christmasgorilla - Latest Comments in Why Japan's Smartphones Haven't Gone Global

Re: Why Japan's Smartphones Haven't Gone Global

tinusguichelaar — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 10:03:38 -0000

Copyright doesn't bother me that much. I would gladly pay to rent movies from iTunes, if it was available here in The Netherlands, which it's not. I use The Pirate Bay because the entertainment industry doesn't understand how I want to consume their media, not because I hate copyright. Their loss.

If the ISP's start filtering specific websites, the same filter can (and probably will) be used to influence net neutrality. Just like Apple (or AT&T) blocked the Google Voice App for the iPhone, ISP's can decide to block Google Voice. That isn't far fetched, because all big ISP's over here are also wireless carriers and they're probably dying to get rid of Google's innovative application.

Just like you said, wireless carriers are part of big cartels and if this cartel decides to block (for example) Youtube from their networks if Google doesn't pay up, the face of the entire internet will change.

ISP's should never block any website. They are data pipes, not gatekeepers.

Re: Why Japan's Smartphones Haven't Gone Global

christmasgorilla — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 09:42:42 -0000

I agree but you've sort of used a free as in ice cream vs a free as
in freedom example. It seems that much of what you reference is about
various content owners protecting their copyright. I agree that
copyright law needs to change to accomodate the web (I'm a fan of
Lawrence Lessig) and that there will probably be an overreactive
lockdown (or perhaps the RIAA has already seen to that).

But I also think that the arguments over content licensing and piracy
are only a small part of the future of the web. I think one of the
more heartening things is that the design of IP based services
encourages experimentation and provides a sandbox for products and
business models with almost no gatekeepers and increasingly less
technical friction.

Re: Why Japan's Smartphones Haven't Gone Global

tinusguichelaar — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 11:37:23 -0000

As 'law' catches up with the internet, the internet's power to erode decreases. It's already happening.

In todays news: The Pirate Bay is now a forbidden website in The Netherlands, for very vague reasons.

If the judge forces ISP's to block The Pirate Bay, a very dangerous precedent is set. Regulation stifles innovation.

Re: Why Japan's Smartphones Haven't Gone Global

christmasgorilla — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 07:57:58 -0000

Ben, we're partially on the same page here. I agree that a large part of the reason that high technology can be easily deployed is that NTT DoCoMo has 50% of the market; I think that scenario is also clearly shown in South Korea with SK Telecom.

While those phones have many nice features and advanced hardware (and some things that wouldn't be possible without a a concentration of power and influence such as wide deployment of QR code scanners), only recently has there been much choice for the consumer on what kinds of applications they'd like to put on their phones. As a note to that, I would say that the web will eventually beat the AppStore.

I think the new iPhone 3GS showed that the iPhone software was way ahead of the hardware. Any carrier, particularly those using Symbian phones, could have offered up a more open software platform regardless of whether they had much say over the hardware specifications of the device. But they all act in concert to try to protect the notion that they 'own' their networks and any and all content that flows over it.

As a footnote: I think more open software standards make things easily portable to the rest of the world. I think the two things that won't get cracked easily without an almost total monopoly are: mobile banking and things that require in-venue specialized devices (like scanners).