Renfield Kuroda wrote:
> That means targeted for local users, in a local language, on a local
> operator's network. And for the 99% of mobile users who rarely travel
> out of their home city, they really don't care whether their phone works
> in Uzbekistan, Texas, and Hong Kong.
I think you're exaggerating a little here. The mobility of mobile
phones is a major asset, and the little gadget tends to become
especially invaluable in places where you don't have convinient
landline access (eg. when traveling). While I'll grant you that
Americans and Japanese in general seem to care little about
international roaming, in Europe GSM roaming is a *major* selling point.
The aforementioned friend (for whom I'm currently buying a PHS)
was shocked when I told her GSM doesn't work in Japan.
"But I thought GSM worked everywhere in the world these days! You
mean I'll have to call you with, like, a payphone or something
when I get to the airport? Do they still *have* those in Japan?
They're getting pretty rare around here..."
Cheers,
--
Jani PATOKALLIO / jpatokal_at_iki.fi / +81 90 7722 3557
Sanpo Laboratory, Mechano-Informatics Dept., University of Tokyo
$B%d%K!&%Q%H%+%j%*(B / jani_at_sanpo.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp / 090 7722 3557
$BEl5~Bg3X!"9)3X7O8&5f2J!"5!3#>pJs9)3X2J!";;K!_at__7W8&5f<<(B
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Received on Tue Mar 6 04:17:17 2001