Linked by David Adams on Wed 25th Sep 2002 15:53 UTC
The information that I could find on the web about Sprint's new '3G' high-speed data service was a little short on solid information, so I spoke with Kevin Packingham, Senior Manager of Business Marketing for SprintPCS' new Vision service. I sought him out because Ubiquitous, affordable high speed wireless data services are something of a holy grail for tech-savvy road warriors like myself, so I received each morsel of information about Sprint's new service with great interest. Mr. Packingham spoke over the phone and he clarified many of the questions that I had about the new service.
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> But the hype that Europe and Japan have put up about 3G
> and their alleged "superiority" is just sickening.
I don't think US companies produce any less hype. During my visits to the US my impression was that in general much more marketing and hyping was going on in this country.
> ahead in implementation but not in technology and the
> hype is just irritating.
You don't know what is being worked on behind the scenes in Japan and vice versa. The actual implementation of technology is however the most important indicator. Believe me, the Japanese are working on some nifty gadgets and innovative technologies.
The fact is that DoCoMo was the first to launch a real 3G service back in October 2001 (based on W-CDMA).
> Look at korea. They are kicking Europe's and Japan's
> rear in style. They say little and do a lot. I respect
> that enormously.
They are doing marketing as well. Maybe where you live they focuss more on European and Japanese markets?
> the wireless business model is accelerated when you
> operate in high-density areas, like Europe and japan.
Yes this is a factor. But the New York - Washington erea or the Los Angeles - San Francisco area within California, are extremely populated as well. Of course operators don't need to cover all states simultaniously (and handsets can be made compatible with less advanced networks as a fallback option).
> Japan has several competing non-compatible technologies
> yet penetration is high. So much for the US is behind
> becuase we have competing technologies.
Yes both markets have competing technologies. So I don't really understand this statement.
> Other factuoid, unlimited local calling plans in the US
> have historically been far cheaper then those in japan
> and Europe. That means that the price difference between
> cell phones service and local service (per minute use)
> in the US is comparatively larger than in other places.
One important reasons for higher prices in Europe are higher goverment taxes. This counts for all types of services. Lower taxes in the US should mean a benefit with regard to profit-abilities for US operators.
> Still when you look at the breakthroughs, the things i
> mentioned above. they are not coming from Europe or
> Japan.
There are many breakthroughs in Europe and Japan as well. Global standards however are being developed (or need to be adopted) by international consortiums of companies. You may not know about all the breakthrough technologies in Japan, simply because you don't live in Japan.