The Hindu : New millennium mobile phones are here

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jan 10, 2003

International

International

New millennium mobile phones are here

By Anand Parthasarathy

SHANGHAI (CHINA) JAN. 9. Twenty years after it introduced the world's first commercial mobile phone, Motorola is ready to perform its funeral rites.

At `HelloMoto 2003,' its annual showcase for new products and technologies in the personal communication area, now ongoing here, executives referred tongue-in-cheek to "the device formally known as the cell phone." Its new global line-up for 2003, showed why, pure and simple cellphones were passé. The company unveiled, funky, futuristic pocket-sized playthings as well as high-end productivity tools, including phones which chameleon-like change both skin and shape, have embedded digital cameras, exploited "haptics" (the creative use of vibrations) to give a physical feel of the bass notes when music was played, crossed over seamlessly into personal computing territory and third generation handsets which did everything that hand-held pocket computers could do.

Echoing the famous Tata slogan of yesteryear ("We also make steel") Motorola, the number one mobile player in the world's biggest market, China, seemed to be saying: "Our phones also let you talk."

And for Indian users, encouraged by the recent drop in telecom charges and the advent of aggressive new providers, the Motorola's corporate vice-president and president (Asia-Pacific), Tom Masci, had some good news. Aware that entry-level prices were still holding back many potential Indian users he promised: "You will see a dramatic reduction in the pricing especially of CDMA (Code Division Multiplexed Access the technology behind India's limited mobility services) handsets within six months." Service providers were asking for sets that they could resell for around $100, he added.

U. Narendra Nayak, Motorola's Country Operations Manager for India told The Hindu that a realistic price for the budget CDMA mobile phone here would be around Rs. 6,000.

In effect end customers could expect a 30 per cent drop in prices this year he suggested.

Percy P. Batlivala, the company's Singapore-based General Manager for West Asia, said the Indian launches of Motorola handsets would be simultaneous with the rest of the world. But whatever the ultimate pricing, the message here when it came to the mobile phone business was: "Drab is dead. Get set for phones with `attitude' — in tune with the third millennium"

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New millennium mobile phones are here