- From: Stephane Boyera <boyera@w3.org>
- Date: Wed, 05 Nov 2008 12:36:05 +0100
- To: "Ken Banks, kiwanja.net" <donotreply@kiwanja.net>
- CC: public-mw4d@w3.org
> Also, it was interesting yesterday to see in Nokia's new "Life Tools" announcement that their mobile-based services >(providing a range of 'ICT4D' information to users, including agriculture and education) will be fed via SMS, and not > any kind of data connection: Well, we should surely differentiate their suite of services from the hardware. they are indeed basing their services on sms, because that's the most widely available connectivity without required configuration. Their phones have all GPRS and edge access and some have a browser, all being able to host opera mini. So clearly this is a great step ahead towards making mobile web available on low-cost See the full PR at http://www.nokia.com/A41403253 So now looking at the service side (Nokia Life Tools), i don't know what to think. Generally speaking, I believe that operators and handset manufacturers are not the right players for the service side. In my own view, operator should provide the pipes, the handset manufacturers should focus on providing a generic platform, and then it should be up to "other parties" to focus on the service side, which would work on all devices, connected to all operators. the "other parties" in my mind are ngos/grass-roots, government, ... So all in one, i believe that the news published yesterday is a great step ahead to promot web access. The characteristics of the phones presented, as well as their pricing scheme will surely largely extend the availability of web-enable phones. I don't see the life tools as an incredible hope to have services available to all. Steph -- Stephane Boyera stephane@w3.org W3C +33 (0) 5 61 86 13 08 BP 93 fax: +33 (0) 4 92 38 78 22 F-06902 Sophia Antipolis Cedex, France
Received on Wednesday, 5 November 2008 11:36:18 UTC