Suits 2.0 - questions answered

Well, it's been an active weekend here on the X-Series blog, with loads of questions and comments, especially around the most recent post by Frank Sixt, HWL's Group Finance Director. Here Frank answers a couple of comments from that post.

Adrian writes: I just read on SMS Text News about someone who had been extremely enthusiastic about the X-Series being charged £1.35 for an email. How does that fit in?

Frank writes: It doesn't fit at all and I am looking into it personally. We are of course in early days here and there are bound to be gremlins from time to time but the principles behind the X-Series are very clear and will not be compromised. We will get back to you on this one.

Mobile Boffin writes (in response to Frank's drinks cabinet analogy): But what if, as your guest, I wanted to drink something from a bottle that I brought with me (i.e. use a different application on the handset other than the ones you indicate)? Are we allowed to do that? On my home broadband, I am allowed to drink from most any bottle out there on the Internet. Given that I have to use your mail client if I want to send or receive email it sounds like I am limited to only the bottles you have pre-selected for me. Will there ever be an offering that allows me to select any bottle I want?

Frank writes: Dear Boffin, I have no doubt that such a time will come. It is early days in terms of fixed-mobile convergence in the applications domain so BYOB doesn't work at the X-Series drinks party for now. The reason is that there is of course no ubiquity in terms of operating systems for mobiles as there is for PCs and laptops. Although I am convinced the industry will move fairly quickly towards more homogeneous standards, for the time being many applications need to be re-written or adapted as clients to work in mobiles. And we we, of course, have to work with handset makers to make that happen and to ensure integration of the client with user interfaces so that the application will be useful in mobility. If you have a pet application you think would really fly for mobile users let me know and I'll see if we can enable you to bring it to future drinks parties.

Comments

[Craig]

I was wondering about future X-series handsets. If we release the N93, do you know if we'll be releasing it as X-series? From the specs I've seen, both that and the N73 have Symbian OS 9.1, S60 3rd edition so it doesn't look as though there would be a huge problem making this one X-series. From feedback I've had from customers this would be a popular one, especially as it also has WiFi capabilities, so it would be a great way of building on our convergence idea. Thanks.

[Ewan]

If you release the N93 with X-Series, I'll have Frank's babies

[carlo]

Frank, your comment makes sense in terms of porting the X-Series applications to different devices, however, why shouldn't users be able to install their own applications on X-Series devices and use them? After all, that is the attraction of having a smartphone for many users.

It's great that 3 is bundling these applications on the device, making them easier to access and simplifying the pricing -- those are all fantastic steps. However, limiting what users can do with the device to only using applications you've approved would seem to indicate that the walled garden hasn't disappeared, it's just gotten a little bit bigger.

[Darren]

Do you have a release date for the Sony Ericsson W950 on X-Series yet? That's what I'm waiting for now...

[Thomas L]

Skype in and Skype out is not enabled yet. In the FAQ it says that it will be.

I am just a bit afraid that you will not. Just like we can't install new software.

Afterall you (three that is) got a buisness running. If I could use Skype I might call people in foreign contries, people with a landline etc. much cheaper - and three will not get any money.
Likewise, - there will be no termination-money to three when someone calls me on my Skype-in number.

And this might be the reason why pepole can't "bring there own bottles" too.

I can't do the math really. There are just way to many unknown, - but on one hand the above surely is true. On the other hand allowing people to do this might very well be what makes three the number one mobile company which means you'll get the monthly fee but probably also extra in termination-fee (when people do call my 'regular' three number) as well as extra money for extra minutes (to mobiles or because I am to lazy to use Skype-out), music as well as other services.

I guess that in a few years it will happend anyway. Some wireless broanband provider using Wifi or a new technology we don't even know about yet or a phone company will do the flat-rate wireless broadband.
And it will just be a question of time before the rest of the phoneproviders will follow - or see most of their customers gone.

Will 3 be the company to pull that trigger?
I don't know

Will now be the right time?
I don't know

But X-series is a stone on the way. I'm just afraid that it will not be the final stone.

[T.J. Crowder]

Belated response to Mr. Sixt (I posted an earlier version of this over at http://www.3g.co.uk/3GForum before I realised this was a more appropriate place for the comment):

Your approach to fair use sounds great, very attractive, and barring the below I really want to ditch Vodafone in favor of 3. But why the limit on using your phone as a modem for your notebook when you're out and about and can't get to WiFi spot? As long as I'm not replacing my broadband access with it (and let's face, it, 3G's still not that fast -- although your HSDPA initiative is promising), why isn't that Fair Use?

I'd be a 3 X-Series customer right now if I knew that I could use a Motorola V3xx (because of the HSDPA feature) with the X-Series product as a modem for my notebook when I'm at customer sites where I can't access my external email accounts. (I'm a software consultant.) I'd buy the handset and access from 3. But that's not "fair use" according to your policy, and you don't have X-Series for the V3xx or a stripped-down version which just offers the nifty web aspects without the Skype, etc. (Not that I wouldn't like Skype!)

3 seems to be leading a charge in the right direction, but these stumbling blocks are keeping you from really capitalising on your innovation. Despite my strong leaning that direction, 3 hasn't managed to remove those last barriers to the sale.

Regards,
--
T.J. Crowder