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(Almost) I-mode Service Coming in April
DJSK8 Mast0r Ralph McDaniels writes: "Looks like NTT DoCoMo Inc's investment in AT&T last year is coming to fruition as this article from allnetdevices.com lays claim to AT&T rolling out i-mode based services repackaged for the U.S. market as m-mode service with Motorola, Sony/Ericcson, Nokia and Siemens offering the requisite phones to take advantage of it. Not quite 3G, but seems on par with the 2.5G services Verizon recently rolled out, though both are a far cry from the 100Mbit/20Mbit 4G services DoCoMo is already working on."
any word on whether the fifth gen services will work with an etch-a-sketch, a tin can and a piece of rope?
lysergically yours
Maybe with this service, we don't have to resort to jamming cell phone transmissions, since people can write e-mails or text messages in case of emergencies.
If I weren't nailed to the penis, I'd be pushing up the daisies!
Interesting offering, but I'm still inclined to wait a few months for Sprint's rumored 3G debut.
Anyone heard anything reliable about their roll-out?
I-mode stands for "intellgent mode" or "intelligence mode". Phones with this feature are able to locate their callers within a 10 meter radius due to embedded processing that keeps track of your location at all times and periodically reports back to the cell tower for hand-off purposes.
In other words, no big, just a new application. I'm worried about privacy issues, though.
Great... Now I will never be able to take my tinfoil hat off....
A few months ago, I bought a Palm VII... only to find that the PalmNet service, provided Cingular, wouldn't work anywhere around my area (a not-so-terribly remote part of Northern California). Their coverage chart said that coverage was "partial" or something like that, but I was unable to get a strong enough signal anywhere to even complete the sign up process.
Oh well, I ended up taking the Palm VII back and exchanging it for an m125, which has worked fairly well. Because of a promotional deal, I got a free games card, so instead of wasting time surfing the net on my Palm, I waste time playing Chess and SimCity. Hmm...
"Anything is better than IE, and you can quote me on that." -- Wil Wheaton.
This is old texnology that has been replaced /. get it together.
by better texnology. Come on
ATTWS, Cingular, Voicestream are building GPRS networks now, they only have to upgrade via hardware to full GSM. They are spending the money NOW to build the networks and hardware.
Sprint,Verizon have to do 2 steps to get to full GSM, This is a more expensive, and slower option.
I-Mode and WAP etc is all support by standard webservices, so all you need is an apache webserver to roll out the services. (Ok, some back end software but not the cost)
Will be interesting to see what happens.
I thought they'd already got a 3G network up and running on the Isle of Man - or was that project already scrapped?
Video Game cheats, hints a
Does anyone know whether the new phones will give AT&T customers easy portability through Europe and Asia? Would I be able to take my phone with me, or at least the card? The new phones are GSM after all, right?
They were presenting it as the first component of the newcoming Service Delivery Platform and it was providing an enhanced device/aware portal to several devices.
I saw there fancy UI for WML 1.2.1, XHTM phones, standard WML 1.1, iPAQ and Palm. Having a chat with one of their technical people allowed me to steal the URL of their site: http://cebit.vodafone.com (note: explorer and Netscape presents different user interfaces - explorer is with color). I'm wondering if it is a homemade application or it is based on a standard product!
Note One of the more intresting part were the erotic story under the Vizzavi icons: pictures are scaled exactly to the device size (iPAQ and Trium eclipse were the one that looked better).
If this is just the start I'm wondering what this Service Delivery Platform will bring... anyone from Vodafone reading that can disclosure something?
The Ericsson T68 will be available from ATT for $199. This is a steal considering it's going for $500 elsewhere.
Also, I've noticed that ATT has had some issues in markets where the I-mode stuff is being rolled out. Lately, people who call me get my voicemail and my phone doesn't ring at all. Many of my friends and co-workers using ATT have noticed this also. They pushed up their release date for this stuff by a few months, so I'm sure they are hurrying to get the networks up and working properly, which probably causes some problems with the current network.
ATT wireless rocks BTW. I've had them for like 6 years, and never had a problem. Even though sprint is coming out with 3G soon, they still suck. Don't ever sign a Sprint contract unless you use a phone from them for a month or so. The service in most areas is spotty, and you will incur roaming charges when you can't get a sprint signal. Several people I know have it for work, and all they do is complain about how much it sucks.
Now my phone will finally work out of the country. Yay.
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I've been a loyal AT&T wireless customer for over 3 years now (I'm forced to use it because its a business account) and I've had an 8260 for over 2 years now. My phone is on its last leg but AT&T has not had an exciting phone since the release of the 8260. They have a Motorola V60 but it has no major advantages over the 8260. When are we going to see new phones? Nextel has some really neat phones with a lot of features but their coverage in my area (PA) is sporadic at best. The phone I really want is the 7650 but it doesn't look like it will be arriving in the states anytime soon.
From allnetDevices:
when premium content-providers build applications, they first construct a cHTML version for DoCoMo whose commanding market share is irresistible. cHTML also ensures that DoCoMo subscribers are not able (at least, not very conveniently) to venture out of the i mode sanctum into the HTML-based global Internet. DoCoMo has thus created a de-facto "walled garden" - the Valhalla of cellular carriers - and maintains full control over who gets access to the content and who is allowed to provide the content.
Outside of Japan, open standards (WAP, HTML, Java) reign, meaning that mobile content developers don't have to worry about building custom solutions for each cellular carrier; all mobile subscribers with standards-compliant equipment will have access to it. Moreover, walled gardens in the WAP world have met with strongly negative feedback from consumers. In fact, in some places in Europe, WAP-based walled gardens have been prohibited by law due to their anti-competitive nature.
So what we have here is a double-edged sword. You cannot block out others from the cHTML API, if it is deployed here. And whether anyone will want to create cHTML-friednly versions of the already billions of existing HTML pages has yet to be seen.
I am putting my money where the risk is, and betting that *something* good will come out of this. Trade AWE and DCM. AWE is under 9.00/share. I rate it a buy.
Text below is from Verizon press release
Verizon Wireless plans a trial of a high-speed network next month that would offer advanced wireless Internet connections to businesses at speeds comparable to those achieved by DSL and other landline connections. The network, which will be tested in Tysons Corner, Va., and Rockville, Md., will be capable of data-transmission speeds of up to 2.4 megabits per second, potentially up to 100 times faster than current wireless data-transmission speeds. The trial complements Verizon Wireless' current rollout of third-generation and packet-data services by providing higher data capacity and throughput. "We have had tremendous success with our Express Network launch, and with an eye toward the future, we are sowing the seeds for the rollout of the next evolution of this technology," said Bill Stone, executive director-Network Strategy for Verizon Wireless. The higher-speed wireless network, using a technology labeled "1X EV-DO," is expected to help business customers enhance the productivity of their work force. For example, with Internet Protocol (IP) virtual private network (VPN) connections, business customers would be able to access the Verizon Wireless network as an extension of their corporate LAN or intranet, allowing their employees to work from any location as if they were in the office. The test is being conducted using technology from Lucent. Verizon Wireless also plans to begin a similar test in the San Diego area beginning in June that will feature the technology of Nortel Networks. Verizon Wireless will select participants for the trials. The trial results will help Verizon Wireless determine the best practical applications for the network.
What has made i-mode popular in Japan is that it has a mix of services that people really like. Much of the revenue comes from seemingly mundane applications such as teenagers exchanging Hello Kitty cartoons and ringer tunes. AT&T said that some of the services that are popular in Japan, such as cartoons, will not be included, so the question is can they figure out a mix of services that will be popular in the U.S.?
The one service that is most likely to be successful is Short Message Service (SMS). But success of SMS depends more on service interoperation and an easy way to type in your message than it does on high bandwidth technology.
Now that I have it, I don't want it. Tragic, isn't it?
The brilliant thing about DoCoMo's i-Mode service in Japan is the way they encourage independant content providers. Several thousand i-mode specific websites are able to take micropayments/subsciptions that appear as very small charges on customer bills. Its a cottage industry that gives consumers some really innovative options and lets many small content providers earn a living. Imagine that!
c omo_pr. html
Wired ran a nifty story on these a few months back:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/9.09/do
But expect ATTW to hoard all the marbles and dole them out to the likes of AOL...
A truly great wireless web service will give incentives to local small-time content developers. But most of what we are seeing in the pipeline will be more of the big boys duking it out for turf that consumers are wary of entering. And losing tons of money in the process.
"The U.S. Constitution - not perfect, but its better than what we have now"
I'm not gonna argue about any of the GSM or any of the technical stuff, but the features of I-Mode and just the cell phones in general really amazed me, and showed how primitive my Nokia 5165 really was after spending a week visiting a friend in Japan. 16-bit color graphics, 32-voice polyphonic sound (so your ringtones can be that much more annoying), digital cameras, videoconferencing (available in December 2002), and the java games...In one of the booklets I brought back, it showed that you could play Street Fighter II on your cell phone, and it looked almost as good as a Gameboy Color screen, and it was even back-lit.
Of course, the arguments AGAINST this kind of technology is because "you shouldn't be playing games on your cell phone". The mentality explains why they're popular in Japan but not here - at least in Tokyo, you spend a lot of time on public transportation, since it's really good there. What you would do on the trains is open up your DoCoMo and read the news or play a game while going to your destination. In America, you spend most of your time in private transportation (cars) - where you should NOT be playing a game or reading the news on a cell phone. (I fully support any legislation that forces the use of hands-free devices when you're driving)
And the funny thing was on one of the trains. There were signs in the cabin asking you not to use your cell phone at your seat to not disturb the other passengers. Then, in between cars (where you can use them), there's a sign that says that J-Phone (the other provider) is equipping all of the tunnels in Tokyo with receivers so you can still use your phone when you go under a tunnel. So they're saying "Please don't use your cell phones on the train, but we're gonna make it easier for you to use your cell phone on the train!"
So now I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of even a low-end DoCoMo to the US - and unfortunately I've heard that Atlanta will not be GSM compliant until the beginning of NEXT year, so I got a ways to wait.
if you want to run a w4r3z server from your cell phone
Both Verizon and Sprint (smarter companies imho) are upgrading the cdmaOne network to cdma2000 (backwards compatible, meaning existing cdmaOne phones will work on the new network, just not get the higher speeds). Verizon already has cdma2000 1xRTT up in the SF bay area, Salt Lake City, and the most of the Eastern seaboard. Peak speed is 144kbps, nominal in the 60kbps range, which is slightly better than the GSM/GPRS solution. And see the above post about the 1xEV-DO network, which is already deployed commercially in S. Korea, where World Cup fans will be able to watch instant replays on their Video-on-Demand cell phones! A side note, check out Monet Wireless using cdma2000 1xEV-DO to give rural users wireless broadband access.
GSM is dead, Europe is trying to move off of it to wCDMA/UMTS, but they need new bandwidth to do so, hence the recent airwave auction in Europe that is about to bankrupt the wireless companies. While companies deploying cdma2000 can deploy on their existing frequencies, and it is also more efficient than wCDMA. AT&Turd and Cingusux are stupid (imho) to upgrade NOW to GSM, they should just upgrade to wCDMA or cdma2000.
Many places still don't have DSL or Cable, or if they do, there's pricing/access snafus that muck it up.
Most of the time I have to deal with telephone service, the reps seem to work exclusively in the M-mode. ("Sir, if you need that service altered, you'll need to file an Alteration of Service request with the Service Alteration department.") Alternatively, if you're really unlucky, sometimes they're in the U-mode. ("I'm sorry sir, but that cannot possibly be our problem. We are totally infallible.")
http://www.attws.com/mobileinternet/
Its interesting to note that their per K charge is really high, somewhere in the order of 3 cents per kilobyte. Way too high.
if you've ever been to japan, you'd die for the cell phone system they have, flawless coverage (ie: 3 stories underground in a parking garage!) bueatiful phones, with huge ass color screens, internet access that's actually useful (or not depending if your like my friends, who send half their time downloading quicktime porno clips and using them as their screen savers...)
i can't wait to see if the att phones even come close...maybe i'll finally kill my cingular phone and get one of the new fancy ones!
www.nttcodomo.com for a look at the phones...they are soo sweeeeet!
Jared's army is no match for the KISS Army !
No one can withstand the might of 4,000,000 mulletheads in Trans AMs!!!
The verizon service is 3G. GSM/TDMA propaganda would have us believe otherwise.
The verizon and sprint services are based upon CDMA-1X. It's testing very well in S. Korea.
Aiiiiyeee! Don't click that link -- it's not goatse.cx!
You'll be sorry!
view the coverage map
VA Linux doesn't exist. Perhaps you mean VA Software.
Hooray! i-Mode is coming to the USA at long last!
Oh wait:
Yup, that's right, they're going to launch an i-Mode service, but they're not going to include any of the things that make it cool! Because, of course, being big execs, they know what the American people know better than the American people themselves do. That's why the portals were such roaring successes, after all, right?
Oh wait, it's not even going to really be i-Mode:
Run that one by me again--it's going to be sorta like i-mode, but not really actually i-mode? Just similar in terms of marketing? What does that mean?
Oh, wait, here's what it means:
It means "We want to launch a service which is kind of like i-mode, only without any of that annoying cool stuff, and without having to pay NTT DoCoMo to license their technology. But we're pretending to be i-mode even while we're disclaiming that we're not so that we can get the right keywords into our press release."
Feh.
Funny thing, Nortel and Lucent supply both every Wireless Telco. So thats a good thing if someone ponys up the bill for testing, then the other telcos can reap the rewards.
Really strange that Nortel/Lucent/Ericson/Nokia dont get more hype, they own the phone networks.
That's the whole point... cool little games. Can I play them? Can I write them? Has any of you?
I second that. I was in Japan for 10 days in January, and, damn, their cell phones rock. Simply put, phones here in the U.S. are complete crap compared to what's available in Japan. Sending video emails and downloading mp3s to your phone rules.
A witty saying proves you are wittier than the next guy.
Even when they use another country's tech they HAVE to change the name so they feel unique?
>So now I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of even a low-end DoCoMo to the US - and unfortunately I've heard that Atlanta will not be GSM compliant until the beginning of NEXT year, so I got a ways to wait.
Actually, while I was at the Verizon store today (don't even ask. You don't want to know), I found out from one of the technicians that Verizon is currently selling a 1X phone in Atlanta and is expected to have the service available by next month. It's not GSM, but it's a definite improvement over current CDMA. He stated that the initial data speed will be 144Kbps, with faster tiered service available in the future.
I just got back from Japan last Fall, and
:-(
had spent the last two years developing
iMode applications.
What's cool about iMode for me was:
1) Google's iMode gateway - search Google, and
it converts anything (including frames!) into
cHTML pages in 5 kbyte chunks, with navigation
links. I used to read Roger Ebert's movie reviews, on my phone on the train.
2) cHTML is not WAP. You could write basic
HTML pages and they would display on the
phones. No syntax errors, no WML, no gateways
barfing on you. It simply worked, just like
the real web used to. It showed that
WAP was completely unneccessary for
accessing the web over small low bandwidth
devices. Plain old forms work better than "cards",
and encourage a more consistent user interface.
3) Email -- the phone's email app was nicely
integrated with the browser - you could read your mail and send it, real SMTP mail, and if you got
a hyperlink in your email, you could click to follow it in your browser.
4) iAppli -- you could write little Java
apps that run in the phone, and can talk to
the network via HTTP. Sound, animation,
little scratchpad memory on the phone.
5) Nice TFT color displays, FM synthesized polyphonic high quality sound.
6) Latency to get pages was very low, maybe
a few seconds the first time you hit a site,
and then less than 2 seconds for each subsequent page.
7) You could use plain GIF images in
your pages. They didn't handle JPEG at that
time though
Anyway, the thing simply worked. No fooling around
with broken phones and broken emulators and
incompatible protocols. NTT just leaned on the
handset makers and made them comply with the
(simple) standards.
It is the direct opposite of the WAP situation in the US. WAP should just hurry up and die, and
make room for something that works.
1xRTT is a 3G technology as it offers current max speed of 153kbps and increased network capacity and battery life. It is an upgrade from the old CDMAone standard to CDMA 2000.
Compare this to GPRS which is a 2.5G technology. It offers no other enhanced features to the system other than slightly faster data speeds. In order for GPRS to reach 1x speeds the carrier would have to dedicate 8 concatenated channels and turn off error correction. This is obviously not deployable in this form for real life situations.
Also consider the future of each technology. Enhanced GPRS (EDGE) has a max speed of 384kbps and 1xEV-DO is about 2.4mbps.
AT&T Wireless has had 2.5G in Seattle since late last year. We have been rolling out to major cities ever since. I have done several upgrades for 3G. It won't be long.
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