jho's blog

Go for the Gold with EQO!

jho — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 14:57:24 -0700

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.

Bell, Telus customers to pay for incoming text messages: Open Letter

jho — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 15:58:21 -0700

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:

Go to www.EQO.com and click on GET EQO NOW
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.
INVITE EVERYONE you know on BELL, TELUS (& ROGERS) to join your EQO network (think of the Facebook invite style, but on your mobile phone).
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!

Check Out EQO's Fa-Bus-Pa on Facebook's Glo-So-Net

jho — Fri, 23 May 2008 16:51:15 -0700

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 CEO Bill Tam at next week's Dow Jones Wireless Innovations event, Redwood City, CA, April 22-23, 2008

jho — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 17:30:58 -0700

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!

EQO Goes Artsy

jho — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 10:15:16 -0800

Well, not exactly... What has Marketing here at EQO been up to for the last couple months? We’ve been making kick a** short films, that’s what – a quadrilogy, in fact. The finished products below promise to enthral viewers young and old alike.

The EQO Legacy Quadrilogy is in no sense of the word "adult" or "mature," so more sophisticated comedy, drama, action and fantasy lovers may be a little disappointed by what it offers. There are however some popular tried, tested and true themes: hot girls in bikinis, a hot guy, a caveman and a trampoline. There are no wizards or goblins, but there is a slightly odd (sorry, “artistic”) announcer guy who does a good job of developing the plots.

To humanize the characters, the films were shot right here in Vancouver on the scenic DTES, amidst an angry landlord demanding we pay him for the use of his badly unkempt backyard. There's not much of a moral here, though, unless one considers it a lesson that, when filming hot girls jumping on trampolines, one should avoid doing so during a 12 year old boys street hockey game, but I digress.

Still not sure what the films are about? They’re about learning how to get the most out of your mobile phone by using EQO, of course. Despite the fact we are all about the mobile social networking and VoIP, we too enjoy some sweet eye candy whilst slaving away (the caveman being an acquired taste, and was my boss’ idea).

Check out Part 1 below entitled, “Hot Girl Jumping on a Trampoline”

You can catch the riveting sequels to the EQO quadrilogy on YouTube at the links below. Feel free to leave favourable ratings and comments, pass them onto your friends or post them to your very own site!

Hot Asian Girl

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtYx7-l6A0g

Hot Guy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2wtAfK2908

Caveman

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0LPIOfxtvU

Forget about last week's Oscar's - the SPIFFY Awards are TOMORROW!

jho — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 14:41:04 -0800

If you’re like me, you yearn for an awards ceremony that truly means something. After all, exceptional achievement deserves exceptional recognition. This Thursday – tomorrow night – from 5:00-7:00 PM, is one of those opportunities. It is with great honour and pleasure that I announce that EQO has been nominated for a prestigious SPIFFY Award!

The SPIFFY Awards recognize the most outstanding telecommunications start-ups in Silicon Valley, as judged by the members of the Service Providers Forum (SPiF) of the Telecom Council of Silicon Valley. The SPIFFY's consist of 8 award categories (nominees are listed on the event website):

The Edison Award for Most Innovative Start-Up
Ground Breaker Award for Engineering Excellence

The San Andreas Award for Most Disruptive Technology – This award is for the most game-changing startup to present at the SPiF meetings. It is offered to the company whose progress is most likely to disrupt markets, and change the way people do things – SOON TO BE EQO’s!!!

The Fred & Ginger Award for Most Supportive Carrier
Graham Bell Award for Best Communication Solution
The Core Award for Best Fixed Telecom Opportunity
Prodigy Award for the Most Successful SPiF Alumni
The Zephyr Award for Best Mobile Opportunity

If you’re in the Bay Area tomorrow night, make sure to get your hands on some last minute tickets as it promises to be an exciting night. Just think – in just over 24 hours you could be watching our resident hero, EQO CEO Bill Tam, gracefully accepting this year’s San Andreas Award! I have exactly the same amount of time to finish getting ready for the exclusive SPIFFY Awards party that I host at my pad every year... Sorry folks, this one’s by invite only.

For more information on this year’s SPIFFY's, visit the Telecom Council's event site.

Come see EQO at Mobile World Congress this week!

jho — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 15:22:46 -0800

It's that time again! Second only to Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanzaa and Chinese New Year's momentous annual events, 2008’s Mobile World Congress (formerly GSMA, now MWC) officially began in Barcelona today.

For those of you who don’t know, this event combines the world’s largest congress for the mobile industry with a leading-edge exhibition that showcases the very latest developments in mobile from around the world (I know, I couldn’t be more excited too!!!).

The Mobile World Congress, which runs from February 11-14, 2008, is the premier event for the global mobile industry, which is why of course that EQO is in attendance again this year! If you happen to stop by the show this year, make sure you come look for our local hero, Bill Tam (of current esteemed EQO CEO fame). He’ll be doing the rounds at the show and would love to talk to you about all the cool and exciting new things that are happening at EQO right now -- like our brand-spanking new awesomely-cool first Facebook application: EQO Vibrator (the name says it all...REALLY).

We also officially announced the GLOBAL expansion of our award-winning Mobile VoIP service at the show today. What does that mean for you, the EQO blog reader? Well, if you don’t already have EQO now couldn't be a better time to get it – no matter where in the world you are. If you already have EQO, make sure to tell all your friends who couldn’t access our voice service (and cheaps texts, and free IMs) in the past that they can now get up and running.

Also, just a reminder to you all that Valentine’s Day is this Thursday – if you’ve forgotten to get your sweetie something like I tend to do every year – be sure to check out MWC if you’re in the area. If you’ve ever been to a huge tradeshow like this, you already know there’s is tons of free swag to be had that would serve as great last minute gift ideas... nothing says loving like corporate branded promotional items.

Lastly, in case attending MWC doesn’t float your boat – and if you live in and around the Vancouver area, today is also the last day to attend the Pontiac GMC Canadian Championships in Whistler, BC, featuring men and women competing in Downhill and Super Combined events on the new Wild Card/Jimmy's/Lower Franz's course – which I highly doubt will be anywhere near as exciting as what’s happening at MWC.

“You must be younger than my mother, and weigh less then my car...”

jho — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 17:07:22 -0700

“...if this sounds like you, drop me a line.”

This whole Facebook craze has gotten me thinking about another, perhaps more original use for social networking – online dating. The above quotation by the way, is my favourite online dating profile avatar that I’ve ever came across.

Being old enough to remember when the worldwide web really started to take off, it wasn’t long after that online dating began gripping our nations, coast to coast. I remember geeks and social outcasts I knew who couldn’t get a date to save their lives, started finding true love and soul mates through emails and Instant Messenger like it was going out of style. Not much has changed in the way of online dating technology since then, but rather people have gotten smarter in their online approach.

I guess at first it never really occurred to people seeking love that the photos and online chats they were having with their prospective mate may not be a true representation of who that person really was, or better yet – how the person really looked (except of course for the people specifically using it for this advantage). If I had a dollar for every story I heard about people posting fake photos or misrepresenting themselves well, let’s just say, I wouldn’t be writing this blog – I’d be telling my monkey servants what to do. I think people like me, who met prospective dates the old-fashioned, classy way (after 6 or so drinks in the local meat market pub), associated online dating as the “virtual bar for losers” – but then something happened.

As the days grew shorter, and the nights grew longer, I began growing increasingly older, and increasingly single. By then I had ditched my pixie haircut and baggy jeans for a cheap suit and entry level corporate position, and was finding it harder and harder to meet dateable people that weren’t married or crazy – or both. After dating my last psycho that I had met at the bar I had a moment of clarity – i could have met that psycho online, and I could have likely weeded them out a lot sooner through IM chats and emails from the comfort and safety of my own home. Yes, it was time to create my first online dating profile.

I quickly sought out the perfect photo of Jessica Biel to pass off as myself, and created a very generic and cheesy profile (candlelit dinners, long walks, beaches, “i work out regularly” (haha suckers), etc.). I also quickly devised a meeting strategy – I’d pretty much meet anyone I deemed worthy (everyone) in a very public place, and have my friend call me 15 minutes into the date so I could make my escape if necessary (I swear I invented this)...*sheer genius*

I won’t however bore you with the details of my online escapades (those will one day be published in my memoirs). I’d rather like to quickly run through some much needed improvements to online dating sites:

Make buying credits mandatory. All you losers out there – and you know who are – if you put “although I do not have a credit card, money, full-time job, any job, etc., etc. to purchase credits with, I will respond if you email me...” I’m sorry, but if you can’t spend upwards of 15 DOLLARS (or don’t have a sufficient credit rating to do so) on finding a prospective casual date, relationship or casual encounter, you have NO BUSINESS online dating.

Add the “Hot or Not” application to everyone’s profile picture. I have no idea why this concept has lost popularity over the years. With thousands of men and women online at any given time, this would REALLY help people weed thru the bottom-feeders in an efficient and humourous manner.

‘Smiles’ are always free online...which is great, but why not take it a step further – I say, open-up the Microsoft suite of emoticons to list of available free responses such as:These could really go a long way conveying emotions that sometime words just can’t do justice.

And finally, on a related note and as a personal favour to a friend who is actively seeking a mate on Plenty of Fish (and yes I realize the irony of advertising a free dating site given my number 1, and I’ve been heavily encouraging him to SPEND SOME MONEY on a girl), I promised I would promote his profile (with his permission). Meet Joe Krevs (don’t worry ladies -- I said “Krevs” not crabs). He’s my West Side buddy and he’s awesome and single (awesomely single, that is, *zing!*) But seriously, he’s my boy... so get in there while the getting’s good! With a face like this he won’t last long... You can find his profile on the Vancouver, BC network at www.plentyoffish.com.

- JHO

What are the kids into these days?

jho — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 15:54:28 -0700

I’ve noticed that the older I get, the harder it is to keep in touch with “what’s cool with the kids these days”. Not much of a shocking statement there, but nevertheless it’s a huge challenge that leaves me scratching my head for fresh ideas being the marketing god I am here at EQO. This week I had many brainstorming sessions with my San Francisco counterpart who was in the Vancouver office this week, trying to figure out what “all the rage” is these days. This one guy we met with this week was trying to tell us that cats (yes, plain old everyday cats) are like the hottest thing out there right now.

Sure I was sceptical, but being how important doing due diligence is to me, I did decided to be fair and investigate his proclamation a bit a further. To verify my data, I checked out the most reliable hard-hitting news source I could think of: YouTube. You may be surprised to learn that the video entitled “Funny Cats” has been viewed almost 11.5 million times (about 10 of those times I accounted for – and I’ve subsequently taken the time to forward onto all my friends). Maybe this guy really was onto to something here...

I would have been all but entirely convinced to throw the entire marketing budget on a multi-tiered feline-focused market roll-out plan hadn’t I had noticed another hot (and just slightly sexier) topic that same day – Lindsay Lohan. With over 25,000 video clips and 24,000,000 Google hits to her name, I quickly reassessed what’s hot these days – apparently celebrity DUI’s are it.

And then it came to me: If I could dress up a drunk Lindsay Lohan, put her in a car, dressed up as a cat, I may just have stumbled on the hottest marketing campaign EVER! I typically don’t disclose marketing objectives online, but this stroke of genius is bigger than myself and must be shared with the world. Lindsay Lohan: if you have any time between now and your August 25th court appearance to chat – I’d love to hear your thoughts.

If anyone else has any suggestions for the most effective way to execute this campaign, or has any other ideas for an awesome EQO marketing campaign they'd like to see, please drop me a line.

- JHO

JHO's Inaugural Post - Facebook Musings

jho — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 09:51:45 -0700

Grrrrr. Blogging for the first time is harder than it looks. Not like wasting time. Wasting time is much easier.

If you can’t tell after reading this post, I’m a little slow on "what’s cool" online. Three months ago I discovered Facebook – which is cool because a crack addiction can be rather costly...or so I’ve heard. And much like crack, it’s an addictive, great way to waste large amounts of time at home and at work (and even on your cell phone!) on something that provides little, if nothing in return. As if I didn’t have enough happening in my life, managing my Facebook profile has basically become a second job. God knows it takes a lot of time administering my personal profile, strategically granting profile access to some but not others (losers – you know who you are), figuring out what to tell people "JHO is...." on any given day, and getting over the unparalleled rush I get from hitting the “Reject” friend request button (I think they now call it “Ignore” to soften the blow).

On a more positive note, Facebook has however filled the large empty void in my life of wondering who from my high school got fat (...really fat), who out of my friends posted the most boring pictures of things I don’t care about, and who I make way more money than. I also thoroughly enjoy some of the terminology associated with Facebook – like the “poke” function, for instance. I wish I had a picture to support this post (oh wait, i do - on my Facebook profile) capturing the poor, unsuspecting elderly couple’s facial expressions sitting next to me during my recent vacation in Whistler, after I had went on for some time describing in great detail all the people "I poked”, “should poke”, “want to poke” or “poked me” that day on Facebook. Generation gaps apparently make for good times.

As a sidebar, if you also read Chris' blog on this site you may have noticed he also blogged about Facebook yesterday - that's the last time this amateur blogger shares her posting ideas with the so-called "team".

-- JHO