Monday, December 16, 2002
Pocket PC Intersections
Posted by Andy Sjostrom in "THOUGHT" @ 05:56 AM
I love to think about intersections and the cool stuff waiting to be discovered there. Obviously, "Pocket PC" is a common factor in my intersections thoughts. So, I take "Pocket PC" and add one or more items to get to an intersection. An intersection that I believe many will try to make money from is: "Pocket PC", "XML Web Services", "Internet", and "location".
Take a look at sites like XMethods and SalCentral to see the growing number of XML Web Services. Although most services are samples and/or provided for free I see that providers are slowly moving to money making business models. Given the trend to publish information services as XML Web Services and given that location based services will need some kind of geographical data available to be useful I have had high hopes for Microsoft's MapPoint .NET Web Service. It's great that Microsoft shows the market what a full featured Web Service should look like, and also that such a service can be used to build business on.
However, I am afraid that only the already rich can afford experimenting at this intersection. Take a look at the Platform Access Fee at $15,000.00 USD and the Per Transaction License (2 million transactions = $15,000.00 USD, 3.5 million transactions = $25,000.00 USD, 7.5 million transactions = $50,000.00 USD) to see what I mean. Microsoft has a golden opportunity to help foster a young and inexperienced market that could grow from cross breeding MapPoint .NET and Pocket PC / "mobile". Too bad they don't take it.
Take a look at sites like XMethods and SalCentral to see the growing number of XML Web Services. Although most services are samples and/or provided for free I see that providers are slowly moving to money making business models. Given the trend to publish information services as XML Web Services and given that location based services will need some kind of geographical data available to be useful I have had high hopes for Microsoft's MapPoint .NET Web Service. It's great that Microsoft shows the market what a full featured Web Service should look like, and also that such a service can be used to build business on.
However, I am afraid that only the already rich can afford experimenting at this intersection. Take a look at the Platform Access Fee at $15,000.00 USD and the Per Transaction License (2 million transactions = $15,000.00 USD, 3.5 million transactions = $25,000.00 USD, 7.5 million transactions = $50,000.00 USD) to see what I mean. Microsoft has a golden opportunity to help foster a young and inexperienced market that could grow from cross breeding MapPoint .NET and Pocket PC / "mobile". Too bad they don't take it.
