(keitai-l) Re: port of i-mode to other cultures

From: Ben Hutchings <ben_at_decadentplace.org.uk>
Date: 11/03/03
Message-ID: <20031103092008.GG3979@decadentplace.org.uk>
On Mon, Nov 03, 2003 at 12:57:51PM +0900, Curt Sampson wrote:
> On Sun, 2 Nov 2003, Jonas Petersson wrote:
> 
> > * GPRS will let you get rid of the 30 second wait if you consider
> > that a problem.
> >
> > * SMS will easily do the alert bit (and you can bypass the 160 char
> > limit by chaining if you insist).
> 
> Keep in mind I was talking about the disadvantages of PDAs over phones,
> in that bit of my post.
> 
> GPRS could be used on a PDA, but is not currently, as far as I know. It's
> certainly not widely available. I'm not sure of the current pricing.

The Handspring Treo 600, Palm Tungsten W, O2 xda, and SonyEricsson P800
all support GPRS.

> PDAs, except those rare few that are actually phones, do not and can not
> use SMS at all. As well, SMS about forty times more expensive than e-mail
> on phones here in Japan.
<snip>

Of course they can't use SMS unless they're phones (or connected to
phones).  So what?

The real problem with PDAs is that they're not a mass-market item.
They're primarily organisers, secondarily communication devices and
thirdly games machine.  Phones are primarily communication devices and
secondarily organisers and games machines, and that seems to match
most people's priorities better.  Now if PDAs become more phone-like,
as they seem to be doing, and are marketed as better phones, that
might increase their market, but I still think they'll remain a niche
product relative to phones.

-- 
Ben Hutchings
If more than one person is responsible for a bug, no one is at fault.
Received on Mon Nov 3 11:21:07 2003