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| Subject: | MobileLBSList: another look at WAP |
| Date: |
10/30/2000 08:40:02 AM |
| From: |
Hung-Hsien Chang |
|
My previous posting was for fun, of course. ( with some serious typos.)
If we take another look at the WAP, even though it is still not that great
but it has promoted the wireless internet process.
At the time when phone.com started, they talked with Nokia and
Ericsson and realized that they are all doing similiar thing
so they form a standard forum. ( later, it is wapforum.org)
Their design is for 1996 vision. But the "Moore's law" goes
into the mobile phone chip as well, it is year 2000!
Input is a problem. Thumbing....
Ouput is a problem. Screen size...
Design is a problem. 3 lines and 14 characters and 1.5 K at most.
Function is another problem. No image map...etc
As a developer, I tweaked and worked hard to get something
to work on the WML, and it is just giving me THAT!
I was really smoking....
It is not good. Really. But take another look (for those who
don't want to read another sentence about how much fun i-mode
is, please turn to another article.) at Japan's imode, it seems to be
very popular and full of fun. There are another set of hypothesis
about why it is popular but let's leave like that. (plus,
I remember this is Mobile LBS SIG.) The phone is actually
small and light weight. They use compact HTML. But their
screen is refined and colored.
Next year will be an interesting year for Wireless Internet.
XHTML has been pre-announced to be the next target marke up language for
wapforum.org. So maybe the deck, card concept will be gone.
I don't know for sure. But XHTML is easier for designer.
Frankly, screen size is NOT WAP's problem. It is the handset
manufacturer's problem! input method is NOT WAP's problem. It is the
handset manufacturer's problem! Memory is not WAP's problem.
It is the handset manufacturer's problem!
Screen size matters and so are the fineness of pixel.
Fortunately, there are some imporvement:
Ericsson's R380 is fun. I saw one working prototype back in June. ( as in
front of me 15cm) And recently in internet world New York ( plenty). It is
definitely the right direction from my view. (a good design of ear/speaker
would be ideal. Jabra style, but please make the cover rubber not easy to
fall off.) Handspring will have Visor phone soon. But BOTH phones work
only for GSM carriers. I think Nokia will not be too far behind in
coming up with something.(again, in GSM, I assume.) This means for
the majority of US users, it is unaccessible. Plus, pricing point is
not known yet. Wired magazine says R380 will be sold for $1000.
I don't know who did this report. He/she should be spanked.
And we don't really need killer app. The devlopers in CTIA have urged
to provide useful application. Not killer app. killer app is not invented
/discovered by thinking out killer app. None of them are born that way.
(for internet)
For sure, voice will still play an important role and data will
be catching up. Other than tellme, there are be-vocal, quack.com(aka
AOL's voice. ha.....), 1888 surf and by the article of WSJ, no
less than 35 of startup in Los Angels are doing simliar things.
I guess internet is exponential of factor 2, wireless is factor of 2.5
and certainly the boom and bust will be faster too. Recent bust,
Modo.net is gone. Closing the door for business.
Hubert
On Sat, 28 Oct 2000, Sandeep Hundal wrote:
> I think that's the 50 millionth time i've seen an article like that. i get
> this feeling that half these people work on fashion... one minute it's
> fashionable to talk about the wireless revolution, the next minute it's
> fashionable to deride the idea until "the technology changes".
>
> Sorry to say this but that article could have been written by anyone with
> half a brain who reads up on various wireless websites. It had nothing new
> or interesting :(
>
> just my .02 euros
>
> /sandeep
> sandeep@wde.org
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Bryan Morgan" <bryan@wirelessdevnet.com>
> To: <mobilelbslist@wirelessdevnet.com>
> Sent: Friday, October 27, 2000 3:58 AM
> Subject: MobileLBSList: Article slamming wireless web
>
>
> > Interesting article at WebReview.com:
> > http://webreview.com/pub/2000/10/27/feature/index03.html
> >
> > Despite protestations from the wireless crowd, what matters at the end of
> > the day is the perception of the general public. It's clear that many
> > carriers (and software companies) are going back to the drawing board to
> > rethink their marketing and product strategies. Any thoughts on what's
> > needed to help the usability of the wireless web? I've got my own
> opinions
> > but I already have a platform to voice those on :-)
> >
> > Bryan
> >
> > ==== |
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