(keitai-l) Re: keitais killing digital consumer cameras (Ore more) softly

From: Tom Hume <tom_at_futureplatforms.com>
Date: 12/24/03
Message-Id: <E6F58528-35F5-11D8-9138-000A95CE0FFE@futureplatforms.com>
On 23 Dec 2003, at 16:12, Gerhard Fasol wrote:

> It's not the carriers who make that choice!!! it's the consumers!
> they decide what they pay for!

Of course they do; but the choices they can make are decided by the 
operators, who decide which handsets to subsidise, aren't they?

> The customers decide: no carrier, no committee, no government.
> If 2 million customers put good money on the table to get a
> 2 million pixel phone, the carriers oblige, as simple as that.

Is the Japanese consumer more concerned about specific features (i.e. 
are they demanding 2 megapixel phones) than European consumers then?

I think I've gotten confused; in a previous email you said that the 
reason Japanese handsets have better quality cameras now is that higher 
ARPU lets operators subsidise more expensive devices.

> Regarding the faster gaming, better video support etc.
> They do that as well!
> It's not cameras or games and video!
> It's cameras AND games and video!

I'm sure you can understand the point I was making: given that Japanese 
telcos can subsidise better handsets than their European counterparts, 
why have they chosen camera quality as a specific feature to subsidise 
when there are others they could put money into? I presume that the 
extra money available to them thanks to their higher ARPU is finite and 
won't let them subsidise every new feature that they want...

>> Particularly when these better
>> quality cameraphones, some of which can't even transmit photos over
>> mobile networks, don't generate any revenue for the network 
>> themselves?
> That's a narrow minded view point. The business models are more
> complex than that.

Can you explain some more? I always imagined that the networks want to 
make money, and do so by providing paid-for services to their 
customers.... I apologise if that's narrow-minded.

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Received on Wed Dec 24 11:48:24 2003