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To: Maurice Winn who wrote (22829)	2/10/1999 4:14:00 PM
From: Ruffian	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152472

Calling Party To Pay <FCC> eom

To: Maurice Winn who wrote (22829)	2/10/1999 4:43:00 PM
From: Quincy	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 152472

There is considerable enthusiasm about triple-mode. Samsung announced one of their own at this show. rcrnews.com Now, all we need is a calling plan that encourages the investment. Current Airtouch plans offer nationwide flat-rate on existing 800mhz CDMA/AMPS handsets. On a similar subject, I don't share the enthusiasm for GSM/TDMA interoperability or the prediction that the sat providers don't have a market. (GSM to IS41 forwarding calls to each other? ouch...) I can't get calls to roam reliably between existing AMPS systems that presumably have been in operation for ten years or more. Looks like I will have to wait for Sprint to increase coverage across the cornfields of the Midwest US (also completely devoid of GSM service.) Sprint roaming is perfect provided I am on another Sprint digital system. AMPS call forwarding has been random at best (especially between CellularOne, Airtouch, or US Cellular.) Pager companies still have the lock on reliable message forwarding. Someday, this might change (but, it may require Sprint providing the coverage by itself.)

To: Maurice Winn who wrote (22829)	2/10/1999 7:39:00 PM
From: DaveMG	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 152472

The Tero Hype.. Nothing seems superior in the Nokia phones when one compares the specs to products being offered by QCOM and allies ie Samsung. It's true that if Nokia gets these things out the door right away and everyone else is 6 months behind then they've had the field to themselves. We'll have to see what actually happens. I thought one of the most interesting quotes posted in the last few days was someone from Q saying that they're making an effort to get these chipsets to customers in a timely way and are not loading up QCOM phones with newest stuff leaving all their customers lagging. This probably makes sense but must slow down the pace at which Q pumps out the new generation phones, and it highlights the conflict in their model which sooner or later has to be resolved. The view from Finland Nokia's new product launches: first impressions By Tero Kuittinen, Guest Columnist Last Update: 7:45 AM MT Feb 8, 1999 I think we're now seeing the difference in corporate strategies between Nokia and the competitors higlighted by today's product announcements: whereas most of the companies pre-announce models by around 6-12 months, Nokia's new CDMA model, 6185, will apparently begin shipping next month. It gets a substantial jump on Qualcomm's Thin Phone, which still does not have a launch date. 6185 will offer over five times longer stand-by time than the current Q-phone - and one more digital band. It also hamstrings Motorola's CDMA Startac launch. Startac is the hottest CDMA phone in the market in February. By March, it will be undercut by a model that offers a longer stand-by time, an additional digital band and an inbuilt modem. Here's where the fact that the Startac was delayed by a year is coming back to haunt Motorola - the company had only 1-2 months to enjoy a leadership in the CDMA market. Nokia's product cycle overdrive is cutting on the honeymoon periods enjoyed by the competitors when they launch new models. Today's announcements herald the new phase in Nokia's currently unfolding tri-mode attack. Both Motorola and Qualcomm seem wrong-footed by Nokia's aggressive shift towards multi-mode handsets. Their high-profile new CDMA models only incorporate one digital band, leaving major operators like Bell Atlantic and Airtouch disgruntled, as they would prefer models that operate on both digital networks these companies utilize. AT&T popularized the tri-mode concept in the TDMA standard, offering superior coverage in continental USA. CDMA operators will likely embrace Nokia's 6185 as the only modern tri-mode alternative in their market. This is the crucial differentiator that sunk Motorola and Ericsson in the TDMA marketplace - they hung on too long to the single digital band approach. It will be interesting to see how strongly the CDMA operators will push the 6185 to consumers and whether they will tailor new ad campaigns around the models like AT&T did. They may have little choice, since AT&T's offensive is forcing smaller operators to expand their coverage and roaming as rapidly and extensively as possible. 6185 also reveals the weakness in Qualcomm's CDMA chipset design program. Even though the company is advertising new, highly advanced chipsets, they apparently have fallen behind in bringing them to the market in time. Considering Nokia's emphasis on TDMA and GSM, it's surprising that in next month they are offering a CDMA phone so much more advanced than anything offered by the firm that created IS-95. I think we can forget the rumors about Nokia buying chipsets from Qcom for the time being. This also explains Sonys's decision to start making their own chipsets - they would be dooming their CDMA phone project if they did not attempt to catch up with Nokia's in-house chip set development project. Qualcomm's window of opportunity was open in 1998; that's when they could have grasped the initiative and consolidated their position as the undisputed technology leader in the CDMA market. Now they are looking increasingly embattled, especially since the new Thin Phone just turned from a cutting edge phone into a 6185 follow-up when it finally arrives. What's interesting in the 88xx luxury model introductions in the third quarter is that it will expand Nokia's tri-mode drive. Motorola's new V-series are attractive, cutting-edge models... but they aren't tri-mode, so they will be automatically rejected by AT&T for the Digital One Rate plan, for example. Apparently Nokia is committed to shifting their entire high-end model strategy into tri-mode phase. Packing this technology into a four ounce phone is relatively stunning. It's another example of how Nokia is creating industry trends that shape both the handset marketplace and the way the mobile operators compete. By next summer, models offering a single digital band may be consigned strictly to the low-end segment. Nokia is also attempting to keep the competition off balance by packing the new models with features like inbuilt antennas, internal modems, games and "profiling" software, which allows users to designate different priorities to different incoming calls. Nokia is not ignoring the entry level market: they are executing a three-pronged attack on the CDMA market by also bringing out cheap 51xx CDMA models during the second quarter to produce a fully segmented CDMA line-up ranging from low-end 51xx through mid-range 6185 to the high-end 88xx arriving next autumn. What makes this program coherent and impressive is the way it is underpinned by a clear strategic vision of how the US CDMA market is developing during 1999 - cheap, but advanced phones with one digital band for casual users and tri-mode capability for all users interested in wide national footprint and low roaming charges. It makes a whole lot of sense considering the heavy users most likely to purchase high-end phones tend to also travel a lot and are the key consumer group the operators are targeting. How rapidly the CDMA market now switches into tri-mode gear is the key question of 1999. The rapid transformation TDMA market underwent last summer may be a good indicator <TK>. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------