Stan Beer
Wednesday, 09 August 2006 11:53
Your IT -
Mobility
The new handheld device that everyone is talking about from Sony, the Mylo (my life online) is spot on the mark in many areas. However, there is one serious deficiency - its dependency on Wi-Fi.
The stated target audience of 18-24 year olds for this new product are
already huge users of mobile phones, MP3 players, instant messaging
packages and of course web browsers. The Mylo attempts to combine the
elements of all these devices in an affordable handheld package and
appears to succeed to a point.
Mylo has a choice of major IM packages including Skype, Yahoo and
Google. It allows users to make VoIP calls using Skype. Users can
browse the web using Opera mobile. And the device can store 1GB of
music without additional memory sticks. For IM texting, the Mylo even
provides a slide out qwerty keyboard which sure beats messaging on a
mobile phone.
So what's the problem? Unfortunately, unless you happen to be in one of
the few cities of the world that have ubiquitous Wi-Fi coverage, what
you have in Mylo is just a large MP3 player most of the time.
Outside the home, Wi-Fi is available at most airports, many large
hotels and some coffee shops. More often than not, users have to pay to
use the service.
The argument that the Mylo will enable users to cut down on their
mobile phone bills does not hold water. Our kids won't be able to ring
or message each other from the bus or train or call home to say that
they'll be late. Until Wi-Fi is as ubiquitous as cellular networks, the
Mylo has limited appeal.