Mobile Virtual Network Operator, or more simply MVNO. It seems the buzz would have you believe that within a few years we’ll all be carrying Captain Crunch, Corona or Pepsi mobile phones. Maybe we well. Seems kind of fun to me. As our global society continues to be obsessed with promoting the hottest brands on everything we own from our feet to our ears, why not have a branded cell phone that goes beyond just the case! I have two thoughts on this subject. One, I think the carriers need to take control of this more or they’re going to loose out on more revenue then they need to and two, big brand companies out there like Louis Vuitton and Disney could take the experience much further.

Let’s start with the carriers. The infrastructure costs related not only to the networks themselves but also the customer management and billing systems is enormous. It seems a waste to make the MVNO build out this infrastructure or worse yet give up this potential outsourcing revenue to a third party such as Visage Mobile, who will provide these systems for the MVNO to integrate with whatever carrier they’d like. The carriers themselves should setup their systems to be flexible enough to manage these MVNOs and take a large cut of the revenue rather then just the whole sale rates of the network usage. Additionally, economies of scale can be created by leveraging large call centers to support multiple MVNOs keeping the costs down for everyone.

Regarding the MVNO’s themselves I think the big opportunity is integration. Let’s take the Louis Vuitton brand for example. If they were to create an MVNO that was super high end, they could not only drive customers to their stores and product lines, but create a need for increased purchases. For example, if LV setup the service to be high-touch customers would be coming in to their store every time they had a problem or wanted to change their plan. Now, given the market, I’d jack up the price of those cell phones to the point that they were disposable so that when that customer walks in with a problem the store person just gives them a new phone and sends them on their way. Not to mention make sure they have the latest mobile holder that came out this week. Big brands becoming MVNO’s open up lot’s of opportunities to better integrate themselves with their customers. They can immediately increase customer insight on buying habits, etc. by monitoring their calls and or web sites visited from their mobile phone (all in aggregate of course to protect privacy). Additionally, they have a way not to directly contact their customer based on their preferences. For example, Disney could do everything from send SMS coupons for Disney Land to the latest program guide for ABC’s lineup.

I’m still looking forward to Apple coming out with a mobile phone and possibly an MVNO play too, but I’m even more curious about when The Quaker Oats Co. is going to have Captain Crunch cell phones for kids!

Over the holidays I found myself in many lines, whether they were to buy something or mail it at the post office. On the occasion I was trying to ship a package I found out that I did not have the right form. Unfortunately, I waited for over half an hour before learning this and had to start over at the end of the line once I had the correct form. I’m guessing something similar has happened to you where you didn’t have what you needed to perform the transaction when you reached the end of the line or found out you were in the wrong line all together. In scenarios where these types of lines exist, the organization should employ an individual (could be someone rotating out of one of those boring seat jobs) to talk to people in the line in order to make sure they a.) have everything they need for when they’re at the counter and/or b.) are in the correct line.

How many times have you received that email from a friend with a link to an online album of all the wonderful pictures taken on their camera from an event you attended? I am so frustrated by the difficulty that exists in online photo sharing. In the age of digital cameras, photo albums are larger then ever. Unfortunately, most of the pictures you want are from someone else’s camera. Yes, this is not a new problem and I do remember the day when one had to ask, “Can you make a copy for me?” I realize that was much more difficult then the process today where at least I can purchase a printed copy of the shared photo. But!, I want to have the original so that I can keep it forever and maybe modify it myself in Photoshop.

I have reviewed the major online photo services out there and have yet to find one that does not charge both users a large fee for this convenience. Now, you may be thinking, “where is the business justification for them providing that service?” Well, here are my thoughts on that:

1.) Unique differentiator
2.) Increased “eye balls” on your site as customers spend more time clicking through images and choosing, which ones to download. You could for example allow only one download at a time, after which you present a splash screen trying to up sell on other products.
3.) Bandwidth costs could be shared with the consumer by leveraging a peer-to-peer technology such as employed by Bit torrent.

Latest News - Service providers that DO allow downloads of the originals:
Google's Picasa
Smugmug

Service providers not allowing downloads of the originals:
Flickr
Fotki
Kodak Gallery (a.k.a., Ofoto)
Picturetrail
Pixagogo
PhotoBox
Photosite
PhotoWorks
Shutterfly
Simple Star
Slide
Webshots
Yahoo Photos

Now, there are a few ways to share the originals (e.g., uploading them onto your own web server). However, they’re too cumbersome. Another alternative is to use Hello, which is part of Google’s Picasso application suite. It allows you to share the originals, but your computer and your friends have to be online at the same time for the exchange. PiXPO does the same.

If anyone knows of a service that solves this problem, please let me know!

P.S., during the course of writing this entry, another friend of mine sent out pictures from a trip this summer. Argh! I want the originals!

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September 8, 2006 Update: Finally!!! It's arrived. Thanks to Google we will soon all be able to share original photos for download with friends. It's currently in "test" as it looks like they haven't committed to this product, but I'm hoping they do. Imagine when we all won't have to sit through camera after camer during group photos because everyone will be rest assured they can get the original file off of one of the cameras! And, it's FREE!

- A free download of the Picasa software for uploading your photos to the web in one or two clicks.
- Your own shareable Picasa Web Albums homepage showing all your public albums.
- Enough free storage to post and share approximately 1000 photos (an option for upgrading to more space is also available).
- Big, high-resolution pictures that set a new standard for online viewing. You can even download friends' photos off the web to print at home or view a full-screen slideshow.
- Fun easy-to-use online tools, like captions, comments, rotate, and zoom.

Learn more about what's new in Picasa here:
http://picasa.google.com/web/help.html

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Update: Snapfish allows sharring an original photo for download. It costs $.49 a pic.

Dear Snapfish Customer,

Thank you for writing to us.

Please find below how to download FREE pictures from Snapfish to your computer:

Images available for free download are of lower quality than the high-resolution versions we have stored on our computers. The High Resolution scans are used for making reprints when you order them, for creating Photo CD ROM's, and are available for purchase in direct download form as well.

You can use free images where you would view them with a computer, but they won't print high quality photos.

For Free downloads, we recommend that you download a picture from the "slide" view, as opposed to the "entire album" or "thumbnail" view, as the slide show view has larger images. Instructions are below.

A little technical information for customers who need it: the resolution of the "Slide View" photos is 384x256 pixels and the resolution of the thumbnail view is 96 x 64 pixels. The high resolution scans provided in high resolution download or with a Photo CD are 1536x1024 pixels.

All photos are in "JPEG" or ".jpg" format.

The instructions below cover FREE downloads for both Windows and Macintosh Computers. Please check our site for information and instructions on High Resolution Downloads at www.snapfish.com/helphiresphotos.