‘Tis the season to buy!
And with some wireless carriers estimating that between 30 percent and 40 percent of their business takes place this quarter, the industry should be as giddy about the coming month as a turkey that is still pecking dirt at the farm.
While PCS carriers interviewed for RCR’s special holiday report said they weren’t offering lower airtime rates for the most part, PCS manufacturers and carriers are planning to lure gift buyers with cheaper handsets.
Cellular operators have their own enticements. Locally, AirTouch is all over TV promoting a $170 Motorola Inc. StarTac phone. For the shopping weary, some cellular carriers will practically wrap the gift and sign the card-or at least deliver the handset and service to your door.
I know in our family a certain 12-year-old nephew would just as soon have an MTV pager than (another) NFL-, NBA- or NHL-sanctioned jersey.
Of course, along with all the attention wireless is bound to receive, the media also is scrutinizing the industry.
Locally, one of the TV stations took wireless phones from the five operators here and compared them for dropped calls, quality, etc.
Business Week reported in its Nov. 24 annual technology buying guide that the StarTac is “still the coolest of the cool.” Warren Beatty and Tommy Hilfiger both have been given StarTacs from the founder of Def Jam Recordings. (I have to confess, never heard of the guy).
Qualcomm Inc.’s Q phone has the edge on features, with caller ID and the like, while analog phones from Nokia Mobile Phones, L.M. Ericsson, Sony Corp. and others make the grade.
For the Internet-access crowd, Business Week recommends the Nokia 9000i, the Samsung Duette and the Mitsubishi MobileAccess.
For pagers, Business Week highlights Wireless Access’ AccessLink, Research In Motion’s Inter@ctive pager and Motorola’s PageWriter 2000. The PalmPilot also gets a nod as a nifty little device.
Consumer Reports didn’t consider Hollywood star power when it came out with its recommendations for wireless phones, but the magazine had enough categories to consider without adding that one. The good news is the magazine tested 15 analog phones and found a dozen of them rated excellent or very good overall. For battery life, Consumer Reports picked the NEC TalkTime 820.
Looks like that wireless pie is going to grow a little more.
