$500 is an awful lot of money for a cell phone, even a fancy-schmancy one. And I don't think I'm way out of the mainstream when I say that that's way more than I'd pay for a cell phone. $200 is pretty steep as it is.
Well, that's true, but this isn't just your normal cell phone. It's more like a PDA. It has a color screen. A freaken video camera. Considering the original palm pilots were around 500 dollars, the Nokia 7650 isn't that expensive. I think they will become very popular once they become cheap enough for the masses. We could also see the wireless carriers subsidize the 7650. By 2003, I would think the price tag for the Nokia 7650 would come down and the estimate of 30 million people using a 7650 type cell phone (whether it's from Nokia or Samsung or whoever) could be possible. Especially if the carrier subsidize them, which they might because the faster the carriers get people to use these devices the faster they can make back their money they spent on their networks. Although, it's not cheap to subsidize phones. It can be a major drag on profitability for the carriers.
I really think a device like this with GPS and downloadable apps (like online games, email, Aol IM/ICQ) is going to be very popular with my age group. 10 years ago, I would have never thought over 80% of my friends when I'm 18 would have had cell phones, but in 2000 it was true. It really is amazing how many people have cell phones. My friends and I sometimes wonder how in the world did people find each other and meet up. Cell phones are not just merely a toy or some sort of status symbol, it's a necessity if you want to find a party and find something to do. Then again, I went to private high schools most of my life, so i'm constantly around people with money and people who can afford to give their children this type of luxury. Now that I'm in college, the I have noticed that some people on my floor don't have a cell phone and if they do, they use it strictly for emergencies.
Microsoft better watch out, because cell phones are going to change how we live and eventually pose a threat to Microsoft's OS dominance. 10 years from now, I'll wonder how I lived with out GPS, email, and whatever else application developers think up next for 3G cell phones.
Having used "combo devices" such as TV+VCR, CD+tape etc, I personally would be very reluctant to buy any combo device.
Mainly because, if one component fails, I got to replace the entire combo device. Not what I want.
Didn't hurt the PC vendors. Cell phones will get increases storage and processing power. Why not use them to store and play mp3s? Matter of fact, I think this will be a very, very popular application with my age group. We already have thousands of songs on our computers. We connect these new mp3 enable cell phones to our computer upload a few of our favorite songs then jump in our car and listen to them in our car while we're finding the next party (bluetooth will make this much easier to listen to songs in your car). We already burn CDs, but that takes too much time and effort and costs money. Not uploading songs to cell phones that have the processing power and capability to be a mp3 player is not logical. I can't wait till these devices are on the market. |
