(keitai-l) Re: SmartPhones will kill consumer PDAs?

From: Oliver Wittchow <ow_at_nanoloop.com>
Date: 04/21/03
Message-ID: <3EA44730.90100@nanoloop.com>
  > What do you think?

i think you're right but not for japan.

at the moment content like ringtones or iappli can not be copied between
japanese phones, to protect your content you just have to check that the
client actually is a phone (user agent, IP-address, etc) - a very
convenient situation for content providers.
with open phones programmable on system level one could easily write
tools for copying content or workarounds for expensive services such as
t-mobile video-messaging for example. smartphones would be a threat for
that perfectly working, closed CRM system and therefore i guess we won't 
see them soon on the japanese market. instead the java platform may be
extended further, carefully keeping the balance between flexibilty and
content protection. an iappli for example can write a ringtone to the
phone memory now but of course will never be allowed to read it.

on the other hand with smartphones applications can identify user and
device by reading SIM and IMEI. that is perfect for independent software
vendors but probably a too complicated procedure for passive, small
content like melodies and images.


oliver


> This is my thinking:
> 
> Consumer PDAs (Like Palm's ZIRE) will be killed by advanced one-hand 
> operated smartphones (Like the 3650 and not the P800) with modular OSs 
> like those based on Symbian (Also Nokia Series 60).
> 
> PDAs will remain a limited niche for business users and powerusers.
> 
> Reasons:
> 
> 1 - Smartphones do include most if all of the features of consumer PDAs 
> included advanced PIM, Caledars and e-mail support.
> 2 - Carrying 2 things  creates a lot of stress
> 3 - One-hand operated devices are much better for day-to-day use and 
> for most of the applications...
> 
> What do you think?
> 
> Giovanni
Received on Mon Apr 21 22:33:30 2003