GSM has an advantage over CDMA in that GSM is heavily standardised. This allows new devices to be easily ported to various GSM carriers/countries with minimal localisation/software development. This standardisation does also have some disadvantages in that the entire GSM community must agree new standards before any innovation can take place.
CDMA on the other hand is not heavily standardised and most carriers/manufacturers innovate freely. Hence why you have EVDO in NZ today offering broadband wireless when most European countries are still trying to figure out how to afford to roll out UMTS.
The down side of this lack of standardisation is that to make a phone work well on a CDMA network you need to invest heavily in testing, software developement and certification. If you dont customers will simply find the useability of new devices unacceptable. This all takes time but overall its a worthy investment to get it right.
NZ and Telecom are bit players on the international wireless stage but dispite this are bringing numerous innovative products/features to the market well ahead of a lot of other markets.
BTW the Nokia 6255 has only been in Telecoms Lab since late December and is due for certification early March. Im sure for some it will be worth the wait.
Good point Jama. I was certainly missing the wireless broadband side of things. But from a hardware perspective (Harrier/Treo aside ;) ), would you agree that we are a long way behind? Seriously - look at what you can pick up in the way of processing power in a PC, and the integration of services available in the USA which we are years behind...
I don't agree - processing power?? I can buy any CPU in NZ that is available in the US. Regarding services you can be a niche player in the US with 2.6 million customers (1% of population) and still make money. In NZ a niche player has 40,000 (1% of population) customers and would be lucky to make money.
We have a great deal of innovation in NZ that I think you are missing the point on. Example: EFT-POS - no such thing in the US they have Credit Cards not Debit Cards.
Yep - well aware that we were the testbed for EFTPOS; and agree that we are innovative in some areas. Happy to stand corrected on this, but still argue that we are definitely behind on a number of fronts. How long have the Japanese been able to walk up to a coke machine, text the ID of the machine to a number, have the coke dispensed and their mobile account debited?
Are you saying that you can walk in to any store in NZ and pick up a PC that has the same processing power of the latest release overseas? Welllll... all I can say is that things must have changed since I last rebuilt my PC. But will have to go and have a look online next time, before stating my opinions.
As for the niche marketing opportunities in the states, that is my point. There are way more providers who all want to offer something different/better. Do you really think we are going to see someone offer HDTV on demand in the near future?
And do we really have DSL to 90% of the country?? or do you mean that DSL is available to 90% of the country? There is still some serious resistance to the costs, even with TCNZ's free installation capturing a large number of people.
Hold on - this is the first time you have mentioned the Japanese. Japan has been ahead of the rest of the world for years. There are products in Japan that will never be sold outside. NTT DoCoMo is the most innovative mobile carrier in the world in fact they are already playing with 4G. Hard to compare NZ to that.
Have a look at www.pricespy.co.nz for what CPU's are available here.
HDTV is different because it needs to be mandated/supported by the government who own TVNZ and BCL. Who knows if we will see HDTV here. It might have happened by now if TVNZ was a public company. BTW - look how many years it took for Sky to make money here.
Yes - more that 90% of the population have access to DSL. Don't forget that Telecom has invested hundreds of millions of dollars to set this up. Have you ever thought that maybe its not the price that puts people off but maybe people have not found a use for it? What do you use broadband for? downloading music/movies (pirating)? playing online games? surfing adult sites? Dial up is still sufficent for most things - email, news, etc and it is cheap at $10 p/month. Even Woosh with its wireless broadband service only has 10,000 customers after investing tens of millions of dollars. So, maybe it is not about how much the service costs....
I never actually specified which country NZ was behind... I just said we were behind. Ah well - a moot point now. As for my broadband connection, I use it to enhance my PC. With dial up it was always a pain to keep subscriptions/updates/security patches current. Now if i ever get the 'download now?' question I can click yes without having to leave my PC on overnight. Simply makes the integration with the web much smoother.
And even for email, more and more people are not just sending text in their emails. My friends in the UK let their NZ based parents know they were engaged by way of an mpeg attached to an email. Needless to say the parents were in suspense for a long time, wondering what the video attachment to the email with the subject "Great news" was.
Pornography? Maybe if I was 10 years younger... music? hmm... take the fifth on that one. But if you can find me a record store that stocks "Depuis le premier jour", let me know.
You state dialup is cheap at $10, then go on to say "...maybe it's not about how much the service costs"... If Broadband was the same price as dialup, of course everyone would have it. I would dare say that a fair proportion of dialup users have never considered all the advantages of having a faster internet connection, and if offered it free for 2 months would never go back, even at 4 times the price.
Is anyone aware of Telecom specifcially targetting specifc devices to bring to market? It does seem to be that if there is a gap in the market - ie when Voda releases a new handset, that devices are pushed through in a hurry by Telecom. Just seems a little bit too "convienient" from a consumers perpspective. Rather than playing catch up, go on Telecom, carve your own path in Voice as well as Data!
I completely understand the resources required in order to have a device fully functioning in New Zealand, having also been (to a lesser degree) involved in the process, just a shame that our network is so different to everyone elses it seems. I'll probably be slain in my sleep, but maybe we should have gone with Nortel instead of Lucent?
Does Telecom take part in consumer analysis before the release of a device? Why would the Kyocera Rave, Blade AND Phantom be released at the same time? These handsets essentially all have the same features, I myself cannot (call me ignorant) understand why they would all be released, instead of one or two of them.
Also, slightly off topic here, but why would Phone Book configuration also be modified for our Network here? IE Purchasing Susteen Datapilot for a Sanyo 8100 overseas, will not work with our local handset due to phonebook configuration differences. Can understand other aspects of configuration, but PIM information??
And to put in my own two cents, how can you expect a market with only 4 million people to always have the latest and greatest devices available? Of course manufacturers are going to want to push their devices in a market where they can sell 5 million handsets, instead of 100K here.
Maybe my questions will never be answered due to legal reasons. I wonder what age range the "Marketing Machine" covers, seems to be that these are the guys and girls that have the real power when it comes to what devices will be released for CDMA here.
Rather than playing catch up, go on Telecom, carve your own path in Voice as well as Data!
- The future is data - everything will be data.... even voice... :-)
just a shame that our network is so different to everyone elses it seems.
- We are aligning our network with Sprint, a major US carrier. This gets half the job of bringing mobiles here done.
[Kyoceras]I myself cannot (call me ignorant) understand why they would all be released, instead of one or two of them.
- They all have different appeal to slightly different segments of the market, especially consumer end.
Phone Book configuration also be modified for our Network here? IE Purchasing Susteen Datapilot for a Sanyo 8100 overseas, will not work with our local handset due to phonebook configuration differences.
- Possibly due to modifications in the way numbers are formatted for NZ. Also remember that Susteen Datapilot is third party - so a chain reaction of incompatibilities can start when any little thing is changed
push their devices in a market where they can sell 5 million handsets, instead of 100K here.
- Good luck to any manufacturer trying to sell 100k of their brand here in a short space of time - try 5k for a popular handset over the course of a couple of months.
Maybe my questions will never be answered due to legal reasons. I wonder what age range the "Marketing Machine" covers, seems to be that these are the guys and girls that have the real power when it comes to what devices will be released for CDMA here.
- The market here is assessed, and devices released based on availability and suitability (as with most industries). Look at PTT - you cant swing a cat in the mobile market without hitting something with PTT written on it at the moment.
Disenchanted, perhaps you take me a little too literally. I wholeheartately agree that the majority of Voice services will be over Data, but when does this become feasible? Surely no reseller will be wanting to delay sales of devices now, and over the next year(s)? I won't mention the name, but I recall a certain dealer who placed the same faith in Telecom and was nearly destroyed in the process.
Sure the alignment with Sprint will help to get handsets here more readily, but will Telecom support BREW devices aswell? I had heard that Telecom will be sticking with JAVA, and only JAVA, will this change?
These handsets do? I stand corrected, wouldn't it be nicer to offer a wider scope of brands than just the same device recased?
The differences are more in PIM structure, as a pose to a simple change in the number format - Susteen fixed this issue extremely quickly c/- the great guys at APT. And disabling tethered data at firmware level in the 7400 & 4920? Strange if you ask me.
Voda have it right with PTT here unfortuantely, the ability to PTT to your mate in the UK is a fantastic concept, be awesome when TNZ has more associations with international carriers so we can have this ability too :)
Im pretty sure Java is the sole stablemate for a while to come :-(
tethered data on the Sanyos is disabled apparently because the differences in the network were such that the release dates would have been knocked back way 2 far. also, with the cost of a t3g sierra card at 199 on a broadband flexi plan, its no issue.
ptt international is pretty cool, but p2t on Telecom is cheaper (for handset and monthly rate and usage)
I find just getting the phone and playing with it is much better the manuals. I never read them to many pages. Much easier to just learn by mucking around. I really hope that this phone doesn't come out any later than April. Push to talk available as of yesterday so very keen also on the sanyo 7400..
Each to there own - hey does anyone know if the max size of the MMC card is going to be 64MB (as stated on the nokia feature list) or will it be able to handle bigger ones??
I'm pretty sure on a visit to the nokia site where I downloaded the manual (PDF) to read in the accessories section there were 64 and 128mb cards available. But a quick trip there will confirm. I was looking at headsets aswell some are quite sexy looking. Hopefully they will sound as good as they look!!
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