Quote about Orange and the SPV from a Credit Suisse report

[Guest Matt Whitfield]

"Orange took a view in late 2002 that the Microsoft-powered SPV with its advanced features would be a tangible advantage. However, the device appears to still suffer software teething problems and only 40,000 have been sold. 

"While Microsoft-powered devices may become ubiquitous, we think there remains a risk that the SPV as a mover may be a white elephant for the operator."

I found this in an article on The Register site entitled Orange launches flat rate GPRS billing for business. Shame they don't let non-business users average out their introductory SPV GPRS bundle across the first 4 months rather than operate a "use it or lose it" policy...

[Guest ClintEastman]

"While Microsoft-powered devices may become ubiquitous, we think there remains a risk that the SPV as a mover may be a white elephant for the operator."

I think they might be right if they don't get a route for freeware sorted.

Whats the point of it being SmartPhone 2002 if you can't run the bloody software on it without Orange's say-so!

[Guest Monolithix [MVP]]

Should be more info on the freeware thing in the next week or so...

[Guest Matt Whitfield]

Absolutely. And given the fact that the P800 will be available with J2ME (ie: no signing required) very soon, that alone may discourage new users from buying the SPV.

Admittedly the price point of the P800 is a lot higher than the SPV, but if you can use free s/w from day 1 and the phone suffers from less s/w bugs then the SPV may still look somewhat less attractive...

I wonder if Orange has actually learnt something from the launch of the SPV?

[Guest Kallisti]

The chances of the phone suffering from less bugs is pretty low. It's been a long time since any bit of new tech has been released that wasn't riddled with bugs.

[Guest Chris b.a.r.f.]

Hmm - my thoughts coming up here; I've had a good few chances to play about with the P800 over the last month or so and it's brilliant. But the SPV's design and useability is light-years ahead of the P800 (which strikes me somehow as being the bastard son of R380), with the 7650 (which strikes me as just being a bastard :twisted: ) lagging so far behind it's almost embarrasing.

I'll buy a P800 because I want to have the best of both worlds, but the SPV will be the one I *always* carry with me...

These are just a couple of reasons that I don't believe the SPV will fail, app-certification or not. I know several users who've not de-certified their SPV's yet are still totally satisfied with them...

[Guest xanadu]

I found this in an article on The Register site entitled

First Mistake....

Don't believe anything they print on The Register.

Anti-Microsoft propaganda rubbish.

[Guest Matt Whitfield]

Um, xanadu do you work for MS?? :shock:

I won't even bother starting a rant about MS, but in general I think MS's domination of markets is a very very bad thing and people are right not to like them because of that. I am personally sceptical of MS's reasons for getting into the mobile market in the first place, but that didn't stop me buying the SPV as it was the best phone around at the time for what I wanted to do. Whether or not that is still the case remains to be seen now the P800 is coming out in the UK...

I personally find The Register a good, if rather sceptical/sarcastic (which I personally enjoy!), source of IT information. And if you read the title of the topic, it's actually Credit Suisse's view...

[Guest xanadu]

Um, xanadu do you work for MS?? 

I don't work for Microsoft.

Everyone that has been on this forum a while knows the False information The Register have so far published about the Orange SPV.

They just don't get their facts right.

I do like Microsoft products, but that is another argument.

[Guest bobroberts]

The Register is usually full of anti ms tosh. I've no problem with people not liking MS (it's sometimes all too easy to see why) but journalism (about anything) shouldn't have an overt bias. It's usually obvious and irritating.

boborberts

[Guest NXNM]

Well i like MS products, sure they could be better , scratch that SHOULD be better but when it comes down to it they are all very much useable.

Currently im using my SPV in out of the box state, simply becasue it crashed whilst playing doom and i had to reset it in a pub! - I havent bothered putting the de-cert on it yet because there are no applications that i think i really need yet (although i aint looked at the software section for a couple of weeks)

Personally i cant see why the SPV will fail, sorry i should say why the MS smartphones should fail...if they SPV does im not to bothered as long as the MS smartphones keep comming...

[Guest Big Ron - No Longer a Mem]

" I won't even bother starting a rant about MS, but in general I think MS's domination of markets is a very very bad thing and people are right not to like them because of that. I am personally sceptical of MS's reasons for getting into the mobile market in the first place, but that didn't stop me buying the SPV as it was the best phone around at the time for what I wanted to do. Whether or not that is still the case remains to be seen now the P800 is coming out in the UK... "

Sounds like you haven't read Bill Gates' "The Road Ahead", in which he describes his vision of the future. He describes in detail how you'll carry around a phone-sized gadget that acts as your credit card, phone, house keys, car keys, PSA... the works. It'll talk to your fridge, your freezer, your oven and your air conditioning... and, of course, it'll be running Microsoft software. Phones began to head in the direction predicted... and Shock, Horror, they were NOT running Microsoft software. Clearly... something HAD to be done. The "vision" isn't supposed to be headed in the direction it's currently going - the phone is (as I understand it!) supposed to be little more than a wireless "dumb terminal" - the data will be stored remotely - and part of your "wireless home network". Instead, 3G (the high bandwidth connection required to turn the dream into reality) looks like a financial turkey, and phones are developing like PC's, not dumb terminals. They're using Bluetooth (not something that can easily be shoehorned into a WAN) It was ALL GOING WRONG. Particularly the part about "running Microsoft software". So, along with all the other areas that lose money, Microsoft have launched a new offensive. Besides, the profitability of Windows and Office (MS's only sources of real money) is in decline, and MS are frantic to get into SOMETHING that makes money. In the UK, government departments (by far and away MS's biggest single customer) are set to divide new Office suite purchases between MS Office and Sun's Office (which is a lot cheaper, and for most people's needs does the same job.) Where the government leads, others may well follow, leading to a profitability crash. So...diversification makes sense. MS have made a lot of money out of "compatibility" scares over the years. :wink:

[Guest benny]

I believe a new handset due out soon is going to be running Linux...that ought to get Ol' Bill a little sweaty :)

B