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Cell Phone Purchasing: Drop Down?

Posted by Hemos on from the do-you-want-a-new-one dept.

walnut writes: "There is an interesting story on CNET about the future of cell phones, how the major players Erricson, Motorola and Nokia are beginning to have to face the realization that new sales are quickly tapering off. How they will entice people to buy new phones is becoming a big question."

4 of 207 comments (clear)

  1. Unholy Trinity by quux26 · · Score: 4
    This is so simple it's silly. Just get Levi's and Old Navy to create a new line of jeans that feature not one but two pockets for your cellphones. Then get nSync to wear them in public, the RIAA to cram their just-too-goddamn-cool music down our throats and *BLAMMO* - you've just doubled your market.

    Sometimes I amaze even myself.

    My .02
    Quux26

    --

    My .02
    Quux26
    www.crashspace.net
  2. Well, for a start.. by Frac · · Score: 4
    why not fully kill the dependence of cell phones with their cell phone providers. While having tiny smart-cards (that contains your account information) that you can swap in and out of cell phones is just starting in california, it has been around in Asia for FOUR years.

    With those tiny smart-cards, it's trivial for anyone to trade in old cell phones for new ones, and it breaks the current phone companies monopoly, since currently there's a pretty darn high barrier of entry to switch phone providers (you have to get a new phone if you want to switch from ATT to Verizon).

    For $30 US a month, you can get 2000 minutes in Hong Kong. Cheaper service means more customers, which means a larger market for cell phones.

  3. it's only an image thing by jesterzog · · Score: 4

    I wish I could remember where, but I heard somewhere that in some places like Japan (I think), people get a new phone every 6 months for no other reason except to have the latest phone.

    Maybe the bulk of new cellular technology markets are just going to stay in the regions of the world where image is so important in that way. To be honest I hope that never happens here. I hate mobile phones enough without them draining my bank account even more so I can look trendy in front of potential employers (who incidently can go to hell if they judge me on my phone. :)


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  4. you've got to be kidding by macpeep · · Score: 5

    As long as there are new features to add, there are new customers. We are still in the very early stages of development of a "portable information device". PDA's, cellular phones, cameras, GPS's, computers, TV's etc. will all converge into one system (not necessarily one physical device).

    When there is a device that allows you to talk to your friend, wirelessly, and see your friend in clear, sharp color picture, who will want an old crappy GSM phone anymore? When the phone transfers 10Mbps data and is online 24/7, who is going to use modems, ADSL or cable modems or even ethernet anymore? When the phone is small enough to embed into a shirt button, who will carry around the now-considered-small zippo sized phones? The only obstacle is price, and that too is dropping fast. I happily use my GSM phone to connect my Palm Pilot to the net to read and write email, check news, weather, sport scores and stock prices.

    There is also a long way to go for software and services - ideas.. What if the phone knew where you are so it could tell you that, around the corner, your friend is sitting in a cafe? What if the phone could tell you that there is traffic ahead so you should get of the freeway or you will be stuck in the jam for 45 minutes? What if you could do your banking using the phone and order tickets? What if the phone had a Java virtual machine and a TCP/IP stack? All this already exists but isn't well integrated or conveniently usable yet (too expensive, too bulky, too slow etc.).

    Quite soon we see that "phone" is not relevant anymore. We're talking about a whole new generation of information devices. You don't have to be Einstein to see that this is what - at least Nokia - i shooting for. Just look at their 3G pages, "media screens" etc.. Sun is talking about information appliances, Nokia has cooperation with Palm and Psion..

    With low-power processors like the Crusoe, small computers like PDA's and phones will be used for *much* more in the not-so-distant future.. To say that "we're running out of features" is absurd.