> the writer states:
> "Japan's NTT DoCoMo will introduce a pioneering 3G service for commercial
> use this November, and launch fully developed commercial services in May
> 2001."
> I'm not sure this is true. ...
Daniel,
I would love to be corrected on this if my point of view isn't in keeping
with the general view, but I think the writer of the article needs to
re-think his definition of "3G". It's not a single, monolithic concept that
you can insert into a phone. The boys down in the marketing department may
put it that way, but it doesn't reflect the reality.
"3G" is the combination of many concepts which will (hopefully) all come
together to enrich the mobile internet experience. Broadand connection, full
time access, more phone-side functionality, handsets with better interfaces.
I think all of these together mean "3G", but no single one of them is the
whole game. Making all of these come together requires cooperation from many
different quarters, and that can be a lot like herding cats. So it's
ambitious to say "3G will start on date X".
The article you point to, to me, seems to be of the opinion that "3G" is
predominantly indicated by the bandwidth of the connection. It focuses on
CDMA, a method of transmission. However, ask yourself this: If your current
I-Mode phone was getting a 1mbps connection, would it be able to play MP3
Files? The answer is no, unless the phone manufacturer had built it to be
capable of that function. So, in my mind, that indicates that 3G is more
than a matter of bandwidth.
That said, I'm often guilty of deciding on my own interpitation of terms
which may not be the same as eveyone else. If anyone on this list disagrees
on what I think 3G means, please post a response.
Dave
[ Did you check the archives? http://www.appelsiini.net/keitai-l/ ]
Received on Fri Nov 3 10:54:25 2000