How To Convince Consumers To Buy 3G
The folks at the Thinking Box have come out with their recommendations on how to get people to buy 3G phones. They really have two suggestions - one we agree with and one we don't. The one we agree with is that carriers should offer "bundles" to groups of friends. 3G phones have much less value if none of your friends have one. Who are you going to send stuff to? Packaging a bunch of phones as a group deal does make some sense. Of course, there are those who will say that internet data content should be enough to drive users to the phones in the meantime. Their other suggestion is based on the belief that people want 3G phones for video calling. They say that their studies have found that's one of the main reason people want the phones, and thus, anyone selling the phones needs to be able to demonstrate a working video call. Maybe it's a European thing, but we didn't think that video calls are that big of a draw. For decades in the landline world people keep trying to pitch the concept of the video phone, and every time it turns out that people really don't want to be seen when they're talking. It's two different types of communication. Sometimes it is nice and/or useful to have video capabilities, but is it a real feature that will drive purchasing decisions? The Thinking Box says yes. The jury is still out here.
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Filed Under: 3g
