Fragmented market

The best thing about the U.S. wireless market is that it is full of choice. And while all of those choices make the market complicated, it also spurs development and advances the industry.
U.S. consumers have access to more than 700 wireless devices today, according to CTIA. And despite all of the talk about the benefits of open access, which would force carriers to open their network to all devices and applications that can technically run on that network, content developers have been quick to point out that open access could just result in more headaches. Think about it this way: To build an application for the entire U.S. market, a developer would have to make sure an app can run on 700 different devices.
In contrast, CTIA says there are fewer than 200 different handsets in the United Kingdom. Using one technology (GSM) simplifies things.
But beyond air-interface technology, other aspects of cellphones further segment the market. Just last week I experimented with a number of different keypads. I got to play with something called “Phraze-It,” an onscreen keyboard application, which is being marketed as an alternative to the QWERTY keyboard. The Phraze-It keyboard segments the alphabet into five categories and each category starts with a vowel. Separately, Samsung last week introduced its Blast handset, which combines two letters to a button, and is geared at the text-savvy crowd. And finally, last week I brought my children’s Nintendo DS-Lites into the RCR Wireless News office to see how far we could use the gadget’s PictoChat option, which allows users to communicate with each other as long as they are nearby. RCR Wireless News Managing Editor Dan Meyer used the device’s keyboard option to talk to me, while I used the stylus to write him messages freehand.
A touchscreen, a stylus, a keypad, voice, whatever.
The market is getting messier. Different methods of communication are called for at different times and in different circumstances. And therein lies the beauty and the messiness of wireless.