Just when you think your phone is “yours,” think again. This week, two stories, one out of India, the other from China, highlight a power shift that should have every smartphone user, OEM, and carrier paying attention. Control over your device isn’t in your hands anymore, it’s moving upstream to governments and platforms. India: Security … Read more
I’ve been watching the corporate world grapple with technological shifts for decades, but nothing, and I mean nothing, has created the kind of existential boardroom anxiety that AI is triggering right now. The speed and scale of this transformation became crystal clear to me while reading about the recent WSJ Leadership Institute’s Board of Directors … Read more
WhatsApp: The Silent Front Door to AI Over the last two decades, we’ve watched communications shift, from desktop dialers and browser-based apps to mobile-first, message-driven interactions. We’ve seen the rise (and often the fall) of platform plays. But now, as AI becomes the next wave, the real story isn’t in new apps. It’s in existing … Read more
I’ve always had a love-hate relationship with my inbox. It’s simultaneously the central nervous system of my work life and the biggest time vampire in my digital existence. So when I heard about Perplexity’s new Email Assistant, I couldn’t help but feel that familiar mix of tech optimism and “but will it actually work?” skepticism … Read more
The AI sector right now mirrors the late 1990s internet boom almost to the letter. Back then, startups raised absurd amounts of capital on little more than a domain name and a pitch deck. Companies with no revenue—and in some cases no real product—were suddenly valued in the billions. The bubble burst hard in 2000–2001, … Read more
Since the early days of VoIP, we’ve been talking about the demise of legacy telephony structures. “Press 1 for sales” was always a symptom of old-school thinking. Now, with OpenAI’s real-time SIP integration, that era is finally over. For years, I’ve advocated for smarter systems. In 2018, when Dialpad acquired TalkIQ, I wrote how AI … Read more
After diving into the merged findings from Bessemer’s “State of AI 2025” and Janelle Tang’s Next Big Teng’s analysis, I’m struck by how the AI startup landscape is crystallizing into a fascinating dichotomy. Three years post-ChatGPT, we’re seeing the market mature in ways that tell us a lot about where things are headed. What’s immediately … Read more
A few weeks back, I shared my early take on Agentic AI and why it matters. At the time, it felt like I was seeing around corners. This week confirmed it: Agentic AI isn’t just coming. It’s already here, and the pace of activity is dizzying. Let’s start with security. CrowdStrike’s Falcon platform helped bring … Read more
The recent CB Insights* report on Voice AI consolidation is a clear sign of the sector’s heat. But while capital is flowing and M&A is looming, most of the startups being celebrated have one major flaw: they’re not telephony-first. They treat voice like a data event, not a communications foundation. They analyze conversations after the … Read more
Over the years, I’ve written extensively about telecom’s transformation—whether it was the rise of VoIP, the impact of cloud-based communications, or the integration of AI with platforms like Dialpad and TalkIQ. But what’s coming next isn’t just an evolution—it’s a revolution. And it’s being led by Agentic AI. 📡 From Reactive to Proactive: Why Now?The … Read more
