Dec 2005
The cell phone industry seems to be going from strength to strength. According to a report by Reuters, 810 million mobile phones will be sold this year, which is almost 20% more than the 680 million phones sold last year. Still, phone set makers are optimistic that they can sell more. According to their projections, 3.5 billion people now live in areas with cell phone coverage who still don’t have cell phones, so the potential market is still big, and affordability is one of the reasons why they still don’t have it.
So cell phone makers are gearing up to slash their cost, and according to studies, they aim to cut cost so that they can offer handsets as low as $20 by 2007 and probably as low as $15 by 2008.
Again , competition for this industry means consumers may benefit, but the companies have to continue to streamline their operations so that they will continue to be viable and profitable at ever lower selling price, something that is happening in a lot of industries.
One of the exciting things I saw three years ago in a Microsoft conference was the PC Media Center Edition. This was Microsoft’s plan to introduce home entertainment in the living room. It essentially is a PC that is spruced up so that you can watch television, view pictures, listen to music, play video games, and play/record videos all in one box.
It actually does not differ that much from a PC that you use in the office, except of course, the media center normally would contain Mirosoft Windows Media Center Edition. It will also come with a TV and radio tuner card so that you can get the signals, both from cable , radio, and TV broadcast. It will also come with a remote which allows you to operate the set not only from the keyboard, but as usual with a TV, from a handheld remote device to easily change channels, view pictures, or choose music.
Although media center PCs have been sold in the United States, and over a million units have been sold, it has not found the widespread acceptance because of some glitches, and the price. Lately, Microsoft introduced the Media Center 2005 which have won some raves as a much improved version.
The Media Center PC normally comes up with big and fast hard disk – most models would come with 120 gigabytes or even more. Latest models I saw from HP comes with 160 or 200 gigabytes and a 256 mb video card ( since graphic speed is also important).
The latest HP Media Center, the m7288d, comes with the latest version which HP Plans to introduce to the Cebu market this month, also comes with a 9 in 1 card reader - SmartMedia, MultiMediaCard, Secure Digital, Memory Stick/Memory Stick Pro, IBM Micro Drive and xD Media.
It also comes with the Lightscribe CD writer. If you still have not heard about this, this is a CD Writer that not only allows you to burn CD, but on the other side, it also allows you to burn an image of the title or pictures so that you don’t have to use a felt pen, or something else to write your titles. It also comes with an 802.11g adapter, so that the computer can easily become the center of the home entertainment center.
The unit, though , is still a little bit pricey, at about 100,000 pesos each, but if you consider that it takes the place of your DVD player, stereo set, photo album, computer, and home entertainment system, it could well deliver the value in just one box. And if you want the ability to edit your own movies or songs, or mix it up, there is no better machine.
Convergence is coming in. We now watch videos, view pictures, play games, do research, and listen to music through the computer or computer enabled gadgets and devices. I think soon, we are going to be hearing more of these home entertainment systems.
Wilson Ng keeps a blog of his writings in www.ngkhai.net/bizdrivenlife