Retailing wireless is currently impractical

With WiFi still being a current buzz, here’s a sobering thought. A Sony SVP (Senior Vice President) told me recently that they understood that 60% of all wireless equipment that was bought at retail for home usage was returned. The reason is that it’s just too complicated install, even for people with technical skills. Now that’s not an economical business for anyone not the equipment producers or the retailers – and not only that but it creating a set of disenchanted easily adopters, who are the very people you need to be evangelising.Until the use of equipment is as easy as using an FM radio – place it down, turn it on and listen – this stuff isn’t going to be mass market.

China fund BB video phones

This is an interesting step in the use of broadband connections.

The China External Trade Development Council (CETRA) is setting up free broadband video phone service between their offices local and oversea offices in an effort to minimise the affect of SARS on the flow of business with Taiwan.

Five CETRA office in Taipei, Hsinchu, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung will make their connections available to certified businesses at zero cost for one hour per day until the end of October. These offices will have the ability to connect to CETRA’s oversea offices in San Francisco, Toronto, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Paris, Warsaw, Osaka, Dusseldorf and London.

Over 1m UK ADSL customers

BT are trumpeting the news that they now have over one million ADSL customers in the UK. It is important to recognise that these aren’t all customer who have bought directly from BT but include all of the ADSL customer who have bought an ADSL product from ISP’s who resell BT’s wholesale product. With this knowledge it makes this quote from their press released slightly misleading

“The UK is the most competitive broadband market in the world. There are more than 100 ADSL providers – and cable companies have more than 50 per cent market share”

The UK is competitive to a point, but only as far as the resellers fighting for tiny margins on top of BT’s fixed wholesale prices.

Sixteen months ago BT pledged to have half a million customers connected to its own product, BT Broadband, by this summer but it noticeable that this isn’t mentioned and it is believed they will fall significantly short of this.

Sony UK release PS2 online – 11 June

Following the recent UK trial, Sony is starting to sell the online Network Adaptor kit from 11 June, priced at £24.99.

Sony’s adaptor works both on dialup and broadband, where as the Xbox version is broadband only.

There will only be two titles available initially; SOCOM: US Navy SEALs and Twisted Metal Black Online, but they are both highly rated. In the US Twisted Metal Black Online was given away with the Network Adaptor but Sony UK have not decided to do this.