Re No Market

[Rowland Cheshire]

First of all, the phone and the concept are brilliant from what I can see. I 
use phones globally and have used many over the years here, there and 
everywhere. 

It seems there is a big wish list out there and expectations are high.
I would like to replace my 2 phones and PDA with one device. Why, because it's 
possible and because it's convenient.
The ability walk into a store anywhere in the world and buy a prepaid SIM card 
is about the most convenient and cheapest form of wandering phone use you can 
get, in my experience.
Try using a Japanese SoftBank global phone (previously vodafone) outside of 
Japan and watch the dollars (Yen) mount up. Or vice versa using a Telstra 
account globally.
As in a previous contribution to this mailing list, my concern with the 
Japanese market is what appears to be a lack of flexibility when it comes to 
providing what I would call a useable service. They just want to tie you up 
contractually, or otherwise sell you a prepaid phone of which the SIM card is 
inaccessible.
I will need to investigate further, but can FIC or someone on this forum 
confirm the availability of services in Japan without the encumbrance of 
purchasing the phone in Japan. In other words, is it possible in light of 
FIC's market research to simply purchase a prepaid SIM card in Japan.
I know of hundreds of expats who would be more than interested in this kind of 
flexibility.
In relation to A-GPS. I am using SuperMapple on another PDA for getting around 
the spaghetti that the Japanese call roads. I searched high and low for a 
Linux version with no result. 
My second question, can anyone confirm the coverage and maybe more 
importantly, the resolution and detail of a GPS mapping system useable on 
this phone in Japan.
I am happy to do the research on both these points, but that is pointless if 
the answers are already available.

Cheers, 

I am looking forward to the first release.