Channel-Lands: A View from China

I’ve spent the week monitoring the Channel-Lands from afar in the Far East this past week. Honestly, I’ve been a bit disconnected between trying to keep up with a regular workload and taking in the sights and sounds of Shanghai and the surrounding countryside. Nevertheless, all of the headlines and drama of the channel back home have found me behind the Great Firewall of China. Here’s what tops my list for the stories of the week.

Have You ‘Hurd’ about the HP-Oracle Drama?

As we used to say in my newspaper days, “this story has legs.” First, Oracle hires Mark Hurd as its new “co-president”. HP files a lawsuit against their fallen CEO to prevent him from taking the Oracle post, claiming “irrevocable harm” from the inevitable disclosure of trade secrets. Then, Oracle honcho Larry Ellison threatens to pull the plug on long-standing and lucrative HP-Oracle partnership in retaliation for the lawsuit. The news on this was global – the Asian press has been harping on this all week.

Oy vey! But the drama doesn’t stop there. As The VAR Guy reported earlier this week, Hurd is confirmed as a keynote speaker at Oracle World in two weeks in San Francisco. Even with the future relationship hanging in the balance, HP’s Ann Livermore remains a marquee speaker at the event, too.

This HP-Oracle feud over Hurd proves many things. First, Hurd is probably the real deal when it comes to executive tech leadership, since partners and shareholders have voted through their various mediums in support of the move to Oracle. Second, Oracle represents a clear and competitive threat to HP (as well as other hardware vendors); the Hurd hiring shows it intends to play with its Sun Microsystems assets. Third, all is fair in love and war – Oracle has never been a shrinking violet and Ellison is making it clear he’s willing to fight for his man.

HP’s myriad of other rivals is probably getting a good laugh out of all this, but probably none more so than the folks at Lexmark. In 2007, Lexmark battled with HP over defecting executive Bruce Dahlgren. Lexmark, a Kentucky-based company, claimed Dahlgren was violating a noncompete agreement. HP actually beat Lexmark to court by filing a preemptive lawsuit in California courts to invalidate the agreement. The two companies fought for months over jurisdiction. In the end, they settled out of court with stringent restrictions placed on Dahlgren’s activity for a year. Now, HP is going to court arguing – in effect – against the very claims it made in the Lexmark battle. Most legal analysts say the law is against HP. As they say in the legal trade: “When the facts are against you, argue the law. When the law is against, just argue.”

This is definitely a story that isn’t going away anytime soon. Stay tuned. I will.

Microsoft Phone 7 Is Coming

CRN echoed a report of British blog Pocket-Lint that Microsoft officially will launch the long-anticipated Windows Phone 7 on October 11. If true – and Microsoft hasn’t confirmed – this launch will be nothing short of momentous. Microsoft has a lot more than pride riding on WP7.

For the last three years, Apple has owned the smartphone market with its various iPhone flavors. Google has taking over the position of challenger with the rapid rise in Android adoption. Between the two, Microsoft and its beleaguered Windows Mobile 6 and 6.5 have simply gotten hammered – Vista-style. Some reviewers have noted the performance of its mobile operating systems as poor and feature lacking. It has cost Microsoft market share and relevancy in this lucrative and rapidly expanding mobility market.

Microsoft is getting strong reviews for WP7, however, from partners and early testers. Microsoft released the operating system to manufacturers on Sept. 2 to gear up for a general release in time for the holiday season. Microsoft reportedly is planning to spend as much as $1 billion supporting the new release. Partners say Microsoft will need to spend every penny of that marketing budget to combat Apple, Google, Blackberry, Samsung and Nokia, which all have a seemingly insurmountable lead.

What Windows Phone 7 won’t resolve is the lingering question on the enterprise version. Sometime this fall, Microsoft is expected to release Windows Embedded Handheld 6.5, the enterprise successor to Windows Mobile 6.5. Earlier this year, Microsoft separated the consumer and enterprise mobile units, and in June, it announced the development of this new enterprise OS version. The 6.5 release is the precursor to Windows Embedded Systems 7, due out late 2011. Microsoft still has many questions regarding backward compatibility, migration plans and tools, and licensing structures.

The Future of Point of Sales

I’ve long thought that point-of-sales systems were an untapped opportunity for many solution providers. Nevertheless, it remains a relative niche within the technology channel. Perhaps that is about to change. Retail Info Systems News – the sister publication to Vertical Systems Reseller magazine – teamed up with Cognizant to study the future of POS in retail. They surveyed more than 2,000 consumers about their shopping desires and frustrations. They identified 10 major trends that will unfold in 2011, including more sale and product info via mobile phones, mobile shopping, social media integrated in the shopping experience, easier SKU lookup and mobile checkout.

It’s an interesting study worth checking out, especially since it reveals numerous potential cross-over opportunities for conventional IT solution providers. Remember, POS is more than just cash registers; it’s the entire packaging of networking, devices, logistics management and business analytics. I can tell you that POS is due for an overhaul. Nearly every restaurant I’ve eaten in here in China this week offers table-side payment processing – a feature that’s a rarity in the States.

China: A Future Thought

I have seen the future, and it is China. Going on here in Shanghai is the 2010 World Expo. Think of it as a World’s Fair where leading countries have their wares and cultures on display. No country has a bigger presence than the host, China, which is showing off its vision for a technology-driven future. During the next 20 years, China plans on building smart cities that have integrated information, communications, transportation and energy systems. It’s an amazing vision of automated cars, eco-friendly buildings and cleanliness. I’m still absorbing what this means to solution providers, but I can tell you that the vision is real and will come to fruition.

Well, that’s all the news from your wandering troubadour traversing the highways and byways of the ancient lands of the Middle Kingdom. Next week I’ll return to the United States and the Channel-Lands proper where all the technology works, all the deals are profitable and all of the companies are above average. If you want to follow me on Facebook or Twitter, feel free to connect. Share your suggestions and news with me at lmwalsh@the2112group.com.