Never Heard of Sierra? That's Fine By Me!

[David McNamee]

The entrance of Sierra Wireless into the Windows Mobile Smartphone market certainly caught a few people by surprise. A lot of people around the Internet were hoping for a major player like Siemens or Sony-Ericsson to be revealed as the Mystery Partner. Sierra Wireless, while well known for their PCMCIA cellular modems for notebooks, is hardly a marquee name on the mobile handset stage. Personally, I'm happy that they aren't.

Let's look at the PDA market for a moment. Five years ago, "PDA" meant Palm - much the same way that "cell phone" has meant Nokia for so long. The first Pocket PC I saw was Casio's Cassiopeia. Casio? They make watches and keyboards right? Next came HP. That made some sense since they made calculators and PCs. Next was Compaq, Toshiba, Fujitsu, Asus, ViewSonic, et cetera. Consumers didn’t associate any of those companies with PDAs. They certainly do now. Now, when people talk about their PDA, you can't assume it's a Palm. They are just as likely to be talking about a Pocket PC delivered by one of those market new-comers. Because of this, Palm has had to take major steps to remain relevant - including buying Handspring and spinning off the software side of their house.

Are we witnessing the same thing happen in the Smartphone market? Who are the current players in the Smartphone market? Essentially, companies unknown outside of the cell phone industry. Mitac, Chi Mei, and Compal have certainly been around, but they are not household brand names for phones. Motorola and Samsung are. HTC is not a known brand, but the iPaq they make for HP sure is. Then, we have the true mobile phone new-comers. Asus, motherboard maker of legend and song, has shown off its possible Smartphone entry. And, as of today, we have Sierra Wireless and its rather intriguing Voq. Most of these companies may not have the name recognition of Nokia, Siemens, or Ericsson. They do, however, represent the start of the charge against market-leader Nokia. And these companies really are just the beginning. HP was reportedly getting price quotes from Taiwanese manufacturers earlier this year. A Dell executive has been quoted as saying it would "probably" launch a Windows Mobile phone. I’m willing to bet there are still a couple of surprises out there, too.

Will the entrance of new-comers to the cell phone industry be successful in chipping away at Nokia's market-leading position as new-comers to the PDA market were with Palm's? Only time – and more phones on the market - will tell. To date, only HTC and Mitac have phones shipping. The timing of new phones arriving will be critical. Nokia released its N-Gage gamer-oriented phone to critical yawns this week. The device has been criticized heavily as both a phone and as a gaming device – the two things it strives to be. Several reviewers have characterized the phone as a desperate attempt to drive lagging sales. Nokia has put a lot of time, money, and marketing behind this device. Should it turn into the market flop predicted by some, it will be a golden opportunity for the new-comers to step in and show what they’ve got.

Welcome, Sierra Wireless, and good luck! I look forward to getting to know you better.

[David McNamee]

The entrance of Sierra Wireless into the Windows Mobile Smartphone market certainly caught a few people by surprise. A lot of people around the Internet were hoping for a major player like Siemens or Sony-Ericsson to be revealed as the Mystery Partner. Sierra Wireless, while well known for their PCMCIA cellular modems for notebooks, is hardly a marquee name on the mobile handset stage. Personally, I'm happy that they aren't.

Let's look at the PDA market for a moment. Five years ago, "PDA" meant Palm - much the same way that "cell phone" has meant Nokia for so long. The first Pocket PC I saw was Casio's Cassiopeia. Casio? They make watches and keyboards right? Next came HP. That made some sense since they made calculators and PCs. Next was Compaq, Toshiba, Fujitsu, Asus, ViewSonic, et cetera. Consumers didn’t associate any of those companies with PDAs. They certainly do now. Now, when people talk about their PDA, you can't assume it's a Palm. They are just as likely to be talking about a Pocket PC delivered by one of those market new-comers. Because of this, Palm has had to take major steps to remain relevant - including buying Handspring and spinning off the software side of their house.

Are we witnessing the same thing happen in the Smartphone market? Who are the current players in the Smartphone market? Essentially, companies unknown outside of the cell phone industry. Mitac, Chi Mei, and Compal have certainly been around, but they are not household brand names for phones. Motorola and Samsung are. HTC is not a known brand, but the iPaq they make for HP sure is. Then, we have the true mobile phone new-comers. Asus, motherboard maker of legend and song, has shown off its possible Smartphone entry. And, as of today, we have Sierra Wireless and its rather intriguing Voq. Most of these companies may not have the name recognition of Nokia, Siemens, or Ericsson. They do, however, represent the start of the charge against market-leader Nokia. And these companies really are just the beginning. HP was reportedly getting price quotes from Taiwanese manufacturers earlier this year. A Dell executive has been quoted as saying it would "probably" launch a Windows Mobile phone. I’m willing to bet there are still a couple of surprises out there, too.

Will the entrance of new-comers to the cell phone industry be successful in chipping away at Nokia's market-leading position as new-comers to the PDA market were with Palm's? Only time – and more phones on the market - will tell. To date, only HTC and Mitac have phones shipping. The timing of new phones arriving will be critical. Nokia released its N-Gage gamer-oriented phone to critical yawns this week. The device has been criticized heavily as both a phone and as a gaming device – the two things it strives to be. Several reviewers have characterized the phone as a desperate attempt to drive lagging sales. Nokia has put a lot of time, money, and marketing behind this device. Should it turn into the market flop predicted by some, it will be a golden opportunity for the new-comers to step in and show what they’ve got.

Welcome, Sierra Wireless, and good luck! I look forward to getting to know you better.

[ShivShanks]

Originally Posted by David McNamee

The entrance of Sierra Wireless into the Windows Mobile Smartphone market certainly caught a few people by surprise. A lot of people around the Internet were hoping for a major player like Siemens or Sony-Ericsson to be revealed as the Mystery Partner.

Don't get me wrong for saything all this but ...

Hmmm ... I wonder who was responsible for folks thinking like that ... Lets see, so far there have been how many posts about the mystery phone on the first page? Ans: 4. And lets see how many pages SmartPhoneThoughts have been able to devote to a review of the device? Ans: 0. None of us have anything against Sierra or new manufacturers. Its just all the hype that was created about the device. Sure by all means it might be an excellent device and by looks of it its very likely. But you know it can stand on its own merit. People would have probably paid more attention to it if it just came out as a new and exciting SmartPhone. I certainly didn't see Microsoft getting all ga ga over it. Heck it just gets a mention on the newswire section of the Windows Mobile Smartphone page -
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobi...e/default.mspx
There isn't even a Microsoft press release about it referenced on that page.

This is just IMHO: perhaps a more tempered response from SPT would have been more appropriate. And finally don't get me wrong ... I like this site and read it often. But I also am frank enough to give out criticism.

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by ShivShanks

Hmmm ... I wonder who was responsible for folks thinking like that ... Lets see, so far there have been how many posts about the mystery phone on the first page? Ans: 4. And lets see how many pages SmartPhoneThoughts have been able to devote to a review of the device? Ans: 0.

Um...reality check! We don't have the device. :wink: None of us even knew who this mystery partner was until a few days ago, and I only learned of it under NDA - so I couldn't say anything. I managed to see one of the devices today at the Mobius event, and I held it for about 10 seconds. I'll try to get some more hands-on with it tomorrow and get some pics, but cut us some slack, we can't have a review of this already! We're still a new and small site, so the phone companies don't know who we are yet - it will take time to develop those relationships to the point where we'd get pre-release hardware.

In terms of the hype, sure, it was over-hyped. But let's face it: the Microsoft Smartphone is a David against the Goliath of Symbian and Nokia. We're going to get VERY excited about ANY new partner, no matter who it is. I honestly didn't think it was going to be a big-name partner, and the PR firm who leaked this info shouldn't have hyped it up themselves, but that's what PR firms do. ;-) I'm sure as this site evolves we'll mature in our approach to news, but if you compare the rate of news here to Pocket PC Thoughts, things here are a little...slow. So we tend to get excited at everything that happens, no matter how small. ;-)

Thanks for sharing your thoughts - keep it up!

[TANKERx]

Originally Posted by David McNamee

Let's look at the PDA market for a moment. Five years ago, "PDA" meant Palm - much the same way that "cell phone" has meant Nokia for so long.

I disagree with the idea that Nokia is today to cellphones what Palm was back then to PDAs. If you walk down the street, you'll see many different phones used by people, made by manufacturers other than Nokia. Nokia is big, I grant, but it isn't the master that Palm was of the PDA market. Before Microsoft, who was there to compete against Palm? Psion created, pioneered and innovated the concept and the technology, but apart from Psion, that was it.

Today, when I go into a supermarket, only a small proportion of the products on sale are Nokia's. There is (and has been for quite some time) good representation by the likes of Sony, Ericsson, Motorola (though they generally make naff 'free-with-a-digital-watch' phones), Philips, NEC and others.

Nokia is not to mobile phones what Palm was to PDAs and what Microsoft is to desktop computers.


2c

[David McNamee]

Originally Posted by ShivShanks

Don't get me wrong for saything all this but ...

No problem. We certainly did give it a lot of play on the front page. I didn't know Sierra was the new partner. If I had, I probably would not have done anything differently. There's a new player in town, and I think that's something to get excited about. As for a review, you can be sure that there will be one as soon as we get our paws on a device.

Originally Posted by ShivShanks

I certainly didn't see Microsoft getting all ga ga over it. Heck it just gets a mention on the newswire section of the Windows Mobile Smartphone page

Which, in certain circles, is being criticized. There is a concern that Microsoft is handling the entire mobile space (Smartphone, Pocket PC, Tablet PC) with too light of a touch. Sierra Wireless entering the fray is a win for Microsoft, and some folks think they should be playing it like it is.

Originally Posted by ShivShanks

I like this site and read it often. But I also am frank enough to give out criticism.

And it's appreciated. Just as long as you're not swearing at me, that is - you can do that on USENET :wink:

[TopDog]

Originally Posted by TANKERx

I disagree with the idea that Nokia is today to cellphones what Palm was back then to PDAs. If you walk down the street, you'll see many different phones used by people, made by manufacturers other than Nokia.

I agree.. havent used a Nokia for years. I love Siemens, have had three of those babies and loved them all, and I have a dream that we'll some day see a Siemens MS SmartPhone :-)

Jason; keep up the good work, SmartPhone's are my new passion, and I hope this site will grow like PPCT :-)

[mar2k]

Originally Posted by Jason Dunn

I managed to see one of the devices today at the Mobius event, and I held it for about 10 seconds.

So, Jason, after 10 seconds with it, give us your thoughts...... :lol:

[Chronos]

I've used Sierra Wireless WAN cards in the past, and personally am excited about them entering the game. I've always had great experiences with them.

Niche product within a niche product? Probably.