CIP Phone ?
2008 contains a lot of turning-point events for the mobile space. The first mobile phone based on Android OS is around the corner (engadget, informationweek report that it is weeks away). Android OS contains a complete stack to support multiple connectivity interfaces like voice, 3G, Wi-Fi. Apple rolled out iPhone 3G and also surprised the industry through the launch of its stunningly-simple-to-use App Store. Nokia the major stock holder in Symbian, the market leader in mobile OS, is unifying with the OS with all the UI frameworks (S60, UIQ, MOTS) into a Symbian foundation and will make it open source within a few months. For the last couple of years, Nokia in addition to selling Symbian OS devices also shipped a few products using a custom-built Linux distribution code-named Maemo.
The striking difference between Nokia’s Symbian offering and Linux offering is that Linux devices were positioned as tablets meaning that they cannot connect to cellular infrastructure. They can be used at Wi-Fi hotspots or connect to cellular infrastructure using a mobile phone over bluetooth connection and access the internet. These restrictions reduced the market size for Nokia’s Linux based tablets since you need an additional mobile phone to access the internet on-the-go. Recently at OSiM world conference, Nokia has promised it would add 3G support to the network stack of its Maemo Linux OS. This is really significant for Maemo although it lags behind other Linux-based Mobile OS such as openmoko, limo and Android.
Let us consider a scenario on how you will be able to replace your mobile phone with a Maemo5 or other internet tablets. Mobile phones connect to the cellular infrastructure using both voice and data protocols. Voice evolved first (as you know) and 3G HSPA has been recently added to the infrastructure. At the same time, the rise of IP telephony is staggering. There are dozens of companies that are using SIP to provide IP telephony service to end-users. Current limitation for these users is that they need either a hardware SIP phone or a soft SIP client on their desktops. For usage on a mobile phone, the end user needs a high-end so-called smartphone. This again limits the market size.
Let us now merge the upcoming maemo5 platform with the SIP phone and compare it with the current smartphone. With 3G supported by Maemo5, users will be able to buy only data-access plans (instead of voice+data) from mobile operators and use a soft SIP client to get voice functionality. In Singapore, level 3000 series or 3xxx xxxx are being deployed as IP phone numbers. I subscribe to pfingo; there are other companies as well.
Armed with a micro-computer aka tablet and with SIP connectivity over 3G networks, I am truly autonomous and will not miss my trusty mobile phones. Shall we call this CIP Phone ? in short for CELL IP PHONE ?