Indian Company to Sell $20 Cell Phone - Science News | Science & Technology | Technology News

FOXNews.com - Indian Company to Sell $20 Cell Phone - Science News | Science & Technology | Technology News: "MUMBAI, India — India has already built the world's cheapest car — the $2,500 Tata Nano — and now the country has unveiled the telecommunications equivalent: the $20 'people's phone.'

The mobile handset, developed by Spice, the Indian telecoms group that is listed in Bombay and worth $2 billion, is angled at the very lowest end of the market. This means the phone has jettisoned all 'non-essential' features — such as a screen.

'It is just a phone,' said Bhupendra Kumar Modi, the Spice chairman, who hopes to sell about 10 million of the low-cost phones in the next year. Mobile phones priced under about $40 account for only about a fifth of the global market.

However, with half the world's population yet to make a phone call and Western markets becoming saturated — there are more mobile phones than people in the U.K. — companies see massive potential in budget devices aimed at the developing world."

Delaminate the Bastards!

Delaminate the Bastards!: "Once upon a time, when this nation's telecommunications infrastructure was owned by a monopolistic industry, all the phones were black, long distance was incredibly expensive, and if you had a great idea for an innovative service using the telephone system, you were free to write a letter to the telephone company and suggest they look into it. About once a decade, the telephone company would introduce something new — touch tone phones, 800 numbers, and, yes, the pink Princess Phone for the ladies.

• Innovating once in the decade
  

So, we know what a monopolistic, centralized communications system is like. And we know what it took to open it up even a little. Issuing regulations to make it more open this way or that didn't work because the telephone company was structured in every dimension — from business model to technical infrastructure to how its billing systems worked — to fight openness, competitiveness, and distributed, local control.

• Regulations
  

The way the old phone system was is the way the current suppliers of Internet connectivity are. That's not too surprising since the old phone companies are Internet carriers."

• The old phone companies are back in business again

Helge: What has the Apple iPhone done? Are consumers getting more to say? Apple is the middle man attracting consumers to ATT, O2, Telekom, etc.

The Google No Phone story

At least one Wall Street analyst this morning [Bullet Points March 22, 2007] is telling its clients — although as usual, Google isn’t saying much — that the search giant is in fact probably not working on its own brand of mobile phone, but instead is developing mobile software.

• Software sounds as a great idea
• There are enough phones and more are introduced on a weekly basis
• The Mobile 2.0 needs more content and compelling services
  

The iPod presentation

There isn't anything new in this video clip. I just take it here to have the information in one place for future needs. The presentation is smooth. Nothing too complex. Everyone can understand. The product looks good on the stage. The multiple touch screen seems to work. Moving through the files seems to be easy. Jobs says, "This is a revolutionary product."

The rest of the industry is not going to wait for the new device to hit the market without counter action. There is four months to the introduction. We'll see how people vote with their wallets. Apple has a group of enthusiastic followers. The company isn't going for the global market, yet.

US will be a test marketing area for six months. The iPhone will be available in Europe before the Christmas sales. The price is high. There are millions of questions. But there is certainly a market for this device. I guess, 3G will be available soon, maybe already at the end of this year. Apple didn't tell all there is. This is a first run. Edition one.

The impact on traditional phone design and manufacturing is going to show up soon. Lots of old-style projects will be cancelled. We're going to see a re-organization of phone design. LG has already told about its cooperation with the Prada Design house. That happened only a few days after the Mac World congress.

Nokia is welcoming Apple. It's not going to shake the global leader on a short term basis. But Apple can hurt Motorola in US. The home market is important for Motorola. Nokia's home markets are China and India. US is still a big question mark for Nokia. The real challenge is: what should Nokia do in US? What is the killer product for the US market? Let's wait and see.

9:34 am - MWSF Steve Jobs Keynote introducing Apple IPhone (01/2007)

"MWSF Steve Jobs Keynote introducing Apple IPhone (01/2007)" on Google Video
"iPhone is a revolutionary and magical product that is literally five years ahead of any other mobile phone," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "We are all born with the ultimate pointing device—our fingers—and iPhone uses them to create the most revolutionary user interface since the mouse."

iPhone is a Revolutionary Mobile Phone

iPhone is a revolutionary new mobile phone that allows users to make calls by simply pointing at a name or number. iPhone syncs all of your contacts from your PC, Mac or Internet service such as Yahoo!, so that you always have your full list of up-to-date contacts with you. In addition, you can easily construct a favorites list for your most frequently made calls, and easily merge calls together to create conference calls.

iPhone's pioneering Visual Voicemail, an industry first, lets users look at a listing of their voicemails, decide which messages to listen to, then go directly to those messages without listening to the prior messages. Just like email, iPhone's Visual Voicemail enables users to immediately randomly access those messages that interest them most.

[...]

iPhone features a 2 megapixel camera and a photo management application that is far beyond anything on a phone today. Users can browse their photo library, which can be easily synced from their PC or Mac, with just a flick of a finger and easily choose a photo for their wallpaper or to include in an email.

[...]

iPhone is a Widescreen iPod

iPhone is a widescreen iPod with touch controls that lets music lovers 'touch' their music by easily scrolling through entire lists of songs, artists, albums and playlists with just a flick of a finger. Album artwork is stunningly presented on iPhone’s large and vibrant display.

[...]

[Description By Apple Inc. Press service.]

The Smart Mobile Enterprise

If you travel even moderately for business, you can rack up wireless access expenses that top $100 per trip. If in the course of one day you connect at the airport, at the hotel twice a day, at a couple of hotspots, and then at the airport on the way home, you could easily spend more on one trip for Internet access than you do at home for a whole month of broadband.

The smart and mobile enterprise is looming just around the corner. In the emerging Smartphone society, cool will not have to carry a laptop at all. Newer device models from Motorola, Nokia, Palm, Research in Motion, and others cram access to e-mail, the Web, and ever-more business applications and company intranets in with the look and function of a cell phone. Never mind the annoyingly tiny screen and short battery life. With starting prices of around $200, every one's going to want to be smart while on the move.

The Smartphone market is booming. In the first half of this year, 38.5 million were shipped worldwide, up 75% from the same period last year. More than 200 million smart phones will ship annually by 2009, In-Stat predicts. Businesses and individuals are buying them, and Smartphone makers are blurring the line, pitching their products as "prosumer" devices for both work and personal use.

Wireless Internet access is a blessing and a curse to the business traveler. While you can be more productive than ever, staying in contact with clients and colleagues no matter where you roam, often you’re left scrabbling for a wireless access point. In airports often you have to position yourself just right to get a signal and it often is difficult to set up the connection. Once you do get your connection set up, the signal frequently fades in and out. Some hotels charge up to $12 per connection to use their wireless networks, and free wi-fi isn’t anywhere near the universal feature we sometimes think it is, especially in smaller towns and cities.

Veteran Podcasters

Really, if you started 2004 or 2005, then you can be considered a historical figure. Veterans are telling that Net radio has been along for quite some time. RSS and point cast. Audio delivered on-demand started 1994. iPod changed a lot in this field. I'm listening to leading podcasters and gush, that area is embraced by a big number of people. I've decided to do more in this field. The ideas have been growing and I've made a promise to start producing more on a regular basis. It took me some time to get fluent with the blogs.

I had a barrier with English, but today this language flows better and better. By time you read this you will be able to start calculating how many audio programs I will produce until the end of 2007. One podcast per day is too much. But once a week would mean close to 60 podcasts. Videopodcasting will start at the end of next year. Maybe in the summer of 2006. Photoblogging isn't a big deal anymore. Video is. Everybody can make a podcast. The same applies to videoblogs.

Personalized and customized mobile phones

The web has become a delivery platform supporting companies and individuals with global operations. The mobile phone will become a personal data carrier that will help individuals to have access to valuable data wherever they are. It will become a storage device of:

• music
• pictures
• videos
• multimedia
• work and private life related information
• podcasts, videocasts, multimedia presentations
  
• platform for narrowcasting, webcasting and visual radio content
  
• business information
• the key to your bank and money transfers
• micropayments
• source of microfinancing
• personal identity expander
  

Near Field Communication

I wrote about Mac Donalds providing a services that will show on your smart phone what your Mac Donalds meal is made out of. This near field communication feature could be used to give information about millions of products.