Alec Saunders SquawkBox

CounterPath is on the move.  Since their merger with Newheights, and refinancing at the hands of Sir Terry Matthews they've been on a buying binge.  February 1, it was FirstHand Technologies.  Just yesterday, Andy Abramson mentioned that BridgePort Networks had also been acquired by CounterPath, February 5th.

The common thread here is fixed mobile convergence.  They appear to be evolving from the softphone player that they were.  FirstHand was an enterprise FMC company.  BridgePort, was a carrier FMC company. 

This one will be interesting to watch.

CNET says that some of the big stories at next week's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona will be iPhone look-a-likes, Femtocells, Mobile advertising, Location and Navigation, and Social Networking.  I'll be heading there myself, on Sunday.  I'm particularly interested to see how far beyond "here's my facebook button" mobile social networking can get.

Next week's Squawk Box's will all be created live in Barcelona, except for Fridays, which will be guest hosted as I will be travelling.

The Boy Genius report has dropped a couple of juicy gems in the last day or so for Canadians.  First came the news that Rogers would offer $7/month unlimited browsing and next that we'd soon be able to get our hands on the Sony Ericsson K850.  Finally a high end consumer phone with a reasonably priced data plan!

There are a lot of gotchas here, though.  First, on the $7/month data plan, no smartphones or non-certified Rogers devices are eligible.  The data plan is IMEI locked, so forget about the idea of buying a SIM and simply popping it into an unlocked N95, for instance.  Secondly, the $7/month plan is browsing only.  Want to use the video calling feature on that shiny new K850?  $.25/minute.  Video on demand? That's a different and extra subscription.

For now, video on the phone is on hold in Canada.  If the carriers really wanted to grow it, they'd work out an open and interoperable plan that allowed calls between them, provide it to all capable handsets, and data would be priced reasonably.

Canada is the most wired and connected country in the world.  Not only that, for the better part of the 20th century, the global center of communications innovation was in this country.    When it comes to wireless though, the current carrier monopolies consistently serve up third rate service, plans and handsets. 

Don't we have a right to expect better?

ChangeWave went public yesterday with their results showing that American consumers finally intend to dump their free contracted phones, and migrate to smart phones.  The big suprise?  Not that Apple iPhone was the top ranked phone they planned to buy… no.  How about that RIM Blackberry was the second choice?

Jim Balsillie must be feeling vindicated right now.  RIM's consumer strategy seems to be paying off.

Motorola, on the other hand, is in trouble.  Blitzed by RIM and Apple, consumer's intent to purchase their products has fallen from the lofty 33% of 15 months ago to a mere 11% today. 

And what about the complete absence of Nokia, both the dominant global handset manufacturer today, and maker of some very attractive consumer handsets.  Are they simply not popular with Americans?