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I was recently contacted by a U.K.-based consultancy called Technology Appraisals Ltd. about a new study that I'm pretty sure you'll want to learn more about.

I don't often talk about industry reports - especially those that aren't mine! - but mobile VoIP is such a happening market right now, and I don't think there's anything out there like this.

They've just released a report on the mobile VoIP landscape, and for anyone following this space, it's a pretty comprehensive overview of the players and the market pulse. The reports profiles 30 mobile VoIP providers/solutions, with many familiar names, such as Truphone, Talkster, Rebtel, Mino, fring, Jajah, Mobivox, Skype, iSkoot, EQO and PhoneGnome.

The report covers a lot of ground - it's 175 pages (and is reasonably priced) - with profiles of all these providers, as well as a section explaining all the various mobile VoIP solutions, and country-by-country tariff comparison tables to illustrate the varying range of mobile telephony rates.

The market researcher in me feels obliged to explain that the study is not a strategic analysis of the space, and is not based on primary research or direct interviews with these providers or their customers. If that's what you have in mind, then let's talk! I'm sure we could work something out along with the folks at Technology Appraisals.

That said, for a space that is so du jour, it's a great snapshot of the current market environment. I could see this report being of value to anyone looking to enter the mobile VoIP space or pitch value-added apps to the providers, as well as investors looking for companies to get behind or possibly acquire.

To learn more, I've provided some links to the study in this post, but would also be happy to put you in touch with Alan Paton, the primary author behind the study.

Technorati tags:Technology Appraisals Ltd., Jon Arnold, mobility, VoIP

Andy Abramson is widely regarded as one of the top bloggers in our space, and I cite him regularly. He's on the road again, this time on a two week European tour of duty, and his blog provides a great chronicle of the sights, sounds and tastes he's experiencing.

Aside from the travelogue posts, I really want to share one of his posts from Monday, which I only just now had a chance to review. For anyone who travels on a regular basis, his Global Nomad post is a must-read companion guide for staying productive. Andy's been living this life quite a while and is a great test case for anyone who wants or needs to use all the tools.

While many of the companies he cites are clients, that's besides the point. They're clients for a good reason. Andy lives the life they're catering to, so aside from helping them become more successful in the marketplace, he truly relies on their products/services for his everyday needs.

All I can say is read it for yourself, and I guarantee that if you travel regularly, you'll be nodding your head as you go through the list of all the great apps and services he's living and dying by. And I'm sure you'll you find a few new ones, which is really the payoff here. Andy sees it all, and he uses it all, so if you want to shorten the learning curve on how to be a global nomad, this is the post for you.

Technorati tags:Andy Abramson, Jon Arnold, travel, VoIP

I've been quite busy writing recently on a number of fronts, and this is one I think you'll enjoy - not just for my thoughts, but all the other good content that's there as well.

A couple of months back, I was approached to contribute to Tech Target's Ask the Expert series, and I've done a few of these for them. I'm actually doing a few more for them now, and will post about them in due course.

Since then, they've bumped me up a bit and have also asked me to contribute when I can to their In The Know columns. My first article focuses on social media and how enterprises should be looking at this phenomonon. It's a great topic, and I hope to revisit it in future columns.

Aside from my article, there's lots of other good content in their current UC Connections newsletter. You can peruse it all here as well as sign on for RSS feeds, which is a great way to stay on top of this topic. Tech Target covers many other IT and network-related topics on their portal, so you may want to explore things a bit further.

Technorati tags:social media, Jon Arnold, J Arnold & Associates, Tech Target, Unified Communications News

My latest Service Provider Views column is running now on TMCnet. It's the first segment of a two part Q&A interview with John Macario, and our focus is on the Tier 2/Tier 3 carrier market. His firm, Savatar, provides some leading edge research on the SMB market, and he shares his insights on how these carriers are going to market with both their residential and SMB customers.

Lots to talk about - that's why it's a two part interview. You can read Part 1 here, and we'll have the second segment later this month. Hope you enjoy it.

Technorati tags:Service Provider Views, Jon Arnold, J Arnold & Associates, Microsoft Telco 2.0, John Macario, Savatar, VoIP

Toronto colleague Michael O'Neil has been honing his IT in Canada portal for a few months now, and it's coming along nicely.

The portal covers a lot of ground and there's some very good content, focused primarily on IT-related issues. I've been recently added to the "Expert Ring" of contributors to the IT Forum Exchange, which is some nice local recognition. The Forum has several threads, which really are microsites covering a whole range of topics, and my most recent post is up there now, under the Unified Communications banner.

It's titled "Unified Communications - What's the Focus?", and I'm spelling this out to make it easier to find. Unfortunately, the portal only provides links to the home page - the design is still clunky, but the content is worth putting up with for a bit of extra work to find it.

I hope you enjoy the post, and I'll be contributing there on a fairly regular basis. I'm just one of many contributors, however, so what I really want you to do is discover the portal and see for yourself. And then, please tell me what you think, as Michael is always open for new ideas.

Technorati tags:IT in Canada, Jon Arnold, Michael O'Neil, Unified Communications