Monday, September 22, 2003
Finally, A Reporter Gets 3G
Posted by Janak Parekh in "ARTICLE" @ 03:45 PM
The problems in rolling out 3G are obvious -- high cost, unclear revenue sources. The question is, will 3G succeed? Most analysts have said "no" up front. They say that consumers won't buy it. The Economist, though, looks a little deeper into the picture.
"A far better guide to the prospects for 3G, then, is to look at how quickly data services are being adopted on 2.5G networks. The evidence looks promising. Vodafone's live! service, for example, signed up over 2m customers, primarily in Europe and Australasia, within nine months. Mr Horn-Smith says the signs are that live! subscribers spend 7-10% more than non-subscribers per month. Evidently, many people do want to use their phones for more than just voice calls and text messaging—though whether the huge outlay on 3G licences will be justified is still uncertain."
I have a few niggles with the article, but he concludes well: "After all the 3G hype, the mark of 3G's success may be that its adoption goes completely unnoticed." I agree: apart from us early adopters who want high-speed wireless data for our PDAs and laptops, 3G will succeed if people develop applications for it as it rolls out. It's truly astonishing to see how many people today play games or text on the phone in New York. You'd never have seen this a year ago; we were far behind in these technologies, but the advent of GPRS, 1xRTT, and smarter phones is notable. Phones are rapidly transitioning from voice communications to personal assistants, and if done correctly, 3G can fit right into this picture. Now, just give me a CDMA Bluetooth phone already! :evil:
"A far better guide to the prospects for 3G, then, is to look at how quickly data services are being adopted on 2.5G networks. The evidence looks promising. Vodafone's live! service, for example, signed up over 2m customers, primarily in Europe and Australasia, within nine months. Mr Horn-Smith says the signs are that live! subscribers spend 7-10% more than non-subscribers per month. Evidently, many people do want to use their phones for more than just voice calls and text messaging—though whether the huge outlay on 3G licences will be justified is still uncertain."
I have a few niggles with the article, but he concludes well: "After all the 3G hype, the mark of 3G's success may be that its adoption goes completely unnoticed." I agree: apart from us early adopters who want high-speed wireless data for our PDAs and laptops, 3G will succeed if people develop applications for it as it rolls out. It's truly astonishing to see how many people today play games or text on the phone in New York. You'd never have seen this a year ago; we were far behind in these technologies, but the advent of GPRS, 1xRTT, and smarter phones is notable. Phones are rapidly transitioning from voice communications to personal assistants, and if done correctly, 3G can fit right into this picture. Now, just give me a CDMA Bluetooth phone already! :evil:
