborne used a predicted figure in his budget, not that the auction didn't raise enough. This is what should be investigated. 

Meg Whitman speaks at the Tech Museum in San Jose, CA February 17, 2009. Photo by Max Morse (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Unsurprisingly, much of the line of questioning focused on the terrible choice HP made when buying Autonomy and had Whitman keeping her plastered on smile throughout whilst blaming 'accounting regularities' for the firm's huge over-valuing of the UK software company.

But this is nothing new. What I was interested to hear was Whitman's admittance that HP wanted to build a mobile phone.

"We want to because it is a very important part of personal compute," she said. "What we haven't figured out yet is how to do that without just being a 'me too' product and losing lots of money, which I am not interested in doing."

"We have got our best people thinking through what is the best HP play in that part of personal compute, smartphone or its next incarnation. "

I can see her thinking. Mobile does mean big bucks nowadays, but only if you get it right.

The last time it tried was back in 2011 following the $1.2bn acquisition of Palm. When the webOS-based mobiles launched - the HP Palm 3 and HP Veer - I'll admit to having quite a soft spot for them, but HP never seemed to get behind the devices and it didn't take long for them to be killed off. What a waste of great software and $1.2bn...

HP's most recent attempt on the consumer market has been the Android-based HP Slate 7 tablet. No such soft spot here when I encountered it at Mobile World Congress in February. If felt cheap, clunky and not worth buying when Google themselves, as well as Amazon, offer much superior alternatives.

The only time in recent months I have had hope for HP in the mobile space was when rumours flew around it would buy ailing Canadian firm BlackBerry. Having never used one until recently, I have become a massive convert to the new BlackBerry 10 operation system and hug my Z10 tightly each night before I go to sleep.

But the key isn't the products; it's the customers you aim them at. Even through its ups and downs, BlackBerry has had an army of loyal enterprise customers, still set in their ways that it is the only mobile device with true enterprise security credentials and having made large investments in both devices and backend software - e.g. BlackBerry Enterprise Server.

With HP's raft of similarly loyal enterprise customers in other parts of its business, tying these two brands together would almost definitely lead to an end to end offering that would not just keep existing users but tempt over new ones.

But BlackBerry seems pretty determined to make it on their own - for now at least.

That doesn't mean HP can't learn lessons from the prospect though. Consumer is NOT its thing, however hard it tries to be 'cool' and 'down with the kids'. Enterprise is where it is at and, despite a huge number of loyal BlackBerry fans, there are still business customers out there to be won over if the right offering came their way.

Whatever you do Whitman, don't carry on with attempts like the Slate 7 or to try and win consumers over from their iPhones, Samsungs or HTCs. It just won't happen. Target businesses; it is what you do best.

I hope for her sake the "best people" she has working on the case have told her the same thing. 

Last month I had an interesting chat with the general manager of O2's enterprise division in the UK. He claimed O2 hadn't lost a single corporate customer to EE, despite its rivals' attempts to lure them away with the promise of 4G.

I was unsure how true this could be as I felt sure some enterprises liked the idea of the faster mobile connectivity for their workers on the move. However, with EE keeping quiet about the number of large companies it had signed up, there seemed to be little proof to the contrary.

Today, EE's CEO Olaf Swantee was in London to hold a press conference, announcing EE would be doubling its 4G speeds for 10 cities in the coming months and raise them across its network by the time it reaches its coverage goal of 98% - basically, by the end of 2014.

During the presentation, a slide caught my eye that seemed to finally commit to a number of large enterprise customers, making the claim it had signed up over 1,000.

I asked Swantee if this was contracted customers or included people EE had approached or were in negotiations with. His answer surprised me...

"Those are over a thousand corporate connections and they are signed, done and using the service."

So, hang on, if we are talking users rather than companies, one large enterprise alone could have easily signed a contract for 1,000 employees, or even if we are generous, two or three firms? Hardly sounds like big numbers to me.

Like a shot one of EE's rather talented PRs swooped in and said the number actually included small and medium business customers, as well as large enterprises - SMB numbers hadn't been revealed in the initial presentation and were clumped in with the consumers, only stating "one in four new consumer and SMB customers were choosing 4G."  

There was a lot of looks of confusion, both from the press, the execs and the PR team of which was the right figure. Remember, the choices are:

A)     Over 1,000 large enterprise customers

B)     Over 1,000 'corporate connections' or users

C)     Over 1,000 SMB and enterprise customers

It has been two hours since the event now and said talented PR is trying to hunt down the right answer. But one cannot help but conclude from this performance that either large enterprises are not a priority for EE or they do not have massive interest in moving to 4G. Perhaps O2's general manager was right...

As soon as I get sent the answer, I will let you know. 

UPDATE

Three days down the line and I have had an update from EE. Apparently there are 1,000 corporate customer contracts but these include any company with 50 or more employees - so medium businesses as well.

We have been promised an update on figures for both corporate and small business contracts in the coming weeks. 

Nice to see EE are finally taking this area of their business a bit more seriously... 

It seems like there is something exciting happening down at Amazon. Although the first thing you may think of is books, there has been widespread success for the online retailer with its budget Kindle Fire tablet and you can't get on a bus or tube without being surrounded by its infamous E-reader.

Now, however, it appears to be changing course again with the hiring of Charlie Kindel. The new Amazon executive was at Microsoft for over 20 years, playing a major role in creating the Windows Phone's developer platform and had not long made the jump from the huge corporation to working with start-ups.

But he has been tempted back to the big boardroom and is promising more mobile work to come.

"I was really enjoying working with start-ups, and really didn't expect to be working at one of the giants again," he said in an April Fools-tinted press release (the hiring part is true, according to the FT), "but Amazon presented me with an opportunity to build a bold and audacious new business that I simply couldn't pass up."

"I get to build a new team in going after a totally new area for Amazon. I'm particularly excited about all hiring I need to do for cloud and mobile developers and testers, program managers, and product managers."

So, is this finally the confirmation we have been waiting for that Amazon is working on a smartphone?

Ok, maybe it is not strong enough to reach a conclusion on the matter, but with all the speculation in the past year and hiring of staff renowned for their work in mobile platforms, it seems the closest we are going to get and is definitely enough to get me excited.

We will keep an eye on Charlie and see what else we can find out...

Typical street of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London. (Spear Mews, looking towards the K + K George Hotel, 1, Templeton Place) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Back in 2009, these monster street boxes got the residents of Muswell Hill up in arms. Not only did the people think they looked horrendous, BT had failed to get the correct planning permission to install them, leading to lengthy arguments and a long process of moving the cabinets to locations deemed more suitable by Haringey Council.

But if you want to really offend the upper echelons and their pretty postcodes, you have to look to a far posher borough...

Enter Kensington and Chelsea.

BT was planning on building 108 fibre cabinets across the area with the potential of bringing over 34,000 residents superfast broadband. However, the council worried about cabinets "ruining [its] historic streetscape" and turned down at least 96 of BT's planning applications.

The local council dug the knife in further with a statement saying Virgin Media was able to bring them speedy connections without damaging the scenery and were a company "who obviously appreciate the very valuable market the borough represent." Oooh, nasty...

However, it seems after almost a year, the bitchiness has died down, the need for pretty pavements has been quashed by the desire for megabits per second and by working together the council and BT have now found sites for 140 cabinets - even higher than the previous number - hoping to serve 50,000 residents and local businesses.

The statement released by BT and the council speaks of "the spirit of cooperation" and a spokesperson from the latter accused the media of misleading reports when the talks fell apart last May, saying discussions had been ongoind despite BT "taking a short break" from them.

How the words "BT are not proceeding with superfast broadband" can be misinterpreted or "we will... re-focus our engineers' efforts in other areas where planning authorities have taken a positive approach," escapes me somewhat. But, the important thing is sense has been seen.

Don't get me wrong, you are reading a blog from a fully paid up member of English Heritage here. I appreciate the need for conservation as much as the next Mayfair socialite. But a tall, green cabinet at the end of the road can make a big difference to both residents and businesses in even the swankiest of areas of the world like Kensington and Chelsea and they should be happy with the chance of having the connections whilst many around the country wait to see if BT can even muster 2Mbps for them.

Common sense prevailing in a case between a huge telecoms corporation and a local council? I think I need a lie down... 

HTC One X (Photo credit: John.Karakatsanis)

This company once had it all. The pioneers of Android handsets, when HTC launched the Desire smartphone in 2010 it was praised from the rooftops for offering an innovative design, great usability and something that finally gave a sexy alternative to Apple's iPhone.

Yet, year by year, the launches have never quite lived up to expectations. The HTC One X had a number of similarities to the Samsung Galaxy II but didn't win the hearts of the anti-Apple brigade. The Windows Phone ranges never felt quite as capable as what close Microsoft partner Nokia was producing. And now, the HTC One is facing its own problems.

The Wall Street Journal has reported that shipping of the device is going to be delayed - something BlackBerry will tell you doesn't help when you are trying to compete in such a busy market - and longstanding CEO Peter Chou has even said he will step down if the new flagship smartphone fails to take off.

I got some hands-on time with the handset at this year's Mobile World Congress and just wasn't that impressed. It felt like elements of the UI had been changed for the sake of it, rather than to improve usability, and the much lauded aluminum casing felt cold and a tad soulless for my liking.

Others have disagreed and applauded the device, but even those won over by the HTC One have very little belief it is going to change the market or take the crown from Samsung for best-selling non-iOS handset.

HTC has lost the high-end market whilst the budget entry market has been swamped by the likes of Huawei and ZTE. It really needed to do something exemplary to solidify its place in the world and now it just feels like it is praying for its history and loyal customers to save the day.

I have always been pretty manufacturer agnostic when it comes to handsets, having sported a BlackBerry, Nokia, Samsung and Huawei in the past few years, but I loved my HTC Desire and have always rooted for them to make their comeback. If even I have given up now, I can't see many others being far behind.

Stop all the clocks and cut off the telephone HTC, let the mourners come.  

English: European Commissioner Neelie Kroes, in Vilnius, Sept. 14, 2010 (black/white) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Today was the first time I saw her in the flesh at a discussion about broadband in the UK at Europe House. After running rather late from a meeting with the minister for culture, media and sport, Maria Miller - who was also meant to attend but decided not to show her face - she gave a speech to the room who obviously had a similar level of adulation for her as I did. However, she seemed to say very little.

She began by praising Chris Condor - a sentiment I echo - for her work on bringing broadband connectivity to the rural north through the B4RN project. Rather than waiting for the government to get their backsides into gear, Chris and her partners started digging themselves and gave the community access where it was not deemed 'commercially viable' by the big guns like BT or Virgin Media.

What troubled me, however, was she then began lecturing other members on the panel who came from entrepreneurial backgrounds that rather than complaining about the lack of state activity in their areas, they should do it themselves.

As someone who seems to have advocated more money from the state and complained when funding for projects she has backed has been taken away, it seemed like an odd move from Kroes. She surely has the influence to put more pressure on governments to act on broadband, rather than tell the public to get on with DIY projects at great cost to them personally.

Don't get me wrong, Kroes continued to make some valid points, such as how dependent Europe was on the digital economy and how the high youth unemployment across the EU was a major concern for the future of the continent. She even insinuated the measly pot of £530m from the British government to fund the broadband roll-out was not enough.

Yet, when I asked her whether she had said as much to Miller, or indeed her predecessor Jeremy Hunt, Kroes stayed silent, answering seemingly every other question in the room rather than my direct one about putting her money where her mouth is - something she seems to expect rural communities to do.

The point is, it is all well and good regulatory representatives, lords, MEPs and industry execs getting into a room to discuss how we can speed up the roll-out of connectivity across the UK and further afield; even us journalists can help with the dialogue. But it is only people like Kroes who have that sway with the leading classes that can affect change.

As an advisor to one of the MEPs present said to me after her speech: 'Is it just me or does she seem to say a lot without really saying anything?'

I have far from written off Kroes. She is a fine representative with a clear passion for her jurisdiction and some strong views. She just failed to show them today and my concern is she may be failing to show them in those private, influential meetings. Let's just hope I'm wrong...

I took this picture myself on 14/05/05. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

But, according to those balanced people over at the Daily Mail, residents and visitors who have contracts on T-Mobile are not getting a British mobile experience.

Users are being charged roaming rates as if they are calling or texting from the port of Calais, 18 miles across the sea, as the famed cliffs are blocking the signal of UK networks.

Business owners claim it has damaged business as people avoid the area and one local chap has even been accused of having an affair with a French woman after a large roaming bill dropped through his letter box.

EE - the company that now represents T-Mobile's UK interests - has hardly leapt to the rescue though. With the amount of new technologies available, from small cells to mobile satellite, you would think they could fix the problem. Instead, all the operator has done is suggest customers turn off their roaming when in the area.

This may be all well and good for visitors, but what if you are one of the 2,500 people who live in the town? It seems a bit of joke that they just have to put up with it.

Pull your finger out EE and use those noggins of yours to find a solution. 

The infamous CEO Larry Ellison on stage. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As such, I organised an interview with Andy Ory, CEO of Acme Packet, a company which specialises in IP technology for enterprises and service providers.

He had some very interesting views about mobile operators, how they can compete in the world of over the top providers and how 4G will boost the unified communications market hugely - these comments are likely to appear in a separate piece.

However, I had to blog right away about how shocked I was on his comments regarding the company's upcoming nuptials with Silicon Valley Goliath Oracle.

The firm signed a definitive acqusition agreement in February to the tune of $1.7bn but the deal has yet to close. As such, I asked a few probing questions about why the company was selling and whether Acme Packet was afraid its hardware business may not interest Oracle as much as its software.

Ory's face was utterly blank. "I don't know what they are going to do with the company," he said whilst shrugging his shoulders.

Ummm, what? How can someone know so little about the acquisition of their company? Ok, I am not totally naïve and understand he would be keeping some cards close to his chest until the final deal was signed. I also get that Oracle would want to keep their business strategies a little quiet in case the deal fell through and Acme Packet decided to share.

But imagine you had co-founded a company 13 years ago, put your heart and soul in, built up a product portfolio and gained a loyal customer base. When you are about to hand this over to not just any corporation but the notorious Larry Ellison, would you not want to be sure he wasn't doing a Sun Microsystems on you and buying the company to pick it to pieces?

Perhaps I am just not made for the business world and am better off staying outside of it as a less than patient observer, but his reaction will bemuse me for a while to come. 

I have been eagerly awaiting the first set of results from EE after it came to market with 4G offerings. No, it is not just because I need to get out more, but because all our contacts at the firm have been so tight lipped about the number of users paying up for 4G contracts.

Curiosity was killing this cat and I was dying to know how many had signed up and who was willing to pay those pretty premium prices for the privilege.

What a waste of time.

EE did release results today for the fourth quarter and full fiscal year of 2012. Both revenues and profits were down year on year and, let's face it, whenever a CEO says a company has produced a "solid financial performance," you know things are bad.

A cryptic earnings release was put out to try and throw off anyone from the casual observer to hard working journalist (don't laugh). It is standard practice for large firms to do this when results are bad and a total waste of time - we always cut through the fluff eventually - but at least with today's, I really did care what the data behind the scenes were.

However, as Mick Jagger would say, I can't get no satisfaction. EE decided to release its customer numbers in general - 201,000 new contract sign ups in the last three months of 2012 - but it refused to breakdown that figure into 4G or not 4G as the number was deemed "commercially sensitive information."  

Oh come on! Apparently as the only one with 4G, it is worried releasing this number could give some sort of advantage to... well, who? To me, it seems more like putting a dust sheet over a tiny number EE is too embarrassed to share. We know it is less than 201,000, but how much less?

The fact is 4G has not had customers running to their door. The early adopters seem to be a smaller group than most of us thought they would be and UK customers seem willing to wait for their operators to get 4G before they upgrade. That or the high price points EE launched with put too many people off.

It is hard to make a solid conclusion right now but if the numbers had been impressive and brought EE a lot of new custom, they would be shouting it from the rooftops and wouldn't be reporting declines in revenue either.

I hope when the spectrum auction is over and the other operators get their 4G networks operational, we can get some real figures about who is using 4G. Are you? If not, why not? It would be great to hear from you. 

Jim Balsillie (Photo credit: nan palmero)

In that time, the company continued to watch its reputation and market position spiral downwards, with sales dwindling and a previously loyal fan base starting to switch allegiances to the new leaders of the pack, Apple and Android.

Through all this, Balsillie appeared not to have given up on his old firm though. Despite not being as visible as his former co-CEO, Mike Lazaridis, who stayed on the board of directors, Balsillie did keep his 5.1% stake in the company, equating to 27 million shares.

Then last month RIM became BlackBerry, the firm unleashed a new handset on the market and it totally revamped its operating system to become BlackBerry 10.

Early reactions from the industry and users alike was positive, the company executives had smiles on their faces like they hadn't for months - if not years - and BlackBerry was heading into 2013 ready and waiting for a comeback.

So now Balsillie has decided it is time to jump ship and throw those stocks in the ocean.

In fairness, the positive reaction to BB10 and the Z10 handset did seem to settle the waters over at BlackBerry a bit and saw share prices returning to a steady $15 after plummeting as low $6.25 in October last year, perhaps meaning now would be a good time to sell.

However, when you are the second largest stakeholder in a company like Balsillie was up until recently, if you chose to throw your stock away, it sends out a quite scary message to other investors of get out now and run for the hills!

Some have suggested Balsillie just wanted to throw one last nasty gesture at his ex-employer and make a dramatic exit. Some believe he finally wanted to move on with his future and leave the past behind him.

But what remains to be seen is the affect that his stock departure will have on confidence in the new BlackBerry and whether we will be praising his lucky escape or patting him sympathetically on the shoulder in a year's time.   

We have a feeling it might be the latter...

UPDATE: I have just discovered he made the sale before the BB10 launch in January. Seems Balsillie didn't have faith in the upcoming product bringing him in any extra dollars. 

My original conclusion remains, however. Now the departure is public and apparently showing a massive lack of faith in the new product line, will it damage BlackBerry's reputation with it's other investors? Or has Balsillie made a bad judgement call? I would love to hear what you think. 

Flag ~ European Union (Photo credit: erjkprunczýk)

As such, the past few weeks of the Conservatives ramping up anti-EU feeling has got my goat. It was clear to me our Prime Minister David Cameron was thinking more about getting his back-benchers back on side when making his much delayed speech - following rows over gay marriage or collation politics - rather than thinking of the wider impact on both individuals and businesses.

Last week, he fought long into the night with only Haribo for fuel - according to the Evening Standard - to ensure a cut to the EU budget, saving money passing on from the UK purse over to Brussels. The Tory Right and EU skeptics applauded. Well done ol' bean, now there is more in the pot to bail out banks rather than save our NHS services!

Only, it seems some politicians just don't think about the consequences. A cut to a budget means a cut in funding for services. It was clear from all their vitriol, those MPs didn't care where they were cutting from, as long as Great Britain didn't have to pay. But now, the cracks in the budget are becoming holes and we can see projects beginning to disappear into the darkness.

Vice president of the European Commission and broadband advocate, Neelie Kroes, wrote a blog this weekend revealing that the proposals for her 'Connecting Europe' scheme would only be receiving €1bn out of the €9.2bn they had applied for.

Whilst she desperately tried to remain positive in her words, she had to admit "such a small sum" wouldn't allow for the big plans she had for investing in broadband networks across the EU.

"I regret that, because broadband is essential for a digital single market, the rails on which all tomorrow's digital services will run, and this could have been an innovative and highly-market oriented way to deliver it, almost budget-neutral in the long run," wrote Kroes.

The VP points out that broadband targets have been agreed across the EU to ensure fast coverage for all by 2020, but this will now be the responsibility of each individual state, rather than all working together to ensure connectivity for both businesses and citizens across the continent.

Well bravo Mr Cameron. It is easy to get the public onside when all you talk about is pointless bureaucracy around the size of potatoes, but you manage to omit the schemes that actually could boost the daily lives of everyone, have a real positive impact on the economy and help businesses out of the hole they are in.

Bringing austerity into the EU is ludicrous when it continues to be proved it is damaging the economy on our shores. Investment into the likes of broadband is the best way out of this recession and thanks to party politics in the UK, the whole of the EU will suffer.

Kroes has promised to "work and fight even harder" for her broadband plans. I hope more people will work and fight even harder against allowing squabbles in a political party affect the recovery of 27 states. 

blackberry (Photo credit: arrayexception)

RIM's rebranded media relations team has been going ten to the dozen in the build-up to last week's big launch of BlackBerry 10. Days of briefings, preview after preview of the new operating system and invites galore to events that have been a mixed bag of valuable and, well, less so.

But, when a company like BlackBerry comes calling and promises updates to their strategy, it is hard for a technology journalist to resist. It is almost addictive to follow this company that has had a black mark firmly on its school report for the past few years, but keeps promising to perform better next term.

So, here we go again. I am now in Amsterdam at BlackBerry Jam, the firm's developer conference.

There was some enticing news for the developer community this morning, being promised a new programme to build software for the upcoming Q10 handset with that iconic BlackBerry keyboard. There was also a little gift in the form of a shockingly red Z10 handset for all those developers who had got their apps ready in time for the BlackBerry 10 launch.

But it all felt a little desperate. Yes, you need the developers on board but individually built gifts to say thanks, or really to drive them to build even more applications? Oh dear.

It felt even sadder after I had spoken to William Vablais, head of developer relations in EMEA.

"You have to see where we were a year ago," he told me. "People were laughing in our face [and] saying why are you even talking to us, you are dead, dead in the water, not interested!"

Oh BlackBerry! It can't have been that bad! Well, ok, maybe it was. I remember an analyst referring to its results last summer as watching a puppy being kicked.

That's the thing, especially in the enterprise world. BlackBerry is like that puppy that we loved when it was full of youth, but as we watched it get old, we just felt sorry for it. Now, as it shows glimmers of hope with its new platform, we are all keeping our fingers crossed and wondering whether you can teach an old dog new tricks.

Desperate or not, they have got the developer element right. There is no question applications are key to attracting users and developers making sure those all-important programmes give the best experience are priceless.

BlackBerry's tactics may seem a little too eager, but it has woken up to the fact apps is where its at and if it has any chance of pulling through, it needs the devs on side and all the best built applications on its handsets.

If it convinces them, the future could be brilliant for the old boy. I know I will be watching...

WWF at Doha NGO march (Photo credit: WWF@COP18)

Now it is time to get that glow again ladies and gentleman as the WWF - the World Wildlife Fund, not the pro-wrestlers - has launched its own similar venture.

WWF Wildlife Mobile runs as a mobile virtual network (MVN) on Vodafone's backhaul and offers SIM only services to UK residents.

It claims to provide cheaper standard rates than other operators in the UK, but the main point is it donates 10% of the net revenue of all voice calls, text messages and data usage to the WWF.

It is early days and as such the only contracts on offer are pay as you go. However, the company sound confident it will bring contracts to the market soon enough and then it is just a case of watching the money roll into the charity.

I think these are great and innovativ ways to utilise the large scale infrastcrture with have for mobile operators in the UK but to give something back to the wider world.

Two thumbs up from me WWF. 

Image via CrunchBase

Ok, all jokes aside, I am grateful that launch day is here. I feel like I have been writing about BB10 for most of my career and it seems an awfully long time ago that I had my five minutes of fame on CNBC talking about the delays.

RIM's CEO, Thorsten Heins, really made his firm the Grolsch of the smartphone world with two episodes of "it's not ready yet," delaying the launch as its rivals brought out market dominating devices like the iPhone 5 and Samsung Galaxy S III. 

Now after a year in the job, Heins is hoping a global launch and pushing out over-prepared executives - this video is painful, I promise - will ignite the passion of the smartphone buying public and see his company back to the dizzy heights of 90% market share and being a business person's best friend.

I am attending the London launch this afternoon to see the finished product of the operating system and get to grips with the new handsets on offer. Check back here and on the Inspect-a-Gadget blog for more details later today. 

I am afraid I am veering away from my usual rants on SDN or mobiles to focus on a different sort of networking today, dear readers.

When I came into the office this morning - somewhere I managed to get without a man holding my hand, opening doors for me or paying for my tube fare - I received a press release that boggled my delicate little mind.

A new 'club' for business workers is being launched, but not one of these pesky clubs open to everyone than means you don't feel special or superior as a member. No, it is specifically aimed at "an elite group of boys who have made their mark in business and want to enjoy their success with other boys."

I was a tad dumbstruck. For starters, why on earth was "The Business Boys Club" contacting a technology journalist - terrible PR mistake, although it isn't clear who their PR is. The contact listed is Marcus Sedghi but we just had a less than polite phone call from the chap saying he was not their PR. He wouldn't tell us what connection he had with the group. 

But my major issue was the reason the release stated such a group was necessary.

Founder of the club, Simon Badland, said: "There are loads of networking clubs out there, and many that are exclusively for women. I thought it was about time that the boys had the chance to network in a single sex environment too."

Oh dear. Really? Has the past several hundred years not been enough for you?

I am a female IT journalist. Both IT and journalism are very male dominated professions. I will accept the premise that there has been more female focused groups emerging in the private sector but I will not accept they are overpowering the old boys clubs that have existed as long as people have gone out to work.

The reason these women's groups, such as Women in IT, exist are as a support network for the outnumbered, giving strength in solidarity to those entering a workplace who know they may be different from the norm. Computer Weekly hosts an awards for women in our industry as well, not to put men down but to show there is a career available to women who want to enter the market and show their technological skills, but may otherwise be deterred by the numbers.

Badland considers this an injustice on his group of male elitists and that I do not understand.

But don't think this is just the little flustered woman's delicate nerves getting to her. I work with successful business men on a daily basis and when I showed one of my male colleagues this release, he said he couldn't have been more patronised. He likes the company of women, he likes spending time with people from all walks of life and he has no desire to pay over £500 to become part of a group of, well, I won't use the word he did, that want to sit in a bubble of status quo rather than embrace the modern era.

I can only assume they targeted me knowing I write for a largely male audience, but from those of you I meet, I know the majority of you will be as appalled as me and my colleague.

Successful people are those who look to explore every avenue, see the strengths in their team members and put in 100% to the task at hand, not boys who hide in a seedy club complaining that women are allowed to wear trousers to work or the fact they have been let out of the kitchen in the first place.

Maybe they do need a group like this as their way of thinking is so outdated, they are becoming a minority. Alas I don't think we are there yet but every day I work in IT, it keeps showing me there is light at the end of the tunnel and a work environment open to all.   

English: 4G LTE single mode modem by Samsung, operating in the first commercial 4G network by Telia (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There is no doubt it has been a long time coming and, if you read the rest of the press coverage of it today, it now sounds like 4G for all is just around the corner.

I would hold your horses though as this long and complex process is due to drag out for some time.

Before Christmas I was invited to Ofcom to meet with Ed Richards, the organisations's CEO, and have the auction process explained in detail.

Using bags of enticing sweets to represent lots of spectrum - alas only two rather than 28 that will be on offer to bidders - we were shown how the regulator would set a price per lot and see if those telecoms companies involved were willing to pay.

If more than one company was interested, Ofcom would decide on the increment to raise the price by for the specific lot before asking the same question. This would rinse and repeat until all parties reached their maximum and it was left with one contender still in the race.  

Of course, this would leave some lots going unsold if bidders dropped out simultaneously, so a second round of bidding will then have to begin until all the combinations of spectrum are doled out.

Richards had an optimistic look on his face when he said this could happen by the end of February, but the reality is the bidding process is unlikely to conclude until March.

Then we will have to wait for the winners to pay up before they can get their hands on the frequencies.

Then we will have to wait again as they finish developing their infrastructure to utilise the spectrum.

Then we will have to wait for trials and pilots to be undertaken successfully.

Then, and maybe then, we as customers might be able to sign up to 4G deals for our mobiles, tablets or laptop dongles.

The reality is it will be summertime at the earliest before this stage arises, if not later in the year. So whilst it is right to celebrate the process beginning, we must be realistic about the timeframe and remember the journey to fast 4G speeds is a slow one.