Trials and tribulations
If DoCoMo’s European i-mode launch was timid then
the roll out of the intermediate GPRS services has been almost
invisible. A case of once bitten twice shy as far as data services
were concerned, has meant that it was mainly the manufacturers
that pushed their phones rather than the operators who pushed
new services. The operators, in no financial position to subsidise
new services (or handsets), often put the blame unfairly on manufacturers,
saying that the new phones were not ready or even unreliable.
While it is true that some handsets have been recalled, Nokia
for one has said it will meet agreed production schedules for
dual and tri-mode mode phones and in general the world’s number
one manufacturer has weathered the storm well, launching its 5510
entertainment handset in time for Christmas.
Other companies have not fared so well. Motorola
has been under a lot of pressure, without partners and squeezed
out of almost all European 3G markets, it cannot even count on
a third generation network on its home base, as the FCC is still
unable to settle frequency allocation problems in the United States.
Ironically Motorola’s GPRS phones are among the first to be ready
in Europe but with little demand for them, it is unlikely to lift
the fortunes of the company. Interestingly fortune telling and
games are the second most popular i-mode activities according
to DoCoMo which is the only company to have successfully launched
a 3G service commercially with its Freedom of Multimedia Access
(FOMA) platform. While 3G trials have continued around the world
it is unlikely that other operators will follow suit much before
the end of 2003.
The message is the medium
One thing that mobile phone manufacturers
have been able to agree on, is that we will want to send more
elaborate messages to one another. The use of the Short Messaging
Service (SMS), the facility of sending up to 160 characters from
one mobile phone to another, is one of the rare, wireless data
service, success stories. So it is not unexpected that Nokia,
Motorola, Ericsson and Siemens got together in June 2001 to establish
the foundations of the next generation SMS. Called Multimedia
Messaging Service (MMS) it will allow users to send longer messages
and the all important e-mails, together with images, video and
sound; so called rich media content. (See Internet
article). Already Nokia’s next generation phones incorporate a
camera, as do many Japanese handsets. Some analysts like HPI Research
Group and Bullhound suggest
that the time is ripe for devices that are capable of exchanging
more complex data.
Unfortunately for all the busy manufacturers
above, these devices may well not be exactly mobile telephones
but other wireless devices like Research in Motion’s Blackberry
(also badged as iPaq by Compaq). Indeed it was Compaq who along
with CMG Wireless Data Solutions announced the first successful
transmission of an MMS in September. Although wireless data services
have been customer driven in Japan this may not be the case in
Europe or the United States where wireless has traditionally been
pushed by business and corporate users. It is they who will seek
more sophisticated and more versatile mobile solutions according
to BWCS, using wireless LAN
(Wi-Fi) and Bluetooth. A hundred years on from Marconi it is still
not sure who, or what, will rule the waves! Back
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