|
The Motorola Q SmartPhone. (photo courtesy of Motorola) |
By MICHAEL ZITZ
MUST A SEXY phone be a bimbo phone? Or can it be smart, too?And if everybody buys smart phones, will they no longer qualify as smart? When the average person has one, will they become not-so-smart-phones?
A smart phone is a cell phone with e-mail, a small keyboard, Web browsing capability and PDA function, including a calendar and a contact list.
Designwise, at least until recently, smart phones have had all the sex appeal of a brick.
But early next year, when Motorola releases its stylish Q phone, the smart phone could begin to go mainstream. It's based on the slim and popular Razr V3, but has a QWERTY keyboard--the same setup used on PCs.
The ultra-thin, 11.5 mm-thick Q phone's e-mail features Microsoft's Windows Mobile software. It has powerful multimedia capabilities and a one-handed navigation thumb wheel. And it has a 1.3 megapixel camera with photo lighting, video and MP3 audio capabilities.
"The Motorola Q is being called a BlackBerry killer," said Alan Reiter, a wireless industry analyst based in Chevy Chase, Md., because "the traditional BlackBerry has lacked the bells and whistles the younger market wants."
But, Reiter said, such speculation is meaningless months before a phone is released.
"You can't determine the success of a phone by simply looking at a publicity photo," he said.
He said you have to touch it, see how it feels in your hand, see how tactile its keyboard is and see how it will be priced.
Reiter said he wouldn't be surprised to see smart phones become popular with the young.
"A feature-laden phone is a lot less scary to a typical 16-year-old than to the typical 50-year-old," he said.
For now, the star of the smart phone market is the palmOne Treo 650, son of the Handspring Treo 600, which was the breakthrough device for the genre.
The Rev. Deborah J. Hertle, chaplain of Carriage Hill Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Fredericksburg, said, "I've moved to the Treo 650 and it's a delight--much easier to use than the 600. I'm impressed."
Reiter said the Treo 650 has a much sharper screen than its predecessor. He said photos look better on it, and so does text and the Internet.
Hertle said the Treo 650, paired with the Jabra BT 250v Bluetooth headset, "is the best thing since peanut butter" when used in public places like the grocery store.
BlackBerry, previously identified solely as a business device, has made strides in the budding consumer market for smart phones with its new RIM 7100g, a sleek phone that incorporates BlackBerry's ease of e-mail and Internet browsing with mobile calling.
"The RIM 7100g is definitely an attempt to break into a broader market," Reiter said.
Mark Guibert, RIM's vice president of corporate marketing in New York, said while BlackBerry has obviously been popular with large businesses and government organizations for years, many people are now also opting for BlackBerry as their mobile device of choice for personal use.
"After all, e-mail and messaging have become entrenched in our personal lives as well as at work," Guibert said. "Many successful technologies, including the ubiquitous cell phone, start off in corporate circles before gaining popularity with mainstream consumers."
The 7100 Series has expanded the market for BlackBerry because it packs all the advanced e-mail and messaging features expected of the name and delivers them in a handset that looks and feels like a traditional cell phone. Even though RIM doesn't provide analysis on its business vs. consumer sales, it's obvious that a whole new group of users are now choosing BlackBerry, including soccer moms who need a PDA to keep up with their kids' schedules and e-mail-addicted teens.
The company said the total number of BlackBerry subscribers in the most recent quarter increased by 592,000 to 3.11 million total subscribers, a massive 24 percent jump.
Alexa Kaufman of Cingular Wireless said the RIM 7100g "is getting rave reviews from a lot of folks" because of its sleek design and its QWERTY keyboard.
"This one is really designed to converge more with phone features," she said.
She said Cingular's smart phone sales have gone from being mostly corporate-oriented to seeing more small businesses and people who are self-employed.
"People are becoming more reliant on their e-mail," Kaufman said, "and they're getting more comfortable with technology."
Verizon Wireless' John Johnson agreed, saying, "I'm amazed at the number of younger and younger people carrying BlackBerrys.
"Just based on our sales, we believe the smart phone market is broadening," he said. "There are far more features being built into more and more affordable devices."
This week Cingular Wireless became the first carrier to offer Good Technology's GoodLink wireless messaging and data access software and service on Windows Mobile-enabled smart phones.
It's on the Audiovox SMT 5600 and the Motorola MPx220 smart phones. Both devices now provide continuous two-way wireless synchronization of corporate Microsoft Outlook applications, including e-mail, calendar, contacts, notes and tasks, and incorporate a lightweight handset.
The Audiovox SMT5600 is a "candy bar" style smart phone that weighs just 3.6 ounces. The Motorola MPx220 is a quad-band flip-phone.
Verizon Wireless' Samsung SCH-i730 smart phone is a pocket PC device; a slider phone that reveals a keyboard and has Wi-Fi and broadband access service built in.
"It will do everything," Johnson said.
In addition to e-mail, it has external memory, a Bluetooth speakerphone and even functions as a universal remote control.
The remote control capability is the kind of feature that could grab young men.
"I believe these phones are appealing to a younger and younger user," Johnson said.
To reach MICHAEL ZITZ:
