The Next Big Thing...The Cell Phone

from the skepticism-please? dept

Tue, Jun 24th 2003 9:52am — Mike Masnick

Some more wireless mania for you. Business 2.0 is running a positively gushing piece about all the glorious opportunities they see surrounding the mobile phone as the next big platform. For such a hyped-up piece, there's almost nothing new in there. There's also zero skepticism. It's as if the writers bought every press release they've seen in the past year at face value. Yes, wireless opportunities surrounding the mobile phone are a big deal - but they don't seem to question a single thing. What happened to the post-boom reporters who promised not to fall for such hype again? They write things like: "Who among us can't imagine a very near future when we'll get reports on dinner possibilities via video cell phones from spouses "embedded" at the grocery store?" Well, I can imagine it, but I don't think it's that big of a deal. They also are incredibly excited about ringtones - a market that many now think isn't long for this world. I agree that wireless is a huge opportunity - and some of the things they talk about in the article are quite interesting. However, the last thing we need is for these sorts of articles that lack any sort of critical thinking about the space.

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Anonymous Coward, 24 Jun 2003 @ 10:13am

Extreme Ring Tones?
Could we see the advent of supersized cell phones for the inner city market, with subwoofers that blast out rap music when the phone rings? An 80s retro fashion statement of carrying bazooka-sized noise makers.

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Anonymous Coward, 24 Jun 2003 @ 11:33am

How about Mobile Mobile Phones?
I saw the news yesterday about the 30 million bees that escaped from an overturned bee truck on the highway, which got me thinking: What about a new generation of ornithoptic cell phones that fly around, and will fly into your ear when you need them? If you have voice mail, it will fly into your mouth and speak. True supply and demand economics, no more hassle with lost phones or dead batteries.

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nil-ram, 24 Jun 2003 @ 11:46am

Wow, honey!
"Who among us can't imagine a very near future when we'll get reports on dinner possibilities via video cell phones from spouses 'embedded' at the grocery store?"

I can't. "Which do you think looks, better, honey? The chicken or the salmon? Doesn't the broccoli look really fresh today?" Sorry, I don't get it. She's more likely to call her girlfriends, "Hey, look at the cute butt on this checker..."
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