Word: handset
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...number of eyeballs glued to tiny screens multiplies, so too does the mobile handset's value as a pocket billboard. Consumers are increasingly using their phones for things other than voice calls, such as text messaging, downloading songs and games, and accessing the Internet. By 2010, 70 million Asians are expected to be watching videos and TV programs on handsets. All of these activities give advertisers fresh options for reaching audiences. During soccer's World Cup last summer, for example, Adidas used real-time scores, highlight reels and games to lure thousands of fans to a website...
...know that it stands for Global System for Mobile communications, but the E.U.'s decision in 1987 to adopt a common standard for digital mobile telephony gave both the telecoms and handset manufacturers like Ericsson and Nokia the security of knowing that there was a huge single market for their products. The consequence: a whole new appreciation for the virtues of the opposable thumb...
...work goal: to grow MobiTV with the best people who can keep the company relevant. "Here we are," he says, "a tiny, clever mouse dancing between elephants." That's some rodent. Every new MobiTV product or service touches a multitude of partners and involves infrastructure, new technologies (for server, handset and network), testing, integration with carriers, marketing and sales support, business development and contract negotiations. "It's a real three-ring circus," he says. "You have to make sure that no one drops anything as they juggle. It's a huge coordination exercise...
Kajeet isn't first to market. Firefly Mobile has signed up about 200,000 preteen customers over the past two years, touting its parental controls and simple design: the five-button Firefly handset lacks even a number pad. Disney launched its mobile service last year, featuring a child-tracking function that works only on the Disney-branded handsets. Kajeet, on the other hand, thinks kids can handle a grownup phone...
Kajeet's success may well have little to do with phone calls. What the company is really selling is a multimedia networking platform in an edgy package. In other words, a toy. A few weeks into my daughter's beta testing, she roamed the house barking into her handset, "Code Red Alert. Code Red Alert." The phone wasn't even switched on. "I'm just playing," she said. "None of my friends have cell phones, so I don't actually have anyone to call." If Kajeet's homework pays off, that won't be the case for much longer...