EarthVision Newsletter Archive
Sent: Wednesday, May 03, 2000 12:47 AM
Subject: EarthVision Cellular Consumer News!Another issue of the EarthVision Cellular Consumer Newsletter. This newsletter is for the soon to be educated cellular phone user community. If you know of anyone else that may have an interest in our newsletter, make sure to forward them a copy. Now we move forward at Mach II speed!
[Note: This newsletter is delivered bimonthly on Wednesday.] *******************************************************************
WE WELCOME OUR NEW SALES AMBASSADOR TO NORTH CAROLINA
SURVEY SAYS WIRELESS INTERNET SITES TOO MUCH ALIKE
TO PUBLISH OR NOT TO PUBLISH. THAT IS THE VOTE FOR YOU TO MAKE!
DIGITAL TDMA PHONES CAN BE CLONED
SIEMENS READY TO TAKE ANOTHER SHOT AT US MARKET
CELLULAR TOWER COMPANIES AND LEGISLATORS ROCKING THE BOAT
LET'S GET READY TO BUNDLE! [OR WAS THAT RUMBLE?]
SEND US YOUR WIRELESS NEWS ARTICLE OR PHOTO AND EARN FREE STUFF
TWO WAY PAGING MAKING A MOVE IN THE MARKET
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EarthVision Cellular Consumer News Issue # 9 Volume 2
WE WELCOME OUR NEW SALES AMBASSADOR TO NORTH CAROLINA
We are pleased to announce an addition to our staff. Our newest member is William Evans. He has been hired as our Sales Ambassador to North Carolina. Not the William Evans that owns this corporation, though.Now we have two people with the same name working for the company. The way to tell them apart on the phone is by listening to who has the North Carolinian accent and who doesn't have an accent.
Mr. Evans, a former US Marine comes to us with many years of sales and marketing experience in a variety of industries. His background includes everything from door to door sales to corporate sales for both small and large businesses. Based on his previous experience and track record, we expect that he will become a major asset to our company and to the service of our customers.
He has been with us for only three days now and already he has shown us his desire to become a top performer with the company. This is a hungry man without fear of the unknown. Must be that Marine Corp training coming to the fore. We learned that he was so determined to start off right that he began shopping competitors. Not a unique activity in and of itself. It is expected of a sales person to learn the competitors product offerings. He went into the competitor's shop with a notebook in hand and stayed at each one writing down everything they had to offer with pricing info, models available, etc. He did this not once but repeatedly all over town.
The very next day, he was out pounding the pavement looking to make sales. It looks like we will be writing out his first commission check with the middle of the month run. We have no intention on being late with a commission check to a former marine.
SURVEY SAYS WIRELESS INTERNET SITES TOO MUCH ALIKE
A recent survey conducted showed that only 2% of respondents could identify the major wireless websites when names and logos had been removed. Only 2000 people out of a million could identify a major wireless website? The problem with wireless websites is that they lack content, are not unique, and do not meet consumer needs. They look like clones of one another.Smaller websites have been found to be guilty of this same practice. Catering to a small market of cellular phone users, attempting to race one another in offering the lowest pricing thus zero profit margins, and failing to develop a quality website and/or expand due to the lack of capital. We compare this practice to "auction fever" and it can have devastating effects on the bidder and potential customers.
The large manufacturers do not have this problem because they are established in numerous related markets and are not bound by one business unit's product lines. They can spread the risk among the entire company while maintaining a top position. We cannot see where they would have any major incentive to change anything. If you don't buy it direct, the chances are high that you will buy it from a retailer or distributor.
With the exception of Yahoo. Internet only companies have consistently failed to generate profits for the company. This makes sense then when many of these wireless websites have been developed strictly for functionality to save on spending. Cloning another website isn't the solution to gaining a customer base. It merely serves to create consumer apathy with the saturation of similar looking websites.
We must ask the next question: Where is the innovation and vision that was once touted as the saving grace of the internet. The survey was conducted on wireless websites but it looks like it may apply to a number of industries.
It looks like it is up to us at EarthVision Cellular to remind our counterparts of what innovation and vision really mean in doing business on the internet. In our defense, we are not an Internet only company aka dot com company. Our business is conducted both online and offline. We didn't fall for the hype that the internet was the way to go. It is just another resource as far as we are concerned.
We would like to think that if the name and logo was to be taken off of our site that visitors would be able to correctly identify it 99 out of 100 times. Our website was developed through the one tried and true practice. We pulled out the drawing board and put ourselves in the customer shoes. We didn't even bother with looking at competitor sites. If you do see our website looking like a clone of another website, demand that we stand before a firing squad.
TO PUBLISH OR NOT TO PUBLISH. THAT IS THE VOTE FOR YOU TO MAKE!
William has also written a book specifically for the cellular phone users which is currently under review for publishing. If it is decided to pull it from being published, all the information will be posted on our website for review by any visitor at no cost. Books written on this subject are currently being offered for $14.95 each. We are talking an additional 50+ pages of text content just waiting to be read.It covers topics from A to Z. We let only a few objective outsiders read the book prior to publishing to get an objective point of view. They were required to agree to terms of confidentiality prior to reading and reviewing. It was rated a five in content and quality of information with 5 being the highest.
The future of the book is in your hands as our subscribers. We would like to know what you think. Should the book be published or should it be posted on the website for everyone to read at will? I will give you a hint. It will answer most of those nagging questions you have and some you don't even know you want to ask. This is a democratic vote. I would recommend that as many of you participate as possible. You may find it to be of great benefit.
DIGITAL TDMA PHONES CAN BE CLONED
The theory that digital phones couldn't be cloned has been disproved. It is much more difficult to clone than an analog phone but it can be done if a determined criminal really wanted to make it happen. As the cellular phone market continues to progress into becoming a majority of digital service, we can expect cloning of digital phones to become more prevalent.Here is where the real trouble will begin. Dual band phones can be cloned with the user is in an analog only mode. To stem the potential tide of fraudulent use on digital cellular phones, the industry is now coming out with RF fingerprinting for them. This is already in practice with analog cellular phones. This is why fraud on analog service phones has dropped substantially.
What is RF fingerprinting? The fingerprinting analyzes the signal characteristics of each individual handset. A validation signal is unique and uncopyable which means there isn't a code to be broken by criminals.
The plan by carriers is to use a combination of RF fingerprinting and authentication. In other words, if the system analyzing the signal believes the phone is being used in a fraudulent manner, the system will refer the caller to a carrier call center for authentication as an example. This will probably happen while roaming more often than not. Other forms of authentication will be used that are seamless to the user.
Again, cost will be an issue here. Carriers are looking at the cost of deploying fraud protection for both digital and analog service combined. Some of the digital carriers are looking at the analog traffic being much less in volume than digital. Relying solely on RF fingerprinting for digital service while lacking in attention to the analog service portion.
There is major cause for concern with wireless carriers not deploying fraud protection strategies. One is that it could cause an increase in pricing to consumers to cover the loss. Analog subscribers still outnumber digital subscribers by a 3 to 1 ratio. And analog service still offers the most coverage area available to a cellular phone user. Digital service coverage is less than 50% of what analog service can offer in a coverage area.
If anyone has looked at the national digital coverage area of say Sprint PCS. You will find that coverage is getting there on the East coast. Still needs a lot of improvement and the Midwest is about 50/50. And west of the Mississippi is sporadic at best. Doing a 180 degree turn with evaluating AT&T digital service. Subscribers will still find major gaps in coverage areas. Definitely needs improvement in the coverage areas available too.
If you buy a digital phone, find out what protections are offered to you in the case of cloning and fraud. [Borrowed by William for one of his online editorial articles]
SIEMENS READY TO TAKE ANOTHER SHOT AT US MARKET
See how much we are loved in America? Siemens tried to enter the US market in the past with offering GSM phones and decided to pull out. Now they intend to come back with a vengeance to penetrate the US market. America makes up 30% of the wireless market. A substantial sum considering we are but only one country that is creating this huge of a market.Siemens is looking to spend a half billion dollars just to reach us here in the US. Specifically, they want into the CDMA digital phone market. It won't be easy considering that Nokia is being blasted by Verizon for not coming through with new handsets with the CDMA technology.
Part of the trouble Nokia has had is that they have refused to buy CDMA chips from Qualcomm. Reason unknown. Siemens on the other hand has no issues with purchasing chips from Qualcomm if that is what is needed for them to manufacture CDMA phones.
The US market will not only dominate the global wireless market but will dictate who becomes a major player in the wireless manufacturing industry. Siemens will also be looking at offering a CDMA GSM world phone. This could open a much smaller but just as lucrative market for the handset manufacturer. They also have a stake in Neopoint.
This should prove to be an interesting situation for the US cellular phone users. Sony pulled out because the competition was too fierce. Maybe they will take another shot at the US in a couple of more years too.
CELLULAR TOWER COMPANIES AND LEGISLATORS ROCKING THE BOAT
We had mentioned in previous newsletters that cellular phone tower companies were coming up with innovative ways to disguise cellular phone towers. It looks like this isn't enough for the legislators and some people in the communities.Michigan has introduced legislation to regulate tower placement. The legislation bill states that a new tower cannot be placed in an area that has space for more transmitters, existing towers must be at full capacity prior to putting up a new one in the same coverage area. And if a cellular phone tower were to be placed in an area and found not to meet the above qualifications, the cellular phone tower company could be fined $500 to $1000 per day.
A spokesman for Ameritech said that consumers want high quality reliable service but want to oppose the towers' placement. He stated that in order to provide such a expectation of service, the proximity of the towers was a prime factor in delivering such a service. He also stated that the wireless industry had done a good job with minimizing the visual impact on offending people's senses.
In LA, an ordinance with a similar impact will be in consideration by the LA city council in June. It is estimated that nearly a thousand cellular phone towers are located in the city with 2 or 3 more cropping up every week. This ordinance under review would require special permits prior to placing more antennas and it may also set minimum standards of proximity of towers to residences.
If anyone has access to the LA city council meeting we would appreciate it if you could videotape it and send it to us. In exchange, we will gladly offer you store credit for the amount of $50 plus the cost of shipping and the tape.
If this is to become the next wave of the future, cellular phone users could find this to have a major impact on the quality of service delivered to subscribers. And those people who are looking to make an extra few hundred or thousand a month for allowing the placement of a tower on their property could find themselves out of the running.
A side note: I was reading the cellular newsgroups. The scare tactics on the hazards of cellular phone use must have had some serious impact. A reader had asked what were the hazards of buying a home that was located near a cellular phone tower.
LET'S GET READY TO BUNDLE! [OR WAS THAT RUMBLE?]
What can we expect in the future of our wireless communications? More bundled packages. Carriers are trying to retain customers by offering more incentives for staying with them by bundling services.Sprint PCS just came out with a bundled service which will include DSL service. So here is what is being offered in the high end of the package currently deployed in test markets to determine customer demand. 500 Free & Clear one rate minutes per month, local and long distance service, digital subscriber line high speed internet access, and Sprint PCS with free wireless web services for life.
All the other carriers are claiming that they are offering similar packages to Sprint PCS. Almost all the other wireless carriers are stating that what Sprint PCS has done is neither unique nor new. This is very true so we would recommend that you check around before buying into a bundled package to find out who is offering the services you would like and at what price. Our first impression was that competitors of Sprint PCS were envious that they didn't get as much media attention on their bundled package offerings. We may be in luck as it looks like a rumble between wireless carriers may be on its way again. We should see an expansion on the following me roaming concept as well. Hopefully, it will transcend the barriers and integrate both wireline and wireless applications.
The bundled packages are fairly limited no matter which carrier you are looking to choose. They are not spread across the US market to any large degree. The assumption is that carriers will be developing more of a one stop source for wireless services in the next few years. The services available to us today will be ancient in the next few years.
Wouldn't it be interesting if a carrier came out with bundled packages for phones, internet, cable, and GPS tracking all in one package? It could happen if the right mix of strategic alliances were created. We would add data services to that but we think that data will be motivated more by corporate customers than the general public.
To expand on our future reliance of wireless service as consumers. There is going to be a time when even our household appliances can be controlled wirelessly. Electric utilities have already deployed a system to transmit customer usage to the system and eliminates the need to send out a meter man. GPS tracking will be in every vehicle as common as a radio.
We recently found out that companies are already looking to offer books via the Internet and video games to further accommodate our nomadic tendencies of the world today. At least it may help with our declining the need to cut down trees for printed materials.
The possibilities of wireless technology are so stunning that it is almost too much to bear. We think about it all the time because it is our business. What if you could do this and that wirelessly. I don't know if we already mentioned this but there is even a wristwatch cellular phone being developed. We are waiting to see if someone is going to develop virtual reality with wireless phones. We take our business so seriously that we actually think of insane possibilities like the one above.
We can tell you to hold on to your hats because what you are seeing now is only the very beginning of what is about to come in the future. We have been reading about the future of wireless. We will continue to report on new developments as more information becomes available.
SEND US YOUR WIRELESS NEWS ARTICLE OR PHOTO AND EARN FREE STUFF
Have any local news that would be of interest to either EarthVision Cellular or our subscribers related to the wireless industry? Now you can earn some free store cash on our website. We simply do not have the staff to scour every newspaper nor do we have access to every local TV station programming.If we use your story in one of our newsletters, we will give you $5 in store credit. If you send us a video tape of a local or state legislative session, and we will pay you $20 if we use your story. At the very least, we will cover the cost of postage and materials for videotaped sessions. It is possible that we would use multiple entries provided they were all of a similar nature. We will pay $10 cash per photo to be listed on our website. The photos will be a part of our bizarre wireless photo album to be created on our website.
You may not have an interest in participating but maybe you know of someone who might have. We would appreciate it if you would pass this request along to some other wireless users who you think may have an interest. We are open to the submission of true life experiences that are humorous in nature and bizarre photographs of cellular phone users or equipment.
We are willing to ask you for your assistance in this endeavor because it allows us to bring you the news you want to know. We have built up a fairly extensive library of information which allows for this newsletter to be possible. We look at each article as a part of a jigsaw puzzle and put the pieces together to create a story.
You may not think our request is worth your time. We would like to think that it will be worth your time. The more information we have available to us, the more you have available. You can't imagine how many hours each week we put into making this newsletter available to our subscribers. A lot more work goes into it than you may think. We would like to hear from you.
TWO WAY PAGING MAKING A MOVE IN THE MARKET
[Borrowed from William's Online Editorial Column]We have found ourselves being restricted more and more often from using cellular phones in public places. The wireless industry may have provided us a way to keep in touch and communicate while observing cellular phone etiquette.
Wynd Communications Corp. is now offering a new wireless chat service that will allow us to communicate silently for those needing stealth and for the hearing impaired to get in on the wireless action too.
This new toy will enable real time two way conversations using wireless text messaging. It looks a lot like a pager but with a lettered keypad. Called a Research In Motion or RIM 950 for short. This must be the US response to Europe's SMS (short messaging service). Isn't it nice to know that you can use a text pager for something more than reading news headlines?
The device can offer TTY service including using the older TTY equipment. I would see them used for contacting family members or in reaching co-workers and clients that use the Wyndtell service. I can see a strong advantage in hospital staff having one. As a two way messaging service, it is limited to contacting other subscribers.
The drawback is that the Mrs. can now make sure that you got the message to pick up bread and milk at the store. No excuses for us men to say that we forgot to pick up the kids from soccer either. It is in writing whether we like it or not. And teachers beware. You don't want these in your classroom.
The unique thing about this service is that it also gives the user the option of contacting AAA for emergency roadside assistance, personalized greetings, and caller ID. It may be an alternative to prepaid cellular for emergency situations.
An executive in the company compared it to online chatting except that you are using a pager instead of a computer.
Here is the expected price breakdown. Plans will range from $24.95 a month for up to 25,000 characters or you can choose the unlimited package for $59.95 a month. TTY service will cost 10 cents per minute.
The pager will track the number of minutes used each month for a total of two months. The customer can then determine if they need to adjust their service plans to meet their needs.
Something I should mention is that this service will use an analog network because it has a much more developed coverage area. Digital is still too limited in it's coverage area to offer in that form.
I would expect to see more alternatives become available to consumers in the near future, with having cellular phones and now two way messaging pagers available. We also have GPS (global positioning service) being installed in vehicles. Currently the GPS service is only available in luxury high end cars. However, I expect that one day it will become as common as the airbag.
Overall, I would say that the future is looking bright for users of wireless devices.
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