well - yes - but no....
using the relationship between a calculator and a mainframe in an
analogical argument to cast light on the relationship between fixed line
and wireless does not add clarity to the discussion. The products you
mention all had different markets - with more or less overlap in each
case. In many cases the overlap was strictly limited.
Landline and wireless have sufficient overlap in use for the concept of
substitution to be appropriate in a sense in which the
mainframe/calculator "substitution" is not. Wireless is a bit iffy for
receiving faxes, but apart from that it can completely replace landline in
many, many situations. Of course it can also do a lot more but the concept
of substitution still applies.
now - if your point is that mobile access using the built in screen of the
mobile and mobile browsers/is a "new market" in some sense and should not
be conceived as replacing (displacing would be a better word) desktop
based internet access, then I take the point. But that is not an access
method issue, that is display terminal capability - a different point to
the one I took cjs as making. I took his point to be that internet access
via a desktop laptop is quite possible and relatively inexpensive through
wireless - and that being so his wireless access DOES replace his fixed
line access.
Nick
keitai-l@appelsiini.net writes:
>Trying to say that mobile and PC internet usage are substitutes is a
>complex issue. Scandinavia has the highest fixed line penetration rate in
>europe and the highest use of SMS per capita. Japan had a higher PC
>internet usage than all countries in western europe except scandinavia
>when
>i-mode services were started in february 1999. And examples of other
>products are even more interesting. the US was the first country to use
>mainframes, minicomputers, PCs, calculators, and PDAs although all of
>these
>products could be construed as substitutes. Japan, the US, and probably
>also europe were early users of portable music players in spite of having
>a
>high penetration rate of home stereo systems. these and other examples
>(there are many many others) suggest that these products are not simple
>substitutes for each other but actually represent new markets. for those
>of
>you who really want to understand some of these dynamics, read "the
>innovators dilemma" by clayton christensen, his other articles, or my
>home
>page for discussions of "disruptive technologies."
>jeff funk
>kobe university
Received on Fri Sep 20 05:57:45 2002