Hi PCS; I think so too (that there is a place to make money in there). The only problem I see is that allowing a guy like me to access the internet probably is way less profitable than charging the way iMode does. I found the table in that white paper you showed me from QCOM quite interesting; you know, the one which listed various uses of data and how many megabytes they would each take. It seems to me getting your location and downloading a map will be paid much more highly for than me accessing SI to read your posts (well, maybe I'd pay a lot for your posts, but pbrjr or whatever it is would frustrate me if I was paying to see his). Now I do believe that will all be taken care of by per megabyte charges so that only when I am desperate to make a trade will I be willing to do it on my laptop in the car and I probably won't spend a whole hour looking at my Yahoo portfolios and reading various messages about other smaller holdings.
So I am anxious, like you, to see what cricKet does to fill up those extra channels it has. They have built Phoenix and Denver with 1Xrtt as I understand it. All we need to do is find the advertisement which tells how they are going to charge customers for data access and what kind of PDA's to buy. I don't think Slice has been successful though I still have hopes for it.
Creative marketing, that's what is needed. What they have done so far I have liked (were you watching when I was apparently the only guy on this board who thought green couches were effective promotional tools and old shoe stores or beauty parlors were perfectly suitable places to sell cricKet phones? I think that once systems are operating on packets and billing can be set up per megabyte, cricKet will be another step closer to profitability. But how does one offer all you can eat voice and not all you can eat data? I don't know. You seemed to just assume they would offer both as unlimited use. I don't think that will work, but think they will market a whole different product, maybe even with such a different name and PDA that no one realizes both come over the same system from cricKet. That's it. I think they'll design the "toad" which will do data at $.55 per megabyte most times but $.25 at 0300. You will buy a PDA or laptop RUIM at the store--possible the same shelf as your cricKet phone, but maybe a whole different section. And your calls will go out over IP with the various problems that IPvoice has incurred so far but improving performance each month. I personally will probably use SMS or some variation of it for most of my communications since I like the written word, but others may want to use voice.
I've created this possibility off the top of my head, PCS, and it may have huge flaws. But my point remains that I just can't see offering all you can use data anyplace. the 200 or 250 megabytes per month which QCOM's white paper talks about would not even start to service me. I'd be at the lake ten hours a day reading you and listening to smooth jazz. Got to be some way to charge me for that kind of use. Lance |
