Clamshells, SMS, Maps, Music and Software

[slitchfield]

Yep, it's all in the latest All About Symbian Insight podcast, number 25. Specifically, we look at the Asus M930 vs the Nokia E90, the Cost of SMS and a discussion around messaging costs, Maps on Ovi, Nokia's new Music PC application, and some top software picks.

Read on in the full article.

[davidmaxwaterma]

Interesting 'insight', as usual.

I just thought I'd counter the UK-centric discussion on SMS costs by quoting the cost in China. It costs "1 mao" which is 0.1RMB per SMS - that's about 1.4p in UK money - and they still make a profit.

Note that labour is very cheap here, so that cost is minimised. Technology stuff usually costs a little bit more than in 'the west'.

It might indicate how much profit is being made there.

[krisse]

It costs "1 mao" which is 0.1RMB per SMS - that's about 1.4p in UK money - and they still make a profit.

SMSes cost virtually nothing for the phone companies to send, they would probably still made a profit in the UK with texts at 1.4p. It's just a few dozen characters, takes up hardly any bandwidth at all. My understanding is that SMS prices are almost pure profit, even at 10p a text.

Labour costs aren't really as much of an issue for mobile networks because it's not a labour-intensive industry. Mobile phone towers need repairs from time to time but they generally operate automatically. I should think the main labour costs for the networks would be in customer support and sales services.

[snoyt]

I get a free sms package each month. And still I only to sms to people when there is a need. 160 chars is outdated. SMS should be free and at least 4096 chars. In general I just e-mails from my phone. Attaching picture and short movies. And MMS are horrible expensive compared to e-mail on my phone mms are. They are just milking the non tech-savy.

Snoyt