Wednesday, May 8, 2002
A market ripe for the picking, will MS take advantage of it?
Posted by Ed Hansberry in "THOUGHT" @ 10:57 AM
http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/ccarch/2002/05/08/baig.htm
The new $600 Nokia Communicator and $500 Blackberry 5810 are not garnering lots of "wows" from the media. For example, "Nokia deserves credit for delivering real-deal HTML Web pages; you can use horizontal and vertical arrow keys to scroll through a site. But to click on a link you must typically hit the "Control" and "Q" keys simultaneously to turn those same arrow keys into a mouselike pointer. Toggling back and forth by pressing Control and Q is a nuisance" and "It takes too many steps to accomplish various tasks. For example, to get to a Web site that you haven't bookmarked, you must hit the Internet key, select WWW for the World Wide Web or WAP ... click a menu button, click "Open" under "File," click on "Web Page" and then finally enter the URL, or Web address." Good grief - isn't it easier to manage files on an external SD card in a Palm? ;-)
The Blackberry didn't make it through the review any less scathed. "When I clicked on the browser while in New Jersey, I received an error message indicating that I wasn't in an area that could handle data communications. Even when I was in a coverage area, the browser is incapable of displaying full HTML Web pages. However, I also ran into snags on supposedly kosher "WAP" sites. Consider this message: "WAP Gateway: An internal gateway error prevents the gateway from fulfilling your request." "Clicking on "Register Now" sent a message back to VoiceStream that apparently fixed the problem. The BlackBerry phone felt like an afterthought. I was able to make and receive phone calls, but the service was spotty, and I never felt comfortable. There's no independent speaker, so you connect an earpiece (with microphone). Absent a phone keypad, dialing voice mail was, as with the Nokia, a chore."
The Treo from Handspring has seen lackluster success too. I think this is more the fault of the anemic Palm OS when it comes to being an online device since the current OS cannot multitask. Who wants to be in a web browser and have to close it to open your ewallet app to get a userID and password to a site?
The Pocket PC 2002 Phone Edition and Smartphone 2002 devices really excel in this arena, but it isn't like MS can just contract with someone to make these and start shipping them to CompUSA or Amazon. These things have to go through carrier trials. You thought getting a tax cut through a Democratically controlled Congress was tough? You ought to get a device to pass a carrier trial. Here MS has no experience. This is the first time they have really tried to get a device to market that goes beyond someone bolting together some hardware for them. We've heard some good news from MS on this front - Samsung as a partner for example. But in the world of technology, that is old old news. I'm ready for a device already! I want to walk into a SprintPCS and pick up a Smartphone 2002 today, but these things take time, and it is beyond MS's control.
What do you think? Can MS take advantage of the markets lack of compelling phone/PDA devices or will this time allow the competition (read Symbian) to get to market first with a device the average person can use?
The new $600 Nokia Communicator and $500 Blackberry 5810 are not garnering lots of "wows" from the media. For example, "Nokia deserves credit for delivering real-deal HTML Web pages; you can use horizontal and vertical arrow keys to scroll through a site. But to click on a link you must typically hit the "Control" and "Q" keys simultaneously to turn those same arrow keys into a mouselike pointer. Toggling back and forth by pressing Control and Q is a nuisance" and "It takes too many steps to accomplish various tasks. For example, to get to a Web site that you haven't bookmarked, you must hit the Internet key, select WWW for the World Wide Web or WAP ... click a menu button, click "Open" under "File," click on "Web Page" and then finally enter the URL, or Web address." Good grief - isn't it easier to manage files on an external SD card in a Palm? ;-)
The Blackberry didn't make it through the review any less scathed. "When I clicked on the browser while in New Jersey, I received an error message indicating that I wasn't in an area that could handle data communications. Even when I was in a coverage area, the browser is incapable of displaying full HTML Web pages. However, I also ran into snags on supposedly kosher "WAP" sites. Consider this message: "WAP Gateway: An internal gateway error prevents the gateway from fulfilling your request." "Clicking on "Register Now" sent a message back to VoiceStream that apparently fixed the problem. The BlackBerry phone felt like an afterthought. I was able to make and receive phone calls, but the service was spotty, and I never felt comfortable. There's no independent speaker, so you connect an earpiece (with microphone). Absent a phone keypad, dialing voice mail was, as with the Nokia, a chore."
The Treo from Handspring has seen lackluster success too. I think this is more the fault of the anemic Palm OS when it comes to being an online device since the current OS cannot multitask. Who wants to be in a web browser and have to close it to open your ewallet app to get a userID and password to a site?
The Pocket PC 2002 Phone Edition and Smartphone 2002 devices really excel in this arena, but it isn't like MS can just contract with someone to make these and start shipping them to CompUSA or Amazon. These things have to go through carrier trials. You thought getting a tax cut through a Democratically controlled Congress was tough? You ought to get a device to pass a carrier trial. Here MS has no experience. This is the first time they have really tried to get a device to market that goes beyond someone bolting together some hardware for them. We've heard some good news from MS on this front - Samsung as a partner for example. But in the world of technology, that is old old news. I'm ready for a device already! I want to walk into a SprintPCS and pick up a Smartphone 2002 today, but these things take time, and it is beyond MS's control.
What do you think? Can MS take advantage of the markets lack of compelling phone/PDA devices or will this time allow the competition (read Symbian) to get to market first with a device the average person can use?
