Neither iPhone or OpenMoko are revolutionary

[Ted Lemon]

On Jan 17, 2007, at 5:57 PM, Richard Franks wrote:
> I disagree - VoIP via WiFi is an obvious evolution rather than
> revolutionary. I don't think it's a 'killer app' either - in the terms
> of the phone manufacturer who is more likely to benefit from getting
> 6-12months lead and market share in an unexploited but growing market
> (Open Source Mobile Phones).

Hm.   I think that an open source phone is pretty revolutionary too,  
and I'm looking forward to it.   I'd just like to point out that you  
actually get some bang for your buck on VOIP even with a bluetooth  
phone.   It won't work at Starbucks, which is a shame, but it will  
work when you're at home, because you can get networking over  
bluetooth from your computer.

So you very much can do VOIP calling on an OpenMoko phone if the  
software gets written.   And when a new phone comes out with WiFi, the  
software *will* work at Starbucks.   Although I suspect it'll burn the  
battery something fierce, so it might not be all that useful.   But  
yeah, in theory, if it all works reasonably well, this would be really  
nice.

One thing to bear in mind is that at least for me, the ability to have  
a bluetooth headset is pretty important.   So if the WiFi nukes the  
bluetooth, that makes it pretty much worthless.

I do actually tend to think that a hybrid WiFi/GSM phone that isn't  
locked to a carrier *is* revolutionary, but it doesn't have to be the  
first product out of the gate, either.