Tuesday, September 07, 2004
dual platform mobile handsets
there's been a lot of excitement in the mobile marketplace recently as handset manufacturers are jumping on the GSM/802.11x dual platform functionality bandwagon.
why all of the hype? well, with companies like vonage getting a lot of exposure these days (through press and advertising), mainstream consumers are starting to understand what voIP is and what the benefits are: cheaper service, little to no taxes, advanced features all at a really low price.
if you dig deeper into the advanced features, companies like vonage offer the opportunity to "roam" with your voIP account..which would mean that you can tap into a hotel broadband system or even go into a starbucks (with hotspot location) and assume home phone service.
combine that with the recenct trend of people removing their home landlines in favor of their cell phone service. what's their reasoning? unnecessary taxes, service fees, and long distance charges..however, the call quality of a landline is far superior than a cell phone call. what vonage and its competitors offer is a somewhat reliable service (its there when your broadband connection is up..which for most people is about 99.99%) and call quality better than cell phone service. vonage services can cost as low at $19.95 a month for service plans that include hundreds of minutes, free long distance, free call waiting, call forwarding, voice mail and more, and no taxes!
dual platform phones will allow customers who have voIP accounts to utilize the followign scenarios:
- use one phone handset at home for home line and mobile phone calls
- use their mobile handset at hotspot locations to simulate their home line (and take advantage of a cheaper calling plan)
its all very interesting and im sure the phones will have initial power issues, but with so many companies jumping into this, im sure we will see some great products in the next 12-18 months. look to ericsson to be the early leader because of early chipset design innovations (still looking for a link here).
in other news, the register has a nice recap on the news that leaked last week about the failed meetings between steve jobs and sony.
why all of the hype? well, with companies like vonage getting a lot of exposure these days (through press and advertising), mainstream consumers are starting to understand what voIP is and what the benefits are: cheaper service, little to no taxes, advanced features all at a really low price.
if you dig deeper into the advanced features, companies like vonage offer the opportunity to "roam" with your voIP account..which would mean that you can tap into a hotel broadband system or even go into a starbucks (with hotspot location) and assume home phone service.
combine that with the recenct trend of people removing their home landlines in favor of their cell phone service. what's their reasoning? unnecessary taxes, service fees, and long distance charges..however, the call quality of a landline is far superior than a cell phone call. what vonage and its competitors offer is a somewhat reliable service (its there when your broadband connection is up..which for most people is about 99.99%) and call quality better than cell phone service. vonage services can cost as low at $19.95 a month for service plans that include hundreds of minutes, free long distance, free call waiting, call forwarding, voice mail and more, and no taxes!
dual platform phones will allow customers who have voIP accounts to utilize the followign scenarios:
- use one phone handset at home for home line and mobile phone calls
- use their mobile handset at hotspot locations to simulate their home line (and take advantage of a cheaper calling plan)
its all very interesting and im sure the phones will have initial power issues, but with so many companies jumping into this, im sure we will see some great products in the next 12-18 months. look to ericsson to be the early leader because of early chipset design innovations (still looking for a link here).
in other news, the register has a nice recap on the news that leaked last week about the failed meetings between steve jobs and sony.
# posted by Chad Stoller @ 7:57 AM 
