Ah, the joy of new statistics! A cool new study about consumer behavior with our mobiles. Yes, increasingly the mobile phone has become a smartphone but what is it then that we do with it? I have been cautioning experts to stop calling it a 'mobile phone' (or cellphone) as voice calls are no longer the primary use of our phones, and to call it only a 'mobile'. So what is it then that we do on our mobiles? Play Angry Birds all day?
SMARTPHONES MEASURED BY USER PERCENT
So lets go to Britain, and an interesting survey by O2, one of the big four carriers (formerly the mobile arm of British Telecom the incumbent, but now owned by Telefonica of Spain). O2 Surveyed its smarpthone users and found that among smartphone users the following are the top uses, as percentage of all smartphone owners who do that. So these are the most used features or abilities of our smartphones:
1 - Taking pictures - 74%
2 - Voice calls - 71%
3 - SMS text messaging - 69%
4 - Surfing the internet - 69%
5 - Alarm clock - 64%
6 - eMail - 52%
7 - Watch - 50%
8 - Address book - 50%
9 - Social networking - 49%
10 - Diary - 39%
11 - Games - 38%
12 - TV & Films - 22%
13 - Reading ebooks - 13%
Interesting finding, very interesting (and gets even more so, with the times used, coming next, but lets look into this first). Note. The camera feature is now the most used part of our phone, ahead of all forms of communication, voice calls, SMS text messaging, eMail and social networking. Surfing the internet is used by more than two thirds of British smartphone owners and the Alarm clock, Watch, and Address Book all hit hlf of users or more. Where is gaming? Down ranked at 11th. Only two out of five smartphone owners are gamers.
What happened to SMS text messaging? This is quite dramatic, as the latest ComScore measure we had for the UK last year had 90% of UK consumers using SMS text messaging on their phones. Now a year later, out of smartphone users only 69% do so. This is of course because of OTT services like Whatsapp, iMessage, BBM, Facebook and Skype. Most of the SMS decline among smartphone users will not be quitting mobile phone messaging use, it is shifting that to more efficent messaging platforms from Twitter and Facebook to BBM and iMessage. We heard earlier this year that a third of UK mobile phone users had shifted away partially or completely from SMS to mobile messaging on OTT providers, from the survey by MyVoucherCodes in April. Still, the drop of SMS from used by 90% with all phone users last year to only 7 out of 10 users now (among smartphone users, the majority of UK phones are now smartphones) is very telling. In Britain clearly they have already witnessed 'Peak SMS' as its been seen in many of the early mobile market countries and we'll see global Peak SMS soon, within a few years.
Voice calls is another very interesting story. The Pew survey of UK total consumers last year found that 87% made voice calls. Remember this was 100% globally on all phones as recently as the early 1990s, when we could do nothing else on our phones, than make calls. Now, a year later, and focusing on smartphone users only, that percentage is down to 71%. That is quite a big drop again and follows all trends seen globally.
Now, lets move to part 2 of the findings - about our time used on the smartphone. This is very interesting, compared to the above list and gives rare insights into what we really do on mobiles:
SMARTPHONE USE MEASURED BY TIME
In terms of time, the O2 survey had 9 breakdowns of the major activites that take up a lot of time. I have aggregated them and divided into five groups: Communication, Entertainment, Web surfing, Social Networking, and Camera. Lets see how it divides by time. What do we use our smartphones when the measure is our most valuable resource - our own time?
Smartphone use by time:
1 - Entertainment (music, games, TV) - 33%
2 - Communication (voice, SMS, eMail) - 28%
3 - Web Surfing - 21%
4 - Social Networking - 15%
5 - Camera - 3%
Even thought camera comes on top as the most used feature, we don't spend much time on it per day. We occasionally see a picture and take it, occasionally show it, but it won't occupy much of our time on the device. Interesting. Very intersting. And yes, we spend more of our time on our smartphones being entertained than communicating or any kind of 'working' that might come under Web Surfing or Social Networking (obviously there will be more entertainment under both of those categories too). One third of our time spent on our phones is to be entertained. That is a great insight (well, it was something I did write back in my book M-Profits ten years ago that the entertainment part would be bigger than the information part of mobile, haha, so yes, my long-term fans have heard that or read that for more than a decade, but yes, for the late comers to the mobile industry - yes, we want to be entertained)
And the full list in descending order by minutes used per day, according to the O2 survey of UK smartphone users is this:
Web browsing 25 minutes/day
Social networking 18 minutes/day
Music 16 minutes/day
Gaming 14 minutes/day
Voice calls 12 minutes/day
eMail 11 minutes/day
SMS texting 10 minutes/day
TV and Films 9 minutes/day
Photographs 3 minutes/day
The total time we spend on our smartphones is 128 minutes per day or 2 hours and 8 minutes (on average, among UK smartphone users). That is a lot of time. That is over 13% of our total waking hours. That is one eight of our total time awake, that our smartphone is in our sight or entertaining us or providing multitasking benefits (like playing music to us while we do something else).
SMARTPHONES CANNIBALIZING OTHER TECH
If this is the UK today, smartphones today - it will be all Industrialized Countries soon (it has already happened in more advanced countries like say Singapore or Sweden etc). And yes, as we rapidly shift from dumbphones to smartphones, this is a very strong prototype of what priorities we will soon have on the phones, and how much time we use on the various features (and perhaps also why some abilities - like say the camera or screen size or clock/alarm or messaging) should be highly rated when designing the actual mobile phone handsets and their functions, mobile services and smartphone apps.
What do we do? We also shift our behavior. This was more of the rare info we got, that is mostly not measured. But yes, we have current data on what happens with mobile phone cannibalization. As I have been arguing for a decade, that mobile phones will cannibalize all that is pocketable and digital, more recently I have summarized it to this formula:
Mobile + Anything = Mobile
So initially it was a 'musicphone' now all mobile phones have music. So originallly Mobile + Music became just Mobile. Or the camera. Early on it was a curiosity and not all phones, not even all premium phones (remember early Blackberries) did not have cameras. Mobile + Camera became just Mobile. Today almost every phone has an inbuilt camera of some sorts, most have two. And so forth. Mobile plus anything becomes soon just mobile. What have we been shifting away from, as we put those hours on our smartphones? The O2 survey tells us:
Gadget Cannibalization by UK Smartphone Owners:
Alarm Clock - 54%
Wristwatch - 46%
Stand-alone camera - 39%
Laptop PC - 28%
Gaming console - 11%
TV - 6%
Books - 6%
Yeah-yeah, thank you thank you, I did promise that would happen, didn't I haha.. Yes, it is nice to see teh evidence. So half of UK smartphone owners have abandoned their alarm clock and nearly half done so with the wristwatch. These are matters that are only going to shift one way, so don't think for one moment those industries can ever return to their peak production worldwide. They now are forced to sell to ever smaller numbers (of often ever more elderly consumers too). I am not predicting Rolex to die any day soon, but the best days of Timex and Citizen are long since gone.
The stand-alone camera gets a strong showing, only 39% have shifted away totally. This also will only accelerate, as the cameras on phones keep closing the gap to the 'real' cameras. As I've reported, of the big traditional camera brands, already Minolta and Konica have quit the cameras business altogether, and of the film-makers Kodak went bankrupt - Polaroid did one better, they went bankrupt twice. It does not mean the end of cameras, Nikon and Canon still make cameras to the ever more niche premium pro and semi-pro markets. But the mass market camera is now our phone. And this is the affluent 'West' where we can afford many gadgets. In the Emerging World side of the planet (where 5 out of every 6 human beings live) there is no such affluence and abundance. There the shift to cameraphones happened long ago and the remaining stand-alone camera market is very small by comparison and shrinking fast.
The laptop PC number is also surprisingly strong, 28% of smartphone owners have quit using a laptop PC. It won't ever become 100%, the utility of a laptop is quite different from that of the smartphone but for many normal consumers who may want the laptop only to access say, Facebook, then if that is reasobably easily done on the new smartphone, why would you need to purchase another new expensive laptop. Students will need their PCs of course, many jobs need them (like me, an author haha) but as the smartphone becomes more our pocket PC, it also is of course eating into the laptop PC usage. If there ever was one stat that convinced CEOs of PC makers (HP!! or Dell!!!) or their software (Microsoft!!!!) that their future is in the hands of the smartphone market, that stat is it. Smartphone sales exceeded total PC sales (including desktops, laptops and tablet PCs) for the first time last year. And now we have smartphone usage stats saying more than a quarter of smartphone users had abandoned their laptops. This is devastating news for the PC industry (but again, we knew all this, haha, as this also is just the latest data point in a trend observed in my books and on this blog for the past decade)
There you go, great user data on our favorite gadget, the mobile. Totally in line with other data but fascinating developments and updates. I particularly love the per-minute daily use data which is quite rare to see reported.
So for those interested in more? If you liked what I wrote a decade ago and would like to see what I am promising for the near future of mobile, take a look at the Mobile Forecast 2012-2015 that I just released with 404 data points of what will happen in the next four years.
Many things must converge before skype skyrockets. We very smart and knowledgeable people know that! SMS is the surefire way to reach anybody. Skype is still a whisper in the grapewine! Look the curves of the emergent factors, how they are zeroing in and base your calculations on that! SMS in nowhere near giving in for instant messaging based on ip-traffic!
Posted by: count_cuntula | July 04, 2012 at 11:08 AM
Or just call it a pocket computer.
One fairly common vision is that the processors and resources in these pocket machines will get to the point that you can just carry it with you all the time and plug it into a docking unit with screen and keyboard when you get to work/home to do your work (and examples already exist). The hardware is just about there already to make this possible for a good proportion of computer tasks, and i mean running stand-alone local applications at a decent clip, not some gimped hardware hooked up to some network service to do the heavy lifting.
Of course, i'm not sure where the hardware industry will make money when an under $200 pocket computer can replace 80%+ of all personal computer use (pulling a couple of numbers out of my arse); not to mention all the other things one already does with mobiles. By spying on users I suppose.
Posted by: notzed | July 04, 2012 at 11:49 AM
@count cuntula
Google Hangout is cooler than Skype
Posted by: cycnus | July 04, 2012 at 12:56 PM
Hello,
About tech cannibalization, I think there is more ahead :
Smartphones are supposed to replace credit/transport cards, they're already replacing GPS (interestingly, this function isn't part of the survey) and boarding passes (Swiss, SAS, and many others...), and I can easily imagine to put a smartphone one a cradle, which replaces a car's entertainment system.
I also think they will replace laptops, which already replace desktop computers, that's why WP8's success is fundamental for MS to survive.
Posted by: vladkr | July 04, 2012 at 02:08 PM
Niche appliances that won't make the top 10 list are being replaced by smartphone apps in interesting number. For example, musicians find their phones can become a feature-rich metronome or a chromatic tuner.
Posted by: Starkadder | July 04, 2012 at 02:21 PM
Tomi, I'm glad you finally started posting data on usage of the services/features, vs just what percentage of user ever use a feature.
The data above clearly points to the disintermediation of the carriers. Up until recently the high value was in carrier-controlled features and services (cellular voice, cellular messaging, walled gardens like iMode, carrier-branded iP services - aka operator crapware).
Now it is clear that the value is on the device (e.g. camera, downloaded games, navigation) and the cloud services (Web, social, email, non-cellular apps, soon to come non-cellular voice).
Today, with a data-only device, e.g. an HSPDA/LTE/WiFi Ipad or next gen iPod or an iPhone with no cellular SMS or voice minutes + Skype in/out number, I can do 100% of the functions listed above, for the price of the data connection, and I can off load as much as I want to free WiFi.
Most monthly plans for smartphones already include unlimited (except for roaming WiFi), some (e.g. Sprint) also include unlimited voice minutes. That is realization that those are becoming commodity services with a price ceiling. Try to charge more and people opt out and go OTT.
As countries make spectrum available for competitive 4G services (over the next 10 years or so), we will finally see the operator's ARPU follow the same path as their fixed line brothers and ISP cousins, towards flat $29.95/month or whatever/month.
Then Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon, etc will have completed the disruption of the mobile industry.
Yes, Operators will fight it. They will add video services and create triple play bundles, but the trend is in motion like a slow moving Tsunami.
As usual, for the future, watch what will happen in California, then the US, then the UK/Australia. Don't look at what is happening in Finland or Tokyo. Those markets were all about the ETSI/DoCoMo controlled environments. That is the model being disrupted, not the model that will innovate.
Posted by: Ninvestor | July 04, 2012 at 04:01 PM
Today your mobile computer functions as: Camera, Watch, Clock, GPS Navigation, pager, email terminal, Web terminal, voice terminal (a.k.a. telephone), portable game player, PC for light tasks, portable TV, portable radio, address book, calendar, yellow pages, security alarm terminal, checkbook, personal encyclopedia, dictionary, ebook/eMagazine library,...
Plus a number of specialty devices via apps.
E.g. Physicians use medication dosage calculators (based on age, weight, etc). DJ's use as virtual mixing tables (though most still use MacAir or iPad). Pilots use for weather briefing and flight plan filing. Traders use it as smart ticker tape, stock alerts and instant trades.
Plus, with the subsidized model, there is no reason why your mobile is not the most powerful computer you own. Nobody subsidizes the computers in your car or home or office. You or your company must pay in full. But carriers are hooked on subsidizing buy $600+ to buy a new pocket computer every 2 years. So yeh, that over time will make that mobile computer in your pocket more powerful than the one on your desk.
Posted by: Ninvestor | July 04, 2012 at 04:12 PM
Check your math, Tomi. I believe the time is 118 minutes/day rather than 128. Still a lot.
Posted by: Judy Brown | July 04, 2012 at 04:23 PM
This is a survey. With your knowledge of actual use rates, I'd like to see more discussion of this info. Not just to disprove, but to discuss why people (say) over-estimate voice use and under-estimate web use. Which, looking at these, I'll bet they are.
Posted by: Steven Hoober | July 04, 2012 at 04:55 PM
Does this make Nokia's PureView a winner? It blows away majority of compact cameras in terms of quality. Another interesting market disruption in the camera industry are the compact size mirrorless SLRs. Sony, Panasonic, Samung are giving serious heat to Canon and Nikon.
Regarding VoIP calls, and all the varieties of it (Skype, Gtalk, you name it). The fundamental problem is that the underlying data transport technology is all packet switched, and not ideal for voice transport. Traditional voice call experience is just better with minimal voice delay.
Posted by: Leading Analyst | July 04, 2012 at 06:47 PM
Interesting blog. Actually google made searching of information easy on any topic
Posted by: Amit | July 05, 2012 at 03:18 AM
Hi count, notzed, cygnus, vladkr, Starkadder, Ninvestor, Judy, Steven and Leading
count - its several separate OTT services and Skype is but one of them (and usually messaging not seen as the primary reason to install Skype). The users will also need internet-enabled phones (usually seen as 'smartphones') plus good data plans (usually on 3G or faster networks). All of these are still minorities in the big picture mobile industry - but all are growing.
notzed - good point. Actually I am encouraging regularly in my workshops and seminars to go do the 'magical' and we should soon get past the keyboard and screen boring metaphor of the 1970s computer interface. We will have inputs that 'read our mind' and we will have information projected into our view (like in AR today) etc so the 'need' of a traditional keyboard and screen may subside and the computer will experience another transformation
On your numbers, not far off. The low end smartphones today cost under 100 dollars and do the job of an entry-level laptop 5 years ago. So the old laptop you gave your mom and dad so they can do their Facebook'ing with their grandkids - they can now do on their next entry-level Android. So its not the 200 dollar level you mention but the correct math yes. Replacing 80% - probably more like 90% of all current desktop and laptop computers in use yes, but those will also partly be replaced (and the market expanded) and also used in parallel - by tablets. But also, it won't be all. PCs will become increasingly 'professional' tools once again, the 'home computer' will shift to tablets and smartphones.
cygnus - haha
vladkr - true, and you know I've been chronicling all that also on this blog and in my books.
Starkadder - cool, thanks! I didn't know that, even thought I know a few musicians haha.. Hey seriously, very good contribution. I have to add that to my stories..
Ninvestor - come on, why that tone 'finally' - where have YOU seen any such usage data published about mobile (that I have not immediately also reported here)? Its not that I have somehow been 'hiding' this usage info by hours/minutes of use - it has not been reported. I report ALL stats I can possibly find about this industry and you know it. That was a cheap shot and you know it.
Now, about 'bypassing' the carrier. You make a sensible-sounding case. Except that you had ALL of that in the iPod Touch. Why is the iPhone - more expensive - outselling the Touch regularly, every single quarter? The Touch does ALL you said, it can do this wirelessly on WiFi and bypass all carrier services. Because it is only portable, it is not 'mobile' ie it does not ring in your pocket. The solution breaks down if you cannot be alerted - ie your device cannot receive emergency calls (or even just calling attempts that you then return the call via Skype) or SMS messages or other attempts at contact. That is a mobile. That is why the carrier is in such a strong position. If your solution was the winner, the iPod Touch would vastly outsell the iPhone today. But obviously, the OTT and cloud-based services will expand and continue to grab high volume parts of the carrier business yes, as I have reported on this blog (as you know).
As for your last comment - I leave it here for posterity, for how foolish it is. You wrote "As usual, for the future, watch what will happen in California, then the US, then the UK/Australia. Don't look at what is happening in Finland or Tokyo." - While yes, Finland's leadership position has been tainted (although Angry Birds isn't a bad new icon for Finland in mobile haha) but yes, anything Apple or Google is doing in mobile - they learned from Japan. We saw it with the iPhone 3G and its OS updates in 2008, the iPhone 3GS and its OS and app store in 2009, the iPhone 4 and its OS in 2010, the iPhone 4S and its OS in 2011 and already those iPhone 5 OS updates we saw in 2012. Same 100% true of Google in mobile. They are smart companies, they have smart execs, they know the mobile future exists in Japan, they go there to study the future they can launch commercially. Only a foolish US company like Microsoft tries to create mobile out of California (to utter global failure like Palm, or Windows Mobile and Windows Phone so far).
As to your second comment, the listing is true, and incomplete as you know, and I've covered every one of those items on this blog and in my books, many times (except checkbook haha, such an archaic US centric payment concept). But on the subsidy, that is another long-past-its time concept that is gradually diminishing and disappearing. Most phones sold worldwide today have no subsidy, only a few markets like USA and Japan are left where most phones are sold with subsidies. Even in those markets the trends are gradually to diminish the subsidy part.
Judy - haha, yeah. The original article said 128 minutes was total time, I used that number. These items do add up to 118
Steven - good point and I hope we get such discussion in the comments and across bloggers in mobile etc. As to my gut feeling - the 12 minutes per day voice use is not to my mind over-estimate (remember half of UK population have 2 phones) so its 18 minutes total. That means half called out, half reveived calls. Six calls total per day. And average call length in Europe is somewhat over 3 minutes per call. The data is very consistent with usage data from network reporting.. I have no reason to think the web data would be under-reported either, but would love to hear your thinking why you think so.
Leading - haha yes it should. Note, 808 Pureview comes with horrid baggage where the CEO more than a year ago called its operating system dead and useless. So the 808 Pureview faces enormous headwinds. But if the camera is the feature most people use (as percentage of all users) it means it is the one most will also try out in the store and thus 'notice' the huge jump in camera capability. The 808 is an ugly phone in cumbersome form factor so some will find it simply unacceptable for esthetic reasons, but for some, who value the camera also highly, yes, the 808 Pureview will be selected simply because of the superb camera - and had the CEO not destroyed Symbian's reputation, this could have been one of the bestselling phones of the season with the Galaxy S3 etc. Coulda woulda shoulda haha.. The sad truth - Nokia KNEW this (that cameras are so important) from their consumer research into handset buyers.. That is why they have the strategic partnership with Carl Zeiss and have owned the top end of cameraphones from the iconic N93 to the N8 to now the 808 PureView.
Thank you all, keep the comments coming
Tomi Ahonen :-)
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Posted by: Michael Kors handbags outlet | July 05, 2012 at 04:31 AM
It's time to drop the 'phone' from the 'smartphone' term. Maybe SmartPDA.. any other suggestions?
Posted by: Eyal | July 05, 2012 at 06:56 AM
Inte bara för att motbevisa, men för att diskutera varför människor (säg) överskatta röst användning och under-skattning webb. Vilket ser på dessa så slår jag vad de är.
Posted by: chaussures air max 91 | July 05, 2012 at 10:31 AM
There is however one situation where mobile phones don't do that well, it's the case of emergency; let me explain :
1990 : You're facing an emergency situation. You find a phone booth (or a motorway emergency phone) near-by, or a home, you call 911/999/112/02/15/whatever is an emergency number in your country, and the operator knows automatically where you're calling from.
2012 : you're facing an emergency situation and you call 911/112/... the operator doesn't know where you're calling from, so either (s)he asks you to find the nearest emergency phone or phone booth, or you have to explain where you're calling from... not always easy if you don't know the exact address.
So, yes, mobile phones allow you to call emergency services wherever you are, but it lacks localisation service, which is quite important in such a situation.
Are cellphones better than good old landlines? Not sure yet.
Posted by: vladkr | July 05, 2012 at 01:26 PM
@valdkr:
It would technically possible to make the emergency operator to know your location based on the location of the receiver your call is going through.
Of course this would require that the carriers supplies the information and that the laws are changed so that the emergency operator is allowed to know from where you are calling without you telling about it.
@Tomi:
Your answer to the comments is almost a blog in it self ;)
Seems you have got two link spammers (or the same one wanting in-links to two sites).
Posted by: J.O. Aho | July 05, 2012 at 03:16 PM
@Tomi - sorry, I didn't mean anything negative by "finally". I truly appreciate you posting the data. It was more like "finally there is data on time usage" for us to discuss. Yes, I know that this is difficult data to get and somewhat unreliable as it is self-reported.
Still it is informative.
As for the iPodTouch - no, unfortunately we don't have it all. If the iPod Touch had a data only HSPA/LTE radio and the larger iPhone batttery, than we'd have it all. As it exists today, the iPodTouch lacks mobility. I can't use it for calls when I drive, etc.
In a sense, the threat of that has already influenced the carriers pricing plan. If we assume that an unlimited nationwide 3G/4G data plan is worth say $50/month, then carriers like Sprint are in effect offering you unlimited cellular calls and SMS for only $20/month, since their all-in data plan is $70/month.
I think that is price discovery. The "value" of unlimited cellular voice and SMS is $20/month. Why? Because with a $10 Skype in number plus $10-$20/month Skype credits I can get similar functionality, once my device has a 3G/4G radio.
In time, you will see other carriers having to respond to competition. Right now Sprint is the only cheap carrier that also has the iPhone in the US. And their service/coverage sucks. So AT&T and Verizon can still charge more. T-Mobile and other smaller carriers without the iPhone can't compete.
Posted by: Ninvestor | July 05, 2012 at 03:33 PM
@Vladkr - I don't know where you live, but cell-phone location reporting on a 911 (emergency) call has been a mandate in the USA for quite sometime. The operator will know your A-GPS position very accurately on an emergency call from a GPS equipped phone or your triangulated cell site location on a phone without GPS.
Starting in 2018, GPS is mandated on all phones sold in the US, but obviously, most of the phones already have it.
In addition, the US (Verizon was the first) is starting to support SMS to 911 service, because many users/situations (like the young, deaf/mute, people with facial injuries, kidnapped victims, abused children, elderly that fall and can't get up, etc) make it the best solution.
In many disasters, people in collapsed buildings, etc were located by using their mobile phones. Emergency services are, at least in the US, evolving very fast to fully support the mobile phone.
So, I think you need to update your views.
Posted by: Ninvestor | July 05, 2012 at 03:55 PM
@Ninvestor:
My latest experience was in Canada last week. No GPS information sent to the 911, and it was difficult to give a proper address, as there was no sign indicating the street, and no house (with a number) to indicate the position on the street.
As a result, first police car arrived after 12 minutes (some other people called 911 too, so it's not because of my explanation only), ambulance after... 20 minutes.
I also witnessed an accident in a motorway in France couple of years ago; I was asked to call (or at least give the number) from the nearest emergency-phone.
Fortunately, I've never had to call 911 in the US so I didn't know about location reporting there, and obviously, there were some smart enough people to put emergency-positioning into application, but apparently, of what I know, many countries didn't follow these steps.
Posted by: vladkr | July 05, 2012 at 04:09 PM
@Ninvestor:
At least in sweden the carriers have begun to block skype for those who haven't an existing data plan which has allowed the usage of VoIP services.
Some of the carriers offers for an extra monthly fee that you can use skype on the new type of data plan, but of course they still will cripple your bandwidth if you use more than a certain amount of traffic during a month and not sure skype will work when you speed is crippled.
Myself I did cancel my data plan, I don't use it so much and in worst case I can pay those 2eur/mb if I can't find an open wifi (or haven't the time to use aircrack to get access to a locked one).
Posted by: J.O. Aho | July 05, 2012 at 05:35 PM
"Regarding VoIP calls, and all the varieties of it (Skype, Gtalk, you name it). The fundamental problem is that the underlying data transport technology is all packet switched, and not ideal for voice transport."
@Leading: It sounds better, works the same on all my devices, and everywhere I go. So who cares? This is the ultimate nerd complaint.
"At least in sweden the carriers have begun to block skype for those who haven't an existing data plan which has allowed the usage of VoIP services."
@JOA: In Germany Telekom and Vodaphone do this and Telefonica doesn't. Guess who all the young people recommend? (It is really worse: Telekom officially bans WhatsApp as well, and their plan is to Samwer Skype with Pinger, and sell it for 3x the money. Epic fail.)
"Except that you had ALL of that in the iPod Touch."
@Tomi: The iPod touch is wifi only. As I understood @nin, the point is that carriers basically can't figure out what their core product is really supposed to do, which is true. The job is people connecting with each other, not SMS and calls between phone numbers. Instead of improving the core product with more features and better mobility, the 90's mindset is to try and restrict it.
The exceptions are basically O2 and the US operators. The latter group has been very successful with a high-consumption-high-price model. This seems to have created delusions in some quarters of low-consumption-high-price, which just won't happen, either in the US or Europe.
Posted by: Louis | July 05, 2012 at 05:46 PM
OFFTOPIC:
Few fresh interesting links:
"MeeGo PR1.3 update for the Nokia N9 is now rolling out"
http://www.phonearena.com/news/MeeGo-PR1.3-update-for-the-Nokia-N9-is-now-rolling-out_id31902
So much of credibility of mr. Ellop and his burning platforms
"MeeGo head, team leave Nokia, it’s the end of the platform"
http://www.phonearena.com/news/MeeGo-head-team-leave-Nokia-its-the-end-of-the-platform_id31931#1-Nokia-N9
:-( ...hope they'll go at Tizen & continue work
"Oh, snap! Ex-Apple exec says Stephen Elop should be sacked as Nokia should've gone Android"
http://www.phonearena.com/news/Oh-snap-Ex-Apple-exec-says-Stephen-Elop-should-be-sacked-as-Nokia-shouldve-gone-Android_id31923
General speaks 2 years AFTER the battle... however, interesting. :-P
Posted by: DarkBorn | July 05, 2012 at 07:21 PM
@DarkBorn:
To continue your off-topic, Siilasmaa is a liar too (“Symbian’s market share has come down close to zero,” he said of the decision to switch to Windows.) and seems to think about a plan B (According to Siilasmaa, Nokia has a contingency plan in place if the Windows 8 Phone fails to live up to expectations. But he said the company was confident that the product would be a success.)
However I think he says that to prepare investors for catastrophic Q2 results.
http://yle.fi/uutiset/nokias_siilasmaa_goal_to_regain_competitiveness/6199219
Posted by: vladkr | July 05, 2012 at 08:49 PM
@vladkr:
Do you think the contingency plan could be WP9?
Posted by: J.O. Aho | July 05, 2012 at 09:03 PM