Ray_li

Im only 23 years old but I still remember the first mobile phones on the market.
I think the mobile phone industry is only heading in one direction and that direction is Video mobile phones.
If you have a video phone what do you think and if you dont will you be getting one?
I think this is a good time to jump on board to make some money.
What do you think?

Ray

Brendan Hughes

>>>>I think this is a good time to jump on board to make some money

Sure. What will you bid me for a 3G licence?

boxst

Hello

I think that the "boom" has come and gone. You are about 5 years too late. The last really good idea was the Pay-As-You-Go business model. This picks up all the never-do-wells and children who can't be trusted with a contract phone.

As above, I'll broker a deal for a nice, shiny, never used 3G licence....

Steve.

Ray_li

Well Im not doing much with my £15.5M in the bank anyway

I remember when Orange started trading on the stock market around 60p per share, then a few years on it shot up to 600p and now its over 1000p.
Now Three is the main player in video mobile phones and the company that holds 60% of the company hutchison and they are trading for 48.5p. My plan is to buy loads of shares in Hutchison since the industry is only heading in this direction.
what do you all think?

Alpine99

as far as I know the tech for video phones has been available for the home for years and no one was interested. IMHO kids are the main target for these phones.. us oldies just want something relatively small that makes calls.. I'm trying to upgrade and everyone keeps throwing cameras at me... sod off, I have a decent camera.. just want a phone..

Chris L

The future is bright, the future is wireless . Maybe not necessarily the mobile phone market (which has reached saturation point in this country), but certainly in wireless technology. Wheather this is WiFi or Bluetooth, I think the market for these such devices will be massive. We are only just scratching the surface of how these devices will transform our lives.

I know where my money will be...

Chris

Huxley

It's a shame that they can't get the networks working better or together with more coverage and as for some of the well populated areas where we live are crap on most networks at least with the old analogue network they used to work when the signal got low, now the digital ones are crap!!! all or nothing [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img] we used to have two Vodafone staff tarrif phones then we went back to orange and I would have to say that they are as bad as each other in certain areas.

I would have to say with the Phone saturation that the UK has I can’t see the coverage getting any better

Huxley

MarkO

Video phones are a gimmick. Whilst downloading content might be a nice idea, the idea of my wife being able to see where I am whilst I take a call is, frankly, scary.

angrynorth

Vodafone shares would be a good idea, as they already have a huge customer base and are soon to enter the 3g arena with football downloads and all that. Will go under the current Vodafone Live service when the technology is good (instead of flaky like current Hutchison developments) The bonus of this is they are starting to ween Live customers onto video and advanced downloads using 2.5G technology, these loyal Voda customers should *should* switch over to Vodas 3G service on release, making it the biggest player in the market within a couple of months.

Ray_li

Vodafone is a good bet but its 125p per share. where Hutchison is only 48p

Hutchison 3G = 48p
Orange =637p
Vodafone =125p
T-Mobile =?
O2 =?

When is Vodafone going 3G?

[Edited by Ray_li - 10/13/2003 10:06:03 PM]

angrynorth

Vodafone have signed a deal with the FA and 3UK to provide the service mid 2004. However they are expected to start streaming highlights on 2.5G early 2004.

One other thing, have you thought about investing in the companies that are providing the hardware and software that make 3G possible? I would have thought that at the moment the shares in these companies will be slowly rising, but should increase by a large amount once 3g is more widespread.

But then again, a lot of these companies are non UK based.

Ray_li

Not looked into those companies.

Im planning long term with these investments So I need to think carefully and being 23 I dont have much money because iv been studying for the past 22 years
I think you are right about Voda but Im not sure if Voda can rise alot where hutchison is still a penny share. or maybe I would split my money 50/50. and reduce my total investment.

Huxley

Just don’t ask anyone that works for Vodafone that after all the money that they have seen go from their share save schemes and the like we know we have the T-shirt [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

They paid out all that money for 3G and for what to be the top company behind everybody else


Huxley

IWatkins

String and two baked bean cans is where the really smart money is heading

Cheers

Ian

Buckrogers

3G?!

I can’t see it really taking off. Video Phones, are more gimmick or novelty feature than useful or needed.

At the end of the day, just how often is anyone going to watch TV clips / Films / News etc on a screen that is 2 inch's square?

I think decent PDA / Mobile combo will be the thing to have.

Hats off to skodafone though. When they bought the licence off the government, they asked if they could "buy now, pay later" which the government agreed too. When the other companies found out, they kicked up about it, saying they would have bid more money if they'd of known.

Goes to show, if you don’t ask you often don’t get!

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

Video phones certainly are a gimmick - although with the right marketing it wouldn't surprise me if people do buy them. They just won't know why they're doing it, and when the first bill arrives they'll soon stop using the video features and start wishing they had a nice, small voice-only phone again.

Personally the only 3G feature I'd consider paying for is high-speed mobile internet access. Travelling with a laptop is OK, but there's no real solution for internet access yet. Hotel room phones are punitively expensive (so no modem) and GSM data calls are painfully slow. Give me 128kb/s at a reasonable price per bit (NOT per second) and I'll bite.

A.

Hammy Hamster

We live in a society today that seems to survive on hype rather than substance (unfortunately).

Virtually any gimmick will succeed with the right sort of marketing, as andyc has suggested.

It'll be a gamble, if it wasn't we'd all be making a fortune from share dealing.

I think video mobiles have been sufficiently hyped for them to make a few people a whole lot of money. Those who get the timing right, with regards to buying the appropriate shares, will probably make a few bob.

Hobo_Jojo

watchphones are the future yo!

GaryK

These phones are a waste of time, Ive still got my trusty 6310i which is a great phone, why the hell do I want to watch videos on it? I wait till I get home and watch DVDs with surround sound on a reasonable size screen, they are gonna crash and burn IMHO, its normally the lowest common denominator that works the best, i.e. SMS texting not the bleeding edge stuff.

MarkCSC

I work for a company that provides a access and billing solutions to mobile content providers. Many of our clients are offering video streams and downloads (funnies, ****, sport etc) and making a tidy sum from it. When 3G arrives on mass these content providers and users will benefit from faster download speeds and better quality of service
The gimick of mobile video communication I think will remain just that, a gimick.
3G is the future. All the UK operator are rolling out the 3G networks over then next few years. Whether "Three" will be around then remains to be seen. I would be very weary of putting my money in to that company. Sales have been absimal, service is patchy and useage has been low. I'd give them 12 months before they are sold.

Vodafone would be a better long term bet.

Scooby_Loo

Looks pretty good. I'm going to look more into it

Might go round the corner to see my financial adviser

Ray_li

Ok been thinking and I asked my Dad he told me wait a little longer with Hutchison (Three) because Vodafone will be going 3G very soon, that means hutchison will drop big time because the market place does not have room gor 2 companies with 3G. So im gonna buy Vodafone.

ianmiller999

As far as I am concerned the average mobile phone user only upgrades there phone when there battery is knackered. The only value I can see with camera phones (still) would be when they reach above 2mg pixels but by then standard digital cameras will have huge resolutions. I know somebody who is working on this and they are trying to make commercially affordable 9.7mg pixel cameras so people will still prefer there digi cams.

Buckrogers

Copied from silicon.com

"The number of people subscribing to 3G services in Europe will not take off until at least 2006, but almost two-thirds of mobile subscribers will be using it by 2008, according to new research from telecoms advisors Analysys.


Financial and technical reasons have been cited by operators for delays in the launch of 3G UMTS services, including difficulties in getting mast sites, problems sourcing handsets and questionable demand for the services themselves.


The Analysys report, Western European Mobile Forecasts and Analysis 2003-2008, says there will be just 1.3 million 3G subscribers by the end of this year and that even by 2005, numbers in western Europe will remain extremely small, with just over 20 million active mobile subscribers using a 3G service.


Only Hutchison 3G, Manx Telecom and Mobilkom Austria had launched commercial 3G services in Europe by the end of September 2003.


Italy will take the lead with 3G followed by the UK and Germany, and Analysys predicts that 3G subscribers and revenues will then rise sharply from 2006.


Katrina Bond, co-author of the report, said in a statement: "We expect to see a noticeable shift from GPRS to UMTS beginning in 2006. By 2008, 61 per cent (204 million) of Western European mobile subscribers will be using a 3G device, and UMTS will be the dominant mobile technology as customers using 3G will generate revenues of around €82bn."


The report also points out that the delay in 3G will boost GPRS, with revenue from GPRS subscribers forecast to grow from €15bn in 2003 to a peak of €73bn in 2006.


Ariel Dajes, co-author of the report said in a statement that this will provide a much wider window of opportunity for GPRS technology.


"All operators in key Western European markets have launched GPRS services, and most now also offer multimedia messaging and downloadable games. Although initial take-up of GPRS services was low, improved service packages for consumers and businesses are now accelerating growth. Vodafone live!, for example, had signed up two million customers by the end of July 2003."

MarkCSC

Err yes it does. That is like saying the there isn't room for more than one company that offers GPRS. All UK operators will be switching to UTMS (3G) eventually, some quicker than others.

Ray_li

Buckrogers- Thank you that has realy helped me.

I still want to buy share in 3G companies but my plan is slowly changing. Im gonna invest my money in Vodafone now. Once they go 3g the hype will hopefully boost their share price, then i'll sell my voda shares and invest it in hutchison because there share price should drop from the release of vodas 3G.
Well thats the plan unless someone has any suggestions.
Is anybody else gonna buy some shares now?