From: Rob Sweeney (rjs@rsie.com)
Date: Tue May 30 2000 - 12:20:58 MDT
* Eirikur Hallgrimsson <eh@mad.scientist.com> [000526 23:52]:
> >From what I can tell, the wireless land-rush isn't toward offering
> bad web browsing on cell phones, it's about control, advertizing on
> them based on where you are standing, and locked-in one-click
> purchasing, where a vendor can pay to become the one provider of its
> service that is visible to you. It's all about disempowerment of the
> consumer, which is something that many businesses will pay big bucks
> for.
> I'm going to be really interested in how this shakes-out.
> My cell phone might have to become voice-over-IP via a Linux PDA.
> [...]
This looks a lot like the current evolution of the ISP industry - i.e.
you can get "free" connectivity if you're willing to suffer a constrained,
advertising-rich environment. Or, if you want, you pay more and get
more control and capability. No doubt lots of people wouldn't mind a "sell"
phone, if it was substantially cheaper than the service would be otherwise.
Other people wouldn't put up with the hassle - and would pay to avoid it.
The voice-over-wireless-IP you'd want would be such a "premium" service,
that you'd pay for. You'd escape the control, at a cost.
With both options available - and they would be, as big markets would
exist for both - I don't see how anyone would be "disempowered".
-- /rs Rob Sweeney rjs@rsie.com, http://www.rsie.com/
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