:: Calling all carriers ::

Thursday, October 23, 2003

KDDI announced that they would be launching their new CDMA2000 EV-DO mobile phone service with an unlimited data plan for about $40. EV-DO delivers speeds in the range of 300kbps - 2.4mbps, usually towards the lower end of that range, with occasional faster bursts, typically running about 7 or 8 times faster than a 56k dial-up modem. Factor in the ultra-fast bursts, and having a mobile device running on an EV-DO network is about as good of a bandwidth experience as having a basic home-broadband connection like DSL or a cable modem (give or take). Now, with KDDI announcing a $40 all-you-can-eat plan, it's price-comparable as well. The only problem is it's in Japan.

It's not that we don't have the technology available here. Verizon Wireless, the largest mobile phone provider in the U.S. just launched their own EV-DO network in San Diego and Washington D.C. as part of a hesitant nation-wide phased rollout. Recent tests have corroborated Verizon's claim to routinely deliver speeds between 300 and 500kbps. This kind of throughput would allow swift web browsing, email, streaming audio, and almost every other application one generally uses a home computer for. As the cameras bundled with mobile devices surge past the one megapixel mark and file sizes keep pace, uploading those bulky high-res images becomes an affair of mere seconds.

That is, of course, provided Verizon offered any mobile devices which ran on the service. Which they don't and won't for some time. The only way to use it currently is with a PC card that you plug into your laptop. They're targeting corporate users, plain and simple.

This really irks me. Not only does Verizon have the network in place, but they have established relationships with Audiovox/Curitel, LG, and Samsung, Korean handset manufacturers who have as much experience building devices for 3G networks as anyone (they're primary suppliers for SK Telecom's EV-DO service, claiming almost 2 million subscribers, with 28 handsets available for the service - one even from Motorola, an American company with strong ties to Verizon). From a technological or strategic-partner-relationship level, there's no impediment to introducing an EV-DO consumer-focused network here in the states. Yes, building out the infrastructure will take time, but one look at current coverage maps is all it takes to realize that blanketing the nation with ubiquitous service isn't their top priority; if they could get it up and running in the top 20 markets, it would be a sufficient start. And porting over foreign EV-DO devices is about as easy as re-flashing the ROM with a new OS and replacing the foreign keypad with an English one. If you don't mind a little linguistic confusion here and there, you don't even need to do that - you can import a phone right now from Korea if you want to pay a premium. Of course you could only use the data services in S.D. and D.C....

The real problem is that American carriers have no faith in consumer adoption. Instead of providing an advanced service and educating customers, current and potential, about its benefits in clear-cut, easy-to-understand terms, they hide behind euphemistic brands like "Get It Now" and show actors playing video-game bowling. Now there's a compelling application. It certainly blows the ability to check email, weather or movie show-times out of the water (all available on the same "Get It Now" service as bowling, but they chose to advertise bowling). The average American mobile consumer wants and understands more than just games. There's an infuriatingly myopic disconnect on the part of the people who are pitching these applications with those who are consuming them.

Here's an idea: roll out a true, nation-wide 3G service with the same EV-DO network you already have partially in place. Bring to market snazzy handsets that take advantage of the high speeds (lots of memory for downloads, high-res digicams for uploading oodles of pictures, advanced web browsers, BREW / J2ME support). Then price it competitively with home broadband. Pitch it as broadband, anywhere, anytime. People like broadband: they know it's fast and versatile. If they can get it all the time (and not just Get It Now) they might just decide to shell out $40 bucks a month. Just like mobile phones are slowly supplanting personal land-lines, the temptation of omnipresent data access will produce a similar effect. The technology exists, right this very second, and not just in the lab but the real world.

I guarantee you'll get a good... reception.

Posted by morland @ 07:16 PM

:: Comments ::

i believe you may have pushed your glasses right off the top of your head with this one.

Posted by: josh on October 23, 2003 09:05 PM

Well said, Mr. Bedwell.

DO-DE-DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Posted by: nate on October 24, 2003 10:12 AM

Well, I guess I should have seen this coming... I knew it was going to be a hard cell.

Posted by: morland on October 24, 2003 11:08 AM

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Posted by: LW on October 24, 2003 02:19 PM

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