Cell Phones in the News. Survey: Majority of Chicagoans Own Wireless Phones
"In a recent survey conducted by Verizon Wireless, more than 60 percent of Chicagoans surveyed reported owning a wireless phone.
The dramatic growth of this industry is further demonstrated by the fact that the same survey showed 32 percent of those owning the phones said they obtained it in the last two years....
Now it is totally mainstream. What used to be a luxury item is considered mandatory by many....
According to the survey, 45.8 percent of respondents said that since purchasing a wireless phone, they make fewer long-distance calls from their home landline phones.
More than 20 percent said they made more than 75 percent of their long-distance calls using a wireless phone....
According to retailers, it is not just young people who have been wowed by the wireless revolution.
'Believe it or not, we get a significant number of people over 50 as customers,' Frachalla said. 'They're likely to be using the phones more for safety than for the text features.' " [The Star]
This sounds about right. When I do my presentations, more and more hands are going up when I ask how many people in the audience own a cell phone. Also in today's paper was mMode magazine from AT&T Wireless. They're finally figuring out how to market wireless services, at least for early adopters like me. I'm starting to get tempted.
The Winter 2002 issue of mMode shows cell phones using Yahoo! Messenger, Amazon's 1-Click shopping, weather reports, ESPN sports scores, "Office Online," a friends list that shows where your mMode friends are physically located at that exact moment ("with their permission, of course"), SEGA Soccer Slam, online photo albums for storing the pictures you'll be taking with your cell phone, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4, stock quotes, and text messaging. Plus the promise of being able to play Space Invaders.
Then there's the big cover story about Elton John on your phone.
"Now, you can hear songs from the only complete, career-spanning collection of his hits, the new two-CD set Elton John: Greatest Hits 1970-2002, on your wireless phone.
Best of all, once you've listened to your favorite Elton tunes on your phone, you can order the set from Amazon.com and have it shipped anywhere in the U.S. - all with just a few clicks on the keypad of a wireless phone with mMode service."
A separate inset hypes the following:
"Now you can listen to your favorites, the latest releases and more, right on a mobile phone. You can preview new music, learn about your favorite artists, shop for CDs and more....
You're listening to your car radio when a great song comes on - but what's it called and who sings it? Now Playing by Yes makes it easy to access the current play lists of more than 1,000 popular radio stations - from Seattle to New York - and more than 100 cities in between. So you know what played when and who sang it.
It's your life. This is the soundtrack.
Whether you're looking for songs from the radio, listening to music clips, downloading ring tones, searching for artist facts or shopping for CDs, mMode gives you a whole new way to enjoy the world of music."
Of course, Yes.net is available online for anyone to use (it's actually a pretty cool service that deserves more attention). Oddly, though, there is no mention of being able to access one of the online music services via your cell phone. Is this synergistic connection not ready yet? Strange.
If I could buy a phone that worked across multiple networks (the way it often works in Europe), then I'd have my toy right now. Still, the temptation grows.... [The Shifted Librarian]
5:40:48 AM 
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