> 2.) What is the difference between SMS and ketai email
> and why don't European/USA phones use email in a
> manner similar to Japan phones, or can they? It seems
> that 1 to many is simply a matter of an email list.
ketai email is essentially transparent internet email
with some restriction on size, attachments etc, i.e.
you can send ketai-email (i-mode email) from a ketai to
a PC and vice versa directly.
SMS is not directly using the internet, but via a
gateway, so there must be a gateway operated by someone
between the internet and the sender/receiver.
So someone in Europe can send an email from his PC
to my DoCoMo i-mode phone if he/she knows my i-mode
email address.
However, I cannot send an SMS to anyone in Europe -
at least I do not know of a straightforward way -
because carriers in Europe want to charge a lot for
each SMS, and they can't charge my PC here in Tokyo.
(there may be exceptions, in that sometimes for example
the Swiss Railways as a special promotion offer
100 free SMS per day from their website or something like
that)
Vodafone has introduced some very limited SMS service
between Japan and Spain (of all places), and they charge
something like 100 yen or 200 yen per SMS (US$ 1 or 2).
In comparison, if I send an i-mode email (which is much
longer) from my i-mode phone here in Tokyo to any i-mode
phone in Europe or PC in Europe or US it will cost me
about 2 or 3 yen (2 or 3 cents).
> 3.) Is there a general primer on the Internet for all
> this mobile terminology and explaining all the
> competing "standards", the differnces between
> countries, and how the market has evolved to where it
> is?
Yes, you can find a lot on our website, and our i-mode FAQ:
http://www.eurotechnology.com/imode/faq.html
http://www.eurotechnology.com/shamail/
Hope this helps,
Gerhard
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Gerhard Fasol, PhD Eurotechnology Japan K. K.
fasol_at_eurotechnology.com http://www.eurotechnology.com/
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Received on Wed Apr 2 18:17:44 2003