> > Interestingly, i-mode could be a non-starter because - despite its
> reported
> > success in Japan - it is potentially perceived as something totally
> > proprietary that's incompatible with the rest of the world. So a
> strong
> > brand can also have its disadvantages.
>
> Question is: does the user care, whether the technology of his or her
> fancy phone is called propriatary? Most non-technical people
> don't even
> know what that word means. Consumers don't care about technology, and
> even less about using a standard or not.
Its all about perception. No matter whether or not a consumer would have to
look up 'proprietary' in a dictionary: if he/she gets told by the non-i-mode
guys that he might be following a doomed crowd then he/she may think twice
(compare Betamax and VHS, which was of course incompatible beyond just
perception). For most Europeans I would guess i-mode is perceived as that
very different stuff coming over from Japan, no matter how justified that
view is. Or i-mode is simply meaningless to them.
> The disucssion about i-mode being a closed, propriatary and
> incompatible
> standard is just silly, used by people who have no better arguments
> against it.
I fully agree (I'm a happy i-mode user). But the discussion is in existence
so it has its impacts. Yes, star/planet positions do influence share prices
- but only because sufficiently many people trade based on astrology. That's
silly, too...or is it actually smart to then take astrology into account?
Marc
Received on Fri Mar 15 07:47:15 2002