Hi Benjamin,
> Depends on your definition of old-fashioned.
my comment was more a joke, but since you ask...
> Only very few people in Europe use vibrators. So why would
> you want to up the cost and weight of a handset for a
> feature that most of your customers don't appreciate.
Your assumption is a bit wrong here, most European
customers don't know about the convenience of this
feature, so they don't request it (yet).
Check out how tiny this little joy spending device
can be build in a <90gram device:
http://nooper.co.jp/showcase/gallery.php?s=11&p=8&l=en
> It is far more economic to build this into the battery
> and make it an upgradeable modular feature.
Too expensive. If the phone works fine, why buying a
very expensive optional addon which makes the phone
also more clunky? Remember: You don't buy only the
vibrator, you also buy another battery!
> One could also argue that it is old-fashioned not to have
> a modular-design. By that definition Japanese handsets are
> pretty old-fashioned. They don't even have a SIM card yet.
> Imagine how backwards that is.
Why do they need it? They replace their phone anyway all
few months, while people in Europe keep their phone for
a way longer period of time.
> In Europe you can even get a modular upgrade for most
> handsets to house two SIM cards in your phone. Any GSM 2+
> phones can take Java SIM cards. Siemens got a phone that
> has storage cards for phonebooks, appointments, memos etc.
> Ericsson has MP3 player and AM/FM radio upgrade modules.
You really should not mix Japanese and European customer
behaviour so much. In Japan these features are just there
and cool and in Europe they are geeky. If I listen to
any random (not geeky) friend they ask me "why do I need
this?".
> I assume that you will tell me how superior your Wintel PC
> is because of all those modular upgrade options compared
> to an iMac, but at the same time you will argue that a
> mobile phone that features the same modular philosophy is
> old-fashioned ?!
Hu, this is way offtopic. Computers are tools and if a tool
makes a job good or is better than an other tool, I use the
best for the job. Right now I am a happy Windows user,
because so much people saved me in their address book and
send me thanks to the Sircam Virus all their top secret
business plans, thanks guys ;)
But to come back on topic: In Japan modular phones will
simply (for marketing reasons) not work, because if all
your friend have already the XYZ23-4T and you have still
your XYZ12-2T, even in an updated version, you are totally
out and all your friends will laugh about you. Never
underestimate the power of being "in" or "out".
And as a prove of my market research, check out the new
shop "RanKing/RanQueen" in Shibuya station. This is
a shop where they sell only the most bought devices,
so you don't have to think anymore and can not make a
mistake to be "in".
Juergen
--
Juergen Specht [Nooper.com - Mobile Services Inc.] http://nooper.com
For a better i-mode experience. NooperLabs: http://nooper.co.jp/labs/
[ Did you check the archives? http://www.appelsiini.net/keitai-l/ ]
Received on Thu Jul 26 11:07:12 2001