GigaOM » John Biggs Archives

FCC Approves Nokia N93

John Biggs — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 22:45:43 +0000

The Nokia N93 looks like a wee TV, but don’t be fooled. This video phone has Carl Zeiss optics and takes DVD-quality video and 3.2-megapixel stills. But where’s the digital TV? Streaming video? Subsidized coolness?

Priced at about $600, this is definitely not a mass market phone. The N93 should have a digital television tuner (DVB-H), but that standard is not sufficiently supported on our shores and means that the U.S. continues to lag in the high quality digital-video-over-cellular front, much to my personal dismay. As a result, Nokia has been forced to aim this at folks who want to take home movies with their phones rather the folks who might want to watch the big game on their small screen.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

DLink Introduces New VoWiFi Phone

John Biggs — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 07:01:08 +0000

WiFi phones are essentially changing the home-phone landscape, bringing cellular portability and cool into a realm that was once owned by the Bells and later folks like Con-Air and Coby (see: $9.99 special phones at your local drug store). Even though seem to be running a little bit behind schedule put forward by telephone industry leaders.

Not surprisingly, WiFi phones like D-Link’s latest, the $249 DPH-540, are essentially home phones with SIP connectivity to most major VOIP carriers (which means you’ll probably be able to use this thing with Vonage or your Cable company’s VOIP system). Surprisingly, this phone looks like a low-end, clamshell cellphone, which means the size and shape of these things will soon rival even the slimmest Motorola.

Best of all, this phone is compatible with PsipTN, which is a public VOIP telephone system that just may take the big boys down a peg or two. Expect firmware upgrades from D-Link in the next year.

Earthlink has plans to offer WiFi phones. Municipalities are also getting into the act, although only Taipei has created a faux-public network call “Taipei Easy Call” to unwire their offices and schools while making – or not making – a buck selling service to private consumers

Mobile carriers should worry about the trend because, if not today, or tomorrow, eventually the alternative s will get enough traction. If they follow the same design-and-feature curve as the cellphone, it won’t be too difficult to imagine a future where these WiFi things had better end up lying side-by-side with the latest CDMA or GSM phones.
D-Link DPH-540 WiFi Phone

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

VK Mobile Eats Dust, Pantech, Helio Next?

John Biggs — Sun, 09 Jul 2006 01:58:41 +0000

The Samsungs and the LGs of the world can breathe a bit easier now that VK Mobile, a second-tier South Korean mobile phone manufacturer, has dropped out of the race. While the big boys – Nokia, Motorola, et al – own most of the market share, small companies like Pantech and VK Mobile have historically been popular with MVNO carriers (the companies that piggyback on an existing network to sell branded telephone service), allowing them to create exclusive handsets without overtly covering the things with manufacturer logos.

But the news is the latest harsh blow for Helio, a teen/young adult MVNO that is capitalized by $440 million from SK Telecom and Earthlink. VK makes one of the company’s two commercially-available handset’s, the Kickflip, and VK’s downfall could bring Helio down with it. Helio’s other manufacturer Pantech, another second-tier Korean phone maker, could also be negatively effected by VK’s fall. If both of Helio’s launch partners go down, that could be the final nail in the company’s fast-closing coffin.

Gizmodo predicts that anyone who has signed up, or plans to sign up, for Helio should be on their toes for significant changes. A GigaOm reader says he bought a Kickflip and Helio never turned it on over the course of 2 months–he ended up returning it. Beyond Helio, MVNOs are on shaky ground right now, with only Virgin Mobile making a profit after seven years on the market. Many providers, including the ad-based Xero and EasyMobile are having a hard time grabbing subscribers even without Helio’s handset trouble.

Look forward to an update on Helio’s plans later this week!

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.