We need some sort of marketing campagne for screenless phones that shows all those people driving and having trouble reading thecaller id when their whatever rings. Just my cent worth ----- Original Message ----- From: "Geoff Shang" <gshang@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux." <speakup at braille.uwo.ca> Sent: Thursday, December 25, 2003 1:12 PM Subject: Re: 2004: My Next Wireless Phone > Hi: > > I only managed to find one page on the site about the phone, and that was > in the news section. > > http://www.owasys.com/accesible_en/new14.html > > If there's an actual product page, I'd like to know where it is. > > As much as I like the idea of a phone that's designed for our needs and > that runs Linux, I have to say that I have the same reservations as I do > about any custom solutions rather than adaptations of regular devices. > How long will it take this phone to become out of date? How speedy will > development of the next model be? How long will it continue to be > developed, given the relatively small returns from a niche market? An > accessible solution from a major phone manufacturer is bound to have a > longer lifespan and be kept up to date more, due to the fact that it's only > one of an entire product line which can and is being used by everyone (well > most). We saw the same with sharp products. They made excellent talking > clocks, calculators, even talking video remotes. But each product went off > the market. Why? Because, I'm guessing, of the relatively small returns > that came from the R&D money required to develop them. If one of, say, > Nokia's phones was shipped with accessibility features built in, then it > would be snapped up by not only us, but the average Joe on the street, as > phones are. The average user would just be buying it because it was the > next new phone, but their doing so would (1) help to keep the price down > (by dividing the extra development costs among more buyers), and (2) ensure > its continued success due to more people buying it. > > Disclaimer: I am not an economist, nor do I pretend to have studied any > form of economics. It just seems like common sense to me. > > Geoff. > > > > _______________________________________________ > Speakup mailing list > Speakup at braille.uwo.ca > http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
