(keitai-l) Re: (keitai-l)And dat's da twoof (ports & starv'dboards)

From: Nick May <nick_at_kyushu.com>
Date: 11/20/01
Message-id: <fc.000f7610000616c53b9aca005df8b1bc.61706@kyushunet.com>
(I have just been sent a copy of the paper in .pdf format - thanks)

3G for imode may actually increase voice usage (once there is enough
uptake of phones for both ends to have 3G phones) as the increased voice
quality will make it a far more comfortable experience to talk on an imode
phone.  Does anyone have any preliminary figures?

But I suspect that most people are happy with the size of their phone bill
and will adjust their behaviour to keep it fairly constant.

I agree in general, but this is the bit that I take partial issue with:

"the mobile phone is foremost a communications device, and voice is, and
is likely to remain, the dominant means of communication."

Compare it with *the telephone is foremost a communications device, and
voice is, and is likely to remain, the dominant means of communication.*

true true true - but who cares about the phone?! - it is the phone LINE
that is so useful. Junk the handset, plug in a  modem - then make the line
faster and faster... Your focussing on the "mobile phone" is as quaint as
someone focussing on a landline handset....

"The mobile phone" is dieing. Forget it.  - long live the coming digital
hub.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Some questions for people who want to increase MY phone bill... (picture
tiny foot being stamped as you read this)

Why can't I stream BBC Radio 4 to my keitai? (all of 8.5kbps Real Audio)
Why doesn't it function as an internet radio for icecast and the like? Why
can't I have a kind of "wireless TIVO" where net broadcasts are stored in
a 1Gig dataspace, (with all digital rights management being sorted out by
a third party) until I want to listen to them on my handset. Maybe I plug
speakers into my digital hub, maybe a headphone. Why can't I do cu-see me
with people on the net, through my FOMA phone? "Bandwidth" isn't the issue
most of the aps I want can be handled in 64 k to an acceptable level. I
want a handset that is a glorified, but tiny, "ethernet hub equivalent" -
I plug things in, it handles the wireless net connection. Maybe  I plug a
screen in, it provides high quality picture output. I plug a camera in,
etc etc....  Why can't I plug my Olympus digicam into my phone and upload
pictures to anyone on the net? Why can't I have a touch sensitive screen
so I can just hit the screen with my finger for the options I want? (the
screens are just big enough).

In other words, handset manufacturers should stop trying to CONTROL the
data input and output devices (screem, camera, mic and ports) and put a
firewire port on their handsets. THEN watch data usage soar as people come
up with third party peripherals. No one will generate significant data
when they are forced to use only the data input/output devices the
manufacturer provides.

.For those who say "I just want it to be a phone" - i sympathise - but the
smallest sensible form factors for human fingers is already large enough
to cram in a lot of extra goodies. Remove the goodies, the phone does not
get much smaller unless your paws shrink.

So - gimme gimme gimme my digital hub, make it plug and play, let me just
connect it to my iPod and my camera and I will pay LOTS, LOTS more.....

In other words, really really take seriously the notion of a handset being
a  wireless digital hub, with voice as just one app and a decent port.
(And then make a handsets that just does voice for those who want it_)

Nick



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Received on Tue Nov 20 11:03:34 2001