Not sure who asked for the views but here's my initial take on it:
It seems to me that this is basically targeted at improved highly
mobile Internet access, which is basically the same niche as the
large-screen portable phones are going for now--but with better prices
for the phones. It's also highly intrusive into WillCom's niche with
the Zero-3 (the device that I already have). However, it apparently
lacks voice capabilities, and I think that should be a fatal competitive
disadvantage (given the quoted pricing). The device is also using Windows
Mobile, which is utterly awful, and can't help anything.
My basic reaction to this category of Internet access is "If you don't stop
that, you'll go blind." You won't go blind quite as quickly with this
device, since the display is larger, but you'll still go blind. (I really
expect some lawsuits about blindness in a few years.)
The short battery life is also going to hurt them, and the current
service area is extremely limited. (I'm not covered at all.) With
regards to the service area, there seem to be two basic possibilities.
One is that they are patching into an existing network, but only
paying for access in very limited areas. The other case is that
they're installing completely new infrastructure. I think the first
option puts them more in the area of remarketing existing service, but
I haven't seen any evidence that the e-Access people are marketing
geniuses, so I would expect them to get crushed by the competitive
response. I'm even more skeptical of their success in the second case.
They're selling mobility, which translates into a LOT of
infrastructure.
Right now I don't have any information about the capabilities of using
the device with an external computer, but I would anticipate that it
has the same modem capability that my Zero-3 has, but faster. However,
the Zero-3 implementation is extremely cumbersome. Thanks to
Microsoft, you have to go in through several menus and tweak a
setting, and then the PDA side of the device is completely
disconnected from the computer until you tweak it back. Linking the
PDA to computers used to be one of the most important functions of a
PDA, but Microsoft's ActiveSync is already so awful that it's about
3/4 dead now. (BtW, Some of the few alleged improvements in Vista
involve ActiveSync.) It would be better if they could make this
transparent, but I'm skeptical, since that would almost surely require
using ActiveSync, and that program is already awful.
One speculative idea would be an inexpensive replacement for the
modular wireless component in the existing Zero-3 devices. If Sharp
supported them in doing this, they could more easily steal some number
of customers from WillCom. The module is quite small, and probably not
worth more than a few thousand yen. Such an option would probably
shave about 25,000 yen off the cost of switching for WillCom users
with the Zero-3.
However, the most interesting item I picked up so far was to learn
that WillCom used to be mostly owned by Carlyle, though the current
status is not clear. They're a gang of the worst war profiteers in the
world, and I count that as a strong reason to dump my WillCom
service... On the other hand, Carlyle tends to dump companies quickly,
so it's possible they've sold WillCom already. Do anyone know anything
definitive on this part?
Received on Sat Feb 24 15:26:22 2007