Ultimate Mobile Device (2) Competition of Handheld Game Console

While games are a must-have function for future handsets, hardcore players still need special featured models.

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[+] Play games anywhere

Back in the 1980s, the black-and-white handheld game console (HGC) that made only a monotonous beep sound got popular throughout Taiwan. Usually each model only had one game. You had to buy a new one if you wanted to play another game. Owners of this rare game device could often get envious eyes from other children.

Sometimes adults, too, played the gadget, but obviously the majority users were children, some of whom would even bring one during family outings to kill time on road.

Thanks to its continuous evolution, the device is upgraded from the black-and-white version to one that accepts add-on game cards, and then to a color one, with increasing number of colors, better stereo sound effects and diversified functions. Sony's latest released PSP even allows gaming with other people simultaneously through WLAN.

Parents of each generation are forced to buy the latest models. However, with the extension of functions, for example, music and movie playing, and the slow growth of the mental age of modern people, children are no longer the only consumers of mobile game consoles.

Will handset manufacturers ignore this big cake? In 2003, Nokia launched N-Gage, used as a mobile phone when held in one hand and a game console with two hands. Despite the criticism for its design at the beginning (the battery had to be removed for switching game cards), it still shocked the industry.

[+] A war between two industrial leaders

N-Gage offers a complete array of mobile phone functions, such as SMS and MMS, a built-in WAP browser that enables GPRS-based Internet accessing, and Java. It can play MP3 music and even play video streaming online, support POP3 and SMTP protocols to receive and send emails.

If those are all it offers, N-Gage could be nothing more than an ordinary handset. Restricted by hardware and the size of memory, handsets have not been able to compete with special handheld game consoles in terms of audio and video effects. For hardcore players, the mini Java games available for most handsets today are not enough.

Fully aware that the effect is exactly what players want, Nokia invests much on the hardware of N-Gage, making it powerful enough even for 3D gaming. While the top priority is the game display and interface, communication seems to be an accessory function of the handset. As for Camera? Of course not available.

Communication is what handsets exist for. In addition to stand-alone games, the N-Gage handset also supports MOG (Multi-player Online Game) through Bluetooth and GPRS (given that the game itself supports MOG). The former enables gaming with a few others, while the latter with anyone in the world through the Internet.

SONY PSP does not support making phone calls and SMS. In addition, without a web browser, it cannot send or receive emails, either. While it supports WLAN and allows connection with a small group of 16 PSPs through the ad-hoc mode. It allows gaming with players anywhere in the world through WLAN too, given that the game itself supports MOG.

The hardware specifications of both products are available at:

N-Gage: http://web.n-gage.com/en-R1/gamedeck/ngage/techspex/

PSP: http://www.us.playstation.com/consoles.aspx?id=4

[+] Who on earth are the buyers？

Personally, I do not believe that anyone would buy an N-Gage solely for making phone calls, nor a PSP for its MP3 function. Their HGC features are so obvious, that any buyer would have one very strong intension: gaming.

Here the market segmentation becomes crystal clear: those who use handsets mainly to make phone calls may need mini Java games to kill time; the built-in MP3 function would be sufficient, too. While games are a must-have function of future handsets, hardcore players still need special models.

It would be meaningless for handset manufacturers to introduce HGCs were it not a online game era (no matter download or play games online) However, for the way of wireless transmission, PSP selected WLAN, virtually shutting telecom operators out of the door.

It can be expected that before the completion of the deployment of WLAN hot spots, the GPRS network of telecom operators will remain the first option of MOG for players. In addition, telecom operators have been aggressive in handset marketing. Nevertheless, the expensive GPRS connection fee has stopped many potential buyers.

The decisive factor of the war among game consoles in the past decades, however, is not the performance of the consoles themselves, which has been mostly similar among competitors, but the number of games they support. Some ultra-popular games could even decide the fate of a console.

Will the story of the online game, which is now the mainstream for PC games, be repeated on HGCs? Due to the personal entertainment characteristic of most HGCs, which are used outdoor (instead of at home), where players have only a short period of time to finish a game, the most feasible option is the smaller MOG.

On the other hand, PC online game developers could consider such a mobile device as an extension for their products too, so that their users could enjoy themselves a little bit when they cannot have access to a computer. Such zealous players would consider paying for both the handset and the game. (
2005/06/26 - By Digitalwall.com - Way to
China Internet/Telecom )

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Prev : Ultimate Mobile Device (1) Age of Hybrid Handset


Next : Ultimate Mobile Device (3) Video, Storage, Copyright Management

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- Today in History

New Landscape in China's Telecom Market (3) Who's Gonna Be the Price Killer? - 2008/06/29

New Landscape in China's Telecom Market (2) Opportunities and Burdens for New China Mobile - 2008/06/22

Web 2.0 Think Again (5) Unearth the Value of "People" - 2007/06/24

Ultimate Mobile Device (2) Competition of Handheld Game Console - 2005/06/26

Ultimate Mobile Device (1) Age of Hybrid Handset

Will the handset end up being the terminator to all other mobile devices?

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[+] Yesterday's science fiction proves to be what life is today.

Black Jack is one of the master pieces by Tezuka Osamu, the most famous Japanese comic artist in 1973. For many people, it is also a memory of their childhood. The book was so classical that it was made into TV series in October 2004.

I watched a few episodes at the home of a friend, which brought me back to my life as a little boy. However, some of the scenes were set in contemporary life and I did not know if that's because the TV series were made 30 years later or not. For example, in one episode, a teacher who was concerned about a student injured in a car accident called the hospital with a handset.

It was not until the 1990s when mobile communication technologies started their commercial use. The first users had to suffer from high prices and the clumsiness of the handset. 30 years ago, when most of those technologies were still in military or university laboratories, a teacher could hardly afford a handset even with the salary of his entire life.

Yet it is not an issue only about the price. A scene of "making phone calls anywhere, anytime" in a cartoon series 30 years ago could be nothing but a science fiction, for there was not such a concept in the real life, and it was not so common to allow a teacher to own a handset.

Today, everybody is accustomed to carrying a handset. Or, even if not, people also have been accustomed to see others carrying one. Handsets have turned into fashion items, with people replacing their mobile phones every year. For manufacturers, however, it is a time of thin profit margin, which seems to be the doom for all high-tech products that become well-infiltrating.

[+] The pressure of the cross-industry integration

The pressure for handset manufacturers is obvious. With the global communication market getting more saturated each year, the time of high-speed growth is gone. The only hope left is the sale growth in emerging markets (e.g., mainland China) and the development of new functions to enter new application fields.

One of the challenges in emerging markets is consumers' demand for lower prices. Entering new application fields, on the other hand, requires changing consumers' user experience and introducing the cross-industry integration. Particularly, new functions mean bigger challenges, as they require not only upgraded hardware, but also related communication and content services.

One of the first proposals for the cross-industry integration is the camera phone, which has been marketed along with the MMS service for years. With the increase of the pixel amount, the built-in camera has become one of the basic functions of the handset.

Smart Phone, which appears a little later, attempts to integrate the personal calendar, business card management and other functions into a single handset. In addition, it allows software installation for diversified function extension through an opened operating system.

The business market-oriented smart phone has its limits. Manufacturers know that the next hot topic is entertainment. Perhaps out of the inspiration of the hot sale of iPOD, a lot more handsets made this year offer the built-in MP3 player, which has become another most concerned function after the digital camera for handset buyers.

[+] All-in-one terminal as a portable pet

For entertainment, of course, there's movie in addition to music. With the advent of the 3G mobile communication time, the video phone is becoming a basic function. As a result, every 3G handset would have a built-in video camera and recording videos would seem to be a natural function of the handset.

And there will be video players too. Handsets are taking a road toward the portable multimedia player for playing pictures, music and movies. Maybe the current popular Portable Media Player (PMP) would be integrated into the handset one day.

Another heavy-weight component of entertainment is gaming. Manufacturers started to provide built-in mini-games as early as in the black-and-white handset years to allow time-killing. Today, color handsets enable direct Java game downloading from the websites of telecom operators. Will the handheld game console become the next integrated target?

We have plenty of other imaginations for handset functions, for example, air conditioner/refrigerator remote control, or satellite-based positioning/navigation. One day, when the artificial intelligence is mature enough, we might talk with our handsets when we feel lonely, because they would have become our electronic pets.

Maybe there are many other science fiction whims waiting to be realized decades later. For manufacturers caught in the turmoil currently, however, a common question is: will an all-in-one ultimate handset be the expectation of the future consumer, or, will the handset end up being the terminator to all other mobile devices? (
2005/06/19 - By Digitalwall.com - Way to
China Internet/Telecom )

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Prev : Pricing is a Handful for Internet Business


Next : Ultimate Mobile Device (2) Competition of Handheld Game Console

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- Today in History

Web 2.0 Think Again (4) "Private Property" and "Class Inequality" - 2007/06/10

Ultimate Mobile Device (1) Age of Hybrid Handset - 2005/06/19

Pricing is a Handful for Internet Business - 2005/06/11

Pricing is a Handful for Internet Business

Culture/Management - Tech Management - 2005/06/11

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Pricing is a Handful for Internet Business

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It's only natural that Internet means cheaper prices.

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[+] Consumers are empowered by access to information

Prior to the advent of the Information Technology, information is a nearly inaccessible commodity that comes, when it does, with a high price. That is, few have the luxury of making decision based on ample info. In fact, monopoly of information and lack of transparency have more often than not caused power and fortunes to converge on a few elites, who have grown to enjoy a huge edge in society, an edge built on asymmetric information.

Sociologists have foreseen many years ago that in an time and age when information flows at nearly negligible costs, a shift of power will take place to give rise to consumers who can have their way every time and a competitive landscape extremely harsh for enterprises.

Those who are used to shop on the Net are usually also in the habit of comparing prices of all major online stores before they make a purchase. That is, the Internet is like a coliseum in which prices compete with one another for survival. But in the end, whatever sellers have up their sleeves to court buying, the decision is consumers' and consumers' only.

This has led a several outcomes. First, few big-time brand name vendors would risk having their product marketed over the Internet. At a time when eCommerce is where it's at, we still have a hard time finding European fashion/apparel/accessories brands loading their product onto the Internet for sales.

Sellers of these boutique items are keen on holding on to their elite status and are highly reluctant to engage in price warfare, which will inexorably debase an otherwise prestigious brand name. In the end, there are left on the Internet certain individual traders who can get things cheap in small quantities and put them up for sales on the Net. As it turns out, buyers have no resistance for these offerings at cut-throat prices.

Second, infectious price-cutting has resulted in razor-thin profit margins for every one. At a time when information flows like the wind, price advantages prove ethereal, thereby forcing operators to speed up change of strategy, and what they come up with usually involves cost-cutting, which in turn, usually involves tax evasion and questionable sourcing of merchandise.

What would be more recommendable includes building of own-brand operations and maintaining of customer loyalty. Own-brand means consumers get one-of-a-kinds in a particular online store, which instantly nixes the case for price comparison; loyalty, because having old buyers back is easier than capturing new ones.

[+] Change of meaning of "basic services"

What new paradigm the advent of Internet has brought along is that basic services are supposed to be free of charge. That, however, leads us to wonder what basic services really mean. It used to mean the services one supplies only he/she get paid. To the dismay of website operators, it now means the services I must gladly serve up without the slightest glean of hope of being financially rewarded.

The business model of portal sites is the quintessential example the aforementioned situation. That is, peer competition finally gave way to a so-called "balance of terror," in which nobody was willing or, if you will, could afford to fall behind, meaning one must bulge in first and then try to come up with a viable business model.

The current Blog maniac is reminiscent of that craze, with an innocent start turning into a feeding frenzy. But any field-trip/on-site researchers would tell you that none of these Blog Service Providers (BSP) have been logging any hard cash. When asked about the business pattern they had in mind, the answer was a uniform "hasn't seen anything yet, but there is full of hope ahead." They were fooling nobody but themselves. But who can blame them? What is there to do expect following the lead blindly?

This is hardly unthinkable, since the exact same thing is happening to the ever-larger storage of free email service. That is, the definition of "basic service" has been involuntarily stretched too thin out of an unhealthy whim to please users (note: they are not consumers). In sum, with Internet comes the paradigm that money lies only with value added services.

You can get your web-based email account free, but for anything more (i.e. bigger storage, anti-virus features), you must pay; Blogs are free, but the gratuity ends strictly at blogging; Search for news during the past seven days is free of charge, that for news eight days from now or older is not.

Even the VoIP giant Skype, which is all the rage right now, dares not challenge such business model. As a result, what could have been a service that charges a fee by the minute is now a freebie. In its defense, Skype said it will seek to profit from such voice-based value added services such as voice mail or fortune-telling over Skype and other content services.

Despite everything, we are in no position to accuse Skype of defaulting on its responsibility as market leader to build a business model that carries higher profits. If Skype does not want to offer the service gratis, some other players will. In the end, competition will twist Skype's arms hard enough to force it to offer VoIP service free again. Most who came before did not have a choice; neither does Skype right now. That is, the name of this game is now officially "surviving on micro-profit."

[+] Bidding farewell to era of monopolizing lucrative business

Once online, all businesses must first and foremost deal with the pressure of price competition, and I am talking about a great deal of it. Now that one can only charge a fee for extra services, all the companies other than LV and Gucci should find this issue highly relevant.

By the time iMusic, a licit Taiwanese music download website, decided to close down after 18 months of operation, it has only logged a membership population of 100k-strong. This shows how reluctant consumers have become when it comes to paying for online music. After all, why pay when you can easily get it for free?

Unless what you sell is one-of-a-kind, or else the traditional wisdom of "product out, money in" is a law of gravity that no longer applies on the Internet. And the lesson in it is that music labels should now rethink whether they want to approach the issue of digital music authorization with the same old stuffy logic that have not induced any happy tune from any one.

What record labels can lay their finger on is but websites selling music online. The reality remains that consumers are free to download whatever rap, hip-hop, or teen pop they want. The deeply resented P2P might be beleaguered for a good reason, but what good does it do to vanquish it? One way or another, consumers will be able to get music free. It's what Internet is all about after all. Time to face the music, if you ask me. (
2005/06/11 - By Digitalwall.com - Way to
China Internet/Telecom )

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Prev : Brief Study at Portable Multimedia Player (PMP)


Next : Ultimate Mobile Device (1) Age of Hybrid Handset

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- Today in History

Web 2.0 Think Again (4) "Private Property" and "Class Inequality" - 2007/06/10

Ultimate Mobile Device (1) Age of Hybrid Handset - 2005/06/19

Pricing is a Handful for Internet Business - 2005/06/11