keitai-l@appelsiini.net writes:
Yes, I know, you are all tired of this thread - this email attempts to
take the article at face value.
This is a quote from the original article (I think). I will take the bait
and turn the question back on itself.
>Consider what it would be like if a single corporate entity
>controlled the wireline surfing experience. It would be as if a
>single corporate brand name (Microsoft? AOL? Intel?) would:
Question: So what would the Japanese internet be like if (those that are
true of) the below were NOT true? Would it be like Europe, and is that a
bad thing?
Comments below..
>
>** Sell you your PC
Do Docomo actually sell the phones? I have bought phones that can be taken
to ANY shop to "start". On docomo's network of course, but that is a
different point.
>
>** Set the technical and commercial standards for the monitor, video
>card, hard disk, sound card, and all other hardware, with only some
>of these standards being made public
Set standards for manufacturers. Well, I am not terribly fussed about this
at this stage.But then I use Mac's for the desktop, and like the fact that
it allows better integration of OS and hardware.... As a developer I care
primarily that handsets work and that someone, somewhere is setting and
enforcing a basic standard.
>
>** Create and sell the operating system, applications, browser, mail,
>and entertainment software (like Winamp or RealPlayer)
I do not see the analogy here. Perhaps a litlte further down the line when
phones have greater flexibility and one can actually start to load
softweare onto them, upgrade the OS and so on. Until then they are just
gadgets. IOf course, one can download java applets onto many of these
things - but that goes a little against the point that is being made in
the article.
>
>** Provide your ISP account, your mail account, and all of the Web
>services that you use
They provide AN email account. But you can always use a third party pop
one using the wide variety of services that allow that. The point is that
this "restriction" has a very limited effect on the user. (not allowing me
to fake the header on outgoing mail - *that* is a pain...)
>
>** Control a large number of the Web sites that you regularly visit
So do not visit them. Go to wild sites. Unless of course, the one's they
control have better content - which might be because docomo have a quality
control threshhold (albiet, controlled rather anally). Given the amount of
time casual web browsers spend on just a very few big-hit sites, I would
say this is not so far from what is happening on the web in any case...
>
>** Serve as gatekeeper for the kind of content and services that the
>sites offer
That THOSE (i.e. portal) sites offer. I hope "THE" is just an error... If
so, it is a fairly major one as it has the effect of spinning the whole
piece.
>
>** Send you a single, unified bill each month for your usage of the
>service and your access to some of the Web sites
Very convenient. If this was possible web side, the net economy would be a
whole lot richer.... This capability is the jewel in the crown.
>
>** Know precisely which Web sites you visit, how long you spend
>online, and how much and to whom you send mail
Do they know? Or do they just have the *potential* capability to know -
which is something very, very different..... I am curious about this -
comments welcome.
>While the Internet may as yet be an emerging phenomenon, we think
>it's safe to conclude that if any single corporate entity ever tried
>to wield this degree of control over netizens' wireline surfing
>experience, there'd be shooting in the streets (at least in countries
>that have Second Amendments).
></japan.inc>
Well - there are 4 entities here, as was mentioned at the beginning of the
article. That is some kind of competition.
I think we should bear in mind that the PC and modem (with all their
flexibility) preceded the internet/web. Wireless phones postdate it. In
the case of the former, there is no technical reason at all why the above
"restrictions" (such as they are - and some of them are advantages) should
apply. With phones there ARE good reasons - at this stage in the
development of the technology at least - not least that so set up as an
isp takes a few tens of thousands of dollars. For docomo to provide their
wireless network is a massive investment. They need it to succeed to get
their money back. When they are certain it IS a success, there will be
less reason to give the portal the additional advantage it has. I do not
expect that advantage to last. I do not think it would be good if it
lasted too long. But I am concerned that insofar as the points raised in
the list are relevant to the keitai space, they are actually criticising
those elements of imode that have made it a success.
So - I am genuinely curious, could someone paint a picture of a world in
which imode had the success it currently has, but the star points above
are NOT true - given the state of the tech on the hardware side when the
service **began**. (I.e. - not some tech-future where we are all running
keitai that have userland accessible/upgradeable OS, apps, etc)
One thing I WOULD like to see is the user number (I forget what it is
called) passed to wild sites as well as those in-portal from all phones,
not just new ones that have it switched on.
regards Nick
(if you email me directly, I will answer when I can - I am in clunky
England at the moment...)
[ Need archives? How to unsubscribe? http://www.appelsiini.net/keitai-l/ ]
Received on Mon Sep 10 16:41:25 2001