With ads .... radio, television, wi-fi, telephone?

Those ingenious chaps at Fon (free wi-fi) have been messing around with an ad-supported service - and I don't mean the dull Google Ads variety. When you connect to a 'Fonera' (ie a Fon hotspot), you'll have to watch an ad to continue surfing - one every 30 minutes, according to Martin Varsavsky's blog.

Any reason why the same business model can't be applied to ordinary ISP, IM or (mobile) telephone service? Not really - apart from market appetite.

Orange (at last) has a common sense data plan

After years of being in the mobile business, then finally Orange UK looks to have discovered a common sense pricing model for consumers to use the mobile internet.

Bear in mind that 96% mobile revenues comes from plain ol' voice and text, so growing the 'proper' data component is pretty important. To date, pricing has been on a per MB or an 'all you can eat' basis.

I have blogged previously on why 3's gargantuan X-series package was indicative of amateur marketing. Looks like Orange have found a customer-centric solution.... wow, what a concept!

So here's why Orange's announcement will make total sense to users and I would anticipate the other operators will follow suit:

• Pay-as-you-go: Internet snacks – 40p for 15 mins with daily cap of £2 (or a daily £1 bundle).
• Contract: Internet “snacks” – 30p for 15mins with daily cap of £1.50 (or a “bundle” priced at £1 per day or £5 monthly for evening/ weekends or £8 monthly “anytime”)

New position at Webmetrics

Just started a new position at Webmetrics, as Product Marketing Manager - hence why there hasn't been too many posts recently!

It's a fascinating company just north of San Diego. In essence, what Webmetrics provides is simple and useful: they verify that your website is available and functional. But, given that the web is fragmenting, the page that you see is the result of multiple partners working together for the end-user experience, then knowing that your partners are up and running and functional, is vitally important.

For a small company, they have a great customer base: Yahoo!, Barnes and Noble, DHL, salesforce.com. Heaps of exciting potential!

As a side-note, I remain one of the Entrepreneurs-in-Residence at UCSD (University of California, San Diego) on the CONNECT program.