blogs

Relax. Go to it.

…the Mobile Excellence Awards, that is.

It is with great pleasure and unabashed esteem that I announce to you all *wait for it*…EQO HAS BEEN NOMINATED AS A FINALIST FOR BEST START-UP in this year's Mobile Excellence Awards! We’ve been nominated along with four other start-ups, who need not be mentioned because we so clearly have got this one in the bag (alrighhttttttt – the other nominees are Vringo, Zannel and Cha Cha Mobile). 

What are the Mobile Excellence Awards?

As if you didn’t already know. The Mobile Excellence Awards recognize all walks of the mobile ecosystem, and celebrate the best in mobile media, technology, marketing and entertainment.

What are the judging criteria? (hmm, let’s count how many of these EQO clearly exceeds expectations on…)

Mobile Excellence Award Finalists & Winners are selected and based upon:

1. Strategic initiatives & objectives (who could be more strategic and objective than EQO?)
2. Impact of technology used (helloooo! Millions of users around the globe ring a bell...an EQO bell???)
3. Creativity (just try the app to know we got this one nailed)
4. Ease of use & reach (it’s so easy, I think I saw my dog using it the other day)
5. Execution & proven market success (REPEAT: helloooo! Millions of users around the globe ring a bell?)

How can I become a part of history by witnessing the momentous occasion of EQO accepting its award?

If you haven’t already reserved your seat for this event, you can register for tickets to the reception by clicking this link: mobilexawardreception

Come join industry leaders (EQO) in mobile entertainment and media to celebrate the nominees (EQO) and honor the winners (EQO) to be announced at a prestigious cocktail reception and program on Monday, October 27th at Digital Hollywood in Santa Monica, CA.

That way, you can congratulate us on the win in person.

Starting today, EQO supports the shiny new BlackBerry Bold. As the phone's name implies, this device is a statement-maker. It comes equipped with all the bells and whistles that you would expect from a top of the line smartphone--camera, GPS, WiFi, media viewing capabilities, bluetooth, et cetera, et cetera--plus it sports a fancy "bold" screen. Pretty neat, if you ask me.

Anyway, after you run out and buy a new Bold, come back to EQO and try it out.

Peter

It appears to me that phone manufacturers are releasing new mobile phone models at a quickening pace. It used to be that you could have a phone for over a year without it looking dated. However, in the iPhone Era, if you bought a phone 6 months ago, you are already two years behind the times (even if the phone you bought was an iPhone). The Age of the Disposible Mobile Phone is seemingly incongruous in the increasingly environmentalist milieu of western society. However, I am certain that when someone finds a way to make money by selling a "Green" phone all of the other phone makers will jump on board. For now, though, we will have to content ourselves with the cycle of "man, I need a new phone" to "just bought a new phone joy" to "look at that guy's newer phone envy" to "damn, why am I stuck with this Zack Morris phone" and back to "man, I need a new phone".

One just-released phone that I am looking forward to trying out is the Nokia E71. Personally I am a big fan of phones that feature WiFi, GPS, full qwerty keypads, and sleek Scandinavian styling--what is not to love? Another great reason to love this phone is that it is now supported by EQO.

You may or may not have noticed, but we have added a whole host of new phones to our supported list of the Nokia, Sony Ericcson and Samsung varietals.

Peter

The 2008 Olympics are only a few days way, and if you’re like me, you’ve got Olympic fever out the ying-yang. But if you’re also like me, you’re painfully aware that until Couch Surfing or Afternoon Napping becomes an Olympic sport, you’ll sadly never know that feeling of glory, admiration and pride as you accept that gold medal. Or, maybe you are an active person, so active in fact, that you find it hard to stay abreast of the latest, hottest Olympic stories out there. Well, you’ll be ecstatic to hear that EQO’s Go for the Gold contest has got you covered on both fronts, plus a chance to win some SWEET PRIZES!

Tell me more you say? Thanks to our awesome ability to harness the power of technology, you can now use EQO to keep up to date on the hottest and most fascinating Olympic storylines.

How does it work? It’s simple. Each day we’ll send you three exciting Olympic highlights via EQO Message (completely free to you, of course). You’ll then get to vote on your favorite story. The next day we’ll tell you which story won the Gold medal, along with three new stories.

What’s the best part? Each vote puts you closer to – OMG – winning the drawing for a brand new BlackBerry smartphone at the end of the Olympics. Each day we will also reward one of you mobile athletes with $50 worth of EQO Credits (so you can call all your buddies to rub your win in their faces).

And hey, ask not what your country can do for you. If the prizes aren’t enough motivation, you’ll also be competing for national pride as EQO rewards our very own Gold, Silver and Bronze medals to the countries that logged the most votes throughout the Olympics - EQO will fly your country’s flags on our website. Take that, <insert country name(s) you don’t like here>!

To register for the contest now, click here.

Sadly being an EQO employee I cannot take part in the competition, but much like the real Olympics, I’ll be intently following how the competition unfolds from my couch.    

Dear Bell & Telus:Wow. Today is a big day for you. You came up with a whole new way to dig deep -- way deep -- into the already porous pockets of Canadians. Up until now, I naively believed that the government and oil companies were responsible for gouging me, but clearly you’ve found a whole new way to exploit the Canadian population. After giving it some thought however (and doing a little research from online sources that appear to be credible), I was able to see your rationale for this new 15 cent per text message billing structure.  After all, times are tough – we’re all feeling the pinch.

I mean, look at some of these upsetting facts I found:

• Bell, in 2007, you only made 20 billion dollars in annual revenue  (from about 5.8 million wireless subscribers)
• And Telus, well, you are clearly in dire straits. Sadly, you only made about 9.2 billion dollars from 5.7 million wireless subscribers.

Wow, I can see how it would be hard to stay afloat given these rough economic conditions. Sadly, I cannot help with either of your causes as I currently contribute $100 / month in wireless services to Rogers’ annual revenue.

Despite the fact Rogers at the moment has no intention to jump on the pay per text bandwagon, I’ve already carved out my own plan to stick it to the man. See, I’m lucky enough to work for a little company named EQO, a Canadian company in fact, where I don’t pay a penny for messages. Listen up Bell and Telus (AND Rogers) subscribers! I’m about to share my secret with you – think of it as a quick tip to help you, the little guy, STICK IT to the big guys.

Just follow these simple directions:

1. Go to www.EQO.com and click on GET EQO NOW  
2. Sign up for your FREE EQO account, and follow the simple directions to download EQO to your phone (it works with your existing phone and plan). EQO will import your contacts automatically.
3. INVITE EVERYONE you know on BELL, TELUS (& ROGERS) to join your EQO network (think of the Facebook invite style, but on your mobile phone).
4. Select a contact from your EQO Phonebook, click on EQO Message, type your message (might I suggest something like “SUCK IT, Bell & Telus!”), and hit send. You just sent your message for FREE, and your buddy will receive your message FOR FREE – no charge from Bell or Telus (or Rogers), and of course no charge from EQO.  

Now THAT WAS EASY (insert Staples easy button here). You just sent the first of many FREE messages, the possibilities are endless. And by the way, for your buddies that aren’t on EQO, we also offer super-cheap SMS texts to anywhere in the world, though that won’t help your friend.

Why am I sharing my secret with you? Well, because it’s no secret at all. A bunch of us got together here at EQO a few years ago and set out to make staying in touch with people easier, and CHEAPER. It’s our contribution to good karma – enjoy, and make sure to let us know what you think!

In the meantime, you stay classy, Canadian telcos!

When the "new" EQO was launched in May of '07, the only way to purchase more credits for international calling and messaging was via a Verified PayPal account. And, while PayPal is a safe, secure way to make online payments it is not yet available to everyone in every locale on the globe. There are now several ways that you can purchase EQO credits.

We at EQO realized that a long time ago, and we have worked hard to bring in more payment partners. Now, along with PayPal and Moneybookers, payments to EQO can be made with Visa and MasterCard.

Stayed tuned because we are sure to add some more payment options in the near future.

Peter
EQO Customer Support

So, there’s this great new social networking tool I stumbled upon recently called “Facebook”. If you haven’t already checked it out, you should definitely give it a try – it’s pretty cool. In addition to having your very own profile with all your friends on it like you can on MySpace, they also let you create business pages to promote your products and services, which I took the groundbreaking liberty of doing today.

Ok ok, so EQO’s been a little bit slow with promoting ourselves on Facebook's Glo-So-Net thing (...global social network/ing – I coined it right here and now), but that’s just because we wanted to put together an awesome Fa-Bus-Pa (Facebook Business Page???), filled with all things EQO Mobile VoIP Free Mobile IM & Free Texting Related.

Well actually, what would make it even more awesome (though there’s some debate this may simply not be possible), would be for you to go and visit EQO’s Facebook Page, and not just become a fan (we know you waaaaaaant to), but also become a contributor. We’re always looking for product feedback, new feature ideas / suggestions, or anything else you think anyone would find interesting.

Check it out today! Don’t be one of the last people on Facebook...to join EQO’s Page.

EQO Traveler is here.

Now when you roam with EQO you can use Travel Mode, so that all of your EQO calls will use your inbound roaming minutes instead of outbound roaming minutes. You can also enter the number of a local prepaid SIM card in Travel Mode so that your calls will be routed and charged to that number. Still confused? Check out this super helpful Travel Mode how-to video—Episode III Revenge of the Chris, the 4^th and final video in our 6 part saga.

Although I know that you don’t need any convincing, there are several reasons to watch this clip. This is the first EQO video to be filmed on Bryan’s fancy new HD video camera (so if you are a friend or family member of Bryan’s or the dude who sold him the camera, you might enjoy this). Also, this is Chris’ final performance for EQO (you’ll either be saying “phew, thank God” or “Why Chris? Why? Say it ain’t so!”). And finally, this is amateur film-making at its worst (which is always good for a few chuckles).

Webster’s dictionary defines innovation as:

in·no·va·tion   ɪn əˈveɪ ʃən/ Pronunciation Key –noun

1. Mobile VoIP, text messaging and FREE IM with EQO.

2. the act of innovating; introduction of new things or methods.

Well #2 is probably the more accurate definition while I await Webster’s response on #1's definition suggestion.

Why is EQO at this year’s Dow Jones Wireless Innovations conference in Redwood City, CA, at the Sofitel, San Francisco Bay, April 22-23, 2008, you ask? Open Opportunity, and Turning Mobility Into Profitably (very clever) – of course!

The website told me that last year brought many changes to the wireless industry that will forever impact how people use their wireless devices. Apple introduced the iPhone; Google announced an open mobile operating system; even carriers and handset makers declared their openness. But how much is hype versus reality? Such changes will ultimately affect not only carriers and device makers but start-ups and investors, opening up increasing possibilities for revenue.

To help both VCs and entrepreneurs get a view of the innovations and opportunities that will emerge in 2008 and beyond, Dow Jones VentureWire is putting together an impressive group of speakers, including individuals from some of the major carriers, CEOs from 70 of the most promising mobile start-ups (most notably our own mobile god, EQO CEO Bill Tam) and, of course, some of the leading investors in the sector (show me the money!).

Come catch Bill Tam April 22, 2008 between 3:05-4:40 PM in Salon 3. That’s right, he only needs just over an hour to tell you about how EQO is one of the fastest growing Mobile VoIP players (and the most AWESOME) in the industry, how we are adding tons of new users everyday, and by this humble blogger’s opinion – how  our monetisation model has the makings of Forbes-type-recognized success.

If you are in town next week soaking up all that Redwood City has to offer (I know, there’s so much to do…) – Wireless Innovations is a must-see!

Since reading and blogging about Getting Real, I've become more interested in what 37Signals has to say. I've started perusing their Signal vs Noise Blog from time to time and have found a couple more gems worth sharing.

The first post that caught my eye was a response to Jason Calacanis' now infamous post on how startups can save money. I had already read what Calacanis has to say and found it to be generally good advice. If you want to get the most out of people, you should indeed set them up for success. But I was irked by the same point that David at 37Signals was, that Calacanis recommended firing non workaholics, and was interested to read the response post Fire the workaholics. Clearly there is a happy medium, but I found that I generally agreed with the 37Signals point of view, that working smarter not longer should be a priority. This is clearly a heated topic near and dear to people's hearts, exemplified by the outrage at the original post. Just read the comment stream to see how sensitive a topic this really is. Clearly there is a need to work hard and put in extra hours from time to time, but some of the studies mentioned in the comments talked of the effect working long hours can have on motivation. It seems that, in the long run, more hours to a point does not equate to increased productivity. It's counter intuitive, but then that's psychology for you.

The second post that I fell in love with was this one about Questioning your work. It lists a series of questions to ask yourself before embarking on a new project or even when starting simpler tasks. If you are really doing the right thing, the answers to these questions will confirm that. But if you are undertaking folly, asking yourself these questions will help you realize it. What are we doing and is it worth it? What else could I do that might be better than this? Is there an easier way to do this? I will surely ask myself these questions and others like them more often in the future.

Chris
EQO Customer Evangelist