Get our Newsletter!
Sign up below, then download the free DCA Desktop agent
to receive notification of new issues and read them at your leisure.
The Wireless Outpost Newsletter Issue #11 Vol. 4 [Double Edition]
Wednesday, July 31, 2002
Another issue of the Wireless Outpost 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 Bi Weekly on Wednesday.]
LEONARDO DI CAPRIO FIGHTING USE OF TANTALUM IN ELECTRONICS
We had no clue that the illegal mining of Tantalum (actually Coltan) as a mineral was having an effect on the Mountain Gorilla in the Congo. Turns out there are only 650 of them left in the world today and the mining of Tantalum is having an effect on their future. A huge drop from the population of 8,000 they once had just a few short years ago. What does that tell you?
It tells you that warlords in the Congo are mining the Tantalum because it is worth its weight in gold to a poverty stricken area of Africa. At $80 per pound, it is quite difficult for them to resist the mining of this mineral. So the Mountain Gorilla is being slowly killed off as a species so that mining workers can get in and harvest the mineral sought by various electronics companies.
The official website of Leonardo DiCaprio has began a letter writing campaign to get the attention of the public to the crisis of the Mountain Gorilla and why they are in danger of becoming extinct. Motorola was one of the companies targeted, as well as Nokia, and Intel. It appears that Motorola had so many letters sent to them that they asked for their name to be removed and listed their response to the crisis in the Congo.
Me thinks that maybe recycling some of those Tantalum transistors may be in order. The group who is promoting the awareness of the situation asked that people not seek an outright ban on the mining only because it would worsen the situation with the illegal mining and possible expediting of the extermination of the Gorillas.
If you are interested in getting involved in the letter campaign being sent to the three companies as noted above, you can visit the following site:
We surfed around but we only found a response from Motorola on the letter writing campaign. It wasn't too impressive as it only restated the geopolitical situation of the Congo and that it said they did ask for all of their suppliers to submit certified documentation stating that they were supplying products to Motorola that were not made with illegally mined Tantalum from the Congo.
So we give them credit for that but why would they be one of only three companies targeted if they weren't using products that had illegally mined minerals in them? Needless to say, Motorola didn't get their name off the letter writing list with their duck and cover tactics of requesting certified documentation.
Personally, I like Motorola as a company but it doesn't mean that I have to agree with everything they do. I certainly love my rights for freedom of speech and press. Then again, what I enjoy more is that I don't have to be politically correct either. I just wished I could think of something politically incorrect to write but I can't come up with anything just yet. Maybe in the next newsletter.
VOICESTREAM TO CHANGE NAME TO T MOBILE USA & MORE NEWS
If you live in Nevada or California, this may be something of interest. Voicestream has launched their wireless service under the name of T Mobile. In due time, you will see T Mobile as a wireless carrier in 45 to 50 major metro areas. Something is in the works though because they are promising to be quite competitive.
Their slogan goes something like more minutes, more features, and more services than any other carrier. It doesn't really clarify if they are referring to any other wireless carrier, any other GSM carrier in the US, or what have you. There are a number of different ways you can take that statement. I just hope they aren't setting themselves up for complaints claiming they are running a misleading advertisement campaign. Nothing a little disclaimer can't fix though.
The only other two GSM operators in the US are Cingular and AT&T. Which reminds me, in a recent statement, Cingular's CEO stated that he would welcome an offer by Voicestream to merge with Cingular. There was some talk about AT&T Wireless discussing a possible merger with Voicestream (now to be known as T Mobile USA) but it was hung up in anti-trust review.
With the rollout in Nevada and California, it turns out that Cingular and T Mobile USA are now going to share networks. Something that has the Cingular subscribers complaining about the networks being overly burdened already. They feel that adding more subscribers to the networks is only going to make things worse. Cingular is now under investigation by the California PUC for numerous complaints from their subscribers regarding inadequate service and spotty coverage.
I should also mention that T Mobile is already a well recognized brand name in Europe. Though the cellular phones to be provided in the US are in fact digital GSM to be used on US spectrum frequencies. Their new website is going to be located at
www.t-mobileusa.com or www.tmobileusa.com
which we already checked to make sure was registered.
So far, we have heard only good things about Voicestream as a wireless carrier. The network sharing with Cingular could be a pitfall real quick if these problems are seriously rampant and no plans are in place to rapidly expand the service area to handle the traffic. Otherwise, T Mobile USA may find themselves in the same boat as Cingular. That would be a real shame because most of the Voicestream subscribers I have spoken with were very pleased with the service overall.
We will continue to monitor the progress of Voicestream aka T Mobile USA and keep you posted on what is happening. Should I ever get around to becoming a Voicestream subscriber, I will be sure to post an article on my experience with their service and the phone itself. The only thing is if I liked them enough then we would have to kick off the Verizon wireless banners and exchange them for the Voicestream banners instead (for a small fee of course).
DC THINK TANK SAYS CELL PHONE DRIVING BANS UNJUSTIFIED
Actually two thinks tanks have publicly made this claim and many other think tanks agree that a ban on cellular phone use while driving is not even close to being responsible. It basically backed up everything we have said in the past about politicians at all levels using a cellular phone ban as their platform to gain voter confidence. It looks like this strategy is about to backfire big time.
Their report stated that politicians were basing their pursuit of a cellular phone ban on perceived public opinion and not based on actual research and statistics. They took it further to state that numerous studies have already indicated that other activities conduced while driving pose an equal if not greater risk to the public than talking on a cellular phone while driving.
They did some nifty numbers in stating that the economic loss due to cellular phone use while driving was around $4.6 billion dollars. The economic loss by having cellular phone bans implemented would cost $25 billion dollars. In another part of the report, it said that in comparison to seat belts and air bags, a cellular phone ban was and I am paraphrasing here, the bans are not really worth much as an investment for saving lives.
It would also make it more difficult for police to hope to enforce these types of bans. It would be a subjective observation by police to determine if the driver was actually talking on a phone, singing to the radio, or speaking to a passenger. In total, the study was quite impressive in that it listed so many negative draw backs to a cellular phone ban that it may have some politicians running for cover if it starts to get widespread coverage.
In an entirely different study, it stated that with the increased penetration of cellular phone use, those who don't like cell phones will learn to tolerate them and those who love them will learn to have some social responsibility when using cellular phones. On the other side, most of these politicians probably haven't realized especially on the lower levels of government that those who proposed or initiated a cellular phone ban are no longer in office.
It will be interesting to see if this scenario will continue to play itself out with the politicians of New York who supported such legislation. If they were mediocre or weak in addressing issues that had a higher priority with the public, there is a good chance they too will be out the door in the next elections. It seems that cellular phone bans are not as popular as politicians would have liked to think.
That ought to teach them to start doing their homework and for their peers that may remain, it would be a good wake up call to start paying attention to their constituents desires instead of making assumptions. A bunch of meatheads
if you ask me. Not that you are so I will throw my opinion in there anyhow.
If they were reading our newsletter, they might still be in office. We will have to see how many states or counties suddenly decide that a cellular phone ban while driving is not such a good idea
after all. It is only a matter of time before this type of legislation starts to see more and more criticism.
Ever wake up in the middle of the night with an epiphany? I did and it woke me up well enough that I had to write it down so I didn't forget to write about it. I have been thinking of the wireless 911 mandates and how it would impact on the end user. I started doing some research and I found the answer all right. I haven't been the only one mulling over this question. In fact, here is what I discovered.
States and the counties within them are looking at the cost of implementation of wireless 911 services too. How much more equipment will they need, the costs of upgrading, how many more people will need to be hired, etc. All of this costs money and you, the cellular phone user are going to pay for it whether you like it or not.
In one case, we saw a budget review by a county board which proposed an increase of $1 per user per month to build up the war chest for the implementation of enhanced 911 services to create a budget for a total of nearly a half million dollars per year. Sure you won't miss a buck. But if you saw that commercial for long distance service, a buck will buy you 20 minutes of long distance on your phone bill and only 7 cents a minute there after.
Depending on where you live and how many people live in your area, that little fee on your wireless bill for 911 service could be getting up there. It is a cost that you have to take into consideration the next time you go out to look at a wireless plan for service. If you don't know what it would be, ask the retailer what is normally charged for the 911 each month. In fact, ask them what the total amount will be for each month with everything included such as taxes.
Only then will you be able to make an educated decision and present a true comparison of one wireless plan to another. If the retail clerk doesn't know, it will also give you an idea as to how well they are trained in the service they are providing to you. On second thought, you may even want to try the wireless carrier directly. They may or may not know but it doesn't hurt to have a second opinion if you can get it.
Though I am one who definitely supports making 911 service available to all cellular phone users and in making 911 operations a little more efficient. With nearly half the country using cellular phones, that type of service will definitely save some lives and help to prevent some crimes too. An increase is probably worth it but with all these other fees and taxes added to cell phone bills, it all really starts to add up over time.
Don't be surprised if you start seeing your city, state, and federal taxes on your wireless bill start to increase too. It is too lucrative of a tax base for the government to keep their hands off of it. For now, it is 911 service, next time it will probably be our taxes getting hiked. Universal Service Funds would be okay by me if it was really used like it is supposed to be used in building out rural areas. There is nothing better to make your day than more fees and more taxes.
COOL VIRTUAL PEN FOR WIRELESS USERS MAY BE THE FUTURE
There is a company that has developed a pen that can write on any surface of an electronic device which uses blue tooth technology. It is not your average pen either. It was built with handwriting recognition software and it doesn't require any special connections to work. An out of the box solution.
Two companies, Advanced Recognition Technologies Inc. and OTM technologies Ltd. created the device. It is advanced enough that you can draw doodles, play games, send text messages, and navigate screens. It works as a screen writing pen or as a joystick depending on your needs. Even better, you can write on any surface including your hand.
From what we could tell, it looks like Siemens is the first handset manufacturer offering the VPen with their mobile phones. With cell phones getting smaller and smaller, this device may just have
its place in the wireless world. It can even do some weird stuff like bar code reading and text scanning.
The product review states that it will use rechargeable batteries although we were unable to determine the exact type or size from a quick look at their website. But it looks like this
device was developed for versatility as it eliminates the use of a stylus, mouse, and keyboard for some devices.
Rather than trying to describe it further, we will add a link to their website here. Check out the demo program as it will give you a pretty good idea of how it will work. Make sure to click on the products tab on their website as it will give you a better idea through the use of graphics on how it will work. You can find their website here.
If you are a tech junkie, you might even want to click on their future products tab too. Some of their future products are designed for commercial use but they are also developing lines for consumer use. They must be doing something right because their website said they made the front page of the Wall Street Journal. I can't believe the WSJ got
a hold of something like this before we did. I hate it when that happens.
FLOPPY TELEVISION HAS A FUTURE WITH WIRELESS USERS?
Does this really apply to wireless right now? Not really but that doesn't mean that it won't in the future. So I thought I had better beat everyone to the punch with the missing details as a just in case. Televisions so small that they can be literally printed on thin plastic which could easily be rolled up and stashed away. I can see plenty of potential with cellular phones based on what we found.
It wouldn't be hard to put something like this on the back of a cellular phone or just above a display screen. A lab in Great Britain came up with a glowing plastic compound that lights up with an electrical charge. The only downside is that they will cost just as much as a regular TV. Which may in fact not really be a downside more than a trade off.
The only thing holding them back from a full commercial rollout of the product is finding a material that will protect the compounds from corrosion from oxygen and water vapor otherwise known as photoxidation. The head of the lab stated that they were very close to finding a solution to that problem. It appears that they are attempting to enhance the technology so that it can offer at least a 5 year storage lifetime and offer greater than 20,000 hours of use before it needed to be replaced.
Philips displayed the first demo of the technology with a piece of plastic that was a fifty millionth of an inch thick. Though that is pretty thin, they are still looking at trying to make it even thinner. Much like a piece of paper so that the TV can be rolled right up and put away. The current estimation as to when it will be available on the market is expected to be 2004 or 2005. The military has also taken a strong interest in what is being called Light Emitting Polymer Technology.
We are not quite sure if cellular phones will be a device of choice even though the technology only needs less than 5 volts to activate. For example, the Star Tac phone has a battery with 3.6 volts. Is that enough to activate it? We just don't know and further research will be required. It doesn't look like temperature will have an effect on how quickly it can display images which is a plus.
No, I am not a molecular electronics engineer either. I am just thankful that I paid attention in my physics and chemistry classes every once in a while. I read through their specification sheets and deciphered most of the above by reading through that. At least, I found what I wanted which was how long it would last and what was
its power source. It's all about the details.
Boring! Did I say Boring? OK, I was just kidding! Really. NOT! Boring, boring, and more boring than you could ever imagine. I mean who
wants to hear what an editor has to say anyway. Scratch this, add that, rewrite those. Blah. Blah. Blah. Without further ado, here are the editor's comments.
Listen, it was so boring that I fell asleep and drooled all over it. Really I did. Tried to pat it dry and it smudged. Maybe next time.
THE WORLD'S MOST STUPID AWARD GOES OUT TO THIS IDIOT
This is one that beats them all. That is a hard record to beat too. This guy had three cell phones and maybe a little too much time on his hands. That is what happens when you get buckets of minutes with your wireless plan. Now this guy is going to go to prison with a rap that probably isn't going to earn him much respect among his peers. How about this one.
This guy decides he wants to prank call 911 with unsubscribed phones. First, he begins calling in and just hangs up. He keeps doing this and the 911 operators are getting frustrated. After about 200 phone calls, a supervisor from the Sheriff's department gets on the phone and tells the caller that prank calling 911 is a criminal charge.
Well, this moron thinks that is hilarious so he records a 911 operator's voice and calls 911 again. This time he plays the 911 operators voice back to the center. Once again the caller is warned that it is a criminal offense and if it were to continue, serious charges could be brought against the caller.
The caller gets really bold now because he is calling from an unsubscribed phone that cannot be traced by 911. He then demands a ransom or he would continue to call in. With each time he calls in, he is told the same thing by the operators. Each time he again demands money and in one case stated he wanted millions of dollars or the calls would continue. He placed somewhere in the neighborhood of a thousand calls to 911.
This jackass wasn't as smart as he would have liked to think. The whole time he is placing these calls, he is stationary. The Sheriff's department decided to triangulate the calls and busted him when he happened to be placing a call to the 911 operator. All that and he earned himself a vacation behind bars with a cot and 3 squares.
Where he really screwed up was in demanding a ransom from the 911 operator. This may be filed as a felony charge for extortion and endangerment or some such thing. If he is charged and convicted, he could be facing a prison term for some time. He would have been better off buying tickets to a movie if he needed some entertainment. Wouldn't have cost him as much.
WIRELESS CARRIERS GET THEIR CHOPS BUSTED BY CALIFORNIA
These are tough times to be a wireless carrier in California. In some cases, wireless carriers are finding it to be an quite expensive and perilous activity to be a carrier. The best part is that the courts and regulators seem to have declared open season and there are no fees for a hunting license either. As an added bonus, you can bag as many carriers as you would like.
Though this isn't a concerted effort on the part of regulators or courts in California, things are getting quite hot in the kitchen for wireless carriers especially. The California PUC is pushing for a consumer bill of rights which promises to be quite stringent in helping to regulate telecom carriers of both landline and wireless services.
As we mentioned in a previous article, Cingular is on the hot plate. The CPUC received thousands of complaints from January 2000 through September 2001 regarding system coverage and capacity issues. Verizon Wireless is also taking some heat due to acquisitions they made of other smaller carriers to include assets of PrimeCo, GTE, and Airtouch.
In fact, these acquisitions included taking responsibility for class action lawsuits that are pending in about a dozen states. Verizon Wireless has been the class action lawsuits fairly quiet. The class action filed in California in particular was filed by a Marcy Campbell which stated the usual complaints of failure to disclose details, breach of contact, etc.
Better yet, allow me to present the filing as if I were the attorney of record for the plaintiffs on this class action lawsuit. Ready? Here goes. Ah Hum... This class action lawsuit has been filed on behalf of my clients against Verizon Wireless because they engaged in unfair, unlawful, or fraudulent business practices including but not limited to false or misleading advertising, misrepresentation, and breach of contract.
My mission as my client's attorney is to get them awarded coupons worth at least $15 to $30 each in free airtime on a future wireless phone bill. Besides, as a public servant to the people, I find it absolutely unbearable that I am the only attorney in California who doesn't own a current year Mercedes. What am I talking about, I don't even own a Mercedes. But I hope that this lawsuit will pay me enough that I can finally afford one even if it is used.
In addition, I hope that this lawsuit will bring about world peace and more clients to my office. Allow me to be the champion of your cause and I will file a lawsuit that will enrich my bank account, award me local celebrity status, and provide you with some free coupons that won't be worth your time to redeem.
How is that? Wouldn't I make a great attorney? Which reminds me. Did you know that
there are attorneys who are in the business of monitoring other attorneys and making sure they are staying honest with their billing of clients? Now that is a pretty cool profession.
Back to this Verizon Wireless class action lawsuit. The charges came about when it was found that wireless customers were being billed for additional airtime due to billing in full minute increments and rounding up to the next minute. They were also charged for landline fees if any portion of a wireless call was transported over a landline and charged fees for landline service use even if the carrier wasn't being charged for such use.
However, it appears as if Verizon Wireless was aware of the lawsuits against the companies they were about to acquire so they must have
written it off as the cost of doing business. On another note, in reference to that consumer bill of rights that carriers didn't find
too appealing. In typical fashion, they did make an attempt to influence and negotiate the terms for the bill of rights.
Whatever is going to be put in there is promising to be fairly stringent and the carriers are taking notice. As one
of the commissioners put it, the bill of rights is being designed for the consumer and not for the
carriers' benefit. My hat goes off to the CPUC for telling them to bug off and get lost. If passed, the new rules could go into effect as early as January 2003.
Both of our new team members have been with us for a short time now but we didn't have an opportunity to introduce them until now. We would like to introduce our new Director of Sales and our International Sales Manager. They are responsible for the development of different aspects of the business to business division. Here is a little run down on what they do and a very brief background on the two of them.
Our Director of Sales is Nick Fitton. His role in the company is to handle all of our wholesale clients in the retail sector and basically manage the sales and account management for our business to business division. He came to us with an impressive track record and he has proven many times over in the short time he has been on board that he is committed to the continued growth of EVC.
We aren't talking only about his ability to substantially increase revenue, but in his ability to win over clients with personalized customer service. This is a man who isn't afraid to roll up his sleeves and work with our clients to make sure that we are giving them the red carpet treatment. I mean he is even getting compliments from people who aren't even customers. (Yet!)
Next, we have our International Sales Manager, John Treziak. John's role in the company is to handle the sales and account management for all other commercial accounts not related to wholesale. It seems that he found EVC to be more promising than trading stocks on Wall Street. We aren't going to disagree with him on that idea!
John has been assigned a critical role in helping EVC to establish and expand a niche market that we discovered and decided that we must pursue with gusto. Though he has only been with us for just over a month now, we expect to see many good things coming out of his efforts too. We know this because his first question was what would it take to get EVC to file for an IPO.
The additions of Nick and John came from an executive decision to further expand EVC from three divisions into four separate divisions so that we could manage our activities and growth more efficiently. In reality, we are poised for further growth but we are taking everything one step at a time. It just isn't in our business plan to become a mega corporation overnight.
Which reminds me. Though we are a growing company, solicitations to provide outside funding will not be considered. No banks, angels, or
VCs allowed so to speak. The CEO has stated that the company will remain privately owned, debt free, and ownership will be closely held. His explanation to this approach was that he wanted those of us who contributed to the grass roots growth of EVC to reap the rewards for our efforts on behalf of EVC and our clients.
With that said, Welcome aboard Mr. Fitton and Mr. Treziak. Best of luck to both of you in your new careers with EVC!
WHOA! AT&T WIRELESS LET PEOPLE OUT OF THEIR CONTRACTS!
Now doesn't that beat all. Frankly, it makes me quite suspicious. I have never known AT&T Wireless to ever give up a penny without a major fight. Then they say they did it because it was the right thing to do. Not only was I suspicious, I was about to contact the FBI to see if aliens had invaded Earth and taken over ATTWS.
At first I chalked up this token symbol of generosity to a decision being made in a moment of madness. Then I found the real reason behind it. They are going to be raising rates not on their airtime plans but on ancillary services. They have just now realized that they weren't charging as much as the other wireless carriers which made them competitive. I mean who wants to be competitive in the wireless market anyhow.
For example, directory assistance calls were being billed for 99 cents instead of the $1.25 charged by others. Plus they are now going to be charging for unanswered calls that last for 30 seconds or more. Who waits for anyone to pick up for a full 30 seconds anyhow? That is a long time to be waiting for a phone to be picked up.
With the local number portability being delayed by the FCC, many carriers are taking a breath filled with relief in that they won't have to worry about subscribers moving to a competitor that much sooner. It is quite likely that local number portability will increase subscriber churn which will in turn create even longer term contracts.
This type of activity on behalf of AT&T Wireless or their space alien counterparts warrants a notation in my calendar as making history. They voluntarily gave up cash money from subscribers! Have I ever mentioned that someone from AT&T actually contacted us to find out what cellular phones they offered in the early
90s?
We responded that not only did we know which phones they offered, we knew who was providing the phones to them under their brand name. It is hard to believe that Tandy used to manufacture cellular phones. Then we followed that up with telling them how much it was going to cost them for the information. They actually thought that because they were AT&T that we would provide them information on their own company, free of charge. Not happening.
That was the first time I called the FBI and asked if aliens had taken over AT&T. The receptionist
though didn't have a clue and passed me onto some gruff sounding FBI agent who informed me that if I contacted them again then I would be arrested for misuse of government property. When I heard that AT&T voluntarily allowed people out of their wireless contracts, I almost called them again. I have never been in an official FBI building before so I figured I would get a free trip at least.
HOP ON WIRELESS GETS FCC APPROVAL ON DISPOSABLE CELLULAR PHONE
So they have finally gotten approval on the design of their disposable mobile phone. Notice that I said design. I used that specific word because that we know of, there isn't even a functional prototype available yet. Translation. Expect to hear more hype on these products that have yet to appear in the 3 years since we first wrote that it was rumored they were coming to market.
Speaking of hype, this is turning into the story of the boy who cried wolf. I would equate the reality of a disposable cellular phone being brought to market to Amazon ever actually reporting a true profit on their business model. All this hype is making more and more journalists critical of Hop On Wireless and their claim to fame of about to have a disposable cellular phone.
The design that was approved by the FCC was for a CDMA 800 MHz disposable cellular phone. They claim that it will be recyclable and rechargeable for more airtime. Do any of you recall the hype on their co-promotion of Universal's video for Jurassic Park? It was a deal where you bought the video and you received a certificate for a free disposable cellular phone.
C'mon. These guys didn't even have a prototype and they had to know that it wasn't going to be available anytime soon without FCC approval. It could be a situation where Universal was played to the hilt for some free marketing and name recognition with being promoted by such a well known company.
In this case, that promotion was a complete flop for Hop On Wireless in that they had to send out credits to the buyers for $30 since they didn't have any phones to distribute. Why Hop On Wireless thinks that this is a viable market is unknown as they really don't have any experience in it other than the fact that they have a gambling background. That certainly qualifies them for taking on a high risk venture as they are doing now.
The fact that they have no product hasn't stopped them from pursuing distributorship agreements. Nor is it clear if any of the wireless carriers are willing to sell them airtime on a wholesale basis. Not to mention, the management of the phone lines that will be a tremendous task in and of itself. Our understanding is that the FCC is not requiring an inbound calling function to be a factor for the approval of disposable cell phones.
Dieceland Technologies has been fairly quiet as of late and they seem to be the last possible player on the market. Telespree has already withdrawn from the market and moved onto developing other services. We found out that another company called Kanakaris Wireless in California was looking to be a potential player at one time. In a business plan that they were circulating, they claimed to have a disposable phone in development. No further information was available other than this statement in a business plan.
They still have a number of obstacles to overcome if they are ever to bring a disposable phone to the market. Then they may have to contend with local number portability when that issue comes to the fore once again. The fact that the phones can only offer an outbound dialed call will dramatically diminish the appeal to an end user. The only ones who may use them will be the low volume and emergency only users which are typically defined by carriers and analysts as "marginal" customers.
Some may think that the teenager demographics may be more inclined to buy disposable phones. We would doubt that scenario if only because teenagers are more inclined to want a cellular phone to look cool and to be a part of the in crowd. A basic and functional phone isn't going to make a big impression on them or their friends.
What you can expect from this recent development of the FCC approval on the design is a whole new heap of hype being piled on month after month. Keep it going long enough and it is bound to pull in some suckers here and there. In the meantime, the market continues to move forward making the history of the disposable phone should it ever arrive no longer than that of a curioso or novelty item.
MOTOROLA TO CUSTOM DESIGN CELL PHONES FOR CARRIERS
In a surprise move, Motorola has implemented a strategy that could very well boost their popularity and marketshare here in the US. Their latest hit is with the Motorola V60 which is notably high in demand. Their strategy is strikingly similar to that used by Sendo UK Ltd. for the manufacturing of cellular phones. But it is one that has many benefits all the way around. Here are the details to their latest strategy.
Their intention is to manufacture low end cell phones that include a micro browser and ring tones. Features normally only found in the mid to higher tiered mobile phones which aren't cheap. We would anticipate that these units will cost around $100 to $150 each based on our knowledge of what it costs to make a phone. That is an estimation on our part and hasn't been confirmed with Motorola or any of the carriers. The trick to making this work is actually quite simple.
They will use a common platform as the main board. As far as the carriers' specifications are concerned, they can choose the color, casings, shapes, and software available in each phone. By having a common platform, they will be able to mass produce them which helps to reduce overall manufacturing costs. Hopefully, the wireless user will benefit from this cost savings.
Another advantage to this for other related service providers is the fact that the phones can be manufactured with a micro browser. It may not substantially grow the subscriber base for WAP services because what is available on the market doesn't have much
appeal but it could encourage use by curious people. Those of you whose eyes lit up with thinking about potential M Commerce solutions may as well bring your blood pressure back down.
It turns out that financial transactions via cellular phones has the least amount of appeal to wireless subscribers. You will need to go back to the drawing board or conduct some surveys on wireless subscribers. A service we are going to be adding to our list of options as a service to our clients I might add.
As far as the carriers who are going to be carrying these types of cellular phones, you will be able to find them being offered by Verzion Wireless, Cingular, Voicestream (T Mobile), and AT&T Wireless. We aren't sure why Sprint PCS hasn't decided to jump on the bandwagon yet. If the other wireless carriers start to see a serious influx of subscribers then Sprint PCS will probably follow suit especially with recent subscriber numbers dropping to almost a trickle compared to past activity.
Should Motorola find this strategy to be effective, it is possible they may adapt it for use in their Asian and European markets. This may not be such good news for Nokia if Motorola begins to pick up more marketshare and pushes Nokia to the point that their profit margins start to decline in an attempt to remain competitive.
It is a strategy that appears to be working well for Sendo UK Ltd. and we see no reason why Motorola wouldn't be able to duplicate the results. Our recommendation would be to keep your eye on Motorola when they begin rolling out these phones to market. This may turn out to be one of the more interesting developments happening in the industry.
GLOBALSTAR COMES OUT WITH FIRST TERRESTRIAL SATELLITE PHONE
Globalstar who has been trapped in Chapter 11 bankruptcy has been quite active. They have developed a hybrid Terrestrial Satellite cellular phone called the Telit Model 650. They have also managed to decrease the size from earlier models making it about one third the size of
its predecessors. A phone with plenty of potential for various end users.
The phones operate using a new technology called the Ancillary Terrestrial Component. This technology allows calls to be routed between the Satellite and dedicated terrestrial networks in real time. This allows calls to be placed over either network. It will also eliminate the problems with signals from a satellite being blocked by tall buildings or preventing calls from being placed or received indoors.
Before I get too much further ahead of myself, this phone is a prototype and isn't commercially available yet. Now that I added that in there, I can continue. This type of service would greatly benefit public safety agencies and ocean faring vessels because the service will be available in remote areas where some form of communication is not normally available. One example would be fighting forest fires.
Another demographic market which might find this type of service to be of interest is the international business traveler. No more cell phone rentals and they will be able to use the same cell phone number no matter where they may be located. In this case, Globalstar may be the first to market with this type of technology as they are the only ones with a working prototype.
It is still too early to get a grasp on what the cost of service plans will be or how much the unit will be sold for on the market. We may be a while in waiting for these phones to arrive too. The FCC has required that the satellite service providers enter into agreements to build a 2 Ghz network. Even so they don't expect to launch them into orbit until 2006.
Though the prototype has been modified to work on the existing systems currently in place. Depending on interest and demand they may decide to modify additional units provided FCC approval has been given and enter the market earlier than anticipated. This technology currently offers both voice and data transmission. Imagine the quantity and speed of data you can download on that type of bandwidth.
I think all our readers should chip in a little something so that I can snag a prototype and pay for a year's worth of service. Oh yeah, and fund my trips to remote and exotic locations of the world so I can test the service. After all that then I will write a review on it and let you know what I think about it. The exception to that is if I were eaten by a hippo. I would at least try to make a final report but I don't know that a signal would get through that beast.
12 MILE HIGH TOWER FLIES ON SOLAR POWER FOR SIX MONTHS
This must be something good because NASA, the Japanese Ministry of Telecommunications, and the Navy all collaborated in conducting tests of the first unmanned solar electric aircraft. It is the latest in other options besides a low flying blimp to provide wireless service signals in remote locations and downloading data at extremely fast speeds. Your not going to believe this one.
It was designed as an alternative and/or supplement to satellite and terrestrial networks. Not only can it handle wireless but it can handle broadcast video too. The first test was done using High Digital Television (HDTV) broadcast transmission. The results gave a resolution that was twice that of conventional transmissions and it was downloading 24 Mbps using only 1 watt of power.
Wireless applications have just as much potential. The aircraft can offer a footprint ranging from 30 to 600 miles. The platform would then connect users to a gateway station on the ground that would then be tied into a central switch or fiber optic backbone. They tested it on a 3G equipped video telephone and laptop equipped with a wireless modem that reached speeds of 384 Kbps.
The one thing they continuously commented on was the low cost of service that could be available to the consumer. The aircraft was invented by a company called SkyTower, a subsidiary of AeroVironment. This thing is huge with a wing span of 121 feet. Previous tests of the aircraft's ability to gain altitude made for a record breaking height of nearly 100,000 feet. Well into the Stratosphere. The targeted altitude for this platform is in the 60,000 to 70,000 foot range.
Applications for this type of platform run a wide range. From battle field situations to emergency backup telecom systems. All of them provided at a fraction of the cost of current networks in use. It was also suggested that it could be used to assist wireless carriers in building out their networks at a much lower cost. Rural wireless subscribers may have some hope yet.
It is anticipated that service being made available from this type of platform will happen within the next three years. Which has created a new acronym that will be known as HAPS or High Altitude Platform Stations. It has caught the attention of a number of service providers interested in finding a "last mile" solution too.
Further proof that wireless is the future of communications and the advances in technology is only going to accelerate our dependence on wireless services. When you think about the advances that have been made in wireless in the past 20 years and then expand on that to cover the next 40 years and the possibilities are absolutely amazing.
PLEASE TELL YOUR FRIENDS, FAMILY, AND ASSOCIATES ABOUT OUR NEWSLETTER. WE
APPRECIATE YOUR SUPPORT AND ASSISTANCE IN MAKING OUR NEWSLETTER A SUCCESS.
If you want your name to vanish from our list because our newsletter is just too
boring or someone else signed you up, let us know. We will reluctantly take you
off of our newsletter list. And we still reserve the right to make faces at you
when you aren't looking. If you want your name to vanish from our list because our newsletter is just too boring or someone else signed you up, let us know. We will reluctantly take you off of our newsletter list. And we still reserve the right to make faces at you when you aren't looking.
