3.....? im slightly confused

[Guest fraser]

Yes, but the examples you give aren't quite the same. The old "why need a mobile" thing isn't the same as this. Many people asked me the same when I got mine 8 years ago, one of the first GSM phones. However, having a mobile has a lot of advantages over landlines. You can be contacted anywhere. You can contact anyone anywhere. Literally. I called a friend from the Great Wall of China years ago, just for shits and giggles. That is way cool, i.e. a killer app.

So, mobiles are great, no doubt about that. The key thing is they allow you to communicate. The current 2.5G standard does that. Video isn't anything new, it's novelty value really. You can currently do similar with existing tools on a PC, but no one does it. It could be argued that it's mainly down to the user interface...web conferencing and avi capture aren't all that intuative to set up; hopefully 3G will give this a consumer friendly interface.

You can still communicate with voice or data though. Video isn't revolutionary enough to sell the product. Especially as you can only use it with other users. That's a very limited market, and historically products confined to limited markets often fail. If enough people don't move to 3G by a certain time, the telcos could be forced to drop it entirely. They are driven by investors, who want to profit. The license bidding has already drained a lot of their resources.

I disagree on early adopters getting less. We adopt early because we want features that nothing else has. That's the point! The things we lose out on are cost and reliability. Early adopters are essentially field testers, as many SPV users will confirm, especially before the recent updates. However, we are happy to take hits on that because we get benefits. We get to play doom on our phones.

The early adopters aren't going for 3G. They are going for WiFi, Smartphones and Symbians. Or Palm/WinCE. Right now, 3G is a major step backwards. If that is not fixed asap, then it's doomed.

[Guest lucky]

For the most part i agree with you. Just a few things. the killer app being that you can call someone anywhere anytime.

business users very rarely in my experince take a call anywhere anytime. gen x ers' really could live without mobiles and teenagers where do you start.

voice is just as in-essential as video. IMHO mobiles ARE novelty value, telcos have convinced us we cant live without them, but that is just not true.

technology is driven by the upgrade cycle i bet you cant even remember the old analogue mobiles, i bet i cant remember the gsm ones in a couple of years.

lets face it why do you need a colour screen? for pics , for custom screens, why do you need those? because its cool it looks nice, hey if i can have video why not?

your point is valid. wifi yeah, you, and i, and tech based firms, might be up on it but i guarantee my mum isnt.

If she gets a mobile that she dials my number in sydney and can see and hear me in london now that is a KILLER app.

She doesnt care what the better tech is, just like betamax, she has to be able to use the damn thing, and this is the important bit somebody has to be selling it.

i dont understand why many people are saying 3g is a backward step, it offers more bandwidth and more features than gsm.

resistance is futile its in the prodcut cycle. why are companies didssing it they have left over inventory!

[Guest 15 yr old]

so.......... my topic turned out quite intresting......... cool. The world isnt ready for 3g phones. the only reason i would want one is so i could be unique, and also the footy highlights lol!

[Guest vijay555]

the world is always ready for new technology i think, but whether it's capable of using it is another matter. One of the guys at the meet was recounting a story of how he saw a couple of grannies on the bus showing each other snaps of their grandkids on their nokias... however, my mum still has no idea how to SMS.

Early adopters are us idiots who are prepared to buy a big clunky phone just because of novelty value. However, as noted above, 3g right now is like being the only guy in town with a fax machine. who to fax?

But the technology will become transparent in time, everyone will get used to being able to send naughty videos of ex-girlfriends to mates etc (killer app?), but i noted with some amusement that the girl demonstrating "3" phones today in London was ONLY talking about football.

She assumed that all i was interested in was video highlights of football. Now, 99% of other guys maybe, but what does that leave me with? Naughty videos and a heavy phone. I can do that at home.

I think 3 needs to VERY heavily subsidise the phone like O did with the SPV to get it in our pockets, and that'll help establish the critical mass needed to get it off the ground. 3G has wider appeal than the SPV i think, (despite the enormous overlap in functionality) but crippling it must surely be shooting yourself in the foot.

The processors and technology on the 3 phones is attractive (but still far from perfected in terms of size), but to get it to 2nd generation phones they've got to make it _necassary_ not merely novelty. Can you believe SMS is still in its relative infancy in the US?

But we shouldn't base this argument on our experience: if you consider growth of tech in Japan, and the technology they have in their phones (have you seen that mini-camcorder phone with swiveling screen?!) our 3G is relatively old skool.

[anyone read the article that Japs can't type anymore because of prevalence of phones...]

Phew. so, um. right. what the hell am i on?

V

[Guest 15 yr old]

How are 3 going to influence people into buying 3g phones? In order to put Three on the map.

[Guest glynton]

I heard an Ad on the radio today, that 3 are now releasing phones on a 'No Contract' tariff, assuming they mean pay as you go. They say phones start from less than £200 which is what anyone wanting the latest phone on P & G can expect to pay aanyway! They were plugging the fact that you can buy two phones, one for you and one for the missus and have 'Vidoe' chats with each other.

They should push this idea more, although they dont seem to be focussed at Early adopters, more at poeple with more money than sense who want to keep an eye on the other half!

Buying two phones should be cheaper per phone than the seperate costs, this would boost things a bit too i think.

Glynton

[Guest Firaas]

How are 3 going to influence people into buying 3g phones? In order to put Three on the map.

Same way Orange sold us the SPV - by claiming it's the coolest phone ever with the most uptodate technology.

[Guest fraser]

claiming it's the coolest phone ever with the most uptodate technology

While the current phones clearly aren't? They are very lacking in other respects, all they have going for them is the 3G.

[Guest Firaas]

They are very lacking in other respects, all they have going for them is the 3G.

Yeah - but the camera is all consumers want, and the video calling is "cool".

While the current phones clearly aren't?

Not really - the 3G phones are better for the average Joe Bloggs who doesn't use computers too much except to chat on MSN or something than a standard Nokia 5210 is.

[Guest fraser]

But Joe Bloggs isn't important just now. They need the techies on board, or it will die. It's a strange phenomenun, but seems to be important for new gadgets. Maybe got something to do with the fact that techies often have a larger disposable income for new toys.

[Guest Firaas]

But Joe Bloggs isn't important just now. They need the techies on board, or it will die. It's a strange phenomenun, but seems to be important for new gadgets. Maybe got something to do with the fact that techies often have a larger disposable income for new toys.

They don't seem to think so - notice how the adds are all targeted at Joe Bloggs.

There was a difference between that and the Orange SPV paper ads, which were aimed at business/techie users.

[Guest xanadu]

There are major bugs with 3G at the moment.

3's network coverage is very limited, and there is no roaming onto the 2G O2 network without dropping a call.

[Guest 15 yr old]

I think the spv is one of the coolest phone around! its got most things i want, apart from a good camera.

I'm not really bothered about video calling, it does look good and everything but....... Those phones have no x factor.

[Guest Big Ron - No Longer a Mem]

If you want to know more about 3G in action, the best course is to do a search on "Manx Telecom". They ran the pilot tests of 3G in the Isle of Man (midway between England and Ireland) and essentially... it's been a flop. The network seems to run OK, but the phones have been a disaster - they work as "3G modems" plugged into laptops which show "what 3G will eventually be capable of". Not exactly a great advert for new customers!

[Guest 15 yr old]

So this new thing is a great big flp then??

[Guest mrjuglas]

It's just teething troubles, there hasn't been enough investment yet... 3G is still the future of mobile data, in my opinion it's just been rolled out too soon in the UK, before the infrastructure is in place for one and before the technology has been fully developed and tested for another. Also because Telcos spent too much acquiring the licenses and so can't afford to invest the required money on infrastructure... in a couple of years though you'll be wondering how you managed without it though (IMHO)

[Guest 15 yr old]

so will there be video calling on other networks?

[Guest Big Ron - No Longer a Mem]

It's just teething troubles, there hasn't been enough investment yet... 3G is still the future of mobile data, in my opinion it's just been rolled out too soon in the UK, before the infrastructure is in place for one and before the technology has been fully developed and tested for another. Also because Telcos spent too much acquiring the licenses and so can't afford to invest the required money on infrastructure... in a couple of years though you'll be wondering how you managed without it though (IMHO)

Sounds like a quote from a Telco manual - the "official line"... "The world as it would be nice if it was", not "the world as it IS".

In Mobile-crazy Japan, the 3G equivalent rolled out some while back - and required 1.5m subscribers to break even. 18 months on, they'd managed to attract 138,000 subscribers. The main effect of 3G in the UK is going to be financial, not technological - it's going to bankrupt at least one telco, in kind of a "slow bicycle race", to see who can sustain massive losses longest. T Mobile's parent company is already in heavy financial difficultires, so is Orange's. My guess is that one of the other will be bought by a corporation with deep enough pockets to keep on making losses until one or more rivals calls it a day. My prediction? T-Mobile will go broke, and Microsoft will buy Orange. With the market split three ways rather than four (ignoring Hutchison and Virgin, neither of whom are really "major players" in terms of customer base) there will be sufficient profits to share around to keep the survivors afloat. In the meanwhile, expect cutbacks all round. Things you currently get for free (like tech support) will start being billed. Job numbers will be SLASHED. Orange are reportedly in negotiations with the USA's most profitable porno Internet "streaming video" company - someone remembered that when the web started out, porn was what made money!