Registered: Oct 2001
Location:
Posts: 203

Treo on shelves in Hong Kong

Handspring today announced retail availability of the company�s new compact communicator, the Treo 180 and 180g, to customers in Hong Kong.

http://www.visorcentral.com/content/Stories/1381-1.htm

Registered: Jan 2001
Location: Misplaced Canuck in Charleston SC
Posts: 257

rats, why do they always get to see the cool toys first?

__________________
-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version: 3.12
GS d-(+) s: a C++ UX++++V++S++ P+>+++ L>+++ E+>++ W++ N++(+++) o? K? w !O !M V-- PS PE Y+ PGP++ t++ 5++ X++ R+ tv++ b++(+++) DI++++ D+ G++ e+++>++++ h--- r+++ y?
-----END GEEK CODE BLOCK-----

Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Albany, New York, USA
Posts: 19

Why is Treo not available until March?

Is Handspring Stupid? They are introducing their products in Europe and the Pacific Rim, before the US? Now the product that was supposed to available in January is now not going to be available until March. (Check out http://www.marketwatch.com/news/yho...1D7AE2C66FFE%7D)

Maybe they know what they are doing.

Registered: Nov 2001
Location: charleston,sc
Posts: 14

when in the US?

By the time they show here in the US there will be something better close by. This must be punishment for the sales of the VisorPhone and data link here in the US. Besides let them use the other world markets to workout all the bugs so when it does show here we will have a more stable product. but it may backfire if sony comes out with a wireless device with their T line and going up against the plam i705 the treo could have a major problem here in the US. Oh and please give us visorphone users a good discount for our loyalty!!!

Registered: Dec 2001
Location: Kuala Lumpur
Posts: 10

Maybe you guys are forgetting that Europe and Asia have excellent GSM coverage (except Korea/Japan).

So the dude in Hong Kong, flies to Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Australia and New Zealand and he can use his Treo with roaming in all these countries and more. Not to mention that Hong Kong being a small island would have close to 100% GSM coverage also.

Sames goes for Europe, you go anywhere there and your Treo will work.

In the US people still complain about GSM lacking coverage etc.

GPRS is already out also, so they have a larger market to test GPRS on Treo as well when it becomes available. Hong Kong is also a good market for high tech gadgets.

Hope it does well their for Visor, cause PDA+Bluetooth+Cell Phone is a cheaper combination already. And both the PDA and Cellphone can be upgraded (colour, faster GPRS) unlike the Treo.

__________________
No bird soars too high, if he soars with his own wings - William Blake

Last edited by flashk on 01-30-2002 at 01:33 AM

Registered: Aug 2000
Location:
Posts: 137

Any Hong Kong members here?

If you get the Treo, tell us what you think about it.

Thanks.
Mike

__________________
Million Dollar Bills, anyone?

<a href="http://www.millionbill.com">www.MillionBill.com</a>

Registered: Feb 2001
Location: Penn State
Posts: 116

900/1800 or 900/1900?

I have heard that Treo is 900/1800 MHz in Asia (at least in Taiwan). Is it true? So the model is different from US model? Is US model 900/1900?
TIA

Registered: Feb 2000
Location: London, UK
Posts: 92

Yep, in established GSM markets, Treo uses the standard frequencies, for maximum compatibility with carriers.

In the US, it offers 900 for when you visit other places, and 1900 to use at home, instead of 1800.

Frankly, it seems most sensible to sell it first in places that have the infrastructure that's necessary to help it succeed, and it's good to see an US company looking beyond their shores like that. If they'd done the same with the Visorphone, they might well have sold a lot of them, but there was never a 900/1800 version.

Nigel.

Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Albany, New York, USA
Posts: 19

Why not sell it in the US too?

Yes GSM is not widespread here, but why not sell it here as well as elsewhere? Not doing anything for their market share in their largest market.

Registered: Feb 2000
Location: London, UK
Posts: 92

Re: Why not sell it in the US too?

quote:

---

Originally posted by slawyer
Not doing anything for their market share in their largest market.

---

Registered: Feb 2001
Location: Penn State
Posts: 116

Re: Re: Why not sell it in the US too?

quote:

---

Originally posted by nwhitfield

It might hurt american pride, but it's a fact of life; until your GSM market matures, you're not going to get most of the neat GSM gadgets first.

---

Registered: Feb 2000
Location: London, UK
Posts: 92

Historically speaking, the GSM1800 networks have tended to be cheaper than the longer established GSM900 ones, certainly in the UK and a few other European countries that I know of.

BUT that's generally been the case when these extra networks started; over time competition (and regulation, which seems alien to some in the US) has evened things out quite a lot.

On the roaming front, you may or may not be losing out. It depends on the deals offered by your carrier, and if you don't have a choice of carrier, then yep, you might get a bum deal and not be able to select a cheaper network.

In Europe, however, more and more carriers are moving to simpler pricing, because the choice of GSM can be confusing. If I'm in the Netherlands, I'd have a choice of five networks to select from when I landed at Schipol, and lots of punters won't want to worry about what to choose. So my home network (which is also one of the cheapest for roaming) now does a flat rate system - any network, in any country in the Western Europe zone, will cost me the same to use. Same for US, Asia, Australia and so on. So if I had a single band 1800 phone, or used VisorPhone abroad and so could only pick a 900MHz network, it wouldn't matter.

Of course, that's happened because of the number of GSM networks and competition between them, which is a result of enforced standardisation leading to a mature market.

The US has gone for the opposite approach, leaving things to the market (someone will probably come along and tell me Europe is communist or something daft in a moment...). And leaving it to the market hasn't really worked in wireless for you; you might find a couple of networks in each area, but with wildly differing technologies, people have to swap phones to move.

Why GSM 1900 is used in the US instead of 1800 I don't know; perhaps someone can give a convincing technical or licensing reason. A fair number of people I've chatted with seem to hold the opinion that it's a case of "NIH" or "Not Invented Here" syndrome, but that's just cynical ;-)

Whether GSM will mature (or wireless at all) in the US, I don't know; you're certainly a long way off the penetration in Europe. I know more of your carriers are promising GSM, but I imagine it'll be a while yet before most people have a choice of four carriers, which is pretty common in most of Europe.

Nigel.

Registered: Feb 2001
Location: Them Twin Cities
Posts: 1758

Nigel, you are my wireless network hero. VC ought to have you write a front page editiorial in defense of GSM.

__________________
Don't like somebody? Click "Profile" on a post and then click "Ignore "so and so's" posts". Voila!

Registered: Feb 2000
Location: London, UK
Posts: 92

quote:

---

Originally posted by dietrichbohn
Nigel, you are my wireless network hero.

---

Registered: Feb 2001
Location: Them Twin Cities
Posts: 1758

quote:

---

Originally posted by nwhitfield


Swoon!

And you weren't even put off by my picture!

---

__________________
Don't like somebody? Click "Profile" on a post and then click "Ignore "so and so's" posts". Voila!

Registered: Feb 2001
Location: Penn State
Posts: 116

quote:

---

Originally posted by nwhitfield
Why GSM 1900 is used in the US instead of 1800 I don't know; perhaps someone can give a convincing technical or licensing reason. A fair number of people I've chatted with seem to hold the opinion that it's a case of "NIH" or "Not Invented Here" syndrome, but that's just cynical ;-)

---

Just like why they chose 2.45GHz for microwave heating, there is no technical reason at all. A lot of times, you will be suprised by how they decided technical issues by non-technical reasons. The more rediculous the reason is, the more likely it is true.

Registered: Jul 2000
Location:
Posts: 3034

quote:

---

Originally posted by nwhitfield
[...] The US has gone for the opposite approach, leaving things to the market (someone will probably come along and tell me Europe is communist or something daft in a moment...). And leaving it to the market hasn't really worked in wireless for you; you might find a couple of networks in each area, but with wildly differing technologies, people have to swap phones to move.

---

What's that line from the Hertz commercial? "Not exactly." The US has done anything _but_ leave it to the market (if they had let market forces decide, we'd probably be on the same spectrums).

quote:

---

Why GSM 1900 is used in the US instead of 1800 I don't know; perhaps someone can give a convincing technical or licensing reason. A fair number of people I've chatted with seem to hold the opinion that it's a case of "NIH" or "Not Invented Here" syndrome, but that's just cynical ;-)

---

Yes, it is, and innacurately cynical at that. The reason they didn't do it was pretty simple. DoD was already using almost all of the downlink spectrum for DCS/GSM 1800 (1710-1785MHz), and they didn't want to relocate at the time. It appears that that may be changing soon, though, with the push for 3G services.

quote:

---

Whether GSM will mature (or wireless at all) in the US, I don't know; you're certainly a long way off the penetration in Europe. I know more of your carriers are promising GSM, but I imagine it'll be a while yet before most people have a choice of four carriers, which is pretty common in most of Europe.

---

The problem with penetration in the States is geographical. Our population is much more spread out that Europe's and we still 'need' that link even between populated areas. That's why analog is still King Coverage, and 800MHz GSM is going to be a new 'standard' in the US long before Europe and the US meet on standards.

Registered: Jul 2000
Location:
Posts: 3034

quote:

---

Originally posted by hxh167
Just like why they chose 2.45GHz for microwave heating, there is no technical reason at all. A lot of times, you will be suprised by how they decided technical issues by non-technical reasons. The more rediculous the reason is, the more likely it is true.

---

Registered: Feb 2000
Location: London, UK
Posts: 92

quote:

---

Originally posted by Toby
What's that line from the Hertz commercial? "Not exactly." The US has done anything _but_ leave it to the market (if they had let market forces decide, we'd probably be on the same spectrums).

---

Registered: Jul 2000
Location:
Posts: 3034

edit:Excellent...I found the link I'd been looking for that explains the different evolutions. As you can see, the environments were totally different. In Europe, there were multiple analog standards which created problems, so they tried to unify them when they went digital. OTOH, the US was a monolithic analog standard, and when they went digital, the FCC was trying to _encourage_ different standards and competition.

http://www.gsmdata.com/es53060/history.htm

quote:

---

Originally posted by nwhitfield
It's not so much the spectrum I'm thinking about here, but the number of different standards.

---

Last edited by Toby on 01-31-2002 at 06:06 PM