Competition in this market is quite fierce. Not only GSM-based cell phones but also smart-phone vendors have begun to tap the potential of CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) subscribers. This is in line with the availability of a great number of CDMA-technology-based handsets. As the number of CDMA subscribers grows from one year to another, vendors are optimistic that technology-based smart-phone subscribers will continue to increase in number.
The growth of CDMA operator services in the sector of data dispatch has also spurred an increase in the smart-phone market.
“Although the speed of its data access is still under GSM, competitive rates will attract public interest,” said Idris Efendi, general manager of mobile business units of PT Sistech Kharisma, the sole distributor of Dopod in Indonesia, when introducing Dopod D818c earlier.
According to Idris, CDMA has penetrated the market faster than GSM. That’s why smart-phone users have begun to shift to CDMA technology. He also said that sales of GSM-based Dopod had gone up by 20 to 30 percent annually. Dopod claims it has secured 30 percent of the Windows Mobile-based PDA market share in Indonesia. “Easy-to use application will jack up Dopod sales,” he noted.
So a cell phone is no longer a mere device used for communication as it now has various functions. The era of the cell phone being a mere device through which to speak and send text messages is over. Today, there are more functions in a cell phone as there is better capacity to put various kinds of technology in a cell phone.
The most standard features in a cell phone are SMS, address book and organizer. Next come the features of MMS, small notes, ring tone and wallpaper download, bank balance check and transactions, SMS news service, Internet connection and the dispatch and receipt of email.
With the availability of more features and the rapid progress in technology, there will soon be a time when we will not be able to make the distinction between a cell phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA) and a computer, for example. This is what is usually referred to as convergence in information communication technology. This convergence is capable of putting together various technological capacities as a unity.
On the other side, the wireless telecommunications industry has continued to spur this wireless network infrastructure by introducing various new and more sophisticated technologies, including Wideband CDM (WCDMA).
Our need for wireless telephone access has indeed become limitless. The presence of 3G, Super 3G, 4G, MiMAX technologies and the like in the not too distant future will change the way we use and think about a telephone. This, among other things, has spurred convergence in the wireless telecommunications industry by including as many hardware and software features as possible in a cell phone.
Indeed, when 3G technology was first introduced, cell phone users felt there was a technological hiccup of sorts because it changed the way they normally spoke on a phone from merely speaking and listening to also viewing. 3G technology has been growing slowly as it takes time to change people’s telephone habits and because cell phones with 3G capacity are not widely available, plus they are rather costly.
