2004: My Next Wireless Phone

[Sean McMahon]

We need some sort of marketing campagne for screenless phones that shows all
those people driving and having trouble reading thecaller id when their
whatever rings. Just my cent worth
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Geoff Shang" <gshang at pacific.net.au>
To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux." <speakup at braille.uwo.ca>
Sent: Thursday, December 25, 2003 1:12 PM
Subject: Re: 2004: My Next Wireless Phone


> Hi:
>
> I only managed to find one page on the site about the phone, and that was
> in the news section.
>
> http://www.owasys.com/accesible_en/new14.html
>
> If there's an actual product page, I'd like to know where it is.
>
> As much as I like the idea of a phone that's designed for our needs and
> that runs Linux, I have to say that I have the same reservations as I do
> about any custom solutions rather than adaptations of regular devices.
> How long will it take this phone to become out of date?  How speedy will
> development of the next model be?  How long will it continue to be
> developed, given the relatively small returns from a niche market?  An
> accessible solution from a major phone manufacturer is bound to have a
> longer lifespan and be kept up to date more, due to the fact that it's
only
> one of an entire product line which can and is being used by everyone
(well
> most).  We saw the same with sharp products. They made excellent talking
> clocks, calculators, even talking video remotes.  But each product went
off
> the market.  Why?  Because, I'm guessing, of the relatively small returns
> that came from the R&D money required to develop them.  If one of, say,
> Nokia's phones was shipped with accessibility features built in, then it
> would be snapped up by not only us, but the average Joe on the street, as
> phones are.  The average user would just be buying it because it was the
> next new phone, but their doing so would (1) help to keep the price down
> (by dividing the extra development costs among more buyers), and (2)
ensure
> its continued success due to more people buying it.
>
> Disclaimer: I am not an economist, nor do I pretend to have studied any
> form of economics.  It just seems like common sense to me.
>
> Geoff.
>
>
>
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