Saturday, August 27, 2005

Video calling and mobile music

Both Telecom and Vodafone have been advertising Video Calling and 3G phones excessively recently.
While I am pleased that New Zealand is catching up technology wise, I doubt I would use video calling much. The only time I would use it is to communicate with friends from overseas. The downside to video calling is that it takes away the privacy the telephone has given us for so long. Would you like to answer a video call early in the morning when you are half asleep, or when you are not looking your best? It is for this reason, along with the price of 3G handsets, that I doubt video calling will take off the way of text (SMS) and pxt (MMS) messaging.
As the Mcguigan article states- "The industry is desperate to persuade people to switch from 2G to 3G, throw their old mobiles away and pay for new and much more expensive models and services."
Now colour screens and cameras are not enough, we need higher resolution screens, two cameras and music capabilities.


I am surprised at the amount they are charging for downloading mp3 tracks onto yout cellphone as well, something like $3.95 per song (read from the new vodafone catalogue). If you download music from a paid site, you can pay $3.95 for thousands of songs, (iTunes is more expensive) and if you download music illegally, then it's free! On some mp3 capable cellphones, you can upload music for free using a data cable. So will people pay these high prices for music on their phone?

I found it amusing that McGuigan says in the article in the age before the necessity of cell phones, he had friends and still managed to meet them. Sure, it's possible- but there's no room for error- how do you tell your friend you'll be late? Or more importantly text them about important issues, like the latest installment in the Jen-Brad-Angelina saga?

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